It’s official now. The new scheme – Financial Assistance to Students of Telangana (FAST), announced by the Telangana government replacing the earlier fee reimbursement scheme for students, would be applicable only to those students whose parents are bonafide residents of Telangana State as on November 1, 1956. The government on Wednesday issued an order constituting a committee to frame guidelines for the implementation of FAST scheme.
It made clear that the scheme would be made applicable to all the students pursuing ongoing studies and seeking fresh admissions, but their parents should be bonafide residents of Telangana State as on November 1, 1956. The certificates for the bonafide residence would be issued by the Revenue Department after seeking for information from the applicants through a detailed format to ascertain the bonafide residence status of the parents/grandparents of the students, the GO issued by the Scheduled Caste Development (Edn) Department said.
Chief Secretary Dr Rajiv Sharma said that the detailed guidelines for FAST scheme for implementation during the current academic year 2014-15 would be finalized by the five-member committee comprising Principal Secretaries/Secretaries of Scheduled Castes, ST, BC Welfare, Higher Education, PR & RD, General Administration and Law Departments.
According to the order, the FAST scheme is designed to enable the poor and eligible students to pursue higher studies in the Universities and the Institutions regulated by the government. It would also increase the gross enrolment ratio, which currently stands at 31. “A meeting was convened on July 5 to discuss the policy of financial assistance to the students of the newly formed Telangana State,” the Chief Secretary said in the GO.
The students in the State of Telangana include such of those students who are studying post matric courses based on the admissions done in the past and also such of the students who will be seeking admissions to the post matric courses during the current year 2014-15.
“With a view to enable the students of Telangana State to get financial assistance, it is proposed to lay down the fundamental principles based on which this policy will operate. The scheme shall be made applicable to all the students pursuing ongoing studies and fresh admissions and whose parents were bonafide residents of Telangana State as on November 1, 1956 and shall come into force from the current academic year 2014-15,” the order said.
Source: Metro India
