Fee reimbursement row: It’s fast, but confuses
Half of the students are from Andhra Pradesh state
By : amar tejaswi
Update: 2014-07-28 00:11 GMT
Hyderabad: With the Telangana government announcing the Financial Assistance for Students of Telangana Scheme (FAST) scheme, beneficiaries of the existing mid-course fee reimbursement scheme might be screened afresh.
Officials had earlier said that students, currently in second and third year of engineering and other professional courses, will be reimbursed their fees as usual. But with the fee scheme being scrapped by the government, college managements say there is confusion surrounding the mid-course students.
TRS leaders have also said that almost 60,000 students availing the scheme in Telangana are from Andhra region.
BJP legislature party leader K. Laxman said, “The CM has said that about half of the students studying under the 85 per cent local quota engineering seats here are from Andhra Pradesh. Now they will begin screening of mid-course students. But we support the students.”
Political parties are also demanding another all-party meeting on the fee reimbursement scheme, with many of them against the newly introduced FAST scheme.
Dr Gautam Rao, chairman, Telangana Engineering and Professional College Managements Association (TEPCMA), said college managements have not been informed whether all the mid-course beneficiaries of the old fee scheme will continue to receive funding from the government.
“We have not been told anything. There is total confusion,” Mr Gautam Rao said. Graduation certificates of students have already been withheld by many colleges as their fees have not been reimbursed by the government.
YSR Congress leader Gattu Ramachandra Rao also expressed displeasure at the change in modalities of the scheme. “Second and third year students are in two minds whether they can study further or not. They can review the scheme, take action against erring colleges, but not spoil the future of students.”