Bengaluru: As part of the demonetisation process, the Union government wants all higher educational institutions to go cashless within the next one month. As part of the Vittiya Saksharata Abhiyan (Visaka), the Ministry of Human Resource Development has told all the colleges and universities located in towns with more than one lakh population to go cashless before January 12, 2017.
In a circular, MHRD has directed all colleges and universities to issue orders to accept all receipts only by digital mode or cheques. They have also been directed not to accept any payments in cash.
Besides institutes, all canteens / establishments / services inside the campus must be converted to digital payment modes. As per the circular, all vendors in the campus should be called, oriented and told to accept their payments digitally.
MHRD wants vice-chancellors of all universities to implement the digital campus scheme. They have been told to hold urgent meetings with all the senior faculty / administration officials and finalise modalities for implementation. They are also directed to call for meetings of all the affiliated institutions – finalise action plans, besides monitoring the progress by appointing nodal officers.
Unique scheme: Adoption of markets
MHRD wants colleges and universities to adopt markets and convert them into cashless ones. A circular was issued to NSS/NCC volunteers to identify nearby markets for converting them into digital market places. Students are being directed to interact with shop owners, to inform them of the necessity of using card-swipe machines, suitable mobile wallets and USSD systems.
Joining hands with PayTM
Even before the demonetisation announcement, tens of city schools and colleges had joined hands with Paytm for payment of course registration and other fees.
Elite schools and colleges in the city, like CMR National Public School, Ekya schools, Gear, Garden City College, IIBS etc have joined hands with Paytm for payment of fees, sources said.
Mr Manjunath M, Department of Journalism and Media Studies, Garden City College, said that the college has always kept a user-friendly environment for all financial transactions, especially regarding student fees. “All our transactions are mostly online. For the past two years, GCC has signed an MoU with Paytm for all kinds of fee transactions, which has brought in a huge response from both students and parents.”
He said that before demonetization, they got 25%-30% of fee payments through Paytm. “Now, we get more than 50% of fee payments through Paytm," he said. "Students are so relieved that they can access this system to pay their fees without complications," he said.
Aim of the project:
- Declaring all the campuses cashless campuses by January 12, 2017.
- Action plan for digital payment campuses (cashless campuses).
- Accepting all receipts only on digital modes/cheques.
- No payments shall be made in cash.
- All canteens/establishments/ services to be converted to digital payment modes.
- All vendors in the campus should be called, oriented and urged to accept their payments in digital mode.
