Senior Congress leader and MLC T. Jeevan Reddy has requested Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to release all fee reimbursement dues at the earliest as payment has been pending from the 2020-21 academic year.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Minister, the Congress MLC stated that the scheme was introduced by late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to enable students of socially and economically backward communities to pursue higher education without any problem and the managements of private colleges would vie with one another to admit students as the fee reimbursement amount used to be released in time.
However, the dues of fee reimbursement and scholarships had piled up to ₹4,043 crore, pending for 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years. As a result, students of BC, EBC and minorities communities were facing difficulties in pursuing higher education as the managements were not issuing certificates even after completion of the course in the name of fee reimbursement dues.
Such students were being forced to borrow money to clear the fee dues to get the certificates issued as they were essential for employment and pursuing education further.
Mr. Jeevan Reddy said the fee dues of BC students for the last three years were ₹2,182.89 crore, EBC students ₹661.84 crore and minorities ₹461.05 crore, besides scholarship dues. Funds for even SC/ST students were not being released on time in spite of the availability of special development fund.
