SUK : Over 14,000 Drought-Hit Students in Division get fee Waiver

Over 14,000 students from the drought-affected regions in the division received fee waiver last year. According to the report of the joint director of higher education for Kolhapur division, a collective fee of over Rs 89 lakh was waived off for the students.

The report stated that in the previous academic year, the state government had asked about granting fee waiver to the students from the drought-affected regions and sought information in this regard. Accordingly, as many as 14,331 students were found eligible for fee waiver.

An official of the department said a list of the drought-affected villages was published in October last year, as per which altogether 363 villages from Sangli, 343 villages from Satara and seven villages from the Kolhapur district were eligible under the scheme. According to the data, more number of students from the conventional courses as compared to those opting for professional courses sought fee waiver.

"From the conventional courses, around 13,000 students were granted waiver of around Rs 69 lakh, while the remaining students from the professional courses received waiver of about Rs 19 lakh. The amount has been handed to the university,"

- Official Information

In May, the Shivaji University, Kolhapur (SUK) issued a circular asking its colleges to submit information about the students hailing from the drought-affected areas. According to the circular, the university had received instructions from the higher authorities about fee waiver for such students for the March 2016 summer examinations.

It stated if the students from the drought-affected regions have appeared for the semester exam, their fee can waived off and the colleges need to send information to the SUK officials. Mahesh Kakade, controller of examination in the SUK, said the number of eligible students for the scheme might go over 10,000.

Source - Prasad Patil, City Journalist, Collee Dekho