In a significant move to ease the financial burden on underprivileged students, Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy on Thursday, September 21, announced that the government will fully bear the cost of studies of government school students admitted under the 10% quota in medical and dental colleges across the union territory, stated a report in The New Indian Express.
Currently, under the Perunthalaivar Kamaraj Financial Assistance Scheme (PKFAS) for higher professional education, the government provides annual aid of up to Rs 2,25,000 per student for those admitted to private medical colleges through the Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC). However, the remaining fees have to be paid by the students which often leads them to seek loans.
This year, out of the 37 MBBS seats reserved for government school students in the UT, 24 are in private colleges and the remaining 13 are in government colleges. In dental and Ayurveda colleges, 11 and four seats are reserved for them, respectively.
The fee in government medical colleges is Rs 1.44 lakh which is not covered by the PKFAS. In private colleges, the amount is Rs 4 lakh, which means the students will have to pay Rs 1.75 lakh after the coverage. The fee in dental colleges is Rs 86,000 which is also not covered by the scheme.
Sources in CENTAC said this year, only 20 National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)-qualified government students have been eligible for admissions under the 10% quota. Out of that, nine have been admitted to Indira Gandhi Government Medical College, 10 in private medical colleges, and one in government dental college.
The CM's announcement comes as a relief to the admitted students as most of them hail from underprivileged backgrounds. He said by providing full coverage of the fees, the government is aiming to ensure that financial constraints do not hinder their pursuit of medical education.
