Today, Wednesday, November 6, Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan praised the Union Cabinet's approval of the PM Vidyalaxmi scheme.
With an outlay of Rs 3,600 crore, this scheme aims to provide financial assistance to meritorious students in the Central Government education institutions.
According to a statement in the Press Information Bureau, the Government of India said this initiative will help ensure that access to 21st-century higher education is “universalised” to India's talented youth.
Pradhan also mentioned that the scheme will remove obstacles to higher education through collateral-free and guarantor-free education loans. Students with an annual family income of up to Rs 8 lakh would be eligible for a 3 per cent interest subsidy on education loans up to Rs 10 lakh, while loans up to Rs 7.5 lakh will be eligible for a 75 per cent credit guarantee.
“Education loans will be facilitated through a transparent, student-friendly and digital application process that will be common to all banks,” the minister noted.
Pradhan further mentioned that education loans under PM Vidyalaxmi will be made available to students who have been admitted to the top 860 higher education institutions based on the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). This will benefit approximately 22 lakh pupils each year.
Financial aid to deserving students is a key proposal of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and PM Vidyalaxmi is another concrete step towards implementing the NEP, he added.
“PM Vidyalaxmi will empower millions of students from the poor and middle class,” said the minister.
