A.P. to set up centres for Eamcet in Hyderabad

Andhra Pradesh government will set up 30 to 40 centres in Hyderabad for AP Eamcet to be held on May 6, said HRD Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao.

The HRD Minister spoke to Telangana Chief Secretary and Education Minister and sought their approval for setting up AP Eamcet centres for the convenience of at least about 30,000 students, including girls residing in Hyderabad, without having to travel to Vijayawada. The students could choose their options on the web till April 21. The Eamcet results would be announced on May 26.

The HRD Minister, who held a review meeting with the Higher Education department officials here on Thursday, said grades would be given to engineering colleges in the State based on their performance and academic standards.

The department would take measures to check irregularities in engineering admissions under Category B and the government rejected above category seats in 14 engineering colleges for violation of rules, he said.

Disclosing that the Private Universities Bill will be introduced in the Assembly soon, he said a committee appointed for the purpose was studying all aspects of private universities and he inquired officials about the status of committee report.

The government would also bring amendments to the Andhra Pradesh Universities Act, 1991 to address the loopholes in the system to bring in more accountability and a conference would be held with the Vice-Chancellors on May 21 to discuss the proposed amendments.

Mr. Rao said that a special recruitment board on the lines of APPSC would be constituted to fill vacancies in universities without giving scope for corruption. About 75 per cent of vacancies in universities would be filled soon, he added.

Indicating plans to make Andhra Pradesh an Educational Hub, he said as a precursor, three education cities would be developed in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and Tirupati in an extent of 1,000 acres to 2,000 acres each to provide land to the private universities, institutions set up in Public Private Partnership mode to suit the requirements of industries being set up in the State.

Basic infrastructure facilities like road, medical facilities would be provided in these educational cities. At least one such educational city would be developed first, he added

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/ap-to-set-up-eamcet-centres-in-hyderabad/article7111101.ece

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National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Introduces Special Education Course for B.Ed and M.Ed

The syllabus for B.Ed and M.Ed courses has been revised to include a mandatory paper on special education this session onward. This paper, introduced by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), will focus on how to teach students with special needs. To visit more at http://www.ncte-india.org

The NCTE monitors the regular B.Ed and M.Ed programmes, but the courses on teaching people with disabilities are regulated by the Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI). And so, NCTE signed an agreement with RCI last week in order to formulate the syllabus and modules for the compulsory paper to be included in these programmes.

This decision has been implemented after the National Sample Survey of Estimation which found that approximately 60.41 lakh children aged 6 to 13 years did not go to school last year, and out of these six lakh were physically or mentally challenged. This survey was conducted in 2014 by the NGO Social and Rural Research Institute in collaboration with the PSU Educational Consultants India Ltd.

In January this year, the NCTE decided to go back to the two year format for B.Ed and M.Ed, starting from the 2015-16 academic year. In accordance with this change, the RCI has agreed to increase the duration of special education courses from one year to two years.

A special committee has been set up by NCTE and RCI for this purpose. Headed by Professor N.K. Jangira, of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), this committee will prepare the curriculum for the two years' special education course. It will also put forward recommendations for the special education examinations in B.Ed and M.Ed.

In addition, the RCI has declared that out of the 17,000 B.Ed and M.Ed courses that run across the country, it will coach at least one teacher in special education every session.

The NCTE is set to introduce three more courses this academic session, apart from the special education course. These are gender studies, yoga and information and communications technology

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/ncte-makes-changes-in-b.ed-m.ed-syllabus-2015/1/430031.html

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Easier education visas to Canada now?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper have identified education as a 'key area' for bilateral engagement, with the two leaders recognising that India is a 'priority country' under the North American nation's International Education Strategy.

In the joint statement released by the two leaders, Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Harper agreed to focus on greater student, faculty and people-to-people exchanges, affirming that cooperation in education should focus on building the quality of human resources in both countries.

The two leaders welcomed Canada's partnership in the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) of India to enable Canadian researchers to cooperate in learning, research and teaching in select Indian educational institutions. They also welcomed the first co-funded student exchange programme through the Ministry of Human Resource Development's Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme and Canada's Mitacs Globalink Program.

Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Harper also noted the socio-economic opportunities inherent in India's ambitious goals of skills development and welcomed the MoUs between the Indian National Skill Development Council and 13 Canadian colleges, institutes, and Sector Skills Councils in the fields of agriculture, apparel and textiles, automotive, aviation, construction, green economy, healthcare, hydrocarbons, IT, telecom and electronics, sports sector, and water.

The two leaders also agreed to renew the Canada-India MoU on Higher Education on a rolling basis.

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister met Canadian Governor General David Johnston, before holding a tete-a-tete with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper.

He also attended a ceremonial reception before being accorded a guard of honour.

Addressing the press, Prime Minister Modi later said that the agreement between the two countries on the procurement of uranium from Canada for India's civilian nuclear power plants launches a new era of bilateral cooperation.

Prime Minister Modi's trip to Canada is the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister in 42 years.

Prime Minister Modi arrived here after concluding a successful visit to France and Germany.

http://www.businessinsider.in/Easier-education-visas-to-Canada-now-Read-this/articleshow/46940922.cms

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Inaugurated TSPSC website and logo at Hyderabad

Telangana State and Andhra Pradesh Governor Narasimhan launched TSPSC logo and TSPSC website at Raj Bhavan on Saturday. Telangana IT Minister K.T. Ramarao, TSPSC chairman Ganta Chakrapani and TRS leaders were attended for this event. See at Telangana State official website http://www.tspsc.gov.in/

http://www.futuretelangana.in/telangana-education/governor-narasimhan-inaugurated-tspsc-logo-at-hyderabad.html

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The Must Attend Event for Education Technology Investors

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — To observe the major forces at play in the education technology sector, one needed only to stand near the marble fountain in the Phoenician Resort lobby this week.

That’s where hundreds of venture capitalists and executives attending an annual ed tech industry conference arranged — in full view of their rivals — to meet one another privately.

From coveted perches at cafe tables and couches in the plush hotel lobby, for instance, investors watched as Aaron Skonnard, chief executive of Pluralsight, an online skills training company for technology professionals, sat down with David Blake, chief executive of Degreed, a start-up that helps companies track, analyze and manage the skills development courses taken by their employees.

“Degreed has the best content-scoring algorithm for online courses,” said Michael Staton, a partner at Learn Capital, a venture capital firm that finances education start-ups, as he observed the tête-à-tête from across the room. Then Mr. Staton sighed. “I was hoping we’d invest in them,” he said, “before Pluralsight acquired them for $100 million.”

The annual ASU+GSV Summit conference here, an effort put on by Arizona State University and GSV Capital, an investment firm, started six years ago as a modest event in the desert where investors came to hear company presentations from about 50 education start-ups.

The conference has since become the central event for investors and companies scouting for the next big thing in education technology — a melting pot for executives from McGraw-Hill Education and Pearson, Google and Microsoft, Kapor Capital and the NewSchools Venture Fund, and start-up entrepreneurs.

This year about 270 companies are presenting, all represented by either their chief executives or founders. Among them are companies like Degreed, which developed in an ed tech accelerator financed by Kaplan, the test-preparation company. Degreed has attracted angel investors including Mark Cuban, the investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, and Deborah Quazzo, a managing partner at GSV Advisors.

“It’s a place where it’s all senior people,” said Ms. Quazzo, one of the conference organizers. “So conversations can occur at a high level.”

With more than 2,000 attendees this year, the conference is an indication of the high political stakes involved in education and of the big money businesses hope to reap in the sector. The event also now serves as an important stop for policy makers seeking to broadcast their commitment to industry growth.

On Tuesday, for instance, Arne Duncan, the United States secretary of education, made an appearance here. He heartily endorsed data-driven technologies known as “personalized learning,”  websites and apps that display different math problems or reading assignments to individual students, based on an analysis of their particular abilities.

The hope is that such individually tailored products will improve students’ learning, grades, test scores, graduation rates and, ultimately, employment prospects.

“We must make learning more personalized,” Mr. Duncan said.

As was typical in other years, dozens of companies at this year’s  conference presented personalized or adaptive learning systems for students.

Despite the promise of such tailored lessons — and the fact that millions of students already use such products — few ed tech start-ups have conducted and published rigorous studies to demonstrate that their novel technologies aided learning more than established methods. One controlled study conducted by Kaplan found that showing videos to students — which the company had expected to be more engaging for learners than traditional methods — was less effective than providing students with traditional text-based problems to solve.

In an effort intended to address the paucity of ed tech outcomes data, two groups here, including Kaplan, discussed their coming efforts to study education technologies. They each said they wanted to help school administrators choose learning products with proven effectiveness.

Kaplan announced plans for a new ed tech accelerator intended to identify pressing educational problems and the products that might solve them.

“Every C.E.O. will tell you their product is great and it works,” said Maia Sharpley, Kaplan’s vice president for strategy and innovation. “Well, let’s test it and pilot it and have the data to show that it works or it doesn’t.”

Another new accelerator project, financed by USA Funds and the University of Virginia Curry School of Education, has just introduced a similar effort to identify and rigorously test promising ed tech products aimed at filling concrete needs for schools.

“Are there really companies willing to hold themselves up to that level of scrutiny and accountability?” said Bart Epstein, chief executive of the new company, called the Jefferson Education Accelerator. “They are out there. They are a minority. And we want to hold them up as examples of companies doing it right.”

In its short history, the ASU+GSV conference has also acquired a reputation as the meet-cute spot for ed tech investors and executives seeking to develop relationships with start-ups that could lead to acquisitions.

Last year, for instance, Mr. Skonnard, the chief executive of Pluralsight, the professional technology course provider, had a 15-minute meeting in the Phoenician lobby with the founder of Smarterer, a skills assessment and scoring start-up.

“As we were leaving, I said to my C.F.O., ‘This is a company we need to talk more to,’ ” Mr. Skonnard recalled during a chat with a reporter in the industry-thronged lobby. “Ten months later,” he said, “we completed the acquisition” of Smarterer for $75 million.

When asked whether Pluralsight now planned to acquire Degreed, the company whose founder he was seen meeting with earlier this week, Mr. Skonnard was enigmatic.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/education-technology-investors-converge-on-scottsdale/?_r=0

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UNESCO report lauds India’s progress

The efficiency of public spending in India comes in for criticism, as does the expansion of contract teaching jobs in public schools.

India has made remarkable strides towards ensuring education for all, a new global monitoring report shows. While access is now close to universal, the quality of education remains a major challenge, it says.

In April 2000, the governments of 164 countries adopted the Dakar Framework to deliver Education For All commitments by 2015. On Thursday, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) published the Education For All Global Monitoring Report to evaluate the progress of countries on these goals.

India is likely to reach the EFA’s first goal of 80 per cent enrolment in pre-primary education by 2015, has already reached the second goal of universal primary enrolment, and will fall just short of universal youth literacy by 2015, the report said. The one measurable goal India will not reach is to reduce its adult illiteracy rate by half (it has reduced it by 26 per cent). The country’s major success has been in reaching gender parity for primary and lower secondary enrolment, the only country in South and West Asia to do so. It has also made progress towards improving the quality of education, but major gaps remain.

According to the report, nearly half of all countries have achieved universal pre-primary, primary and lower secondary enrolment. Only 25 per cent of the countries have reduced by half their levels of adult illiteracy, and women continue to make up two-thirds of the illiterate. Two-thirds of the countries have also achieved gender parity at the primary level, but less than half at the secondary level.

“Overall, not even the target of universal primary education was reached, let alone the more ambitious EFA goals, and the most disadvantaged continue to be the last to benefit. But there have been achievements that should not be underestimated. The world has advanced by 2015 beyond where it would have been if the trends of the 1990s had persisted,” the report says. “A lesson re-emerging over the past 15 years is that while technical solutions are important, gaining political influence and traction is of even greater significance,” it notes.

However, major challenges remain. The efficiency of public spending in India comes in for criticism, as does the expansion of contract teaching jobs in public schools.

Most crucially, the “Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) said that while India’s education system succeeded in enrolling many more children, there were wide disparities in students’ achievement of basic skills across the States, a finding validated in the official National Achievement Survey of grade 3 students,” the report says.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/unesco-report-lauds-indias-progress/article7086247.ece

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Beware! That online degree may not be valid in India

Ever been tempted to take up an online degree course offered by a university in India? Those who have been taken in by advertisements of such courses in newspapers should be careful because education regulator University Grants Commission (UGC) does not recognise any course offered solely through the online mode.

Many universities are offering such degrees, even though “UGC has not yet recognised any University/Institution for offering distance education programmes solely through the online mode,” writes SK Mishra, deputy director, UGC, in response to a question under the Right to Information Act.

The website of the Karnataka Stake Open University (KSOU), for instance, offers online, correspondence and regular face-to-face programmes in its distance learning package. “In online courses, you get an opportunity to view videos, take assignments, etc. anytime anywhere and from any device,” is the message on the university’s website. Students can take the course entirely online,  the website informs.http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/popup/2015/3/0104education1.jpg

KSOU also asks students to submit requests for a particular course. The website states: “The University has planned to launch several courses in the online format very soon. This shall depend on the interest of the students for particular courses. You may want to submit your request, in case the course you desire does not feature in the available list.”

When contacted, Prof MK Krishanan, vice chancellor, KSOU, said he accepted that the degree offered by the university would not be valid for employment as per the Indian education system, but KSOU was offering such programmes to keep up with international trends. “We have signed an MoU with a Mumbai-based website schoolguru.com which is imparting online degree courses to students on our behalf. I fully agree that these degrees are invalid but the global trend is towards online education and I don’t think we should lag behind the other players.”

Another major player in the field of distance learning, Sikkim Manipal University (SMU), invites students to join its MBA programmes solely through the online mode. A counsellor from south Delhi centre of IACM, the authorised partner of SMU, informs this correspondent, “You can get online admission, complete all four semesters online and appear in exams online as well. However, the certificate that you are given will not have any mention of online (programme). It will only talk about degree through distance education.”

Prof NS Ramesh Murthy, director, Sikkim Manipal University Directorate of Distance Education, however, denies that the university offers postgraduate degree courses solely through the online mode. “Sikkim Manipal University - Directorate of Distance Education, offers several programmes, all approved by the Distance Education Council (former regulator for distance learning which stopped functioning from 2012) and awards approved degrees only. While the self-learning material forms the basis of learning in distance mode, duly supported by the mandatory face-to-face counselling, the university also supplements the learning with additional material through digital technology,” Murthy adds.

Former officials of the DEC and the present regulator, the Distance Education Bureau under UGC express say they are worried that no regulatory framework is in place for online courses. “DEC did not give any approval to any university to run any course solely through the online mode. Online study material can be a supplementary learning methodology but completing the whole course all through the online mode was never approved by DEC,” says Manjulika Srivastava, who held a senior position in DEC.

A senior DEB (UGC) officer  adds, “We have noticed these developments and have set up a committee to look into the matter. We will see if it’s possible for us to work out a regulatory framework. However, at present, these degree courses are not valid and no university can offer such degree courses.” Academic experts like SS Mantha, former chairman, All India Council for Technical Education say the issue needs to be addressed immediately. “As a regulator for technical courses as well as MBA programmes, AICTE has not recognised any online programmes,” he says.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/greatcareers/caution-that-online-degree-is-not-valid/article1-1332693.aspx

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India needs autonomous education policy

The Indian education system should be in the hands of technocrats instead of autocrats, said Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue and activist Dinanath Batra at an event here on Tuesday.

“There should be an autonomous education policy and an Indian Education Services should be established along the lines of Indian Administrative Service. Nowadays, subjects are taught in isolation. Teaching a subject should be seen as a contribution to the society and should be taught in a wholesome manner,” Mr. Batra said.

He was speaking at a commemorative program to mark RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar’s 125th birthday. The event was attended by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi.

Stressing that Sanskrit is not a dead language, Mr. Batra said that the language had “opened the flood gates of ancient Hindu knowledge.”

Stating that ancient Hindu knowledge needs to be roused from its deep slumber, Mr. Joshi said Indians were trading their customs to ape the Western culture.

“Indians have forgotten scientific, traditional customs like sitting down for meals, although other countries like China and Japan continue to do so. We need to build our own identity and identify where our traditions have derived from,” Mr. Joshi said.

Mr. Joshi, who was the Human Resource Development Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, took pot shots at a recent ‘My Choice’ women empowerment campaign by a fashion magazine which features about 99 leading women from the entertainment and fashion industry.

“It was a custom to refer to women as ‘mataji’ [mother] in the olden days which Indian women look down upon now. Women now say that they have a choice. They say ‘It is my body’ which has almost become into a commodity. Look at where our Hindu customs have come down to,” he said.

Emphasising the need to have a strong leader who will impart ‘Hindu’ knowledge to all, Mr. Bhagwat said traditional Hindu culture can only be carried forward with the help of education.

“Despite the presence of Western influence during the freedom struggle, leaders like Swami Vivekananda and Lokmanya Tilak worked hard to revive Hindu customs and studies,” Mr. Bhagwat said and added that uniformity is not required to be united.

“The word ‘Hindu’ is often interpreted in a wrong way. Anyone who talks about Hinduism is now branded as an RSS worker,” Mr. Bhagwat said.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/india-needs-autonomous-education-policy/article7059496.ece

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Telangana’s rural students forced to earn to learn

Nearly two-third of all senior-Intermediate girls in rural Telangana have to earn so that they may study, a survey has found.

Conducted by the M.V. Foundation, the survey on impediments to girl education involved girls who were first-generation education seekers. It reported 74.2 per cent girls as saying education was not free even in government institutions that did not charge for tuition, but collected other fees that many students could not afford.

The respondents said they had to earn wages to support education. Data for the study was pooled from 20 colleges selected randomly from 2,141 colleges, both private and government, excluding Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts.

“Fees other than tuition are collected from students and there is no regulation for such collection. Given that budgets for most colleges are inadequate and often does not arrive on time, the fees are used to run these institutions. It is indeed a difficult situation for students as reimbursement arrives only towards the end of the academic year,” says Shailaja Ramaiyer, Commissioner of Collegiate Education, Board of Intermediate Education, while acknowledging the study’s findings.

The study found that sexual abuse and eve-teasing were major impediments to girls continuing education. Nearly 37.5 per cent respondents said they experienced sexual assaults at primary school level and 34.1 per cent reported experiencing sexual abuse at least once a week during second year of Intermediate. Eve-teasing had caused girls to drop out of college and many also regularly experienced gender and caste discrimination.

Additionally, the study also found low levels of sexual awareness among respondents. For instance, only 63.2 per cent girls did not know if pregnancy could occur on kissing or hugging, while 90.5 per cent were unaware if a woman could get pregnant during the first instance of intercourse.

Telangana Vidyavantula Vedika convenor Mallepali Laxmaiah recommended that hostels be set up for every education institution to facilitate higher education, as the family environment could vitiate education, he observed. The study reported most girls witnessing violence at home, usually perpetuated by an alcoholic father.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/telanganas-rural-students-forced-to-earn-to-learn/article7050889.ece?ref=tpnews

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More than half of all education loans in South India, TN and Kerala

Two states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, have accounted for nearly 40 per cent of education loans disbursed in the country so far, indicating the skew in the tapping of bank funds for education.

Banks have disbursed Rs 16,380 crore in Tamil Nadu, Rs 10,487 crore in Kerala — over 38 per cent of total disbursals, as per data prepared by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance.

According to the data, collated from states across the country, over 54 per cent of education loans have gone to applicants in south India. As of December 31, 2014, the total outstanding education loans for the country was Rs 70,475 crore.

Banks began to disburse education loans from 2000-01. These loans were pushed the most by former finance minister P Chidambaram when the UPA was in power. Populous states like UP and Bihar are way down in the borrowings list: banks could disburse only Rs 6,697 crore and Rs 3,053 crore respectively. Students in Maharashtra — another big state — have received only Rs 4,906 crore so far; Madhya Pradesh has got Rs 1,945 crore. The entire Northeast has got only Rs 736 crore.


The skew in disbursals was discussed at a review meeting called by the Finance Ministry for public sector banks recently.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat accounts for Rs 1,508 crore of education loans, with barely 50,000 students opting for loans. “The Ministry of HRD has given a list of 1,100 A-rated institutions and universities to banks and they do not have any problem in lending to students in these institutions. They should not consider the mortgage but focus on employability,” said a top official who participated in the Ministry review meeting, which called for a correction in the trend.

As many as 9.56 lakh students have taken education loans in Tamil Nadu, while Kerala had 4.03 student loan accounts as on December 2014. Why are education loans so popular in TN and Kerala?

“The high literacy level in these states is a major reason. Another reason is the huge number of educational institutions, especially professional colleges. Most students in southern states go for higher education, and are keen on taking up jobs,” said V R Iyer, chairperson and managing director of Bank of India.

M Narendra, who recently retired as chairman and MD of Indian Overseas Bank, said, “The awareness level of people about the banking system is very high in South India. There’s a lot of information about education loans. A large number of middle-class students apply for such loans in the southern states.”


The DFS data shows that as much as 86.8 per cent of the total outstanding education loan is with public sector banks. As on December 31, 2014, PSU banks had disbursed Rs 61,177 crore to students, while private banks provided the remaining Rs 9,298 crore. Among PSU banks, State Bank of India topped the list with loans of Rs 15,295 crore among 5.77 lakh students, followed by Canara Bank (Rs 5,371 crore).

SBI currently charges an interest of 11.75 per cent (1.75 per cent above the base rate) on normal student loans above Rs 7.50 lakh. For loans up to Rs 4 lakh, the rate is 13.50 per cent (3.50 per cent above the base rate), and for loans between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 7.50 lakh, it is 13.75 per cent.

SBI lays down that repayment must commence a year after completion of the course, or six months after securing a job, whichever is earlier. In case a second loan is availed later, the student has to repay the combined loan amount in 12 years after completion of the second course.

The DFS has set a target of Rs 74,828 crore for education loans for the fiscal ending March 2015, but bankers are not sure of meeting the target. The Ministry had asked banks to give loans to meritorious students under the management quota, and not reject applications on the ground of non-service area of the branch concerned.

According to a senior government official, banks should take into account the new budgetary announcement of Student Financial Aid Authority, which is being set up to administer and monitor scholarships and loan schemes through the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram. This will help banks in increasing education loans across the country, he said.

Just two states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, have accounted for nearly 40 per cent of education loans disbursed in the country so far, indicating the skew in the tapping of bank funds for education.

Banks have disbursed Rs 16,380 crore in Tamil Nadu, Rs 10,487 crore in Kerala — over 38 per cent of total disbursals, as per data prepared by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance.

According to the data, collated from states across the country, over 54 per cent of education loans have gone to applicants in south India. As of December 31, 2014, the total outstanding education loans for the country was Rs 70,475 crore.

Banks began to disburse education loans from 2000-01. These loans were pushed the most by former finance minister P Chidambaram when the UPA was in power. Populous states like UP and Bihar are way down in the borrowings list: banks could disburse only Rs 6,697
respectively. Students in Maharashtra — another big state — have received only Rs 4,906 crore so far; Madhya Pradesh has got Rs 1,945 crore. The entire Northeast has got only Rs 736 crore.

The skew in disbursals was discussed at a review meeting called by the Finance Ministry for public sector banks recently.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state Gujarat accounts for Rs 1,508 crore of education loans, with barely 50,000 students opting for loans. “The Ministry of HRD has given a list of 1,100 A-rated institutions and universities to banks and they do not have any problem in lending to students in these institutions. They should not consider the mortgage but focus on employability,” said a top official who participated in the Ministry review meeting, which called for a correction in the trend.

As many as 9.56 lakh students have taken education loans in Tamil Nadu, while Kerala had 4.03 student loan accounts as on December 2014. Why are education loans so popular in TN and Kerala?

“The high literacy level in these states is a major reason. Another reason is the huge number of educational institutions, especially professional colleges. Most students in southern states go for higher education, and are keen on taking up jobs,” said V R Iyer, chairperson and managing director of Bank of India.

M Narendra, who recently retired as chairman and MD of Indian Overseas Bank, said, “The awareness level of people about the banking system is very high in South India. There’s a lot of information about education loans. A large number of middle-class students apply for such loans in the southern states.”

The DFS data shows that as much as 86.8 per cent of the total outstanding education loan is with public sector banks. As on December 31, 2014, PSU banks had disbursed Rs 61,177 crore to students, while private banks provided the remaining Rs 9,298 crore. Among PSU banks, State Bank of India topped the list with loans of Rs 15,295 crore among 5.77 lakh students, followed by Canara Bank (Rs 5,371 crore).

SBI currently charges an interest of 11.75 per cent (1.75 per cent above the base rate) on normal student loans above Rs 7.50 lakh. For loans up to Rs 4 lakh, the rate is 13.50 per cent (3.50 per cent above the base rate), and for loans between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 7.50 lakh, it is 13.75 per cent.

SBI lays down that repayment must commence a year after completion of the course, or six months after securing a job, whichever is earlier. In case a second loan is availed later, the student has to repay the combined loan amount in 12 years after completion of the second course.

The DFS has set a target of Rs 74,828 crore for education loans for the fiscal ending March 2015, but bankers are not sure of meeting the target. The Ministry had asked banks to give loans to meritorious students under the management quota, and not reject applications on the ground of non-service area of the branch concerned.

According to a senior government official, banks should take into account the new budgetary announcement of Student Financial Aid Authority, which is being set up to administer and monitor scholarships and loan schemes through the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram. This will help banks in increasing education loans across the country, he said.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/more-than-half-of-all-education-loans-in-south-india-tn-and-kerala-take-38/

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