Pondy govt earmarks Rs 35 cr as education aid for students

Puducherry, Aug 23 (PTI) Puducherry government todaysaid it has earmarked Rs 35 crores to provide financialassistance to students pursuing medical and engineeringcourses, under the Perunthalaivar Kamarajar EducationalAssistance scheme. Chief Minister V Narayanasamy told reporters here thatthe assistance would be available for students joining theprofessional courses in privately managed colleges in theUnion Territory, after selection for admission by thegovernment sponsored Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC). He further said the scheme would be of help forstudents to meet their tuition fees levied by the colleges. The assistance was meant to benefit as many as 2574students who joined during the current academic year(2016-2017) in the colleges following their selection byCENTAC, he added. Besdies, the Chief Minister said his governmentaccorded importance to three major schemes, free rice,assistance to students doing professional courses and monthlyassistance to the elderly persons under Old Age Pensionscheme. Revenue Minister M O H F Shah Jahan, Minister forHigher Education R Kamalakannan and officials of the EducationDepartment were also present. PTI CORROHROH