In a first, scholarships go paperless in Karnataka

BENGALURU: Karnataka is the first state in the country to go paperless in handing out scholarships to 50 lakh students belonging to SC, ST and backward classes from the coming academic year. The government is planning Aadhaar-based attendance mandatory for post-matriculate students to check fake admissions and misuse of scholarships.
The state’s e-governance department has developed an integrated state scholarship portal, which will electronically verify documents of eligible students. The government will credit the scholarship amount to student bank accounts seeded with their Aadhaar numbers if the documents are genuine.
Govt mulls issuing e-vouchers to colleges
It is an end-to-end paperless system for both students and the authorities. Students must provide Aadhaar number, the registration number of their caste or income certificates and the registration number of their respective schools and colleges. The software will verify the details and the scholarship amount will be directly deposited in the students’ bank accounts,” said Rajiv Chawla, additional chief secretary, e-governance.
Chawla said the department has collected data of 1.25 crore students studying in schools, colleges and universities –– both public and private –– in the state.
The government will also issue freeship cards to postmatriculate SC students which will act like a guarantee to private schools from the government to pay students’ tuition and admission fees. “This is being implemented on the Centre’s suggestion and we will start issuing cards from next week,” Chawla said. The scheme is already implemented in Gujarat.
The freeship card is a proof of eligibility of a student for scholarship and colleges will be obliged to give admission to students without prepayment of fees.
The government is also mulling issuing students’ evouchers to colleges so that the latter can cash it towards fees of these students.
“This is being done to address the apprehensions of private institutes that students may not pay the fees if the scholarship amount is credited to their bank accounts. This is being done on a trial basis,” Chawla added.