Goa govt’s single scholarship portal to hasten student aid

Panaji: State govt on Wednesday introduced a single portal where all students in Goa, from the school level to the university level, can apply for scholarships across departments at one point. Chief minister Pramod Sawant said that the portal will ease the process of applying for scholarship benefits for students, both for state and central schemes. This will eliminate the need to fill physical forms and expedite the process of receiving benefits for students, he said.

Sawant, who also holds the education portfolio, said the portal will benefit 50,000 students in Goa who are seeking aid to support their tuition fees from “KG to PG level”. “For the first time, we are launching the CM’s scholarship portal. We saw that students have to fill forms physically and therefore we brought in this reform. We tested this portal last year, and it is ready for launch now. All scholarship schemes of social welfare, tribal welfare, directorate of education, and directorate of higher education will be available at a single point for students now.”

He said it will be ensured that students applying on this portal are disbursed the benefits within 15 to 30 days. The CM said that students are eligible for reimbursement of tuition fees of up to Rs 40,000 in aid under various schemes. “The portal will be the single point to apply for benefits for SC, ST, OBC, and EWS category students. Last year, we saw that 50% of the students who were eligible for the benefits did not apply at all. It is especially seen in our villages that students struggle to pay even Rs 20,000 as their institute fees. I realised it after a law college student came to me saying that he is unable to pay his fees. This portal will expedite the disbursement of benefits to such needy students.”

In the case of schemes being implemented through central govt, the aid will be released as received from the Centre. “A student has to go to the portal and upload all documents. We send the documents to the institution for verification. Once verification is done, the department gives sanction for release of the funds. Even Goa students studying nursing and pursuing other education outside the state can apply through the portal,” the CM said.

He said that the labour welfare scholarship available for children of those working in the private sector will also be linked to this portal within the next 45 days. “The education of no child in Goa will not stop because they are not able to pay the fees. We have launched the portal to fast track the aid,” Sawant said.