The pending special cash incentive scheme for the academic
year 2020-2021 for board exam students studying in government and
government-aided schools to reduce dropouts will be disbursed, school education
department officials said.
In a bid to reduce dropouts, the School Education Department
has introduced a special cash incentive scheme at the secondary level.
Accordingly, an incentive of Rs 1,500 for students studying in Classes 10 and
11 and Rs 2,000 for students studying in Class 12 in government and
government-aided schools is deposited in the Tamil Nadu Power Finance and
Infrastructure Development Corporation, and the same is disbursed among the
students on completion of their higher secondary education.
Stating that a sum of Rs 262.16 crore has been allocated for
the scheme, implementing the scheme during the last academic year was delayed
since many state-run schools have failed to update students’ data due to
continuous lockdown.
Pointing out that more than 15 lakh students are expected to
be benefited from the scheme, he said during the first phase, the financial
assistance will be extended to over 3 lakh Class 12 students in the State-run
and aided schools.
He said all the management of the schools were instructed to
update the students’ details including their bank account number in the
Educational Management Information System (EMIS), a common online platform
connecting government, schools, and students.
According to the official, during the next phase, Classes 10 & 11 students will also receive financial assistance after getting the beneficiaries’ details. “The schools were also asked to provide the data of the students studying in these standards,” he added.