Telangana to continue fee reimbursement scheme

The Telangana government Monday decided to continue fee reimbursement scheme for students for the academic year 2014-15.

The decision was taken at an all-party meeting Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao held here to discuss the issue.

The meeting also unanimously decided to pay the arrears towards the reimbursement of tuition fee of students pursuing various courses including professional courses.

An official release said the government will reimburse fee of students from Telangana only. The payment will be made after scrutiny of the birth certificates.

For the students from Andhra Pradesh who are studying in Hyderabad or other parts of Telangana, the government of Andhra Pradesh will pay the fee.

Education Minister Jagdishwar Reddy told reporters that the Telangana government will reimburse fee of the students from Telangana studying in Andhra Pradesh.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Ministers Mohammed Mehmood Ali and T. Rajaiah and leaders of Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and YSR Congress Party.

It was in 2008 that then Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy government in united Andhra Pradesh had started the scheme for reimbursing fee of the school and college students belonging to weaker sections of the society.

The annual burden on state exchequer in the undivided state was over Rs.5,000 crore.

It was immediately not clear what will be the annual expenditure in Telangana to continue the scheme.