The University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to provide interest-free loans to insolvent students of public universities for purchasing smartphones in order to ensure their participation in online classes amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Some 41,501 underprivileged students of 39 public universities will be given a maximum of Tk 8,000 per person for this purpose, UGC sources said.
This money will be allocated to the revised budget of the sector concerned as advance against the annual allocation of the university for the fiscal year 2020-2021.
The final decision regarding the loans was taken at a virtual meeting presided over by UGC Chairman DrKaziShahidullah on Wednesday evening.
About the interest-free loans, the UGC chairman said, “Through this initiative, indigent students will be able to meet an important need of present time.”
“It will play a positive role in the online education activities of public universities. It will also make students more focused on online learning,” he added.
Earlier, the UGC chairman urged the vice-chancellors of the public universities to form a soft loan approval committee and take appropriate measures to provide interest-free loans to the needy students.
In this regard, UGC Member DilAfroza Begum told Bangladesh Post, “Soft Loan Approval Committee constituted by the Vice Chancellors of the concerned university, recommended that at most Tk 8,000 would be allocated to every student through bank accounts by January 31, 2021. Then, UGC approved their recommendation at the meeting.”
About the loan payment procedure, she said, “The students will have to repay the actual amount only.Students would not have to pay any interest against the loan. They will be able to repay this loan in four equal installments or at a time after reopening the universities or during their study period.”
Earlier, on August 9, UGCdirected the vice chancellors of public universities to prepare lists of indigent students who are unable to buy smartphones for attending online classes during the coronavirus crisis.
The VCs were also told to send the list of the students through email (director_publicuniv@ugc.gov.bd) by August 25.
Later, the universities sent a list of 41,501 indigent students to the UGC after checking and verifying the actual needy students.
In the list, the highest number students are 8,556 (19.89 percent) from Dhaka University and the lowest number of students are 197 (3.36 percent) from Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET).
It is mentionable that National University, Bangladesh Open University, Islami Arabic University, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Chittagong Medical University (CMU), Rajshahi Medical University and Sylhet Medical University have been kept out of the loan facility.
