Delay in fee reimbursement denied

Vijayawada: Strongly rejecting allegations of delay in release of fee reimbursement to students by the state government, Andhra Pradesh State Higher Education (APSHE) chairman K Hemachandra Reddy said the state government is committed to provide quality education to poor free of cost with the initiative of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Condemning the reports in a section of media over delay in fee reimbursement, the chairman said that the state government had also cleared fee reimbursement arrears of the previous government to the tune of Rs 1,880 crore. He said that Chief Minister is keen on providing complete fee reimbursement to the poor students and the private colleges were directed not to collect any special fee from them.

Addressing the media at the Secretariat on Wednesday, Hemachandra Reddy said the previous government released Rs 2,391 crore during 2016-17 which include the arrears of five years starting from 2012. Likewise, it released Rs 2825 crore during 2017-18 including arrears of previous five years.

In contrast, the current government has been releasing amount towards fee reimbursement every quarter to prevent burden on college managements. He said Rs 671 crore has been released during April, 2020, Rs 693 crore during June and Rs 683 crore during November 2020. He said the fee reimbursement for December, January and February will be released after Assembly session.

The chairman said that AP is ahead of other states in higher education and with the initiative of Chief Minister, is providing 35 per cent reservation under government quota to poor students in major corporate colleges. He said 118 such students are studying in major corporate colleges with the facility of fee reimbursement provided by the state government.