The Maharashtra government has decided to shoulder the educational expenses required to be borne by students  belonging to the SC, ST, special BC, OBC, EBC and VJNT categories for private professional courses.
Deputy chief minister R R Patil, officiating as the acting chief minister in the absence of Vilasrao Deshmukh, who is on an official visit to the US, told a news conference on Thursday that the state cabinet has decided to continue the scheme in the second year.
He said in the case of SC and ST, as well as those belonging to special BC and VJNT (denotified criminal and nomadic tribes), the state government will bear 100 per cent of the expenses which include tuition fees, examination fees as well as other fees such as library fees. In case of the two other categories of OBC and EBC (Economically Backward Classes), the government will pay 50 per cent of the educational expenses, Mr Patil said.
The scheme was launched last year in September but many students could not avail of the facility as the admissions to professional  courses in non-aided colleges was already been over.
The government announced the continuation of the scheme in June itself so that all students belonging to those six categories would be benefited, Mr Patil, accompanied by social justice minister Chandrakant Handore, said.
The state has issued a directive to all the non-aided institutions to give admissions to students belonging to these six categories without charging them any fees.