Free education for 10 toppers of KCET on the cards

Fee waiver proposed for top 10 students from rural-Kannada medium schools in KCET

If the higher education department’s proposal for budget 2023 comes through, the top ten ranking students in Karnataka Common Entrance Test (KCET) who studied in rural areas and Kannada medium schools will get free professional education.

The department has proposed a hundred percent fee waiver for those studied in rural schools and Kannada medium and performed well in KCET. The KCET is gateway for admission to various professional courses. As per the estimation, at least 100 students will be benefitted by this scheme and it applies for 10 toppers in all professional courses also - including engineering, agriculture, medical etc. This is to encourage students studied at rural areas and Kannada medium schools to join professional courses.

“This will boost the confidence among the rural Kannada medium students to take up professional courses and it would also help students from economically weaker sections from rural areas to perform well,” officials said.

The higher education department has also proposed plans to motivate girl students pursue higher education through such schemes. According to the sources from the department, it is planned to provide self-defence training to girl students who have enrolled at higher educational institutions across the state. It is also proposed to provide incentives in the form of conveyance allowance for the students to attend attending these classes. “Providing such training for female students will help to increase their level of self-confidence,” said a senior official of the department.

Along with these, it has been proposed to to provide employment for graduate students, coaching in business English, to identify and strengthen government higher education institutions for women.

As majority of the budgetary allocation to higher education department goes for salaries, the department has sought increase in the budget allocation this time.

Of the Rs 5,746 crore budget allocated to higher education during 2022-23, Rs 2,748 crore is spent on salaries and administrative expenses of collegiate department.