West Bengal Government Provides "Student Credit Cards" To Help Them Pursue Their Goals

Under this programme, students are entitled to borrow up to Rs. 10 lakh at a low annual interest rate. This effort will help kids from low-income backgrounds realise their aspirations.

A government official emphasised the goal of the programme and noted that Bengal's education sector had advanced significantly. Their main concerns have been affordability, accessibility, and educational quality. They also mentioned that they will keep making progress in the education sector without stopping.

Since many parents and students have shown reluctance to attend the event on July 7 at Kolkata's Netaji Indoor Stadium, it appears that the West Bengal Student Credit Card programme is losing favour with both groups. Over 1 lakh applications were submitted to the state education department in July of last year, but only about 18,000 were approved for loan disbursement by the bank.

According to a senior state official, 1.25 lakh loan applications have been submitted since the scheme's introduction following the Assembly elections last year. Only about 18,000 of these loan applications—or about 14% of all applications—have, to now, been approved.

Approximately 18,000 children were scheduled to attend the event on Thursday. In contrast, only 6,000 pupils, or one-third of the intended audience, responded to the joint committee of the Bengal government's attendance survey as of Wednesday. It means that for some reason, the student's responses have been inadequate. When contacted, for example, some claimants claimed they had asked for the load the previous year and no longer needed the money since they had secured it elsewhere.