Poverty no hurdle to gain knowledge: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu

Amaravati: B Satyanarayana Prasad, native of Nandigama in Krishna district, is running a small hotel.Though he was earning a meagre income, he had put in efforts to make his son a veterinary doctor. In the meantime, his wife’s health condition deteriorated and her two kidneys had failed.

Highlights:

• Chandrababu Naidu assures support to students to pursue higher studies abroad
• Says meritorious students should be provided an opportunity to study in foreign countries
• This will enable them to shine in different fields and bring name and fame to their country and native State
• Students representing different communities including Kapus, BC, SC, ST, minorities and Brahmins receive assistance under Overseas Education Fund (Videshi Vidya Deevena) Scheme
• Naidu interacts with students who have been selected under the scheme
• The students express their gratitude to the Chief Minister

When he tried to get overseas educational financial assistance for his son to pursue the course of ‘Doctor of Veterinary medicine’, such a benefit was not available for that particular course.He then requested the Kapu Corporation to consider his son`s case and after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s intervention, his son got financial assistance to pursue his studies overseas.

It is not just the case of Satyanarayana Prasad. Hundreds of such students who were selected for receiving the help from the State government along with their economically poor parents met Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in Vijayawada on Wednesday to express their gratitude to him.

A meeting was conducted at a private convention centre in Vijayawada on Wednesday by Kapu, BC, SC, ST, Minority, Brahmin Welfare corporations to discuss on the welfare schemes implemented by the government.Later an interactive session was conducted between the students of these communities and the Chief Minister. Students who got selected for the oversees educational fund of the government shared their pathetic financial position with the Chief Minister and thanked him for providing an assistance of Rs 10 lakh, flight and visa charges to study abroad.

K Jayaprakash, native of Hindupur in Anantapur district is a brilliant student, but his financial condition didn’t permit him to pursue higher studies.His father is a poor farm labourer and he could not afford foreign education to his son. After learning about the overseas educational assistance scheme, Jayaprakash approached the Kapu Corporation and got selected to study Masters in Finance abroad.

While thanking Chief Minister for implementing such a beneficial scheme for the financially weaker sections, he said thousands of students will now get an opportunity to study abroad which was earlier a distant dream for them.Students like Pratyusha, who aspires to become a MBBS doctor, Amulya, an aspirant of MCA (Computers), Sivaramakrishna, Computers Engineer and Srividya, who wants to pursue studies in Columbia University, expressed their gratitude to the Chief Minister for helping them to fulfill their dreams.

Later, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in his address asserted that poverty should not become a hurdle for the students in acquiring knowledge. If the children overcome the poverty they will shine as diamonds in their own fields and bring name and fame to the country, he said.

The government has introduced the overseas educational funding scheme to the economically poorer sections during the financial year 2016-17, for giving helping hand to the poor students to fulfill their dreams, he said.“More than 26 lakh students belonging to various weaker sections including Kapus and Brahmins are pursuing their studies while availing scholarships. Till now 2,600 students have been benefited through overseas educational fund. This year 612 students were selected for the overseas fund.

Earlier, the rules and regulations were most clumsy where the students had to spend two to three months for getting certificates from the officials. “But now the situation has changed and several young students from AP are studying abroad and getting jobs there. The Indians especially Telugu people are earning more than Americans or Jewish people in US in IT industry,” he said.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister released a logo on Gnanabhumi portal, developed by social welfare department where complete information regarding foreign universities, how to apply for scholarships and other information can be accessed.
Earlier, the Chief Minister signed an MoU with SBI for providing financial assistance to students under overseas education fund.