Education loan scheme: Sisodia calls LG's suggestions 'excellent'

NEW DELHI: The Education department of Delhi government has incorporated many of the ideas given by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Delhi Higher Education and Skill Development Loan Guarantee scheme, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Friday.

Sisodia also welcomed the LG's concerns and termed his suggestions "excellent".

"The LG is right in observing that there is a need for due diligence in the courses and institutes for which loans would be given, so that

unscrupulous institutions do not benefit from this and over time NPAs are not created," he said.

Sisodia, who also holds the Education portfolio, said the LG was right in observing that students have problems in going to multiple banks, to find out about the scheme or to apply.

"This is precisely why a single portal (http://educationloan.delhi.gov.in) has been created for students to apply for loans under this scheme," the minister said.

He accepted the LG's suggestion that the education loan should be linked with the National Academic Depository, so that both authenticity and speed of the process of authentication of academic documents is ensured.

Sisodia has directed the Directorate of Higher Education to immediately start working on incorporating this feature into the student loan portal.

However, the disbursal of loans should not be stopped till this feature is incorporated, he said.

The Deputy Chief Minister also urged Baijal not to send this decision for approval from the Union Government as it would take a long time.

"If the matter is referred to the Centre, it will take years and years to resolve the issue and will effectively never see the light of day," he said.