Financially weak students left in lurch after UoH delays monetary assistance

Hyderabad: Career of hundreds of financially weak students is at stake as the University of Hyderabad is dragging its feet on releasing the much-needed monetary support.

National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) has alleged that the University of Hyderabad is not releasing the monetary support to backward students under SA-BBL fellowship program on time.

Under SA-BBL fellowship programme, the university provides Rs 1,000 per month to the financially backward students. Around 800 students in the central university are currently receiving monetary assistance.

Students from integrated courses as well as post-graduate courses in Hyderabad Central University are eligible for the SA-BBL fellowship. The primary eligibility criteria for the fellowship is that the students’ parental income must be less than Rs 2 lakh.

Many students allege that the money, which is supposed to be credited to the students’ accounts on a monthly basis, is disbursed in two separate installments.

“This is part of the administration’s usual bureaucratic delay. We had submitted two representations seeking disbursement of fellowship money on time. While the officials reiterate that they will give it on time, they don’t really do it. This has affected many financially backward students because they need this amount to survive,” Sneha George, President of NSUI, told NewsMeter.

Students said the administration cite manpower crunch as a reason for delays in the payments.

“Administration says they are short-staffed. They say they are busy uploading JRF contingency data by 15 of every month,” said a student.

Earlier in January, the students’ body had submitted a representation to the administration seeking timely disbursal of monetary assistance. “It seems students have to keep reminding the administration about disbursing assistance,” the president said.