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A student will get a maximum interest-free loan of Rs 8,000. After opening the university or during the study period, they will be able to repay the loan in four equal installments or at one time.
The decision was made at a virtual meeting chaired by UGC president Professor Kazi Shahidullah on Wednesday, the commission said in a press release.
It is said that in light of the recommendation of the ‘Soft Loan Approval Committee’ formed by the vice-chancellors of the interested universities, the loan will be repaid through each student’s bank account before January 31, 2021.
This money will be allocated in the revised budget in advance compared to the colleges’ annual allocation for the 2020-2021 financial year.
Public universities, like all other educational institutions, have been closed since March 16 following the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Universities began taking classes online as the crisis progressed, but universities were unable to guarantee participation of all students in online classes by overcoming limitations, including crisis with many student devices, cost of access Internet and network problems in remote areas.
In this context, UGC took the initiative to cooperate with the students in the demands of the universities.
On August 9, the commission sent a letter to the rectors of public universities requesting a list of students who do not have adequate devices and are economically destitute. A total of 41,501 students from 39 public universities were included in this series.
Of these, Dhaka University has the highest list of 6,558 (19.89 percent) and Khulna University of Engineering and Technology has the lowest list of 196 (3.38 percent) in UGC.
There are currently 47 government and autonomous universities in the country. Among them, the students of National University, Bangladesh Open University, Islamic Arab University, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Chittagong Medical University, Rajshahi Medical University and Sylhet Medical University are out of loan facility, the UGC said in a press release.
UGC President Professor Kazi Shahidullah told the meeting: “Through this initiative, homeless students will be able to meet an important need of the present. It will play a positive role in public university online education initiatives. ”
Internet package ‘low cost’
UGC has also taken the initiative to provide low-cost Internet data packages to students from all public and private universities to participate in online classes. Professor Dil Afroza Begum, a member of the UGC, said that agreements have already been signed with mobile operators for this purpose.
He told bdnews24.com, “The Internet package is for all well-off students. Students from all public and private universities will get this facility. Students will get it starting this month. This offer will be personalized. This data can only be used for zoom classes; You can’t afford to run Facebook-YouTube. “
Professor Dil Afroza Begum said that UGC had initially contacted Teletalk. But since the Teletalk network is not available everywhere, subsequent conversations were held with Robi, Grameenphone and Banglalink.
“A date has been given to finalize the matter before November 5. As Robi told me, they will give me 30 GB of data for a period of one month for Rs 220 and 15 GB of data for Rs 110. an offer. Arrangements will be made to give it to students through educational institutions. ”
Among others, UGC member Prof. Sajjad Hossain, Prof Muhammad Alamgir, Prof Biswajit Chand, Prof. Abu Taher, Secretary of UGC (additional responsibilities), said. Ferdous Zaman, Director of Public Relations and Information. Shamsul Arefin and director of finance and accounting (additional responsibilities) said. Shah Alam participated in the meeting.
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