BMC STUDENTS TO GET STATE MONEY TO BUY STATIONERY

Over 60,000 student bank accounts have been opened by the civic education department for students studying in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) schools. BMC will send a specific amount to each student's bank account for the purchase of stationery like colour pencils, uniforms and books.

Students can also use this money to buy stationary like water bottle, lunch box, uniforms and shoes. Mahesh Palkar, BMC Education officer, said, “Students can use this money to buy stationery or basic materials which wear off during the course of the year. They can also buy books, school bags, footwear or raincoats which tear off or are lost while the academic year is going on.”

BMC will transfer an amount of Rs 170 for a student of Class 1 and Rs 550 for a Class 10 student for the entire year. The amount will be decided based on the standard in which the student is studying. These bank accounts are linked with the Aadhaar xard of students and will be operated by both students and parents. These funds will be transferred through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme of the state government.

This entire policy is in line with the plan of the central government to open bank accounts for every citizen based on their Aadhaar. A senior member of the education committee, said, “This decision of starting bank accounts is part of the plan of the Modi government to link all financial accounts with Aadhaar. Now that funds are being directly transferred to students, there are high chances of fraud and details of students being misused.”

A budget of Rs 16.87 crore has been allocated for the primary section and Rs 2.82 crore has been allocated for the secondary section for this plan.