PUNE: On the backdrop of confusion and inconvenience faced by students while filling up the online scholarship form, Senate members questioned Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) authorities over whether the varsity is aware of students’ issues, at the Senate meeting on Saturday.
This was the first Senate meeting after Maharashtra Public University Act, 2016 came into effect. Last year, many students faced problems in filling e-application due to no electricity or server problems.
“Online form-filling becomes tedious for students and clerks appointed to help them because of Internet problems, server being down or electricity not available. It is time-consuming,” said Dadabhau Shinalkar, Senate member, who raised the question.
He recalled how students would earlier physically fill up the forms and submit them to the college, with help from office staff. “Now, due to online system, many students do not understand certain points or clauses. They are also confused if the form has been submitted correctly,” added Shinalkar.
SCHOLARSHIP’S DBT
VB Gaikwad, another Senate member, spoke on the problems concerning Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of scholarships. According to the State government policy, the scholarship amount will be deposited directly in the student’s bank account.
“Colleges, especially those offering traditional courses like arts, commerce and science, do not demand tuition fees or any other fee from scholarship holder during admission. Once the candidate submits the scholarship application form, the amount is received from the Social Welfare Department of State government. However, not always does the amount get deposited during the academic year. It is due to this delay that the college faces a problem in reimbursement,” said Gaikwad.
Gaikwad suggested that the university can appeal to the State government to deposit the college’s portion directly in college’s account and student’s portion in student’s account.
SPPU’S ASSURANCE
- A proposal to Social Welfare Department of the State government will be sent to create a robust method of application.
- “This year, universities and colleges have accepted offline forms as well. For next year, universities and colleges will appeal to the State government to come out with a robust method so that students don’t face any hassles while applying for scholarship,” said Pro-Vice-Chancellor of SPPU, NS Umarani.
- Umarani also said whenever any technical error during e-application of scholarship was reported by students, the complaints were reported to the concerned authorities in the government as well.
