Soon, bank accounts for primary students

Ahmedabad: A Month down the line, students of municipal corporation-run primary schools will boast of their own savings account with a nationalised bank. Schools are busy completing formalities at a break-neck speed to meet the deadline and teachers say that almost 90 per cent of the work is complete.

L D Desai, Administrative Officer, Municipal School Board, said officials from Bank of India have said that at least 30 computers and as many employees have been spared for completing the data feeding work before the accounts are formally opened.

The accounts will plug any irregularity in payments being made to the students from the government’s side under the different welfare schemes. This will also serve as a check on the dropout rate among students as they will regularly be keeping track of the accounts.

Desai said the school board distributed around Rs 4 crore among civic school students every year by way of scholarship money.

“The importance of having a bank account will be further increased in times to come as the government has decided to double the scholarship money to Rs 8 crore,” he said.

A principal of a civic school said the move will spare school staff of keeping records of financial transactions. “We will be able to spend more time on regulating educational activities in schools,” he said.

He added that following awareness among parents, the response to the scheme has become much better.

Source: Financial Express