The Gandhian youth for Peace Trust and Rural development has launched a helpline on education loans and higher studies to assist students in corporation schools in Chennai

A Suresh Anand, manager trustee of the organisation said that the private students were aware of the formalities and procedures regarding obtaining a loan but most of the students in the government schools were unaware of them. He pointed out that there were 45,000 students in corporation schools across 10 zones of the city and the organization wanted to reach out to all of them.

The incharge of the helpline and former chief education officer, C Vijayalakshmi revealed that two students had committed suicides during her tenure just because they did not know how to approach a bank manager for such a loan.

She added that most of these students were rank holders and bagged certificates but lacked communication skills. "Also, they lack the self-confidence to repay the loan and think they cannot find a suitable job to do so. We want to help them and clear their doubts," she said.

The state governments are doing a lot to help the underprivileged in matters of obtaining education loans. Earlier this year, there was a revision in eligibility criteria (oct 8) for education loans for the students of Virudhnagar district. According to the revised norms, the students who could not clear the plus two exams in their first attempts are also eligible for education loans.