Assam govt to give scooters and financial incentives to girl students: Himanta Sarma

The Assam government will give scooters and financial incentives to girl students to ensure that they attend classes regularly, Education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The state government was currently distributing 22,000 two-wheelers to Class 12 girl students who passed in the first division from the state board under the Pragyan Bharti Scheme, he said at Sivasagar on Sunday.

The state government will incur an expenditure of Rs 144.30 crore for the purpose.

The state government will provide scooters to all girl students who passed in the first division from the state board even if the number crosses a lakh, he said.

Scooters will also be provided to all girl students who passed Class 12 examination in the first division in 2018 and 2019.

Financial incentives will also be provided to all girl students from school to post-graduate level and the scheme would be launched by the end of this month.

He said that girl school students would be given Rs 100 daily for each day so that they attend school while an amount of Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000 will be given to undergraduate and postgraduate students respectively.

The minister further said that they had plans to launch this scheme last year but it was delayed due to the spread of COVID-19.

The minster is on a visit to distribute scooters also participated in a cycle rally on Monday.

Meanwhile, attendance in schools, which reopened on January one after being closed for nearly 10 months due to COVID-19, was much higher on Monday than the first two days.