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Plight of brilliant poor girl Divya and the indifference of a bank
Divya, a brilliant girl, who passed 12th standard with 95.2% average marks from Thirukkazhukundram (Tamilnadu) joined BE (CSE) in Valliammal College through merit channel in Sep 2009.. Hailing from a very very poor family, she lost her father and mother at young age. She was living with her aged grand father, who was drawing a meager pension. Even grand mother was not alive. She had an excellent academic record in her school days.
Though Canara Bank promised to give her education loan at the time of counseling, (based on her marks), subsequently, they did not show interest. She did not have enough money (around 40,000/-) to pay the first semester fee and to join the college to retain the admission. Since this girl did not have any person to back up, Canara Bank treated her with scant respect and made her to run pillar to post.
Since she was running out of time to pay the fees and to retain the admission, Divya's teacher approached Team Everest (Founder :Mr Kartheeban), a partner organisation of Action 2020 in Sep 2009. To avoid delay, they immediately collected enough money from their members and paid the fees and got her admitted to the college.
Sufferings of rural boys
At that period, some of the poor and rural students who secured high marks in Plus two with the help of another partner organisation 'Manam Malarattum at Thiruppatur (Founder: Saravanana) got admissions in engineering courses through merit and they were also struggling hard to pay the fees. Saravanan collected some money from donors and got them admitted.
These two incidents in Sep 2009 were discussed in our Action 2020 group. We realised that the indifferent and casual attitude of Banks towards education loan caused lot of problems to poor students and many meritorious poor students have even gone for jobs in tea shops. We realised the country was losing great scientists, management professionals, and intellectuals, because of their poverty.
First initiative to improve the system
This triggered Action 2020 to focus towards Education Loan and to create awareness about the facilities available for poor students to pursue higher education.
We even interviewed over phone Dr K C Chakrbarthy, Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India and brought to his knowledge the plight of students like Divya, who could not get the support from Banks, in spite of her securing 95% marks. We published his interview and the plight of students in our Jan 2010 issue of ezine PreSense. (Please click the link to read the ezine).
http://www.prpoint.com/ezine/presense0110.pdf
When we took up the matter with the Chairman of Canara Bank and also with the Deputy Governor of RBI, within two days, Divya was chased by the bank to collect the details from her and then to sanction the loan. This was the first success of our initiative. Now, we are happy to inform the members that Divya has completed her BE (Computer Science) with CGPA of 8.72 out of 10. She got the placement in TCS and awaiting the orders. All through her study, stood first in her class.
Agony and ecstasy of Divya
Divya underwent lot of personal sufferings. Her only guardian the grand father also passed away two years back. She was left with nobody. Immediately, Action 2020 adopted Divya as our daughter. Lakshmi Radhakrishnan, one of the senior Academician offered to be her mentor right from Divya's first association with us. Now we are proud that the 'daughter of Action 2020' has come out with flying colours and completed her education. We also place on record the support given by Canara Bank.
Education Loan Task Force (ELTF) formed
In Feb 2010, we convened a meeting of Action 2020 members, media professionals, senior officials of Indian Bank, IOB, SBI and Canara Bank to understand the education loan concept better and mutual problems. This the beginning of our Education Loan Task Force (ELTF).
We also started a new website www.eltf.in and posted the latest guidelines. Every day 5 to 10 students write to us seeking clarification or reporting about harassment. We take up the deserving cases with the Chairman of the concerned banks and the RBI. Generally, within two days, the grievances are resolved with public sector banks. Unfortunately, we are not able to get anythng done with Private Banks, who never care for the IBA Scheme of Education Loan. Through ELTF, hundreds of brilliant poor students who were harassed by banks, got the justice.
ELTF is not a group of Activists; it is a group of Actionists
We do not like ourselves to be called as 'ACtivists'. We are 'Actionists'. Instead of finding fault with the system, we try to improve the system. Our approach is a win-win model. We also tell the students to follow the Bank's procedures.
We place on record, the prompt responses by Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, SBI, UCO Bank and Canara Bank, whenever we take up the issues. Print and TV media professionals also involve themselves in this task as a national duty and try to create awareness. Some of the MPs who are supporting us also take up the problems with Parliament to find solution.
We are very happy that within three and half years, we are able to create some awareness among the students and banks with the help of our volunteers, media and political leaders. We have a long way to go. The journey continues.
Srinivasan
Convenor
Education Loan Task Force (ELTF)
www.eltf.in
https://www.facebook.com/EducationLoanTaskForce
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