Earn & Learn scheme makes hundreds of students self-reliance

By Mehboob Inamdar

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Hundreds of rural students come for higher education at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Bamu) every year. However, those who are poor face financial conditions, and some of them are even unable to pay charges of mess.

The university launched the ‘Earn and Learn’ scheme several decades ago to help students to continue their education. More than 470 students, including girls from 55 postgraduate departments are selected every year for the scheme. Each beneficiary will have to work for two hours. This year, the honorarium was increased to Rs 3000 from earlier Rs 2000. The scheme has made many students self-reliant in their life.

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Rs 300 honorarium big for survival

Dr Ganesh Kulkarkni who is a librarian (associate professor) at Shri Sant Savta Mali Rural College (Phulambri) and one of the beneficiaries, said that he decided not to take any money from his parents for higher education.

“I am from Takarvan in Majagaon tehsil of Beed district. I was a beneficiary of the scheme from 1995 to 1997 and did B Lib, B J and M Lib during these years. I was need in need of Rs 350 which were the monthly mess charges. The monthly honorarium was Rs 300.

Initially, I was given the work of removing weeds in a horticulture project of cultivating fruits on campus. Later, the works like running Xerox machines, selling vegetables, and file and envelop making were given to students like me. Though today the amount appears very small, but, at that time, it was big and necessary for survival. I managed to earn Rs 50 by selling milk pouches to the university canteen,” he said.

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Could not have completed my education without that honorarium

Dr Rajesh Karpe, who is head of the History Department of Pratisthan College (Paithan) and worked under the scheme from 1997-2000 as a PG student said that being from a humble family, it was difficult to continue higher education in the city without money required to fulfil basic needs like a meal.

“I worked in Employment Guarantee Scheme in my village for education. For the PG course, the issue of tuition fees was solved as there was EBC while arranging money for the mess was not easy.

Therefore, I had to take admission to the scheme. Honestly, I could not have completed my education without this honorarium,” he said. He said that when he was elected as a Management Council member, he got approved the proposal in his first meeting to increase the honorarium up to Rs 2000.

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Dr Sunita Borde, the head of the History Department of C B Shah Mahila College (Sangli) worked under the scheme when she was pursuing M A in History in 1999.

“I was in need of money to continue the PG education. I was the first girl student from History Department to register for the scheme. When I was waiting for an interview of the scheme, some boys passed comments on me at that time. I remembered one sentence of my mother ‘One should not be ashamed of his/her work, she said. Dr Sunita who has also written the story ‘Findri’ on her journey on the university campus said that Rs 450 was given as a monthly honorarium for doing work like cleaning, lamination and file making.

“The scheme has taught us to become self-reliance with honour. Because of this, I never felt shame about doing any work,” she added.

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Trying to give prestige to work culture: VC Dr Yeole

Vice-chancellor Dr Pramod Yeole said that he feels that it is necessary to cultivate a work culture in the country. “So, the 'Earn and Learn' scheme is not only educational but also self-reliance training. Thousands of students have benefited from this scheme to date and last year, 478 people got benefit. From the current year, the remuneration of the students has been increased,” he said.