Nashik: Medical students from the non creamy-layer Economical Backward Class (EBC) families are set to get 50% of their fees reimbursed from 2018-19 academic session under the state government’s Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj EBC scholarship scheme.This means that 50% fees of the students whose annual family income is between Rs 2.50 lakh to Rs 6 lakh will be reimbursed by the state government in their respective Aadhaar card seeded bank account.Earlier, the government would reimburse only the amount of interest on the education loan taken by MBBS and BDS students. The government has made it clear that the practice of paying interest on education loan for these courses will come to an end from the next academic session.The Maratha community, which has taken to the streets in the past, had pushed the government to reimburse the fees instead of only the interest amount.The government decision will be applicable even for students pursuing MBBS and BDS in private unaided colleges and universities. However, students enrolled under the management quota or studying in self-financed or private autonomous universities won’t be entitled to this benefit.According to a senior official of the management council of Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), the fees of MBBS and BDS defer from college to college. The dental course fees range from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 20 lakh for three years.“Average fee for one year of MBBS is Rs 55,000 and above. In some well-known private colleges, the fee extend up to Rs 1.50 lakh per year. The MBBS course is of four-and-a-half years,” said the official.As per the Medical Council of India (MCI), there are 7,270 seats available in Maharashtra for MBBS.These include 2,960 seats in government colleges, 1,920 seats in private colleges and the remaining 2,390 seats are from deemed universities and self-funded institutions.The number of BDS seats in government dental colleges for the year 2017-18 is 260, while there are 2,300 seats in private dental colleges. The decision will not only benefit students getting admissions in the academic year 2018-19 but also help those already pursuing the courses.According to Sakal Maratha Samaj activists, this decision is most important step to ensure social justice. “Students of all health science courses other than MBBS and BDS used to get benefit of the scheme. The government has now included the MBBS and BDS students too. This will benefit many bright students from financially weaker family-backgrounds to pursue higher education,” said a senior activist of the outfit.

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