Media release
Mangaluru, Feb 5: ‘Educare’ is a scheme introduced by a Catholic philanthropist of Mangaluru in 2013 in collaboration with Canara Organization for Development and Peace (CODP) with a primary objective to support those meritorious students who have high aspiration to meet their educational goal but, their family financial position is not so strong to commit themselves to education for a long period.
The Trust/CODP acknowledges the innate capacity of these students to become leaders in the process of their own development, and looks forward to reverberation in them to serve the society especially the poor and needy. Therefore the less-privileged students who look forward to pursue their dream of professional and higher education can now look forward to a great support from Educare Trust.
At present educational support is available to students of Mangaluru and Udupi dioceses who have completed their Pre-university examinations and whose family income is less than Rs3 lacs. Special consideration is also available for students who are orphans and whose families are affected by tragedies and major illnesses. In order to ensure that motivated and hardworking students are not deprived, the loan is approved only for students who complete their competitive/ eligibility examinations with distinction i.e CET/COMED-K/PG CET etc. Where there is no competitive exam, students are assessed based on the immediate prior examination certificate. Additionally, it is a pre-requisite that students must have applied for government scholarship in the previous year.
The Trust believes that alleviating poverty and achieving sustained community progress or transformation lies in higher education and gender equality. With this positive vision, ‘Educare’ support was introduced as an interest-free loan facility, which MUST be repaid by students within a period of 18 months after the completion of the education approved by the Trust/CODP. All applications for support are required to be submitted to CODP with appropriate recommendations from concerned parishes including parish priests and finally reviewed by CODP for approval and acceptance.
For all courses the loan is renewed for the full term of course subject to fresh applications each year. If required, further advanced courses are also supported based on past performance and approval of the Educare committee. The renewal of loan will clearly depend on promotion to the higher class securing minimum of 60% marks or equivalent Grade Point Average in aggregate for the two preceding semesters or the annual examination which determines his promotion to the next class/year. The decision of
CODP/Trust is final and binding in all such matters. Scholarship once cancelled will not be revived under any circumstances.
The Trust/CODP offers holistic education to develop academic, creative and moral capabilities of students and transform individuals to become agents of change in service to their families and communities. As part of this initiative, motivational programmes are also arranged for all supported students at least once in every year which is a mandatory requirement for renewal.
To date, the Trust has disbursed 4189 loans to 2287 students under different categories. Out of which, 672 are for graduation, 618 post graduations, 541 engineering in various fields, 264 nursing, 67 medical and 125 diploma in various streams. An amount of Rs. 16.36 crores has been distributed to these students as interest-free loans. Students have already started their repayments and majority of them are repaying their loans as per requirement on or before the due date. Most repayments are received through monthly instalments and fully repaid as per schedule. Exceptional cases of repayment failures although have been noted, these are being managed through active follow up through parish network.
Students and their parents must understand the fact that the trust fund is a revolving fund and they must repay the loan as per schedule. If not repaid on time, they will be depriving other eligible students who may need support in the future. If Educare scheme need to run for a longer period supporting the community, the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the present beneficiaries who must ensure every rupee is returned so that the trust is strengthened as years pass by. There are some cases where students have successfully completed their education, employed with good remuneration but repayments are delayed mainly due to the reason that the Trust/CODP does not charge overdue interest. For them, obviously their priority is to settle other loans with banks, while their responsibility to Educare is secondarily which is a questionable priority.
Overall, the Educare scheme has been well accepted by both Mangalore and Udupi dioceses. It has been applauded by all parish priests as they have many needy parishioners to support their education. To that extent, meritorious students can plan their education and have a guaranteed route to progress and develop themselves as leaders. All praises to the philanthropist of Mangalore who started this scheme in the sole of interest of developing the present youth. It is up to the present beneficiary youth to take this as an example and challenge to emulate the same generosity they have received from the donor/philanthropist.