MU revives ‘earn & learn’ scheme Six years on, varsity issues fresh circular to help needy students

MU revives ‘earn & learn’ scheme

Six years on, varsity issues fresh circular to help needy students

The University of Mumbai has finally woken up to the cause of needy students. After DNA carried a report on how the ‘earn and learn’ scheme meant for needy post-graduate students has been lying on papers for the past six years, the varsity issued a fresh circular to all post-graduate departments on Tuesday in order to revive the scheme. The circular, sent on behalf of the director of Students’ Welfare, states: Under the vice chancellor’s earn and learn scheme, each department shall identify the list of activities that will be serviced through this scheme. The students can work in the library or lab. Departments have to identify requirements, so students can be given work, with two students per department. Under this scheme, students can work for up to 20 hours a week and 500 hours in an academic year. They will be paid Rs25 per hour. This way, students can earn up to Rs2,000 a month. The payment will be made to them twice a year. DNA recently reported how Rs5 lakh allocated for the scheme has been lying unused for years because department officials are “unaware” of its existence (Mumbai University’s ‘earn & learn’ still on paper, August 22, 2012; Even MU doesn’t know it has ‘earn and learn’ scheme, December 29, 2011). However, there is a downside to the scheme being re-launched after all this while. The scheme has the same rate card as it did six years ago, when the scheme was originally launched. The students, who were looking forward to its launch are now devastated. “In a city like Mumbai, Rs25 is a meagre sum. I would be able to earn only Rs2,000, while my monthly expense comes to around Rs3,000, including hostel fees and money spent on food,” said a student of the physics department.Senate member Sanjay Vairal supported the students and said, “The amount is too low, considering inflation.” Meanwhile, many colleges in Mumbai have their own earn and learn scheme to support students. In Thakur College at Kandivali, five undergraduate students work on a part-time basis for three hours a day, five days of a week, either in the office or the library. “They receive Rs3,000 a month, which translates to Rs50 per hour,” claimed Chaitali Chakravarti, the principal of the college. None of the students could be contacted. JM Patel College at Goregaon, too, supports a few students. Principal Debajit Sarkar said, “We give them work in the library or the computers section, and they are paid on the amount of work done. Depending on that, they earn anywhere between Rs30 to Rs40 an hour.” However, a top MU official said, “This scheme is introduced to help students fund their education. It is not equivalent to a part-time job.”