Patna: The Student Credit Card (SCC) scheme, part of one of the seven resolves of chief minister Nitish Kumar for a developed Bihar, has catapulted to success after education loans for higher studies to around 5,600 students have been sanctioned since July 15.

This change has come after the state government took away the scheme from the hand of public sector banks because of inordinate delays and tardy pace and handed it over to the newly-created Bihar State Education Finance Corporation (BSEFC).

In comparison, the banks had sanctioned loans to only 11,000 students from October 2, 2016, when the state launched the SCC scheme, to April 2018.

"Applications are coming to BSEFC after being verified by the education department and are being disposed of within a week. A queue system is being strictly followed. We have incorporated state-of-the-art information technology backbone used by banks to streamline everything," finance department principal secretary Sujata Chaturvedi said.

She added that BSEFC was using a paperless system with no need for the students to come to the office. It has also helped in usher transparency in sanctioning loans.

Under the SCC, the state government provides up to Rs 4 lakh as education loan to Class XII board pass students for further studies and to Class X board pass students for polytechnic courses. Boys are charged 4 per cent simple interest for the loan, while girls have to pay 1 per cent interest.

Throwing light on the sanction figures, BSEFC managing director Jayant Kumar Singh said: "We have sanctioned SCC loans to 5,579 students from July 15 to August 21. Of these there are 4,456 boys, 1,122 girls and a transgender. The total sanctioned amount by us stands at over Rs 152 crore so far."

Jayant added that Patna, Samastipur, Gaya, Saran and East Champaran are the leading districts with regard to the number of applications sanctioned.

"Right now we are giving priority to applications of students who are seeking admission in courses that begin in August-September. We have also created a WhatsApp group to rectify issues that crop up. A helpdesk with toll-free telephone numbers is also being set-up," Jayant said.

BSEFC officials said at present they have over 8,000 pending applications that are the remnants of the era in which banks were to sanction and disburse education loans given under the SCC.

They are hopeful they would be able to dispose of the pending ones soon and would be ready to tackle the rising number of applications too.