In a bid to reduce dropouts, the School Education Department has introduced a special cash incentive scheme at the secondary level. Accordingly, an incentive of Rs 1,500 for students studying in Classes 10 and 11 and Rs 2,000 for students studying in Class 12 in government and government-aided schools is deposited in the Tamil Nadu Power Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation, and the same is disbursed among the students on completion of their higher secondary education.

Stating that a sum of Rs 262.16 crore has been allocated for the scheme, implementing the scheme during the last academic year was delayed since many state-run schools have failed to update students’ data due to continuous lockdown.

Pointing out that more than 15 lakh students are expected to be benefited from the scheme, he said during the first phase, the financial assistance will be extended to over 3 lakh Class 12 students in the State-run and aided schools.

He said all the management of the schools were instructed to update the students’ details including their bank account number in the Educational Management Information System (EMIS), a common online platform connecting government, schools, and students.