PATNA, Sept. 17 -- Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday announced that interest-free loans will be provided to students who passed Class 12 board examinations under the Student Credit Card scheme to support their higher education. Besides, he has also announced an increase in monthly instalments for repayment to make it more convenient. "There was provision of repayment of loan up to Rs.2 lakh in 60 monthly instalments (five years), which has now been increased to 84 instalments (seven years, while loans above Rs.2 lakh could now be repaid in 120 instalments (10 years), instead of 84 instalments (seven years)," he announced on social media platform X. The CM said the government plans to ensure that more and more students pursue higher education with greater interest, in a bid to boost the gross enrolment ratio (GER), which still remains much below the national average. The overall GER in Bihar was recorded at 17.1% in the 2021-22 survey. The GER for women was 16.3%, a significant jump to put the state in the top 10 of the gender wise distribution as per enrolment despite poor overall scenario . The male GER was 17.8%. Bihar however, still remains way below the national average 28.4% in overall terms. Under the new education policy, the target is to take GER to 50% nationally by 2035. One of the seven pre-poll resolutions of Nitish Kumar ahead of the 2015 Assembly election, the student credit card scheme was launched on October 2, 2016, offering loans up to Rs.4lakh to students selected for admission to general or professional courses from recognised institutions in the state or outside. The beneficiaries were required pay back with 4% simple interest, while for women, physically challenged and transgender it was just 1%. "This scheme was launched 7-Resolves of the government for all students passing Plus Two and desirous of pursuing higher education," he said. In the Budget for the present fiscal also, the government earmarked Rs.1,000-crore for the student credit card scheme. After slow start to the scheme due to banks' procedural delays, it picked up after Nitish government formed its own Bihar state Education Finance Corporation Limited under the finance department in 2018 to make loan disbursal easier and also announced that it could also be waived off in future should the students find repayment difficult. The scheme is estimated to have benefited over five-lakh students so far for various courses, though it also encountered some problems as several students went missing after availing loans. In July, the Bihar government had also approved the formation of the Bihar Youth Commission and announced an ambitious plan to provide government jobs and employment opportunities to one crore youth in the state over the next five years after having achieved the target of 50-lakh in 2020-2025. In another policy move for youth empowerment and cultural preservation, the government had also announced a paid internship programme for young individuals under the "Mukhya Mantri Pratigya" scheme....