With a large number of students in India opting for overseas education and professional courses, there has been a huge growth in the educational loan sector. This has compelled the government of India to come up with some modified terms and conditions on the education loan. These modifications help the students get more favorable terms and conditions. The Indian government is prioritizing on making the loans more affordable to the students.

Among the several schemes introduced last year, one was on slashing the interest rate on loan amount and moratorium period, while another had its focus on tax concession. Some of the new proposals on education loans introduced by the India government are –

• Slashed interest rate: With the new policy, the rate of interest becomes directly proportional to the income of the parents. If the annual income of parents is below INR 4.5 lakhs, the students will enjoy the lowest available interest rate. The rate of interest becomes more for parents having annual income more than INR 4.5 lakhs and loan amounting to 12 lakhs. The interest of rate is the highest for loans amounting above INR 12 lakhs.

• Moratorium interest: Normally, students get a moratorium or freeze period of 1 year, after which the repayment period of loan starts. The Indian government has proposed that under the new scheme if the loan amount is taken for 7 years, of which 2 years is the academic period and 1 year is moratorium period, then the interest for these first 3 years will be borne by the government. This scheme would prove to be immensely beneficial to the students and they can save quite a large amount of money.

• Tax concession: Earlier, tax concession was enjoyed by only those students pursuing graduate or postgraduate education in engineering, medicine, management, mathematics, pure science, statistics, and applied science. However, under the new scheme, students from all streams including vocational courses also can avail this concession. This has been introduced so that students from economically weaker sections can also take the opportunity of education loans.

• Repayment period: Under the new proposal the repayment period has been changed to six to twelve years from the earlier five to seven years. The HRD Ministry has suggested this keeping in mind that the extended time would lower the pressure on the borrower. However, till now, the repayment period offered by maximum banks is seven years. There are some exceptional lending institutes that offer a repayment period of 10 years.

The new scheme on education loans would also be available to parents who have legally adopted children. It seems that the Government of India is finally focusing on the educational sector and the students. However, along with new schemes on education loans, the government should also emphasize on improving the academic infrastructure of the country, with updated schools, colleges, and universities. If the government schools can deliver global standards teaching and other facilities like private ones, parents will start opting for the former and thus save a lot of money on the primary and secondary levels. This can bring down the number of loan applicants as well.

Parents often feel the requirement of getting a private tutor for their kids when they find that their children are not performing up to the mark in school. There is absolutely nothing alarming in such state of affairs as teachers in schools have to take care of around 30 children at a time and often they find it difficult to attend to each kid personally. So, it is up to the parents to find their child a suitable guidance in the form of a private tutor. Now, making the right choice under such circumstances is not an easy task. They will obviously not be ready to appoint just anybody in this post on the word of mouth basis. There are a few things that they need to focus on before they zero down on the perfect tutor for their child.

The education background of a private tutor is his/her most important asset. A person with good educational qualifications with a record of having performed consistently well during his/her student life will be the right person to motivate a child to work hard and take interest. In order to teach a kid, one has to generate a certain amount of interest so that the child is eager to know and is ready to absorb as much information as possible. He/she should encourage the child to think and question so that learning becomes a two-way process. It is also preferable that the candidate has had some experience in this field.

Discipline, sincerity and commitment to the job are some of the very important qualities that the private tutors must possess. As it is difficult to gauge whether the candidate has these positive attributes, the parents can appoint him/her on a temporary basis for seven days and observe. If he/she does not turn up on time, is irregular and is hardly able to communicate on a positive note with the child that is when the parents have to seriously start looking for a replacement. A tutor must be sincere enough to do the job in a responsible manner as it is going to affect the life of a child and his performance in academics. A good home tutor is also someone who will be able to identify the problem areas that the child is facing in academics and will be able to take it up.

However, while choosing a private tutor, the parents should also prioritize the preferences of their children. If the kid feels at ease when he/she is with the tutor and is not scared to bring up topics that are particularly problematic and need to be explained, the search would end there. Keeping a regular tab on the proceedings is also a good idea. Parents should take active interest in their kids’ homework and that is how they will know if the private tutor is putting his/her best foot forward. Regular interactions with the teacher about the child’s progress will also keep the tutor on his/her toes.

Most of the parents often complain about the fact that their kids are forever glued to video games. Many say that it is an extremely bad habit as the children just drag themselves up to the sofa and go on clicking the buttons of the game controls like crazy. There is more opposition on the health grounds as the guardians are scared of the fact that this continuous video gaming can result in the gradual slowdown of the brain and the body as there is hardly any exercise involved in it. But video games do make a positive contribution towards the development of the brains of the kids, let us see how.

Some academicians and scientists are of the view that video games keep the minds of the children alert and enable them to think strategically and solve problems. If we take into consideration all those games that involve shooting similar colored objects, helping the bear cross all hurdles and reach home safely, virtual football and suchlike, they help the children plan their every move in the most cunning manner so that they can succeed. This is certainly helpful for the mental improvement of the kids. Though we cannot say that video games are now the best alternatives for classroom teaching, they are at least shedding their negative image and have some positive attributes to add to a child’s life.

A recent survey has indicated that children who play educational games like quiz and math games do not suffer from short attention span. They can focus for a longer period of time and that is obviously helpful when they are in their respective classrooms. The games also help them remember better as numbers, places, pictures and colors come alive on the screen. This is a much better way of retaining information as compared to the monotony of texts and the grasping of concepts become simpler. However, the ones who like to play violent games that have a lot of battles and gunshots are more likely to suffer from short attention spans. So, it is pretty important to help the child choose the right kind of video game that will make it possible for him/her to mix fun and learning. To help the kids become attracted to educational video games, parents must show a good amount of interest in the same.

However, it is certainly true that for all-round development of the mind and body, everything should be in moderation. Too much of video games will prevent the kids from socializing and making friends. Physical activity is equally important and so an hour or two of video gaming should be considered enough for the day. Playing and interacting with friends is an integral part of the mental growth of a child as he/she is able to absorb new ideas and develop social bonds. So to cut a long story short, video games have certainly been able to shrug off their image of being absolutely useless and can help solve some issues in the field of child development. But maintaining the right balance is the key.