Assam’s higher education department is facing non-cooperation from a section of colleges in implementing the government scheme of distributing free textbooks to degree students.

A letter written by higher education department director Gitimoni Phukan to college principals on Monday reveals that out of 302 colleges, 121 colleges have so far not furnished data of the beneficiary students, including their bank account details, to give them benefits of the scheme.

The January 15 deadline set by the department to furnish the data has now been postponed to February 28.

“Out of 302 government/provincialised colleges, only 181 have uploaded students data on the web portal (of the directorate). The scheme being for the benefit of students, the last date of uploading students’ data with correct bank details has been extended up to February 28,” the letter said.

The bank account details of the students are required to provide grant of up to Rs 1,000 per student as reimbursement for text books through direct benefit transfer.

The state government had announced the scheme, which covers students of arts, science and commerce streams, in its 2019-20 budget. At present, textbooks till class XII are free in provincialised and government colleges in Assam.

To avail of the scheme’s benefit, a student will have to produce the original receipts of purchase of books to his/her college principal, who will prepare a statement in a specified format and submit the same to the director of higher education. The college will have to keep all the original vouchers or bills in safe custody for audit purposes.