The University Grants Commission (UGC) has begun paying a Rs.5,000 monthly allowance to university students with disabilities, with arrears stretching back to January now being settled this month, NewsFirst reported on Saturday.
UGC Vice Chairman Professor Wasantha Liyanage said the decision to introduce a monthly allowance for disabled students at state universities was taken effective January 2026, and that disbursement — including the backdated months — has commenced in June. The payments cover registered students at universities under the UGC’s purview.
The rollout is the first cohort-level financial-support measure specifically targeting students with disabilities at the higher-education stage to take effect under the current government, complementing the broader student-welfare measures and Mahapola scholarship adjustments announced over the past year. The Rs.5,000 amount is intended as a recurring per-student allowance rather than a one-off grant, and the inclusion of arrears suggests the policy was retroactively gazetted to its January 1 effective date despite administrative roll-out occurring later.
UGC officials did not publicly quantify the total number of eligible students or the budgetary cost of the programme at the announcement stage. The allowance is in addition to standard fee waivers and bursary structures that apply to students drawn from low-income households.
The measure follows wider government social-protection rollouts under the Aswesuma welfare programme, and aligns with the disability-rights commitments contained in the 2024 National Disability Policy. It also lands amid broader university-governance shifts, including the UGC’s removal of the Sabaragamuwa University Vice Chancellor in May and the Education Ministry’s recent updated school-syllabus circular.
Source: NewsFirst.
