PM announces INR 10 lakh fund, free education for children who lost parents to Covid-19

Our Reporter
Dimapur, May 29 (EMN): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that all children who have lost both parents, surviving parent, legal guardian or adoptive parents due to Covid-19 will be supported under “PM Cares for Children” scheme.

The prime minister announced several benefits for children impacted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic during a meeting held to deliberate on steps that can be taken to support such kids. He said the scheme was made possible because of generous contributions to the PM Cares Fund

Fixed deposit

PM Cares will contribute a corpus of INR 10 lakh for each child when he or she reaches 18 years of age. This corpus will be used to give a monthly financial stipend from 18 years of age, for the following five years to take care of his or her personal requirements during the period of higher education and on reaching the age of 23 years, he or she will get the corpus amount as one lump-sum for personal and professional use, the PMO said in a statement.

School Education

Children under 10 years will be given admission in the nearest Kendriya Vidyalaya or in a private school as a day scholar. If the child is admitted in a private school, the fees as per the RTE norms will be given from the PM Cares. It will also pay for expenditure on uniform, textbooks and notebooks.

Those aged between 11-18 years will be given admission in any Central Government residential school such as Sainik School, Navodaya Vidyalaya etc. In case the child is to be continued under the care of guardian, grandparents or extended family, he or she will be given admission in the nearest Kendriya Vidyalaya or in a private school as a day scholar. The fees for a private school will also be given from PM Cares, including expenditure on uniform, textbooks and notebooks.

Support for Higher Education

The child will be assisted in obtaining an education loan for professional courses or higher education in India as per the existing education loan norms. The interest on this loan will be paid by PM Cares.

As an alternative, scholarship equivalent to the tuition fees / course fees for undergraduate/ vocational courses as per government norms will be provided to such children under central or state government schemes. For children who are not eligible under the existing scholarship schemes, PM Cares will provide an equivalent scholarship.

Health insurance

• All children will be enrolled as a beneficiary under Ayushman Bharat Scheme (PM-JAY) with a health insurance cover of INR 5 lakh.
• The premium amount for these children till the age of 18 years will be paid by PM Cares.