Within a month, the Ministry of Education has urged state governments and Union Territories administrations to identify the children orphaned by Covid and provide them with the required support.
On May 29, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered a slew of incentives for children whose parents died as a result of Covid. In a letter to the Chief Secretary, the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL) and the Ministry of Women and Child Development stated that efforts are being made to bring students orphaned by the pandemic into the fold of DoSEL's various schemes, including the mid-day meal scheme, equity of education under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, and free education under the Right To Education Act.
Fixed deposits will be formed in the names of such children, and the PM-CARES fund would contribute through a specially devised scheme to create a corpus of Rs 10 lakh for each of them when they reach the age of 18 years, according to a statement from the Prime Minister's Office. “I respectfully encourage the authorities of the States/UTs to take action in identifying such youngsters and providing them with the requisite support within one month,” Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank' stated on his social media handle.
Mr Nishank continued, "The Department of State, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Women and Child Development are all committed to providing the essential support to children who have lost one or both parents to the Coronavirus."