New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Saturday announced a new scheme--PM-CARES for Children--for providing financial support to children who have lost their parents to COVID-19.
As per the details of the scheme mentioned in an official release, a corpus of Rs 10 lakh for each child will be created from the funds of PM CARES which will be used to give monthly financial support or stipend from 18 years of age, for the next five years to take care of personal requirements during the period of higher education and on reaching the age of 23 years, they will get the corpus amount as one lump-sum for personal and professional use.
For children under 10 years of age, admission will be given to the nearest Kendriya Vidyalaya or in a private school as a day scholar. If the child is admitted to a private school, the fees as per the RTE norms will be given from the PM CARES. Expenditure on uniforms, textbooks, and notebooks will also be given, the release said.
For children between 11 and 18 years of age, admission will be given to any Central Government residential school such as Sainik School, Navodaya Vidyalaya. In case the child is under the care of a guardian or any family member, then he or she will be given admission to the nearest Kendriya Vidyalaya or in a private school as a day scholar.
The child will be assisted in obtaining an education loan for professional courses or higher education as per the existing education loan norms. The interest on this loan will be paid by the PM CARES.
As an alternative, scholarships equivalent to the tuition fees or course fees for undergraduate or 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.
All children will be enrolled as a beneficiary under Ayushman Bharat Scheme (PM-JAY) with a health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakhs. The premium amount for these children till the age of 18 years will be paid by PM CARES, the release added.
The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Mr Modi.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the authorities to identify children who have lost their parents and provide them with basic needs like food, cloth, and shelter.
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