Titled Chhattisgarh Mahtari Dular Scheme, it will be implemented from this financial year.

The Chhattisgarh government will pay for the education of children who have lost their parents to coronavirus, announced the Chief Minister’s Office on Thursday. Titled Chhattisgarh Mahtari Dular Scheme, it will be implemented from this financial year.

Additionally, a scholarship of ₹ 500 per month will be given to such orphaned children in Classes 1-8 and ₹ 1,000 per month for those in Classes 9-12.  These children will be eligible for this scholarship while studying in any government or private school.

The education of those children where the main earning member of the family was lost to Covid will also be arranged by the state government. It has also been decided that if such students apply for admission to Swami Atmanand English Medium Schools, set up by the state, they will be given priority admission and no fee will be charged from them.

“The Chhattisgarh government is providing all kinds of support to the needy. This sensitive initiative of the Chief Minister is to promote better future of destitute children,” read a tweet from the Chief Minister’s Office.

In another decision, the state government said it had cancelled tenders for the construction of the new assembly building and also stopped work on major projects in the state and said “our citizens-our priority”.

Chhattisgarh currently has 1.22 lakh active COVID-19 cases and has reported 11,094 deaths, according to the union health ministry.

In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, a BJP-ruled state, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also announced today that his government will provide free education and a pension of ₹ 5,000 per month to children whose parents died of COVID-19.

On Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh registered 8,970 new Covid cases and 84 fatalities, taking the tally of infections to 7,00,202 and the death count to 6,679, as per the state Health Department.