NCP Rajya Sabha MP Fauzia Khan has written to Prime Minster Narendra Modi requesting the central government to implement reservation in education for children orphaned by the pandemic. In the letter sent on Saturday, the MP has asked the Prime Minister to ensure such reservation is made in all verticals of education, which will allow the children to seamlessly complete their education. In the second wave of the pandemic, many families have lost their earning members but many children have also been orphaned. In some cases, children have been reported abandoned. Estimates have talked about identification of as many as 3,000 children across the country who have lost both their parents since the beginning of the pandemic last year. The National Commission for Protection of Children’s Rights has asked state governments to upload data of such children on its BalSwarajya web portal. Concerns about the fate and the risk of trafficking of such children have also been highlighted by various rights groups. In an affidavit to the Supreme Court, the right’s body has reported that more than 26,000 children have lost one parent. The Prime Minister’s Office had announced a scheme under which such children would be paid a monthly stipend for five years after they turn 18. This stipend would be paid from a Rs 10 lakh fixed deposit, which would be opened out of the PMCares fund in the name of the children. The corpus would be given to the children after five years. These and other measures were announced by the central government for such children. Khan in her letter had pointed out that the central government’s scheme would come into effect only after the children come of age. To help them complete their education, the MP has asked the central government to bring reservation for such children from pre-primary to post-graduate education. “This scheme will not only empower them but also provide much needed academic support and guidance that education institutions provide,” the letter read.
