Ensure uninterrupted edu of Covid orphans: SC to AP

‘Over 1L kids orphaned or lost a parent’

THE COURT ordered the Andhra government, Child Welfare Committee and district education officer to impress upon the private schools to waive off the fee of these children or state itself should bear the cost of the education of these children, including that of books and uniforms

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Andhra Pradesh government to ensure that there is no break in the education of children studying in private schools who have become orphans or lost their parents during the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are 329 orphan children and 7,110 children who have lost one of their parents due to the Covid infection.

The top court direction to Andhra Pradesh government came as the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) said that there are around one lakh children who need support and care as they have lost either one or both parents in the Covid pandemic year.

NCPCR told the court that 8,161 children have become orphans and 92,475 lost one of the parents since March 2020 — when the pandemic assumed menacing proportions in the country.

Ordering the continuity of education of the Covid orphans studying in private schools for the current academic year, a bench comprising

Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Aniruddha Bose ordered the Andhra Pradesh government along with Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and district education officer to impress upon the private schools to waive off the fee of these children or state itself should bear the cost of the education of these children including that of books and uniforms.

The court also asked the district magistrate to uploads information about these children relating to all the six stages that includes identification of children who are orphaned or lost one of their parents, steps for immediate relief, inquires by the child welfare committees leading to social investigation report of each child, monitoring of children by CWC and the district child protection officer to ensure that the benefits announced by the Central and the state governments reach these children.

The Supreme Court order came during the hearing of a suo motu petition relating to “Contagion of Covid 19 virus in children protection home”. The hearing saw the broadening of its scope when the court embarked on addressing the conditions of children of parents who lost their lives to Covid.