New Delhi: The Supreme Court directed the state governments to ensure that the education of children, who became orphans after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, in private schools on Thursday.
The court asked the states to continue their education without disruption at least during the present academic year.
According to the top court, the schools can be directed to waive fees or the states can bear half the fee for these children.
The apex court directed the states to act in cohesion with Child Welfare Committees and District Education Officers to deliberate with the private schools where these children are enrolled, reported The New Indian Express.
Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Aniruddha Bose’s bench passed the direction in the suo motu case taken to deal with the issue of COVID-affected children.
“State governments shall also take steps to ensure education of children who have lost their parents is not disrupted for this academic year. Identification of children who have lost both or one parent is a starting point to find out the needs of distressed children,” the bench said.
The bench underlined that delay in uploading information in the Bal Swaraj Portal of the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights would be detrimental to their interest.
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