Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Dr. Amar Patnaik has requested Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal to to consider giving free admission beyond any quota and any sanctioned number of seats in any Kendriya Vidyalaya in the country, in any class to children orphaned due to COVID-19.
The BJD MP in his two paged letter to Mr Pokhriyal wrote, "Covid-19 has broken families to such an extent that children as young as 5-6 years and even younger have been suddenly rendered orphaned and many of them may also have become homeless, penniless and without food, water and clothing."
"The second wave has been particularly harsh and these children or even their near families were not even prepared for it. While in several cases, these children are too small to realize the full import of loss of parental support both in psychological and economic terms, the one thing that we, as a society and Govt, as the trustee of the people, could do is to ensure that their education, health and development as responsible citizens of the country is not thwarted/stymied in any manner whatsoever," he added.
He requested the Union Minister to kindly consider giving free admission beyond any quota whatsoever and beyond any sanctioned number of seats in any Kendiriya Vidyalaya in the country, in any class to these children as and when they approach with adequate proof or certificate from responsible District/Block or Panchayat officials about the death of their parents.
"Since the session is about to begin and admissions are still going on, the usual process of Govt first collecting the names from districts and States and then allocating them to various schools may not be a smart move at this point of time as it would be too time-consuming a much more humane approach could be to allow these children to walk into any Kendirya Vidyalaya of their choice and take admission based on certificates of death of both father and mother due to Cavid-19 or post covid complications either during the first wave or during the current wave, " he said concluding the letter.
