Maharashtra Govt announces complete fee waiver for students who lost parents to COVID-19

NEW DELHI: The Maharashtra government has announced complete fee waiver for students who lost their parents to COVID-19. The minister of higher and technical education, Chandrakant Patil said that the entire fee till the completion of their education will be waived.

With an aim to ensure that such students are not deprived of education, Chandrakant Patil said, “The government has decided to waive the entire fee till the completion of the education of the students who have lost their parents during the period, so that their graduation, postgraduation education is not left incomplete.” “It should be strictly implemented this year as well,” he said.

“Keeping in mind the interests of the students, special attention has been given to the universities and aided colleges so that the education of such students is not interrupted,” the minister said.

Also read | Why there’s a 234% rise in applications for these Chhattisgarh government schools

Minister Uday Samant last year in a similar announcement said that the annual fees of UG, PG students who lost one or both their parents to COVID-19 will be waived off until they complete their education.

A month before the announcement, the Supreme Court directed private schools in Rajasthan to waive 15 percent of school fees due to the pandemic. Following this, parents approached the Uddhav Thackeray-led state government to issue a similar order to private schools in the state.

The issue of school fees started along with the learning loss faced by students due to prolonged closure of schools due the COVID-19 pandemic and financial crunch faced by the states. Several states have announced fee waiver for school and college students who lost parents to COVID-19 pandemic.