The Maharashtra Government has announced complete fee waiver education for students who have lost their parents to Covid, Minister of Higher and Technical Education, Chandrakant Patil said. The decision to provide free education has been taken for the second year in a row so that students in their graduation and postgraduation programmes are not deprived of education due to financial constraints.
The Maharashtra Minister of Higher and Technical Education in a social media post said: “The government had 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/post-graduation education is not left incomplete or these students are not deprived of education.”
Adding that the complete fee waiver provision should be strictly implemented this year as well, Mr Patil further 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 or their education is not damaged.”
“As many as 931 undergraduate and 228 postgraduate students of various government colleges have lost both their parents to the COVID-19 pandemic. The government will pay their fees of the entire course,” Mr Patil said earlier.
The decision to provide free education, the minister added, will cost the state exchequer more than Rs 2 crore annually.