A decision to this regard was taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a meeting on Saturday.

All children who have lost both parents or legal guardian or adoptive parents due to Covid- 19 will be supported under ‘PM-CARES for Children’ scheme.

He also added that the measures being announced have only been possible due to the generous contributions to the PM CARES Fund which will support India’s fight against COVID-19.

Under the scheme, a corpus of Rs 10 lakh will be created for each child when he or she reaches 18 years of age.

This corpus will be used to give a monthly financial support or stipend to a child once he or she turns 18 years of age. This will be given for the next five years to take care of his or her personal requirements during the period of higher education and on reaching the age of 23 years, he or she will get the corpus amount as one lump-sum for personal and professional use.

School education for children under 10 years:

The child will be given admission in the nearest Kendriya Vidyalaya or in a private school as a day scholar.

If the child is admitted in a private school, the fees as per the RTE norms will be given from the PM CARES, which will also pay for expenditure on uniform, textbooks and notebooks.

School education for children between 11-18 years:

The child will be given admission in any Central Government residential school such as Sainik School, Navodaya Vidyalaya and others

In case the child is to be continued under the care of Guardian/ grandparents/ extended family, then he or she will be given admission in the nearest Kendriya Vidyalaya or in a private school as a day scholar.

If the child is admitted in a private school, the fees as per the RTE norms will be given from the PM CARES.


PM CARES will also pay for expenditure on uniforms, textbooks and notebooks.

Support for higher education:

The child will be assisted in obtaining an education loan for professional courses or higher education in India as per the existing education loan norms. The interest on this loan will be paid by the PM CARES.

As an alternative, scholarship equivalent to the tuition fees, course fees for undergraduate or vocational courses as per government norms will be provided to such children under Central or State government schemes. For children who are not eligible under the existing scholarship schemes, PM CARES will provide an equivalent scholarship.

Health Insurance

All children will be enrolled as a beneficiary under Ayushman Bharat Scheme (PM-JAY) with a health insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakhs. The premium amount for these children till the age of 18 years will be paid by PM CARES.