Schools offer free education to students losing parents to Covid in Allahabad

PRAYAGRAJ: At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has snatched earning members of many families, several schools and colleges in the district have extended a helping hand to the students of such families in completing their studies.
One such noble step has been taken by the Maharishi Patanjali Vidya Mandir (MPVM) group of institutions of the city. The school management, which runs four eminent schools in the city having an overall strength of over 7,000 students, have decided that the fee of such students would be waived off for the entire study period.
“What has happened with such a student is unfortunate. We can’t be insensitive at a time when some families have lost their earning member. We have decided that the fee of any student, enrolled in any of the four schools of the group and losing the only earning member of the family, shall be waived off for the entire duration of his or her studies in our schools,” said secretary of MPVM group, Krishna Mishra.
Likewise, another noted English medium school of the city, St Joseph Schools and College has decided to waive off the fee of students who have lost the earning member of the family in the coronavirus pandemic.
The school administration said, “In order to lessen the damage done to the families of our students due to Covid deaths, the college will waive off for one year the entire fees of the students who have lost either their mother or father this year. And if any student has lost both the parents this year, the college will waive off his/her entire tuition fees for the next three academic years in our college. Thereafter, the situation will be reviewed for continuing assistance, so that his studies in our college are not affected.”
Moving a step further, the Jaiswal Group of educational institutions, having schools and colleges in rural areas of the district, has decided that the entire education of such kids, from kindergarten (KG) to Post Graduation (PG), would be free.
The group has two colleges affiliated to Prof Rajendra Singh (Rajju Bhaiya) State University of Prayagraj. Students helped by the group would complete the studies at Ramdulari Bachhu Lal Jaiswal College at Nawabganj and Mevallal Jaiswal PG College at Nindura, Lalgopalganj.
Manager Laxmi Narayan Jaiswal and founder Rakesh Jaiswal said, “Many people have died in the Corona pandemic and our hearts go out for such families. We cannot bring back those who have left the families, but at least our meagre help would ensure that studies of kids of the affected families are not hindered because of financial issues.”
“It was then decided that children who lost their parents from Corona would be given free education, from KG to PG,” they added.
This group has been doing social service for the past several years and providing free education to poor female students is one such service.