The Kerala State Council for Child Welfare has instituted a scholarship for 200 children from disadvantaged families in the State.
Students who have cleared the SSLC examinations and are preparing to pursue higher education are eligible for the scholarship. The beneficiaries will be selected through the District Child Welfare Councils. Government guidelines will be followed for selecting the children, council general secretary G.L. Arun Gopi said at a press conference here on Friday.
Of the 200 beneficiaries, 150 will be from extremely poor families and 50 from tribal communities. In the first phase, ₹600 each will be given to them for 10 months. The scholarships will likely be distributed by August 10.
The council will also start classes to hone children’s extracurricular skills at the Balikamandiram on its premises at Thycaud. Training will be given in music, dance, Indian and western instrumental music, theatre, and karate. Six-month and one-year certificate courses will be rolled out by the council. The arts academy will be launched at the end of the month.
Marketing products
The council also plans to find a market for products made by children at the autism special school launched in Thrissur in 2009. The children at the autism school make handicrafts, bags, and pens. An exhibition of their products will also be held. Products made by children in other autism schools in the State will be included in the council’s exhibition.
Mr. Gopi demanded that when district collectors who were in charge of disaster management declared holidays for schools following heavy rain or other adverse weather conditions, they should deny permission for tuition centres to function. He pointed out that when holidays were declared owing to adverse weather, private tuition centres continued to function. Many of them functioned from extremely unsafe locations and structures.
