BHUBANESWAR: Revising the Green Passage Scheme to accommodate students who lost both their parents or a single parent due to Covid-19 or during the pandemic in the new academic session of 2022-23, the Higher Education department has said that Covid orphans seeking admission to higher education institutions (HEIs) will have to submit ‘Specially Cared Child Certificate’ or I-card from the tehsildar for identification.
Releasing the modalities for admission to HEIs under the Green Passage Scheme for Covid orphans recently, the department said the income cap of the guardian or single parent of such students should not exceed Rs 8 lakh per annum.
The scheme would cover the students who want to pursue or are pursuing higher education in any government or non-government HEIs. Higher officials of the department said in case of government HEIs, fees will be exempted at the time of admission on submission of required documents by the students. And in case of non-government aided colleges, fees will be exempted at the time of admission and would be reimbursed by the government on submission of required documents by the institution to the department.
Similarly, in case of non-government unaided colleges, the student will take admission by arranging funds on his or her own and then seek reimbursement from the government. The officials added that this reimbursement will be limited to `5 lakh for the entire duration of the course. Under the Green Passage Scheme, fees for admission, tuition, examination, lab, hostel, library and college/university development, among other things, will be exempted.