Over 2,000 children in Kerala lost single parents in Covid-19

Over 2,200 children in Kerala were found to have lost either their father or mother due to Covid-19 so far.

While the Centre and Kerala governments have till now announced support schemes only for children who lost both parents, which so far comes to around 75 in Kerala, sources in the Kerala Women and Child Development (WCD) Department said that the condition of many children who lost either their father or mother was equally pathetic. Hence support schemes for such children were also very important.

So far 2,200 children in Kerala were found to have lost either father or mother and the numbers are likely to go up further as the data compilation is progressing.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the other day that the Centre was likely to announce some support schemes to families that lost breadwinners to Covid-19.

Government sources said that the District Child Protection Officers (DCPO) in the state have already started collecting details of children who lost either their father or mother due to the pandemic. The state was exploring the scope of extending support schemes like 'Vignana Deepthi' that offers monthly assistance of Rs 2,000 to children for education as well as other sponsorship programmes.

A DCPO told DH that the situation of many children, who lost either their mother or father, was really pathetic. Most of these families were financially and socially weak and in many cases, the sole breadwinner of the family succumbed to the pandemic. Teenage girls, who lost their mothers to Covid-19, need additional protection and care. Options of shifting children living in vulnerable conditions to shelter homes were also being initiated. The DCPOs are visiting such houses to understand the problems and take appropriate measures.

Meanwhile, though the Centre and state announced support schemes for children orphaned by Covid-19, the implementation of the schemes is still pending as guidelines need to be issued by the government to identify the beneficiaries.

While the government announced a support scheme for children who lost their father and mother due to Covid, there are instances where children under the care of a single parent losing the parent to Covid. Some children might have been under the care of grandparents or any close relatives who died due to Covid. All such factors need to be taken into consideration while finalising the guidelines for the support schemes, a WCD official said.