Mahtari Dular Scheme

Mahtari Dular Scheme is a Government of Chhattisgarh scheme that takes over the education costs of children who lost a parent, or both parents, to COVID-19. Launched on 14 May 2021 at the height of the second wave and run by the School Education Department, Mahtari Dular Scheme, "महतारी दुलार योजना", literally "a mother's affection", pays a monthly scholarship of Rs 500 for children in classes 1 to 8 and Rs 1,000 for children in classes 9 to 12, and gives these children free, priority admission to the state's Swami Atmanand English Medium Schools.

What is the Mahtari Dular Scheme?

Mahtari Dular Scheme was created to answer a very specific consequence of the pandemic. When the earning parent in a household died of COVID-19, the immediate risk to the surviving children was not only grief and destitution but withdrawal from school. The fee, the uniform and the books become impossible, and a child who drops out at eleven very rarely returns. Mahtari Dular Scheme was designed to remove that specific risk by putting the state, rather than the surviving family, behind the child's schooling.

Mahtari Dular Scheme has three components:

• Free schooling. The state bears the cost of the child's education, so that fees do not force a withdrawal.
• A monthly scholarship. Rs 500 a month for classes 1 to 8 and Rs 1,000 a month for classes 9 to 12, covering the incidental costs of staying in school.
• Priority admission to Swami Atmanand English Medium Schools. Children under the scheme get preference in admission to these state-run English medium schools, with no fee charged. This component is significant: those schools are heavily oversubscribed, and a preference in admission is a real transfer of opportunity, not a formality.

Mahtari Dular Scheme was initially framed around a narrower group and then extended by the Chief Minister to cover all children in Chhattisgarh orphaned by COVID-19, whichever school they attend.

Who is eligible for the Mahtari Dular Scheme?

Mahtari Dular Scheme covers a child who meets these conditions:

• The child lost his or her earning parent: mother, father, or both parents — to COVID-19.
• The child is a resident of Chhattisgarh.
• The child is enrolled in school. Students of both government and private schools are covered by the scholarship component.
• The child is in classes 1 to 12, which is the range the two scholarship rates cover.

The following are not eligible and cannot claim under this scheme:

• Children who lost a parent to a cause other than COVID-19. This is the boundary of the scheme as announced, and it is the commonest source of disappointment. Such children should be assessed instead under the Chhattisgarh sponsorship and foster care programme run by the Women and Child Development Department, or under the state's other child welfare provisions.
• Children who are not residents of Chhattisgarh.
• Children not enrolled in any school. The first step for such a child is enrolment, after which the scholarship can follow.
• Children who have already completed class 12, since the scheme's scholarship covers school education.

A child covered by Mahtari Dular may separately qualify for PM CARES for Children, the central scheme for children who lost both parents to COVID-19. Those are different schemes with different benefits, and a family should have the child assessed for both rather than assuming one excludes the other.

How much does the Mahtari Dular Scheme pay?

Mahtari Dular Scheme pays on a two-slab structure tied to the class the child is studying in:

• Classes 1 to 8: Rs 500 per month.
• Classes 9 to 12: Rs 1,000 per month.

Over a full academic year, that is Rs 6,000 for a primary or middle school child and Rs 12,000 for a secondary or higher secondary student. The scholarship is paid by direct benefit transfer into the bank account of the child or the guardian, which is why an operative, Aadhaar-seeded account is a practical precondition for receiving it.

The free schooling and the priority Swami Atmanand admission are in-kind benefits and are not paid as cash.

How to apply for the Mahtari Dular Scheme

Mahtari Dular Scheme is designed around departmental identification rather than a public application form, but a family does not have to wait to be identified. Follow these steps:

1. Obtain the death certificate of the parent from the municipal corporation, nagar panchayat or gram panchayat registrar of births and deaths. Without this document nothing else can move.
2. Inform the head of the child's school in writing that the child has lost a parent to COVID-19, and ask that the case be forwarded under Mahtari Dular Scheme. Give the child's name, class, student ID and the date of the parent's death.
3. Submit the supporting documents, the death certificate, the child's Aadhaar, residence proof, school enrolment proof, the bank passbook and guardianship proof where the child is with a relative; to the school. Keep a dated acknowledgement.
4. Follow up with the District Education Officer of your district if the school does not confirm within a reasonable period that the case has been forwarded. The District Education Officer is the district-level authority for the scheme.
5. Where you also want the Swami Atmanand English Medium School admission, say so explicitly in the same letter, because the admission preference is a separate action from the scholarship and is time-bound to the admission season.
6. Cooperate with the verification. The district cross-checks the death against health department COVID-19 records, and against the Women and Child Development or Social Welfare list of affected children, before the scholarship starts.

No fee is charged at any stage of Mahtari Dular Scheme. Any demand for payment is a fraud.

How do I check the status of a Mahtari Dular case?

Status is followed up through the school first and the District Education Officer second, using the dated acknowledgement the school gave when the papers were submitted. Once the scholarship has begun, the payment itself is visible in the bank account passbook or through the bank's SMS alerts, since it arrives by direct benefit transfer. Where the case has been forwarded but no payment has arrived after a full quarter, take the acknowledgement to the District Education Officer and ask for the position in writing.

Why do cases get stuck, and how do you fix them?

Mahtari Dular Scheme cases stall for a small set of reasons:

• COVID-19 not recorded as the cause of death. Where the death certificate states a different cause, or the death was never linked to COVID-19 in the health department's records, the case cannot be verified. Approach the district health office with the treatment records and hospital papers to establish the link.
• No death certificate. Deaths at home during the second wave were sometimes never registered. Apply to the registrar of births and deaths for late registration, which is a defined procedure.
• Bank account problems. An account that is dormant, not Aadhaar-seeded, or in a name that does not match the child's records will fail the transfer even after sanction. Fix this at the branch.
• Child not enrolled. A child who dropped out after the parent's death is outside the scholarship until re-enrolled. Enrol the child first; schools are obliged to admit under the Right to Education Act at the appropriate class.
• Name mismatch. The child's name in the school register, on Aadhaar and on the bank account must agree. School records with an informal name are common and should be corrected.

Where do I complain if something goes wrong?

Complaints under Mahtari Dular Scheme go first to the head of the school in writing, then to the Block Education Officer, then to the District Education Officer, who is the effective grievance authority at district level. Beyond that, the matter can be escalated to the Directorate of Public Instruction under the Chhattisgarh School Education Department, and to the District Collector, who coordinates all departments involved in identifying affected children. Where the child's wider welfare is at risk, not just the scholarship, contact Childline on 1098, which operates across India and can bring the district child protection unit into the case. Keep dated copies of everything submitted.

Key dates and current status

Mahtari Dular Scheme was launched on 14 May 2021 and was subsequently widened by the Chief Minister to cover all children in Chhattisgarh orphaned by COVID-19. No public last date has been announced for bringing an eligible child under the scheme, and because the qualifying event is a death that has already occurred, the pool of eligible children is closed and fixed rather than growing. The practical implication is that families should not delay: the older the case, the harder it becomes to reconstruct the health department record that links the death to COVID-19, and the sooner a child is brought under the scheme the fewer school years are lost. Confirm current scholarship rates and the admission preference procedure with the District Education Officer, since administrative parameters can be revised.