Students can avail Kanyashree even if they are not in Class VII but are aged 13

It may be mentioned that as per the norms of the Kanyashree Scheme, an unmarried girl aged between 13 to 18 years and studying in Class VIII to XII would get annual scholarship of Rs 500.

The students get one time grant of Rs 25,000 if they remain unmarried and continue their studies till the age of 18.But in most cases, specially-able children studies in lower Classes than other children of their age.

In reply to a question in Assembly on Wednesday, Dr Sashi Panja, the state Child Development minister, said that from now on a specially-able girl student can avail the Kanyashree Scheme even if she is studying in lower standards than Class VIII at the age of 13 years.

Under the scheme, income of parents of the beneficiaries shouldn’t exceed Rs 10,000 per month. But it would no more be considered for the specially-able students.

They would get the benefit even if their parents’ income is more than Rs 1.2 lakh per year. It may be mentioned, that at present total number of specially-able children in the state is 3,593. Out of them 3,118 are eligible to get the annual scholarship of Rs 500 and rest 475 will get the one time grant of Rs 25,000.

The Kanyashree Scheme, which was launched on October 1 in 2013, is the brainchild and one of the dream projects of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The scheme was mooted to check child marriage and at the same time to bring down the school dropout rate.

With the introduction of the scheme, the school dropout rate has gone down. The scheme received international acclaim. The department for International development, United Kingdom and UNICEF had selected the scheme for the presentation at the “Girl Summit – 2014”.

In reply to another question related to the functioning of the ICDS centres in the state, Dr Panja said that there are 1,16,394 centres. There are vacancies in some of the districts.

Recruitment in eight districts cannot take place due to some ongoing Court cases. She further said that the matter of increasing the remuneration of ICDS workers is under the consideration of the state government.