School Board finalises group insurance package for students
By - Meghdoot Sharon

After the death of eight-year-old Aftabalam Sheikh, a student of the Rajpur Municipal School, the School Board has swung into action. It has nearly finalized a group insurance package for children studying in municipal schools.

Under this, the 2.3 lakh students will be insured for life at a cost of Rs 6.56 lakhs for a period of one year. If a municipal school student dies, even if at home, his family will receieve Rs 20,000 as insurance. However, no provision has been made for payment of insurance in case of injuries.

The proposal to insure children studying in municipal schools was made in this year’s School Board budget and a three-member committee comprising Board members Dinesh Rawal and Jagsish Bhavsar along with administrative officer N N Qureshi was formed on June 18.

The three met on Thursday and decided to ensure that all municipal school students are insured in a week’s time. Teachers will not be covered under the group insurance scheme "as most of them have personal insurance policies worth lakhs."

Rawal said there was no question that there was a slight delay in getting the group insurance done, adding that the Board was busy with other work. "First there were vacations and inimediately after schooling began, there were safety problems in schools," he explained.

Rawal said offers of five insurance companies were sought and that the best was the one by United India Assurance. In the meeting held on Thursday, the members have nearly finalized a scheme offered by United India Assurance Limited, after scrutinizing the other offers.

The board members, school board chairman and the administrative officer will finalize the proposal before the payment is made, Rawal told.

According to the offer, Rs 285 will have to be deposited as premium for each student. The number of students is 2.3 lakhs and the onetime premium to be paid will amount to Rs 6.56 lakh.

When asked if Aftalialam’s death that led the Board to hurry up with the insurance proposal, Bhavsar said the committee to finalize the insurance package was formed before the boy died. "Given the condition of our buildings, it is in the interest of students that they are insured as quickly as possible," he said.

School Board chairman Dr. Ganpat Parmar said the Board had already made a provision of Rs 10 lakh in the budget for insurance. As soon as the academic year began, I began pursuing the matter," he said. Although the children who died in the quake were not insured, the State Government and School Board had already paid compensation to their families, he added.

Republished from The Indian Express