Orphans to be recognised on official documents

If these orphans are adopted later, there should be an option of 'new entry tab' so that their records in SARAL can be updated, stated the GR issued on Friday

Orphans in Maharashtra will now be acknowledged on official documents. The digital system of keeping records of all school-going children in the state will now include 'orphan' as an option in the category section. Until now these children were not on records or had incorrect records, due to which there was no appropriate quantification of their existence leading to issues o forming policies for them. They would be kept from benefits meant for them.

Thanks to concerns raised by the Maharashtra Child Rights Commission, a Government Resolution (GR) has been issued in this regard. The Systematic Administrative Reforms for Achieving Learning by Students – popularly known as SARAL portal, which has records of all school-going children, will now include a column for orphans. In it, mandatory details such as parents' name, religion, caste etc can be kept as 'not known.' While filing details of these children, documents of orphanages or juvenile homes will have to be considered valid. If these orphans are adopted later, there should be an option of 'new entry tab' so that their records in SARAL can be updated, stated the GR issued on Friday.

Chairperson of the Maharashtra Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Praveen Ghuge, said, "Schools were putting random names as orphans' parents' names and filling religion and caste columns with information of the orphanages. More so, because of such issues, there was no way of quantifying orphans to create appropriate policies around them. It is great that state School Education Minister, Ashish Shelar, heeded our request and took steps for the betterment of orphan children."

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