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Education Ministry limits Suraksha student insurance payments; parents in the dark
View(s):The Education Ministry has restricted some of the insurance benefits provided under the Suraksha Insurance scheme for students, but lack of awareness among parents about the limitations has caused problems to them.
Accordingly, benefits paid in the event of a death of a parent have been limited to low income group families who earn less than Rs 15,000 a month. Earlier the benefit was available to all irrespective of the income level of their families.
According to the change, the maximum payment for critical illnesses which was unlimited has now been reduced to a ceiling of Rs 1.5 million.
However, most parents say they are unaware of the change which came into effect in December last year and was circulated by the Education Ministry only in March.
A senior official said they could not provide the information to the parents as the schools were closed during most of the time due to the Covid pandemic.
The Sunday Times learns that some of the parents believing that they were under a full insurance cover had obtained treatment for their children, but later learnt that the scheme had been revised.
Meanwhile, more than 5,000 students are awaiting payments under the Suraksha Insurance scheme since last year as the Government is yet to release more than Rs 300 million required for the payments, a senior Education Ministry official said.
The payments including death benefits, payments for operations and purchases of spectacles were for claims made before May last year. The Education Ministry changed the insurance company to Sri Lanka Insurance later in the year.