Saturday, Jun 05, 2010
Chennai: From the coming academic year, insurance for students in arts and science colleges affiliated to the University of Madras will be mandatory, vice-chancellor G. Thiruvasagam said.

“We decided to implement an insurance scheme for all our students as there are many cases of accidents and many cannot afford to pay for hospitalisation,” he said. A decision was taken at a recent Syndicate meeting. The National Insurance Company has been selected as the group insurer for all students following a tendering process, Prof. Thiruvasagam said.

The premium amount per student per year would work out to only Rs.33, he said. Colleges may collect the prescribed amount from students and directly remit to the insurance company, he added.

The insurance would cover up to Rs.50,000 for hospitalisation following accidents and provide Rs.1 lakh in case of accidental death either of the students or their parents, he said.

Welcoming the move, Nirmala Prasad, Principal, MOP Vaishnav College for Women, said it would be useful for students.

“It will especially benefit students of poorer sections in government and government-aided colleges who cannot afford treatments. We see many students having accidents each year so this will definitely be useful,” she said.

While some colleges already had insurance cover for their students, the premium amounts were higher because the number of students was smaller, Prof. Thiruvasagam said.

The colleges would be allowed to either go for the comprehensive cover or retain their earlier insurance provider.

“We only want them to mandatorily implement the insurance cover,” he said.