An official press release here said that Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa allocated Rs 6.36 crore for providing bicycles free of cost, considering the fact that a large number of students in ITIs hailed from economically poor background.

This was in line with the existing scheme of providing bicycles to school students who cover considerable distance to reach their institutions, the release said, adding, the proposed move would benefit 21,925 ITI students.

The Jayalalithaa government has been providing a slew of sops to school and college students including supplying free laptops, touted to be a key programme of the government.

It may be recalled that the Chief Minister has ordered scholarships to the tenth, eleventh and twelfth standard students of State-run and government- recognised special schools yesterday. This is to stop the discontinuing of studies by the differently-abled children.

As per the order, students of class ten and eleven would get Rs 1,500 as scholarship, while students of class twelve Rs 2,000. As many as 1,359 students would  benefit from this announcement.

Also, Jayalalithaa ordered to extend a scheme, which allows free travel in government buses by 2,390 differently abled students of training centres and nursery schools in 32 districts of the State. As per the new order, a person can accompany them in State-owned buses free of cost.

Last month, the Chief Minister sanctioned Rs 50 lakh for the distribution of magnifiers for school students with visual impairment.

An official statement said that 500 visually challenged boys and girls would be given these magnifiers to help them read textbooks. These magnifiers can also be used on computers, laptops and televisions thus proving to be of much use to these students in pursuing their education.