Children Education Allowance calculator

This calculator works out your Children Education Allowance and Hostel Subsidy. Children Education Allowance is a fixed monthly amount a central government employee is reimbursed towards the schooling of up to two children, and Hostel Subsidy is paid instead for a child in a residential hostel. Choose the claim for each child below; the total updates as you type. The amounts and a worked example follow.

Calculator

The amounts

Children Education Allowance under the 7th Central Pay Commission is a fixed monthly amount per child, not linked to the fees actually paid. The base rate was Rs. 2,250 a month, and under DoPT Office Memorandum No. A-27012/02/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 17 July 2018 it rises 25 per cent each time dearness allowance crosses a further 50 per cent. Dearness allowance crossed 50 per cent on 1 January 2024, so the allowance is now Rs. 2,812.50 a month per child, that is Rs. 33,750 a year, under the enhancement order of 25 April 2024. A differently abled, or divyang, child draws CEA at double the rate, Rs. 5,625 a month.

Hostel Subsidy

For a child in a residential hostel, Hostel Subsidy is paid in place of Children Education Allowance. Unlike CEA, it is not a flat amount: it is the actual monthly boarding and lodging, or Rs. 8,437.50, whichever is lower, a point the corrigendum of 30 June 2026 made explicit. So a child whose hostel charges Rs. 6,000 a month draws Rs. 6,000, while one charged Rs. 12,000 draws the Rs. 8,437.50 ceiling. The Hostel Subsidy is not doubled for a divyang child; only Children Education Allowance is.

Who and how many

The allowance covers a maximum of the two eldest surviving children. There are two exceptions to the two-child limit: a third child where the second birth resulted in twins or a multiple birth, and a child born of the first failure of a sterilisation operation. It covers schooling from nursery to Class 12, including two years of pre-primary or nursery. For any one child in a given period you draw either CEA or Hostel Subsidy, not both, though across two children one may draw CEA and the other Hostel Subsidy.

Certificate, not receipts

Because Children Education Allowance is a fixed amount, you do not submit itemised fee receipts. You produce a certificate from the head of the institution that the child studied there in the year, and where that is not available a self-attested copy of the report card or a fee receipt suffices. Hostel Subsidy needs a similar certificate that the child stayed in the hostel.

Tax treatment

The reimbursement is part of salary and is taxable, with only a small exemption. Under Section 10(14) read with Rule 2BB, an education exemption of Rs. 100 a month per child and a hostel exemption of Rs. 300 a month per child, for up to two children, are available, and only under the old regime, not the new regime under Section 115BAC. These small exemptions are entirely separate from the DoPT Rs. 2,812.50 reimbursement figure and are much smaller than it.

A worked example

Take an employee with two children, both day scholars. Each draws Children Education Allowance of Rs. 2,812.50 a month, so the total is Rs. 5,625 a month, that is Rs. 67,500 a year. Now take an employee with one day scholar and one child in a hostel charging Rs. 10,000 a month. The day scholar draws Rs. 2,812.50, and the hostel child draws Rs. 8,437.50, the ceiling being lower than the Rs. 10,000 charged, so the total is Rs. 11,250 a month. If instead the hostel charged Rs. 6,000, the hostel child would draw Rs. 6,000, and the total Rs. 8,812.50 a month.

Notes and scope

The calculator applies the rates in force from 1 January 2024. The figures are on the 7th CPC structure; an 8th Central Pay Commission has been announced but not implemented, so no new rates are in force. Both allowances are sanctioned by your office on the certificate you produce. For the rules behind the allowance, see the children education allowance article.

See also

• Children education allowance
• Transport Allowance calculator
• Transport allowance
• Dearness allowance
• House rent allowance
• HRA calculator
• 7th Central Pay Commission
• 7th CPC salary calculator
• Take-home salary for central government employees
• Income tax for government employees
• Income tax calculator
• Central government employees in India
• Department of Personnel and Training

External references

• Department of Personnel and Training
• Department of Expenditure
• Income Tax Department