Children Education Allowance

Children Education Allowance is Rs. 2,812.50 a month per child: the rate, the classes and diploma courses covered, the age limits, Hostel Subsidy and the tax.

Updated 20 August 2026

Children Education Allowance is a flat monthly payment of Rs. 2,812.50 a child that a central government employee draws towards the schooling of up to two children, under the Department of Personnel and Training consolidated instructions in Office Memorandum No. A-27012/02/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 17 July 2018. It is paid irrespective of the fees actually charged, on a certificate from the head of the institution, and it is accompanied by a separate Hostel Subsidy for a child kept in a residential school. Alongside dearness allowance, house rent allowance and transport allowance, it is one of the standard entries on a central government payslip.

Two features set it apart from the other allowances. It is a flat amount rather than a reimbursement of real fees, so a parent paying Rs. 500 a month and one paying Rs. 5,000 a month draw the same figure. And it steps up on its own: the rate rises 25% each time dearness allowance crosses a further 50% of basic pay, which is how the 7th Central Pay Commission figure of Rs. 2,250 became Rs. 2,812.50 from 1 January 2024, without a fresh Pay Commission recommendation.

The scheme is narrower in some respects than employees expect and wider in others. It stops at Class 12 and at the age of 20, but it reaches three classes before Class 1 and it reaches the first two years of a polytechnic or Industrial Training Institute course taken after Class 10. This article sets out the rate and the step-up, the Hostel Subsidy and its 50 km distance condition, what schooling and which institutions are covered, the age limits, the two-child ceiling, the double rate for a divyang child, the treatment of a repeated class, admissibility during suspension and leave, how the claim is made, and the tax position. The Children Education Allowance calculator works the figure out for a given set of children.

The current rate

Children Education Allowance is Rs. 2,812.50 a month per child, that is Rs. 33,750 a year, with effect from 1 January 2024. The base rate fixed on the recommendation of the 7th Central Pay Commission was Rs. 2,250 a month from 1 July 2017, and it was raised 25% by Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. A-27012/01/2023-Pers.Policy(Allowance) dated 25 April 2024, because dearness allowance had reached 50% of basic pay on 1 January 2024 under Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 1/1/2024-E.II(B) dated 12 March 2024.

The amount is fixed per child and owes nothing to the fees actually charged. A parent whose child attends a Kendriya Vidyalaya charging a few hundred rupees a month draws Rs. 2,812.50, and so does a parent paying a private school ten times that. A divyang child draws double, Rs. 5,625 a month. The Hostel Subsidy is a separate and larger figure, dealt with below, and works on an entirely different principle.

How the 25% step-up works

The rate rises 25% each time dearness allowance crosses a further 50% of basic pay, under the consolidated instructions of 17 July 2018. This ties Children Education Allowance loosely to prices without a fresh order on each revision, because dearness allowance is itself revised twice a year on the All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers.

Only one such crossing has happened. Dearness allowance reached 50% on 1 January 2024, taking Children Education Allowance from Rs. 2,250 to Rs. 2,812.50 and the Hostel Subsidy from Rs. 6,750 to Rs. 8,437.50. The next enhancement waits on dearness allowance reaching 100%. Dearness allowance is 60% from 1 January 2026 under Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026, so the figures will hold for several revision cycles yet.

The step-up is pre-authorised but not automatic in payment. The Department of Personnel and Training still issued an order, on 25 April 2024, fixing the new rupee amounts, because the arithmetic produces figures in paise and the drawing and disbursing offices need a stated number. The same mechanism runs through the risk and hardship allowance matrix and the special allowance for child care for women with disabilities, all of which moved 25% on the same date.

Hostel Subsidy and the 50 km condition

Hostel Subsidy reimburses the boarding and lodging of a child kept in the hostel of a residential school, and it is capped rather than flat: the actual monthly boarding and lodging, or Rs. 8,437.50, whichever is lower. A hostel charging Rs. 6,000 a month is reimbursed at Rs. 6,000. One charging Rs. 12,000 is reimbursed at Rs. 8,437.50. That cap was restored by the corrigendum of 30 June 2026, which substituted a paragraph 2(a) that had said since 25 April 2024 that the subsidy was payable “irrespective of actual expenses incurred by the Government employee”.

A distance condition decides eligibility and is the provision most often missed. Paragraph 2(i) of the Office Memorandum of 17 July 2018 makes the subsidy “applicable only in respect of the child studying in a residential educational institution located at least 50 kilometers from the residence of the Government servant”. A hostel nearer than that does not qualify, whatever the child’s circumstances. The test is distance from the residence and nothing else: the posting station is irrelevant, and so is transfer liability, a point the Department of Personnel and Training stated in terms in Office Memorandum No. 12011/07/2011-Estt.(AL) dated 31 May 2012 when it introduced the 50 km test in place of the earlier station test.

Two consequences follow from the capped structure. The claim has to show what was actually spent on boarding and lodging, which the flat Children Education Allowance claim does not. And the Hostel Subsidy is not doubled for a divyang child, because the double-rate concession in the 17 July 2018 order is expressed for Children Education Allowance alone.

	Children Education Allowance	Hostel Subsidy
Nature	Flat amount, fees irrelevant	Actual boarding and lodging, subject to a ceiling
Current figure (from 1 January 2024)	Rs. 2,812.50 a month a child	Up to Rs. 8,437.50 a month a child
Base figure (from 1 July 2017)	Rs. 2,250 a month a child	Up to Rs. 6,750 a month a child
Divyang child	Double, Rs. 5,625 a month	Not doubled
Distance condition	None	Residential school at least 50 km from the residence
Evidence required	Certificate of study, no fee receipts	Certificate of study, stating the boarding and lodging amount

Coverage: classes, courses and recognised institutions

Children Education Allowance covers three classes before Class 1 up to Class 12, and the first two years of a diploma or certificate course taken after Class 10. The pre-primary limb reaches nursery, lower kindergarten and upper kindergarten, whatever those classes are called locally, the order being drafted to be indifferent to nomenclature. Classes 11 and 12 count whether they are taught in a school or by a junior college or an institution affiliated to a university or a board of education.

The higher-education limb is the part most employees do not know exists. The allowance is admissible for the initial two years of a diploma or certificate course at a polytechnic, an Industrial Training Institute or an engineering college, where the child joined the course after passing Class 10, and provided no Children Education Allowance was claimed for that child for Classes 11 and 12. The scheme treats the two routes after Class 10 as alternatives, so a family draws the allowance for the school route or the vocational route across those two years, not both. Beyond that, a degree course, a postgraduate course and coaching are all outside the scheme.

The institution has to be a recognised one. The Department of Personnel and Training reads that as a government school, or any educational institution, whether or not it receives government aid, recognised by the Central Government, a State Government, a Union Territory Administration, a university or a recognised educational authority. An Anganwadi does not qualify, because it operates as a nutrition and child care centre rather than an educational institution, unless the particular Anganwadi has itself been recognised as an educational institution by the Central Government or a State Government. The Department of Posts settled that point for its own circles by its letter No. CEA/GNL/11/2023 dated 28 August 2024, applying the general DoPT recognition test.

Age limits

The allowance stops at 20 years of age, or when the child passes Class 12, whichever comes first. For a divyang child the upper age limit is 22 years. The two limits operate together with the two-child ceiling, so a claim has to clear all three: the child must be one of the two eldest surviving children, must be within the age limit, and must be in a covered class or in the first two years of a covered diploma course.

The age limit is what usually bites in the vocational route. A child who passes Class 10 at 16, takes a three-year polytechnic diploma and turns 20 during it draws the allowance for the covered years within the age limit and not beyond, even though the course itself runs longer than the two years the scheme covers in any case. The higher limit of 22 years for a divyang child exists because schooling for a child with a disability commonly runs later, and it applies to the double rate as well as to the ordinary one.

The two-child limit and its exceptions

Children Education Allowance and Hostel Subsidy are admissible for a maximum of the two eldest surviving children, the small-family norm that runs through central government service benefits. Two exceptions relax the ceiling. The first is where the second birth produced twins or a multiple birth, so a family with one child followed by twins has all three covered. The second is a child born of the first failure of a sterilisation operation, who is admissible over and above the norm.

Outside those two cases a third or later child draws nothing. The count is of surviving children, so the death of a child does not open a further slot beyond two survivors. Where both parents are central government servants, the allowance for a given child is admissible to one of them only, and a child cannot be claimed twice across two payslips. An amount drawn in excess of entitlement, whether for a third child or beyond the applicable rate, is recoverable from the employee.

Double rate for a divyang child

Children Education Allowance is paid at double the normal rate for a divyang child, Rs. 5,625 a month, against the Rs. 2,812.50 that an ordinary claim draws. On the base rate of Rs. 2,250 the doubled figure was Rs. 4,500, and it moved with the 25% step-up of 1 January 2024 like every other figure in the scheme.

The concession is admissible on a certificate of disability from a competent medical authority, the same evidentiary route the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 machinery uses across central government service benefits. It runs to the age of 22 rather than 20. The Hostel Subsidy is not doubled: a divyang child in a hostel draws the actual boarding and lodging up to the ordinary Rs. 8,437.50 ceiling, not twice it, and the order draws no exception for this case.

Repetition of a class and the National Education Policy relaxation

Failing and repeating a class does not stop Children Education Allowance, provided the age limit of 20 years and the Class 12 ceiling are still satisfied. The 17 July 2018 order is explicit that reimbursement is not to be stopped on that ground alone. There is one qualification: the allowance is not admissible where the child is readmitted to the same class in a different school, which is the provision that stops a change of school being used to extend the claim.

A separate and time-limited relaxation deals with the school restructuring. Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. A-27012/01/2023-Pers.Policy(Allowance) dated 14 March 2024 granted a one-time relaxation permitting reimbursement where a child had to repeat one additional class because of the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020, with effect from the academic year 2023-24. The practical effect is that a child affected by the restructuring can attract four claims before Class 1 rather than the usual three. The Department of Posts reiterated the position for its circles in letter No. PP-33/1/2022-PAP-DOP dated 2 April 2026, confirming that a nursery year in 2022-23 counts alongside lower kindergarten in 2023-24 and upper kindergarten in 2024-25.

Admissibility during suspension, leave, retirement and dies non

The allowance is admissible while on duty, while under suspension, and on leave including extraordinary leave, under the consolidated instructions of 17 July 2018. Suspension is the case employees ask about most, and the answer is that a suspended government servant drawing a subsistence allowance continues to draw Children Education Allowance for a qualifying child. Earned leave and half pay leave raise no question at all.

It is not admissible for any period treated as dies non, the period that counts as neither duty nor leave and carries no pay. That is the single service-status exclusion in the scheme.

Where service ends, the allowance continues to the end of the academic year in which it ended, whether the cause was retirement or dismissal, so a child is not pulled out of the reimbursement mid-year by the timing of the parent’s exit. Where a termination is later set aside and the employee reinstated by a court, admissibility for the intervening period follows however the competent authority treats that period, which is the ordinary rule for pay and allowances during a reinstated spell.

How the claim is made

The claim rests on a certificate from the head of the institution that the child studied there during the year, and itemised fee receipts are not required, because the amount is flat and bears no relation to the fees. Where that certificate cannot readily be obtained, a self-attested copy of the child’s report card, or the fee receipts for the whole year, serves the purpose. The 17 July 2018 order introduced that alternative precisely because employees were being held up by schools slow to issue certificates.

Reimbursement is made once in a financial year, after the financial year is complete. It is not paid monthly with salary and it is not paid in instalments through the year. A Hostel Subsidy claim carries the same certificate of study plus a certificate that the child resided in the hostel, and, because the subsidy is capped at what was actually spent, evidence of the boarding and lodging charged.

The allowance is drawn during service and is not a retirement benefit. It has no bearing on the pension or on gratuity, neither of which counts it as pay.

Drawing the allowance and the subsidy together

Paragraph 2(f) of the Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. A-27012/02/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 17 July 2018 reads, in full, “The Hostel Subsidy and Children Education Allowance can be claimed concurrently”, with “can” underlined in the original. The sentence carries no qualification, so it does not confine concurrent claiming to different children. A day scholar attracts the allowance at Rs. 2,812.50 a month; a boarder at a residential school 50 km or more away attracts the subsidy up to Rs. 8,437.50 against actual boarding and lodging.

Across two children the position is settled: one child a day scholar drawing Children Education Allowance and the other in a hostel drawing Hostel Subsidy is the ordinary case, and both are paid within the two-child ceiling. That reverses the 6th Central Pay Commission scheme under Office Memorandum No. 12011/03/2008-Estt.(Allowance) dated 2 September 2008, which barred the two being claimed together.

For a single child the order is silent, and the silence favours the employee. Nothing in paragraph 2(f) or in paragraph 2(c) makes the two alternatives for the same child, and the two payments answer different heads of expenditure: the allowance is a flat sum for schooling paid without reference to fees, the subsidy is a reimbursement of boarding and lodging capped at Rs. 8,437.50. The application form prescribed by the Comptroller and Auditor General asks the claimant to mark the claim “CEA / HOSTEL SUBSIDY / BOTH”, which points the same way. No Office Memorandum in the 7th Central Pay Commission series provides for apportioning a year between the two heads where a child moves from day scholar to hostel mid-session.

Tax treatment

The reimbursement is salary and is taxable, and the exemption against it is a token Rs. 100 a month per child, with Rs. 300 a month per child for hostel expenditure, for up to two children. Against the Rs. 2,812.50 the government actually pays, an exemption of Rs. 100 covers about a twenty-eighth of it. The two figures are answering different questions: Rs. 2,812.50 is what the employer reimburses, Rs. 100 is the slice the tax statute keeps out of the base.

The statute the exemption sits in changed on 1 April 2026. For the tax year 2026-27 the prescribed-allowance exemptions are in the Table in Schedule III to the Income-tax Act, 2025 (Act No. 30 of 2025), read with the Income-tax Rules, 2026 notified by Central Board of Direct Taxes Notification No. 22/2026, G.S.R. 198(E), dated 20 March 2026. Those are the successors to Section 10(14) of the repealed Income-tax Act, 1961 and Rule 2BB of the repealed Income-tax Rules, 1962, which still govern the return for the financial year 2025-26 filed during 2026. The caps carry across unchanged in amount.

The exemption is available in the old regime only. The default new regime, now Section 202 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 and formerly Section 115BAC, withdraws almost the whole prescribed-allowance list, and the education and hostel entries go with it, so a new-regime assessee is taxed on the reimbursement in full. For most central government employees the point is small in rupees: at Rs. 100 a month for two children the old-regime exemption is Rs. 2,400 a year. The wider comparison is in the income tax for government employees article and the old versus new tax regime comparison, and the income tax calculator applies whichever regime is chosen.

History

Before the 6th Central Pay Commission the schooling of a government servant’s children was met by two separate reimbursements, a tuition fee reimbursement and a distinct children education allowance, with a hostel subsidy alongside. The 6th CPC merged the first two into a single Children Education Allowance and kept the Hostel Subsidy separate, which is the structure in force today.

The 7th Central Pay Commission fixed the figures now in payment and changed the mechanics in three ways. It set Children Education Allowance at Rs. 2,250 a month and the Hostel Subsidy at Rs. 6,750 from 1 July 2017. It made the reimbursement a flat amount rather than a fee-linked one, which removed the fee receipt from the claim and, with it, most of the disputes the older scheme generated. And it added the automatic 25% step-up on each 50-percentage-point rise in dearness allowance, so that the figures do not need a Pay Commission to move.

The consolidated instructions of 17 July 2018 superseded every earlier order on the subject and are the operative document. An 8th Central Pay Commission has been constituted but has made no recommendation on this allowance, so the 7th CPC scheme as stepped up remains in force, and no figure for the 8th CPC treatment of Children Education Allowance exists to be quoted.

Worked examples

An employee with two children, both day scholars, draws Rs. 2,812.50 a month for each, so Rs. 5,625 a month, that is Rs. 67,500 for the year, reimbursed after the financial year closes.

An employee with one day scholar and one child boarding at a residential school 80 km away charging Rs. 10,000 a month for boarding and lodging draws Rs. 2,812.50 for the day scholar and Rs. 8,437.50 for the boarder, the ceiling being lower than the charge, so Rs. 11,250 a month. Had the hostel charged Rs. 6,000, the boarder would draw Rs. 6,000 and the monthly total would be Rs. 8,812.50. Had the residential school been 30 km from the residence, the Hostel Subsidy would not be admissible at all, and the second child would draw ordinary Children Education Allowance of Rs. 2,812.50.

An employee with one divyang child, a day scholar aged 21, draws double Children Education Allowance of Rs. 5,625 a month, the age limit of 22 not yet having been reached. An employee with one child in the second year of an Industrial Training Institute certificate course taken straight after Class 10, with no Children Education Allowance claimed for Classes 11 and 12, draws Rs. 2,812.50 a month for that year, and nothing for the third year. The Children Education Allowance calculator works these out for a given family.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is Children Education Allowance?

Children Education Allowance is a flat monthly reimbursement of Rs. 2,812.50 a child that a central government employee draws towards the schooling of up to two children, under Department of Personnel and Training Office Memorandum No. A-27012/02/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 17 July 2018. It is paid irrespective of the fees actually charged, so a parent paying Rs. 500 a month and one paying Rs. 5,000 a month draw the same amount.

What is the current rate of Children Education Allowance?

Rs. 2,812.50 a month per child, that is Rs. 33,750 a year, with effect from 1 January 2024. The rate rose 25% from the base of Rs. 2,250 when dearness allowance crossed 50%, under DoPT Office Memorandum No. A-27012/01/2023-Pers.Policy(Allowance) dated 25 April 2024. A divyang child draws double, Rs. 5,625 a month.

When will the Children Education Allowance rate rise again?

When dearness allowance reaches 100% of basic pay. The rate rises 25% on each further 50-percentage-point crossing, not on every dearness allowance order. Dearness allowance is 60% from 1 January 2026 under Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026, so Rs. 2,812.50 holds until the 100% mark is reached.

Which classes does Children Education Allowance cover?

Three classes before Class 1, that is nursery, lower kindergarten and upper kindergarten, up to Class 12, whatever the classes are called locally. Classes 11 and 12 taught by a junior college or by an institution affiliated to a university or board are covered. The first two years of a diploma or certificate course at a polytechnic, an Industrial Training Institute or an engineering college are also covered where the child joined after passing Class 10.

Is Children Education Allowance admissible for a diploma or ITI course?

Yes, for the first two years of a diploma or certificate course at a polytechnic, an Industrial Training Institute or an engineering college, where the child took the course after passing Class 10 and no Children Education Allowance was claimed for that child for Classes 11 and 12. It is one course or the other for those two years, not both.

What is the age limit for Children Education Allowance?

20 years, or the date the child passes Class 12, whichever comes first. For a divyang child the upper age limit is 22 years. The age limit runs alongside the two-child ceiling and the Class 12 ceiling, so all three have to be satisfied.

What is Hostel Subsidy and how far must the school be?

Hostel Subsidy reimburses the boarding and lodging of a child kept in the hostel of a residential school, and paragraph 2(i) of the Office Memorandum of 17 July 2018 requires that institution to be at least 50 km from the residence of the government servant. It is the actual monthly boarding and lodging, or Rs. 8,437.50, whichever is lower, so a Rs. 6,000 charge is reimbursed in full and a Rs. 12,000 charge is capped at Rs. 8,437.50.

How many children can Children Education Allowance be claimed for?

The two eldest surviving children. Two exceptions relax the ceiling: a third child where the second birth produced twins or a multiple birth, and a child born of the first failure of a sterilisation operation. Where both parents are central government servants, only one of them may draw the allowance for a given child.

Do divyang children get a higher allowance?

Children Education Allowance is paid at double the rate for a divyang child, Rs. 5,625 a month, on a disability certificate from a competent medical authority, up to the age of 22. Hostel Subsidy is not doubled: a divyang child in a hostel draws the actual boarding and lodging up to the ordinary Rs. 8,437.50 ceiling.

Is Children Education Allowance admissible if the child fails and repeats a class?

Yes. Repeating a class does not stop the allowance, provided the age limit of 20 years and the Class 12 ceiling are still met. It is not admissible where the child is readmitted to the same class in a different school. Separately, DoPT Office Memorandum No. A-27012/01/2023-Pers.Policy(Allowance) dated 14 March 2024 granted a one-time relaxation for a child made to repeat an additional class because of the National Education Policy 2020, from the academic year 2023-24.

Is Children Education Allowance paid during suspension or leave?

Yes. It is admissible while on duty, under suspension, and on leave including extraordinary leave, under the DoPT order of 17 July 2018. It is not admissible for a period treated as dies non. Where service ends on retirement or dismissal, the allowance continues to the end of that academic year.

Is Children Education Allowance admissible for a child in an Anganwadi?

Not as a rule. An Anganwadi is a nutrition and child care centre rather than a recognised educational institution, so it falls outside the scheme. It qualifies only where the particular Anganwadi has been recognised as an educational institution by the Central Government or a State Government, which is the same recognition test the scheme applies to any school.

How is Children Education Allowance claimed?

On a certificate from the head of the institution that the child studied there during the year, and no itemised fee receipts are needed because the amount is flat. Where that certificate is not available, a self-attested copy of the report card or the fee receipts for the year serves instead. Reimbursement is made once in a financial year, after the financial year is complete.

Is Children Education Allowance taxable?

The reimbursement is salary and is taxable. A token exemption of Rs. 100 a month per child for education and Rs. 300 a month per child for hostel expenditure, for up to two children, survives in the old regime only. For the tax year 2026-27 those entries sit in Schedule III to the Income-tax Act, 2025 read with the Income-tax Rules, 2026, the successors to Section 10(14) and Rule 2BB. The default new regime under Section 202 admits neither.

External references

References

Department of Personnel and Training, Office Memorandum No. A-27012/02/2017-Estt.(AL) dated 17 July 2018, consolidated instructions on Children Education Allowance and Hostel Subsidy under the 7th Central Pay Commission, superseding all earlier orders on the subject (flat Children Education Allowance of Rs. 2,250 a month a child, Hostel Subsidy up to Rs. 6,750 a month subject to actual boarding and lodging and a residential school at least 50 km from the residence, double Children Education Allowance for a divyang child, the two eldest surviving children, three classes before Class 1 to Class 12, the first two years of a diploma or certificate course after Class 10, an age limit of 20 years or passing Class 12 and 22 years for a divyang child, reimbursement once in a financial year after its completion, admissibility on duty, under suspension and on leave including extraordinary leave but not during dies non, and a 25% rise on each 50-percentage-point rise in dearness allowance, with effect from 1 July 2017).
Department of Personnel and Training, Office Memorandum No. A-27012/01/2023-Pers.Policy(Allowance) dated 25 April 2024, enhancing Children Education Allowance and Hostel Subsidy by 25% from 1 January 2024 (Children Education Allowance Rs. 2,812.50, Hostel Subsidy Rs. 8,437.50, double Children Education Allowance Rs. 5,625), consequent on Department of Expenditure Office Memorandum No. 1/1/2024-E.II(B) dated 12 March 2024 fixing dearness allowance at 50%; and the corrigendum dated 30 June 2026 (Hostel Subsidy the actual boarding and lodging or Rs. 8,437.50, whichever is lower).
Department of Personnel and Training, Office Memorandum No. A-27012/01/2023-Pers.Policy(Allowance) dated 14 March 2024, reimbursement of Children Education Allowance and Hostel Subsidy in accordance with the National Education Policy 2020, one-time relaxation for a child required to repeat one additional class, with effect from the academic year 2023-24.
Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications, letter No. PP-33/1/2022-PAP-DOP dated 2 April 2026, frequently asked questions on the admissibility of Children Education Allowance (pre-primary classes, repetition of a class under the National Education Policy 2020, suspension, dies non, termination and reinstatement, and continuance to the end of the academic year on cessation of service), reiterating the Department of Personnel and Training instructions; and letter No. CEA/GNL/11/2023 dated 28 August 2024 on claims for a child admitted to an Anganwadi.
Department of Expenditure, Office Memorandum No. 1/1(i)/2026-E.II(B) dated 22 April 2026, dearness allowance at 60% of basic pay with effect from 1 January 2026.
Income-tax Act, 2025 (Act No. 30 of 2025), in force from 1 April 2026, Schedule III (prescribed allowances) and Section 202 (the default regime), the successors to Sections 10(14) and 115BAC of the repealed Income-tax Act, 1961; and Central Board of Direct Taxes Notification No. 22/2026, G.S.R. 198(E), dated 20 March 2026, notifying the Income-tax Rules, 2026 with effect from 1 April 2026, the successor to Rule 2BB of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 (education exemption Rs. 100 a month a child, hostel exemption Rs. 300 a month a child, for up to two children, old regime only).
Seventh Central Pay Commission, Report, November 2015, chapter on allowances (Children Education Allowance and Hostel Subsidy made flat reimbursements, with a 25% rise on each 50% rise in dearness allowance).