Education Secretary Betsy DeVos recently announced that the government is planning to pump in $8 million to educational institutes in order to overcome from the damages caused by the hurricane Harvey. Hurricane Harvey had caused huge damages in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Several educational institutes got affected and the disastrous hurricane impacted the lives of thousands of students, educators and school communities to a great level.

“The victims of these hurricanes remain in our constant thoughts and prayers, but as I continue to visit the many impacted schools, I am heartened and in awe of those who are working around the clock to ensure that our nation’s children are able to get back to class as quickly as possible,” said Education Secretary Betsy DeVos .

The education department has already dispatched $2 million to the Texas Education Agency and is planning to award $2 million each to the Puerto Rico, Florida and U.S. Virgin Islands education departments.

This amount will get disbursed for mental health treatments, overtime pay for teachers, counselors, law enforcement officers, substitute teachers and emergency transportation services. The said funding will be rolled out through Project SERV (School Emergency Response to Violence Programs) which will assist the educational institutes to recover from “violent or traumatic events in which the learning environment has been disrupted,” according to the US Education Department.

Education Secretary, DeVos also talked with the local officials regarding reopening of school and enquired to find alternate ways to resume learning for the students. “While Project SERV grants are but a small part of this administration’s overall recovery and rebuilding efforts, they provide much-needed funds to help schools become operational again,” DeVos said. “As these funds are distributed, the Department of Education will remain a partner in the long road to recovery ahead.”