EMPOWERMENT THROUGH EDUCATION

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Despite India’s "political triumph of democracy", deprived sections of the society continue to remain marginalised. One of the major reasons has been wide spread illiteracy among these sections. Literacy is an important indicator of human development index. The literacy rate for Scheduled Castes (SC) in 1991 was 37.4 per cent as compared to 57.7 per cent for others. Expressing concern over the plight of those living on the fringes of social spectrum, the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee said, "Independence is incomplete without social justice". It may not be out of place to mention that these marginalised sections constitute a sizable portion of our population. According to the 1991 census, the Scheduled Castes comprise 16.73 per cent. The Other Backward Castes (OBCs) constitute 52 per cent and the Minorities 18 per cent of the country’s total population.

Dr.Bhim Rao Ambedkar believed that education is everybody’s birthright and should be available to the poorest of the poor. Education is the stepping stone towards social, economic and political empowerment. In pursuance of this, the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has accorded top priority to radical improvement in literacy rates among the weaker sections. It has taken several major initiatives during the last five years in this direction. Lauding these efforts the Prime Minister said at the National Convention of Minorities , "It is good that you are focusing on education. Education is an investment for development, for progress and for a better future".

Towards Self-Reliance

To meet the emerging challenges, the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has embarked upon schemes to promote merit among the SC/ST students right from the beginning. One of them is the Dr. Ambedkar National Merit Scholarship Scheme for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students launched early this year to encourage merit and excellence among them from the school level. Under this scheme more then Rs.1.25 crore would be distributed as scholarship to 458 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students having secured highest marks in 26 Education Boards/ Councils in the country each year. The Social Justice & Empowerment Minister, Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya, described it as a historic initiative for generating self-confidence and self-reliance among SC/ST students.

The other scheme provides for upgradation of Merit of SC/ST students through cent per cent Central Assistance to the States/UTs for arranging remedial and special coaching for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students studying in class IX to XII. While remedial coaching aims at removing deficiencies in school subjects, special coaching is provided with a view to preparing students for competitive examinations for entry into professional courses like engineering and medical.

To enable them to pursue higher studies abroad, the National Overseas Scholarship Scheme to seventeen meritorious SC and ST students has also been improved. The rate of maintenance allowance has been enhanced to US $ 7,700 per annum or Pound Sterling 5,000 per annum per candidate. The scheme also provides for US $ 500 per annum for meeting various contingency expenses besides air passage, visa fee, equipment allowance and incidental expenses charged by the institution and insurance premium.

Many students belonging to the weaker sections find it difficult to compete for entry into institutions of higher learning or for employment. Consequently, the reserved quotas for them in technical and professional courses remain under-utilized. Therefore, NGOs, universities and institutions of repute are provided 90 per cent central assistance in running coaching and allied assistance programmes to prepare such students for competitive examinations.

Initiative

For their higher education, the Central Government is running a post-matric scholarship scheme for the SC students. They are also provided financial assistance. The amount varies from Rs. 90 to Rs. 425 per month for pursuing studies beyond matriculation in recognised institutions. There are other incentives also like reimbursement of compulsory non-refundable fees and study tour charges. The coverage under this scheme has grown at a much faster rate than that of the growth rate in the SC population. More than 93 per cent of SC students in the country are now covered under this scheme. An estimated number of over 46 lakh students have benefited from this scheme since 1999-2000.

The Central assistance under the scheme is normally provided to State /UT governments on 50:50 basis over and above the committed liability. The annual committed liability of the States during the Ninth Plan under the scheme was Rs. 231 crore. It would be Rs.390 crore per annum during the Tenth Plan as per existing pattern. The Centre is actively considering to revise the rates of maintenance allowance and other norms of the Scheme in view of the rising cost of books, school fees and food.

Yet another scholarship scheme at the pre-matric level has become popular with the children of the families engaged in occupations like scavenging and leather tanning. The number of beneficiaries increased by nearly 42 per cent during the first three years of the Ninth Plan.

The implementation of the scheme of hostels for SC boys and girls has been stepped up since 1998-1999. During the last 4 years 285 hostels were sanctioned for the boys and 183 for girls. These hostels are meant to enable the SC students pursue their studies in a congenial atmosphere. To encourage mixing among students, these hostels are allowed to accommodate non-SC students upto 10 per cent.

Two new schemes are on the anvil to boost quality education among the Scheduled Castes. These include provision of assistance to the SC students for pursuing studies in residential public schools. Under it meritorious students with family incomes of less than Rs. 1 lakh per annum would be financially assisted in getting quality education. The assistance would help them in fully meeting boarding, lodging fees and cost of study material charged by the management. It would be subject to a ceiling of Rs. 80 thousand per annum per student from Class VI to XII.

Another scheme in the pipeline envisages setting up of residential schools for SC/ST students studying between Class VI and XII. One residential school would be set up in districts where the literacy rate of the SCs is much lower than the general category. Such residential schools numbering 125 would be set up in the country with the establishment of 25 schools in each year under the Tenth Plan. The enrollment target in these schools stipulates admission to at least 30 per cent SC/ST girl students and 3 per cent disabled SC/ST students.

Yet another scheme on the anvil is to provide Bridge Education for Children living in city slum or street children. Under the scheme children between the age group of 6-10 years would be provided educational material and nutrition in the shape of one glass of milk and 2 biscuits per child per day.

Schemes for Disabled

There are about 10 million children with disabilities in the country according to the National Sample Survey Organisation Report, 1991. Reportedly being considered less productive even by their own families, they often require special learning aids and financial support besides encouragement from the scommunity to get proper education.

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has started the Scheme of National Scholarship for Persons with Disabilities since the last financial year. The objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to students with disabilities for pursuing higher and technical education. To begin with 500 scholarships have been made available under the scheme. The amount of award varies from Rs.1000 per month for post-graduate courses to Rs.400 for graduate level professional courses. The awardees are also reimbursed the course fee upto Rs.10,000 per year. They are supported with financially for acquiring special aids and appliances for pursuing their studies.

The Ministry has also been providing a new thrust to not only encouraging new enrolments in schools and preventing drop-outs among the weaker and deprived sections but also imparting them with quality education. It is a new approach to tackle the problem rooted in history.

With the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a time-bound programme for imparting elementary education to all children in the age group of 6-14 years by 2010, it is expected that all gender and social gaps would be bridged. Coupled with the provision of facilities for quality education the deprived people would be able to compete with the rest of the country’s population on a level platform. It would also create an urge among them for achieving excellence and make themselves equal partners in the country’s march towards a better future. (PIB Features)

*Contributed by Shri M.L.Dhar, Information Officer, PIB, New Delhi