Context:
Union Minister of Education in his reply in the Lok Sabha said that the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education is implementing various welfare schemes for incentives for girls education.
Relevance:
GS-II: Social Justice (Government Policies and Interventions, Welfare Schemes, Issues regarding Education)
Dimensions of the Article:
- Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) scheme
- Samagra Shiksha
- National Means Cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme
Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) scheme
- The Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development implement the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) scheme under which residential upper primary schools for girls from SC,ST, OBC, Minority and BPL girls in the educationally backward blocks are set up all over India under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
- KGBV schools aim at giving rural girls who had dropped out of school, before ending the primary stage, a second chance.
- Free boarding / lodging, books, stationary and uniforms are being provided to the children in these schools.
- Instead going through the primary stage again, Kasturba schools offer a full-time residential opportunity to start at grade 6 level and finish grade 8 when everyone else does.
- Kasturba schools have made notable success and progress in achieving this goal, despite extremely modest financial support.
- KGBVs specifically retained the girls they admit from marginalised sections. These include the Schedule Castes, Scheduled Tribes, the minorities and upper castes below the poverty line.
Samagra Shiksha
- Samagra Shiksha is an integrated scheme for school education extending from pre-school to class XII to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education.
- It subsumes the three Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
- The main emphasis of the Scheme is on improving the quality of school education by focussing on the two T’s – Teacher and Technology.
- The Scheme is being implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. The fund sharing pattern for the scheme between Centre and States is at present in the ratio of 90:10 for the North-Eastern States and the Himalayan States and 60:40 for all other States and Union Territories with Legislature. It is 100% centrally sponsored for Union Territories without Legislature.
- The vision of the Scheme is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from pre-school to senior secondary stage in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for Education.
- SDG-4.1: Aims to ensure that all boys and girls complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. SDG 4.5: Aims to eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education.
National Means Cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme
- National Means Cum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS) awards scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to reduce drop-outs in class VIII. It also intends to encourage students to continue the study at a secondary stage.
- It is the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) which was launched in 2008.
- Students whose parental income from all sources is not more than Rs. 1,50,000/- per annum are eligible to avail the scholarships.
- The students studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, Residential Schools run by the State Government Institutions and private schools are not eligible for the scholarship under this scheme.
- An evaluation study conducted by the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) in 2017 states that more than 70% beneficiary students would have been unable to continue their studies without this scholarship.
-Source: PIB
