Under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), 1338 new Government secondary schools with a total outlay of Rs.837.78 crore have been approved till date in respect of Minority Concentrated Districts (MCDs). As per the Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) for the year 2014-15, out of 1338 secondary schools approved in MCDs, 960 secondary schools are functional.
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) provides for opening of new schools, construction of school buildings, construction of additional classrooms, additional teachers, Kasturaba Ghandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV), provides free textbooks to all children from classes I-VIII, provides Urdu textbooks for Urdu medium schools and where Urdu is taught as a subject, free uniforms (two sets) to all girls and children belonging to SC/ST/BPL. Priority is given to infrastructure for new schools, toilets and buildings in areas with concentration of minority population. KGBVs have been opened in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) where the female rural literacy is below the national average to provide for residential upper primary schools for girls. The KGBV reaches out to (i) girls who are unable to go to regular schools, (ii) out-of-school girls in the ten-plus age group who are unable to complete primary school, (iii) younger girls of migratory population in difficult areas of scattered habitations that do not qualify for primary/upper primary schools. Among these girls KGBVs provide reservation for 75% girls belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC) and minority communities. 25% priority is given to girls from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. A total of 555 KGBVs have been sanctioned for MCDs upto 31.3.2015.
Under the Scheme for Infrastructure Development in Minority Institutions (IDMI), an amount of Rs.11.45 crore has been released covering 126 minority institutions during the year 2014-2015.
Under the scheme of Sub-Mission on Polytechnics, financial assistance is provided to the State/Union Territory Governments, limited to Rs.12.30 crores per polytechnic to meet the cost of establishing a new Govt. Polytechnic in the unserved/underserved districts. Out of 300 unserved/underserved districts identified under the scheme, 291 districts have been provided partial financial assistance to set up a new Polytechnic. 57 Identified Minority Districts are eligible for assistance under the norms of the scheme. As on 16.07.2015, 55 out of the 57 eligible Districts have been covered and an amount of Rs. 367.54 crore has been released for construction of new Govt. Polytechnics in these districts. During 2014-15, Rs. 25.00 crore has been released to the MCDs and the Polytechnics are in various stages of provisioning of land and building construction. As on 16th July, 2015, 18 polytechnics in MCDs have been operationalized wherein the classes have started.
The Ministry of HRD has been implementing various minority education schemes. A total of 15% of the outlay under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is targeted for the Minority Concentration Districts (MCD)/Areas to achieve the goal of universalisation of elementary education, to meet infrastructure gaps for schools, classrooms, teachers and providing access by opening new schools. Other initiatives which also benefit minorities and Muslims include the Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madarsas (SPQEM), the Scheme of Infrastructure Development in Minority Institutions (IDMI), the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Scheme (JNV), setting up of Girls Hostels, Model Schools under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), the Mid-Day-Meal Scheme, Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS), establishment of the Model Degree Colleges, Women Hostels and Polytechnics in the Minority Concentration Districts. Setting up of Block Institutes of Teacher Education, Appointment of Language Teachers, providing modern education to Madarasas under National Institute of Open Schooling and the easing of norms for affiliation of Minority Educational Institutions, are some of the important initiatives undertaken by the Government.
This information was given by the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Smt. Smriti Irani in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha question.
Source: PIB
