The Government of India has launched several initiatives for educational assistance to students of North-Eastern States. Under ‘Ishaan Uday’, 10,000 scholarships are awarded to North East students to enable their access to higher education outside the region. Supernumerary seats for NE students are also reserved in Engineering/ technology/ architecture/ pharmacy courses in institution approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). AICTE has a scheme of North East Quality Improvement Programme (NEQIP) to provide grant-in-aid for improving quality of education in technical institutes in North Eastern Region. Under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), funding support is provided in the ratio of 90:10 to North Eastern States for improving access, equity and quality education.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has advised the Universities in the country to raise awareness about the history, literature and culture of North Eastern Region (NER) and to teach history of NER at Undergraduate (UG) and Post-graduate (PG) level. Exchange of students between Higher Education Institutes in NER and those in other states are enhanced to understand and appreciate the culture of North East. Cultural exchanges between institutions of North East Region and other universities are encouraged. In addition, UGC has also advised to include the units on freedom-fighters from NER in curricula at various levels. National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) has included in its textbooks contents on various aspects of life and culture of the North East region.

This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey today in a written reply to a Lok Sabha question.