The Indian Central Government, under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, has green-lighted a proposal to establish Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs). According to the 2018-19 budget, an EMRS will be set up in each block that possesses a Scheduled Tribe (ST) population surpassing 50% and encompassing a minimum of 20,000 tribal people by 2022. Funded under Article 275(1) of the Constitution, these schools will be managed by an autonomous body akin to the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The prime objective of the EMRS initiative is to proffer quality middle and high school education to ST students residing in remote locations, thereby equipping them for better educational and occupational opportunities.
The plight of Scheduled Tribes in India
Scheduled Tribes contribute to 8.6% of India’s total population and 11.3% of the nation’s rural population. Despite the right to free and compulsory education for all children aged between 6 and 14 as per the Right to Education Act of 2009, and an increase in literacy rates among STs from 8.53% in 1961 to 58.96% in 2011, discrepancies persist in enrollment and dropout rates across various regions.
For tribals, the dropout rates continue to remain alarmingly high at 35.6% in Classes I to V, 55% in Classes I to VIII, and 70.9% in Classes I to X as of the 2010-11 academic year as per the Statistics of School Education 2010-2011. A 2014 South Asia regional study titled ‘All Children in School by 2015’ sponsored by UNICEF suggests that economic and socio-cultural factors are responsible for the educational deprivation that affects certain groups in India, including Scheduled Castes (SCs), STs, and Muslims.
| Community | Poverty Incidence (%) |
|---|---|
| Scheduled Tribes | 49.6 |
| Scheduled Castes | 32.3 |
| Muslims | 30.6 |
The Potential Impact of EMRS on ST education
The establishment of Eklavya Model Residential Schools can notably revolutionize the quality of education provided to ST children. Beyond the construction of school buildings, the initiative includes provisions for hostels, staff quarters, playgrounds, computer labs, and teacher resource rooms. With its focus on catering specifically to the educational needs of STs, the project is expected to significantly elevate their quality of life and ensure a marked improvement in tribal literacy rates and educational statistics by the 2021 Census.