Many in the northeast, home to many tribes, hailed the Centre's decision to provide better education to Scheduled Tribe students. The
Union Budget says the government is committed to providing best quality education to tribal children in their own environment.
In his Budget speech, Union finance minister
Arun Jaitley said to realise this mission, it has been decided that by 2022, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons will have an Ekalavya Model Residential School. Ekalavya schools will be on a par with
Navodaya Vidyalayas and will have special facilities for preserving local art and culture besides providing training in sports and skill development, the minister added.
Saying that the budget has been presented very carefully,
Amar Yumnam, professor of economics in Manipur University, said the focus on primary education in the tribal areas is warranted, but the tribal population sneed much more than elementary education. "Besides, the threshold level of 20,000 population can be too high a benchmark for tribal areas in the northeast," he said.
He added that the emphasis on education is only partial as it focuses only on the primary level and engineering education. "The northeast can benefit from the general assurance of each state getting a medical College," he added.
The Budget also increased the post-matric scholarship under the umbrella programme for development of STs from Rs 1,436 crore last year to Rs 1,586 crore this fiscal. The programme is expected to benefit 18.55 lakh tribal students. The government projected a medium term outcome in the increase in numbers of students attaining first division in Class X and reduction in dropout rate between class XI and XII.
Under the pre-matric scholarship, the allocation was increased from Rs 318 crore in the last fiscal to Rs 350 crore this year. This scholarship is expected to benefit 12.10 lakh tribal students. The government hoped that the scheme will help in reducing dropout rate between Class I to V, I to VII and I to X.
The government, however, did not change its funding under the special central assistance to tribal sub-schemes. The allocation to tribal development in the northeastern areas has been raised from Rs 526 crore to Rs 600 crore.
