Anwesha door reopens for poor SC & ST kids after Covid break
Introduced by the ST and SC Development (SSD) department in 2015, the scheme aims to provide quality education to children of backward and below poverty line (BPL) families.
Published: 06th April 2023 09:09 AM | Last Updated: 06th April 2023 09:09 AM | A+A A-
Students of an Anwesha hostel in Sundargarh stand in queues to board a school bus
ROURKELA: After a three-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the process has begun for admission of 200 poor scheduled tribe (ST) and scheduled caste (SC) students to private English medium schools in the current academic session under the state government’s Anwesha scheme.
Introduced by the ST and SC Development (SSD) department in 2015, the scheme aims to provide quality education to children of backward and below-poverty line (BPL) families. So far, 2,264 students including 1,585 ST children have taken admission into 17 private English medium schools with CBSE and ICSE affiliations. They are staying at Anwesha hostels, three each in Sundargarh town and Rourkela. The government bears the entire education cost of the students.
District welfare officer Pabitra Mohan Pradhan said under the scheme, ST and SC students get admitted to Class I and study till Class X. Around 70 per cent of the students are from ST community and the rest belong to SC category with a 50:50 ratio of boys and girls.
Applications for admission to Class I are invited at the beginning of an academic session. In the event of applications exceeding the target, children are selected through lottery. The scheme is meant only for BPL families in ST and SC categories and the education cost of each student including lodging, boarding and transportation comes to around Rs 50,000, informed Pradhan.
“Cook-cum-attendants, matrons and wardens have been engaged at the hostels. Each hostel has a superintendent in the rank of welfare extension officer and tutors have been engaged to provide tuition classes. It is mandatory for students to talk only in English on the hostel premises,” he added. This year, over 1,800 applications have been received for the 200 seats.
Bijay Dandasena, a daily wager of Tangarpali block, said his daughter Rashmita is now studying in Class VII at a private English medium school in Sundargarh town. “With my meagre income, I had never thought of sending Rashmita to a private school. But due to the Anwesha scheme, my daughter is able to get quality education,” Dandasena added.
