Lok Sabha Question No. 4857 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-25
Subject: Educational Upliftment of Minorities
Ministry: MINORITY AFFAIRS
Asked by: Abdul Majeed Ariff

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4857 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.03.2021

## EDUCATIONAL UPLIFTMENT OF MINORITIES

## 4857. ADV. A.M. ARIFF:

- Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has implemented any new scheme  for the educational upliftment of minority communities in the country after 2014 and if so, the details thereof; (b) whether the Government is aware that several States in the country are taking measures ranging from stopping financial assistance to Madrasas to abolish State
- run Madrasas against the Constitutional mandate; and
- (c) if so, whether the Government would consider giving appropriate directions to the  State  Governments to protect educational rights of minorities guaranteed by the Constitution and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS (SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI)

- (a): The Ministry of Education implements  scheme for providing Education to Madarsas/Minorities (SPEMM) since 2014-15 with revised guidelines. SPEMM is an  Umbrella  scheme  which  comprises  two  previously  existing  schemes  namely,

Scheme for Providing Quality Education in Madarsas (SPQEM) and Infrastructural Development in Minority Institutions (IDMI).

The Objectives of SPQEM is to encourage traditional institutions like Madarsas and Maktabs by giving financial assistance to engage teachers to teach Science, Mathematics,  Social  Studies,  Hindi  and  English  in  their  curriculum  so  that academic proficiency for classes I-XII is attainable for children studying in these institutions. The process of modernization of traditional Madarsas and Maktabs is voluntary.

The objectives of IDMI is to facilitate education of minorities by augmenting and strengthening school infrastructure in Minority Institutions (elementary/secondary/senior secondary schools) in order to expand facilities for formal education to children of minority communities.

In addition, the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education implements Samagra Shiksha scheme and one of the major objectives of the scheme is bridging of gender and social category gaps including minorities at  all  levels  of  school  education.  The Scheme  reaches  out  to  children  including those belonging to SC, ST, minority communities and transgender. The scheme has  also  given  attention  to urban  deprived  children, children affected  by  periodic  migration,  and  children  living  in  remote  and  scattered habitations. The Integrated Scheme also focuses on the identified Special Focus Districts  (SFDs)  on  the  basis  of  adverse  performance  on  various  indicators  of enrolment, retention, and gender parity, as well as concentration of SC, ST and minority communities.

The  Ministry  of  Minority  Affairs  implements  below  mentioned    schemes  for educational  empowerment  of  six  notified  minority  communities    i.e.  Christians, Sikhs,  Jains,  Muslims,  Buddhists  and  Parsis    under  which  approx  4.50  crore minority students belonging to economically weaker section  from the six centrally notified minority communities have been benefitted since 2014-15.  The details of the schemes are given below:

- (i) Scholarship Schemes : Pre-Matric Scholarship, Post-Matric Scholarship and Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship.
- (ii) In  addition,  the  Maulana Azad  Education  Foundation  implements  Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship for meritorious girl  students,  belonging to  the  minority  communities and whose total annual family income is less than Rs.2 lakh, and who are studying in Classes IX to XII.
- (iii) Maulana Azad  National  Fellowship  Scheme  provides  financial  assistance to students from notified minority communities, to pursue higher education such as M.Phil and Ph.D.
- (iv) Padho  Pardesh:  A  scheme  for  providing interest  subsidy  on  educational loans for overseas studies to enable students from minority communities to pursue higher education.
- (v) Naya  Savera:  The  Free  Coaching  and  Allied  Scheme  aims  to  assist students  and  candidates  from  minority  communities,  and  whose  total annual family income is less than Rs. 6 lakh,  to  qualify in examinations for admission in technical and professional courses as well as to succeed in competitive examinations  for recruitment to Group 'A', 'B' and 'C' services and  other  equivalent  posts  under  the  Central  &  State  Governments including PSUs etc.
- (vi) Educational  Loan  Scheme  of  National  Minorities  Development  Finance Corporation (NMDFC):  NMDFC a PSU under the Ministry implements Educational Loan Scheme with the objective to facilitate job oriented education for the eligible persons belonging to minorities. Loan is available for 'technical and professional

courses' for which loan up to Rs. 20.00 lakh for domestic courses and upto Rs. 30.00 lakh for courses abroad is provided.   During 2014-15 to 2019-20, loan to the tune of Rs. 197.35 Crore has been sanctioned to 15, 563 minority students.

Besides, there is another Scheme namely Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK),  which  is  implemented  by  the  Ministry,  in  1300  identified  Minority Concentration  Areas  (MCAs)  of  the  country  with  the  objective  to  develop  socioeconomic assets and basic amenities in these areas.  The thrust of  PMJVK is to allocate at least 80% of the resources to education, health and skill development sectors of which at least 33-40% are allocated for women centric projects.  The type of education projects sanctioned under  PMJVK  includes  new  school buildings,  student  hostels,  residential  schools,  smart  classrooms,  computer labs, Libraries,  Degree  colleges,  ITIs,  Polytechnics,  Unani  Medical  College,  Nursing College,.etc.

The Ministry, under PMJVK  w.e.f.  2014-15 to 2020-21 has approved projects of Rs. 8924.02 Crore in the education sector. The projects include 165 - Residential Schools, 32 - Degree Colleges, 646 - Student Hostels, 6 - Navodayas Vidyalayas, 95 - ITIs, 13 - Polytechnics, 22,908 - Additional Classrooms (ACRs), 356 - ACR blocks,  5,361  -  Sanitation  Projects  in  Schools,  9999  -  Smart  Class  rooms  and Teaching Aids, etc.

(b): No, Sir. However, Ministry of Education has informed that  a policy decision has  been  taken  by  the  State  Government  of  Assam  to  convert  the  Madarsa Educational Institutions affiliated under the State Madarsa Board to upper primary, high  school,  higher  secondary  school  etc.  in  order  to  allow  an  exposure  of students towards more subjects and enable greater flexibility with more frequent formative  assessment  for  learning.  There  is  no  change  in  the  status,  pay  & allowances,  service  conditions  etc. of the teaching  and  non-teaching  staff. However, private madarsas will continue to function as it functioned earlier and the centrally  sponsored  schemes  of  SPQEM  and  IDMI  will  continue  in  respect  of private madarsas.

(c): The Constitution of India under Article 21 A provides that ' The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.'  In pursuance of this Provision  Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 was enacted. The Act  mandates the appropriate Government to provide free and compulsory  elementary  education  to  every  child  of  the  age  6  to  14  years  in  a neighborhood school.

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