Lok Sabha Question No. 477 (STARRED), answered on 2019-07-25
Subject: Education of Minority Girls
Ministry: MINORITY AFFAIRS
Asked by: Manoj Rajoria

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. *477 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25.07.2019

## Education of Minority Girls

## *477. DR. MANOJ RAJORIA:

Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is devising a holistic policy for the encouragement of girls of minority communities for pursuing education and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the reasons identified for the high dropout among  girls of the minority communities; and
- (c) the  key  initiatives  taken  by  the  Government  for  creating  awareness  and encouraging the minorities towards education?

## ANSWER

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

(a)  to(c):  A statement is laid on the table of the House.

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## STATEMENT  REFERRED IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *477ASKED  BYDR. MANOJ RAJORIA FOR REPLY ON 25.07.2019, REGARDING 'Education of Minority Girls'.

- (a) The  Ministry  of  Minority  Affairs  implements  the  following  schemes  for  educational empowerment of students belonging to the six centrally notified minority communities viz. Jain, Buddhist,  Sikh,  Parsi,  Muslim  and  Christian.    At  least  30%  of  the  targets  under  the  following schemes are earmarked for girl students-
- (i) Pre-Matric, Post-Matric and Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship Schemes -for educational empowerment of the six centrally notified minority communities.
- (ii) Maulana Azad National Fellowship - Research Fellowship.
- (iii) NayaSavera - Free Coaching and Allied Scheme - to enhance skills and knowledge of students and candidates for employment through competitive examination and admission in technical and professional courses.
- (iv) PadhoPardes - Scheme for interest subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies in technical and professional courses.
- (v) NaiManzil- Scheme for formal school education & Skilling of school drop-outs.
- (vi) Begum Hazrat Mahal Scholarship Scheme for Meritorious Girls to minority girl students from all the six centrally notified Minority communities studying in classes 9 th to 12 th .

The  government  during  the  last  five  years  has  provided  3.18  crores  scholarships  to students from amongst the six centrally notified Minorities. Out of these, girls constitute more than 50% of the beneficiaries. These scholarship schemes are now being implemented through the  National  Scholarship  Portal  and  since  2015,  the  scholarships  schemes  are  being  fully implemented  under  direct  benefit  transfer  (DBT)  mode  to  improve  the  efficiency  and  bring transparency by removing duplicity and stopping pilferages.

Under  Pradhan  Mantri  Jan  VikasKaryakram  (PMJVK),  projects  such  as  development  of school buildings, additional class rooms,girls hostels and toilets, SadbhavMandaps, residential schools,    ITIs,  polytechnics,  etc  are  being  constructed  for  promotion  of  education  and  skill development.

The  Ministry  of  Human  Resource  Development  (HRD)  under  the  project  of  Kasturba Gandhi  BalikaVidyalayas,  provide  residential  upper  primary  schools  for  girls  from  Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Muslim/minorities.

Besides, the centrally-sponsored scheme of RashtriyaMadhyamikShikshaAbhiyan (RMSA) (which has now been included in the SamagraShikshaAbhiyan) envisaged enhancing the quality of education by providing a secondary school within a reasonable distance of every habitation, improving quality of education imparted at secondary level, removal of gender socio-economic and disability barriers.

Scheme for  Providing  Quality  Education  in  Madarsas (SPQEM) (Department  of  School Education  &  Literacy)  is  a  special  initiative  included  in  the  Prime  Minister's  New  15  Point Programme  for  the  Welfare  of  Minorities.    The  objective  of  the  Scheme  is  to  encourage traditional  institutions  like  Madarsas  and  Maktabs  by  giving  financial  assistance  to  introduce 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 SQPEM is a demand driven scheme.

- (b) A  study  done  by  National  Productivity  Council  (NPC)  on  high  dropout  rate  amongst minority  communities  in  schools  has  indicated  various  socio-economic  reasons  for  high dropouts, which are mainly as under:
- (i) Low income of parents
- (ii) Need to support the parents
- (iii) Illiteracy among parents
- (iv) Early Marriage among Girls students
- (v) Migration of parents in search of livelihood
- (vi) Inadequate availability of teachers
- (vii) Non-availability of toilet for girls

(c) The  Government  has  taken  up multi-media  campaign  to  spread  awareness of welfare schemes meant for minorities through print and electronic media, All India Radio Network  including  FM  Channels,  and  websites  all  over  the  country.  Pocket  booklets and pamphlets on various schemes / programmes of the Ministry are published in Hindi, English, Urdu and other regional languages.  In order to directly reach out to the public especially minority  communities  and  spread  awareness among  them,  'Progress Panchayats' are organized in various places.  Regional Coordination & Review Conferences are also held with State Governments from time to time where, inter-alia, information  about  the  Ministry's  schemes  is  provided.  The  Ministry  also  supports workshops  and  seminars  organized  by  NGOs  and  State  Organisations  for  creating awareness about its programmes and schemes .

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