Lok Sabha Question No. 109 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-18
Subject: Providing Educational Facilities to Backward Communities
Ministry: Education
Asked by: S. Gnanathiraviam, D. M. Kathir Anand, Prathap Simha

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 109 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18 th  JULY, 2022

## Providing Educational Facilities to Backward Communities

## 109. SHRI GNANATHIRAVIAM S.: SHRI D.M. KATHIR ANAND: SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is providing funds and any other facilities for the education of the children of Backward Class, Other Backward Class, Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe communities in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the total funds allocated during the last 5 years year-wise;
- (c) if not, the reasons for the same; and
- (d) the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  provide  adequate  support  for  the  educational development of such deprived and oppressed communities  in Tamil  Nadu  and Karnataka?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a) to (d) The  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and  Compulsory  Education  (RTE)  Act,  2009, mandates the appropriate Government to provide free and compulsory elementary education to every child of the age 6 to 14 years in a neighbourhood school. Education is a subject in the concurrent list of the Constitution and the majority of the schools are under the control of the respective  State/UT  Governments.  Department  of  School  Education  and  Literacy  (DoSEL), Ministry  of  Education  is  implementing  Samagra  Shiksha  from  2018-19  to  support  States  and UTs,  including  states  of  Karnataka  and  Tamil  Nadu  for  ensuring  equity  and  inclusion  at  all levels  of  school  education.  Samagra  Shiksha  has  been  aligned  with  the  National  Education Policy  (NEP)  2020  in  order  to  ensure  inclusive  and  equitable,  quality  and  holistic  school education. The major objectives of the Scheme are: (i) Support States and UTs in implementing the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020); (ii) Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009; (iii) Focus  on  Early  Childhood  Care  and  Education;  (iv)  Emphasis  on  Foundational  Literacy  and

Numeracy;  (v)  Thrust  on  Holistic,  Integrated,  Inclusive  and  activity  based  Curriculum  and Pedagogy to impart 21st century skills among the students; (vi) Provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students; (vii) Bridging Social and Gender Gaps in School Education; (viii) Ensuring  equity and  inclusion at all levels of school education; (ix) Strengthening  and  up-gradation  of  State  Councils  for  Educational  Research  and  Training (SCERTs)/State  Institutes  of  Education  and  District  Institutes  for  Education  and  Training (DIET) as nodal agency for teacher training; (x) Ensuring safe, secure and conducive learning environment  and  maintenance  of  standards  in  schooling  provisions and  (xi)  Promoting vocational education.

The funds are released to the States and  UTs including the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu based on the approved Annual Work Plan & Budget (AWP&B) of the respective State/UT, norms of scheme, General Financial Rules (GFR) and subject to availability of budget for the schemes and physical and financial progress of the State. The Status of funds released to the  State  Government  of  Karnataka  and  Tamil  Nadu  from  the  year  2018-19  under  Samagra Shiksha is as follows:-

(Rs in lakh)

| Year    |   Karnataka |   Tamil Nadu |
|---------|-------------|--------------|
| 2018-19 |     62784   |       147444 |
| 2019-20 |     73032.7 |       176912 |
| 2020-21 |     61010   |       162154 |
| 2021-22 |     47451.6 |       159882 |

Samagra  Shiksha  attempts  to  reach  out  to  girls,  and  children  belonging  to  SC,  ST, Minority  communities,  etc.  SC,  ST  and  minority  Special  Focus  Districts  (SFDs)  have  been identified 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.  To  ensure equitable education to the most deprived sections of the society, Samagra Shiksha has various provisions like free textbooks, uniforms, Kasturba Gandhi Balika  Vidyalayas for  girls,  Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Awasiya Vidyalayas/Hostels for areas which are sparsely populated with low density of population (mostly tribal areas).

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