Lok Sabha Question No. 3631 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-08-08
Subject: Hostels in Schools
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: YOGI ADITYANATH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3631 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.08.2016

## Hostels in Schools

## †3631. SHRI YOGI ADITYA NATH:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware that in several parts of the country the students, due to nonavailability of hostel facility in schools, are pursuing their studies by staying in rented accommodations;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government is working on any scheme to provide hostel facilities or any other assistance to such students; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to provide basic facilities to the students who have come from far off places to study?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

- (a) & (b) : Education being  a  concurrent subject and a majority of schools being under the purview of the State Governments, this  Ministry does not maintain data on availability of hostel facilitates in schools. However, all 591 functional Navodaya Vidyalayas under the jurisdiction of this Ministry are fully residential.
- (c)  &  (d)  : The  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme,  Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  of  the  Ministry  of  Human Resource Development has a provision for setting up of  Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalyas (KGBV) in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) to provide residential upper primary schools for girls who are  unable  to  go  to  regular  schools,  out  of  school  girls  in  the  10 + age  group  who  are  unable  to complete primary school and younger girls of migratory populations in difficult  areas  of  scattered habitations  that  do  not  qualify  for  primary/upper  primary  schools.  As  on  date,  there  are  3599 functional KGBVs with 364855 girls.

The  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme,  Rashtriya  Madhyamik  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (RMSA)  has  a component for setting up of Girls Hostels for girl students studying in classes IX to XII and belonging to SC, ST, OBC, Minority communities and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.  The main objective of  the  Scheme is to improve access to and retain the girl child in secondary and higher secondary classes (IX-XII) so that they are not denied the opportunity to continue their study due to distance to school, parents' financial affordability and other connected societal factors.  As on date, there are 951 functional Girls hostels with 76577 girls.

The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalyas (JNVs) under the Ministry of Human Resource Development are residential schools with hostel facilities meant for providing quality education to the children predominantly from rural areas from Classes VI to XII. As on 31 st March, 2016, there are 247153 Students in  591 JNVs availing of the residential facility.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has three schemes namely (i) Scheme of Girls & Boys Hostels for  Scheduled  Tribes  under  which  Central  assistance  is  given  to  States/UTs/Universities  for construction  of  new  hostel  buildings  and/or  extension  of  existing  hostels  (ii)  Scheme  of  Ashram Schools  in  Tribal  Sub-Plan  Area  to  provide  residential  schools  for  Scheduled  Tribes  in  an environment conducive to learning to increase the literacy rate among the tribal students and to bring them  at  par  with  other  population  of  the  country  and  (iii)  EKLAVYA  Model  Residential  Schools (EMRSs)   to provide quality education to Scheduled Tribe students from classes VI to XII for which funds are provided to the concerned State Governments.

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment has two schemes namely (i) Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna (BJRCY) under which central assistance is provided for construction/expansion of hostels for SC Boys and Girls and (ii) Scheme of Construction of Hostels for OBC Boys and Girls which aims at providing hostel facilities to students belonging to socially and educationally backward classes, especially from rural areas, to enable them to pursue secondary and higher education.

The  Ministry  of  Minority  Affairs  has  a  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  namely  The  Multisectoral Development Programme (MsDP), which aims to provide socio-economic infrastructure and basic amenities for uplifting the quality of life of Minorities. Creation of infrastructure for education purpose including hostels is a priority under MsDP.

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