EDUCATION OF SCHEDULED CASTES/ SCHEDULED TRIBES AND OTHER BACKWARD SECTIONS
THE PRESENT SITUATION 1. The All India literacy rates of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes are 21.38 and 16.35 per cent respectively as against 41.20 of non- SC/ST population according to 1981 census. The literacy rates of women for the above categories are 10.93, 8.04 and 29.43 per cent respectively. The proportion of enrolment of SC/ST children continues to be much less than their population proportion and the drop-out rate continues to be very high at all levels of education; the problem is more severe in case of girls of these communities. The situation calls for' systematic efforts directed towards the educational development of SC/ST.
THE POLICY, TARGETS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR STRATEGY 2. The Central focus in educational development of SC/ST is their equalisation with the non-SC/ST population at all stages and levels of education.
3. To this end, cent per cent enrolment of SC/ST children in the age group 6-11 (classes I-V), ensuring their retention in school leading to satisfactory completion of the primary stage of education or its equivalent through the non-formal stream has to be achieved by 1990. This would mean enrolling approximately 15.5 million SC children and 7.5 million ST children in the age group 6-11 by 1990.
4. At least 75 per cent of the children in the age group 11-14 (classes VI-VIII) will have to be enrolled and retained in school leading to satisfactory completion of class VIII to achieve the policy goals envisaged in the NPE.
5. The operational strategy for achieving the above goals and the targets for implementation will be as follows:
(a) Incentive to indigent families to send their children to school regularly till they reach the age of 14.
To provide incentive/assistance to indigent SC/ST families, details of a scheme of incentive will be worked out in consultation with the State Governments.
(i) To ensure timely payment of pre-matric, scholarships funded entirely and administered by the state governments (except the centrally sponsored schemes for children of families engaged in the so- called "unclean" occupations which is funded by the centre and the state governments on 50:50 sharing basis), the
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amounts of continuing scholarships should be released by the first of the month to which it relates. To avoid delays new scholarships will be sanctioned on the basis of sole affidavit furnished by the parents of the candidate.
(ii) A single nodal agency will be identified for disbursement of scholarships. State Governments will be requested to draw plans within a month to work out details of disbursement and ensure prompt payment.
(iii) Payment through banks, post offices or other agencies like DRDA, SC/ST corporations will also be explored.
(iv) Rates and amount of scholarships will be raised to make them adequate from the point of view of helping to ensure universal enrolment of SC/ST children.
(v) The coverage will be cent per cent of all eligible SC/ST children.
(vi) Measures to ensure prompt payment of post-matric scholarships provided by the Government of India (Ministry of Welfare) will be introduced along the lines as mentioned above for the pre-matric scholarships.
(vii) The financial estimates in respect of post-matric scholarships will be worked out after final decision is taken by the High Level Committee set up by the Ministry of Welfare for revision of rates of scholarships.
(viii) In respect of the scheme of incentives like provision of uniforms, books, stationery, etc., detailed financial estimates will be worked out by the State Governments and implemented effectively.
b) Pre-matric scholarships for children of families engaged in occupations like scavenging, flaying and tanning.
(i) The Ministry of Welfare will take necessary steps to extend the scheme to all children from class I onwards from the beginning of the academic year 1986-87, instead of limiting it as at present to students of classes VI-X; the income ceiling shall be abolished.
(ii) Benefits under the scheme will also be extended to cover day scholars.
c) Constant micro-planning and verification will be done to ensure that enrolment., retention and successful completion of courses by SC/ST students do not fall at any stage.
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(i) Micro-planning will include formulation of detailed village and block level plans within an identified time-frame; mapping of education infrastructure and removal of deficiencies; extension approach at the village level to persuade parents to send the children to school, with the involvement of teachers, parents, local leaders, social workers, etc., and provision of remedial coaching at all stages and special remedial coaching for classes IX-XII for preparing SC/ST children for professional courses.
d) Recruitment of teachers from SC/STs.
(i) A crash programme for recruitment of teachers from among SC/ST will be undertaken to remove existing gaps and to equip all single teacher schools. Educational qualification, especially for women teachers should be relaxed.. Adequate provision will be made for continuing education of teachers recruited and to ensure their professional upgradation. The crash programme is proposed to be commenced from the Academic year 1986-97.
e) Provision of hostel facilities for SC/ST at district headquarters.
(i) A phased programme will be undertaken to ensure that all district headquarters which do not have SC/ST hostels are provided with such facilities in 1986-87.
(ii) The Ministry of Welfare will take up this scheme under a centrally sponsored programme.
f) Location of school buildings, balwadis and adult education centres in scheduled castes bastis/mohallas and tribal villages.
(i) Priority will be given to locate these institutions in SC bastis and mohalls in tribal villages/hamlets.
g) Utilisation of NREP, RLEGP resources to provide educational facilities for SC/ST.
(i) After identifying gaps in infrastructure an accelerated programme will be drawn up to develop educa- tional institutions in SC bastis and tribal villages with funds to be made available from NREP/RLEGP.
h) Content and value orientation of the curricula in respect of Scheduled Tribes.
(i) Preparation of primers for classes I and II in respect of tribal languages having more than 1 lakh speakers should be completed by the end of the VII Plan.
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(ii) The centre and the state governments will constitute committees at appropriate levels to review the contents of the existing curricula to ensure that caste and other prejudices do not come in the way of integration leading to establishment of an egalitarian society.
i) Educationally backward areas.
(i) Existing gaps in educational infrastructure in remote and inaccessible areas, islands, hills and desert areas will be identified during 1986-87 and plans for implementation to remove the backlog will be undertaken during the remaining years of the VII plan.
(j) Other educationally backward sections.
(i) Measures will be further strengthened to ensure that incentives in the form of scholarships, uniforms, books and stationery, etc. reach the clientele groups.
(ii) Priority will be given to the special needs of nomadic, semi-nomadic and denotified communities.
ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT OF PROGRAMMES 4. Detailed guidelines for monitoring will be evolved at the central and state levels to ensure qualitative implementation of the programmes; standards to achieve optimal efficiency in implementation, will be laid down; consistent with the autonomy of the implementing agencies norms of accountability shall be defined at all levels.
7. A single nodal agency for coordination of all programmes leading to the development of SC/ST and other backward sections may be developed at the central and state levels. It is suggested that a Standing Committee of the CABE under the Chairmanship of Minister HRD may be constituted to monitor and review implementation of all educational programmes for SC/ST and other educationally backward sections at the Central level.. A similar committee under the State Advisory Board of Education may be constituted at the state level.
8. In addition to an in-built, mechanism for continuous evaluation of programmes, evaluation of important schemes like scholarships, hostels and the proposed incentive scheme may be undertaken by external agencies.