Centre to launch SRESHTA scheme for upliftment of SC students: Report

NEW DELHI: The central government has announced the launch of the Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas (SRESHTA) scheme for uplifting students belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), the Hindustan Times reported.

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Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar announced it on Thursday. “The scheme will focus on the socio-economics upliftment and overall development of the Scheduled Caste students by providing quality residential education to meritorious Scheduled Caste students in reputed private schools, having residential facilities,” the Hindustan Times quoted him as saying.

The scheme will enable bright SC students to have a better tomorrow by receiving a high-equality education, help in controlling dropout rates of these students from Classes 9 to 12, he said, as per the report.

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In the next five years, the ministry has decided to provide support to 24,800 meritorious SC students, for giving them quality residential education in reputed private residential schools in aspirational districts identified by the NITI Aayog, he further said, according to the report.

Kumar also announced that the government will celebrate Mahaparinirvan Divas in remembrance of Dr BR Ambedkar on December 6 as part of its ongoing ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ celebrations to mark 75 years of India’s independence, the report said.

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Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) , a non-profit bank made up of 68 member countries, has approved a loan of USD 500 million to the ministry of education to support the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan in five states which is India’s largest scheme for school education.

The project aims to help the ministry in “transforming” certain government schools into “exemplar schools”, prevent post COVID-19 dropouts and “bring positive impact” on tribal children in five states -- Assam, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand.

It also aims to improve foundational learning and reduce dropout rates, with special attention to girls and socially-disadvantaged groups, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.