Centre to rename over 1,000 schools, hostels after Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

NEW DELHI: The ministry of education has decided to name residential schools and hostels funded under the Samagra Shiksha scheme “Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Residential Schools/Hostels”. The ministry has sanctioned 1,063 residential facilities under SSA, including 383 residential schools and 680 hostels located in different states and Union Territories. This comes the same week the Union Budget 2021 cut SSA's funds by over Rs 7,000 crore.

As per the ministry, the renaming of schools and hostels has been done to honour Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. A statement issued by the ministry says: “The association of these schools with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose will act as an inspiration to the children and also motivate the teachers, staff and administration to enable them to achieve high standards of excellence. This will also help create awareness about the facility of these residential schools and hostels in difficult areas and inspire these schools to achieve high standards of quality education.”

SSA funds slashed

The government has reduced allocation to the scheme in the Budget 2021 announced for next financial year. Government has allocated Rs 31,050.16 crore for the next financial year, down from Rs 38,750.50 crore allocated to the scheme in Budget 2020. The cut came after the Budget for SSA was reduced by around Rs 10,000 crore in the revised estimate for the year 2020-21. The outlay for next financial year is lower than the actual expenditure on SSA in the 2019-20 financial year.

A few years back, the government combined three schemes through which it supported schools into Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.

The education ministry under the samagra shiksha scheme provides financial assistance to states and UTs for a range of activities to ensure universal schooling, including opening and running residential schools and hostels in hilly terrain, small and sparsely populated areas for children who are in need of shelter and care, in addition to the provision of regular schools.

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