Eklavya schools to revolutionise education in tribal areas: Minister

SERAIKELA: Union minister Arjun Munda on Saturday said that Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) will revolutionise education in tribal dominated areas of the country as children of the community will be provided with the best modern education in those institutes.

All the EMRS would be developed on a par with Navodaya Vidyalayas, the Union tribal minister said. He was addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of an EMRS at Khairbani under Rajnagar block of Jharkhand's Seraikela district.

EMRS started in the year 1997-98 to impart quality education to ST children in remote areas in order to enable them to avail of opportunities in high and professional educational courses and get employment in various sectors. The schools focus not only on academic education but on the all- round development of the students.

Munda said that in the Union budget of 2018-19, the government had announced that by the year 2022, every block with more than 50 population ST population and at least 20,000 tribal people will have an EMRS. It had been decided to establish 462 such schools across the country by 2022.

The Union minister said that the schools will have facilities for one individual sport and one group sport of the state concerned, following the norms of the Sports Authority of India.

Munda said that a total of 480 students 240 boys and an equal number of girls - would be provided with education from class 6 to 12 in the school at Khairbani. State Transport Minister Champai Soren, who was present on the occasion, also described the establishment of EMRS as a milestone in the field of education of tribal children.

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