Union minister to launch SHRESHTA scheme for free education to SC students tomorrow

NEW DELHI: The Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar will launch the Scheme for Residential Education For Students in High schools in Targeted Areas (SHRESHTA) tomorrow, June 3, 2022.

SHRESHTA scheme will provide access to high quality residential education to the meritorious poor students from Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, whose parental annual income is up to Rs 2.5 Lakh per annum, at free of cost from Class 9 to 12.

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Under the scheme, around 3,000 such students are selected through a National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS) conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). NETS 2022 was conducted on May 7, 2022. Selected students are admitted in the best private residential schools, affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), in Classes 9 and 11 for completion of education till Class 12.

For selection of schools, the Ministry has selected the best performing private residential schools affiliated with the CBSE based on certain parameters such as – school is in existence for at least for last 5 years, board results of the school were more than 75% in Class 10 and 12 for the last 3 years, and school has adequate infrastructure for admitting additional students.

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Provisions have also been incorporated in the scheme for a Bridge Course for a period of 3 months, for the students, joining the CBSE based schools from State Schools, Rural Areas or from Regional language Schools, to adapt in the new environment of the selected schools.

The bridge course should be conducted outside-school-hours after identifying the individual academic requirements, to ensure that SC students of the scheme can catch up with the rest of the students in the class. The Ministry will pay an additional cost of 10% of the annual charge for the bridge course.