Page 24 - EW April 2024_Neat

Education News

the Centre contributing Rs.18,128 national development effort, to
crore, and the remainder from state recover lost ground. Currently, there
governments. are 690 EMRS countrywide. Accord-
However the Tamil Nadu govern- ing to Census 2011, tribal commu-
ment’s MoU with the Centre to nities constitute 8.6 percent of the
implement the PM-SHRI Schools total national population. A majority
scheme has elicited scepticism. “One of tribal citizens reside in Madhya
of the primary goals of the scheme Pradesh and Odisha.
is to upgrade existing schools to Currently, classes at GKSP super-
exemplary standards to serve as vised by the Tribal Welfare Depart-
role models. However, a significant ment and Madhya Pradesh Special
proportion of government schools and Residential Academic Society
are grappling with low student at- (MPSARAS) are conducted through
tendance and enrollment right now. a makeshift arrangement with the
Therefore, improving them over Model Hr. Sec. School in Pansemal.
five years is too long a period. By John Prabhu: urgency call GKSP, which has 175 primary/ele-
the end of five years, there may not mentary children, is restricted to the
be enough students left to benefit,” amount allocated — Rs.27,360 crore first floor with ten classrooms and
says advocate MJ John Arokia over five years — is too small to make six toilets. Residential accommoda-
Prabhu, vice president of the Tamil an impact. Moreover, the target is tion is in a building of the neighbour-
Nadu Private Schools Association. to upgrade only 14,500 government ing English Medium Ashram and
ccording to Prabhu, low at- schools out of 1.10 million country- comprises ten rooms, each crammed
Atendance and continuous flight wide. Self-evidently, this scheme has with 17 beds, and six common toilets.
from Tamil Nadu’s 39,000 govern- all the hallmarks of window-dressing GKSP principal Santosh Pawar
ment schools are the outcome of for political rather than educational says land for a new school building
infrastructure deficiencies, poor purposes. was allotted in October 2022. How-
quality education, and lack of com- Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) ever, the Public Works Department
munity engagement. These issues (PWD) classified the allotted land as
need to be urgently addressed so MADHYA PRADESH “too hilly” and expensive to develop.
that the benefits of the scheme can Subsequently, a new 15-acre plot
be realised. “Merely designating Scandalous was allotted in January 2024, but is
them as PM-SHRI Schools without reportedly stymied by bureaucratic
first rectifying these underlying indifference hurdles.
problems won’t serve any purpose,” Comments Shakti Singh
says Prabhu. he popular urban perception is (Deputy Commissioner, Barwani):
“This scheme is an experiment that rural SC (scheduled caste) “PWD engineers have inspected the
for implementing NEP 2020. But Tand ST (scheduled tribe) chil- site and approval has been granted
it proposes to upgrade only 14,500 dren are content with their backward- by the National Tribal Student Edu-
schools nationwide over five years. ness and poor-quality schools. This cation Society (NEST) for construc-
In light of the constitutional man- perception was contradicted on Feb- tion,” though he can’t give a date for
date to provide every child with ruary 26 when a delegation of 40 class completion. In their present hostel
equal educational opportunities, this VII-VIII girl children of the Govern- in the English Medium Ashram, the
scheme fails the test of fairness and ment Kanya Shiksha Parisar (GKSP), children are allotted Rs.2,000 per
equity. The PM-SHRI Schools will a CBSE-affiliated school for girls, in year for stationery, Rs.1,500 per
instead widen existing disparities in Pansemal village, undertook a gruel- month for meals, and Rs.1,000 per
access to quality education,” argues ling 80-km trek to meet the district month for discretionary spending.
Prince Gajendra Babu, general collector. Their demand: a dedicated Academics in Madhya Pradesh
secretary of the State Platform for school building and hostel. are stunned by the incident of little
Common School System, Tamil GKSP is an upgraded Eklavya girls trekking 80 km to demand
Nadu. Model Residential School (EMRS), basic education facilities. But with
Quite obviously, the motivation a scheme launched in 1997-98 by a muscular BJP government having
of the state government to sign the the Union ministry of tribal affairs, been returned to power in Madhya
MoU is to get what funding it can to enable India’s forests-dwelling Pradesh following the legislative
from the Centre for establishing tribal communities which have been assembly election of last December,
model, utopian schools. But the bypassed in the post-independence they are reluctant to openly criticise

24 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2024