Government to fund studies of 3,500 SC kids in top private boarding schools

• The ministries of education and social justice & empowerment have joined hands to launch the Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas (Shreshta) from this academic session.
• The scheme will be launched for the socio-economic development of the Scheduled Caste students.

About Shreshta scheme

• The idea is to provide access to high-quality education to ""bright SC students in the best schools in the country, thereby securing their future opportunities"".
• The selection of the students - at levels of class 6, 9 and 11 - will be done annually through the nationwide Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) entrance exam, which is conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education.
• It is envisaged that 2,000 children at the class 6 level, 1,000 at class 9 level and 500 at the Class 11 will be selected annually under the scheme.
• The education of the selected children will be government funded until Class 12. Scholarships starting from ₹75,000 per annum per student for class 6 to ₹1.35 lakh in class 12 - covering tuition fee and hostel fee - is to be borne by the Centre.
• It is expected to cost the government ₹325.75 crore between 2022-23 and 2025-26.
• The selected SC students would be offered a choice to either to choose the JNV of their district, or to opt for a Shreshta-linked school in their state. Once the option is exercised, the school would automatically, and without any further test, admit the student in the suitable class, without asking for upfront payment of the school and hostel fees.
• The fee would be deposited by the government in the school account within 30 days from the date of confirmation of admission.
• At the time of joining the school, the students will also be run through a three-month bridge course so that they can catch up with the rest of the class, address learning gaps if any and acquire capability to adapt to the school environment.

Other Initiatives taken for SC development with respect to Educational empowerment

• Pre-Metric Scholarships: Objective is to support the parents of SC children for educating their wards, so that the incidence of drop outs at this stage is minimized.
• Post Metric Scholarship for Scheduled Caste Students (PMS-SC): A centrally sponsored scheme. 100% central assistance is released to State Governments/UTs for expenditure incurred by them under the scheme over and above their respective committed liability.
• Scholarships for obtaining Higher Education and Coaching Scheme.

1. Top class education for SC students: Objective of the Scheme is to promote qualitative education amongst students belonging to Scheduled Castes, by providing full financial support for pursuing studies beyond 12th class, in notified institutes of excellence like IITs, NITs, IIMs, reputed Medical/Law and other institutions.
2. National Fellowship: Scheme provides financial assistance to SC students for pursuing research studies leading to M.Phil, Ph.D and equivalent research degrees.
3. National Overseas Scholarship: Scheme provides assistance to students belonging to SCs, de-notified, nomadic, semi-nomadic tribes etc for pursuing higher studies of Master level courses and PhD programmes abroad.
4. Free coaching for SC and OBC students: Objective is to enable them to appear in competitive examinations and succeed in obtaining an appropriate job in Public/Private sector.