Govt not achieving 452 Eklavya Model Residential Schools by 2022: Parliamentary panel

A parliamentary panel has said that the government is nowhere near achieving its original target of building 452 Eklavya Model Residential Schools by 2022 and has thus extended the deadline to 2025.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment has tabled a report in Lok Sabha which says that there is a huge disparity between the number of schools proposed to be sanctioned and the actual sanction. 

"The government is nowhere near achieving its original target of building 452 Eklavya Model Residential Schools by 2022 and has thus extended the deadline to 2025," said the Parliamentary panel.

"Out of 288 schools sanctioned in 1997-98, prior to revamping of the scheme in 2018-19, only 244 schools could be made functional. "...the original target, which aimed that 452 new Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs) including 12 Eklavya Model Day Boarding School (EMDBS) would be set up in the remaining 462 sub-districts by the year 2022 is nowhere near completion and the target year stands revised as 2025 now," said the panel, as reported by NDTV.

"The committee is surprised to note that out of 452 schools proposed to be sanctioned as per the phasing plan between 2018-2019 to 2021-2022, only 350 schools could be sanctioned and the remaining 102 schools are remaining to be sanctioned as the location for these schools is yet to be finalised," it added.

The construction work of only 202 schools has been completed to date and the construction work of 20 schools is yet to begin. The construction work of 66 schools is targeted to be completed by October 2024, it said.

Panel advised immediate review

The panel advised that in their opinion these should be reviewed and viable solutions must be given as soon as possible so that the delay in the acquisition of land can be prevented. 

It recommended that such review should be undertaken without compromising upon the infrastructural requirements of EMRS/EMDBS. The committee desired that such tribal areas with widely scattered tribal populations must not be deprived of the benefits of EMRSs/EMDBS which are a means towards their educational empowerment.

The panel said it was surprised to note that three states -- Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal -- have still not signed MoU and are reluctant to shift to CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) and are insisting on continuation of state board curriculum in these schools, whereas the norms stipulate that all EMRSs are to be affiliated with CBSE in order to grant better sum per child studying in these schools.

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