Muristek
Centre launches scheme aimed at providing quality education to SC students
Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 3
The Centre on Friday launched "Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas" (SHRESTHA) to provide quality education and opportunities for the poorest Scheduled Caste students.
Launching the scheme, Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar said "The students from the Scheduled Caste communities, for long been subjects to inequality, were kept out of quality education and a situation that perpetuates the disadvantages carried forward for generations of lack of adequate education."
The scheme has been conceived to provide access to high quality residential education to the meritorious poor students from Scheduled Caste communities, whose parental annual income is up to Rs 2.5 Lakh per annum, at free of cost from class 9th to class 12th.
Under this scheme, each year a specified number of meritorious SC students (Approx 3000) in states / UTs will be selected through a National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS), conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA).
Selected students will be admitted in the good private residential schools, affiliated to CBSE, in classes 9th and 11th for completion of education till 12th standard.
Thereafter, the students may be connected to Post Metric Scholarship Scheme or Top-Class Education Scheme of the ministry to continue their further studies with adequate financial aid from the Union government.
For selection of the residential schools, the ministry through a committee with the representative of Ministry of Education and CBSE and Finance Division of the Department, has selected the best performing private residential schools affiliated with the CBSE, based on certain parameters.