According to the Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram, the Central Government will set up 562 more Ekalavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) in tribal areas of the country. 271 such schools have already been sanctioned out of which, 190 are currently operational.
- In the Union Budget 2018-19, it was announced that by the year 2022, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons, would have an Ekalavya Model Residential School.
- According to the Union Minister for tribal affairs Jual Oram, more Ekalavya Model Residential Schools will be established in tribal areas of the country.
- Ekalavya schools will be on a par with Navodaya Vidyalayas and will have special facilities for preserving local art and culture, besides providing training in sports and skill development.
About the Ekalavya Model Residential School
- The Eklavya Model Residential Schools were initiated in India by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India for providing free high quality education to meritorious tribal children.
- Eklavya Model Residential School Scheme was started in 1998 and first school was started in the year 2000 in Maharashtra.
- Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) are set up in the States/UTs with grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution of India.
- Objective: The objective of EMRS is to provide quality middle and high level education to Scheduled Tribes (ST) students in remote areas, not only to enable them to avail of reservation in high and professional educational courses and as jobs in government and public and private sectors but also to have access to the best opportunities in education at par with the non ST population.
Who are Schedule Tribes?
- Article 366 (25) of the Constitution of India refers to Scheduled Tribes as those communities, who are scheduled in accordance with Article 342 of the Constitution. This Article says that only those communities who have been declared as such by the President through an initial public notification or through a subsequent amending Act of Parliament will be considered to be Scheduled Tribes.
- Article 342 provides for specification of tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which are deemed to be for the purposes of the Constitution the Scheduled Tribes in relation to that State or Union Territory. In pursuance of these provisions, the list of Scheduled Tribes are notified for each State or Union Territory and are valid only within the jurisdiction of that State or Union Territory and not outside.
- The inclusion of a community as a Scheduled Tribe is an ongoing process. The essential characteristics, first laid down by the Lokur Committee, for a community to be identified as Scheduled Tribes are –
- indications of primitive traits;
- distinctive culture;
- shyness of contact with the community at large;
- geographical isolation; and
- backwardness
About Schedule Tribe population in India
- Total Schedule Tribe population in India is 104,545,716 which constitute 8.6% of the country’s total population and 89.97% of them live in rural areas and 10.03% in urban areas.
- As per the census 2011, the literacy rates among ST population is 58.96%.
- The state with highest tribal population is Madhya Pradesh.
- More than two-third of the ST population is concentrated only in the seven States of the country, viz. Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
- There is no ST population in 3 States (Delhi NCR, Punjab and Haryana) and 2 UTs (Puducherry and Chandigarh).
- Among States, Mizoram has the highest proportion of Scheduled Tribes(94.43) and Uttar Pradesh has the lowest proportion of Scheduled Tribes (0.57).
