India: Educationally Backward Areas

 Dr. D. Purandeswari, Minister of State for Human Resource informed the Lok Sabha (Lower house of Indian parliament) that the Government of India has identified 374 Educationally Backward Districts (EBDs) having Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) lower than the national GER for higher education. Similarly, 3500 Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) have been identified in the country.

 

3500 Model Schools have been approved in all Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) on Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) template, through State/UT Governments. The outlay for Model Schools Scheme during the 11th Five Year Plan is Rs. 12,750 crore and the estimated central share for setting up of 3,500 schools in EBBs is Rs. 9,935 crore. Funds are released to the States and UTs based on viable proposals received from them.

 

Under a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme, there is a provision for establishing one Model Degree College in each of the 374 identified districts. A total of 142 proposals have been received by the University Grants Commission (UGC), out of which 78 have been approved. An amount of Rs. 19.95 crore and Rs. 17.29 crore have been released for the year 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively. ---PIB