EKLAVYA MODEL RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL

1. Context

2. How the Eklavya Model Residential School emerged

• The EMRS model was first introduced in 1997-98 to provide equal education to tribal students with residential facilities in remote corners. The aim was to build schools at par with the Jawahar Navoday Vidyalayas and Kendriya Vidyalayas.
• Until 2018-19, the scheme was overseen by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs with maximum control of identifying new schools, recruiting, management, and admission lying with state governments.
• While the Union government had sanctioned a certain number of preliminary EMRS, the guideline of the scheme noted that States and Union Territories would be responsible for seeking sanction of new schools as and when they needed it.
• The funds for these schools were to come from the grants under Article 275(1) and the guidelines mandated that unless states finished constructing the schools sanctioned by the Centre, they would not be entitled to funds for new ones.

3. Objectives of EMRS

• Comprehensive physical, mental, and socially relevant development of all students enrolled in every EMRS.
• Seek to empower students to be change agents, beginning in their school, in their homes, in their village, and finally in a larger context.
• Focus differentially on the educational support to be made available to those in Standards XI and XII, and those in standards VI to X, so that their distinctive needs can be met.
• Support the annual running expenses in a manner that offers reasonable remuneration to the staff and upkeep of the facilities.
• Support the construction of infrastructure that provides education, physical, environmental and cultural needs of students' life.

4. When was it revamped?

• The new guidelines gave the Union government more power to sanction schools and manage them. A National Education Society for Tribal students (NESTS) was set up and entrusted with the management of the state Education society for Tribal Students (SESTS), which would run the EMRS on the ground.
• The new guidelines set a target of setting up an EMRS in every tribal sub-district and introduced 'population criteria' for setting them up. The new guidelines also reduced the minimum land requirement from 20 acres to 15 acres.
• However, the Standing Committee in its report noted that a large number of schools were being delayed because the area (15acre) requirement and the population criteria were making identification and acquisition of land "more cumbersome", especially in hilly areas, leftwing extremism-affected areas, and the northeast.
• The Standing Committee noted that the population criteria ran the risk of depriving a "scattered tribal population" of the benefits of EMRS, "which are a means towards their educational empowerment".
• Senior NESTS officials admit that sometimes even when the population criteria have been fulfilled, 15-acre plots are not available.
• Despite, the setting up of the NESTS, there was a shortage of teachers. While the new guidelines allowed NESTS to suggest measures for teacher recruitment, they never mandated that states follow them.
• As of July this year, all functional EMRS had a teaching strength of just under 4,000 against the 11,340 recommended by NESTS.

5. Current Status

• The Tribal Affairs Ministry insists on maintaining the new criteria. As of November, a total of 688 schools have been sanctioned, of which 392 are functional. Of the 688, 230 have completed construction and 234 are under construction, with 32 schools still stuck due to land acquisition issues.
• Senior Ministry officials said they intend to achieve this target by the end of 2025-26.
• As for teacher recruitment, the government is at an "advanced stage" of an administrative overhaul, which will give more control of school management to NESTS.
• After approval by the Expenditure Department, all SESTS will be scrapped and regional offices will be set up under the control of NESTS, which will be in charge of recruitment. This process will take place for at least two years.

For Prelims & Mains