Union Human Resource Development Minister M M Pallam Raju on Wednesday said major gains have been secured in education sector for those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and for Persons with Disabilities since the implementation of the Right to Education Act.
After a review meeting of the National Monitoring Committee for Education of SCs, STs and Persons with Disabilities, Raju said the enrolment of SC children had increased substantially under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. A significant drop in the number of out-of-school SC children and reduction in the percentage of out-of-school ST children were also witnessed.
Maintaining that the Central Educational Institutions Act provided 15 per cent and 7.5 per cent reservation to the SC and ST students respectively, Raju said his ministry has earmarked an amount of over Rs 12,000 crore under SCSP (SC sub-plan) and over Rs 6,000 crore under TSP (tribal sub-plan) for 2013-14. He said the Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage scheme was launched in 2009-10 to provide assistance for the inclusive education of the differently-abled children in standards IX to XII.
Raju said household surveys and special surveys were conducted by all states to identify children with special needs. Accordingly, over 32 lakh children with special needs were identified and over 28 lakh of them were enrolled in schools.
About 1.12 lakh children are covered through School Readiness Programme in 23 states.