NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Tribal Affairs will develop a response mechanism to address the existing gap of children belonging to tribal communities losing out on education due to online classes, said Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda on Monday.
He was speaking at the virtual inauguration of the e-portal on tribal health and nutrition ‘Swasthya’ which provides health and nutrition related information of the tribal population of India in a single platform on Monday.
Asked if the new system of online classes amid the pandemic is widening the gap in education for children in tribal dominated areas, and how the ministry plans to address this issue, Munda said, “We hope to soon build a response mechanism to this and start an online education programme for areas which are lagging behind. We are consulting the eklavya model residential schools (EMRS) on how to start the process.”
The Centre had earlier announced that every block with more than 50 per cent scheduled tribe population and at least 20,000 tribal persons would have an EMRS by 2022.
The ministry would monitor the tribal areas for upskilling of migrant workers and creating jobs, he said. There would also be an effort to create jobs at the areas the communities belong to, he added.
The portal Swasthya will curate innovative practices, research briefs, case studies, and best practices collected from different parts of India to facilitate the exchange of evidence, expertise and experiences.
“Although the public health standards have improved over time, the differences between tribal and non-tribal populations remain. We are committed to bridge this gap. The launch of the portal is a first step towards the much bigger goal of serving the tribal population of our nation,” said Munda.
An expert committee report on the state of tribal health in India submitted in 2018 showed the tribal population in the country faced a triple burden of certain diseases.