SHRESHTA Scheme

• 04 Jun 2022

For Prelims: National Education Policy, SHRESHTA Scheme

For Mains: Education, Issues related to SC/ST, Contribution of the various educational schemes of the government of India in upliftment of the social and economic status of the people belonging to scheduled class

Why in News?

Recently, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched the scheme ‘SHRESHTA.’ This scheme is known as Scheme for residential education for students in High school in Targeted Areas.

• The scheme ‘SHRESHTA’ was created with the goal of providing quality education and opportunity to students of SC Category.

What is the scheme ‘SHRESHTA’?

• About:
  • Its basic motive is to uplift the socio-economic status of the Scheduled Castes peoples by providing high quality education to their children in best private residential schools in the country.
  • Admission will be provided in Class 9 and Class 11 of CBSE affiliated private schools.
• Objective:
  • To make easy delivery of the Governmental initiatives and schemes.
  • To create a conducive atmosphere for the ‘Scheduled Castes' socioeconomic advancement and overall growth.
  • Collaborating with volunteer groups to bridge the gap in service-deprived Scheduled Castes (SCs) dominating regions in the education sector.
  • To enable bright Scheduled Caste (SC) students with high-quality education so that they can pursue future opportunities.
• Eligibility:
  • The students, belonging to Scheduled Castes, studying in class 8^th and 10^th in the current academic year (2021-22) are eligible for availing the benefits of the scheme.
  • Students from the SC community who come from a marginalized income group with an annual income of up to Rs.2.5 lakh are eligible.
  • The selection will be done through a transparent mechanism which is known as National Entrance Test for SHRESHTA (NETS).
    • It will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) for admission in class 9^th and 11^th.
• Beneficiaries:
  • Government has targeted that every year around 3000 students belonging to SC category will be admitted to Class 9 and Class 11 under this system.
  • The Ministry will cover the whole cost of their school fees and accommodation fees till they have completed their academics in class 12^th.

What are the Other Related Initiatives for SCs?

• Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana (BJRCY):
  • The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment is a nodal agency for implementation of this scheme.
  • Central assistance is provided to the implementing agencies, namely State Governments/UT Administrations/Central and State Universities/Non-Governmental Organizations/Deemed Universities in the private sector, under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, namely Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna (BJRCY), for the construction of new hostels/expansion of existing hostel facilities for Scheduled Castes students.
• Post Matric scholarship schemes for SC:
  • It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched in 2006. It is implemented through State government and Union Territory administration.
  • Government is committed to give a big push to its effort so that the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education of SCs would reach up to the national standards within the 5 year period.
• Single National Scholarship Scheme:
  • The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has been tasked to implement the Scheme by conducting a merit test.
  • Beneficiary: Students in the Schedule Caste, Other Backward Class (OBC), Denotified, Nomadic and semi-Nomadic Tribe (DNT) and Economically Backward Caste (EBC) categories will be able to avail the national scholarship.

Source: PIB