The name of legendary tribal archer Ekalavya will soon become synonymous with residential schools in each block of the country where tribal people constitute a majority of the population. This was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech.
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The Ekalavya Residential School Scheme isn’t new. It has been around for many years now. However, the government has signalled in Budget 2018 that it wants to expand the scope.
“The government is committed to providing the best quality education to the tribal children in their own environment. To realise this mission, it has been decided that by the year 2022, every block with more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons, will have an Ekalavya Model Residential School,” Mr. Jaitley said. “Ekalavya schools will be on a par with Navodaya Vidyalayas and will have special facilities for preserving local art and culture, besides providing training in sports and skill development.”
Mr. Jaitley also hinted at another change. “We propose to treat education holistically without segmentation from pre-nursery to Class 12,” he said.
