650 Eklavya schools opened across country to provide quality education to tribal students says Education Minister

Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the government has taken several initiatives for the development of tribal communities in the country in the last eight years.

Talking to AIR News, Mr. Pradhan said that expenditure on the development of tribal communities, which was only 19 thousand crore rupees before 2014, has now touched 91 thousand crore rupees. He informed that the allocation for the Department of Tribals Affairs has also gone up to 8 thousand 500 crore rupees as compared to 3 thousand 800 crore rupees before 2014.

The Minister added that the government has constructed over 650 Eklavya Model Residential Schools at a cost of over 29 thousand crore rupees with a view to give impetus to quality education in tribal areas.

Mr. Pradhan further added that various ambitious schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries and Stand Up are being implemented for generating employment and promoting self-employment in tribal areas.

Talking about the benefits of the National Education Policy 2020, Mr. Pradhan said the new policy will benefit the tribal communities as there is also a focus on imparting education in the mother tongue and local language.

The Education Minister also informed that the year 2023 has been declared as the International Year of Millets and the tribals will benefit a lot from these products.