What Are The New Policies Of Education In India?

What are the new policies of education in India?

Scheduled tribes refer to those communities that go through social, educational, and economic backwardness that has been in existence for many years. They are vulnerable to the practice of untouchability and discrimination due to a lack of infrastructure facilities and geographical isolation. They need special schemes to safeguard their interests and promote their socio-economic development. Such communities were considered to be Scheduled Tribes as per the provisions in Clause 1 of Article 341 of the Constitution.

Educational Policies for Scheduled Tribes

Some educational and welfare schemes introduced by the government of India for scheduled tribes are as follows:

1. Scholarship Programs:

Students belonging to scheduled castes receive various scholarships at different levels of education such as pre-matric, post-matric, national fellowship, national overseas scholarship, free coaching, and more.

2. Protection of Civil Rights Act (1955):

The Act was enacted to prohibit untouchability and provides punishment to anyone who treats scheduled castes as untouchables.

3. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989:

This Act offers financial assistance to the states or union territories to provide relief to victims of atrocities, generate awareness, and more.

4. Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship for ST Students:

This Central Scheme was introduced to offer fellowship to Scheduled Tribe students. It enables them to pursue higher studies such as M.Phil and Ph.D. The scheme was introduced in the year 2005-06.

5. Establishment of Ashram Schools in Tribal Sub-Plan Areas:

The main aim of this scheme is to facilitate residential schools for Scheduled Tribes including PGs in an environment that supports learning. It seeks to increase the literacy rate among the tribal students. The scheme was implemented in 1990-91 and has been revised w.e.f. the financial year 2008-09.

Indian Policies of Education for Women

1. Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao:

This scheme was launched by the government on January 22, 2015, in Haryana. The main aim of this scheme is to prevent the girl child from getting aborted and to give them universal access to education. The scheme was a collaboration between the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource Development, and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

2. CBSE Udaan Scheme:

This scheme is a collaboration between CBSE and the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Indian Government. It aims to increase women’s enrolment in prestigious academic institutions across India.

3. Balika Samriddhi Yojana:

This scheme is a scholarship initiative to offer financial aid to girls who come from poor economic backgrounds. The main aim is to improve the social status and enrolment of girls in schools.

4. Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana:

The scheme is also known as Women Child Prosperity Account and has been created as a savings program for parents of girls. Its main aim is to reduce the issues of dowry and marriage costs prevalent in India.

5. Ladli Scheme and the Kanya Kosh Scheme:

Haryana was reported to have one of the worst birth sex ratios in 2011 accounting for 834 girls for 1000 people. This scheme was developed to offer a financial reward of Rs. 5000/- per year to parents who give birth to a girl child after August 2005.

6. National Scheme of Incentive for the Girls of Secondary Education:

This scheme aims to enable girls coming from a deprived financial background to complete their secondary education.

7. Ladli Laxmi Yojana of Madhya Pradesh:

The main aim of this scheme is to improve the girls’ health and educational development. It also aims to decrease female foeticide.

8. Karnataka Bhagyashree Scheme:

The scheme offers financial aid to the girl child by offering healthcare coverage and aims to increase the birth of girls.

9. Mazi Kanya Bhagyashree Scheme from the Government of Maharashtra:

This scheme offers financial aid to families of girl children and aims to improve their living conditions.

10. The Chief Minister’s Girl Child Protection Scheme of Tamil Nadu:

The scheme deposits a sum of Rs. 50,000/- to the family with one girl child and encourages the prevention of gender equality. It fosters women’s empowerment.

Policies for Differently Abled

The central government has started paying more attention to the education and welfare of differently-abled students. It finances central educational institutions, offers scholarships to students, offers stipends, has also opened special care institutions, and more.

Some of the various government schemes and educational programs for differently-abled students are as follows:

1. Samagra Shiksha

Samagra Shiksha’s mission was launched in 2018-2019. It is an integrated scheme for School Education aimed at the welfare of children with special needs from classes 1 to 12 under the Department of School Education and Literacy, MHRD. The scheme is governed and regulated by the provisions of the RTE Act, 2009.

2. Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009

The Right to Education Act (RTE) is enacted to make the right to education a fundamental right in the country. It marks a watershed in the Indian education system and that is why it is essential legislation. In August 2009, Parliament passed the act, and came into force in 2010. Following this, India became one of the 135 countries that have made education a fundamental right of every child.

3. National Policy of Education (1986)

The main goal of NPE was to universalize elementary education through facilities such as quality education, trained teachers, adequate teaching and learning materials. It also took steps to remove inequality and discrimination based on social criteria.

4. The Kothari Commission (1964)

The Kothari Commission was an ad hoc commission formed by the Government of India under the Chairmanship of Daulat Singh Kothari on 14 July 1964 and dissolved on 29 June 1966. He was the chairman of the University Grants Commissions (UGC) when the Kothari Commission was formed. The Commission consisted of twenty members who were experts in the education domain and based out of the UK, USA, Japan, Sweden, and France.

5. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a flagship program started by the government of India in 2001. It was developed to achieve the Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE). The provision of legal backing for SSA occurred when the Indian Constitution under Article 21 A, made free and compulsory education for the children in the age group of 6-14 a fundamental right in. In a time-bound manner, SSA aims to fulfill the objectives of this fundamental right. It is anchored by The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India (GoI) and has been operational since 2000-2001.

The government ensures that the differently-abled students are given special care and attention but also not treated differently at the same time so that they do not feel excluded. Hence, these schemes ensure that there is an inclusion of all learners in education despite their physical or mental abilities.