Education of Forest Dwelling Tribal Children

In order to provide access to school education to tribal communities, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme has sanctioned 11479 new primary schools, 11583 new upper primary schools, 149892 additional class rooms and 83827 teachers, while under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), 2258 new secondary schools have been sanctioned, 3985 existing secondary schools strengthened, 6062 additional class rooms and 14430 teachers have been sanctioned for districts with substantial tribal populations.

Under the SSA, several interventions such as residential schools/hostels, escort/transport facilities, special training for out-of- school children to be mainstreamed to age-appropriate classes, and multi-lingual education with focus on home language, are being implemented along with awareness campaigns and local community participation in school management, in order to bring more and more tribal children into the fold of education.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Dr. Shashi Tharoor in Rajya Sabha on Friday.