Educational Inst in Minority areas is priority of Govt: Tharoor
New Delhi, Mar 20 : Setting up educational Institutions, with focus on improving access, equity and quality in the Minority Concentration Districts (MCDs) is a priority for the Government, the Lok Sabha was informed today.
In a written reply, Minister of State for Human Resource Development Dr Shashi Tharoor said, 'under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), districts with concentration of Muslim population are specifically targeted for maximising school access and eliminating infrastructure gaps.'
Under this programme, as of December 2012, a total of 20,512 Primary Schools and 9,918 Upper Primary Schools have been constructed in Minority Concentration Districts, he informed.
Under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), 890 new secondary schools have been approved to be opened in MCDs he added.
He said out of 3,609 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs), residential schools at Upper Primary level for girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and minority communities in Educational Backward Blocks, 544 KGBVs have been sanctioned in the Minority Concentration Districts, enrolling 10,821 Muslim girls.
In addition under the scheme of establishment of 374 Model Degree Colleges in districts having a Gross Enrolment Ratio of Higher Education below the national average, 12 proposals were received and approved for setting up Model Degree Colleges in Minority Concentration Districts, he added.
He further said that under the Schemes of Sub-Mission on Polytechnics, 54 new Polytechnics have been approved in Minority Concentration Districts out of the 57 proposed in 13 States.
Two campuses of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) have been established at Mallapuram (Kerala) and Murshidabad (West Bengal), he said.
The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) has granted minority status certificates to 7,292 educational institutions till January 31, Dr Tharoor said.