In a primary, President Murmu sanctions grant for Eklavya college toppers

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, President Droupadi Murmu has sanctioned a discretionary fund to the Nationwide Schooling Society for Tribal College students (NESTS) for toppers from the Eklavya Mannequin Residential Faculties this 12 months.

Officers instructed The Hindu that the NESTS had disbursed ₹62.40 lakh of this discretionary fund to 823 meritorious college students who’ve secured the very best marks of their respective streams throughout Eklavya faculties within the nation.

The NESTS, underneath Ministry of Tribal Affairs, administers over 470 Eklavya faculties throughout the nation. Over 1.38 lakh college students are enrolled in these faculties with no less than 85% of them from Scheduled Tribe communities.

One official defined that this initiative offered a one-time monetary help of ₹7,500 every to 2 top-performing college students from every stream — Science, Humanities, and Commerce — in each college that has had college students seem for the Class XII board examinations for the tutorial 12 months ending in 2025.

The discretionary fund was sanctioned to NESTS earlier this 12 months, which was transferred by way of direct financial institution switch to the scholars’ account arrange by their respective faculties inside 2-3 weeks of the outcomes being introduced, officers mentioned.

They added that the collection of meritorious college students for receiving this grant had a tie-breaker mechanism as nicely which had labored in a choice for woman college students and was utilized in one occasion the place 20 college students from 10 EMRSs had secured the identical marks. If the tie continued, Class XI efficiency can be thought-about.

A press release from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs on Monday mentioned that the initiative “underscores the shared imaginative and prescient of the Hon’ble President of India and NESTS to foster equitable entry to high quality schooling, incentivise scholastic achievement, and empower tribal youth to confidently pursue larger schooling {and professional} aspirations”.

The EMRS programme to run residential faculties for tribal kids is among the many important schemes applied by the Tribal Affairs Ministry on the Centre and has been a key plank for the present administration to focus on its dedication to reaching Scheduled Tribe communities.

The scheme, in existence since 1997-98, has seen main reforms starting within the first time period of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities, which included sanctioning over 600 new Eklavya faculties throughout the nation, and establishing the NESTS as a central administrator of the colleges.