Government school enrolment from class 1-8 has increased over the last three years, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday, as per an official statement. Furthermore, from 2022-23, pre-matric scholarship scheme is available only for students in class 9 and 10, Virendra Kumar, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister said.
The statement was tabled in a written reply in the parliament. In addition, he said that enrolment of class 1 to 8 in Government schools has increased in the last three years by about one crore.
“From the year 2021-22, it has been decided to provide scholarships to students only from class 9 and 10 under the Pre-Matric Scholarship scheme for OBCs. Under the scheme of Pre-Matric scholarships to Scheduled Castes (SC) and others, Pre-Matric scholarship has been provided only to class 9 and 10 students since the launch of the scheme in 2012-13,” the Minister said.
The minister further added that to incentivise children from these communities to attend school, the government provides ‘free education, free uniform, free meal, under different programmes such as Samagrha Shiksha Abhiyan, PM Poshan’. Kumar also said that earlier, Economically Weaker sections were not provided Pre-Matric scholarship, but in the revised scheme they are also being considered for pre-matric scholarship for classes 9 and 10.
Furthermore, the Minister said that under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, the Government is committed to provide free and compulsory elementary education (classes 1-8) to each and every child.
With inputs from PTI.
