Union Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani on Saturday said the government will soon announce a programme to facilitate the return of dropouts to school.
Under the programme, which is likely to be launched by December, the students would be encouraged to study as much as they want, the Minister said.
Ms. Irani, who was addressing students at the Vivekanand Education Society here on the sidelines of the launch of a social service programme, also announced several initiatives for rewarding the meritorious students and mentoring the talented but underprivileged children.
Ms. Irani said women and children from tribal areas, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Class were not economically sound to pursue higher studies. Many of them were forced to drop out as they needed a job. “I left education because I didn’t have money,” she pointed out.
The Minister said an ‘Ishan Vikas’ programme had been launched to support students who had the calibre to become researchers and scientists. These students would visit top-notch technical institutions of India for orientation, she said. “Close to 2,200 students will visit all IITs and IIMs and other technical institutions — two batches in summer and one batch in winter,” said Ms. Irani.
Explaining the various steps taken by the government to make public sector schools competitive, Ms. Irani said the government would by next year introduce a mobile app called ‘Shala Darpan’ so that the parents could track the attendance, assignments, mark-sheets and performance of their wards.
