Critics however say that establishing such schools in the tribal and rural belts is the larger design of government's ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to target school children. Twenty such schools currently operate in Gujarat.
The Human Resource Development ministry has taken out yet another leaf from Gujarat's education model. The HRD ministry plans to set up schools in tribal areas on the lines of the Gujarat government's Sanskar Yukt Shikha schools, or schools set up on the basis of value education.
Critics however say that establishing such schools in the tribal and rural belts is the larger design of government's ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to target school children. Twenty such schools currently operate in Gujarat.
In a meeting with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) earlier this month, the HRD ministry has apprised the PMO about its plan to set up one school over five to six villages in tribal areas, where there are no schools.
The states will be asked to identify villages and other smaller identities where no schools exist and where children have to walk miles to reach the nearest school. "We have apprised the PMO that depending on the distance between these villages and their populations, one school will be set up over three or four villages where there are no schools," said a ministry officer. These schools will operate from 8am to 6pm and will also provide day care facilities to students.
In the note to the PMO, the ministry has also apprised the PMO that 20 such schools successfully operate in Gujarat and the state of Rajasthan is also working on a similar model. "Gujarat has been a successful model, we want to implement it on a pan-Indian level," said the ministry official.
In Gujarat these schools operate as a part of state government's model school scheme. Most of these schools are run by RSS ideologues and sangh functionaries and are attended by tribal children largely from underprivileged sections.
"Teachers in these school teach the curriculum followed by Vidya Bharti schools," said Mujahid Nafees, a student right activist from the state.
Nafees also informed that these schools were mostly operating as the shakhas of the RSS and are largely managed by their volunteers. Some of these schools have been given to NGOs as a part of public private partnership.
This is not the first time that Smriri Irani's ministry is attempting to draw up a scheme on the lines of the Gujarat model. Her ministry's Read India campaign was also picked up from the Gujarat government's Vanche Gujarat campaign that was initiated when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was serving as the chief minister of the state.
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