The Pre-Matric Scholarship scheme has been conceptualized with the objective of supporting parents of scheduled tribe students for education of their wards studying in classes IX and X so that the incidence of drop out, especially in transition from the elementary to secondary and during the second stage of education is minimized; and to improve participation of ST students in classes IX and X of Pre-Matric stage, so that they perform well and have a better chance of progressing to Post-Matric stages of education.

Evaluation study of Pre-Matric Scholarship conducted by NITI Aayog in 2021 and Indian Institute of Public Administration(IIPA) in September 2019 has found that the scheme has been successful in achieving its objective.

Department of Schools Education and Literacy under Ministry of Education is the nodal Department for providing Universal access to quality education through its autonomous/Statutory bodies, i.e. CBSE, KVS, JNV, NIOS and NCTE and its centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha, PM Poshan, PadhnaLikhna Abhiyan and central sector scheme of National Means cum Merit Scholarships.

The report of Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus published by Ministry of Education, shows that Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for ST students in 2019-20 for class I to VIII is 102.08, which confirms that increased enrolment in classes I to VIII is also representative of the Scheduled Tribe populations. Likewise the GER at Senior Secondary (classes IX-X) level has increased from 62.4% in 2012-13 to 76.7% in 2019-20.

This reply was given by the Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Bishweswar Tudu in Lok Sabha today.

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