The Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri. Durgadas Uikey informed today in Lok Sabha that the  Ministry of Tribal Affairs is implementing the scheme of Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) for providing quality education to tribal students in their own environment preserving local art and culture. EMRS are established in tribal dominated blocks having more than 50% ST population and at least 20,000 tribal persons, as per Census 2011. As on date, 728 EMRSs have been approved out of which 508 are functional across the country. In West Bengal 9 EMRSs have been approved and all are functional. None of the blocks in Alipurduar districts fulfil the prescribed criteria for establishing EMRS.

National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS), an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, provides overall policy direction, academic support, monitoring, capacity building, recruitment, standardization of processes and implementation of the EMRS Scheme across the country. State EMRS Societies oversee the implementation, administration and day-to-day management of EMRSs within their jurisdictions. District Level EMRS Committees, under the Chairmanship of the District Collector/District Magistrates do local oversight and resolve local implementation issues.

The status of sanctioned, operational and under construction EMRSs in West Bengal, district wise is given at Annexure.

Annexure

Annexure as referred in part (a) to (e) of the reply to Lok Sabha Unstarred question No. 4238 for 13.08.2026 raised by Shri Manoj Tigga regarding "STATUS OF EMRSs IN WEST BENGAL"

The status of sanctioned, operational and under construction EMRSs in West Bengal, district wise

S. No.	District	Block/ Taluka	Functioning Status	Construction Status	Enrolment 2025-26
1	Bankura	Khatra	Functional	Completed	430
2	Birbhum	Bolpur Sriniketan	Functional	Completed	385
3	Dakshin Dinajpur	Bansihari	Functional	Completed	441
4	Jalpaiguri	Nagrakata	Functional	Completed	479
5	Jhargram	Jhargram	Functional	Completed	464
6	Kalimpong	Kalimpong	Functional	In Progress	125
7	Paschim Bardhaman	Kanksa	Functional	Completed	414
8	Purulia	Bundwan	Functional	Pre-Construction Stage
9	Purulia	Manbazar - II	Functional	Completed	414
Total					3152

RN/

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