Schools in tribal areas to have a 'Community Development Programme' in Kerala

The Kerala state government has planned a Community Development Programme to be implemented in the schools located in tribal areas. This initiative is aimed at preventing students belonging to tribal communities from dropping out of school.

Minister for Welfare of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) of Kerala, K Radhakrishnan informed the state assembly about this initiative on Tuesday, July 19. He said the government would seek cooperation from respective local bodies, elected representatives and SC/ST promoters to reach out to the tribal families in order to bring the dropout students back to the schools, as per a report by ENS.

He also informed that a special training programme, which was a remedial course, was conducted for the children of the SC category who did not pass Engineering. "But the figures indicate that it is not effective. It has been noticed that students skip regular classes because of the understanding that if they are not successful, they can get a degree in the future through such a scheme. Therefore, the importance is now given to make students successful by giving them proper training during their studies," the Minister said.

"In 2020-21, 18,000 SC students dropped out. Of this, 85 per cent of the children were brought back to schools," Radhakrishnan added. The minister also took up the matter of reservation for SC/ST categories in the private sector. He said that it was not within the purview of the state government and thus, urged the Central Government to bring an amendment to the law in this regard. The minister also stated in the assembly that the state's SC Development Department was additionally providing facilities for higher education in foreign universities to 175 SC and ST students of the state.