Naveen Patnaik

Bhubaneswar, May 24: The Naveen Patnaik government is planning to introduce annual stipends for the scheduled tribe (ST) and scheduled caste (SC) girls at the secondary level with the UK government’s department for international development (DFID) assistance.

An estimated 2.4 lakh ST and SC girls studying in Class IX and X will be benefited under the scheme, which aims to facilitate completion of their secondary education. An annual stipend of Rs 2,000 will be paid to each ST or SC girl transiting from Class VIII to IX. The stipend amount will be Rs 2,600 for those transiting from Class IX to X. Besides, the government will bear the transport cost of the students from their homes to schools. The move aims to check the drop-out rate, which is higher among the SC and ST students, especially among the girls.

On October 27 last year, Naveen launched a scheme for distributing free bicycles to the Class X girl students. An estimated 2.88 lakh girls studying in Class X in all government and government–run schools are benefited under the scheme.

The project costs the state exchequer Rs 75.4 crore per annum. Under the scheme, Rs 2,600 is provided to girls through account payee cheques. Free bicycles are also provided to the SC and ST boys studying in the scheduled areas.

The DFID-assisted stipend scheme for the ST and SC girl students has been launched in Rayagada district on a pilot basis from the current academic session and the state government has proposed to extend the scheme to all the 30 districts from the next financial year. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who is on a trip to UK, will meet the DFID top brass and discuss the project.

Official sources said the DFID had agreed to fund the project till 2015-16 with a financial support of 20 million pounds (approximately Rs 160 crore). The state government will take over from 2016-17 onwards and have to bear the burden of Rs 68 crore per annum.

“The proposal has been cleared by the state-level project monitoring committee on externally aided projects and submitted to the department of economic affairs under the Union finance ministry,” director of the state ST/SC development department Sushil Kumar Popli told The Telegraph.

Under the scheme, those students attending at least 75 per cent of the school days in a month would be eligible for the stipend.

“That’s why the scheme is called conditional cash transfer scheme,” said a senior official, hoping that it would help in increase in bringing down the high drop-out rate among the ST and SC girl students and ensuring completion of their secondary education.

According to official estimates, the drop-out rate among the ST and SC girl students is more than 25 per cent in case of transition to Class IX and even higher for Class X.

The state government had also decided to provide free school uniforms to all the boys up to Class VIII in the scheduled areas. Nearly 28 lakh girl students in the entire state and 9 lakh boy students in the scheduled areas are getting free school uniforms.