Many social institutions and great leaders of the country opened several educational institutions for the welfare of scheduled castes and arranged scholarships, free education and free boarding and lodging, for them.
They also provided financial help for purchasing clothes, educational equipment and books. In the First Five Year Plan, Rs. 170,000,000/-, in the second plan Rs. 410,000,000/-, Rs. 5,300,000,000/- in the third plan, in the fourth Rs. 7,000,000,000/- and in the Fourth Five Year Plan, were provided for their welfare.
In the Fifth Five Year Plan, 20,000,000,000/- rupees have been provided for their welfare and education. According to the census of 1991, 17.5 percent of the total population consists of scheduled castes. Evidently, the Government has to do a lot for their welfare and education.
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In the sixth and seventh Five Year Plans about Rs. 30,000,000,000/- and Rs. 45,000,000,000/- respectively were provided. In the 8th Five Year Plan it is envisaged that more than Rs. 70,000,000,000/- would have to be spent on education of scheduled castes and Tribal people.
The following table gives an estimate of the efforts made upto 1992 for the education of Scheduled castes:
From the table, it may be concluded that the primary education of Scheduled tribes in Assam, Gujarat and Bihar is better than in others States. The education at lower primary level is deplorable in all the States.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The primary and secondary education of children of Scheduled castes between the age limits of 11 and 17 years is not satisfactory, although scholarships and other financial help have been provided to them. Perhaps some improvement in their higher education is perceptible due to the scheme of scholarships extended by the Central Government.
According to the table, vocational education seems to be popular almost in all the Scheduled castes. Evidently, we should try to develop vocational skill of different kinds in the people belonging to the Scheduled castes.