Only 32 of the nearly 100 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) that have been approved for Odisha—the greatest number in the nation—to provide ST students with high-quality education—have been turned into operational institutions to date.
8,495 ST students are now receiving education from the schools, 4,269 of whom are male and 4,226 of whom are female. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs recently informed the Lok Sabha in response to a question from MP Achyuta Samanta that 114 blocks in Odisha have been identified for the development of EMRS, of which 104 schools, including eight in Kandhamal district, have already been sanctioned.
The ministry is working with the state government to secure suitable land free from all encumbrances, including clearing the forest for the construction of the schools, in coordination with the National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS), an autonomous organisation to manage and implement the scheme of EMRS. While the construction is finished, the state has been urged to operate the schools in alternate buildings, preferably government buildings.
According to the ministry’s EMRS dashboard, the state has been implementing the plan to build up EMRS from 1997–1998. According to it, the Center has determined to set up EMRS in every block having 50% or more ST population and at least 20,000 tribal people as of the 2011 Census. 32 EMRS are operational, compared to 72 that are not (construction has not yet begun at 28 schools, while work is still ongoing at 44 schools).
According to Srikanta Tarai, Director (ST) of the Odisha Model Tribal Education Society, the schools are being established gradually and building on four additional EMRSs is currently under progress. “The ministry is in charge of the construction component,” he continued. In the meantime, 32 EMRSs in the state held entrance exams last month for the start of the new academic year.
Prasanta Patnaik 
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