Despite the Gujarat government’s assurance to educate poor and scheduled caste girls, it has not built a single hostel or residential school for them in three years.
A report by the New Indian Express has highlighted that there is not a single government hostel or an ‘Adarsh Nivashi Kanya School’ for SC girls in 10 districts in Gujarat.
Last month, in response to a question from Congress MLA Vimal Chudasma, the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment admitted that the state had built no new girls government hostels or Ideal Residential Schools for Scheduled Caste Girls in three years.
Gujarat Congress scheduled caste (SC) Dept Chairman Hitendra Pithadiya was quoted as saying, “In the budget allocated to the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, negligible budget is used for education. All other things are done in the name of the budget for SC education. As the ‘Samaras hostel’ was built in Gujarat, it was built from the budget allocated to Dalits.”
There is not a single government SC girl’s hostel or SC girls’ ideal residential school in Gujarat districts such as Bharuch, Dang, Navsari, Valsad, Tapi, Chhota Udepur, Narmada, Dwarka, Morbi, and SabarKantha, the media house, citing government data, reported.
Adarsh residential schools assist children to pursue education after the primary course. As the report outlined, such educational institutes offer free education and lodging to students.
The New Indian Express mentioned that as of March 2023, 1,554 scheduled caste girls were in government hostels, while 1,170 girls were studying in ideal girls’ schools.
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