Over 2.51 cr students from ST community enrolled in schools during 2021-22: Govt in RS

In response to a question from CPM MP from Kerala A.A. Rahim regarding the tribal literacy rate and the enrollment of ST students in schools nationwide, Renuka Singh Saruta, Minister of State (MoS) for Tribal Affairs, provided the information in a written format.

New Delhi: More than 2.51 crore students from the Scheduled Tribe community across the country enrolled in schools during 2021-2022, the government said in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The information was shared in a written response from Renuka Singh Saruta, Minister of State (MoS) for Tribal Affairs to a question from CPM MP from Kerala A.A. Rahim enquiring about tribal literacy rate and the enrollment of ST students in schools across the country. In terms of overall literacy, 59% of students from the ST community are literate.

According to the reply given by the Union Minister citing the Periodic Labour Force Survey report (July 2021- June 2022), Lakshadweep tops the list with a 91.7% literacy rate among tribals followed by 91.5 in Mizoram, 79.7 in Sikkim, 79.1 in Tripura, 75.8 in Kerala and others. Jammu and Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh recorded the lowest literacy among tribal communities with 50.6% each, 51.1 in Bihar, 52.2 in Jharkhand and Odisha each, 52.8 in Rajasthan and others.

On the enrollment of ST students in schools across the country (2021-2022), the Minister provided data as per which a total of 25,107,950 students enrolled in the school with Madhya Pradesh topping the list followed by Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Odisha, Jharkhand and others.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio of ST students for the year 2021-22 in respect of Primary (I-V), Upper Primary (VI-VIII), Secondary (IX-X) and Higher Secondary (XI-XII) is 106.5, 97.95, 78.05 and 52.02 respectively. The pass percentage of ST Students for the year 2021-22 of 10th and 12th Standard is 75.87% and 83.72% respectively.