'From 8% to 0.8%': Dropout rate in minority students has decreased in five years, says Centre

According to an official handout, the dropout rate of minority students has decreased for classes 1 to 6, from 8.59% in 2015-16 to 0.8% in 2020-21. Similarly, for classes 6 to 9, the dropout rate has decreased from 10.53% in 2015-16 to 2.69% in 2020-21. And for classes 9 to 11, the dropout rate has decreased from 20.71% in 2015-16 to 15.98% in 2020-21.

New Delhi: The dropout rate of minority students has decreased substantially, the government said on Thursday crediting the various schemes and programmes implemented by the Ministry for educational empowerment of the notified minorities and other effective efforts of the Government.

According to an official handout, the dropout rate of minority students has decreased for classes 1 to 6, from 8.59% in 2015-16 to 0.8% in 2020-21. Similarly, for classes 6 to 9, the dropout rate has decreased from 10.53% in 2015-16 to 2.69% in 2020-21. And for classes 9 to 11, the dropout rate has decreased from 20.71% in 2015-16 to 15.98% in 2020-21.

As per the new Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE+), the enrolment of minority students in schools has increased from 411 lakhs in 2015-16 to 455 lakhs in 2020-21. Also, for Higher education, as per AISHE reports, the enrolment of minority students has increased from 22.97 lakh in 2015-16 to 29.88 lakh in 2019-20.

As per the Census 2011, the literacy rate among Muslims was 68.54%, Christians 84.53%, Sikhs 75.39%, Buddhists 81.29% and Jains 94.88% in comparison to the national literacy rate of 72.98% in the country. The Ministry of Minority Affairs implements various schemes and programmes for the educational empowerment of students belonging to six notified minority communities i.e. Christians, Jains, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists and Parsis. The various schemes and programmes being implemented by this Ministry include:

1. Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme: The scholarship is provided to minority students studying in Classes I to X in Government/recognized Private
   schools. To be eligible, students should not have an annual parental/guardian’s income of more than Rs 1.00 lakh and the student should have secured a minimum of 50% marks in the previous class. A minimum of 30% of scholarships are earmarked for girls.
2. Post-matric Scholarship Scheme- The scholarship is provided to minority students studying in Class XI to PhD level in Government/ recognized Private schools/Colleges/Institutes. To be eligible, students should not have an annual parental/guardian’s income of more than Rs.2.00 lakh and he/she should have secured a minimum of 50% marks in the previous class. A minimum of 30% of scholarships are earmarked for girls.
3. Merit-cum-Mean based Scholarship Scheme - The scholarship is awarded for pursuing professional and technical courses at under-graduate and post-graduate levels, in institutions recognized by the appropriate authority. 85 institutes for professional and technical courses have been listed in the scheme; for which the full course fee is reimbursed. To be eligible, students should not have an annual parental/guardian’s income of more than Rs.2.50 lakh and he/she should have secured a minimum of 50% marks in the previous class. A minimum of 30% of scholarships are earmarked for girls.
4. Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship- Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF) under M/o Minority Affairs also implements Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship scheme exclusively for meritorious minority girls studying in classes IX to XII having a family annual income less than Rs. 2.00 lakh. Since 2014-15, have been sanctioned to 11.51 lakh minority girls for which Rs 722.05 crore has been sanctioned. The Ministry, w.e.f. 2014-15 has sanctioned more than 5.20 crore scholarships out of which more than 52% are girls, with expenditure of Rs. 15862.21 crores
5. Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF) Scheme- The Fellowships are awarded to research students pursuing regular and full time M.
   Phil and Ph.D courses. The Scheme covers all Universities/Institutions recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) under section 2(f) and section 3 of the UGC Act and is implemented through UGC. To be eligible, students should not have annual parental/guardian’s income more than Rs.6.00 lakh. Under the scheme, 30% of fellowships are earmarked for girl students. Since 2014-15, in addition to renewals, 5882 fresh fellowships have been awarded involving an expenditure of Rs. 645.78 crore.
6. Padho Pardesh - Scheme of Interest Subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies- Under the scheme, the interest subsidy is awarded to
   students on the interest payable for the period of moratorium for the Education Loans taken for overseas studies to pursue approved courses of studies abroad at Masters, M.Phil or PhD levels. The scheme is implemented through the Canara Bank. To be eligible, students should not have an annual parental/guardian’s income more than Rs.6.00 lakh. 35% scholarships are earmarked for girls. An amount of Rs. 130.42 has been released for payment of interest subsidy to 15743 beneficiaries since 2014-15.
7. Nai Manzil - A scheme for formal school education & skilling of school dropouts. 98,697 beneficiaries have benefitted under this scheme for which an amount of Rs. 448.51crore has been released with effect from 2016-17.
8. Educational Loan Scheme of National Minorities Development Finance Corporation (NMDFC)-NMDFC a PSU under the Ministry implements Educational Loan Scheme with the objective to facilitate job oriented education for the eligible persons belonging to minorities. Loan is available for ‘technical and professional courses’ for which loan up to Rs. 20.00 lakh for domestic courses and up to Rs. 30.00 lakh for courses abroad is provided. During 2014-15 to 2020-21, education loan to the tune of Rs. 252.45 Crore has been sanctioned to 19,245 minority students.
9. Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) – PMJVK is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), with the objective of improving socio-economic condition and basic amenities in identified Minority Concentrated Areas (MCAs) mainly through infrastructure support.