NEW DELHI: The HRD ministry is planning a nationwide network of learning centres for Muslim students to coach them for prestigious entrance tests like the IITs/IIMs and other engineering/management institutes as well as medical colleges.
In another initiative to ensure government programme reaches directly to Muslim students, the ministry has also decided that instead of concentrating on 90 minority-concentrated districts, it would adopt a block-level approach.
To be modeled on the lines of highly successful free Super-30 coaching centre run in Bihar for underprivileged children, the proposal is to have similar learning centres in state capitals. Jitin Prasada, minister of state for HRD, told TOI, "The idea is to train Muslim students for higher education. About 100 to 200 students would be selected after entrance test and then comprehensively prepared for tough engineering and medical entrance tests. They would be given free training." Prasada expects these centres to become operational over the next few months. He said the HRD ministry is working on the modalities of running these centres. "We are examining if help of good NGOs can be taken. Rahmani Foundation of Bihar is doing a commendable job," he added.
Rahmani Foundation of Munger in Bihar has been training Muslim students for engineering entrance tests. Known as Rahmani-30, each year Muslim students are given admission to the coaching centre after an entrance test and their entire expenses are taken care of. Rahmani-30 has been helped by Bihar DGP Abhayanand, who was behind the success of Super-30.
As for the block-level approach, HRD sources said it has been found that though number of schools and other educational facilities have gone up in minority-concentrated districts the benefits are not reaching them. The reason being that though infrastructure comes up in the district it is still far from the areas of Muslim concentration. Block-level approach, Prasada said, would help the beneficiaries directly. There are 3,451 educationally backward blocks in India, out of which 680 are in Uttar Pradesh alone.
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