Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the occasion of 'National Girl Child Day' took to Twitter to send across a message on how a large number of girl students in the state have been empowered by her 'Kanyashree scheme'.
Banerjee on Thursday tweeted: "Today is # NationalGirlChildDay. Our #Kanyashree scheme has proved to be revolutionary in empowering the girl child & has been awarded the first prize in public service by @ UN in 2017. About 60 lakh girls have been empowered by this revolutionary scheme."
The Chief Minister also tweeted on the occasion of the 'International Day of Education' saying: "Today is International Day of Education. Education infrastructure in #Bangla has improved significantly since 2011. In the last 7 years, we have set up 28 new universities, and 10 more are in the pipeline. 50 new colleges have also been set up in #Bangla in the same period."
It may be mentioned here that the 'Kanyashree scheme,' a brainchild of the Chief Minister was also introduced in the state in 2013. About 55 lakh girls have been brought under this scheme. One of the main objectives of the scheme was to lower the dropout rate in schools and prevent early marriage among girl students. One of the main reasons for its success is the two-pronged way adopted by the state government. The Mamata Banerjee government has introduced incentives for girl students so that they can stay in school and also complete their education. The other purpose of the government behind launching the scheme is to reduce the incidents of child marriage.
The government has significantly cut down the dropout rate in the state by allowing an annual allowance of Rs 1,000 to female students from the 8th to the 12th grades and a one-time grant of Rs 25,000 to girls to ensure that they can continue their education and also undertake various vocational training programmes. The scheme has been extended to university students as well. The Bengal government has spent nearly Rs 5,000 crore for this scheme since its inception. The 'Kanyashree scheme' has won several awards in the national and international arena for its holistic approach. The state government won the first prize from the United Nations Public Service Award for this project as well. It came at the top spot among 552 welfare projects from 62 countries. In the last seven years, the Bengal government has introduced several initiatives including the distribution of school bags, school shoes, uniforms and exercise books free of cost among the students at all state-run schools.