'Education only way to make SC/ST students successful'

NEW DELHI: As school education in Delhi making great strides, the Social Welfare department of Delhi government is aiming to educated more students from the backward classes, by focusing on giving loans, free coaching, better classrooms and providing mandatory skill development training.

"Education is the only way to make the backward class students successful," said Rajendra Pal Gautam, Delhi SC/ST Welfare minister on Monday.

Talking to Millennium Post, Gautam said that over the last few months, he has found that most of the SC/ST students in Delhi are first-generation students. "These families neither have farmlands in villages nor have the capital to do business. Only education to their children can make the families stable," he said.

For primary education, the Department has planned to identify weak students in every class and provide them free tuition as special classes.

"We might involve volunteers and if we can give them any legal support for this job we will also look for that," Gautam stated.

The Department is also working to make providing education loans to backward students easier, so that more students can avail the provision.

Gautam asserted that he is giving a lot of importance to skill development programs for students.

"If the students get skill development training, it will help them apply loans for business which we give to backward class people," he said.

The minister has asked officials to prepare plans to set up skill development centres exclusively for backward class students in every part of the city.

The Department is also talking to various non-government organisations and institutions to make a formulate plan in this regard.

Lastly, the Department is also focusing on infrastructural development of schools, classes and hostels for the students. The Department has also found that sanitation work in these schools is a major problem.

"We are ensuring good classrooms and proper food in both shifts in the schools for backward students," Gautam said.

The minister further added that the government has a fund for the development of SC/ST students and he wants to spend this funds properly.

"If we can properly use this fund, the development of SC/ST students would get empowered and they would also get jobs," Gautam said.

The Department, on December 6, will hold a major programme and announce many schemes for backward class residents in the national Capital.