Committed to provide State-of-Art facilities for tribal children: Farooq Khan

Jammu, Feb 28: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan Monday reaffirmed that the government is committed to provide State-of-the-Art facilities for tribal children in Jammu and Kashmir through Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) wherein the best teaching staff and infrastructure would be available for these children residing in remote areas.
He made these remarks while chairing a meeting to consider and subsequent approval for the establishment of new EMRS and the Operationalization of approved EMRS.
Secretary Tribal Affairs, Shahid Iqbal Chaudhary; Deputy Commissioners of both the divisions, Director School education Jammu/Kashmir, MD, J&K Housing Board, representatives and senior officers from Samagra Shiksha, Health Department, R&B, Youth Services & Sports and other concerned attended the meeting in person and in online mode.
The meeting in detail discussed the proposals of all the Deputy Commissioners from both the divisions of the Union Territory which include establishing of one EMRS each in all the blocks having a requisite tribal population in all eligible districts of J&K. All the DCs gave their suggestions with respect to the EMRS to be submitted for the recommendation to Government of India in two phases (10 in Phase-I and 8 in Phase-II).
The Advisor also received the suggestions from the concerned DCs for the establishing of Eklavya Model Day Boarding Schools at Tral (Pulwama) Budhal and Thanamandi in Rajouri, Kupwara, and Kishtwar, besides the meeting also discussed the land availability for the Centre of Excellence in sports for two aspirational blocks-one each in Jammu and Kashmir division.
Also, during the meeting, several proposals were submitted from Jammu division which includes Poonch (4), Rajouri (3), Kathua (2), Udhampur (2), Ramban, Doda and Reasi. Similarly following districts from Kashmir division submitted proposals for new EMRS: Shopian, Kulgam, Anantnag (2) and Bandipora.
On the occasion, Advisor Khan also reviewed the progress on the ongoing EMRS projects and asked the chairpersons of the district EMRS Committee for a performance review feedback on executing agency, funds utilization, additional funds required and timelines.
While discussing the availability of teaching and non staff drawn from School Education Department, Advisor Khan asked the concerned Director School Education Jammu/Kashmir to depute the Principal and teaching staff on merit so that EMRS would be brought at par with national level institutions like Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya.
While discussing the land availability in each district for EMRS, the Advisor asked the concerned DCs to identify suitable chunk of land with easy access and scope for future expansions.
The meeting also discussed the criterion and the relaxation over the establishment of new EMRS. While the criteria to establish EMRS in a district is having blocks with 20,000 plus tribal population or more than 50% tribal population shall be considered.
With respect to the relaxation in tribal population percentage, he said that it would be considered if sizable land is identified by clustering two blocks of tribal population.
Speaking on the occasion, Advisor Khan asked the concerned DCs to expedite the process on the Operationalization of EMRs before April, so that the facilities would be dedicated to the people in set time.
He also appreciated the Tribal Affairs Department, School Education Department and the concerned DCs, saying that all the good work done is visible on the ground.