Empowering Futures: SRESHTA (2022)- Residential Education Scheme For SC High School Students

Policy Update
Mallika Bhojak

The Scheme of Residential Education for Students in High School in Targeted Areas (SRESHTA) is a program launched by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment to empower Scheduled Caste students by providing them with equal opportunities to quality education. It fits perfectly with India’s overall scheme towards social justice and reduction in the inequality of education, especially pertaining to marginalized groups. The scheme emphasizes the imparting of comprehensive residential education in reputed private schools for meritorious SC students and breaks the cycles of both poverty and discrimination.

Objective

The main aim of SRESHTA is to deliver high-standard education to the SC students coming from low socio-economic backgrounds, hence ensuring academic excellence and a better socio-economic future for them. Specific objectives are as follows:

To enhance the reach of the development initiative of the government: SRESHTA works towards spreading government schemes to deprived SC communities, in such a manner that deprived communities do not fall behind the chain of educational advancement. In order to reduce the disparities and increase the participation for inclusive growth, the scheme serves as an enabler that brings premier education opportunities to the eligible talented students.
To fill the gap in service-deprived Scheduled Castes (SCs) dominant areas in the sector of education by collaborating with voluntary organizations: Most SC-dominated regions lack quality educational institutions and resources. SRESHTA bridges this gap by establishing a support network that enhances educational opportunities for students from these areas through credible voluntary organizations, thereby ensuring the efficient implementation and outreach of the scheme.
To provide an environment for socio-economic upliftment and overall development of the Scheduled Castes (SCs): Barring academics, SRESHTA aims at a holistic atmosphere for the socio-economic upliftment of SCs. The educational support, mentoring, and opportunities outside the classrooms make SC students well-equipped in their skills as well as instill confidence among them to overcome the socio-economic constraints to contribute towards society.
To provide access to excellent education to bright Scheduled Caste (SC) students so that they can explore future opportunities: SRESHTA identifies and helps the merit deserving SC students so that they could be able to get admitted in reputed private schools. Through superior education, it empowers them to achieve high levels of education and also exposes them to multiple career opportunities which further contributes to their long-term socio-economic mobility.

Functioning

SRESHTA functions through an efficient mechanism that identifies and sponsors eligible students. Important characteristics of its working include:

Selection Process: The scheme has a transparent, merit-based national-level entrance exam, the National Entrance Test for SRESHTA (NETS), conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA). This ensures fairness in identifying talented students from SC communities.

Implementation Partners: The scheme will collaborate with reputed private residential schools, which are selected based on their track record of academic excellence and adherence to social inclusion norms.

Funding and Support: The government pays the tuition fees, boarding, and lodging while other relevant expenses. That way, no financial hurdles will discourage participation.

Support to the Students: Schooling is required to ensure that they provide mentorship and counseling services to answer the needs of the scholars in their academic and psychological needs.

Performance

Since its inception, SRESHTA has shown promising outcomes. Thousands of SC students are provided with the opportunity of studying in premier private schools under the scheme. Preliminary research studies have shown improved academic achievements and higher retention rates amongst the beneficiaries compared to students studying in non-residential institutions. Geographical outreach of the scheme has also increased and reaches out to disadvantaged students of different economically and socially backward areas of India. However, there is a lack of data regarding long-term follow-up, particularly concerning enrollment in higher education and employment rates among beneficiaries.

Impact

The Scheme of Residential Education for Students in High School in Targeted Areas has brought about a huge improvement in both economic mobility and in community development among Scheduled Castes. Better access to education will equip SC students with required skills and knowledge to compete in the higher education and job market, thus increasing their earning capacity and socio-economic status. It is an upward mobility for individual students but also beneficial for the economic upliftment of their families and communities.

In terms of community development, SRESHTA promotes education and aspiration among SC communities. Students who do well academically and professionally serve as role models and inspire young people to attend school. The mind-set change can contribute to higher school enrollment rates and increased emphasis on education in the community, further contributing to long-term socio-economic development.

The design of the SRESHTA scheme corresponds with the findings related to similar affirmative action programs operating in India. According to such studies, affirmative action programs push up minority group students toward higher levels of education, that is, adding 0.8 more years of schooling to the average of minority students and 1.2 more years for students of marginal minority subgroups.

By promoting educational attainment and economic development, SRESHTA helps break the cycle of poverty and discrimination against SC communities, thereby promoting individual success and community development.

Emerging Issues

Despite its potential, SRESHTA faces several challenges that hinder its effectiveness and scalability. It is, therefore, essential to address these issues to ensure the scheme meets its intended objectives.

Lesser awareness: There are a lot of eligible families that are not aware of the scheme, hence in some of the areas, the participation is low. For example in a tribal predominant district, local leaders informally confirmed that even lesser numbers of eligible SC families knew about SRESHTA. This is due to insufficient outreach efforts, including local NGOs and community-based organizations that are destined to help disseminate information on the scheme.

Implementation Gaps: There is variability in the quality of education and support offered by partner schools. For instance, some schools offer a supportive environment and tailored learning programs, while others cannot meet even the basic academic and emotional needs. Ideally, a student could thrive in a high-performing urban school while another might falter in a rural institution with inadequate resources and less support. The lack of consistency destroys the basis for this policy.

Retention Challenges: The retention challenge will largely arise due to the adjustment issues of the beneficiary. A case study shows that SC students may face cultural isolation and psychological stress when they are accommodated in highly competitive schools without counseling. For example, a hypothetical situation could be of a highly meritorious student from rural origins who cannot cope with the speedy pace of an elite school and suffers low academic performance along with a lack of self-confidence

Scalability Concerns: Diffusing SRESHTA over different districts poses logistically and financially cumbersome. It will take some effort and expense to get hold of the remote area schools in establishing a tie-up with schools in a given district. Supposing there is a district having not so many schools scoring good, there might be delays of many years due to not many suitable schools wanting to get under this scheme.

Monitoring and Evaluation: A significant challenge is that no comprehensive data exist on the scheme’s long-term impact. For example, whereas immediate academic outcomes are monitored, there is hardly any follow-up on whether the beneficiaries end up securing better employment opportunities or furthering their education. Hypothetically, this would lead to cases where policymakers were not aware of systemic gaps in the scheme. For instance, whether beneficiaries break out of the poverty cycle or face new forms of discrimination in professional spaces.

Way Forward

Several measures can be adopted to make the impact of SRESHTA better and more sustainable. For example, outreach efforts have to be strengthened. Awareness campaigns are to be done through grass root organizations, community leaders, and digital platforms across the targeted areas to communicate with the potential beneficiaries to make them aware of this scheme and the benefits from it.

Moreover, strengthening the capacity of partner schools is also necessary. Training and equipping these schools will make them better at supporting SC students, especially through the sensitivity training of staff and developing culturally inclusive curricula to meet the needs of such students. Along with this, a system of comprehensive support needs to be established. A structured mentoring and counseling system will ease the way through academic problems, emotional shocks, or social problems in students to enhance their general well-being and success.

In addition, data-driven monitoring of the scheme is one of the essential steps towards its proper effectiveness. A strong system to track students’ academic performance, well-being, and long-term outcomes will help in refining and fine-tuning the program. Periodic reviews based on this data can ensure that the implementation of the scheme remains responsive to the needs of students. Lastly, combining SRESHTA into other social justice and education policies will give a united framework for SC empowerment through the scheme, thus promoting long-term sustainability and sustainability of the scheme.

SRESHTA is, therefore, a progressive move towards educational equity and social justice. While it has done wonders in providing quality education to the underprivileged, its future challenges are emerging; thus, addressing them will be very essential to realize its full potential. By providing quality education to SC students and creating an inclusive environment, the scheme has the potential to catalyze individual and community empowerment, shaping a future where educational opportunities are a cornerstone of a just and equitable society.

References

Press Information Bureau. (2023, August 23). SRESHTA scheme for residential education of Scheduled Caste students launched. Press Information Bureau. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1991277
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. (n.d.). Guidelines for SRESHTA scheme. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. https://grants-msje.gov.in/scguidelines
SRESHTA Admissions. (n.d.). About SRESHTA. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Retrieved from https://shreshta.admissions.nic.in/about-shreshta

About the author: Mallika Bhojak is a research intern at IMPRI, and pursuing her Masters in Economics from Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi.