By IANS
New Delhi : Focused attention needs to be paid to the education of minorities and underprivileged students, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Thursday said.
“Special attention would need to be paid to districts with Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minority concentration,” the prime minister told a meeting of the Planning Commission, of which he is the chairman.
He stressed that “the recommendations of the Sachar Committee need to be seriously considered while planning for this programme”.
The Sachar Committee has recommended several measures for the upgradation of education of Muslims in the country,
The committee report was tabled in parliament in November 2006. It brought out shocking details about the poor social, economic and educational status of the Muslims. It found that the Muslims’ literacy rate in the country was below the national average of 64.8 percent and the educational opportunities for them were very poor compared to others in the country.
“To kick start the initiative, the proposal for setting up 6,000 high quality model schools with costs to be shared by the Centre and the States needs to be finalised within the next few weeks,” he said at the meeting at the Planning Commission.
He said the government is setting out a goal of universalising secondary education.
“This is clearly the next step after universalising elementary education. While the goal is laudable, much work needs to be done before we are in a position to launch the Scheme for Universalisation of Access for Secondary Education (SUCCESS).”