Empowering the Girl Students
Ministry of Education to provide ICT Labs and Smart Classrooms in all functional Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and Hostel
The Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education, Government of India has decided to provide ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Labs and Smart Classrooms, as per Samagra Shiksha norms, in all functional Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGVB) and Hostel to empower girl students, make them digitally savvy, and enhance their learning outcomes. This will also bridge the existing digital divide. This initiative will benefit 7 lakh girls of KGBVs at an estimated cost of approximately Rs. 290 crore.
KGBVs are residential schools from Classes VI to XII for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups, such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL). The KGBVs are set up in Educationally Backward Blocks with the objective to ensure access and quality education to these girls and to reduce gender gaps at all levels of school education.
Currently, 5116 KGBVs are functional in 30 States/UTs in the country.
Providing ICT labs and Smart classrooms to girls in KGBVs is crucial as the students of KGBV come from disadvantaged backgrounds and face various obstacles in accessing education, including distance, cultural norms, and safety concerns. Access to digital literacy is vital for their personal as well as professional growth. It will also help in reducing the digital divide.
In this era of rapid development and integration of ICT with our lives and livelihood, it is crucial that students from all walks of life get the opportunity to equip themselves with modern-day technology. ICT is integrated into the school curriculum to ensure adequate experiential exposure to the students, especially those belonging to disadvantaged groups.
The provision of ICT facilities will ensure that the students of KGBV have better access to the digital platforms / resources of the Department of School Education and Literacy such as SWAYAM, SWAYAM PRABHA, National Digital Library, e-Pathshala, National Repository of Open Educational Resources, DIKSHA, etc. This will improve their learning outcomes.
As pointed out, bridging gender and social category gaps at all levels of school education has been one of the major objectives of the Government of India. Consequently, to encourage the participation of girls in education, the existing Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) at upper primary level and Girls Hostels at secondary level have been extended/converged to provide residential and schooling facilities upto Class-XII under the Scheme.
Thus, the Scheme now provides for access and quality education to girls from disadvantaged groups of girls in the age group of 10-18 years aspiring to study in Classes VI to XII; belonging to SC, ST, OBC, Minority communities and BPL families to ensure smooth transition of girls from elementary to secondary and upto class XII wherever possible. KGBV provides the facility to have at-least one residential school for girls from Classes VI-XII in every educationally backward block (EBBs).
Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) were sanctioned under the erstwhile Sarva Shikha Abhiyan (SSA) as residential schools at upper primary level for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. The Girls Hostel Component of erstwhile Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) which was operational till the year 2017-18 provided hostel facility for girl students in the age group of 14-18 years, studying in classes IX to XII and belonging to SC, ST, OBC, Minority communities and Below Poverty Line families.
Under the newly launched Integrated Scheme of School Education-Samagra Shiksha, effective from the year 2018-19, provision has been made to upgrade the existing KGBVs at upper primary level to upto senior secondary level with a capacity of 150-250 girls in convergence with the erstwhile Girls Hostel Scheme.
The scheme, thus, provides access and quality education to girls from disadvantaged groups from upper primary to senior secondary level and to ensure smooth transition of girls from elementary to secondary and up to class XII wherever possible.
It may be noted that the scheme , introduced in 2004, aimed at setting up schools in districts concentrated with SC, ST, OBC and minority populations, with low female literacy and/or many girls out of school is poor.
The criteria of eligible blocks has been revised from time to time , keeping in mind the goal of increasing the literacy level of girls from the above-mentioned communities.
