Dharamshala: Endowing the disadvantaged and destitute children with free and quality education, especially focussing on children belonging to India’s northeast regions of Tuting, Shabara and Tibetan Muslim children in Srinagar forms the key areas of the Department of Education’s education and rehabilitation program for the destitute children.
The beneficiaries of the DOE initiative for the destitute are:
1)The destitute households that can not afford the educational expenses of children: On the child turning six, the DOE enrols them in day schools and provides them with monthly stipends.
Responsibilities for destitute care is divided between Sherig and Upper TCV Dharamsala. In 2019-20, there are 81 children under the DOE’s destitute education care, 129 under TCV Dharamsala and 87 under THF Mussoorie. The combined total of 297 destitute children receive provisions as per the directives of Kashag. In settlements, those enrolled in day schools with destitute registration number receive 1000 rupees in monthly stipends.
2) Special financial support for households with more than 3 children:
In order to support families with more children and those with more than 3 children per household, the Central Tibetan Administration provides special care in terms of their educational fees starting with school admission in Tibetan schools. The current policy which was launched in 2015, provides 300 allowances monthly to 282 children (for those who were born before July 1, 2014) and 272 children receive 500 rupees monthly (for those who were born after July 1, 2014). In total, there are over 554 children as beneficiaries of this policy.
The students who wish to pursue higher education after school completion are also provided scholarship to continue their studies given they have 60 per cent minimum. Those who seek vocational training education should have 50% respectively. Children born after July 1, 2014, will receive 10,000 rupees annually, in addition to a full scholarship.
3) Children belonging to northeast regions of Tuting and Shabara:
From 2019-20, DOE provided 59 students from Tuting studying in boarding schools with a monthly allowance and a yearly travel allowance of 5000 rupees to 45 students who can not visit home due to financial constraints. Similarly, the DoE spends in a total of 8,31,732 rupees for the travel expenses of 89 students from Shabara region in Nepal.
4) Destitute children belonging to Srinagar:
In accordance with the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, CTA has adopted a special policy for Tibetan Muslim students, through which the DOE provides a special allowance of 5000 rupees monthly in scholarship aid. In 2019-20, there were 21 beneficiaries of the programme.