Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said here that Union Ministry of Education is constructing 99 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in backward, weaker and Minority concentrated areas across the country for the first time in the history, and several of these Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are being constructed jointly by Union Ministry of Education and Union Ministry of Minority Affairs.Shri Naqvi along with Union Minister for Education Shri Dr.Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” today laid foundation stone for a new JawaharNavodayaVidyalaya at Pakur in Jharkhand through video conferencing. This school is being constructed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs under the “Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karykram” (PMJVK).Shri Naqvi said that the Union Ministry of Education and the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs are also jointly constructing 4 JawaharNavodayaVidyalayas at Uttar Dinajpur and Howrah in West Bengal; West Kamang in Arunachal Pradesh; Mamit in Manipur. The Ministry of Minority Affairs is extending a financial assistance of Rs 244 crore for construction of these JawaharNavodayaVidyalayas. Besides, the Ministry of Minority Affairs will also construct JawaharNavodayaVidyalayas at other places jointly with the Ministry of Education.Shri Naqvi said that the Ministry of Minority Affairs has also provided Rs 36 crore for 1173 smart class rooms in JawaharNavodayaVidyalaya in backward and Minority concentrated areas of the country.
Shri Naqvi said that these JawaharNavodayaVidyalayas will play a crucial role in providing quality and affordable education to students from backward and Minority sections also in the rural areas of the country.Shri Naqvi said that during the last about 6 years, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi led Government has developed socio-economic-educational and employment oriented infrastructure across the country in backward, deprived and Minority concentrated areas under the “Pradhan Mantri Jan VikasKarykram”.Shri Naqvi said that with the commitment to provide equal opportunities to all needy sections of the society, more than 34,000 infrastructure projects including school, college, hospital, community centre, common service centre, ITI, polytechnic, girls hostel, SadbhavnaMandap, Hunar Hub etc have been developed in backward and Minority concentrated areas across the country in the last 6 years under the “Pradhanmantri Jan VikasKarykram” (PMJVK). Only 22,000 such projects had been developed before 2014. While only 90 districts of the country had been identified for Minority communities’ development before 2014, the Modi Government has expanded development programmes for Minorities in 308 districts of the country.Shri Naqvi said that only 2 crore 94 lakh Minority students had been given scholarships before 2014; while on the other hand the Modi Government’s commitment to “Inclusive Empowerment” has ensured scholarships to 4 crore 60 lakh Minority students during the last 6 years.Shri Naqvi said that more than 50 per cent of these beneficiaries of scholarship schemes are girls. Due to our concentrated efforts, school drop-out rate among the Minority students especially girls have decreased significantly and students from poor and needy families are receiving better education.