Based on RGI Census 2016 and UDISE data 2016-17, estimates suggest that around 38% of girls in India, between 15 – 18 years, are out of school.
Reasons include financial constraints, schools that are very far off, lack of safe and easily available transportation facilities to schools, child marriage due to financial or social pressure, child labour to ease the family’s financial burden and even household chores and sibling care.
As a result, India’s girls get trapped in the cycle of poverty without ever getting the chance to realize their true potential.
According to a McKinsey Gender Parity study, if all girls complete their education and participate in the workforce, India could add a whopping $770 billion to the country’s GDP by 2025! What more reason do we need to believe that investing in our girls today is the way to a brighter future?
Let’s come together to support them - today and everyday! If you haven’t yet, pledge your support!
Har ladki ko aage badne ka mauka do, usey apni padhai poori karne ka mauka do! Kyuki, uski poori padhai mein hi hai desh ki bhalai!
Encourage your friends and family to join the movement as well by telling them about your pledge using the social sharing options below
If you’d like to know more about various government schemes that are enabling adolescent girls to complete their secondary education, click here.
Here’s an indicative list of operational schemes, as initiated by the government of India, to encourage adolescent girls in India to complete their secondary education.
Please note that it is not exhaustive and may not reflect the latest updates from the government - we’ll update it as and when we get more information.
To know more about any of these schemes, you can visit the government website links listed against the same.
Sr. No. | Nodal Ministry | Name of Scheme | About Scheme | More information |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ministry of Education | National Scheme for Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education (SUCCESS) | The objective of the scheme is to establish an enabling environment to promote enrolment and reduce drop out of girls belonging to SC/ST communities in secondary schools and ensure their retention up to the 18 years of age. | Click HereClick Here |
2 | Ministry of Education | Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya | Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) provide 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). | Click Here |
3 | Ministry of Education | UDAAN | To address the teaching gap between school education and engineering entrance as also to enrich the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics at School level, the CBSE is launching, a project to provide free online resources to girl students of Class XI and Class XII for preparation of admission test for the premier engineering colleges in the country. The special focus of project Udaan is to address the low enrolment ratio of girl students in these prestigious institutions and to enable girl students to receive special incentives and support so that they can join these institutions and go on to take leadership roles in the future. | Click Here |
4 | Ministry of Education | PRAGATI | PRAGATI (Scholarship for Girl Students) has been launched to provide encouragement and support to the girl child to pursue technical education (degree as well as diploma). | Click Here |
5 | Ministry of Education | Kendriya Vidyalayas Sangathan | To cater to the educational needs of the children of transferable Central Government employees including Defence and Para-Military personnel by providing a common programme of education to pursue excellence and set pace in the field of school education. | Click Here |
6 | Ministry of Education | National Means cum Merit Scholarship Scheme | To award scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to arrest their drop out at class VIII and encourage them to continue their study and complete secondary stage. | Click HereClick Here |
7 | Ministry of Education | National Programme of Mid Day Meals in Schools | To enhance enrollment, retention and attendance and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children. | Click Here |
8 | Ministry of Education | Navodaya Vidyalayas Samiti | To provide good quality modern education-including a strong component of culture, inculcation of values, awareness of the environment, adventure activities and physical education- to the talented children predominantly from the rural areas without regard to their family's socio-economic conditions. 1/3 of the seats are reserved for girl students. | Click Here |
9 | Ministry of Education | Samagra Shiksha | An overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12 to improve school effectiveness measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes. It subsumes the three schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). | Click Here |
10 | Ministry of Education | Pradhan Mantri Innovative Learning Programme (DHURV) | To identify and encourage talented children to enrich their skills and knowledge. The program aims to cover two areas namely Science and Arts and targets students from Class 9 to Class 12 all over the country. In centres of excellence across the country, gifted children will be mentored and nurtured by renowned experts in different areas, so that they can reach their full potential. | Click Here |
11 | Ministry of Education | Operation Digital Board | Operation Digital Board aims to make the learning as well as the teaching process interactive and popularize flipped learning as a pedagogical approach in government and government aided schools from class 9th onwards as well as in higher education institutions. | Click Here |
12 | Ministry of Minority Affairs (till last year this scheme was under Ministry was MoE) | Scheme for Providing Quality Education to Madrasas/Minorities (SPEMM) | To bring about qualitative improvement in Madrasas to enable Muslim children attain standards of the National education system in formal education subjects and to augment Infrastructure in Private Aided/Unaided Minority Schools/Institutions in order to enhance the quality of education to minority children. | Click Here |
13 | Ministry of Minority Affairs | Free coaching and allied scheme | The scheme aims to empower the students belonging to minority communities and prepare them for competitive examinations, so that their participation in government and private jobs improves. The scheme provides financial support for free coaching to notified minority students in selected coaching institutions. | Click Here |
14 | Ministry of Minority Affairs | Grants-in-Aid to Maulana Azad Education Foundation | To provide basic educational infrastructure and facilities in the area of concentration of educationally backward minorities which do not have adequate provision for elementary , secondary schools and Sr . Sec . Schools / Jr . Colleges / Professional &; Vocational Training Institutes. | Click Here |
15 | Ministry of Minority Affairs | Merit-cum-Means based scholarship | The objective of the scheme is to provide financial assistance to the poor and meritorious students belonging to minority communities to enable them to pursue professional and technical courses. 30% scholarship is earmarked for girls students of each minority community in a State/UT. | Click HereClick Here |
16 | Ministry of Minority Affairs | Post Matric scholarship for minorities | To award scholarships to meritorious students belonging to economically weaker sections of minority community so as to provide them better opportunities for higher education, increase their rate of attainment in higher education and enhance their employability. 30% scholarship is earmarked for girls students of each minority community in a State / UT. | Click HereClick Here |
17 | Ministry of Minority Affairs | Pre-Matric Scholarship for minorities | The scholarship at pre-matric level will encourage parents from minority communities to send their school going children to school, lighten their financial burden on school education and sustain their efforts to support their children to complete school education. The scholarship will be awarded for studies in India in a government or private school from class I to class X. 30% scholarship is earmarked for girls students of each minority community in a State/UT. | Click Here |
18 | Ministry of Science and Technology | Science and Technology Institutional and Human Capacity Building INSPIRE AWARD (MANAK) | Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research' (INSPIRE) Awards - MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge), aims to motivate students in the age group of 10-15 years and studying in classes 6 to 10. The objective of the scheme is to target one million original ideas/innovations rooted in science and societal applications to foster a culture of creativity and innovative thinking among school children. | Click Here |
19 | Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment | Boys and Girls Hostels for OBCs | The scheme aims at providing hostel facilities to students belonging to socially and educationally backward classes, especially from rural areas, to enable them to pursue secondary and higher education. Priority will be given for the proposals for construction of hostels for under-graduate students vis-a-vis below under-graduate level. Separate Hostels are constructed for boys and girls, with greater share of central assistance for girls (90% assitance from centre and 10% state government). | Click Here |
20 | Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment | Pradhan Mantri Young Achievers Scholarship Award Scheme for Vibrant India (PM YASASVI) for OBCs, EBCs and DNTs / Post Matric Scholarship for OBCs, EBCs and DNTs | The scheme of Post Matric and Pre Matric Scholarship for SCs (PMS-SC) has been restructured for better implementation. The restructured scheme will follow the contours of the PMS-SC with focus on the poorest 20 lakh households. Since this was announced in Union budget 2021-22, further details of scheme in public domain is awaited. | Click HereClick Here |
21 | Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment | Post Matric Scholarship for SCs | To provide / supplement financial assistance to SC students studying at post matriculation or post secondary stage to enable them to complete their education. | Click Here |
22 | Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment | Pre-Matric Scholarship for SCs and Others | To support parents of SC children studying in class IX and X to enable children's transition from elementary to secondary stage and to minimise incidence of drop outs. | Click HereClick Here |
23 | Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment | SRESHTA (Scheme of Residential Education for Students in High School in Targeted Areas) for SCs | This is a revised scheme of existing Scheme of Assistance to Voluntary Organisations for SCs. 5,000 brightest SC students from the poorest households would be provided full scholarship to study in the top class schools for classes 9th and above. Apart from this, the well-functioning NGO-run schools will be provided grant-in-aid to run schools in the service deficient SC dominant areas. A total of 20,000 students would be benefited under this intervention. | Click Here |
24 | Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment | Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM AJAY) | Announced in Union Budget 2021-22, this scheme is a merger of existing Scheme of Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana, Special Central Assistance to Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana. The restructured scheme proposes a holistic approach covering varied interventions needed for the overall socio-economic development of the SC population. The target for 2021-22 is comprehensive development of 3500 SC majority villages through the Adarsh Gram component of the scheme. About 6 lakh beneficiaries shall be covered under the Income generation, Skill Development and Hostel components. | Click HereClick Here |
25 | Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment | Aids and Appliances | The main objective of the Scheme is to assist needy disabled people in procuring durable, sophisticated and scientifically manufactured, modern, standard aids and appliances that can promote their physical, social and psychological rehabilitation, by reducing the effects of disabilities and enhance their economic potential. | Click Here |
26 | Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment | Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme | To provide financial assistance to voluntary organizations to make available the whole range of services necessary for rehabilitation of persons with disabilities including early intervention, development of daily living skills, education and training. | Click Here |
27 | Ministry of Tribal Affairs | Pre-matric scholarships | To support parents of ST children for education of their wards studying in classes IX and X so that the incidence of drop-out, especially in the transition from the elementary to the secondary stage is minimized, and to improve participation of ST children in classes IX and X of the prematric stage, so that they perform better and have a better chance of progressing to the post-matric stage of education. | Click HereClick Here |
28 | Ministry of Tribal Affairs | Post-matric scholarships | To provide financial assistance to ST students studying at post matriculation and post secondary stage to enable them to complete their education. | Click Here |
29 | Ministry of Tribal Affairs | Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) | To establish quality residential schools for the promotion of education and also to ensure all round development of tribal students in all areas, habitations and diversified environment throughout the country, the Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS), Eklavya Model Day Boarding Schools (EMDBS) and Centre of Excellence for Sports are being established for ST and PVTG students. The schools are aimed to provide quality upper primary, secondary and senior secondary level education to ST and PVTG students in tribal dominated areas, along with extra-curricular activities, to enable them to access the best opportunities in education and to bring them at par with the general population. | Click Here |
30 | Ministry of Women and Child Development | Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SABLA) | To empower adolescent girls of 11-18 years by improving their nutrition and health status, upgradation of home skills, life skills and vocational education. The scheme also aims to mainstream out of school girls into formal or non-formal education. | Click Here |
31 | Ministry of Women and Child Development | Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) | The overall goal of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme is to celebrate the girl child and enable her education. | Click Here |
32 | Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment | Scholarships for Students with Disabilities | To support students with disabilities to study further in order to prepare themselves to earn their livelihood and to find a dignified place for themselves in the society as they face several barriers physical, financial, psychological, mental in pursuing studies and living with dignity. At times such students are deprived of harnessing their latent skills and thereby miss the opportunity. 50% of the total scholarships available each year for pre-matric, post-matric and top class education shall be reserved for girl candidates. | Click Here |
Someone from our team will get in touch with you soon. We will be responding to you at the earliest. In the meantime, would you like to read some inspiring stories of children who made us proud?
Encourage your friends and family to join the movement as well by telling them about your pledge using the social sharing options below
If you’d like to know more about various government schemes that are enabling adolescent girls to complete their secondary education, click here.