EMRS Scheme and Child Rights
EMRS Scheme and Child Rights carries high-weight factual questions about Eklavya Model Residential Schools plus the legal duties a warden owes every child.
EMRS facts
- Launched in 1997-98; revamped in 2018-19 with the aim of one EMRS in every block with more than 50 per cent ST population and at least 20,000 ST persons.
- Run under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs through NESTS (National Education Society for Tribal Students, 2018) nationally and SESTS in the states.
- Fully residential, CBSE curriculum on the Navodaya pattern, with emphasis on quality education, sports and skill exposure, and seats reserved for ST children; the 2018 decision sanctioned 462 new schools alongside the existing ones.
- Free boarding, lodging, uniforms, textbooks and stationery.
Child rights frame
- UNCRC 1989, ratified by India in 1992, rests on non-discrimination, best interests of the child, survival and development, and participation.
- RTE Act 2009: free and compulsory education for ages 6-14, no capitation fee, no screening, no corporal punishment (Section 17).
- POCSO 2012 and the JJ Act 2015 create mandatory reporting duties; NCPCR monitors; Childline 1098 is the helpline.
Worked example
A student tells the warden her uncle touched her inappropriately and begs her to tell no one. Reasoning: safety overrides secrecy, and POCSO Section 19 makes reporting mandatory. Answer: reassure her, avoid repeated interrogation, record only what she said, inform the Principal, and report to the police or Special Juvenile Police Unit and Childline 1098.
Traps
Promising absolute confidentiality; informing the accused or convening a family meeting first; confusing NCPCR with NHRC; treating corporal punishment as a minor internal matter.