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Rohini Bhadarge and her friends staying at the nearly 10 Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) hostels for girls in Mumbai have spearheaded several 10 protests in the last four years. Their demands included construction of more hostels, implementation of various scholarships dedicated for the marginalised sections, and proper utilisation of funds allocated under the Department of Social Justice.
How shortage of hostels hampers the higher education of SC/ST girl students Premium
Rohini Bhadarge and her friends staying at the nearly 10 Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) hostels for girls in Mumbai have spearheaded several 10 protests in the last four years. Their demands included construction of more hostels, implementation of various scholarships dedicated for the marginalised sections, and proper utilisation of funds allocated under the Department of Social Justice.
Finally, the government accepted one of their demands and built a hostel with a capacity of 1,000 students recently. Already the hostel has problems such as leakages in bathrooms and creaking doors. Walls have developed cracks in the first floor of the building, says Rohini Bhadarge .
A final year student of Master of Fine Arts, Ms. Bhadarge says, “We are unsure about the stability of the building. The meritorious students in the marginalised sections will be given first preference during the hostel accommodation in Mumbai. The rest with average marks will have to find their own means, if interested in continuing education, for accommodation in this big city. The food is non palatable and provides us low quality rice”.
Ms. Bhadarge stays in a hostel in Chembur which is located adjacent to a slum. “This place gave us access to education. But the atmosphere is not right. We keep hearing cuss words and noises from the slums. It is usual for us to see drunken boys outside our hostel. It is not a safe place here. Nearly 15 hostels are located in and around Mumbai. The hostel density is lesser in the interior districts such as Nanded and Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Though students are selected based on their marks, the dropout rate is higher. There are instances where girls had committed suicide due to discrimination in the educational institutions and feeling isolated in the hostels. They become mentally weak as the environment is not conducive,” says Ms. Bhadarge.
In Tamil Nadu, dropout rates among the SC/ST community are typically higher than for others as they travel from rural to urban areas where these hostel facilities are inadequate. According to the latest figures released by the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department, 28,530 girls staying in welfare hostels study in schools while only 5,849 students are enrolled in colleges. Some 315 girl students in the hostels are enrolled in postgraduate courses in the State.
As an alternative arrangement to the inadequate number of hostels, the government has converted private buildings into SC/ST hostels for women. “Current hostels were built by N. Sivaraj during his tenure as a mayor of erstwhile Madras in 1940s. Successive governments have expanded or renovated these facilities but they are still insufficient to cater to the existing number of students. In Sivakasi, the government doubled a private residence into a makeshift hostel. Over 50 college students were asked to share two rooms and three bathrooms. Children are suffering as they have to wake up at 4 a.m. in the morning to use the washroom,” says Shalin Maria Lawrence, a Dalit social activist.
On anonymity, a second year sociology student studying at a SC/ST girls hostel in Vepery shares that nearly 20 students occupy a single room. “Two students share a cot and cupboard. We got adjusted to it. Till now, I have not received any grants from the government. I had filled up forms and submitted a bank passbook copy with the concerned authorities,” she says.
She utilises the grant of ₹1,000 per month she gets under the Pudhumai Penn scheme for her personal expenses. “I use this money for my expenses and ask my elder siblings when in dire need,” she says.
In Tamil Nadu, e-grants scholarship for post-matric students from Scheduled Tribes communities have been stopped owing to the Union government's share of funds being long overdue. The State bears 25 percent and the Center's share is 75 percent.
In Maharashtra, for the past 10 years, the stipend provided to children stands at ₹800. “There is a rule to increase the stipend for every 2 or 3 years. The current stipend is insufficient to manage our travel expenses,” says Ms. Bhadarge.
Kerala, which is ranked as the best performer in the Gross Enrollment Ratio, fares poorly in ST girl students when compared to all categories GER. “There are only five post-matric hostels for SC/ST students in the State. Out of this, only two or three are run by the government in its own building. The rest are run in private buildings. There are inmates in these hostels of more than carrying capacity. They will not otherwise get a chance to study. The other issue is non-payment of e-grants to the students. They are supposed to receive around ₹3,000 per month as their grants during their time of studies. They are not timely given to the students who migrate from their hometowns to the city for studying in the colleges. They are having tough times to cope up in the city with barely no money in their hands,”says M Geetanandhan, Chairperson of Indigenous People Collective in Kerala.
In Kerala, e-grantz 3.0 is the online centralised system for disbursement of schemes for all post-matric SC/ST students. The beneficiaries receive the amount in aadhar linked bank accounts.
The organisation has demanded for the increase in e-grants and number of seats in government run hostels. The same issue persists in self-financing courses and professional courses. “The educational institutions compel the students to pay fees in advance as the e-grants are not provided, at some instances, even till the completion of the courses. A few students were not provided with transfer certificates as they had not paid fees in the institutions,” says Lydia, a volunteer with Adishakti Summer School which works for marginalised communities in the State.
In Telangana, the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TGSWREIS), Ministry of Welfare. (TGSWREIS) runs high schools, junior colleges, and degree colleges covering both arts and sciences. According to official sources, 17,185 girl students in welfare hostels are in higher education.
“The government has taken initiative to upgrade residential junior colleges in the already existing campus. Around 25 degree colleges purely for girls have been established to encourage girls higher education. In recent times, they are getting better education. They have to be expanded to other areas,” says Mallepalli Laxmaiah, Chairperson, Center for Dalit Studies.
Published - July 31, 2025 10:23 pm IST
Source: The Hindu
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