Education should be the first priority for the country as it is the golden key to ensure constitutional and social security of citizens, especially girls, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.
Addressing a programme at Anjuman-a-Islam Girls High School in suburban Mumbai on Saturday, Naqvi said education is a very strong tool for development and the Modi government is committed to educational empowerment of minorities.
The school dropout rate among Muslim girls, which was earlier more than 70 per cent, has now come down to about 40 per cent. “The goal of the government is to bring it down to zero per cent,” he said.
Naqvi said the Centre will provide financial aid to institutes which are being established and run on waqf properties and engaged in educational activities.
During the last three years, about 2.42 crore minority students have been provided various scholarships. This year, more than 1.5 crore students have applied for pre-matric, post-matric, merit-cum-means and other various scholarships given by the ministry. More than three lakh applications have been received for Begum Hazrat Mahal Girls Scholarship alone. In the last six months, thousands of educational institutions of minority communities, including madarsas, have been included in the mainstream education system by connecting them with “3Ts – Teacher, Tiffin, Toilet”.
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