Finance and distance will not be a hurdles for tribal students wanting to pursue academic excellence, Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram said on Tuesday.

The Union minister, who was in the steel city to preside over the inaugural function of a two-day national level Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) music competition at Tata Auditorium at XLRI, said that over 700 more Ekalvya schools would be ready by 2022 to facilitate quality education for tribal students.

“More than 700 Eklavya schools will come up in various blocks of the country by 2022. Any block with more than 50 per cent tribal population or at least 20,000 tribals will have these. Around 200 Ekalvya schools are functional in the country and as per a government study, there are nearly 564 blocks meeting the criteria. These will be covered under Eklavya scheme over the next three years,” said Oram.

The BJP MP representing Sundargarh parliamentary constituency in Odisha, bordering Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum and Simdega districts, said that Rs 6,000 crore had been given for setting up such schools in the 2018-19 financial year, and by 2022, Rs 25,000 would be spent by the government on opening such centres.

“The Eklavya schools that follow CBSE pattern offer free residential schooling for tribal students and recently, many of them have achieved 100 per cent pass results with 60-70 per cent students getting first class. Students from these schools are also qualifying for engineering entrance examinations and joining IITs and IIMs. The focus is on providing quality education closer to home for tribal students free,” explained Oram.

The minister also said that the government had increased scholarships for meritorious students from this fiscal.

“The scholarship amount for meritorious tribal students has been increased from Rs 42,000 per student per annum to Rs 61,500 per student per annum from 2018-19,” he said.

Tuesday’s inaugural function was attended by,a mong others, Union minister of state for tribal affairs Sudarshan Bhagat, state tribal affairs minister Louis Marandi, Jamshedpur MP Bidyut Baran Mahto, Potka MLA Menaka Sardar and Ghatshila MLA Laxman Tuddu.

During the two-day competition, Eklavya school teams from 12 states will compete in group songs. Attractive prizes are on offer. The first prize winner will get Rs 2 lakh, the second rank holder Rs 1.75 lakh and third Rs 1.25 lakh.

The competition is hosted by the state government and sponsored by Union tribal affairs ministry.