Hundreds of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) and free hostel facilities are being extended to tribal children across India — a fact the Chief Minister's Office of Rajasthan put front and centre on Sunday, 27 September 2026, tagging Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma in a post that amplified the Centre's flagship tribal education drive under the hashtag #आपणो_अग्रणी_राजस्थान ('Our Progressive Rajasthan').

What the Eklavya scheme actually does

Launched in 1997-98 by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the EMRS scheme was designed with a single, urgent purpose: bring quality residential schooling to Scheduled Tribe children in India's most remote corners — places where daily commutes to school are not an option and dropout rates have historically been high. The schools provide not just classrooms but dormitories, meals, and an uninterrupted academic environment, removing the twin barriers of distance and cost that have long kept tribal families out of the education mainstream.

The scheme got a significant structural upgrade in 2018-19, when per-school grants were raised and a target was set to establish hundreds of additional EMRS across states. The post from the Rajasthan CMO flags both residential schools and free hostel facilities as part of this national rollout — underscoring that the programme's reach extends beyond purpose-built EMRS campuses to standalone hostel infrastructure in tribal belts.

Rajasthan's place in the tribal education picture

Rajasthan is home to a substantial Scheduled Tribe population concentrated in districts like Dungarpur, Banswara, Udaipur, and the Vagad region — areas where the EMRS model has particular relevance. CM Bhajanlal Sharma, who took office in December 2023 leading the state's BJP government, has made aligning Rajasthan's welfare communications with Central scheme branding a visible political priority. The CMO's post is consistent with that pattern: state machinery highlighting a nationally funded programme, signalling active participation and ownership.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs funds and designs the EMRS framework; states handle land, local administration, and operationalisation. How many additional schools are sanctioned or made operational in Rajasthan in upcoming budget cycles will be the concrete measure of progress beyond the messaging.

Why tribal residential schooling remains the hardest problem to solve

The EMRS model exists because the alternative — day schools in forested or hilly terrain — has a poor track record. Children who must walk hours to class rarely complete secondary education. Residential schools collapse that geography problem, but they also require sustained per-pupil expenditure, trained teachers willing to serve in remote postings, and governance oversight that is consistently hard to maintain at scale. The 2018-19 revamp addressed funding, but the quality and staffing challenge is ongoing across states.

For tribal families, an EMRS seat is not just an education — it is often the first uninterrupted, fully supported path through secondary school a child in that household has ever had. That is the stakes behind a scheme that can sound bureaucratic in policy documents but plays out as a life-altering intervention on the ground.

The question for Rajasthan — and for every state with a tribal population — is not whether the scheme exists, but how fast new schools are built, staffed, and filled. Budget announcements set targets; enrolment numbers and infrastructure completion rates tell the real story.