NOIDA: Son of a schoolteacher, 12-year-old Astitva Anand will no longer have to cycle every day from his village to a city school or worry about how his family will shoulder the financial stress of a private school education. The resident of Pabarsa village near Meerut who claimed to have scored over 99% in Class VIII is one of the meritorious girls and boys who can now study in premier CBSE-affiliated residential schools across the country under the central government's flagship scheme, SHRESTHA.
Schedule caste students whose parental annual income is not more than Rs 2.5 lakh per annum are eligible to apply for the scheme. According to the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment, which is steering the Scheme for Residential Education in High Schools in Targeted Areas, or SHRESTHA, around 3,000 SC students will be selected each year through a national entrance test.
