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The Uttar Pradesh government will bear the cost of books and study material for about 30,000 students of the economically weaker sections enrolled in UP schools under the Right to Education Act. Under the new scheme, expected to be announced within the next fortnight, the government will spend an amount of Rs 5,000 per student in an academic year.

The scheme, which assumes political significance in the light of the impending polls in Uttar Pradesh, was recommended to the state government, sources told TOI, by activist and Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey. After a presentation on how it would benefit students from the economically weaker sections, the scheme was sanctioned by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and primary education minister Ahmed Hasan.

"The idea that drove this scheme was that while many from the economically weaker sections were able to get admissions under the RTE Act, they were not able to afford the books required in school. To assist these students and to ensure parity in quality of education, the government decided to bear the expenses of the books," a senior government functionary said. The additional financial implications of this scheme total about Rs 15 crore, which is expected to be granted cabinet approval shortly.

At present, Uttar Pradesh has one of the lowest enrolment rates for economically weaker section and disadvantaged category children under the 25% reservation clause in the RTE Act. Last year, the state was able to enrol about 4,500 EWS students into private schools across the state, but the target for 2015-16 was raised to about 25,000 students.