Bihar’s Mukhyamantri Cycle Yojana: A Revolutionary Step Towards Girls’ Education
In November 2005, the politics of Bihar took a turn and engineer Mr. Nitish Kumar took over the reins of Bihar. As soon as he became the Chief Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar brought about many changes in other areas including education with his farsighted thinking and put Bihar on the path of progress by running public welfare schemes. During his tenure, the Chief Minister first decided to strengthen the education system of half the population to increase the literacy rate in Bihar and in the year 2006, he started the 'Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana' for girls studying in government schools. Under this scheme, bicycles were made available to girls studying in class 9 in government schools.
Under the 'Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana', financial assistance is provided to the girl students studying in class 9. This scheme was started in view of the problem of transportation in the village and to ensure that the girl students of rural areas do not face any problem in going to and coming from school. With the availability of bicycles, the girl students started reaching school comfortably in less time and awareness towards education also increased in them. Till now lakhs of girl students have taken advantage of this scheme. ‘Mukhyamantri Balika Cycle Yojana’ has had a huge and positive impact on rural school education.
In the year 2007, 1 lakh 63 thousand girl students studying in class IX were given money to buy cycles. Two years later in the year 2009, due to increase in enrollment rate in schools, students studying in class IX also started getting the benefit of this scheme. Students of all classes studying in high schools of the state started getting the money under Mukhyamantri Cycle Yojana. Initially, an amount of Rs. 2000 was given to buy cycles. The money was distributed by organizing camps in schools. Over time, this system was improved and money started being sent to the bank accounts of the students. This amount is sent to the account through DBT. Gradually this amount was increased from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 2500. After this, at present this amount has been increased from Rs. 2500 to Rs. 3000.
The state government saw the cycle scheme as a big social revolution. This scheme was also very effective in the direction of women empowerment. Due to the Chief Minister's Boys and Girls Cycle Scheme, the ratio of boys and girls in schools became 54:46. After the implementation of this scheme of the Bihar government, the number of students enrolling in government schools has increased. The benefit of this scheme is that the number of girls of Bihar going to school has increased and they are succeeding in making their mark in the society. Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar, while discussing this scheme, said that girls are not only going to school by bicycle but also take their parents to the market in the evening by sitting them on the bicycle. This scene looks very good to see.
The 'Mukhyamantri Boys and Girls Cycle Scheme' was so successful that it started being discussed not only in Bihar but also in other states of the country and abroad. Many people from the country and outside the country came to Bihar to know and understand this scheme. African countries are also adopting the Chief Minister's Cycle Scheme and it is also being discussed in the UN. Research is being done at the international level on the 'Mukhyamantri Boys and Girls Cycle Scheme'. The Mukhyamantri Cycle Yojana has empowered girls in the society, as a result of which a large number of girls are going to school and getting education today. Awareness towards education has increased in half the population.
