Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Residential Hostel (Uttarakhand)

What is the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Residential Hostel scheme?

The Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Residential Hostel is a scheme of the School Education Department, Government of Uttarakhand, run under the centrally sponsored Samagra Shiksha programme. According to the department, it provides free accommodation for children of both genders aged 6 to 18 years who are enrolled in local schools, so that vulnerable children have a safe place to live while they get an education.

The residential hostels were named after Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as part of a nationwide renaming of Samagra Shiksha residential schools and hostels. In Uttarakhand the scheme is aimed squarely at the most at-risk children: orphans, homeless youth, children from single-parent families, children of destitute labourers, rag pickers, and children living in transit areas such as railway platforms and bus stands. For these children the hostel is not just boarding, it is a route back into regular schooling.

How many hostels are there and where?

Uttarakhand operates 13 Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose residential hostels across the state, together accommodating roughly 1,000 children. The hostels are spread across districts including:

• Dehradun: including Baniyawala, Araghar, Jhadipani and Nabha House in Rishikesh
• Haridwar, including Alipur, Laladhang and Mohitpur
• Pauri; including Srinagar and Peethsain
• Champawat
• Udham Singh Nagar; including Gadarpur, Kashipur and Sitarganj

A newer hostel building in Kaulagarh, Dehradun, built at a cost of about Rs 4.09 crore, provides residential arrangements for 100 children, illustrating the scale of a single unit.

Who is eligible for the residential hostel?

A child can be admitted if:

• The child is 6 to 18 years old.
• The child falls in a vulnerable category the scheme serves. An orphan, homeless, from a single-parent or destitute family, a child labourer, a rag picker, or a child living in a transit area.
• The child is enrolled in, or will attend, a local school while staying in the hostel.

A child is not eligible and cannot be admitted if:

• The child is outside the 6 to 18 age range.
• The child is not in a vulnerable category — the hostels are prioritised for orphans, homeless and destitute children rather than the general population.
• The family is seeking ordinary fee-paying boarding for a child who has a safe home; such applicants are not eligible, because the seats are reserved for at-risk children.

The scheme's whole design is protective, so genuine vulnerability is the central eligibility test.

What documents are required?

Because many target children lack standard paperwork, the local authorities can help establish a child's situation where formal documents are missing.

How to apply for the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Residential Hostel

1. Identify the nearest hostel in your district from the list of 13 hostels, or approach the local education authority for the closest available unit.
2. Contact the hostel warden or the Samagra Shiksha / block education office and explain the child's situation and age.
3. Provide age proof and evidence of the child's vulnerability: orphanhood, homelessness, single-parent or destitute status, or similar.
4. Complete the admission formalities arranged by the hostel and local authorities, subject to seat availability.
5. Enrol the child in a local school, since the hostel is meant to support the child's schooling.

The route is offline and case-based rather than a fixed online form, because each admission depends on the individual child's circumstances and the seats available.

What does a child receive in the hostel?

A child admitted to a Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose residential hostel receives, free of cost:

• Residential accommodation in a safe, supervised hostel.
• Free food and daily care.
• Access to schooling at a nearby school.

There is no fee. The scheme is funded under Samagra Shiksha and is intended to remove the two biggest barriers a vulnerable child faces, a safe place to live and the means to attend school.

Who cannot use this scheme

Children who are not in a vulnerable category, and children outside the 6 to 18 age band, cannot generally be admitted. The hostels are not general boarding schools for fee-paying families; they exist to protect and educate orphans, homeless and destitute children. Families seeking ordinary residential schooling should look at other options such as the Rajiv Gandhi Navodaya Vidyalaya scheme.

What daily life in the hostel looks like

A Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose residential hostel is meant to give a vulnerable child the stability that a normal home would provide. Children live in supervised dormitories with a warden and support staff, get three meals a day, and follow a daily routine built around attending a nearby school. Because the children admitted are often orphans, homeless or from families in crisis, the hostels are staffed to look after not only schooling but basic care, safety and well-being. The Kaulagarh, Dehradun unit, built at about Rs 4.09 crore for 100 children: shows the standard the state is aiming for in a single facility, and the network of 13 hostels together supports around 1,000 children.

The scheme sits alongside the state's 40 Kasturba Gandhi residential girls' hostels, so between the two, both boys and girls from disadvantaged backgrounds have a residential option that keeps them in the education system rather than dropping out.

Common reasons a child is not admitted

• Age outside the 6 to 18 band, which is the fixed eligibility window.
• No hostel seat available at the nearest unit at the time of the request.
• The child is not in a vulnerable category the scheme prioritises.

Where a child's paperwork is incomplete; common for orphans and homeless children, the local education authority and child welfare bodies can help establish the child's age and situation so that a genuine case is not turned away for want of documents.

Grievance and follow-up

If a vulnerable child is unable to get a hostel place, or if there is a problem at a hostel, escalate to the Block Education Officer and then the District Education Office under the School Education Department. Child Welfare Committees and the district administration can also refer at-risk children into the scheme, since the hostels exist precisely for children who have nowhere else safe to stay.

How this differs from the residential-school variants

Under Samagra Shiksha, some states also run Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose residential schools and separate boys' residential schemes. In Uttarakhand the model described here is a network of 13 residential hostels attached to local schooling, alongside the state's 40 Kasturba Gandhi residential girls' hostels. The common thread is free boarding for children who would otherwise struggle to stay in school.

Where to get help

To place a child, contact the warden of the nearest Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose residential hostel, or the Samagra Shiksha / Block Education Office in your district under the School Education Department, Government of Uttarakhand. Child welfare committees and local administration can also refer at-risk children into the hostels.