Education
Samagra Shiksha Scheme: quality education at all levels of school education
Samagra Shiksha Scheme running successfully to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education
Samagra Shiksha – an Integrated Scheme for School Education has been launched throughout the country as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with effect from the year 2018-19. This programme subsumes the three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). It is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education. It envisages the ‘school’ as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels. The States/UTs are assisted by the central government to implement the Samagra Shiksha as a programme for providing universal access and retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in education and enhancement of learning level of children at all levels of school education.
The major interventions under the scheme are: (i) Universal Access including Infrastructure Development and Retention; (ii) Gender and Equity; (iii) Inclusive Education; (iv) Quality; (v) Financial support for Teacher Salary; (vi) Digital initiatives; (vii) Entitlements under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 including uniforms, textbooks etc.;(viii) Pre-school Education; (ix) Vocational Education; (x) Sports and Physical Education; and (xi) Strengthening of Teacher Education and Training. The main emphasis of the Scheme is on improving quality of school education and the strategy of all interventions would be to enhance the Learning Outcomes at all levels of schooling.
The major features of Samagra Shiksha are as under:-
- Annual Grant of Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 20,000/- per school for strengthening of Libraries.
- Composite school grant increased from Rs. 14,500-50,000 to Rs. 25,000-1 Lakh and to be allocated on the basis of school enrolment.
- Annual Grant for sports equipments at the cost of Rs. 5000 for Primary Schools, Rs. 10,000 for upper primary schools and up to Rs. 25,000 for secondary and senior secondary schools.
- Allocation for children with Special Needs (CwSN) increased from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 3,500 per child per annum including a stipend of Rs. 200 per month for CWSN girls to be provided from Classes I to XII – earlier it was only for classes IX to XII.
- Allocation for uniforms enhanced from Rs. 400 to Rs. 600 per child per annum.
- Allocation for textbooks enhanced from Rs. 150/250 to Rs. 250/400 per child per annum.
- Upgradation of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) from Class 6-8 to Class 6-12.
- Strengthening Teacher Education Institutions like SCERTs and DIETs to improve the quality of teachers with SCERT as the nodal institution for in-service and pre-service teacher training
- Enhanced use of digital technology in education through smart classrooms, digital boards and DTH channels.
Preference for opening of new school is given to tribal areas, and areas with high concentration of Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and minority population. The districts with high concentration of population of SCs, STs and Muslims have been identified as Special Focus Districts (SFDs) for ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education. Provisions have also been made for 1020 residential schools/hostels for children living in sparsely populated areas, children living in areas where schools cannot be opened due to unavailability of land and children in need of care and protection.
The RTE Act also provides for Special Training for age-appropriate admission of out-of-school children including children of disadvantaged groups in urban and rural areas. Approval has been given for special training of 8.08 lakh children with the financial outlay of Rs. 56353.95 lakh in 2018-19.
During 2018-19 an amount of Rs. 19668.26 crore has been released (as on 30.11.2018) to States/UTs as central share against the total Budget of Rs. 30891.81 crore for implementation of various interventions under Samagra Shiksha.
This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Satya Pal Singh in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question.
Image used for representative purposes only.