MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL ‘NISHANK’)
(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 192 TO BE ANSWERED ON 2ND DECEMBER, 2019 ASKED BY SHRIMATI HEMA MALINI REGARDING SAMAGRA SHIKSHA.
(a) to (b): Yes Sir. Samagra Shiksha 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 was launched in 2018-19 and subsumes the three erstwhile centrally sponsored schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). Samagra Shiksha also provides financial assistance for implementation of The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which provides every child of the age of 6-14 years, the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till the completion of his or her elementary education. Section 8(C) and 9(C) of the RTE Act, 2009 makes it obligatory upon the ‘Appropriate Government’ and ‘Local Authority’ to ensure that a child belonging to weaker section and the child belonging to disadvantage group are not discriminated against and prevented from pursuing and completing elementary education on any grounds. Section 12(1)(c) of the Act mandates all private aided, Special Category schools and private unaided schools to admit in class I (or below) to the extent of at least 25% of the strength of that class, children belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups and provide free and compulsory education till its completion. Financial assistance under Samagra Shiksha is also provided for various components including setting up, up-gradation and running of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV), setting up of residential schools/hostels, free uniforms, free text books, stipend for Girls with Special Needs from Classes 1 to 12 and self defence training for girls from upper primary to senior secondary stage.
(c) to (e): Samagra Shiksha emphasises on improving quality of education through two T’s – Teachers and Technology and focuses on enhanced capacity building of teachers and school heads, strengthening Teacher Education Institutions like SCERTs and DIETs to improve the quality of overall teachers education. Strengthening of ICT infrastructure in schools and DIKSHA digital portal have also been supported under Samagra Shiksha.
The Department of School Education and Literacy has launched a National Mission to improve learning outcomes through an Integrated Teacher Training Programme called NISHTHA – National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha in 2019-20. This massive capacity building programme has been integrated with technology to ensure smooth facilitation, availability of digital content and technology enabled teaching methods to support the teachers. A Mobile App and Learning Management System (LMS) have been developed by NCERT for this purpose.
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