MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)
(a): The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in partnership with State Governments for universalizing elementary education across the country. Its overall goals include universal access and retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in education and enhancement of learning levels of children. SSA provides for a variety of interventions, including opening of new schools, construction of schools and additional classrooms, toilets and drinking water, provisioning for teachers, periodic teacher training and academic resource support, textbooks and support for learning achievement. These provisions are made in accordance with norms and standards and entitlements as mandated by the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which provides a legal framework that entitles all children between the ages of 6 to 14 years free and compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education.
The fund sharing pattern between the Central and State Governments for SSA was in the ratio of 65:35, except for the North Eastern States for which the ratio is 90:10, from 2010-11 to 2014-15. The fund sharing pattern has been revised in 2015-16 to the ratio of 60:40 between Centre and States except for the 8 North-Eastern States viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim & Tripura and 3 Himalayan States viz. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttrakhand where the ratio is 90:10. The Central Government funds 100% in case of Union Territories for SSA with effect from 2015-16. The revision has been done on the basis of the report of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes constituted by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog.
(b): As per Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) 2014-15, 19.8 crore children were enrolled at elementary level in the country. State-wise details of enrolment in government schools in rural areas for last three years are at Annexure.
(c): No, Madam.
(d): The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) conducts periodic national surveys of learning achievement of children in classes – III, V, VIII, and X. Four rounds of National Achievement Surveys (NAS) have been conducted so far for class V whereas three rounds have been conducted for classes III & VIII, and one round for class X.
SSA supports States/UTs on early grade reading, writing & comprehension, and early Mathematics programmes through a sub-programme namely ‘Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat’ (PBBB) for classes I and II. Further the Government has launched Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan (RAA) programme on 09.07.2015, inter alia, as a sub-component of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), to motivate and engage children of the age group from 6-18 years in Science, Mathematics and Technology through observation, experimentation, inference drawing, model building, etc. both through inside and outside classroom activities. Additionally, under SSA, the State Governments and UT Administrations are supported on several interventions to improve teaching standards, including regular in-service teachers’ training, induction training for newly recruited teachers, training of all untrained teachers to acquire professional qualifications through Open Distance Learning (ODL) mode, recruitment of additional teachers for improving pupil-teacher ratios, academic support for teachers through block and cluster resource centres, continuous and comprehensive evaluation system to equip the teacher to measure pupil performance and provide remedial action wherever required, and teacher and school grants for development of appropriate teaching-learning materials, etc. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 specifies statutory duties and responsibilities of teachers and lays down the minimum qualifications for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in elementary schools.
The Central Government has launched the ‘Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching’ in December, 2014 with a vision to comprehensively address all issues related to teachers, teaching, teacher preparation, professional development, curriculum design, research in pedagogy and developing effective pedagogy.
The NCERT has developed Performance Indicators for Elementary Education (PINDICS) to track teacher performance and attendance in Government schools, and has shared the same with State Governments/UTs.
Further, for improving the quality of school education, the School Standards & Evaluation framework, known as ‘Shaala Siddhi’ has been developed by National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), to enable schools to evaluate their performance in a more focused and strategic manner and to facilitate them to make professional judgments for improvement.
(e): One of the goals of SSA is enhancing learning levels of children at elementary level. Allocation of outlays of States under SSA are made on the basis of the approved Annual Work Plan & Budgets prepared by the States based on their requirements. An amount of Rs. 21590.14 crore has been released to States/UTs under SSA during 2015-16. The Budget Estimated for the year 2016-17 for SSA is Rs. 22500 crore.
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