The Government of India has taken several initiatives to provide ‘Sabko Shiksha Achchi Shiksha’ i.e. for making available good quality education, accessible and affordable for all. In pursuance of the proposal of the Union Budget, 2018-19, to treat school education holistically without segmentation from pre-school to Class XII, the Department of School Education and Literacy has launched the Samagra Shiksha - an Integrated Scheme for School Education 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).
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 envisages the ‘school’ as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels. The main emphasis of the Scheme is on improving quality of school education and the strategy for all interventions would be to enhance the Learning Outcomes at all levels of schooling. The Objectives of the Samagra Shiksha are (a) Provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students; (b) Bridging Social and Gender Gaps in School Education; (c) Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education; (d) Ensuring minimum standards in schooling provisions; (e) Promoting Vocationalisation of education; (f) Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009; and (g)Strengthening and up-gradation of SCERTs/State Institutes of Education and DIET as nodal agencies for teacher training.
The major features of Samagra Shiksha are as under:-
This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Dr. Satya Pal Singh today in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question.
*****
NB/AKJ/AK/RS-525