SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN

Background: Union Budget, 2018-19 has announced that school education would be treated holistically and without segmentation from pre-primary to class XII. It is, in this context, that the Department of School Education and Literacy launched the Integrated Scheme for School Education, Samagra Shiksha in 2018 by subsuming the erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). The scheme treats school education as a continuum and is in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG-4) and has now been aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 to ensure inclusive and equitable, quality and holistic school education.

Objectives:

1. Support States and Uts in implementing the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020).

2. Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009;

3. Focus on Early Childhood Care and Education.

4. Emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.

5. Thrust on Holistic, Integrated, Inclusive and activity based Curriculum and Pedagogy to impart 21^st century skills among the students.

6. Provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students;

7. Bridging Social and Gender Gaps in School Education;

8. Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education;

9. Strengthening and up-gradation of State Councils for Educational Research and Training (SCERTs)/State Institutes of Education and District Institutes for Education and Training (DIET) as a nodal agency for teacher training.

10. Ensuring safe, secure and conducive learning environment and minimum standards in schooling provisions;

11. Promoting vocationalisation of education

Salient Features:

• • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved continuation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme- Samagra Shiksha Scheme which is an integrated scheme for school education being implemented through a single State Implementation Society (SIS) at the State/UT level.
  • 1^st April 2021 to 31^st March, 2026.
  • It aims to ensure that all children have access to quality education with an equitable and inclusive classroom environment which should take care of their diverse background, multilingual needs, and different academic abilities and make them active participants in the learning process.
  • The main emphasis of the Scheme is on improving quality of school education by focussing on the two T’s – Teacher and Technology.
  • The scheme also proposes to give flexibility to the States and Uts to plan and prioritize their interventions.
  • The fund sharing pattern for the scheme between Centre and States
    • 90:10 for the 8 North-Eastern States viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura and 3 Himalayan States/Uts viz. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and
    • 60:40 for all other States and Union Territories with Legislature (except J&K).
    • 100% centrally sponsored for Union Territories without Legislature.
  • The new interventions which have been incorporated in the revamped Samagra Shiksha scheme based on the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020.