‘Samagra Shiksha’ scheme

• The HRD Ministry announced the launch of ‘Samagra Shiksha’ programme subsuming three existing schemes: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shikskha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
• This has been done to treat school education holistically, from pre-school to Class XII.

About Programme:

• The programme will focus on quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students, bridging social and gender gaps in the school education, and promoting vocalisation of education.
• It’s not just a new name but a new initiative. We are also focussing on empowerment of girls, therefore, the upgradation of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) has been extended from class VI-VIII to class VI-XII.
• CWSN (Children With Special Needs) girls from Class I to XII would be given a stipend of ?200 per month.
• To focus on the importance of libraries, schools would be given an annual grant of ?5,000 to ?20,000 under the initiative.
• This is for the first time, there is a scheme which focusses on inclusion of support from senior secondary to pre-school level.
• Samagra Shiksha is first integrated scheme extending unified support to states from pre-school to senior secondary levels. It is paradigm shift in conceptual design of school education by treating school holistically as continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary levels.
• The scheme builds on grade-wise, subject-wise Learning Outcomes and largest National Achievement Survey (NAS)-2017-18 to strategize district level interventions for improving quality of education.
• It will help to shift focus of student learning from content to competencies. The scheme envisages active participation of all stakeholders especially parents, school management committee (SMC) members, community and state functionaries towards efforts to ensure quality education to children..

By: Vishal