The Tenth
Plan is guided principally by the following five objectives in providing education:
·
Universal Access
All children in 6-14 age groups will
have access to primary schools or their alternative within a walking distance
of 1 and 3 km. respectively.
·
Universal Enrolment
Enrolment of all children including
girls, disabled children and children belonging to SCs and STs etc. in primary
classes.
·
Universal Retention
Universal retention in primary school
by 2007; drop out rates too would be reduced to less than 10 percent for grade
VI-VIII by 2007.
·
Universal Achievement
Emphasis on quality education
·
Equity
Bridge all gender (and social) gaps
in enrolment, retention and learning achievement.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
The Sarva Shiksha abhiyan (SSA) is the principal programme for universalization
of elementary education. SSA aims
to provide useful and relevant elementary education for all children in the
6-14 age-groups by 2010. The other
objective is to bridge social, regional and gender gaps with the active participation
of the community in the management of schools.
SSA is being
implemented on a sharing arrangement basis between the Centre and the states
in the ratio of 75:25. It addresses
the needs of about 20 crore children in more than 12 lakh habitations covering
9.73 lakh existing primary and upper primary schools and non-formal education
centres. Community ownership of the
school system is the key element in SSA and has a major role in planning,
implementation and monitoring. As
against the Tenth Plan outlay of Rs. 17000 crores for SSA, the anticipated
expenditure during the plan period is about Rs. 28250 crores, 66 percent higher
than the outlay.
The number of out of school children has come down from 4.40 crore
in 2001 to 1.34 crore in 2005. the
drop out rate in primary classes which has been decreasing at every low rate
of 0.5 per cent per annum since 1960s, showed a steeper decline by 7.67 per
cent during the first two years of the Tenth Plan and is at 31.36% in 2003-04. The drop out reduction has been faster for
girls (11.4%) as compared to that for boys (4.7%). The drop out rate at elementary level (classes I to VIII), however,
remains high at 52.22%.
There is a wide disparity across the states in the country. Quality of infrastructure facilities and support services are also
being improved so as to have a significant impact on enrolment and retention
in educationally backward regions.
- About 50 per cent of SSA outlay is for 5 major
States (Binar, UP, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan).
·
51 SC, 75 ST and 99 Minority concentrated districts have been
identified as Special Focus Districts.
- There is a focus on girls’ education under SSA
targeting additional resources to Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) under
the National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL).
- Under Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV),
1180 Residential Schools for girls belonging to SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities,
and for those below poverty line have been sanctioned in EBBs and 768 schools
have already started functioning.
- SSA also supports 4867 Maqtabs/Madarasas for introducing
school curriculum.
Mid-Day
Meal Scheme
The National
Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education popularly known as Mid-Day
Meals Scheme targets 12 crore children. The programme has been universalized at primary level. The cooked mid-day meals are now being provided
in all Government and Government aided schools & EGS/AIE centres.
Under the scheme, the Central Government provides foodgrains free of
cost to the States and subsidizes the transportation of foodgrains to the
extent of Rs. 100 per quintal for 11 special category states and Rs. 75 per
quintal for other States/UTs. In addition, Central assistance for conversion of foodgrains into
cooked meals has been raised from Re.1.00 to Rs. 1.50 per child per meal per
day with the State Government providing at least 50 paise per child per day.
As against
the Tenth Plan outlay of Rs. 5900 crore for MDMS, the anticipated expenditure
during the plan period is Rs. 13987.90 crore, 137 per cent higher than the
outlay studies show positive impact of MDMS on enrollment, attendance and
retention in schools.
Central Expenditure under SSA & MDMS during the X plan
|
Flagship
Schemes
|
2002-03
|
2003-04
|
2004-05
RE
|
2005-06
BE
|
2006-07
|
Tenth Plan anticipated expenditure
|
|
SSA
|
1567.23
|
2730.61
|
5139.22
|
7810.75
|
11000.00
|
28,247.81
|
|
MDMS
|
1099.09
|
1375.00
|
2820.55*
|
3345.26
|
5348.00
|
13,987.90
|
*includes NCMP additionality of Rs. 1232 crore provided in
the State Sector.
.....
HB/SB
(Release ID :21996)