Lok Sabha Question No. 695 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-11-21
Subject: Siksha Abhiyan Programmes
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: DEVUSINH JESINGBHAI CHAUHAN, MOHANBHAI KALYANJIBHAI KUNDARIYA, CHANDRAKANT RAGHUNATH PATIL, DARSHANA VIKRAM JARDOSH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 695 TO BE ANSWERED ON 21 st  NOVEMBER, 2016

## Shiksha Abhiyan Programmes

## 695. SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN:

SHRI KUNDARIYA MOHAN BHAI KALYANJI BHAI: SHRI C.R. PATIL: SHRIMATI DARSHANA VIKRAM JARDOSH:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  salient  features  of  Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (SSA)  and  Rashtriya  Madhyamik  Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) programmes of the Government;
- (b)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  make  any  changes  in  the  guidelines  of  the  said programmes to accommodate specific requirements of the States and if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  the  shortcomings  of  the  scheme  of  opening  a  school  at every 5 kms. in some States such as Gujarat, Rajasthan which are sparsely populated and do not have enough students to admit resulting into draining of financial resources and if so, the details thereof;
- (d)  whether  the  Government  proposes  to  provide  free  books  and  uniform  free  of  cost  to  all  the students throughout the schooling period and salary to teachers appointed under the said schemes and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the other steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government under the said programmes like sanctioning requisite class rooms, removing restrictions to accommodate the number of students in schools, etc.?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

(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.

Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) was launched in March 2009 with the objective of making secondary education of good quality, available, accessible and affordable to all students in the age group of 14-18 years. The scheme envisages enhancing enrolment in Classes IX-X by providing a secondary school within a reasonable distance of every habitation to achieve greater than 90% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in secondary education.

The RMSA and SSA programmes provide a variety of interventions, including enhancing access  to  primary,  upper  primary  &  secondary  schools,  strengthening  school  infrastructure  like school building, additional classrooms, laboratories, libraries, arts & craft rooms, toilets, drinking water  facilities  etc.,  improving  the  teachers  pupil  ratio  as  well  as  strategies  for  gender  positive textbooks,  gender  sensitization  of  teachers  and  educational  administrators,  in  service  training  of teachers,  ICT  enabled  education.    In  addition,  3600  Kasturba  Gandhi  Balika  Vidyalayas  or residential schools for girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and minorities at upper primary level in educationally backward blocks of the country have been set up.

(b): No, Madam.

(c): As per Section 6 of the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009, 'the appropriate Government and  the  local  authority  shall  establish,  within  such  area  or  limits  of  neighbourhood,  as  may  be prescribed,  a  school,  where  it  is  not  established,  within  a  period  of  three  years  from  the commencement  of  this  Act'.    Accordingly,  State  Governments  have  notified  their  Rules  for establishment of neighbourhood school as per their requirement.  Based on Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping of established neighbourhood school and their respective enrolments, the State Governments are merging some of the unviable schools through notification without violating the RTE Act norms.

The RMSA scheme framework aims to provide access to every habitation to a secondary school within a distance of 5kms.  However, there is no mandatory requirement on the states to have secondary schools within that distance.  The States can propose secondary schools based on the  actual  enrolment and topography.  The proposals are approved based on actual enrolment in catchment area & gap in access.

(d):      SSA  norms  provides  for  two  sets  of  uniforms  for  all  girls,  and  children  belonging  to Scheduled  Caste/Scheduled  Tribe/Below  Poverty  Line  (SC/ST/BPL)  families  in  Government schools within a ceiling of Rs. 400/- per child per annum.   SSA norms also provide support for textbooks  to  all  children  in  Government/Local  Body  and  Government  aided  schools,  including Madarsas desirous  of  introducing  the  State  curriculum,  within  an  upper  ceiling  of  Rs.  150/-  per child at primary level and Rs. 250/- per child at upper primary level.  In case, states that have been providing  textbooks  to  children  under  State  sector  schemes  and  budgets  since  2007-08  will continue to fund textbooks being provided from the State Plans.  Financial assistance is provided to State and UTs for teacher salary appointed against the teacher posts sanctioned under SSA as per the existing fund sharing pattern of the scheme.

Under  RMSA Scheme, no funds are provided  for  free  textbooks  and  uniform.  However, financial  assistance  is  provided  as  per  sharing  funding  pattern  for  salary  of  teachers,  approved under the scheme.

(e): The said schemes provide for sanctioning of additional classrooms, as per the requirement submitted by the State and UTs based on the enrolment of children.  The student classrooms ratio prescribed at primary, upper primary & secondary level are 30:1, 35:1 & 40:1 respectively.  There is no restriction for enrolment of children in Government and Government-aided schools.