Lok Sabha Question No. 3880 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-19
Subject: Evaluation of SSA
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: KAMAL NATH, JYOTIRADITYA MADHAVRAO SCINDIA

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3880 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19 th  MARCH, 2018

## Evaluation of SSA

## 3880.      SHRI KAMAL NATH: SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has conducted any evaluation of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) since its

- inception;
- (b) if so, the outcome thereof;
- (c) whether the SSA has achieved its targets during the past three years and if so, to what extent; and
- (d) the steps taken / to be taken by the Government to effectively implement the SSA?

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

(a)  and  (b):     The  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (SSA) has  an  inbuilt concurrent evaluation and monitoring system. The Ministry of Human Resource Development convenes periodic meetings with State Education Ministers and Secretaries to review the programme. SSA is also reviewed every year by a Joint Review Mission comprising of independent experts. Educational data is collected through a Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) every year to assess the progress.   A  National  Achievement  Survey  (NAS)  across  all  States  and  UTs  was  conducted  on 13.11.2017  to  assess  the  learning  achievement  of  students  of  classes  3,  5  and  8.  The  status  of  these evaluations and monitoring is placed in the public domain on the Ministry's website.

An independent evaluation of  the  Scheme was conducted  in 2017-18.  It has  pointed out  that SSA has achieved considerable success in universalizing access and strengthening of infrastructure in schools. It has appreciated the enhanced focus of SSA on quality of education in recent years. It has suggested capacity building of district-level institutions engaged in planning and implementation of the Scheme.

(c):    The annual plans under SSA are prepared by the States and UTs based on their requirements and priority and this is reflected in their respective Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B). These plans are  then  appraised  and  approved/estimated  in  consultation  with  the  States  and  UTs  as  per  the programmatic and financial norms of the scheme and availability of budgetary resources.

Since inception of SSA in 2000-01, opening of 3.64 lakh new elementary schools, construction of 3.12  lakh  school  buildings  and  18.87  lakh  additional  classrooms,  2.42  lakh  drinking  water  facilities, 3.94 lakh boys toilets, 5.17 lakh separate girls' toilets, 1.40 lakh Children with Special Needs (CWSN) toilets  and  19.33  lakh  teacher  posts  have  been  sanctioned  to  States  and  UTs.  Out  of  this,  3.59  lakh elementary schools have been opened, 2.94 lakh school buildings and 17.97 lakh additional classrooms, 2.35 lakh drinking water facilities and 9.95 lakh school toilets have been constructed and 15.16 lakh teachers have been recruited as on 31 st December, 2017.

(d):    The Government of India has taken several intiatives to facilitate the implementation of the SSA to meet the objectives of the RTE Act and to ensure universalization of quality elementary education in the country. In order to focus on quality education, the Central RTE Rules have been amended on 20th February,  2017  to  include  reference  on  class-wise,  subject-wise  Learning  Outcomes.  The  Learning Outcomes for each class in Languages (Hindi, English and Urdu), Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Social Science up to the elementary stage have, accordingly, been finalized and shared with all  States  and  UTs.  These  would  serve  as  a  guideline  for  States  and  UTs  to  ensure  that  all  children acquire appropriate learning level.

A National Achievement Survey (NAS) was conducted on 13th November, 2017 through which the learning levels of around 22 lakh students of Classes III, V and VIII from 1.10 lakh schools across 700 districts in all 36 States and UTs were assessed. This competency based assessment was based on the  Learning  Outcomes  developed  by  the  NCERT.  District  report  cards  (provisional)  for  NAS  2017 have been released by this Department and are available on MHRD website. Through NAS it is for the first time that the teachers have a tool to understand what exactly the child should be learning in various classes, how to teach this through activities and how to measure and ensure that children have reached the required level.

The RTE Act, 2009 was amended in 2017 to ensure that all teachers acquire the minimum qualifications prescribed under the Act by 31st March 2019 to reinforce the Government's emphasis on improvement of quality of elementary education. The National Institute of Open schooling (NIOS) has been entrusted to conduct this training through Open Distance Learning (ODL) mode.

The  Shagun  portal  has  been  launched  to  create  a  repository  of  best  practices  from  the states  and  UTs and to enable online monitoring of implementation of the various interventions under the programme.

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