Lok Sabha Question No. 2101 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-24
Subject: SSA and RMSA
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: DEVUSINH JESINGBHAI CHAUHAN

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2101 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 TH  DECEMBER, 2018

## SSA and RMSA

## 2101.    SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN:

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

- (a)    the  salient  feature  of  Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (SSA)  and  Rashtriya  Madhyamik  Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) launched in 2001and 2009 respectively;
- (b)  whether the Government contemplating changes in the respective guidelines to accommodate specific requirements of the States and if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  the efforts have been made to sanction the requisite class rooms for the students under these schemes;
- (d)  the efforts made to remove restrictions, if any, to accommodate the number of students in the schools constructed under these schemes;
- (e)  whether the Government is aware of shortcomings of the said schemes of opening a school at every 5 km. in the States such as Gujarat, Rajasthan and others who are sparsely populated and do not have enough students to admit and thus draining out the financial resources with no fruitful gains;
- (f)    if  so,  the  necessary  modifications in policy contemplated by the Government to make these schemes more successful all over the country; and
- (g)    the  efforts  are  being  made  to  provide  the  book  uniform  free  of  cost  to  all  the  students throughout  their  schooling  period  and  salary  to  teachers  appointed  under  these  schemes since inception of the schemes?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a)  to  (f):    The  Centrally  Sponsored  Schemes  of  Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (SSA)  and  Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) were under implementation since 2000-2001 and 2009, till 2017-18  for  universalizing  elementary  education  and  secondary  education,  respectively,  in  the country. RMSA and SSA programmes provided a number of incentives to encourage enrolment and retention  of  children  in  schools  as  well  as  for  improvement  of  quality  of  education.    These included 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, support for various quality interventions and financial support for salary of additional teachers.

The  Section  6  of  the  RTE  Act  mandates  that  the  appropriate  governments  and  local authorities shall establish, within the area or limits of a neighbourhood, a school, where it is not already  established,  within  a  period  of  three  years  from  the  commencement  of  the  Act.  In  this regard, Central rules provides for the establishment of primary schools and upper primary schools within a distance of one kilometer and three kilometer of the neighbourhood, respectively.

RMSA provided to make quality secondary education available, accessible and affordable to all young persons.  The scheme sought to enhance enrolment in Classes IX and X by providing a  secondary  school  within  a  reasonable  distance  of  five  kilometers  for  secondary  schools  from every  habitation,  to  improve  quality  of  education  imparted  at  secondary  level,  by  ensuring  all secondary schools conform to prescribed standard norms and to remove gender, socio-economic and disability barriers at secondary level. These norms are indicative for funding under the scheme and the states can prioritize as per their local requirements.

As per SSA norms, the school is to have at least one class-room for every teacher and an office cum-store-cum-Head  Teacher's/Head Master's room  in primary and upper primary schools/sections where the enrolment exceeds 150 and 100 respectively. The Student Classroom Ratio  (SCR)  at  elementary  level  is  24.96  as  per  UDISE,  2016-17  (Provisional).  As  per  RMSA norms, the school is to have at least two additional class rooms in one secondary school and at least  four  additional  class  rooms,  (two  sections  each  for  classes  IX  &  X)  in  an  upgraded  upper primary school. The prescribed Student Classroom Ratio (SCR) at secondary level is 1:40. The Student Classroom Ratio (SCR) at secondary level is 44.04 as per UDISE, 2016-17 (Provisional).

Since the inception of SSA in 2001, sanction has been given for opening of 3.64 lakh new elementary  schools  and  for  construction  of  3,12,747  school  buildings,  18,89,689  additional classrooms, 2,40,564 drinking water facilities and 10,63,164 school toilets. States and UTs have reported  opening  up  of  3.59  lakh  new  elementary  schools  and  construction  of  2,95,382  school buildings, 18,08,452 additional classrooms, 2,33,956 drinking water facilities and 10,11,518 toilets as on 30.09.2018.  Under RMSA, total 12682 schools have been approved against which 12033 schools  have  been  made  functional  till  2017-18.  Besides,  construction  of  50713  additional classrooms, 26260 science labs, 19076 computer rooms, 25597 library rooms and 30092 Art/craft rooms  have  been  sanctioned  for  strengthening  of  existing  secondary  schools,  and  out  of  this construction of 36695 additional classrooms, 19092 science labs, 13628 computer rooms, 19013 library  rooms  and  21143  Art/craft  rooms  have  been  completed  till  2017-18.  The  construction  of school  infrastructure  is  carried  out  as  per  Schedule  of  Rates  (SoR)  notified  by  the  State Government or Central Public Work Department (CPWD) rates whichever is lower.

In  current  scenario,  these  schemes  along-with    Teacher  Education  (TE)  have  been subsumed  under  an  Integrated  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  for  School  EducationSamagra Shiksha which has been launched from 2018-19.  It is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education. The provisions of Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 are also implemented through Samagra Shiksha across the country.

The major features of Samagra Shiksha are as under:-

- (i) Annual Grant of Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 20,000/- per school for strengthening of Libraries.
- (ii) Composite school grant increased from Rs. 14,500-50,000 to Rs. 25,000-1 Lakh and to be allocated on the basis of school enrolment.
- (iii) Annual Grant for sports equipments at the cost of Rs. 5000 for Primary Schools, Rs. 10,000 for  upper  primary  schools  and  up  to  Rs.  25,000  for  secondary  and  senior  secondary schools.
- (iv) Allocation for children with Special Needs (CwSN) increased from Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 3,500 per child per annum including a stipend of Rs. 200 per month for CWSN girls to be provided from Classes I to XII - earlier it was only for classes IX to XII.
- (v) Allocation for uniforms enhanced from Rs. 400 to Rs. 600 per child per annum.
- (vi) Allocation for textbooks enhanced from Rs. 150/250 to Rs. 250/400 per child per annum.
- (vii) Upgradation of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) from Class 6-8 to Class 6-12.
- (viii) Strengthening  Teacher  Education  Institutions  like  SCERTs  and  DIETs  to  improve  the quality  of  teachers  with  SCERT  as  the  nodal  institution  for  in-service  and  pre-service teacher training
- (ix) Enhanced use of digital technology in education through smart classrooms, digital boards and DTH channels.

The Annual Work Plan & budget (AWP&B) under the Samagra Shiksha are prepared by the States and UTs based on their requirements and priority under different interventions including the requirement of additional classrooms. 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.

The Samagra Shiksha aims to achieve universal access of children in schools from PreSchool to Senior Secondary in an inclusive and equitable manner, focusing on quality of education with  improved  infrastructure  in  the  schools.  With  a  view  to  facilitating  States/UTs,  the  Scheme provides  support  to  establishment  of  new  schools  by  up-gradation  of  upper  primary  school  to secondary  schools  and  up-gradation  of  Secondary  Schools  to  Senior    Secondary  Schools  and thus  for  establishment  of  composite  schools.    The  scheme  also  supports  strengthening  of infrastructure of existing schools.

(g): Under Samagra Shiksha, there is provision of Rs.600/- per child per annum as an average cost  for  two  sets  of  uniforms  for  all  girls,  and  boys  belonging  to  Scheduled  Caste/Scheduled Tribe/Below  Poverty  Line  (SC/ST/BPL)  families'  in  Government  schools  up  to  class  VIII  and textbooks  to  all  children  in  Government/Local  Body  and  Government  aided  schools,  including

Madarsas at an average cost of Rs.250/- per child at primary level and Rs.400/- per child at upper primary level. The recruitment and other service matters including salary structure of teachers are under domain  of  States/UTs  Governments  and  the  Central  Government  is  only  to  provide  financial support as per the scheme norms.  Further, all States/UTs are also obliged to adhere to the Pupil to Teacher ratio (PTR) norms as enshrined in the RTE Act, 2009.

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