Lok Sabha Question No. 208 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-04
Subject: Teachers in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: LALLU SINGH

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.208 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 TH  FEBRUARY, 2019

## Teachers in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)

## †208. SHRI LALLU SINGH:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) whether it is a fact that the teachers recruited under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) are not paid salaries in certain States;

(b) if so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor;

(c) whether any inquiry has been conducted to find out the reason for non payment of salaries to teachers recruited under the said programme and if so, the details thereof; and

(d) whether there has been delay in allocation of funds to States for payment of salaries to these teachers and if so, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## (DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a) to (d):   The recruitment and service conditions of teachers, including payment of remuneration/salary, are in the domain of respective State Governments and UTs Administrations.

The Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme of Sarva Shiksha  Abhiyan (SSA) was under implementation since  2000-2001  and  till  2017-18  for  universalizing  elementary  education  in  the  country.      SSA programme 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, strengthening school infrastructure like school building, additional classrooms, toilets, drinking water facilities etc, support for various quality interventions and financial support for salary of additional teachers  to  maintain  Pupil  Teacher  Ratio  (PTR)  as  per  the  norms  of  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.

The Annual Work Plan & budget (AWP&B) under the scheme is prepared by the States and UTs based on their requirements and priority under different interventions of the scheme. 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.  Accordingly, the indicated central share, is released in installments to States/UTs based on the pace of expenditure, receipt of commensurate state share, unadjusted outstanding advances, receipt of utilization certificates and physical and financial progress etc.  The Central share is released in different installments viz. ad-hoc installment, balance of 1 st installment  and  the  2 nd installment.     The  central  share  is  released  to  States/UTs  in  lump-sum  and intervention-wise releases are not made.

The  SSA  was  designated  as  the  vehicle  for  implementing  the  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which envisages for providing free and compulsory elementary education.  Section  7(1)  of  the  RTE  Act,  2009,  states  that  both  the  Centre  and  the  State  shall  have concurrent  responsibility  for  providing  funds  for  carrying  out  the  provisions  of  the  Act.   Section  7(2) states that estimate for implementing the Act shall be prepared by Central Government.  Further, Section 7(3)  states  that  the  Central  Government  shall  provide  to  the  State  Government,  as  grants-in-aid  of revenues, such percentage of expenditure as it may determine, while, Section 7(5) states that the State Government shall,  taking  into  consideration  the  sums  provided  by  the  Central  Government  to  a  State Government, be responsible to provide funds for the implementation of the provisions of the Act.

An  Integrated  Scheme  for  School  Education  has  been  launched  throughout  the  country  as  a Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  with  effect  from  the  year  2018-19,  which  subsumes  the  three  erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE). 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 States and UTs are assisted by the central government to implement the Samagra Shiksha as a programme for providing universal access and retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in education and enhancement of learning level of children at all levels of school education, and support for implementation of the provisions of the RTE Act, 2009.

The  Ministry  of  Finance,  Government  of  India  allocate/earmark  the  Budget  Estimate/Revised Estimate  (BE/RE) provision  at  the  beginning  of  the  financial  year  for  the  SSA/Samagra  Shiksha.  The funds provided at BE/RE stage are released as central share to States and UTs, for the implementation of the approved interventions.

With the acceptance of the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission by the Government of India, the devolution of funds to the States has been increased from 32% to 42% of the net Union Tax Receipts.  With  the  enhanced  devolution  of  funds,  States  have  been  advised  to  allocate  more  funds  to school education so as to carry out the functions and responsibilities conferred upon the States by Section 7(5) of the RTE Act, 2009.

To ensure effective utilization of funds under the schemes, there is robust monitoring system in place to review the physical and financial progress of approved interventions through monthly/quarterly reports,  annual  audit  by  independent  Chartered  Accountants  empanelled  with  the  Comptroller  and Auditor General (CAG) of India, a regular CAG audit, a system of concurrent financial reviews, as well as regular internal audit and regular Review Meetings with all States and UTs are held for monitoring the optimum utilization of funds.