Lok Sabha Question No. 3208 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-20
Subject: Improvement in School Education under RTE
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Kunwar Danish Ali

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3208 ANSWERED ON 20 TH  MARCH, 2023

## Improvement in School Education under RTE

†3208. KUNWAR DANISH ALI:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a) whether the pace of improvement in school standards under Right to Education like toilet, drinking water, mid-day meal, library, computer, electricity connection in schools across the country is very slow;

(b) whether a quarter (23.9 per cent) of schools do not even have access to drinking water and in approximately a quarter of schools (23.6 percent) students are unable to use toilet facilities;

(c) if so, the reasons therefor; and

(d) the steps being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a)  to  (d):  The  Department  of  School  Education  &  Literacy,  Ministry  of  Education  is implementing Samagra Shiksha from 2018-19 to support States and UTs for strengthening of existing  government  schools  and  for  creation  and  augmentation  of  infrastructure  facilities based  on  the  gaps  determined  from  Unified  District  Information  System  for  Education (UDISE+) and proposals received from respective State/UT. The need for schools and also the infrastructural facilities  in  schools  are  worked  out  every  year  by  the  respective State/Union Territory on incremental basis depending on their need and priority and reflected in  their  Annual  Work  plan  &  Budget  (AWP&B).  These  plans  are  then  appraised  and approved/estimated  by  the  Project  Approval  Board  (PAB)  in  the  Department  of  School Education & Literacy in consultation with the States and UTs.

Education is in the Concurrent list of Constitution and most of the schools come under jurisdiction  of  concerned  States  and  UTs.  State  and  UT  Governments  are  the  appropriate Governments  under  the  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and  Compulsory  Education  (RTE)  Act, 2009, and have the responsibility and mandate to provide school infrastructure in schools in accordance  with  the  norms  laid  down  in  the  Schedule  to  the  RTE  Act,  2009  and  as  per respective State RTE Rules. States and UTs have been repeatedly advised to ensure that all the schools in their jurisdiction should have provision for separate toilets for boys and girls and safe and adequate drinking water facilities for all children.

Further, the  Department of School Education & Literacy has approved a project on Rejuvenation of Basic Infrastructure in approximately 1.20 lakh Government schools across the  country  with  an  overall  budget  estimate  of  Rs.  4590  crore  under  Samagra  Shiksha scheme.  The  interventions  covered  under  the  project  are  major/minor  repairs,  functional toilets  (boys/girls),  electricity  connections,  functional  drinking  water  facility  and  boundary walls.

The percentage of Government Elementary schools in the country having infrastructure facilities is shown below:-

|   Boys toilet |   Girls toilet |   Drinking Water |   Library/Book bank/Reading Corner |
|---------------|----------------|------------------|------------------------------------|
|          95.7 |           97.3 |             98.2 |                               91.4 |

Source:- UDISE+ 2021-22

Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) is one of the foremost rights based  Centrally  Sponsored  Schemes  under  the  National  Food  Security  Act,  2013  (NFSA). The Scheme covers about 12.21 crore children studying in Bal Vatika and Classes I-VIII in 10.84 lakh Government and Government-Aided schools.

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