Lok Sabha Question No. 5848 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-30
Subject: Quality of Education in Rural Areas
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Sanjay Haribhau Jadhav

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 5848

ANSWERED ON- 30.03.2026

## QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN RURAL AREAS

†5848. Shri Sanjay Haribhau Jadhav: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) the details of steps being taken by the Government to ensure universal access to quality education particularly in rural and deprived areas of the country; (b)  whether  the  Government  has  any  mechanism  to  ensure  that  education  is accessible  to  children  with  disabilities  and  the  manner  in  which  schools  are  being made more inclusive in the country and if so, the details thereof; (c) the manner in which the Government is addressing the challenges of illiteracy in certain areas of the country particularly among  the  tribal and marginalized communities; and (d) the details of the measures being taken by the Government to bridge the gap in accessing  of  education  between  urban  and  rural  areas  particularly  with  regard  to infrastructure and teacher availability?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a):  The Department of School Education & Literacy is implementing an integrated scheme for school education - Samagra Shiksha, which covers the entire gamut from pre-school  to  class  XII.  The  scheme  is  aligned  with  NEP  2020  to  ensure  that  all children have access to quality education with an equitable and inclusive classroom environment which should take care of their diverse background, multilingual needs, different academic abilities and make them active participants in the learning process.

Under  the  scheme,  financial  assistance  is  provided  to  States  and  UTs  for undertaking various activities for  universal access to holistic and qualitative  school education,  including  opening/strengthening  of  new  schools  upto  senior  secondary level, construction of school buildings & additional classrooms, development/strengthening  of  school  infrastructure  in  border  areas  under  Vibrant Village Programme through the convergence of existing scheme of DOSEL, setting up,  construction  of  hostels  for  PVTGs  under  PM-JANMAN,  setting  up  of  Netaji Subhash  Chandra  Bose  Avasiya  Vidyalayas,  construction  of  hostels  under  Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan for unsaturated ST population, free uniforms to eligible  children  and  free  text  books  at  elementary  level,  transport  allowance  and undertaking  enrolment  &  retention  drives.  Special  training  for  age-appropriate admission of out of school children and residential as well as non-residential training for  older  children,  seasonal  hostels  /  residential  camps,  special  training  centers  at worksites,  transport/  escort  facility  etc.  are  also  supported  to  bring  out  of  school children to the formal schooling system.

Further, PM eVidya unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education across the country under the aegis of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. PM eVidya includes 200 DTH TV Channels and 400 Radio channels to provide supplementary education  as per requirement in various Indian languages for classes 1-12.

Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM SHRI) is a centrally sponsored scheme which aims to strengthen more than 14,500 schools from amongst the existing schools managed by Central Government/State/UT Government/local bodies. These PM SHRI schools are to showcase all the initiatives of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020,  be  the  exemplar  schools,  and  also  offer  benchmarking  leadership  to  other schools in the neighbourhood.

(b): Inclusive Education component of Samagra Shiksha provides support to CwSN via  specific  student-oriented  interventions  such  as  identification  and  assessment camps, provision of aids, appliances and assistive devices, scribe, transportation and escort allowance support, Braille books and large print books, stipend for girls with special needs and teaching-learning materials etc. in order to appropriately address their  unique  educational  requirements  in  general  schools.  Further,  individualized support is also provided through therapeutic interventions at the block level. Samagra Shiksha also has provisions for creation of differently abled friendly infrastructure such as ramps with handrails and differently-abled friendly toilets for barrier free access in schools.

Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram, popularly known as ULLAS: Understanding of Lifelong Learning for All in Society from 2022-23 to 2026-27. The scheme, aligned with NEP 2020 targets adults (aged 15 and above) who are not literate and focuses on rural areas, districts/blocks with  large  SC/ST/ population,  educationally  backward  areas, women etc. The scheme is implemented in a hybrid mode, allowing States/UTs to adopt offline, online or blended approaches. The scheme is based on volunteerism to impart foundational literacy and numeracy. 7 States/ UTs (Ladakh, Mizoram, Tripura, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, A & N Islands and Chandigarh) have declared Full Literacy.

(d): The Central Government provides financial assistance to States/UTs under the Centrally Sponsored scheme-  Samagra Shiksha for strengthening  of  existing  government  schools  for  creation  and augmentation  of infrastructure  facilities  like  buildings,  toilets  for  Boys/Girls/CWSN, drinking  water, electricity  and  digital  facilities  based  on  Annual  Work  Plan  &  Budget (AWP&B) proposal prepared by them and gaps determined from Unified District Information System  for  Education  (UDISE)  database.  These  plans  are  then  appraised and approved  by  the  Project  Approval  Board  (PAB)  in  the  Department  of  School Education and Literacy in consultation with the State/UT as per the programmatic and financial  norms  of  the  scheme,  physical  and  financial  progress  of  works sanctioned earlier and availability of budgetary resources.

Matters relating to recruitment, service conditions and deployment of teachers fall  within  the  administrative  domain  of  the  concerned States/UTs.  Under  the Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  Samagra  Shiksha,  States/UTs  are  supported  in undertaking  rational  and  transparent  deployment  of  teachers,  including  through online systems, to ensure equitable availability of teachers in rural and underserved areas.  States/UTs  are  also encouraged  to  adopt  school  complex/cluster-based approaches  and  teacher-sharing mechanisms  to  address  localised  shortages. Further, under Samagra Shiksha, financial assistance is provided to the States and UTs to maintain appropriate Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR).

The Department of School Education & Literacy, from time to time, through review meetings and advisories, requests the State  Governments  and  UT administrations to fill up teacher vacancies and infrastructure gaps.

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