Lok Sabha Question No. 3733 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-08-12
Subject: Qualitative and Affordable Education
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: B.V. NAYAK

**GOVERNMENT OF INDIA**

**MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT**

**DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER ATION**

**LOK SABHA**

**UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3733**

**TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.08.2015**

**Qualitative and Affordable Education**

**3733. 	SHRI B. V. NAIK:**

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

1. whether the Government had decided to provide qualitative and affordable education;
2. if so, the details thereof;
3. whether the Government proposes to take any concrete steps to implement it; and
4. if so, the details thereof and the time by which it is likely to be implemented?

**ANSWER**

**MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT**

**(SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)**

(a) to (d)  Yes, Madam. The Ministry has taken a number of initiatives including various Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) to enhance access of quality education at affordable rates. The details are as under: -

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 has been enacted which envisages significant reforms in the Elementary Education sector. The Act makes it incumbent on Government to provide free and compulsory education to all children of 6-14 years of age; ensure compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education by every child of the age of six to fourteen years. It also makes it mandatory for the States to ensure availability of neighbourhood school within three years of the commencement of the Act. The Act stipulates that the State needs to provide infrastructure including school building, trained teaching staff and learning equipment as well as ensure good quality elementary education according to the standards and norms specified.

Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme, a total of 19.78 lakh teacher posts have been sanctioned, against which 15.59 lakh teacher posts have been filled up by States/UTs, upto 31.03.2015 to improve pupil teacher ratios, imparting of regular annual-in-service teacher training to all teachers to update their skills & knowledge, distribution of free textbooks to children and providing on-site academic support to teachers through Block Resource Centres and Cluster Resource Centres. States/UTs have also been assisted to conduct comprehensive external student assessment surveys to assess gaps in student learning, in order to undertake corrective action. Under Computer Aided Learning (CAL) component of SSA, States/UTs have been supported financially to promote e-learning of Science and Mathematics at Upper Primary level.

To ensure quality outcomes in government schools, the Central government through SSA has supported States/UTs on early grade reading, writing & comprehension, and early mathematics programmes through a sub-programme namely ‘Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat’, and at upper primary level support for Mathematics and Science teaching learning in 2014-15.

The Mid Day Meal Scheme is also being implemented in order to enhance enrolment and attendance to children studying in elementary classes which supplements the efforts of SSA for universalization of elementary education.

The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme was launched in the year 2009 with the aim to make good quality education available, accessible and affordable to all young persons in the age group of 14 to 18 years. RMSA presently provides for opening of new government secondary schools (classes IX-X) and strengthening of existing government secondary schools. New government secondary schools are provided with (i) Class Rooms (ii) Integrated Science Laboratory (iii) Library (iv) Art and Craft Room (v) Toilet Blocks (vi) Drinking Water Provisions (vii) Head Master Room (viii) Office Room. As part of strengthening of existing government secondary schools (i) Additional Class Rooms (ii) Science Laboratory (iii) Library (iv) Art and Craft Room (v) Toilet Blocks (vi) Drinking water provisions etc are funded under the programme. Under RMSA till date 11,604 new secondary schools have been approved and funds have been provided for strengthening of 35,539 existing secondary schools. Also, a dedicated National Resource Group has been set up for fostering quality in secondary education under RMSA.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan (RAA) programme on 09.07.2015, to motivate and engage children of the age group from 6-18 years in Science, Mathematics and Technology through observation, experimentation, inference drawing, model building, etc. both through inside and outside classroom activities and processes.

Minimum standard of education in every University is ensured by the University Grants Commission (UGC) through its regulations in this regard. Universities, however may vary in the quality of education beyond the minimum standards laid down by UGC depending on, inter-alia, availability of resources, infrastructure etc. The UGC has issued the UGC (Mandatory Assessment and Accreditation of higher Educational Institutions), Regulations, 2012 whereby all universities and colleges are required to have themselves accredited. Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), the overall quality of state higher educational institutions is sought to be improved by ensuring their conformity to prescribed norms and standards and adoption of accreditation as a mandatory quality assurance framework.

The UGC has taken measures to improve the standards of education in universities and colleges, such as the introduction of a semester system, the regular updating of curricula and Choice Based Credit Systems (CBCS), etc. The UGC has also issued Regulations on “Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, 2010” for improving the standard of teaching in Indian Universities. The UGC has also laid down the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2010 and UGC (Maintenance of Standards in Private Universities) Regulations, 2003 for maintaining standards in Deemed to be Universities and Private Universities respectively.

The UGC also implements various schemes aimed at improving the quality of higher education, such as Universities with Potential for Excellence (UPE), Colleges with Potential for Excellence (CPE), Special Assistance Programme (SAP), Basic Scientific Research (BSR) etc. The Commission has taken measures to ensure that access to higher education in India percolates effectively to the weaker and marginalized sections of society thereby facilitating the entry of the underprivileged in the mainstream of civic-public life through education.

A new scheme Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching has also been launched on 25 th December, 2014. The Mission will provide an integrated platform for building synergies among all the existing initiatives, providing oversight to the existing activities and also carry out new activities aimed at gap filling so that a comprehensive vehicle for Teacher/Faculty related programmes and schemes is created. Ongoing programmes will also be revitalized through this Mission on Teachers and Teaching. PMMMNMTT is mandated to ensure a coordinated approach so as to holistically address the various shortcomings related to teachers and teaching across the educational spectrum ranging from school education to higher education including technical education.

The Government has also initiated the consultation process of formulating a New Education Policy to meet the changing dynamics of the population’s requirement with regard to quality education, innovation and research, aiming to make India a knowledge superpower by equipping its students with the necessary skills and knowledge. A multiple level consultative process involving all stake holders, such as, educationists, teachers, and students across all levels is being undertaken. The online consultation process is going on [www.MyGov.in](http://www.mygov.in/) portal and nearly 21,500 suggestions have been received on 33 identified themes.

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