Lok Sabha Question No. 2527 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-14
Subject: National Education Plan
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL, OM PRAKASH YADAV, C.R. CHAUDHARY, SANTOSH AHLAWAT, SUMEDHANAND SARASWATI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2527

TO BE ANSWERED ON 14 th  DECEMBER, 2015

## NATIONAL EDUCATION PLAN

2527. SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL: SHRI OM PRAKASH YADAV: SHRI C.R. CHAUDHARY: SHRIMATI SANTOSH AHLAWAT: SHRI SUMEDHANAND SARSWATI:

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

(a) whether it is a fact that the 11 th   Five Year Plan was described as a "National Education Plan"; and

- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the achievements made during the said period?

## A N S W E R

## MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI )

(a)  &  (b):      The  Eleventh  Five  Year  Plan  is  usually  referred  to  as  an  'Education  Plan'  because  it accorded  a  high  priority  to  education  for  achieving  rapid  and  inclusive  growth.  It  presented  a comprehensive strategy for strengthening the Education Sector covering all segments of the education pyramid.  The actual plan allocation of Ministry of Human Resource Development during the XIth  Five Year Plan (2007-12) is Rs.1,93,570 crore as compared to the Xth Five Year Plan (2002-07) allocation of Rs.58,264 crore which is a 3.4 times increase over the Xth Five Year Plan.

During the above period, the Right to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 was made  operational  from  1st  April  2010,  and  the  vision  and  strategies  of  the  ongoing  Sarva  Shiksha Abhiyan  (SSA)  were  harmonized  with  the  RTE  mandate  and  the  programme  norms  were  revised accordingly.  Under  t h e   SSA, the  country  has  witnessed  massive  infrastructure  development  at  the school level. Apart from opening over 3 lakh new schools, the SSA has also provided basic facilities in existing schools. The average student classroom ratio (SCR) which was 39 in 2005-06 has come down to 32 in 2009-10.  Girls account for  the majority (5.3 million) of the additional enrolment of 7.21 million

-2- children between 2006-07 and 2009-10. More than half of them (53%) belong to SCs and STs. The Gross  Enrolment Ratio (GER) at the primary level has increased from 111.2% in 2006-07 to 115% in 2009-10 and at  t h e   upper  primary  level  it  improved  by  11.8%  in  the  four  years  between  2006-07 and 2009-10. At present, at the elementary level, there are 1.5 million schools and the number of total students enrolled in schools is 254 million. Also, 2.18 million Children with special needs are enrolled in class 1-8.

Secondary  schooling  also received  a  major  thrust  during  the  Eleventh  Plan  with  the launch of the Rashtriya  Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), a Centrally-Sponsored Scheme with a funding  pattern  of  75:25  between  Centre  and  States  (90:10  for  Special  Category  and  NE  States). Around  2.4  million  additional  students  were  enrolled  in  secondary  schools  during the Eleventh Plan period.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education has increased from 12.3% in 2006-07 to 20.8% in 2011-12 and is estimated to be 22.6% at present. To increase access, improve quality and to remove  regional  imbalances  in  higher  education,  the  Government  has  established  16  Central Universities  including  the  conversion  of  three  State  Universities  to  Central  Universities  during  the  XI Five Year Plan. 7 new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), 8 new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), 10 new National Institutes of Technology (NITs), 5 new Indian Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs), and 2 new Schools of Planning & Architecture (SPAs) were also established.

The Government has continuously endeavored to ensure equitable and sustained improvement in the quality of education at all levels, for which several initiatives have been taken both at school and higher  education  levels.  These  include,  among  others,  Continuous  and  Comprehensive  Evaluation, Teacher Eligibility Test, teacher training, improving learning outcomes through appropriate strategies in RTE-SSA, RMSA in school education.  In higher education, several initiatives,  such  as  the  National Mission on Education through ICT(NMEICT), academic, curricular and examination reforms, increasing research fellowships, Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP)  have been taken. Further,  there  is  increased  focus  and  emphasis  on  the  employability  of  our  graduates  by  providing meaningful and marketable skill development and vocational experiences to the graduates in the higher education system.  With the approval of the National Skill Qualifications Framework (NSQF) the country now has an integrated and unified qualifications framework linking technical & vocational education on one hand, with general education on the other.

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