Samagra Shiksha

Why in news?

The Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Shri  Prakash Javadekar launched the ‘Samagra Shiksha’ - an integrated Scheme for school education extending support to States from pre-school to senior secondary levels for the first time.

What is the scheme all about?

‘Samagra Shiksha’ is an overarching programme for school education extending from Primary till class 12. The programme was introduced in the Union Budget 2018-19 with the aim to treat school education holistically without segmentation of primary and secondary education.

• This programme subsumes the three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
• It envisages the ‘school’ as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels. 

What is the significance of this scheme?

The Scheme is a paradigm shift in the conceptual design of school education by treating ‘school’ holistically as a continuum from preschool, primary, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary levels.

The scheme completely overhauls the existing Schemes in School Education to treat schooling as a smooth transition from preschool, primary, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary level.  It focuses on improving the quality of education at all levels by integrating the two T’s – Teachers and Technology. 

What are the objectives of the scheme?

• Provision of quality education
• Enhancing learning outcomes of students
• Bridging social and gender gaps in school education
• Promoting vocationalisation
• Strengthening teacher education institutions like SCERTs and
• DIETS to improve the quality of teachers providing annual grant of Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per school for strengthening the libraries.

What are the major interventions under the scheme?

• Universal Access including Infrastructure Development and Retention.
• Gender and Equity, Inclusive Education.
• Financial support for Teacher Salary.
• Digital initiatives.
• Entitlements under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, including uniforms, textbooks etc.
• Pre-school, Vocational and Sports and Physical Education.
• Strengthening of Teacher Education and Training.
• Monitoring and Programme Management. 

What is the budgetary outlay for the scheme?

Earlier the budget on the three schemes ie SSA, RMSA and Teacher Education was Rs. 28,000 crore in 2017-18. But the budget outlay on the new scheme will be now Rs. 34,000 crore in 2018-19 and to Rs. 41,000 crore in 2019-20 i.e. an increase of 20%, which shows the Central Government’s commitment for Education. Under it, million schools will get library grant of Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 20,000 to strengthen the libraries to ensure that “Padhega Bharat Badhega Bharat”. 

Why the govt. terms it as paradigm shift?

• Holistic focus from pre-school to higher secondary level
• Focus on Teacher training
• Shifting focus of student learning from content to competencies.

How the scheme focuses on increasing teachers’ competencies? 

The scheme focuses on strengthening teachers, the crucial pillar of education system by making SCERTs and DIETs (District Institute for Education and Training) nodal agencies for teacher training. These institutions will be strengthened to emphasize integration of in-service and pre-service training structures in states to make it need-focused and dynamic. This will strengthen the quality of teaching in schools across levels.