Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)- Objectives, Function, Limitations

Objectives of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Numerous objectives focus on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme. You can read the following objective below

• The SSA’s primary goal is to offer free and mandatory education to children aged 6 to 14.
• It ensures access to quality elementary education for all children, striving to eliminate gender and social disparities in education.
• The program focuses on equal opportunities for every child, aiming to improve education quality through:
• Providing adequate infrastructure and facilities in schools.
• Promoting innovative teaching methods.
• Enhancing the skills and training of teachers.
• The SSA actively identifies and enrolls out-of-school children in an effort to address this issue.
• The program encourages the active involvement of parents, local communities, and stakeholders in planning, implementing, and monitoring education programs.
• A holistic education approach is emphasized, aiming for the all-round development of children.
• The SSA establishes a robust monitoring and evaluation mechanism to assess the progress and impact of its initiatives.

Achievement of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme

• Elementary school enrollment increased from 18.79 crores in 2009-10 to 19.67 crores in 2015-16.
• The Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) improved from 32 in 2009-10 to 25 in 2015-16.
• The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is 99.21% for primary education and 92.81% for upper primary education.
• The number of out-of-school students dropped from 134.6 lakh in 2005 to 60.64 lakh in 2015.
• The Gender Parity Index (GPI) stands at 0.93 for primary level and 0.95 for upper primary level.

Functions of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme

The primary objectives of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme include:

• Providing a foundational education for every child is a key component in promoting social justice.
• Improving Educational Standards: Raising the caliber of education in response to the expanding need.
• Building Supportive and Available Learning Environments: Improving the Supportive and Accessibility of Basic Education.
• Developing Literacy Rates: To increase literacy in India, universal basic education is the goal.
• Supporting Teachers: To increase their efficacy, provide them with complete instruction and current instructional resources.

Limitations of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme

• Despite the provision of free education, textbooks, and uniforms, many parents in various regions of India, particularly in remote areas, hesitate to enroll their children in schools.
• While the government offers free education, additional expenses, especially burdensome for economically disadvantaged families, deter them from sending their children to school.
• According to the ASER report by NGO Pratham, 78% of Class III students and 50% of Class IV students struggle to read Class II-level text.
• Meeting the pupil-teacher ratio as per RTE norms faces a critical shortage of approximately 6,89,000 teachers.
• Inadequate accountability in the SSA results in low attendance and subpar learning outcomes.
• Despite a significant dropout rate, 1.4 million students still discontinue their education between the ages of 6-11 years.

List of Important Government Schemes

Convergence of Different Ministries & Schemes

A fundamental principle in implementing the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Sheme is integrating programs and actions from various Ministries/Departments to achieve its goals. The schemes/programs from other ministries/departments that have been identified to align with SSA are listed below:

1. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW):
   – Deliver services to the Model Cluster School.
   – Conduct routine general health check-ups through Government hospitals, referral hospitals, or PHC.
   
2. Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD):
   – Expand the Mid-day Meal Scheme to all eligible schools.
   – Support age-appropriate admissions.
   – National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)
3. Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD):
   – Facilitate pre-school learning and enrollment.
   – Extend Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) benefits to enrolled school children.
4. State PWDs:
   – Provide geospatial technologies for school mapping and social mapping exercises at the grassroots level.
5. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoSJ& E and MOTA):
   – Converge funds to construct residential facilities.

SSA and District Primary Education Programme (DPEP)

The initiation of the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) took place in 1994, serving as a centrally-sponsored scheme designed to rejuvenate the primary education system. Pioneering the goal of universalizing elementary education, DPEP employed an area-specific strategy, utilizing a district as the primary unit for planning.

Key features of District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) include:

• 85 percent of the project cost was supported by the Central Government, with the remaining 15 percent provided by the respective State Government.
• This program extended its coverage to 18 states.
• International organizations such as the World Bank, UNICEF, etc., offered external assistance to the Central Government in implementing DPEP.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan – Universalization of Elementary Education

• Constitutional Mandate: The Indian Constitution obligates the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children until the age of 14. This mandate was strengthened when the Right to Education (RTE) was made a Fundamental Right through the 86th Constitutional Amendment in 2002. This means that the government is legally bound to ensure that every child receives elementary education.
• National Policy on Education (1986): This policy aimed to make quality education accessible to all children up to 14 years of age. It focused on both ensuring that children could attend school (access) and that they stayed in school until completion (retention). The policy emphasized the need to improve the quality of education to make it meaningful and relevant to children’s lives.
• Supreme Court Ruling (Unnikrishnan Case, 1993): In this landmark case, the Supreme Court of India reaffirmed that every child has the right to free education up to the age of 14. This ruling laid a legal foundation for enforcing the state’s obligation to provide free elementary education, reinforcing the rights of children to access education as part of their fundamental rights.

Initiatives under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Here are some recent initiatives introduced under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme:

Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat:

• Launched in 2014 to enhance the reading and writing skills of Class I and Class II students.
• Aims to instill the joys of reading and writing by presenting them from a real-life perspective.

Sakshat:

• Initiated in 2017 to address the challenge of out-of-school children.
• Offers a range of interventions to reintegrate these children into the school system.

Samagra Shiksha:

• Launched in 2018 to streamline various education schemes under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Scheme.
• Aims to provide comprehensive education from early childhood to the secondary level.

Digital Shiksha:

• Introduced in 2020 to deliver digital learning solutions to students.
• Provides access to online courses, e-books, and other digital resources.

Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan Scheme:

• Launched in 2021 to foster innovation and entrepreneurship among school children.
• Offers a platform for students to showcase their innovative ideas and projects.

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