With the focus on improving the quality of education in the country, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Thursday launched Samagra Shiksha scheme for school education from pre-school to senior secondary levels.
“In keeping with Prime Minister’s commitment of providing ‘Sabko Shiksha Achchi Shiksha’, and ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’, the MHRD has taken a landmark step and completely overhauled the existing schemes in school education to treat schooling as a smooth transition from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary level,” the minister said.
The scheme will focus on digital education and it will enhance the use of digital technology in education through smart classroom and digital boards.
“Samagra means a holistic approach to treat education as a whole. The scheme is very aptly named as it sees school education holistically without segmenting it into various levels of education,” he said, adding, “It focuses on improving quality of education at all levels by integrating the two T’s – Teachers and Technology.”
Subsuming three already existing schemes — Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE), this scheme will enhance the learning outcomes of students along with bridging the social and gender gaps in school education.
“Earlier the budget on the three schemes SSA, RMSA and Teacher Education was INR 28,000 crore in 2017-18, but the budget outlay on the new scheme will be now INR 34,000 crore in 2018-19 and INR 41,000crore in 2019-20 — an increase of 20% which shows Central Government’s commitment for education,” the minister said.
He said that about one million schools will get library grant of INR 5,000 to INR 20,000 to strengthen the libraries to ensure that ‘Padhega Bharat Badhega Bharat’.
“Every school will get sports equipment under the Samagra Shiksha at the cost of INR 5000 for Primary, INR 10,000 for Upper Primary and up to INR 25,000 for SSC and HSC schools to inculcate and emphasize the relevance of sports to realise the dream of ‘Khelega India Khilega India’,” he added.
The scheme will help to shift the focus of student learning from content to competencies. The scheme envisages active participation of all stakeholders especially the parents/guardians, School Management Committee (SMC) members, community and the state functionaries towards the efforts to ensure quality education to children.
This scheme will enable reaping the benefits of technology and widen the access to good quality education across all States and UTs and across all sections of the society.
