Question

ESSAY FOR ONE MINUTE ON SARV SHIKSHA ABHIYAN

Answer 1

India’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is the world’s most successful school programme. It was launched in 2001 towards the culmination of Ninth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002) to achieve the goal of universalisation of elementary education in the country.

It focuses on compulsory education of children in the age group 6-14 years. Education Guarantee Scheme, and Alternative Innovative Education Scheme for children living in remote areas or dropouts and those who did not join school in time, is the two components of this scheme.

SSA is an effort to improve the performance of the school system and provide community-owned quality elementary education. It envisages bridging up gender and social disparities in elementary education. It has special focus on educational needs of girls, SCs and STs, children with disabilities and disadvantaged children. It is also an effort to universalise elementary education by community-ownership of the school system. The main features of SSA are:

(i) A programme with a clear time frame for universal elementary education;

(ii) An opportunity for promoting social justice through basic education;

(iii) A response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country;

(iv)An expression of political will for universal elementary education across the country;

(v) An effort for effectively involving the Panchayati Raj Institutions, School Management Committees, Village and Urban Slum-level Education Committees, Parents’ Teachers’ Associations, Mother Teacher Association, Tribal Autonomous Councils and other grass-root level structures in the management of elementary schools;

(vi) An opportunity for states to develop their own vision of elementary education.

(vii) A partnership between the central, state and the local government.

The aim of the SARVA Shiksha Abhiyan is to provide useful and relevant elementary education to all children in the 6 to 14 years age group by 2010. Another goal is to bridge social, regional and gender gaps, with the active participation of the community in the management of schools.

The aim is also to allow children to learn about and master their natural environment in a manner that allows the fullest harnessing of their human potential, both spiritually and materially. This quest must also be a process of value-based learning that allows children an opportunity to work for each other’s well-being rather than to permit mere selfish pursuits. The objectives of the scheme are:

(i) All children in school, Education Guarantee Centre, Alternate School, ‘Back-to-School’ camp.

(ii) All children complete eight years of elementary schooling by 2010.

(iii) All children complete five years of primary schooling by 2007.