Cabinet approves continuation of Samagra Shiksha Scheme till March 2026

Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of Samagra Shiksha Scheme for School Education for five years from April 1, 2021 till March 31, 2026.

The scheme will cover 1.16 million schools, 156 million students and 5.7 million teachers of government and aided schools from pre-primary to senior secondary level.

The scheme has been approved with a total financial outlay of Rs.2,94,283.04 crore which includes Centre's share of Rs.1,85,398.32 crore.

What is Samagra Shiksha Scheme?

•Samagra Shiksha Scheme is an integrated scheme that aims to cover the whole school education from school to class XII. 

•The scheme, which is in line with Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG-4), aims to ensure that all children have access to quality education.

•It aims to create an equitable and inclusive classroom environment that will take care of the children's diverse background, multilingual needs and different academic abilities, encouraging them to become active participants in the learning process.

•The government schools will have playschools as well under the scheme and teachers will be trained accordingly, informed Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

•For the first time, centre has also added child safety within the Samagra Shiksha scheme. Under the scheme, the states will be given aid to make a commission for the protection of child rights.

For the first time, govt has added child safety within the Samagra Shiksha scheme. States will be given aid to make a commission for protection of child rights: Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan pic.twitter.com/N314P200CY

— ANI (@ANI) August 4, 2021

The scheme proposes:

(i) Universal Access including Infrastructure Development and Retention

(ii) Foundational Literacy and Numeracy

(iii) Gender and Equity

(iv) Inclusive Education

(v) Quality and Innovation

(vi) Financial support for Teacher Salary

(vii) Digital initiatives

(viii) RTE Entitlements including uniforms, textbooks etc.

(ix) Support for ECCE

(x) Vocational Education

(xi) Sports and Physical Education

(xii) Strengthening of Teacher Education and Training

(xiii) Monitoring

(xiv) Programme Management

(xv) National Component.

Impact

The Samagra Shiksha Scheme aims to universalize access to school education to promote equity through the inclusion of disadvantaged groups and weaker sections and to improve the quality of education across all levels of school education. 

Key Objectives 

•Implementing the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020)

•Implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009

•Early Childhood Care and Education

•Emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy

•Provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students

•Bridging Social and Gender Gaps in School Education

•Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education

•Ensuring safe, secure and conducive learning environment and maintenance of standards in schooling provisions

•Promoting vocational education

•Strengthening and up-gradation of State Councils for Educational Research and Training (SCERTs)/State Institutes of Education and District Institutes for Education and Training (DIET) as nodal agency for teacher training.