Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a vital government flagship scheme that aims to universalize elementary education. It aims to provide free and compulsory education to all children in the age group 6-14 years in a time-bound manner.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is one of the most important topics for the UPSC IAS exam. It covers a significant part of Social Justice in the General Studies Paper-2 syllabus. In this article, we shall study in detail an overview of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, its main objectives, aims, functions, features, and its importance for the UPSC exam.

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What is Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan?

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is also known as the Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE). It is an Indian government program launched in 2001 to provide free and compulsory education to all children aged 6 to 14. It is one of the most extensive educational programs in the world. It covers 200 million children in 1.1 million habitations.

The aims of the SSA scheme include:

• The SSA aims to provide free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years. It strives to ensure that every child has access to quality elementary education.
• The program focuses on reducing gender and social disparities in education. It ensures equal opportunities for all.
• The SSA aims to improve the quality of education by providing:
  • adequate infrastructure and facilities in schools, 
  • promoting the use of innovative teaching methods and 
  • Enhancing the skills and training of teachers.
• The program addresses the issue of out-of-school children by identifying and enrolling them in schools.
• The SSA encourages the active involvement of parents, local communities, and stakeholders in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of education programs. 
• The SSA aims to provide a holistic education that promotes the all-round development of children. 
• The program establishes a robust monitoring and evaluation mechanism. This is to assess the progress and impact of various initiatives under SSA.

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Functions of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

After the passage of the Right To Education Act of 2010, SSA takes a holistic approach to meeting its objectives. The objectives seek to bring a positive impact on curriculum, teacher education, educational planning, and management. The main functions of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan include:

• Ensuring social justice by providing basic education to the children.
• To respond to the demand for improving the standards of education.
• To make the environment conducive and accessible for attaining basic education.
• Increase India's literacy level by universalizing elementary education.
• Capacity building among the teachers by imparting them new intensive training and keeping them up to date with the latest teaching materials and teaching aids.

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Beneficiaries of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

• Children aged 06-14 will be provided with free education along with free uniforms and textbooks.
• Upgradation of existing infrastructure in schools by instituting regular grants to them.
• Teachers will be provided with the necessary to enhance pedagogy.

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Achievement of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

The achievement of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan lies in its success in improving access to free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14 years across India, significantly reducing dropout rates and increasing literacy.

• There is considerable improvement in the total enrolment in elementary schools from 18.79 crores in 2009-10 to 19.67 crores in 2015-16.
• PTR (Pupil teacher Ratio) has improved to 25 in 2015-16 from 32 in 2009-10.
• As per UDISE- GER(Gross Enrolment Ratio) is 99.21% for the primary level and 92.81% for the upper primary level.
• Out-of-school students show a consistent drop from 134.6 lakh in 2005 to 81 lakh in 2009 and 60.64 lakh in 2015.
• The Gender Parity Index (GPI) has reached 0.93 for the primary and 0.95 for the upper primary level.

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Recent initiatives under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Recent initiatives under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan focus on integrating digital learning, inclusive education for children with special needs, and improving teacher training to enhance overall educational quality. Here are some of the recent initiatives under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan:

Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat

This program was launched in 2014 to improve the reading and writing skills of Class I and Class II children. It aims to help the children understand the joys of reading and writing from a real-life perspective.

Sakshat

This program was launched in 2017 to address the issue of out-of-school children. It provides a variety of interventions to bring these children back to school. 

Samagra Shiksha

This program was launched in 2018 to consolidate the various education schemes under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. It aims to provide holistic education to children from early childhood to secondary level.

Digital Shiksha

This program was launched in 2020 to provide digital learning solutions to children. It provides access to online courses, e-books, and other digital resources.

Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan

This program was launched in 2021 to promote innovation and entrepreneurship among school children. It provides a platform for children to showcase their innovative ideas and projects.

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Limitations of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

The limitations of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan include uneven quality of education, inadequate infrastructure, teacher shortages, and regional disparities in implementation across rural and urban areas.

• Despite providing free education along with textbooks and uniforms, parents in many parts of India, especially in remote areas, are reluctant to send their children to schools.
• Even though the government may be providing free education, there still exists some auxiliary expenses that many parents belonging to their poor social class are unable to bear. Therefore, they refrain from sending their children to school.
• As per ASER, a report published by NGO Pratham, 78% of the students of class III and 50% of class IV are unable to read the text of class II.
• There is a critical shortage of around 6,89,000 teachers to achieve the pupil-teacher ratio as per RTE norms.
• Poor accountability in SSA leads to low attendance and inadequate learning.
• Despite the high dropout rate, 1.4 million students still drop out between the age group of 6-11 years.

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Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and District Primary Education Programme (DPEP)

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) are key government initiatives aimed at universalizing primary education, with SSA expanding and building upon the foundation laid by DPEP.

• DPEP was a centrally-sponsored scheme that was launched in 1994 to revitalize the education system at the primary level.
• In this, 85% of the project cost is borne by the central government, and the rest is 15% by the state government.
• DPEP was the first program to achieve universalization in elementary education.
• In DPEP, the district was treated as a unit for planning and extended to 18 states.
• The central government was assisted externally by international organizations like the World Bank, UNICEF, etc.

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Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan – Universalization of Elementary Education

The various Constitutional, national, and legal policies and statements that backed the cause of UEE are:

• Constitutional mandate: The state shall endeavor to provide free and compulsory education for all children till they complete 14 years of age under the Right to Education. It was made a Fundamental Right by the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act 2002.
• National Policy of Education,1986: This policy also aimed at quality education for children up to the age of 14 years, along with their retention in school.
• Supreme Court: It also upheld the right of every child in the country to have free education till they attain 14 years of age in the Unnikrishnan Case,1993.

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Convergence of Different Ministries & Schemes

The convergence of the different ministries is necessary for the efficient utilization of resources and for achieving the objectives of SSA. Programs/Schemes of other departments/ministries identified for convergence with SSA are:

• Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)
  • Facilitate age-appropriate admissions.
  • All eligible schools have a Mid-Day meal scheme.
  • National School of Open Schooling.
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW)
  • Regular health check-ups are to be conducted in schools by Govt. hospitals or Primary Health centers or Referral hospitals.
  • Ensure delivery of services to Model Cluster School.
• Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoSJ&E and MOTA) 
  • Funds are to be converged to build the residential facilities in schools for students and other required staff.
  • Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD) Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) to be strengthened.
  • ICDS to facilitate preschool enrolment and learning.
  • Benefits are to be extended to the students on the basis of ICDS.

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Conclusion 

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is an initiative to achieve Universal Elementary education. This program is an attempt to upgrade human capabilities by providing community-owned quality education in a mission mode.

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