• Government has declared that Schools and hostels under the Ministry of Education's Samagra Shiksha scheme will now be renamed after Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

    • The Ministry of Education, in a statement, said the association of these schools with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose will "act as an inspiration" to children and also motivate teachers, staff and administration to enable them to achieve high standards of excellence.

    • The Ministry of Education under Samagra Shiksha provides financial assistance to states and union territories for opening and running of residential schools and hostels in hilly terrain, small and sparsely populated areas for children who are in need of shelter and care, in addition to the provision of regular schools.

    • “The objective is to ensure universal enrolment and provide schooling facilities in areas, which are sparsely populated (mostly tribal areas) where opening of schools may not be viable, and for children in urban areas who are in need of care and protection.

    • “The residential facilities are also provided to child labour rescued, migrant children who belong to poor landless families, children without adult protection, separated from their families, internally displaced persons, and children from the areas of social and armed conflict and natural calamities,” the statement said.

    • Preference is given to educationally backward blocks (EBBS), left wing extremism (LWE) affected districts, special focus districts (SFD) and the aspirational districts identified by NITI Aayog.

    • In these residential schools and hostels, in addition to regular school curriculum, interventions for all-round development of children such as provision of specific skill training, physical self-defense, medical care, community participation, monthly stipend are also made available to children.

    • A total of 1,063 residential facilities (383 residential schools and 680 hostels) have been sanctioned to states and union territories so far.

About Samagra Shiksha

    • The Union Budget, 2018-19, has proposed to treat school education holistically without segmentation from pre-nursery to Class 12. - Samagra Shiksha - an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12 has been, therefore, prepared with the broader goal of improving school effectiveness measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes.

    • It subsumes the three schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).

    • The major objectives of the Scheme are 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 minimum standards in schooling provisions

        ◦ Promoting Vocationalisation of education

        ◦ Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009

        ◦ -Strengthening and up-gradation of SCERTs/State Institutes of Education and DIET as a nodal agency for teacher training.

    • The main outcomes of the Scheme are envisaged as Universal Access, Equity and Quality, promoting Vocationalisation of Education and strengthening of Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs).

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)