• The Union Cabinet approved continuation of the Samagra Shiksha Scheme for school education for another five years.

• The scheme would continue from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2026.

• Under Samagra Shiksha Scheme 2.0, financial outlay of Rs 2,94,283.04 crore, which includes central share of Rs 1,85,398.32 crore, has been made to implement the scheme.

• It will cover 1.16 million schools, over 156 million students and 5.7 million teachers of government and aided schools.

What is Samagra Shiksha scheme?

• Following its proposal in the Union Budget 2018-19, Samagra Shiksha scheme was launched throughout the country as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. 

• This programme subsumes the three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education.

• It is 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. 

• The vision of the scheme is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from pre-school to senior secondary stage in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for Education.

Major objectives of the scheme are: 

• Implementation of 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.

• Thrust on holistic, integrated, inclusive and activity based curriculum and pedagogy to impart 21st century skills to the students.

• 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.

• Strengthening and upgradation 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.

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

• Promoting vocational education.

The major interventions, across all levels of school education, proposed under the scheme include:

• Universal access including infrastructure development and retention.

• Foundational literacy and numeracy.

• Gender and equity.

• Inclusive education.

• Quality and innovation.

• Financial support for teacher salary.

• Digital initiatives.

• RTE entitlements including uniforms, textbooks, etc.

• Vocational education

• Support for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)

• Sports and physical education.

• Strengthening of teacher education and training.

Implementation strategy

• The scheme is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme through a single State Implementation Society (SIS) at the state level. 

• At the national level, there is a governing council/body headed by the minister of education and a Project Approval Board (PAB) headed by secretary, department of school education and literacy. 

• The governing council/body will be empowered to modify financial and programmatic norms and approve the detailed guidelines for implementation within the overall framework of the scheme. Such modifications will include innovations and interventions to improve the quality of school education.

• In order to enhance the direct outreach of the scheme, all child centric interventions will be provided directly to the students through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode on an IT-based platform over a period of time.

Changes in the revamped scheme

New interventions have been incorporated in the revamped Samagra Shiksha Scheme 2.0 based on the recommendations of NEP 2020. They include:

• In order to enhance the direct outreach of the scheme, all child centric interventions will be provided directly to the students through DBT mode on an IT based platform over a period of time. 

• The scheme will have an effective convergence architecture with various ministries and developmental agencies of the Centre and state governments.

• The existing infrastructure of schools and ITIs and polytechnics will be used to ensure optimum utilisation of the facilities, not only for school going children but also for out of school children.

• Provision of training of master trainers for training of Anganwadi workers and in-service teacher training for ECCE teachers.

• Provision of up to Rs 500 per child for Teaching Learning Materials (TLM), indigenous toys and games, play based activities per annum for pre-primary sections in government schools.

• Provision of Teaching Learning Materials (TLM) upto Rs 500 per child per annum, Rs 150 per teacher for teacher manuals and resources, Rs 10-20 lakh per district for assessment, under NIPUN Bharat, a National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.

• Specific   training   modules   under   NISHTHA  by NCERT to train secondary teachers and primary teachers.

• Strengthening of infrastructure of schools from pre-primary to senior secondary (earlier pre-primary was excluded).

• Incinerator and sanitary pad vending machines in all girls hostels.

• Addition of new subjects instead of Stream in existing senior secondary schools.

• Transport facility has been extended to secondary level at up to Rs 6,000 per annum. 

• For out of school children at 16 to 19 years of age, support will be provided to SC, ST, disabled children, up to Rs 2,000 per child per grade to complete their secondary or senior secondary levels through National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)/State Open School (SOS).

• Financial support for State Commission for Protection of Child Rights at Rs 50 per elementary school in the state, for protection of child rights and safety.

• Holistic, 360-degree, multi-dimensional report showing progress and uniqueness of each learner in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains will be introduced in the form of Holistic Progress Card (HPC). 

• Additional sports grant of up to Rs 25,000 will be given to schools in case at least two students of that school win a medal in Khelo India school games at the national level.

• Provision for bagless days, school complexes, internships with local artisans, curriculum and pedagogical reforms etc included. 

• A new component about appointment of language teachers has been added in the scheme-components of training of teachers and bilingual books and teaching learning material added, besides support for salary of teachers.

• Training for three months for inculcating self-defence skills under ‘Rani Laxmibai Atma Raksha Prashikshan’ and amount increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 per month. 

• Separate provision of stipend for CWSN (Children with Special Needs) girls at Rs 200 per month for 10 months, in addition to student component from pre-primary to senior secondary level.

• Setting up of assessment cell preferably at SCERT to conduct various achievement surveys, develop test materials & item banks, training of various stakeholders & test administration, data collection analysis and report generation, etc. 

• Provision of classroom-cum-workshop for vocational education in schools serving as hub for other schools in the neighbourhood.

• Provision of transport and assessment cost for schools serving as spokes.

• Provision of ICT labs, smart classrooms including support for digital boards, smart classrooms, virtual classrooms and DTH channels.

• Child-tracking provision included for students of government and government aided schools. 

• Support for social audit covering 20 per cent of schools per year so that all schools are covered in a period of five years.

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