Samagra Shiksha

Samagra Shiksha is an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12. The scheme has been 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) and was launched in 2018.

The scheme covers 1.16 million schools, over 156 million students and 5.7 million Teachers of Govt. and Aided schools (from pre-primary to senior secondary level).

Objectives

The major objectives of the Scheme are

• Support States and UTs in implementing the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020).
• Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009;
• Focus on 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 among 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 up-gradation of State Councils for Educational Research and Training (SCERTs)/State Institutes of Education and District Institutes for Education and Training (DIET) as a nodal agency for teacher training.
• Ensuring safe, secure and conducive learning environment and minimum standards in schooling provisions;
• Promoting vocationalisation of education

Interventions:

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

• 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.
• Support for ECCE
• Vocational Education
• Sports and Physical Education
• Strengthening of Teacher Education and Training
• Monitoring
• Programme Management; and
• National Component.

Major Features

1. Holistic approach to education

• Single Scheme for the School Education Sector from Classes I to XII- extension of interventions to senior secondary stage.
• Treat school education holistically as a continuum from Pre-school to Class 12
• Supporting States to initiate pre-primary education
• Inclusion of senior secondary levels and pre-school levels in support for School education for the first time

2. Administrative reform

• Single and unified administrative structure leading to harmonized implementation
• Flexibility to States to prioritise their interventions under the Scheme
• An integrated administration looking at ‘school’ as a continuum

3. Enhanced Funding for Education

• The budget has been enhanced.
• Learning outcomes and steps taken for quality improvement will be the basis for allocation of grants under the Scheme.

4. Focus on Quality of Education

• Emphasis on improvement of Learning Outcomes
• Enhanced Capacity Building of Teachers
• Focus on strengthening Teacher Education Institutions like SCERTs and DIETs to improve the quality of prospective teachers in the system
• SCERT to be the nodal institution for in-service and pre-service teacher training – will make training dynamic and need-based.
• Key focus on quality education emphasizing capacity building of teachers in online and offline mode as well as strengthening of Teacher Education Institutions SCERT/DIET/BRC/CRC/CTEs/IASEs.
• Annual Grant per school for strengthening of Libraries
• Almost 1 million schools to be given library grant .
• Enhanced focus on improving quality of education by focus on the two T’s – Teachers and Technology
• Outcome oriented allocation of resources

5. Focus on Digital Education

• Provision of ICT labs, Smart classrooms including support for digital boards, smart classrooms, virtual classrooms and DTH channels have been provided.
• Digital initiatives like Shala Kosh, Shagun, Shaala Saarthi to be strengthened
• Strengthening of ICT infrastructure in schools from upper primary to higher secondary level.
• “DIKSHA”, digital portal for teachers to be used extensively for upgrading skills of teachers
• Enhanced Use of Technology to improve access and provision of quality education – ‘Sabko Shiksha Achhi Shiksha’

6. Strengthening of Schools

• Emphasis on consolidation of schools for improvement of quality
• Enhanced Transport facility to children across all classes from I to VIII for universal access to school
• Increased allocation for infrastructure strengthening in schools
• Composite school grant increased and to be allocated on the basis of school enrolment.
• Specific provision for Swachhta activities – support ‘Swachh Vidyalaya’
• Improve the Quality of Infrastructure in Government Schools

7. Focus on Girl Education

• Empowerment of girls
• Upgradation of KGBVs from Class 6-8 to Class 6-12 .
• Self-defence training for girls from upper primary to higher secondary stage
• Stipend for CWSN girls to be provided from Classes I to XII. – earlier only IX to XII.
• Enhanced Commitment to ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’

8. Focus on Inclusion

• Allocation for uniforms under RTE Act enhanced per child per annum.
• Allocation for textbooks under the RTE Act, enhanced per child per annum. Energized textbooks to be introduced.
• Allocation for Children with Special Needs (CwSN) increased from Rs. 3000 to Rs. 3500 per child per annum. Stipend of Rs. 200 per month for Girls with Special Needs from Classes 1 to 12.
• Commitment to ‘Sabko Shiksha Achhi Shiksha’

9. Focus on Skill Development

• Exposure to Vocational Skills at Upper Primary Level would be extended.
• Strengthening of vocational education at secondary level as an integral part of curriculum
• Vocational education which was limited to Class 9-12, to be started from class 6 as integrated with the curriculum and to be made more practical and industry oriented.
• Reinforce emphasis on ‘Kaushal Vikas’

10. Focus on Sports and Physical Education

• Sports equipment will be provided to all schools under this component.
• Sports Education to be an integral part of curriculum
• Every school will receive sports equipments under the scheme to inculcate and emphasize relevance of sports in the school curriculum
• Support ‘Khelo India’

11. Focus on Regional Balance

• Promote Balanced Educational Development
• Preference to Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), LWEs, Special Focus Districts (SFDs), Border areas and the 115 aspirational districts identified by Niti Aayog
• ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ and Sabko Shiksha Achhi Shiksha

Following new interventions have been incorporated in the revamped Samagra Shiksha based on the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020:

• 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/ developmental agencies of the Centre and State Governments. The expansion of vocational education will be done in convergence with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and other Ministries providing funding for Skills. The existing infrastructure of schools and ITIs and Polytechnics will be used to ensure optimum utilization 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 upto 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.
• NIPUN Bharat, a National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy to ensure that every child achieves the desired learning competencies in reading, writing and numeracy at the end of grade III and not later than grade V has been launched under the scheme with provision of 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.
• 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 @ upto Rs 6000 per annum.
• For out of school children at 16 to 19 years of age, support will be provided to SC, ST, disabled children, upto Rs 2000 per child per grade to complete their secondary/senior secondary levels through NIOS/SOS.
• Financial support for State Commission for Protection of Child Rights @ Rs 50 per elementary school in the state, for protection of child rights and safety.
• Holistic, 360-degree, multi-dimensional report showing progress/ uniqueness of each learner in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains will be introduced in the form of Holistic Progress Card (HPC).
• Support for activities of PARAKH, a national assessment centre (Performance, Assessments, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development)
• Additional Sports grant of upto Rs. 25000 to schools in case atleast 2 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 Appointment of Language Teacher 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.
  Provision made for all KGBVs to be upgraded to class XII.
• Enhanced financial support for existing Stand-alone Girls' Hostels for classes IX to XII (KGBV Type IV) of upto Rs 40 lakh per annum (earlier Rs 25 lakh per annum).
• Training for 3 months for inculcating self-defence skills under 'Rani Laxmibai Atma Raksha Prashikshan' and amount increased from Rs 3000 to Rs 5000 per month.
• Separate provision of stipend for CWSN girls @ Rs. 200 per month for 10 months, in addition to student component from pre-primary to senior secondary level.
• Provision of annual identification camps for CWSN at block level @Rs. 10000 per camp and equipping of Block Resource centres for rehabilitation and special training of CWSN.
• Provision for Establishment of New SCERT has been included and new DIETs in districts created upto 31st March 2020.
• 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.
• The academic support of BRCs and CRCs has been extended for pre-primary and Secondary level also.
• Support   under   Vocational   Education   extended   to Government aided schools also in addition to Government Schools and grant/number of job roles/sections linked to enrolment and demand.
• 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 has been made.
  Provision of ICT labs, Smart classrooms including support for digital boards, smart classrooms, virtual classrooms and DTH channels have been provided.
• Child tracking provision included for students of Government and Government aided schools
• Support for Social Audit covering 20% of schools per year so that all schools are covered in a period of Five years.

Status of the scheme

The scheme launched in 2018 has been extended for the period 1st April, 2021 to 31st March, 2026 with an Financial outlay of Rs.2,94,283.04 crore which includes Central share of Rs.1,85,398.32 crore.

Source : Ministry of Education

Related resources

1. Redesigned programmatic and financial norms of the Samagra Shiksha - an Integrated Scheme for School Education
2. Draft Framework for implementation of the Samagra Shiksha - an Integrated Scheme for School Education