CURRENT EDUCATION SCHEME IN INDIA

Education is the most important tool to transform the social, economic, and political outlook of a person or country as a whole. People with well-versed knowledge attitudes and skills are the key to build a strong environment for people to live in. Education enables citizens to know what their rights and duties are and when citizens are aware of things and situations around them then any country’s growth becomes fourfold. 

Earlier than 1976, education was the exclusive responsibility of states. But with the constitutional amendment of 1976, which included education in the concurrent list, was a huge step. This made education to be a subject of consideration for both central and state governments. Where the responsibilities of the state remain unchanged or challenged, but the central government put its major foot forward and would check and maintain the quality and standards at all levels of education.

To achieve (universal education implementation), the government of India has initiated several programs and projects. The government to implement this program makes sure that education of equitable quality to be given to all to fully harness the nation’s human resource potential.

To make sure children from all classes and strata of society are getting a parallel and equal education. The centrally sponsored schemes are being implemented in the education sector under the Ministry Of Human Resource And Development. 

The list of few major schemes are as follows:

SARVA SIKSHA ABHIYAN

Launched in 2001 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) is one of India’s major flagship programs for the universalization of elementary education. Its main aim is to include universal access and retention, bridging gender and social category gaps in elementary education, and achieving significant enhancement and achievements in the learning levels of children.

This program is being implemented with the partnership of state governments and it reaches out to 1.1 million children across the country. The SSA works with some major aims in mind which are as follows-

1. Enrollment of all children at schools.
2. Retention of children in the school till the age of upper primary stage.
3. Trying to bridge the gap between children with relation to caste, gender, or class.
4. Ensuring that there is a significant change in students learning.

Nowadays RTE is being implemented through SSA, norms have been aligned/modified to comply with the RTE.

Under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan India has not only been able to improve access to education to children up to 99 percent of primary level but has also been able to reduce out-of-school children to 3-4 percent of the age cohort of 6-14 years. Under this program, special focus is on girl child education and special attention is being given to girls belonging to SC/ST Communities, other weaker Sections, Minorities, and urban deprived children.

MID DAY MEAL

In keeping with the Constitutional provisions to raise the level of nutrition of children and enable them to develop healthily, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a centrally sponsored scheme in 1995. It is commonly referred to as (MDMS) mid-day meal scheme. This scheme was put forth to maintain children’s attendance, retention, education, and as well as keeping their health in consideration. MDMS is managed and implemented by School Management/Village Education Committees, Panchayati Raj Institutions, and Self-Help Groups. MDMS now includes madrasas and mastabas supported under the SSA as well as children under the National Child Labour Projects.

These meals provided to the students are planned and followed in every school and are to be aided with required nutritional values which growing children need. It is not just food given to children to make the attendance higher or register more students at the school but it is all an attempt of the government to fight the cause of children being malnourished. Because somewhere the lack at health level makes us a step back at a greater place.

MDMS covered 7.18 cr primary school children and 3.36 cr upper primary school children in 2010–11. The coverage of children in the States of Bihar (43 percent), UP (57 percent), and Jharkhand (58 percent) is below the national average of 72 percent, whereas above the national average in Chhattisgarh (83 percent) and Odisha (82 percent)

RASHTRIYA MADHYAMIK SIKSHA ABHIYAN

RMSA is a centrally planned scheme with a pattern of funding as 75:25 between the center and the state (and in some special circumstances it becomes 90:10 ). 

This scheme works with some basic foundational objectives such as

1. Raise the minimum level of education to class X and universalize access to secondary education.
2. Ensure good-quality secondary education with a focus on Science, Mathematics, and English.
3. Reduce the gender, social and regional gaps in enrolments, dropouts and improving retention. The interventions supported under RMSA included 

• Upgrading of upper primary schools to secondary schools 

• Strengthening of existing secondary schools.

• Providing additional classrooms, science laboratories, libraries, computer rooms, art, craft, and culture rooms, toilet blocks, and water facilities in schools.

• Providing in-service training of teachers.

• providing for major repairs of school buildings and residential quarters for teachers.

SCHEME ICT @SCHOOLS

The Information and Communication Technology in School Scheme which was launched in December 2004 to provides opportunities to secondary stage students to build their capacity and strengths at ICT skills and make them learn through the computer-aided learning process. The Scheme provides support to States/Union Territories to establish enabling ICT infrastructure in Government and Government aided secondary and higher secondary schools. It also aims to set up Smart schools in KVs and Navodaya Vidyalayas which are pace-setting institutions of the Government of India to act as "Technology Demonstrators" and to lead in propagating ICT skills among students of neighborhood schools. This scheme would be a very beneficial scheme for students as we have faced this pandemic for a very long period and so we know that how much education of children suffered during these times. Teaching them through ICT would give these students a cutting edge to their personalities. And with changing phase of life education and other work have now become more of technologically inclusive so children knowing computer will be benefited. 

 

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR DISABLED AT SECONDARY LEVEL

Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS) has been launched from the year 2009-2010. This Scheme replaces the earlier scheme of Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) and would assist with the inclusive education of the disabled children in classes IX-XII.

 

The main aim of the scheme which has been Centrally Sponsored is to enable the students with disabilities to continue their studies after completing eight years of elementary school, to pursue further four years of secondary schooling (classes IX to XII) in an environment which is not challenging for them rather it welcomes them and appeal to them so that children are more and more motivated to pursue their education at the secondary level.

THERE ARE VARIOUS OTHER PROGRAMMES WHICH THE GOVERNMENTS OF CENTRE AND THE STATE ARE PROVIDING WHICH ARE GOING TO PROVE A BILLON DOLLARS HELP FOR SECURING THESE CHILDREN'S FUTURE.