SARVA SIKSHA ABHIYAAN

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is a centrally sponsored scheme by the government of India (GOI), to achieve the aim of education for all in a mandated time which has been suggested by the constitution of India. To make (SSA) a success various other schemes were brought in, these were Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) and Right To Education(RTE) are a few of the many schemes launched to motivate students to come to school which would ultimately increase the attendance of children and would be a helping aid towards the aim of providing education for all. 

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme is being anchored by the Ministry Of Human Resource And Development (MHRD), but with the introduction of RTE, numerous changes were done in the SSA scheme so that both these schemes could blend up together so that it could work up to more efficiently.

This program has been launched in association with the state governments and till now almost 1.9 cr children have been benefited from this centrally sponsored scheme.

Due to the intervention of the government in primary and upper primary education, there has been a considerable advancement in the quality of education being provided to the students, and also there has been a tremendous rise in the retention of students in schools. But we can never say that enough work has been done there are still several sectors or societies which need more attention and work to improve the education quality moreover, special focus is mandatory over areas such as the minorities children, the children who are forced to do labor in several factories, restaurants, etc. 

The SSA adopts the bottom-up plan where the required needs are taken care of and the desired changes are done so that there is no compromise done when it comes to providing children with quality education.

The main aim of SSA is not just a small-term plan but rather this scheme has a very long-term effect on society as well as our nation. Because a student studying would have a better and different prescriptive as compared to a child who is not educated and so there will be a difference of opinion better understanding better decision making which would ultimately benefit the country in the longer period.

Let us see the major characteristics of SSA :

1. It is a program with clear aims and has a set time frame for providing education for all.
2. It has been a clear response to the demand for good quality education for children which covers the whole country.
3. This scheme is a way through which equal justice could be done for all the children and that they could stand somewhere parallel when it comes to education.
4. Though it is a centrally sponsored scheme it involves various tiers of government from central to state to local bodies to the Panchayati raj system and the benefit of having so many levels being involved makes the process more efficient.
5. It is an expression of political will all over the country to provide education to all. 
6. It is a great opportunity to develop their vision or aim of the educational system and they can make it better and successful for their children.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF SSA 

The SSA scheme provides education for all but there are various other aims and objectives which we should be familiar with these are:

1.  Providing good quality elementary education with a major emphasis on education that is not bookish only.
2. There is an aim to bridge the gap between children and make them know that we are all equal.
3.  To bring institutional reforms in the states. 
4. There would always be continuous and supportive funding from both the central and the state level which better facilities.
5. Community ownership leads to effective decentralization.
6. We get to see full transparency due to the involvement of so many tiers of government.
7. The importance of teachers and the quality of education provided by them should be taken into consideration.
8. Trust in quality of education and care provided to the children.
9. Mainstreaming gender approach could also be seen.
10. To establish the school and provide education at places where schools are not available,
11. To provide educational aids like dress books and notebooks to children so that education would attract students to come to school.
12. To provide education to girls and maintaining their importance and equal status in society is very important.

Problems & Issues

The educational situation is aimed at understanding the problems, needs, and limits of elementary education in the district. It should therefore be noted that the district educational profile presented in the plans should help the appraisers to know the needs and problems and understand the issues of primary and upper primary education in the district. It is important that the facts and figures are presented in a tabular form or are depicted in chart format and should also be accompanied by the analysis of the data and a write-up.

outcomes of research and case studies should be incorporated to substantiate the lacunas and problems and therefore strategies devised accordingly. The DEEP document developed by the districts should contain details on the activities undertaken in the pre-project phase which includes the above-mentioned activities too.

It is expected that the section on ‘Issues and problems’ in the document should flow from the earlier sections on District Profile, Educational Profile, and the Planning Process. The section on the planning process should detail out the habitation/block plan preparation exercise, documentation on participatory planning exercise, highlights of studies conducted as well as surveys conducted to develop the plan.

It is important that the problems mentioned in this section should emerge from the exercise and should not just be based on the perspectives.

SOME CHANGES IN SSA :

The Centre has decided :

•  To reduce its share of funding in the flagship Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (to reduce from 65 percent to 50 percent, a move that might trigger strong protest from the states.
• The new funding would be in the 50:50 percentage pattern instead of 65:35.
• The scheme, which seeks universalization of elementary education, has already seen a steep slash in allocation this fiscal, down from Rs 27,758 cr allocated in 2014-15 to Rs 22,000 cr by 2015-16.

Overall we can say that this scheme is one of man which has initiated to the betterment of education for children and not just initiated but has also changed lives of several children.