FINAL PAPER SUBMISSION

TITLE OF PAPER-
SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN: AN APPRAISALfor

National Seminar On
Social Empowerment and inclusion through Education: Role of Sarva
Siksha Abhiyan

Organised by
Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute
Allahabad

On
March 10-11,2018
 AUTHOR DETAILS

 AUTHOR 1
 NAME – Raj Vardhan Tiwari
 ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS- 5th Year Student
 CONTACT DETAILS- rajvardhantiwari.cnlu@gmail.com, Mobile No. 08862915458
 ADDRESS DETAILS- Room No. 1, Boys Hostel, Chanakya National Law University,
Nyay Nagar, Mithapur Bus Stand, Patna, Bihar, India, Pin Code- 800001
 NAME AND ADDRESS OF INSTITUTION- Chanakya National Law University, Nyay
Nagar, Mithapur Bus Stand, Patna, Bihar, India, Pin Code- 800001
 COURSE CURRENTLY BEING PURSUED- B.A.LLB Hons. (5 Years Course)
 AUTHOR 2
 NAME – Ichchhit Srivastava
 ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS- 1st Year Student
 CONTACT DETAILS- ichchhit26@gmail.com, Mobile No. 7398425584
 ADDRESS DETAILS- Room No. 13, Boys Hostel, Chanakya National Law University,
Nyaya Nagar, Mithapur Bus Stand, Patna, Bihar, India, Pin Code- 800001
 NAME AND ADDRESS OF INSTITUTION- Chanakya National Law University, Nyaya
Nagar, Mithapur Bus Stand, Patna, Bihar, India, Pin Code- 800001
 COURSE CURRENTLY BEING PURSUED- B.A.LLB Hons. (5 Years Course)
 AUTHOR 3
 NAME – Shraddha Shukla
 ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS- 1st Year Student
 CONTACT DETAILS- Mobile No. 8840819087
 ADDRESS DETAILS- Lukerganj, Allahabad, Pin Code- 211001
 NAME AND ADDRESS OF INSTITUTION- G B Pant Social Science
Institute, Jhunsi, Allahabad.
 COURSE CURRENTLY BEING PURSUED- MBA (Rural Development)

 .AUTHOR 3
 NAME – Aditya Yadav
 ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS- 1st Year Student
 CONTACT DETAILS- Mobile No. 7905480112
 ADDRESS DETAILS- Nawab Yusuf Road, Allahabad, Pin Code- 211001
 NAME AND ADDRESS OF INSTITUTION- Senate House, Central
University of, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh 211002
 COURSE CURRENTLY BEING PURSUED- BA LLB( 5 year Course)
 SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN: AN APPRAISAL
1. INTRODUCTION

“Illiteracy is our sin and shame and must be liquidated”

-Mahatma Gandhi
Launched in 2000-2001, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is Government of
India's flagship programme for achievement of Universalization of
Elementary Education (UEE) in a time bound manner, as mandated by
86th amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory
Education to the Children of 6-14 years age group, a Fundamental Right.
SSA is being implemented in partnership with State Governments to cover
the entire country and address the needs of 192 million children.
The programme seeks to open new schools in those habitations which do
not have schooling facilities and strengthen existing school infrastructure
through provision of additional class rooms, toilets, drinking water,
maintenance grant and school improvement grants.
The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal programme of
the Government of India designed to improve the nutritional status
of school-age children nationwide. The programme supplies free
lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary
classes in government, government aided, local body, Education
Guarantee Scheme, and alternate innovative education
centres, Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan, and National Child Labour Project schools run by the
ministry of labour. India is a party to Convention on the Rights of
the Child, 1995 and committed to providing "adequate nutritious
foods" for children. The Midday Meal Scheme is covered by
the National Food Security Act, 2013. The legal backing to the
Indian school meal programme is similar to the legal backing
provided in the US through the National School Lunch Act.
The Right to Education Act, 2010 and Article 21-A of the Indian
Constitution which states free and compulsory education to all
provides the legal backing to Sarva Shishka Abhiyan.
 2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Sarva Shishka Abhiyan i.e Education for All Movement was the
brain child of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Back in 2001, it was
created on the lines of District Primary Education Programme
(DPEP) which was aimed at achieving the objective of universal
primary education. Since then it has been working effectively to
achieve its goals.
The roots of the Mid Day Meal programme can be traced back to
the pre-independence era, when a mid day meal programme was
introduced in 1925 in Madras Corporation by the British
administration.A mid day meal programme was introduced in the
Union Territory of Puducherry by the French administration in
1930.
Tamil Nadu is a pioneer in introducing mid day meal programmes
in 1962-63 in India to increase the number of kids coming to
school.
3. Current Schemes Fostering SSA And MDM

The bedrock of the incumbent government’s development agenda

lies in the notion of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas which is the
inclusion of all. Global commitment to the implementation of the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development i.e “world with
universal literacy” shows the government’s allegiance towards
SSA. Beti Bachao Beti Padhao i.e promoting girl’s education,
Digital India Mission which envisages a digital India and Skill
India Mission provides for inculcation of skills in citizens and
Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat a sub-programme of Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan provides for children who fail to read in early education
lag behind in other. All the schemes depict the government’s
commitment to the goal of new India where education is free for
all.
 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF SSA AND MDM

 As per Unified District Information System for Education data for

2016-17, Gross enrolment ratio stands at 98.85% for boys and
101.43% for girls which indicates universal enrolment at primary
level. Total enrolment in elementary schools has risen from 18.7
crore in 2009 to 19.76 crore in 2017-18
 Under the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya component of SSA,
3600 schools have been opened specifically targeting drop out girls
 Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan has been launched to encourage and
motivate children in science, mathematics and technology.
 National Programme on School Standards and Evaluation (NPSSE)
has been launched to evaluate the performance of schools in terms
of quality of education, teachers’ performance and learning
outcomes.
 SHORTCOMINGS

1.Despite these achievements of the SSA, keeping students in

school throughout their schooling career is a challenge as
dictated by high dropout rates.
2. There is vast shortage of teachers across all the levels. The
primary schools need additional 689000 teachers to fulfill
the RTE norms for Pupil teacher ratio.
3. Even though under the Swacch Vidyalaya all schools now
have a designated girls’ and boys’ toilet, a closer scrutiny
reveals that only 53% of such girls’ toilets are functional.
4. The provisions of SSA and the RTE have some under most
severe criticism for poor quality of learning across all levels
of schooling.
5. There is lack of accountability under SSA which manifests
itself in poor learning outcomes and poor attendance rates of
teachers.
 FAVOURABLE OUTCOMES

 It has provided a very significant source of employment to rural

women especially rural women from backward classes.
 This scheme is working appreciably to achieve its objective of
providing food to all children enrolled and coming to school. It
aims to address classroom hunger and successfully doing that.
 No doubt children are learning good habits like washing one’s
hands before and after eating
 One positive aspect of this scheme is no discrimination on any
basis whether it is gender, caste or community. All are served
equally.
 UNDESIRED RESULTS

 But there are many loopholes like in many schools, there is

unavailability of eating plates .Children are not having any other
option apart from using leaves in lieu of plates. At many places
children fell ill after eating mid-day meal
 The cooks in the school did not know guidelines to ensure hygiene.
The water used for cooking food was not wholesome.
 It has also hampered the classroom processes because teachers are
giving attention to the supervision of this MDM scheme and
related activities.
 Infrastructure facilities are very poor like no proper cooking sheds,
utensils, storage space etc. inspite of allocation of funds by
government which is an ultimate risk to the life of children.
 5. CONCLUSION

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where
knowledge is free; where the world has not been broken up into
fragments by narrow domestic walls”.
-Rabindranath Tagore

. Whenever we discuss about the development, the rise of India

as the “superpower”, we compare only the Gross Domestic
Product growth, and not such basic parameters of education
which shows the real mirror of growth. We must use technology
to make the literacy programmes more effective. Digital
learning materials can address the diverse learning needs of
different age groups more effectively. Literacy can be made
more meaningful if it is linked to the daily lives of the learners
Community learning centres can become the hubs of imparting
literacy and community empowerment. mid-day meal scheme is
not the only factor which attracts children to school or which make
their dropout rate low. There are certainly many other factors
responsible for enrollment and dropout of children from schools.
As far as MDM is concerned, undoubtedly it is a good effort by the
government but there is a dare need to introduce some other
measures and remove the loopholes for the ensured success of
these measures. What is required here is not some rocket science
invention, but a knowledge of the basic steps of Management. In
today’s highly competitive world, having education for the sake of
it is not is as good as not having it. Also, undue attention has to be
given to the teachers and systematic and frequent monitoring of the
teaching practices and their abilities in delivering the required
results.
Let us create a new India built on the base of a literate, educated,
empowered population.