Samagra Shiksha is a sector-wide development programme which subsumes the then existing Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE) to help harmonising the implementation mechanisms and transaction costs at all levels, particularly in using state, district and sub-district level systems and resources, besides envisaging one comprehensive strategic plan for the development of school education at the district level. The shift in the focus is from project objectives to improving systems level performance and schooling outcomes which will be the emphasis of the combined Scheme along-with incentivizing states towards improving quality of education.

The Integrated Scheme envisages the ‘school’ as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels. 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.

The major objectives of the Scheme are 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; Ensuring minimum standards in schooling provisions; Promoting Vocationalisation of education; Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009; Strengthening and up-gradation of State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs)/State Institutes of Education (SIE) and District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) as nodal agencies for teacher training. The main outcomes of the Scheme are envisaged as Universal Access, Equity and Quality, promoting Vocationalisation of Education and strengthening of Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs).

The Samagra Shiksha is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme by the Department through a single State Implementation Society (SIS) at the State/UT level. It provides for a Governing Council (GC) headed by Minister of Education at the National level and a Project Approval Board (PAB) headed by Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy. The GC is empowered to modify financial and programmatic norms and approve 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. States are expected to bring a single plan for the entire school education sector.

Under Samagra Shiksha, an amount of Rs. 30780.81 crore has been sanctioned at Revised Estimates (RE) stage for the financial year 2018-19, out of which Rs. 29349.10 crore (95.35%) has been released as Central Share to States and Union Territories. The fund sharing pattern for the scheme between Centre and States is at present in the ratio of 90:10 for the 8 North-Eastern States viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura and 3 Himalayan States viz. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and 60:40 for all other States and Union Territories with Legislature. It is 100% centrally sponsored for Union Territories without Legislature. This is in accordance with the recommendations of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes received in October 2015.

The major interventions across all levels of school education under the scheme are: (i) Universal Access including Infrastructure Development and Retention; (ii) Gender and Equity; (iii) Inclusive Education; (iv) Quality; (v) Financial support for Teacher Salary; (vi) Digital Initiatives; (vii) RTE Entitlements including uniforms, textbooks etc;(viii) Pre-school Education; (ix) Vocational Education; (x) Sports and Physical Education; (xi) Strengthening of Teacher Education & Training and (xiii) National Component. Preference in the interventions is given to Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), LWE affected districts, Special Focus Districts (SFDs), Border areas and the 115 Aspirational Districts.

The main emphasis of the Scheme is on improving quality of school education by focussing on the two T’s – Teacher and Technology. The strategy for all interventions under the Scheme is to enhance the Learning Outcomes at all levels of schooling. The scheme proposes to give flexibility to the States and UTs to plan and prioritize their interventions within the scheme norms and the overall resource envelope available to them. Funds are allocated based on an objective criteria based on the enrolment of students, committed liabilities, learning outcomes and various performance indicators.

The Scheme will help in improving the transition rates across various levels of school education and aids in promoting universal access to children to complete school education. The integration of Teacher Education would facilitate effective convergence and linkages between different support structures in school education through interventions such as a unified training calendar, innovations in pedagogy, mentoring and monitoring, etc. This single Scheme will enable the SCERT to become the nodal agency for conduct and monitoring of all in-service training programmes to make it need-focused and dynamic. It would also enable reaping the benefits of technology and widening the access of good quality education across all States and UTs of all sections of the Society.

For more details, click here: https://samagra.education.gov.in

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