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State of Tamilnadu - Section

Section 1 in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

1. Introduction.

- 1.1 Towards a Right Based Framework1.1.1The role of Universal Elementary Education (UEE) for strengthening the social fabric of democracy through provision of equal opportunities to all has been accepted since the inception of our Republic. The original Article 45 in the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution mandated the State to endeavour to provide free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of fourteen within a period of ten years. The National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986/92, states:"In our national perception, education is essentially for all Education has an acculturation role. It refines sensitivities and perceptions that contribute to national cohesion, a scientific temper and independence of mind and spirit - thus furthering the goals of socialism, secularism and democracy enshrined in our Constitution"1.1.2With the formulation of NPE, India initiated a wide range of programmes for achieving the goal of UEE. These efforts were intensified in the 1980s and 1990s through several schematic and programme interventions, such as Operation Black Board (OBB), Shiksha Karmi Project (SKP), Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project (APPEP), Bihar Education Project (BEP), U.P Basic Education Project (UPBEP), Mahila Samakhya (MS), Lok Jumbish Project (LJP), and Teacher Education which put in place a decentralised system of teacher support through District Institutes of Education and Training, District Primary Education Programme (DPEP). Currently the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in partnership with State Governments for universalising elementary education across the country.1.1.3Over the years, there has been significant spatial and numerical expansion of elementary schools in the country. Access and enrollment at the primary stage of education have reached near universal levels. The number of out-of-school children has reduced significantly. The gender gap in elementary education has narrowed and the percentage of children belonging to Scheduled Castes and Tribes enrolled is proportionate to their population. Yet, the goal of universal elementary education continues to elude us. There remains an unfinished agenda of universal education at the upper primary stage. The number of children, particularly children from disadvantaged groups and weaker sections, who drop out of school before completing upper primary education, remains high. The quality of learning achievement is not always entirely satisfactory even in the case of children who complete elementary education.1.1.4The [Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002] [Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 is at Annexure 1.] inserted Article 21-A in the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine. The [Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009] [Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 is at Annexure 2.], which represents the consequential legislation envisaged under Article 21-A, means that every child has a right to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms and standards. The need to address inadequacies in retention, residual access, particularly of un-reached children, and the questions of quality are the most compelling reasons for the insertion of Article 21-A in the Constitution of India and the passage of the RTE Act, 2009 in the Parliament.1.1.5[Article 21-A and the RTE Act came into effect on 1 April 2010] [Notifications enforcing Article 21-A and the RTE Act are at Annexures 3(a) and 3(b)]. The title of the RTE Act incorporates the words 'free and compulsory'. 'free education' means that no child, other than a child who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education. 'Compulsory education' casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and local authorities to provide and ensure admission, attendance and completion of elementary education by all children in the 6-14 age group. With this, India has moved forward to a right based framework that casts a legal obligation on the Central and State Governments to implement this fundamental child right as enshrined in the Article 21A of the Constitution, in accordance with the provisions of the RTE Act.
1.2The Present Context. - 1.2.1 Currently, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is implemented as India's main programme for universalising elementary education. Its overall goals include universal access and retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in education and enhancement of learning levels of children. SSA provides for a variety of interventions, including inter alia, opening of new schools and alternate schooling facilities, construction of schools and additional classrooms, toilets and drinking water, provisioning for teachers, periodic teacher training and academic resource support, text books arid support for learning achievement. These provisions need to be aligned with the legally mandated norms and standards and free entitlements mandated by the RTE Act.
1.2.2The new law provides a justiciable legal framework that entitles all children between the age of 6-14 years free and compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education. It provides for children's right to an education of equitable quality, based on the principles of equity and non-discrimination. Most importantly, it provides for children's right to an education which is free from fear, stress and anxiety.
1.3Salient Features of the RTE Act, 2009. - 1.3.1 The RTE Act, 2009 provides for:
(i)The right of children to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education in a neighbourhood school.
(ii)It clarifies that 'compulsory education' means obligation of the appropriate government to provide free elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education to every child in the six to fourteen age' group. 'Free' means that no child shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education.
(iii)It makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an appropriate class.
(iv)It specifies the duties and responsibilities of appropriate Government, local authority and parents in providing free and compulsory education, and sharing of financial and other responsibilities between the Central and State Governments.
(v)It lays down the norms and standards relating inter alia to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), buildings and infrastructure, school-working days, teacher-working hours.
(vi)It provides for rational deployment of teachers by ensuring that the specified pupil teacher ratio is maintained for each school, rather than just as an average for the State or District or Block, thus ensuring that there is no urban- rural imbalance in teacher postings. It also provides for prohibition of deployment of teachers for non-educational work, other than decennial census, elections to local authority, state legislatures and parliament, and disaster relief.
(vii)It provides for appointment of appropriately trained teachers, i.e. teachers with the requisite entry and academic qualifications.
(viii)It prohibits (a) physical punishment and mental harassment; (b) screening procedures for admission of children; (c) capitation fee; (d) private tuition by teachers and (e) running of schools without recognition,
(ix)It provides for development of curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the Constitution, and which would ensure the all-round development of the child, building on the child's knowledge, potentiality and talent and making the child free of fear, trauma and anxiety through a system of child friendly and child centred learning.
1.4Child Entitlements - the Right Perspective. - 1.4.1 In the present phase of SSA, it is mandatory to ensure that the approach and strategies for universalising elementary education are in conformity with the right perspective mandated under the RTE Act. The RTE Act provides that 'Every child of the age of 6-14 years shall have a right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education. Free education is defined as 'removal of any financial barrier by the state that prevents a child from completing eight years of schooling'. 'Compulsory education' means obligation of the appropriate government to provide free elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education to every child in the six to fourteen age group.In addition to the SSA provisions, most States are addressing the issue of financial barriers by providing incentives in the form of uniforms, notebooks, stationary, school bags, scholarships and transportation facilities, as required. However, the incentive based approach would need to shift to an entitlement perspective. This paradigm shift needs to be reflected not only in SSA, but in all interventions, programmes and schemes for elementary education of the State Governments, as also in the mind set of all the agencies involved in the implementation of the SSA.
1.4.2The Right perspective under the RTE Act has also brought in new monitoring mechanisms to ensure that child rights under the Act are protected. The RTE Act provides for constitutionally created independent bodies like the National and State Commissions for protection of Child Rights to perform this role. These bodies, with quasi-judicial powers bringing an element of monitoring new to the implementation of SSA, requiring that internal monitoring mechanisms under the SSA engage purposefully with these independent bodies.
1.5RTE Roadmap. - 1.5.1 The RTE provides a legally enforceable right framework with certain unambiguous time targets that Government must adhere to. For example, the Act mandates that every child in the six to fourteen age group shall have a right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school. The Act also provides that if a school does not exist in an area or limit prescribed-as the neighbourhood, the appropriate Government and the local authority shall establish a school in that area within a period of three years. Therefore, all children - girls and boys - children from disadvantaged groups and economically weaker sections, children with special needs, children involved in child labour and so on, must be in a school within three years time starting from 1 April, 2010. This provision in the RTE Act is applicable to the SSA goals on access and universalisation of elementary education. The following time-frames, mandated by the RTE Act, become immediately applicable to SSA:
Activity Time Frame
Establishment of neighbourhood schools 3 years (by 31st March, 2013)
• Provision of school infrastructure• All weather school buildings• One-classroom-one-teacher• Office cum-store-cum-Head teacher room• Toilets and drinking waterfacilities• Barrier free access• Library• Playground• Fencing/boundary walls 3 years (by31st March, 2013) 3 years (by 31 March, 2013)
Provision of teachers as per prescribed PTR 3 years (by 31st March, 2013)
Training of untrained teachers 5 years (by 31st March 2015)
All quality interventions and other provisions With immediate effect
1.6Revamp of SSA: The Revised SSA Framework for Implementation. - 1.6.1 SSA has been operational since 2000-2001. With the passage of the RTE Act, changes need to be incorporated into the SSA approach, strategies and norms. The changes are not merely confined to norms for providing teachers or classrooms, but encompass the vision and approach to elementary education as evidenced in the shift to child entitlements and quality elementary education in regular schools.Committee on Implementation of RTE Act and the Resultant Revamp of SSA. - In September 2009, the Government set up a Committee under the chairpersonship of Shri Anil Bordia, former Union Education Secretary, to suggest follow up action on SSA vis-a-vis the RTE Act. The Committee had a series of interactions with State Education Secretaries, educationists, representatives of teachers' unions, voluntary organisations and civil society organisations. The Committee's report, entitled "Implementation of RTE Act and Resultant Revamp of SSA", submitted in April 2010, was guided by the following principles:
(i)Holistic view of education, as interpreted in the National Curriculum Framework 2005, with implications for a systemic revamp of the entire content and process of education with significant implications for curriculum, teacher education, educational planning and management.
(ii)Equity, to mean not only equal opportunity, but also creation of conditions in which the disadvantaged sections of the society - children of SC, ST, Muslim minority, landless agricultural workers and children with special needs, etc. - can avail of the opportunity.
(iii)Access, not to be confined to ensure that a school becomes accessible to all children within specified distance but implies an understanding of the educational needs and predicament of the traditionally excluded categories - the SC, ST and others sections of the most disadvantaged groups, the Muslim minority, girls in general, and children with special needs.
(iv)Gender concern, implying not only an effort to enable girls to keep pace with boys but to view education in the perspective spelt out in the National Policy on Education 1986/92; i.e. a decisive intervention to bring about a basic change in the status of women.
(v)Centrality of teacher, to motivate them to innovate and create a culture in the classroom, and beyond the classroom, that might produce an inclusive environment for children, especially for girls from oppressed and marginalised backgrounds.
(vi)Moral compulsion is imposed through the RTE Act on parents, teachers, educational administrators and other stakeholders, rather than shifting emphasis on punitive processes.
(vii)Convergent and integrated system of educational management is pre-requisite for implementation of the RTE law. All states must move in that direction as speedily as feasible.
1.6.2The revised SSA Framework for Implementation is derived from the recommendations of the Committee on Implementation of RTE Act and the Resultant Revamp of SSA, and is intended to demonstrate the harmonization of SSA with the RTE Act. It is also based on child centric assumptions emerging from the National Policy on Education, 1986/92 and the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005. The revised SSA Framework for Implementation provides abroad out line of approaches and implementation strategies, within which States can frame more detailed guidelines keeping in view their specific social, economic and institutional contexts.
1.6.3The revised programmatic and financial norms for SSA interventions are at Appendix -I