Relief for SSA-RMSA teachers in Nagaland as Union Cabinet approves merger of SSA-RMSA, allocates Rs 75,000 crores

New Integrated Scheme for School Education in India

Naga Republic News

In what will come as relief not just for students but also for employed teachers under the school education central scheme, the Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, March 28 has given its nod to form an Integrated Scheme on School Education by subsuming Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Teacher Education from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2020.

The scheme comes in the backdrop of PM’s vision of Sabko Shiksha, Achhi Shiksha and aims to support the States in universalizing access to school education from classes pre-nursery to XII across the country.

The integrated scheme is for a period of three years and an amount of Rs 75,000 crore was allocated for the same, a 20 per cent increase over the existing allocations, said an official statement accessed by The Naga Republic. This latest decision to integrate the three school education programmes and also ensure enough funds will be a welcome development even for the Nagaland government.

It may be mentioned that the SSA and RMSA teachers in Nagaland had to go without salaries for several months leading to state wide protest against the government and having an adverse effect on students and the larger community as well. With the Central government extending the integrated scheme for another three years, some amount of uncertainty and anxiety over livelihood for teachers will be removed.

“The vision of the scheme is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from nursery to senior secondary stage in accordance with the (United Nations’) Sustainable Development Goal for Education. The main emphasis of the integrated scheme is on improving quality of school education by focusing on the two T’s — Teacher and Technology,” the statement from the Central government said.

The scheme will focus on bridging social and gender gaps in school education, ensuring minimum standards in schooling provisions, and promoting vocationalisation of education, among others.

The CCEA has also approved the continuation of the Credit Guarantee Fund for Education Loans Scheme. It also sanctioned the continuation and modification of the Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme with a financial outlay of Rs 6,600 crore from 2017-2018 to 2019-2020

An official statement said this move will provide education loans to 10 lakh students with 3.3 lakh loans being disbursed annually over the three years of the schemes. “This reflects an increase of 20 per cent over the previous scheme,” the statement added.

Main Features of the Scheme:

The vision of the Scheme is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from nursery to senior secondary stage in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal for Education. The main emphasis of the Integrated Scheme is on improving quality of school education by focussing on the two T’s – Teacher and Technology.

The objectives of the Scheme, across all levels of schooling, are:

1. Provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students;
2. Bridging Social and Gender Gaps in School Education;
3. Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education;
4. Ensuring minimum standards in schooling provisions;
5. Promoting vocationalization of education;
6. Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009; and
7. Strengthening and up-gradation of State Councils for Educational Research and Training (SCERTs)/State Institutes of Education and District Institutes for Education and Training (DIET) as nodal agencies for teacher training.

Impact:

The Scheme gives flexibility to the States and UTs to plan and prioritize their interventions within the scheme norms and the overall resource envelope available to them. It will help improve the transition rates across the various levels of school education and aid in promoting universal access to children to complete school education. The Scheme, by providing quality education, aims to equip the children with varied skills and knowledge essential for their holistic development and prepare them for the world of work or higher education in the future. It would lead to an optimal utilization of budgetary allocations and effective use of human resources and institutional structures created for the erstwhile Schemes.

Benefits:

• Holistic approach to education
• Inclusion of senior secondary levels and pre-school levels in support for School education for the first time
• An integrated administration looking at ‘school’ as a continuum
• Focus on Quality of Education-      Emphasis   on   improvement   of LearningOutcomes
• Enhanced Capacity Building of Teachers
• Focus on strengthening Teacher Education Institutions like SCERTs and DIETs to improve the quality of teacher training
• Enhanced use of digital technology in education through smart classrooms, digital boards and DTK channels
• Specific provision for Swachhta activities – support ‘SwachhVidyalaya’
• Improve the Quality of Infrastructure in Government Schools
• Enhanced Commitment to ‘BetiBachaoBetiPadhao’- Upgradation of KGBVs from class VI -VIII to upto class XII
• Emphasis on ‘KaushalVikas’ in schools
• Support ‘Khelo India’ – provision for sports and physical equipment
• Preference to Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), LWEs, Special Focus Districts (SFDs), Border areas and the 115 aspirational districts