Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a quantitative success: IIM study

SC, STs brought into educational mainstream

NEW DELHI: There are some good tidings for the Union Human Resource Development Ministry from its flagship enterprise, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), to universalise elementary education.

A study conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), has found that the SSA has met with considerable success quantitatively if not qualitatively.

While quality remains an area of concern, the SSA has been able to bridge the enrolment, retention and achievement gaps between the sexes and among social groups. According to the IIM-A study titled 'Shiksha Sangam: Innovations under the SSA,' the out-of-school population had come down from 28.5 per cent of the six-to-14 year age group in 2001 to 6.94 per cent by the end of 2005. Dropout rates at the primary level stands at about 12 per cent and 190 of the 400 districts were showing a declining trend in 2005-2006.

The SSA has been able to bring Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/STs) - weak points in earlier efforts to universalise elementary education - into the educational mainstream.

Greater share

The share of SC/ST children at the primary level in 2004-2005 was actually greater than their respective proportion of the population: 20.73 per cent in the case of SCs against a population share of 16.2 per cent and 10.69 per cent against a population share of 8.2 per cent. The gender gap in enrolment now stands at 4.2 percentage points at the primary level and 8.8 percentage points at the upper primary level. In 2005-2006, there were only 22 districts (of the 400 for which data was available) where the gender gap was more than 10 percentage points at the primary level.

 However, the success rate on this count in the upper primary level is not so good as 82 districts have reported a gap of more than 15 percentage points.

Kendriya Vidyalaya, (Hindi for Central School) is a system of Central government schools for children of employees of India's central government. The system came into being in 1965. Initially called Central School it was mainly to cater to the Defence services and the then remote places that they had postings to. With time and the Army starting it's own Army Public Schools the service was extended ( but not restricted to) to all central government employees. The uniform curriculum followed all over India is intended to ensure that wards of government employees do not face educational difficulties when their parent and family are transferred from one place to another. It is also referred to as K.V or Central School.The name change was a part of the drive to make it more Indian, the drive also lead to a lot of the syllabus becoming more Sanskrit and pure Hindi based, with options for students to take Social studies in Hindi or English. The Sanskrit prayers and higher level of Hindu curriculum was a part of the same drive. Including making all names ( such as the Syndicate becoming Sangathan) more sankritised.

A few Indian embassies abroad have a school of this type for the children of the embassy officials and expatriate Indian population (if a parent is a government employee). There are 929 Kendriya Vidyalayas at present including 3 abroad; one each at Kathmandu, Moscow and Tehran. The 929 Kendriya Vidyalayas have been divided amongst 21 regions each headed by an Assistant Commissioner. Overall there is a body KV Sangathan that governs the school and it's norms.

In such schools, no discrimination is made between the child of a top government official and that of a lowly-placed government employee. It is held that this school system facilitates national integration at the grassroots level. Student achievements are excellent when compared to other government schools.

Alumni of these schools can be found all over the world. The schools are affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education in Delhi.
The Vidyalayas offer education from Standards 1 to 12, five years of primary (elementary) school, five years of secondary (middle) school and two years of Higher Secondary(High School) curricula of the Central Board of Secondary Education leading to its Secondary School Examination (Standard 10) and thereafter the Senior School Examination (Standard 12). The examinations are conducted at the All India level and at the Delhi state level. The schools follow a strict two or three language policy where Hindi and English are compulsory. Sanskrit is also offered. Hindi or Sanskrit can be dropped in 9th standard where it is a choice of second language. Yoga, (Indian classical) music, art and physical education are given equal priority, as are subjects like mathematics, science, social studies and computer science. Most of these schools have well equipped laboratories. Some schools offer specialized courses like bio-technology.