Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Following reports of possible misuse of millions of pounds extended to India as educational aid by the United Kingdom, Britain has launched an enquiry into the matter. The funds were meant for the 'Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan', to help poor children get a decent education. It is, however, believed that the money never reached the deserving and is suspected to have been gobbled up by the corruption demons.

Speaking at a marriage function at Mayiladuthurai, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram declared that the government is banking on Sarva Siksha Abhiyan for the success of RTE. He confirmed that the government has allocated Rs 15,000 crore for SSA in this year’s budget.

The Right to Education Act certainly has made all Indians proud by making elementary education a fundamental right for all children in the age group of 6-14 years. But, beyond the euphoria, educationists are apprehensive whether RTE too would fall halfway like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), which could not fully live up to its expectations.

Owing to lack of sufficient number of government schools in the state the Ministry of Human resource and Development has decided to alter its Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme, for universalisation of secondary education in Bengal. Instead of funding all government aided schools which are less than five percent in the state the MHRD will now select and fund some privately run, government aided schools.

Having accepted all the demands of the HRD ministry (MHRD) related to the grants for funding the Right to Education (RTE) Act, the 13th Finance Commission has gone ahead and allocated Rs 24,068 crore for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA); thus, making it obvious that it sees the SSA as the primary means to proper implementation of the RTE act.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE Act), gathered heavy criticism from various educationists at an international consultation recently.

Preparations to implement Right to Education (RTE) Act are complete. It is a matter of time before the historic legislation would see light of the day with a formal notification by the Centre is in the offing. According sources in the HRD ministry (MHRD), the notification will be issued soon as it has overcome over the financial hurdles in the way of its implementation.

While the getting the Act passed might not have proven to be difficult to the MHRD, the implementation and provisioning for the Right to Free and Compulsory Education for Children Act, 2009, surely is getting to become an uphill task. As the Planning Commission has nodded its head in disappointment at not being able to provide the Rs 1,74,000 crore for the Act, due to economic downturn, the HRD ministry has now turned towards the Finance Commission for help.

Now that the Right to Education Act is in place, it is the responsibility of the government to see that the law is implemented in letter and spirit in right earnest. While enactment of the law could have been an easy task, its implementation is not. The real test of universalisation education lies in mobilizing enough resources to see the ambitious project through. 

As the Right to Free and Compulsory Education Bill becoming law , the HRD ministry is adopting a more aggressive approach towards making education universally available. To further its intentions in this direction, the Indian government is now approaching the Department For International Development (DFID), UK, in order to seek financial as well as technical support.