Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)

What is the SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan)? It is a flagship programme of the Indian government that began in 2001 with the goal of achieving Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE). When Article 21 A of the Indian Constitution was amended to provide free and compulsory education for children aged 6 to 14 a basic right, SSA gained legal support. SSA aspires to fulfil the time-bound requirements of this basic right. For the IAS Exam GS-II notes, this article will give you with vital information on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

Get information about important government schemes in the linked article.

Important Facts about Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for UPSC

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Year of Launch	2001
Government Ministry	Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD)
Official Website	https://mhrd.gov.in/ssa

A few important facts about SSA are mentioned in the list below:

• The SSA movement is known as a ‘Education for All' movement.
• Former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the founder of the SSA programme.
• This plan is being implemented by the federal government in collaboration with state governments.
• SSA's initial goal was to accomplish its objectives by 2010, however that deadline has been pushed back.
• SSA aspires to give educational infrastructure to 193 million children living in 1.1 million households.
• When the 86th Amendment Act of the Indian Constitution made education free and obligatory for children aged 6 to 14, it gave legal sanction to SSA.

• The New Education Policy 2020 intends to reintegrate nearly two crore out-of-school youngsters.
• In 2015, an estimated 6.2 crore children of school age (between 6 and 18 years) were out of school, according to the National Education Policy of 2019.
• SSA's Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat programme is a sub-programme.
• The government has developed a website called Shagun to track the SSA initiative. It was designed by the World Bank in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Resources Development.

Objectives of SSA

Following the passing of the Right to Education Act in 2010, the SSA has adopted a more comprehensive approach to achieving its goals. The goals are to improve curriculum, teacher education, educational planning, and management in some way. The following are SSA's broad objectives:

• To enhance and strengthen the skills and capacity of the existing teachers in the schools through:
  • Extensive Training
  • Materials of teachers-learning are developed by maintaining the grants
  • Academic support structure at a cluster, block, and district level are being strengthened

• To establish new schools in areas where there are no existing educational institutions.
• to improve the school's current infrastructure
• to give alternative educational opportunities
• construction of new schools
• to increase the number of classrooms, bathrooms, and drinking water facilities in schools
• to keep school improvement grants in place
• To give youngsters with free textbooks and uniforms.
• To increase the number of teachers in schools where there is a teacher shortage. Such schools receive more teachers.

• To offer pupils with life skills in addition to a high-quality education
• To encourage girls' education (with the larger goal of changing women's position) as well as the education of the differently abled or children with special needs. According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Development, SSA aims to provide equitable educational opportunities to children from the following groups:SC
  • ST
  • Muslim Minority
  • Landless Agricultural Labourers, etc

• SSA also aims to bridge the digital gap by providing computer instruction to youngsters in order to better understand the educational requirements of previously marginalised groups.

Prior to 2010, SSA's time-bound goals were:

• By 2007, all pupils will have completed five years of primary education.
• By 2010, all pupils will have completed eight years of schooling.
• By 2007, gender and socioeconomic category disparities in basic schooling will be closed, and elementary education will be completed by 2010.

SSA and District Primary Education Programme (DPEP)

In 1994, the District Primary Education Programme was established as a government-sponsored initiative to revamp the primary education sector. It was the first attempt to make primary education universal. DPEP used a district as a planning unit and took an area-specific approach.

The following are some key aspects to remember regarding DPEP:

1. 85 percent of the project cost was aided by the Central Government and 15 percent by the concerned State Government.
2. This program covered 18 states
3. International Organisations like the World Bank, UNICEF, etc, assisted the Central Government externally.

SSA – Universalization of Elementary Education

The cause of UEE has been backed up in the Constitution of India through the following:

Constitutional Mandate of 1950	It mentioned that the State should provide free and compulsory education to all children until they attain 14 years of age.Note: The mandate mentioned that the State should endeavour to do this within ten years of the commencement of the Indian Constitution
National Education Policy, 1986	The policy mentioned the universal retention of the children in schools until they attain 14 years of age.It also mentioned a resolve that children up to the age of 14 should be given free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality before India reaches the 21st Century.

SSA Initiatives

The table below mentions the initiatives are taken up under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan :

Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat	It has a twin-track approach:Early Reading and Writing with Comprehension – To improve language development with the help of reading and writing through comprehensionsEarly Mathematics – To create interests in Maths in relation to the physical and social world
Shagun Portal	To monitor the progress of SSA, it was launched in 2017.

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