Buoyed by success of SSA at primary level, Planning Commission is thinking of launching similar campaign for secondary education.
NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the success of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) at the primary level, the Planning Commission is now formulating a strategy to launch a similar campaign for secondary education.
The approach paper to the Eleventh Plan by the Planning Commission calls for a new mission —— SSA-2 —— to cover children up to Class X since “a person with a mere eight years of schooling will be as disadvantaged in the knowledge economy dominated by Information and Communication Technology as an illiterate person in modern industry and services.”
The plan, if approved, will also include private and unaided schools since they account for 58 per cent of the total secondary schools. However, the government wants its own schools to provide competition to private schools with special efforts to bridge the gap for SC/ST, minorities and girls.
Minister of state for Human Resource Development, Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi, said that over two lakh secondary schools are likely to be covered under SSA-2 with an aim to bring them up to the level of Kendriya Vidyalayas.
The Planning Commission has sent the approach paper to the states to build up a consensus followed by region-level meetings. The first meeting will take place in Mumbai late next month.
However, educationist Anil Sadgopal is skeptical of the move. “This would mean that the damage will now be extended to secondary level. Instead of providing quality education, better infrastructure and facilities, the present SSA is a mis-designed programme which focuses more on enrolment than retention. Regular teachers have been replaced by para teachers. This has lead to further deterioration of quality education,” said Sadgopal. According to him, the current drop out rate of 53 per cent in class VIII has not changed since 2002. “That too, after four years of SSA,” he said.
Sadgopal is a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education which has suggested the government to strengthen the education system by improving the standards of school to the level of KVs, provide more rooms, lab facilities and make them better equipped by 2015. It has also advised the government to extend this initiative to senior secondary-level between 2015-2020. The Planning Commission has more or less accepted this in its approach paper.
The Planning Commission’s idea behind SSA-2 is to have a system in place keeping in mind higher passing out rate due to primary-level enrollments. “The demand for secondary education will expand significantly as SSA reaches its goal of universal and complete elementary education,” the approach paper says.
“The pressure on secondary education will increase substantially once more children finish primary education. We have to get our act together before that,” said an official from the HRD ministry.
What is Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)?
- SSA is an effort to universalise elementary education by community ownership of the school system.
- It is aimed at providing elementary education for all children in the 6 to 14 age group by 2010.
- Its other aim is to bridge social, regional and gender gaps, with the active participation of the community in the management of schools.
- It is a response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country.
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