The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the continuation of the revised Samagra Shiksha Scheme for a period of five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26 with a total financial outlay of Rs 2,94,283.04 crore which includes Central share of Rs 1,85,398.32 crore.

SSA has been revamped to integrate the post-COVID education scenario as well as to include the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The revised scheme will now have a provision of up to Rs 500 per child to assess teaching-learning materials (TLM), indigenous toys and games, play-based activities per annum for pre-primary sections in Government Schools.

Support for teaching-learning material in accordance with the NIPUN Bharat scheme to develop foundational numeracy literacy up to Rs 500 per child per annum, Rs 150 per teacher for teacher manuals and resources, Rs 10-20 lakh per district for assessment will be assigned.

In order to enhance the direct outreach of the scheme, all child-centric interventions will be provided directly to the students through DBT mode on an IT-based platform over a period of time. The scheme covers 1.16 million schools, over 156 million students, and 5.7 million teachers of government and aided schools from pre-primary to senior secondary level.

Further, financial support for the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights at Rs 50 per elementary school in the state, for protection of child rights and safety will be offered.

Transport facility has been extended to secondary level up to Rs 6000 per annum. For out of school children at 16 to 19 years of age, support will be provided to SC, ST, disabled children, up to Rs 2000 per child per grade to complete their secondary/senior secondary levels through NIOS/SOS.

Additional sports grants of up to Rs 25000 to schools in case at least two students of that school win a medal in Khelo India school games at the National level. A new component Appointment of Language Teacher has been added in the scheme- components of training of teachers and bilingual books and teaching-learning material added, besides support for a salary of teachers.

Enhanced financial support for existing stand-alone girls’ hostels for classes 9 to 12 up to Rs 40 lakh per annum. It was earlier Rs 25 lakh per annum. Training for three months for inculcating self-defence skills under ‘Rani Laxmibai Atma Raksha Prashikshan’ and amount increased from Rs 3000 to Rs 5000 per month. A separate provision of stipend for children with special needs, girls at Rs 200 per month for 10 months, in addition to student component from pre-primary to senior secondary level. Provision of annual identification camps for children with special needs at block level Rs 10,000 per camp and equipping of Block Resource centres for rehabilitation and special training of children with special needs.

The Samagra Shiksha scheme is an integrated scheme for school education covering the entire gamut from pre-school to class 12. The scheme not only provides support for the implementation of the RTE Act but has also been aligned with the recommendations of NEP 2020 to ensure that all children have access to quality education with an equitable and inclusive classroom environment which should take care of their diverse background, multilingual needs, different academic abilities and make them active participants in the learning process.

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