EDUCATION BECOMING A FUNDAMENTAL
RIGHT, AND STRESS ON VOCATIONALISATION AND QUALITY UPGRADATION
OF HIGHER EDUCATION THRUST AREAS IN 2002-03
The government is
firmly committed to providing Education for All, the priority
areas being free and compulsory primary education, covering children
with special needs, eradication of illiteracy, vocationalisation,
education for women’s equality, special focus on the education
of SCs/STs and minorities.
A major initiative
has been the move to make free and compulsory education a Fundamental
Right for all children in the age group of 6-14 years. The Constitution
(86th Amendment) Act 2002 has been enacted by Parliament,
and with this enactment, every child can demand elementary education
from the state as a Fundamental Right. The Act also devolves a
duty on the parents to provide all possible opportunities of education
to children in this age group. To make this right meaningful and
effective, the Government has launched the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
(SSA), the national programme for universalisation of elementary
education in mission mode, in partnership with the states for
the children in the 6-14 age group.
Apart from providing
quality elementary education, the SSA also focuses on free textbooks
for girls, toilets especially for girls, and setting up of Village
Education Committees and Mother Teacher Associations. The scheme
also focused on innovations for girls and SC/ST education allowing
Rs. 50 lakh per district and Rs. 15 lakh per project. The Education
Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and the Alternative and Innovative Education
Programme have been launched to provide access to school-less
habitations.
During the current
year, the Mid-Day Meals Scheme has been extended to children studying
in EGS centres opened in the habitations without schools. About
one-third of a total of 10.26 crore children in primary classes
are currently getting cooked meals.
Out of 600 districts
in the country, 587 have since been covered under Adult Education
Programmes: 174 under TLC, 212 under Post-Literacy Programme and
201 under Continuing Education Programme. There are 25 State Resource
Centres (SRCs) functioning in various states. At present, there
are 108 Jan Shikshan Sansthans (JSSs) in the country and the number
is set to increase in the near future. About 96.69 million persons
have been made literate as on 31 March, 2002. About 60 per cent
of the beneficiaries are women, while 22 percent and 12 percent
belong to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively.
In the Secondary
Education Sectors, the scheme of Vocational Education has created
a massive infrastructure of 19,608 sections in 6800 schools providing
for 10 lakh students at 10+2 level. The implementation of the
Scheme was evaluated during 1999 and based on that evaluation
remedial steps are being taken to improve its functioning.
The University Grants
Commission (UGC), undertook a number of initiatives which include
accreditation of universities and colleges, promotion of universities
of excellence, promotion of centres of area studies, establishment
of special cells for SCs and STs, assistance for strengthening
infrastructure in science and technology, setting up of inter-university
Centres and establishment of computer centres in universities.
The UGC has allocated maintenance and development grants to 16
central universities. IGNOU has established a Women’s Education
Unit to develop and conduct programmes that are socially relevant
and employment-oriented.
Establishment of
polytechnics for people with disabilities has been a milestone
in the year under report. Under the schemes of Modernisation and
Removal of Obsolescence and Research and Development of Thrust
Areas in Technical Education, a large number of central technical
institutes have benefited by upgradation of their infrastructure
facilities including laboratories and by development of their
R&D bases. The scheme of apprenticeship training to engineers,
technicians and 10+2 vocational stream pass-outs helped job aspirants
in securing better employement prospects.
A National Programme
for Earthquake Engineering Education (NPEEE) has been launched
to give greater thrust to earthquake engineering education in
the country in view of high seismicity of major parts of the country
and lack of emphasis on earthquake-prone structures.
A credit-based semester
system for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes is being
introduced in all technical education institutions in the country.
