HIGH LEVEL GROUP MEETING ON EDUCATION FOR ALL

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NOTE ON EDUCATION FOR ALL

1. History:

1. Jomtien: In 1990, delegates from 155 countries, as well as representatives from some 150 organizations agreed at the World Conference on Education for All in Jomtien, Thailand (5-9 March 1990) to universalize primary education and massively reduce illiteracy before the end of the decade. The Conference adopted the vision that all children, young people and adults have the fundamental human right to a basic education that will develop their talents, improve their lives and transform their vision.

Following articles were adopted in the conference:

1. MEETING BASIC LEARNING NEEDS: Every person - child, youth and adult - shall be able to benefit from educational opportunities designed to meet their basic learning needs
2. SHAPING THE VISION : To serve the basic learning needs of all requires more than a recommitment to basic education as it now exists. What is needed is an "expanded vision" that surpasses present resource levels, institutional structures, curricula, and conventional delivery systems while building on the best in current practices
3. UNIVERSALIZING ACCESS AND PROMOTING EQUITY - Basic education should be provided to all children, youth and adults.
4. FOCUSSING ON LEARNING - Whether or not expanded educational opportunities will translate into meaningful development - for an individual or for society - depends ultimately on whether people actually learn as a result of those opportunities, i.e., whether they incorporate useful knowledge, reasoning ability, skills, and values.
5. BROADENING THE MEANS AND SCOPE OF BASIC EDUCATION - The diversity, complexity, and changing nature of basic learning needs of children, youth and adults necessitates broadening and constantly redefining the scope of basic education
6. ENHANCING THE ENVIRONMENT FOR LEARNING - Learning does not take place in isolation. Societies, therefore, must ensure that all learners receive the nutrition, health care, and general physical and emotional support they need in order to participate actively in and benefit from their education.
7. STRENGTHENING PARTNERSHIPS - National, regional, and local educational authorities have a unique obligation to provide basic education for all, but they cannot be expected to supply every human, financial or organizational requirement for this task. New and revitalized partnerships at all levels will be necessary.
8. DEVELOPING A SUPPORTIVE POLICY CONTEXT - Supportive policies in the social, cultural, and economic sectors are required in order to realize the full provision and utilization of basic education for individual and societal improvement.
9. MOBILIZING RESOURCES - If the basic learning needs of all are to be met through a much broader scope of action than in the past, it will be essential to mobilize existing and new financial and human resources, public, private and voluntary.
10. .STRENGTHENING INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY - Meeting basic learning needs constitutes a common and universal human responsibility. It requires international solidarity and equitable and fair economic relations in order to redress existing economic disparities.

The countries committed themselves to act cooperatively through their own spheres of responsibility, taking all necessary steps to achieve the goals of education for all. They called on governments, concerned organizations and individuals to join in this urgent undertaking. The conference also adopted a Framework of Action for achieving the goals of education for All.

1. Dakar: In April 2000 more than 1,100 participants from 164 countries gathered in Dakar, Senegal, for the World Education Forum. The meet was attended by Secretary General of United Nations, Heads of UN agencies and Heads of States, Ministers and officials from the participating countries, apart from other stakeholders from the civil society. The Forum adopted the 'Dakar Framework for Action, Education for All: Meeting Our Collective Commitments'. This document reaffirms the goal of education for all as laid out by the World Conference on Education for All (Jomtien, Thailand, 1990) and other international conferences. It commits governments to achieving quality basic education for all by 2015 or earlier, with particular emphasis on girls' education, and includes a pledge from donor countries and institutions that "no country seriously committed to basic education will be thwarted in the achievement of this goal by lack of resources". The framework expresses the international community's collective commitment to pursue a broad based strategy for ensuring that the basic learning needs of child, youth and adult are met within a generation and sustained thereafter.

2. Dakar Framework for Action

In the Dakar Framework for Action, the countries committed themselves to the attainment of the following six goals:

1. Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children
2. Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
3. Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programmes
4. Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults.
5. Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls' full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality.
6. Improving every aspect of the quality of education, and ensuring their excellence so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy numeracy and essential life skills

Following twelve strategies were indicated for achieving the above goals:

1. mobilize strong national and international political commitment for education for all, develop national action plans and enhance significantly investment in basic education;
2. promote EFA policies within a sustainable and well-integrated sector framework clearly linked to poverty elimination and development strategies;
3. ensure the engagement and participation of civil society in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of strategies for educational development;
4. develop responsive, participatory and accountable systems of educational governance and management;
5. meet the needs of education systems affected by conflict, national calamities and instability and conduct educational programmes in ways that promote mutual understanding, peace and tolerance, and help to prevent violence and conflict;
6. .implement integrated strategies for gender equality in education which recognize the need for changes in attitudes, values and practices;
7. implement as a matter of urgency education programmes and actions to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic;
8. create safe, healthy, inclusive and equitably resourced educational environments conducive to excellence in learning with clearly defined levels of achievement for all;
9. enhance the status, morale and professionalism of teachers;
10. harness new information and communication technologies to help achieve EFA goals;
11. systematically monitor progress towards EFA goals and strategies at the national, regional and international levels; and
12. build on existing mechanisms to accelerate progress towards education for all.

3. Millenium Development Goals

In September 2000 the member states of the United Nations unanimously adopted the Millennium Declaration in the meeting of the General Assembly. The Millennium Development Goals commit the international community to an expanded vision of development, one that vigorously promotes human development as the key to sustaining social and economic progress in all countries, and recognizes the importance of creating a global partnership for development. The goals have been commonly accepted as a framework for measuring development progress.. Following consultations among international agencies, including the World Bank, the IMF, the OECD, and the specialized agencies of the United Nations, the General Assembly recognized the Millennium Development Goals as part of the road map for implementing the Millennium Declaration

Following are the eight millenium development goals, which are to be achieved by 2015:

Goal 1 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Target 1: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day

Target 2: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Goal 2 Achieve universal primary education

Target 3: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

Goal 3 Promote gender equality and empower women

Target 4: Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005 and in all levels of education no later than 2015

Goal 4 Reduce child mortality

Target 5: Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

Goal 5 Improve maternal health

Target 6: Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio

Goal 6 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

Target 7: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS

Target 8: Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases

Goal 7 Ensure environmental sustainability

Target 9: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and program and reverse the loss of environmental resources

Target 10: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation

Target 11: Have achieved, by 2020, a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

Goal 8 Develop a global partnership for development

Target 12: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, nondiscriminatory trading and financial system (includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction—both nationally and internationally)

Target 13: Address the special needs of the least developed countries (includes tariff-and quota-free access for exports enhanced program of debt relief for HIPC and cancellation of official bilateral debt, and more generous ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction)

Target 14: Address the special needs of landlocked countries and small island developing states (through the Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and 22nd General Assembly provisions)

Target 15: Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term

Target 16: In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth

Target 17: In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countries

Target 18: In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

The Goals 2 and 3 of the MDG, are closely aligned to the EFA Goals 2 and 6 set in Dakar.

4. High Level Group

i) Background

To monitor the progress towards the achievement of goals set in Dakar, a High Level Group (HLG) for EFA has been set up by UNESCO. The High Level Group is mandated by the Dakar Framework for Action to 'serve as a lever for political commitment and technical and financial resource mobilization'. The HLG has primary responsibility for driving the EFA process forward, strengthen partnerships, identify priorities, gaps and needs, and highlight the resources to be mobilized.

The Director-General of UNESCO convenes the meeting annually. It consists of Heads of States and Ministers of select countries, representatives of the major UN and other multilateral and bilateral donor agencies, educational experts and NGOs. The HLG brings together some thirty participants from four constituencies -- Ministers of Education from developing countries, Ministers of International Development Co-operation/Foreign Affairs from developed countries, heads of multilateral/bilateral agencies and civil society representatives. Participants are invited on a rotating basis while ensuring continuity as well as regional and gender balance. The list of participants is influenced by a major challenges in achieving EFA (HIV/AIDS in Africa, child labor in South Asia, etc.) and the perceived ability of individuals in contributing to an informed and inter-active debate on the issues under consideration.

ii) Overview of agenda and outcomes of first and second HLG meets

1. The First HLG (October 2001)

At the first HLG meeting at UNESCO Paris in October 2001 there was full participation of all EFA partners, including 18 Ministers of Education and Development Cooperation. The programme for the first meeting of the HLG was built around three critical areas :(1) Political commitment; (2) Resource mobilization ; and (3) Civil society participation and partnerships.

Civil society was recognized to be a full partner in EFA forums for planning, policy development, implementation and monitoring. For its part, civil society pledged to work with governments and multilateral agencies in finding solutions and monitoring progress. Concrete commitment came in the form of specific public pledges, made during the meeting, on the part of several bilateral and multilateral donors to increase their financing for various aspects of EFA. The HLG provided impetus to the preparation of national EFA plans to accelerate progress towards the DAKAR goals, the development of an authoritative, annual EFA Monitoring Reports and the drafting of an international EFA Strategy to clarify the roles and responsibilities of partners in operationalizing the DAKAR Framework for Action.

2. Second HLG (November 2002)

The second meeting of the HLG on EFA (Abuja, Nigeria, 19-20 November 2002) was held in the heart of sub-Saharan Africa, a region where the prospects of reaching the DAKAR goals are the most challenging. The organization, structure, design and outcomes of the meeting benefited from consultations with major EFA partners and through a representative group of Sherpas. The well - attended inaugural public session was addressed by President Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Compaore of Burkina Faso. The participants included 15 Ministers of Education and Development Cooperation, six representatives of multilateral and bilateral agencies, four representatives of civil society organizations.

Deliberations were based on issues raised by the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2002 ('Review of progress towards the achievement of the DAKAR goals; status of EFA planning; assessment of the extent to which the international commitments made in DAKAR are being met'). The group of Sherpas, with additional representation of developing countries, assisted in drafting the Communiqué that was adopted by the High-Level Group. The communiqué stated that developing countries review national legislation to ensure that it incorporates provisions for free and compulsory primary education and urged the international community to provide funding and support to developing countries, especially those outside the Fast-Track Initiative. The Communiqué highlighted the importance of improving the status and working conditions of teachers, which have been exacerbated by the impact of HIV/AIDS, conflict and emergencies and enjoins UNESCO to strengthen its capacity for international coordination of DAKAR follow-up activities.

While the second HLG meeting was more focused, interactive and outcome-oriented than the first meeting (October 2001), concerns remained about its political weight and its impact as an influential global voice on EFA. In its communiqué, the HLG requested UNESCO and other key EFA agencies to ensure that subsequent HLG meetings have higher-level representation with stronger capability of mobilizing political commitment towards achieving the EFA goals.

iii) Third HLG (November 2003)

The Government of India is hosting the third meeting of HLG (New Delhi 10-12 November 2003). The agenda of the New Delhi meeting will be closely aligned to the 2003 EFA Global Monitoring Report on the theme of gender and EFA. On the basis of the findings of the Monitoring Report, the High-Level group will discuss appropriate policy responses and strategies to accelerate progress on education of girls and women to eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005.

The expected outcomes of the meet are:

• Maintaining global political momentum and mobilizing resources for realizing EFA goals;
• Developing International Action Plan for the elimination of gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005.
• Reviewing progress towards the achievement of the Dakar goals, identifying key challenges and setting strategies and priorities;
• Assessing the extent to which the international commitments made at Dakar and after are met and agreeing on ways to fulfill these.

5. National EFA Plan of Action, India

Following things were kept in consideration while preparing the National Plan of Action for EFA:

1. In a vast and varied country like India, it is not easy to prepare a national plan of action for EFA, as different states are in different situations with respect to the goals of EFA. A genuine national plan will have to take into consideration these inter-state variations.
2. The plan will also have to reflect the perspectives of the civil society organisations which are involved in educational activities on a large scale across the country.
3. It should have a professional basis in setting the goals and designing strategies.

With this in view, a series of four regional consultation meetings were conducted to elicit the perspectives of official leadership and NGOs in different states. A national consultation was also held, involving NGO representatives and professionals, so that the national plan of action reflects the concerns and perspectives of all stakeholders. In addition, several workshops and meetings were held on planning and capacity building for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (or Movement for Education for All).

Recognizing the importance of elementary education, the Government of India has been working with state governments for achieving the goals of universalisation of elementary education (UEE). In this context, the major initiative has been the launch of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the national programme to implement the fundamental right to free and compulsory education. Other initiatives include the District Primary Education Programme, Teacher Education Programme, activities under the National Literacy Mission and special programmes for promotion of early childhood care and education, inclusive education, etc. It is important to note that a major part of planned action in India takes place in individual states, which may not get fully represented in national plans and perspectives. It is within this framework that the following national goals, corresponding to the six Dakar goals, have been drawn:

• Integrated Child Development Services scheme being universalised--early childhood care and education an important component of the scheme (Dakar Goal 1)
• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Movement for Education for All) launched with the aim of providing eight years of quality education to all children in the age group 6-14 by 2010. (Goal 2 and 6)
• A comprehensive plan for adolescents, especially girls, in the Tenth Five Year Plan. (Goal 3)
• National Literacy Mission to provide functional literacy to all illiterate adults in the age group 15-35. Goals 3 and 4)
• Special schemes targeted at girls, apart from focus on girls in general schemes with focus on removal of all disparities, including gender, in primary (class I-V) by 2007 and elementary (I-VIII) by 2010. (Goal 5)

a) Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)

Early childhood education (ECE) is considered a significant input to compensate for early environmental deprivations at home, by providing a stimulating environment to the children. While on one hand, it is expected to provide the necessary maturational and experiential readiness to the child for meeting the demands of the primary curriculum; it also affects positively the enrolment and retention of girls in primary schools by providing substitute care facility for younger siblings. Envisaged as a holistic input, fostering health, psychological and nutritional development, the policy emphasized the significance of making it play-based while cautioning against the danger of reducing it to the teaching of three R’s i.e., reading, writing and arithmetic. The holistic and integrated concept of ECCE clearly represents this spirit.

Though programmes of early childhood care have been under implementation on a large scale through the programme of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), efforts to integrate early childhood education into activities of these centres and to extend institutionalized educational facilities for children in the pre-school age group have begun only during recent years. Pre-school education in urban areas, which is fairly widespread, and is continuously expanding, is largely in the hands of the private sector without much supervision or support from the government. Considering the magnitude of resources needed to reach out to all children in this age group, the target set for the sector has been modest. It is envisaged that the network of early childhood education centres would expand to two million centres and cover about 70 per cent children in the pre-school age group by the year 2000.

b) Elementary Education

Universalisation of elementary education (UEE) has been accepted as a national goal since 1950. The Directive Principles of the Constitution of India envisage provision of free and compulsory elementary education to all children up to the age of 14 years. The Constitution was amended in December 2002 to include free and compulsory education for all children in the age group 6 .14 years as a fundamental right, while expanding the provision for children up to the age of six, to include early childhood care and education within the Directive Principles. The overall goal in this regard is to provide free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality to all children. It is significant to note that the National Policy on Education defines universal elementary education in a broad framework, changing the emphasis from enrolment to participation, retention and achievement.

Universal Access

Though considerable progress has been made towards achieving the target of EFA as indicated by the overall figures, more rigorous and sustained efforts are required to universalise elementary education. A major bottleneck in this direction has been the persistence of regional and sectional disparities. The policy goal, therefore, has been to intensify the efforts to reach primary education to such deprived sections of population.

Specifically, the goals of EFA with respect to universal access focus on:

1. Universal enrolment of all children including girls, disabled children and children belonging to SC and ST in primary classes and provision of upper primary education for them.
2. Provision of non-formal education (NFE) or alternative education for school dropouts, working children and girls who cannot attend formal schools.

Universal Retention

As mentioned earlier, the country has made significant progress in terms of provision of access to basic education. Recent surveys show that more than 95 per cent of the population has access to primary education within a distance of one-km. Overall enrolment figures have also shown a massive increase. However, the number of children who participate in schooling regularly and complete the first cycle of education still needs to be improved substantially. For a number of reasons, many children initially enrolled in school do not complete their primary schooling. Here again, there are wide disparities among different states; for instance, while almost all children enrolled in the initial classes of primary school complete at least 4-5 years of schooling in the states of Kerala, Goa and Mizoram, the figures of school dropouts in certain other states continue to be very high. Thus, the policies have reiterated reduction in the number of dropouts as an important goal. The aim is now to achieve universal retention by 2010.

Improvement in Quality

The National Policy on Education - 1986 emphasizes the importance of giving special attention to quality aspects of primary education for which several policy guidelines have been formulated, which impinge mainly on the following areas:

i) Improved quality of school provision:

With the expansion of the school system, a systematic exercise has been carried out to determine basic norms for provision, physical, human as well as academic, in each school. These norms act as the guiding principle for creating additional schooling facilities for primary education.

ii) Focus on learning outcomes

Alongside provision of improved facilities in the school, policy makers have also focused their attention on the learning levels attained by children who attend schools. A National Committee of experts set up by the Government of India in early nineties evolved a framework of minimum levels of learning to be attained by every student undergoing primary education.

iii) Teacher Capacity Building

The critical role of teachers in ensuring quality education has also come into sharper focus. As in case of infrastructure, massive expansion of the system has also influenced the quality of teachers and the support system available for guiding them in their work. One of the major policy interventions in the last decade has been to make institutional arrangements at district and sub-district levels for in-service training of primary teachers. The emphasis is on decentralizing the training arrangement and providing guidance and support to teachers on a continuous basis.

c) Adult Education and Literacy Programmes

The goal of the National Literacy Mission (NLM) is to attain full literacy (i.e., a sustainable threshold level of 75 per cent by 2007). NLM envisages that focusing on imparting of functional literacy to non-literates in the age group 15-35 would help achieve this goal. NLM seeks to bring non-literates to a level of self-reliance in the three R's. It also provides them facilities for skill development to improve their economic status and well being. It enables them to imbibe values of national integration, conservation of the environment, women's equality and observance of small family norms. And finally, it facilitates their participation in the development process. Functional literacy, encompassing all of the above, is the overall goal of NLM. A special programme has been launched targeting low female literacy districts. It is also proposed to expand the coverage of Jan Shikshan Sansthans to provide for access to life skill programmes for neo-literates.

d) Programmes with gender focus

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the flagship programme for UEE, itself has special focus on girls. Some of the initiatives for girls in the programme are as follows:

• Free Text books for all girls
• Fifty percent of teachers to be appointed to be females
• Upto Rs 15 lakhs per district per annum for innovative activity for girls
• Compulsory 20 days in-service training every year - can be used for gender sensitization
• Toilet for girls
• Female representation in VECs/PTAs
• Upto Rs 15 lakhs per district per annum for early childhood care and education, which impinges on girls education

However, it was felt that within the SSA umbrella we need to have specific programmes targeting girls. Accordingly, a new programme of the National Programme of Education of Girls at the Elementary Level (NPEGEL) has been started which would strengthen SSA further. Under the scheme special interventions have been planned in 2656 educationally backward blocks through community mobilization and local specific interventions from a basket of strategies. The interventions which can be taken up under the programme are development of model girl-child friendly school at the cluster level; additional incentives in the form of stationary, slates, work-books, uniforms, etc; remedial teaching; bridge courses and child care centres.

In addition to the above programme, another programme being planned is the Kasturba Gandhi Swatantra Vidyalaya Scheme, in which residential schools would be opened in backward areas. The objective of the scheme is to ensure access and quality education to girls who belong predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and minorities groups in difficult areas, through the provision of up to 750 residential schools and boarding facilities in girls’ upper primary schools up to the elementary level. It is proposed to implement the scheme until the year 2010 to coincide with the time frame set for realising UEE. Extension beyond this will be based on review. The schools will be set up in a phased manner such that they are able to run for a minimum of five years.

The expansion of Mahila Samakhya (MS) in the Tenth Plan period is another step being taken to address the gender disparity. The programme is being extended to the Educationally Backward Blocks that have been identified in the country. The enlarged geographic coverage of MS is expected to make a qualitative difference to girls’ education and also kindle public thinking on the broad perspective of education as understood by MS. Penetration of the MS methods and strategies to uncovered areas may happen as a ripple effect of the programme’s visibility arising out of its growth in scale.

6. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

BACKGROUND

The Scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) evolved from the recommendations of the State Education Ministers' Conference held in October 1998, to pursue universal elementary education in a mission mode. Education Ministers' Conference had recommended the pursuit of Universal Elementary Education (UEE) in a mission mode. A National Committee of State Education Ministers under the Chairmanship of Minister of Human Resource Development was set up on the recommendation of the conference to work out the approach to the mission mode. The Committee submitted its report in October, 1999. The draft framework for a holistic and convergent approach to UEE in the mission mode was circulated to the States for their comments. This was also discussed in an Education Secretaries Conference in November 1999. Accordingly, the Scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was revised incorporating the suggestions made by the States.

OBJECTIVES

The goals of SSA are as follows:-

1. All 6-14 age children in school/EGS centre/bridge course by 2003,
2. All 6-14 age children complete five year primary education by 2007 and
3. All 6-14 age children complete eight years of schooling by 2010.
4. Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education for life;
5. Bridge all gender and social category gaps at primary stage by 2007 and at elementary education level by 2010;
6. Universal retention by 2010.

FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

The assistance under the programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was on a 85:15 sharing arrangement during the IX Plan, is on 75:25 sharing during the X Plan, and 50:50 sharing thereafter between the Central Government and State Government.

COVERAGE

The programme covers the entire country and addresses the needs of an estimated 192 million children in 11 lakh habitations. 8.5 lakh existing primary and upper primary schools and 33 lakh existing teachers would be covered under the scheme. The programme seeks to open new schools in habitations which do not have schooling facilities and strengthen existing school infrastructure through provision of additional class rooms, toilets, drinking water, maintenance grant and school improvement grant. Existing schools with inadequate teacher strength would be provided additional teachers under the programme. The capacity of existing teachers would be built by extensive training, provision of grant for developing teaching-learning material and development of academic support structure. SSA has a special focus on girls and children of weaker sections. A number of initiatives, including free textbooks, target these children under the programme. SSA also seeks to provide computer education even in rural areas to bridge the digital divide.

The approach is community-owned and village education plans prepared in consultation with Panchayati Raj Institutions will form the basis of district elementary education plans. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan covers the entire country with a special focus on educational needs of girls, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other children in difficult circumstances.

NATIONAL MANAGEMENT

The scheme calls for constitution of a National Mission, whose Governing Council is headed by the Prime Minister and is having representation of all stakeholders. The Executive Committee of the Mission is headed by the Human Resource Development Minister. In addition, a Project Approval Board, headed by Secretary EE&L, has been created for granting approval of District Elementary Education Plans.

PROGRESS SO FAR

During 2001-02, Annual Plans were approved for 512 districts for a total outlay of Rs 1106 crores. Since this was the first year of the programme, most of the district plans were approved late in the year and hence most of the States could not claim the second instalment. The total release to the States was Rs 468 crores against the plans.

The year 2002-03, the first year of the Tenth Plan was the first full year of SSA and Annual Plans of 592 districts were approved for a total outlay of Rs 3080 crores. In addition, an outlay of Rs 2363 crores was approved under District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), a component of SSA targeting primary schools in select districts with low female literacy. The total amount released under SSA in 2002-03 was Rs 1558 crores. Second installment could be released only to some States due to shortage of funds. Under DPEP the total release was Rs 1285 crores in the year 2002-03.

The major items which were approved in 2002-03 under the two programmes are as follows:

2002-2003
	SSA	DPEP	Total
New Schools	18,059	1,640	19,699
New Teachers	25,782	17,108	42,890
School buildings	8,095	8,849	16,944
Addl. Class rooms	32,028	7,495	39,523
Toilets	39,699	11,130	50,829
Drinking water	26,805	6,590	33,395
Free text books (children)	3,11,39,754	1,40,86,909	4,52,26,663
School building maintenance	5,15,700	-	5,15,700
School Grant (schools)	5,61,558	3,07,414	8,68,972
Teacher Grant (teachers)	21,61,514	8,52,445	30,13,959
EGS Centres	59,050	34,996	94,046

In the year 2003-04, plans of 595 districts have been approved till 17/9/2003 for a total amount of Rs 9578 crores, including Rs 1248 crores for DPEP and Rs 8330 crores for SSA. Only 5 districts in the States of Goa and UTs of Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep are yet to send their annual plans. The physical items approved in 2003-3004 are as follows:

2003-2004
	SSA	DPEP	Total
No. of School approved	67190	57	67247
No. of teachers sanctioned	398230	5201	403431
No. of School Building	40960	1586	42546
Addl. Class Room	68779	3950	72729
Toilets	46272	5488	51760
Drinking Water	33161	8053	41214
Teacher Grant (No. of teachers)	2967053	370798	3337851
School Grant (No. of schools)	683303	146143	829446
Maintenance Grants (No. of schools)	733000	42133	775133
Free Text Books (No. of children)	46959451	12140743	59100194
EGS/ AIE (no. of children in million)	11.12	1.24	12.36

In the financial year the emphasis has been to provide adequate educational facilities to enable those children who are still out-of-school through intensive community support, by opening new primary and upper primary schools and setting up EGS/ AIE centres in large numbers to cater to those children needing flexible facilities for education. Apart from providing adequate space for student enrolment and participation, SSA has also substantially stepped up the availability of teachers to meet the enhanced enrolment through provision for almost four lakh teachers in schools and about 6 lakh instructors for EGS/ AIE in 2003-04. SSA has also intensified a media campaign to build awareness and mobilize community members to bring out of school children into the fold of education. The 'school chale hum' (Let us go to school) campaign has become an anthem for the nation to move forward for universal elementary education.