Centrally Sponsored Schemes for Secondary Education

Education provides the surest instrument for attaining sustainable development of a high
order in a country. While primary education is a basic enabling factor for participation and freedom
for leading a life with dignity and overcoming basic deprivation, secondary education is the gateway
for prosperity, for transforming the economy and establishing social justice. Being a crucial stage in
the educational hierarchy, it opens the youth of the country to the world of work and contributes
to socio-economic development of the community. The effective secondary education also enables
the children to actively participate in the national development process and opens up the doors for
further education.
It is a well recognized fact that a time of eight years is an insufficient period to educate and
equip a child for the world of work, as also to be a competent adult citizen. The pressure on secondary
education is already being felt due to the success of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in relation to primary
education. Therefore, while secondary education is not constitutionally compulsory, it is necessary
and desirable that access to secondary education is universalized leading to enhanced participation and
improved quality.
Centrally Sponsored Schemes for Secondary Education
The National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986 (as modified in 1992) stated that “access to
Secondary Education will be widened with emphasis on enrolment of girls, SCs and STs, particularly
in Science, Commerce and vocational streams”. Following the recommendations, the centre initiated
different schemes to support children of secondary and higher secondary schools at different points in
time. Central Government supports autonomous organizations like NCERT, Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs)
and Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs) and CTSA (Central Tibetan Schools Administration). While NCERT
provides research and policy support to the Central and State Governments, the other three have their
own school systems. In addition, Central Government operates four centrally sponsored schemes:
i) ICT@schools for providing assistance to State Governments for computer education and
computer aided education in secondary and higher secondary schools
ii) Inclusive Education of the Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS) (formerly IEDC) for assisting State
Governments and NGOs in main-streaming the disabled children in school education
iii) Access and Equity for providing assistance to NGOs to run girls’ hostels in the rural areas
iv) Quality improvement in schools which includes provision of assistance to State Governments
for introduction of Yoga, for improvement of Science education in schools, for environment
education and for population education in addition to supporting Science Olympiads. The
recent enactment of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE) and
the success of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has also pushed this vision forward to move towards
universalisation of secondary education.
Genesis of Rashtriya Madhayamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)
To attain the general objective of universalisation of access to education at the
secondary stage and also of improvement of quality of education, a centrally sponsored robust scheme,
under mission mode similar to SSA, was needed to cover the secondary and higher secondary stage.
Such a course of action was also recommended by the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE)
- a Committee on Universalisation of Secondary Education (June 2005. The Tenth Plan Mid-
Term Appraisal (MTA) document of the Planning Commission has also, inter alia, recommended as
follows: “In order to plan for a major expansion of secondary education in the event of achievement
of full or near full retention under SSA, setting up of a new Mission for Secondary Education, on the To
improve quality of education imparted at secondary level through making all secondary
schools conform to prescribed norms l To remove gender, socio-economic, geographic
and disability barriers. Universal access to secondary level education Merger of Schemes under the
umbrella of the RMSA
Centrally Sponsored Schemes such as IEDSS (Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage)
and Girls’ hostels target are being implemented with their own specific objectives of addressing equity
goal. However, running these schemes in slow mode creates avoidable hurdles in holistic planning and
implementation of the schemes. Separate appraisal and approval mechanism for these schemes are
resulting in duplication of efforts at State and National level. The same is true for other schemes
aiming at quality such as Vocational Education and ICT@ schools. Given the common broader goals of
all these schemes and with a view to ensure efficient utilization of funds and greater coordination, the
need is to cover them under the broader overarching programme of RMSA. Similar approach of
subsuming NPEGEL (National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level), KGBV (Kasturba
Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya) and IEDC (Integrated Education of Disabled Children) under SSA has been
adopted. Hence, to ensure administrative efficiency and optimal utilisation of resources, it is proposed
that these schemes be subsumed under RMSA. Necessary modifications in RMSA Framework proposed
are:
l One integrated Plan proposal for all the interventions under Secondary sector to be
appraised and approved.
l Construction of Girls’ hostel and Scheme for Vocationalisation of Secondary Education be subsumed
under the RMSA without any modification and with their existing sharing pattern.
l Specific components of the schemes like support to CWSN (Children with Special Needs) under IEDSS,
hardware & software under ICT @ school continue as components under RMSA with the overall sharing
pattern of RMSA.
l Provision of new toilets for children with special need be sanctioned only if the conversion is not
possible or new toilets are not sanctioned under RMSA. It has to be ensured that among new toilets
sanctioned under RMSA, at least one toilet should be made accessible to CWSN. This way duplication of
resource allocation could be avoided.
l Teacher training components of in-service teachers training and induction training is provisioned in all
the 4 schemes RMSA, IEDSS, ICT & Vocational education.
Extension of the RTE 2009 to Secondary Education – Empowering the RMSA
The 58th meeting of the CABE was held on 7th June, 2011 wherein it was felt that every child in
the country - irrespective of gender, caste, class or community to which he or she belongs - must have
the right to at least 10 years of formal -schooling.
Accordingly, with the approval of the Minister of Human Resource Development, the CABE constituted
a sub-committee on “Extension of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009
to Pre-school education and secondary education. At the National Consultative Meet on ‘Extension of
RTE to Secondary Education’ held on 11th February, 2013 a uniform feeling persisted that it was very
important to extend RTE up to at least secondary level. The definition of child has been accepted up
to the age of 18 years and for feasibility, framing and implementation of RTE till secondary, it should not
be diluted. Education to children is not for labour market purpose but for a larger goal. If in the near
future, extension of the RTE Act, 2009 to Secondary Education is legally recognized and the existing
norms of RMSA are aligned with the extended RTE Act, universalization of secondary education will
really get an unprecedented momentum.
Suggestions for Implementation
RMSA is the ever first milestone of the Secondary Education System in India. The education
system is forwarding towards quality education through the RMSA. Some suggestions for effective
implementation are as follows –
l To ensure equal access to all facilities, each State will have to identify the disadvantaged section
of the society, geographically disadvantaged locations, economically disadvantaged group
etc and accordingly interventions to address the gaps.
l To ensure community participation for ensuring access to quality education, School Management
Development Committees (SMDC) will have to play a vital role for implementation of RMSA.
l To effectively implement the RMSA, the Human Resource Development Ministry, Labour Ministry,
Women and Child Development Ministry and Rural Development Ministry have to work together with a
common goal.
l It is necessary to involve the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in rural areas for implementing
the RTE Act. Parents, teachers, professionals, social workers and NGOs should assist the government
in this regard. People’s representatives – MPs, MLAs, PRIs members should also be made responsible for
smooth functioning of the schools in their areas.
l The quality of teachers is the backbone of any educational programme. Teachers need to have at their
disposal a deep fund of empathy, commitment, conviction and ability and motivation to persevere; of
knowledge and resources to respond and create meaningful educational experiences for all children.