Section: Education
Title: Thrust on Education
Relevance: GS 2
Why has this article been published?
The Budget 2018-19 has also made some key announcements in the education sector.
Highlights of the Budget 2018-19 in Education Sector
- Integration of the existing schemes,
- providing improved access to Schedule Tribes (STs),
- shift from regular blackboards to digital blackboards,
- revitalization of the infrastructure of the higher education institutions and
- fiscal accountability
Initiatives Taken in Education Sector
- The National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986 initiated a wide range of programmes for achieving the goal of Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE).
- The 1980s and 1990s witnessed several schematic and programme interventions, such as the Operation Black Board, Shiksha Karmi Project, Mahila Samakhya and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) for UEE across the country.
- This was further strengthened with the passage of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 which gave a legal mandate to provide free and compulsory elementary education to every child in the age group of 6-14 years.
- The National Programme of Education (1986) emphasized equitable access and the enrolment of girls, SCs and STs.
- The NPE while recognizing secondary education as a critical instrument for social change, called for its phased expansion.
- The subsequent Programme of Action (POA), 1992 emphasis again on increasing access to secondary education, increased autonomy of Boards of Secondary Education; introduction of technology in school curriculum and vocationalisation through specialized institutions.
- The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme initiated in 2009, demonstrated the government’s intent for a secondary education system that can support India’s growth and development.
- The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Restructuring and Reorganization of Teacher Education (CSSTE) initiated in 1987 primarily for improvement in the status and professional competence of teachers.It envisaged teacher education as a continuous process with pre-service and in-service training being its inseparable components.
Merger of Schemes in School Education
- The focus of the Central Government needs to be now on encouraging States to take steps for improvement in quality of education.
- It is in this context, that steps are being undertaken to create a single scheme for School Education by merging the different Centrally Sponsored Schemes such as SSA, RMSA, CSSTE with the broader goal of improving school effectiveness.
- Evaluations of the Schemes have suggested increased convergence and integration between the Schemes through a single school education development programme covering grades I-XII. This would help in instilling allocative efficiency and optimal utilization of budgetary and human resources.
- Some States have already strived to attain convergence between the two Schemes of SSA and RMSA. This kind of convergence would facilitate productive synergies, better co-ordination and economies of administrative costs.
- Other advantages of this merger would be institutional capacity building, exploration of new digital initiatives for strengthening in-service and pre-service teacher training innovative pedagogy, integration of training structures, etc. This would strengthen the quality of teaching in schools across levels.
Other initiatives to improve quality of education
- TEACHING: Quality education entails both teaching and learning. This will also be in line with the integrated B. Ed programme, another highlight of the Union Budget 2018, which aims to improve the quality of teaching and training to make education a holistic process from pre-nursery to class XII. Digital platform for teachers is already in place through the portal DIKSHA, which will enable the teachers to train themselves, to boost their skills and upgrade their knowledge.
- TECHNOLOGY: The role of technology in teaching and learning cannot be undermined. Technology in classroom increases independent access and learning, provides greater choices for content delivery, increases self confidence, enhances communication, provides flexibility in teaching, learning and evaluating and gives immediate feedback.
- EMRS: Another step towards improving quality education is the scheme of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) for ST students under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs. The objective of EMRS is to provide quality middle and high level education to Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in remote areas, to enable them to have access to the best opportunities in education at par with the non ST population.
- HEFA & RISE: The Budget 2018 has made it clear that Centrally funded institutions (CFIs) such as IITs, IIMs, NITs, IIITs and central universities will no longer receive budget grants for expanding and building new infrastructure. Instead, all infrastructure financing will be moved to the Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA). Under the new funding model, called Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education or RISE,the central universities and institutes will be able to borrow up to Rs 1,00,000 crore in the next four years.
Conclusion
A holistic move in the school sector surely seems a welcome step. All the above measures are efforts in the direction of providing better education for all, including the excluded and the disadvantaged groups which will result in accelerating progress in improving access, quality and student achievement worldwide.
