Government’s efforts of opening more schools in the remote areas to give girls easier access to education, providing free uniform, text-books to girls up to Class VIII and allotting additional teachers in remote areas have brought the desired results.
As per the data available on Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) / UDISE+, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of girls from 2018-19 to 2019-2020 at Primary level increased from 101.78 to 103.69 and 88.54 to 90.46 at Upper Primary level. The GER of Secondary level and Higher secondary level also showed an increase from 76.93 to 77.83 and 50.84 to 52.40 respectively.
Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education is implementing the scheme of Samagra Shiksha, effective from 2018-19 to support States and UTs in implementation of the RTE Act, 2009. Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education is one of the major objectives of Samagra Shiksha.
Bridging gender and social category gaps at all levels of school education is one of the major objectives of the Samagra Shiksha. Under Samagra Shiksha, to ensure greater participation of girls in education, various interventions have been targeted which include opening of schools in the neighbourhood to give girls easier access to education. Female students were provided free uniform and text-books to girls up to Class VIII. The government allotted additional teachers and residential quarters for teachers in remote or hilly areas.
Besides appointment of additional teachers including women teachers, the stipend to girls with special needs from class I to class XII also boosted the GER. Before the inception of Samagra Shiksha scheme, there were many schools without separate toilets for girls. The scheme focused on constructing toilet for girl students and also teachers’ sensitization programmes to promote girls participation. Gender-sensitive teaching-learning materials including text books were added in the curriculum.
To reduce gender gaps at all levels of school education, there is a provision of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) under Samagra Shiksha. KGBVs are residential schools from class VI to XII for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL). A total of 5,627 KGBVs have been sanctioned under Samagra Shiksha as on 28.02.2022, in which 6,65,130 girls have been enrolled.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved continuation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme- Samagra Shiksha Scheme which is an integrated scheme for school education sector from 1st April 2021 to 31st March, 2026 with an estimated outlay of ₹ 294283.04 crore. The Scheme is in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG-4) and has now been aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 to ensure inclusive and equitable, quality and holistic school education.
In order to ensure effective implementation of the scheme and its reach to last mile, measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been developed, for every component of Samagra Shiksha. In addition, the scheme also proposes to give flexibility to the States and UTs to plan and prioritize their interventions within the scheme norms and the overall resource envelope available to them. The scheme covers 11.6 lakh schools, over 15.6 crore students and 57 lakh teachers of government and aided schools (from pre-primary to senior secondary level) by involving all stakeholders of the school ecosystem
