NEW DELHI:Education is not a matter of politics and it will not be an issue during the 2019 general elections, Union Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said in New Delhi on Thursday while launching the integrated education scheme.
“Education is not a subject for politics and it will also not be a subject for the 2019 elections. It is a subject of future generations and everybody must have an access to it,” he said.
The integrated education scheme for school education is aimed at taking a holistic approach from the pre-school to the senior secondary level, and three existing schemes -- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Teacher Education -- will be subsumed under it.
“Samagra means a holistic approach to something, treats it as a whole rather than as a number of different parts. Having a single and unified administrative structure will lead to harmonised implementation,” Javadekar said.
The minister said that the budget for the three schemes was Rs28,000 crore in 2017-18, but the budget outlay on the new scheme had been increased to Rs 34,000 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 41,000 crore in 2019-20, marking a rise of 20 per cent.
Under the revamped scheme, about one million schools will get a library grant of Rs 5,000 to Rs20,000, and every government school will get grants for sports equipment, ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs25,000 annually.
Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya is also set to be expanded from Class 6-8 to Class 6-12 with allocation of Rs4,385.60 crore in 2018-19 and Rs4,553.10 crore in 2019-20.
The minister said that scheme will build on grade-wise, subject-wise learning outcomes and the largest National Achievement Survey was conducted in 2017-18 to strategize district-level interventions for improving quality of education.
“This approach would help to shift the focus of student learning from content to competencies,” he said.
Main features of integrated education scheme:
■ Emphasis on improvement of learning outcomes
■ Initial and periodic training of schoolteachers
■ Annual grant of I5,000-20,000 for strengthening libraries
■ Composite school grant increased from I14,500-50,000 to I25,000-100,000