* Universal elementary education * Social justice through quality basic education *

Education should allow children to reach their fullest potential in terms of cognitive, emotional and creative capacities.

The great aim of Education is not Knowledge but Action.

How teachers are prepared for teaching is a critical indicator of Education Quality.

About "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)"

The Genesis

Arduous efforts have been made in the last four decades for Universalization of Elementary Education and to fulfill the mandate of the Indian Constitution. The “National Policy on Education” 1986 and 1992 also gave top priority to the achievement of Universal Elementary Education. Many projects and programmes at the micro and macro levels have been undertaken in the past in this direction. Experiences have shown that as a result of all the past interventions, there has been considerable progress in ensuring access to primary education: there is   increase in enrolment and retention, improvement in school attendance and generation of strong demand for education specially for girls and so on. However, pupil achievement levels have  been generally low and there are wide inter-state and inter-district differences in pupils' attendance and achievement levels.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is an attempt to improve capabilities of all children through provision of community owned quality education in a mission mode.

Objectives

The broad aim  of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is to provide useful and relevant elementary education to all children in the 6 to 14 age group by 2010 and to bridge social, regional and gender gaps, with the active participation of the community in the management of schools.

The following are the specific objectives of SSA :

• All children in School, Education Guarantee Centre, Alternate School or 'Back-to-School' camp by 2005.

• Bridge all gender and social category gaps at primary stage by 2007 and at elementary education level by 2010.

• Universal retention by 2010.

• Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education for life.

National Framework for implementation of SSA

  Contents

  Framework

  Appendix

PROCESS OF PLAN FORMULATION IN TAMIL NADU  

In Tamilnadu, the District Annual Work plan and Budget is prepared in a decentralized and participatory manner. The core planning teams at Village/school, Block and District and State levels have been revived. As envisaged in the SSA framework, the ‘bottom-up’ approach of planning has been adopted to analyse the problems and issues and to address them appropriately.

 The State Core Planning Team takes care of planning for urban areas as well. The State core planning team consists of Director of School Education, Director of Elementary Education, Director of Teacher Education Research and Training, Joint Director and Finance & Accounts Officer of SSA, Consultants of Finance and Statistics, Representative from Chennai Corporation, Adi Dravida & Tribal Welfare Dept., Social Welfare Dept., Physically Handicapped and Rehabilitation Dept., Rural Development Dept., Backward Class Dept and Chief Engineer (Buildings) of the Directorate of Technical Education.

 The district core planning team functions under the chairmanship of the District Collector. The team comprises District Programme Co-ordinator, Chief Educational Officer, DEO (Secondary), DEEO, Asst. Programme Officer, Statistical Officer, Principal, DIET, Representatives from Health, Public & Social Welfare Dept and DRDA.

 The Block-level Planning Team consists of Panchayat Union Chairman, Block Resource Centre Supervisor, Block Development Officer (BDO), Block Resource Teacher Educators (BRTEs), Assistant Elementary Education Officer(s), Two BRTEs and Two Headmasters (One retired). The School/habitation level Core Planning Team comprises Headmaster, President/Ward Member, Teachers, Parents and Women Self Help Group Members.

The State planning team has prepared a time schedule for carrying out the planning activities in the Districts that has been adhered to.  First, capacity building for the State Planning Team was taken up during the third week of December 2008. And then in the last week of December, a State level workshop on planning was organized for capacity building of District planning team members in which various components of SSA were elaborately discussed. It was made clear during the workshop that AWP&B 2009-2010 is a continuum of the quality plan, the process of which was initiated last year.  The members were also apprised of the revised guidelines issued by Government of India (GOI) including the latest ones.

 A one-day orientation workshop has been organized by MHRD in Chennai on 8 January 2009 for the Southern Zone States, namely Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerela, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Aandaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep to train the state officials/planning coordinators on appraisal of District AWP&B 2009-10.

In the second week of January 2009, the District-level workshops for the Block-level planning teams were organized in every District. The District and Block level Team members held consultative meetings with Village Education Committee(VEC) members, Parents, Teachers, NGOs, Women Self Help Group, other related departments and other stakeholders at the grassroots level. The views and suggestions received from these people were incorporated into the AWP&B. 

The school/habitation planning teams have prepared school-level plans and the same have been approved by the VECs concerned. The School-level Plans have been consolidated at the Block level. The Block-level teams, after analyzing various issues and problems and strategies adopted last year, have prepared full-fledged Block-level plans with appropriate new strategies to be adopted in the ensuing year. Indicators such as access, enrolment, retention, completion and achievement have been used in identifying the gaps and addressing the same. The data available through DISE, Cohort Study, EER as also the Monthly Review Reports have been used for the preparation of plan documents apart from the information available in 2001 census record. The Block-level Plans have been duly approved by the Block Education Committees (BECs) before forwarding the same to the District.

 Before formulating the AWP&B 2009-2010, the District planning team members have reviewed the achievements during 2008-2009 and analysed the shortfall, if any, in the achievement of the physical and financial target of the District plan as approved by the PAB. They have consulted all stakeholders on issues that needed to be tackled at the field level.

 The District Planning Teams have taken sustained efforts in guiding the Block Planning Teams in preparing detailed activity-based Plans. The District Plans have been carefully consolidated and budgets have been prepared for the activities. The District Plan has been perused by the District Education Committee (DEC) and approved by the District Collector, who is the Chairperson of the DEC.

 The State-level appraisal team consisting of 5 independent experts has been constituted specically for this as per the guidelines of GOI.  The independent members of the team have been selected by the State and they have been approved by GOI. The State-level planning team has been given orientation on district plan appraisal on 8 January 2009. An orientation workshop for the State appraisal team members has been organized by MHRD, New Delhi on 27.01.2009.   The appraisal of the AWP&B of the Districts was taken up during 29-31, January 2009. The committee’s suggestions have been duly incorporated with appropriate modifications.

 The State-level Planning Team has consolidated the District Plans and drafted the State Plan as per the guidelines. The State Plan has been duly presented before the Executive Committee (EC) of Tamilnadu State Mission of Education For All which has been held on 10.02.2009 and got approved. The suggestions from the Chairperson and members of the EC have been incorporated into the AWP&B 2009-2010. 

Village Education Committee (VEC)          

There are 43,656 VECs/PTAs functioning in schools in all the Districts. VECs function in Primary and Middle Schools and PTAs are in place in high and Higher Secondary Schools. In urban areas, WECs are functioning.   The Panchayat President is the Chairperson in rural areas and Ward Members/Councilors hold the position in Municipal and Corporation limits. The Headmaster of the school is the member-secretary. VECs are represented by a wide spectrum of the community with 20 members. The members include PTA president, Self Help Group members, Parents, Ward Member or Elected Representatives, ECCE/ICDS organizer, NGOs, Village Administrative Officer, Health Worker, Women ward member, SC ward member, parents of the disabled children and youth club members.  

Block Resource Centre (BRC) 

Block Resource Centres have been established in all 385 rural blocks and in 16 urban municipal/Corporation areas.  The number of resource persons working in the BRCs is 1896 against the sanctioned strength of 1912.    

Cluster Resource Centre (CRC)

Cluster Resource Centres has been established at the rate of one CRC per 10 to 15 schools.  About 4088 CRCs are functioning with 4088 Resource Persons.    

 SSA Management Structure     

The Programme implementation is carried out through the Project Management Structures viz., Village Education Committees / Parent Teacher Associations, Cluster Resource Centres, Block Resource Centres, District Project Offices and State Project Office with integrating Education Department structure at field level.   

                                                                   State Project Directorate – Staff Structure

                                                       District Project Office – Staff Structure

BUDGET AND EXPENDITURE

Introduction

Tamil Nadu State Mission of Education for All is a registered society formed in Tamil Nadu for the purpose of implementation of centrally shared flagship schemes of

1.      Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA),

2.       National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) and

3.       Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV)

        The above schemes are implemented by Government of India and Government of Tamil Nadu as per the sharing pattern agreed in every five year plan.

            Five year plan wise agreed sharing pattern formula are as follows:

           Year-wise Budget Outlay, Releases and Expenditure Details                              

    (Rs. in Crore) 

          Details of Financial Progress for the year 2010-11

 Rs. in crores

      Activity wise Approved Budget and Expenditure  for the year 2010-2011                                                    

                                                                                                                          (Rs. in crore)

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