Education
THE essence of human resource development is education, which plays a significant and
remedial role in balancing the socio-economic fabric of the country. Since citizens of India are
its most valuable resource, the billion-strong nation needs the nurture and care in the form of
basic education to achieve a better quality of life. This warrants an all-round development of the
citizens, which can be achieved by building strong foundations in education. Good quality
education is the foundation of new discoveries, new knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship
that trigger growth and prosperity of the individual as well as that of a nation. For this, we need
to make the curriculum and pedagogy relevant to the needs of the society and economy and
nurture qualities of problem solving and creative thinking, learning-by-doing, greater
engagement with the live context, and confident self-expression from a young age.
To lay emphasis on the educational development of students of weaker sections of the
society, a number of innovative initiatives have been taken by the Ministry such as (i) setting up
of national monitoring committee on minorities (ii) setting up of national monitoring committee
for education of SCs, STs and persons with disabilities (iii) student support initiatives such as
National Meanscum-Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS), National Scheme of Incentive to
Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE), Special Scholarship Scheme for Jammu and Kashmir,
scheme of interest subsidy on educational loans (iv) regulations on prevention of discrimination
and establishment of ombudsman and (v) development of an anti-ragging web portal. Currently,
the Ministry of Human Resource Development works through two departments: Department of
School Education and Literacy, and Department of Higher Education India_2019_AMAZON: E
published on AMAZON
Relevant Website: www.mhrd.gov.in
Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education and Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan
Article 21-A of the Constitution of India and its consequent legislation, the Right of
Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 became operative in the country in
2010. The RTE Act confers the right to elementary education on all children, in the age group of
6-14 years, on the basis of equality of opportunity in a formal school which satisfies certain
essential norms and standards. All states and UTs have notified their state RTE Rules. The
centrally sponsored scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) supports states and UTs in their
efforts to implement the RTE Act. Its interventions include, inter alia, opening of new schools,
construction of schools and additional classrooms, constructing toilets and drinking water
facilities, provisioning for teachers, in-service training for teachers and academic resource
support, free textbooks and uniforms, support for improving learning achievement levels,
research, evaluation and monitoring.
Programme Interventions
I. Universal Access: The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Programme is being implemented since