New Integrated Scheme for School Education

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyhan and Teacher Education scheme will be replaced by a new integrated scheme for Class 1 to 12

Y.S. Rana

The writer is a Hamirpur based Himachali settled in Chandigarh

In bid to cut cost, bring integrated quality education and good administration, three centrally sponsored schemes will be replaced by a new integrated scheme for Class 1 to 12. These have been operational for the past 15 years for improving quality of education and infrastructure in government schools. For this purpose, Union HRD Ministry had constituted a committee in February last. The merger of the existing scheme was proposed by NITI Aayog after a detailed assessment. A meeting of the committee for formulating the Manual on Financial Management and Procurement for the said integrated scheme was held in New Delhi on March 15 last. The meeting was attended by 12 members of the committee and State Project Directors of Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The finance controllers (FCs) of Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have been included as co-opted members. In the meeting issues such as to carve out the main contours of the manual and chapters and contents to be covered, areas and aspects which require modification with respect to finance and guidelines and procedures under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyhan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE) were discussed. Besides this, district-wise plan formulation be be continued and followed and how to include teacher education related interventions were also discussed in the meeting.

A decision to merge three flagship education Schemes—SSA, RMSA and TE- from this academic has been taken and a news scheme will take place for Classes 1 to 12. It is stated by Vijay Vij, Finance Controller, Chandigarh and one of the members of the committee constituted by the Ministry of HRD for this purpose.

At present, the interventions/ component under the SSA, RMSA and Teacher Education schemes have been in operation for the past about 15 years for improving the education quality and infrastructure in government schools at elementary level and secondary level. The schemes are being implemented through three different state implementing societies created by State/UTs under Societies Registration Act 1860. The central share and state share were earlier released to State Implementing Society (SIS) and from 2014-15 the central share is being released to State/UTs Treasury which in turn release the central and state share to SIS. Then SISs further releases the funds to district and from there funds are transferred electronically to Government and government

aided schools.

While talking to Himachal This Week, Vij further stated that funds were utilized as per norms and financial provision as the Manual on Financial Management and Procurement of respective schemes. It creates a lot of administrative as well as financial problems. To cope with these problems it is decided to have one integrated education scheme. Now after the formulation and approval of new integrated schemes for school education, it has to be implemented by single State Implementing Society, he said.

The Present Scenario…

Presently, the three schemes operate through separate SIS with separate bank accounts, separate project offices and separate project personnel. The institutional arrangements including for planning, budgeting, training and monitoring and evaluation are separate for all the schemes. The new scheme enables the States to bring a single Plan for the entire school education sector, said Vij. Earlier, the meetings for the project approval board scheduled in January and February or approval of the budget proposals of the state governments under these schemes for financial year 2018-19 have been deferred. “Merger of schemes will lead to an optimal utilisation of budgetary allocations and effective use of human resources and institutional structures, besides synergising approaches to improve access, participation, student flow/internal efficiency and equity as far as possible,” feels Mr Vij.

Funding For Himachal

The budget of SSA, RMSA and STE will be merged and the Centre will provide funds on 60:40 sharing basis to most states and 90:10 to north-eastern states and three Himalayan states, including Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. While the states will submit separate plans for each of these schemes at present, the new programme envisages a single plan for the entire school education sector under the new programme. Next meeting of the committee for formulating and Manual on Financial Management and Procurement for the integrated scheme will be held on April 12 next.

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