The government of India's Sarvashiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is preparing to provide education to at least 50,000 students in the state, in the age bracket of 5 to 14. This project, 65% of whose cost is being borne by the Centre and the rest by the state government, will educate children who're presently deprived of schooling. The total cost of the initiative is slated to be Rs1,330 crore for the present financial...

The must debated Right to Education (RTE) Act has raised several questions with regards to its overall impact on the education system in the country. In order to put the Act in the right perspective so that all the stakeholders — schools, teachers, families, parents, children, and civil society —understand its provisions better, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Karnataka, will jointly start a campaign withfocus...

Even five months after the introduction of Right to Education (RTE) Act, the state government seems to have done little to implement it. While the RTE timeline states that within six months of introduction of the Act, the student-teacher ratio should be set right and grievance committees in schools be constituted, the state government has not done either of these. The state government has also not constituted the Right to...

Competing for praise and popularity is as common between Ministries as are turf wars. When officers from different Ministries get the rare opportunity to meet and discuss matters of shared concern, they behave like alert soldiers who are expected to fight for every inch of territory. I had an exposure to this phenomenon while working for a Planning Commission sub-committee on vocational education for skill development. Vocational and technical training...

The success of programmes like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) in getting most children enrolled at the primary level has created the illusion that the government is now finally getting down to business and boldly financing education. Spending on education quadrupled between 1990-91 and 2000-01 . Since 2004-05 , the combined expenditure on education by the Centre and states has increased at a blistering...