(GIST OF YOJANA) Quality Education
for Weaker Section and Disadvantaged Groups
[FEBRUARY-2020]
Quality Education for Weaker Section
and Disadvantaged Groups
Introduction:
- The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009,
entitled every child of age 6 to 14 years to a right to free and compulsory
education in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education.
Section 8(c) of the RTE Act, 2009 provides that the appropriate government
would ensure that the child belonging to weaker section and belonging to
disadvantaged group are not discriminated against and prevented from
pursuing and completing elementary education on any grounds.
- Further, Section 12(1)(c) of RTE Act, 2009 provides that all specified
category schools and unaided schools shall admit at least 25% children
belonging to weaker section and disadvantaged group in the neighbourhood in
class I and provide free and compulsory elementary education till its
completion.
Steps Taken to Ensure Education of Children with Disability:
- Samagra Shiksha, an overarching programme for the tire school education
sector extending from pre-school to class XII, aims to ensure inclusive and
equitable quality education at all levels of school education.
- It envisages the ‘school's continuum from pre-school, primary, upper
primary, secondary to senior secondary levels. Bridging gender and social
category gaps at all levels of school education is one of the major
objectives of the scheme. The scheme reaches out to girls, Children with
Special Needs (CWSN) and children belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC),
Scheduled Tribes (ST), minority communities and transgenders. Tire focus of
major interventions under the Scheme includes provision of RTE.
- Entitlements include free uniforms, text books, special training of out
of-school children etc., provision for inclusive education of Children with
Special Needs (CWSN) and vocational education among others.
- The ‘Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat' (PBBB) is a sub-programme of erstwhile
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) which is continued under the new integrated
scheme Samagra Shiksha to ensure quality at the foundational years of
schooling. The objectives of the programme are to promote early reading and
writing with comprehension skills in children, and also basic numeracy
skills. States/UTs are implementing PBBB in their respective States/UTs
using multiple strategies and approaches.
- These include adoption of NCERT model of early reading, provision of
supplementary reading material, and development of State specific models for
early Maths and early reading.
- The Navodaya Vidyalaya Scheme provides for the opening of one JNV in
each district of the country to bring out the best of rural talent. Its
significance lies in the selection of talented rural children as the target
group and the aim to provide them quality education comparable to the best
in a residential school system.
Promoting Vocational Education in Backward Regions:
- The government has recognised the requirement for spreading vocational
education throughout the country including backward regions.
- Presently, there are 188 Community Colleges, 289 Institutes and 68 DDU
Kaushal Kendras functioning under University Grants Commission (UGC) and
operating vocational education in various sectors. State governments can
offer vocational education through their institutional network as per UGC
guidelines.
- There are various steps already been taken by the government to promote
vocational education throughout the country, including backward regions.
- Developing internship/apprenticeship based degree courses in sectors
like Retail, Logistics, Media and Entertainment, etc.
- Increasing number of institutions offering B.VoC courses in the country.
- Aligning the content of existing skill courses with National Skill
Qualification Framework (NSQF).
- The Draft National Education Policy 2019 is presently under
consideration. The revision of curriculum, syllabi and textbooks for school
education would depend on the finalisation and approval of the New Education
Policy.
