Anupum Shrikandia
During the last two decades a major emphasis has been given on improving school environment by different educational programmes like Operational Blackboard, District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhmik Shiksha Abhiyan (RAMSA) and Samagra Shiksha in order to enhance regular participation of students and finally resulting in improvement in their learning level. An attempt has also been made to provide adequate facilities as per needs of schools, as recommended by National Education Policy (NEP). The policy has recognized that unattractive school environment, unsatisfactory condition of buildings and insufficiency of instructional materials functions as de-motivating factors for children and their parents. The main aim of two major centrally sponsored schemes for school education SSA and RAMSA works to ensure that all children in country have access to elementary and secondary schools with adequate infrastructure in partnership with states/UTs. Some of the important infrastructure facilities provided during SSA and RAMSA are discussed below.
Increase in number of schools: SSA &RAMSA during its decade long programme have sanctioned more than 3.64 lakh elementary and secondary schools which has resulted in significant increase in number of schools in rural areas .The figures of 8th All India Education Survey revealed that rural population have access to primary stage education facilities within a distance of 3 Km. Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) are residential upper primary schools set up in educationally backward blocks for girls from SC, ST, OBCs and minority communities. Girls hostel for students of secondary and higher secondary schools: This is also centrally sponsored scheme been implemented since 2009-10 to set up a 100-bed girls’ hostel Chart 1: Student Classroom Ratio (Rural Area) Source: UDISE 40 in each of the 3,479 educationally Backward Blocks (eBBs) of the country in an effort to ensure that girls are retained at the secondary level of education. 2,483 Girls’ Hostel are sanctioned in rural area to improve access and retain the girls in secondary and Higher secondary classes (X-XII) so that the girls get the opportunity to continue with their studies irrespective of distance to schools and other socio-economic factors.
School building and classroom: There are 98 per cent schools in rural areas, having their buildings. Since the inception of the erstwhile Centrally sponsored scheme, SSA and RMSA 18.40 lakh classrooms has been constructed as a result the student classroom ratio (SCR) reduced drastically. Drinking Water: Investment for enhancement in facilities was not limited to opening of new schools alone. The school infrastructure (physical facilities in the school) has also augmented substantially with financial and technical support provided from SSA & RMSA. As per UDISE 2016-17, there are 97 per cent schools in rural areas equipped with drinking water facility. Many states have already achieved universal availability of drinking water facility with 100 per cent in schools.
Separate Toilet for Boys and Girls: Department of School Education & Literacy had launched Swacch Vidyalaya Initiative with an objective to provide separate toilets for girls and boys in all government schools within the timeline of 15th August, 2015. Under this Chart 2: Improvement in toilet facility (Rural Area) initiative 4,17,796 (2.26 lakh boys’ and 1.91 lakh girls’ toilets) toilet blocks were constructed or made functional in 2,61,400 schools within the given timeline. This included schools in the most difficult to remote areas in the country or areas facing Left Wing extremism (LWe). The Initiative was made successful in partnership with all State Governments, 64 Central Public Sector Undertakings, and 11 private Corporates. With this, about 13.77 crore children in 11.21 lakh government schools all over the country now have access to toilet facilities. Ramps and CWSN toilet: One of the major objectives of all education programmes that have been implemented at present is to develop an inclusive education system by providing access to children with disabilities. provisioning of ramp and CWsN toilet facility are two major interventions in this regard. It has been found in DISE 2016-17 that around 64 per cent schools are having ramp and 23 per cent schools having CWsN toilet facility. The proportion of schools without ramp facility is much higher in case of secondary and higher secondary level though there has been considerable decline of such schools during last two years of all levels.
Library: The RTE Act and RMSA specifies that the Library will be an essential component of the school, providing not only resource for learning, but also for strengthening the idea of reading for pleasure, among the students. The UDISE 2016-17 data indicates that there has been an increase in the facilities from 2010 after the implementation of RTE Act and RMSA. In rural areas the percentage of schools with library has been increased from 55 per cent in 2009-10 to 82 per cent in 2016-17. Computer Aided Learning (CAL): Under SSA the CAL is primarily introduced in rural government upper primary schools covering the classes VI to VIII to attract and retain children and also in the process, enhance the quality of learning. The main objective of the CAL programme is to attract the rural children, retain them in the schools and to improve the quality of the education through animated multimedia based educational content. Since the inception of the programme, approximately 1.06 lakh upper primary schools have been benefited from the intervention. This program improves the IT literacy in the rural areas particularly and will go a long way in removing the digital divide in India. Electricity: Electricity is a lasting need for education, particularly in rural areas within a few years, students will be using digital devices to access information needed for studies, instead of using traditional textbooks. Computers and smart classrooms in rural areas have changed the need for electricity in schools. Although more than80 per cent of secondary and higher secondary schools in the rural areas are equipped with electricity facility, large number of primary schools are still devoid of electricity, despite having electricity in villages. Playground: RTE Act 2009 gives emphasis on playground in schools as playing puts enormous positive impact on children in their learning and overall physical development. The situation regarding availability of playground in schools is far from satisfactory even in rural areas. There are 59 per cent schools having playground within it. Lack of availability of playground hampers engagement of children in different games and physical activities making schooling monotonous and unattractive. The situation is slightly better in case of upper primary, secondary and higher secondary levels. Boundary Wall: It is also noteworthy that although most of the schools are running in a building but many of these schools are found without any boundary wall. The analysis of U-DIse data indicates that a 47 per cent of schools in 42 rural area do not have boundary wall which is very important for safety of children. Science Laboratory for Secondary & Higher Secondary schools: Science is different from any other subject. It is believed that laboratory teaching and experiments that are being conducted help encourage deep understanding in children. Children are able to retain the knowledge for longer when they see the experiments being performed in front of them. Under RMSA, integrated science labs have been sanctioned to the secondary schools. The chart below shows the availability of the labs in rural area. Conclusion: A good school infrastructure with good spaces makes conducive place for the children to study. Both SSA and RMSA have improved access to elementary and secondary education in the country. In rural areas, the augmented school infrastructure has enhanced enrolment of children in schools especially girls and other disadvantaged groups. It makes the learning more interesting and gets the children motivated to attained school this in turn improves the attendance and interest of students in learning.