Post News Network
New Delhi, April 10: The Centre plans to redesign the funding framework for the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), the mid-day meal scheme and the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA).
These three schemes underpin the education system in the country where 220 million children go to school and 29 million students are enrolled in colleges and universities.
Initial discussions on the proposal have already taken place, according to a senior government official.
The plan envisages states bearing 50 per cent of the cost of implementing SSA and MDM and underwriting at least 60 per cent of the cost of RUSA.
Currently, the Centre bears 65 per cent of the cost of SSA and RUSA and contributes 75 per cent of the cost of providing mid-day meals to schoolchildren.
The government this year sharply cut the allocations for these programmes. SSA was allocated Rs 22,000 crore in the 2015-16 fiscal year, nearly Rs 6,000 crore less than last year. The MDM scheme received Rs 9,236.4 crore, a cut of around Rs 4,000 crore. The government earmarked Rs 1,155 crore for RUSA, about Rs 1,000 crore less than last year.
SSA is aimed at universalising elementary school education and is the main vehicle for implementing the Right to Education Act.
The MDM scheme aims to arrest hunger among children in government elementary schools and reduce the dropout rate for students.
RUSA was launched in 2013 to improve the quality of higher education at the state level by providing dedicated funds.
The Centre is weighing three different proposals on funding the programmes in the northeast, Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh to bring them at par with the rest of the states, reduce central funding marginally to 80 per cent or leave the current framework as it is, given that these states are small, have fewer facilities and are located in rugged geographies.
