BharatNotes What is Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan?
Samagra Shiksha (officially "Samagra Shiksha — an integrated scheme for school education") is an overarching centrally sponsored scheme launched by the Department of School Education and Literacy with effect from 2018-19. It covers the full spectrum of school education from pre-school to Class XII and treats this entire range as a continuum, in keeping with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG-4). The scheme subsumed three earlier programmes — Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE) — bringing elementary education, secondary education and teacher training under one administrative and financial umbrella.
It is the main instrument for implementing the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, the statute that gives effect to the fundamental right to education under Article 21A (added by the 86th Constitutional Amendment, 2002, for children aged 6-14 years).
Funding Pattern and Allocation
Samagra Shiksha is funded jointly by the Centre and the States. The standard sharing ratio is 60:40, while for the eight North-Eastern States and the Himalayan States (e.g. Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand) it is 90:10. Union Territories without a legislature are funded 100% by the Government of India.
| Aspect | Detail (as of latest available data) |
|---|---|
| Nodal ministry | Ministry of Education (Dept. of School Education & Literacy) |
| Launched | 2018-19 |
| Funding ratio | 60:40 (general); 90:10 (NE & Himalayan States); 100% (UTs without legislature) |
| Revised continuation | 2021-22 to 2025-26, outlay ₹2,94,283.04 crore; central share ₹1,85,398.32 crore (Cabinet, 2021) |
| Union Budget 2025-26 allocation | ₹41,250 crore |
Samagra Shiksha 2.0 and NEP 2020 Alignment
In 2021 the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved continuation of a revised scheme — popularly "Samagra Shiksha 2.0" — for five years (2021-22 to 2025-26). It incorporates interventions recommended by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, including child-centric benefits delivered through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on an IT platform, support for early childhood care and education (ECCE), and up to ₹500 per child for teaching-learning materials in pre-primary sections.
Key components and sub-interventions include strengthening of schools, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs, upgraded to cover Classes 6-12), residential schools and hostels, vocational education, ICT in schools, self-defence training for girls, and teacher professional development through NISHTHA.
Why It Matters for UPSC
Samagra Shiksha is a textbook case of a centrally sponsored scheme operationalising a fundamental right, making it useful across governance, social-justice and federalism themes. It links Article 21A, the RTE Act, 2009, NEP 2020 and SDG-4 in a single answer. For Mains GS2, it illustrates both the strengths (unified school-education financing) and the challenges (under-utilisation of funds, Centre-State coordination) of large social-sector schemes — a foundational concept underpinning questions on educational equity and human-capital development.
