The primary focus of the second phase of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will be on getting girls and children from marginalised groups into school

India’s ambitious but often criticised universal education initiative -- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) (Education for All) -- has received a Rs 1,200 crore grant from the UK’s Department For International Development (DFID). The funds are for the second phase of the programme.

The primary focus of SSA-2 will be on getting girls and children from marginalised groups into school. The SSA aims to ensure that all children between the ages of six and 14 are enrolled in primary school by 2010.

Nemat Shafik, DFID’s permanent secretary who was in the Indian capital recently, said she believes DFID played a major part in the success of SSA-1 in which enrolment rates rose to 96%. However, she added that the agency was worried that dropout rates were also high.

That is why, she said, DFID is targeting child nutrition and gender discrimination in the education system.

Shafik noted that the development programme for India is the largest the organisation has undertaken for over a decade. “We see great changes happening here, India becoming a global power. But let us not forget that more than 400 million people live in extreme poverty and another 500 million live on between one and three dollars a day. Without education, India will not be able to consolidate the gains it has made economically so far.”

Of the states DFID is looking at, Bihar features on the top of the list. “There is a real need for urban services, health and medical care for pregnant women and newborns in the state. I am heartened with the resolve on the part of the state government to improve these services despite all the negative talk about the state,” Shafik said.

Source: Hindustan Times, July 2, 2008
            PTI, July 1, 2008