The National Education Policy 2020 envisages an inclusive and structural change in the educational system. It focuses on ‘Equitable and Inclusive Education’ which reverberates the idea that no child should be left behind in terms of educational opportunity because of their background and socio-cultural identities. It has taken into account the concerns of the Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs) which includes female and transgender individuals, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, minorities and other categories. This policy aims at bridging the social category gaps in access, participation, and learning outcomes in school education.

Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education is implementing Samagra Shiksha scheme, effective from 2018-19. 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,  and  children  belonging  to  SC,  ST,  Minority  communities  and transgender.  The Scheme also focuses on the identified Special Focus Districts (SFDs) on the basis of adverse performance on various indicators of enrolment, retention, and gender parity, as well as concentration of SC, ST and minority communities.

Under Samagra Shiksha, there is a provision of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs). KGBVs are residential schools from class VI to XII for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL).  The KGBVs are set up in Educationally Backward Blocks. The objective behind establishing KGBVs is to ensure access and quality education to girls from disadvantaged groups by setting up residential schools and to reduce gender gaps at all levels of school education. 

Currently there are 5627 sanctioned KGBVs across the country in which 6,65,130 girl students belonging to various disadvantaged groups are enrolled.

The Scheme also covers Children with Special Needs (CwSN) from pre-primary to senior secondary level across the country. There is a dedicated Inclusive Education component for the education of CwSN as an integral part of Samagra Shiksha. In keeping with the principle of inclusion, CWSN are provided support through specific student oriented interventions i.e. aids and appliances, teaching aids, assistive devices, identification and assessment camps, teaching and learning materials, orientation program for the parents, education administrators, community, sports events, world disability day, braille books/kits, corrective surgeries, transportation allowances, escort allowances, uniforms (under RTE), stipend for girls, training of general teachers, financial assistance for special educators, use of ICT etc.

Under Student Oriented Component assistance is provided to States/Union Territories @ Rs. 3500/- per Child with Special Needs for both school going and children who cannot attend school (home based education) pertaining to the severity of the disability.

Girls with disabilities receive special focus and efforts under the scheme to help them gain access to schools, as also to provide motivation and guidance for developing their potential. An amount of Rs. 200 per month for 10 months ( Rs.2000/- PA), through Direct Benefit Transfer, is given to girls as stipend to encourage them to come to school.

In the year 2021-22, girls’ stipend is provided to 6.12 lakhs girls with special needs. The total outlay approved was Rs.122.57 Crores.

 Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of respective State and UT Governments. However, in order to ensure that every student of the country gets continued access to education, a multi-pronged approach has been adopted. Regarding school education, to facilitate the online learning by all students a comprehensive initiative called PM eVIDYA has been initiated as part of AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan on 17th May, 2020, which unifies all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes:

• DIKSHA the nation’s digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in states/UTs:  and QR coded Energized Textbooks for all grades (one nation, one digital platform)
• One earmarked SwayamPrabha TV channel per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel)
• Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- Shiksha Vani
• Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube

Further, an Alternate Academic Calendar has been prepared for providing learning solutions for grade 1 to 12 and ‘Students’ Learning Enhancement Guidelines’ prepared by NCERT suggest models for the following three types of scenarios to ensure that no child is deprived of reach of education:

a)         Learning Enhancement during COVID-19 for students without digital devices;

b)         Learning Enhancement during COVID-19 for students with limited accessibility to digital devices &

c)         Learning Enhancement during COVID-19 for students with digital devices.

Also, PRAGYATA guidelines issued to States/UTs to facilitate continued education through various modes. The guidelines inter-alia includes situations where internet connectivity is not available or available with very less bandwidth where resources are shared through various platforms like television, radio etc that do not depend on internet.

Where the digital facility (mobile device/ DTH television) is not available, Ministry of Education has taken many initiatives like Community Radio Stations and a podcast called Shiksha Vani of CBSE, Textbooks, worksheet supplied to residence of learners, Handbook on 21st Century Skills and community/mohalla classes are organized. Innovation Funds of the Department are used to set up mobile school, virtual studios, virtual class rooms in schools, Continuous Learning Plan (CLP) for States/UTs has been initiated in all States/UTs, pre-loaded tablets in various states and UTs are effectively used in remote/rural areas where online classes are difficult.

Under the BharatNetprogramme, the CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd (CSC-SPV) of MeitY has been assigned the task of providing Fibre to the Home (FTTH) connectivity to the Government Institutions, including schools.

Due to the COVID pandemic, since schools were closed, all enrolled children are eligible for Food Security Allowance comprising of food grains and cooking cost. Some States/UTs have provided food grains alongwith payment of cooking cost into the beneficiary’s bank accounts/through cash while other States/UTs provided food grains and dry ration like pulses etc equivalent to cooking cost since 2020-21. About 11.80 crore children are benefited under the scheme studying in 11.20 lakh school during this period.

 Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of respective State and UT Governments. Schools were closed as a precautionary measure to protect the students from Novel COVID-19 (Corona) virus across the world. This has interrupted the learning of students from pre- school to grade 12. During the pandemic, Ministry of Education has held several consultations with the States and UTs to assess the various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. After discussion with the States and UTs, a multi-pronged approach has been adopted to enable multi-mode access to education. Based on the UDISE Plus report 2019-20, 22% schools had access to internet. The Government has taken various steps to provide education amidst COVID-19 pandemic. These include PRAGYATA Guidelines on various modes of digital education including online mode that depends more on availability of internet, partially online mode that utilizes the blended approach of digital technology and other offline activities, partial and offline mode that utilizes television and radio as a major medium of instruction of education. The guidelines can be accessed at:

https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/pragyata-guidelines_0.pdf

The State governments have been asked to act based on the situation prevailing at every place to meet the demands of all students for providing them with the digital access required for learning digitally. In order to enable online education benefit to the children of every category and teachers, Learning Enhancement Guidelines have been issued. The guidelines can be accessed at:

https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_filehs/mhrd/files/Learning_Enhancement_0.pdf

With a view of addressing the issues related to gaps and/or loss of learning among students, during and after the lockdown, National Council of Education Research & Training (NCERT) has prepared ‘Alternative Academic Calendar’ which is a Week-wise plan for grades 1 to 12 and has been developed. It consists of interesting activities and challenges related to topics/themes in the syllabus. It maps the topics/themes with the learning outcomes & facilitates teachers/parents to assess the progress in students’ learning in a variety of ways. NCERT has also developed bridge course for children including lots of activities which are helpful for bridging the learning gaps across classes 1-8 and the States/UTs have also been requested to prepare and implement School Readiness Module/Bridge Course in classrooms for initial one or two months for each grade. When  school reopens, the grade related syllabus should be undertaken only after the bridge course is completed, so that students can adjust to the changed school environment and do not feel the stress or being left out, especially students who did not have access to alternate means of education. Further, Vidya Pravesh has been launched for class 1st students. This is a play preparation 3 months program which prepare students for school through playschools. This scheme aims at spreading the concept of playschools to the remotest parts of the country. It aims to ensure that no student is deprived of education.  

 Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education is implementing the scheme of Samagra Shiksha, effective from 2018-19 to support States and UTs in implementation of the RTE Act, 2009. Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education is one of the major objectives of Samagra Shiksha.

As per the data available on Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) / UDISE+, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of girls for 2018-19 and 2019-20 shows an increase in the enrolment of girls at all levels of school education, details of which are as under:

(Source: UDISE/UDISE+)

Bridging gender and social category gaps at all levels of school education is one of the major objectives of the Samagra Shiksha. Under Samagra Shiksha, to ensure greater participation of girls in education, including in the state of Uttar Pradesh, various interventions have been targeted which include opening of schools in the neighbourhood to make access easier for girls, free uniform and text-books to girls up to Class VIII,  additional teachers and residential quarters for teachers inremote/hilly areas, appointment of additional teachers including women teachers, Stipend to CWSN girls from class I to class XII, separate toilets for girls, teachers’ sensitization programmes to promote girls participation, gender-sensitive teaching-learning materials including text books etc.

To reduce gender gaps at all levels of school education, there is a provision of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) under Samagra Shiksha. KGBVs are residential schools from class VI to XII for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL). A total of 5627 KGBVs have been sanctioned under Samagra Shiksha as on 28.02.2022, in which 665130 girls have been enrolled. 

In the state of Uttar Pradesh 760 KGBVs are operational having an enrolment of 78820 girls.