A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SAMACHEER KALVI AND SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAAN By ANUSHA MURTHY 41909107006 INTRODUCTION : Education in India especially

primary education continues to be the best in the world scenario.Indian Government has been striving to make India a world class educated Country. The Govt continuously introduces new plans and programs to achieve the same. Two such plans are the SarvaShiksha Abhiyaan introduced by the Central Government and the Samacheer Kalvi thittam by the TamilNadu State Government. SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAAN : Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan or the Free and Compulsory education Act was a flagship of the Indian Government pioneered by Atal Bihari Vajpayee for achievement of universalization of elementary education in a time bound manner, as mandated by the 86th amendment to the Constitution of India making free and compulsory education to children of ages 614 (estimated to be 205 million in number in 2001) a fundamental right. The programme aims to achieve the goal of universalization of elementary education of satisfactory quality by 2010. The government also seeks to open new schools in area which do not have schooling facilities and strengthen existing school infrastructure. Goals of the SSA include 1. All in school by 2005. 2. Complete 5 years of primary education by 2005 and 8 years of schooling by 2010. 3. Satisfactory Quality with emphasis on education for life. 4. Bridge all gender and social gaps at primary level by 2007 and elementary level by 2010. 5. Universal retention by 2010.

The program seeks to open new schools in those habitations which do not have schooling facilities and strengthen existing school infrastructure through provision of additional class rooms, toilets, drinking water, maintenance grant and school improvement grants. Existing schools with inadequate teacher strength are provided with additional teachers, while the capacity of existing teachers is being strengthened by extensive training, grants for developing teaching-learning materials and strengthening of the academic support structure at a cluster, block and district level. SSA seeks to provide quality elementary education including life skills. SSA has a special focus on girl's education and children with special needs. SSA also seeks to provide computer education to bridge the digital divide.

SAMACHEER KALVI : Samacheer Kalvi or Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education or TamilNadu uniform system of school education Act or Equitable education system is a Government of Tamil Nadu, India programme to integrate the various school educational systems within the state which has over 1.2 crore students in four streams of school education comprising about 45,000 state board schools, 11,000 matriculation schools, 25 oriental schools and 50 Anglo-Indian schools, with different syllabus, textbooks and schemes of examinations. Uniform System of School Education was implemented by Tamil Nadu Uniform System of School Education Act 2010 which paves way for quality education to all children without any discrimination based on their economic, social or cultural background. The new system of education was introduced for classes I and VI in the 2010 academic year. Goals of Samacheer Kalvi : 1) Education for all 2) Uniting the various boards of the TN State Government 3) Mother tongue as medium of instruction. 4) Fully State funded common school system.

5) Neighborhood Schools In the State of Tamil Nadu, there had been different Boards imparting basic education to students upto 10th standard, namely, State Board, Matriculation Board, Oriental Board and Anglo-Indian Board. Each Board had its own syllabus and prescribed different types of textbooks. In order to remove disparity in standard of education under different Boards, the State Government appointed a Committee for suggesting a uniform system of school education. During the intervening period, The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (hereinafter called the Act 2009), enacted by the Parliament, came into force with effect from 1.4.2010 providing for free and compulsory education to every child of the age of 6 to 14 years in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary education i.e. upto 8th standard. The Act 2009 provided that curriculum and the evaluation procedure would be laid down by an Academic Authority to be specified by the ppropriate State Government, by issuing a notification. The said Academic Authority would lay down curriculum and the evaluation procedure taking into consideration various factors mentioned under Section 29 of the Act 2009. Section 34 of the Act 2009 also provided for the constitution of a State Advisory Council consisting of maximum 15 members. The members would be appointed from amongst persons having knowledge and practical experience in the field of elementary education and child development. The State Advisory Council would advise the State Government on implementation of the provisions of the Act 2009 in an effective manner. SAMACHEER KALVI AND SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAAN The Samacheer Kalvi and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan though basically two different programs target the primary education at a whole. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan as discussed earlier is entirely monitored by the Central Government and handled by it whereas the Samacheer Kalvi Program is of the TamilNadu State Governments.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan aims at Providing free and compulsory education for children whereas Samacheer Kalvi aims at achieveing a uniform board of education in Tamil

Nadu which has various education Boards like State Board,Matriculation, Anglo Indian, Oriental Board. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and Samacheer kalvi both however are a part of the Right to free and Compulsory Education Act.Samacheer Kalvi ensured that there was no disparity among the children studying in same classes in different schools because Matriculation was considered to be A Rich kids board whereas the not so well off kid had to join a State Board. Samacheer Kalvi ensured that this myth was broken and all kids were treated alike with the same equal education.

Right to education is a fundamental right under the Constitution Of India. There has been a campaign that Right to Education under our constitution ensure that there is no discrimination in Quality of Education. Thus a common syllabus and a common curriculum is required. The right of a child should not be restricted only to free and compulsory education but should be extended to have quality education without any discrimination on the grounds of their economic, social and cultural background. Uniform education system would achieve the code of common culture, removal of disparity, depletion of discriminatory values in human relations. It would enhance the virtues and improve the quality of human value which advance our constitutional philosophy of equal society. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan also aims at eliminating the economic and social reasons for a childs education to be snatched from it.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan though conceptually god had a lot of fingers pointed at it regarding the program. There was no mention in the act that fees apart from tuition fees would not be charged. This was a cutting joke for the private schools because they still ended up paying the fee in some other form.The quality of education was surely a question mark and so was the qualification of teachers. The Samacheer Kalvi too had its fair share of controversies. The books prescribed the then DMKs government was filled with selp appraisals and portraits of the DMK leaders. The quality of textbooks was

heavily questioned by ADMK leader and CM of TN Ms. Jayalalitha. She even ordered the plan and printing of the books to be stopped. So Quality of education was questioned in both the cases.

Samacheer Kalvi ensured that prevailing gaps in quality will be eliminated and there will not be islands of excellence or branded dullards among children, which shows that the islands of excellence will be brought down to a lower level.It is hence unfortunate that the State GovernmentsAct will effectively blunt the Childs skill. This is one major loophole in the Samacheer Kalvi plan. Whereas no such disputes arise in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan as the Program aims at providing free education to all children and does not prescribe any uniform syllabus.

CONCLUSION : As mentioned earlier though Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and Samacheer kalvi program both conceptually somewhat different aim at providing education to the children of India. It would be better if the loopholes of the Systems are targeted and the Education System of India which is purely examination based becomes more of Intellect based so that we Indians become invincible in the field of education. Research programmes could be introduced in both these plans. Politicians should not choose education sector to impose their ideas. The job of writing text books should be left to the academicians. It would then ensure that the Primary education in India improves and becomes world Class.