The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme is being implemented in all districts of the country to achieve the goal of universalisation of elementary education (UEE) in a time bound manner, in mission mode. Consequently, the number of out of school children, which was earlier 320 lakh in 2001-02, has now come down to 75.97 lakh in 2007-08, as per state-wise reports upto March 2007.
A rigorous system of monitoring of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has been put in place which includes, inter alia, monthly and quarterly progress reports and review meetings, furnishing of annual elementary school statistics, field monitoring by 41 independent monitoring institutions and six monthly independent reviews by experts on the progress of the programme. It also includes rigorous financial audits and concurrent financial reviews done in the state SSA programmes.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Shri M.A.A. Fatmi in Lok Sabha today.
