MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Dr. Shashi Tharoor)
(a) to (c): The World Bank, as an external funding agency for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), has been regularly associated with the holding of six monthly Joint Review Missions (JRMs) to review the status of implementation of these programmes in the country.
Successive JRMs of the SSA have appreciated the efforts of the Government in the field of access, reduction in number of out-of- school children, increase in retention and improvement in school infrastructure under the SSA. However, further strengthening and focus on the quality of education at the elementary level has been recommended, especially for tracking learning outcomes of the students.
(d): To improve the quality of education, the SSA provides for additional teachers as per pupil-teacher ratio, regular in-service training of teachers, teacher grants, academic support to teachers through Block Resource Centres (BRCs) and Cluster Resource Centres (CRCs), and periodic assessment of student achievement levels in sample national studies for classes III, V & VIII.
