NEW DELHI, DEC 21: The Prime Minister will head the National Mission on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the Government's much-touted programme for universalisation of elementary education which is going to stick to 6-14 as the target group.Announcing this at the Consultative Committee meeting, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Murli Manohar Joshi said that the necessary notification will shortly be issued.Under this programme, the government hopes to enrol all children in the age group of 6-14 to primary schools, who are expected to complete five years of primary schooling by 2007. The universalisation of elementary education is expected by 2010.The scheme is estimated to cost, over a 10-year period, an additional Rs 60,000 crore. The HRD Minister urged the religious and charitable institutions to come forward and complement government efforts.Joshi, who is going to be the vice-chairperson of the Mission, said: ``All efforts would be made to provide adequate resources for the Abhiyan based on the District Elementary Education Plan, in partnership with the state-level departments.The HRD Minister informed the committee that at present, 79 per cent children in the 6-14 age group are going to school. It is estimated that six crore children, mostly girls, remain out of school.The rather ambitious programme envisages one teacher for every 40 students and at least two teachers in a school and one school within a km of every habitation.And text-books? Free text-books are to be supplied to all girl students and SC/ST children. An additional special provision of Rs 15 lakh has been made for special innovative programmes for the girl child and Rs 50 lakh for each district. An amount upto Rs 1,200 per child could be given for the integration of disabled children, he said.The mission will have MPs, state education ministers, educationists, teachers and NGOs.
