Policy

“To prepare a blueprint for the universalisation of secondary education consequent upon the attainment of universalisation of elementary education”.

The committee submitted its recommendations in June, 2005. Their major recommendations are as follows:

• The guiding principles of Universal Secondary Education should be universal Access, Equality and Social Justice, Relevance and Development, and Structural and Curricular Considerations.

• There has to be a norm for schooling. Such norms should be developed for each state with common national parameters as well as state specific parameters.

• Each state should develop a perspective plan for universal secondary education. Decentralized micro-level planning should be the main approach to planning and implementation of Universal Secondary Education.

• Financial requirements for covering the cost of universal elementary and secondary education will form approximately 5.1 percent of the GDP. Hence the immediate allocation of 6 percent of the GDP for education and progressive increase in this proportion will be necessary to move towards universalisation of secondary education.

• The pressure on secondary education is already being perceived. It will not be wise to wait till 2010 when the pressure may become unbearable.

Besides the Committee on Universalisation of Secondary Education, another Committee of the Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE) was also constituted in September 2004 to examine the following issues:

• Common School System

• Inclusive Education including Education for Children with Disabilities/Special Needs.

The report of the Committee was received in June 2005. The Committee has inter-alia recommended that “there is no alternative acceptable to regular schooling of good quality to all the girls”. The Committee also felt that “incentives offered for promotion of girls education need to be revisited and measures taken need to be of such nature, force and magnitude that they are able to overcome the obstacles posed by factors such as poverty, domestic/sibling responsibilities, girl child labour, low preference to girl’s education, preference to marriage over the education of girl child, etc.”