Report 294 Commttee Report.Pmd

REPORT NO. 294

PARLIAMENT OF INDIA RAJYA SABHA

DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

TWO HUNDRED NINETY FOURTH REPORT Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/ Recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighty Third Report on the Subject ‘The Implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day-Meal Scheme’ (Presented to the Rajya Sabha on5 th January, 2018 ) (Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on5 th January, 2018 )

Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi January, 2018/Pausa, 1939 (Saka) Website : http://rajyasabha.nic.in E-mail : [email protected] 30

Hindi version of this publication is also available

PARLIAMENT OF INDIA RAJYA SABHA

DEPARTMENT-RELATED PARLIAMENTARY STANDING COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

TWO HUNDRED NINETY FOURTH REPORT Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/ Recommendations contained in the Two Hundred Eighty Third Report on the Subject ‘The Implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day-Meal Scheme’

(Presented to the Rajya Sabha on 5th January, 2018) (Laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 5th January, 2018)

Rajya Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi January, 2018/Pausa, 1939 (Saka) CONTENTS

PAGES

1. COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE ...... (i)-(ii)

2. INTRODUCTION ...... (iii)

3. ACRONYMS ...... (iv)

4. REPORT ...... 1-20

Chapter-I Observations/Recommendations which have been accepted by the Government ...... 2

Chapter -II Observations/Recommendations which the Committee does not desire to pursue in view of the Government’s reply ...... 3-9

Chapter-III Observations/Recommendations in respect of which replies of the Government have not been accepted by the Committee ...... 10-19

Chapter-IV Observations/Recommendations in respect of which reply of the Government is still awaited ...... 20

5. OBSERVATIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS –– AT A GLANCE ...... 21-23

6. MINUTES ...... 25-28 COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE (Constituted w.e.f. 1st September, 2017)

1. Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya — Chairman

RAJYA SABHA 2. Shri Partap Singh Bajwa 3. Shrimati Vandana Chavan 4. Prof. Jogen Chowdhury 5. Prof. M.V. Rajeev Gowda 6. Shri Anubhav Mohanty 7. Shri Vishambhar Prasad Nishad 8. Shrimati Sasikala Pushpa 9. Dr. Vinay P. Sahasrabuddhe 10. Shri Gopal Narayan Singh

LOK SABHA 11. Shrimati Santosh Ahlawat 12. Shri Bijoy Chandra Barman 13. Shri Nihal Chand 14. Shrimati Bhawana Gawali (Patil) 15. Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste. 16. Shrimati Geetha Kothapalli 17. Prof. Chintamani Malviya 18. Shri Bhairon Prasad Mishra 19. Shri Ramachandran Mullappally 20. Shrimati Neelam Sonker 21. Shri Hari Om Pandey 22. Dr. Bhagirath Prasad 23. Shri N.K Premachandran 24. Shri K.N. Ramachandran 25. Shri M.I. Shanavas 26. Dr. Nepal Singh 27. Dr. Prabhas Kumar Singh 28. Shri Satyapal Singh 29. Shri Sumedhanand Saraswati 30. Shri P.R. Sundaram 31. Shrimati P.K Sreemathi Teacher

(i) (ii)

SECRETARIAT Shri K P. Singh, Joint Secretary Shri Rajiva Srivastava, Director Shri Vinay Shankar Singh, Additional Director Shri Arun Kumar, Deputy Secretary Shrimati Himanshi Arya, Under Secretary Shri K. Sudhir Kumar, Research Officer Shri Mohit Misra, Committee Officer INTRODUCTION

I, the Chairman of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development, having been authorised by the Committee to present the Report on its behalf, do hereby present this Two Hundred Ninety Fourth Report of the Committee on the Action Taken by Government on the observation/recommendations contained in the Two Hundred Eighty Third Report on Subject the Implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day-Meal Scheme.

2. Two Hundred Eighty Third Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development was presented to Rajya Sabha on 15th December, 2017 and simultaneously laid on the Table of Lok Sabha on 15th December, 2017. Replies of the Government to the Recommendations/ Observation contained in the Report were considered by the Committee at its meeting held on the 4th January, 2018.

3. The Committee considered the Draft Report and adopted the same in its meeting held on 4th January, 2018.

DR. SATYANARAYAN JATIYA NEW DELHI; Chairman, 5 January, 2018 Department-related Parliamentary Standing Pausa 15, 1939 (Saka) Committee on Human Resource Development Rajya Sabha.

(iii) ACRONYMS

CAL : Computer aided Learning

MDMS : Mid-Day-Meal Scheme

NCF : National Curriculum Framework

ODL : Open Distance Learning

PBBB : Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat

QPR : Quarterly Progress Report

RAA : Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan

SSA : Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

SMC : Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee

SLSMC : State Level Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee

(iv) REPORT

The Report of the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development deals with the action taken by the Government on the recommendations/observations contained in its Two Hundred eighty-third Report on the subject “The Implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day-Meal Scheme” pertaining to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy. The 283rd Report was presented to both the Houses of Parliament on 20th June, 2017. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (Department of School Education and Literacy) vide its communication dated 29th June, 2017 furnished its Action Taken replies to the Committee.

2. Action Taken Notes received from the Government in respect of the recommendations contained in the 283rd Report have been categorized as follows:

(i) Chapter-I:

Recommendations/Observations which have been accepted by the Government

Paras - 34.1 and 41 Total – 2

(ii) Chapter-II:

Recommendations/Observations which the Committee does not desire to pursue in view of the Government’s reply –

Paras - 28, 28.1, 29, 29.1, 34, 36, 36.1, 37, 37.1 and 46 Total – 10

(iii) Chapter-III:

Recommendations/Observations in respect of which replies of the Government have not been accepted by the Committee

Paras - 30, 30.1, 31, 31 (a & b), 32 (a & b), 32.1, (a&b), 33, 33.1, 35, 35.1, 38, 38.1,39, 39.1, 40, 40.1, 42,43, 44 and 45 Total – 19

(iv) Chapter-IV:

Recommendation/Observation in respect of which reply of the Government is still awaited.

Paras – Nil Total - Nil

1 CHAPTER-I

RECOMMENDATIONS/OBSERVATIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY GOVERNMENT

Recommendations/Observations

34.1 The Committee, therefore, recommends to initiate the pilot project of establishing the Smart Classes in Government schools, in fact, through which teaching–learning process would be effective using computer enabled techniques, wherein teaching by the use of multi-media projector is executed and Smart Boards are used, which have more visualization of lessons for students. A comprehensive viable target should be set for successful functioning of Smart-Classes in Govt. schools and a status note be provided to the Committee.

Action Taken

Under the Innovation Head, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) provides support for Computer aided Learning (CAL) facilities upto ` 50 lakhs per district per year. The focus of CAL is to maximize coverage in Upper Primary Schools with special emphasis on Science and Mathematics. During 2016-17, an amount of ` 31195.06 lakh has been allocated for CAL in 8226 government upper primary schools including ` 16493.63 lakh for Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA).

Recommendations/Observations

41. The Committee further recommends that for intensification of MDMS, it should be incumbent on the nodal Ministry to review the infrastructure development meant for MDMS in the meetings of Steering-cum- Monitoring Committee (SMC) and representatives of other nodal Ministries which run the infrastructure development schemes of MDMS should be invited to these meetings.

Action Taken

The mid day meal scheme covered 10.03 Crore children studying in 11.50 lakh Government and Government aided schools, Special Training Centres and Madrasas & Maqtabs supported under SSA on daily basis during 2015-16. In order to monitor the scheme of such magnitude and vastness, the MDM guidelines provide for setting up of Steering-cum-Monitoring Committees at National, State and District Levels. The State Level Steering-cum-Monitoring Committee (SLSMC) headed by Chief Secretary of the State advises the State on the implementation of the Scheme and discusses issues requiring convergence with other Departments in the State. It has been made mandatory that the Annual Work Plan & Budget of the State should be approved by SLSMC. During 2015-16 37 meetings of the SLSMC were held in various States/UTs. During 2016-17, 8 meetings of SLSMC have been held. The representative of the MHRD is also invited in the SLSMC meetings.

2 CHAPTER-II

RECOMMENDATIONS/OBSERVATIONS WHICH THE COMMITTEE DOES NOT DESIRE TO PURSUE IN VIEW OF THE GOVERNMENT’S REPLY

Recommendations/Observations

28. On the basis of deliberations with various stakeholders in the field of elementary education at places of visit described in proceeding paragraphs, the Committee notes that Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was launched in 2000-01. However, the precursor of this programme was District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), launched way back in 1993-94 with an aim of achieving the objective of universal primary education. There is no denying the fact that for both DPEP and SSA, the major thrust is to ensure universal enrolment in elementary schools and remove social and gender gaps in schooling. Back in reckoning, the 2% education cess was set rolling in 2004 and, in fact, there was no opposition whatsoever for imposition of this levy. The Committee appreciates the endeavor made by the Government towards the universal enrolment goal for schools in India, which has led to the fact that almost all children are enrolled in school today. The Committee, on the other hand, is intrigued to note that while the enrolment picture continues to improve; on the learning front, the story is far from satisfactory. In Arithmetic, only a little over half of all children involved in Standard V could do a 2 digit subtraction problem with borrowing.

Action Taken

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has made significant progress in achieving near universal access and equity. However, imparting quality education to children at elementary level is the major challenge and therefore, reorienting the SSA programme towards quality is the main emphasis of the Department. Central Government, along with State and UT Governments has taken various initiatives for improving the quality of education, the details of which are attached at Annexure-I.

Recommendations/Observations

28.1 The Committee, therefore, emphatically recommends that Central Government should undertake all initiatives for the States and focus on ensuring that children are learning well and the States should also resort to their own measures in a time bound sustainable manner to understand what is the level of students in terms of learning, and the means to determine improvement in basic learning. The Committee also recommends that the need of the hour is to shift the policy and practice from input-based expenditure to outcome-focused achievement for implementation of SSA.

29. The Committee further notes that one of the prime challenges is to get much more effective utilization of the resources that are spent on elementary education which is the backbone of SSA. Effective spending implies that the expenditure is incurred on progress towards goals, especially in terms of improving learning outcomes of children in elementary schools.

Action Taken (28.1 & 29)

For the financial year 2016-17, the Project Approval Board (PAB) of the SSA decided that 10% of the total outlay shall be utilized for quality related initiatives alone under the SSA as against approximately 6% in previous years. Accordingly, activities related to quality interventions through SSA were approved in the Annual Plans for all States and UTs.

3 4

To enable this, the Department categorized all interventions under the SSA in three categories where Category II is related to interventions for improvement in quality and learning outcomes. These include Teacher Training, Academic Support through BRC/CRC, Learning Enhancement Programme (LEP), Innovation fund for CAL, Library, Teacher Grant, TLE for New Schools, Transport/Escort facility, Special Training for Age appropriate admission of OoSC, Innovation, Community Mobilization and SMC Training.

While releasing the funds under SSA, all States and UTs have been advised through the sanction order to ensure that at least 10% of the total expenditure of the State/UT for the current year is on quality interventions as listed in Category II.

Further, all States and UTs have been given specific commitments focused on improvement in learning outcomes during the finalization of their Annual Plans under SSA for 2016-17.

MHRD has developed a web portal called SSA SHAGUN (from the words Shaala and Gunvatta) which has two parts i.e., one is a Repository of good practices, photographs, videos, studies, newspaper articles etc on elementary education, State /UT wise. These are in the public domain. Its purpose is to showcase success stories and also to provide a platform for all stakeholders to learn from each other. This would also instill a positive competitive spirit among all the States and UTs.

The second part is regarding the online monitoring of the SSA implemented by States and UTs and can be accessed by Government Officers at all levels using their specific passwords. It comprises questionnaires, related to various interventions under SSA and the performance of the State, which will be filled in by the States and UTs. There are 122 Reports which will be automatically generated from the data filled in the questionnaires. These Reports, along with the success stories in the Repository, has created an online platform to see the status of implementation of the SSA and the elementary education in all States and UTs.

MHRD, through NCERT, has developed Learning Outcomes for each class in Languages (Hindi, English and Urdu), Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Social Science up to the Elementary stage. Care has been taken to develop the outcomes following consultations with States, UTs, SCERTs and education experts from organizations including civil society organizations. The Learning Outcomes developed by NCERT are based on the minimum levels of learning to facilitate the monitoring of students against expected benchmarks.

These are being included in the Central Rules of the Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. A simplified version of these learning goals for display on the school notice board is being finalized.

Recommendations/Observations

29.1 The Committee recommends that the Government of India should set the achievable goals and all elements of education system viz., teachers’ training, on-sight support, materials and measurement, etc., have to be aligned to help schools and resultantly teachers help children learn better. Plans can be reviewed and adjusted on year-to-year basis but the sustainable efforts have to be made for expanding the outreach in the field of elementary education.

Action Taken

The RTE Act 2009 and National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 both point to building on the child’s knowledge, potential and talent through a child centric approach. It suggests that everything done in 5 or for the school should be geared towards a measurable development in student’s learning level and prepares them for independence of thought and action, life-long learning, democratic values, creativity and life skills.

The Central Government, through SSA, supports the State Governments and UT Administrations on several interventions to improve teaching standards, including inter-alia; regular in-service teachers’ training, induction training for newly recruited teachers, training of all untrained teachers to acquire professional qualifications through Open Distance Learning (ODL) mode academic support for teachers through block and cluster resource centres, training on ICT Component, Inclusive Education, Gender Sensitization and Adolescent Education is provided. Under SSA, the focus is to give subject specific, need based and relevant in service teacher training to both elementary and secondary teachers for their professional development.

The focus of the Department is to align all its efforts towards improvement in learning outcomes of children at elementary stage.

Recommendations/Observations

34. The Department of School Education and Literacy in its background note has apprised the Committee of the new initiatives taken up by Department in the field of elementary education under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) for improving the quality of education. The Committee admires these initiatives, like Swachha Vidyalaya, Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat (PBBB), Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA), Shaala - Siddhi, School Leadership Development Programme, Vidyanjali, Twinning programme (Partnership Between Schools) and E- Pathshala. The Committee wishes the Department to excel in the field of all these eight initiatives and expect to get the details of concrete measurable achievements made therein so far, from the department so that a review can be made for the success rate, including constraints, if any, and overall responses. Besides, by interactions with various stakeholders in the field of elementary education, the Committee during its visit to select places, was impressed for setting up of Smart Classes in Govt. schools, which would augment the quality of teaching–learning process of education for students.

Action Taken

The Department is supporting States and UTs to implement national level initiatives to improve the quality of education.

i. The ‘Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat’ (PBBB), a sub-programme of the SSA, in classes I and II focusing on foundational learning in early grades with an emphasis on reading, writing and comprehension and Mathematics. States and UTs have been implementing specific interventions like ABL in Tamil Nadu, Nalli Kali in Karnataka, Pragya in Gujarat; steps have been taken to develop specific teacher training modules for teachers teaching students in classes 1 and 2. Punjab, Meghalaya, Delhi have introduced programmes for strengthening teaching of maths in classes 1 and 2; in Sikkim schools have set up reading corners for children in the foundational classes through support from community members.

ii. The Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan (RAA), also under the SSA, was launched by Late Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. This aims to motivate and engage children of the age group 6-18 years, in Science, Mathematics and Technology by observation, experimentation, inference drawing and model building, through both inside and outside classroom activities. Schools have been adopted for 6

mentoring by Institutions of Higher Education like IIT’s, IISER’s and NIT’s. In some States students have been taken for exposure visits to factories, research hubs; science and maths clubs are being formed at the school levels, students are participating in competitions and exhibitions to showcase their innovations in Maths, Science and Technology.

Comments of the Committee

The Committee notes the reply furnished by the Government. However, the Department should inform the Committee about the data on functional smart classes in Government Schools.

Recommendations/Observations

36. An overview of MDMS presented the genesis of this scheme and the Committee finds that Mid-Day Meal in schools has had a long history in India. In 1925, a Mid-Day Meal Programme was introduced for disadvantaged children in Madras Municipal Corporation. By the mid 1980s, three States viz. Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil-Nadu and the UT of Pondicherry had universalized a cooked Mid-Day Meal Programme with their own resources for children studying at the primary stage. By 1990-91, the number of States implementing the Mid-Day Meal Programme with their own resources on a universal or a large scale basis had gone up to twelve States. Considering the aspect of enhancing enrollment, retention and attendance and simultaneously with a view to improve the nutritional level among the children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) was launched as a Centrally sponsored scheme on 15th August, 1995, initially in 2408 blocks in the Country. By the year 1997-98, the NP-NPSE was introduced in all blocks of the country. On the directives of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, cooked Mid-Day Meal Programme was undertaken by the State Governments after November, 2001. Cooked Mid-Day Meal is reported to have created a platform for children of all social and economic backgrounds to take meals together, thereby facilitating achieving the objective of social equality. Nonetheless, the Committee has gathered that, typically the MDMS has been resulting in the diversion of the attention of teachers and students on activities related to it, rather than towards teaching and learning activities, resulting in loss of studies also.

36.1 The Committee recommends that this aspect should be looked into and necessary initiatives by expedient means be taken in the prevalent situation to overcome such drawback in MDMS.

Action Taken (36 & 36.1)

The MDM Guidelines envisage that teachers should, under no circumstances be assigned responsibilities that will impede or interfere with teaching/learning. Teachers should, however, be involved in ensuring that (a) good quality, wholesome food is served to children, and (b) the actual serving and eating is undertaken in a spirit of togetherness, under hygienic conditions, and in an orderly manner so that the entire process is completed in 30-40 minutes. It should however, be ensured that the food prepared is tasted by 2-3 adults including at least one teacher before it is served to children.

In order to ensure that the teaching and learning activities in the schools are not affected, 25.53 lakh cook-cum-helpers have been engaged by various States/UTs for preparing and serving of Mid-Day-Meal. This has relieved the teachers from most of the activities under Mid Day Meal Scheme except that the teacher is to taste the meal before it is served to the children and entire process of serving and eating of mid day meal is completed within 30-40 minutes in an orderly manner. 7

Recommendations/Observations

37. The Committee notes that the Government’s multi-faceted approach for MDMS, has undoubtedly shown tremendous results. Be that as it may, the Committee understands that, in general, visible shortage of basic infrastructural facilities and also the manpower, are crucial for the accomplishment of the cooked Mid-Day Meal Programme.

Action Taken

As regards provision of infrastructure facilities under Mid-Day Meal scheme, it is mentioned that central assistance for construction of 10.05 lakh Kitchen-cum-stores has been sanctioned to the States/ UTs. The States/UTs have reported in their first Quarterly Progress Report (QPR) for the quarter from April to June, 2016 that 7.94 lakh Kitchen-cum-stores have been constructed and construction work is in progress for 98437 Kitchen-cum-stores.

Regarding manpower, it is mentioned that Central Assistance for Management, Monitoring and Evaluation (MME) is released to the States @ 1.8% of the recurring central assistance ( cost of food grain, transport assistance, cooking cost and honorarium to cook-cum-helpers). 0.2% MME is for National Component for Advertisement & Publicity and Professional Services etc. The MDM guidelines envisage that 50% of MME funds are to be spent at school level on forms, stationery soaps, plates, glasses, mats, training of cook- cum-helpers, and replacement/repair/maintenance of cooking devices, utensils, storage bins etc. The remaining 50% MME funds can be utilised for hiring charges for manpower at various levels, Transport and contingencies, Office Expenses, Furniture, Computer hardware and consumable, capacity building of officials, preparation of manuals, External Monitoring & Evaluation, Publicity etc. However, the States with small outlay for recurring central assistance are not able to engage the manpower at all levels. Therefore, a proposal for enhancing the MME 3% is under consideration.

It is also relevant to mention that 100% central assistance is provided for MME Charges. The sharing pattern between Centre and State under MDMS was 75:25 for all States except NER States, till 2015. But the funding pattern of MDMS has been revised w.e.f. 01.04.2015 in the ratio of 60:40 for non-NER and 3 Hill States Due to the revision of funding pattern, the recurring central assistance to States other than NER & 3 Hill States, has decreased. Since the MME is @ 2% of recurring central assistance their MME charges have also got reduced.

Recommendations/Observations

37.1 The Committee , therefore, recommends to initiate measures to strengthen these factors in right earnest and unfailing commitment; for example, lack of pucca buildings, separate toilet facilities for boys & girls, unavailability and poor functional condition of kitchen sheds, unavailability and poor functional condition of Store Rooms, Poor availability of tumblers and plates, shortage of access to proper drinking water, shortage of cooks, etc. Further, there should be timely payment to Cooks-cum-Helpers.

Action Taken

Under the SSA, the Central Government supports State Governments & UT Administrations for creation and augmentation of infrastructure facilities in schools including construction of toilets, provision of drinking water facilities, construction of new Primary schools and Upper primary schools and additional classrooms etc. Since inception of SSA scheme in 2001, Government of India has sanctioned construction of 311028 8

Primary schools/ upper primary schools, 1873415 additional classrooms, 242198 drinking water facilities, 1036470 toilets across the country up to financial year 2016-17.

Government achieved the ambitious target of building 4,17,796 toilets in 2,61,400 government schools in one year. With this, about 13.58 crore children in 11.08 lakh government schools were given access to gender segregated toilets.

Further, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation have jointly advised the Panchayati Raj Departments of all States to include provisions for the following activities, while utilizing funds from the Fourteenth Finance Commission devolved directly to Gram Panchayats:

(a) construction and regular repair/maintenance of toilets in schools;

(b) water supply systems for drinking water, toilets and hand wash.

MDM:

The Construction of pucca buildings and other infrastructure for schools comes under the purview of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Regarding, construction of pucca kitchen-cum-stores, it is mentioned that 7.94 lakh Kitchen-cum-stores have already been constructed till June, 2016 against the sanctioned 10.05 lakh kitchen-cum-stores. Construction work is in progress for 98437 Kitchen-cum-stores. Store room is a part of the approved design for Kitchen-cum-stores. The progress for the construction of kitchen-cum-stores is monitored at various levels such as Review Meetings, National Conference of Education Secretaries, meetings of Programme Approval Board-Mid Day Meal headed by Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy. The Secretary (SE&L) has written D.O. letters to the Chief Secretaries of all the States for completing sanctioned Kitchen-cum-stores by 31.3.2017. Maintenance of already constructed kitchen- cum-stores is to be done through the funds under school maintenance grant given by SSA.

As regards availability of drinking water, it is mentioned that 96% of the schools have facility of drinking water as per the information furnished by States/UTs in the Quarterly Progress Report for the period from April to June, 2017.

Regarding shortage of cooks, it is stated that PAB has approved engagement of 26.63 lakh cook-cum- helpers during 2016-17 against which States/UTs have engaged 25.30 lakh (95%) cook-cum-helpers. The Cook-cum-helpers are paid honorium by the School Authorities. The delay in the payment of honorarium to cook-cum-helpers is due to the delay in the flow of funds from State Treasury to schools. As soon as the funds are received in the schools, the payment for the pending honorarium of cook-cum-helpers is made by the Schools. Now, e-transfer of honorarium is being done in majority of the States.

Recommendations/Observations

39. The Committee also notes that the cost of construction of kitchen-cum-store is determined on the basis of plinth area norms and state schedule of rates prevalent in the State/UT on sharing basis. The Department of School Education and Literacy has prescribed 20 sq. mt. plinth area for construction of Kitchen-cum-store in schools having upto 100 children. For every addition of upto 100 children, additional 4 sq. mt. plinth area will be added. States/UTs have the flexibility to modify the slab of 100 children depending upon the local conditions. As on March, 2016, 10.5 lakh kitchen-cum-stores have been sanctioned till date. 9

So far a total number of 7.82 lakh kitchen-cum-stores have been constructed and construction work is in progress for 1.08 lakh.

39.1 The Committee recommends that requisite initiatives would be taken to get the construction work started for remaining 1.15 lakh kitchen-cum-stores expeditiously.

Action Taken (39 & 39.1)

MHRD has sanctioned 10.05 lakh Kitchen-cum-stores out of which 7.94 lakh Kitchen-cum-stores have been constructed till June, 2016. Construction work is in progress for 98437 Kitchen-cum-stores. The Secretary, SE&L has written D.O. Letters to the Chief Secretaries of all the States for completing sanctioned Kitchen-cum-stores by 31.3.2017.

The construction work in the remaining schools has not started mainly due to the reasons that central assistance to most of these schools was sanctioned on unit cost norms @ 60,000/- each prior to November, 2009 when the norms for construction of kitchen-cum-stores were revised to plinth area norms at State approved Schedule of Rates. Now with the revised norms based on schedule of rates, States are accelerating the construction work.

Comments of the Committee

The Committee notes the reply furnished by the Government and would like be apprised of the tangible outcome of the communications sent to State Government on 31.3.2017.

Recommendations/Observations

46. The Committee appreciates the endeavor made by PPP mode in MDMS, which has been successful in Andhra Pradesh and recommends to enhance its outreach to get it implemented in other States as well so as to ensure a better delivery of service and, therefore, a better performance of MDMS.

Action Taken

Mid Day Meal guidelines envisage that MDM is cooked locally in the school premises either through Self Help Groups or through the personnel engaged by the School Management Committee. However, for urban areas, where there is a space constraint for setting up school kitchens in individual schools, a Centralised Kitchen could be set up for a cluster of schools where cooking can take place and the cooked hot meal may be transported under hygienic conditions through reliable transport systems to various schools. Operations of these Centralized Kitchens may be entrusted to reputed NGOs under the PPP model. Mid Day Meal Rules notified on 30th September, 2015 under National Food Security Act 2013 also stipulate that Schools in urban area may use the facility of centralised kitchens for cooking meals wherever required in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Central Government.

During 2015-16, State Governments/UTs had engaged 314 NGOs in 127 districts under Mid Day Meal Scheme for providing mid day meal to 72,19,889 children studying in 42383 schools. CHAPTER-III

RECOMMENDATIONS/OBSERVATIONS IN RESPECT OF WHICH REPLIES OF THE GOVERNMENT HAVE NOT BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE COMMITTEE

Recommendations/Observations

30. The Committee, after having an in-depth analysis in the subject matter takes note of the educational development in India, which is neither homogenous in regional spread nor neutral to social formations. It has a strong bias in favour of economically developed areas with strong infrastructural support as compared to the backward regions of the country. It is disheartening indeed that in spite of planned efforts, of course, of Planning Commission/NITI AYOG, regional disparities in the field of quality based educational development continue to be glaring. Germane to this, for the ongoing SSA mission, the Committee considers decentralization as a major strategy for planning and management of elementary education. The decentralization, within the national framework of SSA sounds paradoxical as every region of the country counts on the diversity of culture, language, etc.

Action Taken

SSA envisages decentralized, need based and participatory planning in a bottom – up approach. All States and UTs submit their proposal under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) Programme through their Annual Work Plan & Budget (AWP&B). Based on their proposal, the Project Approval Board (PAB) in the Ministry of Human Resource Development approves an outlay as per the programmatic and financial norms of the scheme, which includes the share of both the centre and the states.

The RTE Act gives immense importance to School Management Committee as a part of decentralized structure and one in which the parents will have a very significant role. Essential provisions regarding constitution and functions of SMCs have been given in Sections 21 and 22. Section 21 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE), 2009 stipulates that each Government school, Government Aided school and school belonging to a specified category should have a School Management Committee (SMC) mandated with the work to monitor the working of the school; prepare and recommend School Development Plan; and monitor the utilisation of the grants received, besides their other activities. The SMC is mandatory for all elementary schools. Some Government schools also have Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) which perform similar functions as assigned to SMC. Under SSA, procurement of uniforms and textbooks is also decentralized to the school level.

Comments of the Committee

The regional imbalance in so far as the infrastructural development and quality based educational development continues to be unaddressed. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Department should make more concerted efforts to bring about the infrastructural changes

10 11 and quality of education provided in the backward areas of the Country, where the options of school children are limited unlike in the more developed regions of the Country.

Recommendations/Observations

30.1 The Committee recommends that government of India should bring out time bound programmes to minimize the gap wherever States are standing differently in their educational status. This is the proven pathway through which the SSA’s time frame of universalisation of elementary Education in true sense, and not for name sake, be realized. The Committee also recommends that this is the prime duty of the Government of India not to obviate from the endeavor that if the SSA is an opportunity for States to develop their own vision of elementary education, as the basic framework of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’s claims, the States have to fit themselves with the broader notional goal of providing useful and relevant elementary education for all in the category of 6-14 years age group.

Action Taken

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 provides for free and compulsory education for the children of the age of 6-14 years in neighbourhood schools till completion of elementary education. The Department has issued various advisories and guidelines to the States and UTs for effective implementation of various provisions of the RTE Act, 2009.

All States and UTs are implementing the RTE Act, 2009 as per their own State RTE Rules. The central Government provides financial support to the States and UTs under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of SSA for implementing the provisions of RTE Act, 2009.

Several new initiatives by the Department viz. Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan, Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat, Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan have been launched under the SSA scheme to guide the States and UTs in providing useful and relevant elementary education for all children in the age group of 6-14 years.

Comments of the Committee

The Committee feels that in order to realize the objectives of the RTE Act, 2009, the States need to effectively implement the various schemes/initiatives like Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan, Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat, Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan etc. The role of the Central Government is not limited to the framing of the laws/guidelines but also to ensure that its objectives are achieved. Hence, a robust monitoring mechanism need to be set up for checking the implementation in a timely and qualitative manner, which is at present, not visible and more focus is required, especially in the worst performing States/UTs.

Recommendations/Observations

31. The Committee recommends to bolster the national role at local level concerning the success of implementation of SSA by ensuring proper coordination and synchronization of efforts made by the Ministry of HRD, National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT), National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), and National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE).

Action Taken

Efforts are made by MHRD for ensuring proper coordination and synchronization of efforts made by 12 the Ministry, National Council of Education Research & Training (NCERT), National University of Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), and National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE). This will be further emphasized.

Comments of the Committee

The Committee takes note of the reply. However, no tangible steps are visible. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Department should take concrete steps in this direction and enlighten the Committee about the involvement of organization like NCERT, NUEPA, NIOS, NCTE etc. so as to ensure the successful implementation of SSA at the local level.

Recommendations/Observations

32. (a) As regards the key challenges faced in the implementation of SSA at States level, the Committee expresses its concern for the absence of State Institutes of Educational Management and Trainings (SIEMATs), which hampers the scholastic understanding of the State – specific issues and innovations. Hence, the goal of achieving the Universal Elementary Education would become a distant dream if every State is standing differently.

Action Taken

As per the programmatic norms of SSA, the SIEMAT plays a key role in providing capacity building and support for revamping and strengthening education planning and management structures and systems necessitated by RTE Act.

Financial norms of SSA provide for one time assistance to States and UTs for SIEMAT up to ` 3.00 crore. So far 13 States have established SIEMAT. However, State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT)s and other State level institute look after the functions of SIEMAT where SIEMAT is not established.

Further, recognizing the significance of effective school leadership in improving the quality of education, Secretary (SE&L) has written to all States and UTs to identify an existing institution in the State to function as a School Leadership Academy. This would act as the nodal state based leadership development institution for providing sustained and contextual school leadership training.

Recommendations/Observations

(b) In this perspective, the Committee recommends that discrepancies between the National and State systems have to be removed, like the entry norm of 6 years of age is prevalent in some States and 5 years in others and, in all likelihood, would be giving a jolt to noble aims of the SSA.

Action Taken

Section 3(1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 states:

“3(1) Every child of the age of six to fourteen years, including ‘child belonging to disadvantaged group’ and ‘child belonging to weaker section’ shall have a right to free and compulsory education in a neighborhood school till completion of elementary education.”

All States and UTs are broadly implementing the RTE Act, 2009 as per their own RTE Rules. 13

Comments of the Committee

The Committee would like to emphasise again that the role of the Central Government does not end with the formulation of the RTE, Act and various rules there under. The MHRD is the most important stakeholder in this endeavor and it is imperative that a constant monitoring of the implementation of its schemes needs to be done so that timely intervention can be made by it, whenever the situation demands. Accordingly, the Committee recommends that appropriate steps need to be taken immediately by the Department of School Education & Literacy to bring about a standardized and uniform education system across the Country without exceptions.

Recommendations/Observations

32.1 (a) Referring to other key challenges at the district and sub-district level, the Committee would focus on the status of DIETs (District Institute of Education and Training). The Committee also expresses its concern that there exists wide variations in the nature and effectiveness of these institutes among the States in which they have been set up. In each of these States, the DIETs have developed in different ways and, therefore, vary in terms of infrastructure, expertise and activities. Further, the Committee is of the opinion that Block Resource Centres (BRCs) and Cluster Resource Centres (CRCs) are not found competent enough to impart sufficient training, while the DIETs are not involved in the District Elementary Education Planning in many States. Besides, there is a lack of coordination between different agencies and officers. The role and the functioning of the SIEMAT, for instance, are unclear.

(b) So the Committee recommends the Department to address these types of confusion prevailing at the District Level concerning the implementation of SSA by revamping the institutions like the SIEMATS and DIETs.

Action Taken

BRCs/URCs and CRCs are the most critical units for providing training and on-site support to schools and teachers. Given the significance of these structures, under SSA, financial support is provided to strengthen faculty and infrastructure support to BRC/URC and CRCs.

The Block and Cluster level human resources in the form of BRP and CRP have the primary role of academic support and supervision in order to improve quality of education. The Department has emphasized to the States and UTs, during the AWP&B meetings, to ensure that Block level officers are held accountable for academic support and improvement of quality of education in schools in their block.

SIEMATs/SCERT/other State level institutes are functioning at the State level for providing academic support to teachers and education administrators. DIETs are providing the similar supports at district level. The Central Government emphasizes effective coordination between BRCs, CRCs, DIETs, SCERTs and SIEMATs.

Comments of the Committee

Block level officers to bring about academic support and quality of education in their blocks has not be tested, which can be gauged from the fact that huge disparities exist across the Country on these issues. The Committee recommends that immediate steps may be taken to create a mechanism to monitor the functioning of all BRC/URC periodically through the Block/Cluster level officers so that all issues/deficiencies could be addressed in a timely manner and also to making them more accountable.

Recommendations/Observations

33. The Committee would like to share its concern for the number of colossal vacancy of teachers remaining unfilled up under SSA. The Committee is of the firm opinion that such a huge existing vacancies of teachers under SSA is bound to affect adversely the implementation of SSA. For example, as per the data made available to the Committee by the Ministry vide the status note on the SSA dated 8th June, 2016, in Jharkhand the number of sanctioned post of teachers under SSA is 69522 by State, and 122678 under SSA; the working position is of 34052 by State and 78554 under SSA, and consequently the existing number of vacancies of teachers is of 35470 by State and 44124 under SSA. There is need to overcome the typical disarray that in some States, teachers recruited against SSA sanctioned posts, are recruited on contract and after a period of 5-6 years these teachers are shifted to the State against the vacancy in the States sanctioned post, however, the vacancy created under SSA remains as a sanctioned post and the State can go and recruit fresh teachers against these vacancies.

33.1 The Committee, therefore recommends that such daunting task of filling up the arising vacancies of teachers in States has to be carried out in a sustainable time bound planning.

Action Taken (33 & 33.1)

The recruitment, service conditions and deployment of teachers are primarily in the domain of the State Governments and UT Administrations. However, the Central Government through the flagship programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) at elementary level provides assistance to the State Governments and UTs for additional teachers to maintain appropriate Pupil Teacher Ratio as per the prescribed norms for various levels of schooling.

The Central Government has been consistently pursuing the matter of expeditious recruitment and redeployment of teachers with the States and UTs at various fora. Advisories on this issue have also been issued to States and UTs from time to time.

As per Unified District Information System For Education (UDISE) 2015-16 (Provisional), the Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) at national level for elementary schools is 24:1 as compared to the norm of 30:1 for primary schools and 35:1 for upper primary schools laid down under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.

Out of 19.45 lakh teacher posts sanctioned under SSA, 15.74 lakh teacher posts have been filled up as on 31st December, 2016.

Currently there are 5.33 lakh teacher posts vacant against the State sanctioned posts and 3.71 lakh teacher posts vacant against the SSA sanctioned posts. The large numbers of teacher vacancies exist in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. 15

Comments of the Committee

The Committee feels that most the responses of the MHRD to the Committee’s recommendation ends at the altar of the State Governments. There is no accountability beyond this point and the Committee feels helpless with this attitude of the Department. The Committee recommends that the MHRD should devise a strategy to ensure that this long pending action for filling up the teachers vacancies is taken up immediately instead of simply putting the ball in the Court of the States/UTs. However, the Committee appreciates the achievement of PTR of 24:1 for elementary Schools and 35:1 for Upper Primary Schools, and such successes needs to be encouraged and replicated in other aspects of the SSA.

Recommendations/Observations

35. The Committee notes the increased devolution of funds from 32% to 42% through 14th Finance Commission Award, effective from 2015-16. The Committee shows its concern that States have not reported earmarking funds exclusively for education out of the increased devolution of funds.

35.1 The Committee, therefore, recommends for inspiring States for the proportionate adjustment of increased devolution of funds on education.

Action Taken (35 & 35.1)

Education is in the Concurrent List and the responsibility of running majority of the schools vests with the States. SSA is the designated vehicle for implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. Section 7(1) of the RTE Act, 2009, states that both the Centre and the State shall have concurrent responsibility for providing funds for carrying out the provisions of the Act. Section 7(2) states that estimates for implementing the Act shall be prepared and the PAB outlay may be taken as the estimates prepared in compliance with this sub-section. Further, Section 7(3) states that the Central Government shall provide to the State Government, as grants-in-aid of revenues, such percentage of expenditure as it may determine, while, Section 7(5) states that the State Government shall, taking into consideration the sums provided by the Central Government to a State Government, be responsible to provide funds for the implementation of the provisions of the Act. It is, therefore, clear that the responsibility for meeting the fund requirement vests with both the Centre and the States.

With the acceptance of the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission by the Government of India, the devolution of funds to the States has been increased from 32% to 42 % of the net Union Tax Receipts. In this regard, it is stated that States have received an additional fund of ` 186149.79 crore more during 2015-16 as compared to 2014-15 through 14th FC Award. Similarly, there is additional devolution of funds of ` 232528.13 crore more during 2016-17 as compared to 2014-15. With the enhanced devolution of funds, States have been advised to allocate more funds to SSA so as to carry out the functions and responsibilities conferred upon the States by Section 7(5) of the RTE Act, 2009. Accordingly, this Department has written to the Chief Secretaries of all the States for ensuring the allocation of adequate amount of funds for the School Education Sector in their state budget.

However, it is felt that these funds are untied and States may not be allocating enough funds towards the education sector. It is, therefore, suggested that these funds need to be ring fenced so that at least 30% of it can be used for social sector alone including education. 16

Comments of the Committee

The Committee notes that the Ministry of HRD is aware of the possibility of the increase in fund allocations to State due to devolution of fund not being proportionately utilized for the education Sector. The Committee agrees with the suggestion of the Ministry for ring fencing of these funds so as to ensure that atleast 30% can be used only for Social Sector including education. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Ministry must seek ways and means to achieve this objective and also inform the Committee of the action taken in this regard in its replies.

Recommendations/Observations

38. The Committee expresses its concern that most of the States did not follow the guidelines of Government of India to deliver food grains at the school point by PDS dealer, thereby resulting in the leakage of food grains. There have been instances where due to long supply chain, food grains supplied got adulterated and pilfered.

38.1 The Committee recommends that this facet of MDMS should be reviewed and points of failure be identified to intensify Mid-Day Meal Scheme in right direction.

Action Taken (38 & 38.1)

The MDM guidelines envisage that transport assistance is to be given for transportation of food grains from nearest FCI godown to the School. But in hilly areas it is not possible to deliver the food grain up to school level due to the arduous contours and difficult terrain. Food grains are carried as head load up to school level and the cost of transporting the food grain as head load is reimbursed from the transport assistance. FCI weighs the Truck load of food grain to the District Authorities and receives acknowledgement for the quantity of food grain lifted by District Authorities. The FCI weighs the food grain before delivery. Since the gunny bags are filled FCI without weighing each bag, these gunny bag contains varying quantity of food grains which ranges from 49 to 51 kg. The schools receiving 51 Kg. gunny bag do not complain but the schools receiving 49 kg. bag complain of short supply. The schools should weigh the gunny bags before accepting food grains so that the shortfall if any is compensated by FCI.

Comments of the Committee

The Committee is not satisfied with the response of the Ministry of HRD on the issue of adulteration and pilferage of food-grains owing to the long supply chain in the delivery of foodgrains to the schools. The Committee re-iterates its recommendation that a foolproof mechanism should be established to solve the problem of adulteration and pilferage and the first step in this direction would be to eliminate middlemen/shorten the supply chain to the school. Further, steps should be taken to identify points of failure/improvements required, so that these can be corrected at the earliest.

Recommendations/Observations

40. The Committee observes that while Mid-Day Meal scheme seems to have contributed to an increase in the attendance in Schools across the country, it does not seem to have any significant impact on fresh enrolments in sample schools.

40.1 This particular scenario, the Committee recommends, requires to be considered by the Government and requisite measures be taken. 17

Action Taken (40 & 40.1)

Mid Day Meal Scheme supplements the efforts of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for universalisation of elementary education by providing nutritional support to the children studying in elementary classes in the Government and Government aided Schools, Special Training Centres and Madarsas & Maqtabs supported under SSA. The aim of the scheme is to address the class room hunger of the children by providing them mid day meal with prescribed calories and nutrition thereby enabling them to focus on their study. The provision of mid day meal attracts children towards attending school regularly and also get education. Thus, the scheme also contributes in increasing the enrolment, attendance and retention of the children in schools.

There is gradual decrease in the enrolment in the Government schools during the last five year at primary stage but there is slight improvement in the upper primary classes as is evident from the following two tables:

Primary Schools

Year Total Enrolment Enrolment in Schools Enrolment in covered under MDMS Private Schools

2010-11 135207057 102324701 32882356

2011-12 137099984 99342648 37757336

2012-13 134784272 93944638 40839634

2013-14 132428440 90448625 41979815

2014-15 130501135 86848505 43652630

Mushrooming growth of private schools in close vicinity of human habitations has resulted in increase in enrolment along with an overall decline in the number of children enrolment in MDMS.

But there is improvement in upper primary as would be noticed from the following table:

Upper Primary Schools

Year Total Enrolment Enrolment in Schools Enrolment in covered under MDMS Private Schools

2010-11 57844942 44459622 13385320

2011-12 61955154 46584080 15371074

2012-13 64926077 47649248 17276829

2013-14 66471219 47460450 19010769

2014-15 67165774 47963079 19202695

It would be observed that enrolment in Government schools in upper primary has increased during 2014-15 over the enrolment of 2013-14 by 5 lakh approximately whereas it increased in the upper primary during the corresponding period by 2 lakh in private schools. Some States are proposing to start English 18 medium primary schools so as to attract more children which may result in increase in the enrolment under primary stage.

Comments of the Committee

The Committee is concerned about the decliningenrolment in schools covered under MDMs, which is in direct contradiction to the enrolment trends in the other categories for private schools as well as in Upper Primary Schools (both MDM and Private School). The Committee recommends that the Department must find out the underlying reasons for this anomaly and address it at the earliest and inform the Committee of the same in its next response to the Committee along with the latest updated figures after 2014-15.

Recommendations/Observations

42. The Committee strongly recommends that it is to be ensured that meetings of School Development and Management Committee has participation of one member each of Block Level Committee, Parent Teacher Association and Panchyati Raj Institutions (PRIS).

43. The Committee would like to recommend the Government that District nodal authority becomes strict in getting utilization certificates from the implementing authority and school, in time, so that delivery of funds/foodgrains are not delayed.

Action Taken (42 & 43)

Noted. The States/UTs are being advised accordingly.

Comments of the Committee

The Committee notes the reply and impress upon the Department to ensure that there is no delay and apprise the Committee of action on it.

Recommendations/Observations

44. The Committee takes note of the suggestions of stakeholders with whom it got an opportunity to interact at selected places of visit and recommends that local women self help groups or mothers of children studying in the schools get preference in preparation of meal in MDMS. This would not only ensure a means of employment and income for the SHGs, but also they would cook as per the locally prevalent tastes.

Action Taken

Self Help Groups are implementing the scheme in various States such as Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh etc.

Comments of the Committee

The Committee notes the reply given by the Department and finds that owing to lack of participation date concerning the engagement of SHGs in MDMS, no explicit inference could be drawn. The Committee, hence, recommends the Government to provide the statistical data with regard to participation of SHGs in MDMS.

Recommendations/Observations

45. The Committee also came to know that wages for MDM differ from state to state; the Committee 19 therefore, recommends that the Government should strive to ensure that there has to be uniformity in this regard and minimum wages as per norms of the Government should be paid to the workers/cooks involved in MDMS.

Action Taken

The cook-cum-helpers are engaged on part time basis by the School Management Committees for cooking and serving the mid day meal to the students in Government and Government aided schools, Special Training Centres and Madarsas & Maqtabs supported under SSA. The MDM guidelines prescribe the payment of honorarium @ `1000/- per month to cook-cum-helper. The honorarium is to be shared between the Centre and State in the ratio of approved funding pattern. Except NER and 3 Hill States (HP,J&K and Uttarakhand) where funding pattern is 90:10, the funding pattern for all other States is in the ratio of 60:40. UTs are given 100 central assistance for honorarium to CCH.

Some States /UTs viz Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Mizoram, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry are making additional contribution over and above their minimum mandatory State/UT share. That is the reason for payment of different amount of honorarium to CCH.

As regards, payment of minimum wages to CCH, it may be mentioned that CCH are engaged on part time basis by SMCs for preparation and serving of mid day meal in schools. Therefore, the minimum wages are not paid to them.

Comments of the Committee

The Committee has pointed out to the Ministry on a number of earlier occasions that the honorarium needs to be increased, if the objective to provide good, wholesome and tasty cooked food to the children in to be realized. There is no doubt that the cooks/helpers needs to be compensated properly for their services and that too at a uniform rate rather than the hug disparity that presently exists across various States. The Committee feels that the minimum mandatory State/UT share in the Honorarium should be raised further so that the disparity among the States is minimal. CHAPTER-IV

RECOMMENDATION/OBSERVATION IN RESPECT OF WHICH REPLY OF THE GOVERNMENT IS STILL AWAITED.

-NIL- OBSERVATIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS — AT A GLANCE

The Committee feels that the empowerment of SMCs/PTAs and the increased role of parents in the SMCs are steps taken in the right direction. Ministry’s reply does not categorically states the steps being taken by them with regard to removing the regional imbalances that Committee emphasized in its recommendation. Accordingly, the observations of the Committee regarding the regional disparity in the educational development, which shows a huge negative bias against the economically backward areas has not been addressed in the Department’s response. The regional imbalance in so far as the infrastructural development and quality based educational development continues to be unaddressed. The Committee, therefore, recommends that the Department should make more concerted efforts to bring about the infrastructural changes and quality of education provided in the backward areas of the Country, where the options of school children are limited unlike in the more developed regions of the Country. (Para 30)

The Committee in its previous observation has recommended that there should be decentralization in the functioning of DIETs and SIEMATS. The Committee also recommends that a uniformity of BRCs/URCs and CRCs across the country would not be the right approach for imparting training to teachers. The Committee also clearly observes that the accountability of Block level officers to bring about academic support and quality of education in their blocks has not be tested, which can be gauged from the fact that huge disparities exist across the Country on these issues. The Committee recommends that immediate steps may be taken to create a mechanism to monitor the functioning of all BRC/URC periodically through the Block/Cluster level officers so that all issues/deficiencies could be addressed in a timely manner and also to making them more accountable. (Para 32.1)

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The Committee notes the reply furnished by the Government and would like be apprised of the tangible outcome of the communications sent to State Government on 31.3.2017. (Para 39 & 39.1)

The Committee notes the reply and impress upon the Department to ensure that there is no delay and apprise the Committee of action on it. (Para 42 & 43)

The Committee has pointed out to the Ministry on a number of earlier occasions that the honorarium needs to be increased, if the objective to provide good, wholesome and tasty cooked 23 food to the children in to be realized. There is no doubt that the cooks/helpers needs to be compensated properly for their services and that too at a uniform rate rather than the hug disparity that presently exists across various States. The Committee feels that the minimum mandatory State/UT share in the Honorarium should be raised further so that the disparity among the States is minimal. (Para 45) MINUTES V FIFTH MEETING

The Committee on Human Resource Development met at 10.30 P.M. on Thursday, the 4th January, 2018 in Committee Room No. ‘62’, First Floor, Parliament House, New Delhi.

MEMBERS PRESENT 1. Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya — Chairman

RAJYA SABHA 2. Shri Partap Singh Bajwa 3. Shri Vishambhar Prasad Nishad 4. Shri Gopal Narayan Singh

LOK SABHA 5. Shrimati Santosh Ahlawat 6. Shri Nihal Chand 7. Shrimati Geetha Kothapalli 8. Shri Bhairon Prasad Mishra 9. Dr. Bhagirath Prasad 10. Dr. Prabhas Kumar Singh 11. Shri Sumedhanand Saraswati 12. Shrimati P.K. Sreemathi Teacher

SECRETARIAT Shri K.P. Singh, Joint Secretary Shri Vinay Shankar Singh, Additional Director Shri Arun Kumar, Deputy Secretary Shrimati Himanshi Arya, Under Secretary Shri K. Sudhir Kumar, Research Officer Shri Mohit Misra, Committee Officer

2. At the outset, the Chairman welcomed the Members to the meeting of the Committee convened to consider and adopt the draft (i) 294th Report on Action Taken by Government on the observations / recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighty third Report on “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day-Meal Scheme”, (ii) 295th Report on Action Taken by Government on the Observations/ Recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighty fourth Report on “Issues and Challenges before Higher Education Sector in India”, (iii) 296th Report on Action Taken by Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighty seventh Report on Demands for Grants (2017-18) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, (iv) 297th Report on Action Taken by Government on the observations/recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighty eighth Report on Demands for Grants (2017-18) of the Department of Higher Education, (v) 298th Report on Action Taken by Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Two Hundred and Eighty ninth Report on Demands for Grants (2017-18) of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and (vi) 299th Report on the National Sports University Bill, 2017.

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3. The Committee considered the draft 294th, 295th, 296th, 297th, 298th and 299th Reports and adopted them after some discussion.

4. The Committee, then, decide to present/lay the 294th, 295th, 296tth, 297th, 298th and 299th Reports to both the Houses of the Parliament on 5th January, 2018. The Committee authorized the Chairman and in his absence, Shri Partap Singh Bajwa, M.P., Rajya Sabha to present the Reports in the Rajya Sabha and Shri Bhairon Prasad Mishra, M.P., Lok Sabha and in his absence Shri Sumedhanand Saraswati, M.P., Lok Sabha to lay the Reports in the Lok Sabha.

5. The Committee then adjourned at 11.00 A.M.