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l Vidyanjali: To connect the Government and Government aided schools through a community/
volunteer management program, the government has launched Vidyanjali on 7th September,
2021, Vidyanjali portal enables the community/volunteers to interact and connect directly with
schools of their choice to share their knowledge and skills as well as contribute in the form of
assets/material/equipment.

Major Schemes for School Education during 2021-22
National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 aims to pave the way for transformational reforms in school
and higher education systems in the country. It aims to provide all students, irrespective of their place
of residence, quality education system with special focus on the marginalised, disadvantaged and
underrepresented groups. The steps taken to provide quality education in government schools and
institutions in affordable and competitive manner are as follows:

l Samagra Shiksha Scheme has been continued for a period of five years, from 2021-22 to
2025-26, with a total financial outlay of ` 2,94,283.04 crore. As an integrated scheme for school
education, it covers the entire gamut from pre-school to class XII. It treats school education as
a continuum, and is in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG-4).
The scheme not only provides support for the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE)
Act, but is also aligned with the recommendations of NEP, 2020: to ensure that all children have
access to quality education with an equitable and inclusive classroom environment, to take care
of their diverse background, multilingual needs, different academic abilities, and make them
active participants in the learning process.

The major interventions, across all levels of school education, proposed under the scheme are:
(i) Universal Access including Infrastructure Development and Retention, (ii) Foundational
Literacy and Numeracy, (iii) Gender and Equity, (iv) Inclusive Education, (v) Quality and
Innovation, (vi) Financial support for Teacher Salary, (vii) Digital initiatives, (viii) RTE
Entitlements including uniforms, textbooks, (ix) Support for Early Childhood Care and Education
(ECCE), (x) Vocational Education, (xi) Sports and Physical Education, (xii) Strengthening
of Teacher Education and Training, (xiii) Monitoring, (xiv) Programme Management, and
(xv) National Component..
l NIPUN Bharat Mission: On 5 July 2021, government launched a National Mission on
th
Foundational Literacy and Numeracy called “National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with
Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat)” . The National Mission lays down priorities and
actionable agenda for States/UTs to achieve the goal of proficiency in foundational literacy and
numeracy for every child by grade 3. The Mission has been set up under the aegis of the centrally
sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha. NIPUN Bharat lays down the Lakshya or Targets for
Foundational Literacy and Numeracy starting from the Balvatika up to age group 9 based on the
learning outcomes and developmental goals covering various aspects, concepts and skills.
l Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme: The Scheme, earlier known
as ‘National Programme for Mid-Day Meal in Schools”, covers all school children studying in
Balvatika (just before class I) and Classes I-VIII in Government and Government-Aided Schools.
During 2020-21, about 11.80 crore children studying in 11.20 lakh institutions benefited under
the Scheme. PM POSHAN Scheme in schools has been approved for implementation over the
five-year period 2021-22 to 2025-26 with a financial outlay of `54061.73 crore from the Central
Government and `31733.17 crore from the State Governments and UT Administrations.