School Education

Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. Educational methods include storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and directed research. Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators, but learners may also educate themselves.Education can take place in formal or informal settings and any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational. The methodology of teaching is called pedagogy.

Education is commonly divided formally into such stages as preschool or kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, Higher secondary school and then college, university, or apprenticeship.

A right to education has been recognized by some governments and the United Nations. In most regions, education is compulsory up to a certain age.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE) is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted on 4 August 2009, which describes the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children between the age of 6 to 14 years in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the act came into force on 1 April 2010. The title of the RTE Act incorporates the words ‘free and compulsory’. ‘Free education’ means that no child, other than a child who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education. ‘Compulsory education’ casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and local authorities to provide and ensure admission, attendance and completion of elementary education by all children in the 6-14 age group. With this, India has moved forward to a rights based framework that casts a legal obligation on the Central and State Governments to implement this fundamental child right as enshrined in the Article 21A of the Constitution, in accordance with the provisions of the RTE Act.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in partnership with State Governments for universalizing elementary education across the country.
It aims to provide useful and relevant elementary education to all children in the age-group 6 to 14 by ensuring universal access and retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in education and enhancement of learning levels of children by provision of quality education.

The RashtriyaMadhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme initiated in 2009, demonstrated the ambition of the Government for a secondary education system that can support the growth and development of the Nation. It aims to increase the enrolment rate to 90% at secondary and 75% at higher secondary stage by providing a secondary school within reasonable distance of every home and also to improve the quality of secondary education by making all secondary schools conform to prescribed norms, removing gender, socio-economic and disability barriers and providing universal access to secondary level education by 2017.