Question

What measures have been taken by the Government to spread education and skills among boys and girls?

Answer 1

Hint: We need to know about the Government’s objective which sparked the initiative to spread education among boys and girls and what steps were taken accordingly. Improving the literacy level of the country by providing quality elementary education for children in both rural and urban areas has always been the primary objective. But access to education was limited to the economically stronger sections of the society. Increasing child labor also kept children of the economically weaker sections deprived of education.

Complete answer:
Various steps were taken and schemes were adopted as a part of measures taken by the Government to spread education and skills among boys and girls. These are discussed as follows:
Establishment of schools: The basic step to spreading education is the availability and easy access to schools especially in rural areas. One such step is the Navodaya Vidyalaya Scheme whose objective lies in the selection of rural children who are talented. At least 75% of the seats are reserved for children belonging to rural areas and also 1/3 of the seats are reserved for girls.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA): The main objective is to spread basic quality elementary education all over the country with coordination between the central, state and local government. It aimed to provide a school in areas where there are no schooling facilities, to promote and support the education of girls, to provide free education, free textbooks and uniforms, to fulfil the educational needs of socially excluded categories, etc.
Midday Meal Scheme: The Midday Meal Scheme comes under the National Food Security Act, 2013 which is supported by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Its aim is to provide free lunches to primary and upper primary school-going children in government-aided schools. It was established to meet the nutritional needs of growing children as proper growth is required for a child to grasp the education provided to him/her.
Abolishing Child labour: Child labour has a vital role to play in eradicating elementary education among children and they also become prone to physical and mental illness. The Child Labour Act, 1986 prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14. These children engage in labour due to poverty along with a lack of educational resources. This prohibition has led children to be engaged in schools available to them by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Hence the SSA and abolition of child labour have been complimenting each other in recent times.

Note: There have been amendments and new policies have been adopted by the government in recent times to improve education by improving teaching standards as well. The above mentioned are a part of the initiative measures only. One such amendment is to obtain a minimum qualification authorized by the Central Government to be able to teach in both government and private schools. Several programmes to bring improvement in teacher education have also been developed.