SSA to be wiped out of Govt literature

The government wants to replace the "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan" with "Rashtriya Shiksha Abhiyan", reports Aloke Tikku.

Two months ago, the government replaced "poverty alleviation" in its 20-point programme with "poverty eradication" to better convey the objective of its programme.

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Now, it is the turn of "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan" (SSA) to be wiped out of government literature. The government wants to rename the programme the "Rashtriya Shiksha Abhiyan".

The official reasoning is that SSA does not have 'national' zing to its name; not quite in the way that other flagship programmes of the government, National Urban Renewal Mission or the National Rural Health Programme, have. Not even though the central government - that funds 75 per cent of the expenditure under this campaign - spends more on this scheme alone than say the rural health mission programme.

Officials insist that the fact that the NDA government launched the programme was only a coincidence. An official at the human resources development ministry said the department of elementary education had already moved a note for the Union Cabinet to approve the new name but refused to spell out how much the name-change would cost.

Email Aloke Tikku: atikku@hindustantimes.com