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Paras 5.13 –5.15 of the National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986 (as modified in 1992) deal with Secondary Education. Para 5.13. of the NPE, inter alia states that access to Secondary Education will be widened with emphasis on enrolment of girls, SCs and STs, particularly in science, commerce and vocational streams. Boards of Secondary Education will be reorganized and vested with autonomy so that their ability to improve the quality of secondary education is enhanced. Efforts will be made to provide computer literacy in as many secondary level institutions as possible so that the children are equipped with necessary computer skills to be effective in the emerging technological world. A proper understanding of the work ethos and of the values of a humane and composite culture will be brought about through appropriately formulated curricula. Vocationalization through specialized institutions or through the refashioning of secondary education will, at this age, provide valuable manpower for economic growth.
It is universally accepted that children with special talent or aptitude should be provided opportunities to proceed at a faster pace, by making good quality education available to them, irrespective of their capacity to pay for it.
Pace setting residential schools, Navodaya Vidayalas, intended to serve this purpose have been established in most parts of the country on a given pattern, but with full scope for innovation and experimentation. Their broad aim will continue to be to serve the objective of excellence coupled with equity and social justice (with reservation for the rural areas, SCs and STs), to promote national integration by providing opportunities to talented children from different parts of the country, to live and learn together, to develop their full potential, and, most importantly, to become catalysts of a nation-wide programme
and school improvement.
Improving Access to Secondary Education
Steps have been taken in the last few years to universalize elementary education. Towards that end Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) is being implemented all over the country in collaboration with the State Governments. Mid-day Meal Scheme is a part of this programme. As a result of these steps, the number of “out of school” children (6-14 years) has come down to less than 5% of the total population in that age group. The Sarva Shikha
Abhiyan at the elementary level to universalize
elementary education for the age group 6-14 has
already set the stage for an exponential growth
of demand for secondary education. While the growth of enrolment in the secondary school, had increased at an annual rate of 2.83 per cent during 1990s, it increased at 7.4 per cent, per annum between 2000 and 2003. The full impact of SSA
is likely to be reflected during the terminal years of the
Eleventh Plan. If the goal of universal retention at the
elementary level is achieved by 2010, steps will have to be
taken to expand facilities for secondary education in a big way.
CABE Committees
A committee of Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), which is the highest deliberative and advisory forum on Education in the country, was therefore constituted in September 2004 with the following term of reference
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