Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)

23-August-2012 19:17 IST

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal of Ministry of Human Resource Development for:

(i) Mobilization of external funds amounting to US $ 500 million in form of credit from IDA from World Bank, GB Pound 80 million from DFID in the form of grant-in-aid and Euro 25 million from EU in the form of grant-in-aid totalling Rs.3315 crore approximately for Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) for the project implementation period 2012-16 and

(ii) Continuance of 75:25 sharing pattern between Centre and States (other than NE States including Sikkim), approved for 11th Five Year Plan for RMSA for 2012-13.

Though the strategy and the targets of the scheme will not undergo any change, the technical and financial support from the external funding agencies and the continuance of 75:25 sharing pattern between Centre and States during financial year 2012-13 will provide necessary impetus to the ongoing implementation of the scheme.

The additional financing from the external agencies will bridge the requirement of additional funds to the some extents. Besides, international experience of the external funding agencies will bring in technical expertise to the programme. The continuance of sharing pattern of 75:25 for the current year 2012-13 at present will facilitate the Ministry to provide the funds available for the current year to the States and to ensure that pace of implementation of ongoing projects is not affected.

Apart from the students, their parents, teachers, headmasters, who will be the direct beneficiaries of the effective implementation of the scheme, the benefit will also accrue to academicians, training institutions, non-profit organizations working for education etc. The programme is being implemented in all States/UTs.

Since inception of the scheme, the RMSA has been able to enhance access to secondary schools by sanctioning setting up of 9646 new secondary schools, and strengthening of 34311 existing Government secondary schools.

Background:

The Cabinet has approved a sharing pattern of 75:25 between the Centre and the States during 11th Five Year Plan and a 50:50 sharing pattern for the 12th Five Year Plan. In the first two years (2009-10 to 2010-11), only a few select components were considered for approval as very few State Governments were able to submit Annual Plan proposals on time, with the net effect that State Governments were unable to take full benefit of the Scheme on a 75:25 basis. Therefore, there was ample justification for continuance of sharing pattern of 75:25 in 2012-13 to ensure that funds are released to States under RMSA during financial year 2012-13 without delay so that the pace of implementation of the scheme at State level is maintained.

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SC/SKS/SM

External financing and continued central-state funding share support RMSA implementation and timely fund release for secondary education upgrades. The Cabinet authorised mobilisation of external concessional credit and grant assistance to supplement RMSA funding for the 2012-16 implementation period and approved continuance of the existing Centre-State funding share for the 2012-13 financial year to ensure timely central fund release to States and sustain project implementation pace without changing RMSA strategy or targets.