What are the Objectives of Secondary Education with the Detailed Account on RMSA and Its Demerits?

Back to: Contemporary India and Education – Unit 4

RMSA (Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan. Further) translates to the National Mission for Secondary Education. This mission was an initiative taken by the Central Government of India to further the main purpose of launching and providing secondary education in Indian primary schools. This mission was successfully implemented from 2009 to 2010. It stresses the need to facilitate proper educational conditions for efficient growth, development, and equity for all students.

Objectives of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)

The main objectives of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) are as follows:

  1. Improve the quality of education: The mission aims to improve the overall quality of education that is administered at the secondary level. Achieving this aim is possible by enabling all secondary schools to conform to all the norms that are prescribed by the authority.
  2. Remove Barriers in Education: The mission also aims to remove barriers existing in education such as gender, socio-economic and disability. These barriers lead to social prejudice which obstructs and hampers the process of widening and broadening one’s mindset.
  3. Universal Access to Secondary Education: The mission also aimed to provide universal access to secondary level education by 2017 (which is the XII Five Year Plan).
  4. Universal Retention of Students: The mission not only focused on the universal enrolment of students but also stressed the universal retention of students by the year 2020.
  5. Training of Teachers: The mission aimed to train the teachers to increase the quality of education and gave this responsibility to SCERT.

Apart from these major aims, the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) also emphasizes the provision of universal education for all children between the ages of 15 and 16.

Demerits of RMSA

The demerits of RMSA are as follows:

  1. Lack of Mapping: There is inadequate mapping concerning the distance of the secondary schools from the home of the learners.
  2. Lack of Specific Strategy: There is a lack of a specific strategy regarding the education of backward classes and scheduled castes and tribes as well.
  3. Lack of Teacher’s Quarters: There are no lodging facilities for teachers who may be appointed in remote areas.
  4. Lack of Proper Arrangement: Rainwater harvesting is one of the main components of RMSA but there is a lack of the arrangement of the same.
  5. Untimely Release of Funds: There is a lack of funding for various educational interventions which hampers the scheme’s effective implementation.

The funding for the same is provided through state governments from the Central Ministry by establishing separate agencies for its implementation. The total budget provided for the same during the XI Five Year Plan (2002-2007) was ₹2,012 billion. In 2018, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan along with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was disintegrated to form Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.

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