1. Universalisation of Education (Course: 1.1.2-1st half, unit III)
Dr S K Biswas

2. Concept of UE
Universalisation of Education means making education available to –
All
Children of age group 6-14
Disadvantaged group
Illiterates
The concept ‘universalisation’ signifies that education is for all and not for a selected few. This also means that education is the birth right of every child.

3. Concept of UEE
Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) in India means making education available to all children in the age-group of 6 to 14 years and in classes I to VIII.

4. Statements for Universalization of Elementary Education
Article 45 of the Indian Constitution states that - "The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education to all children until they complete the age of 14 years."

5. Contd.
National Policy of Education, "It shall be ensured that free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality is provided to all children up to 14 years of age before we enter the twenty first century".
Unnikrishnan Judgement, "Every child/citizen of this country has a right to free education until he completes the age of fourteen years."

6. Contd.
The concept ‘free’ signifies that no fees will be collected from children for receiving elementary education in educational institutions run by the govt.
The concept ‘compulsory’ signifies that all children attaining the age of 6 are to be enrolled in Class I and should continue until they complete the class VIII at the age of 14 years.
We are committed to make education universal, free and compulsory for the age group of 6-14 years.

7. Stages of UEE
Universalization of education implies five things namely-
universalisation of provision
universalisation of enrolment
universalisation of retention
universalisation of participation
universalisation of achievement

8. Universalization of provision
This implies that adequate school facilities should be provide to all children between age group 6 to 14 in the country. It means that elementary schools should be set up within 1 km from the habitation of the child. It needs to open a large number of schools throughout the country.

9. Universalisation of enrolment
This means every child attaining the age of 6 must be enrolled in Class I of an elementary school. This also means compulsory enrolment of all children, attaining the age of 6, in an elementary school. Here, it may be mentioned that the gross enrolment is very often taken amiss as universal enrolment.

10. Universalisation of retention
This means that every child enrolled in Class I must continue in the school till he completes the class VIII. Children should be properly understood and guided so that they do not leave school before they complete the course of class VIII.

11. Universalisation of participation
For UEE participation of community is quite inevitable. The community is to be mobilized to take the responsibility for identifying its own needs and to take decisive role in ensuring the implementation programme of UEE.
In order to materialize this, decisions should be decentralized in order to utilize community participation in the programme of Universalisation of Elementary Education

12. Universalisation of achievement
Universalisation of enrolment alone can’t help in success of universalisation of elementary education. To make this programme a success it is important to assess the achievement of the students. This can be possible only by the programme of continuous and comprehensive evaluation. If we can introduce this evaluation programme both in formal and non-formal settings, our objectives of education for all can achieve its success.

13. Define Access and Success in respect of UEE
Universalisation of elementary education denotes two processes namely: 1. Access 2. Success
Access: This means universal provision of elementary schools and universal enrolment of children in the age-group of 6 to 14. All children in the age-group of 6 to 14 should have access to elementary schools. There should not be any discrimination in respect of sex, religion, caste, place or socio economic status.

14. Contd.
Success: By simply providing access to elementary schools we can’t claim that we have universalized elementary education. Along with access to schools we should make adequate provisions in schools, so that children can get various type of experience in elementary education.
Adequate number of trained teachers, qualitative learning and teaching materials, aids and equipments, classrooms, etc. should be provided in each and every school to facilitate successful completion of elementary education.
Success is to be determined in terms of attainment of Minimum Levels of Learning (MLL) which means most of the students would acquire most of the competencies.

15. Importance of Universalisation of Education
UEE is important for the following reasons:
Eradication of poverty
Fostering economic progress
Managing the growth of population
Creating a clean and healthy environment.

16. Importance of Universalisation of Education
J. P. Naik an eminent educationist of our country has very aptly observed “The progress of primary education is an index of the general, social and economic development of the country as a whole”. Primary education plays an important role in laying the proper foundation of a child’s cultural, emotional, intellectual, moral, physical, social and spiritual developments. Countries which have made proper provision for primary education are far ahead than those with inadequate provision of primary education.

17. Problems in the Universalisation of Elementary Education
We all know the commitment and target date fixed by our Constitution and NPE 1986 to universalise the elementary education.The modified policy 1992 has further revised the target date. It states, “It shall be ensured that free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality is provided to all children up to 14 years of age before we enter the 21st century.” A National Mission (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan – SSA 2000) has been launched for the achievement of this goal.
Inspite of the provision made in the constitution and the efforts made by the government, we have not yet been able to universalize the elementary education. Free and compulsory elementary education has remained on pen and paper only.

18. What are the problems responsible for failure?
The problems which caused failure are of various types such as:
Social Problems.
Economic Problems.
Educational Problems.
Geographical Problems.
Administrative Problems.

19. Social Problems Economic Problems Apathy of parents.
Conservative attitude of parents towards co-education.
Over population.
Early marriage of girls.
Economic Problems
Poverty of parents.
Lack of funds

20. Educational Problems
Low enrolment of SC, ST and other backward sections of the society.
Low enrolment of girls.
Low enrolment of disabled children.
High rate of wastage.
Defective curriculum.
Uninspiring methods of teaching.
Lack of competent teachers.

21. Geographical Problems
Inaccessible areas
Small and scattered habitations particularly in tribal and hilly areas.

22. Administrative Problems
Inequality of educational opportunities.
Frequent transfer of teachers.
Lack of women teachers.
Lack of effective supervision.
Failure to enforce compulsory education.
Lack of suitable admission policy.
Inadequate and unattractive school buildings.
Lack of teaching-learning aids.
Existence of large number of incomplete primary schools.
Lack of non-formal and adult education facilities.

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