Education

UNICEF in action

© UNICEF India

UNICEF supports the government of India's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to ensure all children have access to quality education and complete a full course of primary schooling. Building on existing initiatives and recent successes, the major thrusts of the current GOI-UNICEF Elementary Education Programme rest on:

• Improving school effectiveness (with emphasis on gender parity) through a holistic and gender sensitive understanding of good quality education and demonstration of a scaleable quality package.
• Developing context-specific strategies to reach out to girls, especially from socially disadvantaged groups - urban poor, tribal, scheduled caste, and working children - in order to eliminate gender and social disparity in access as well as achievement.
• Enhancing the research base to ensure effective analysis, action and advocacy at all levels,

UNICEF's strategy is built around three inter-linked themes: access, quality and equity in primary education. Addressing the needs of out-of-school children is a short-term, yet critical intervention, to provide those who have missed the proverbial school bus another chance. Improving quality on the other hand is equally critical - a long-term strategy to significantly reduce the number of out-of-school children as well as to improve overall levels of retention and achievement, success is contingent on strong linkages between families/communities and school. Educational research and analysis is the cementing factor and provides critical inputs for effective is the cementing factor and provides critical inputs for effective planning and implementation.