School Integration Programme in Rajasthan

Case Study of the Day: School Integration Programme in Rajasthan

The School Integration Programme (SIP) in Rajasthan is a government initiative to promote social cohesion and inclusion in schools by bringing together students

Table of Contents

Introduction

The School Integration Programme (SIP) in Rajasthan is a government initiative to promote social cohesion and inclusion in schools by bringing together students from different social and economic backgrounds. The program was launched in 2004 and has since been implemented in over 10,000 schools across the state.

Objectives

Promote social cohesion and inclusion in schools
Reduce caste and class-based discrimination
Improve the academic performance of all students
Create a more equitable and just education system

Implementation

Enrolment: The program reserves 25% of seats in all government schools for students from disadvantaged groups, such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes.
Curriculum: The program includes a curriculum on social justice and human rights in all schools.
Teacher training: Teachers are trained on how to promote social inclusion and combat discrimination in the classroom.
Community engagement: The program works with communities to raise awareness of the importance of education and to encourage parents to send their children to school.

Impact

School Integration has led to improved management of schools. Teacher vacancies reduced from 60% to 33%. This has been corroborated by recent UNICEF reports (2016).
The pass percentage has increased from 66% to 78% for Grade X and from 81% to 84% for Grade XII. The transition rate has increased, especially in case of girls. Previously, there was a lack of government schools covering both elementary and secondary education.
Consequently, children had to change schools at least thrice in order to complete education from grades I to XII. This was a key cause of drop-outs during transition.

Conclusion

The SIP is a well-intentioned program with the potential to make a significant contribution to social cohesion and inclusion in Rajasthan. However, the program needs to be better implemented and monitored in order to achieve its full potential.