The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday gave its nod to form an Integrated Scheme on School Education by subsuming Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan , Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Teacher Education from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2020.

It has also allocated ₹75,000 crore for the same, a 20 per cent increase over the existing allocations, said an official statement.

“The vision of the scheme is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from nursery to senior secondary stage in accordance with the (United Nations’) Sustainable Development Goal for Education. The main emphasis of the integrated scheme is on improving quality of school education by focussing on the two T’s — Teacher and Technology,” the statement said.

The scheme will focus on bridging social and gender gaps in school education, ensuring minimum standards in schooling provisions, and promoting vocationalisation of education, among others.

The CCEA has also approved the continuation of the Credit Guarantee Fund for Education Loans Scheme. It also sanctioned the continuation and modification of the Central Sector Interest Subsidy Scheme with a financial outlay of ₹6,600 crore from 2017-2018 to 2019-2020

An official statement said this move will provide education loans to 10 lakh students with 3.3 lakh loans being disbursed annually over the three years of the schemes. “This reflects an increase of 20 per cent over the previous scheme,” the statement added.

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