A credit agreement of $600 million equivalent, for the Second Elementary Education Project, was signed on Thursday between the government of India and the World Bank.

An agreement to this effect was signed between World Bank Acting Country Director Rachid Benmessaoud and Economic Affairs Joint Secretary Madhusudan Prasadin in New Delhi [Images] on Thursday, according to a World Bank press release.

This credit is aimed at supporting the Central government's ongoing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to provide access to quality education for children aged 6 to 14 years. The project aims to promote equity by enabling hard-to-reach children to attend school.

The first phase of SSA saw a rapid expansion of primary school facilities across the country, especially in remote and socially disadvantaged areas, leading to huge increases in elementary school enrollments.

"SSA II focuses on improving student retention through completion of Grade 8 and on improving learning outcomes. Achieving these objectives will ensure that all Indian children obtain a meaningful education, which in turn will play a big role in achieving the education Millennium Development Goals on a global scale," said the press release.

Total cost of the SSA II is estimated at $10.7 billion, of which the government of India will contribute around 55 per cent, the States will contribute about 35 per cent, and the Development Partners (including the World Bank) approximately 10 per cent.

The credit, provided by the International Development Association, the World Bank's concessionary lending arm, carries a 0.75 per cent service fee and has 35 years to maturity and a 10-year grace period during which no repayment is required.

India has made strong progress in enhancing access to education. In 2002, India made elementary education a fundamental right of every child through its 86th constitutional amendment. According to the government of India figures, between 2003 and 2008, the number of out-of-school children was reduced from 25 million to about 4.5 million.

The transition rates from primary to upper primary also improved, from 75 per cent in 2002 to 83 per cent in 2006.

Over 2,00,000 new schools were set up during this period and over 21 million more children attended school. This represents about 6 per cent of the total number of children previously out of school, globally.

There has been a significant reduction in gender gaps. Access for children from marginalised groups, minorities, extremely poor households, and educationally and economically lagging states has increased.

According to the World Bank acting country director, "The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme has served as a powerful vehicle to mobilise stakeholders at all community, district, state, and national levels around the objective of ensuring that every child from 6 to 14 years is included in the education system."

"The challenge now is to include those hardest to reach and to ensure that children get the quality education they deserve to succeed at higher levels of education and subsequently in the labour market, thereby contributing to the country's overall social and economic development," he said.

The project is the second phase of support from India's Development Partners (which also includes the UK's Department for International Development and the European Commission) to the government's ongoing and evolving SSA programme.

With more and more children now entering school, the focus in this next phase is on improving quality with equity. In addition to capacity building and monitoring, the project will support programmes to enable the hardest-to-reach children to attend school.

In areas where access to education remains low, it will support provision of teachers and construction of primary and upper primary schools. It will continue to support provision of free textbooks and grants to private aided schools to encourage them to subsidise enrolment of students.