ABSTRACT
The SSA, introduced in 2001–02 by the Government of India, aims at achieving the goal of universal elementary education (UEE) through mainstreaming all out-of-school (OoSC) children, bridging gender gap and social gap, universalising retention and improving overall quality of education in both primary and upper primary level. Despite significant achievements in almost all indicators of education, there are spatial/social/gender disparities in educational achievements all over India. Disparity is more pronounced in backward states/regions. The present study has attempted to examine both physical and financial achievements in elementary education in Odisha. Various programmes under SSA have been undertaken by the government and non-government agencies to achieve UEE within a stipulated time frame. In fact, substantial amount of funds have been allocated under SSA to achieve this goal. At the same time, it has also been observed that a substantial amount of total money allocated under SSA remains either unspent or un/underutilised. Now it is time to evaluate the programme in terms of performance of SSA based on expenditure made for various programmes in Odisha.
