Innovative Step to Universalise Education R Gopalakrishnan Amita Sharma The success of the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS), initiated by the government of Madhya Pradesh last year, has few lessons to teach. In sharp contrast to the all round failure of the centrally planned schemes for universalisation of primary education, the EGS, which guarantees primary schooling facility on a demand from a community lacking it, has proved not only cost-effective hut has reached hitherto unreached sections of society in quickest possible time without compromising any of the basic requirements for quality. Moreover, by making the community and the gram panchayat the nodal points in executing the scheme, the EGS forges partnership between state governments, panchayats and communities, thus destroying the distinction between supply agency of the government and demand agency of the people, an idea that has hindered the spread and quality of primary education.
