Education has an inherent value for the development of the society and it helps in the realisation of a better social order. Higher literacy and good quality elementary education enables an individual to make better use of available economic and other opportunities. Therefore, getting good quality education is the basic right of every child born in the country as its citizen. To fulfil this requirement several steps have been taken in India since its independence. Most importantly, such provision provides an opportunity to access equitable, quality based universal elementary education on principles of equity and non- discrimination for all children. In this series the affirmative justiciable legal framework that entitles all children between the age of 06 to 14 years with free and compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education across country i.e., the RTE (Right to Education) Act, 2009 and introduction of SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) programme in 2001-02 are considered as landmark steps in this direction. Further, the initiative has led to significant spatial and numerical growth of elementary schools in the country. However, it is also important to understand that to what extent these initiatives by the government for the cause of Universalization of Elementary Education with special reference to SSA, has been able to make a dent in the core of the problem. This paper has tried to the develop an understanding of the concept of programme on Universalization of Elementary Education and analyse the challenges faced by SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) with the help of information and data available through the secondary sources and review of previous researches. Finally, the paper provides some workable suggestions and recommendations for the better performance of the programme.

Keyword: Sarva shiksha abhiyan (SSA); Right to education; Universalization of education; Elementary education.