School Infrastructure and Strengthening of Secondary and Higher Secondary

Education

RMSA programme has provision for infrastructure support to enhance the access and to provide
enabling condition for quality education. Infrastructure support can accordingly be classified in to 5
categories:
● Opening of new secondary schools or up gradation of upper primary schools to the
secondary stage. This would include class rooms with furniture, library, Integrated
Laboratory, Computer room, Head Master room, Art and Craft room, Toilet Blocks,
Drinking water etc.
● Strengthening of existing secondary schools through construction of additional classrooms,
Laboratories, Library ,computer room, separate toilets for girls and boys, resource room
for CWSN, etc
● Girls hostel for EBBs
● Vocational Education related workshops
● Major repair for school building
● Teachers Quarter

1.1 Enabling provision for infrastructure support:

1.1.1 New Schools/ Upgraded school: New schools buildings constructed under the programme
school should have the following facilities:
 4 class room for 2 section school / 2 classroom for 1 section school
 1 Science Laboratory
 Laboratories for vocational education
 Headmaster room
 Office room
 Computer room
 Art/craft/culture room
 Library room
 Separate toilet blocks for boys and girls
 Drinking water facility

Plinth area for 1 section and 2 section school should be 540 sq.mt. and 672 sq.mt.
respectively considering the above items of constructions. All the building should have
provision for electrification, sanitation and plumbing work etc. Estimate should be
inclusive of electrical and sanitary/plumbing works. Provision of lump sum % for these
items is to be avoided and is bound to be normalised at national level. The unit cost, where
not specifically mentioned in the RMSA norms, would be based on SSOR or CPWD rates
whichever is lower.

1.1.2 Strengthening of existing secondary and higher secondary school: Civil works under
RMSA should start with a proper assessment of the infrastructure requirement for each
 district. There need to be a school-wise compilation of physical and monetary
requirements. While planning for strengthening of existing schools following points to be
considered:
 The gaps with respect to infrastructure in the existing school should be identified based
on the UDISE data.
 While adding infrastructure to a school, it should be ensured that all the required
infrastructure works are planned in a single go. This will ensure a school once covered
has all the required facilities. (Whole school Approach). In this approach all the aspects
like ramps, railing, and toilet for CWSN, labs for vocational trades etc. needs to be
planned in single year.
 The components that can be undertaken under the programme are listed below with
specifications to be followed:

Class Class Room- Pupil Ratio: 1:40

rooms/Additional Minimum ratio :1:25
classrooms Class Room size: as per State norm, or plinth area of 66 sq. mt.
At least two additional class rooms should be built in one secondary
Schools
At least four additional class rooms, two sections each for classes IX & X
should be built in one upgraded upper primary schools
Cost of construction will include furniture, fixtures, fittings,
circulation area (verandah) etc.

Science One Integrated Science Laboratory- for Physics, Chemistry, Biology

Laboratory & Mathematics.
Room size: as per State norm or 66 sq.mt of plinth area.
Cost of construction will include furniture, fixtures, fittings,
circulation area (verandah) etc.

Lab Equipments Necessary equipments for Physics, Chemistry, Biology and

Mathematics’ will be needed initially to facilitate academic activities.
Provision of Rs. 1 lakh per Laboratory
One time grant
For schools where Science laboratory has been approved under the
programme

Headmaster/ 1 HM room for schools where there is no HM room

Principal room In case there is one HM for elementary and secondary room, it would be
available under SSA- RTE

Office Room 1 office room for schools where there is no office room
In case there is one office room for elementary and secondary room, it
would be available under SSA- RTE

Girls’ Activity 1 Girls activity room for each Govt school

Room

Computer Room size: as per State norm or plinth area of 66 sq.mt. .

room/laboratory Cost of construction will include furniture, fixtures, fittings,
circulation area (verandah) etc.

Art/ Craft/Culture Class Room size: as per State norm or plinth area 66 sq.mt.
Laboratory Cost of construction will include furniture/ equipments/ tools,
fixtures, fittings, circulation area (verandah) etc.

Library Library will be established and run in a room of adequate size as per the
norms fixed by the State Government or plinth area of around 100 sq.mt.
Cost of construction will include furniture, Almirah, racks, fixtures,
fittings, circulation area (verandah) etc.

Toilets and Requisite number of toilet blocks in each school, separately for Boys,
Drinking water Girls, staffs & teachers and differently abled children
facilities Adequate drinking water facilities in every school.
Every school to have atleast one toilet which CWSN can access.
In case as exiting toilet can be converted to CWSN friendly toilet, funds
for conversion may be sought.
Proper drainage system in every school

Resource Room at Resources room for CWSN may be provided at block level /urban cluster.
block level for Efforts should be made to converge with similar efforts made by SSA. In
CWSN case the Resource room created under SSA can be utilised by secondary
and higher students with some additional strengthening, it should be done
instead of constructing a separate resource room
Equipment for block level resource rooms can be provided @ Rs. 70000
per resource room for equipping the resource room.

Ramp and Railing All the rooms in the schools including the lab and Libraries should be
accessible to CWSN.
Wherever there is a gap, it can be undertaken.

Lab for Vocation As far as possible integrated lab may be utilised for education of
Education vocational trades.
Separate Lab would be approved under vocational education for trades
that may need special provisions
In case where construction of lab/ workshops has to be undertaken it
should be within the premises of the existing secondary/higher secondary
school.
The size of the workshop as per the norms approved is 10 x10 sqm

1.1.3 Major Repair:-Civil components of RMSA allow major repairs up to Rs. 4 lakh for 2
section schools and Rs. 2 lakh for 1 section school. The ceiling of 50% or 60% would not
include expenditure on major repair. The Major repair grant can be utilised for following:
 Adaptation of existing building environment (indoor and out-door) towards new
pedagogy. It is important to systematically identify the nature of adaptations and find
the most cost effective method to achieve it.
 Retrofitting the existing buildings towards hazard resistance thermal comfort, better
light and ventilation.
  Drinking water and sanitation facilities

1.1.4 Teachers Quarter: Residential quarters for teachers in remote/hilly areas/in areas with
difficult terrain can be considered. Quarters will be built as residential clusters with
accommodation for teachers of all schools within a particular area. The cost will be
approved as per SSOR. While accommodating teachers preference for female teachers
should be given.

1.1.5 Girls Hostel: There is provision to construct one hostel with the capacity of 100 girls in
each of the 3500 EBBS. Wherever there is space is KGBV compound, the hostels would
preferably be constructed there. While preparing the design for Girls Hostel following
needs to be considered:
 The minimum living space available to each inmate should be 40 sq. feet excluding
kitchen, toilet and other common space.
 The total plinth area of 100 bedded Girls hostel to be kept 11650 sq.ft. with provision of
+/- 5%.
 The unit cost will be on SSOR. Estimate with detail measurement for electrical and
plumbing installation should be part of main estimate. Submission on lump sum %basis
should be avoided.
 The buildings will be designed as earthquake resilient and will be fitted with basic fire
safety equipments.
 Efforts will also be made to design the buildings with provision for solar energy
generation, use of solar cooker and biogas

1.1.6 Minor Repair: Minor repair grant @ Rs. 25000 per school per annum may be considered
under special circumstances. Following repairing works can be undertaken under the head:
 School building
 Toilets
 Tanks
 Play Ground
 Campus
 Conservancy Services
 Electrical fittings
 Sanitary & Other fittings
 Furniture and fixtures etc.
Expenditure on repair & maintenance of building would not be included for calculating the
50% limit for civil works. Grants will be available only for those schools which have
existing buildings of their own. The fund available in a year cannot be carried forward to
next year. Neither can grants of two years or more can be accumulated to utilise in
consequent year.

1.2 Key Features for construction work under the programme

 The allocation for civil works will not exceed 50% of the approved Perspective Plan.
However, in a particular year’s Annual Plan, provision for civil works can be
 considered up to 60% of the Annual Plan expenditure depending upon the priorities
assigned to various components of the scheme in that year within the overall project
ceiling of 50%.
 The unit cost, where not specifically mentioned in the RMSA norms, would be based on
SSOR duly notified by state Government or CPWD whichever is lower.
 Incorporation of child-friendly internal and external elements will be mandatory in all
the new construction and repair works. All schools will be fitted with rain water
harvesting system and disabled friendly provisions. RMSA will encourage use of local
construction materials and low cost technologies.
 Incorporation of child-friendly internal and external elements will be mandatory in all
the new construction and repair works.
 All schools will be fitted with rain water harvesting system and disabled friendly
provisions.
 Use of local construction materials and low cost technologies to be given preference.
 Maximizing pedagogic potential of indoor and outdoor school spaces. “Bala” concept
can be referred to.
 School building to incorporate safety features for resistance against hazards
 The new structures will be constructed as earthquake resistant and will have facilities
for water harvesting.
 Provisions for renewable energy utilisation may be explored in the school buildings
strengthened/ upgraded under RMSA. Solar panels for water heating, running water
pump, solar lantern etc. are suggested as some of the possible activities.

Report on Environmental assessment can also be referred to at

http://rmsaindia.org/images/files/website_detail_contents/guidelines/rmsa/Environment
%20Management%20Framework.pdf

1.3 School buildings to adhere to specified construction standards: The national building
code of India 2005, developed by the Bureau of Indian standard (BIS) provides guidelines
for regulating building construction activities across the country. The code should serve as
reference for all States and UTs, for design and construction of school infrastructure. This
requirement does not preclude the use of local constructions design, materials and
practices. Details are available on RMSA website
http://rmsaindia.org/images/Extract_of_National_Building_Code_of_India.pdf

1.4 Technical support for implementation

 Creating/accessing technical capacity for large scale school infrastructure create and for
quality assurance.
 Quality assurance:-In order to assure quality of civil works, on independent assessment
of the technical quality of civil works through third party evaluation (TPE) is
mandatory. The TPE is to highlight good practices, bring out strength and weaknesses
and share with district/state level engineers. In addition inbuilt quality control test for
 building materials are undertaken by in-house engineering cell or agency
supervision/facilitating technical support.

1.5 Construction practices while executing the works can be referred to at RMSA
website at http://rmsaindia.org/images/Construction_Practices_and_Quality_Control_Tests.pdf

1.6 Capacity building of SMDC for undertaking building construction:-RMSA will

encourage use of local construction materials and low cost and environment friendly
technologies without compromising on the structural soundness and safety of the building.
The SMDC will need to be trained in certain specific technical aspect such as collaborating
in the development of drawings understanding cost estimates, assessing building material
quality, keeping accounts, material procurement etc. maintaining transparency about funds
received and used through social audits, display boards etc. the training can be imparted in
a simple and effective manner in the local language, through technical/ other experts who
are themselves trained to communicate effectively and demystify these issues.

 The School Management and Development Committee headed by the Principal would
be empowered to conduct any civil works including repairing & maintenance for
improvement of schooling facilities after following procedures as per rules. The
scheme, however also recognizes that all try to mobilize resources under Rural
Employment Programme and other developmental schemes for constructing school
buildings must be undertaken first before engaging any other modes getting civil work
done.

 School Management and Development Committees will have to carry out the civil
works activities through a transparent system of account keeping.

 The School Management and Development Committee could certify the maintenance
and repair work undertaken in a school. For repair and maintenance as well as new
construction, technical provisions will be followed. The Communities’ right to know
the cost parameters has to be fully respected.
 Efforts to improve the school environment by addition of a few inexpensive internal
and external elements will be made. Use of local materials and cost effective
technologies will be encouraged. Repair and maintenance of buildings will be given
priority. The States may make use of designs already developed in their specific local
contexts or the designs adopted by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

1.7 Checklist of document required to be prepared / submitted for civil works proposal:
While submitting proposal for civil works components, State need to ensure that requisite
details and document are part of the Annual Work Plan and budget. The checklist is
available on RMSA website at
http://rmsaindia.org/images/Checklist_for_Civil_Work_Proposal.pdf
1.8 Suggested Civil engineering tips at construction site of school buildings to be followed by
SMDC are available at http://rmsaindia.org/images/Tips_for_SDMC_for_conctruction_works.pdf