Which of the following age groups is eligible for enrolment under ‘SarvaShikshaAbhiyan’?

The correct answer is B) 6-14 years. Under SarvaShikshaAbhiyan (SSA), launched in 2001, the target group was children in the 6-14 age band, covering elementary education from Class I to VIII. This age band was given legal backing by Article 21A, inserted by the 86th Amendment in 2002, which makes free and compulsory education for children aged 6-14 a Fundamental Right. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 later operationalised it.

• A) 4-12 years: This band matches no statutory or programme definition. Pre-primary and early childhood care fall outside SSA's core coverage.
• C) 5-15 years: Not a recognised age band in SSA or the RTE framework. It appears only as a distractor.
• D) 5-16 years: Also not a recognised band. The upper limit of 14 is fixed by Article 21A and the RTE Act.

Mains angle: the shift from a programme-based approach (SSA) to a constitutional right (Article 21A) is a standard governance question on rights-based education. Note that SSA has since been subsumed into Samagra Shiksha (2018), so the scheme is no longer separately operational.

Trap: Candidates confuse the 6-14 band with the 3-6 pre-primary band or with secondary-level ages, and sometimes pick 6-16 by mixing up the RTE and RMSA age limits.