Vol. 3, Issue 1, Part L (2017)

Abstract
Education is the cornerstone of any society which dreams to rise at the echelon of development path and become a developed society. Through education, societies invest in their most valuable asset – people. Across the countries there has been an effort to reform the education system and inculcate education planning in that. In this process emphasis has been given to the three pillars to make education system responsive: improving equal access, enhancing quality and strengthening education governance. The importance of education in India, especially the importance of school education, is undeniable. The society, including the State, has been well aware of this importance; there has been failure in achieving the goal of universal education. The judgement of the Supreme Court in Unnikrishnan case (1993), declared for the first time that the right to free education is a fundamental right of all citizens in this country, until they complete the age of 14 years. To strengthen educational statistical database, U-DISE has emerged as an innovative search engine of micro as well as macro planning. Manual aggregation of data at different levels has been completely replaced by computerized data entry and report generation system. Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) is the major source of data on all the parameters of education covering all its pillars viz., School, Teacher and Student. States are required to use U-DISE data for their Annual Work Plan and Budgets (AWP&Bs) and periodic reporting for the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) programmes in school education. MHRD also uses U-DISE data to verify and appraise the state plans under SSA (Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan).