Govinda, R.

While the rational allocation of educational facilities may help bridge the gap of physical distances between learners and the school, it may still leave out a large number of children from the purview of primary education. This is the case with respect to Rajasthan, India - the barrier is not one of physical distance, but of social, economic and cultural blocks. Thus, if bringing all children to school and ensuring that they complete the whole cycle of primary education is the objective, merely preparing distance matrices through school-mapping exercises will not solve the problem.

Lok Jumbish was launched in 1989 to work at a grassroots level, mobilizing support and participation of the rural community in the programme of primary education. By revitalising the existing programme it aims to be more responsive and inclusive of all, and school mapping is considered to be a powerful instrument in the pursuit of these objectives. The purpose of the study is to analyse and understand the way school mapping has been conceptualised and implemented under Lok Jumbish and its relationship with the goal of achieving universal primary education in Rajasthan.