New Delhi, Sep 22 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday expressed concern over the high attrition rate of children from primary schools in various pockets across the country and emphasised the need to provide quality learning, especially to first generation school- goers.

Reviewing the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) - the government's flagship programme for universalisation of elementary education - following reports of financial irregularities and under achievement of targets, Manmohan Singh was distressed over delays in teacher recruitment, absenteeism and deployment.

Though the number of out-of-school children declined from 25 million to 9.6 million in the last two years, he underscored the need to improve the quality of science and mathematics teaching in the context of the National Curriculum Framework - 2005.

A recent report of the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) found key elements of the SSA - textbooks, classrooms, teachers and learning equipment - were either missing or seriously lacking.

"Four years after implementation of SSA and utilisation of almost 86 percent funds available with the implementing agencies, targets have not been met," the CAG report said.

Under the SSA, the government's brief is to open new schools, maintain the existing ones, add classrooms, recruit and train teachers and give free textbooks to girls and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes students.

The CAG came down heavily on both the central and state governments, finding that a shocking 40 percent children between the age group of 6 and 14 years - 13.6 million out of 34 million - were out of school as in March last year despite spending Rs.111.33 billion in the last four years.

Both the government's flagship programmes - Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid Day Meals Scheme - came up for examination at the meeting attended by Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh, Minister of State (PMO) Prithiviraj Chavan and senior officials of the PMO and the Planning Commission.

Manmohan Singh said that best practices in both the SSA and Mid Day Meal programmes be shared across the states and the programmes reviewed in the forthcoming meeting of the National Development Council to bring about synergy and national consensus on programme priorities.