Lok Sabha Question No. 338 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-06-24
Subject: Teaching Standards
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Giridhari Yadav, Rama Devi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 338 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 th   JUNE, 2019

## Teaching Standards

## † 338. SHRI GIRIDHARI YADAV : SHRIMATI RAMA DEVI :

## Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  it  is  a  fact  that  quality  of  teaching  is  declining  in  the  country  even  after technological upgradation;
- (b) if so, the reaction of the Government thereto; and
- (c) the efforts made by the Government along with the outcome thereof to raise the standard of teaching in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## ( SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL 'NISHANK')

- (a) to (c): The Central Government has taken several initiatives to assess and improve the quality of teaching in the country as follows:
- (i) In order to focus on quality education, the Central rules to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 have been amended to include reference on classwise,  subject-wise  Learning  Outcomes.  The  Learning  Outcomes  for  each  class  in  Languages (Hindi, English and Urdu), Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Social Science up

to  the  elementary  stage  have,  accordingly,  been  finalized  and  shared  with  all  States  and  UTs. These would serve as a guideline for State and UTs to ensure that all children acquire appropriate learning level.

(ii) The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) conducts periodic national surveys of learning achievement of children in classes III, V, VIII and X. Four rounds of National Achievement Survey (NAS) have been conducted so far for class V and three rounds for  classes  III  &  VIII.  These  reveal  improvement  in  learning  achievement  levels  of  pupils,  in identified  subjects  from  first  round  to  fourth  round.  Further,  a  National  Achievement  Survey based on learning outcomes was conducted for Classes III, V and VIII on 13th November, 2017 with a sample frame upto district level to enable states/UTs to identify gaps in learning outcomes at  district  level  and  design  strategies  to  address  those  gaps.  Similarly,  NAS  for  Class  X  was conducted  on  5th  February,  2018.  NAS  Reports  show  students'  learning  levels  against  the expected learning outcomes of a particular grade and are used to provide feedback to the districts for further improvement.

(iii) Section  23(2)  of  the  RTE  Act  has  been  amended  to  extend  the  period  of  in-service training for untrained elementary teachers to 31st March, 2019 in all the States and UTs. As per the  above  amendment, all untrained in-service teachers working in Government, Governmentaided, and Private un-aided schools should acquire minimum qualification as laid down by an academic authority, authorized by the Central Government, by 31st March, 2019. The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) was entrusted to conduct this training through ODL (Open Distance Learning) mode. The online D.El.Ed. course has been started from 3rd October, 2017 and completed on 31 st March, 2019.

(iv) A four  year  B.Ed  integrated  course  to  bring  about  qualitative  improvement  in  teacher education  programmes  in  India  has  been  conceptualised  and  regulations  for  this  course  have been published in official gazette on 29 th March, 2019 and applications have been invited w.e.f. 3 rd June,  2019.  The  model  curriculum  prepared  for  this  course  includes  crucial  aspects  like Gender, Inclusive education, ICT, Yoga, Global Citizenship Education (GCED) and Health &

Sanitation.  The  teaching  specialization  would  primarily  be  for  the  primary  levels  and  the secondary level.

(v) The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Act, 2018 has been  notified  on  11th  January,  2019.  The  said  Act  provides  to  empower  the  appropriate Government to take a decision as to whether to hold back a child in the 5th class or in the 8th class or in both classes, or not to hold back a child in any class till the completion of elementary education.  The  Act  seeks  to  improve  the  learning  levels  of  children  and  will  lead  to  greater accountability and improvement in the quality of education.

(vi) The Central Government has launched an integrated scheme for school education named as  Samagra  Shiksha,  w.e.f.  2018-19  which  subsumes  the  three  erstwhile  Centrally  Sponsored schemes of school education i.e  Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan  (RMSA),  and  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  on  Teacher Education  (CSSTE).  The common objectives of all these Schemes were to enhance access, to promote equity through the inclusion of disadvantaged groups and weaker sections and to improve the quality of education. The new integrated scheme envisages school education as a continuum from pre-school to senior secondary level and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels.

(vii) Government  of  India  has  decided  to  participate  in  the  Programme  for  International Students Assessment (PISA) to be conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2021. PISA is a competency based assessment which unlike content based assessment, measures the extent to which students have acquired key competencies that are essential for full participation in modern societies. Learnings from participation in PISA help to introduce competency based examination reforms in the school system and help move away from rote learning. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and NCERT are part of the process and activities leading to the actual test.

(viii) In order to experience and celebrate the rich cultural diversity of India, Rangotsav was held  from  7 th to  21 st December,  2018  in  schools,  with  participation  of  students,  teachers  and other  stake  holders.  Rangotsav  is  focused  on  creating  a  non-judgmental  platform  for  the participants  to  explore  and  express  their  artistic  minds  through  dance,  music,  theatre,  painting craft  making  etc.  The  fortnight-long  event  promoted  a  joyful  learning  environment  with  no restriction on expression of different forms of arts. It is a gate way for each state to get exposed to the cultures, arts and languages of other States and UTs and enrich the minds of students and enhance their thrust for knowledge.

(ix) In  order  to  objectively  evaluate  the  performance  of  the  school  education  system  in  the States/UTs, MHRD has designed a 70 indicators based matrix called Performance Grading Index (PGI) to grade the States and UTs. The indicators have been chosen after detailed stakeholder consultation and the information on these indicators is drawn from the inputs provided by the respective States and UTs. This grading system will assist the States and UTs to identify the gap and design appropriate interventions to bridge them.

(x) Timely  and  accurate  data  is  the  basis  of  sound  and  effective  planning  and  decision making. Towards this end, the establishment of a well-functioning and sustainable Educational Management Information System is of utmost importance today. In 2018-19, the UDISE+ (i.e. UDISE plus) application has been launched to collect data from all schools, so that it becomes an effective tool for decision making.

(xi) In order to provide supplementary learning material for students and for upgrading the skills  of  teachers,  MHRD  has  developed  a  dedicated  Digital  Infrastructure  for  Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA) platform. The high quality e-learning material both for students and teachers are uploaded by Ministry and States/UTs on this portal. This is expected to substantially augment the knowledge base of the students and technical skills of teachers at no additional cost.

(xii) The  Government  has  launched  Rashtriya  Aavishkar  Abhiyan  (RAA)  programme  on 09.07.2015,  to  motivate  and  engage  children  of  the  age  group  of  6-18  years  in  Science, Mathematics and Technology through observation, experimentation, inference drawing, model building, etc. both through inside and outside classroom activities. The Central Government also supports States and UTs  on  early grade reading, writing  &  comprehension,  and  early

Mathematics  programmes  through  a  sub-programme  namely  'Padhe  Bharat  Badhe  Bharat' (PBBB) in foundational years of schooling.

(xiii) A  single  point  repository  of  e  resources  called  e-  PATHSHALA  containing  NCERT textbooks  and  various  other  learning  resources  has  been  developed  for  showcasing  and disseminating  all  educational  resources  including  textbooks,  audio,  video,  periodicals,  and  a variety of other print and non-print materials.

(xiv) MHRD  has  launched  a  Massive  Open  Online  Courses  (MOOCs)  platform  popularly known as SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active learning for Young Aspiring Minds) on 9 th July, 2017. The portal is offering various online courses for school education and higher education. NCERT  is  developing  course  modules  for  Massive  Open  and  Online  Course  (MOOCs)  for school education system in 12 subject areas (Accountancy, business studies, biology, chemistry, economic, history, geography, mathematics, physics, political science, psychology and sociology)  for  classes  IX-XII.    Twelve  (12)  courses  and  twenty  one  (21)  courses  have  been completed  in  the  first  cycle  and  second  cycle  (completed  on  30  Nov.  2018)  on  SWAYAM platform (https://swayam.gov.in/) respectively. Nearly 22,000 students and 30,000 students were registered in the first cycle and second cycle respectively.

(xv) A programme for utilization of satellite communication technologies for transmission of educational  e-contents  through  32  National  Channels  i.e.  SWAYAM  PRABHA  DTH-TV  has been  launched.  Central  Institute  of  Educational  Technology  (CIET)-NCERT  is  the  national coordinator for one DTH TV channel i.e., Kishore Manch (#31) and has started feeding a 24x7 educational TV channel w.e.f. 09 July, 2018. Besides, NIOS is running 5 channels for teachers, for Secondary and Senior Secondary levels and for sign language.

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