Lok Sabha Question No. 218 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-03
Subject: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Kanimozhi Karunanidhi

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 218 TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.02.2020

## Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

## 218. SHRIMATI KANIMOZHI KARUNANIDHI:

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

(a) whether  the  Government  has  decided  to  participate  in  the  Programme  for  International  Student Assessment (PISA) organized by OECD and if so, the details thereof ; and

(b) the measures taken/being taken by the Government to improve the quality in school education after the previous PISA in 2009?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL 'NISHANK')

(a)   The  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.

(b)      The  Central  Government  has  taken  the  following  initiatives  for  improving  the  quality  in  school education:

(i) To ensure competencies, the Central rules to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 have been amended and class-wise, subject-wise Learning Outcomes have been shared with all States and Union Territories.

(ii)   The National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2017 was held on 13th November 2017 for assessing the competencies developed by the children at the grade levels III, V and VIII. NAS (2017) was administered with district as the unit of reporting in the Government and Government aided schools. The competency based test was based on the Learning Outcomes which were recently incorporated in the Central Rules for the  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and  Compulsory  Education Act  by  the  Government  of  India.  Similarly, National  Achievement  Survey  for  Class  X  was  also  conducted  throughout  the  country  on  February  05, 2018 in government, government aided and private schools.

The NAS district report cards have been shared with the States and UTs to help in identifying gaps at the district level and devise strategies for further improvement. Subsequently, a framework of intervention has been developed and shared with States to improve the quality of learning in the schools. (iii)   The  online  D.El.Ed.  course  was  started  from  3rd  October,  2017  and  9,58,513  teachers  have successfully completed the training. (iv)  In  order  to  provide  e-learning  material,  different  facilities  like  e-  PATHSHALA,  DIKSHA  portal, SWAYAM (Study  Webs  to  Active  Learning  for  Young  Aspiring  Minds),  SWAYAM  PRABHA  DTH Channels have been made available by the Ministry. (v) Under Samagra Shiksha, funds are given to all States and UTs for strengthening of infrastructure and provision of other facilities in schools to ensure that all schools meet the prescribed norms, besides other interventions to improve the quality of education such as training of in-service teachers, headmasters and principals, remedial teaching for academically weaker students, provision of library grants to schools, ICT and digital initiatives, strengthening of teacher education institutions, Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan, Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat, etc. (vi)  An  integrated  Teacher  Training Programme  titled  NISHTHA  (National  Initiative  for  School  Heads and Teachers' Holistic Advancement) has been launched, to train 42 lakh teachers, and other functionaries to  make  classrooms  learner-friendly  and  improving  children's  competencies  including  critical  thinking, problem solving, creativity, as well as social-personal qualities such as cooperation, team work etc. (vii) MHRD has designed a 70 indicators based matrix called Performance Grading Index (PGI) to grade the States and UTs. (viii) The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has undertaken various examination reforms to promote competencies and quality of learning : Change in design of question papers with nearly 33% increase in internal choice in all  major subjects

(a) for  classes  X  and  XII  and  introduction  of  objective  type  questions.  It  has  been  decided  to  include  10% competency based Questions in the annual examination of class 10 in the current year.

(b) Experiential  learning  has  been  introduced  from  2019-20  to  promote  self  thinking,  creativity  and effective study skills among students.

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