Lok Sabha Question No. 783 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-23
Subject: Quality of Education
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: NIHAL CHAND CHAUHAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 783

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 23 rd  July, 2018

## Quality of Education

## †783. SHRI NIHAL CHAND:

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

- (a)  the effective steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to improve and maintain the quality of the mandatory education  at  the  primary  level  in the country;
- (b)   whether it  is  being  proposed  to provide some incentives to the backward States separately in the education sector; and
- (c)   the  details  of  policy  guidelines given  to  the  States  regarding  mandatory primary level education in the country?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

- (a):  The  following  steps  have  been  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  and maintain the quality of primary education in the country.
- (i) 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. However,  the Samagra  Shiksha  scheme,  envisages  school  education  as  a continuum from pre-school to senior secondary level and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all. The Samagra Shiksha scheme focuses on improvement of quality of education by providing support for  different interventions

like;  in-service  training  of  teachers  and  schools  heads,  conduct  of  achievement surveys  at  National  and  State  level,  composite  school  grant  to  every  school  for providing a conducive learning environment, library grants, provision of textbooks as per  Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, remedial teaching  for  academically  weaker  students,  ICT  and  digital  initiatives,  grants  for sports and physical education etc.

- (ii) In  order  to  increase  focus  on  quality  of  elementary  education,  the  Central rules to the RTE Act, 2009 have been amended on 20 th February, 2017 to include reference on class-wise, 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.  Learning outcomes have been translated in different languages and serve as a benchmark  for student's capabilities to be achieved in each subject & class.
- (iii) National  Achievement  Survey  for  classes  3,  5,  and  8  based  on  learning outcomes was conducted on 13th November, 2017 with a sample frame upto district level to enable States and UTs to identify gaps in learning outcomes at district level and design  strategies  to  address  those  gaps.  District  Report  Cards  are  available along with learning gaps for each district.
- (iv) Section  23(2)  of  the  RTE  Act  has  been  amended  to  extend  the  period  for training  of  untrained  in-service  elementary  teachers  to  31st  March,  2019.  As  per above  amendment,  all  untrained  in-service  teachers  working  in  Government, Government aided, 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.
- (v)  The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has been entrusted to conduct this  training  through  ODL  (Open  Distance  Learning)  mode.  The  online  D.El.Ed. course  has  started  from  3rd  October,  2017.    More  than  13  Lakh  teachers  have joined these courses.

(vi)  In  addition  to  above,  the  Central  Government,  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.

(vii) The  Government  has  also  launched  Rashtriya  Aavishkar  Abhiyan  (RAA) programme on 09.07.2015, to motivate and engage children of the age group from 6-18 years in Science, Mathematics and Technology through observation, experimentation,  inference  drawing,  model  building,  etc.  both  through  inside  and outside classroom activities.

(viii) The  NCERT  has  developed  a  framework  for  Performance  Indicators  for Elementary School Teachers (PINDICS) and shared with the states.  PINDICS is a framework for accessing teacher performance and providing contructive feedback for further improvement.

(b):  Under  the  Samagra  Shiksha  scheme,  provision  has  been  made  for  giving preference to Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected  districts,  Special  Focus  Districts  (SFDs),  Border  areas  and  the  115 Aspirational districts.

(c): The RTE Act, 2009, has come into force with effect from 1st April, 2010 in all the States and Union Territories (UTs) except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. It provides a legal framework that entitles all children between the ages of 6-14 years free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education.  It also lays down the norms and standards relating inter alia to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), buildings and infrastructure, school-working days, teacher-working hours, appointment of trained teachers etc. The Central Government has been consistently pursuing with the States and UTs to implement various interventions/provisions of RTE,  Act,  2009  at  various  fora.    Advisories  for  same  have  also  been  issued  to States and UTs from time to time.

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