Lok Sabha Question No. 2217 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-24
Subject: Learning Skills
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: PREM DAS RAI, PRASUN BANERJEE

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2217 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.12.2018

## Learning Skills

## 2217. SHRI PREM DAS RAI:

## SHRI PRASUN BANERJEE:

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

(a)  whether  it  is  a  fact  that  as  per  the  Annual  Status  of  Education  Report  (ASER)  there  is  an increasing  gap  in  learning  outcomes  of  children  in  higher  classes  and  if  so,  the  steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to address the issue;

(b)  whether  the  learning  gaps  in  schools  as  highlighted  in  the  ASER  are  leading  to  elevated dropout levels and if so, the details thereof;

(c)  the  steps  undertaken  by  the  Government  in  this  regard  and  the  details  of  enrolment  in  the country under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, State/UT-wise;

(d)  whether  new  learning-outcome  oriented  guidelines  are  likely  to  be  formulated  by  the Government to ensure that learning is focused upon and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) whether the Government proposes to devise mechanisms to keep the teachers accountable for the learning-outcome of children and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## (DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a) to (d): Achievement surveys are released in the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) by a non-governmental organization. It is a household survey limited to rural areas of the country. The Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is not associated with this survey.

MHRD conducted National Achievement Survey (NAS) on 13th November, 2017 through which the learning levels of around 22 lakh students of Classes III, V and VIII from 1.10 lakh schools across 700 districts in all 36 States and UTs were assessed.  This competency based assessment was  based  on  the  Learning  Outcomes  developed  by  the  National  Council  of  Educational Research and Training (NCERT).  District report cards for NAS 2017 have been released and are available  on  MHRD  website.  These  contain  various  sections,  including  indicating  the  lowest performing area in Learning Outcomes to enable States to identify learning gaps and take steps to improve the learning outcomes based on the same.

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 learning levels of 1.5 million students in 44,304 schools across 610 districts in 34 States and UTs were assessed, in  5  subject  areas  of  English,  Mathematics,  Science,  Social  Science  and  Modern  Indian Language (MIL).

Some of the post NAS activities, which NCERT has suggested to the States/UTs to take up for improving the learning levels in the districts are Community participation; Teacher training in Assessment  and  learning;  use  of Science  and  Mathematics  Kits  developed  by  NCERT; State Text book analysis and use of Early language kit and Early Mathematics kit developed by NCERT etc.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) have developed minimum class-wise,  subject-wise  Learning  Outcomes  for  all  classes  from  I-VIII  in  all  subject  areas. Learning  outcomes  are  assessment  standards  indicating  the  expected  levels  of  learning  that children  should  achieve  for  that  class.  These  indicators  can  be  used  as  check  points  to  assess learning at different points of time. The Learning Outcomes for each class at elementary stage in Languages (Hindi, English and Urdu), Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Social Science have been finalized and shared with all States and UTs.

An amount of Rs.91.20 crore was released by the MHRD in the FY 2017-18 to all States and UTs for printing the Learning Outcomes documents, Posters and leaflets in regional languages, for their dissemination.

The total number of children enrolled at elementary level has increased from 15.1 crore in 1998-99 to 18.98 crore in 2016-17. Enrolment of students State/UT-wise is at Annexure.

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 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,  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, vocational education, composite school grant to every school for providing a conducive learning environment  has been increased and provision for library grants and  grants for sports and physical education have also been introduced.

Further, Section 23 (2) of the RTE Act has been amended to ensure that all untrained in-service teachers  working  in  Government,  Government  aided  and  Private  un-aided  schools  acquire minimum  qualification  as  laid  down  by  an  academic  authority,  authorized  by  the  Central Government,  by  31 st March,  2019.  The  National  Institute  of  Open  Schooling  (NIOS)  has  been entrusted to conduct th is training through ODL (Open Distance Learning) mode.

(e): All matters related to teachers including accountability are primarily in the domain of State Governments and UT Administrations. However, the Central Government continuously pursues with States/UTs to implement norms of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 in various forums and has also issued advisories from time to time for the same. Section 24 of the RTE Act, 2009 mandates that a teacher appointed under subsection (1) of the Section 23 shall perform the following duties, namely (a) maintain regularity and punctuality in attending school and (b) complete entire curriculum within specified time.

The steps taken by the Central Government to improve teachers' performance include, inter  alia,  monitoring  teachers'  attendance  through  School  Management  Committees/School Management Development Committees/Block Resource Centres/Clusters Resource Centres and encouraging  States  and  UTs  to  use  digital  technology  like  installation  of  Bio-metric/digital attendance  system  in  schools.  Further,  NCERT  has  developed  a  framework  for  Performance Indicators for Elementary School Teachers (PINDICS) and shared with the states for effective monitoring and benchmarking of teacher performance across the country.

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ANNEXURE  REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PART  (a)  to  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 2217,  ASKED  BY  SHRI  PREM  DAS  RAI  AND  SHRI PRASUN BANERJEE TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.12.2018 REGARDING 'LEARNING SKILLS'

| State/UTs                | Total Enrolment (I to VIII) Elementary- 2016-17   | Total Enrolment (I to VIII) Elementary- 2016-17   | Total Enrolment (I to VIII) Elementary- 2016-17   |
|--------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|
| State/UTs                | Boys                                              | Girls                                             | Total                                             |
| ANDAMAN &NICOBAR ISLANDS | 25009                                             | 24136                                             | 49145                                             |
| ANDHRA PRADESH           | 2911829                                           | 2648891                                           | 5560720                                           |
| ARUNACHAL PRADESH        | 141280                                            | 137264                                            | 278544                                            |
| ASSAM                    | 2762882                                           | 2780960                                           | 5543842                                           |
| BIHAR                    | 10862092                                          | 10857372                                          | 21719464                                          |
| CHANDIGARH               | 84069                                             | 72329                                             | 156398                                            |
| CHHATTISGARH             | 2213623                                           | 2136628                                           | 4350251                                           |
| DADRA&NAGAR HAVELI       | 31578                                             | 27702                                             | 59280                                             |
| DAMAN&DIU                | 15262                                             | 13389                                             | 28651                                             |
| DELHI                    | 1592595                                           | 1395906                                           | 2988501                                           |
| GOA                      | 101241                                            | 92343                                             | 193584                                            |
| GUJARAT                  | 4814610                                           | 4197563                                           | 9012173                                           |
| HARYANA                  | 2100628                                           | 1724274                                           | 3824902                                           |
| HIMACHAL PRADESH         | 493240                                            | 447434                                            | 940674                                            |
| JAMMU &KASHMIR           | 892417                                            | 800642                                            | 1693059                                           |
| JHARKHAND                | 2959594                                           | 2829547                                           | 5789141                                           |
| KARNATAKA                | 4346371                                           | 4017468                                           | 8363839                                           |
| KERALA                   | 2033261                                           | 1942882                                           | 3976143                                           |
| LAKSHADWEEP              | 3688                                              | 3590                                              | 7278                                              |
| MADHYA PRADESH           | 6503752                                           | 5882956                                           | 12386708                                          |
| MAHARASHTRA              | 8495745                                           | 7489967                                           | 15985712                                          |
| MANIPUR                  | 236122                                            | 226486                                            | 462608                                            |
| MEGHALAYA                | 355729                                            | 360734                                            | 716463                                            |
| MIZORAM                  | 104676                                            | 97270                                             | 201946                                            |
| NAGALAND                 | 150434                                            | 143684                                            | 294118                                            |
| ODISHA                   | 3207884                                           | 2990141                                           | 6198025                                           |
| PUDUCHERRY               | 87137                                             | 81594                                             | 168731                                            |
| PUNJAB                   | 2126227                                           | 1768001                                           | 3894228                                           |
| RAJASTHAN                | 6534144                                           | 5617961                                           | 12152105                                          |
| SIKKIM                   | 48830                                             | 45951                                             | 94781                                             |
| TAMIL NADU               | 4678433                                           | 4430459                                           | 9108892                                           |
| TELANGANA                | 2491414                                           | 2326558                                           | 4817972                                           |
| TRIPURA                  | 278926                                            | 269149                                            | 548075                                            |
| UTTAR PRADESH            | 17682217                                          | 17025528                                          | 34707745                                          |
| UTTARAKHAND              | 885672                                            | 793623                                            | 1679295                                           |
| WEST BENGAL              | 5998263                                           | 5935759                                           | 11934022                                          |
| India                    | 98250874                                          | 91636141                                          | 189887015                                         |

Source UDISE 2016-17 (Provisional)