Lok Sabha Question No. 2187 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-24
Subject: Indian Education System
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT, PRITAM GOPINATH MUNDE, Shrirang Appa Barne

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2187 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.12.2018

## Indian Education System

## 2187. SHRI VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT: DR. PRITAM GOPINATH MUNDE: SHRI SHRIRANG APPA BARNE:

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

(a)  whether  the  Government  is  aware  that  Indian  education  system  lacks  modernisation  and innovation although is the largest in the world in terms of institutions and third largest in terms of enrolment it;

(b)  if  so,  whether  despite  allocating  more  resources  of  focusing  more  on  higher  education  the main  shortcomings  noticed  in  the  education  system  and  the  steps  are  being  taken  by  the Government to improve the quality of education at the institutional level;

(c) whether the Government is considering for a holistic review of the standard of education;

(d) if so, the details thereof and the initiatives taken by the Government in this regard;

(e) whether the Government has decided to expand the Digital literacy in rural India through the National Digital Literacy Mission and trained the youth competitively to fit into a global market; and

(f) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

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

## (Dr. SATYA PAL SINGH)

(a) to (d): Improving the quality of education across all levels from primary to university level is a  continuous and ongoing process. The 42 nd Constitutional Amendment, 1976 brought about a fundamental change by transferring education from the State List to the Concurrent List giving equal responsibility to both the Central and State Governments  to  promote  education. Recognizing the centrality of states both in policy formulation and effective implementation of education reforms, the Ministry of HRD has been regularly convening meetings of the Central Advisory  Board  on  Education  (CABE),  which  is  a  composite  body  and  is  also  the  highest advisory body on education.

Poor  quality  of  education  resulting  in  unsatisfactory  learning  outcomes  is  a  matter  of  grave concern.  Several  initiatives are currently being  undertaken  in  this  direction, such  as  in elementary education, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme aims for improvements in school infrastructure, curricular and assessment reforms, identification of learning indicators, improved teaching and learning resulting in better learning outcomes. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha (RSMA), ICT in Schools, Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education (CSSTE), Shaala Siddhi, Rashtriya Avishkar  Abhiyan  are  being  implemented  to  improve  the  quality  of  secondary  education. Recently, the Department of School Education and Literacy has formulated the Samagra Shiksha -  an  Integral  Scheme  for  School  Education  as  a  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  and  it  is  being implemented  throughout  the  country  with  effect  from  the  year  2018-19.  This  programme subsumes  the  three  erstwhile  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (SSA), Rashtriya  Madhyamik  Shiksha  (RSMA)  and  Teacher  Education  (TE).  It  is  an  overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education. It envisages the 'school' as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels.

In  higher  education  also,  various  schemes,  namely,  Rashtriya  Uchchatar  Shiksha  Abhiyan (RUSA),  Scheme  for  promotion  of  Academic  and  Research  Collaboration  (SPARC),  Global Initiative  for  Academics  Network  (GIAN),  Impacting  Research,  Innovation  &  Technology (IMPRINT),  Technical  Education  Quality  Improvement  Programme  (TEQIP),  Pandit  Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT), Study Webs of Active-Learning  for  Young  Aspiring  Minds  (SWAYAM),  National  Digital  Library,  campus connect programme, Uchhatar Avishkar Abhiyan, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan are being implemented to improve the quality of higher education. A number of initiatives are also undertaken by UGC and AICTE for quality improvement in higher and technical education.

Presently,  the  Government  is  in  the  process  of  formulating  a  New  Education  Policy  (NEP)  to meet the changing dynamics of the population's requirement with regard to quality education, innovation  and  research,  aiming  to  make  India  a  knowledge  superpower  by  equipping  its students with the necessary skills and knowledge and to eliminate the shortage of manpower in science, technology, academics and industry. For this purpose, the Government has constituted a Committee  for  preparation  of  the  draft  National  Education  Policy  under  the  Chairmanship  of eminent scientist Padma Vibhushan Dr. K. Kasturirangan, which is expected to submit its report soon.

(e)  and  (f):  The  Government  has  approved  a  scheme  titled  'Pradhan  Mantri  Gramin  Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA)' to usher in digital literacy in rural India by covering 6 crore rural households by 31.03.2019. The Government has implemented two Schemes for providing Digital  Literacy  to  the  masses  viz.  Scheme  for  IT  Mass  Literacy  renamed  as  National  Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) and Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA) with a cumulative target of 52.5 lakh persons across the country. Under these two Schemes, around 53.46 lakh beneficiaries have been trained and certified.

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