Lok Sabha Question No. 2515 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-13
Subject: Infrastructure for Primary Education
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Vivek Narayan Shejwalkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2515 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.12.2021

## Infrastructure for Primary Education

## †2515.  SHRI VIVEK NARAYAN SHEJWALKAR:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- ( a) whether the Government  is considering to formulate any action plan for strengthening the infrastructure and improving the quality of primary education in rural areas;
- (b) if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a)  to  (c)  The  Department  of  School  Education  and  Literacy  has  launched  an Integrated Centrally Sponsored Scheme for School Education - Samagra Shiksha with effect from 2018-19. 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. Samagra Shiksha focuses inter alia on  improvement  in  school  infrastructure  and  quality  of  education  in  all  States  and Union Territories including in rural areas, by providing support for various interventions like  upgradation  of  schools,  strengthening  of  infrastructure of existing  schools, provision of composite school grant to every school for providing a conducive learning environment,  grants  for  library,  sports  and  physical  activities,  in-service  training  of teachers  and  school  heads,  conduct  of  achievement  surveys  at  state  and  national level,  support  for  Rashtriya  Avishkar  Abhiyan,  ICT  and  digital  initiatives,  School Leadership  development  programme,  remedial  teaching  for  academically  weaker students, support for Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat, etc.

Besides,  the  following  are  some  of  the  steps  taken  to  improve  infrastructure and the quality of primary education in country, including rural areas:-

- Under erstwhile SSA till 2017-18 and Samagra Shiksha effective from 2018-19, construction  of  3.12  lakh  school  buildings,  18.83  lakh  additional  classrooms, provision  of  2.51  lakh  drinking  water  facility,  construction  of  4.15  lakh  Boys' toilets, 5.33 lakh separate girls' toilets, 1.56 lakh toilets for Children with Special

Needs (CwSN) and 2.96 lakh ramps with hand rails have been sanctioned to States  and  UTs  for  elementary  schools.  Out  of  which,  States  and  UTs  have reported    construction  of  2.99  lakh  school  buildings,  18.28  lakh  additional classrooms, provision of 2.40 lakh drinking water facility, construction of 3.88 lakh Boys' toilets, 5.19 lakh separate girls' toilets, 1.34 lakh toilets for Children with Special Needs (CwSN) and 2.67 lakh ramps with hand rails till 31.10.2021.

- Central  RTE  Rules  have  been  amended  on  20th  February,  2017  to  include reference on class-wise, subject-wise Learning Outcomes at Elementary level.
- A  70  indicator  based  matrix  Performance  Grading  Index  (PGI)  has  been developed to grade the States and UTs.
- National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) has been launched for ensuring that every child in the country necessarily  attains  foundational  literacy  and  numeracy  (FLN)  by  the  end  of Grade 3.
- Codification  of  Learning  Outcomes  has  been  developed  for  the  foundational stage.
- An initiative has been launched to improve learning outcomes at the Elementary  level  through  an  Integrated  Teacher  Training  Programme  called NISHTHA  under  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  of  Samagra  Shiksha  in August  2019.  The  aim  of  this  training  is  to  motivate  and  equip  teachers  to encourage and foster critical thinking in students, handle diverse situations and act as first level counsellors.

Due to the COVID pandemic and in order to provide continuous learning opportunities  to  the  teachers  at  the  elementary  level,  NISHTHA  online  was launched using DIKSHA platform in October 2020 to reach out to the remaining elementary  teachers.  NISHTHA  online  for  elementary  teachers  covers  18 courses in 11 languages. Teachers were oriented on various aspects related to Learning  Outcomes,  Competency  Based  Learning  and  Testing,  Learnercentered  Pedagogy,  School  Safety  and  Security,  Personal-social  qualities, Inclusive  Education,  ICT  in  teaching-learning  including  Artificial  Intelligence, Health  and  well-being  including  yoga,  new  Initiatives  in  School  Education including  library,  eco  club,  youth  club,  kitchen  garden,  School  Leadership qualities,  Environmental  Concerns,  Pre-school,  Pre-vocational  Education  and School Based Assessment in a joyful learning manner.

- NISHTHA  3.0  on  Foundational  Literacy  and  Numeracy  with  12  modules  for Primary level teachers was launched on 7th September 2021.

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