Lok Sabha Question No. 1108 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-07-26
Subject: Primary Education
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Dharmendra Kumar Kashyap

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1108 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2021

## Primary Education

## 1108. SHRI DHARMENDRA KASHYAP:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  there  is  any  Government  body  which  conducts  survey  on  the  quality  of  primary education in the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  if not, the details of the organizations who conduct the survey on behalf of the Government;
- (c)  whether it is a fact that the standard of education in our country has not improved despite the huge amount being spent on it;
- (d)  if so, the details of thereof State-wise; and
- (d)  the steps taken/ being taken by Government to improve standard of education in the country, State-wise?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

(a)  &  (b)    The  National  Council  for  Educational  Research  and  Training  (NCERT)  conducts periodic national sample surveys to assess learning achievement of children in Classes - III, V, VIII, and X. The National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2017 was held on 13th November 2017 for assessing the competencies of children at the grade levels III, V and VIII from across 701 districts covering all the 36 States and UTs and covered 22 lakh students from 1.10 lakh schools. NAS (2017) was administered with district as the unit of reporting in different subject areas such  as Languages, Mathematics, EVS/Science and Social Sciences in the Government and Government aided  schools.  The  competency  based  test  was  based  on  the  Learning  Outcomes  which  were incorporated in the Central Rules for the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act in 2017. 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  15  lakh  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).

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.

(c) to (d) Standard of education is a comprehensive term that includes learners, teachers, teaching learning  process,  learning  environment,  curriculum,  pedagogy,  learning  outcomes,  assessment, etc.  Samagra Shiksha focuses on improvement in quality of education by providing support for different interventions to all States and UTs, like in-service training of teachers and school heads, conduct of achievement surveys at state and national level, composite school grant to every school for providing a conducive learning environment, grants for library, sports and physical activities, 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.

Further, in order to improve the standard of education, the Government has taken several other steps:-

1. Central RTE Rules have been amended on 20th February, 2017 to include reference on class-wise, subject-wise Learning Outcomes at Elementary level.
2. A 70 indicator based matrix Performance Grading Index (PGI) has been developed to grade the States and UTs.
3. NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement), an Integrated Teacher Training Programme has been introduced.
4. Learning Outcomes for Secondary level have been notified.
5. The  National  Institute  of  Open  Schooling  (NIOS)  was  entrusted  to  conduct  teachers professional training through ODL (Open Distance Learning) mode.

Also, the National Education Policy, 2020 focuses on improving the quality of education through various  measures  such  as  introduction  of  New  pedagogical  and  curricular  structure,  Early Childhood Care and Education, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy  and Transforming Assessment for Student Development, Experiential and Competency based Learning, etc.

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