Lok Sabha Question No. 119 (STARRED), answered on 2022-07-25
Subject: Quality of Education
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Rahul Kaswan

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 119 TO BE ANSWERED ON 25 th  July, 2022

## Quality of Education

## †*119. SHRI RAHUL KASWAN:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the low quality of primary and intermediate education and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has recently reviewed the enrollment of students in the country particularly in rural areas and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to promote computer and technical education in the country and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the steps taken/proposed to be taken to improve the primary and intermediate education in the country?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)

- (a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  119  TO  BE  ANSWERED  ON  25.07.2022  ASKED  BY HON'BLE MP SHRI RAHUL KASWAN REGARDING QUALITY OF EDUCATION

(a): 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, the Government of India has been implementing a programme of sample based National Achievement Survey (NAS) aimed at classes  III, V, VIII  and X  with  a  cycle  period  of  three years. The last round of NAS was held on November 12, 2021 across India covering students of grades  3,  5,  8  and  10.  The  aim  and  objective  of  NAS  is  to  evaluate  children's  progress  and learning  competencies  as  an  indicator  of  the  health  of  the  education  system,  so  as  to  take appropriate steps for remedial actions at different levels. National, State/UT and District Reports for NAS 2021 have been released on 25.05.2022 and are available at http://nas.gov.in .

(b): As  per  UDISE+  data,  total  enrolment  of  students  during  the  year  2020-21  in  all management  schools,  across  the  country  was  253804461  including  178684204  students  from rural areas. In addition, to ensure that children have access to education with quality and equity and to  minimize  the  impact  of  the  pandemic  on  school  education  in  the  country,  Ministry  of Education has shared guidelines dated 7th January, 2021 with all States & UTs which, among others, include identification of out of school children from age 6-18 years, enrolment drives and awareness  generation,  student  support  while  schools  are  closed,  continued  Education  for children with Special Needs (CWSN), student support on school reopening and Teacher capacity building. Link to the Guidelines is https://www.education.gov.in/ sites/upload\_files/mhrd/files/guidelines\_oosc.pdf.

(c): In order to ensure that every student including those residing in rural areas of the country, gets  continuous  access  to  education,  a  multi-pronged  approach  has  been  adopted  by  the Department  of  School  Education  and  Literacy,  Ministry  of  Education.  A  comprehensive initiative called PM e-Vidya has been started as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan on 17 th

May, 2020, which unifies all efforts related to digital/ online / on-air education to enable multimode access to education. The initiative includes the following components:

-  DIKSHA  the  nation's  digital  infrastructure  for  providing  quality  e-content  for  school education in states/UTs: and QR coded Energized Textbooks for all grades (one nation, one digital platform)
-  One  earmarked  Swayam  Prabha  TV  channel  per  class  from  1  to  12  (one  class,  one channel)
- Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- Shiksha Vani
- Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube

Where the digital facility (mobile device/DTH television) is not available, Ministry of Education has taken many initiatives like Community Radio Stations and a podcast called Shiksha Vani of CBSE, Textbooks, worksheet supplied to residence of learners, and community/mohalla classes. Innovation  Funds  of  the  Department  are  used  to  set  up  mobile  school,  virtual  studios,  virtual class rooms in schools. Continuous Learning Plan (CLP) for states/UTs has been initiated in all States/UTs,  pre-loaded  tablets  in  various  states  and  UTs  are  effectively  used  in  remote  rural areas where online classes are difficult.

The  India  Report  on  Digital  Education,  2021  which  shows  the  digital  and  remote  learning initiatives through the use of digital technology across the country has been prepared. Link to the report is https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload\_riles/mhrd/flies/irde\_21.pdf.

Also, Samagra Shiksha is implemented in partnership with all the States and UTs and financial assistance is provided to all States and UTs for various components including strengthening of ICT  infrastructure  in  schools.  The  ICT  component  of  the  scheme  envisages  covering  all Government  and  Aided  schools  from  classes  VI  to  XII  and  Teacher  Education  Institutions (TEIs), subject to the availability of budgetary provision. Till date, ICT labs in 120614 schools and Smart Classrooms in 82120 schools have been approved.

(d): The following initiatives have been taken by the Government to improve the quality of primary and intermediate education in the country:

1. The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha and PM Poshan have been aligned to  the  recommendation  of  NEP  2020.  Samagra  Shiksha  is  an  Integrated  Centrally Sponsored Scheme for school education 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 on improvement in quality of education by providing support

for different interventions like in-service training of teachers and school heads, conduct of  achievement  surveys,  composite  school  grant  to  every  school  for  providing  a conducive  learning  environment,  grants  for  library,  sports  and  physical  activities,  etc. Under the scheme, financial assistance is also provided to States and UTs for undertaking various activities to ensure universal access to education including opening/strengthening of new schools upto senior secondary level, construction of school buildings & additional classrooms, up-gradation and running of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, setting up of residential schools/hostels.

2. National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) has been launched under Samagra Shiksha for ensuring that every child in the country necessarily attains foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) by  the  end  of  Grade  3,  and  e-content  for  the  same  has  been  released  in  DIKSHA platform.
3. NISHTHA integrated training programme 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 Integrated Teacher Training Programme has been introduced for different stages of school  education  for  Teachers, Head Teachers/Principals and other stakeholders in Educational Management.
4. Learning Outcomes for the Secondary level have been notified.
5. National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 has been conducted on 12 th  November, 2021 by the Ministry of Education to evaluate children's progress and learning competencies as an indicator of the health of the education system, to take appropriate steps for remedial actions at different levels.
6. A  70  indicator  based  matrix  Performance  Grading  Index  (PGI)  has  been  developed  to grade the States/UTs. District level Performance Grading Indices (PGI) has been prepared and a Web application for compilation of PGI-District has been developed.
7. The Structured Assessment for Analyzing Learning levels (SAFAL) framework has been developed by CBSE and launched on 29 th  July, 2021 for Competency-based assessment in CBSE schools for grades 3, 5 and 8 focusing on testing for core concepts, applicationbased questions and higher-order thinking skills.
8. VIDYA PRAVESH-Guidelines for three-month Play-based School Preparation Module for Grade-I Children, has been released on 29 th July, 2021 to ensure that all children are exposed to a warm and welcoming environment when they enter Grade-I.

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