Lok Sabha Question No. 2151 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-09
Subject: Improvement in Educational Infrastructure
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Saleng A Sangma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2151 ANSWERED ON 09/12/2024

## Improvement in Educational Infrastructure

2151.   Shri Saleng A Sangma:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  Government  is  taking  any  steps  to  strengthen  teachers  capacity  to  deliver foundational learning under the NIPUN Bharat Mission;

(b)  if  so,  the  details  of  the  training  programmes  and  resources  being  provided  to  teachers under the Mission;

(c)  the  measures  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  educational  infrastructure, particularly in rural and underprivileged areas especially in North-Eastern Regions; and

(d)  the  procedure  being  followed  by  the  Government  for  monitoring  and  evaluating  the impact of the interventions on learning outcomes among children?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a)  & (b):  In order to provide continuous learning opportunities to the teachers, NISHTHA (National  Initiative  for  School  Heads'  and  Teachers'  Holistic  Advancement)  online  was launched using DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) platform in October 2020 to reach out to elementary teachers and its further extension to all level of teachers. It includes multiple approaches for interaction i.e., Text Modules along with videos. All these contents  are  aligned  to  the  developmental  goals  and  learning  outcomes  of  Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN).

To  prepare  an  initial  cadre  of  high  quality  Early  Childhood  Care  and  Education (ECCE) Teachers in Anganwadis, NISHTHA-ECCE and FLN were launched in July, 2022. It is  aimed towards sensitization of master trainers on developmentally appropriate pedagogy for holistic development of children which will contribute for enhancing quality education at Foundational  level.  These  cater  to  both  training  of  Anganwadi  workers  and  preschool teachers.

(c):  Samagra  Shiksha  Scheme  supports  creation  of  infrastructure  and  basic  facilities  for students in Government Schools. In this regard, Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) is prepared  by  the  States  and  UTs  based  on  their  requirements  and  priorities  and  guidelines issued  by  the  Ministry  of  Education  at  the  beginning  of  every  year.  These  plans  are  then appraised/approved  by  Project  Approval  Board  (PAB)  in  consultation  with  the  States  and UTs as per the programmatic and financial norms of the Scheme and availability of budgetary resources.   The  measures  are  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  educational infrastructure,  particularly  in  rural  and  underprivileged  areas  including  in  North-Eastern Regions by providing for separate toilets, labs, library, ICT lab, Smart Classroom etc. Under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme, funds are provided to the North Eastern States in the ratio of 90:10 whereas in all other States/UTs, the funding patern is 60 : 40.

(d):  To  evaluate  children's  progress  and  learning  competencies,  Department  of  School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education has been implementing a rolling programme of sample based National Achievement Survey (NAS) aimed at classes  III, V, VIII  and  X  with  an  interval  of    three  years.  It  acts  as  an  indicator  of  the  health  of  the education  system,  so  as  to  take  appropriate  steps  for  remedial  actions  at  different  levels. About 34 lakh students of 1.18 lakh schools of 720 districts from both rural and urban areas were assessed from Government and Private Schools. Further, National,  State and District report card of NAS 21 demonstrating the performance of students from each type of schools have been released in public domain on 25.05.2022 at http://nas.gov.in.

PARAKH  (Performance  Assessment,  Review,  and  Analysis  of  Knowledge  for Holistic Development) has been setup under National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) by the DoSE&L. It has conducted State Educational Achievement Survey (SEAS) 2023.  The primary objective of this survey is to evaluate the learning competencies of students in Foundational Literacy, Foundational Numeracy, Language and Mathematics at the  end  of  each  of  the  educational  stages  i.e.  Foundational,  Preparatory,  and  Middle.  The SEAS-23 has included blocks in the sample to cover students to understand the learning gaps at  the  block  level,  a  strategic  shift  from  district.  Approximately  8.4  million  students  and  6 lakh teachers, of 4 lakh schools of 6416 educational blocks were assessed in SEAS-23.

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