Lok Sabha Question No. 2086 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-09
Subject: Vidya Samiksha Kendra
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Mohite Patil Dhairyasheel Rajsinh, Dr. Amol Ramsing Kolhe, Smt. Supriya Sule, Shri Sanjay Dina Patil, Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad, Shri Amar Sharadrao Kale, Shri Bajrang Manohar Sonwane, Shri Bhaskar Murlidhar Bhagare, Shri Nilesh Dnyandev Lanke

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2086

ANSWERED ON 09/12/2024

## Vidya Samiksha Kendra

2086. Prof. Varsha Eknath Gaikwad:

Shri Nilesh Dnyandev Lanke:

Shri Amar Sharadrao Kale:

Shri Sanjay Dina Patil:

Dr. Amol Ramsing Kolhe:

Smt. Supriya Sule:

Shri Bhaskar Murlidhar Bhagare:

Shri Bajrang Manohar Sonwane:

Shri Mohite Patil Dhairyasheel Rajsinh:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has established Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) in all the States of the country, especially in Maharashtra, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the objectives of setting up these Kendras;
- (c)  whether  there  has  been  any  measurable  impact  of  the  VSK  in  improving  student  learning outcomes in those States where it has been implemented, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the details of mechanisms placed under the VSK to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the data being collected;
- (e)  the  manner  in  which  the  Government  ensure  that  real-time  data  on  school  attendance,  teacher performance and student learning outcomes is effectively utilized by the Government;
- (f) the details of current allocation of funds for setting up of VSK in different States; and
- (g) whether there are any plans of the Government to enhance digital infrastructure especially in rural and remote areas to support the effective functioning of VSK?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

(Shri Jayant Chaudhary)

(a) to (g)      National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has set an aspirational goal to ensure universal access and provide  opportunity  to  all  children  of  the  country  to  obtain  quality  holistic  education-including  vocational education - from pre-school to Grade 12. NEP 2020 in Para 24.4 (b) also highlights the need for developing a Digital Infrastructure for Education Sector.  Union Budget 2021-22  laid emphasis on strengthening country's digital  infrastructure  for  education  by  announcing  setting  up  of  a  National  Digital  Educational  Architecture (NDEAR).    On  July  29,  2021,  Hon'ble  Prime  Minister  Narendra  Modi  Ji  launched  the  National  Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) to create a unified digital infrastructure for education in India. NDEAR is a blueprint for the country's educational ecosystem that includes principles, standards, guidelines, and policies to strengthen digital education infrastructure.

To systematically track the objectives of NEP and underlying interventions at both macro and micro level, NDEAR  compliant  Vidya  Samiksha  Kendras  (VSK)  has  been  launched  by  the  Ministry  of  Education, Department  of  School  Education  and  Literacy,  Government  of  India.  Since,  VSKs  operate  under  the framework of NDEAR, it ensures interoperability and alignment with broader national education goals. Such approach allows seamless data sharing between different platforms and entities thereby ensuring accuracy and timeliness of data for coordinated efforts.

VSK's has been developed with strategies designed to enhance the effectiveness of monitoring of educational initiatives and their eventual outcomes. A key feature of VSK is tracking of drop out students, monitoring of students migrating from one school to the other, progress of learning outcomes and real-time monitoring of various  interventions,  aimed  at  improving  access,  students'  academic  performance  and  enhancing  teachers' accountability in schools.  The overall architecture of VSK inter-alia helps to monitor Attendance of students and teachers, Assessment of students, Accreditation of schools, Adaptive Learning for students, Administration  of  schools  under  different  management  types.  VSK's  helps  in  data  analysis  of  scheme  for better implementation and outcomes.

To provide a holistic view of the key education indicators at National level, Rashtriya Vidya Samiksha Kendra (RVSK) was launched on 9th March, 2024 by Hon'ble Union Education Minister at NCERT.

The Rashtriya Vidya Samiksha Kendra (RVSK) at NCERT is being developed in a federated architecture to link  with  all  the  VSK  of  States/UTs  and  provide  a  bird's  eye  view  of  the  country's  educational  landscape. RVSK  further  helps  in  collating,  analyzing  and  triangulating  the  school  education  data  emanating  from respective State/UT VSKs which helps the decision making at appropriate level.

Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) provides an effective monitoring mechanism for analyzing learning outcomes across  different  national  programs  and  planning  interventions  or  initiatives  and  taking  various  decisions  to improve  learning  outcomes.  Multiple  initiatives  like  the  NIPUN  Bharat  Mission,  launched  in  July  2021  to ensure foundational literacy and  numeracy and the National Achievement Survey (NAS), State Educational Achievement Survey (SEAS) and Foundational Learning Study and other programs designed to assess student learning outcomes can be monitored through the VSK. VSKs have been recent made operational in different States/UTs and are being utilized to analyze school-wise/student-wise wise teacher vacancy, planning remedial sessions, analysis of periodical assessment tests across various States/UT.

To  ensure  real-time  data  on  various  parameters,  various  national  portals  such  as  UDISE+  as  well  as portals/applications  -  such  as  Artificial  Intelligence,  Chatbot,  Mobile  Applications  with  features  like  time stamping, geo fencing and tagging, facial recognition and web based portals  are deployed at school level for collecting  data  for  online  attendance,  periodic  assessment  tests  (PAT)  and  other  aspects  of  education management.

Government of India had provided funds up-to Rs 108 Crore through Samagra Shiksha Scheme to States/UTs to set up Vidya Samiksha Kendra in the year 2022-23. 31 VSKs are already operational in States/UTs. The Vidya Samiksha Kendra at Pune, Maharashtra was inaugurated by Hon'ble Prime Minister on 9th October 2024 through a Video Conference.

To  enhance  the  digital  infrastructure  that  can  be  linked  to  the  Vidya  Samiksha  Kendra  in  all  parts  of  the country, 'ICT and Digital initiatives' component of centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha is utilized by the States/UTs. These components covers Government and Government Aided schools having classes VI to XII, subject to the availability of budgetary provision. Financial assistance is provided under the Options of 'ICT Lab' and 'Smart Classrooms in schools'.  The norms of the scheme include support for procurement of both  recurring  and  non-recurring  components  such  as  digital  boards,  smart  classrooms,  virtual  classrooms, Operating  System  &  Application  Software,  Internet  connectivity,  training  of  teachers  etc.    However,  since education  in the concurrent  list,  States/UT  may  provide additional  funds  and  develop  more  Digital Infrastructure as per their requirement.