Lok Sabha Question No. 2695 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-14
Subject: Poor Quality of Education
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: RAJ KUMAR SINGH, KRISTAPPA NIMMALA, PINAKI MISRA, Dr. BHOLA SINGH, JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL, GOKARAJU GANGA RAJU

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2695 TO BE ANSWERED ON 14.03.2016

## Poor Quality of Education

## 2695.  SHRI R.K. SINGH:

SHRI NIMMALA KRISTAPPA: SHRI PINAKI MISRA: DR. BHOLA SINGH: SHRI JANARDAN SINGH SIGRIWAL: DR. GOKARAJU GANGA RAJU:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the fact that several Government schools are not able to impart education very effectively due to shortage of teachers across the country especially from primary level to class seventh and if so, the details thereof along with the remedial steps taken/ proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard;
- (b) whether the Government is aware that the quality of education at primary and secondary levels in Government schools is very poor and therefore children from poor families only are attending Government schools and if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  the  Government  has  made  any  study  with  regard  to  the  functioning  of Government/Government  aided  schools  particularly  in  rural  areas  in  respect  of  the performance of teachers, principals,  management, facilities  available,  teacher  student relationship  and  causes  of  drop  outs  and  if  so,  the  details  along  with  the  outcome thereof; and
- (d)  the  steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to fulfil the needs of urgent pedagogy to children?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

## (SMT. SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

- (a): Under  Sarva  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (SSA)  which  is  a  centrally  sponsored  scheme implemented to support the States/UTs for universalization of elementary education across

the country, a total of 19.48 lakh teacher posts have been sanctioned to ensure the pupilteacher ratio, as stipulated in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act,  2009.  Out  of  these  15.59  lakh  teacher  posts  have  been  filled  up  as  on  31st  August, 2015. The PTR at national level is 1:25 at primary level and 1:17 at upper primary level as per  Unified  District  Information  System  for  Education  (U-DISE)  data  for  2013-14.  The recruitment  and  service  conditions  of  teachers  are  primarily  in  the  domain  of  State Governments/UT  Administrations  and  the  Central  Government  is  constantly  encouraging them to fill up all the posts of teachers.

(b)  &  (c):  The Central  Government conducts review of its programmes like SSA, Rashtriya Madhyamik  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (RMSA)  and  Mid  Day  Meal  (MDM)  through  third  party evaluation  by  identified  Monitoring  Institutions.    Additionally,  Joint  Review  Mission  (JRM), comprising  eminent  experts  and  academics  in  the  field  of  education  also  visit  States/UTs from time to time to review these schemes.

The Central Government collects information from all the schools (Government, Aided and  Private)  every  year  about  the  enrolment,  availability  of  teachers,  facilities  available, teacher student ratio etc. through Unified District Implementation System (U-DISE) maintained by National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) . The status of these evaluations and monitoring is placed in the public domain on the Ministry's website.

Under SSA, the State Governments and UT Administrations are supported on several interventions  to  improve  teaching  standards,  including  regular  in-service  teachers'  training, induction  training  for  newly  recruited  teachers,  training  of  all  untrained  teachers  to  acquire professional  qualifications  through  Open  Distance  Learning  (ODL)  mode,  recruitment  of additional teachers for improving pupil-teacher ratios, academic support for teachers through block  and  cluster  resource  centres,  continuous  and  comprehensive  evaluation  system  to equip  the  teacher  to  measure  pupil  performance  and  provide  remedial  action  wherever required,  and  teacher  and  school  grants  for  development  of  appropriate  teaching-learning materials,  etc.  The  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and  Compulsory  Education  (RTE)  Act,  2009 specifies  statutory  duties  and  responsibilities  of  teachers  and  lays  down  the  minimum qualifications for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in elementary schools. Further, Central Government has been taking up the issue of redeployment of teachers with States/UTs in various forums and review meetings.

The  National  Council  of  Educational  Research  and  Training  (NCERT)  conducts periodic national surveys of learning achievement of children in classes - III, V, VIII, and X. Four rounds of National Achievement Surveys (NAS) have been conducted so far for class V whereas three rounds have been conducted for classes III & VIII. These reveal improvement in  learning  achievement levels of pupils, in  various subjects. First round of NAS has been conducted  at  Class  X  level,  indicating  that  there  is  need  for  significant  improvement  in learning levels.

(d): Through SSA, the Central Government supports States/UTs on early grade reading, writing  &  comprehension,  and  early  Mathematics  programmes  through  a  sub-programme namely 'Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat' (PBBB) in classes I and II. Further the Government has launched  Rashtriya  Aavishkar  Abhiyan  (RAA),  inter  alia,  as  a  sub-component  of  Sarva Shiksha  Abhiyan  and  Rashtriya  Madhyamik  Shiksha  Abhiyan  (RMSA),  to  motivate  and engage children of the age group from 6-18 years in Science, Mathematics and Technology through observation, experimentation, inference drawing, model building, etc. both through inside and outside classroom activities.

The  Central  Government  has  launched  the  'Pandit  Madan  Mohan  Malviya  National Mission  on  Teachers  and  Teaching'  in  December,  2014  with  a  vision  to  comprehensively address all issues related to teachers, teaching, teacher preparation, professional development, curriculum design, research in pedagogy and developing effective pedagogy.

The  NCERT  has  developed  Performance  Indicators  for Elementary Education (PINDICS) to track teacher performance and attendance in Government schools. PINDICS have been shared with State Governments/UTs to assess teacher's performance.

In the recent Meeting of Education Ministers on Teachers' Education held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 8.2.2016 several steps for improvement of the quality of education were discussed. These include internship for Teacher Education Programmes in Government Schools; development of an accreditation framework for Teacher Education Institutions and volunteerism involving retired teachers.

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 provides the broad framework for school  curriculum  development.    The  States/UTs  have  aligned  their  school  education curriculum  with  the  provision  of  NCF.  All  States/UTs  have  either  adopted  textbooks developed  by  the  NCERT  or  revised  their  textbooks  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of

NCF, 2005 and in conformity with the values enshrined in the Constitution.

In  order  to  provide  quality  education  to  students  at  the  secondary  level,  various interventions are funded under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA). These include provision for : (i) additional teachers to improve Pupil Teacher Ratio, (ii) induction and in-service training for Principals, Teachers , Master Trainers and Key Resource Persons, (iii) Maths and Science kits, (iv) Lab equipments, (v) Special teaching for learning enhancement, (vi)  ICT  facilities  in  schools,  (vii)  introduction  of  vocational  education  component  at  the secondary  level (viii) 'Shaala Siddhi' has  been  developed  by  National  University  of Educational  Planning  and  Administration  (NUEPA),  to  enable  schools  to  evaluate  their performance in a more focused and strategic manner.

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