Lok Sabha Question No. 5045 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-23
Subject: Strengthening Academic and Skill Competency of Students of Government Schools
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Konda Vishweshwar Reddy

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5045 ANSWERED ON 23.03.2026

## Strengthening Academic and Skill Competency of Students of Government Schools

5045. Shri Konda Vishweshwar Reddy:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  Government  has  formulated  any  policy  framework  to  strengthen  academic standards and skill competencies of students studying in Government schools to enable them to compete effectively with private and corporate educational institutions in the Country, if so, the details thereof;

(b) the details of measures taken under the Samagra Shiksha to improve quality of teaching, digital  access,  English  proficiency,  Science,  Technology,  Engineering  and  Mathematics (STEM) education and career readiness in the Country;

(c)  whether  any  national  benchmarking  or  performance  assessment  mechanism  has  been introduced to evaluate learning outcomes across Government and private schools in the country and if so, the details thereof so far;

(d)  whether  any  special  mentoring,  competitive  exam  coaching  or  industry-linked  skill programmes are being implemented in States/UTs including Telangana; and

(e) if so, the details of steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government to bridge quality and opportunity gaps in school education?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b): Government of India has adopted National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) to improve the quality of school education across all institutions including Government schools. A number of transformative initiatives have been taken for its implementation such as Samagra Shiksha for providing quality education with an inclusive and equitable classroom environment for all children; PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) for upgradation of schools; National Initiative  for  Proficiency  in  Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) for ensuring foundational literacy and numeracy by Grade 3; Vidya-Pravesh-Guidelines for Three- month  Play-based  School  Preparation  Module;  PM  e-VIDYA  to  unify  all  efforts  related  to digital/online/on-air  education  to  enable  coherent  multi-mode  access  to  education;  launch  of National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) 2022, National Curriculum Framework  for  School  Education  (NCF-SE)  2023  and  Jaadui  Pitara  for  play-based  learning teaching material tailored for children between the age group of 3 to 8 years; Vidya Samiksha Kendra;  National  Digital  Education  Architecture  (NDEAR)  for  creating  a  unifying  national digital infrastructure to energise and catalyse the education ecosystem, etc.

In pursuance of NEP 2020, the Ministry of Education is implementing the Centrally Sponsored Scheme  of  'Samagra  Shiksha'  since  2018-19.  Under  the  scheme,  continuous  professional development of teachers is  being  carried  out  through  NISHTHA  initiatives  to  enhance  the quality  of  teaching,  along  with  support  for  recruitment,  rationalisation,  and  provision  of appropriate teaching-learning materials and learning enhancement programmes. For improving digital  access,  the  Government  has  promoted  the  use  of  Information  and  Communication Technology (ICT) through smart classrooms, ICT labs, and digital devices, along with the DIKSHA platform for e-content and teacher training, and PM e-Vidya, including One Class One Channel through Swayam Prabha DTH channels.

Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA) is a convergent framework that aims at nurturing a spirit of inquiry and creativity, love for Science and Mathematics and effective use of technology amongst children of the age group of 6 to 18 years. State and UTs plan specific initiatives for innovation  and  excellence  in  Science,  Mathematics  and  Technology  including  Community Sensitisation and engagement, Improving School Science Facilities, Teacher Support Systems, Effective Classroom Transaction & Assessment and Nurturing Student Clubs and Competitions. It is being implemented in all States/UTs under Samagra Shiksha. The major objectives of the programme are:

- to  enable  children  to  become  motivated  and  engaged  in  Science,  Mathematics  and Technology (SMT) through observation, experimentation, drawing inferences, model building, rational reasoning and testability.
- To  create  curiosity,  excitement  and  exploration  among  school  children  in  Science, Mathematics and Technology.
- To create a culture of thinking, inventing and doing
- To promote enquiry-based learning in schools.
- To achieve learning levels appropriate to the class of study in Science and Mathematics.
- To encourage and nurture schools to be incubators of Innovation.

Further,  to  improve  employability  skills  and  career  readiness,  skill  education  has  been integrated from the Middle stage onwards, including pre-vocational exposure, 10 Bagless days and NSQF aligned skill courses at Secondary level, along with career guidance support.

(c): The  Government  of  India  undertakes  large-scale  assessments  to  measure  learning outcomes  in  schools  across  the  country  from  time  to  time.  In  this  regard,  the  PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 (formerly National Achievement Survey) was conducted by the

National Assessment Centre-PARAKH, NCERT under the aegis of the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education to measure the baseline performance under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in development of competencies among students at the end of the Foundational, Preparatory and Middle Stages (Grades 3, 6 and 9 respectively) of schooling. Nationwide over 21.15 lakh students and 2.70 lakh teachers from more than 74,000 schools,  including  government,  government  aided  and  private  schools,  across  781  districts from all States/UTs participated in the assessment.

National,  State  and  District  level  report  cards  for  PARAKH  Rashtriya  Sarvekshan  2024 providing insights on variation in learning outcomes, achievement of stage-specific competencies  and  suggested  interventions  to  improve  low-performing  competencies,  are available  at  https://dashboard.parakh.ncert.gov.in/en,  a  dedicated  dashboard  designed  to disseminate the findings of the assessment.

CBSE has introduced a competency-based assessment framework Structured Assessment for Analysing Learning (SAFAL) aligned with the learning outcomes envisaged in the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS 2022) and the National Curriculum Framework  for  School  Education  (NCF-SE  2023).  At  the  end  of  Preparatory  and  Middle Stages, CBSE conducts SAFAL for Classes V and VIII. This is a competency-based, censusbased  assessment  designed  to  evaluate  achievement  of  key  learning  outcomes  and  provide detailed school-level performance reports, thereby enabling data-driven academic interventions and benchmarking.

(d): The Government of India provides financial assistance to States and UTs  including Telangana for exposure to skill education in Grades VI to VIII and for the introduction of NSQF-aligned  skill  courses  in  Grades  IX  to  XII  under  the  skill  education  component  of 'Samagra Shiksha'. This support covers introduction of skill education in schools; capacity building of vocational teachers/skill trainers; development of competency-based curricula and teaching-learning materials; creation of systems for monitoring and evaluation; and implementation of innovative projects in skill education. The main aims of this support are to: integrate  skill  education  with  general  academic  education  in  all  schools;  enhance  the employability and entrepreneurial abilities of students and provide them structured exposure to the world of work; and generate awareness among students about diverse career options so that they can make informed choices in line with their aptitude, competence and aspirations.

Under the Skill Education component of the scheme, so far 138 National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF)-aligned Job Roles are being offered for class IX to XII, which have been developed in consultation with industry and relevant Sector Skill Councils. At the Secondary level (Classes IX and X), skill courses are offered as an additional subject, while at the Senior Secondary  level  (Classes  XI  and  XII),  skill  courses  are  offered  as  compulsory  (elective) subject.  State  Education  Boards  are  being  encouraged  to  become  Awarding  and  Assessing Bodies under NCVET so that they are able to design the skill courses as per local needs and award the certificates to the learners.

Education is a subject in the Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India.  Central  and  State  government  work  collaboratively  to  provide  equitable  access  to education.  Centre,  various  State  and  UT  governments  are  providing  remedial  classes  to students  for  competitive  exams.  SATHEE  is  one  such  initiative  of  Central  government, launched in November, 2023, to provide free of cost high-quality content for the competitive examinations  like  JEE  and  NEET,  along  with  providing  an  online  assessment  module  for students.  It  leverages  Web  Platform,  Mobile  Application,  YouTube  live  sessions  &  DTH channels  for  delivery.  More  than  15,000  +  multilingual  video  lectures  of  curated  learning content are available across topics and subjects for the learners. As of now, more than 15 lakh students are registered and 400 mentors (from IITs, AIIMS etc.) are available on the platform.

(e): Under the scheme of Samagra Shiksha, provision is provided under the Access and Retention intervention for opening of new/upgraded schools, Residential Schools and Hostels and Strengthening of Existing Schools, wherein preference is given to Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), LWEs and the aspirational districts identified by NITI Aayog etc. Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs), residential schools from grade 6 to 12 for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL) have been set up in Educationally Backward Blocks. Similarly, hostels are being set up for PVTGs and ST students under PM-JANMAN and DA-JGUA respectively.

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