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Declining Standard Of Education In Government Schools

Questions

  1. Whether Government is aware of the fact that the standard of education in Government schools is declining when compared with private schools;
  2. If so, the details thereof along with the reasons therefor, State/UT-wise; and
  3. The details of concrete steps being taken by Government to improve the level of education in Government schools at par with private schools?

Answered by: Minister of State in the Ministry Of Education Smt. Annpurna Devi on 05.04.2023

(a) to (c): 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 assess 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. The assessment covers student across government as well as private schools. National, State/UT and District Reports for NAS 2021 have been released on 25.05.2022.

National Education Policy 2020 envisages making concerted national effort to ensure universal access and accord opportunity to all children of the country to obtain quality and holistic education from pre-school to grade 12 in all schools including private schools.

Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution and majority of the schools are under the domain of respective State and UT Governments. 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.

The following initiatives have been taken by the Government to improve the standard of 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. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Learning Outcomes for the Secondary level have been notified.
  4. A 70 indicator based matrix Performance Grading Index (PGI) has been developed to grade the States/UTs.
  5. The Structured Assessment for Analyzing Learning levels (SAFAL) framework has been developed by CBSE and launched on 29thJuly, 2021 for Competency-based assessment in CBSE schools for grades 3, 5 and 8 focusing on testing for core concepts, application-based questions and higher-order thinking skills.
  6. VIDYA PRAVESH—Guidelines for three-month Play-based School Preparation Module for Grade-I Children, has been released on 29th July, 2021 to ensure that all children are exposed to a warm and welcoming environment when they enter Grade-I.