MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)
(a) to (e): The Central Government through the Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiskha
Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) supports States/UTs to
improve quality of education at elementary and secondary level respectively.
Under these schemes, the State Governments and UT Administrations are supported on several
interventions to improve quality of education, teaching standards, including regular in-service
teachers’ training, induction training for newly recruited teachers, recruitment of additional teachers
for improving pupil teacher ratio, academic support for teachers through block and cluster resource
centres, Maths and Science kits, Lab equipment, special teaching for learning enhancement, ICT
facilities in schools, introduction of vocational education component at the secondary level and
activities under ‘Unnati’ project for improvement in English language skills.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) conducts periodic national
surveys of learning achievement of children in classes III, V and VIII and X. Four rounds of National
Achievement Survey (NAS) have been conducted so far for class V and three rounds for classes III
& VIII. These surveys reveal improvement in learning achievement levels of pupils, in identified
subjects from first round to fourth round. Findings of the NAS at class X indicates that privately
managed schools performed better than Government and Government Aided schools, in all the
subjects and in two subjects Girls outperformed boys. However, only first round of NAS has been
conducted at class X level.
From current year onwards, Government has decided to conduct National Achievement
Survey with district as the sampling unit. In order to focus on quality education, the Central RTE
Rules have been amended on 20th February, 2017 to include reference on class-wise, subject-wise
Learning Outcomes, to serve as a guideline for States/UTs to ensure that all children acquire
appropriate learning levels. The Learning Outcomes for each class at elementary stage in
Languages (Hindi, English and Urdu), Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Social
Science have been finalized and shared with all States and UTs. The learning outcomes are
displayed in the respective schools and parents are also apprised. The teachers are also trained
accordingly.
Further, Section 23(2) of the RTE Act has been amended to extend the period for training
of untrained in-service elementary teachers to 31st March, 2019. As per above amendment, all
untrained in-service teachers working in Government, Government aided, and Private un-aided
schools should acquire minimum qualification as laid down by an academic authority, authorized by
the Central Government, by 31st March, 2019. The National Institute of Open Schooling(NIOS) has
been entrusted to conduct this training through ODL(Open Distance Learning) mode. The online
D.El.Ed. course has already been started from 3rd October, 2017.
In addition to above, the Central Government, supports States and UTs on early grade reading,
writing & comprehension, and early Mathematics programmes through a sub-programme of SSA
namely ‘Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat’ (PBBB) in classes I and II. Further, the Government has
launched Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan (RAA) programme on 09.07.2015, inter alia, as a subcomponent
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.
Further, for improving the quality of school education, the School Standards & Evaluation
framework, known as ‘Shaala Siddhi’ has been developed, to enable schools to evaluate their
performance in a more focused and strategic manner and to facilitate them to make professional
judgments for improvement.
To improve the condition of the Government schools, the Central government also supports
State/UT Governments for creation and augmentation of infrastructural facilities in Government
elementary and secondary schools under SSA and RMSA programmes.
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