Question : STARS Education Programme

(a) whether the Government is bringing new reforms with Strengthening Teaching-learning and Results for States(STARS) in the education sector and if so, the details thereof;
(b) the details of States to be included in the STARS programme; district-wise;
(c) whether the platform promotes education and if so, the steps taken/to be taken for students inaccessible to digitalization;
(d) the details of the total cost to be incurred under the said programme; and
(e) the details of major goals set by Government to be achieved under the STARS programme?

MINISTER OF EDUCATION

(SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL ‘NISHANK’)

(a) & (b): The aim of STARS project is to improve the quality and governance of school education in 6 states of India. The project envisages to support the states in developing, implementing, evaluating and improving interventions with direct linkages to improve education outcomes and school to work transition strategies for improved labor market outcomes. Herein, the idea is to develop successful models, processes and strategies that can subsequently be scaled to national level through the Government’s school education program. The project covers 6 States viz Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha. The project covers all the districts of the participating states.

(c) The Project envisages to use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as a key lever in the transformation of the education system and as a core of education, to encourage domestic development of ICT tools, Artificial Intelligence & Robotics both in the form of hardware and software. In accordance with the national priorities, the Project envisages to provide technical assistance to support and coordinate pilots to develop, adapt and test integration of technology enabled tools in mainstream teaching, learning and monitoring practice.


(d) The total cost of the project is approximately Rs 5718 crore, with US$ 500 million (approximately Rs. 3700 crore) to be funded by the Central Government through World Bank and rest coming as State share from the participating States, over a period of 5 years. The fund sharing pattern would be 90:10 for Himachal Pradesh and 60:40 for the other States i.e. Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha.

(e) The STARS Program has two major components: a National Component that supports efforts to improve overall monitoring and measurement activities in the Indian school education system and a State Component wherein the project envisages strengthening Early Childhood Education and Foundational Learning, Improving Learning Assessment System, Strengthening classroom instruction and remediation through teacher development and school leadership, Governance and Decentralized Management for Improved Service Delivery and work transition strategies in schools.

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