Question : Quality of Education

(a) the steps taken by the Government to check costly education system in the country;
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(b) whether the condition of education in most of the Government schools is extremely pathetic;

(c) if so, the details of the steps taken by the Government to improve the condition of schools;

(d) whether the Government has formulated any such scheme wherein children of higher officers of the district are also taught in Government schools;

(e) if not, whether no such step is required to be taken to improve the condition of Government schools; and

(f) if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF EDUCATION

(SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL ‘NISHANK’)

(a) to (f): The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, mandates that every child in the age group of six to fourteen years has a right to be provided free and compulsory elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a neighbourhood school across the country.

Education is under Concurrent List of the constitution, therefore, most of the schools and their regulation are under the jurisdiction of respective State Governments and UTs.

The Government of India launched Samagra Shiksha-an Integrated Scheme for school education, w.e.f. 2018-19, as an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class XII and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education. It subsumes the three erstwhile Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
Samagra Shiksha focuses on improvement in quality of education by providing support for different interventions 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.
Further, in order to focus on quality education, the Government has taken following steps:-

1. Central RTE Rules have been amended on 20th February, 2017 to include reference on class-wise, subject-wise Learning Outcomes.
2. National Achievement Survey (NAS) is conducted to enable States/UTs to identify gaps in learning outcomes.
3. A 70 indicator based matrix Performance Grading Index (PGI) has been developed to grade the States/UTs.
4. NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement), an Integrated Teacher Training Programme has been introduced.
5. Learning Outcomes for Secondary level have been notified.

Also, the National Education Policy, 2020 focuses on improving the quality of education through various measures such as introduction of New pedagogical and curricular structure, Early Childhood Care and Education, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy and Transforming Assessment for Student Development, Experiential and Competency based Learning etc.

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