MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(DR. SATYA PAL SINGH)
(a) to (d): Achievement surveys are released in the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) by a
non-governmental organization. It is a household survey limited to rural areas of the country. The
Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)
is not associated with this survey.
MHRD conducted National Achievement Survey (NAS) on 13th November, 2017 through which
the learning levels of around 22 lakh students of Classes III, V and VIII from 1.10 lakh schools
across 700 districts in all 36 States and UTs were assessed. This competency based assessment
was based on the Learning Outcomes developed by the National Council of Educational
Research and Training (NCERT). District report cards for NAS 2017 have been released and are
available on MHRD website. These contain various sections, including indicating the lowest
performing area in Learning Outcomes to enable States to identify learning gaps and take steps
to improve the learning outcomes based on the same.
Similarly, National Achievement Survey for Class X was also conducted throughout the country
on February 05, 2018 in government, government aided and private schools. The learning levels
of 1.5 million students in 44,304 schools across 610 districts in 34 States and UTs were assessed,
in 5 subject areas of English, Mathematics, Science, Social Science and Modern Indian
Language (MIL).
Some of the post NAS activities, which NCERT has suggested to the States/UTs to take up for
improving the learning levels in the districts are Community participation; Teacher training in
Assessment and learning; use of Science and Mathematics Kits developed by NCERT;
State Text book analysis and use of Early language kit and Early Mathematics kit developed by
NCERT etc.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) have developed minimum
class-wise, subject-wise Learning Outcomes for all classes from I-VIII in all subject areas.
Learning outcomes are assessment standards indicating the expected levels of learning that
children should achieve for that class. These indicators can be used as check points to assess
learning at different points of time. 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.
An amount of Rs.91.20 crore was released by the MHRD in the FY 2017-18 to all States and
UTs for printing the Learning Outcomes documents, Posters and leaflets in regional languages,
for their dissemination.
The total number of children enrolled at elementary level has increased from 15.1 crore in 1998-99
to 18.98 crore in 2016-17. Enrolment of students State/UT-wise is at Annexure.
The Central Government has launched an Integrated scheme for school education named as
Samagra Shiksha w.e.f 2018-19, which subsumes the three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored schemes
of school education i.e Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan
(RMSA) and Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education (CSSTE).The Samagra Shiksha
scheme focuses on improvement of quality of education by providing support for different
interventions like; in-service training of teachers and schools heads, conduct of achievement
surveys at National and State level, provision of textbooks as per Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, remedial teaching for academically weaker students, ICT
and digital initiatives, vocational education, composite school grant to every school for providing a
conducive learning environment has been increased and provision for library grants and grants for
sports and physical education have also been introduced.
Further, Section 23 (2) of the RTE Act has been amended to ensure that all untrained in-service
teachers working in Government, Government aided and Private un-aided schools 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 th is training through ODL (Open Distance Learning) mode.
(e): All matters related to teachers including accountability are primarily in the domain of State
Governments and UT Administrations. However, the Central Government continuously pursues
with States/UTs to implement norms of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education
(RTE) Act, 2009 in various forums and has also issued advisories from time to time for the same.
Section 24 of the RTE Act, 2009 mandates that a teacher appointed under subsection (1) of the
Section 23 shall perform the following duties, namely (a) maintain regularity and punctuality in
attending school and (b) complete entire curriculum within specified time.
The steps taken by the Central Government to improve teachers’ performance include,
inter alia, monitoring teachers’ attendance through School Management Committees/School
Management Development Committees/Block Resource Centres/Clusters Resource Centres and
encouraging States and UTs to use digital technology like installation of Bio-metric/digital
attendance system in schools. Further, NCERT has developed a framework for Performance
Indicators for Elementary School Teachers (PINDICS) and shared with the states for effective
monitoring and benchmarking of teacher performance across the country.
*****
Download PDF Files
