Why is it in the news?

• NITI Aayog has released the Report on Learnings for Large-Scale Transformation in School Education.
• The report is an outcome report on the SATH-E project implementation in the states of Jharkhand, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh.

Key Findings

• Despite similar enrolment, India has significantly more schools than China, with over five times the number.
• Many Indian states have over 50% of primary schools enrolling fewer than 60 students.
• There is an estimated 2-5 lakhs untrained teachers in primary and upper primary levels, which fails to meet the Right to Education requirements.
• Jharkhand’s merger of 4,380 schools resulted in savings of Rs 400 crore through reduced teacher and infrastructure requirements, optimizing resources.

Suggested Areas for Education Transformation

• Addressing sub-scale schools and inadequately resourced schools with political support.
• Solving teacher vacancies through restructuring and recruitment, such as through Cadre restructuring.
• Re-thinking teacher education to improve quality.
• Enforcing learning outcome accountability through competency-based assessment reforms.
• Focusing on Early Childhood Education and multilingual education.
• Strengthening governance in education departments for self-improvement.

Other Recommendations

• Merging small and low-enrolment schools with nearby ones to optimize resources.
• Considering the decentralization of powers to principals, district, and block officers, among other administrative changes.