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.
| SATH Project (Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital) · Launched by NITI Aayog in 2017. · Aims to provide sustainable action for transforming human capital in collaboration with state governments. · Seeks to identify and build three future ‘role model’ states in the education and health sectors. · The SATH-E Project specifically focuses on ensuring the quality of school education and making the education growth process socially inclusive, regionally balanced, and sustainable. |
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.