Summary of Mechanisms to Ensure the Quality of Education in GovT. Schools

Central Government has developed many mechanism for the monitoring of quality of education in Government schools. These are discussed below. Through ShaGun, the data collection and reporting processes have been simplified; resulting in a totally transparent and efficient system.

Low Quality of Expenditure on Education

ShaGun Portal

A web portal called ShaGun (from the words Shaala and Gunvatta) which has two parts i.e..

  • Repository of good practices, photographs, videos, studies, newspaper articles etc on elementary education, State⟋UT wise has been developed.

    Its purpose is to showcase success stories and also to provide a platform for all stakeholders to learn from each other, and instill a positive competitive spirit among all the States and UTs.

  • The online monitoring module of ShaGun which measures state-level performance and progress against key educational indicators which enables the Government of India and the State and UT Departments of education to conduct real-time assessments which normal paper-based monitoring mechanisms did not allow.

    Through ShaGun, the data collection and reporting processes have been simplified; resulting in a totally transparent and efficient system.

RTE Act, 2009 Have Been Amended on 20Th February, 2017

  • In order to increase focus on quality of elementary education, the Central rules to the RTE Act, 2009 have been amended on 20th February, 2017 to include reference on class-wise, subject-wise Learning Outcomes.
  • The Learning Outcomes for each class in Languages (Hindi, English and Urdu) , Mathematics, Environmental Studies, Science and Social Science up to the elementary stage have, accordingly, been finalized and shared with all States and UTs.
  • Learning outcomes have been translated in different languages and serve as a benchmark for student՚s capabilities to be achieved in each subject & class.

Shaala Siddhi

It is a School Standards and Evaluation Framework, developed by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) , which enables the schools to self-evaluate based on seven key domains.

Performance Indicators for Elementary School Teachers (PINDICS)

The NCERT has developed a framework for Performance Indicators for Elementary School Teachers (PINDICS) and shared with the states. PINDICS is a framework for assessing teacher performance and providing constructive feedback for further improvement.

Central Government has taken the following initiatives

  • Section 23 (2) of the RTE Act has been amended to extend the period for training of untrained in-service elementary teachers to 31st March, 2019. As per above amendment, all untrained in-service teachers working in Government, Government aided, and Private un-aided schools should 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 this training through ODL (Open Distance Learning) mode. The online D. El. Ed. course has started from 3rd October, 2017. More than 13 Lakh teachers have joined these courses.
  • Further, the Department of School Education and Literacy has launched an Integrated Scheme for School Education-Samagra Shiksha, subsuming three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) , Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE) .
  • With effect from 1st April, 2018. The new integrated scheme envisages school education as a continuum from pre-school to senior secondary level and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels.
  • The main objectives of the scheme are to provide quality education, enhancing learning outcomes of students, bridging social and gender gaps in school education, ensuring requisite infrastructure in schools, support to states in the implementation of RTE Act, 2009 and strengthening of teacher education institutions.

Samagra Shiksha Scheme

It 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 from this year provisions for library grants and grants for sports and physical education have also been introduced.

Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan

To motivate and engage children of the age group from 6 - 18 years in Science, Mathematics and Technology through observation, experimentation, inference drawing, model building, etc. both through inside and outside classroom activities.

e PATHSHALA

It is a single point repository of e resources containing NCERT textbooks and various other learning resources has been developed for showcasing and disseminating all educational resources including textbooks, audio, video, periodicals, and a variety of other print and non-print materials.

Examrace Team at Aug 20, 2021