Gunotsav -8 In New Evaluation Mathod BY NAS.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, some months back, in one of his
addresses through Mann Ki Baat emphasized the importance of quality in
the following words: “So far, the government’s focus was on spreading
education across the country. But the time has now come to shift the
focus on quality education. Now, the government should emphasise more on
learning rather than schooling,”
Gunotsav :-8 In New Evaluation Mathod BY NAS. Minister Shri Prakash Javedkar also announced that “Raising the quality of education in the country will be the top priority”. This shift from schooling to learning would mean a shift in focus from inputs to outcomes.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme implemented by Government of India in partnership with State Governments, has achieved considerable success in universalising elementary education. Today, there are 19.67 crore children enrolled in 14.5 lakh elementary schools in the country. The dropout rate has reduced considerably, but is still high at 16% at primary and 32% at upper primary level, and needs to be reduced significantly. As per a survey, the number of out of school children has declined from 135 lakh in 2005 to 61 lakh children in 2014, all efforts must be made to bring the last child back to school.
As is evident, India has done well in terms of ensuring access and equity in schooling. However, the level of learning by the average student is a matter of concern. As per the recent report of the National Achievement Survey (NAS) for class 5 students, the percentage of students getting more than half the questions correct is only 36% for reading comprehension and the corresponding figures for mathematics and environmental studies are 37% and 46% respectively.
Both the Centre and the State Governments are devising comprehensive approaches and strategies to address the issue of improving quality of education in schools. Some of the key focus areas include working on issues related to Teachers, Classroom processes, Assessments and Evaluations of student’s learning, School Infrastructure, School Effectiveness and Community participation.
A. Teachers
While children are at the centre of school education, it is the teacher who plays the most critical role in ensuring learning among children. Since inception of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan 19.48 lakh additional teacher posts have been created for elementary classes; appointment of teachers against these posts has resulted in improving the pupil teacher ratio from 42:1 to 24:1. However, there are still schools having single teachers or inadequate number of teachers. For this State governments need to redeploy teachers for equitable distribution and also have an annual schedule of recruitment of qualified teachers, so as to replace the retiring teachers.
Presently 85% of regular teachers in government schools are professionally qualified. In 20 States and UTs, all teachers have the requisite qualifications. Government is taking steps to ensure that over the next 2-3 years all teachers in the remaining 16 States/UTs would be fully qualified.
As per the findings of a study done in 2013 by the Ministry, the average teacher attendance was found to be around 83%. This needs to be improved to close to 100%.
Gunotsav :-8 In New Evaluation Mathod BY NAS. Minister Shri Prakash Javedkar also announced that “Raising the quality of education in the country will be the top priority”. This shift from schooling to learning would mean a shift in focus from inputs to outcomes.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme implemented by Government of India in partnership with State Governments, has achieved considerable success in universalising elementary education. Today, there are 19.67 crore children enrolled in 14.5 lakh elementary schools in the country. The dropout rate has reduced considerably, but is still high at 16% at primary and 32% at upper primary level, and needs to be reduced significantly. As per a survey, the number of out of school children has declined from 135 lakh in 2005 to 61 lakh children in 2014, all efforts must be made to bring the last child back to school.
As is evident, India has done well in terms of ensuring access and equity in schooling. However, the level of learning by the average student is a matter of concern. As per the recent report of the National Achievement Survey (NAS) for class 5 students, the percentage of students getting more than half the questions correct is only 36% for reading comprehension and the corresponding figures for mathematics and environmental studies are 37% and 46% respectively.
Both the Centre and the State Governments are devising comprehensive approaches and strategies to address the issue of improving quality of education in schools. Some of the key focus areas include working on issues related to Teachers, Classroom processes, Assessments and Evaluations of student’s learning, School Infrastructure, School Effectiveness and Community participation.
A. Teachers
While children are at the centre of school education, it is the teacher who plays the most critical role in ensuring learning among children. Since inception of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan 19.48 lakh additional teacher posts have been created for elementary classes; appointment of teachers against these posts has resulted in improving the pupil teacher ratio from 42:1 to 24:1. However, there are still schools having single teachers or inadequate number of teachers. For this State governments need to redeploy teachers for equitable distribution and also have an annual schedule of recruitment of qualified teachers, so as to replace the retiring teachers.
Presently 85% of regular teachers in government schools are professionally qualified. In 20 States and UTs, all teachers have the requisite qualifications. Government is taking steps to ensure that over the next 2-3 years all teachers in the remaining 16 States/UTs would be fully qualified.
As per the findings of a study done in 2013 by the Ministry, the average teacher attendance was found to be around 83%. This needs to be improved to close to 100%.
Need based professional development of teachers work.
Gunotsav -8 In New Evaluation Mathod BY NAS.