-Utkarsh Sinha
Nov 17, 2021: For the efficient execution of the new National Education Policy, 2020, the NITI Aayog recently proposed 11 initiatives to strengthen the country's school education system, particularly learning outcomes. The recommendation was released this Tuesday, as a part of a report i.e., the systematic transformation of school education, which is based on the findings of NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital (SATH-Education) initiative. The efforts began in 2017 with the goal of creating three 'role model' states for school level education sector-Jharkhand, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh. As per the authorities, following the efforts taken by these states as part of the initiatives has resulted in a 20% improvement in the education system in the previous few years. The learning level of 15-20% of children in Madhya Pradesh was found to have grown in two months between baseline and midline, according to the studies and reports (far more than what was seen in the last few years).
"It is vital that we make school education, especially at the preschool level, more inclusive," stated Mr. Rajiv Kumar, vice-chairman of the NITI Aayog, during a webinar on the SATH-E programme. The report suggested or mainly focused on five key areas which are – first focusing on academic reforms, secondly strengthening the human capacity, third for creating a shared vision for change, fourth for driving accountability and lastly for strengthening the administrative systems. The report further mentioned that the learning outcomes did not cause any enhancement in the quality of education despite being ensured near-universal access to education with over 96 percent enrolment of the students in the age groups of 6 to 10 years. To address this issue, the report suggested that the states should prepare and develop an appropriate Learning Outcome Framework (LOF).
Different states have come up with different LOF’s , like Haryana has come up with a unified LOF called Saksham Taalika for children of classes I to V for subjects like English, Mathematics and Hindi whereas Jharkhand has designed the Learning Tracking Format to assess student’s learning levels on key skills for children in grades I to VIII. It also suggested about the need to simplify the assessment process and highlighted the requirement of learning enhancement programs. It was even mentioned that “the states need to implement remediation in campaign mode for 4-5 years to bring all children to grade-level”.
“The stated implementations toolkits can be used by the state govt. to address any specific consequences that may arise in the future. All the solutions suggested above are based on the seven states (three states of SATH-E initiative)” one of the officials said.
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