Context:

• The NITI Aayog report, titled ‘Learnings for Large scale Transformation in School Education,’ delves into critical issues plaguing India’s education system.

Learnings for Large scale Transformation in School Education

• The NITI Aayog report analyses the implementation of Project SATH-E in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha under 9 intervention categories.
• Nine Intervention Cateogries: These are school consolidation, remedial learning interventions, assessments, teacher recruitment and rationalisation, teacher capacity building, management information systems and academic monitoring systems, governance and accountability, organisation strengthening and leader schools.

What are the key issues identified in the NITI Aayog Report?

• ​​The NITI Aayog report pointed out 6 issues that need to be addressed in order to implement a large-scale transformation in providing quality education.
  • Addressing the issue of sub-scale, inadequately resourced schools head-on with strong political support
  • Solving large-scale teacher vacancies issues
  • Improving teacher quality and pedagogy
  • Enforcing accountability towards learning outcomes
  • Focus on Early Childhood Education (ECE) and contextualised Mother tongue-based Multilingual Education (MLE)
  • Strengthening the governance structures in education departments

What does the NITI Aayog Report propose as its key suggestions?

• School Merging as a Solution:
  • The NITI Aayog report advocates for the merging of schools as a strategic plan to address the issue of sub-scale schools with low enrollment.
  • The idea is to mitigate the cost associated with maintaining small schools and enhance overall efficiency in resource utilization.
  • According to the NITI Aayog report, India has 5 times the number of schools than China does for the same enrolment of students. 
  • It was also mentioned that more than 50% of primary schools across many states in our country have an enrolment of less than 60 students. 
  • Madhya Pradesh Example:
    • The report draws attention to the successful implementation of school merging in Madhya Pradesh.
    • In this example, 35,000 schools were merged into 16,000 same-campus schools with the aim of improving the quality of education.
  • Benefits of Merged Large Schools:
    • Merged large schools in Madhya Pradesh had adequate teachers and resources, addressing the issue of sub-scale schools.
    • The percentage of schools with a principal increased from 20% to 55% after the merger, indicating improved administrative structure.
• Addressing Unequal Distribution of Teachers:
  • To tackle the unequal distribution and shortage of teachers, the report recommends teacher rationalization and the implementation of structured policies.
  • This aligns with the National Education Policy 2020, emphasizing the importance of improving teacher quality and distribution.
• Prioritizing Early Childhood Education (ECE):
  • The NITI Aayog report underscores the need to prioritize Early Childhood Education (ECE) as part of the overall strategy.
  • This focus on ECE aims to enhance the school readiness of students.
• Decentralization of Powers:
  • The report suggests reconsidering the decentralization of powers to principals, district, and block officers.

News Source: Hindustan Times