The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha focuses on improvement in quality of education by providing support for different interventions to all States and UTs, like in-service training of teachers and school heads, conduct of achievement surveys at state and national level, composite school grant to every school for providing a conducive learning environment, grants for library, sports and physical activities, support for Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan, ICT and digital initiatives, School Leadership development programme, remedial teaching for academically weaker students, etc.

The scheme of Samagra Shiksha has been aligned with National Education Policy, 2020 with focus on improving the quality of education through various measures such as introduction of new pedagogical and curricular structure, Early Childhood Care and Education, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy and Transforming Assessment for Student Development, Experiential and Competency based Learning, etc.

The following initiatives have been taken by the Department of School Education and Literacy, MoE to improve the quality of education:

(i)      National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) has been launched under Samagra Shiksha for ensuring that every child in the country necessarily attains foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) by the end of Grade 3, and e-content for the same has been released at DIKSHA platform.

(ii)     NISHTHA Integrated Teacher Training Programme 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 has been introduced for different stages of school education for Teachers, Head Teachers/Principals and other stakeholders in Educational Management.

(iii)    National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 has been conducted on 12th November, 2021 by the Ministry of Education to evaluate children’s progress and learning competencies as an indicator of the health education system, and to take appropriate steps for remedial actions at different levels.

(iv)    A 73 indicator-based matrix Performance Grading Index (PGI) has been developed to grade the States/UTs. District level Performance Grading Indices (PGI) have been prepared and a Web application for compilation of PGI-District has been developed.

(v)     VIDYA PRAVESH-Guidelines for Three-month Play-based School Preparation Module for Grade-I Children have been released on 29th July, 2021 for all children to expose to a warm and welcoming environment in Grade-I.

(vi)    Under Samagra Shiksha, approaches such as, remedial teaching and bridge courses have been used at the elementary level and more progressive approaches such as Learning Enhancement Programme are implemented by identifying the learning gaps and equipping students with the core learning pre-requisites for the particular grade.

As per UDISE+ data, total enrolment of students during the year 2021-22 in all management schools, across the country was 265235830 including 184886952 students from rural areas. In addition, to ensure that children have access to education with quality and equity, Ministry of Education has shared guidelines dated 7th January, 2021 with all States & UTs which, among others, include identification of out of school children from age 6-18 years, enrolment drives and awareness generation, student support while schools are closed, continued Education for children with Special Needs (CWSN), student support on school reopening and Teacher capacity building. Link to the Guidelines is:

https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/guidelines_oosc.pdf

In order to ensure that every student including those residing in rural areas of the country, gets continuous access to education, a multi-pronged approach has been adopted by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education. A comprehensive initiative called PM e-Vidya has been started as part of Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, which unifies all efforts related to digital/ online / on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. The initiative includes the following components:

•   DIKSHA the nation's digital infrastructure for providing quality e-content for school education in states/UTs: and QR coded Energized Textbooks for all grades (one nation, one digital platform).

•   One earmarked Swayam Prabha TV channel per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel).

•   Extensive use of Radio, Community radio and CBSE Podcast- Shiksha Vani.

•   Special e-content for visually and hearing impaired developed on Digitally Accessible Information System (DAISY) and in sign language on NIOS website/ YouTube.

 

Where the digital facility (mobile device/DTH television) is not available, Ministry of Education has taken many initiatives like Community Radio Stations and a podcast called Shiksha Vani of CBSE, Textbooks, worksheet supplied to residence of learners, and community/mohalla classes. Innovation Funds of the Department are used to set up mobile school, virtual studios, virtual class rooms in schools. Continuous Learning Plan (CLP) for states/UTs has been initiated in all States/UTs, pre-loaded tablets in various states and UTs are effectively used in remote rural areas where online classes are difficult.

Also, Samagra Shiksha is implemented in partnership with all the States and UTs and financial assistance is provided to all States and UTs for various components including strengthening of ICT infrastructure in schools. The ICT component of the scheme envisages covering all Government and Aided schools from classes VI to XII and Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs), subject to the availability of budgetary provision. Till date 139181 ICT Labs and 126881 Smart classrooms are sanctioned to States/UTs.

The information was given by the Minister of State for Education, Shri Jayant Chaudhary in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

*****

AK/SS

(Release ID: 2036639) Visitor Counter : 724