The World Bank said its board of executive directors has approved a $500 million (about Rs 3,700 crore) loan to improve quality and governance of school education in six Indian states.

“The board approved a loan for Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) programme,” the World Bank said in a statement.

“Some 250 million students (between the age of 6 and 17) in 1.5 million schools, and over 10 million teachers will benefit from the programme. The STARS programme builds on the long partnership between India and the World Bank (since 1994), for strengthening public school education and to support the country’s goal of providing Education for All,” it said.

Prior to STARS, the bank had provided a total assistance of more than $3 billion towards this goal.

The $500 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), has a final maturity of 14.5 years, including a grace period of five years.

What is STARS programme?

STARS has identified six states — Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Rajasthan that have been high performers and have been categorised as Lighthouse States. 

Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha that need to strengthen their performance on key domains like governance are the Learning States.

The main objective is to improve the quality and governance of school education in project states.

Also, STARS will facilitate further strengthening of learning enhancement strategies in a way that is relevant to each state’s context.

At the national level, through the Samagra Shiksha, and in partnership with the six states, STARS will also help improve learning assessment systems, strengthen classroom instruction and remediation, facilitate school-to-work transition, and strengthen governance and decentralised management.

“India recognises the need to significantly improve its learning outcomes to fuel future growth and meet the demands of the labour market,” Junaid Ahmad,  World Bank country director in India, said. 

“STARS will support India’s response to this challenge by strengthening implementation at the local level, investing in teacher capacity and ensuring that no child of any background is left behind from the right to education,” he said.

The multilateral funding agency noted that India has, over the years, made significant strides in improving access to education across the country; between 2004-05 and 2018-19, the number of children going to school increased from 219 million to 248 million. However, the learning outcomes of students across all age groups continue to remain below par.

Samagra Shiksha scheme

The government launched Samagra Shiksha in May 2018. 

The scheme subsumes the three erstwhile centrally sponsored schemes of school education — Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), and Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education (CSSTE). 

The common objectives of all these schemes were to enhance access, to promote equity through the inclusion of disadvantaged groups and weaker sections and to improve the quality of education.  

The Samagra Shiksha 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 emphasis of the Scheme is on improving the quality of school education by focussing on the two T’s – Teacher and Technology. The strategy for all interventions under the scheme would be to enhance the learning outcomes at all levels of schooling. 

The scheme proposes to give flexibility to the states and UTs to plan and prioritise their interventions within the scheme norms and the overall resource envelope available to them. 

Funds are proposed to be allocated based on an objective criteria based on enrolment of students, committed liabilities, learning outcomes and various performance indicators.

The scheme will help improve the transition rates across the various levels of school education and aid in promoting universal access to children to complete school education. 

The integration of teacher education would facilitate effective convergence and linkages between different support structures in school education through interventions such as a unified training calendar, innovations in pedagogy, mentoring and monitoring, etc. 

Main features of Samagra Shiksha scheme

* Universalising access to quality school education by expansion of schooling facilities in the uncovered areas through up-gradation of schools up-to senior secondary level.

* Ensuring availability of adequate infrastructure to ensure that schools conform to the prescribed norms.

* Upgradation of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) from Class 6-8 to Class 6-12.

* Strengthening teacher education institutions like SCERTs and DIETs to improve the quality of teachers.

* Enhanced use of digital technology in education through smart classrooms, digital boards and DTH channels.

* Support States & UTs for implementation of provisions of RTE Act, including reimbursement under Section 12(1)(c) of the Act.

* Setting up of residential schools and hostels for difficult areas and for children in difficult circumstances.

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