Jharkhand government today signed
two MoUs and one agreement for scaling up evidence-based programes in livelihood and education with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and with NGO implementation partners Pratham Education Foundation and Bandhan-Konnagar.
Signing of the agreements took place in the presence of Chief Minister Raghuvar Das.
"The first programme, 'Teaching at the Right Level' (TaRL), was developed by Pratham and rigorously evaluated by J-PAL through six randomised evaluations in India. TaRL has been found to consistently improve basic language and mathematics skills of children at the primary level by targeting teaching to the level of the child.
"Since 2010, 13.8 million students have participated in programmes based on TaRL implemented directly by Pratham or in partnership with state governments in India. As per the MoU, TaRL scale-up led by the government of Jharkhand will reach over 6.5 lakh children across 12,000 schools in 15 districts in 2016-17 alone," said a statement issued by J-PAL.
The second programme - 'Targetingthe Hardcore Poor' (THP) - has been implemented by Bandhan Konnagar in India, and tested by J-PAL researchers across six countries (including India). The programme has been consistently found to have lasting impacts on income, consumption and well-being of the poorest of the poor, enabling them to graduate out of extreme poverty. Since 2011, through THP, Bandhan has reached over 33,500 ultra-poor women in India, benefiting over 117,000 people.
The Chief Minister gave instructions to begin the programme in two districts that require the most attention to alleviate extreme poverty - West Singbhum and Dumka. The evidence-based programme is expected to lift 2,000 households out of extreme poverty over 24 months, the statement said.
The government of Jharkhand also signed to collaborate with J-PAL South Asia at IFMR for conducting new research to evaluate the impact of electronic point of sale (ePOS) machines to improve Public Distribution System (PDS) delivery as they are introduced in districts across Jharkhand.
