Improvement in Standard of Education in Government Schools The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) conducts periodic national surveys of learning achievement of children in classes III, V, VIII, and X. Four rounds of National Achievement Surveys (NAS) have been conducted so far for class V whereas three rounds have been conducted for classes III & VIII. These reveal improvement in learning achievement levels of pupils, in various subjects. First round of NAS has been conducted at Class X level, indicating that there is need for significant improvement in learning levels. The Central Government through a centrally funded programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), supports States/UTs on early grade reading, writing & comprehension, and early Mathematics programmes through a sub-programme namely Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat (PBBB) in classes I and II. Further the Government has launched Rashtriya Aavishkar Abhiyan (RAA) programme on 09.07.2015, inter alia, as a sub-component of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), to motivate and engage children of the age group from 6-18 years in Science, Mathematics and Technology through observation, experimentation, inference drawing, model building, etc. both through inside and outside classroom activities. Additionally, under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the State Governments and UT Administrations are supported on several interventions to improve teaching standards, including regular in-service teachers training, induction training for newly recruited teachers, training of all untrained teachers to acquire professional qualifications through Open Distance Learning (ODL) mode, recruitment of additional teachers for improving pupil-teacher ratios, academic support for teachers through block and cluster resource centres, continuous and comprehensive evaluation system to equip the teacher to measure pupil performance and provide remedial action wherever required, and teacher and school grants for development of appropriate teaching-learning materials, etc. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 specifies statutory duties and responsibilities of teachers and lays down the minimum qualifications for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in elementary schools. In order to provide quality education to students at the secondary level, various interventions are funded under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. These include provision for : (i) additional teachers to improve Pupil Teacher Ratio, (ii) induction and in-service training for Principals, Teachers , Master Trainers and Key Resource Persons, (iii) Maths and Science kits, (iv) Lab equipments, (v) Special teaching for learning enhancement, (vi) ICT facilities in schools, (vii) introduction of vocational education component at the secondary level. Further, for improving the quality of school education, the School Standards & Evaluation framework, known as Shaala Siddhi has been developed by National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), to enable schools to evaluate their performance in a more focused and strategic manner and to facilitate them to make professional judgments for improvement. This information was given by the Minister of State (HRD), Shri Upendra Kushwaha today in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question.
