1st, July, 2022

 

 

Topic: Education

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• Mandi District figured in the ‘Uttam’ category in the performance grading index for districts released by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education.

 

Why important?

• The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education (MoE) released the Centre’s first-ever Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2018-19 and 2019-20.
• In June, 2021, the Union Education Minister has approved the release of Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 for States and Union Territories.

Sharing in the Index:

• The index has been released for 2018-19 and 2019-20 and Mandi district, which improved its score from 357 out of 600 in 2018-19 to 388 in 2019-20, figures in the ‘Uttam’ category (61-70 per cent).
• Meanwhile, Kangra, Shimla, Hamirpur, Una, Kullu, Bilaspur, Kinnaur and Chamba with scores between 300 and 359 are in the Prachesta–I category (51 to 60 per cent) and Sirmaur, Solan and Lahaul and Spiti with scores between 270 and 300 are in the Prachesta–II category (41 to 50 per cent).
• The scorecard is based on performance of districts on 83 indicators in six domains, namely outcome, effective classroom transaction (ECT), infrastructure, facilities, student entitlements, school safety and child protection, digital learning and governance process.
• In 2018-19, Kangra, Mandi, Shimla, Hamirpur, Una, Kullu, Bilaspur and Chamba districts were in the Prachesta–I category while Kinnaur, Sirmaur, Solan and Lahaul and Spiti districts were in the Prachesta–II category.
• The score of Kullu increased by 18 points, Kinnaur by 15, Sirmaur and Hamirpur by 10 each, Shimla, Una and Lahaul and Spiti by six, Solan by four and Bilaspur by two points. Kangra witnessed a decline of one point, but there was no change in the score of Chamba district.

 

About Index:

• The index is prepared on the basis of data filled by districts on an online portal. The idea is to assess the performance of the school education system at the district level by creating an index for comprehensive analysis and help in identifying gaps and improve their performances in a decentralized manner, sources in the state Education Department say.
• Himachal had scored 839 out of 1,000 marks in the performing grading index (PGI) 2019-20 for states and union territories based on outcomes in five categories, namely learning outcomes and quality, access, infrastructure and facilities, equity and governance processes released earlier.

83 indicators:

• The score is based on performance on 83 indicators in Six domains, namely outcome, effective classroom transaction (ECT), infrastructure, facilities, student entitlements, school safety and child protection, digital learning and governance process.
• The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education (MoE) released the Centre’s first-ever Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2018-19 and 2019-20.

(News Source: The Tribune)

 

 

Topic: Government Scheme

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• An interactive program was organized at The National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur on Friday to sensitize and make them aware about the Pradhan Mantri Gatishakti National Master Plan.

 

Objectives of THE PM Gati Shakti Yojana and the benefits of the scheme:

Vision:

• PM Gati Shakti will incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various Ministries and State Governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, inland waterways, dry/land ports, UDAN etc.
• Economic Zones like textile clusters, pharmaceutical clusters, defense corridors, electronic parks, industrial corridors, fishing clusters, Agri zones will be covered to improve connectivity & make Indian businesses more competitive.
• It will also leverage technology extensively, including spatial planning tools with ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) imagery developed by BiSAG-N (Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics). More details of the Plan can be found here.

 

PM Gati Shakti is based on six pillars:

Comprehensiveness: It will include all the existing and planned initiatives of various Ministries and Departments with one centralized portal. Each and every Department will now have visibility of each other’s activities providing critical data while planning & execution of projects in a comprehensive manner.

Prioritization: Through this, different Departments will be able to prioritize their projects through cross-sectoral interactions.

Optimization: The National Master Plan will assist different ministries in planning for projects after identification of critical gaps. For the transportation of the goods from one place to another, the plan will help in selecting the most optimum route in terms of time and cost.

Synchronization: Individual Ministries and Departments often work in silos. There is lack of coordination in planning and implementation of the project resulting in delays.PM Gati Shakti will help in synchronizing the activities of each department, as well as of different layers of governance, in a holistic manner by ensuring coordination of work between them.

Analytical:The plan will provide the entire data at one place with GIS based spatial planning and analytical tools having 200+ layers, enabling better visibility to the executing agency.

Dynamic: All Ministries and Departments will now be able to visualize, review and monitor the progress of cross-sectoral projects, through the GIS platform, as the satellite imagery will give on-ground progress periodically and progress of the projects will be updated on a regular basis on the portal. It will help in identifying the vital interventions for enhancing and updating the master plan.

• Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti Yojana is a digital platform connecting 16 ministries including rail and road.
• This scheme will enhance the competitiveness of the industries and will also be of great help in developing new possibilities for building economic zones in the future.
  This scheme has also been named as Power of Speed which is being tried to be linked with infrastructure.

(News Source: The Tribune)

 

 

Topic: STAR project under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• 741 pre-primary schools have been included in the STAR project under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan to provide facilities in government schools in Himachal Pradesh on the lines of private schools.

 

What will be covered under this project?

• Under the project, pre-primary schools will be strengthened. Special drives will be launched to increase the number of children. More and more computer systems will be installed in government schools.
• The training centres of teachers will be modernized. The training of teachers will be changed.
• These schools will have special funding under the project. In the scheme, 371 schools have been selected from Solan alone. Work on the Star Project in pre-primary government schools has started.
• The World Bank has selected government schools and included it in the STAR scheme.

 

Emphasis will be laid on improving pre-nursery in these schools. Along with the deployment of teachers in primary schools, training will also be given to them. Other works including construction of the school building will be carried out. Under the Star project, a budget of crores will be spent on schools. With the budget under the project, smart classes in schools and students will be given online material for studies.

 

About Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan :

• The Union Budget, 2018-19, has proposed to treat school education holistically without segmentation from pre-nursery to Class 12.
• Samagra Shiksha – an overarching programme for the school education sector extending from pre-school to class 12 has been, therefore, prepared with the broader goal of improving school effectiveness measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes.
• It subsumes the three erstwhile Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
• This sector-wide development programme/scheme would also help harmonise the implementation mechanisms and transaction costs at all levels, particularly in using state, district and sub-districtlevel systems and resources, besides envisaging one comprehensive strategic plan for development of school education at the district level.
• The shift in the focus is from project objectives to improving systems level performance and schooling outcomes which will be the emphasis of the combined Scheme along-with incentivizing States towards improving quality of education

 

The Goal SDG-4.1 states that “By 2030, ensure that all boys and girls complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.
Further the SDG 4.5 states that “By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of Education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations”

The scheme envisages the ‘school’ as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to Senior Secondary levels.

Vision:

• The vision of the Scheme is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from pre-school to senior secondary stage in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for Education.

 

Objective:

• The major objectives of the Scheme are provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students; Bridging Social and Gender Gaps in School Education; Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education; Ensuring minimum standards in schooling provisions; Promoting Vocationalisation of education; Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009; and Strengthening and up-gradation of SCERTs/State Institutes of Education and DIET as a nodal agencies for teacher training.

 

The main outcomes of the Scheme are envisaged as:

• Universal Access, Equity and Quality, promoting Vocationalisation of Education and strengthening of Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs).

 

Center-State Contribution:

• The Scheme will be implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme by the Department through a single State Implementation Society (SIS) at the State/UT level.
• At the National level, there would be a Governing Council headed by Minister of Human Resource Development and a Project Approval Board (PAB) headed by Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy.
• The Governing Council will be empowered to modify financial and programmatic norms and approve the detailed guidelines for implementation within the overall Framework of the scheme. Such modifications will include innovations and interventions to improve the quality of school education.
• The Department will be assisted by a Technical Support Group (TSG) at Educational Consultants of India Limited (EdCIL) to provide technical support in functional areas pertaining to access, equity and quality education by merging the TSGs of the Schemes of SSA, RMSA and TE. States would be expected to bring a single Plan for the entire school education sector.

The fund sharing pattern for the scheme between Centre and States is at present in the ratio of 90:10 for the 8 North-Eastern States viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura and 3 Himalayan States viz. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and 60:40 for all other States and Union Territories with Legislature. It is 100% centrally sponsored for Union Territories without Legislature. This is in accordance with the recommendations of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes received in October, 2015.

 

The major interventions, across all levels of school education, proposed under the scheme are:

(i) Universal Access including Infrastructure Development and Retention;

(ii) Gender and Equity;

(iii) Inclusive Education;

(iv) Quality;

(v) Financial support for Teacher Salary;

(vi) Digital Initiatives;

(vii) RTE Entitlements including uniforms, textbooks etc.;

(viii) Pre-school Education; (ix) Vocational Education;

(x) Sports and Physical Education;

(xi) Strengthening of Teacher Education and Training;

(xii) Monitoring;

(xiii) Programme Management;

(xiii) National Component.

It is proposed that preference in the interventions would be given to Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), LWEs affected districts, Special Focus Districts (SFDs), Border areas and the 117 Aspirational districts.

The main emphasis of the Scheme is on improving 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 prioritize 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.

(News Source: Amar Ujala)