The NITI Aayog pointed out 6 issues that need to be addressed so that transformation in providing quality education can be implemented. In 2017, NITI Aayog the project SATH-E initiative which aims at improving quality education. 16 states participated in it among which 3 states were selected for the project, they are, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. The recent report released by NITI Aayog titled as – ‘Learning for Large-scale Transformation in School Education’ stated that various structural, academic and governance reforms were taken as a part of the project.
It put emphasis on integration of schools, teacher rationalization, and various professional reforms to enhance quality education. In the report its also mentioned that India has 5 times the number of schools than China does for the same enrolment of students. However, more than 50% of primary schools across many states in India have an enrolment of less than 60 students. NITI Aayog plans to merge schools so that costs of such sub-scale schools can be reduced.
The issues that need to be addressed are – addressing the issue of sub-scale, schools with less resources seek strong political support, large-scale teacher vacancies are yet to be resolved, getting good teachers and improving pedagogy, enforcing accountability towards learning outcomes, putting focus on Early Childhood Education (ECE) and Multilingual Education (MLE), strengthening the governance structures in education departments. Schools across states have been told to reconsider the decentralization of powers to principals, district and block officers. This step might give them more power financially and autonomy to take decisions along with local needs.
