Initiatives taken by Central Govt. to Improve the Quality of Education in India

An economy is run by the people, which means that an economy grows by the contribution of citizens. It has been observed that an economy with a higher literacy rate is more likely to grow when compared to one with a lower literacy rate. That’s why the former president of South Africa Nelson Mandela, also said that Education is the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world. India is struggling to improve its literacy rate and quality of education for more than 7 decades, but the Government of India (GOI) is making consistent efforts in the area of improving the quality of education in India. For instance in recent times during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the GOI came up with many new initiatives that helped students a lot to learn from their homes.

The literacy rate in India is increasing at a decent pace from 73% in 2011 to 77.7% in 2022.

Govt. Initiatives to Improve the Quality of Education:

1. New Education Policy 2020:

The Government of India launched the new education policy on July 29^th,2020, which mainly focuses on the early childhood education of children in India and improving the quality of education in government schools. The new education policy was launched at the time of the pandemic of COVID-19 and was very needful at that time, as the whole education system collapsed due to lockdowns. The new education policy 2022 worked on decreasing the school dropout rates, holistic and enjoyable learning, improving the skills of teachers, etc.

2. SWAYAM:

SWAYAM is an e-learning platform available for students across India, funded by the central government of India. This online learning platform was launched by the GOI in 2017, that turned out to be very useful during a pandemic. This online platform has a series of modules with recorded lectures on a variety of subject recorders by the professors of some of the premier institutes of India like IITs and IIMs. The portal is free to use and you can also be used it to pursue Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The SWAYAM has its online website from where students can access recorded lectures, and it also telecasts its lectures directly on TV on free DTH channels.

3. Qualification of Teachers:

The quality of education was dropping in India due to less-qualified teachers and thus to address this issue the Government of India (GOI) amended Section 23(2) of the RTE Act under which the in-service training period was increased for underqualified teachers across all the states and UTs in India. The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)  was chosen to provide free training to the under-qualified teachers teaching in government-aided, private, and un-aided schools in India. 

4. RTE (Right to Education) Act:

Like the rest of the world, the GOI also came up with the Right to Education Act in 2009, which provides free elementary education to children between 6-14 years. Under this act, it became compulsory for the government to provide free elementary education to the children in the schools within 1 KM of their locality. This act also makes sure that, the government can charge no other extra from the student. Free education includes everything like books, uniforms, stationery, etc. Under this act, it’s mandatory for the government to meet the standard of education, by ensuring proper Pupil-Teacher-Ratio and qualified teachers. 

5. National Achievement Survey (NAS):

The GOI conducts the National Achievement Survey in collaboration with NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) under which the students from classes 3,5,8, and 10 go under a survey, which shows the outcomes of their subjective learning. The outcomes of this survey prove to be very beneficial for the government to access the quality of education being provided in the schools. 

6. Program for International Students Assessment (PISA):

The GOI is planning to participate in the program for International Students Assessment (PISA), conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2021. This program will provide international exposure to the students learning in India and allows them to check the level of their competencies by taking part in this assessment. It will also allow students to prepare for competitive exams in their school only.

7. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan:

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a Government of India initiative launched in 2001, and to date around 83 amendments have already been made under this scheme. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was the GOI of the very first initiative the improving the quality of education in India, this program was launched to provide free elementary education to all the children in India in a time-bound manner. This scheme also focused on the development of new schools and the reconstruction of old ones, recruitment of new and well-qualified teachers, etc. 

Way Forward:

Till now, the government of India has adopted numerous schemes and initiatives to improve the quality of education in India, but still, there is much space for improvement. India’s ranking in literacy rate in the world is quite low and the main reason behind it is that many people in India still don’t have access to quality education. Thus the GOI should work on developing new methodologies to provide free online education to each child that can be easily accessed from a smartphone.