Educational reforms

Subject: Government schemes

Context:

Systemic reform in education sector has gained ground in recent years through initiatives such as the NITI Aayog’s School Education Quality Index (SEQI), the Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E) and even the Aspirational Districts programme

Concept:

School Education Quality Index (SEQI)

• The School Education Quality Index (SEQI) was developed by NITI Aayog to evaluate the performance of States and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector.
• The index aims to bring an outcomes focus to education policy by providing States and UTs with a platform to identify their strengths and weaknesses and undertake requisite course corrections or policy interventions.

Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH-E)

• ‘SATH’ the programme for Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital (SATH) focuses on two main sectors — Education and Health and to build three ‘Role Model’ States.
• SATH programme will be implemented by NITI Aayog along with global consultancy McKinsey & Company and IPE Global consortium in the three selected States after the signing of MoUs.

Aspirational Districts programme

• Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme which was launched in January 2018 aims to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts of the country.
• The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a Mass Movement.
• With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.
• The Government is committed to raising the living standards of its citizens and ensuring inclusive growth for all – SabkaSaath, SabkaVikas.
• To enable optimum utilization of their potential, this program focuses closely on improving people’s ability to participate fully in the burgeoning economy.
• Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure are this programme’s core areas of focus.
• After several rounds of consultations with various stakeholders, 49 key performance indicators have been chosen to measure progress of the districts.
• Districts are prodded and encouraged to first catch-up with the best district within their state, and subsequently aspire to become one of the best in the country, by competing with, and learning from others in the spirit of competitive & cooperative federalism