From schools to universities, Modi government plans overhaul of education

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suggested a series of structural reforms in education, ranging from schools being mandated to display grade-wise learning goals for each class for which Niti Ayog has been entrusted to recommend overhauling of University Grants Commission and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE).

School students will be asked to evaluate their teachers and a university may be started for teacher training. In a meeting that the PM held with Niti Ayog and HRD top brass, including minister Smriti Irani, a series of decisions were taken. A detailed outcome-focused presentation was made by Niti Ayog.

A senior HRD official said, "Access to school education has more or less been achieved. The problem is with quality. The meeting emphasised on outcomes, be it school or higher education. Equal emphasis was laid on vocational education." As for UGC/AICTE, the meeting expressed disappointment with their functioning and complete failure as regulators. Niti Ayog has been asked to recommend big changes so that they can address present concerns in higher and technical education.

In school education, it was decided that minimum grade-wise learning goals from class I to VIII will be displayed on school board. As far as funding goes, HRD sources said, a substantial component of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) will be linked to learning outcomes and fund release will depend a lot on quality.

It has also been decided to grade schools and start remedial classes for weaker students. At regular intervals, national/regional workshops will be held for sharing best practices.

While a decision on doing away with 'no-detention policy' was not taken, it was decided that till then Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation should continue in a rigorous fashion.

Aware of the fact that teachers are also made to do non-teaching work, PM suggested a comprehensive study. Schools will be mandated to put photographs of teachers to avoid proxy teachers doing the job of permanent ones.

Teachers' profiles will be linked to Aadhaar and to deal with their skewed ratio in rural and urban India, teachers will be regularly transferred to rural schools.In secondary education, the PM also suggested introduction of 800 vocational courses as part of the syllabus.