Quality | Samagra Shiksha Govt. of Meghalaya

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Section 29 of the RTE Act, 2009 provides for:

(1) The curriculum and the evaluation procedure for elementary education shall be laid down by an academic authority to be specified by the appropriate Government by notification.

(2) The academic authority, while laying down the curriculum and the evaluation procedure under sub-section (1), shall take into consideration the following:

a. conformity with the values enshrined in the Constitution;
b. all round development of the child;
c. building up child’s knowledge, potentiality and talent;
d. development of physical and mental abilities to the fullest extent;
e. learning through activities, discovery and exploration in a child friendly and child centred manner;
f. medium of instructions shall, as far as practicable, be in child’s mother-tongue;
g. making the child free of fear, trauma and anxiety and helping the child to express views freely;
h. comprehensive and continuous evaluation of child’s understanding of knowledge and his or her ability to apply the same.

School Education

is envisaged as a holistic and convergent programme aimed at providing quality education across the wide spectrum of schools, spanning from pre-school to senior secondary classes. NPE 1968 and 1986 (modified in 1992) and POA 1992 have emphasised upon the strengthening of National System of Education for providing education of comparable quality to all. In consonance with the mandate of education policies and demands from the society, NCF is brought out from time to time to further improve quality of school education in our country. Till now, four curriculum frameworks i.e., NCF 1975, 1986, 2000 and 2005 have been brought out by the NCERT.

The NCF-2005 suggests following guiding principles for the holistic development of a learner through school education:-

Connecting knowledge to life outside the school;
Ensuring that learning is shifted away from rote methods;
Enriching the curriculum to provide for overall development of children rather than remain textbook centric;
Making examinations more flexible and integrated into classroom life and,
Nurturing an over-riding identity informed by caring concerns within the democratic polity of the country.

Over the years, due to the efforts made through the Schemes of SSA, RMSA and TE, there has been significant spatial and numerical expansion of elementary and secondary schools and improvement in teacher education institutions in the country, however, the quality of learning achievement still remains a major challenge. Reasons may be attributed to stage-specific interventions, missing linkages with pre-school as well as senior secondary, lack of defined learning outcomes, etc. The quest for quality has acquired a new urgency in the present day.

Quality is more a systemic trait rather than only a feature of instruction or attainment. As an overarching attribute, quality expresses the system’s capacity to reform itself for enhancing its ability to address its own weakness and to develop new capabilities. Quality is not merely a measure of efficiency; it also has a value dimension. Attempt to improve quality of education will succeed only if it goes hand in hand with steps to promote equality and social justice. In the context of education, two principles characterize most attempts to define quality: firstly learners’ cognitive development as the major explicit objective and secondly education’s role in promoting values and attitudes of responsible citizenship and in nurturing creative and emotional development. Keeping this in view, the new scheme focuses on holistic development of learners in a system of schools in continuum. These two principles of quality in education clearly direct us towards reducing gap between the intended, transacted and achieved curriculum. Inverse relationship exists between this gap and quality of education. Our efforts for reducing the gap requires provision of adequate inputs which include, quality curriculum, effective teachers, realistic assessment in terms of learning progress and adequate career guidance and counselling provisions for adolescents. It is also essential to gear up processes with in-built monitoring and research components viz; curriculum reform, reform in teacher education, examination and ensuring participation of all stakeholders. Quality will essentially carry an overarching approach of equity. This will require schools to be sufficiently equipped and prepared to address to the diverse learning needs of all children with special focus on children belonging to SC, ST and Minorities, CWSN as well as girls.

Another dimension of quality is to address the rural-urban divide and regional disparities. Specific quality intervention in isolation with others will not make much impact on the system. Planning for quality needs to reflect on the following aspects and accordingly decisions need to be taken as to which aspect needs more attention.

Meghalaya Right of Children to free and Compulsory Education - Rules 2011

Maintaining Pupil – Teacher Ratio in each school for the purposes of section 25 –

1. Sanctioned strength of teachers in a school shall be notified by the State Government or the local authority, as the case may be, within a period of three months of the appointed date :

Provided that the State Government or the local authority, as the case may be, shall, within three months of such Notification, redeploy teachers of schools having a strength in excess of the sanctioned strength prior to the Notification referred to in sub – Rule (1).

2.If any person of the State Government or the local authority violates the provisions of sub – section (2) of section 25, he or she shall be personally liable for disciplinary action.

Core Quality Intervention

Program Name	Description
Teacher Training	The Integrated scheme visualises teacher as a capable facilitator, who motivates children to construct their own knowledge. The teacher should be aware of progressive pedagogy and the nature and experiences of children from various social and cultural backgrounds. Moreover, teachers should be committed to equity and social justice, aware about child entitlements and convinced that all children can learn well if provided education of equitable quality.
Learning Outcomes LO	The RTE Act 2009 and the SDGs have indicated that for getting meaningful benchmark for progress on education in the country, rigorous and credible standardized assessment of student learning is required. In pursuance to, LOs for classes I-VIII along with pedagogic processes have been developed class wise in subjects such as Environmental Studies, Science, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Hindi, English and Urdu. The reference to LOs has been included in the Central Rules of the RTE Act, 2009. All States and UTs have also included reference to Learning Outcomes in their respective State RTE Rules. They are required to translate Learning Outcomes document in their regional languages and circulate the same to all the schools.
Achievement Survey at National and State Level	The basic objective of NAS is to study the achievement level of students in different subjects at different grade levels and also with respect to location/area, gender and social groups. NAS takes a representative sample of all districts of the country. The NAS provides reliable data about students’ achievement as it administers standardized tests to students of different classes. NAS collects information about relevant background factors related to the school environment, instructional practices, the home backgrounds of students, teachers’ qualification, etc. NAS data gives policy makers, curriculum specialists, researchers and other stake holders a ‘snapshot’ of what students know and can do in key subjects at a particular point in time. Findings from the NAS will be used as inputs in policy, planning and pedagogical interventions to improve student learning outcomes.
Composite School Grant	As a support for quality improvement, composite school grant is sanctioned on an annual basis to all Government Schools. The objective is to utilize this support to provide conducive learning environment in schools. School grant is primarily meant for the replacement of nonfunctional school equipment and for other recurring costs, such as consumables, play material, newspapers, electricity charges, internet, water, teaching aids etc. The grant may also be used to provide annual maintenance and repair of existing school building, toilets and other facilities to upkeep the infrastructure in good condition. The same may be utilized for promoting Swachh Bharat Campaign and also for involving elements of community contribution.
Library	Library is an essential component of the school, providing not only resource for learning, but also for strengthening the idea of reading for pleasure, recreation and further deepening of knowledge and imagination. Accordingly, it will have books, pictorials, newspapers, journals, magazines, reference books, biographies, autobiographies, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, audio visual material, etc. as well as access to information technology and digital resources. Training of teachers in library management and its usage will be integrated within the teacher training programmes. Efforts will be made for involving SMC and community for enriching the libraries.
Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA)	With the focus on connecting school-based knowledge to life outside the school, making learning of Science and Mathematics a joyful and meaningful activity and to bring focus on innovation and use of technology, Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA) has been initiated as a convergent framework that aims at nurturing a spirit of inquiry and creativity, love for Science and Mathematics and effective use of technology amongst children of the age group of 6 to 18 years. The execution of RAA will span across various interventions of the integrated scheme to encourage learning of Science, Mathematics and Technology.
ICT and Digital Initiatives	Today, technology has increasingly become a vital element in the enhancement of quality in education. The use of ICT would help transform the process of teaching and learning from the traditional instructional teacher-centred endeavour to a learner-centred approach. Therefore, teachers need to equip and acquaint themselves to the use of technology for pedagogical practices which would lead to improved efficiency. Training in ICT is provided through in-service training programmes.
School Leadership Development Programme	The role of Head of a School is vital for the quality of education imparted in the school. Realizing the pivotal role of school heads, School Leadership Development Programme (SLDP) has been initiated across all the levels of school education to build and enhance the capacity of school heads on a long term and continuous basis. It helps in training the heads of schools to initiate proactive practices for school transformation, rather than merely discharging administrative and managerial responsibilities. The capacity building of school heads is not through conventional models of training that are one-time but through mechanisms of long-term developmental trajectories which help school heads address real life challenges in schools.
Shaala Siddhi	The need for improving whole school performance and providing quality education for all children is increasingly felt in our education system. One of the major quality initiatives in school education sector is comprehensive school evaluation which focuses on school, its performance and improvement. Towards this, National Programme on School Standards and Evaluation (NPSSE) has been initiated by NIEPA, under Ministry of Human Resource Development. NPSSE visualizes ‘School Evaluation’ as the means and ‘School Improvement’ as the goal and is tailored to suit the diversity of Indian schools.NPSSE will enable the school to evaluate its performance against the well-defined criteria in a focused and strategic manner. The School Standards and Evaluation Framework (SSEF) comprises seven ‘Key Domains’ as the significant criteria for evaluating performance of schools. As part of the SSEF, a ‘School Evaluation Dashboard has been developed to facilitate each school to provide consolidated evaluation report, including areas prioritized for improvement. The School Evaluation Dashboard is developed both in print and digitized format. The School Evaluation Dashboard, obtained from each school, is consolidated at cluster, block, district, state and national level for identifying school- specific needs and common areas of intervention to improve school performance.
Textbooks	Appropriate use of text books is a major indicator of quality education imparted in schools. Therefore Textbook production reform, including the layout and design, text and cover paper size and specifications, ink, printing and binding, etc., have significant implications. Textbooks are covered under RTE entitlements. There is support for provisions for textbooks to all children in Government/Local Body and Government Aided schools, including Madarsas desirous of introducing the State curriculum, at primary level and at upper primary level. The textbooks should keep the principle of equity and inclusion at the forefront, proactively break extant stereotypes and reflect sensitivity to gender, caste and class parity, peace, health and needs of differently abled children. National agencies like NCERT would play a major role in enhancing the capacity of State agencies to undertake this task, and help sustain academic consultations for a critical review of curricular initiatives.
Learning Enhancement Programme (LEP)/Remedial Teaching	Each individual is unique in terms of cognitive and affective development, social maturity, ability, motivation, aspiration, learning styles, needs, interests and potential. Innate variations in intelligence, social and economic background, past learning experiences, and perhaps variations in the level of congruence between the learner and the curriculum are also factors underlying student differences. Catering to individual differences, therefore, assumes paramount importance. To achieve this, students are provided with suitable assistance and guidance in accordance with their abilities and learning needs, so that they can develop their potential to the maximum extent.
Padhe Bharat Badhe Bharat (PBBB)	PBBB is a nationwide programme on early grade pedagogy. The two tracks of PBBB are Early Reading and Writing with Comprehension (ERWC) and Early Mathematics (EM). The focus of the programme is to create classroom and school environment conducive and vibrant to early reading and writing experiences and early mathematics. Accordingly, support will be provided to States and UTs for implementing activities under PBBB for early grades as well as extending the same to other classes as per the requirements.