22 Jun NEED FOR AN EDUCATION DATA
NEED FOR AN EDUCATION DATA – Today Current Affairs
India lacks and needs data which can hold the local vision of education and local actors accountable.
Today Current Affairs
What is the case of Rajasthan?
- Media writings have highlighted the marked fall or improvement in learning outcomes, depending on the dataset
- Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)led by the NGO, Pratham
- The National Achievement Survey (NAS) led by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). The Hindu Analysis
- According to ASER 2019 data, Rajasthan was among the bottom five States in learning levels, while in NAS 2017, Rajasthan was among the top performers.
- Despite near consensus among policymakers and the intense efforts to disseminate data among the end-users, it is rarely used by poor parents.
- For them, schooling is about examination outcome, which is a proxy for learning, English language skills and a chance for secondary and graduate level degrees.
- Data on school infrastructure at the district level, or learning levels at the State level cannot galvanise the masses.
What about the present status? The Hindu Analysis
- Data has to be linked with a vision of school education which addresses the anxieties and aspirations of parents.
- A national-level policy should encompass the essence of the vision of the people at the national, State, district and local levels. The Hindu Analysis
- The district and school development plans such as the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) were not representative of parent-school consensus.
- Community-based consultative bodies such as the school management committees and parent-teacher committees could not become platforms to facilitate this.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is Government of India’s flagship programme for achievement of Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) in a time bound manner, as mandated by 86th amendment to the Constitution of India.
Why is the education data so significant? The Hindu Analysis
- It is only when data is connected with a locally developed and politically owned vision of school education that it will move beyond the administrator and the activist.
- The education data is essential to hold the local actors accountable.
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