- The pandemic has caused so much disconnect among the students who were forced to be confined at home for nearly two years meant an extremely challenging task for the teaching fraternity to bridge the learning gaps. Undeniably, the teaching community will have to put in additional efforts in not only attempting to engage students in their regular pedagogy but also going the extra distance in making whatever the shortfall accumulated over the last two years. A daunting task awaits the teachers for sure. We know the education scenario in the Indian context is not up to the desired standards desperately crying for sprucing up. The general neglect and lack of intent from the authorities have rendered the education medium far from satisfactory standards.
PC: India Today Web Desk
- The government authorities, both at the central and state levels, have endeavoured to establish certain mechanisms to comprehend the ever-growing necessities of the education sector. Some have worked to an extent, and many have failed to live up to the expectations too. The Performance Grading Index is the Government of India’s one such big effort meant to publish a multidimensional tracker of outcomes and inputs in school education at the state level since 2017. As you are aware, primary and secondary education has consistently failed to garner desired attention for obvious reasons. Even now, general apathy rules the roost towards the crucial sector despite unyielding monumental lip service from the authorities concerned.
- Coming back to the PGI, since primary education hasn’t received the high-priority attention many Centre/state welfare schemes have, it’s hard to spot significant transformations. This week the PGI-District report for 2018-19 and 2019-20 was published, giving district-level data that compares learning outcomes, teaching quality, access, equity, physical infrastructure, digital learning, and governing processes. Thus, both progress and backsliding are evident. As reported, eighty-four indicators were tracked, including average scores in various subjects pulled from National Achievement Survey (NAS) data and physical and digital infrastructure in schools from the UDISE+ database. Worryingly, the lag is evident everywhere, including the crucial data.
PC: Anirudha R Yerunkar
- Note that details of fund utilization, attendance monitoring, transition/retention rates from primary to secondary schooling, and teacher/pupil ratios depended on district authorities providing the data. In a large country, this reporting and aggregation of grassroots granular data to district/state levels can tell us a lot about the state of education. Moreover, the latest PGI report is from 2019-20 and the learning outcomes are gleaned from 2017 NAS data. This itself proves how much we are lagging vis-à-vis data generation. Thus, PGI reports for 2021-22 must be published forthwith. And PGI reports should also be bolstered by case studies from both progressing and regressing districts. Supplementing the data with sharp evidence will benefit.
