Parliament Question: Strengthening Academic and Skill Competency of Students of Government Schools

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION AND LITERACY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5045 ANSWERED ON 23.03.2026 Strengthening Academic and Skill Competency of Students of Government Schools 5045. Shri Konda Vishweshwar Reddy: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has formulated any policy framework to strengthen academic standards and skill competencies of students studying in Government schools to enable them to compete effectively with private and corporate educational institutions in the Country, if so, the details thereof; (b) the details of measures taken under the Samagra Shiksha to improve quality of teaching, digital access, English proficiency, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and career readiness in the Country; (c) whether any national benchmarking or performance assessment mechanism has been introduced to evaluate learning outcomes across Government and private schools in the country and if so, the details thereof so far; (d) whether any special mentoring, competitive exam coaching or industry-linked skill programmes are being implemented in States/UTs including Telangana; and (e) if so, the details of steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government to bridge quality and opportunity gaps in school education? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY) (a) & (b): Government of India has adopted National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) to improve the quality of school education across all institutions including Government schools. A number of transformative initiatives have been taken for its implementation such as Samagra Shiksha for providing quality education with an inclusive and equitable classroom environment for all children; PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) for upgradation of schools; National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat) for ensuring foundational literacy and numeracy by Grade 3; Vidya-Pravesh–Guidelines for Three-month Play-based School Preparation Module; PM e-VIDYA to unify all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable coherent multi-mode access to education; launch of National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) 2022, National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE) 2023 and Jaadui Pitara for play-based learning teaching material tailored for children between the age group of 3 to 8 years; Vidya Samiksha Kendra; National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) for creating a unifying national digital infrastructure to energise and catalyse the education ecosystem, etc. In pursuance of NEP 2020, the Ministry of Education is implementing the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of “Samagra Shiksha” since 2018-19. Under the scheme, continuous professional development of teachers is being carried out through NISHTHA initiatives to enhance the quality of teaching, along with support for recruitment, rationalisation, and provision of appropriate teaching-learning materials and learning enhancement programmes. For improving digital access, the Government has promoted the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) through smart classrooms, ICT labs, and digital devices, along with the DIKSHA platform for e-content and teacher training, and PM e-Vidya, including One Class One Channel through Swayam Prabha DTH channels. Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA) is 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. State and UTs plan specific initiatives for innovation and excellence in Science, Mathematics and Technology including Community Sensitisation and engagement, Improving School Science Facilities, Teacher Support Systems, Effective Classroom Transaction & Assessment and Nurturing Student Clubs and Competitions. It is being implemented in all States/UTs under Samagra Shiksha. The major objectives of the programme are: • to enable children to become motivated and engaged in Science, Mathematics and Technology (SMT) through observation, experimentation, drawing inferences, model building, rational reasoning and testability. • To create curiosity, excitement and exploration among school children in Science, Mathematics and Technology. • To create a culture of thinking, inventing and doing • To promote enquiry-based learning in schools. • To achieve learning levels appropriate to the class of study in Science and Mathematics. • To encourage and nurture schools to be incubators of Innovation. Further, to improve employability skills and career readiness, skill education has been integrated from the Middle stage onwards, including pre-vocational exposure, 10 Bagless days and NSQF aligned skill courses at Secondary level, along with career guidance support. (c): The Government of India undertakes large-scale assessments to measure learning outcomes in schools across the country from time to time. In this regard, the PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 (formerly National Achievement Survey) was conducted by theNational Assessment Centre-PARAKH, NCERT under the aegis of the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education to measure the baseline performance under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in development of competencies among students at the end of the Foundational, Preparatory and Middle Stages (Grades 3, 6 and 9 respectively) of schooling. Nationwide over 21.15 lakh students and 2.70 lakh teachers from more than 74,000 schools, including government, government aided and private schools, across 781 districts from all States/UTs participated in the assessment. National, State and District level report cards for PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 providing insights on variation in learning outcomes, achievement of stage-specific competencies and suggested interventions to improve low-performing competencies, are available at https://dashboard.parakh.ncert.gov.in/en, a dedicated dashboard designed to disseminate the findings of the assessment. CBSE has introduced a competency-based assessment framework Structured Assessment for Analysing Learning (SAFAL) aligned with the learning outcomes envisaged in the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS 2022) and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE 2023). At the end of Preparatory and Middle Stages, CBSE conducts SAFAL for Classes V and VIII. This is a competency-based, census- based assessment designed to evaluate achievement of key learning outcomes and provide detailed school-level performance reports, thereby enabling data-driven academic interventions and benchmarking. (d): The Government of India provides financial assistance to States and UTs including Telangana for exposure to skill education in Grades VI to VIII and for the introduction of NSQF‑aligned skill courses in Grades IX to XII under the skill education component of “Samagra Shiksha”. This support covers introduction of skill education in schools; capacity building of vocational teachers/skill trainers; development of competency‑based curricula and teaching‑learning materials; creation of systems for monitoring and evaluation; and implementation of innovative projects in skill education. The main aims of this support are to: integrate skill education with general academic education in all schools; enhance the employability and entrepreneurial abilities of students and provide them structured exposure to the world of work; and generate awareness among students about diverse career options so that they can make informed choices in line with their aptitude, competence and aspirations. Under the Skill Education component of the scheme, so far 138 National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF)-aligned Job Roles are being offered for class IX to XII, which have been developed in consultation with industry and relevant Sector Skill Councils. At the Secondary level (Classes IX and X), skill courses are offered as an additional subject, while at the Senior Secondary level (Classes XI and XII), skill courses are offered as compulsory (elective) subject. State Education Boards are being encouraged to become Awarding and Assessing Bodies under NCVET so that they are able to design the skill courses as per local needs and award the certificates to the learners.Education is a subject in the Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. Central and State government work collaboratively to provide equitable access to education. Centre, various State and UT governments are providing remedial classes to students for competitive exams. SATHEE is one such initiative of Central government, launched in November, 2023, to provide free of cost high-quality content for the competitive examinations like JEE and NEET, along with providing an online assessment module for students. It leverages Web Platform, Mobile Application, YouTube live sessions & DTH channels for delivery. More than 15,000 + multilingual video lectures of curated learning content are available across topics and subjects for the learners. As of now, more than 15 lakh students are registered and 400 mentors (from IITs, AIIMS etc.) are available on the platform. (e): Under the scheme of Samagra Shiksha, provision is provided under the Access and Retention intervention for opening of new/upgraded schools, Residential Schools and Hostels and Strengthening of Existing Schools, wherein preference is given to Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), LWEs and the aspirational districts identified by NITI Aayog etc. Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs), residential schools from grade 6 to 12 for girls belonging to disadvantaged groups such as SC, ST, OBC, Minority and Below Poverty Line (BPL) have been set up in Educationally Backward Blocks. Similarly, hostels are being set up for PVTGs and ST students under PM-JANMAN and DA-JGUA respectively. *****