In a bid to help some select states to improve the School Education, Today, in a cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister of India approved a New Project called STARS (abbreviated as Strengthening Teaching Learning and Results for States). STARS is featured inside the existing National Education Policy that the Central Government has introduced 2 months ago.
In a press conference today, Central Minister Prakash Javadekar informed the public about the same. He said, PM Modi today has initiated a new Project called STARS to strengthen the school education system in India.
How is STARS going to strengthen the School Education System in India?
Well, so far we know, the STARS project is going to improve the assessment systems, classroom instruction, decentralized management and more. The main aim of this project is to help India achieve the Education for All goal. STARS focuses on delivering education services at the state, district and sub-district level with customized local level solutions. India successfully has achieved gender equality in primary education but still lags for the same in secondary education. If you see right now, most parts of the country girls drop their schooling after they start menstruating. STARS is going to counter such gender parity in schooling.
Going to Benefit 6 States in India
As I said above in the post, STARS is for some select states in India, it gives special attention to those students who come from vulnerable section (i.e. Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe and other minority communities). Now, while during some surveys it is concluded 52% of childrens in the state run schools in 6 states are from the vulnerable section. These states are Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan.
World Bank has given $500 Million for the STARS Project
STARS is going to benefit around 250 million students of the age group 6-17 years and at the same time 10 million teachers of around 1.5 million schools in India. To make this happen, the World bank has given $500 Million to the Indian Government.