India signs $500 pact with World Bank to improve school education across six states

As per the estimation, around 250 million students (between the age of 6 and 17) across 1.5 million schools will benefit from the program.

In a bid to improve the quality and governance of school education across six states, the Indian government signed a $500 million Strengthening Teaching Learning and Results for States Program (STARS). The six states that will benefit from the program include Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan.

As per the estimation, around 250 million students (between the age of 6 and 17) across 1.5 million schools will benefit from the program. Besides this, the program will also benefit more than 10 million teachers. The deal is a testament of the long and strong partnership between India and the World Bank (since 1994).

Talking about the initiative, Additional Secretary, Economic Affairs, C.S. Mohapatra said, “India’s National Education Policy 2020 envisages equitable and inclusive education for all. The STARS project will help carry this vision forward.”

In the last few decades, India has constantly focused on improving the standards of education, while also making it accessible to the people living in remote areas. However, the learning outcome of students has still remained below par across all age groups. This is where STARS program is expected to help bring renewed focus to help students prepare in a better way with the inclusion of many initiatives.

“STARS will support India’s response to this challenge by strengthening implementation at the local level, investing in teacher capacity and ensuring that no child of any background is left behind from the right to education,” said Junaid Ahmad, Country director, India on behalf of World Bank.

The STARTS program will help improve learning assessment systems, while also strengthening classroom instruction and remediation, besides facilitating school-to-work transition across the six states.