By Nafisa Khatoon
To expedite the mission achievement, the state is setting up 5,760 model schools in all 75 districts
The Basic Education Department, Uttar Pradesh recently concluded its first round of NIPUN Assessment Test (NAT) across all the government schools in the state. The activity evaluated learning outcomes that assessed the basic numeracy skills and reading skills among students of classes I-III students across all 75 districts. The state government is planning to introduce an initiative to popularise NAT to improve learning outcomes.
Post Covid, for the first time, the quarterly NAT exercise between October and December 2022 was conducted and the result is promising. “Hapur with 33% of students, and Bhadohi, Chandauli, Varanasi with 32% of students, and Mau with 29% of students have emerged as the top five performing districts. These have recorded learning outcomes above 90% in NAT 2022. Close to 28% of class I-III students from the government-run upper primary and primary schools in Gautam Buddh Nagar, UP got above 90% NAT scores,” says an official from UP Basic Education Department.
“The national target for NIPUN is March 2027, however, UP has set the target for March 2026. By the time students reach class III, they should know three-digit addition/subtraction, and single-digit multiplication, and read passages at the rate of 60 words per minute. To expedite the mission, the state is setting up 5,760 model schools. In rural areas, it was noticed that some schools were lacking grade-wise classrooms due to poor infrastructure. So, these model schools will have one classroom per grade with one highly trained teacher and improved infrastructure facilities like smart class, ICT lab” says the official.
In 2019, the state introduced Mission Prerna to boost basic learning in students. However, with the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the launch of the NIPUN Bharat Mission in September 2021, Mission Prerna was upgraded into the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Comprehension and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat Mission.
“A total of Rs 1000 crore is allocated in the state budget for developing these model schools and Rs 1.42 crore is allotted as expenditure for the upgradation purpose of each school. These steps will help in providing quality elementary education at government schools and improving learning among students,” says the official.
Due to the Covid-19, the evaluation of the learning outcomes in full-fledged manner did not take place in previous years. “Acknowledging these gaps, the focus has expanded on continuous capacity building of teachers, headmasters, educational resource persons, and administrators. So, the government renewed its effort to stabilise the evaluation process conducting and strengthen the district-wise assessment of state schools now onwards,” adds the official.
Central Square Foundation (CSF), a NGO committed to improving learning outcomes, is providing technical assistance on academic and governance reform aspects to the UP government. These are related to developing new teaching-learning materials, teacher training, and mentoring for conducting regular spot assessments of schools.
Prakhar Jain, associate director, State Reform, CSF, says “Our responsibility is to administer and stabilise the assessment process. A team of 4400 Academic Resource Persons (ARPs) is created to train teachers and conduct spot assessments in 30 schools every month. Through these ARPs, the state can ensure that all schools receive an academic training touchpoint at least once every two months. The ARPs observe the teaching pedagogy for at least 2 hours and give feedback to teachers on structured pedagogy, conduct demo classes, and evaluate at least 10 students by involving them in play-based activities for Mathematics and Hindi subjects. The answers or responses recorded from students are entered in NIPUN Lakshya app by the ARPs. Based on the performance of students and the required feedback is shared with teachers. This helps teachers to plan remedial classes for students who performed between average to below average.”
The collected data will be used to measuring the progress of students’ learning outcomes at block and district level.
To expedite the mission achievement, the state is setting up 5,760 model schools in all 75 districts
The Basic Education Department, Uttar Pradesh recently concluded its first round of NIPUN Assessment Test (NAT) across all the government schools in the state. The activity evaluated learning outcomes that assessed the basic numeracy skills and reading skills among students of classes I-III students across all 75 districts. The state government is planning to introduce an initiative to popularise NAT to improve learning outcomes.
Post Covid, for the first time, the quarterly NAT exercise between October and December 2022 was conducted and the result is promising. “Hapur with 33% of students, and Bhadohi, Chandauli, Varanasi with 32% of students, and Mau with 29% of students have emerged as the top five performing districts. These have recorded learning outcomes above 90% in NAT 2022. Close to 28% of class I-III students from the government-run upper primary and primary schools in Gautam Buddh Nagar, UP got above 90% NAT scores,” says an official from UP Basic Education Department.
“The national target for NIPUN is March 2027, however, UP has set the target for March 2026. By the time students reach class III, they should know three-digit addition/subtraction, and single-digit multiplication, and read passages at the rate of 60 words per minute. To expedite the mission, the state is setting up 5,760 model schools. In rural areas, it was noticed that some schools were lacking grade-wise classrooms due to poor infrastructure. So, these model schools will have one classroom per grade with one highly trained teacher and improved infrastructure facilities like smart class, ICT lab” says the official.
In 2019, the state introduced Mission Prerna to boost basic learning in students. However, with the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the launch of the NIPUN Bharat Mission in September 2021, Mission Prerna was upgraded into the National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Comprehension and Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat Mission.
“A total of Rs 1000 crore is allocated in the state budget for developing these model schools and Rs 1.42 crore is allotted as expenditure for the upgradation purpose of each school. These steps will help in providing quality elementary education at government schools and improving learning among students,” says the official.
Due to the Covid-19, the evaluation of the learning outcomes in full-fledged manner did not take place in previous years. “Acknowledging these gaps, the focus has expanded on continuous capacity building of teachers, headmasters, educational resource persons, and administrators. So, the government renewed its effort to stabilise the evaluation process conducting and strengthen the district-wise assessment of state schools now onwards,” adds the official.
Central Square Foundation (CSF), a NGO committed to improving learning outcomes, is providing technical assistance on academic and governance reform aspects to the UP government. These are related to developing new teaching-learning materials, teacher training, and mentoring for conducting regular spot assessments of schools.
Prakhar Jain, associate director, State Reform, CSF, says “Our responsibility is to administer and stabilise the assessment process. A team of 4400 Academic Resource Persons (ARPs) is created to train teachers and conduct spot assessments in 30 schools every month. Through these ARPs, the state can ensure that all schools receive an academic training touchpoint at least once every two months. The ARPs observe the teaching pedagogy for at least 2 hours and give feedback to teachers on structured pedagogy, conduct demo classes, and evaluate at least 10 students by involving them in play-based activities for Mathematics and Hindi subjects. The answers or responses recorded from students are entered in NIPUN Lakshya app by the ARPs. Based on the performance of students and the required feedback is shared with teachers. This helps teachers to plan remedial classes for students who performed between average to below average.”
The collected data will be used to measuring the progress of students’ learning outcomes at block and district level.
