UTKARSHA ABHIJAN – Quality of Education in Primary Schools of WB
School Education, RTE , Siksha Bandhu
Government of West Bengal
School Education Department
6th Floor, Bikash Bhavan
Salt Lake, Kolkata 700091
No. 647(19)-SSE/13 Date: 04.12.2013
To:
1. Principal Secretary, GTA, Darjeeling
2. District Magistrate, All Districts
Sub:- “UTKARSHA ABHIJAN – 2013” – Assessment of Quality of Education in Primary Schools in West Bengal.
Madam/ Sir,
After the coming into force of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, (RTE) it is imperative that the education system/ school environment should make sure that every student in each class is able to achieve the level of learning expected of her at the end of the academic year. “Quality Education” is the cornerstone of the RTE.
All efforts of the State in the education Sector should be directed at ensuring “learning outcomes”. Much of our efforts in the past and even today are being spent on augmenting infrastructure and access facilities, especially at the elementary level to achieve the goal of “improving education”. However, various survey reports like the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) brought out by NGO Pratham reveal, “poor learning outcomes” is widely prevalent in elementary schools all over the country, including our State.
It is felt that with sufficient and appropriate engagement with teachers, guardians and community members on the issues of quality of learning, external evaluation of learning and sufficient academic monitoring, awareness can be generated on these very important issues which will go a long way to improve the standard of education in the schools in the Government sector, which will benefit the children of the State.
In this context, with the aim of getting a preliminary idea of the learning levels of students at the Primary level and to generate awareness about “quality education” amongst teachers, guardians, government officials at different levels and the community at large, a process of assessment would be taken up between the period of 9th to 21st December 2013 where a stipulated number of students, randomly selected would be taken up. Not less than 20% of all the primary schools of your district are to be covered. This assessment process is the “UTKARSHA ABHIJAN – 2013”.
The broad contours of the programme are as follows:
- An assessment of learning levels – “READING, WRITING & BASIC NUMERICAL OPERATIONS” amongst students from Class 3 & Class 4 will be carried out.
- The assessment will be conducted by the Siksha Bandhus at the CLRC and CRC level and the entire School Inspectorate.
- The aim of the assessment is to see whether expected learning levels of the end of the previous academic year/ class have been achieved by a student – viz. a Class 3 student will be assessed to see whether she has achieved the expected learning outcomes of Class 2 and a class 4 student will be assessed to see whether she has achieved the expected learning outcomes of Class 3.
- The assessment will be conducted in the targeted primary schools on any day between 9th & 21st Dec, 2013.
- Simple formats for the assessment have been devised which will have to be submitted to the BDO/ CLRC (as is decided by the district/ block) for compilation. As there is very little time at hand, I would request that the district use the rates of printing recently accepted, after competitive bidding under other work/ development schemes including Election work or MGNREGS.
- Data entry of assessment reports shall be done at the concerned CLRC office.
Necessary guidelines on the committees, modalities and required formats format are enclosed with this letter. You are requested to kindly take all necessary action to ensure the successful implementation of the “UTKARSHA ABHIJAN – 2013” in your district as per the table on the following page:
| Sl No | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1. | Printing of letters/ formats/ guidelines including:
|
| 2. | Identification of assessors and matching with schools to be assessed by the Block level committee |
| 3. | Issue of Assignment letters by the block level committee to assessors |
| 4. | Information to all target schools |
Funds as may be required, mostly for printing of the guidelines, forms etc. can be used from the District SSA account for the present and will be reimbursed from School Education Department, GoWB through PBSSM. You may use the most competitive rates for printing that the district has recently received to save time. The amount of funds available to each district is as per table below:
| Sl No | Criteria | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Districts with up to 10 Blocks | Rs. 15,000.00 |
| 2 | Districts with more than 10 Blocks but less than 20 Blocks | Rs. 20,000.00 |
| 3 | Districts with 20 Blocks or more | Rs.25,000.00 |
For any queries and clarifications, you may get in touch with me, SPD, PBSSM or Md Dabirul Islam (email: dabirulislam@gmail.com, mobile- 9433531483), DSPD-2, PBSSM.
Yours faithfully,
Sd/- Arnab Roy, IAS
Secretary