Follow Us
Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Students of government schools in Haryana can now speak in English, though not with the same fluency of children of a convent school in a big city. Their efficiency level in English, Hindi and mathematics has also started improving.
This improvement among children of government schools in the state has been obtained under the Saksham and Saksham Plus schemes.
Around 80 per cent students of Class III, V and VII in the Sampla block of Rohtak have been declared Saksham Plus, implying that they have grade-level competency in English, Hindi and mathematics.
Last week, 94 of 119 blocks in Haryana were declared Saksham, thus confirming the grade-level competence of students of Class III, V and VII in Hindi and mathematics. The grade-level competence implies that at least 80 per cent of the students have scored 50 per cent to 60 per cent marks in Hindi and mathematics.
“The state now aims to make the remaining 25 blocks Saksham, besides maintaining the Saksham status of all 94 blocks and improving the quality of secondary education,” says Dr Rakesh Gupta, State Project Director, Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojana Parishad.
“Under Saksham Plus, English has also been added. Those who have attained the Saksham status will now be tested for Saksham Plus. The Sampla block in Rohtak has already been declared Saksham Plus,” he adds. Later, a similar exercise will also be carried out for other classes.
Education in the state has been associated with poor learning standards. The exam board results in Haryana are one of the poorest in the country — the pass percentage in 2018 was 51.15, while in 2017 it was 50.49.
The Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER) 2018 also highlights the worrisome condition; for example 17.1 per cent children of Class III can read words but not the text of Class I or higher; 22.7 per cent can read only the Class I text (not Class II text), and 46.2 per cent can read Class II text. Also, 12.8 per cent of Class III students can recognise numbers up to nine but not up to 99 or higher; 30.8 per cent can recognise numbers up to 99 but cannot do subtraction; 34.3 per cent can do subtraction but cannot do division; and only 19.4 per cent of them can do division.
In the National Assessment Survey (NAS) conducted by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development for Class III, there has been improvement in languages but a decline in mathematics when the results of 2014 and 2017 are compared. For Class V also, a decline in mathematics and languages is noticeable when the results of the 2014 and 2017 assessments are compared.
Systematic transformation
After a string of poor results in the board exams, the ASER and the NAS, Haryana decided to go for systematic transformation and a Quality Improvement Programme was launched from 2014 to 2017.
The Saksham Haryana programme was started in 2017 on a mission mode. Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh are also working on a similar programme.
In the new scenario, the state conducts student assessment tests (SAT) for all classes every two months. The State Council of Education Research and Training prepares the tests.
The performance at the level of a school and a teacher can be monitored online through a dashboard to which District Education Officers, teachers, and school heads have access. The tests are both objective and subjective.
Third party assessment
On the basis of the performance in SAT, schools are nominated for the Saksham test conducted by a third party, again every two months. A scientific sampling method is used to choose schools, which offer best representation of rural, urban, boys, girls, primary and secondary schools.
“The selected third party, Grey Matters India, conducted a benchmarking study before the project started. Based on the study the cut off marks required to be scored by the students for grade-level competence have been set. The study measured every question and their relation with students’ performances, resulting in scaled scores that define the cut off marks,” says a member of the Haryana Saksham cell.
Remedial teaching
Under the Learning Enhancement Programme (LEP), remedial teaching is done for all classes for an hour in the morning. Under the Digital Learning Enhancement Programme (DigiLEP), 28,000 primary teachers have been connected through 145 WhatsApp groups. Videos of subject experts are shared on these chat groups.
Monitoring
The Saksham programme is reviewed by the SDM at the block level and by the Deputy Commissioner at the district level every month while at the state level it is reviewed by the Chief Minister quarterly. Then the Additional Chief Secretary Education conducts a bi-monthly check with Deputy Commissioners every month.
Every week, one officer nominated by Deputy Commissioners is felicitated on the Saksham Haryana Group for his or her consistent efforts towards improving the learning levels of students. The real test of SAT and Saksham will be in the 2019 Haryana Board exams for Class X and XII.
Sampla is Saksham Plus block
The state now aims to make the remaining 25 blocks Saksham, besides maintaining the Saksham status of all 94 blocks and improving the quality of secondary education. Under Saksham Plus, English has also been added. Those who have attained the Saksham status will now be tested for Saksham Plus. The Sampla block in Rohtak has already been declared Saksham Plus. — Dr Rakesh Gupta, State Project Director, Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojana Parishad
Competency check
Saksham blocks -- 94 out of total 119 (79%)
From Round 1 to 6, only 26 blocks became Saksham.
For Round 7, officials decided to check the competency of blocks, which are not yet Saksham, in one go and conducted the test on February 12, 2019.
More than 200 district and block education officers conducted rigorous meetings and more than 450 mentors were engaged in the exercise. About 28,000 school visits were conducted by the mentors and the monitors.
On February 12, 1.9 lakh students from 4,700 schools took the test conducted by around 6,000 invigilators.
On the day of the test, over 2,600 monitoring visits were conducted in more than 1,800 schools.
As many as 68 of 93 blocks passed the test.
Laggard districts
Panchkula, Mewat, Yamunanagar
Near Saksham blocks
Jind, Hathin, Behal, Siwan, Tohana, Ratia, Ladwa, Ambala-I, Barara, Ballabhgarh, Mustafabad, Jagadhri, Barwala, Pinjore
Non-Saksham blocks
Ambala-II, Chhachharauli, Firozpur Jhirka, Nagina, Punhana
Results withheld due to mass cheating
Agroha, Siwan, Kalanaur, Rohtak, Babain, Raipur Rani
1
5