On June 28, 2020, The board of executives of the World Bank (WB) has approved loan of $ 500 million (about Rs 3,700 crore) under ‘Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program (STARS)’project to improve the quality and governance of school education across six states (Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, and Rajasthan) in India.
- The new project will be executed through flagship central scheme, Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan.
- The Loan has a final maturity of 14.5 years including a grace period of five years.
Right to education:
A total of 250 million students in the age group of 6 to 17 years studying in 15 lakh schools and more than one crore teachers will be benefited from this program by improving learning assessment systems, strengthen classroom instruction, and remediation, facilitate school-to-work transition, and strengthen governance and decentralized management.
Key Points:
i.STARS program has been built on the solid foundation of the India-World Bank relationship since 1994 to strengthen education in government schools and make education available to everyone.
ii.STARS will support India’s renewed focus on addressing the ‘learning outcome’ challenge and help students better prepare for the jobs of the future – through a series of reform initiatives.They are,
- Focusing more directly on the delivery of education services at the state, district and sub district levels
- Addressing demands from stakeholders, especially parents, for greater accountability and inclusion
- Equipping teachers to manage this transformation
- Investing more in developing India’s human capital.
iii.Prior to the STARS program, World Bank had assisted $3 billion in this direction.
iv.As per WB, India has made better improvement in access to education across the country from 2004-05 to 2018-19, where the number of children going to school hiked from 21.9 crore to 24.8 crore.
However, the learning results of students continue at below level. STARS program will help improve assessment systems at the national level through education as a whole and in partnership with states.
About World Bank:
Headquarters– Washington D.C., United States (US).
Motto– Working for a World Free of Poverty.
President– David Malpass.
