Education ministry inks deal with World Bank for support to school education

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Education today signed an agreement with the World Bank for financial support of the Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) project to be implemented in six states.

The Education Minsitry on Friday informed that an agreement for the financial support of the implementation of STARS project was signed between Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and World Bank along with Ministry of Education.

According to an official release by the Ministry, the total project cost of STARS project is Rs 5718 crore with the financial support of World Bank amounting to US $ 500 million (approximately Rs. 3700 crore) and rest coming as State share from the participating States, over a period of 5 years.

ALSO READ: Finance Minister to table Economic Survey 2020-'21 in Parliament today

The project aims to improve the overall measurement and monitoring activities in the Indian school system, the ministry said.

The project will cover the six states of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha over five years.

The World Bank project was criticized by academics who alleged that it favours privatization of education and that excessive focus is given on standardized assessments rather than access to education. Also, most of the budget will be borne by the Centre and the states but with the World Bank influencing their policies.

STARS project will be instrumental in the implementation of various recommendations of National Education Policy 2020 i.e. Strengthening Early Childhood Education and Foundational Learning, Improving Learning Assessment System, ICT-enabled approaches in education, Teachers Development and Vocational education etc.