About STARS

INTRODUCTION

Education is viewed as key to reducing poverty and increasing overall prosperity levels in India. With a relatively young and socio-culturally diverse population, public provision of education plays a key role in providing opportunities for human development. Through its centrally sponsored schemes for school education – Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), the Government of India (GoI) has considerably improved access to elementary and secondary education over the last decade. Some 248 million children between the ages of 6 and 17 now attend 1.5 million government, government-aided, and private schools in the 28 states and 8 Union Territories that form India’s federal system.

The education sector in India is substantially decentralized. Education is a concurrent subject of the Indian constitution. The federal government through the Ministry of Education (MoE) is the policy[1]setting body; and the 28 state governments and 8 Union Territories are the implementing arms. States have the flexibility to undertake reforms as per their contexts through the district and sub-district level institutions and community-based organizations that are open to stakeholder ownership and social audit.

There have been significant gains in school enrolment and attendance in the last decade. As of 2018-19 (UDISE+ Provisional), the elementary Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) was almost 91.64 percent while the secondary GER stood at 79.55 percent, up from 58 percent in 2009-10. The government’s recent decision to merge SSA, RMSA, and teacher education into one integrated scheme (Samagra Shiksha) is a step toward creating a seamless K-12 system with a focus on enhancing learning at every level. Samagra Shiksha builds on the spirit of cooperative, competitive federalism in India and provides greater flexibility to states for school education planning and budgeting, with a view to (a) support interventions and innovations that align with the local context and improve education outcomes, (b) facilitate clear development objectives and results by using evidence-based decentralized planning, (c) adopt a whole[1]school approach, (d) strengthen both vertical and horizontal accountability, and (e) create opportunities for peer learning. The scheme is being implemented by the MoE, through a single State Implementation Society (SIS), at the state level.

Despite these achievements, the MoE’s Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2018-19 shows deficiencies in school retention and completion, learning outcomes, and education sector governance, with deep, inter- and intra-state variations in all areas. These deficiencies are linked to a limited focus on Early Childhood Education (ECE), and foundational learning in general; teacher shortages in key geographic locations and subject areas; and overall weaknesses in teacher preparation and accountability. Further, the education system’s ability to act on evidence is limited by the weak institutional capacity to design, administer, and analyze data from learning assessments at national and state levels.

The Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) Program reflects the background and leverages on global knowledge and best practices. It focuses on key factors expected to have a transformational impact on service delivery through improved decentralized planning and management.

Embodying tenets of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, the key Program components covered under STARS include greater focus on foundational learning; improving learning assessment systems; strengthening classroom instruction and remediation; improving teacher development and school leadership; facilitating school-to-work/higher education transition; and strengthening governance and decentralized management. In this regard, using India’s powerful federal structure, STARS will focus on enhancing state capability. The Program will use a results-based financing approach by disbursing funds on the achievement of key outputs and outcomes. In doing so the Program will:

· Ensure a sharper focus on the most important results that GoI wants to achieve by linking World Bank funding directly to the achievement of those results rather than to inputs;

· Leverage and strengthen the country systems (including financial management, procurement management, and social and environmental systems management) that are needed for the Program to achieve its objectives;

· Incentivize states to focus on delivering results, while providing the flexibility to innovate and develop their systems.

STARS (a) provides support at the federal level to critical areas for improving education outcomes nationally, such as learning assessment systems and governance; and (b) strategically engages with states to foster innovative approaches that will help in improving educational outcomes and state-level governance processes. This could be through improving existing reform initiatives or financing the expansion of successful endeavors. The Program focuses on a limited number of states that cover the variations in school education ecosystems and their development needs. For this, the Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2017-18 has been used to select six-states – Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Odisha. Depending on their state-level context and needs, the Program offers flexibility to the states to choose from among the five state components covered under the Program. Also, the project requires states to focus on implementing a core set of key activities in the areas they choose to focus on.

Purpose

The State Incentive Grants (SIG) is the result of a series of consultations between the MoE, the states, and the World Bank. It contains the development priority areas (Components and Sub-Components) and corresponding outputs that the states can choose from, and focus upon under the STARS Program. In doing so, the SIG mechanism recognizes variations in states’ school education sector development priorities. Further, by linking funding to achievement of targets under each component or sub[1]component chosen by the state, the SIG aligns with the spirit of cooperative, competitive federalism in India.

State Incentive Grant Matrix

To receive funding, the details of the various outputs that the states would need to achieve under each component are listed in the SIG matrix given below. Each output area has been assigned overall points which are further disaggregated against the various milestones under the output area. The overall SIG score for a state is computed out of 100 points.

Indicator

Score

Component I: Strengthened Early Years Education

0-20

1.1

Percentage of teachers trained (cumulative) in Early Childhood Education (ECE):

ECE training modules for teachers/facilitators developed – 2 Points
20 to 39 percent of teachers/facilitators trained using modules developed – 4 points
40 to 59 percent of teachers/facilitators trained using modules developed – 6 points
60 to 74 percent of teachers/facilitators trained using modules developed – 8 points
At least 75 percent of teachers/facilitators trained using modules developed – 10 points

0-10

1.2

Percentage of teachers trained (cumulative) in Early Reading and Numeracy:

Early reading and numeracy teacher training modules developed – 2 Points
20 to 39 percent of teachers trained using modules developed – 4 points
40 to 59 percent of teachers trained using modules developed – 6 points
60 to 74 percent of teachers trained using modules developed – 8 points
At least 75 percent of teachers trained using modules developed – 10 points

0-10

Component 2: Improved Learning Assessment Systems

0-20

2.1

Strengthened learning assessment systems and capabilities at the state level (5 points each):

State assessment cell notified, and budget approved
Learning outcomes based online item banks developed for use by teachers

State Assessment Cell led training of teachers (cumulative) on Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and classroom assessment

20 percent to 49 percent of teachers trained on CCE and classroom assessment – 5 points
At least 50 percent of teachers trained on CCE and classroom assessment – 10 points

0-20

Component 3: Improved Teacher Performance And Classroom Practice

0-20

3.1

(a) Strengthened in-service teacher training (cumulative) and teacher knowledge (elementary):

Online menu of need-based teacher training modules developed – 1 point
20 to 39 percent of primary and upper primary teachers provided with need-based training(s) selected from an online portal providing a menu of training modules – 2 points
At least 40 percent of primary and upper primary teachers provided with need-based training(s) selected from an online portal providing a menu of training modules – 3 points

(b) Assessment of teacher subject knowledge has been conducted and used to revise in- service training modules (elementary):

At least 1 assessment of teacher subject knowledge conducted to inform in-service training modules – 1 point
At Least 2 assessments of teacher subject knowledge conducted to inform in-service training modules – 2 points

0-5

3.2

(a) Strengthened in-service teacher training (cumulative) and teacher knowledge (secondary):

Online menu of need-based teacher training modules developed – 1 point
20 to 39 percent of secondary teachers provided with need-based training(s) selected from an online portal providing a menu of training modules – 2 points
At least 40 percent of secondary teachers provided with need-based training(s) selected from an online portal providing a menu of training modules – 3 points

(b) Assessment of teacher subject knowledge conducted and used to revise in-service training modules (secondary):

At least 1 assessment of teacher subject knowledge conducted to inform in-service training modules – 1 point
At Least 2 assessments of teacher subject knowledge conducted to inform in-service training modules – 2 point

0-5

3.3

Learning Enhancement Program (LEP) for upper primary and secondary grades:

Existing learning enhancement program(s) reviewed, and revised program prepared for roll out – 2 point
Revised LEP covers 20 to 39 percent of schools with upper primary and secondary sections – 4 points
Revised LEP covers 40 to 59 percent of schools with upper primary and secondary sections – 6 points
Revised LEP covers 60 to 74 percent of schools with upper primary and secondary sections – 8 points
Revised LEP covers at least 75 percent of schools with upper primary and secondary sections – 10 points

0-10

Component 4: Strengthened Service Delivery *

0-30

4.1

Strengthened planning and management capacities for decentralized management (cumulative training of Block Resource Center (BRC) officials and Cluster Resource Center (CRC) officials):

Leadership training plan for BRCs and CRCs prepared and finalized by state-level nodal institution for education management and training – 2 points
20 to 39 percent of BRCs and CRCs trained as per plan prepared – 3 points
40 to 59 percent of BRCs and CRCs trained as per plan prepared – 5 points
60 to 74 percent of BRCs and CRCs trained as per plan prepared – 7 points
At least 75 percent of BRCs and CRCs trained as per plan prepared – 8 points

0-8

4.2

Strengthened school management (cumulative training of school principals and head teachers):

Leadership training plan for Head Teachers and Principals prepared and finalized by state-level nodal institution for education management and training – 2 point
20 to 39 percent of Head Teachers and Principals trained as per plan prepared – 3 points
40 to 59 percent of Head Teachers and Principals trained as per plan prepared – 5 points
60 to 74 percent of Head Teachers and Principals trained as per plan prepared – 7 points
At least 75 percent of Head Teachers and Principals trained as per plan prepared – 8 points

0-8

4.3

Partnerships initiated for improved education service delivery:

Draft regulatory framework developed for the involvement of non-state actors in education service delivery – 2 points
At least 2 partnerships established, and implementation initiated to pilot non- government agency and/or private service provider supported innovations – 6 points
At least 4 partnerships established, and implementation initiated to pilot non- government agency and/or private service provider supported innovations – 12 points
Evaluation of non-state actor partnership supported pilots completed and report submitted – 14 points

0-14

Component 5: Vocational Education And Training

0-10

5.1

Career guidance program for improved transition from school to further education and careers:

Career guidance program with trade specific and educational level specific information created – 1 point
20 to 39 percent of secondary school students provided with career guidance – 2 points
40 to 59 percent of secondary school students provided with career guidance – 3 points
60 to 74 percent of secondary school students provided with career guidance – 4 points

0-5

At least 75 percent of secondary school students provided with career guidance – 5 points

5.2

School campus-based vocational education for out of school children:

State institution designated for initiating, managing and monitoring pilot intervention – 0.5 point

Baseline established for number of 14 to 18-year-old Out of School Children (OoSC) and schools identified for pilot – 1 point
Pilot initiated in at least 50 schools – 2 points
Pilot initiated in at least 100 schools – 3 points
Pilot initiated in at least 200 schools – 4 points
Pilot assessed, and strategy developed for upscaling – 5 points

0-5

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