Niti Aayog’s Upcoming Education Document Captures Odisha’s Progress

New Delhi: Here’s something everybody in Odisha should feel proud about. Taking a leaf out of the reformative measures initiated in the state, Niti Aayog has prepared an exhaustive education document to enhance the quality of education across the country.

Along with Odisha, reforms carried out in Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh have also been taken into consideration, said news portal Scroll in a report on Friday.

The idea is to support states raise teaching standards, an area of concern. All these three states were in 2017 selected to join Niti Aayog’s ‘Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital’ programme.

The Boston Consultancy Group that is supporting the programme has stationed 2-3 of its people in these three states.

The project is for 3-4 years and among a host of reforms are suggested, one related to the merger of small schools with lower enrolment into larger ones.

In an interview to Scroll, Niti Aayog’s adviser for health and education, Alok Kumar, said the merger has not gained pace in Odisha because of the elections, but in states such as Jharkhand the project is underway, even if it has met with opposition from the local MPs there.

He, however, did not elaborate on other aspects of the mission, especially in the context of Odisha. He said they are working in partnership with these states and other agencies to help them improve their education system to the extent possible.

“We have tried to arrive at a set of principles that should be kept in mind while planning interventions to improve education systems. There is no unique solution. Each state has a different starting point, cultural milieu and work environment. But some principles are universal. Blaming teachers, for one, is not a solution. To transact lessons better, a more enabling environment is required. Parents must be engaged in the school system and a more efficient school size works best. You need transparent transfer policies. The whole package is required,” he said.