As individuals working on systemic reforms in the education sector, we often field questions about the state of our schools. Recently, a concerned citizen asked one of us – “What are these education reforms we keep hearing about? Will they bring about any change in our schools?”. This question, while simple, cuts to the heart of a crisis facing India’s education system.
India has made significant strides in improving access to education and achieving near-universal enrolment. However, to ensure that our children can reap the benefits of being in school, we have to build on this progress. Our focus must now shift to the quality of education, an area which still offers substantial opportunity for improvement.
The numbers paint a clear picture of where we currently stand. According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2022, only 21% of Grade 3 children can read a Grade 2 level text; this number has not improved in a decade. ASER 2023 reveals a stark reality for our youth, with 43% of 14-18 year olds struggling to read simple sentences in English.
These statistics reflect the untapped potential of millions of children, and the time is ripe to seize the opportunity to unlock their dreams and help them soar.
Despite successes in enrolment and retention, if decades of initiatives have not delivered meaningful improvements in quality, what is the missing piece of the puzzle? How can we achieve (and sustain) quality of education?
The answer lies in the structure of our education system. Firstly, there is a need for greater accountability for learning outcomes at the systemic level. Currently, the regulation of our schools is heavily input-focused. It prioritises factors like classroom size, student-to-teacher ratios and infrastructural requirements such as toilets, among other aspects. Flagship educational reforms such as the Right to Education Act (RTE), for instance, have emphasised the expansion of access to schools, and, as a result, have elevated primary school enrolment to 100 percent. While this is a commendable achievement, improving learning outcomes of the school education system needs an approach which makes student learning the # 1 priority. As the famous saying on quality goes – “what gets measured gets done”. If we want to make the system accountable for delivering learning outcomes, the place to start is the regular and reliable measurement of learning outcomes.
As a next step to a reliable measurement of learning outcomes, reporting school-level learning outcomes transparently, publicly and regularly, can initiate an improvement in the quality of education. By providing parents with information on learning outcomes in every school, it will shift significant power into the hands of parents who will be able to make informed decisions on which school best suits their child. They can also question the schools on their results, thus holding schools accountable for the quality of education they provide. Quality learning, after all, is the very purpose of the education system and the key to unlocking the demographic dividend of a burgeoning young population. In Chile, a similar system called Sistema de Medición de la Calidad de la Educación (SIMCE) has already shown promising results. It has helped improve learning outcomes, guided school improvement efforts and even helped refine teaching practices.
Secondly, a conflict of interest exists within the current school governance framework. Imagine a scenario where a restaurant owner is also the chef, the waiter, the food safety inspector and even the food critic. Sounds unreasonable, right? Yet, this is essentially how our education system operates. The Department of Education (DoE) wears multiple hats. It operates most schools (over 68% according to UDISE+ 2022) and handles finances, but it also sets the state curriculum, grants licences for the opening of new private schools, manages grievances and regulates all schools – both public and private. This creates a potential conflict of interest as the same entity, the DoE, is tasked with operating government schools and regulating all schools. In the absence of separation of powers, it becomes difficult to hold the DoE accountable for the performance of government schools. Private schools are presented with an uneven playing field, facing more burdensome regulations and higher scrutiny while still remaining unaccountable for learning outcomes. Ultimately, when schools are affected, student learning suffers.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 also recognises this and proposes setting up the State School Standards Authority (SSSA). Further, the NEP highlights the need to shift regulation from being overly restrictive to “light but tight”, from inputs to outcomes.
If implemented in letter and spirit, this solution ensures that an independent regulator will be set up for the Indian school education system. Such a regulator will act even-handedly and will be capable of holding all schools, whether private or government, equally accountable. The SSSA could then function as a quality disclosure mechanism, with its role being to assess and report on the quality of all schools, regardless of whether they are public or private. This could shift the focus from inputs (like specifics of infrastructure provisioning) to where the opportunity for improvement really lies, i.e., learning outcomes.
This approach of an independent regulator has proven successful across multiple sectors in India, validating the government’s decision to establish the SSSA. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) bolstered the insurance sector with solvency requirements, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) ensured fair competition and consumer protection and the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) brought transparency and accountability to the real estate sector. These examples underscore how independent oversight can drive sector-wide improvements, increase efficiency and ensure fair practices. By introducing the SSSA in education, the government is applying this proven model to one of our most critical sectors, potentially catalysing a transformation in educational quality that could benefit millions of students across the country.
The SSSA, being outside the purview of the Department of Education, will eliminate the extant conflict of interest in school governance and ensure that all schools are held accountable equally. Relieved of its regulatory role, the Department will also be able to focus on improving the quality of education in public schools, thereby raising competition for all other schools and improving overall education quality across the board.
The SSSA has been given the mandate to establish minimal standards based on basic parameters for all schools. The framework for these parameters will be set by the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), in consultation with various stakeholders, especially teachers and schools. The emphasis of these new regulatory standards will be on learning outcomes and therefore schools will be bound to focus their energies on improving the same.
For this transformation to be effective, the SSSA needs to be implemented in its true spirit. Some states have designated existing bodies such as exam boards or the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) as the SSSA. While this approach is quicker and leverages existing institutions, it may not fully realise the potential benefits of an independent regulatory body. On the other hand, some states have taken promising initial steps to establish an independent SSSA, potentially setting a positive example for other states to follow.
We must strive for comprehensive implementation across all states to ensure the best outcomes for our nation’s future. Every child in India deserves a chance to reach their full potential and a well-implemented SSSA could be a significant step towards making that a reality.