Cabinet approves STARS programme under New Education Policy, focus on improving learning outcomes

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved Strengthening Teaching Learning and Results for States (STARS) programme under the New Education Policy.

Addressing a press conference after the Cabinet meeting, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the programme is being rolled out with the support of the World Bank.

"India has started implementing the New Education Policy. The base is learning with understanding and learning outcome is important. There should be an improvement in learning. Therefore, a new programme called Strengthening Teaching Learning and Results for States (STARS) project was cleared by Cabinet today," he said.

"This will impact the very processes of education in early childhood care - fundamental literacy and fundamental numeracy. For this, we need to train the teachers. We have to improve board examinations. There shall be separate assessment institution which will come in force. The World Bank will give Rs 3,700 crores to Government. The state governments will give Rs 2000 crores," the minister said.

Javadekar said that the programme will cover six states- Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha.

"A similar programme through ADB corporation will be implemented in Gujarat, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Assam and Tamil Nadu. The total project cost is Rs 5,718 crore. It will pave a pay for fundamental literacy," he said.

( With inputs from ANI )