Government set to transform school education in Arunachal Pradesh

The Government of Arunachal Pradesh, along with NITI Aayog and Reach to Teach Foundation, held a workshop to finalise post-NAS interventions for learning enhancement in the state

(L-R) Subir Shukla (IgnusERG), Bango Palon (Joint Director, SCERT), Ratna Viswanathan (CEO, Reach to Teach Foundation), Er. Taba Tedir (Hon’ble Minister of Education, Government of Arunachal Pradesh), Padmini Singla (Commissioner of Education, Government of Arunachal Pradesh) and Pige Ligu (SPD, ISSE -cum-Director, SCERT Arunachal Pradesh)

October 19, Itanagar: A two-day event was organised by the SCERT, Government of Arunachal Pradesh (GoAP). The workshop was facilitated by Reach to Teach Foundation, who is the technical partner in the tripartite agreement with GoAP and NITI Aayog. The objective of the workshop was to create a roadmap for a three-year programme to improve teaching and learning outcomes and improve National Achievement Survey (NAS) performance of the state.

The main vehicle for the implementation of Sustainable Action for Transforming Human Capital in Education (SATH) in Arunachal Pradesh will be Mission LEAP (Learning Enhancement for Arunachal Pradesh) through which the State Government will be launching an education transformation initiative for more than 3,000 Government schools.

Highlighting the importance of this collaborative workshop, Er. Taba Tedir, Hon’ble Minister of Education, Government of Arunachal Pradesh said, “To develop education in Arunachal Pradesh, we need to train our teachers properly. Only then will students receive proper education. This project is the first-of-its-kind in the state. I thank the entire Reach to Teach team and hope we can make Arunachal Pradesh the best in education.”

Padmini Singla, Commissioner of Education, Government of Arunachal Pradesh added, “Arunachal Pradesh’s education system has some advantages that we don’t talk about. We have a small number of students, our Teacher-Pupil Ratio is good, and we don’t have a shortage of teachers. There is scope to bring about significant change.”

This announcement comes on the heels of NAS 2021 findings highlighting the significant learning loss induced by the pandemic, the performance disparity between rural and urban schools and the digital difficulties incurred by students.

Earlier this year, the State Government signed a tripartite Statement of Intent (SoI) with NITI Aayog and Reach to Teach Foundation to bring about a large-scale school education transformation initiative under NITI Aayog’s Development Support Services for States (DSSS) initiative. The Foundation is providing academic/technical expertise to the State Government on improving teaching and learning outcomes in Government schools.

Talking about the partnership, Ratna Viswanathan, CEO, Reach to Teach, said, “Quality education is a key developmental indicator. The current initiative aims at creating a roadmap for learning recovery across all grades. Learning loss has been acerbated by the closure of schools during the pandemic. The design focuses on interactive, experiential learning with notes to support learning for both teachers and students. We want to create an ecosystem that fosters a mutually collaborative relationship between teachers, students, parents and the extended community.”

The various facilitated discussions, groups work, experiential sessions held during the visioning workshop led to the drafting of a Vision Statement, setting key priorities from NAS-2021 and the development of a roadmap including a post-NAS plan. The roadmap will bridge the gap focusing on strategies, goals and barriers and the way forward as envisaged in Mission LEAP.

Note to Editor:

About SCERT, Government of Arunachal Pradesh:
The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Itanagar came into being in 2011 after upgradation of the erstwhile State Institute of Education (SIE). It functions as a leading resource institution with the objective of qualitative improvement of both school and teacher education by conducting need-based research activities, developing curricular and Teaching Learning Materials (TLMs) and providing quality teacher education in the state. In addition to providing necessary academic support to the Directorates of Elementary and Secondary Education, the SCERT also co-ordinates the activities of regional and national level educational institutions and organizations in the state.
Website: http://scertarunachal.nic.in/

About NITI Aayog:
The National Institution for Transforming India, also called NITI Aayog, is the premier policy think tank of the Government of India, providing both directional and policy inputs. While designing strategic and long-term policies and programmes for the Government of India, NITI Aayog also provides relevant technical advice to the centre and states. An important evolutionary change from the past, NITI Aayog acts as the quintessential platform of the Government of India to bring states to act together in national interest, and thereby fosters cooperative federalism.
Website: https://www.niti.gov.in/

About Reach to Teach:
Reach to Teach (RTT) is a social impact organisation that partners with State Governments to improve the quality of teaching and learning outcomes in Government schools. RTT works directly at a systemic level building upon its extensive work with communities at the field level over the past decade. They leverage technology appropriately to increase efficiency of outreach at a system strengthening level. RTT operates from its corporate office in Gurugram, with offices located in other programmatic states.
Website: https://www.reach-to-teach.org/

For more details contact:
Devaki Adhikari, Reach to Teach | devaki@reach-to-teach.org | +91 9891635431
Ishita Rampal, Reach to Teach | ishita@reach-to-teach.org | +91 9811835193
Asma Zaidi, Edelman I Asma.Zaidi@edelman.com I +91 9953284123