Bhubaneswar; Odisha along with five other states is set to derive the benefits with the strengthening teaching-learning and results for states (STARS) project.
The Project covers six states such as Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala.
These identified States will be supported for various interventions for improving the quality of education.
The total project cost of STARS project is Rs 5718 crore with financial support of World Bank amounting to US $ 500 million (approximately Rs. 3700 crore) and rest coming as State share from the participating states over a period of five years.
In a move to improve quality of education and facilitating a technology centric and innovation driven initiative, Odisha Government will be taking up the implementation of STARS project at nearly Rs.1000 crore cost.
Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra has already approved the proposal submitted by Principal Secretary School & Mass Education, Satyabrat Sahoo.
Agreement for the financial support of the implementation of project of Ministry of Education was signed between Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and World Bank along with the Ministry of Education.
The STARS project would be implemented as a new centrally sponsored scheme under Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), MOE.
Earlier the Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of STARS project on 14 October 2020.
The program envisions improving the overall monitoring and measurement activities in the Indian school education system through interventions in selected states.
STARS will draw on existing structure under Samagra Shiksha with the DoSEL, MoE as the main implementing agency at the national level.
At the State level, the project will be implemented through the integrated State Implementation Society (SIS) for Samagra Shiksha.
The proposed World Bank support under STARS is primarily in the form of a results-based financing instrument called Program for Results (PforR).
This will ensure major reforms at the State level through a set of disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs).
A State Incentive Grant (SIG) will be used to encourage States to meet desired project outcomes.
The SIG matrix has been aligned with the intermediate outcome indicators as per the requirement of PforR instrument.
An independent verification agency (IVA) will verify each result before disbursement of funds.
The STARS project will be instrumental in the implementation of various recommendations of National Education Policy 2020.
This includes strengthening early childhood education and foundational learning, improving learning assessment system, ICT-enabled approaches in education, teachers development and vocational education, pointed out an official.