Nexus of Good: A boost to education

Hope is a strong emotion; some would argue it is the strongest one — and education thrives on hope. Good education offers hope for a better life, a better community, and a better world. The Rajasthan School Education Department took up the audacious goal of reinstalling hope in the public school system — to make every child in a government school grade-level competent.

Education and learning took a major hit during the COVID years across the globe. "In countries like India, where the inequalities in education were already prevalent before the pandemic and the learning poverty levels were already gigantic, there is a lot at stake," said the World Bank’s Global Education Director Jaime Saavedra. He further highlighted that "the learning poverty in India is expected to increase from 55 per cent to 70 per cent due to learning loss and more out-of-school children".

In India, the pandemic caused a reversal in the slow rise in learning levels observed between 2014 and 2018. In 2022, the proportion of children in Std III who could read a Std II level text dropped from 27 per cent to 21 per cent, while the proportion of children in Std V who could read at Std II level fell from 50 per cent to 43 per cent, confirming fears of large learning losses (ASER 2022). Rajasthan had done extremely well in lifting the learning outcomes during the period between 2014 and 2018. Officers like Naresh Gangwar had worked hard to bring the state from bottom of the shack to right at the top. This was evidenced in the National Achievement Survey carried out by NCERT. However, when COVID struck, it severely impacted school education. The state trailed the national average with 14 per cent of children in Std III and 38 per cent in Std V who could read Std II level text. Government schools were particularly affected, given that most students did not have access to digital learning solutions or smartphones.

Rajasthan started the ‘Rajasthan ke Shiksha Mein Badhte Kadam’ (RKSMBK) programme in 2022 to bridge this learning gap. There was an explicit focus on conceptual learning by empowering teachers as agents of change and equipping them with carefully developed high-quality digital and non-digital assets in primary education. These assets, such as competency-based workbooks, instructional videos, AI-enabled assessment digitisation, and the RKSMBK Shikshak app for teachers, have set up a solid framework for growth. They have been widely implemented and embraced across the state, setting the stage for future advancements.

The programme, launched by the Chief Minister, was a leadership priority of the state, with consistent engagement from the Education Minister and the Chief Secretary. Assessment reform was a central pillar of the transformation agenda which brought a systemic shift towards outcome-based education. Census-based standardised tests designed by experts were conducted thrice a year to evaluate students’ conceptual understanding. The state solved one of the largest problems in education — that of large-scale assessment data digitisation without increasing teacher’s burden and maintaining data fidelity. Assessment papers were corrected and digitised using Artificial Intelligence. Teachers took a photo of the students’ answer sheets and digitised responses for each question. The correction and digitization process, which typically took 5-6 minutes, was reduced to 20 seconds, enabling the successful digitisation of approximately four crore assessment sheets with 96 per cent accuracy. In each assessment, data digitisation was done via the state’s custom-developed app in just three days carried out by two lakh teachers, saving over 30 lakh man-hours — a world record in itself.

The results from these assessments were analysed to provide personalised teaching recommendations to over two lakh teachers on the RKSBMK Shikshak app. The app played a vital role in improving teachers' skills. Their personalised journeys were based on the competencies that their classroom struggled with, and guidance on selecting appropriate worksheets and feature videos created by expert teachers — offering valuable insights on effective teaching methods. To motivate teachers to use the app actively, gamification was introduced. Teachers earned coins and badges on completing small tasks, and their coin count was displayed on a leaderboard for all Panchayat teachers to see. They also had the option to share the “badges” they earned on social media.

The programme is beginning to show promising results, with the field adopting the assets and a commitment to support every child, regardless of “behind” they are. The intent and implementation of a large-scale change in public schools give us hope — the very hope our young nation needs today. Government school education in Rajasthan has changed the narrative and ambition from emulating private school-equivalent education in public schools to genuine conceptual learning. RKSMBK is a similar triumph and a big leap in the right direction for public education.

This initiative under the inspired leadership of a young and dynamic IAS officer, Gaurav Agrawal, is a wonderful example of Nexus of Good. Technology can be a game-changer in imparting education. Gaurav and his dedicated team have demonstrated that quality of school education and learning outcomes can be improved through use of technology. It is a model that can be replicated and scaled and does not involve heavy financial commitment.

Views expressed are personal