School Education Quality Index(SEQI)

News:NITI Aayog has released the first edition of the School Education Quality Index(SEQI).

Facts:

About SEQI:

• SEQI has been developed by NITI Aayog to evaluate the performance of States and Union Territories(UTs) in the school education sector.
• It has been developed through a collaborative process including key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the World Bank and sector experts.

Aim:

• SEQI aims to drive policy reforms that will improve the quality of school education.
• The index seeks to institutionalise a focus on enhancing education outcomes by driving improvements in learning levels, access, equity, infrastructure and governance processes.

Composition:

• SEQI is based on a set of 30 critical indicators that measure the overall effectiveness, quality and efficiency of the Indian school education system. 
• The indicators are categorized into (a)Outcomes and (b)Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes(GPAO). 
• The Outcomes include (a)learning outcomes (b)access outcomes, (c)infrastructure and facilities for outcomes and (d)equity outcomes, 
• GPAO includes (a)support system necessary for learning to take place like training and availability of teachers (b)attendance of students and teachers (c)administrative adequacy (d)training (d)accountability and (e)transparency.

Ranking process:

• The States and UTs were ranked on their overall performance in the reference year 2016-17 as well as on the change in their performance between the reference year and base year (2015-16).
• To facilitate like-to-like comparisons, States and UTs have been grouped as Large States, Small States and Union Territories. 
• Within each of these groups, the indicator values have been appropriately scaled, normalized and weighted to generate an overall performance score and ranking for each State and UT.

Key takeaways from the index:

• Among the large States,Kerala bagged the top spot while Uttar Pradesh scored the lowest for 2016-17. 
• However, Haryana, Assam and Uttar Pradesh showed the most improvement in their performance in 2016-17 in comparison to the base year of 2015-16.
• Among the small States, Manipur emerged as the top performer while Arunachal Pradesh came last in the category.
• Among Union Territories, Chandigarh stood at the top position while Lakshadweep ranked lowest.
• But it is to be noted that all seven UTs have shown an improvement in their performance.

Additional information:

NITI Aayog:

• The NITI Aayog was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1,2015.
• It is the premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India providing both directional and policy inputs.It had replaced planning commission as the premier think tank.
• The NITI Aayog has been mandated with fostering cooperative federalism through structured support initiatives and mechanisms with the States on a continuous basis recognizing that strong States make a strong nation.
• It also seeks to design and assist the implementation of strategic, long term policy frameworks and programme initiatives and also monitor their progress and efficacy.