EDUCATION

Both statements are correct.
The Ministry of Human Resource & Development recently conducted the first ever Indian Scholastic Assessment (Ind-SAT) Test 2020 under its ‘Study in India’ programme.
Ind-SAT is an exam for grant of scholarships and admissions to foreign students for studying in select Indian universities under the Study in India programme.
The Ind-SAT scores will serve as a criterion to shortlist the meritorious students for the allocation of scholarships for under graduate as well as post graduate programmes under ‘Study in India’ programme.
The Study in India is a programme of MHRD under which foreign students come to study in 116 select higher education institutions in India for under graduate and post graduate programmes.

As per the National Education Policy 2020, in addition to high quality offerings in Indian languages and English, foreign languages, such as Korean, Japanese, Thai, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian, will also be offered at the secondary level, for students to learn about the cultures of the world and to enrich their global knowledge and mobility according to their own interests and aspirations.

‘Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan’ 2020-21 has been launched recently. VVM is a national program for popularizing science among school students of standard VI to XI, conceptualized to identify the bright minds with a scientific aptitude among the student community.
Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan (VVM) is an initiative of Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA), in collaboration with Vigyan Prasar, an autonomous organization under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), an institution under the Ministry of Education

The Central Advisory Board of Education, one of the oldest and the most important advisory body of the Government of India in education was first established in 1920 and dissolved in 1923 as a measure of economy. It was revived in 1935 and has been in existence ever since.
Statement 1 is incorrect. It is not a statutory body; the current Board has been reconstituted by a Government of India Resolution of October, 1990.
Statement 2 is correct. The Chairperson of the board is Union Minister of Education.
National Education Policy 2020 recommends strengthening and empowering the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE). The remodeled and rejuvenated CABE shall also be responsible for developing, articulating, evaluating, and revising the vision of education in the country on a continuous basis, in close collaboration with MHRD and the corresponding apex bodies of States.

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment. PISA measures 15-year-olds’ ability to use their reading, mathematics and science knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.
The study, which began in the year 2000, conducts a test evaluating 15-year-olds in member and non-member countries to assess the quality and inclusivity of school systems in these countries. The PISA test is held every three years.
India has participated in the PISA test only once before, in 2009 and has decided to take part in next PISA, which was due in 2021 but has been postponed to 2022.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) is a joint venture of Ministry of Education, Government of India and Canara Bank.
HEFA is registered under Section 8 [Not-for-profit] under the Companies Act 2013 as a Union Govt company and as Non–deposit taking NBFC with RBI.
Statement 2 is correct. HEFA Vision: To enable India’s premier educational institutions to excel and reach the top in global rankings by financing building world class infrastructure including R&D Infra.
HEFA Mission: To provide timely finance at competitive interest rates for capital assets creation in India’s educational institutions and supplement it with grants by channelizing CSR funds from the corporate and donations from others.

Both statements are correct.
As per the National Education Policy 2020 document; presently, quality ECCE is not available to crores of young children, particularly children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
-To prepare an initial cadre of high-quality quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) teachers in Anganwadis, current Anganwadi workers/teachers will be trained in accordance with the curricular/pedagogical framework developed by NCERT.
-Those with qualifications of 10+2 and above shall be given a 6-month certificate programme in ECCE; and those with lower educational qualifications shall be given a one-year diploma programme covering early literacy, numeracy, and other relevant aspects of ECCE.
As per the National Education Policy 2020 document; we are currently in a learning crisis: a large proportion of students currently in elementary school – estimated to be over 5 crore – have not attained foundational literacy and numeracy, i.e., the ability to read and comprehend basic text and the ability to carry out basic addition and subtraction with Indian numerals.
-To this end, a National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy will be set up on priority. Accordingly, all State/UT governments will immediately prepare an implementation plan for attaining universal foundational literacy and numeracy in all primary schools.

Both statements are correct
After a successful launch of a unique initiative to take Artificial Intelligence (AI) to schools through ‘ATL AI Modules’, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog in collaboration with NASSCOM launched the ‘ATL AI Step Up Module’ for students in order to drive AI education and innovation to the next level in schools across the country.
The AI Step-up Module provides a comprehensive set of learn it yourself Advanced modules to those who wish to expand their knowledge base after becoming familiar with the basics of the AI discipline through the AI base module.
The Base module was specifically devised considering students as young as 12 years of age. Step up module has been exquisitely designed and presented to involve young students across the country to induce inclusive learning and to empower youngsters of our country to create AI integrated innovations.

All of the statements are correct.
Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) is an initiative of Ministry of Education (erstwhile Human Resource Development MHRD), Govt. of India.
It systematically ranks all major higher educational institutions and universities in India on indicators related to “Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development” amongst students and faculties.
Major Indicators for consideration: Budget & Funding Support, Infrastructure & Facilities, Awareness, Promotions & support for Idea Generation & Innovation, Promotion & Support for Entrepreneurship Development, Innovative Learning Methods & Courses, Intellectual Property Generation, Technology Transfer & Commercialization and Innovation in Governance of the Institution.
ARIIA 2020 toppers:
-IIT Madras under the category of Institutes of National Importance, Central Universities, and Centrally Funded Technical Institutes;
-Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai under Government and Government Aided Universities;
-College of Engineering, Pune under Government and Government Aided Colleges;
-Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneswar under Private or Self-Financed Universities
-S R Engineering College, Warangal under Private or Self-Financed Colleges.

Statement 1 is correct. This policy envisages that the extant 10+2 structure in school education will be modified with a new pedagogical and curricular restructuring of 5+3+3+4 covering ages 3-18 as shown in the representative figure:

Statement 2 is correct. A common guiding set of National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) will be developed by 2022, by the National Council for Teacher Education.

The standards would cover expectations of the role of the teacher at different levels of expertise/stage, and the competencies required for that stage. It will also comprise standards for performance appraisal, for each stage, that would be carried out on a periodic basis. The NPST will also inform the design of pre-service teacher education programmes

Union Human Resource Development (now ministry of education ) Minister has launched the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) 2020.
It aims to systematically rank all major educational institutions and universities on indicators related to promotion of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development amongst their students and faculties.

Union Ministry of State for Culture & Tourism has launched the E-Portal of Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) ‘Digital Bharat Digital Sanskriti’.
• The ‘Digital Bharat Digital Sanskriti’ is an E-portal that will enable dissemination of cultural education through digital interactive medium into classrooms all over the country.
• The portal will provide a platform for specifically dropout children so that they can join the mainstream and pursue their dreams by making a career out of be it music, painting, or any other art forms.
• For this initiative,CCRT has tied up with Routes 2 Roots, an NGO for connecting seamlessly all the CCRT Regional Centres

The World Bank said its board of executives has approved a new project worth $500 million to improve learning outcome and governance of government schools in six Indian states.
•The project, named STARS (Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program), will be implemented through the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, the flagship central scheme, in partnership with Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan.
• “STARS will help improve learning assessment systems, strengthen classroom instruction and remediation, facilitate school-to-work transition, and strengthen governance and decentralized management,” the World Bank said.
• STARS will support India’s renewed focus on addressing the ‘learning outcome’ challenge and help students better prepare for the jobs of the future – through a series of reform initiatives”.
• The STARS program builds on the long partnership between India and the World Bank, since 1994, for strengthening public school education and to support the country’s goal of providing ‘Education for All’.
• Prior to STARS, the Bank had provided a total assistance of more than $3 billion towards this goal.

Statement 1 is correct. Cabinet has recently approved the implementation of
the Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) project with a
total project cost of Rs 5718 crore with the financial support of World Bank amounting to
US $ 500 million.
STARS project would be implemented as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme under
Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education (MOE).
Statement 2 is correct. STARS project has separate National and State level implementation components.

It further includes a Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC) under the
National Component which would enable it to be more responsive to any natural, manmade and health disasters. It will help the government respond to situations leading to loss of learning such as school closures/infrastructure damage, inadequate facilities and use technology for facilitating remote learning etc.

The Global Education Monitoring Report is released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA).
Statement 1 is incorrect: HEFA has been set up on 31st May 2017 by the Central
Government as a non-profit, Non-Banking Financing Company (NBFC).
Statement 2 is correct: HEFA was established to mobilize extra-budgetary resources for
building crucial infrastructure in the higher educational institutions under Central
Government.
NOTE: The Government has approved the authorised equity capital expansion of Higher
Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to Rs. 10,000 crore, with Government equity of Rs.
6000 crore.
•An amount corresponding to 10% of the Government equity would be contributed by
the partner institution, Canara Bank.
•All Centrally Funded Educational Institutions in Higher Education, School
Education and Medical Education sectors are eligible to avail of loans through
HEFA.

The RISE by 2022 is an attempt to translate the objectives into action plan
by making available resources from the market. The objectives of RISE by 2022 are:
•Qualitatively upgrade the research and academic infrastructure in India to global
best standards by 2022.
•Make India into an education hub by making available high quality research
infrastructure in Indian higher educational institutions.
•To allow access of HEFA funding to institutions like Central Universities, AIIMS,
IISERs and newly created Institutes of National Importance, without creating any
additional burden to the students.
•To bring greater accountability and speed in execution of infrastructure projects
and avoid all cost/time over-runs, moving from the block-grant mode to projectmode
for all infrastructure projects.
•To cater to the requirements of the Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya
Vidyalayas, and medical institutions like AIIMSs in a faster time frame.

ASER is a nationwide survey of rural education and learning outcomes in
terms of reading and arithmetic skills that has been conducted by the NGO Pratham for the
last 15 years. This year, the survey was conducted via phone calls, reaching 52,227 rural
households with school age children in 30 States and Union Territories.

Statement 1 is correct. “Unnat Bharat Abhiyan” is a flagship programme of

Ministry of Education conceptualized and launched in IIT Delhi, with a vision of

transformational change in rural development processes by leveraging knowledge

institutions to help build the architecture of an Inclusive India.

Statement 2 is correct. The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT, Delhi) has been

designated as the National Coordinating Institute (NCI) for the UBA scheme.

The UBA aims to enable higher educational institutions to work with the people of rural

India in identifying development challenges and evolving appropriate solutions for

accelerating sustainable growth.

# In a joint initiative of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Unnat Bharat

Abhiyan (UBA), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) and Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA), a set of

CSIR Technologies has been launched for rural development.

Scheme objectives have been interchanged in the given statements.

Vigyan Jyoti Scheme is intended to create a level-playing field for the meritorious girls in

high school to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in their

higher education. It also offers exposure for girl students from the rural background to help

to plan their journey from school to a job of their choice in the field of science.

Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN): women scientists are being encouraged to pursue research in frontier areas of science and engineering, on problems of societal relevance and to take up S&T-based internship followed by self-employment.

National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), in its 75th round, conducted survey

on Household Social Consumption: Education during 1st July 2017 to 30th June 2018.

Statement 1 is incorrect. The study has pegged the overall literacy rate in the country at

about 77.7%. In rural areas, the literacy rate is 73.5% compared to 87.7% in urban areas of

the country.

At all-India level, the male literacy rate is higher at 84.7% compared to 70.3% among

women.

Statement 2 is correct. Kerala, Delhi has the best literacy rate, followed by Uttarakhand,

Himachal Pradesh and Assam.

Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar are the worst performers.

Both statements are correct.

JIGYASA is a student-scientist connect programme of Council of Scientific and

Industrial Research (CSIR) in collaboration with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathans (KVS). Its objective is to extend the classroom leaning and focusing on a well-planned

research laboratory-based learning.

Student Residential Programmes, scientists as teachers and teachers as scientists, lab

specific activities/Onsite Experiments, visits of scientists to Schools/Outreach

Programmes, science and maths Clubs, projects of National Children’s Science Congress

and tinkering laboratories are some of the activities included under the programme.

Statement 1 is incorrect. Global Summit of NRI Researchers called

Vaishvik Bhartiya Vaigyanik (Vaibhav) Summit is a collaborative initiative by S&T and

Academic Organisations of India to enable deliberations on thought process, practices

and R&D culture with a problem-solving approach for well-defined objectives.

The virtual summit will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister on 2nd October’2020.

[The Hindu says it is being organized by Department of Science & Technology and Defence

Research & Development Organistaion]

Statement 2 is correct. It is aimed at developing mechanisms for involving Indian Diaspora

working in top universities and R&D organisations across the world, to further enhance the

knowledge-base of Indian Research and Academic Institutions.

Summit aims to give an impetus to the objectives of Atal Innovation Mission by leveraging

the collaborative experience and deep expertise of International and Indian subject experts. Vaibhav summit seeks active support and ideation from Indian Diaspora for developing

skills of Indian aspirants in alignment with the New Educational Policy.

Both statements are correct.

Vigyan Jyoti scheme is intended to create a level-playing field for the meritorious girls in

high school to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in

their higher education. It also offers exposure for girl students from the rural background to

help to plan their journey from school to a job of their choice in the field of science.

Selected students (100 girl students in 550 districts from 2020-2025, chosen based on their

percentile) would be given opportunities to attend science camps at IITs, NITs and other leading institutions of science and technology education where women are not adequately

represented.

The research and innovation investment in India is, at the current time, only 0.69% of GDP as compared to 2.8% in the United States of America, 4.3% in Israel and 4.2% in South Korea. The NEP 2020 has proposed setting up of National Research Foundation (NRF).

The primary activities of the NRF will be to:

–fund competitive, peer-reviewed grant proposals of all types and across all disciplines;

–seed, grow, and facilitate research at academic institutions, particularly at universities and colleges where research is currently in a nascent stage, through mentoring of such institutions;

-act as a liaison between researchers and relevant branches of government as well as industry, so that research scholars are constantly made aware of the most urgent national research issues, and so that policymakers are constantly made aware of the latest research breakthroughs; so as to allow breakthroughs to be optimally brought into policy and/or implementation.

# AICTE is responsible for formulation and maintenance of norms and standards of technical education.

Statement 1 is correct. The Prime Ministers Special Scholarship Scheme aims to build the capacities of the youths of J&K and Ladakh by Educating, Enabling and Empowering them to compete in the normal course. Under the Scheme, the youths of J&K and Ladakh are supported by way of scholarship in two parts namely the academic fee & maintenance allowance.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS) is being implemented by the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), New Delhi.

The ‘State of the Education Report for India 2020: Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), was launched virtually recently by UNESCO New Delhi.
The State of the Education Report for India, is one of UNESCO New Delhi’s flagship reports to be published annually. Its main objective will be to monitor progress towards the education targets in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The second edition of the State of Education Report focuses on technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
The Report provides an overview of the present capacity for TVET provision through short-term and long-term courses, by state as well as non-state actors, and also through educational institutions such as schools, colleges and universities. It discusses previous education policies, and the approach to TVET provision in the light of the priorities of the country as reflected in NEP 2020.

Option 1 is incorrectly matched. DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) is a national platform for school education, an initiative of National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT).
DIKSHA was developed based on the core principles of open architecture, open access, open licensing diversity, choice and autonomy as outlined in the Strategy and Approach Paper for the National Teacher Platform
Option 2 is correctly matched. Manodarpan is an initiative of Ministry of Education covering a wide range of activities to provide psychosocial support to students, teachers and families for Mental Health and Emotional Wellbeing during the COVID outbreak and beyond.
Option 3 is correctly matched. The Department of School Education and Literacy has launched a National Mission to improve learning outcomes at the elementary level through an Integrated Teacher Training Programme called NISHTHA.
NISHTHA is a capacity building programme for “Improving Quality of School Education through Integrated Teacher Training”. It aims to build competencies among all the teachers and school principals at the elementary stage.

Statement 1 is correct. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired recently approved major and transformatory changes in the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Post Matric Scholarship to students belonging to Scheduled Castes (PMS-SC)’.
The Cabinet has approved a total investment of Rs. 59,048 Cr of which Central Government would spend Rs. 35,534 Cr (60%) and the balance would be spent by the State Govts. This replaces the existing ‘committed liability’ system and brings greater involvement of the Central Govt in this crucial scheme.
The Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Castes allows students to pursue any post matric course starting from class 11th and onwards, with the Govt meeting the cost of education.
Statement 2 is correct. The scheme will be run on an online platform with robust cyber security measures that would assure transparency, accountability, efficiency, and timely delivery of the assistance without any delays.
The States will undertake fool-proof verification of the eligibility, caste status, Aadhar identification and bank account details on the online portal.

The National Education Policy 2020 states that:
— High performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries
— Those from among the top 100 universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India. A legislative framework facilitating such entry will be put in place, and such universities will be given special dispensation regarding regulatory, governance, and content norms on par with other autonomous institutions of India.
— Furthermore, research collaboration and student exchanges between Indian institutions and global institutions will be promoted through special efforts.
— Credits acquired in foreign universities will be permitted, where appropriate as per the requirements of each HEI, to be counted for the award of a degree.