Correct pursuit of quality check

Reiterating the undeniable importance of school education in India, it is correct to lay emphasis on the quality of education imparted to school-going children. A report, titled The Success of Our Schools-School Education Quality Index (SEQI) released by the NITI Aayog, Ministry of Human Resource Development and the World Bank, together with sectoral experts, is an assessment based on indexing states and Union Territories on the learning outcomes for school-going children. SEQI used 2016-17 as the reference year and 2015-16 as the base year and was developed to evaluate the performance of states and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector. It is of vital significance to emphasise on quality education at school level as the result of this reflects the quality and effective implementation of steps in a chain of developments focussed on school students. With respect to the outcome of the aforementioned assessment, the southern state of Kerala leads in the quality education index in the list of twenty states; Uttar Pradesh turns out to be the most backward state in this ranking. Before comparing these states in terms of education and assessment for quality, a generic comparison between the states along the most basic parameters reveals that Kerala fares far better than Uttar Pradesh in several aspects, most of which begin with the government's attentiveness to matters of general welfare. Beginning with healthcare, an area in which Kerala has tremendously made a mark, it comes obvious that prevalence of good health among children is necessary so as to not impede their performance in school and even their regular school routine. Besides, matters like general cleanliness, food security, adequate nutritional intake, a better state of law and order all are supplimentary contributions to the healthy state of school-going children and for them to perform well. The overall performance score for the large states according to the report ranged from 76.6 per cent for Kerala to 36.4 per cent for Uttar Pradesh. The index is prepared based on 30 indicators divided into two broad categories—outcomes that consisted of learning, access, infrastructure and facilities, and equity outcomes; and governance processes aiding outcomes. It provides states and Union Territories with a platform to identify their strengths and weaknesses and undertake requisite course corrections or policy interventions to address any shortfalls accordingly. Having a greater number of children enrolled in schools does little to meet long-term national objectives if the children enrolled in schools are unable to adequately absorb the learning they are imparted. Quality of learning is thus crucial and decisive for future gains.