New Delhi: Two years after Gujarat launched a school-monitoring control room — Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) — to collect and analyse data from various government schemes, 14 other states and one Union Territory (UT) have initiated the process to set up similar units, ThePrint has learnt.
A state-of-the-art control room, the VSK is tasked with collecting data to track key performance indicators in schools — such as attendance of teachers and students — as well as undertake summative and periodic assessments of learning outcomes of students.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the central government’s apex body on school education research, has already set up a centralised VSK to monitor state data on education, which is now acting as the nodal agency to provide states with the technical know-how required to set up VSKs of their own.
“The NCERT has created a central dashboard (VSK) to monitor state data on six government initiatives — PM-Poshan Scheme, NISHTHA (teacher training) scheme, Performance Grading Index, National Achievement Survey, Unified District Information System for Education and Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing or DIKSHA,” Arvind Gupta, VSK Lead at NCERT, told ThePrint.
“We have given out a starter pack for the VSK to 15 states/UTs so far,” he added.
Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Meghalaya, Haryana, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman & Nicobar are in the process of starting their VKS.
The “starter pack” provided by the NCERT includes inputs on the software, hardware and human resource requirements.
The NCERT had started rolling out the “starter pack” to the states and Andaman & Nicobar in September 2022, said officials.
Speaking to ThePrint, Dr Amarendra P. Behera, Joint Director at NCERT’s Central Institute of Educational Technology and who is overlooking VSK operations, said that states are currently using the funds provided under the Ministry of Education’s Samagra Shiksha Scheme to set up the VSKs.
“As of now, Rs 2-5 crore of the total funds under the Samagra Shiksha Scheme are to be utilised by states to set up the VSKs. The states may demand more funds if the need arises,” he said.
An official in the education ministry told ThePrint that a separate fund may be started for the maintenance and operations of VSKs in the future if the states are able to launch the control centres successfully.
In June 2022, at the National Education Ministers’ Conference held in Gujarat, Anita Karwal, then Secretary in the Department of School Education and Literacy, had urged states to seek funds from the central government and start setting up VSKs.
The first VSK was inaugurated in June 2021 in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar by then chief minister Vijay Rupani. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the centre in April last year.
The Prime Minister’s Office had put out a statement saying that “the Vidya Samiksha Kendra collects over 500 crore data sets annually and analyses them meaningfully using big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, in order to enhance overall learning outcomes for students”.
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How states are faring
When it comes to setting up the VSKs, some states are in the initial stages of implementing the NCERT’s “starter pack”, while others are working on the technical components of the control centres. Some have gone beyond the “starter pack” and put up mechanisms in place to start monitoring schemes using the central dashboard.
The “starter pack” provides, among other things, instructions and specifications on what kind of building to make, what kind of devices to use and how to create a video wall that can support the data coming in from districts.
An NCERT official involved in the VSK programme told ThePrint: “Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha have done particularly well with the implementation of the starter pack. They have already uploaded the software to their cloud servers.”
Maharashtra has built the physical infrastructure for the control centre, consisting of a monitoring room along with computers and a video wall, a state official said.
“The state has also started a pilot in which the attendance of teachers and students is being monitored in the two districts of Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg. In the upcoming academic year, the state is also planning to monitor the learning outcomes of students through periodical assessments,” the official added.
Uttar Pradesh, too, has made quick strides in setting up a VSK in Lucknow.
The Director General of School Education in UP, Vijay Kiran Anand, told ThePrint: “Through this Vidya Samiksha Kendra, the Department of Basic Education has been able to thoroughly monitor and successfully drive both academic and administrative interventions across the 75 districts of the state, and thereby advance towards the vision of providing high quality education to all students studying in Grades 1 to 8 in public schools.”
“The live and cascaded dashboards have empowered all system actors, right from the block to the state level to take data-backed decisions to drive progress across all interventions. We have currently integrated over 20 ‘govtech’ systems (apps, portals etc) and visualised cadre-wise KPIs in a colour-coded manner,” he said. “We have operationalised a 40-seater call centre dedicated to drive outcomes through active nudges and timely diagnosis. At the same time, the call centre also serves as a helpline for the grievance redressal for the field staff. Currently, the call centre has a monthly call capacity of around 1 lakh mature calls.”
“Going forward, the plan is to build a culture where data-backed monitoring is a way of life for all system actors through further technological advancements and capacity building,” added Anand
Officials in Chhattisgarh, however, said progress was slow in setting up a VSK in the state, and they were yet to start work on the software component.
In Bihar, Sajjan R., Director of State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), told ThePrint that the state had initiated the process for setting up a VSK and several meetings had been held on the subject, but additional funds and a support team were required for the same.
“So far, a location has been identified to set up the building of the VSK. Data cleaning of the student and teacher registry is underway and is expected to be completed shortly. We are also planning to undertake the challenging task of teacher-training and their familiarisation with technology to aid monitoring,” he said.
He added that “we would like a support team from the education ministry to be stationed in Patna to help in setting up the system and to operationalise it”.
“They can work closely with the Bihar Education Project Council and SCERT. Further budgetary assistance for recurring expenses would be required from the Samagra Shiksha Scheme to sustain the project,” he told ThePrint.
This is an updated version of the story.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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