Guwahati, Dec 26: In the wake of an apparent dip in the quality and learning outcomes of students assessed under Gunotsav over the past three to four years, the Assam government has now decided to motivate schools to sustain good performance by rewarding institutions securing A+ grades on a consistent basis from next year.
To start with, schools securing A+ grades for two consecutive years under the assessment initiative will be awarded with a cash incentive of Rs 50,000 each.
The announcement was made by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at the ‘Gunotsav Award 2022’ distribution ceremony here on Sunday.
“Besides, an additional teacher above the sanctioned strength will be appointed in such schools as an incentive. Further, teachers employed on contractual basis in such schools will be given permanent appointment by the government,” the chief minister said.
An initiative of the department of school education, the ‘Gunotsav Award 2022’ was conferred on 4,841 schools that managed to secure A+ grades in the last evaluation.
Each of these schools have been awarded a cash incentive of Rs 25,000 during the function.
Two apps, ‘Analytics Powered E-Classroom’ and ‘Siksha Setu Axom,’ which are aimed at widening the technological outreach of the education department, were also launched by the chief minister on the occasion.
Gunotsav is an initiative of the Assam government aimed at augmenting quality education and contributing towards overall development of students.
Under the initiative, learning gaps of each child are identified to ensure quality education with grade specific learning outcomes.
It also aims to indicate learning gaps and design effective strategies to bridge the gaps; assess the performance of schools; ensure greater participation of all stakeholders and enhance accountability among them for quality education.
Notably, the number of schools securing A+ grades has decreased substantially since 2019.
This year, 4,841 schools managed to secure A+ grades as against 10,678 schools in the year 2018, indicating a significant fall in quality and learning outcomes of the students.
All government, provincialised and tea garden management schools of elementary and secondary level are covered under Gunotsav. The evaluation is conducted for students of Classes I to Class IX.
Referring to Gunotsav as an alternative method to measure the quality of education in schools over the traditional system of written examination, Sarma termed it a process of continuous evaluation that enables the stakeholders to focus on the strong as well as the weak points as far as imparting education is concerned.
“Gunotsav is a medium through which the educational environment of Assam could be radically transformed for the betterment of the state as a whole,” he said.