Policy Update
Sreeja Mukherjee
The Accelerating State Education Program to Improve Results (ASPIRE) is a significant educational initiative that the Government of India implemented with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Approved in 2021 with a $500 million loan, ASPIRE aligns with the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) Samagra Shiksha (Integrated Scheme for School Education) that was launched in 2018 by combining previous central schemes supporting primary education (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan), secondary education (Rashitriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan), and teacher education.
Launched at a pivotal moment when India had nearly universal enrollment in primary education but continued to struggle with translating that enrollment into improved learning outcomes, ASPIRE is a distinctive program. The program’s distinct focus on enhancing the quality of education, particularly foundational learning at the primary level, and reducing dropout rates at the secondary level, sets it apart from other initiatives.
ASPIRE is being implemented across five states: Assam, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand, with a timeline of five years (2022-2027). The program’s primary beneficiaries include students from government schools, particularly those from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and teachers working in these institutions. The initiative gained additional significance during the COVID-19 pandemic, which exacerbated learning challenges through prolonged school closures and limited remote learning opportunities, especially in rural areas.
Functioning:
ASPIRE functions as a results-based lending (RBL) program, where disbursement is linked to achieving specific indicators rather than specific expenditures. By encouraging stakeholders to coordinate their efforts toward shared goals, this strategy fortifies the system as a whole and gives states the freedom to choose specific actions based on their ongoing projects.
The program uses a number of strategic elements to function:
- Exemplar School Initiative: Approximately 1,800 government schools across the five program states are being transformed into model schools demonstrating quality learning environments and effective teaching practices. These schools anchor integrated clusters or complexes by sharing teaching-learning resources with primary feeder schools.
- Student-Centered Learning Programs: The program scales up student-centered foundational learning practices such as activity-based learning (Pragna in Gujarat) and group-based remedial learning in Jharkhand. These are implemented in both exemplar schools and approximately 14,000 cluster schools.
- Learning Enhancement Programs (LEPs): Teachers and school leaders receive training to implement LEPs online and offline modalities in foundational learning, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM), 21st-century skills, and other digital capability programs.
- Institutional Capacity Development: ASPIRE strengthens State Councils for Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) and District Institutes for Education and Training (DIETs) to improve their training content and pedagogical and practicum training delivery.
- Management Information Systems (MIS): State-level MISs are being strengthened to improve policy and planning with a focus on learning outcomes.
The program’s implementation follows the well-established mechanisms of Samagra Shiksha, with the MOE serving as the executing agency and its Department of School Education and Literacy as the primary implementing agency. At the state level, the State Implementation Society (SIS) is the implementing agency headed by the state project director.
Performance:
Since ASPIRE’s implementation began in 2022, the program has been working toward achieving its target outcomes through a series of disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs). The program’s performance can be evaluated through the progress made on these indicators, including outcome and output indicators.
At the outcome level, the program aims to improve proficiency in language and mathematics among grade 3 students and reduce dropout rates at the secondary level (from grade 9 to 10). Targeted interventions are necessary because the baseline dropout rate in government secondary schools (27%) was more than double that of private secondary schools (13%).
Key performance indicators at the output level include:
- Equitable access led to an increase in the number of high-quality public schools.
- Learning became more relevant and of higher quality.
- Improved ability of educators and school administrators
- Management of the school education system strengthened
The selection of exemplar schools follows specific criteria, including high enrollment schools, schools with existing basic infrastructure, girls-only schools, schools with significant tribal populations, and those in remote areas. This deliberate choice guarantees that a wide range of students, especially those from underprivileged backgrounds, will benefit from the curriculum.
The program’s emphasis on results-based financing guarantees that success is monitored and confirmed by an impartial verification organization, even if detailed data on the program’s performance is still being developed as implementation progresses.
Impact:
ASPIRE has a multidimensional effect that addresses both wider socioeconomic results and the quality of education:
- Educational Quality: The learning crisis in India is being successfully addressed by ASPIRE’s conversion of model schools and adoption of student-centered learning strategies. Many students might not develop grade-level competencies even after progressing to higher grades. The National Achievement Survey (NAS) has shown that one-third to nearly half of students fail to obtain the language and math proficiency expected at each grade level. By guaranteeing that students attain grade-level competencies and enhancing the quality of education, ASPIRE is making tremendous progress.
- Equity and Inclusion: Education equity is being improved by ASPIRE’s focus on government schools, which primarily serve girls and children from socially and economically underprivileged homes. ASPIRE’s dedication to social justice and inclusiveness in education is demonstrated by the inclusion of girls-only schools in the list of exemplar schools and the provision of sufficient sex-segregated sanitation facilities, both of which directly benefit female students.
- Employment and Economic Growth: ASPIRE helps equip students with skills needed for future jobs by strengthening foundational learning and introducing STEAM and vocational education. This is particularly important as India seeks to capitalize on its “demographic dividend” with a large youth population (354 million people aged 15-29, representing 27% of the total population).
- Institutional Capacity: By focusing on bolstering state educational institutions and management information systems, the program helps build long-term capacity, which is necessary to maintain educational advancements even when the program gets over.
When schools closed during COVID-19, ASPIRE became more than a policy—it became a lifeline. Behind every statistic of “learning loss” was a real child worried about falling behind, a parent losing sleep, and teachers determined not to let their students down. The program met this moment with heart, creating solutions that reached children in their homes, even in remote villages. By developing both digital resources and low-tech alternatives, ASPIRE showed it understood what matters most: not just education itself, but the children and families who depend on it.
The program’s impact on learning outcomes will become more evident as implementation progresses and data becomes available through enhanced monitoring systems.
However, the program doesn’t just exist on paper—it tackles the real obstacles that have kept too many children from thriving in India’s government schools. From crumbling classrooms to overworked teachers and outdated materials, ASPIRE sees these challenges through the eyes of the students who face them every day. By focusing on what truly matters in a child’s education journey—from safe spaces to learn, to teachers who are supported and inspired, to learning materials that spark curiosity—the program offers hope to millions of families who dream of better opportunities for their children through education.
Emerging Issues and Recommendations:
Several issues have emerged in the implementation of ASPIRE:
- Varying State Capacities: The five program states have different levels of capacity and experience with quality initiatives, which may affect the overall progress and timely achievement of results at the cumulative level.
- Recommendation: Strengthen support for capacity building by providing targeted technical help, primarily to states that perform worse, while guaranteeing cross-learning and the exchange of best practices between states.
- Fiduciary Management: While Samagra Shiksha has established fiduciary management procedures, these have not been consistently applied across the states.
- Recommendation: Implement capacity-building programs to improve procurement, financial management, internal control, planning, and transparency across all program states.
- Infrastructure and Resource Gaps: Many government schools still face significant gaps in learning facilities, teaching resources, and human resources, which may limit the effectiveness of quality interventions.
- Recommendation: Prioritize infrastructure development and resource allocation in exemplar schools while developing resource-sharing strategies through the cluster approach.
- Teacher Capacity and Motivation: The success of learning interventions depends heavily on teacher capacity and motivation, which varies across schools and states.
- Recommendation: Enhance ongoing professional development initiatives for educators and implement rewards for better instruction.
- Digital Divide: The pandemic has brought attention to the fact that many pupils, especially those in rural areas, lack access to electronics and connectivity.
- Recommendation: Both tablets and blackboards are essential in schools. ASPIRE provides every child their best chance by delivering digital tools to underserved areas while preserving what already functions.
Way Forward:
ASPIRE is a significant step in improving the quality of education in India by addressing the fundamental elements required to deliver high-quality instruction and improve students’ learning. The program is well-positioned to support the larger educational goals specified in the National Education Policy 2020 because of its concentration on infrastructure and pedagogical advancements, as well as its results-based financing.
Prioritizing the following tactics will increase the program’s impact:
- Strengthening the integration of exemplar schools within the broader educational ecosystem to ensure that innovations and best practices spread to other schools.
- Enhancing the use of data for evidence-based decision-making through improved management information systems.
- Building sustainable institutional capacity at all levels, from schools to state educational institutions.
- Addressing equity concerns by ensuring that students from disadvantaged backgrounds, especially girls and those from scheduled castes and tribes, benefit from quality interventions.
- Fostering greater collaboration between government schools and private stakeholders to leverage resources and expertise for educational improvement.
ASPIRE may make a substantial contribution to India’s goal of developing a knowledge-based economy with a trained and productive labour force by concentrating on these tactics. The program’s focus on digital skills, vocational education, and fundamental learning fits in nicely with the shifting demands of the global economy and sets up India’s youth for success in a labour market that is changing quickly.
References:
Asian Development Bank. (2021). ADB to Help Improve Quality and Inclusive School Education in India. https://www.adb.org/news/adb-help-improve-quality-and-inclusive-school-education-india
Asian Development Bank. (2021). Program Soundness Assessment: Accelerating State Education Program to Improve Results (RRP IND 53386-001). https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/linked-documents/53386-001-ld-01.pdf
Early Warning System. (2021). India: Accelerating State Education Program to Improve Results. Rights in Development. https://ewsdata.rightsindevelopment.org/files/documents/01/ADB-53386-001.pdf
Government of India. (2022). Questions to Ministry of Education on ASPIRE Program. Lok Sabha. https://sansad.in/getFile/loksabhaquestions/annex/177/AU2430.pdf?source=pqals
Policy Commons. (2021). India: Accelerating State Education Program to Improve Results (ASPIRE). https://policycommons.net/artifacts/2004187/india/2755956/
About the Contributor: Sreeja Mukherjee is affiliated with IMPRI and pursuing Masters in International Electoral Management and Practices at TISS, Mumbai.
Acknowledgement: The author extends sincere gratitude to Dr. Arjun Kumar and Aasthaba Jadeja for their invaluable guidance and support.
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.
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