The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the STARS project under the New Education Policy to support states in strengthening the school education system, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said Wednesday. The World Bank-supported project is estimated to cost Rs 5,718 crore, with World Bank support amounting to approximately Rs. 3700 crore, he said. The project aims to support the states in developing and improving school education outcomes, the minister said.
The STARS project also includes a Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC). 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 CERC component would facilitate the rapid re-categorization of financing and the utilization of streamlined financing request procedures.
The project covers 6 States namely Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha. The identified states will be supported for various interventions for improving the quality of education. Besides this project, it is also envisaged to implement a similar ADB funded project in 5 states namely Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Assam. All states will partner with one other state for sharing their experiences and best practice.
