What is the School Education Quality Index and what are the considerations on which scores are calculated?
Sravanthi Challapalli
The School Education Quality Index (SEQI) released its first report a couple of months ago ranking States and Union Territories (UTs) for the quality of their education. An initiative of NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Human Resources Development, SEQI’s vision is to build focus on the effectiveness of education across the many components of the education
system. SEQI will base its annual reports on various parameters broadly classified broadly as ‘Learning Outcomes’ and ‘Governance Process Aiding Outcomes’.
SEQI has been developed to provide insights and data-based feedback on the success of school education, says an introductory note by NITI Aayog. Quality school education is a function of a targeted focus on learning outcomes, efficient governance structures, provision of necessary infrastructure and ensuring equitable academic opportunities,
it adds. It defines success based on 30 indicators such as language and mathematics scores as well as the availability of resources such as teachers and books. By involving States and UTs in the design, data collection and validation, it aims to make the process federal, inclusive, competitive and more accountable.
Learning Outcomes
SEQI looks not only at the inputs that go into imparting education but also at what kind of impact they are having. Language and mathematics scores at various stages from Class 3 to Class 8 make up the Learning Outcomes. They have the highest weightage at 360 of a total score of 965. Enrolment in schools at elementary and secondary levels is part of
the ‘Access Outcomes’ category, a sub-division. Continuing student education is another parameter – whether students have moved on from primary to upper primary level and thereon to secondary school, and whether those who are not in school have been mainstreamed. These factors have a collective weightage of 100.
On the ‘Infrastructure & Facilities for Outcomes’ front, the SEQI focuses on the facilities for computer-aided learning, computer lab, book banks/ reading room/libraries and provision for vocational education.
‘Equity Outcomes’ focus on the difference in performance between disadvantaged students and general category students, rural and urban students and boys and girls in language and mathematics at various stages. Difference in transition rates from upper primary to secondary level in these various classes is also taken into account. Unlike the other
parameters mentioned earlier, these factors have a negative impact on the SEQI score a State/UT can achieve.
Special needs count
Given the heightened focus on inclusion, the percentage of special needs children entitled to receive aid is one of the indicators. So is the presence of a toilet for girls, a facility that can have an effect on attendance in school.
Attendance of students and teachers per month is a key factor in ‘Governance Processes Aiding Outcomes’. Whether schools have enough teachers and heads meeting the prescribed norms is another. So is the timely release of Central and State funds to schools.
Design and method
A significant feature of SEQI is that it has categorised States into large and small to arrive at fair comparisons. The index was developed between July 2017 and February 2019. The key stakeholders involved in this collaborative exercise were NITI Aayog, MHRD, States and UTs, World Bank, an independent validation agency and web portal developers. The data used has been sourced mainly from Unified District Information System for Education and National Achievement Survey (2017) results. Most indicators cover only the performance of government-managed schools, but a few cover all school types (government, government-aided and privately managed).
The MHRD has also initiated the process of grading districts and schools to provide more detail.
The SEQI is an evolving instrument, with some indicators being added or dropped as per relevance and availability of data. The links between policy implementation and SEQI indicators will be analysed to reflect the efforts made by States and UTs to better school education. It is hoped the index will lead to sharing of best practices and drive Improvements.
