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The Many Dimensions of Evaluating ‘Quality’ Education
Following the “Gunotsav–A Quality Initiative” exercise undertaken by the Government of Assam in 2017 and 2018 to assess the quality of its government schools in the state, the views of the external examiners involved in the assessment of various schools are presented. While quality cannot be quantified, reflections of examiners from exercises such as Gunotsav help in situating the education offered by government schools in the particular socio-economic contexts of Assam, apart from underscoring the range of challenges faced by such schools.
The author is grateful to the anonymous referee for providing invaluable suggestions and comments on a previous version of this paper.
Gunotsav Examiners’ Reflections
There have been policies and frameworks in India that have focused on the need to evaluate schools to ensure quality education. The National Policy on Education, 1986 stated that continuous and comprehensive education needed to incorporate scholastic as well as non-scholastic parameters of evaluation to gauge quality of education in institutes (MHRD 1992). The National Curriculum Framework, 2005 also recommended continuous and comprehensive evaluation for enhanced learning (NCERT 2005). Similarly, sustainable development goal 4 (SDG 4) emphasised improved learning outcomes by 2030 by bolstering equitable quality primary and secondary education (UN India nd). The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 mandates free and compulsory education to every child aged between 6 and 14 years and stressed the need for governments to ensure good quality education at the elementary level (GoI 2009: 4).
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