All about the World Bank's STARS Project.
                     All about the World 
Bank's STARS Project
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What is STARS program?
• Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for 
States Program (STARS) will help in improving 
assessment systems, facilitating school-to-work 
transition, strengthening classroom instruction 
and remediation, decentralizing management 
and strengthening the governance. 
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STARS program in India
• On June 24, the World Bank has approved $500 
million STARS program to improve the quality and 
governance of school education in six Indian states 
through Samagra Shiksha. 
• This program will benefit around 250 million 
students of the age group 6-17 years in 1.5 million 
schools and more than 10 million teachers. 
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What is Samagra Shiksha?
• Samagra Shiksha is an integrated program for 
extending school education from pre-school to Class 
12 to ensure inclusive and equitable quality 
education. 
• It includes three schemes Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan 
(SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) 
and Teacher Education (TE). 
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Key Highlights:
• The project would be implemented under the 
Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry 
of Education (MoE). 
• The project will cover six major states-- Himachal 
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, 
Kerala and Odisha.
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Aim of the Project
• The STARS project also aims at focusing on initiatives 
of PM e-Vidya, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy 
Mission and National Curricular and Pedagogical 
Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education as 
part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
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PARAKH
• The cabinet has also approved setting up of an 
independent and autonomous institution (PARAKH) 
under the Department of School Education and 
Literacy, MoE.
• A project similar to STARS will be funded by ADB 
Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and 
Assam. 
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How STARS is beneficial for India? 
• STARS will support India's vision 'Education 
for All' through a series of initiatives that are 
listed below:
• Customized local-level Solutions
• Address specific demands
• Attention to students from vulnerable sections
• Changing job trend
• Equipping teachers
• Investment in India's human capital
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Sustainable Development Goal
• The program will also focus on the SDG 4 
(Sustainable Development Goal) for education and 
will help in producing an enhanced data on 
learning levels by improving the National 
Achievement Survey (NAS). 
• The STARS will also assist India in participating in 
the PISA (Programme for International Student 
Assessment). 
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What are the challenges with the project?
• Fails to Address Capacity Issues:
• Without capable and motivated faculty, teacher 
education and training cannot be expected to 
improve.
• Excessive use of Information and Communications 
Technology:
• Technology does not address most of the systemic or 
governance challenges but it simply by-passes them.
• Ignoring Decentralization:
• The World Bank ignores that decentralizing decision-
making requires the devolution of funds and real 
decision-making power.
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Addressing Specific Demands
• Addressing demands from stakeholders, especially 
parents, for greater accountability and inclusion by 
producing better data to assess the quality of 
learning.
• Giving special attention to students from vulnerable 
sections, with over 52% (as a weighted average) of 
children in the government-run schools in the six 
project states belonging to vulnerable sections, such 
as Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and 
minority communities.
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