Results in govt schools won't be SAME again

Encouraging results in pilot phase of multimedia learning project

An assessment of learning outcomes of government school students under the Satellite and Advanced Multimedia Education (SAME) project that was started in 14 schools on a pilot basis in 2011-12 showed that they performed much better in SSLC exams and had lower failure rate than those not under the project.

It was based on such positive outcomes that the government has extended the project from 14 to 1,000 schools. The same was announced in Friday’s budget.

The project has been implemented jointly by the Primary and Secondary Education department and a consortium led by the Centre for Public Policy, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB).

The 1,000 schools have been included as part of the second phase of the pilot project and learning will be imparted for five years, said Gopal Naik, professor, Economics and Social Science, IIMB, who heads the project. The classes in the second phase started in November, 2014.

Soon after the completion of the first phase, the assessment was carried out by IIMB in two sets of schools – six that were under the SAME project and six that were not. Results from the years 2010-11 and 2011-12 of respective students were analysed to differentiate the performance.

It was found that prior to the project, learning was the same among students in both the sets of schools.

After the implementation of the project, however, there was a steady improvement in students under the project, judging from the assessment of performance in their term examinations.

Comparison of SSLC results of students from the two set of schools showed that the failure rate in schools under the SAME project reduced to 53 per cent while for those not under the project, it reduced to only 22 per cent.

Pass percentage

Also, the pass percentage in the first set of students increased from 82 per cent to 92 per cent, while for the second set the increase was from 80 per cent to 82 per cent.

While the first phase implementation in 14 schools in Gubbi taluk, Tumakuru district, included 3,112 high school students (classes 8, 9 and 10), the second phase has been extended to 1.85 lakh high school and upper primary students (classes 5, 6, and 7) across 34 taluks in 18 districts. Infrastructure was set up in 700 high schools and 300 upper primary schools in these taluks in September 2014 and trial classes were conducted by October 2014.  

Sathya Sai High School in Muddenahalli, Chikkaballapur, is one the schools under the project. Amar M N, a class VIII student from the school, said, “The classes use a lot of animation and since the teaching imparted is like a movie, it is quite easy to learn, whether it is Science or Math formulae or experiments in physics, biology.”

What is SAME?

It is a two-phase pilot project that aims to improve the quality of education in government schools through the use of hi-tech multimedia content. Its main focus is on increasing learning outcomes in three subjects – Science, Mathematics and English (grammar).

An amount of Rs 40 lakh was spent in the first phase. The budget in the second phase is Rs 1.68 lakh per school per year.

Number of schools for second phase
Bengaluru Rural (Devanahalli, Kanakapura) – 38
Kolar – (Chikkaballapur, Srinivasapur)  -  40
Tumakuru (Pavagada, Tumakuru)  - 58
Chitradurga (Challakere, Chitradurga) – 81
Davanagere (Channagiri, Honnali) – 97
Shivamogga (Sorab, Thirthahalli) – 52
Belagavi (Bailahongal, Soundatti) – 76
Vijayapura (Basavana Bagewadi, Sindhagi) – 50
Bagalkot (Bilagi, Hunagund) – 50
Haveri (Byadagi, Haveri) -  60
Uttara Kannada (Haliyal, Honnavar) -  47
Bidar (Aurad, Basavakalyan) – 50
Kalaburagi (Chittapur, Shorapur) – 91
Raichur (Devadurga, Lingasugur) – 33
Koppal (Koppal, Yelaburga) – 63
Ballari (Kudligi, Sandur) - 32
Mysuru (H D Kote, T Narsipura) - 48
Chamarajanagar (Chamarajanagar, Yelandur) – 34