The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and World Bank along with the Ministry of Education (MOE) have signed an agreement for the financial support of the implementation of Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS) project, the Ministry of Education said in a statement.

The total project cost of STARS project is Rs 5718 crore with the financial support of World Bank amounting to approximately Rs 3700 crore and rest coming as state share from the participating states, over a period of five years.

The STARS project would be implemented as a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), MOE.

The program envisions improving the overall monitoring and measurement activities in the Indian school education system through interventions in selected states.

Earlier the Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of STARS project on 14 October 2020.

The project covers six 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.

The proposed World Bank support under STARS is primarily in the form of a results-based financing instrument called Program for Results (PforR). This will ensure major reforms at the state level through a set of disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs).

STARS project will be instrumental in the implementation of various recommendations of National Education Policy 2020 i.e. Strengthening Early Childhood Education and Foundational Learning, Improving Learning Assessment System, ICT-enabled approaches in education, Teachers Development and Vocational education etc.