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Subject: SchemeXHR

  • PM-SETU clears three State Implementation Plans worth ₹735.70 crore

    Why in News

    1. Fifth committee meeting: The fifth National Steering Committee of PM-SETU approved three State Implementation Plans (SIPs) worth ₹735.70 crore on 8 September 2026.

    Core facts

    1. Full name: PM-SETU is the Pradhan Mantri Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs scheme.
    2. Administering body: The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) runs it.
    3. Model: It uses an industry led, cluster based design. A Hub Industrial Training Institute (ITI) supports a network of Spoke ITIs.
    4. Cumulative investment: Approved investment now totals ₹2,171 crore across 9 ITI clusters.
    5. Rajasthan plan: Value ₹241 crore. Industry partner H.G. Infra Engineering Limited. Hub is Government ITI Bhiwadi. Rajasthan is the first state to execute a shareholders agreement.
    6. Telangana plan: Value ₹254.30 crore. Industry partner ZEN Technologies Limited. Hub is Government ITI Medchal.
    7. Uttar Pradesh plan: Value ₹240.40 crore. Partner is the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). Hub is Government ITI Saket, Meerut.

    Static Context

    1. Industrial Training Institutes are post school vocational training centres. They fall under the Directorate General of Training.
    2. The National Skill Development Corporation is a public private partnership body that funds and scales skilling.
    3. Demographic dividend refers to growth potential from a rising working age share of the population. Skilling converts this potential into productive employment.

    Prelims angle

    1. Nodal ministry: Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
    2. Structure: Hub and Spoke ITI model, industry led clusters.
    3. Distinguish schemes: PM-SETU against Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana and the Recognition of Prior Learning scheme.

    Mains angle

    1. GS2 and GS3: A question can assess how industry linked ITI upgrades strengthen the link between education, skilling and employability.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2018] With reference to Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, consider the following statements :
    1. It is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
    2. It, among other things, will also impart training in soft skills, entrepreneurship, financial and digital literacy.
    3. It aims to align the competencies of the unregulated workforce of the country to the National Skill Qualification Framework.
    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
    (a) 1 and 3 only
    (b) 2 only
    (c) 2 and 3 only
    (d) 1, 2 and 3
    Final answer: (c)”

    “[2023, GS2, 15 marks] Skill development programs have succeed in increasing human resources supply to various sectors. In the context of the statement analyze the linkages between education, skill and employment.”

  • Quality elementary teachers are vital to lives of children, nation-building: top court

    Why in the News

    The Supreme Court has added teacher education institutions and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) as the sixth and seventh duty bearers of the right to free and compulsory elementary education. A Division Bench held that free and compulsory education for children aged six to fourteen has attained the status of an enforceable fundamental right, and that teacher education has not been given the attention it deserves. The ruling came on an appeal against a Delhi High Court order of 13 March 2023, which had held the NCTE’s Public Notice of 22 September 2019 to be arbitrary and illegal. That notice requires every teacher education institution to file an annual Performance Appraisal Report. The contest was over the source of the power: the notice was challenged on the ground that only the Council itself, and not its Executive Committee, could issue and implement it.

    What is the National Council for Teacher Education?

    1. A statutory regulator of the teacher supply chain: It is constituted under the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993 to achieve the planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system in the country.
    2. It regulates the institutions that train teachers: A teacher education institution is defined in Section 2(e) of that Act as an institution offering a course or training in teacher education.
    3. It sets the qualifications a teacher must hold: Section 23 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 makes it the academic authority for laying down the minimum qualifications for appointment as a teacher.

    Who are the duty bearers of the right to elementary education?

    1. Five were already recognised: Judicial precedent had identified the government, the local authority, the neighbourhood school, the parents or guardians, and the teacher.
    2. Teacher education institutions become the sixth: The institutions defined in Section 2(e) now carry a duty toward the right, rather than only a licensing relationship with their regulator.
    3. The Council becomes the seventh: It is required to ensure that those institutions function effectively and efficiently and conduct their affairs with integrity.
    4. The addition changes what is justiciable: A duty bearer’s failure is actionable, so a lapse in the training of teachers is now capable of being pleaded as a failure of the right itself.

    What did the Court hold on the power to demand appraisal reports?

    1. The Public Notice is legal and valid: The Court upheld the requirement that institutions upload an annual Performance Appraisal Report, and set aside the High Court order that had quashed it.
    2. The Executive Committee acted within jurisdiction: The Court found ample empowerment in both the Council and its Executive Committee to call for the report.
    3. The power is incidental and ancillary: A regulatory measure of this kind flows from the duties and functions of a regulator even without a specific empowerment in the statute.
    4. The regulator is itself appraised: The NCTE undergoes a performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), so requiring the same discipline from institutions it regulates follows from its own position.

    Why does the Court place teacher training at the centre of the right?

    1. No resource ranks higher than a student’s mind and character: The Court held that elementary school teachers carry the most important role in nation-building and are to be treated with respect and care.
    2. The entitlement is only as good as the person delivering it: A right to education delivered by an untrained teacher is formally satisfied and substantively empty, which is why the regulator of training is being read into the right.
    3. Accountability of institutions is the stated purpose: The Court recorded that it is necessary for the Council and its bodies to ensure accountability of educational institutions.

    Challenges to the National Council for Teacher Education

    1. Recognition ran ahead of capacity: Approval was granted to private institutions at a pace that outstripped any ability to verify what they actually taught. Eg. The Justice J.S. Verma Commission on Teacher Education reported in 2012 that a large number of private institutions were commercial rather than academic in character.
      The Fix: Tie continued recognition to a published appraisal score reviewed on a fixed cycle, so approval becomes renewable rather than permanent.
    2. Retrospective validation weakens the standard: Recognition granted after the fact rewards institutions that ran courses without approval. Eg. The National Council for Teacher Education (Amendment) Act, 2019 conferred retrospective recognition and permission on specified institutions.
      The Fix: Bar retrospective recognition outright and require approval to be in place before an academic session opens.
    3. Quality is measured only at the exit, and only by the State: The regulator holds no outcome data on the graduates its recognised institutions produce. Eg. Pass rates in teacher eligibility tests have generally stayed under a fifth of the candidates appearing.
      The Fix: Publish institution wise eligibility test pass rates, so the appraisal report carries an outcome measure rather than a compliance declaration.
    4. Enforcement rests on self reported filings: A report filed by the institution about itself carries no independent verification. Eg. The Council reaches institutions across every State through four regional committees.
      The Fix: Sample audit a fixed share of filed reports each year through State education departments, with recognition suspended on a false filing.

    Conclusion

    The Court has widened the set of actors who owe a duty under the right to elementary education. It has not created the instrument that measures whether that duty is being met. The appraisal report is now the only candidate for that role. Whether it becomes a published, comparable record of what an institution produces, or settles into an annual compliance filing, is what will decide whether the two new duty bearers carry a duty in substance.

    Back2Basics

    1. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 gives statutory effect to Article 21A, which was inserted by the Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002.
    2. Section 12(1)(c) requires private unaided schools to reserve 25 percent of entry level seats for children from disadvantaged groups and weaker sections.
    3. It bars screening procedures and capitation fees at the point of admission.
    4. It requires a School Management Committee in every government and aided school, with three fourths of its members drawn from parents and guardians.

    “[2018] Consider the following statements:

    1. As per the Right to Education (RTE) Act, to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in a State, a person would be required to possess the minimum qualification laid down by the concerned State Council of Teacher Education.

    2. As per the RTE Act, for teaching primary classes, a candidate is required to pass a Teacher Eligibility Test conducted in accordance with the National Council of Teacher Education guidelines.

    3. In India, more than 90% of teacher education institutions are directly under the State Governments

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 and 2

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1 and 3

    (d) 3 only

  • Can free public technology break the private coaching industry?

    Why in the News

    The Independence Day address of 15 August 2026 announced that the government will roll out free online coaching for competitive examinations using India’s digital public infrastructure. The announcement raises a question free access alone cannot settle, since the coaching industry sells structure, assessment and test strategy rather than lectures.

    What is the proposed free online coaching network?

    1. About: A publicly funded online coaching service for aspirants of competitive examinations, to be built on India’s existing digital public infrastructure, teachers and talent.
    2. Stated purpose: The stated objective is to save poor and middle-class families thousands of crores of rupees and to let students prepare without leaving their homes.
    3. Trigger for the announcement: The announcement was framed as an outreach to Gen-Z youth, following widespread student protests against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak.
    4. Design question left open: The current thinking within government is one course per examination, against a proposal for a single layered stack serving many examinations.

    What is SWAYAM?

    1. About: Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) is the government’s massive open online course platform, offering courses from Class 9 to post-graduation free of cost to any learner.

    What is SAATHI?

    1. About: Self Assessment Test and Help for Entrance Exams (SAATHI) is a free preparation platform and application for national entrance examinations, carrying lectures and practice tests for aspirants.

    What is agentic artificial intelligence?

    1. About: Agentic artificial intelligence describes systems that pursue a goal across multiple steps on their own, choosing actions and tools rather than answering a single prompt at a time.
    2. Why it is invoked here: In a learning platform it allows the system to diagnose a student’s weak areas, set the next task and adapt the sequence without a teacher directing each step.

    What is a digital twin in education?

    1. About: A digital twin is a live digital replica of a real system, updated with data from that system so changes can be tested on the replica first.
    2. Why it is invoked here: A digital twin of a course or a classroom lets a student tweak the model and reshape the learning path to individual need.

    Why does coaching dependency persist when schools and colleges exist?

    1. Two different objectives: The school aims to conceptualise learning and focuses on board examinations. Competitive examinations ask whether a student can outperform millions of others under severe time pressure.
    2. A separate skill set: The two are different dimensions and require a separate skill set, which the school curriculum is not designed to build.
    3. Where dependency begins: Students in Classes 9 and 10 are less dependent on coaching. Dependency starts in Classes 11 and 12 as students begin preparing for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and NEET and have to solve complex questions.
    4. The gap in objectives: The board curriculum is not designed to prepare a student for the examinations that follow it, so the objectives of the two systems diverge sharply.

    What does the private coaching industry sell that free lectures do not?

    1. Structure: Coaching classes are structured and deliver on what they promise, which free access to recorded lectures does not reproduce.
    2. Assessment and doubt resolution: The industry provides weekly assessments and doubt-solving forums as part of the same package.
    3. Examination technique: Coaching centres teach rapid problem solving and test strategies, including eliminating wrong options to arrive at the right answer, which directly improves rank.
    4. Price is not always the barrier: Not all coaching courses cost lakhs of rupees. Some tutors offer the same structure through an application for a minimum charge of around Rs 700 to Rs 800.
    5. The human element: Personalised feedback and a competitive peer environment come from teachers who mentor a student emotionally and academically, which an online module alone cannot supply.

    Does free access break coaching dependency or add another video library?

    1. The equity reading: The announcement is a major intervention in education equity and an opportunity to redesign the competitive examination preparation ecosystem, so the probability of success depends less on family income, geography and access to an elite coaching centre.
    2. The dependency reading: Accessibility and affordability are not the main issues. The deeper issue is the dependency of the Indian education system on coaching, and a platform that does not end that dependency becomes another free access platform where videos are uploaded daily.
    3. Why existing platforms fall short: The existing public platforms are traditional in nature and are not designed for a cohort that wants mobile-based delivery, quick content in different formats and room to experiment outside a classroom.
    4. The resource argument: The government has ample funds and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) at its disposal, so it can make coaching free. The entire structure has to be incorporated, not only the lectures.
    5. The proposed middle path: A hybrid mechanism is needed, with skill hubs in schools that students attend physically for periodic mentoring alongside online classes, since the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 already encourages skill hubs.

    Should the platform be one common stack or one platform per examination?

    1. The common stack case: India has over 100 major national-level examinations, including the Union Public Service Commission examinations, JEE and NEET, which attract millions of aspirants. About 70 to 80 per cent of these examinations have similar requirements for reasoning, language, general awareness and current affairs.
    2. The proposed grid: A national competitive learning and opportunity grid with a layered selection method would let a student adopt only the layers relevant to the examination being attempted.
    3. The dedicated platform case: The common stack model does not work in practice, since the same subject is taught differently for two examinations. Fundamental concepts in physics are the same for NEET and JEE, and the nature of the examination differs enough to require separate classes.
    4. The feasibility verdict: A common grid is a futuristic plan rather than a currently feasible one, so there should be one proper dedicated platform per examination.
    5. The dilution risk: Building coaching for all national examinations at one point risks diluting quality, which is why the scope of the plan has to be settled first.

    How can the last mile be reached?

    1. The double hurdle: Millions of students face two problems at once: the absence of reliable, high-speed Internet and electricity for online coaching, and examination centres located hundreds of kilometres away.
    2. Current coverage: Third generation and fourth generation mobile implementation has already reached tribal areas, so the residual problem is difficult terrain with low penetration and frequent disconnects.
    3. The satellite receiver: A small, compact ground antenna box is installed at a remote examination centre. The antenna connects directly to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) or Geostationary (GEO) satellites instead of relying on local broadband or mobile networks, in the manner of satellite television broadcasting.
    4. The offline base station: The base station receives the question paper from the satellite and stores it locally. It then acts as an offline server to display the paper or transmit it over short range to students.
    5. The digital answer pad: Students write answers with pen and paper placed over a small smart digital pad carrying short-range wireless capability such as near field communication or radio waves. The pad captures the answers as they are written, encrypts the data locally and saves it in real time, so no active Internet connection is needed during the test.
    6. The upload step: Once the examination ends and a satellite link connects, the local base station securely uploads all encrypted answer files back to the central examination authority.
    7. The low-technology alternative: Existing infrastructure can be improved instead, by installing smart boards, supplying all lectures, and having a mentor play the video and work through concepts and activities in front of the students.

    Challenges to the Free Online Coaching Network

    1. Content without structure: A platform that uploads lectures without weekly assessment and doubt resolution reproduces a library rather than a course. Eg. SWAYAM has run since 2017 with large enrolment and course completion rates that remain a small fraction of registrations.
    2. Device and bandwidth exclusion: Online delivery presumes a personal device and continuous data, which the poorest households do not have. Eg. The National Sample Survey round on education found that only about 8 per cent of rural households with members aged 5 to 24 had both a computer and an Internet connection.
    3. Teacher supply: A public platform needs subject teachers trained in examination technique, and the school system already runs short of teachers. Eg. Government schools carry lakhs of sanctioned teaching posts that lie vacant, with single-teacher schools still functioning in several States.
    4. Examination integrity: Moving preparation online does not address the leak risk in the examination itself, which is what triggered the protests. Eg. The NEET undergraduate paper leak of 2024 forced a re-examination and a Supreme Court-monitored review of the National Testing Agency’s processes.
    5. Coaching hubs and student distress: A free platform does not by itself dismantle the residential coaching economy or its pressures. Eg. Kota in Rajasthan recorded a series of student suicides, which led the district administration to mandate counselling and anti-suicide devices in hostels.
    6. Regional language coverage: Competitive examination content in Indian languages is thin, so a national platform in English replicates the existing advantage. Eg. NEET is conducted in 13 languages, and the supply of quality preparation material outside English and Hindi remains limited.
    7. Sustained financing: Platform costs are recurring, covering content refresh, mentors, assessment and bandwidth, and a one-time announcement does not fund them. Eg. Several State-run e-learning portals launched during the pandemic went dormant once the dedicated budget line lapsed.

    Conclusion

    Free public technology can lower the price of preparation, and price is not the mechanism that sustains coaching dependency. That dependency comes from the gap between what schools teach and what competitive examinations test, and from the structure, assessment and test strategy the coaching industry sells alongside its lectures. A public platform reduces dependency only if it reproduces that structure, adds physical mentoring through school skill hubs, and solves the connectivity and distance problem at the last mile. The scope question, one common stack against one platform per examination, remains unsettled and determines whether quality survives scale.

    “[2016] ‘SWAYAM’, an initiative of the Government of India, aims at

    (a) promoting the Self Help Groups in rural areas

    (b) providing financial and technical assistance to young start-up entrepreneurs

    (c) promoting the education and health of adolescent girls

    (d) providing affordable and quality education to the citizens for free

  • Consider the following statements

    Consider the following statements:

    1. As per the Right to Education (RTE) Act, to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in a State, a person would be required to possess the minimum qualification laid down by the concerned State Council of Teacher Education.
    2. As per the RTE Act, for teaching primary classes, a candidate is required to pass a Teacher Eligibility Test conducted in accordance with the National Council of Teacher Education guidelines.
    3. In India, more than 90% of teacher education institutions are directly under the State Governments
    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  • ‘SWAYAM’, an initiative of the Government of India, aims at

    ‘SWAYAM’, an initiative of the Government of India, aims at

  • ‘Recognition of Prior Learning Scheme’ is sometimes mentioned in the news

    ‘Recognition of Prior Learning Scheme’ is sometimes mentioned in the news
    with reference to

  • Consider the following in respect of ‘National Career Service’

    Consider the following in respect of ‘National Career Service’ :
    1. National Career Service is an initiative of the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India.
    2. National Career Service has been launched in a Mission Mode to improve the employment opportunities to uneducated youth of the country.

    Which of the above statements is/are correct ?

  • With reference to ‘National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF)’, which of the statements given below is/are correct

    With reference to ‘National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF)’, which of the statements given below is/are correct?

    1. Under NSQF, a learner can acquire the certification for competency only through formal learning.
    2. An outcome expected from the implementation of NSQF is the mobility between vocational and general education.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

  • What is the purpose of Vidyanjali Yojana’

    What is the purpose of Vidyanjali Yojana’?
    1. To enable the famous foreign campuses in India.
    2. To increase the quality of education provided in government schools by taking help from the private sector and the community.
    3. To encourage voluntary monetary contributions from private individuals and organizations so as to improve the infrastructure facilities for primary and secondary schools.

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

  • What is the aim of the programme ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’

    What is the aim of the programme ‘Unnat Bharat Abhiyan’ ?