Source: TH
Context: The Ministry of Education is urging states to establish Vidya Samiksha Kendras (VSKs), which are data repositories under the National Digital Education Architecture.
- These centres will collect data from various educational schemes run by the Ministry of Education, including mid-day meal programs, teacher training, textbook content, school attendance, students’ learning outcomes, and performance grading.
Currently, a central VSK centre is managed by Ernst and Young, and it operates on open-source C-Qube software. Data is manually input and accessible in downloadable Excel format, but the plan is to shift to automatic data integration using Application Programming Interface (API) integration. This aligns with the National Education Policy of 2020, aiming to make data open source.
Significance:
- The goal is to analyse data from various sources for correlations and insights. For example, attendance patterns can be correlated with student drop-out rates or linked to the effectiveness of mid-day meal programs.
- VSKs are also intended to map school locations and population data to assess the Gross Access Ratio, aiding in the planning of new schools, industry clusters, skilling requirements, and higher education institutions based on demand and future scenarios.
This initiative aims to improve educational data analytics and enhance decision-making in the education sector.
