Two years after Gujarat formed the Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) to gather and evaluate data from various government initiatives, 14 other states and one Union Territory (UT) have begun the process of establishing similar organisations. The VSK, a cutting-edge control room, is entrusted with gathering data to track important performance indicators in schools, such as teacher and student attendance, as well as conducting summative and periodic assessments of students’ learning outcomes. NCERT, the central government’s apex authority for school education research, has already established a centralised VSK to monitor state data on education, and it is now functioning as the nodal agency to offer states with the technical know-how needed to establish their own VSKs. Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Meghalaya, Haryana, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Mizoram, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Andaman & Nicobar are in the process of starting their VKS.
Anita Karwal, then Secretary in the Department of School Education and Literacy, asked states to seek funds from the central government and begin establishing VSKs at the National Education Ministers’ Conference in Gujarat in June 2022. The first VSK was established in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar in June 2021 by then-chief minister Vijay Rupani. In April of last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to the centre. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the Vidya Samiksha Kendra collects over 500 crore data sets annually and analyses them meaningfully using big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to improve overall learning outcomes for students.
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