World Bank backs Assam’s education overhaul plan, ASAP project to begin in 2026

Guwahati, Aug 21: Assam’s ambitious plan to overhaul its school education and early childhood care system received a push recently as World Bank officials and senior State authorities met in Guwahati to finalize preparations for the ‘Assam- Supporting School Education and Adolescent Wellbeing (ASAP)’ project.

The initiative, cleared by the State Cabinet, and slated to begin in early 2026, promises sweeping reforms – from creating model ‘Leader Schools’ to modernizing over 1,700 Anganwadi Centres – in a bid to tackle dropout rates, improve learning outcomes, and strengthening adolescent wellbeing.

The meeting chaired by Dr Ravi Kota, Chief Secretary, Assam and participated by Meghna Sharma, Education Specialist of the World Bank brought together the visiting delegation, senior officials from Samagra Shiksha Assam (SSA), and other key stakeholders. A comprehensive review of the project’s readiness was held, with participants agreeing to fast-track preparations to meet the target launch date.

The ASAP project is designed to strengthen Assam’s school education system through systemic reforms and technology-driven solutions. Besides ‘Leader Schools’ and modern Anganwadi Centres (AWCs), it envisions the creation of upgraded infrastructure, trained teachers, and robust governance, aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG-4). These models will be replicated across the State to transform the education landscape, supported by the establishment of a State Resource Centre for Early Childhood Education (ECE) and adolescent well-being.

Assam currently has over 44,000 government and provincialized schools, more than two lakh teachers, and nearly 47 lakh students. Its 61,000-plus AWCs provide early childhood care and education to about 16 lakh children. Despite this vast network, challenges persist – including high dropout and low retention rates, low learning proficiency, shortages of trained science, mathematics, and English teachers, inadequate pedagogical skills among educators and Anganwadi workers, and substandard infrastructure in many AWCs.

Key reforms under the project include upgrading about 400 upper primary and secondary schools to senior secondary level – 196 in the first phase, constructing 1,733 model AWCs, establishing the State Resource Centre, training teachers and Anganwadi workers, integrating nutrition with foundational learning for ECCE, providing career counselling, reforming student assessments, and implementing technology-enabled governance and monitoring systems.

The project will be implemented jointly by Samagra Shiksha Assam, the Department of Women and Child Development (WCD), and the Public Works Department (PWD), with oversight from a dedicated project management unit. Following the review meeting, officials reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring timely groundwork so that the project can commence as planned in early 2026.

By

Staff Reporter

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}