Education Ministry to issue report cards to assess school performance

Education Minister Sonia Parag

The Ministry of Education plans to issue report cards to schools nationwide as part of a new initiative aimed at strengthening institutional accountability and measuring overall performance.
Education Minister Sonia Parag said the initiative will assess schools based on academic performance, teachers’ output, curriculum delivery and other key indicators. She made the disclosure during an interview on the Starting Point podcast.

Parag said the government has made significant investments in the education sector and wants to ensure value for money.
“We are building schools; we are ensuring that resources are placed in schools for students to benefit from, so we also have to look at moving these schools from one stage to the next,” she said.
She added that schools operate at varying performance levels and that closer scrutiny of management practices could help identify reasons for success or failure.

According to the minister, the report cards could encourage improvement among underperforming schools while providing parents with information to help guide decisions on their children’s education.
“If we are going to have children who are going to become adults who are well skilled and who are going to play a part in our national development and will themselves develop… we have to be able to create the environment for that development to happen,” Parag said.
She noted that effective school management should translate into better outcomes for students, improved returns on state investment and greater accountability among stakeholders.
Parag said the assessments could begin in the first quarter of the year, with reports expected after the National Grade Six Assessment.