Centre, states should share best social practices: Panagariya

Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya on Monday laid a premium on the Centre and states meeting more frequently to deliberate on outcome of various social schemes and sharing the best practices.

In a step aimed at promoting co-operative federalism, the government's policy think-tank, NITI Aayog, has organised a day-long national conference of states/UTs to share notable practices in the social sector service delivery mechanism.

Speaking at the event, the noted economist said: "We should hold a series of interactions between states to share each others best practices. The social capital of one state is different from the other, but sharing experiences can help in finding better solutions to various issues like education."

Referring to the education sector in general and primary and secondary education in particular, Panagariya emphasised on criticality of scaling up of such programmes.

"An important issue is scaling. Building successful practices in these sectors on a larger scale is the challenge and we need to address that. Also, while doing this, one needs to keep in mind that it is an organic process with situations different in every state," he added.

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant harped on challenges in primary and secondary education.

Elementary education (from class I to VIII) suffers from poor teaching quality and the dropout rate is almost 30 per cent. "This needs to be addressed at the earliest, elementary education is the building block," Kant stressed.

Kant underscored the need for vocational programmes in secondary education, where the dropout rate is almost 40 per cent.

"A sense of direction to the student is very important. Especially for underprivileged sections, vocational education programmes during school years prepare them for the life ahead," Kant, the former DIPP secretary, added.

The National Conference on Good Practices in the Social Sector Service Delivery, organised by NITI Aayog, will provide a knowledge-sharing platform where state governments and UTs can share their experiences in implementing good practices with regard to service delivery in the social sector.

The conference will be focusing on select case studies, from education and health sectors, and aims to have a cross-learning experience where non-government and government initiatives come together to provide for effective and efficient service delivery.