New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS): The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a World Bank supported 'STARS' project that will support states in terms of education, said Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar.

This project will be implemented as a new centrally-sponsored scheme under the Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education. The 6 states that are covered are Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Odisha.

The World Bank-supported programme is known as Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States (STARS). The cost of this project is going to be Rs 5,718 crore with financial support of the World Bank amounting to $500 million, said the Centre.

The project seeks to support states as far as developing, implementing, evaluating and improving interventions with direct linkages to improved education outcomes and school-to-work transition strategies for improved labour market outcomes.

The goal will be to increase fundamental literacy and numeracy among children of 3 to 8 years of age among others. Javadekar said that the main idea behind the project is "learning outcomes".