Education

Education

Role of Education especially in Human Resource Development and Social Change.

Education System in India : Problems and Issues (Including Universalization and Vocationalization).

Education for Girls, other Socially and Economically and other disadvantaged sections of people and Minorities, etc.

Right to Education, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan in India.

Status of Higher, Technical and Vocational Education in India.

Role of Various institutions (central, State and Other Organizations) in promotion of Education.

 

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• Role of Education especially in Human Resource Development and Social Change.

 

Education, Social Change and Modernisation:

 

Education has been accepted as one major agency of socialization, and teachers and educational institutions as socializing agents. In describing education as an instrument of social change, three things are important: the agents of change, the content of change, and the social background of those who are sought to be changed, i.e. students. Educational institutions under the control of different cultural groups reflect the values of those groups which support and control education. In this situation, teachers Impart specific values, aspirations and to the children.

 

Social reformers, who were educated emphasized values like removal of caste restrictions, equality of women, doing away with social evil social customs and practices, voice in the governance of the country, establishing democratic institutions and so on. They, thus, wanted to teach liberal philosophy through education for changing society. In other words they regarded education as a flame or light of knowledge which dispelled the darkness of ignorance. The use of education for spreading the values of modernization came to be emphasized from the 1960s and 1970s onwards. Highly productive economies, distributive justice, people‟s participation in decision-making bodies, adoption of scientific technology in industry, agriculture and other occupations and professions were accepted as goals for modernizing the Indian society. And these goals were to be achieved through liberal education. Thus, modernization was not accepted as a philosophy or a movement based on rational values system but as a process that was to be confined only to economic field but was to be achieved in social, political, cultural and religious fields too. Education was sought to be utilized as channel for the spread of modernity.

According to the sociological perspective, education does not arise in response of the individual needs of the individual, but it arises out of the needs of the society of which the individual is a member1. The educational system of any society is related to its total social system. It is a sub system performing certain functions for the on-going social system. The goals and needs of the total social system get reflected in the functions it lays down for educational system and the form in which it structures it to fulfill those functions. In a static society, the main function of the educational system is to transmit the cultural heritage to the new generations. But in a changing society, these keep on changing from generation to generation and the educational system in such a society must not only transmit the cultural heritage, but also aid in preparing the young for adjustment to any changes in them that may have occurred or are likely to occur in future.

 

Thus, the relationship between educational system and society is mutual; sometimes the society influences changes in educational system and at other times the educational system influences changes in the society.

 

Education of Women :-

 

The National Policy on Education, 1986 also laid emphasis on education for attaining women‟s equality which will foster the development of new values. The strategies proposed are: encouraging educational institutions to take up active programmes to further women‟s development removal of women‟s illiteracy, removing obstacles inhibiting their access to elementary education, and pursuing policy of non-discrimination to eliminate sex stereotyping in vocational, technical and professional courses.

 

Education of SCs, STs. And OBCs

 

Education is directly related to the development of an individual and the community. It is the most important single factor for economic development as well as social emancipation. For the weaker sections of society, education has a special significance because for a number of centuries, their illiteracy and social backwardness have been used for their harassment, humiliation and economic exploitation.

 

Education and Human resource Development

 

Education shapes our present actions, our future plans and our past history which also develops in the future . Education is a very crucial to guide anyone to reach their goals through any success with an effort along , and the chance is very high. Example if you compare a person with masters to a person with only a high school diploma salary is totally different and there is huge gap amount between it. Educations helps you to better understand the world and with that being said education plays big role in human development and indeed it is a great to resource us.

 

Now a days education is very important ,without education the life of a person is just useless .He cannot do any work ,moreover today we cannot easily get a job if we are not educated. It teaches us the basic principles of life without it a person is useless. Education is perfection.

Higher education institutions themselves play a key role in equipping young people with the workforce skills needed by business. But these needs change quickly and often learning institutions are slow to respond. In this regard, stronger links between universities, businesses, trade unions and other stakeholders can help reshape course offerings to stay closely in line with evolving demands for specific skills. Co-operation can also bring other benefits favouring the investment environment, such as fostering an environment conducive to innovation and the quick diffusion of new knowledge.

 

 

 

 

• Education System in India : Problems and Issues (Including Universalization and Vocationalization).

 

 

Main issues of Education in India

1. Lack of infrastructure–Approximately 95.2 per cent of schools are not yet compliant with the complete set of RTE infrastructure indicators according to survey conducted in 2010.They lacks drinking water facilities, a functional common toilet, and do not have separate toilets for girls.

2. Number of boards causes non uniformity of curriculum throughout India so maintenance of quality standard is quite difficult.

   3. Poor global ranking of institutes
   Only 4 universities are featured in first 400 .This is largely because of high faculty-student ratio and lack of research capacity

   4. System of education
   Education is information based rather than knowledge based. The whole focus is on cramming information rather than understanding it and analyzing it.

   5. Gap between education provided and industry required education
   Industry faces a problem to find suitable employee as education provided is not suitable for directly working in industry so before that a company is required to spend large amount on providing training for employee.

   6. Gender issues
   Traditional Indian society suffers from many kind of discrimination so there are many hurdles in education of unprivileged sections of society like women, SC, ST and minority

   7. Costly higher education
   Very minimal amount of subsidy is provided for higher education so if student seeks to get chances of higher education still he misses out because of lack of economical resources

   8. Inadequate government Funding
   The demand for financial resources far exceeds the supply. Very small amount is available for innovative programs and ideas.

 

Issues with Universalization of Education

Universalization of Elementary Education is Constitutional directive. Education is every body’s birth-right and it is binding on any government to provide facilities for education for children who are born and reach the school-going age.

It was stipulated to achieve Universalization within 10 years from the introduction of Constitution and that is by 1960. But it is now more than three decades after the scheduled time. The issues are as follows :

(1) Faulty Policy of Government:

The constitutional directive is that states shall endeavour to provide free and compulsory education to all children until they complete the age of 14 years. But it is a matter of regret that the prescribed goal has not been reached as yet. The main cause for this is that the policy of Government was based on idealism.

(2) Political Difficulties:

Education is the basis of democracy. It is necessary to educate the citizens in order to make democracy a success. But so far the Government of India has not been able to devote their full attention towards education.

Main reason is that since the attainment of Independence, Government had to face the problems of food, of inimical neighbours, the problem of Kashmir, the problem of linguistic states etc. Those problems still exist and these problems have all along forced to allocate so much money that Government has not been able to devote their due attention for elementary education.

(3) Faulty Administration of Education:

In most of the states the responsibility of universal primary education is on the authorities of Blocks, Municipalities and Educational Districts. The progress of expansion of primary education gets slow because of the indifference and incapability of these institutions.

(4) Dearth of Money:

Inadequacy of money is a serious problem that confronts primary schools. Income of the local institutions responsible for primary education is so much limited that they are totally incapable of meeting the expenditure of compulsory education.

To meet the requirements of compulsory basis education it was estimated that an annual expenditure of Rs.269.5 crores will be required. But in the First Five Year Plan the allocation was Rs. 93 crores and this allocation was reduced to Rs.89 crores in the Second Plan

(5) Dearth of Trained Teachers:

There is shortage of trained teachers to make Elementary Education Universal and compulsory. Nowadays, the young teachers do not wish to work in rural areas. But the fact remains that majority of Primary Schools are in rural areas. The chief reason of non-availability of suitable teachers is that teaching work is not attractive for many persons, since the salary of primary teachers is hopelessly low.

The condition of Scheduled areas is still more miserable. The hilly and impassable jungle areas with very poor communication and transport facilities fail to attract the present day luxury-loving young men. Teachers should be provided with proper residence in the villages of their work. The question of Women teachers is very much special.

(6) Establishment and School Buildings:

Even the Third and Fourth All India Educational Surveys indicate that even now there are lakhs of villages and habitations without schools. There are nearly 4 lakhs schoolless villages in India which are to be given schools. It is not that easy to provide necessary funds for setting up such a large number of schools with buildings and other equipments.

(7) Unsuitable Curriculum:

The curriculum for primary schools is narrow and unsuitable to the local needs. The curriculum should be interesting for the children for its continuance. Learning by work should replace the emphasis on monotonous bookish knowledge. Education of craft should be given in the primary schools in accordance with the local needs and requirements. But the schemes of craft education in the primary schools should not of highly expensive ones.

(8) Wastage and Stagnation:

It is another major problem and great obstacle for universalization of Elementary Education. Out of every 100 students enrolled in class – I more than half leave schools by Class IV, only 32 pupils reach class V and only 26 reach class VIII. This is due to the lack of educational atmosphere, undesirable environment, lack of devoted teachers, poor economic condition of parents, absence of proper equipment etc.

(9) Natural Obstacles:

Natural barriers are the great obstacles in the way of expansion of compulsory education. The village and small habitations in areas of Himalayan regions, Kashmir, Garhwal, Almora with less population are situated in distances apart.

(10) Social Evils:

Social evils like superstition, illiteracy faith in ancient conventions and customs, child marriages, untouchability, pardah system etc. create innumerable obstacle in the expansion of compulsory primary education. Still man; persons get their sons and daughters married at a very minor age against the Child Marriage Prohibition Act and deprive these school-going children of the fruits of education.

(11) Language Problem:

1961 Census reports about 826 languages and 1652 dialects in the country. The Constitution of India, 1950 mentions 14 languages, which can be made medium of education. Compulsory education has not been fully introduced among the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and denotified tribes in the country. This is due to the hindrances of languages as medium of education.

Vocational Education and Training (VET) is an important element of the nation’s education initiative. In order for Vocational Education to play its part effectively in the changing national context and for India to enjoy the fruits of the demographic dividend, there is an urgent need to redefine the critical elements of imparting vocational education and training to make them flexible, contemporary, relevant, inclusive and creative. The Government is well aware of the important role of Vocational education and has already taken a number of important initiatives in this area.

Problem Areas Vocational Education and Training System

 

Following are the problems in Vocational Education System in India

1. There is a high dropout rate at Secondary level. There are 220 million children who go to school in India. Of these only around 12%    students reach university. A large part of the 18-24 years age group in India has never been able to reach college. Comparing India to countries with similar income levels – India does not under perform in primary education but has a comparative deficit in secondary education.
2. Vocational Education is presently offered at Grade 11, 12th – however students reaching this Grade aspire for higher education. Since the present system does not allow vertical mobility, skills obtained are lost.  Enrollment in 11th & 12th Grade of vocational education is only 3% of students at upper secondary level. About 6800 schools enroll 400,000 students in vocational education schemes utilizing only 40% of the available student capacity in these schools.
3. International experience suggests that what employers mostly want are young workers with strong basic academic skills and not just vocational skills. The present system does not emphasize general academic skills. The relative wages of workers with secondary education are increasing.

   4.  Private & Industry Participation is lacking. There are no incentives for private players to enter the field of vocational education.

4. Present regulations are very rigid. In-Service Training is required but not prevalent today. There is no opportunity for continuous skill up-gradation.
5. There is a lack of experienced and qualified teachers to train students on   vocational skills. In foreign countries Bachelors of Vocational Education (BVE) is often a mandatory qualification for teachers. However, in India no specific qualifications are being imparted for Vocational Education teachers.
6. Vocationalization at all levels has not been successful.  Poor quality of training is not in line with industry needs.
7. There is no definite path for vocational students to move from one level / sector to   another level / sector. Mobility is not defined and hence students do not have a clear path in vocational education.
8. No clear policy or system of vocational education leading to certification / degrees presently available for the unorganized / informal sector. No Credit System has been formulated for the same.  Over 90% of employment in India is in the Informal sector. JSS offers 255 types of vocational courses to 1.5 million people, Community Polytechnics train about 450,000 people within communities annually and NIOS offers 85 courses through 700 providers. None of these programs have been rigorously evaluated, till date.
9. Expansion of vocational sector is happening without   consideration for present problems.

 

 

 

• Education for Girls, other Socially and Economically and other disadvantaged sections of people and Minorities

Despite national commitments through a host of constitutional provisions as well as programmes to fulfill them, of inequalities of different kinds continue to persist in all aspects of social life including education. The benefits extended by the government, from time to time often do not reach a larger majority of Indians who mostly constitute Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Girls,Minorities, Children with Special needs and Other Backward Classes (OBC)

 

After independence, the Government of India has taken number of steps to strengthen the educational base of the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Pursuant to the National Policy on Education-1986 and the Programme of Action (POA)-1992, the following special provisions for SCs and STs have been incorporated in the existing schemes of the Departments of Elementary Education and Literacy and Secondary and Higher Education :

(a) relaxed norms for opening of primary/middle schools; a primary school within one km walking distance from habitations of population upto 200 instead of habitations of upto 300 population.

(b) Abolition of tuition fee in all States in Government Schools at least upto the upper primary level.

In fact, most of the states have abolished tuition fees for SC/ST students up to the senior secondary level.

(c) Incentives like free textbooks, uniforms, stationery, schools bags, etc., for these students.

(d) The Constitutional (86th Amendment) Bill, notified on 13 December 2002, provides for free and compulsory elementary education as a Fundamental Right, for all children in the age group of 6-14 years.

(e) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) : SSA is a historic stride towards achieving the long cherished goal of Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) through a time bound integrated approach, in partnership with States. SSA, which promises to change the face of elementary education sector of the country, aims to provide useful and quality elementary education to all children in the 6-14 age group by 2010.

The main features of the programme are : (i) Focus on girls, especially belonging to SC/ST communities and minority groups.

(ii) Back to school campus for out of school girls.

(iii) Free textbooks for girls.

(iv) Special coaching remedial classes for girls and a congenial learning environment.

(v) Teachers’ sensitisation programmes to promote equitable learning opportunities.

(vi) Special focus for innovative projects related to girls education.

(vii) Recruitment of 50 per cent female teachers.

 

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

 

As per the 2001 census, the population of SCs and STs taken together amount to 24.61 % of the country’s total population (SC 16.2% and ST 8.43%). A host of Articles (Articles 46,332,335, and 338 to 342) and the entire fifth and sixth Scheduled of the constitution deal with promotion of education and economic interests of these sections and to protect them from all forms of socialexploitation. Government at the national and State Levels have beenimplementing, from time to time, a number of programmes so as promote their education among them.

The major one’s include:

 

Postmatric scholarship to students

Provision of free school uniform and textbooks.

Provision of free reading writing material

Establishment of residential Schools

Relaxation in the minimum qualifying marks for admission for SC/ST candidates.

Career Orientation to students to ensure that the graduates have knowledge, skills and attitudes for gainful employment in the wage sector in general and self-employment in particular

Financial assistance for Remedial Coaching.It provides financial assistance to the existing coaching centers to prepare SC/STcandidates for the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted byUGC/CSIR.

Remedial Coaching scheme at UG/PG level. Despite all these, the rate of literacy, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), and Dropout rate amongst SC and ST population continue to remain a serious cause of concern.

 

Women/Girls

As per the Census 2001, women constitute 48.26 % of the totalpopulation. Education for women’s equality is a vital component of the overall strategy of securing equality and social justice in education. The National Policy on Education, 1986 envisages the use of education as an instrument of basic change in the status of women. Para 4.2 and 4.3 of the NPE, 1986 states the intervening and empowering role of education.

Inter alia,they emphasize the provision of special support services and removal of factors which result indiscrimination against women at all levels of education. The policy also lays emphasis on women’s participation in vocational, technical and professionaleducation at different levels. The Constitution of India grants equality to women and forbids any discrimination based on religion, sex, race, caste or place of birth(Art.15). It also empowers the States to practice protective discrimination in favour of women.

 

Children with Special Needs (CWSN)

Children with Special Needs (CWSN) refer to all children those whorequire adaptations to the normal process of education due to problems of vision,hearing, movement, learning and intellect. These adaptations could be of learning materials like textbooks, teaching methods, homework and other assignments given in the class, assessment and examinations. Throughout the world, the children having disabilities or learning difficultiesare often marginalized within or even sometimes excluded from the schoolsystems. In many developing countries, the children remain hidden as a result of the stigmatizing attitudes and negative value dispositions of the communitymembers. As per Census 2001 data, CWSN constitute 2.1% of the total childpopulation. But the percentage of CWSN to total enrolment in elementary classes in 2007-08 is as less as 0.84.

 

Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) Act 1992 

The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) is a statutory body set up withthe twin responsibilities of standardizing and regulating the training of personneland professionals in the field of rehabilitation and special education.Trainingof special educators and resource teachers that can offer support services to children with special needs in regular schools is the responsibility of RCI.

 

Education represents true empowerment and must be used as a liberating force. It is widely accepted that there are remarkable increases in measures of quality of life index in the population that have become educated. With a little more sincerity, empathy and a sense of caring, the educational needs of these categories can be met and with that, their lives and those of the people around them can truly be transformed. The measures suggested in the variousrecommendations deserve to be fully implemented, subject of course, to theavailability of resources and an enabling legal and administrative framework.Through better targeting and tighter monitoring, all the funds allocated for these sections should be fully utilized and all the inputs should be made available.

 

Status of Education in Uttrakhand and Various central and state Education schemes

 

The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme initiated in 2009, demonstrates the government’s ambition for a secondary education system that can support India’s growth and development.

RMSA aims to increase the enrolment rate to 90% at secondary and 75% at higher secondary stage, by providing a secondary school within reasonable distance of every home. It also aims to improve the quality of secondary education by making all secondary schools conform to prescribed norms, removing gender, socio-economic and disability barriers, and providing universal access to secondary level education by 2017.

 

 

Literacy is the first and foremost factor contributing directly to human resource development of the country and shaping the good quality of life. With that direction, the State of India stands 14th position in the country, which is mainly due to various interventions adopted by the State Government to steer the progress in the field of education. The State of India has pledged to focus its attention for addressing the “quality” aspect of education. As per 2001 census, India literacy rate is 71.62 percent as against the national average of 64.84 percent. However, male and female literacy rates are 83.28 percent and 59.63 percent as against the national average of 75.26 percent and 53.67 percent respectively. As per 2001 census, the literacy rate of Schedule Castes in India is male 77.26%, female 48.74% as against the national average of male 66.64%, female 41.90%.

 

India is comprised of 13 districts, which include 95 development blocks, 1001 clusters and 7227 Village Education Committees (VECs). There are 21 Educationally Backward Blocks (EBB) in the State as per 2001 census. The School Development Management Committees (SDMCs) have been reconstituted under the chairmanship of Headmaster of the school and a teacher as member secretary. Members of Panchayat Samiti representatives, SC and ST representatives and female members of the village are represented on the SDMCs. 5.9 India is implementing both Centrally Sponsored Scheme and State Sector Schemes to impart basic education in the State. Three major Centrally Sponsored Schemes, SSA, Mid Day Meal Scheme and National Literacy Mission Programme are being proposed to continue in the state. Besides, an externally aid project of District Primary Education Programme (DPEP)- III has come to an end in March, 2006. Programmes running under DPEP, like BRC, CRC ECCE centers and teacher training will be continued in Non- Plan as State liability.

 

Centrally Sponsored Schemes :-

 

1. i) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA):

 

The Government of India has been striving for expansion and access of educational facilities to entire area of the state through SSA since the formation of new State. The schemes of UEE and efforts made under SSA Programme have further improved the position of the State. Obviously, mass community mobilization for implementation and execution of various components of SSA in terms of opening of Primary Schools, alternative schooling facilities, construction of school buildings, appointment of additional teachers, enrolment, retention divers teachers training distribution of text books, up gradation of teaching learning equipments and community participation has resulted in significant progress of literacy levels in the State. Due to the success of SSA, an unprecedented demand has created in the state.

 

Vital statistics pertaining to key indicators of elementary education is summarized here. There were 27.42 percentage point dropout cases at primary level as on 30th September, 2005. Due to special efforts made by the State Government, these children were brought to the fold of primary education, further efforts are on to cover the remaining children in the near future. In addition, there are 35230 children enrolled in 1279 EGS Centres spread all over the state as on March, 2008. There are about 15896 children reported to be Out of School as per the HHS. The State has registered significant improvement in transition rates in the primary stage. i.e., from Primary to Upper Primary is 99.15% in 2006- 07. But, as per flash statistics the transition rate from primary to upper primary in 2006-07 is 81.08%.

 

The efforts of the State Government towards enrolling children appear to be encouraging, keeping in view the large geographical area and socio-cultural and economic context. Out of 25,029 habitations in the state, 22682 (90.62%) habitations are covered by primary schools and 1433 habitations (6%) by EGS centers. However, there are 913 or 4% habitations without access of any kind at primary level which is mainly due to lack of permanent strategy to cover these habitations which are not eligible for regular school or for EGS center. Various efforts are being made to bring un-enrolled girls in the age group from 6-14 years in remedial teaching, vocational skill development, strengthen Meena Manch and mainstreaming them. These efforts are really commendable. Still serious and concerted efforts are needed to bring the hardest to reach children into the fold of education for which proper training of personnel and their motivation is desired besides involvement of NonGovernment Organizations (NGOs).

 

The major constraint in serving the un served habitations seems to be the geographical diversities coupled with social taboos and non-availability of teachers / para teachers for such areas. The migratory population and child labourers are also the constraints in the way of universalization of elementary education.

 

The State Government has to take newer initiatives in community participation, removal of social barriers and eradication of child labour practices by involving NGOs and social activists. The support of existing teachers at the grassroots level and CRC and BRC in this direction may also prove to be helpful. As reported by the state Government, it has undertaken several measures to reduce gender gap in the age group 6-14 years in India. The existing share of girls in primary schools :48.84. Out of 13 districts, there are nine Special Focus Districts in the State. Such as Almora, Bageswar, Champawat, Chamoli, Haridwar, Nainital, Pitoragarh, Udham Singh Nagar and Uttarkasi.

 

India has undertaken several initiatives to promote education of girls.

 

Significant ones are listed below:

 

• Girls, toilets are built on a priority basis.

 

• Special coaching classes/remedial classes are run in schools for girls with support from SDMCs. Remedial teaching is provided to weak students as well as volunteers engaged for the purpose.

 

• For out of schoolgirls especially Bridge Courses are being organized.

 

• SDMCs in every school decide final incentives to be given to girls which include free textbooks, workbooks, uniform, stationary and other items as per local needs.

 

• All 25 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalayas (KGBVs ), are functional in the State with 1105 girls are enrolled. Amongst these enrollment of girls, 519 are SC girls, 60 ST girls, 190 OBC girls, 267 BPL girls, 69 Muslim Girls, 18 CWSN girls.

 

 

The National Programme of Education for Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) is operational in all 13 districts in 40 blocks with 412 clusters. 4117 primary schools and 942 upper primary schools are attached with these 412 model cluster schools . To monitor the programme State, district and block level committees have been formed.

 

Mahila Samakhya Programme is currently operational in four districts of the State namely Tehri Garhwal, Uttarkasi, Pauri and Nainital.

 

Keeping in view the socio-cultural milieu of the State, there is need for taking steps to enhance gender sensitization within the education system and also the community at large. Greater community participation and stronger school community linkages would be helpful. Possibility of opening of upper primary schools exclusively for girls may also be examined. Teachers may be trained in adopting classroom processes favourable to girls.

 

Out of total child population in the age group 6-11 years, the ST and SC population constitute 3.88 % and 25.43 % respectively. The enrolment rate of ST and SC children has been reported to be 99.61 % and 99.43 % respectively. Although access of SC and ST children may not be a challenge, but their retention and learning are certainly the challenges, the State needs to address these issues.

 

It is yet to be seen how well the ST and SC children do in primary education. All SC and ST children are provided with free textbooks. The quality aspects would need to be taken care of now. Enhancing Learning Achievement and Quality in Elementary Education.

 

Quality of elementary education generally refers to the product or outcome dimension, which depends on the nature of inputs and processes undertaken. Infrastructure support and availability of teachers and teaching-learning material (TLM) and its use, teacher training, pedagogical practices in classrooms to involve children and pupil evaluation practices contribute towards learning achievement of children – an important indicator of quality at the elementary stage.

 

The State Government has performed reasonably well in terms of creating and improving adequate infrastructure facilities. Community support and convergence with relief work in infrastructure development is noteworthy. Preference has been given to the following provisions in schools

• School Building with the concept of pedagogy
• Drinking water
• Sanitation
• Ramps
• Play Elements
• Child Friendly Class Room

The Mission found that in some of the schools the rooms have been constructed in spite of availability of additional rooms for use. Therefore, there is a need for better infrastructure planning and use.

 

Pupil-Teacher ratio (PTR) has been brought down to 1:27 at the primary stage. About 1319 new teachers have been recruited and posted during 2007-08.

 

TLM grant has been provided to 44,438 teachers(Primary/Upper Primary) in the State. Also teachers have been given training in preparation of local specific and contextual TLMs. The mission witnessed the availability of TLM in every school that was visited. However, use of TLM grant was not found to be a common practice. Follow up of training would therefore be required to increase the use of TLM, making teaching – learning lively and joyful Enhancing Learning Achievement and Quality of Elementary Education. Enrolment, Retention and Dropout.

 

In the State of India, as reported by the State Government Directorate of School Education, the overall Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for primary stage in 2007-08 was 101.82; GER for boys and girls was 102.06 and 101.18, respectively. In the case enrolment, total enrolment in Classes I to V has increased from 1,047,798 in 2001-02 to 11,96,510 in 2005-06, an overall increase of about 12.43 %. Enrolment of boys has increased from 520355 to 616818 (15.64 % increase) and for girls from 527443 to 579692 (9 % increase) during the same period. Enrolment of Schedule Caste (SC) children has increased from 2,84,554 in 2001-02 to 3,04,336 in 2005-06 (6.5 % increase). Overall retention rate at primary stage has improved to 52.31 % in 2005-06. However, the Drop-Out Rate at Primary level has reduced to 27.42% in 2005-06.

 

 

1. ii) Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) :

 

With a view to enhancing enrolment, attendance and retention and simultaneously improving nutritional levels among children, the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NSPE) was launched as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme ( CSS) on 15th August 1995 in the Country, to cover not only children in Classes I- V of Government, Government aided and Local body schools, but also children studying in EGS and AIE Centers. Central Assistance under the scheme consisted of free supply of food grains @100 grams per child per school day and subsidy for transportation of food grains up to a maximum of Rs.50 per quintal. In that direction, the Government of India providing Cooked food under Mid Day Meal in all Government Primary Schools of the State benefiting about 8 lakh students.

 

School Management Committees( SMC’s) has entrusted to develop different type of menus based on locally available seasonal vegetables. Students are provided cooked food and fruits.

 

 iii) National Literacy Mission (NLM) :

 

Under the Programme, Central Share is directly provided to districts by the Government of India directly. Total literacy campaign has been successfully implemented in all 13 districts of the state. At present, Post Literacy Programme(PLP) and Continuing Education programme are in operation in these districts at various levels. Obviously, Gender gap of 24% in male and female literacy is still an issue to be addressed in the State. Programme for residual illiterates is proposed for focused interventions in cities and farthest habitation to bridge the gender gap to attain total literacy target.

 

State Sector Schemes

 

Free Text Books for All Children:

 

With a view to encourage enrolment at the elementary level for Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) all boys and girls belonging to SC and ST categories studying in Parishadiya Primary, Upper Primary Government and aided schools are being provided free text books under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. State Government has decided to further extended the benefit of this scheme to rest of boys and girls of general categories enrolled in Classes I-VIII.

 

Honorarium for Shiksha Mitras:

 

The Government of India has started the scheme of Shiksha Mitra to meet out the shortage of teachers of Primary level in remote and far-flung areas of the State. Under the scheme Shiksha Mitras are placed against the vacancies of Primary teachers with a honorarium of Rs.4000 per month for a period of ten months.

 

Transportation of Food Grain under World Food Programme (WFP):

 

In accordance with Article –III of the operational contract signed on 9th June 2003 between G.O.I and World Food Programme, and the State Government of India a collaborative scheme was launched for providing India Mix, a nutritional supplement in form of biscuits, under WFP to the students of primary schools. The Government of India has selected two districts of Chamoli and Uttarkashi under this scheme is functional. The food items are provided free of cost to the State Government by WFP. The food items are provided free of cost to the State Government by WFP. The food items are transported from state head quarters to schools through districts and blocks and transportation cost is born by the State Government.

 

Besides, there are two major special plan schemes under basic education are in operation in the State. Such as,

 

1. Maintenance of Primary Schools Under SCSP There are 3724 habitations with more than 50% scheduled cast population and minimum 300 population in India. Out of these 3002 habitations have a primary school and 1481 have an upper primary school within 1KM reach. It is estimated that about 1345 schools are required immediate repairing, boundary wall, a kitchen shed for Mid day meal by Social Welfare Department under Schedule Cast Sub Plan (SCSP).

 

1. Maintenance of Elementary Schools Under TSP There are 351 habitations was more than 50% Schedule Tribe Population, which qualify the norm of minimum 300 population. There are 344 primary and 169 upper primary schools in these habitations. As per available estimate by State, 154 schools are required immediate repairing, boundary wall, a kitchen shed for Mid Day Meal.

Free and Compulsory primary education

The Indian Constitution is a social document and the supreme law of the land. The founding fathers of the Constitution have incorporated a well designed constitutional manifesto under Part-IV of the Constitution to achieve socio-economic Justice. The Directive Principles of State Policy are principles of good governance.

Education is the primary vehicle for human, economic and social development, profiting both the individual and society. The Supreme Court in Mohini Jain[i] and Unnikrishnan[ii] cases recognized the right to education is an implied fundamental right. According to the court, the education has proximate relationship with life, protection of environment, eradication of untouchability, and other related rights. The National Commission on review of the working of the Constitution has also endorsed the similar view.  As a result the parliament inserted Article 21-A to the Constitution by the 86th Constitutional amendment in 2002. This amendment also introduced new fundamental duty on parents to provide education to their children under Article 51-A to take affirmative action to full-fill the Constitutional mandate, the Parliament passed the Right to Education Act, 2009 with effect from April 1st 2010. The Act deals with various facets like appointment of teachers, standards, curriculum, infrastructure, community participation and responsibility of the State to provide primary education etc.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted on 4 August 2009, which describes the modalities of the importance of free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21a of the Indian Constitution. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the Act came into force on 1 April 2010.

The Act makes education a fundamental right of every child between the ages of 6 and 14 and specifies minimum norms in elementary schools. It requires all private schools to reserve 25% of seats to children (to be reimbursed by the state as part of the public-private partnership plan). Kids are admitted in to private schools based on economic status or caste based reservations. It also prohibits all unrecognised schools from practice, and makes provisions for no donation or capitation fees and no interview of the child or parent for admission. The Act also provides that no child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until the completion of elementary education. There is also a provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them up to par with students of the same age.

The RTE Act requires surveys that will monitor all neighbourhoods, identify children requiring education, and set up facilities for providing it. The World Bank education specialist for India, Sam Carlson, has observed: “The RTE Act is the first legislation in the world that puts the responsibility of ensuring enrolment, attendance and completion on the Government. It is the parents’ responsibility to send the children to schools in the US and other countries.”

The Right to Education of persons with disabilities until 18 years of age is laid down under a separate legislation – the Persons with Disabilities Act. A number of other provisions regarding improvement of school infrastructure, teacher-student ratio and faculty are made in the Act.

Education in the Indian constitution is a concurrent issue and both centre and states can legislate on the issue. The Act lays down specific responsibilities for the centre, state and local bodies for its implementation. The states have been clamouring that they lack financial capacity to deliver education of appropriate standard in all the schools needed for universal education. Thus it was clear that the central government (which collects most of the revenue) will be required to subsidise the states.

A committee set up to study the funds requirement and funding initially estimated that INR 1710 billion or 1.71 trillion (US$38.2 billion) across five years was required to implement the Act, and in April 2010 the central government agreed to sharing the funding for implementing the law in the ratio of 65 to 35 between the centre and the states, and a ratio of 90 to 10 for the north-eastern states. However, in mid 2010, this figure was upgraded to INR 2310 billion, and the center agreed to raise its share to 68%. There is some confusion on this, with other media reports stating that the centre’s share of the implementation expenses would now be 70%. At that rate, most states may not need to increase their education budgets substantially.

A critical development in 2011 has been the decision taken in principle to extend the right to education till Class X (age 16) and into the preschool age range. The CABE committee is in the process of looking into the implications of making these changes.

Evaluation of right to education

A report on the status of implementation of the Act was released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development on the one year anniversary of the Act. The report admits that 8.1 million children in the age group six-14 remain out of school and there’s a shortage of 508,000 teachers country-wide. A shadow report by the RTE Forum representing the leading education networks in the country, however, challenging the findings pointing out that several key legal commitments are falling behind the schedule. The Supreme Court of India has also intervened to demand implementation of the Act in the Northeast. It has also provided the legal basis for ensuring pay parity between teachers in government and government aided schools. Haryana Government has assigned the duties and responsibilities to Block Elementary Education Officers–cum–Block Resource Coordinators (BEEOs-cum-BRCs) for effective implementation and continuous monitoring of implementation of Right to Education Act in the State.

 

Emergence of India as Educational Force

The Indian higher education system has undergone rapid expansion. In less than 20 years, the country has created additional capacity for a mammoth 40 million students. While the scale of this expansion is remarkable in itself, what sets it apart from earlier decades of equally aggressive expansion is a deliberate strategy and an organized design.

India’s higher education system has finally broken free of decades of colonial overhang. In recent years, the country has undertaken massive structural and systemic changes that have started to yield encouraging results. About 15 years ago, India consciously moved to a differentiated academic system with a three-tiered structure comprising highly selective elite research universities at the top, comprehensive universities and specialized institutions in the middle, and an array of highly-accessible and high-quality colleges at the bottom. While the first tier caters exclusively to furthering India’s intellectual capital, the other two focus on delivering economic and social value respectively.

Top-tier research universities are centers of excellence for the creation of new knowledge, set up with the vision to emerge as national and international leaders in research output and intellectual property. They enroll a selective set of talented, research-oriented students to be taught by stellar faculty. Faculty and students at the university attract handsome research grants and exhibit the greatest international diversity. Going beyond traditional scientific and applied research, these universities have phenomenally broadened the scope of India’s research capabilities to new interdisciplinary areas of scholarship that present the greatest opportunity for the creation of new knowledge and hold most relevance for India in the new world. For example, Indian universities are at the forefront of research in bioscience, environment and climate change, inclusive development and leadership. Leveraging their cost and competitive advantage, Indian research universities have pioneered the model of blended research where they collaboratively produce cutting-edge research with other top-rung universities around the world. Further, despite directly educating only a small group of elite students, these universities have emerged as the indirect wellspring of content and curriculum for millions of other students who have seamless access to high-quality content from these universities through the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) model.

The second tier of industry-aligned professional education institutions has seen the greatest growth over the last two decades. Focused on quality teaching and producing highly employable graduates, these institutions are a passport to white-collar jobs in a knowledge economy. They impart knowledge and technical know-how on the one hand and broad-based critical thinking and problem-solving skills on the other to produce well-rounded industry leaders. Student learning outcomes are centre stage to this model. The ‘liberal’ component in this model of education is designed to correct for traditionally strict disciplinary boundaries, rigid departmental silos and narrow specialisations once characteristic of Indian higher education. In effect, when a civil engineer educated thus sets out to build a bridge he would not only approach it from an engineering angle, but would also assess the environmental impact of building the bridge, the socio-economic impact of improved infrastructure, the financing of the bridge and possibly all the related regulatory hurdles to be overcome to get the plans approved. The curricular focus in these institutions is on content delivery than on content creation, where faculty borrow from the best open courseware and customise it to the needs of their students. While a section of the faculty are academic researchers, these universities also draw faculty from experienced practitioners and industry professionals who are subject matter experts and can act as mentors to students in the early stages of their professional careers.

The last cluster of broad-based highly-accessible universities is designed to expand the reach of higher education to all eligible and deserving students in the country. They offer a wide range of courses aimed at providing a holistic education to India’s masses, and play a major role in promoting equity and access. Their distinguishing characteristic is a varied student population with significant regional and linguistic diversity and a balanced gender profile. They rely heavily on online methods of teaching and learning, enroll a sizeable number of mature students and offer both parttime and full-time options.

The differentiated system offers students a wider variety of unique and quality programs at both graduate and undergraduate levels. It clarifies student choices and effectively caters to a heterogeneous student population with varying needs and demands, while also providing them the option for inter-institution mobility through system wide credit transfer. In this way, while planned expansion has helped create capacity for ever-increasing numbers, the differentiated system has been instrumental in directing these numbers to the right stream and the appropriate kind of institution in order to effectively meet the needs of Indian society.

Lastly, planned expansion has also helped solve for the problem of infrastructure and resources. Riding the wave of urban planning, India earmarked tracts of land in many tier-II cities to create ‘education cities’ which have today emerged to be thriving inner-city university campuses tightly integrated with their host cities. Unlike the erstwhile ideal of a mono-functional and isolated greenfield campus removed from the city, providing academics and students the distance to reflect on humanity, these campuses are located in the heart of the city, with several universities collocating on a single campus. They share a close relationship with the host city and are embedded in ‘knowledge ecosystems’ enabling them to perform better.

Intensive use of technology

The Indian higher education system has undergone massive expansion to become the largest in the world enrolling over 70 million students. Such expansion would have been unimaginable without the extensive use of ICT tools. To illustrate, if India were to create this additional capacity through increase in brick and mortar institutions alone, it would have had to build six universities and 270 colleges each and every month in the last 20 years – a feat that would have been impossible to achieve with India’s limited resources. Instead, India chose to go the MOOCs way.

Online platforms and ICT tools have helped take higher education to millions of deserving students in far-flung areas who would otherwise have no access to university education. Online education has become the first port of call for many students who were earlier left out of the higher education system, or had to settle for lower quality alternatives. The MOOCs model made it possible for the country to provide a quality education to the masses despite poor facultystudent ratios. Students today increasingly learn from leading faculty at elite institutions beyond the four walls of their classrooms as top-tier institutions have donned the mantle of being content generators. Professors collaborate across universities to collectively create and distribute for-credit curriculum for an online semester.

Technology has not only been instrumental in addressing the demand-supply gap for quality education, but has fundamentally changed the nature of several educational processes. Gone are the days when students had to gather in a large hall only to hear a lecture. Today, classroom lectures and pre-recorded and uploaded to be accessed by students at their comfort. Class time is instead used for creating more in-depth learning experiences through group activities, problem solving and interactive learning. Online analytics provide faculty with data on how and at what pace each student is learning, enabling them to provide personalized support to aid student learning outcomes. The model also acts as a great democratize, allowing students to learn at their own pace – for instance, slow learners can go over certain content and exercises multiple times with special tools to aid their learning. Finally, the hybrid model (where part of the program is taught online and part in person) has become particularly popular among adult and working professionals looking to gain additional credentials. The model provides them with the flexibility to access course material as their schedule permits.

Reforms in governance

The imperative of the previous decade towards ‘good governance’ in all realms – business, administration and politics – has resulted in dramatic changes in the governance framework for higher education in areas both internal to institutions (their management and leadership structures) as well as areas external to institutions (the regulatory framework). While much has been done towards ensuring quality, instituting accountability, enabling private participation, promoting internationalization and so on, there are five salient trends that deserve particular mention when talking of governance reforms since 2013:

Diminishing role of government in governance

Over the years, the government has gradually withdrawn from direct management of public institutions, devolving governance to boards compromising academics, alumni and external members. Instead, it exerts indirect forms of control based largely on mechanisms such as performance-linked funding and quality recognition. The erstwhile regulatory regime of multiple bodies with conflicting and overlapping mandates has given way to a single independent regulator that is largely hands-off, with the regulatory focus shifting from ‘high barriers to entry’ to ‘high standards for accreditation’. Self-regulation and self-critique has now become the norm. The government’s role as a provider of funding has also seen some shifts. Over the 13th and 14th plan periods, the funding model has moved from funding for institutions to funding for individuals (including faculty, students and researchers). As a result, institutions can no longer rely solely on government monies for operations and expansion, but are increasingly taking greater responsibility for sourcing funding, further increasing their autonomy to plan their own futures.

Moving from monitoring inputs to regulating outcomes

Traditionally, regulatory bodies in Indian higher education have been focused on monitoring inputs. Universities were assessed on the size of built-up land, number of books in their library, funds spent on computers and so on instead of on student learning outcomes, their employment readiness or performance in standardized tests. A conscious effort to reverse this anomaly has been made over the years by linking public funding with performance variables. Attempt has also been made to shift the thrust from consumption of allocated funds to outcomes from utilized funds, effecting, at the same time, greater autonomy in the use of allocated funds as well as greater institutional responsibility towards their effective utilization.

Compulsory accreditation

The move towards regulating outcomes has been accompanied by the introduction of a more sophisticated quality assurance system based on the establishment of a national accreditation agency for higher education and also several other agencies with a specialized focus. As a result, claims to quality can no longer be based on internal judgment by institutions themselves but have to be justified by an external process of peer review and assessment by quality rating agencies. While the model has been in practice for many years before India adopted it, what is rather distinctive about the Indian accreditation system is that each tier of universities has a different rating scale, allowing stakeholders to make comparisons across like variables. Periodic assessment and review allows institutions to move up or down the hierarchy of grades within their tier, or even move across tiers. Further, in order to prevent an oligopolistic scenario from building inadvertently, the accreditation system allows fledgling institutions to grow and find a foothold before subjecting them to extensive scrutiny.

Enabling environment for private and foreign participation

About ten years ago, the distinction between ‘private’ and ‘public’ among universities had effectually started to blur, with recommendations from the Narayana Murthy Committee Report being a first step in this direction. Thanks to lower barriers to entry and the evolution of a mandatory accreditation system, quality benchmarks have become the sole basis of differentiation among universities within a certain tier. Today, foreign education providers are also treated on par with Indian institutions, they too being subjected to the same accreditation norms.

Thrust towards internationalization

Lastly, much of the 20 years of reform –including in aspects of governance— was underpinned by the desire and commitment to emerge as a globally competitive education system. Internationalization has been a powerful driving theme, enabling the Indian higher education sector to both be in consonance with global standards as also emerge a leader in higher education globally. India’s higher education institutions are today global in all senses of the word, not least of which is leadership. Today, institutional leaders are selected in an open and competitive process, and as many as 100 of our universities are led by international academics and administrators, a trend that could perhaps be traced back to the appointment of Dr. Ashish Nanda of Harvard Law School as Director of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad – a first of its kind appointment in its day

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