SARVA SHIKSHA
ABHIYAN: FRAMEWORK FOR IMPLEMENTATION
(DRAFT [December 1999], Copy
Right; MHRD, Government of India) Aligning SSA Norms with the RTE Act, 2009CONTENTS
Section-I
1.0 BASIC FEATURES OF SARVA SHIKSHA
ABHIYAN Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is an effort to universalize elementary education by community-owner ship of the school system. It is a response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country. The SSA programme is also an attempt to provide an opportunity for improving human capabilities to the poorest children, through provision of community-owned quality education in a mission mode. The prime features of the SSA programme are:
1.1 WHAT IS SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN
·
A programme with a clear
time-frame for universal elementary education.
·
A response to the demand
for quality basic education all over the country.
·
An opportunity for
promoting social justice through basic education.
·
An effort at effectively
involving the Panchayati Raj institutions, the School Management Committees,
the Village Education Committees, the Parents’ Teachers’ Associations, the
Mother Teacher Associations, the Tribal Autonomous Councils in the management
of elementary schools.
·
Am expression of political
will not universal elementary education at the highest level.
·
A partnership between the
Central, State and the local government.
·
An opportunity for States
to develop their own vision of elementary education.
1.1.1 AIMS OF SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is to provide useful and relevant
elementary education for al children in the 6 to 14 age group by 2000. There is also another goal to bridge social
and gender gaps, with the active participation of the community in the
management of schools.
Useful and relevant education signifies a quest for an education
system that is not alienating and that draws on community solidarity. Its aims is to allow children to learn about
and master their natural environment in a manner that allows thr fullest
harnessing of their human potential both spiritually and materially. This quest must also be a process of value
based learning that allows children an opportunity to work for each others’
well being rather than to per it mere selfish pursuits.
1.1.2
OBJECTIVES OF SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN 1 All children in school, Education Guarantee Centre, Alternate School, “-to-School camp by 2003; 2 All children complete five years of primary schooling by 2007. 3 All children complete eight years of elementary schooling by 2010. 4 Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education for life. 5 Bridge all gender and social category gaps at primary stage by 2007 and at elementary education level by 2010. 6 Universal retention by 2010.
WHY A FRAMEWORK FOR IMPLEMENTATION (AND NOT GUIDELINE) - To allow states to formulate context-specific guidelines within the overall framework. - To encourage districts in States and UTs to reflect local specificity. - To encourage local need based on broad National Policy norms. - To make planning a realistic exercise by adopting broad national norms. The objectives are expressed nationally though it is expected that
various districts and States are likely to achieve universalisation in their
own respective context and in their own frame time. 2010 is the outer limit for such achievements. The emphasis is on
main streaming out-of-school children through diverse strategies, and on
providing eight years of schooling for all children 6-14 age group. The thrust is on closing of gender and
social gaps and a total retention of all children in schools. The education system has to be made relevant
so that children and parents find the schooling system useful, absorbing, and
most of all, non-alienating from their natural and social environment. SARVA SHIKSHA ABIYAN AS
A FRAMEWOREK AND AS A PROGRAMME Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has two aspects – I ) It provides a wide convergent framework for
implementation of Elementary Education schemes; II) It is also a programme with
budget provision for strengthening vital areas to achieve universalisation of
elementary education. While all
investments in the elementary education sector from the State and Central Plans
will reflect as part of the SSA framework, they will all merge into the SSA
programme within the next few years. As
a programme, it reflects the additional resource provision for UEE. BROAD STRATEGIES CENTRAL TO SSA PROGRAMME
Institutional Reforms - As part of the SSA the central and the
State Governments will undertake reforms in order to improve efficiency of the
delivery system. The states will have
to make an objective assessment of their prevalent education system including
educational administration, achievement levels in schools, financial issues,
decentralisation and community ownership, review of State Education Act,
rationalization of teacher deployment and recruitment of teachers, monitoring
and evaluation, education of girls, SC/ST and disadvantaged groups, policy
regarding private schools and ECCE.
Many States have already carried out changes to improve the delivery
system for elementary education. Sustainable Financing- The Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan based on the premise that financing of elementary education inventions
has to be sustainable. This calls for a
long-term perspective on financial partnership between the Central and the
State governments. Community Ownership -The programme calls for community ownership of
school-based interventions through effective decentralisation. This will be augmented by involvement of
women’s groups. VEC members and members
of Panchayati Raj institutions. - Institutional Capacity Building - The SSA conceive a major capacity building role for national and state level
institutions like NIEPA/NCERT/NCTE/SCERT/SIEMAT. Improvement
in quality requires a
sustainable support system of resource persons. -
Improving Mainstream Educational Administration – It calls for improvement of mainstream educational administration
by institutional development, infusion of new approaches and by adoption of
cost effective and efficient methods. -
Community Based Monitoring with Full Transparency – The Programme will have a community based monitoring system. The Educational Management Information
System (EMIS) will correlate school level data with community-based information
from micro planning and surveys.
Besides this, every school will have a notice board showing all the grants received by the school
and other details. -
Habitation as a Unit of Planning
– The
SSA works on a Community based approach to
planning with habitation as a unit of planning. Habitation plans will be the basis for formulating district
plans. - Accountability to community – SSA envisages cooperation between teachers, parents and PRIs, as well as accountability and transparency. - Priority to Education of Girls – Education of girls, especially those belonging to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, will be one of the principal concerns in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. - Focus on Special Groups – There will be a focus on the educational participation of children from SC/ST, religious and linguistic minorities, disadvantaged groups and the disabled children. - Pre-Project Phase – SSA will commence throughout the country with a well-planned pre project phase that provides for a large number of interventions for capacity development to improve the delivery and monitoring system. These include provision for community-based micro-planning and school mapping, training of community leaders, school level activities, support for setting up information system, office equipment, diagnostic studies etc. - Trust on Quality – SSA lays a special thrust on making education at the elementary level useful and relevant for children by improving the curriculum, child-centred activities and effective teaching learning strategies. - Role of teachers – SSA recognizes the critical and central role of teachers and advocates a focus on their development needs. Setting up of BRC/CRC, recruitment of qualified teachers, opportunities for teacher development through participation in curriculum related material development, focus on classroom process and exposure visits for teachers are all designed to develop the human resource among teachers. - District Elementary Education Plans – As per the SSA framework, each district will prepare a District Elementary Education Plan reflecting all the investments being made in the elementary education sector, with a holistic and convergent approach. There will be a Perspective Plan that will give a framework of activities over a longer time frame to achieve UEE. There will also be an Annual Work Plan nd Budget that will list the prioritized activities to be carried out in that year. The Perspective Plan will also be a dynamic document subject to constant improvement in the course of Programme Implementation. FINANCIAL NORMS UNDER SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN - The assistance under the programme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will be on 85.15 sharing arrangement during the IX Plan, 75:25 sharing arrangement during the X Plan and 50:50 sharing thereafter between the Central Government and State Governments. Commitments regarding sharing of costs would be taken from State governments in writing. - The State Governments will have to maintain their level of investment in elementary education. The contribution as State share for SSA will be over and above this investment. - The Government of India would release funds to the State Governments/Union Territories only and instalments (except first) would only be released after the previous instalments of Central Government and State share has been transferred to the State Implementation Society. - The support for teacher salary appointed under the SSA programme could be shared between the central government and the State government in a ratio of 85:15 during the IX Plan, 75:25 during the X Plan and 50:50 thereafter. - All legal agreements regarding externally assisted projects will continue to apply unless specific modifications have been agreed to, in consultation with foreign funding agencies. - Existing schemes of elementary education of the Department (except National Bal Bhawan and NCTE ) will coverage after the IX Plan. The National Programme for Nutritional Support to Primary Education (Mid-day-Meal) would remain a distinct intervention with foodgrains and specified transportation costs being met by the Centre and the cost of cooked meals being met by the State Government. - District Education Plans would inter-alia, clearly show the funds/resource available for various components under schemes like JRY, PMRY, Sunshchit Rozgar Yojana, Area fund of MPs/MLAs,, State Plan, foreign funding and resources generated in the NGO sector. - All funds to be used for up-gradation, maintenance, repair of schools and Teaching Learning equipment and local management to be transferred to VECs/School Management Committees/Gram Panchayat/or any other village/School level arrangement for decentralisation adopted by that particular State/UT. The village/school-based body may make a resolution regarding the best way of procurement. -
Other schemes like distribution of
scholarships and uniforms will continue to be funded under the State Plan. They will not be funded under the SSA
programme. The major financial norms for individuals under SSA are:-
NORMS FOR INTERVENTIONS UNDER SSA
Section II
2.0 PLANNING, APPRAISAL, AND FUND FLOWS
UNDER SARVA S HIKSHA ABHIYAN 2.1 PREPARATORY ACTIVITIES The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan assigns greatest importance to the preparatory activities as these have been conceived as a necessary condition for quality implementation of the programme. Effective mobilization of the community and creation of an effective system of decentralised decision-making are part of the preparatory activities. A number of steps have already been taken in many states and it is expected that such of these State/UTs which have not decentralised powers to Village Education Committees/ Panchayats/ Urban local bodies, would do so as a part of the preparation for implementing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
Strengthening of the office of the District Elementary Education Officer has also to be undertaken in the preparatory phase in order to adequately equip it to handle the larger tasks during programme implementation. Setting up of an effective information system has therefore been highlighted, besides procurement of essential office equipment and computer hardware. More important than the hardware component would be the need to provide support for involving community leaders at all levels and orienting existing governmental functionaries in carrying out activities more effectively. An assessment of the additional manpower needs has also to be made during this period. It must be emphasized that setting up of an effective MIS would require contractual appointment of data analysts and data entry personnel, as they are not available in most non-DPEP districts. Similarly, the need for experts on gender, civil works and community mobilization and planning will also have to be assessed in the light of the specific State/UT.
The preparation
of habitation level education plans through effective community mobilization
for micro-planning and school mapping is the greatest challenge of the
preparatory phase. Since Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan has the clear aim of universalisation of elementary education, it is
mandatory to track the progress of each and every child in the 5+ -14-age
groups. Preparation of Village
Education Registers on the basis of household survey, regular monitoring
through Retention Registers and Pupil Progress Cards, would have to be
developed in the preparatory phase itself.
This calls for a focus on capacity building among the Panchayati Raj Institutions,
members of Village Education Committees, School Management Committees, Parents’
Teacher Associations, etc. The
preparatory phase provides for a process and activity based
constitution/organisation of such Committees and training of community leaders
for improved management of schools. Capacity building in the local community
will also require a constant interface with the school and the teachers. This is being attempted through a large
number of
Through a participatory process a core planning team will be constituted in each village at the habitation level including selected VEC members, selected community leaders, NGO representatives, Head Master, selected teachers and some selected parents, ensuring participation of women as well as persons from the deprived communities. Parents of disabled children may be included in the team. The selection of this team is very critical for effective planning.
A number of effective studies on the Base-line assessment in a district, in order to reflect the current situation with regard to learning achievements, retention, access, gender equity, social equity, physical infrastructure, etc. Would also have to be undertaken as preparatory activities. Effort should be made to feed into the planning process. Besides these locally relevant studies, a few baseline achievement tests could be taken up in the non DPEP states by NCERT. A number of available studies that are State specific will be utilised to determine the base-line status in a State.
For planning to be need-based, it is important that the board norms for improving school facilities are shared with habitation level planning team. The norms under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan provide the broad framework for such an exercise. The habitation level planning team would comprise of community leaders with a keen interest in the education of children. It must have a large number of parents whose children study in the school whose improvement is being attempted.
Identification of a team at District and Block level would also have to be undertaken during the preparatory phase. Efforts to identify teachers who could serve as Cluster and Block Resource Centre Coordinators could also be taken up during this period. These identified BRC/CRC Coordinators could then facilitate the planning activities and in the process of constitution of VECs. The management needs in a particular district would also have to be assessed by the State level Implementation Society. To determine the kind of additional support required operationalizing the team at District, Block and Cluster level. In district that have already operational zed Block Resource and Cluster Resource Centres, the formation of such teams would be easier. In other regions, efforts to make an objective assessment of manpower needs and the restructured command system for the education administration would have to be a priority. The National and State level Mission will facilitate this process of manpower planning for programme implementation through objective assessment by expert teams. Tasks like rationalization of teacher units has also to be initiated during the preparatory phase in order that deployment of teachers is need based. This will facilitate assessment of additional teacher requirements as also a convergent planning process that appreciates the presence of private schools. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan highlights transparency in programme implementation. All efforts have to be made to ensure that expenditure on elementary education is a public domain subject. The School Display Board has to show all investments being made in the school. Teacher Attendance should be publicly displayed. For improving the quality of school level data regarding Enrolment, Attendance, Retention, Drop out, etc. besides the mandatory maintenance of Village Education Registers, Retention Registers and Pupil Progress Cards, any information sent to Cluster/Block/District level, has to be displayed on the School Display Board for public scrutiny. The seeds of a community based monitoring system can only be sown by acceptance of a right to Information at the school level. Similar efforts at transparency should be made right up to the national level.
Organisation of a large number of
school based activities, cultural jathas, and sports and festivals, have been
suggested as preparatory activities under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The objective of all these efforts is to
ensure community partnership in the
management of the school. Opening of Bank Accounts of Village Education Committee/School Management Committee/Gram Panchayat Education Committee/School level Committee in urban areas will also monitored as a preparatory activity so that effective decentralisation can be brought about. The financial norms clearly state that a number of interventions have to be carried out by the VEC (or its equivalent).
The preparatory activities must also ensure that the formation of the VECs (or equivalent bodies in urban areas ) are process-based. Process –based implies selection through activities and participation rather than by official orders of nomination. Some states have accepted a system of election for School Management Committees and the same will be constituted. There may be a need to reconstitute such Committees in many places where it had been done routinely in the past. Involvement of the teachers, representatives of women and other weaker sections, active community leaders, parents of children studying in that school/EGS, parents of out of school children from poor habitations, has to be ensured in a process based approach. The organisation of School based activities, micro-planning and School mapping, are ways of identifying active community leaders willing to give time for the educational reconstruction in a habitation. The planning team has to have a role in the process –based constitution of VECs. Involvement of NGOs will strengthen this community-based approach for organizing the preparatory activities.
In order to ensure an effective preparatory phase, up to Rupees fifty lakhs has been provided for such activities, based on the actual requirement in a particular district. Besides provision for training and orientation of community leaders and Education Department functionaries, the preparatory phase provides for the following:
- Office equipment as per need, - Cultural activities for mobilization for SSA. - Computer hardware and software for effective MIS at the district level - School-based activities up to Rupees 1000 to a school - Household surveys and preparation of habitation Plans up to Rs. 3 per household - A set of base line Studies etc. -
The preparatory phase is need based and there is a lot of variation in the demand from districts. Districts that are already implementing DPEP/LJP would limited resources for the preparatory activities. All districts are expected to prepare District Elementary Education Plans before the end of the IX Plan.
The preparatory phase will be monitored by joint teams of resource persons sent by State/National institutions. The districts can ask for resource support for carrying out planning activities and NCERT/NIEPA/SCERT/SIEMAT/TSG DPEP would provide the capacity building support as per requirement. Besides this, the National and the State Mission will have an effective monitoring and operational support group of facilitate capacity building at all levels and to meet specific need of districts. Copies of sanction orders would be posted on the web site of the Department of Elementary Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development. State Governments will work out arrangements for professional and operational support at the State level in order to ensure that the capacity development needs of a district receive top most priority in the preparatory phase.
The preparatory activities are expected to initiate a process of institutional development and capacity building for professional management of elementary education sector at the local level. The focus has to be on capacity building through training, rigorous planning processes, focus on community based data collection and its analyses, and most of all, a willingness to allow the local community to manage schools. It is expected that the preparatory phase will take anywhere from four to eight months.
COMMUNITY –BASED PLANNING PROCESSThe success of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will depend on the quality of the community based planning process. While SSA is formulated on the premise that the community can plan, it also accepts the tremendous requirement for developing capacities in communities to do so. The heterogeneity of local communities in many regions often poses problems of unanimity on proposed planning criteria. It is important to recognize a habitation, rather than a village as a unit of planning as most habitations have a higher degree of community solidarity. Similarly, in urban areas, a cluster of households in the same slum settlement has to be a unit of planning.
The starting point for planning activities has to be the creation of a core group of governmental and non-governmental persons, entrusted with the task of implementing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The State level Implementation Society has to exercise utmost caution and care in ensuring that the core team at the District and Block level is carefully selected and is committed to the task of Universal Elementary Education. Besides Education Department functionaries, these teams could comprise of faculty members of DIETs, BRCs, CRCs, NGO representatives, representatives of Teacher Unions, representatives of Women’s Groups, representatives of Self Help Groups, retired and serving National and State Award winning Teachers, local literary figures, Panchayati Raj/Autonomous Council representatives etc. This list is illustrative as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan recognizes the diversity across regions. The objective is to make district level and Block level core team competent to take the community along in its agenda for educational reconstruction. The starting point of the planning process should be an orientation of the district and Block level teams.
These core teams should then undertake an extensive visit of the district, covering every village/urban slum. The funds provided under the preparatory activities for cultural activities and School occasions to identify could be taken up to build advocacy for elementary education. These events could be occasions to identify individuals and community leaders willing to undertake the educational activities in the region. Constitution of Mahila Samoohs and Prerak Dals could also be taken up as a preliminary step towards the constitution of the VEC. These identified individuals, with large representation of women and weaker sections, should then be oriented for managing the affairs of the School. The National/State level Mission could extend operational supporting building capacities for such activities.
The District team must also work out its information needs and steps to develop formats for household and School surveys should also be taken. This would require capacity support from National/State level institutions. The local context must reflect in all such activities.
The School has to play a critical role in the planning process and efforts to bring community leaders to the School should be encouraged. This will be facilitated by regular activities in the School. The Head Master and his/her team have to function like the local resource team for planning.
After orientation of community teams, the process of micro-planning, school mapping should be undertaken. This would involve intensive interaction with each household to ascertain the educational status and the educational need. The requirements have to be discussed at the habitation level before they are finalized. The broad financial and physical norms regarding school infrastructure, teachers and teaching learning materials will have to be the basis of the planning exercise.
Requirement of incentives like Scholarship and uniforms will have to be worked out on the basis of State norms. These would be part of SSA framework but not the SSA programme as funding would be from the State Plan. The planning for mid day meal should also be discussed in the planning process, even though changes in this scheme will be taken up separately. Requirement of incentives like Scholarship and uniforms will have to be worked out on the basis of State norms. These would be part of SSA framework but not the SSA programme as funding would be from the State Plan. The planning for mid day meal should also be discussed in the planning process, even though changes in this scheme will be taken up separately.
The habitation level plans should be drawn up on the basis of the micro-planning and school mapping exercise. The Block and the Districts should also undertake an exercise to see all requirements can be fulfilled by redeployment or by schemes under which unspent balances are available with the State governments. For example, teacher deployment could come by rationalization or Teaching learning Equipment could come from sanctions already provided earlier under Operation Blackboard but not utilized so far. The final District Plan will take note of such investments and would also reflect the process of redeployment of facilities, wherever required. The habitation level educational plans will be appraised by the Cluster level units, in consultation with the Block teams. The District unit will appraise the Block level plans. Due care should be taken to ensure that the demand for teachers, classrooms etc. are as per the broad norm for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The community-based planning process has to
result in the effective enrolment and retention of the hitherto out of school
children in school/an EGS centre/or a Bridge Course. This calls for a child specific monitoring by the local community. Community planning processes must also
result in a specific Action Plan. PERSPECTIVE PLANS AND
ANNUAL PLANS Each district will prepare a Perspective
Plan. The perspective Plan will be a
Plan for universalisation within the time frame of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. It will be based on the existing position
with regard to attendance, retention and drop out. It will work out the total requirement for universalisation,
spread over a number of years. A clear
Plan for improving access, increasing retention and ensuring achievement will
be a part of the perspective Plan. The
Perspective Plan will also be a dynamic document rather than any blue print and
would be subject to modifications based on the feed on the programme
implementation. It will also work out
the requirement of School infrastructure and teaching learning materials based
on the assessments. The perspective
Plan will follow the broad financial norms set out in an earlier section. The perspective Plans will also take note of the presence of the non-governmental
sector and its contribution towards UEE.
The perspective Plan will not rule out modifications in the Annual Work
Plans based on field experience. The
projections of the perspective Plan are tentative and departures on possible interventions
may be made as per need. The Annual Plans have to be based on a broad
indication of resource availability to a district in a particular year. The National and State Mission will try and
finalise the resource likely to be allocated to a particular district at least
six months be4fore the first instalment is released to a district. The district would undertake a
prioritisation exercise in the light of
the likely availability of resources.
The National/State Mission will appraise these Annual Plans and changes
in keeping with resource availability could be effected by the National/State
Mission. While the objective of the Perspective Plan is
to assess and plan for the unfinished UEE agenda in a particular district, the
Annual Plan is an exercise in prioritisation.
The perspective Plans of districts would be the basis for placing demand
for additional financial resources for UEE in the years to come. As stated earlier, these Plans have to be as
per norms mentioned earlier. The
appraisal teams would ensure that planning is as per nationally/State accepted
norms. Preparation f perspective and Annual Plans
require creation of capacities at all levels.
Besides the teams of resource persons from the National/State mission,
efforts to develop State specific institutional linkage for planning support
will also be explored. Consultation
with research institutions for undertaking State specific educational agenda
has already been initiated. The same
would be finalised in consultation with the State governments. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan would require
support of institutions of proven excellence for research, evaluation,
monitoring and capacity building. The quality of the planning exercise will
depend on the efforts at capacity building and the supervision of the planning
process. Institutions like Cluster
Resource Centres and Block resource Centres already established under DPEP and
being established under SSA in non DPEP district have to be carefully nurtured
to provided capacity for quality planning.
The starting point in any such exercise is for the States to accept the
need for careful selection of personnel from the governmental functionaries and
also to deploy experts on contract from the management costs provided under the
SSA. The National/State Mission will
have a role in selection of personnel in order to ensure objectivity in such
processes. It must be reiterated that
quality planning process will require institutional reforms that allow local
communities to participate effectively in the affairs of the school. The involvement of the teaching community in
the planning process would also be necessary to ensure that the School system
emerges as the principal institutions for community partnership. The District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) have a Planning and Management unit. These units have to become fully operational. The effort at entering into Memorandum of Understanding) with State governments under the scheme of Strengthening Teacher Education is a step in that direction. As stated in earlier sections, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan encourages institutional capacity development at all levels. Ultimately, no amount of external supervision by monitoring teams or capacity building teams is a substitute for institutional capacity at all levels. The CRCs, BRCs and DIETs have a large role in the preparation of perspective and Annual Plans and their systematic capacity development has to be a priority in programme implementation. ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES AS
PER APPROVED PLANS As mentioned earlier, the allocation of
resources will depend on the following: preparation of District Elementary
Education Plans and their appraisal; commitment of the State Government with
regard to the State share; performance of the State government regarding
resources made available earlier;
institutional reforms in states to facilitate decentralised management of
education; reports of supervision teams regarding the quality of programme
implementation; availability of financial resources in a particular year. The actual allocation of resources will
depend on all these factors. It is
likely that districts with poor infrastructure will require more resources. However, the release will also be
performance linked. If an educationally
ward district does not utilize the resources in the manner intended, it is
unlikely to receive a priority. All the
districts of the country will be covered before the end of the Ninth Plan. Their Plans will also be appraised and
resources made available as per the conditions mentioned above. There is no fixed criteria for allocation of
resources as the actual allocation will depend on a large number of factors,
including the availability of resources.
As
mentioned earlier, the resources will be allocated in two instalments in a year: Once in April and then again in September.
The objective is to allow states to fully utilize the allocation before asking
for more. The utilization certificates, however, will only become due one year
after (the release of an installment. Further release will be stalled if
utilization certificates arc not submitted as per the schedule. The expenditure of a State /UT has to be
maintained at the level in 1999-2000.
Any allocation for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has to be over and above the expenditure
already being incurred at the 1999-2000
level in a particular State. Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan will not substitute State funding for elementary
education. In fact, it is expected to
encourage states to invest more on elementary education along side a higher
allocation by the Central government. The Stale level Implementation Society
for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will certify that the level of investments are being
maintained in the state, at the time of seeking further allocation of resources
from the Central government.
The National
level Mission will also monitor expenditure on elementary education. NIEPA will
provide professional support for regular monitoring of expenditure on
elementary education.
.1
WHAT A DISTRICT
PLAN MUST HAVE
APPRAISAL OF DISTRICT PLANSAppraisal of District Plans is critical to the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan. The
National/State Mission will undertake Appraisal of plans with the assistance of
resource teams constituted by the operational support unit of the
National/State Mission. These resource persons will be fully oriented for undertaking the
task of appraisal. The Appraisal Missions will undertake regular visits to
districts in order to monitor the quality of preparatory activities. The cost of the Appraisal teams will be
fully borne by the National/State Mission.
The Monitoring and operational support teams at the national/State level
Mission will undertake the constitution of Appraisal teams.
Appraisal teams
will be jointly constitutes by the National and the State level Mission. One of the National Mission
nominees could be a representative of the research institution that undertakes
responsibility for that state. The
national Mission will circulate a list of resource persons on the basis of past
experience gathered under the DPEP and Lok Jumbish Project. The nominee of the State Mission will also
have to be approved by the National Mission.
The actual Appraisal visit will be for a
minimum of ten days to the concerned district and state. A checklist of activities will be prepared
for the guidance of the Appraisal team.
As regards the payment of honorarium to
the members of the Appraisal team, government functionaries and members of
autonomous government funded institutions will not be entitled to any
honorarium. They will be provided TA/DA
as per government approved norms. For
non-governmental representatives in appraisal teams, besides the TA/DA
admissible for government servants, a modest honorarium will be available. Commitment towards the programme should be
the motivation to undertake the appraisal and efforts to involve experts by
paying higher honoraria should be discouraged. A few salient features of the Appraisal process will be as follows:
DETERMINING
THE BASE LINE STATUS Many state specific
evaluation studies have been carried out in recent months. The National Evaluation of the Operation
Blackboard scheme has generated state specific findings on a large number of
parameters regarding elementary education.
The Evaluation of the District Institutes of Education and Training have
similarly generated State specific Reports.
In a manner these studies give a broad base line picture with regard to
the school system and the effectiveness of the teacher training
institutions. The National Sample
Survey 52nd Round (1995-96), the national Family Health Survey – I
and II (1992-93 and 98-99) also give us insights on 6-14 age children attending
schools in various states. These
studies serve as a baseline for the launch of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Besides these, provision for base line
studies focusing on the local context has been provided as part of the
preparatory activities. Base line
achievement tests would be undertaken by the NCERT in the non-DPEP states on a
priority, to ascertain the current levels.
The National and the State Mission will monitor on the basis of these
established base lines. Besides the State level Baselines, the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan provides for Baseline assessment Studies as a part of the preparatory
activities. These studies have to be
diagnostic in nature so that these studies contribute to the planning process
by taking note of the local contest.
NCERT will provide technical guidance for the Base-line Studies.
SUPERVISION
OF ACTIVITIES Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan requires regular supervision of activities. Ideally, the CRCs, BRCs. DIETs have to be developed effectively to carry out supervision activities. Over and above, these supervision teams will be periodically sent by the National/State Mission, besides the state specific resource institution that has undertaken the task of research and supervision in the state/UT. These specific supervision visits besides the overall assessment visits would also be undertaken. Classroom observation by resource persons has also been provided for. State will work out their supervision/appraisal/monitoring and research plans, based onthe indication of resource availability as per the norm approved for such activities under the SSA (Rs.1500 per school per year). This amount would be divided among the National / State and District mission under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Rs. 100 per School will be spent at the National level. The State government will decide regarding the balance amount to be spent on monitoring, research, supervision and evaluation at the various levels, from the School to the State.
Two supervision visits of at least three days each would be
undertaken by the National / State level Mission each year, to each of the
programme districts. Initially these supervision teams will be constituted in
partnership with the States. Subsequently,
States will constitute their own supervision teams. Each Supervision team will have four Members, two from the State
mission and two from the National mission.
Representatives of National Resource institutions and State specific
research institutions would be encouraged to participate in the supervision
team. TA/DA for governmental representatives who undertaken supervision visits
will be entitled to suitable honoraria, over and above the TA/DA. Efforts to involve faculty members of
University Department’s of Education will also be made.
The
visits will be coordinated by the State and the National Mission of Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan. Instructions to extend full support for supervision teams will
be issued by the State governments
Suitable
supervision formats will be designed through special workshops to be organized
by national / state level resource institutions. State specific research
institutions would also be encouraged to undertake planning for supervision
teams.
Resource
persons involved with training teachers will be also undertaken classroom
observation. A modest honoraria may be
provided for non governmental / retired resource persons. Members of DIET will
be entitled to TA/DA for such visits.
PROCEDURE FOR RELEASE OF FUNDS
Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan is conceived as a long term partnership between the Central and the
State /UT governments. The procedure
for release of funds incorporates this idea of a partnership. For the preparatory activities, the
districts would prepare their proposals based on the Broad Framework for
implementation. The State level
Implementation Society for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will forward these proposals
to the National Mission of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for release.
After assessment of the proposals for the preparatory
activities, the Central government will release funds to the State
government. The State government would
be expected to transfer this to the State Implementation Society within thirty
days. The State governments have to give written commitments
regarding the sharing of resources and their contribution towards the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan.
After
preparation of the District Elementary Education plans, the perspective as well
as the Annual Plans will be jointly appraised by a team of experts constituted
jointly by the National and the State level implementation Society. The
National Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan mission will approve the Annual Plan on the
basis of the appraisal report, the recommendation of the State Implementation
Society, the availability of Central plan funds, and the commitment of the
State government regarding finical resources. The recommendation of the State
level Implementation Society must also be accompanied by a commitment of the
State government to transfer its share to the State Society within thirty days
of the receipt of the Central contribution, as per the approved sharing
arrangement. The release of the first
installment to the State / will be processed after receipt of these written
commitments. The appraisal and approval
of Plans should be completed by 1 march and the first installment, to meet the
proposed expenditure of the first six months, should be released by 15
April. Some departure from this norm
would be necessitated in the first year of programme implementation.
There
would be two installments each year: one in April and the second in September
for expenditure between October to March. A
supervision visit to the programme implementation districts will be undertaken
by a pool of resource persons selected by the National/State Mission, before
the second installment is processed. The second installment will be based on
the progress in expenditure and the quality of implementation. The utilization
certificates from the districts to
the States and to the national Mission for funds released in the first
installment would become due at the time of the release of the first
installment in the subsequent year. Section III 3.0 MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE OF PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION AND INTEGRATION WITH CURRENT EFFORTS 3.1 Management Structure
At the National Level One of the basic features of
the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is that the mainstream will primarily be used for
implementing the programme.
A separate Department of Elementary Education and Literacy
has already been created for this
purpose. In order to facilitate convergence and a holistic
perspective, one single Bureau of Elementary Education has been
constituted. The General Council at the
National level will be headed by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. The Chairman of
the Executive Committee will be the Hon’ble Human Resource Development
Minister. The Secretary, Department of Elementary Education and Literacy will
be the Vice Chairperson of the Executive Committee. The Joint Secretary (Elementary Education) will also be the
Director General of the National Mission of Sarva Shiksha Mission. He/She shall be the Member Secretary of the
General Council and the Executive Committee.
The 7-8 Directors/Deputy Secretaries of the National Mission will also
work as the Deputy Director Generals of the National Mission under the overall
supervision of the DG. Each DS/Director shall have specific functional and
geographic responsibility.
The functional areas could be - I) Monitoring MIS,
Research, evaluation, and operational support; ii) Gender, ECCE and special
focus groups; iii) Pedagogy and capacity development for quality, Teacher
Education; iv) EGS, alternative and innovative education; v) Teacher
recruitment, rationalization and other policy matters; vi) Planning and
community mobilization; vii) Budget, Accounts, Annual Reports and Audit; viii)
Civil works and development of school facilities.
The
under Secretaries and the Section Officers in the Elementary Education Bureau,
along with the Office Staff, etc. will be part of the National Mission. In order to facilitate effective monitoring
and operational support for MIS, a monitoring and operation support unit will
be established from the existing staff and by appointment of a few need based
Consultants as per government rules.
The National Mission could have as
many as 20 positions of Consultants for functional areas. Selection of Consultants will be with the
approval of the Executive Committee. The emoluments will be as per government
approved rates. The management costs approved for the National Mission will be
utilized for engaging the Consultants and establishing the monitoring and
operational support unit. The
operational support unit will comprise of professionals who will work very
closely with the National Resource institutions providing the professional
support.
The
National Mission has a major role to play in developing capacities. In order to facilitate such
a process, demand-based capacity development visits would be organized by the
National mission, in consultation with the State Missions. State Missions would
also play an important role in meeting the capacity development needs of the
districts as per their demand. The
professional and operational support institutions will also regularly interact
with State Implementation Societies and districts to ascertain the capacity
development needs. Flexibility in meeting the capacity development needs is
critical to the success of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
The
National Mission has the role of disseminating good practices across the states. This will include
encouraging Study visits and regularly publishing such good practices. The monitoring and operational support unit
of the National Mission, which will function under the administrative control
of the Deputy Director General, monitoring, MIS and operational support, will
respond to the demand from States and districts. It will have the flexibility of sending monitoring teams at short
notice. The National Mission will
constantly up-date lists of experts in functional and geographical areas in
consultation with State Implementation Societies. The list of experts would be periodically placed before the
Executive Committee for approval.
Team
members for capacity development would be entitled to TA/DA, besides modest
honoraria.
Here again, the effort is to value commitment
to the cause of UEE rather than sheer pecuniary benefits. The National and the State/Missions will be
empowered to organize capacity development visits at short notice. 3.2 Illustrative
Management Structure At State, District And Sub-District Levels ·
The
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan allows States/UTs to have their own management structures,
respecting the diversity that exists in these structures across the
States. This, however, does not mean
that decentralization will not be monitored.
In fact, the effort is to empower Schools to take their own decisions,
within the overall management context of a state/UT.
·
The
State have to set up the State level
Implementation Society. In DPEP state, it is likely that the
existing DPEP Society will be suitably modified to meet the needs of UEE. In other States/UTs either new Societies are
being set up or existing Societies like the State Level Mission Authorities for
literacy are being suitably modified.
·
The
State level Implementation Societies have to have effective
monitoring and operational support units.
Creation of an effective EMIS
unit, a team of experts to provide support in specific functional areas,
regular monitoring, supervision and appraisal activities, etc. will have to be
organized at the State level Implementation Society. These structures could come up from the 6 percent management
costs available under SSA. While doing so, States have to ensure that the
educational mainstream has to be totally involved in programme activities. This however, does not, rule out the
requirement for specific strengthening of the machinery by infusion of experts.
·
Each
State would like to re-organize the State level setup
in the mission mode.
Like
the National Mission, the State level Mission will have to carry out a large
number of monitoring and operational support tasks. In the DPEP states, such support may be provided by the existing
State level set up. This office, suitably strengthened, will have the added
responsibility of implementing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
·
District and Sub district units will similarly be set up by
the State.
As mentioned in the section on community planning process, creation of a
district, Block and Cluster level teams comprising of governmental and non
governmental persons would go a long way in establishing effective
structures. The selection of the core
team has to be very careful as that would determine the quality of programme
implementation. Setting up of EMIS team
has to be done on priority in order to put in place an effective MIS. The infusion of additional contractual staff
will only be after an assessment of the existing staff strength. 3.3 State Mission Authority
There
would be a State Mission Authority for UEE.
All activities in the
elementary education sector, including the operation of the revised NFE
programme, should be under one Society.
This would facilitate decision making at the State level. The mission
mode signifies a focused and time bound arrangement for decision making and the
presence of Planning and Finance on these bodies at the State level would
facilitate this process. The General
Council could be headed by the Chief Minister and the Executive Committee by
the Chief Secretary / Development Commissioner / Education Secretary. Representation of Finance and Planning
Departments on the General Council and the Executive Committee would facilitate
decision-making. Department of Rural
Development’s involvement will facilitate the process of mobilizing additional
resources under the rural employment programmes for school infrastructure
development. Involvement of NGOs’
social activities, university teachers, teacher union representatives,
Panchayati raj representatives, and women’s groups would help in ensuring full
transparency to the activities of the Mission. Representatives of the Ministry
of Human Resource Development would be represented both on the Governing
Council and the Executive Committee.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan allows the engagement of professional
on contractual terms, subject to the ceiling on management coasts. However, the engagement of professionals, however, has to be done
after taking stock of the available manpower.
The professionals have to work to strengthen capacities in the
mainstream. This would require serious
effort and possible restructuring of command structures in many states. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan would encourage all
efforts at restructuring that contribute to effective decision making and
efficiency. The accountability
framework of institutions has to be considerable strengthened. This calls for
adoption of strict selection criteria while posting officials to institutions
like DIETs and SCERTs. The memorandum
of understanding (MoU) with States under the scheme of Teacher
Education is already highlighting this need for priority to institutional
development.
Management cost up to 6 percent of the total programme cost
has been provided. It can be used for the following tasks - Engagement of experts for
specific tasks and specific periods; date collection and EMIS maintenance;
office expenses like stationary, telephone fax, photocopiers consumable,
postage, POL, vehicle hiring, TA/DA of functionaries; cost of persons allowed
to be engaged on contract basis for the project duration; recurring contingent
and miscellaneous costs. For specific
tasks, experts may be hired for a given time frame, to provide support to the
mainstream educational management structure.
Before hiring experts, it will be mandatory for districts/states to
assess the existing strength. There
would be areas like MIS, pedagogy, teacher training, research and evaluation,
community mobilization, gender sensitization, civil works, Alternative
schooling, that may require infusion of experts. The actual requirement would depend on an assessment of the
existing structure. In a state where institutions like SCERT,
DIETs, etc. are already fully and effectively functional, such requirements
will be minimal. Experience of
elementary education project implementation suggests that a core
team of 7-8 persons at the district level and a team of 3-4 persons at the
Block level is required for effectiveness implementation. This team
will be constituted by selection from existing staff, as far as possible. Full time workers on secondment (as in
TLCs), deputation from other government departments, would be encouraged to
work as part of the district and block level teams for UEE. After assessment of needs and existing
availability of manpower, decision regarding contractual appointments would be
taken in consultation with the State level Authority. All contractual appointees will be engaged for a specified time
period by the State level Implementation Society (and not by the government)
and shall work within the institutional framework. The selection process of professionals hired on contract (within the 6
percent management cost) has to be very rigorous. Representation of National Mission representative on the
selection committee will be mandatory.
Selection should be done by expert committees specially constituted for
the purpose. The management costs
should be periodically monitored to ensure that it is within the ceiling of
6%. Sustainability of such costs have
to be taken into account at the time of incurring them.
An illustrative management structure had been provided
under the District Primary Education Programme. Under the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan, the effort will be to first identify the existing strengths and
weaknesses of the implementation team at the district, Block, Cluster and
habitation level. The requirement of additional staff will be worked out on the
basis of this assessment. In the
preparatory phase itself, identification of likely BRC and CRC coordinators
from among the teachers should begin.
In fact, this team should start functioning from the preparatory phase
itself by deputation, if need be. This
team of up to 20 teachers could provide useful support to the planning exercise
at the Block and Cluster level.
Normally, States have found absence of sufficiently trained staff to handle
MIS and community mobilization related activities, from the existing staff.
Gender related interventions have also required the engagement of persons on
contractual appointment. While making
an assessment of power needs, districts must assign the top most priority to engaging experts for MIS,
community mobilization and gender related interventions. In context specific situations, engagement
of experts on tribal education, education of SC children, disabled children,
etc., may also be considered. Similarly,
in states where the institutional capacity for quality interventions is weak,
engagement of experts on pedagogy and teacher training may also be
considered. Effective management of
accounts also requires effective training and occasionally strengthening of the
financial management machinery at the district and the Block levels. As regards requirement of vehicles, the policy should be to hire
vehicles as per need, unless such a practice is not feasible in any particular
area. Even in case purchase of vehicles
is permitted, no new post of driver should be created. Such purchase of vehicles would only be as
substitution of condemned vehicles. In
any case, prior permission of the National Mission will be mandatory for any
decision regarding purchase of vehicles.
Additional development on contractual appointment at the
State level will also be after assessment of the needs. Here again, the need to
establish an effective MIS, engagement of experts on community mobilization and
micro planning, Accounts experts, pedagogy experts must be emphasized. In State specific contexts, experts on out
of school children and Alternative Schooling systems may be engaged. 3.4 Role of Non Governmental Organizations in Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan
Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan conceives a vibrant partnership with Non Governmental
Organizations in the area of capacity building, both in communities and in
resource institutions. These
partnerships will require nurturing through an on going partnership in
activities. The Research, Evaluation,
Monitoring activities under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is proposed to be done in
partnership with institutions/NGOs. This would improve transparency of
programme interventions and would also encourage a more open assessment of
achievements. In the education sector, non-governmental organisations have been
making very meaningful contributions. Work related to pedagogy, mainstreaming
out of school children developing effective teacher training programmes,
organizing community for capacity development for planning and implementation,
expressing gender concerns, work in the sphere of disability among children,
are some such examples.
Their
partnership is conceived in three ways :
·
through direct funding by Central and State governments;
·
through funding activities by identified National and State
Resource Institutions;
·
through participation in community activities funded by Village
Education Committees. NGOs can discharge a very
useful role in advocacy as well as accountability of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
Under
the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative and Innovative Education
(AIE), it has been decided to fund NGOs (other than experimental and innovative
Projects) through State implementation Societies. It will also be possible to record the contribution
of NGO Projects in the District Elementary education Plans as their
interventions would also be made in the DEEP.
It will facilitate transparency of NGO activities also. Substantial partnership of NGOs is conceived
through community organisations like VEC, PTA, MTA, SMCs, etc. This is suggested so that NGOs actually
participate in building capacities in the community. It also facilitates transparency in NGO activities. 3.5 Major Central interventions and Their Integration With SSA
There
have been several innovative schemes in the sector of elementary education
following the national policy on Education in 1986 such as Operation
blackboard, Teacher Education, Non Formal Education, Mahila Samakhya, National
Programme for Nutritional Support for primary Education, State Specific
Education projects in Bihar, Rajasthan, up and Andhra Pradesh and DPEP in 219
districts of 15 States. It proposed to
integrate these in the fold of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in the following manner :
- i) Operation
Blackboard aimed to improve physical infrastructure of education whereby school space was expanded
and more teachers proved. However,
Operation blackboard could not cover the entire spectrum of schools. The SSA
will qualitatively improve and expand the existing structure. No fresh teacher recruitment will take place
under OBB once SSA programme is operational zed. Support for teachers’ salaries
under OBB will, however, continue where teachers have already been appointed under
that scheme. Efforts to access funds for classrooms from rural/urban employment
schemes will continue to be made, even though ear marking is no more applicable
to these funds. ii) Strengthening
of Teacher Education :
The
revised scheme of Teacher Education provides for a Memorandum of Understanding
with the states in order to ensure that they receive priority attention of
state governments, especially with regard to filling up of vacancies through a
rigorous selection criteria. The scheme will be a part of the SSA framework
till the end of the IX Plan, after
which it will merge in the SSA programme. This will supplement the DIETs, which provide guidance at
district level. iii) National
Programme of Nutritional Support for Primary Education:
Evaluation
of the National Programme of Nutritional Support for Primary Education indicate
that the supply goods grains leads to improvement in student attendance while
raising their nutritional standard.
It is
proposed to continue the scheme with suitable modifications, in consultation
with States. iv)
Mahila
Samakhya :
Evaluation
studies on the Mahila Samakhya approach indicates the progress made in
empowerment of women. This in turn
generates demand for elementary education of girls. There is a need to further strengthen these linkages with basic
education of girls by giving women’s groups a more active role in the
management of the school. Though the
scheme of Mahila Samakhya will retain its district identity at the State and
the district level, it will provide support for the planning and
implementation of SSA in districts implementing Mahila Samakhya. v) Education
Guarantee Scheme and Alternative and Innovative Education :
Studies on the Non-Formal Education scheme have pointed out the lack of
flexibility which impedes effective implementation across different
States. Efforts to provide for a
diversity of interventions have been made in the revised scheme that has been
approved recently such as setting up of Education Guarantee Schools,
Alternative Schooling facilities, Balika Shikshan Shivir, ` to School’
camps, etc. The revised NFE scheme called EGS and AIE will be a component of
the SSA and be absorbed in it by the end of the IX Plan. SSA
programme will provide planning and management support to operationalize the
EGS and AIE scheme.
vi) District Primary Education
Programme (DPEP):
DPEP
districts indicate that decentralized planning and implementation facilitates
community involvement on the process of enrolment. DPEP has met with variety of degree of success in different
States. Some have availed of DPEP
benefits and have improved their elementary education sector. A large umber of teacher vacancies have been
filled up in many DPEP states. Setting up of Block and Cluster Resource Centres
has facilitated academic interaction among teachers. Development of new textbooks with the participation of teaches
and experts have been encouraging in most DPEP states. All DPEP districts would
also be part of the SSA framework.
Efforts to prepare comprehensive District Elementary Education Plans will
be made in DPEP districts. The focus will be
on vertical expansion into Upper Primary Education and on consolidation of the
primary schooling efforts. vii Lock Jumbish Project :
Under
the LJP, evaluation studies indicate the positive impact of the micro planning
and school mapping in which the community is involved. There are specific
interventions for girl’s education through Balika Shiksha Shivirs and Sahaj
Shiksha Kendras. While there has been
improvement in enrolment and retention, the actual learning achievements have
been modest. LJP will be implemented in 13 districts of
Rajasthan and holistic District Plans will be prepared for these districts
also. LJP will be a part of the SSA
framework.
Section IV
4.0 MONITORING OF PROGRAMME
IMPLEMENTATION 4.1 COMMUNITY BASED MONITORING, EMIS, RESEARCH AND EVALUATION
The
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will have a community-based monitoring system. The Educational Management Information
System (EMIS) will incorporate provision for correlation of school level data
with community-based information from micro planning and surveys. Besides this, every school will have a
notice board showing all the grants received by the school and the details
thereof. All reports sent to the Block
and the District level with regard to enrolment, attendance, incentive, etc.
shall be displayed on the school notice board.
Reporting formats will be simplified so that the output is demystified
and anyone can understand the data. A
School would be required to display the information it sends up so that
attendance and performance of pupils is public knowledge. The EMIS shall form
the basis of the periodic reporting system. besides this, trainers will act as classroom
process will be observed to record changes in classroom practices. Periodic monitoring teams will make random
visits to selected schools and these will be discussed at various levels. The
basic principle in monitoring will be its community ownership and periodic
quality checks by external teams will make random visits to selected schools
and these will be discussed at various levels.
The basic principle in monitoring will be its community ownership and
periodic quality checks by terms - external to the activity but internal to the
system.
The
State implementation Societies (SIS) will also undertake intensive monitoring. Representatives of the
National Mission for UEE and, National level institutions like NCTE, NIEPA, and
NCERT will also undertaken periodic monitoring and provide resource support to
the SIS to strengthen appraisal and monitoring systems. Efforts to associate autonomous institutions
willing to take up state specific responsibilities for research and evaluation
will also be made. Many ICSSR
institutions and other independent institutions would also be associated in
developing effective books for conducting achievement tests, monitoring quality
aspects of programme implementation, evaluation and research studies.
A
total provision of up to Rs.1500 per school could be made for community - based
monitoring, research, evaluation, etc. has been made. Rs. 100 per School will
be available at the National level. The State will decide on the division of
resources at various levels, from the State to the School from the balance
Rs.1400 per school.
The
funds for monitoring will be used for carrying out the following activities :
·
creating a pool of resource persons at national, state, district,
sub district level for effective-field based monitoring.
·
providing travel grant and a very modest honorarium (as per state specific norm) for resource persons
for monitoring.
·
provision for regular generation of community based data.
·
conducting achievement tests, evaluation studies
·
conducing research activities
·
setting up special task force for low female literacy districts and
for special monitoring of girls, SCs, Sts.
·
expenditure on Education Management Information System
·
contingent expenditure like charts, posters, sketch pen, OHP pens
etc. for visual monitoring systems
·
assessment and appraisal teams and their field activities
·
analyses of data at sub district/district/state and national level
Besides
community based monitoring, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will encourage independent
research and supervision by autonomous research institutions. Institutions of proven excellence have been
requested to take up State specific responsibilities. The focus in partnership
with institutions will also be on developing capacities through the interaction
in SCERTs/Siestas/DIETs to carry out research and evaluation tasks. Faculty of
Education in Universities, Departments would also be requested to participate
in such activities under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The Regional Institutes of Education (RIE) of NCERT will also be
associated in these tasks.
Effective
community based-monitoring requires demystification of processes. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will make efforts to
develop partnership between communities and research institutions in order to
improve the quality of monitoring and research.
NCERT will undertake base line assessment of learning achievements
in the Non-DPEP States in order to provide a base line for the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan. These assessments must also take a larger view of the assessment
process rather than simply a one-time assessment of achievements. Efforts to
develop context specific item pools must also be simultaneously made.
Monitoring of programme
·
Joint
Review by Government of India and the State government ·
Community
based monitoring with full transparency ·
Continuous
visit to field by resource persons and suggestions for improvement ·
State
specific responsibilities to research and resource institutions for
supervision, monitoring, evaluation and research ·
Community
ownership mandatory for preparation of District Elementary Education Plans ·
Statement
of expenditure in each school to be a public document ·
Mandatory
implementation of many activities by VEC
Section V 5.0 COVERAGE OF SPECIAL FOCUS GROUPS
5.1 GIRLS’ EDUCATION
Education of
girls, especially those belonging to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes,
is the primary focus in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
Efforts will be made to mainstream gender concerns in all the activities
under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme.
Mobilization at the habitation/village/urban slum level, recruitment of
teachers, up-gradation of primary into upper primary schools, incentives like
midday meals, uniforms, scholarships, educational provision like textbooks and
stationery, will all take into account the gender focus. Every activity under the programme will be judged in terms of its gender focus. Besides mainstreaming, special efforts like
the Mahila Samakhya type of mobilization and organization, -to school camps
for adolescent girls, large - scale process based constitution of Mahila
Samoohs, will also be attempted. The selection
criteria takes into account the low female literacy among the scheduled caste
and scheduled tribe women.
The Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan recognizes the need for special efforts to bring the out-of
-school girls to school. This would
require a proper identification of girls who are out of school in the course of
micro planning/school mapping. it also
calls for involving women through participatory processes in the effective
management of schools. Experiences
across the States under Mahila Samakhya and under the District Primary
Education Programme have suggested the need for a clear perspective on women’s
issues. The provision for girls’
education would have to be situated in the local contexts and interventions
designed to suit the specific community needs in this regard. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is committed to
making these interventions possible. A few lessons from the DPEP
stages are mentioned below:
5.1.1 Lessons from
DPEP and Lok Jumbish Project Range of interventions for
improved access and enrolment under DPEP:
6.0
Regular enrolment
drives conducted in most States.
In Uttar Pradesh, a 23% increase has been recorded in girls’ enrolment
in 2000-2001 over last year’s enrolment figures.
7.0
Conducting
special camps and bridge courses for girls to mainstream them.
8.0
Setting up
special models of Alternate Schools
exclusively for girls - angana vidyalayas, bal vidyalaya, bal
shalas, AS cum ECE centres.
9.0
Providing formal
schooling facilities
in centres of religious instruction viz., Moktabs and
Madarsas.
10.0
Intensive mobilisation efforts among the resistant groups.
11.0
Working in close
collaboration with the community in identified pockets.
12.0
Using women’s
groups (both formed under the programme and those already existing),
VECs, MTA, to follow up issues for girls’ education.
Range of interventions for retention of girls:
6.0
Monitoring attendance has been high
on the agenda in all states where micro initiatives for girls’ education
have been taken up. Community
involvement is highly in this process, particularly in mobilizing parents for
regular attendance of their children.
7.0
Follow up of
drop out girls to bring them to school either through camps or bridge
courses.
8.0
organizing
retention drives to put regular pressure on parents and the school system
to ensure retention of girls. These are
not one time drives but are organized at regular intervals to sustain the
pressure and take up corrective measures as many be necessary.
9.0
In pockets identified for intensive activities, attendance of
each child is monitored to prevent dropouts.
In
Uttar Pradesh, children are awarded graded colors for their monthly attendance
- green for the best, yellow for the mediocre and red for the deficient. This
system is showing results. Children want to achieve the green color.
It
is proposed to publically felicitate the children with good attendance records
at local level functions. This has not only enthused the children further, but
has also instilled a sense of commitment and responsibility among parents and
guardians. Emphasis on improved learning outcome for girls is another area that
has gained importance with the maturity of the programme. Focus on the achievement
levels of girls through : - Special coaching
classes/remedial classes for SC
girls.
- Creation of a congenial learning environment
for girls in the classroom where they are given the opportunity to learn. This
is being done through special inputs to teachers - either in selected pockets
or across the programme districts
- Remedial classes being organised by VEC/MTA members for girls
who are not faring too well at school
10.0
Improved classroom environment to provide equitable learning
opportunities to girls. Most
interventions have been through teacher sensitization programmes. There are examples of States that have tried
to address the issue of providing congenial learning environment of girls in
the schools/classrooms although the approaches have been varied. States like Karnataka and Gujarat have taken
a lead in this process. Kerala undertook a study on
classroom processes with a gender focus in 168 schools. This formed the basis
for the teacher training module developed on this theme. Almost 28,000 teachers have been taken
through this training and have given reference material.
Another area
which has seen emphasis in the states is encouraging, capacities for local
specific planning and implementation. - States have been sensitized on
the use of available data for local level planning for girls’ education with
community involvement.
- Field-based training’s have been
conducted in Assam, Kerala, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. States have
been buildings on these skills and are concentrating in certain very deprived
pockets. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu have also
initiated focused interventions along similar lines.
The Lok Jumbish Project had also
developed very innovative interventions for girls and women’s education. Some
of them are : * Balika Skikshan Shivirs ( Camps
for adolescent girls).
* Sahaj Shiksha Kendras - an
alternative schooling system.
* Adhyapika Manch - a forum of women
teaches.
* Intensive Review and Planning
process.
* Mahila Shikshan Kendra - a special
initiative for education of women in low female literacy locks. The educational development of children belonging to the
Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes is a special focus in the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan . Every activity under the
Project must identify the benefit that will accrue to children from these
communities. Many of the incentive
schemes will have a sharper focus on children from these communities. The participation of dalits and tribals in
the affairs of the school will be specially monitored to ensure ownership of
the Abhiyan by all social groups, especially the most disadvantaged.
5.1.2 EDUCATION OF
SC/ST CHILDREN The interventions for
children belonging to SC/ST communities have to be based on the intensive micro
planning for every child. The Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan provides flexibility to local units to develop a context
specific intervention. Some
interventions could be as follows :
6.0
Engagement of community organizers from SC/ST communities with a
focus on schooling needs of children from specific households
7.0
Special teaching support as per need
8.0
Ensuring ownership of school committees by SC/ST communities
9.0
Training programmes for motivation for schooling
10.0
Setting up alternative schooling facilities in unserved habitations
and for other out of school children
11.0
Using community teachers
12.0
Monitoring attendance and retention of children from weaker
sections regularly
13.0
Providing context specific intervention in the form of a hostel, an
incentive or a special facility as required.
14.0
Involving community leaders in school management
15.0
The Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan will develop context specific interventions, over and above the
mainstreamed interventions, to tackle the problems in girls’ education. All successful interventions so far will
serve as the guiding principle for preparing such interventions. An expenditure up to Rupees 15 lakhs for
each such innovative intervention is provided for under the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan.
5.1.3 PROVISION
UNDER SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN
All the
interventions listed above can be undertaken in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The following provisions have been made for
girls’ education : i Interventions
for Early Childhood Care and Education ii. School/EGs like alternative facility to be set up within one
kilometer all habitations. iii. Up-gradation
of EGS to regular schools iv. Special mainstreaming camps for out-of-school girls under the
Alternative and Innovative Education
component. v. Mahila Samakhya like interventions from the innovation fund. vi. Provision of process-based community participation with a focus on
the participation of women vii. Provision of context specific innovative intervention for girls’
education - upto Rs.15 lakh per intervention and up to Rs.50 lakh in a district
in a particular year. viii. Training programme for community leaders to develop capacities for
school management ix. Setting up of Block and Cluster Resource Centres for effective
academic supervision. x. Free textbooks to all girls up to Class - VIII. xi. Mid-day-meal programme to continue as at present. xii. Incentives like uniforms and scholarships to be funded from State
Plan only. xiii. Adequate Teaching Learning Equipment for all Primary and Upper
Primary schools. xiv. At least 50% of the teachers to be appointed have to be women xv. Provision for * school and teacher grants for
all teachers. * 20-day in-service training
each year for all teachers. * all disabled children * community-based monitoring,
partnership with research and resource institutions,
and periodic feed on interventions
5.2 INTERVENTIONS
FOR DISABLED CHILDREN Disabled children require specially trained teachers and
special gadgets for mainstreaming them in schools. Expenditure up to Rs.1200 per disabled child
could be incurred in a financial year to meet the special learning needs of
such children.
The
interventions being made under the scheme of Integrated Education of Disabled
children has to be taken note of while developing a strategy for intervention.
The household surveys will cover all aspects of disability and the District
Elementary Education Plan must also have a plan for disabled children. The
ceiling on per disabled children investment will apply at the district level.
Besides specific
interventions for the disabled children, due care has to be taken of the needs
of such children while designing school infrastructure, preparing
teaching-learning materials, etc.
The provision of
Rs.12 per child is very modest. It has
been adopted as a first step towards providing meaningful opportunities for
mainstreaming disabled children. Annual
provision of nearly Rs.240 crores is available for such interventions under the
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Integration with
efforts of other Departments and Ministers has also been ensured.
The definition
of a child, as incorporated in the Disabilities Act (up to 18 years of age)
will apply to disabled children being covered under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. * Each district will carry out a survey of the
disabled children in the course of the micro planning/school mapping exercise
and the household surveys. A Plan for effective interventions,
both from the perspective of teacher training, and from the point of providing
additional material support will be worked out. Identification of very difficult cases of disability requiring a
specialized attention in a separate institution will also be worked out, based
on the data gathered. * The Plan for disabled children has to meet the individual
needs of every child.
This would call for an organised system of resource support.
Non
governmental Organizations engaged in the implementation of programme for
disabled children will also be associated as resource institutions for teacher
training, etc. 5.3 EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION
The National Policy of
Education (NPE) has given great deal of importance to Early Childhood Care and
Education (ECCE). it views ECCE as a crucial input in the strategy of human
resource development, as a feeder and support programme for primary education
and as a support service for working women of the disadvantaged section of
society. It has also taken into account
the holistic nature of ECCE and has pointed out the need
for early care and stimulation of children belonging to the vulnerable sector.
Since the age span covered under ECCE is from conception to 6 years,
emphasis has been given to a child-centered approach, play-way and
activity-based learning in place of formal methods of teaching and early
introduction of the three R’s. The
importance of community involvement has also been highlighted. Emphasis has been given to establishing
linkages between Integrated Child development Services (ICDS) and other ECCE
programmes. The Revised Policy Formulations reiterate the postulates
of NPE, 1986 on ECCE. The prescriptions of POA, 1986 continue to be of
relevance. What is attempted here is to update the POA, 1986 taking into
account the developments since then and the need to strengthen the programmes
by, inter-alia, improving the programme components, co-ordination mechanism and
enlisting community participation in mobilizing resources, planning and
monitoring. Realizing the crucial importance of rapid physical and
mental growth during early childhood, a number of programmes of ECCE were
starred particularly after the National Policy for Children (1974). The
existing ECCE programmes include: i. ICDS. ii. Scheme of assistance to voluntary organisations for
conducting Early Childhood Education (ECE) centers. iii. Balwadis and day-care centers run by voluntary agencies with
Government’s assistance. iv. Pre-primary schools run by the State Governments, Municipal
Corporations and other governmental and non-government agencies. v. Maternal and child health services through primary health
centers and sub-centers and other agencies.
The
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan realizes the importance of pre school learning and early
childhood care and its role in improving participation of children in schools.
IN order to facilitate a greater convergence with the integrated
Child Development Services, efforts to strengthen them in the area of
pre-school education will be made. As
under DPEP, specific support will be available to existing ICDS centre coming
in such a habitation, the pre school facility will necessarily have to work in
conjunction with the ICDS.
A provision of
up to Rupees fifteen lakhs in a district for any innovative intervention for
Early Childhood Care and Education has been made. The District Elementary Education Plan has to have a Plan for
early Childhood Care and Education. It
also has to list the facility already created under the ICDS. The supplementary
support for ECCE will always be in conjunction with the ICDS. Provision of honorarium for pre school
teacher, training of Aanganwadi Sevikas for Pre School learning, activity
materials, play items, etc., could be provided as support for ECCE.
Recognizing the
continuum of learning and development, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan would make all
efforts to develop an integrated approach to meet the educational needs of the
pre-schoolers. Some illustrative interventions could be as follows :
* strengthening pre school component in ICDS by need-based training of Aanganwadi Sevika, provision of
additional person, learning materials etc. * setting up balwadis as
pre school centres in uncovered areas * building advocacy
for importance of early child development
* organising training programmes for ECCE * development of materials
* promoting convergence between the school system and the ECCE arrangement. 5.4 STRATEGIES
FOR OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN: EDUCATION GUARANTEE SCHOOLS IN UNSERVED HABITATIONS
AND ALTERNATIVE AND INNOVATIVE EDUCATION FOR OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN INCLUDING
CHILDREN IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES
The
Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative and innovative Education scheme is a
part of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan framework. Guidelines
issued under the EGS & AIE shall apply.
The management structure for implementation of EGS & AIE will be
incorporated in the management structure of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Planning, appraisal and supervision
processes will also be the same.
The new scheme
makes provision for diversified strategies and has flexible financial
parameters. It has provided a range of
options, such as EGS, to School Camps, Balika Shivirs, etc. There are four
broad focus areas : i. full time community schools for small unserved
habitations ii. mainstreaming of children through bridge courses of
different duration iii. specific strategies for special groups like child labour,
street children, adolescent girls, girls belonging to certain ward
communities, children of migrating families, etc. iv. innovative programme-the innovations can be in the areas of
pedagogic practices, curriculum, programme management, textbooks and TLMs, etc.
All habitations
not having a primary school within one kilometer and having a minimum of school
age children, will be entitle to have an EGS type school. Children who have dropped out-of-school will
have an opportunity to avail of bridge courses, aimed at their
mainstreaming. The objective is to see
the EGS and AIE as integral to the quest of UEE. Section VI
6.0
QUALITY ISSUES
IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 6.1
PEDAGORY,
TEACHER TRAINING AND CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT FOR QUALITY
IMPROVEMENT
The National
Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has brought out the
revised National Curriculum Framework after an intensive consultation
process. Excellence with equity is its
basic approach and an effort has been made to critically examine the modern
context and its implications for learning. The national curriculum framework
strongly recommends indigenousness of the curriculum. The National Policy of Education and its Programme of Action 1992
had already laid down the steps for the adoption of the Minimum Levels of
Learning. These are : - Preliminary assessment of the
existing levels of learning achievements; - Modification of the MLLs to suit
local conditions, if needed; - Initial and recurrent orientation of
teaches to competency based teaching; - Preparation of teacher training
handbooks for MLL based teaching; - Introduction of continuous and comprehensive
evaluation of students and using evaluation results for remedial
action; - Preparation of unit tests and other evaluation
materials and putting them in an item pool for using as and when
required; - Using MLL norms as and when
curriculum and textbooks are revised; - Provision of competency-based teaching
learning materials to make the educational process activity based and
joyful.
The Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan would like to situate the pedagogical interventions within the
current national framework. The two volumes entitled “The Primary Years -
Towards a Curriculum Framework” (NCERT) will also be used to identify most suitable
processes to improve the learning environment for the child. Efforts to decentralize the whole process of
curriculum development down (grassroots level) to the district level will be
made. Reducing the load of
non-comprehension by facilitating child-centered and activity based learning
will be attempted. Learning by doing,
learning by observation, work experience, art, music, sports and value
education shall be made fully integral to the learning process. Appropriate changes will be made in the evaluation
system to make it more continuous and less threatening. Performance of children
will be constantly monitored in consultation with parents but shall not be
restricted only to cognitive areas.
Teachers’ role in preparation of text - books and secondary learning
materials will be enhanced. School
timings will be made contextual. based
on a broad curriculum framework, districts would be free to define their
content areas in their local contexts.
State and national level institutions will facilitate this process of
decentralized arrangements for development of curriculum and evaluation
systems. Some guiding principles in curriculum and evaluation reform will be as
follows : * teacher/community participation in material preparation; * focus on good quality printing, illustrations for books
along side improvement in content; freedom
from `cheapest syndrome’ in maters of children’s books; * use of local dialects as language’ in classes one and
two; * community-based and school-based projects for work experience; * association of local artisans/workmen in school
activities; * primacy to cultural activities, art, sports, etc.; * content based and motivational training for teachers; * continuous assessment of students for all round
development; * facilitating child-to-child learning;
Norms approved
under the scheme of Restructuring of Teacher Education will apply. Block Resource Centres and Cluster Resource
Centres will be set up as per the norms mentioned earlier. They will function under the guidance of DIETs. The selection of personnel for BRCs and CRCs
will be done by a specially constituted Committee from among the teachers.
Efforts to
identify teachers as resource persons will be attempted through adoption
of objective criteria. Teachers as
resource persons could then interact with pedagogy experts and other teacher
educators to develop useful learning approaches for children/Efforts to
recognize the unique learning needs of children must be made. The diversity of learning environments and
learning approaches should be encouraged and teachers should have the freedom
to experiment on a much larger scale.
The effective
interface of teachers and teacher educators is critical for developing a
context specific intervention. Study tours of teaches will be encouraged. NGOs with experience in pedagogy will be
associated in developing capacity among teachers for innovative practices. 6.2 TEACHER
RECRUITMENT, RATIONALIZATION AND MANAGEMENT
States have
their own norms for recruitment of teachers and a lot of diversity exists in
payments being made to new recruits. In
many cases the appointing authority is the local Panchayat. The States will be free to follow their own
norms as long as they do not violate any of the norms established by NCTE. There will be no compromise on standards
even though payment of less than State pay scale as an interim measure may be
adopted in states with large - scale vacancies. Rationalization of existing
teacher units will be a priority. The
presence of the non-governmental sector has to be taken note of before working
out vacancies. The programme will provide for Primary and Upper Primary school
teachers to ensure that there are no single teacher school. Overall, the effort will be to provide at
least 1; 40 teacher pupil ratio.
Qualifications of upper primary teachers will be as per state specific
norms and the number of Upper Primary schools will be broadly as per the
national policy norm. The practice of
at least 50% women teachers will be strictly followed.
The
support for teachers’ salaries (on a reducing basis) under the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan will be for a ten-year period.
The sharing arrangement will be 85-15 in the IX Plan, 75-25 in the X
Plan and 50-50 in the XI Plan period.
Long term sustainable
financing of teachers’ salaries is likely to enthuse states to fill up teacher
vacancies as per requirement.
Assistance will not be available for filling up existing vacancies that
have arisen on account of attrition.
States that did not utilize the support under Operation Blackboard for a
third teacher in Primary or an additional teacher in Upper Primary will be eligible for assistance for new posts
created to meet the rising enrolment of pupils.
Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan will encourage decentralised management of teacher cadres. The local government should recruit and the
community should have a say in the selection process. The Gujarat model of recruiting full trained teachers on fixed
pay as an interim strategy could be adopted in states with large-scale teacher
vacancies. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan would like to improve the accountability of
the teacher vis-à-vis local community without diluting the standards for
selection of teachers, as laid down from time to time by the National Council
of Teacher Education.
Opportunities for
the professional development of teachers have to be encouraged and all efforts
to provide effective In-service training and orientation has to be made. The Budget for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
provides for effective In-service training. Arrangements for classroom
observation after training programmes, by the Resource Persons will be
encouraged.
Section VII 7.0 IMPROVEMENT OF SCHOOL FACILITIES AND OTHER CIVIL WORKS
Community
participation should be the only means of undertaking any civil works in
improvement of school facilities. Experiments in community participation under
Lok Jumbish and under DPEP in many States have been very encouraging and such
experiments will be further carried out. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan would first
of all try to mobilize resources under Rural Employment Programme and other
developmental schemes for constructing school buildings. The community would
have to come forward to maintain school facilities if any investment is
proposed in a village. An annual
support to the community for repair and maintenance is envisaged under the SSA.
The upper ceiling is Rs.5000 per year, based on the actual
need and the willingness of the community to contribute. The Lok
Jumbish Project has had significant success by adopting this procedure.
Ordinarily, the
allocation for civil works will not exceed 33% of the perspective and the Annual
Plan. The elementary education
becoming an obligation of the state (including the local. government), the
Panchayats could even be directed to prioritize construction of school
facilities where it does not exist.
The
participation of the community in all civil work activities will be mandatory
in order to ensure a sense of ownership and a departure from contractor driven
approaches. Engagement of contractors will not be allowed under the
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. School
Management Committees/Village Education Committees/Gram Panchayat Committed on
Education will have to carry out the civil works activities through a
transparent system of account keeping.
The DPEP and Lok Jumbish Project have developed effective community
based approaches for civil works. These will be mandatory in all Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan districts.
The principle of
social audit could be accepted for minor repairs. The School Management
Committee/Village Education Committee could certify the maintenance and repair
work under taken in a school. For larger repair and maintenance as well as new
construction, technical provisions will be followed. The technical provisions however, have to be totally demystified
(as has been done under the Lok Jumbish Project) and the communities’ right to
know the cost parameters has to be fully respected.
Efforts to
improve the school environment by addition of a few inexpensive internal and
external elements will be made. New
building designs developed in Lok Jumbish and DPEP would be adapted to promote
child centered learning. Use of local materials and cost effective technologies
will be encouraged. A civil works
innovation fund will be set up in each state/UT to encourage experimentation
with design.
Repair and
maintenance of buildings will be given the top most priority.
A large number
of (more than 100) building designs for schools have been developed in DPEP
districts. These designs, apart from
being attractive, are child centered, functional and in tune with the new
pedagogical concepts. The publication called “Building
rural Primary schools” published by the Ed Cil and the building construction
manuals developed by the Lok Jumbish Project should be utilized by all the
States/districts to develop their civil works plan. The States must make use of designs already
developed under DPEP/Lok Jumbish Project in their specific local contexts.
Incorporation of child-friendly internal and external elements will be
mandatory in all the new construction and repair works.
SSA will
encourage use of local construction of materials and low cost technologies.
This would require a large amount of capacity building, including training of
engineers and masons in these technologies.
Apart from the Technical Resource Group of DPEP, assistance of Resource
institutions like HUDCO may also be sought for this purpose.
There will be a
Civil Work innovation fund of Rupees fifty lakhs in each State. This will be used for civil works
innovations, demonstration buildings, and capacity building.
Civil works
under SSA should start with a proper assessment of the infrastructure
requirement for each district. There
need to be a school-wise compilation of physical and monetary requirements. The attempt should be to find out the
minimum money required to provide adequate infrastructure to each school
including repairs, toilets, drinking water, boundary wall, etc. Provision of additional classrooms is to be
considered only after exploring possibility of repairs and double shifts. Once
the total requirement for the district is obtained, one needs to find out how
much of this requirement can be funded through the on going schemes and
therefore what is the gap that is required to be funded through SSA.
There should be
a single agency in each district to manage all funds related to school
construction. Ideally, it should be an
engineering cell in the district team.
All school infrastructure works should be executed by the single agency.
Each State must
formulate a strategy for repair. The
Rupees five thousand available to a school for regular maintenance and repair
could be used to create a maintenance corpus in a school. The money will be credited to the VEC and
the VEC could decide to use only part of the funds and use the rest to create a
corpus. Community involvement is a must
if the school infrastructure has to be well maintained. |
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