About Prof. Arun C Mehta (2022), NIEPA

ARUN C MEHTA

Arun C Mehta Former Professor & Head
Department of Educational Management Information System
National University of Educational Planning & Administration (NIEPA)
New Delhi – 110016
INDIA.
E-mail: acmehta100@gmail.com  Mobile: 7011895422
WhatsApp: 9868184981

____________________________________________________
Areas of Professional Interests | Books | Published Reports | Published Articles | Mimeographed Articles | Occasional Articles | Training Modules | Training & Research Activities | Countries Visited

Ph.D in Demographic Projections, Department of Statistics, University of Rajasthan, 1991. Prof. Arun C Mehta was born on 4th August 1954 in Jodhpur (Rajasthan) and is 69 years old. He worked at NIEPA, New Delhi, for almost 40 years and natured DISE/UDISE for over 15 years and got it acquired the status of the Official Statistics. He is the recipient of many regional and national awards.

AREAS OF PROFESSIONAL INTEREST

  • Educational Management Information System (EMIS)
  • Projection and Forecasting of Educational Data
  • Educational Statistics
  • Computer Applications in Educational Planning
  • Indicators of Educational Development
  • Monitoring of Educational Programmes

BOOKS

  • Fundamentals of Econometrics, Himalaya Publishing House, Bombay, 1987 (with Prof. B.C. Mehta).
  • Education for All in India – Myth and Reality, Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi, January 1995.
  • Population Projections: Sub-national Dimensions, Commonwealth Publishers, New Delhi, 1996.
  • Education for All in India: Enrolment Projections, Vikas Publishing & NIEPA, New Delhi, 1998.
  • Investment Priorities & Cost Analysis: A Study of Upper Primary Education in India (with Dr. N. V. Varghese), Vikas Publishing & NIEPA, New Delhi, 2001.
  • Elementary Education in Un-recognised Schools in India, NIEPA, New Delhi, 2005.
  • Student Flow at Primary Level, NIEPA, New Delhi, 2007.

PUBLISHED REPORTS

In the capacity of National EMIS/U-DISE Coordinator at NIEPA, a total of 131 reports based on EMIS/DISE Data were brought out during 2002 to 2017 in collaboration with UNICEF & Ministry of HRD, Government of India. Since 2012-13, School Statistics related publications of the Department of School Education, Ministry of HRD, Government of India are based on data generated through U-DISE as the Official Statistics.

  • The U-DISE Publications can be viewed at http://schoolreportcards.in/SRC-New/Links/DISEPublication.aspx
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? Analytical Report, 2003, NIEPA, New Delhi, July, 2004.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? Analytical Report, 2004, NIEPA, New Delhi, September 2005.
  • Elementary Education in Unrecognized Schools in India: A Study of Punjab based on DISE 2005 data, NIEPA, New Delhi, January, 2005.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? District Report Cards (Volume I & II), 2005, NIEPA, New Delhi, January 2006.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? State Report Cards, 2005, NIEPA, New Delhi, January 2006
  • Elementary Education in Rural India: Where do we stand?, 2005, NIEPA, New Delhi, January 2006.
  • Elementary Education in Urban India: Where do we stand?, 2005, NIEPA, New Delhi, January 2006.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? State Report Cards, 2005, NIEPA, New Delhi, March 2006.
  • Elementary Education in India: Progress towards UEE, Analytical Report 2005, NIEPA, New Delhi, July 2006.
  • Elementary Education in India: Progress towards UEE: DISE Flash Statistics: 2005-06, NUEPA, New Delhi, January 2007.
  • Elementary Education in Rural India: Where do we stand?, 2005-06, NUEPA, New Delhi, April 2007.
  • Elementary Education in Urban India: Where do we stand?, 2005-06, NUEPA, New Delhi, April 2007.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? District Report Cards (Volume I), 2005-06, NUEPA, New Delhi, April 2007.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? District Report Cards (Volume II), 2005-06, NUEPA, New Delhi, April 2007.
  • Student Flow at Primary Level: A Study based on DISE Data, NUEPA, New Delhi, April 2007.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? Analytical Report, 2005-06, NUEPA, New Delhi.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? State Report Cards, 2005-06, NUEPA, New Delhi.
  • Elementary Education in India: Progress towards UEE: DISE Flash Statistics: 2006-07, NUEPA, New Delhi, January 2008.
  • Elementary Education in Rural India: Where do we stand?, 2006-07, NUEPA, New Delhi, June 2008.
  • Elementary Education in Urban India: Where do we stand?, 2006-07, NUEPA, New Delhi, June 2008.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? District Report Cards (Volume I), 2006-07, NUEPA, New Delhi, , September 2008.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? District Report Cards (Volume II), 2006-07, NUEPA, New Delhi, September 2008.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? Analytical Report, 2006-07, NUEPA, New Delhi, September 2008.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? Analytical Tables , 2006-07, NUEPA, New Delhi, September 2008.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? State Report Cards, 2006-07, NUEPA, New Delhi, October 2008.
  • Elementary Education in India: Progress towards UEE: DISE Flash Statistics: 2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi, January 2009.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? District Report Cards (Volume I), 2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi, , May 2009.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? District Report Cards (Volume II), 2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi, May 2009.
  • Elementary Education in Rural India: Where do we stand?, 2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi, June 2009.
  • Elementary Education in Urban India: Where do we stand?, 2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi, June 2009.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? State Report Cards, 2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi, December 2009.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? District Report Cards (Volume I), 2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi, , September 2009.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? District Report Cards (Volume II), 2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi, September 2009.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? Analytical Report, 2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi, September 2009.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? Analytical Tables, 2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi, , September 2009.
  • Elementary Education in India: Where do we stand? State Report Cards, 2007-08, NUEPA, New Delhi, October 2009
  • Elementary Education in India: Progress towards UEE: DISE Flash Statistics: 2008-09, NUEPA, New Delhi, January 2010.

PUBLISHED ARTICLES

  • A Time Series Analysis of the Production Performance of Principal Crops in Three Agro-Climatic Zones of Rajasthan”, Vol. 17, No.4, 1978, Annals of Arid Zone, CAZRI, Jodhpur, India.
  • “Production Performance of Principal Crops in the Nagaur District of Rajasthan”, Vol. 2, No. 2, 1978, Rajasthan Economic Journal, Jaipur, India.
  • “A Strategy to meet Energy Demands on Arid Areas of Western Rajasthan”, February 18, 1978, URJA, New Delhi, India.
  • “An Analysis of Density of Population and its Correlates in Rajasthan”, Vol.5, No.2 July 1981, Rajasthan Economic Journal, Jaipur, India.
  • “Population of Rajasthan in 2001 A.D.”, Vol. X, No.1, Janu­ary, 1986, Rajasthan Economic Journal, Jaipur.
  • “Educational Informational Requirements in the Context of NPE” (1986), Report of the Second Seminar on Social Statistics, 24th February 1988, C.S.O. (with Brahm Prakash).
  • “Relationship Between Education and Development Indicators: A Case Study of Asia and the Pacific Countries”, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, Silver Jubilee Special Issue on Planning, NIEPA, January 1989.
  • Hindi version of above article in Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, January 1989, NIEPA, New Delhi.
  • “Introduction to Computers and its Application in Education”, Educational Technology, October 1991, New Delhi.
  • “Introduction to LOTUS 1-2-3”, Educational Technology, November, 1991, New Delhi.
  • “District-wise Population Projections for Rajasthan and 1991 Census Count: A Note”, Rajasthan Economic Journal, Vol. XV, No. l, January 1991.
  • “A Note on Educational Statistics in India”, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, Vol. VII, No.1, January 1993, New Delhi.
  • “EFA in India – Myth and Reality”, Journal of Education and Social Change, October-December 1992, Vol. VI, No.3, 1993, Pune.
  • Hindi version of above article in Pariperkshaya, No.2, Volume 1, January, 1994, NIEPA, New Delhi.
  • “A Survey of Estimates of Under-age and Over-age Children at the School Level”, Journal of Education and Social Change, Number 2, Volume VII (July-September, 1993), 1994, Pune.
  • “Education For All : Enrolment Projections in India”, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, No.1, Vol. VIII, January 1994.
  • “A Chapter on Data Analysis for Rajasthan” in UNESCO Published Report on Use of Sample Survey Techniques in Educational Statistics, UNESCO, Paris, 1994.
  • “Efficiency and its Correlates: A Cross-State Analysis”, Journal of Perspectives in Education, Vol.10, No.2, April 1994, Baroda.
  • “Demographic Projections at the Micro-level”, Journal of Man and Development, September, 1994, Chandigarh.
  • “Enrolment Projections in the Context of DPEP Programme”, Journal of Indian Educational Review, July-October, 1994 NCERT, Vol. XXIX, No. 3 & 4, New Delhi.
  • “A Note on Educational and Demographic Scenario in India”, Journalof Progressive Educational Herald, 1995, Hyderabad.
  • “Reliability of Educational Data”, National Herald (Sunday Herald), December 31, 1995, New Delhi.
  • “Demographic-Economic Interaction Model for Sub-national Population Projections – A Case Study of Rajasthan”, Rajasthan Economic Journal, Volume XVII, number 2, July 1994, 1996, Jaipur (with B. C. Mehta).
  • “Education in Manifestos: Priorities and Commitments”, National Herald, May 1, 1996.
  • “Status of Education for All”, Yojana, Volume 40, No. 6, June 1995, New Delhi.
  • “Reliability of Educational Data in the Context of NCERT Survey”, Journal of Educational Planning and Administration, NIEPA, July 1996, Volume X, No.3, New Delhi.
  • Hindi version of above article in Pariperkshaya, NIEPA, Volume 3, No.1, April 1996, New Delhi.
  • “Development and Utilisation of Database for Non-Formal Literacy Programmes and Networking of Computers”, Indian Journal of Adult Education, April-June, 1996, Delhi.
  • “Education for All in India: Some Recent Insights in the Light of National Family Health Survey”, Journal of Education and Social Change, IIE, July -September and October – December, Volume IX, No. 2 and 3, Pune.
  • Hindi version of above article in Pariperkshaya, NIEPA, Volume 2, No. 4, September 1996, New Delhi.
  • “Education Information System in India its Limitations: Suggestions for Improvement”, Journal of Indian Education, Volume XXIII, No. 2, August, 1997, NCERT, New Delhi.
  • “Information Requirements for Educational Planning: Limitations and Gaps in the Existing System”, Journal of Education & Social Change, January-March & April-June, 1998, Volume XI, No. 4 & Volume XII, No. 1, Pune
  • “Data Requirements for Educational Planning: Limitations and Gaps in the Existing Inspection System”, Man and Development, September 1998, Chandigarh.
  • “Need of Developing Local-Level Information System (LIS) to Monitor Factors of School Effectiveness”, Amsta-Mangal, March-September, 2000, Manipur
  • “Educational Development in North-Eastern States of India”, Amsta-Mangal, March-September, 2001, Manipur
  • “Impact of Primary Education on Literacy; An Analysis of Census 2001 Preliminary Data”, Indian Journal of Adult Education, Volume 63, No. 4, October-December 2002, Hindi version of above article published in Pariperkshaya, NIEPA, Volume 8, No. 1-2, April-august, 2001, New Delhi & Praudh Shiksha, July 2002, New Delhi
  • “Status of Secondary Education in India”, Amsta-Mangal, Volume X & XI, No. 9, March-September 2002, Manipur and in Hindi in Pariperkshaya, Number 3, Volume 9, December 2002 NIEPA, New Delhi.
  • “Can There be Alternative Indicators of Enrolment: A Critical Review of Frequently Used Indicators”, ESCAP Statistical Newsletter, No.125, April 2002, Bangkok &Journal of Educational Planning & Administration, July 2002, NIEPA, New Delhi. Also electronically published by the UNESCO, Bangkok (Thailand). Was accepted for presentation for the OXFORD 2003 Conference. Presented in the Regional Workshop on Education Statistics 2003 conducted by UIS, Montreal at NIEPA, New Delhi, 2003. Also published in Issues in Economic Development: Education and Human Capital, Edited by V. S. Sakalya, The ICFAI University, Hyderabad, 2004.
  • “Can the Goal of Universal Secondary Education be Achieved in the Near Future?” Journal of Educational Planning, July 2003, NIEPA, New Delhi.
  • “Indicators of Enrolment, Attendance, Completion and Graduation Rates: A Critical Review”, Business Perspectives, January – June, 2003, Volume 5, Number 1, Birla Institute of Management Technology, New Delhi.
  • “Primary Education and Literacy: An analysis of Census 2001 Data”, Man and Development, March 2004, Volume XXVI, No. 1, Centre for Research in rural and Industrial Development, Chandigarh, India.
  • “Evolvement of District Information System For Education”, Kurukshetra, September 2004, New Delhi
  • Is it Possible to Achieve Universal Secondary Education in the Near Future: A Study of Present Status and Future Prospects”, AMSTA-MANGAL, March-September, 2004, Imphal.

MIMEOGRAPHED ARTICLES

  • “Projecting Regional Population in Relation to National Population: Ratio Methods”, NIEPA, New Delhi.
  • “Use of Single Equation Econometric Techniques in Population Projections at the Sub-national Level”, NIEPA, New Delhi.
  • “Regional Demographic Model” in Proceedings of 28th Annual Conference of All India Econometric Association, October 29- 31, 1991, Darjeeling.
  • “A Case Study of Computerized Personal Management Information System of Directorate of Education Himachal Pradesh”, Shimla, August 1991.
  • “Microcomputers in Education: An Application-Use of LOTUS 1-2-3”, NIEPA, New Delhi, October 1992.
  • “Student Flow Analysis as a Base to Enrolment Projections”, in Training Programme on Educational Planning and Administration for Senior Educational Officers of the Republic of China, NIEPA, New Delhi, 1992.
  • “Student Flow and Stock Indicators”, NIEPA, New Delhi, 1992.
  • “Demographic Projections at the Sub-national level” in International Symposium in Population Growth in Developing Countries, Organized by International Geographical Union Commission on Population Growth, JNU, New Delhi, December 20-24, 1993.
  • “Basic Educational Data: A Compilation” Various Volumes, NIEPA, New Delhi.
  • “Development and Utilization of Database for Non-formal Literacy Programme”, paper presented in `Workshop for Developing Literacy Resource Centre for Girls and Women in Bangladesh’ held at Dhaka, Bangladesh during August 21-30, 1995 and published in LRC Activity Report, 1999: 3-3, ACCU, Japan.
  • “Full Literacy in Country by 2027”, Report based on article `Education For All in India: Myth & Reality, Hindustan Times, April 2, 1993, New Delhi.
  • “Projecting Population at the Sub-National Level by using Best Estimates & Best Combinations Techniques”, NIEPA, New Delhi, 1994 .
  • “Networking of Computers”, paper presented in `Workshop for Developing Literacy Resource Centre for Girls and Women in Bangladesh’ held at Dhaka, Bangladesh during August 21-30, 1995.
  • “Developing and Utilization of MIS for Literacy Programmes in India’, paper presented in `Workshop for Developing Literacy Resource Centre for Girls and Women in India, Jointly organized by RAEA, Jaipur and ACCU, Japan at Jaipur during September 26 to October 06, 1996.
  • “Introduction to All India Educational Surveys on School Education, Educational Administration and Technical Manpower Information System”, NIEPA, New Delhi, 1998.
  • “Educational Data Collecting Agencies: An Introduction to Surveys Based on Household”, NIEPA, New Delhi, 1998
  • Indicators of Educational Development”, NIEPA, New Delhi, 1999
  • “Role of Diagnosis with Focus on Upper Primary Education, NIEPA, New Delhi, 2000.
  • “Some Reflections on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan”, NIEPA, New Delhi, 2002
  • “From Indicators of Enrolment to Attendance, Completion & Graduation Rates: A Critical Review of Frequently Used Indicators” paper presented in Sub-regional Orientation-cum-Training Workshop on Planning and Monitoring of EFA in South Asia, NIEPA, New Delhi, October 22 to November 03, 2001.
  • “Universalisation of Secondary Education: Present Status and Future Prospects with Focus on enrolment Projections in India” paper presented in the seminar on secondary education at NIEPA, New Delhi 2002.
  • “Need of Monitoring and Set of Indicators under SSA”, NIEPA, New Delhi, 2003.
  • “Status of Drop-out Rate Primary Level: A Note Base on DISE 2004 and 2004 Data”, NIEPA, New Delhi, 2005.

OCCASIONAL PAPERS

  • Educational Development in India with Focus on Elementary Education (1997), NIEPA Occasional Paper 24, NIEPA, New Delhi.
  • Status of UEE in the Light of NCERT Sixth All India Educational Survey (1999), NIEPA Occasional Paper 27, NIEPA, New Delhi.
  • A in India with Focus on Elementary Education: Present Status, Recent Initiatives and Future Prospects (2002), NIEPA Occasional Paper 30, NIEPA, New Delhi. (Also presented in Voices for Change: Providing Education for All conducted by the Cambridge University at Cambridge, September 2000).

TRAINING MODULES

  • Enrolment & Teachers Projection Techniques”, District Level Educational Planning, December 1997 (Edited by N. V. Varghese), NIEPA, New Delhi.
  • “Information Requirements for Formulating District Elementary Education Plans”, NIEPA, New Delhi, 2003 (Draft)
  • “Indicators of Educational Development With Focus on Elementary Education: Concept & Definitions”, NIEPA, New Delhi, 2003 (Draft)
  • “Projection of Population, Enrolment and Teachers with Focus on Elementary Education”, NIEPA, New Delhi, 2003 (Draft)

RESEARCH & TRAINING ACTIVITIES

TRAINING

Have conducted Training Programmes/Workshops on Computer Applications, Quantitative Techniques, Demographic Pressures, Indicators of Educational Development, EMIS/DISE and related themes. In addition, courses in the Six-month DEPA and IDEPA programmes have also been undertaken.

RESEARCH

  • UNESCO Sponsored Project on Use of Sample Survey Techniques in Educational Statistics (co-researcher/author), 1994. Was responsible for one of the sample states and contributed a chapter in the report submitted to UNESCO.
  • UNESCO Sponsored Project on Indicators of Quality of Education (co-researcher/author), 1995.
  • World Bank Assisted Project on Projections of Student Enrolment & Flows under the DPEP Synthesis Study Research Programme,1995. This was the first major project handled independently and completed in a record time of about 4 months. Various enrolment projection methods were used to project school enrolment in India state-wise. Perhaps, it was amongst few studies which had projected enrolment in India over a period of time. Likely year of achievement of EFA in India was also projected. Recently, was one of the Advisers to help NCERT, New Delhi to project school enrolment.
  • World Bank assisted Project on Universalization of Elementary Education: A Study of Upper Primary Education in India (with Dr. N V. Varghese), NIEPA, New Delhi. This project helped the Government of India to examine the impact of the World Bank assisted DPEP on enrolment at Upper Primary level of Education which had become the basis of launching Elementary Education for All (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) Programme in India. Brought out the following two documents as a co-author:
    • Universalization of Upper Primary Education in India: An Analysis of Present Status and Future Requirements, February 1999.
    • Universalization of Upper Primary Education in India: An analysis of School Facilities and their Cost Implications, February 1999.
  • UNESCO Sponsored Project on Developing Common UN Database for India, 1999.
  • Developed EFA-18 Core Indicators as a part of EFA: The Year 2000 Assessment, 2000: Extensively worked on computation of EFA-18 Core Indicators, both at state-specific and all-India level which helped immensely to review the progress of EFA between 1990 and 2000. Indicators computed were extensively used in preparing report on Education for All (EFA) in India.
  • UNESCO Sponsored Project on Updating Common UN Database for India, 2002: Defined a set of 55 indicators which were used in DevInfo with regard to methodology of computation, interpretation, limitations, sources of data and its implication in planning EFA.
  • UNESCO-UIS Sponsored Project on Indicators of NFE-MIS, 2004: Extensively worked and contributed in developing a set of indicators. This was a good opportunity to work with UNESCO Experts from Paris and Asia-pacific Culture Centre for UNESCO, Japan. Was also one of the Resource Persons in ACCU conducted programmes in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Jaipur, India.

Major Projects: 2002 to 2017

UNICEF & Government of India assisted District Information System for Education (DISE/U-DISE) Project (2002 to January 2017). This was perhaps the longest collaboration NIEPA ever had with any international agency i.e. UNICEF. Through the concerted efforts, MIS units were made operational both at the district and state levels across the Country which is equipped with necessary hardware and software. The U-DISE had eliminated data gap as comprehensive information on all aspects of school education was made available over a period of time at all disaggregated levels, such as, school, cluster, block, district, state and national levels. Both district elementary and secondary education plans are being exclusively developed based on U-DISE data. What is more remarkable about U-DISE is that it had drastically reduced the time-lag in the availability of educational statistics, which is now down from 7-8 years to about a year at the national level, and only a few months at the district and state levels. Later, DISE was extended to entire elementary level of education in 2001 and to secondary and higher secondary level of education from 2012-13; since then DISE is known as Unified-DISE/U-DISE and has acquired the status of Official Statistics. Statistics generated through U-DISE is being exclusively used to formulate school education plans at district level. Was the Project Director and contributed significantly towards strengthening EMIS in India over a period of 16 years. Have acquired expertise in use of educational data and have good understanding of school education in India in general and different components of universalization, such as Universal Access, Enrolment/Participation, Retention & Quality of Education. Was also involved in review of EFA and computed a variety of indicators for UNESCO.

INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE

  • Thailand (12 Weeks) `Three Months Internship Training Programme in Educational Statistics and EMIS’, UNESCO-PROUAP, Bangkok, June 1st to August 30, 1987.
  • Bangladesh (1 Week) Invited by Asia/pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO, Japan to act as resource person in `Workshop for Developing Literacy Resource Centre for Girls and Women in Bangladesh’ held at Dhaka Ahsania Mission, Dhaka during August 21-30, 1995.
  • Sri Lanka (3 Weeks) Participated in the `Workshop on Quality of Education with Focus on Indicators of School Effectiveness’ held at NIE, Colombo during September 6-20, 1995.
  • U.S.A (5 Weeks) Participated in `Educational Policy and Planning Workshop’ held at Harvard Institute for International Development, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 16-July 19, 1996.
  • U.K (1 Week) Participated in ‘International Conference on Voices for Change: Providing Education for All’, Cambridge Education Resource, University of Cambridge, September 15-17, 2000 and presented a paper on EFA in India with Focus on Elementary Education: Current Status, Recent Initiatives and future Prospects Thailand (1 Week)
  • Participated in ‘Education Equity for the Asia and Pacific Region’ conducted by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal at Bangkok during December 13-16, 2004 France (1 week)
  • Participated in ‘Technical Workshop on Sector-Wide Education Resource Projections’ organized by UNESCO HQ, Paris during June 6-10, 2005 U. K (1 Week) Participated and presented a paper in UKFIET OXFORD Conference on Education and Development at OXORD, UK during September 13-15, 2005 Thailand (1 Week)
  • Participated in ‘Intensive Workshop on EFA Plan Implementation’ conducted by the UNESCO Regional Office, Bangkok and UNESCO Delhi Office during October 09 to 19, 2005 NEPAL (Several Times during 2003 and 2004) In relation to NIEPA-NEPAL Project on Decentralization for developing District Primary Education Plan in Five Pilot Districts of NEPAL between 2003 and 2004. Jordan (2 weeks)
  • Participated as Chief Resource Person in the UNESCO-UNICEF sponsored Workshop on EMIS and Educational Statistics for the Officers of Republic of Iraq conducted at Dead Sea, Jordan during April 03 to 15, 2006. Also reviewed EMIS in Iraq. Jordan (2 weeks)
  • Participated as Chief Resource Person in the Second UNESCO-UNICEF sponsored Workshop on EMIS and Educational Statistics for the Officers of Republic of Iraq conducted at Aqaba, Jordan during July 23 to August 04, 2006.
  • Bahrain (5 days) Pleasure trip (April 15 to 20, 2006)
  • Kuwait (5 days) Pleasure trip (August 04 to 08, 2006)
  • Cambodia (9 days) Invited by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, Royal Government of Cambodia, Phnom Penh and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Cambodia to review EMIS and Data Analysis during December 17 to 25, 2007. Subsequently, a Training Workshop on EMIS Software and Data Analysis was conducted for the Planning Officers from the Royal Cambodian Government at NUEPA, New Delhi (June 23 to 27, 2008).
  • Thailand (4 days) Participated as Resource Person in UNESCO-UIS Regional Workshop on Education Statistics, Bangkok, November 09 to 12, 2008. Thailand (3 days)
  • Participated in the Regional consultation and strategic planning meeting on the development of training modules to strengthen national statistical capacity in monitoring of EFA, Bangkok, July 29 to 31 July 2009. Thailand (5 days)
  • Participated in the Technical Workshop on Training Modules for Effective Monitoring of EFA Regional consultation and strategic planning meeting on the development of training modules to strengthen national statistical capacity in monitoring of EFA, UNESCO, Bangkok, March 1 to 5, 2010.
  • Sudan (20 days) Technical Assistance to Southern Sudan for the Development of Sub-National NEF MIS as UNESCO Expert, Khartoum and Juba, Sudan during March 22 to April 09, 2010. Thailand (3 days)
  • Second Expert Group Meeting on Development of Training Modules to Strengthen National Statistical Capacity in EFA Monitoring, Pattaya, Chonburi, Thailand, 5-7 May 2010.
  • Malaysia & Singapore, Pleasure trip: September 25 to October 3rd, 2010. Singapore (2 days)
  • Participated (Data and Research Issues for Planning Elementary Education in India) Workshop on Demographic Bonus, Educational Opportunity and Equity, Human Capital Development, Labour Markets, and Ageing Issues: China India and Indonesia, National University of Singapore (NUS), 5-6 July 2012. Ghana (11 days)
  • Technical Assistance to Ghana to review MIS and suggest modalities for its Improvement as JICA Expert, Accra, Ghana during August 26 to September 5, 2012.
  • United States of America Pleasure Trip: May 17th to July 9th 2013
  • United Kingdom (1 Week) Participated in UKFIET OXFORD Conference on Education and Development at OXORD, UK during September 15-17, 2015 Thailand (5 days) UIS Regional Workshop on Education Finance Data: 20-24 June 2016, UNESCO Bangkok. United States of America (5 days)
  • Comparative and International Education Society Annual Conference (2017) at Atlanta, March 4 to 9, 2017 participated and present a paper on Strengthening Educational Management Information System in India through U-DISE United States of America (One Month)
  • Pleasure Trip: October 27th to November 26th 2017 United States of America (One Month)
  • Participate in Google Organized Local Guides Connect 2018 held at San Francisco (California), USA, and October 16 to 19, 2018.
  • Pleasure Trip to Cary, North Carolina (USA), February 12 to April 04, 2021.

OFFICE AUTOMATION

  • Has been a computer user since 1987 and conducted a number of capacity building programmes on Use of Spreadsheet Programmes in Educational Planning.
  • Micro-soft Office: WORD, EXCEL, POWERPOINT
  • Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) for Data Analysis
  • MIS software (DISE) that is under implementation in more thane 700+ districts covering 1.5 million schools was refined under my supervision at NUEPA
  • Know basic web-designing: the following websites have been designed under the direct supervision of the undersigned:
    • www.schoolreportcards.in
    • www.dise.in
    • www.educationforallinindia.com
  • DISE software as well as websites have been designed and developed in-house at NIEPA in the Department of EMIS.School Report Cards is a unique website of its nature which disseminates not only the Report Cards of each of the 1.20 million schools but a 2-page descriptive report of an individual school is also made available along with the provision of downloading of school-specific raw data in Excel and other user friendly formats. Efforts are being made to present Report Cards in the Regional Languages. The website has won e-Governance National Award 2010 of the Government of India.

TYPE OF WORK PRESENTLY DOING

  • Coordinated activities of the Department of EMIS as its Head, which is involved in strengthening EMIS in India, conducting training programmes, seminars and workshops in the areas of educational planning in general and EMIS, use of indicators in planning elementary education, projection and forecasting of educational data, Educational Development Index, computer applications in educational planning, use of quantitative techniques in educational planning etc. in particular, providing guidance to states in the areas of data analysis and EMIS etc. Capacity building of State and District level EMIS Officers is also responsibility of the Department of EMIS
  • However, dissemination and analysis of annual data collection under DISE (08 publications annually, please see the attached list of publications) is the main activity of the Department of EMIS. The Department has also recently conducted (i) National Seminar on Educational Statistics and (ii) Training Workshop on EMIS and Data Analysis for the Planning Officers from the Royal Cambodian Government at NUEPA, New Delhi. In 2003, Regional Workshop on Educational Statistics was also conducted by the Department of EMIS in collaboration with the UIS.
  • Technical support to states in the area of EMIS. In addition, the Department was also invited to review EMIS in Cambodia, Iraq and Nepal which was supported by UNESCO, UNICEF and SIDA respectively.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES

Coordination and Supervision of the activities of the Department of EMIS as its Head (in the areas of Research, Capacity Building and Consultancy) (2002 to 2017)

  • National Coordinator of EMIS/DISE activities at NUEPA, New Delhi. District Information System for Education (DISE) is an initiative of the Government of India and UNICEF in strengthening EMIS in India. DISE is under implementation in all the 600+ districts of the country and 1.20 million schools imparting elementary education across 35 States have been covered under DISE. Comprehensive profile of more than 5.22 million teachers is also being maintained under DISE.
  • To organize Capacity Building programmes in the area of EMIS (DISE) for district and state level EMIS officers as well as officers from other countries.Capacity building of State and District level Planning Officers in the area of Use of Indicators in developing District Elementary Education Plans.
  • To provide software and technical support to all the districts and states of the country. Has developed a mechanism to provide both off-line and on-line support to DISE users across the country.
  • Maintenance of websites : www.dise.in, www.schoolreportcards.in & www.educationforallinindia.com.
  • Involvement as Resource Person in most of the other Capacity Building programmes (such as National and International Diploma in Educational Planning and Administration) being conducted by the other Departments of the National University.
  • Teaching in M.Phil and Doctoral Programmes in the areas of MIS and use of large database (such as DISE) through SPSS.
  • Supervisor/Guide to both M.Phil and Ph.D scholars at NUEPA
  • It was the responsibility of the undersigned to bring out the following publications based on DISE data annually. The total volumes of these publications are around 17,500 annually.
    • Elementary Education in India: DISE Flash Statistics
    • Elementary Education in India: District Report Cards (Volume I)
    • Elementary Education in India: District Report Cards (Volume II)
    • Elementary Education in Rural India
    • Elementary Education in Urban India
    • Elementary Education in India: State Report Cards
    • Elementary Education in India: Analytical Tables
    • Elementary Education in India: Analytical Report

The following staff is attached to the Department of EMIS and is working under the direct supervision of the undersigned:

  • Assistant Professors (Two, full-fledged NUEPA Faculty Members)
  • Computer Programmer (One, exclusively for DISE, Regular NUEPA employee)
  • Project Senior Systems Analyst (One, exclusively for DISE, equivalent to Associate Professor in the university)
  • Project Associate Fellows (Two, exclusively for DISE, equivalent to Assistant Professor in the university)
  • Project Assistants (Three, exclusively for DISE, equivalent to Research Assistant)
  • Computer Operators (Three, exclusively for DISE project)
  • Project Publication Officer (One, exclusively for DISE publications)
  • Helper (one)

Forty Years of Arun C Mehta at NIEPA: 1980 to 2019 (e-Book)

Forty years of Arun C Mehta at NIEPA: 1980 to 2019

Times of India, New Delhi, 21st September 2021

UDISE, Interview of Prof. Arun C Mehta in Times of India, New Delhi, 21st September 2021