DIET
PENDRA, (BILASPUR, MADHYA PRADESH, now Chattisgarh) AS I HAVE SEEN
By ARUN C MEHTA
NIEPA, New Delhi
(INDIA)
Introduction
Pendra
is situated about 163 kms north of Bilaspur.
After enjoying a 63 km long strip of thick `achanakmar' forest we
reached to DIET Pendra. The daily
Morning Prayer was on. The Basic
Training Institute (BTI) was upgraded as DIET in 1989 and all its instructors
were retained in the new set up. One of
the reasons of DIET been set up at this far-flung place was due to its
campus. The institute has got huge
campus spread over 6 acres of land and is equipped with two big halls, two
hostels attached to mess, a library, laboratory etc. to which other DIETs may envy. One of the halls even accommodates
more than five hundred people. The
space available to the institute is so much that even it has donated some acres
of land to a degree college. The faculty has also got big rooms equipped with
adequate furniture to work and to display training materials. It has also got a laboratory but hardly have
any new equipment and whatever is available is very old. The institute has also got a spacious
library equipped with furniture but it has no contingency grants for
books. Some how, it subscribes local
newspapers. Computer provided to DIET
in 1989 is lying non‑functional and has become redundant and beyond
repairs. The DIET is also equipped with
a dish antenna. The campus has got a residential block and has 17 quarters all
of which are occupied by its faculty and administrative staff.
FACULTY
Of 24 sanctioned faculty positions (Senior Lecturers
7 and Lecturers 17), only twelve are presently in position all of which are the
lecturers. In addition, a Principal and
Vice Principal has also been provided in the scheme. The principal DIET has retired recently and the Vice Principal is
looking after the affairs of the institute who is identified for the job
because of his seniority. Two lady lecturers are also presently on the
faculty. The present occupied strength
(12 out of 24) according to faculty is the best one; otherwise in the worst days,
they used to have only 5 to 6 members.
Recruitment Procedure and Qualification
The DIETs in the state do not have a separate cadre and
hence persons from the education department only, mostly lecturers of higher secondary schools, are posted to
work as the faculty. Initially, higher secondary teachers those
having a M.Ed degree were put to work in the DIET but later this practice was
discontinued. Applications are not
invited for the faculty positions and the entire responsibility to identify
faculty rests with the Controller of Public Instructions who identifies
teachers in consultation with the Director of Public Instructions and
SCERT. In addition, the Collector can
also appoint retired persons to work as faculty for one year. The average stay of
the faculty is about 5‑7 years and transfer is not a problem. However, the faculty can be transferred back
to higher secondary schools any time and new teachers can be identified and
posted to work as the DIET faculty.
The institute has
got adequate administrative and support staff (Peons 5, LDC 7, UDC 1,
Accountant 1 and Driver 1) but the posts of Librarian and Statistician are
lying vacant for a long period.
Since the essential qualifications of a higher secondary
lecturer is post graduation with a M.Ed degree, the same is also treated as to
be the qualifications of the DIET faculty.
Pre service training, other than M.Ed is not essential but the faculty
feels that they should be given some content-based training before they enter
into the system. None of the present
faculty is trained and is also not aware of the training facilities (in‑service)
that are available at the state and national level. The letter inviting nominations for training never reaches to faculty
and if it comes across such programmes, the same needs to be routed through the
SCERT. The principal is not empowered
to directly recommend the names of its faculty for training.
As of today,
faculty is not engaged in research activities.
Undertaking research is out of vision as the faculty at present is under
staffed and wholly involved in its However, according to faculty, to initiate
research work, they need to take prior approval of the SCERT which in a case
has declined to forward a proposal to the national agency for assistance. The faculty has also tried in the past to
undertake some lab area related research but couldn't succeed.
As against
seven academic units provided in the national guidelines of DIET, the State
Government has adopted to create eleven units in each of its DIETs all of which
are said to be in existence in the DIET Pendra. The faculty is of the view that most of these units are non
functional in nature, as they are only twelve in the position. Moreover, different units have limited
contribution to make in its training programmes, which is in accordance to the
specific nature of a unit. However, the
faculty is actively involved in training programmes of the institute most of
which are confined only to primary education.
The institute, at present is not offering training programmes to its
other clientele groups, like Head Master/Head Teacher, ADIs, Block Education
Officers and Upper Primary Teachers.
Training Calendar and Arrangements
Till recently, SCERT
used to send a list of training programmes that are to be organized by the
institute but in the present year some responsibility is entrusted to DIET to
develop its training calendar which needs to be approved by the SCERT. Few members of the faculty are not aware of
this arrangement and of the view that they do not enjoy freedom to develop
their training calendar. In fact, the
faculty has no role to play in deciding the nature and number of training
programmes that are to be organized by it.
Its role is limited to the extent that it has to conduct programmes as
per the guidelines it receives from time to time from the SCERT. More or less, its role is of an implementing
agency while it has flexibility to decide dates and identify participants in consultation
with the Block Education Officers and District Project Coordinator (DPEP). The
DPEP in the district is under implementation since 1994, since then the
institute is not independently developing its plan and programmes and whatever
is being received from the SCERT, it used to act accordingly. The role of different units according to
faculty comes to a standstill after the DPEP is launched in the district. More or less, the institute has become a
DPEP institute and its activities are strictly confined to primary education
and areas in which DPEP operates. Even
its effort to develop a training programme on teaching methodology of Grade
VIII mathematics couldn't be succeeded because the same was not approved by the
SCERT. The teachers in the district
were facing difficulties in teaching Grade VIII mathematics. Instead, the
institute was told to develop a programme for Grade V mathematics. It may be noted that the DPEP is confined
only to Grades I to V.
After
receiving the list of the programmes along with the number of participants from
the SCERT, the DIET prepares its budget, which is then sent to DPEP for its
assistance. This exercise, as described
by the faculty, is termed as multiplicative in nature with no flexibility. The institute gets a fixed amount per
participant out of which it arranges a breakfast, lunch, dinner and tea,
otherwise the amount is provided only for a single meal and tea. However, the faculty is of the view that the
amount allocated per participant is sufficient. The participants are given
teaching/learning material along with a pen, folder and writing pad for which
the institute receives contingency grants from the DPEP. The training programmes used to have three
sessions each of two hours per day. The internal faculty manages all the
programmes and resource persons from outside are generally not invited to
interact with the participants. Lack of
research and training may adversely affect capabilities of the faculty. Since the faculty is involved in a number of
training programmes, they used to receive feedback and comments from teachers
from time to time. Otherwise, there is
no regular mechanism through which feedback in terms of impact of training is
obtained.
Use of MIS Data
A good amount
of block wise information generated, as a part of MIS under the DPEP is
available but the same is not being utilised at any level for developing
training plans. The poor dissemination
of information generated is visibly noticed.
The DIET faculty is neither access nor aware of any such
information. The information generated
under the DPEP, if utilised by the faculty would definitely improve the
effectiveness of its training programmes and may also help to properly identify
teachers for training. In fact,
according to faculty, they are so busy in their routine training programmes
that they have hardly any time to look for such information. However, the faculty is aware that about
1400 primary school teachers are to be trained but block wise break‑up is
not available to them. The officer
responsible for training at the district level is also not access to MIS data;
even though the MIS is located only next to his room. It seems that the information generated is not shared at any
level except that a copy is sent to the State Level Office (DPEP), which is
routine in nature. Even at the state
level, no steps have yet been initiated to properly disseminate block and
district level information.
Training Activities
At present the
institute is involved in a variety of training programmes but their activities,
as mentioned, is confined only to primary education. All the training
programmes conducted at the DIET are residential in nature. The institute does
not conduct training programmes at the block level, the one that is most
desired by teachers. However, the
faculty is involved in supervision of programmes organized at the block level
by the Block Resource Centre (BRCs).
Each member of the faculty is assigned two BRCs to supervise; the
district has twenty-five such BRCs. At
present, the DIET is conducting one training programme of Master Trainers each
year in which it used to train a batch of about 125 teachers. The Master Trainers in turn train primary
school teachers for which training arrangements are made at the BRC. The faculty is not directly involved in
teaching but supervise teaching of Master Trainers. Their involvement is limited to the extant that they used to
present in all such programmes as an observer; only in case of need they
intervene in teaching and give suggestions.
In addition, DIET also organizes two programmes each of 25 participants
for the BRC coordinators. The programme
for Cluster Academic Coordinators is organized at the block level in which a batch
of about 360 teachers in each block used to receive training. In addition, DIET also organizes programmes
for supervisors and teachers of alternative schools and Gurajis appointed under
the education guaranteed scheme. The
programme of supervisors is conducted at the DIET level whereas two programmes
for alternative school teachers are conducted at the block level by each of the
25 BRCs.
Recently, the
State Government has evolved a scheme to make available a school on demand
within 90 days which also subsidizes teachers cost and is named as Madhya
Pradesh Education Guarantee Scheme (MP‑EGS). The scheme is recently selected for a UNESCO award. Since 1997, more than sixteen thousand
such schools have already been opened. The community in habitations/villages which
do not have a primary school within a distance of one kilometre but have at
least 40 children of age‑group 6‑11 (25 in tribal areas) can demand
for a primary school. The name of the
teacher is also suggested by the community which is preferably a local person
(preferably a female) having passed Higher Secondary. If the qualified person is not locally available, a person
having passed metric can also be appointed as Guraji (PARA TEACHER). The salary of Guraji is Rs. 500/‑ per
month and the DIET trains them before the school is started functioning. The total budget of a school is estimated
to be Rs. 8500/‑ per annum. The
DPEP is funding 50 per cent of the total budget and the State Government funds
the remaining 50 per cent. In case of a
non‑DPEP district, the scheme is totally funded by the State Government.
From January to June 1997, the DIET has organized a series of programmes and
trained all Gurajis appointed in the district.
This activity is not termed a regular one; as the training imparted to
Guraji is only one-time affairs.
The BIT Course
The institute
is still continuing with its two years BIT course, which has about 50 students
each in the first and second year. This
activity seems to be one of the regular and major activity of the institute in
which almost entire faculty is involved.
Ever since the State Government made pre service training not essential
for the appointment of Siksha Karmi, the number of applicants for BIT course
has gone down to 600 from a few thousands earlier. The basic qualification of a teacher is 10+2 and the selection is
made on the basis of merit (85 %) and an interview (15%). The Chief Executive Officer constitutes the
selection committee. The name of the
school is mentioned in the appointment letter but classes to which a teacher
will teach is decided in the school by the Head Master in consultation with the
new appointee and other teachers. New
teachers are not appointed in regular pay scale. The state has evolved a novel method to subsidise teacher’s cost
and is now appointing only `Siksha Karmis' for which the minimum qualification
is also 10+2. Till recently, Siksha
Karmis were paid Rs. 500/‑ per month that has now been revised and put
into the grade of Rs. 800‑1000.
The Siksha Karmis are entitled for a D.A but other allowances admissible
to the State Government employees are not applicable to them. Since most of the Siksha Karmis are
untrained, they are required to make themselves trained (BIT) within a period of
three years at their own expenses for which they are not granted a study
leave. The Siksha Karmis' have no
option but to do the course as a private candidate. The DIET is also running a correspondence course for such
teachers. The free accommodation is
provided to all BIT students by the institute in its hostel but they have to
contribute towards their lodging for which facilities are arranged by the
institute. The arrangement is optional
in nature and those who come from far-flung places only used to avail this
facility. Some girls were also seen to
attend BIT classes; otherwise shortage of female teachers is very much in
existence in the state. Despite a very
low remuneration, the existing and prosperous Siksha Karmis are banking on the
hope that some day the State Government will also put them in to a regular
grade; hence they continue in the system.
The institute is using a common training package for Siksha Karmis,
Alternative School teachers, Guraji, NFE and Anganwari Workers.
In all the training programmes conducted
by DIET, the representative of the SCERT is generally presented for supervision
and monitoring of the programme. The
Deputy Director and Joint Director generally do not interact with the faculty
of DIET. Pay scale wise both the Deputy
Director and Principal DIET is at par.
The institute is not receiving suggestions and guidance from the
district education department in planning and organisation of its training
programmes. Due to DPEP a lot of training activities have been picked‑up
in the district otherwise upper primary teachers have not been provided
training for the last more than ten years.
In fact, district officers should take initiatives and training
arrangements be planned and fit into the training calendar of the DIET. As of today, it seems that the Education
Department has left everything to the DPEP and is engaged in other activities
other than planning and training.
Note: The visit was
held on September 03, 1998. The author
gratefully acknowledges the support provided by Mr. S.K. John, District Project
Coordinator, DPEP Bilaspur, Madhya Pradesh (now Chattisgarh) and to Faculty of
DIET Pendra for fruitful discussions.