NIEPA
Training Programme on
Methodology
and Techniques of District Planning in Education Under Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan (Shillong : May 1-6, 2000) COPY RIGHT: NIEPA, New Delhi – 110016, INDIA. ·
District Planning In Education ·
Methodology Of Plan Formulation ·
Planning For Pre-Project Activities
Under SSA ·
Planning For
Implementation
DISTRICT PLANNING IN
EDUCATION Planning is a process of intervention by the public
authorities. The intervention by the state can either be for perfecting market
forces or for seeking alternative solutions to those provided by the market.
When market fails the state is requested to intervene. There are many examples
of such state intervention to perfect the market forces. Many a times state
intervention can also be seen as an alternative to market forces. This
generally happens in centrally planned economies and in such case all major
decisions regarding the economy are based on planning process and are arrived
at by the planning bodies. Planning is also seen as an exercise of optimisation
of resources. It attempts to maximise output within the given resources and
ensures that the benefits are distributed more equitably among various sections
of population. Since planning activities attempt to indicate what is to be
taken up first and what is to be taken up at a later stage, it is also seen as
an exercise in prioritising the activities to be undertaken. Though priorities
of a plan are decided by the planning bodies, the prioritisation is a part of
planning process itself. It may further be noted that educational planning
attempts to facilitate an equitable development of education and efficiency of
the delivery mechanism. Educational planning deals with allocative efficiency
and internal efficiency. Allocative efficiency deals with the amount of
resources to be allocated for education whereas internal efficiency deals with
the optimum use of the resources already allocated to a particular activity. It is clear that the concept of planning can be
understood by understanding the components like future activities, utilisation of
resources which are generally scarce, proper utilisation of time,
prioritisation of activities and ensuring the achievement of objectives. In
this way planning can be defined as “a process of taking decisions for future
actions in order to achieve pre-determined objectives by optimum utilisation of
available resources in a limited time frame”. Thus a pre-condition for planning
is the existence of certain objectives which need to be achieved and
constraints in this respect are time and resources. Here resources include all
the three types of resources namely physical ( or material), financial and
human resources. It is said that we plan because we have limited resources and
we have to achieve our objectives within the constraint of these limited
resources. The term “planning” is very frequently used in daily
life and every person without exception does some planning at individual level
when one has to accomplish some work. Households plan for monthly expenditure.
When planning is undertaken at the individual or household level decision for
future actions are taken by individuals. However, if planning is to be
undertaken for a system e.g. planning for education, the important issues to be
addressed are : who (and at what level) will decide about the goals, objectives,
allocation of resources and time frame which are important and essential
components of planning. At the systems level these decisions are taken at
various hierarchical units. This concept of availability of various
hierarchical units for decision making for planning is called the multi-level
planning framework. It means the existence of hierarchy of levels of planning
with clearly defined territorial jurisdiction. Under this framework planning is
possible at national, state, district, block / Mandal / taluka and village
level. However in India planning particularly in the field of education, is
carried out at the national, state and in a limited way at the district level
only. Planning for education at the national level is
carried out by Planning Commission and plans are implemented through the
Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development. Similarly at
the state level State Planning Boards are established to help in preparation of
plans. The state plans are implemented through the Secretariat and Directorates
of Education. The Secretariat deals mainly with policy decisions where as the
Directorates are more directly involved in the implementation process. Many
bigger states in India have separate secretaries for school and higher
education. Similarly there are separate Directorates of Elementary Education,
Secondary Education, Higher Education, Technical Education etc. When planning
for education is carried out at the state level all these Directorates and
Departments are consulted and thus educational plans are formulated with active
involvement and consultation of these bodies. In India the third tier in the multi-level planning
framework is the district. But at this level unfortunately such clearly defined
organisational arrangement for planning are not yet created. The National
Policy on Education 1986 envisaged to create District Boards of Education (DBE)
to initiate and coordinate planning activities at the district level. But
whatever be the reasons, no state in the country has so far been able to set up
the District Boards of Education. It is in the context of multi-level planning
framework that we use the concept of centralised and decentralised planning as
also the terms like macro and micro-planning. The decentralised planning
denotes the planning carried out at a level which is below the centre. However
it is rather difficult to define what is the centre. If we take national level
body as a centre then even state level planning is a decentralised planning but
when we consider state as a centre then the district level planning will be
termed as decentralised planning and in the same way we can go upto the village
level in case village is considered as the smallest unit of planning. This
clearly means that centralisation and decentralisation are only relative terms.
Whether planning carried out at a specific level is centralised or
decentralised depends upon the level from where we are looking at it. Thus,
state, district and block level planning can be termed as centralised as well
as decentralised planning. However, the national level planning carried out in
a country can only be termed as centralised planning and village level planning
can only be termed as decentralised planning in case this is the lowest
possible unit of planning in the country. The planning thus carried out at the
highest possible level is termed as macro planning whereas the planning carried
out the lowest possible level is known as micro planning. It is therefore clear
that macro and micro planning are not in relative terms, these are rather in
absolute terms unlike centralised and decentralised planning. In order to further clear the decentralised planning
it is to be noted that a plan is called decentralised only when (i) lower units
are given authority to fix its own targets and evolve strategies to achieve
them, (ii) lower units are given authority to mobilise resources and
re-allocate resources already allocated by the higher level, and (iii) lower
units participate in planning exercise with higher units on more equal terms. By looking at the planning process in the country
right from the inception of first five year plan in 1950-51, one can infer that
we have been talking of decentralised planning from the beginning. It is
generally felt that one of the reasons of our failure to achieve the basic
goals e.g. Universalisation of Elementary Education, is that the plans are
formulated at higher levels which is quite distant from the grassroots
realities. Thus there is a wide gap between those who plan (at higher level)
and those who implement it (at the local level). This gap can be reduced by
planning at the lower levels and lower the level or units of planning smaller
will be the gap between planning and implementation. This is one of the
strongest justification of decentralised
planning. There are many advantages of decentralised planning. These are
(I) local needs can be taken care of more effectively and efficiently at the
lower level, (ii) plans are expected to be more effective because of the homogeneity
of the unit, (iii) it helps to overcome local specific problems in a better
way, (iv) flow of information / data will be quick which is very crucial for
planning and (v) there are more chances of successful implementation of plans
as the implementers will be partner in planning process. One of the issues in any planning process is to
clearly specify the unit for initiating planning process and effect planning
decision. India has debated this issue and now it is accepted that district is
the most viable unit for initiating decentralised planning. Therefore,
decentralisation of educational planning in India in the present context
implies district level planning in education. District level planning in India
is based on the recommendations of the Hunumantha Rao Committee (1994) which
clearly identified the areas within the educational sector amenable for
decentralisation at the district level. The constitutional amendments (73rd and
74th) provide a statutory role to the local bodies in matters pertaining to
primary education. The existing administrative structure is more
centralised and hence it is not very conducive for initiating decentralised
planning. For facilitating decentralised planning it is important to ensure
that the role perceptions of authorities at different levels are clearly
defined. It is important to draw clear distinction between the domains of
operation of the district level programmes, state level programmes and national
level programmes. This is very important in the Indian context because many a
time a large share of the programmes which are implemented at the district
level are either centrally sponsored or state sponsored schemes. In fact, what
is lacking in India is that, districts are not in a position to independently
initiate any programme of their own because they do not have their own
resources. They depend upon the state or central government for financial
resources. Many a time the resources given from the state or
national levels are specifically tailor made for certain activities. Under this
arrangement, even when resources are available at the district level they may
not be in a position to target on issues which they consider to be high on
their agenda. Another pre-requisite for decentralised planning in India is in the
area of financial decisions. The district should have the authority to mobilise
resources of its own or re-allocate the resources which are allocated to them
by the state government. In this context, it is very often suggested that the
allocations from the State or Central Government to the district should be on a
lump-sum basis rather than on a tailor made fashion. At present, there exists no planning machinery to
undertake district level planning activities in India. Although the 1986
National Policy on Education envisaged to create District Boards of Education,
even after about one and a half decades of the policy formulation such a
machinery has not been created in any state. Since, there is no planning
machinery to formulate district plans, planning competencies are rarely
developed at the district levels. At present what exists in the name of
district level planning is nothing but an adjustment or manipulation with the
budgetary figures that too on an incremental basis. Often, it is observed that
the plans prepared at the district level are not closely scrutinized and hence
planning process itself becomes rather routine and bureaucratic. The externally
funded projects in primary education in India have shown that if resources are
provided at the district level and power and authority are also vested with the
district level authorities, then there is a possibility of developing district
level plans which are more realistic and local specific. METHODOLOGY OF PLAN FORMULATION In a multi-level planning framework in India the
immediate concern of policy makers, planners and administrat is to ensure that
“district” becomes a viable unit of planning. In the field of education it is
expected that district educational plans may be formulated. It is heartening to
note that as a result of implementation of District Primary Education Programme
(DPEP) the decentralised planning of education at the district level has been
in operation since 1994-95 in many districts in the country. However the
emphasis was on planning for Universalisation of Primary Education (U.P.E.).
Recently, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme launched by the Government of
India, emphasizes on Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) rather than
covering only primary education. The districts where SSA is to be launched in
its first phase are expected to formulate District Elementary Education Plan
for a period ranging from 5 to 7 years and the goal is UEE in these districts.
These plans of 5 to 7 years duration are referred to as perspective plans. In
addition to perspective plans the districts are supposed to work out the first
year Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) also and in all subsequent years
also the AWP&B will be formulated. These plans may be appraised and
approved by G.O.I. for funding. The District Elementary Education Plans (DEEP) to be
formulated by the SSA districts are supposed to broadly present the background
of the district, district educational scenario, planning process adopted,
problems and issues of elementary education, objectives and targets,
intervention strategies, costing of activities and developing implementation
schedule. The details to be presented in the perspective plan document of the
district on important items are presented below: District Background Any plan developed for a specific area should first
of all present the background of the area. The introduction section of the
District Elementary Education Plan should contain the background of the
district. This may include geographical features, cultural characteristics,
socio-economic features of the district. The district background may present
the administrative structure of the district also. This includes the number of
Tehsils, blocks, inhabited villages, village panchayats etc. The block-wise
number of village panchayats and inhabited villages may also be given to
present the administrative structure of the district. Detailed demographic
structure of the district must be presented which may include male, female,
rural, urban, S.C., S.T. population for the latest census alongwith the growth
rate of population, density of population, sex ratio, percentage of urban
population and percentage of scheduled caste and scheduled tribes population.
However it is desirable to present the demographic data disaggregated at the
block level so as to show the inter-block variations on all these parameters of
population. In addition to demographic features the district background may
also present the literacy scenario and that again should be given block-wise
for male, female and S.C. and S.T. population for the latest census. However it
may be better to show the progress of literacy in the district over-a-period of
time. District Educational Scenario The district educational administrative structure
may be given to show how education system is managed in the district. The
objective of this section may be to present the details of educational
facilities available as well as the utilisation of these educational facilities
by the people. Though the document is specifically concerned with elementary
education it should present the educational facilities for secondary, higher
secondary and even higher, professional, technical education also. However on
elementary education detailed information on all educational indicators may be
given. While presenting the elementary education scene of the district it is
important to include the private aided and unaided recognised schools as well
as the Non-Formal Education Centres and Alternative Education Centres which are
in operation in the district. All information of elementary education should be
presented block wise which may help to identify educationally backward and
advanced blocks. The district educational profile should contain
information on number of schools imparting elementary education and that even
separately for primary and upper-primary education. The block-wise access
position on primary and upper-primary educational facilities should be
presented. The schools may preferably be presented management-wise i.e. number
of schools under the categories of government, local bodies, private aided and
private unaided. Further, detailed data on the number of teachers in primary
and upper primary schools working in the district should be presented. The number
of posts and vacancies as well as the training status i.e. trained and
untrained teachers as also the teacher pupil ratio disaggregated at block level
may be presented to show the position of teachers availability in the district. The enrolment scenario at primary and upper-primary
level in the district is a very important aspect of district educational
profile. However the enrolment in absolute figures alone will not meet the
purpose that is why it is desirable to give enrolment ratio at primary and upper
primary level. While calculating and presenting the enrolment ratio the enrolment in private schools, NFE
centres and Alternative Education Centres should also be taken into account.
Further the enrolment ratio over a period of time, if presented, may show the
progress on enrolment in the district. The enrolment at primary and upper
primary level may be presented grade-wise and preferably for at least 2 or 3
consecutive years. The data on indicators such as dropout rate,
repetition rate and transition rate is important while presenting the district
elementary education scene. Block-wise dropout and transition rates should be
presented. These data are important for diagnosing the educational situation in
the district. The district educational scenario should contain
information of building position and infrastructure facilities in primary and
upper primary schools in the district. These figures should also be presented
block-wise. The number and percentage of schools having building with type and
condition of building, percentage of schools having facilities like black
board, drinking water, electricity, compound wall, urinals, toilets,
teaching-learning material etc. will help to identify the blocks and schools
where these facilities are lacking. All these information provided on
infrastructure have implications for planning that is why it is necessary to
present it in the district educational profile. Target Setting Targets are translation of objectives in clearly
defined quantitative terms. What the plan intends to achieve during the plan
period when specified in quantitative terms is known as target setting. Targets
are statements which state clearly and unambiguously what is to be achieved and
are in measurable terms and have definite time frame. In order to develop
district elementary education plan the targets may be set for access,
enrolment, retention and achievement level of children. However it is desirable
to undertake the target setting exercise in a disaggregated manner which means
that in district plan document the targets should be set block-wise. This is
important because different blocks have different levels of e.g. enrolment or
retention and so targets for these block may also be different. Secondly in a
perspective plan of 5 to 7 years the targets should be set in a phased manner
which means that targets should not only be set for the total plan period but
should also be set for all intervening years. This may not only help to see the
progress of implementation of the plan on year to year basis but may also
facilitate in reviewing the implementation strategies and perhaps revising the
targets for the coming years. The gender and social disparities in the field of
education are common features in India. These disparities may be in enrolment,
retention or even in achievement also. One of the important objective in the
District plan will be to reduce these disparities. It is therefore important to
set the targets on enrolment and retention separately for boys and girls as
well as for Scheduled Castes and Schedule Tribes population. Over a period of
time the gap between boys and girls and between SCs, STs and others may be
reduced. The target of reducing this gap may depend upon the gaps that exists
between these categories in the base year of the plan. The goal in District Elementary Education Plan is to
universalize elementary education which means universal access, universal
enrolment, universal retention and universal achievement. This means the
ultimate target is 100 percent access, enrolment, retention and achievement.
But while setting the target on these parameters it is important to look at the
present status of the district on these components and then accordingly set the
targets which are realistic and are achievable. An insight in this exercise of
target setting can be had by looking at the progress made in the district on
e.g. enrolment ratios and retention rates during past 5 to 7 years. Intervention Strategies and Activities Evolving intervention strategies to achieve the targets
is another important aspect of plan formulation. However it is to be noted that
the strategies evolved will have to address the identified problems and issues
of elementary education in the district. While evolving the strategies
important points to keep in view are: (i) in a decentralised planning any
single strategy may not be uniformly operational or applicable in different
areas and that is why probably for addressing a single problem one may have to
envisage a set of strategies for a given context. (ii) Many a times a single
strategy may not be enough to address an issue or a problem and there will be a
need to work out multiple strategies for addressing a single problem. (iii) All
the problems and issues identified during the planning exercise must be tackled
and intervention strategies should be worked out accordingly and there should
thus be a linkage between the problems/issues identified and the intervention
strategies developed for addressing them. Translating the strategies into programmes and
activities is the next step in the plan formulation. It is to be kept in view
that a specific intervention strategy may require a number of programmes to
make it operational and effective. However a programme may be an aggregation of
various activities. It is therefore necessary to translate each and every
strategy into activities and tasks. For example for improving access the
strategy can be ‘opening of new primary schools’. However one of the activity
under the strategy of opening new primary schools may be ‘construction of
school building’. But the activity of construction of school building has many
tasks that are to be undertaken. These tasks may be (i) identification of
school-less habitations; (ii) identification of habitations qualifying for opening
schools; (iii) listing and prioritisation of habitations; (iv) deciding about
the number of schools to be opened; (v) identification of habitations where
schools are to be opened; (vi) deciding the location/site of the school; (vii)
acquiring site/transfer of land; (viii) identification of agency for
construction and supervision; (ix) actual construction work; (x)monitoring and
supervision of construction work and (xi) finishing and furnishing of school
building. Next step in plan formulation is the sequencing and
phasing of these activities and the tasks. It may be noted that some activities
/ tasks can be undertaken only in a sequential manner whereas some
activities/tasks can be started simultaneously. For example, construction of
school building and recruitment of teachers are the activities which can be
undertaken simultaneously while actual construction of school building can not
be done before deciding the site of the school, acquiring site, transfer of
land and identification of agency for construction and supervision. Costing and Financial Requirements An important step in the plan formulation exercise
is the costing and estimation of financial requirements to implement the plan.
Translating the physical inputs into financial requirements is essential for
funding purpose. Various steps that are involved in estimation of financial
requirements are: (i) listing of all the activities to be undertaken (ii)
classifying all these activities into two categories i.e. activities having
cost implications and activities which do not have cost implications; (iii)
classifying the activities which have cost implications into recurring and
non-recurring heads; (iv) working our the average cost of recurring activities
and unit cost for non-recurring activities (v) estimation of costs separately
under the recurring and non-recurring heads. While estimating the financial requirements for the
District Elementary Education Plan the recurring costs estimation may be on
items such as salaries, training, maintenance of building, equipment,
furniture, infrastructure etc.; travel and fuel costs; stationary and
consumables, contingencies, rents etc. Similarly the non-recurring cost
estimation may be on items such as: construction of school building, additional
classrooms, toilets, compound wall, equipments, furnitures; infrastructure;
vehicle etc. The aggregation of costs of all the activities and tasks under
various strategies will give the total financial requirements of the plan. Allocation of resources to education is based on the
budgets. Budgets are prepared annually to facilitate the resource allocation
process. This implies that these activities are to be classified according to
the year of beginning and completion of the activities. This may help in
preparing the annual budgets. The budget should correspond to the activities
indicated to be completed in that particular year. While estimating the cost requirements for the plan
it is of utmost importance to keep in view the financial parameters fixed by
central and state level bodies with regard to District Elementary Education
Plan. Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan a ceiling of 6 percent of the total plan budget has been fixed on
management while on civil work the ceiling is 15 per cent of the total proposed
budget. The costing of the district must adhere to these ceilings as these are
part of guidelines issued from central level bodies to the districts being
covered under S.S.A. PLANNING FOR PRE-PROJECT ACTIVITIES UNDER SARVA
SHIKSHA ABHIYAN The districts where Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan is to be launched are expected to develop Elementary Education
Plan in order to achieve the goal of UEE in the district. However before the
programme is launched the districts are supposed to undertake various
activities known as ‘Pre-project enabling activities’ as mentioned in draft
document of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. The document mentions in this regard “It has
been decided that to initiate the implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
throughout the country with a well planned Pre-Project phase that provides for
a large number of interventions to improve the delivery system and to lay down
a rigorous framework of community monitoring. This will facilitate optimal
utilization of resources that will be available for the elementary education
sector. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan emphasizes institutional reforms in the states to
create a transparent and effective system for making most efficient use of
resources. Many states have already initiated large scale reforms to promote
convergence and improve accountability of the school system”. It is to be kept in view
that the pre-project activities include activities which have cost implications
as well as such activities which do not have any cost implications. It is
therefore important to list out all such activities in the proposal for
pre-project activities which the district will undertake during the next say 4
to 6 months. It is also expected that cost estimates for these activities must
be presented in the pre-project activities plan. The ceiling kept on the total
amount that may be made available by Government of India for undertaking these
activities is Rs.50 lakh. However it is necessary to workout the activities
properly and the costing to be done realistically. The enabling pre-project activities
under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan can be classified into the following broad heads : 1.
Activities related to systemic issues VIII.
Activities
related to strengthening of Education offices IX.
Activities
related to capacity building of Education and other functionaries X.
Community-related
activities XI.
School-based
activities XII.
Activities
related to participatory exercise and Surveys XIII.
Studies
to be conducted. While developing plan
proposals for pre-project activities the districts may workout the details of
all the activities to be undertaken under the above mentioned heads. However it
may be desirable to briefly present the background of the district; the
educational profile of the district with specific data on elementary education;
issues and problems of elementary education in the district. These may follow
the listing of activities alongwith its modalities and finally the cost
estimates of the activities may be presented in the pre-project activities
plan. It is desirable to workout and present the time schedule of all the
proposed activities to be undertaken in pre-project phase in the said plan
document. In order to have a better understanding of the above mentioned
categories of activities some details are presented below. Systemic Issues The activities related to
systemic issues are those which are actually preparatory activities for
launching programmes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in the districts. Many such
activities are the concerns of the state government as they are related to policy and administrative matters which may
be addressed by the state government though they are desired to be taken in the
district where Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is to be launched. The activities related
to systemic issues are, for example, filling-up of teachers positions, rationalization
of teachers’ units, filling-up of vacant positions in Educational
administration; filling-up of DIETs positions and establishing a functional
structure of decentralization within the frame work of Panchayati Raj. It may be noted that all
these activities are to be undertaken by the state in order to ensure smooth
functioning of educational activities in the district. The emphasis has been
laid on these issues as without undertaking these activities any district level
programme on elementary education can not be successfully implemented. Strengthening of Education Offices In order to ensure proper
functioning of educational administrative machinery it is important to equip
the education offices at various levels. In this regard it is to be seen whether
there is a need of equipping and strengthening the District Elementary
Education office, Sub-district Education offices and Block level /circle
level Education offices. Also equally
important is to equip the District Institute of Education and Training. The
strengthening of these offices may help them to function efficiently and ensure
proper implementation of educational programmes. Further, establishment and
functioning of effective educational management information system (EMIS) is
important to regularly and efficiently monitor the progress of implementation
of various programmes of elementary education in the district. Capacity Building For developing Elementary
Education plans at the district level as well as for launching and implementing
elementary education programmes it is necessary to equip functionaries at
various levels to undertake the assigned responsibility. It is therefore
important to undertake capacity building exercise including the orientation and
training of planning and implementing teams as well as educational
functionaries. In this regard the functionaries and teams whose capacity
building is required are : District and Sub-district level Educational
Administrators and staff of DIET; District Planning team and District Nodal
team; Block/Circle level Educational Administrators and Block Nodal teams;
Panchayati Raj and Urban local bodies functionaries, Village level
School/Education committee members; Women’s group and the Parent-Teacher or
Mother-Teacher Associations (PTAs, MTAs). Community Mobilization The enabling activities for
launching Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in the district includes many activities
related to awareness campaign and community mobilization. This is important in
order to prepare ground at the grass root level for implementing educational
programme. Though the community mobilization and environment building are
important activities to be undertaken throughout the project period to ensure
cent percent enrolment and increasing retention by creating demand for education
among masses but it is equally important to start the activities even before
launching the programme. Some examples of community mobilization as a
pre-project activity are: organizing melas, street shows, Kala Jathas etc.;
advocacy campaign for Universalization of Elementary Education; constitution of
committees (elected) for management of school through mobilization;
establishing community ownership of schools; preparation of material for
mobilization and advocacy. Districts may undertake the specific activities that
are found proper for mobilization in the local conditions. School-based Activities Certain activities are
expected to be undertaken at the school level.
This is equally important to ensure proper functioning of the school on
the one hand and show the accountability of the school for the community it is
to serve on the other. Important activities in this regard may be: establishing
school-community linkage by forming PTAs and MTAs; organizing school-based activities like sports and cultural meets
to instil competitive spirit among children; exhibit school display boards to
promote transparency etc. Participatory Exercise and Surveys It is to be noted that developing District Elementary
Education Plan is not a centralised activity of district planning teams. The
district plan is to be developed through participatory process. The involvement
of stake-holders of elementary education at various levels is mandatory in
formulating district plan. It is therefore necessary to organise participatory
exercise at the district and sub-district level, circle and block level and
village and habitation level. The exercise may be in the form orientation,
workshop, meeting or through any other means but the district plan may be
formulated as a result of consultative exercise in the district. This is in
order to ensure that the perception and problems of parents, community members,
public representatives, backward communities, teachers, officials, women’s
group etc. are taken into account in the process of plan formulation. This is a
very important and non-negotiable pre-project activity. For developing the district
elementary education plans data on many items are required. The data can either
be taken from secondary sources or in case reliable data from secondary sources
is not available primary data will have to be collected. In this regard the
districts need to conduct survey for generating first hand data. The surveys to
be conducted under the pre-project phase
may be: school-survey (including private aided and unaided schools), household
survey to identify out of school children and causes for non-enrolment and
dropout; survey of village/habitation to know the access position etc. Studies In order to understand the
social and educational problems of the people in the district an important
pre-project activity is to conduct various studies. In this regard, as
undertaken in DPEP, it may be desirable to conduct Bareline Achievement Study
and Social Assessment Study in the district where Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is to
be launched. In addition to these two studies districts can think of district
specific studies if needed. Further it may be desirable to conduct a small
study on selected schools imparting elementary education to know the extent of
over-age and under-age children enrolled in schools. This may help in getting
an idea of Net Enrolment Ratio which is a crucial indicator for planning
purpose. The above mentioned are some
of the suggestive pre-project activities to be undertaken by the districts
under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. However the districts need to workout and present
the details about these activities including the time schedule as well as the
cost implications of all the proposed activities. It is important to be
realistic in deciding about the time schedule as well as on the cost estimation
of the activities. PLANNING FOR IMPLEMENTATION
Planning for implementation is one of the important stages of the planning cycle. A district education plan document is incomplete if it does not contain a detailed plan for implementation of the programmes and projects that make up the plan. In other words, planning for implementation should be in-built in district educational plan document. Generally, a failure to achieve plan targets in the education sector can largely be attributed to lack of detailed planning for implementation. Planning for implementation serves two basic purposes : i. it facilitates the process of implementation of programmes and projects by providing a sound mechanism of monitoring (i.e. in the form of an implementation schedule); and ii. it increases the efficiency of the system by minimizing the costs of implementation of a given programme or project. Planning for implementation
makes it possible to critically analyze the activities of a given educational
programme, and to develop an implementation schedule which can be used to
monitor the progress of implementation.
Specifically, the necessary steps in planning for implementation of
educational programmes/projects are : XIV.
listing
of activities that make up the programme; XV.
thinking
through each of these activities; XVI.
establishing
inter-relationships between these activities; XVII.
establishing
a network; XVIII.
setting
activity durations; XIX.
determining
material, equipment/tools and human resource needs; XX.
deciding
about time duration for implementation of each activity; XXI.
identifying
critical activities of the programme, which cannot be overlooked without
affecting the duration of the programme implementation and resources invested
in it, and XXII.
thinking
about organizational arrangements for carrying out programme activities. Scheduling forms the most important exercise of the planning for implementation. Scheduling refers to the process of converting an educational plan into an operating time table, which establishes start and completion time of all the activities of the programme/plan. There are several ways of constructing implementation schedules. However, an effective implementation plan makes use of the network based techniques such as Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Method (CPM). An educational programme network is the graphic flow diagram of the interrelationships, interdependencies, and sequence of all activities and events that must be accomplished to complete the programme. PERT is a network based procedure that facilitates planning, scheduling and controlling of education programmes and projects. It provides methods for measuring actual progress of the programme against expected progress, for comparing consequences of proposed alternative strategies, for predicting future programme status, and for optimizing utilization of resources. Listing of all possible activities of the programme
is a key step in planning for implementation of the educational programme. The second step is to gather information
about predecessors of each activities.
One way of doing this is to identify the immediate predecessors of each
activity. Third, on the basis of these
information, PERT network for the programme can be developed. Fourth, once the PERT network of the
programme is developed then the need is to obtain information on the time
required to complete each activity.
Fifth, this is followed by three alternative time estimates (i.e.
optimistic activity time; most probable activity time; and pessimistic activity
time). These three activity time
estimates help the programme team to make the best guess of the expected
activity time. In this way, uncertainty
can be expressed by providing estimates ranging from the best to the worst
possible time for completing individual activities. Finally, the PERT network for the given educational programme is
drawn on the basis of the above information. Once the PERT network is drawn, the next step is to
estimate critical path in the network.
This is done by using both forward pass and backward pass methods. This helps to establish early start and
latest finish time of each activity.
Also activity slack is estimated by using early start and latest finish
times. The activities having no slack
are termed as critical activities and the longest path on the PERT network is identified as the
critical path. The time required to
traverse the critical path becomes the programme implementation period. All these information, when put in a tabular
form, becomes the Implementation
Schedule of the Educational Programme under consideration. Preparation of an implementation schedule facilitates smooth implementation of various activities indicated under the plan. However, drawing up of a schedule by itself may not facilitate implementation. It requires close monitoring of activities and adjustments to be made in the schedule, if there are delays in the implementation of any particular activity. Review meetings are to be held periodically to ascertain the progress in the implementation of the plan. Regular review meetings, close monitoring and readjustment of implementation schedules, if necessary, will ensure achievement of plan targets within the stipulated time.
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