Elementary Education Under Five Year Plans in India

1
Elementary Education Under Five Year Plans in
India

• N. K. Mohanty
• nkmohanty_at_nuepa.org
• nkmohanty_at_gmail.com

2
Constitutional Provisions in Elementary Education

• Article 45 The state shall endeavour to
  provide within a period of 10 years from the
  commencement of the Constitution free and
  compulsory primary education for all children
  until they complete the age of 14 years
• Article 46 The state shall promote with
  special care the educational and economic
  interests of the weaker sections of the people,
  and in particular, of the SCs and STs

3
Constitutional Provisions in Elementary
Education

• Article 29(2) No citizen shall be denied
  admission into any educational institution
  maintained by the state or receiving aid out of
  State fund on grounds of religion, race, caste,
  language or any of them "
• Article 30(1) enjoins that "all minorities,
  whether based on religion or language shall have
  the right to establish and administer educational
  institutions of their choice,"

4
Constitutional Provisions in Elementary
Education

• Article 30(2) - The State shall not, in granting
  aid to educational institutions, discriminate
  against any educational institution on the ground
  that it is under the management of a minority
  whether based on religion or language."
• Article 350-(A) - It shall be the endeavor of
  every state and of every local authority within
  the State to provide adequate facilities for
  instructions in the mother-tongue at the primary
  stage of education to children belonging to
  linguistic minority group."

5
Constitutional Provisions in Elementary
Education

• The 42nd Amendment to the Constitution of 1976
  has put education in the Concurrent List and
  empowered the Indian Parliament with the
  authority to legislate on education concurrently
  with the States.
• The 73rd and 74th Amendment to the Constitution
  provided for decentralization of school education
  and entrusts primary education to Panchayati Raj
  Institutions and Urban Area committees so that
  the participatory and interactive management for
  primary education could be evolved.

6
Constitutional Provisions in Elementary
Education

• The Central Government on 28th July 1997
  introduced 83rd constitutional amendment in Rajya
  Sabha proposing to make elementary education as
  the fundamental right of the child.
• The Constitution of India was amended in 2002 to
  make Elementary Education a justiciable
  Fundamental Right.

7
National Policy on Education, 1968

• Strenuous efforts should be made for early
  fulfillment of the Directive Principle under
  Article 45.
• Reiterated the resolve that "by 1995, all
  children will be provided free and compulsory
  education up to 14 years of age."
• The Constitution of India was amended in 2002 to
  make Elementary Education a justiciable
  Fundamental Right.

8
Constitutional Provisions in Elementary
Education

• The Central Government on 28th July 1997
  introduced 83rd constitutional amendment in Rajya
  Sabha proposing to make elementary education as
  the fundamental right of the child.
• The Constitution of India was amended in 2002 to
  make Elementary Education a justiciable
  Fundamental Right.

9
Approaches and Strategies

• Ist Plan (1951-56) 
• To provide educational facilities to at least
  60 of all children of the school-going age
  within the age-group of 6-14.
• IInd Plan (1956-61)
• The emphasis was on linking education with
  economic development. It also advocated for
  expansion of basic and elementary education.

10
Approaches and Strategies

• IIIrd Plan (196166)
• The main emphasis was on the provision of
  facilities for universal elementary education for
  all children in the age-group 6-11 on basic line.
  There was also a special concentration on the
  education of girls and to reduce the existing
  disparities in the level of development in
  education boys and girls.
•  
• Annual Plans (196669)- No change in the
  approach
• IVth Plan (196974)
• Educational Programme in the IVth plan were
  related to social and economic objectives of the
  country.
• It was a prospective plan based on Manpower
  needs, social demand and the availability of
  financial, material and human resources.

11
Approaches and Strategies
Vth Plan (1974-79)   Very high priority was
given to elementary education and adequate
provision was made for additional
enrolment.   Provisions for curricular
orientation, work experience and strengthen of
educational institution for teachers.   Annual
Plan (1979-80)
12
Approaches and Strategies

• VIth Plan (1980-85)
•  
• Highest priority to programme of UEE to continue
  as a part of minimum needs programme.
• To achieve UPE in the next 5 years
•  
• The approach to UEE was to cover
•  i) intensified uses of existing facilities,
  including the adjustment of schooling hours which
  would not be more than 3 hours a day according to
  local conditions,
• ii) provision of new facilities which would be
  economically viable and educationally relevant,
  and
• iii) promotion of non-formal system of learning.

13
Approaches and Strategies

• Schemes which were taken up, were
•  
• i)  Accepting the principle of average attendance
  to overcome wastage and stagnation,
• ii)  Ensuring that a school is available to a
  child within 1.5 Kms in a town and within 6 Kms
  in a village,
• iii)  Laying emphasis upon compulsory enrolment,
• iv) Bringing about the expansion of part-time
  informal education, and
• v)  Eradication of regional imbalances.

14
Approaches and Strategies

• VIIth Plan (1985-90)
• Highest priority to realising UEE for children in
  the age-group of 6-14 years by 1990.
• Emphasis shifted from mere enrolment to retention
  and attainment of basic elements of learning.
•   These objectives were to be achieved through
  formal and non-formal methods focusing sharply on
  the needs of girls and the children belonging to
  economically and socially weaker sections.
•  Annual Plans (1990-92)

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Approaches and Strategies

• VIIIth Plan (1992-97)
• Highest priority to universalisation of free and
  compulsory education upto the age of 14.
• Reduction of disparities in access among states
  and within states, between boys and girls and
  among different segments of the population and
• Improving the retention and achievement of
  children of the relevant age-group.
• To provide alternative channels for education to
  children of deprived sections and working
  children.
• Reduction of drop-outs particularly among girls
  and children belonging to SCs, STs and other
  economically and socially disadvantaged
  communities.

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Approaches and Strategies

• Programmes/Schemes
• A national programme of mid-day meals was started
  in August, 1995 to promote access, retention and
  nutritional care of primary schools.
• Improvement in the quality of schooling and
  achievement levels of children enrolled in
  schools was attempted through the introduction of
  minimum levels of learning (MLL) and enhancement
  of infrastructure facilities.
•  
• Operation Black Board (1987), National
  Programme of Nutritional Support (1995), District
  Primary Education Programme (1994), Bihar
  Education Project (1991), UP Basic Education
  Project, Mahila Samakhya, Lok Jumbish, Shiksha
  Karmi

17
Approaches and Strategies

• IXth Plan (1997-2002)
•  We are committed to a total eradication of
  illiteracy. We will formulate and implement
  plans to gradually increase the governmental and
  non-governmental spending on education upto 6 of
  the GDP this is to provide education for all.
  We will implement the constitutional provision of
  making primary education free and compulsory upto
  5th standard. Our aim is to move towards equal
  access to and opportunity of educational
  standards upto the school-learning stage. We
  shall strive to improve the quality of education
  at all levels from primary level to our
  universities.

18
Approaches and Strategies

• Strategy
• i)  the national goal of providing primary
  education as a universal basic service,
• ii) the Supreme Court judgement declaring
  education to be a fundamental right for children
  upto 14 years of age,
• iii) the need to operationalise programmes
  through Panchayat Raj institutions (PRIS) and
  Urban Local Bodies (ULBs),
• iv)   the legal embargo on child-labour,
• v)    the provisions of the Persons with
  Disabilities Act, 1995, and
• heightened awareness of human rights
  violations in respect of women, children and
  persons from disadvantaged sections of society.

19
Approaches and Strategies

• Issues in Ninth Plan
•  
• I) backlog of un-enrolled children (142
  millions out of which 69 million were girls)
• ii)   dropout rate wide inter-state disparities
  (38.95 at primary)
• iii) 16.6 per cent habitations were not served by
  primary schools within a distance of one km.
• iv) lack of physical infrastructures like toilet
  facilities for girls, drinking water facilities
  in schools, teaching-learning equipment etc.,
• v) evaluation studies on childrens achievement
  show low levels in language and mathematics.
• vi) There are also regional disparities
• vii) Equity concerns like low enrolment of
  girls, educational requirements of special need
  groups like SCs/STs, OBCs, minorities, disabled
  working children, children from disadvantaged
  locations like deserts, hilly, coastal and deep
  forest areas and children from migratory families
  etc.

20
Elementary Education in the Tenth Five Year
Plan (2002-07)

• Approaches
• Approaches to achieve the goal of universal
  elementary education in the years to come have to
  measure the magnitude and complexity of the task,
  which has so far remained incomplete. Efforts to
  pursue this goal are guided by three broad
  concerns

21
Elementary Education in the Tenth Five Year
Plan (2002-07)

• The national resolve to provide free and
  compulsory education of satisfactory quality to
  all children up to the age of 14 years
• The political commitment to make the right to
  elementary education a Fundamental Right and
  enforcing it through necessary statutory
  measures and
• Enactment of 73rd and 74th Constitutional
  Amendment which has set the stage for greater
  decentralisation and s significantly enhanced
  role for local bodies, community organisations as
  well as voluntary agencies in the efforts towards
  UEE.

22
Targets in Elementary Education in the Tenth
Five Year Plan (2002-07)

• Universal Access
• (a)   All children (age groups 6-11 and 11-14)
  should have access to primary schools, upper
  primary schools or their alternatives within the
  walking distance of one kilometer and three
  kilometers respectively.
• (b) Universal access to early childhood care and
  education centers for all children of 3-6 years
  of age
• (c)  Need based expansion of upper primary
  education facilities, particularly for
  disadvantaged section. There should be one upper
  primary school for every two primary schools
• (d) All schools should have buildings, toilets,
  drinking water, electrification, playground,
  black boards and other basic facilities and
• (e) Provision of one classroom for every
  teacher at elementary stage.

23
Universal Enrolment

• Enrolment of all children in schools or other
  alternatives by 2003 and
• All children complete five years of primary
  schooling by 2007 and
• All children complete eight years of schooling by
  2010
• Universal Retention
• (a)  Universal retention in primary cycle by 2007
  and in upper primary level by 2010 and
• (b)  Dropout rate to be reduced to less than 10
  percent for grades VI-VII by 2007
• Universal Achievement
• Improve all aspects of quality of education
  (content and process) to ensure reasonable
  learning outcomes at elementary level, especially
  in literacy, numeracy and in life skills.

24
Equity

• Bridge all gender and social gaps in enrolment,
  retention and learning achievement in primary
  cycle by 2007. In upper primary it should be
  reduced to less than 5 by 2007
• Special interventions and strategies to include
  girls, SC/ST children, working children, children
  with special needs, urban deprived children,
  children from minority groups, children below
  poverty line, migrating children and children in
  hardest to reach groups.

25
Strategies in the Tenth Plan

• Convergence
• Institutional Reforms
• Community Empowerment
• Institutional Capacity Building
• Community Based Monitoring
• Habitation as a Unit of Planning
• Focus on Education of Girls and Special Groups
• Focus on Quality and Relevance
• Sustainable Financing
• Support to NGOs
• Public and Private Partnership

26
Strategies in the Tenth Plan

• Education of Girls and Adolescents Girls
• SCs and STs
• Working Children
• Children from Minority Groups
• Education of UDCs
• Children below Poverty Line
• Education of Hard to Reach Groups
• Education of Children with Special Needs
• Need Based Expansion of Upper Primary Education
• ECCE

27
Some Achievments in the Tenth Plan

• Enrolment
• Primary Huge increase in Jharkhand. Increases
  above national average in Jammu Kashmir, Uttar
  Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
• ?Upper Primary Huge increase in Jharkhand, Uttar
  Pradesh, Jammu Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.

28
Some Achievments in the Tenth Plan

• Enrolment
• GER in primary has increased from 96.3 in
  2001-02 to 107.8 in 2004-05 to 109.4 in
  2005-06.
• GER in upper primary has increased from 60.2 in
  2001-02 to 69.9 in 2004-05 to 71.4 in
  2005-06.
• Out of school children has decreased from 32
  million in 2001-02 to 7.1 million in 2005-06.
• Number of districts having out of school
  children of more than 50, 000 each has reduced
  from 48 to 29.

29
Some Achievments in the Tenth Plan

• Enrolment
• Dropout rate at primary has decreased from
  39.03 in 2001-02 to 29 in 2004-05
• Dropout rate at the elementary level has
  remained very high at 50.8.
• Reduction in gender gap and social category gap.

30
Issues in Elementary Education in the 11th Plan

• The Constitution of India was amended in 2002 to
  make Elementary Education a justiciable
  Fundamental Right.
• 7.1 million children being out of school and
  over 50 dropping out at elementary level are
  matters of serious concern.
• SSA to be reoriented to meet the challenges of
  equity, retention and high quality education.

31
Issues in Elementary Education in the 11th Plan

• States to be pursued to enact their own
  legislation or amend the existing ones to ensure
  UEE.
• SSA would be restructured into a National
  Mission for Quality Elementary Education to
  ensure minimum norms and standards for a school
  (both government and private) that is accessible
  to all children. It would address access, quality
  and equity holistically though Systems Approach.

32
Issues in Elementary Education in the 11th Plan

• The backlog for additional classrooms would be
  about 6.87 lakh.
• Opening of about 20,000 new primary schools and
  up gradation of about 70,000 primary schools are
  required.
• Giving good quality education of common
  standards, pedagogy and syllabi to ensure minimum
  learning levels.

33
Targets in Elementary Education in the 11th Plan

• Universal enrolment of 6-14 age group children
  including hard to reach segment.
• Substantial improvement in quality and standards
  with the ultimate objective to achieve standards
  of KVs under CBSE pattern.
• All genders, social and regional gaps in
  enrolments to be eliminated by 2011-12.
• One year ECCE for all children in the age group
  of 4-6 years.
• Dropouts at primary level to be eliminated and
  dropout rate at Elementary level to be reduced
  from over 50 to 20 by 2011-12.

34
Targets in Elementary Education in the 11th Plan

• Universalize MDMS at Elementary level by
  2008-09.
• Universal coverage of ICT at Upper Primary
  schools by 2011-12.
• Lay emphasis on full retention in schools with
  nil dropout rate at primary level.
• Bring significant improvement in learning
  conditions with emphasis on learning basic
  skills, verbal and quantitative.

35
Targets in Elementary Education in the 11th Plan

• All States/UTs to adopt NCERT Quality Monitoring
  Tools.
• Strengthen BRCs/CRCs setting up one CRC for
  every 10 schools and 5 resource teachers per
  block.

36
Special Quality Intervention for Disadvantaged
Groups in the 11th Plan

• The XI plan would lay special focus on
  disadvantaged groups and educationally backward
  areas.
• This focus would include not only higher
  resource allocation but also capacity building
  for preparation and implementation of strategies
  based on identified needs, more intensive
  monitoring and supervision and tracking of
  progress.
• Give top priority in ECCE to habitations of
  marginalized sections.
• Set up additional 500 KGBVs in Blocks with higher
  concentration of SC, ST, OBC and Minority
  population.

37
Special Quality Intervention for Disadvantaged
Groups in the 11th Plan

• Special attention to Districts with high SCs,
  STs and Minority population, Innovative funds for
  special Focus Districts to be doubled.
• Focus on improving the learning levels of SC, ST,
  minority chi9ldren through remedial coaching in
  schools and also in habitations through educated
  youth of NYKS, NSS, SHGs and local NGOs.
• Special schools for slum children in 35 cities
  with million plus population.
• Special intervention for migrating children,
  Urban deprived and working children.

38
Special Quality Intervention for Disadvantaged
Groups in the 11th Plan

• Creation of capacity within the school for
  dealing with students lagging in studies.
• Setting up 1000 hostels in EBBs with resident to
  PG Teacher as warden to provide supplementary
  academic support.
• Sensitize teachers for special care of weaker
  sections children with special needs.
• Intensive social mobilization in dalit, tribal
  and minority habitations through community
  support.
• Provide housing for teachers in tribal and remote
  habitations.

39
Pre-School Education in the 11th Plan

• SSA would have a component of one-year Early
  Childhood Care Education (ECCE), which can be
  universalized to cover 2.4 crore children in a
  phased manner.
• A large number of primary schools in States like
  U.P. and Rajasthan already have ECCE. Primary
  schools within the habitations, ICDS-Anganwadi
  would be supported.

40
KGBV and DPEP in the 11th Plan

• These scheme would be subsumed within SSA in the
  11th plan. Expansion of 500 KGBVs in
  District/Blocks with high concentration of SCs,
  Sts, OBCs and Minorities would be taken up.
• DPEP would come to an end in November 2008 and
  would be subsumed under SSA as per the existing
  procedure. The external commitments would however
  be met.

41
Teacher Education Thrust areas in the 11th Plan

• Establishing organic linkages between
  CRCs-BRCs-DIETs-SCERTs-NCERT and Universities.
• Teacher absenteeism Accountability to be tackled
  through PRTs.
• Need to work towards enhancing quality of an
  integrated system of teacher education.
• Linking teacher education with institutions of
  research and higher education.
• Countinued professional development of teachers
  and teacher educators.

42
Teacher Education Thrust areas in the 11th Plan

• Linkages with reputed teacher education
  institutions for possible drawing up of quality
  faculty resources on contractual basis. PPP
  models for rejuvenating poor quality DIETs and
  also setting up of new DIETs/DRCs.
• At least one training for all teachers once in
  every two years.
• Capacity building of para teachers.

43
Teacher Education Thrust areas in the 11th Plan

• The teacher Education Scheme would be
  implemented in partnership with states. The
  entire recurring expenditure, including salaries
  and contingencies during the 11th plan period
  would be met by GOI to the tune of 100 in
  2007-08 and thereafter reduced by 10
  progressively each year to 90 in 2008-09, 80 in
  2009-10, 70 in 2010-11 and 60 in 2011-12 so
  that gradually the States can take up their
  committed liabilities and old establishment
  expenditure.
• The GOI would bear 100 of new establishment and
  programme components expenditure.

44
Madarsas/Maktabs in the 11th Plan

• Additional maddarsas/maktabs would be supported
  for modernization under AIE component and it
  should be possible to cover all the 12,000 odd
  Madarasas during the plan period.

45
Mahila Samakhya in the 11th Plan

• The MS programme would be continued as per the
  existing pattern and expanded in a phased manner
  to cover all the EBBs and also in arban/suburban
  slums, as it contributes to educational
  empowerment of poor women.

46
Mid Day Meal Scheme in the 11th Plan

• The scheme would be extended to upper primary
  schools (Govt., Local Body and Govt. Aided
  Schools, and EGS/AIE Centres) in 3479 EBBs from
  1st June, 2007 to cover additional 30 million
  children and to all upper primary schools from
  April, 2008 to cover about 18 crore children by
  2008-09. The nutritional value of meals for upper
  primary children would be fixed at 700 caloreis
  derived from 150 gms of cereals and 20 gms of
  protein.

47
MDM Action Points in the 11th Plan

• MDM to be managed by the local community and
  PRIs/NGOs. And not contracts driven civie quality
  and safety to be prime considerations.
• Sensitize teachers and others involved in
  nutrition, hygiene, cleanliness and safety norms
  to rectify observed deficiencies.
• Involve nutrition experts in planning low cost
  nutrition menu and for periodic testing of
  samples of prepared food.
• Promote locally grown nutritionally rich food
  items through kitchen gardens in school etc.

48
MDM Action Points in the 11th Plan

• Revive School Health Programme disseminate and
  replicate best practices adopted by States.
• Provide drinking facilities in all schools on
  urgent basis.
• Status regarding supplies, funds, norms, weekly
  menu and coverage displayed in schools to ensure
  transparency.
• Central assistance to cooking cost based on
  actual number of beneficiary children and not on
  enrollment.
• Promote social audit.
• Online Monitoring.

49
Thank You Very Much