"Right to Education - Actions Now"

19 December 2007, New Delhi

Seminar Report

CONTENTS

Page No.

1. Editor’s Note: Elementary Education: Primary Lessons 1-11

2. Organiser’s Podium 12-15

3. Chapter 1: Right to Education – Actions Now : Discussion paper 16-29

4. Chapter 2: The Urgency of Basic Education - Amartya Sen 30-39

5. Chapter 3: Same Problem: Different Solutions – Discussions 40-56

6. Chapter 4: Motivation is All that Matters – Discussions 57-81

7. Chapter 5: How About a Twelve Year Old Teacher – Discussions 82-97

8. Chapter 6: Pointers to Win the Marathon cum Steeple Chase:Outcome 98-114

9. Annexure 1: They are doing their Bit: Some Experiences 115-136

10.Annexure 2: Right to Education Bill 137-181

11. Annexure 3: About the Organisations 182-189

12.Annexure 4: List of Participants 190-195

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Prelude

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION: PRIMARY LESSONS

All through this exercise of collating the concerns of people voiced either asteachers, educators, policy makers or those who wish to make a change, myvisual companions have been the several young children into whose faces Ihave peered to look for dreams and hopes during my travels in rural India. Theother day, at the city’s traffic lights I saw another beautiful child, well developed,healthy but for manageable malnutrition, begging. I saw the familiar vacantexpression and a smile which knew nothing of what was being lost out upon.Can this change? Can these children who form the wide chasm in the definitionof a country’s development or otherwise, be harnessed and empowered? Candetermination and confidence add to the natural wonder in those lovely eyesand can they become the nation’s strength in years to come?

Poignant as it may sound, this is no Bollywood tear jerker. It is the truepathetic situation of the country which set out sixty years ago with 12 %literacy. But this measure was in terms of the modern schooling methods. Noone ever calculated what education meant if a carpenter’s son had learnt hisfather’s trade, if an ayurved had learnt his ancestral profession and if a farmerknew his seasons by the call of a cuckoo or the flowering of a plant. Indigenousknowledge could not be institutionalized and the education that did getinstitutionalized was one very expensive and far removed from life of thecommon masses. Mahatma Gandhi’s call of caution fell on deaf ears. “I defyanybody to fulfil a programme for compulsory primary education of thesemasses inside of a century. This very poor country of mine is ill able to sustainsuch an expensive method of education…”

Few accessed it. Those who did became global citizens drawing the benefitsof English education and a reasonably good educational system. Most laterdiscussions on education in India was designed for them and by them They gotresearch institutions and higher education opportunities for their ilk, rightlyso. But this expenditure got blanketed as the expenditure on education and thelarge part of society which was not in a position to enjoy them, was forgotten.They got nothing.

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Those who got left behind, were completely left behind; misfits in the educationalsystem, failures in the social system and backward in the economic system.The census further labelled them illiterate. They still are not part of the economicgrowth and not able to read and write and so have become a burden on thesociety. In fact a burden unto themselves. In the meanwhile the world hadmoved on making some skills obsolete, some others outdated.

When realization dawned that two thirds of India was still awaiting freedomfrom ignorance, the emphasis was on enrolment. A myth that lived a fairlylong life was one which said the rural folk do not feel the need for education.So they do not enrol. Perhaps the right question to ask at that time would havebeen, why? Why did they feel it was unnecessary? Maybe the three R’s wouldhave been enough for them. They would have matched it to their traditionalskill and today would be part of an intelligent self employed force. Perhaps.

Added to this was the even greater burden of providing graduate educationwithout which jobs would not be available. Then researchers and surveyspointed out the paucity of schools/ teachers etc. to reach this higher goal. Allof them were put in place, the schools and teachers, in the subsequent plansand today if one reads the XI Plan document it reads much like the ending toa Bollywood film. The same one we began watching, of beautiful faceslanguishing like Lucy Gray. The document says:

“According to the VII Educational Survey (2002), the number of habitationswhich had a primary school within a distance of 1 km was 10.71 lakh (87%);the uncovered habitations numbered 1.6lakh. Further the XI plan documentsays, “Whereas, the habitations which had an upper primary school within adistance of 3 kms. was 9.61 lakh (78%). With the opening of 1.32 lakh primaryschools and 56,000 EGS/AIE centres access to primary education is nearlyachieved… At Primary and at Upper Primary level the number of habitationsremaining to be covered is estimated at almost 1 lakh….While this has madea difference in reducing the school infrastructure gap, and enrolment figures,according to the same document, have risen by 51 million from 2001-01-2004-05.”

A fairy tale ending, one would like to gush. We are very close to our targets.But the same document also points out that “…in MP only one third of theteachers attend school, in UP, the figure is 20% and in Bihar 25%.” To pepper

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the story with more hurtful statistics: “…the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan has recruited7.95 lakh teachers to improve the pupil-teacher ratio from 44:1 to 40:1 at theprimary level in addition to providing annual in-service training, free distributionof textbooks to the tune of Rs 6.9 crores…” and other such supportive actions.So there lies the twist in the story. The villain did finally turn up, implementation.The XIth Plan document candidly admits that much has to be done to improveprimary education on all fronts: teacher motivation, quality assessment andstandardization, bridging gaps be they gender, social, caste based etc. makingthe curriculum more relevant, providing better reading material and upgradationof the infrastructure of the school and its environs.

The government having chosen Macaulay’s system of education was naturallyleft with the above problems for many wedges got driven through society.Division that was primarily on caste was now on the basis of the educated andthe uneducated, the government-school educated and the public-school educated,the one educated in the English medium, the one who studied in the locallanguage, between the fifth class pass and the rest of the society and so onwith each class. There were possibilities that these divisions could be crossedover and so we developed systems of “passing” students without adequatecheckpoints testing their capabilities.

The government had said that no child will be examined till class V and theywill be promoted automatically. This was based on the sound belief that childrenshould not be put through traumatic examinations and that their learning shouldbe made as easy and happy as possible.

Fraudulent and inferior quality, school leaving certificates, graduation degreesand even doctoral programmes are being offered by sub-standard institutionsand I have met doctoral candidates who come to submit their proposal confessingthat they are doing the programme only to get the prefix to their name! Thesubject does not matter. But with such degrees they are able to qualify for andtherefore socially appear to have crossed over to a “higher” division in society.

The problem, once articulated did not solve itself there. Equity in education toall young citizens of the country is an exacting task. What is equitable? Toprovide the same set of amenities may be more difficult in one area andcomparatively less difficult in another. Does equity mean giving them allcomparable sets of amenities or should it be equitable vis-vis context and

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location? The solutions therefore are not simple; multi-dimensional though theymay be.

By definition, administration can address only vertical problems. The socialimplications have to be addressed by the nation as a whole, by its people. Thegovernmental programmes, as discussed even at the seminar, are by and largegood and drawn up with a reasonably clear picture of ground realities. Thattheir implementation is poor is a fact well proven by the prevailing situationand data.

Is primary education then in a mess? Well, no there are bright lights everywherethey are just not connected and continuous.

The government has set up institutions like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA),District Primary Education programme (DPEP), National Programme ofNutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE), the Mid Day MealScheme (MDMS) and the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme(KGBVS). Enrolment figures do show an increase. Every village has beenprovided a primary school, by and large. Other facilities are being madeavailable area after area. And if we can talk of rural educated youth today, itis primarily only because of governmental efforts.

Many NGO’s are doing wonderful work. In a small village which till twoyears ago did not even have a road to it, Bankalia, in Nagur district in Rajasthan,an individual started a private school. He himself was barely a graduate. Heset up a small school and charged fees. Charging fees in that drought riddenbarren desert area is a bold step. In addition he bought a bus to ferry girls fromhome to school. Within a couple of years he not only got the best teachers,his school had to expand.

Near Kanjeepuram in a school for gypsy children, teachers live where thereis no building, no infrastructure. Yet they teach with dedication.

Examples of such unparalleled dedication can fill pages and pages. Equallyfree thinkers like J.Krishnamurthy and Rabindra Nath Tagore have undertakenadventures in education.

Where then have we gone wrong? The time has come now for anotheradventure.

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Perhaps instead of going into the wrongs, it may be enough to look for waysto overcome the wrongs. A sponsor here and a little infrastructure will notbring about the massive change we are seeking. The corporate sector is enteringat the right time. Most villages have schools within 1kms distance. Can thegovernment enter into MOU’s with corporate houses for each school so thatinfrastructure support, academic support and financial support is given to theschools as is necessary as in the Karnataka school adoption model. This familyof adopted schools would form a fraternity which would serve as a platformto recognize and honour teachers and fuel ambition in the children. Withregular visits and the watchful eye, teachers and the villagers will feel somebodycares. In addition attractive readable books or television programmers wouldhelp the cause.

As the seminar pointed out, there is no one right answer/solution. The problemis one, to provide quality education to all children. The manner in which it canbe done are many.

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How far is the goal of hundred percent literacy? Going by the example ofJapan, as given by Prof. Amartya Sen, it requires firm commitment and aboutfifty years time. He says the Fundamental Code of Education was issued in1872 in Japan and by 1910, the country was almost fully literate, at least forthe young, and by 1913, though still very much poorer than Britain or America,Japan was publishing more books than Britain and more than twice as manyas United States.

India has had sixty years to pick up from about 12% literacy that prevailed atthe time of independence. Today the corresponding figure according to the2001 census is about 65%. A seminar calling people from varied walks of life,teachers, principals of schools, policy makers in education, non-governmentalorganizations working in education, writers, corporate heads who wish toenter the field and many others who are doing a great deal, students trainingto become teachers and others sat around discussion tables to understand andact upon the implications of the Right to Education bill. The seminar wasjointly organized by The Aspen Institute India, Shikash and Institute of Quality.

Bringing their concern for reaching the last child, making education relevant tolife and maintaining quality in education, the organizers drew up a diverse

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invitee list and focussed proceedings for a seminar titled Right to Education:Actions Now.

In the morning the seminar had the honour not only of being addressed byProf Amartya Sen, but also allowed for interaction and discussion with him.Post lunch, serious deliberations were held so as to draw some specific pointersas well as make it as complete in perspective, as possible. This compilationtries to bring a report of the entire proceedings to not only acquaint the readerwith some important roadmaps for the future, but also to motivate him or herto begin action NOW.

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The nation is now concerned. Or is it?

Beginning with the background paper by Dr. Y.S.Rajan, the compilation bringsProfessor Amartya Sen’s speech as the second chapter, the long discussionswhich followed as chapters three, four and five. In chapter six are outlined theoutcomes of the discussions against the background of the commitmentexpressed by Tarun Das, Chief Mentor, CII and the targets as set in the XIPlan.

Setting the pace for the seminar Dr. Rajan describes the situation such; twouneven but related growth rates, one of a fast growing population and theother of the comparatively slower growing economy, sandwiched betweentheir twisted warp a large section of people who were left out by economicprogress. The very reason for the slower growth of the economy, and this hugepopulation which has been side stepped by progress, has been identified aslack of education and skills.

Prof Amartya Sen looks at it once again as the result of two forces, those ofgovernmental under activity and governmental over activity. Governmentalover activity meant imposing restrictions and needs for permits and licenseswhich actually bred corruption.

“What was needed in addition to curbing the license Raj was a radicalenhancement of our astonishingly under-emphasized social infrastructure, bythe expansion and better operation of our system of schools and educational

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institutions, and of hospitals and public health care facilities (including ruralmedical centres). This needed more investment, but also the development ofa better functioning system of accountability, supervision and collaboration inthe delivery of public services to run what was there already. To this need canbe added the necessity of remedying the neglect of physical infrastructure(power, water, roads, rails), which required both governmental and privateinitiatives. Large areas of what economists call “public goods” had been badlyneglected and the remedying of that problem could be, it seemed to me, bestcombined with the other plank of the policy, namely the curbing of the licenseRaj.”

Even though many NGO’s, some of whom figure in the following pages, aredoing excellent work, Prof Amartya Sen observes that governmental activityin this area cannot be wished away; in fact it is most crucial, going by theexperiences of other countries. Ninety percent of the elementary schools arerun by the government in the country as of now. The discussion and action thatit has to be followed up with then, is how to support the government systemand not necessarily run parallel or replace it.

In this context Prof Sen emphasized some basic points: In India, governmentrevenue has grown significantly faster than the growth of the gross domesticproduct, but care should taken in future policies to see that public revenue isspent on public services and public goods in general, rather than being absorbedonly in private consumption.

Secondly, referring to the problem quoted above of teacher absenteeism, amongother factors of poor delivery, he suggested that primary school teachers unionsbe brought into the picture to work together with the government in constructivepartnership. “What is needed instead is a kind of constructive partnership thatgives the unions a much larger role, generating both the responsibility that hasto be taken by the association of those who do the work for public educationand health care…”

In the discussion that followed Prof. Sen’s speech, Vijay Thadani of CIIexplained the project he as a member of a larger group has undertaken. Theyare motivating young graduates to go to villages and teach, thus sharing theenergy and worldview of a privileged youth with a rural less privileged andyounger counter part.

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CII Shiksha shared their experiences where teachers spoke of support the e-tools have given them and how it is also building a platform for exchange andinteraction. They told the audience that they had spread across 12 states now,were connected with 2030 schools, and have trained over 1000 teachers. Ateacher who uses e-shiksha gave examples to show how classes can be mademore effective, how students get a platform to use their creativity and how acommunity is being formed breaking the barriers of geographical boundariesof the school.

Describing their efforts to create and increase the awareness of the concept ofTQM in education, Senthil Kumar gave the example of one of their initiativeswhere schools from different backgrounds and following varied systems cametogether in a quality management training programme and went back withsome good practices which they could apply in their schools irrespective ofthe system they followed. For the next stage, they have developed a modelwhich is called a CII Education Excellence Model. These are for schoolswhich are at a higher maturity level and this is again adapted from the EFQM,Singapore Excellence Model. Their efforts have brought about amongst otherthings an increase of 15 to 20% in the academic results.

To improve accountability is paramount. Pratham, a regional programme whichstarted with remedial learning has now become a national programme, thelargest one of which currently is called Read India, which ultimately withgovernment support at all levels will cover all the districts in India, all schooldistricts in India by the end of 2010..

At another level, the initial problem facing educators was to convince peopleof the need for education itself and the focus was on ensuring enrolment.Today a World Bank study (World Bank 2002) notes that “enrolment is not theissue anymore; attendance, transition, completion and learning outcomes areemerging as bigger challenges.”

All through the seminar, the chorus was: enrolment is now not a problem, theproblem is of drop outs, which is as high as 50% by the 5th class.

Anil Bordia, who has spent many years in education and is currently chairmanfor the Foundation of Education and Development says

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“… what we are finding is that if you work with the teachers, if you work withthe aanganvaadi worker, if you work with the sub-centre, auxiliary nurse, mid-wife etc. as partners, as friends, you realize they have so many problems, theyare working under such an oppressive system of governance that they reallyneed help and someone to hold their hand and tell them that we are with youand we are going to work together. Once you do this you begin to see thatteachers who are, who have been accustomed to absenting themselves, theybegin to come to school, they begin to teach.

So what we need to do is to use the big minds in industry and corporate worldto instil the spirit of innovativeness, institutionalize innovativeness in human andsocial development. And I think that this is another thing, this is not the occasionand there is not enough time to explain this, but this is something which we aretrying to do, just as you know, vision is now going down to the floor level inmanufacturing and to the last person in information technology, so how tointroduce innovation in social and human development so that the changes, therapid progress which is taking place in the economic sector also begins to takeplace in human and social development.”

The passion and vision that comes from the statement that we have to instilthe spirit of innovativeness in the learners was well received. Quality is the keyword and then again, quality is so relative a term. In the second session, thesecretary, education, Karnataka government talked of how they have set upquality measures at three progressive levels. Another related question waswhether the coupon system would bring about better and wide spread quality?Much like the ration card that used to entitle one to buy sugar, wheat and rice,can we have a coupon system which would give let the parents select theschool they want to put their children in. Amartya Sen was cautious in hisresponse to that even while he said that there was perhaps no one solution forsuch a diverse problem.

The second session began, quite rightly, with a distinction being drawn betweeneducation and literacy and moved on to the contribution and plans of BharatiFoundation. It was impressive to hear they plan to set up 1000 schools acrossIndia, the work towards which has already begun.

Ambition drives very hard and perhaps this is why one participant pointed outthat the rural child actually performed better because of the pressure on him/

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her to do so. They did not slump into a stage of “having it all” as urban childrenhave the tendency to. They need better reading material, said another voice.

However, there was a general consensus on the fact that though the Indianschooling system put pressure, but was good and well planned whenimplemented well. The lacuna was in its implementation.

The session ended with a reaffirmation of the need for the implementation ofthe Right to Education Bill, as soon as possible. Article 21 A of the Constitutionhas made the right to education a fundamental right. The article thoughguarantees a considerably watered down right, it states.

21A. The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children ofthe age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law,determine.

The fact that the State can determine what education it provides seems to takethe teeth away from the right. This has been evidenced by the fact that theright to education bill to empower this right, has not yet been passed. Thedraft bill which is a document that has been widely circulated has been hotlydebated and it does not have any legal implications.

Can this seminar be the voice to urge the government to take action on the billsoon? Sugata Bose, Professor at Harvard felt that a message should be sentfrom a forum such as this meeting that the delay on the enabling of this Billshould not continue. The second section of the same chapter has two inputson the Right to Education Bill and issues that may need to be reconsidered.The draft Bill itself is given in Annexure 2.

Teachers and even students reiterated the concerns voiced above, yearning foranswers to simple problems that acquire great enormity in the day to daymanagement of schools, they talked of varied aspects like the medium ofinstruction to empowerment of principals, de-motivated teachers to the lack ofteachers. Beginning with the B.Ed curriculum, teachers have focussed on themany issues that need detailed attention including the need to make technologyand its language a part of school curricula.

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IV

The last chapter brings the outcome of the entire proceedings. The participantsput their heads together to understand what the corporate sector can do andhow. The points on which they deliberated were those that emerged as thecrucial concerns of the gathering present.

There was discussion on the direct role of corporate houses, but their need wasalso expressed in many indirect ways to address all the issues plaguing primaryeducation: like de-motivated teachers, unprofessional management ofeducational institutions, local language expertise and material, opportunitiesfor social recognition and support for good teachers, in the quest for qualitymeasures and even with respect to laying down minimum and uniformcurriculum requirements.

A participant sent in one more suggestion: “can the schools/institutions doingexcellent work in primary education be networked so that their experiencesand know how can be shared?”

The seminar also spoke of creating pressure groups to keep merit as thecriterion for leadership in education. Maybe the beginning lies here.

The closing words of Jamshyd N Godrej were what every participant tookback with him or her. “We shall continue today’s discussions with similarefforts all around the country. And, we would like to Report back to you, Prof.Sen, a year from now, in Delhi….”

The countdown has begun.

Sudhamahi Regunathan

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ORGANISER’S PODIUMTHE BEGINNING OF CONTINUED EFFORT

Tarun DasChief Mentor, CII & President, The Aspen Institute India

This seminar today is a little different. It is organized by Shiksha about whichyou will hear. The Institute of Quality of CII in Bangalore works in the fieldof quality of education and The Aspen Institute India, dedicated to buildingleadership and building consensus. We are very privileged to have ProfessorAmartya Sen here with us and we have a mix of people – many teachers &principals from schools, officials from State governments who are dealingwith elementary education and we have companies, corporates and NGO’swhich have knowledge of primary education, elementary education issues.

I now invite Mr Jamshyd Godrej to take over.

Jamshyd N. GodrejChairman & Managing Director, Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co Ltd,Chairman, The Aspen Institute India and Chairman, Shiksha India

I am pleased to add my own welcome to all of you and, especially, to Prof.Amartya Sen.

I do so as Chairman of Shiksha and Past President of CII. CII had taken theinitiative to set up Shiksha as part of our Corporate Social responsibility –towards school education.

Shiksha is a free-of-charge programme helping schools/institutions andindividuals utilise and integrate technology more-effectively in education.There will be a briefing on this by Sharmila Dalmia, our Founder. It is aspecial effort to use IT for Education.

It’s a great privilege for us to have Prof. Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate todeliver the Keynote Address and spend time interacting with the participants.It was in September in Harvard when we asked Prof. Sen to provide us withleadership in Primary Education to which he readily agreed.

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We are keen to hear his thoughts, his ideas, his vision and his concernsbecause of the enormous respect we have for you, Sir.

We hope that, at the end of the day, we shall come out with a list of ActionPoints – especially what the corporate sector – the industry in India-can do tohelp the cause of primary education.

Prof. Sen is here to motivate us and I want to make a public request to him.

A one – off effort is not enough. We shall continue today’s discussions withsimilar efforts all around the country. And, we would like to Report back toyou, Prof. Sen, a year from now, in Delhi.

So, we do want, very much, your continuing association with this subject ofPrimary Education in India. We seek your Mentorship to help find solutionsand we believe that people in this country from all walks of life will followand respond to you.

In India, there has been a tendency to always look to the government forleadership on policy, processes, implementation and, then, to blame it for allour problems. Thanks to the economic reform policy followed by thegovernment since 1991, and the trust and space provided to the private sector,Indian entrepreneurship has shown, in recent years, the ability to competeglobally, to move out to international markets, to be investors abroad and tobe both competitive and confident.

The private sector is also increasingly engaged in the social sector; be it skillsdevelopment, affirmative action, HIV/AIDS, public health, mid-day meals,education and community initiatives – to mention only a few examples. Whilstphilanthropy in not new, the range of social activities has increased enormously.The Industry in India has become involved both because of concern for inclusivegrowth as well as enlightened long –term self- interest. Add to that the factthat financial resources available for social development have multiplied.

The most critical challenge for India is to tackle the issue of elementaryeducation at the grass – roots level where the numbers are in the millions andthe problems are acute.

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Can the corporate sector make a difference, especially a real difference sincethe numbers are very large?

It needs to be clear that this is a marathon –cum-steeplechase, not a 100 –meter race. Also, that, alone, by itself, it may not be equipped to make thedifference the children of this country need – partnership with NGOs, especially,and governments will be crucial. If the top 200 corporates partner to supportand improve 1,000 schools each, 200,000 primary schools can be benefitedand millions of children whose future need to be assured. This is doable. Infact, this must be done.

This is why this Seminar is important. To work out how the industry, NGOs,Schools, Teachers, Central government, State government, EducationalInstitutions can work together to shape a better future.

Let me stop now and turn this over to Gautam Thapar, Vice Chairman of TheAspen Institute India. Gautam is also on the Board of PRATHAM which hasdone outstanding work in this area under the leadership of Madhav Chavan.Later this morning we shall hear from Madhav.

Gautam ThaparChairman, Ballarpur Industries Ltd and Vice Chairman, The Aspen InstituteIndia

I am very pleased to add my own welcome to all of you on behalf of the AspenInstitute India, which is devoted to building Leadership and developingconsensus between different segments of society on issues of social, economicand national significance.

It is CII which has promoted the Quality movement, the Green Environmentinitiative, the HIV / AIDS awareness building and several other socialdevelopment initiatives. We have done so because we strongly believe that thecorporate sector in India cannot only be about production and profit. It has toparticipate in the social issues and challenges facing India and the Indianpeople.

Let me now turn to Elementary Education, the subject of today’s seminar.

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Individual companies have been working in this field.

Many of our companies have schools around their factory located in backwardareas. Many companies have set up and manage schools in towns and cities.

Today, there are several companies like Bharti Enterprises who have announcedtheir plans to set up 1000 primary schools in 1000 villages. And, we will hearof their plans later this morning.

The real challenge is to provide quality – primary education to millions ofdisadvantaged children remembering that 600 million people live in the ruralareas and 500 million people in India are under 25 to 30 years of age. So, weare a “young” nation but if we don’t take care of providing education then apotential demographic dividend will turn into a demographic disaster.

There are many issues relating to Elementary Education as I have learnt frommy association with PRATHAM. Lack of physical infrastructure, which includestoilets and drinking water in schools; lack of quality teachers; the curriculum;ready access in terms of a proper school in every village; etc, etc. MadhavChavan, Head of PRATHAM, will share his knowledge with us.

With this amazing gathering today of Teachers, Principals, NGOs, Govt. officialsand corporates, all these issues will come out. What we also need to do – andmust do – is to list solutions which we, individually and collectively, canimplement. On behalf of Indian Industry, I want to commit that we want to beinvolved and engaged to contribute and be a Partner in implementing solutions.

Let me now invite Prof. Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate, our Keynote Speaker& Guest of Honour to deliver his address.

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Chapter 1

RIGHT TO EDUCATION…ACTIONS NOW

Y. S. Rajan

INTRODUCTION

Post independent India laid emphasis on education. Many new institutionsright from school level to advanced higher education were created and theearlier ones expanded manifold. Yet, education was perhaps not considered asimportant as agriculture, industry, defence or administration. The growth ofeducational opportunities fell roughly in tune with the growth of the economyand remained so for about three decades after independence.

What the policies and implementation mechanisms fully overlooked was thefact that population was growing at a faster pace, undeterred, as it were, bythe rate of growth of employment opportunities. It was the prospect ofemployment opportunities that opened up for the educated youth in a growingeconomy, which kindled the aspirations of many persons to access education,and more so for higher education. Holding a “degree” was seen as an enhancerof social status. Thus, as a “back pressure” exerted by such aspirations, schooleducation also expanded.

“Universal literacy” was not considered an important ingredient for the economyor general welfare of the people, though occasionally statements to this effectwere made. As a corollary, enhancing the economic and social skills of thepopulation, at large, was also not considered essential. Perhaps it was assumedthat the planned growth of the economy will have a “pull effect” on literacyand skill enhancement. The assumption was perhaps valid to the extent of thegrowth of economy. But the slow rate of growth left behind a large pool ofilliterate and unskilled citizens.

Therefore, has come few realizations:

a) that expansion of excellence in higher education has not been adequate,b) that universal literacy and acquiring skills are perhaps more crucial for theincreased rate of growth itself let alone for inclusiveness! In this context India

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has attempted to enact a Right to Education Bill after 60 years of Independence.Government of India is also taking steps to impart skills to large number ofIndians through the skills initiative.

India’s Demographic Dilemma

India is described as a very young nation with about 54% of its 1.13 billionpopulation under 25. This is described as a demographic dividend. A closerlook at the literacy, numeracy and skill levels of the youth (the current level,past trends and some projections) will indicate a graver picture.

Each age - cohort in the youth in India has approximately 20 million persons.That is 1 year old is 20 million; 2 years, 20 million and so on up to 25 yearsand even beyond. If we examine each of the 20 million age cohort about 2%get professionally oriented higher education (humanities included). About 8%get some forms of degrees and post-12 diplomas (generally covered as highereducation). Employment opportunities for many of them are meagre. They fillthe educated unemployed cadre - a growing one! Often their education is notat all matching the realities of modern economy or society. (It is not theirfault!). Often their educational base in school (the very foundation of learning)is very weak.

Thus Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education is about 10% - lowerthan many developing countries. There is a requirement for major reforms inthe higher education sector to improve the situation not only to enhance theGER but also to improve quality and to promote excellence measured inglobal terms. It is not proposed to discuss these elements here. They are fullycovered in a recent ICRIER - CII document. (Ref. 1).

Here we concentrate more on primary and elementary education - the real basewhere new dimensions of cognitive processes are built into a human beingthus facilitating life long learning. Right to Education Bill concentrates on thispart. There has been much greater emphasis on primary and elementaryeducation over past one decade. Several actions have also been taken.

However, the Indian scenario in terms of preparing and empowering the hugeyouth population is not very bright. There are several research papers, casestudies, assessment reports, documents, books and reports analyzing anddescribing several facets and providing policy prescriptions. There are several

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reports from Govt. agencies and the World Bank as well. Here we would givereference to a relatively easy - to - read write up, comparative statistics andcomments given by an NGO called ‘i Watch’ (Ref.2).

There is an urgent need to change the Demographic Dilemma into aDemographic Dividend by accelerating actions to make to Right to Educationa reality for every Indian.

ELEVENTH FIVE YEAR PLAN AND ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

A recent report of the Working Group on Elementary Education and Literacy(Ref. 3) has covered very well the many aspects of the complex issues involved.Latest statistics have been covered in it thus providing a deeper understandingof the individual elements addressed. We will have a quick glance at some ofthese elements in the rest of this paper and raise some questions in order tofocus the Seminar on arriving at a specific action plan.

We quote some extracts from the Report as well.

The current status after the Tenth Plan and some yet-to-be completed tasks forthe future can be described as under :

“In respect of Elementary Education, the objective of the NEP has beenaddressed during X Five Year Plan mainly through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,and the Mid-Day Meal Scheme, the two flagship programmes of theGovernment, Teacher Education schemes and programmes under the NationalLiteracy Mission. As a result, most of the indicators have turned positivewhich is highly encouraging. There has been a reduction in the number of outof school children, decline in gender and social gaps and a decline in drop outrates. The number of teachers and number of schools have increasedsubstantially. Surveys show that 90% of rural population was served by primaryschools in 2002-03 whereas some gaps have been noticed at upper-primarylevel. Infrastructure facilities have improved but backlog still exists. The existingchallenges are bringing the 6-7% children under the ‘hard to reach’ categoryinto the fold of education, issues pertaining to quality improvement, bridgingsocial gaps and reducing inter-State, inter-district and inter-block disparities.To make the goal of universalisation of elementary education look meaningful,inclusive education, which focuses on children with special needs (CWSN), isvery significant component under SSA. The whole gamut of activities including

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identification, medical assessment, provision of specific aids and appliances,learning material, resource support and training of teachers need to beaugmented. Quality of education in terms of better educational attainmentlevels are a thrust area for the next phase of SSA. These are the challengeswhich need to be addressed in the XI Plan. Special emphasis needs to be madeon education of girls to launch a frontal attack on gender gap with a focus on‘inclusion’ and ‘quality’ and keeping in view the forward as well as backwardlinkages. Girls education schemes could also offer opportunities for public-private partnership to augment the resources required for creating/up-gradationof girls schools at the upper-primary and secondary levels to improveinfrastructure and facilities (library, lab and sports).

The education of adolescent age group, which according to 2001 census stoodat 22.51 crore persons i.e. 21.88% of total population, needs special attentionand providing relevant education to them is a very significant challenge. It isimperative that our various schemes under Elementary Education, SecondaryEducation and NLM are made sufficiently accommodative to the challengesand social needs of adolescent education.

After the recent constitutional amendment to make education a fundamentalright, there is an urgent need to focus on teacher education. Teachers are atthe heart of the education system. Teacher shortages, para-teachers, singleteacher schools, multi-age grade schools which characterize much of the existingschool system reveals several systemic gaps.

There is an urgent need for States to intervene to support and enrich existingState supported institutions for teacher education and increase their number inremote and backward locations. Simultaneously, efforts have to be made toupgrade elementary teacher education programme by enhancing its status inthe academic hierarchy and create appropriate linkage with the higher educationsystem. NGOs can also make substantive contribution in the area.”

The report covers in extenso:• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Girls Education.• Mid-day Meal Scheme.• Teacher Education.• Adolescent Education.• Adult Education.

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Three Tables from the Report given below provide an overview of progressincluding for girl education. There is a general positive growth on all counts.

Table 1 : Progress in Elementary Education Since 1999

Indicators 1999-2000 2004-05Primary Schools 642000 767520Upper Primary Schools 198000 274731Teachers in Primary 1919000 2310800Teachers in Upper Primary 1298000 1439146Enrolment in Primary 113.61 million 131.69 millionEnrolment in Upper Primary 42.00 million 51.67 millionPublic Expenditure on Education (% of GDP) 3.77% 3.74%(2003-04)Source : RGI; SES, MHRD

Table 2 : Growth of Educational Institutions since 1999

Year Primary Upper Primary Pry vs U. Pry School1999-2000* 641695 198004 3.22000-2001* 638738 206269 3.12001-2002* 664041 219626 3.02002-2003* 651382 245274 2.72003-2004* 710471 262649 2.72004-2005* 767520 274731 2.8Annual rate of Growth since 1997-98 2.7% 6.9%Source : SES, MHRD *Provisional

Table 3 : Sex-wise Enrolment by Stages, 1999-2000 to 2003-04

(In Million)Primary (Grades I-V) U Primary (Grades VI_VIII)

Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total1999-2000* 64.1 49.5 113.6 25.1 17.0 42.12000-2001* 64.0 49.8 113.8 25.3 17.5 42.82001-2002* 63.6 50.3 113.9 26.1 18.7 44.82002-2003* 65.1 57.3 122.4 26.3 20.6 46.92003-2004* 68.4 59.9 128.3 27.3 21.4 48.72004-2005* 70.12 61.56 131.69 28.71 22.96 51.67Annual rate of Growth 1.70% 5.2% 3.2% 2.2% 6.5% 3.9%since 1999-2000Source : SES, MHRD *Provisional

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Other major observations are:

“The dropout rates were 15% in 2002-03 which reduced to 13% in 2003-04and further reduced to 12% in 2004-2005. Although the trend is encouraging,concerted efforts would be needed to ensure further reduction.

In absolute terms, a substantial increase in the number of teachers has beenregistered since 1999-2000. At the primary stage, there were 19.2 lakh teachersin 1999-2000. This increased to 20.9 lakh in 2003-04. With respect to theupper primary stage, this increased from 12.98 lakh to 16.02 lakh.

Access facilities in the upper primary schooling is, however, still an issue as,only 78% of the habitations had such facilities within a radius of 3 Km. in2002-03. This catered to the need of 86% of the rural population. 88,930 newupper primary schools have been opened since 2002-03, however, a gap stillremains.

There is a need of more upper primary schools. At the all India level, therewas one upper primary school for 2.8 primary schools in 2004-05. In 2005-06 this ratio of number of primary to upper primary schools was 2.5:1. Tobring the ratio of primary: upper primary school to 2:1 (SSA norm), theadditional need for upper primary schools works out to 1,40,000.”

There are several other important issues for which data are given; out-of-school children in rural/urban areas in different age groups, the States wherethese persons are more, gender and social gaps etc.

The Report (Ref.3) may be referred to for details.

Beyond these statistics, which are generally encouraging (than what it was adecade ago), issues of quality point out serious gaps.

The Report states:

“Clearly, the achievement levels of students are low. The survey carried outby Pratham called ASER 2005 has also brought out the inadequate abilities ofstudents in the primary grades to read and carry out simple mathematicaloperations. The Department also utilizes the DISE data that provides informationabout the proportion of students to score more than 60% marks in class V orclass VIII in State / districts. This indicator, however, does not offer

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comparability across districts and States. During the 11th Plan period regulartesting of the minimum standards of educational attainment in elementaryschool to monitor effectiveness of education to ensure quality should be aclear objective.”

ISSUES (not exhaustive)

Indian elementary education is particularly very diverse and complex. It is soeven at the higher levels of Secondary education and post secondary highereducation. But, for example, in the Higher Education, there is large scaledemographic filtering – about 10% of eligible age–cohorts only enter it. Interms of social, economic and regional diversities much of it, are lost. In thatsense it is not inclusive. But even with it, when discussion on higher educationtakes place, most people tend to crowd the issues around IIT’’ & IIM’’ andalso regarding the quality issues as they would pertain to these institutions orat best as they address the better funded Central Universities and Centrallysponsored National Institutes of Technologies (NIT’s). Much of what happensto about 18,000 colleges (of which about 1500 engineering colleges) are missedout under the assumption that all of them either reach the state of excellencelevels of very few well funded Govt. institutions or they should be out of thepicture. The fact that they seem to be serving an economic and social need isoften missed out.

At the primary level, at least as per statistics, the Gross Enrolment Ratio(GER) at the Standard First (First year of schooling) has reached a stage wellabove 90%. In principle, it captures all the diversities, though, of course, asper some figures, GER in class two falls down by more than 10% especiallyin rural areas and falls continually in subsequent classes. (Ref. IndiaInfrastructure Report 2007 – Oxford p.288).

The spectral coverage of Elementary Education ranges from the mostly private-sector-run International Schools (where the annual fees for a child ranges froma few lakhs of rupees to several lakhs and such schools may be about a fewthousands in the country now) to various middle level schools such as KVS,DPS, DAV, CMS (Lucknow) etc.; there are Govt. run NVS schools about 600and growing in size – well furnished – for rural areas.

At the other end of the spectrum, the vast majority of schools are ordinaryones run with Govt. funds – Municipal Schools, Panchayat Schools etc. –

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many of them with single teacher or having large absenteeism of teachers.There is an increasing trend of private schools even in rural areas which toughoffer minimal facilities and charge fees, but are preferred by parents. There arealso networks of schools funded by different religious groups – these rangeeven in within a religious group, from the International level schools to ordinaryrural schools which are totally free of fees or heavily subsidised.

Supplementing and complimenting these efforts or as a separate innovativeapproach, a large number of NGO’s address various facets of the schooleducation. Some attempt to improve the processes of quality; some work inurban slum areas; some in rural setting; some work with orphans, some withdifferently enabled children. A good documentation compiling all thesevoluntary, philanthropic work and innovative experiments does not exist. Somemajor corporates have introduced technology tools through foundations ortrusts established by them. All in all, each of these covers a few hundredchildren to several thousands children annually.

The sheer size, complexity and diversity of children are such that a singlepoint universal solution may not be easy to come by. While discussion on anyone of these experiences will be worthwhile, it is perhaps necessary for theSeminar to focus as to which of the elements will be pursued during and afterthe Seminar. It is with this in view that some issues are listed here drawn fromthe Report, other sources and ideas of persons:

(i) Better integration of SSA with Directorates of elements / school educationand abolition of parallel structures at district level.

(ii) Systemic issues of regular functioning of schools, teacher attendance,school supervision, accountability of educational administrators, delegationof powers, teacher transfer, promotion policies etc.

(iii) Authority over schools / teachers for local school Committee/Panchayats.(iv) For quality improvement variety of students assessment systems are being

implemented across the country. Also various innovative learningenhancement programmes are being experimented. Pratham’s efforts arefar more encompassing. Also CII’s Shiksha India for e-learning and CIICentre of Excellence in Quality for introducing quality processes, othere-learning systems etc fall in this category. Shall we let thousand flowersbloom?

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Note: Some quality indicators given in the Report are :“(a) Indicators for classroom processes including equity orientation.(b) Indicators for assessing teacher competence in the dimensions of subject

knowledge, communication skills, dealing with children of diversecategories and needs; and indicators to assess presence during schoolhours, time on classroom tasks & promotion of student learning.

(c) Indicators that help assess shift in focus from memorization of texts tothe use skills that have been learnt (if this an identified focus of qualityimprovement). These could include indicators for the teaching-learningprocess, textbooks and other materials, and students’ assessment.

(d) Indicators for assessing students’ performance.

Some examples of such indicators could be—(a) Completion rates to beincreased to 80% at the primary stage; (b) All students at the end of class IIshould be able to read a simple text fluently, or at class IV should be able towrite a paragraph independently on a topic familiar to them, but which is nota part of the school text, or be able to perform the 4 basic operations; (c) Allstudents should be able to converse in simple English and have a vocabularyof, say, 1000 words; (d) All teachers at the primary stage should have thesubject competence for teaching students of class V; (e) teacher attendanceand actual teaching days are 80% in an academic year etc.

Similar indicators could be worked out for classroom management,individualized attention to and use of appropriate materials and methods forteaching children with special needs or children who come from a differentlanguage background. There could also be intermediate level outcomes like—each school must develop simple school development plans with 3 developmentobjectives for a short term period (say, six months) and 2 objectives for anintermediate term of 1-2 years. Such indicators would become rallying pointsfor providing operational definitions of the nature of change desired in theclassroom processes and students’ performance and assessing the efficacy ofthe interventions designed to bring about the desired improvement.”

(iv) Minimum basic facilities to be available to all schools depending on thesize, location of the school and also considering special groups.

(iv) Remedial teaching for students who under-perform. Any role of e-learningas a supplement?

(v) Upgrading teaching competence: Among other things can e-learning help?

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(vi) Teachers - Qualification and recruitment. Backlog and new needs. Alsoto utilise a large size of woman force who leave other careers due tomaternity, child rearing etc. Are we too obsessed with formal degrees forteacher training? Flexible timings?

(vii) Language in education. Child’s language. Too much emphasis on literacyrather than developing oral skills, vocabulary, use of language in differentforms and comprehension?

(x) Role of English - How to integrate.(xi) Library infrastructure.(xii) Equity : Report addresses the issues in detail.

Category A - GeographyCategory B - Disadvantaged Groups

(There are sub-categories including minorities)Category C - Special category of Vulnerable ChildrenCategory D - Girls

(addresses girls from minority community as well)Without special attention to each of them with different relevant strategies,overall policy and implementation for all will not help them.

(xiii)For older Boys and older Girls - Drop out and never enrolled categorieswill require special attention as otherwise when they turn adults, the gapswill widen for them and their children.

TOWARDS ACTIONS

The above write up is not exhaustive in terms of listing all issues which willlead to actions. Nor have all elements of policy issues been listed.

However, it is believed that some vital issues have been brought out.

There are a number of scholarly treatments on the subject. Also many personswith decades or several years of experience have come up with specificrecommendations for several actions. There are many institutions, agenciesand NGO’s who are contributing towards positive actions for advancing thegoal of quality education for all.

Still there are many uncovered areas. Further, speed of actions is crucial sothat many of our children or youth are not left to vagaries of efflux of time.

During the Seminar, it may perhaps be useful not to address the whole gamut

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of issues but to focus on a few where the group present can start actions.

In order to do so, one can be go through the following six steps:Step 1 : Collect (or at least list all) appropriate reference material for or

at the Conference and follow up. We should have appropriatereference material and documentation such as the Pratham Reportsand other reports collected or received for the Seminar and latermake continual update. Make them known to all.

Step 2 : In addition to Prof Sen’s vision, we may try to come out with anaction plan. Not only “What” but also “how” and “by whom”.Also include some specific items for addressing disadvantagedgroups (described earlier) including minorities.

Step 3 : Sharing of best practices i.e what works and decide on which toadopt. Keep it open for others to be added later.

Step 4 : What industry must do to enlarge its role and responsibility anddecide on which to adopt (if possible some commitment may bemade at the Seminar).

Step 5 : Bring out a simple and clear Policy Statement though it mayrepeat many known ones.

Step 6 : Identify a limited set of action plans to be pursued and monitoredby a group of individuals and reported periodically in the websitesof The Aspen Institute India,

Shiksha India, Institute of Quality and others willing to do so. The actionstaken up by the Corporates would also be a part of such follow-up, reportedpreferably twice a year.

Three View Graphs attached to this explain the current status of Education interms of its reach in different segments of society and cost and also list outReach, Relevance and Quality in terms of Schools

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References

“Higher Education in India”ICRIER and CII Report - released on May 14, 2007.

“Education - The Missing Link to Transform INDIA”Education 1st - Division of ‘i Watch’website: www.wakeupcall.org

Report of Working Group on“Elementary Education and Literacy” for the 11th Five Year Plan, GoI, PlanningCommission

Other Reports referred are :

“India Primary Education Achievement and Challenges”Report No. 15756-IN - September 1, 1996Document of the World Bank

“Role of Private Schools in Basic Education”Year 2000 Assessment - Education for AllMin. of HRD, GoI and National Institute of Education Planning &Administration

“India Expanding and Improving Upper Primary Education in India”Report No. 20347-IN - May 8, 2001Document of the World Bank

“Secondary Education in India”Report No. 2 - November, 2003World Bank - Discussion Paper Series

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Chapter 2

THE URGENCY OF BASIC EDUCATION

Amartya Sen

Let me begin first with the general importance of basic education for all,anywhere in the world. India’s underachievement in school education may beespecially striking, particularly given our success in many fields of highereducation and specialized training, but the urgency of school education is nota particular feature of our country. The task was seen, already in mid-nineteenthcentury, with remarkable clarity in Japan, the first country to catch up with theWest. The Fundamental Code of Education, issued in 1872 (shortly after theMeiji Restoration in 1868), expressed the public commitment to make surethat there must be “no community with an illiterate family, nor a family withan illiterate person.” Kido Takayoshi, one of the leaders of Japanese reform,explained the basic idea: “Our people are no different from the Americans orEuropeans of today; it is all a matter of education or lack of education.” Thusbegan Japan’s remarkable attempt at catching up with the West. By 1910Japan was almost fully literate, at least for the young, and by 1913, thoughstill very much poorer than Britain or America, Japan was publishing morebooks than Britain and more than twice as many as the United States. Theconcentration on education determined, to a large extent, the nature and speedof Japan’s economic and social progress.

Later on, China, Taiwan, South Korea and other economies in East Asiafollowed similar routes and firmly focused on basic education. In explainingtheir rapid progress, their willingness to make good use of the global marketeconomy is often praised, and rightly so. But that process was greatly helpedby the achievements of these countries in basic education. Widespreadparticipation in a global economy would have been hard to accomplish ifpeople could not read or write, or produce according to specifications orinstructions. In the particular case of China, its rapid economic advancementsubsequent to the reforms of 1979 was crucially helped by its educationalachievements in the pre-reform period. Mao’s commitment to basic educationwas not aimed at making it easier to have a successful market economy, butit certainly had that effect.

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The contribution of basic education to development is not, however, confinedto economic progress only and there are many other rewards of schooling.First and perhaps most immediate, the capability to read and write and countcan have powerful effects on quality of life and the freedoms we have tounderstand the world, to communicate, and to be generally in touch withothers. Second, an ability to read documents and legal provisions can helpdeprived groups of people, for example subjugated women, to make use oftheir rights and also to demand more fairness. Third, even though democracycan bring important benefits even in the absence of universal literacy, aneducated population can make even better use of democratic opportunities.

Fourth, female literacy can enhance women’s voice in family affairs and reducegender inequality in other fields as well. This can, in fact, benefit men as wellwomen, since women’s empowerment through literacy tends to reduce childmortality and very significantly decrease fertility rates. The connection withfertility is indirect but not at all surprising. To understand this, we have to bearin mind that the lives that are most burdened and impoverished by over frequentbearing and rearing of children are those of young women. A greater voice ofyoung women in family decisions tends, therefore, to cut down birth ratessharply. For example, the fertility rates in the different districts that make upIndia vary extremely widely, and empirical investigations indicate that onlytwo general variables help to explain the inter-district differences, namelyfemale literacy and female gainful employment. Both contribute to women’sempowerment, and through that, to other social achievements.

India has been especially disadvantaged in basic education, and this is one ofour major challenges today. When the British left their Indian empire, only 12per cent of the Indian population was literate. That was terrible enough, butour progress since independence has also been quite slow. This contrasts withour rapid political development into the first developing country in the worldto have a functioning democracy. Indeed, democracy as a system, has flourishedwell in India since then, with very few hiccups. Secularism, to which India hasalso been committed, has been threatened from time to time by actions ofsectarian groups, but the massive support for secularism across India hasasserted itself again and again, despite local departures from secular practicesin one state or another (particularly one, I should say). In the political field,India’s success today is a firm vindication of what it breathlessly tried toachieve sixty years ago. We have had regular and orderly elections, along with

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a free and flourishing media, independence of the judiciary, and no lessimportantly, the willingness of ruling parties to vacate office when defeated ingeneral elections, rather than calling in the army. These achievements mayhave surprised many foreign observers (I remember vividly, I must say withsome relish, the way The Times of London declared in 1967 that India washolding what would almost certainly be, they thought, the last general electionsbefore Indian democracy would disintegrate), but all this were reasonablyunsurprising in India, given the determination with which people had struggledfor a political democracy during our fight for independence in the colonialdays.

However, eliminating illiteracy and eradicating poverty and economicdeprivation were also among the values for which India had struggled. Thosegoals have remained substantially under achieved, and even the overall paceof aggregate economic progress was, until quite recently, astonishingly modest.However, India has, at least sharply enhanced its aggregate growth rate ofGNP, to a great extent through the economic reforms which were first initiatedby Manmohan Singh as Finance Minister in the early 1990s. However, theslowness of progress on school education has been taking much longer toremedy.

India’s economic and social progress had been hampered by two giganticproblems of governance, and it is one of them that was primarily remedied –or begun to be remedied – through the economic reforms of early 1990s. Theproblem that got immediately addressed in 1992 was the one of governmentalover-activity in areas of work in which its presence was overbearing, butwhere its ability to mess things up was truly gigantic. The so-called “licenseRaj” made business initiatives extremely difficult and at the mercy ofbureaucrats (large and small), thereby powerfully stifling enterprise whilehugely nurturing corruption (the role of the licensing system in creating aculture of corruption in India is often not fully appreciated even today, whensimilar moves are proposed). When Manmohan Singh came to the rescue inthe early 1990s as the newly appointed Finance Minister, he knew theseproblems extremely well, as someone who had been strongly involved ingovernment administration for a long time (this administrative experience hadcome to Manmohan after his earlier career as a very successful Universityprofessor at Delhi University where we had worked together). Manmohan’sresponse to this problem was altogether sure-footed, though inescapably cautious

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given the complex politics of bringing about an enormous policy reorientationin a basically slow-moving country. But change he certainly did make. Andwhile the going has been rough from time to time since then, the direction ofpolicy change has been unmistakable from that point onwards, endorsed evenby successor governments run by political parties other than Congress.

However, India also had a second problem that needed to be addressed- otherthan governmental over-activity in areas where it could achieve little- and thatwas governmental under-activity in constructive public functions in which itcould achieve a great deal, but was not doing much. What was needed inaddition to curbing the license Raj was a radical enhancement of ourastonishingly under-emphasized social infrastructure, by the expansion andbetter operation of our system of schools and educational institutions, and ofhospitals and public health care facilities (including rural medical centres).This needed more investment, but also the development of a better functioningsystem of accountability, supervision and collaboration in the delivery of publicservices to run what was there already. To this need can be added the necessityof remedying the neglect of physical infrastructure (power, water, roads, rails),which required both governmental and private initiatives. Large areas of whateconomists call “public goods” had been badly neglected and the remedyingof that problem could be it seemed to me, best combined with the other plankof the policy, namely the curbing of the license Raj.

Perhaps because of political necessity (not being a politician, I cannot judgethat well), the reforms of the 1990s, concentrated only on the first problemand neglected the second. Indeed, radical changes in the 1990s did little toremedy the huge under-activity in public goods. If things have begun to changenow in this area as well (as I will presently discuss), some credit for usheringin that change must go to India’s democratic politics. A much greaterunderstanding of the public urgency of the needed social changes has beenemerging through a growing appreciation of the electoral relevance of unfulfilledbasic needs of people (such as schools, health care, water and others), andthrough pressures generated by better-informed media discussions and alsothrough good use of the newly enacted “right to information.” To this has tobe added the tireless activities of civil society groups: indeed the campaign tothe right to information was itself led by such a movement, and there havebeen others dedicated initiatives of huge significance connected, for example,with demanding the “right to food” and the “right to education.” The courts,

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including the Supreme Court, have also helped, on a number of importantoccasions, to translate the agitational demands into recognized rights, in linewith a deeper understanding of India’s far-sighted Constitution that emergedat the end of the national struggle for independence, and this has been stronglysupplemented by moves in Indian parliament to pass fresh legislation to assistthe process.

In a lecture I gave at the Delhi University yesterday (it was a commemorativelecture on the centenary of the birth of professor V.K.R.V.Rao) that perhapsmy former colleague there- now the Prime Minister- should be persuaded towrite his memoir of that period when he suddenly took charge of the Indianeconomy. It would be nice to see more fully how he thought about theseproblems in the early 1990s even as he was making his first moves intransforming the country. I must, however, note that I was immenselyencouraged when I saw him telling an interviewer in video clippage (Manmohanwas talking to Suman Ghosh who was making a film) that it was very mucha part of his plans to take on the second challenge as well, but the governmentwas out of office before that could happen. Much had certainly been achievedalready, but a radical expansion of government action in those areas in whichthere was very serious under-activity, particularly in public services, had towait for another day.

Happily that day did come, and true to my hope and expectation, Manmohan,as the new Prime Minister in 2004, promptly affirmed, right after assumingoffice, his commitment to a rapid expansion of public services in education,health care, and other social and physical infrastructure. This is, of course,entirely consistent with what Manmohan had told the interviewer.Correspondingly, a considerable quickening of public goods expansion hascertainly happened, and I believe the new five year plan that is being releasedright now indicates a much firmer commitment still to go in that direction (thisis what I have been told- I have not seen the document as yet). But we stillhave to ask how should we think, in general, about how to remedy the hugegaps that have to be bridged. The problems will not disappear overnight, butwe should try to sort out the main underlying issues as clearly and quickly aswe can. So what are these issues?

Let me begin my attempt to answer that question by making few distinct, butinterrelated points on the importance of this second challenge, the need for

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rapidly expanding operational public services and public infrastructure. For onething this process is centrally important as a complement to the process ofchange, initiated by Manmohan’s reforms, that has made Indian economicgrowth so much faster, for it can make India’s growth achievements morefairly distributed and more widely shared. Complaints are often made that thepercentage of people in poverty has not really come down in India, despitespectacular growth rates of the overall economy. This claim is not exactlyright, and taking all the statistics together, I would like to argue that there hasbeen some reduction in the proportion of poverty-stricken people. But theprocess could have been- and it still could be- much faster than what hashappened, if the growth achievements are combined with ways and means ofmore widespread sharing of economic opportunities.

Indeed, the unequal distribution of the benefits of economic progress is notactually unrelated to the continuing gaps on the social infrastructure and publicservices. This is because the facilities that make it easy for people to make useof the new economic opportunities are the human capabilities that are enlargedby public services such as good school education, efficient and accessiblepublic health care, and good epidemiology. India has narrowed the shortfallbehind China in many of these areas – a fact that is reflected even in suchstatistics as figures of life expectancy and infant mortality – but there is stilla long distance to go for the country as a whole. The problems are particularlygigantic in some of the more “backward” regions like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.

The remedying of our deficiencies in more basic education and health carecall for the deployment of much more economic resources than in the past aswell as better organization of public services. If more and better functioningschools, hospitals and other public services are needed for better quality of lifeand for social equity, they are needed also for more equitable economic progressand faster reduction of economic deprivation and poverty. An uneducated andill-nourished child is not only directly deprived of ingredients of good living,but also handicapped in finding jobs in a rapidly globalizing world, therebygenerating further deprivation.

It is important to recognize that this gap cannot be met by the expansion ofprivate schools. Private schools have not been able to play that role anywhereelse in the history of the world (whether in Europe or America or Japan, or

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in South Korea or China or Vietnam or Hong Kong or Singapore). Thosefamilies that can afford to pay the fee for private school education for childrenare precisely those who are relatively favoured by economic prosperity andchange, but it is the large mass of other families – the families and childrenleft way behind – whose educational needs are the ones that are the most acuteand most difficult to fulfil. Public education is as indispensable as is publichealth care, no matter what supplementary role private schools and privatemedical care can play.

Am I then arguing against a growth-oriented economic policy? I should makeit quite clear that I am doing no such thing. While overall economic growthalone can never be adequate in itself, this does not imply that economicgrowth is unimportant. Indeed, quite the contrary, since economic growth alsogenerates governmental resources that can be powerfully used to expand- andthis is a big constructive link –the badly neglected public services that haveto be expanded rapidly. If the total revenue, from taxes and other channels, ofthe central and state governments in India kept pace with the rapid economicgrowth of the economy, when the economy is growing at 8 per cent a year, thatwould be a big increase of available funds for pubic services. In fact, however,government revenue has persistently grown significantly faster than the growthof gross domestic product: in 2003-04, the economic growth of 6.5 % wasexceeded by the public revenue growth of 9.5%. And in 2004-05 to 2006-07,the growth rates of 7.5%, 9.0%, and 9.4% have been respectively bettered bythe expansion rates of government revenue (in “real terms,” that is correctedfor price change) of 12.5 %, 9.7%, and 11.2% respectively.

On the fast growth path, money will continue to flow very rapidly into thegovernment’s hands, if the rapid expansion of the economy continues, butwhat is critically important is to use these generated resources intelligentlyand well where they are most needed, to remedy the terrible neglect of publicservices and public goods. In our 1989 book, Hunger and Public Action , JeanDreze and I emphasized the critical importance of the distinction between“unaimed” economic growth and “well-aimed” economic progress. It isimportant both to see that economic growth alone does not reduce poverty anddeprivation adequately and to understand that the growth process does notgenerate resources for use in precisely the areas in which they are needed most(to wit, neglected public services), which in turn reduces poverty and deprivationboth directly and indirectly. The critical link is the need to make sure that the

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available resources, as they continue to expand rapidly, are used for publicservices and public goods in general, rather than being absorbed only in privateconsumption.

While this connection between growth and use of public revenue is a criticallyimportant part of thinking about future policies, it is not, however, the onlyissue that demands immediate care. One of the areas that call for urgentattention is the efficiency of delivery of public services, and linked with it theinstitution of a system of greater accountability and responsibility. That thereis a large lacuna here has been brought out sharply by a number of empiricalstudies from many parts of India, including some that we have done ourselvesfor the Pratichi Trust (a charitable trust I had the opportunity to set up withthe help of my Nobel money – it conducts investigative studies in east Indiaon the delivery of public services in elementary education and health care).Even though a great many primary school teachers are extremely devoted totheir work and to their students, there is a shocking incidence of absenteeismand neglect on the part of many teachers in other government schools. Thereis a similar picture of disparate functioning in the delivery of primary healthcare – in our own studies we found some of the public servants to be quiteexcellent, while many others are clearly negligent and seemed to have anoddly callous attitude.

The fact that the school inspection system has broken down in many parts ofIndia makes the problem harder to tackle, and there are administrative reformsthat are urgently needed. However, the problem cannot be tackled byadministrative changes alone. What is necessary, I would argue, is a genuinelypositive collaboration with other social groups and particularly the unions ofpublic service workers, in this case the unions of primary school teachers andof health care workers (including of course governmental doctors). There areindications that a change can happen if the unions are given a responsible rolein the implementation of public service delivery. It is often assumed that theonly responsibility of the unions is to enhance the well-being of its members,and to look after their societal interest. But this is not – and has never beenin principle – the overall goal of the trade union movement across the world.

I would argue that the place of unionism is the social fabric requires seriousand urgent attention in India. The trouble is that the unions tend to excite twoquite disparate reactions, neither of which is very helpful. Some of the fierce

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critics of unionism would like to bash the unions as just a nuisance (the lessof them, the better), while others treat them as being just fine - in no need offurther rethinking – no matter how broad or narrow the goals are that theypursue. What is needed instead is a kind of constructive partnership that givesthe unions a much larger role, generating both the responsibility that has to betaken by the association of those who do the work for public education andhealth care, and the public respect that will undoubtedly come with the bearingof that critically important responsibility, as partners in social and economicprogress for people as a whole, not just as watchdogs of sectional interest.

I should mention before I end today that our very modest appeal to the primaryteachers in West Bengal has yielded immediate cooperation. The Pratichi trusthad a joint meeting with ABPTA (All Bengal Primary Teachers Association)last year, and next week in Kolkatta we are having another joint meeting,including the health services unions as well. The union leadership has beenremarkably cooperative in trying to change the culture of work in the deliveryof school education and basic health care, and while these changes are noteasy to bring about, a substantial start has already been made.

So I will end this lecture on that rather positive note. Let me recollect a littlewhat I have been trying to say. The expansion of basic education for all (alongwith basic health care) is central to economic and social progress. The expansionof constructive activities of the state in providing elementary education andhealth care for all can go hand in hand with the reduction of excessive controlsand counter productive over activity in particular fields (some more of that isstill needed, but this does not conflict with the positive responsibilities ofpublic action). The process of rapid economic growth may not be adequate toreduce deprivation and inequality of opportunities sufficiently fast, but it doesgenerate public revenue at a swift pace, and it is important to make sure thatthe available revenue are used to remedy the urgent deficiencies, particularlyin the expansion of basic education and elementary health care.

The resource issue is important, but in addition to greater use of resources, thesystem of operation of public services is in urgent need of reform, for greateraccountability and efficiency in the pursuit of equity. It is important bothbecause it makes such a difference, and also because the fear of wastage oftenacts as an argument against devoting much more money on school educationand basic health care. In considering ways and means of bringing about a big

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change here, we have to think innovatively, I have argued, to give the unionsa much larger role in a collaborative work for economic and social progressof the country as a whole, rather than either trying to bash them out ofexistence, or simply endorsing the narrow priorities that they sometimes havein a largely combative atmosphere. The dual issues of economic allocation andof social organization, which I have tried to focus on in this lecture, demandjoint attention.

I end by coming back to the importance of the right to education for all.Indeed, basic education for all can transform the miserable world in which welive. I am aware that this sounds a little like a Victorian gentlewoman deliveringher favourite recipe for human progress. As it happens, however, a great manyempirical studies, covering the history of Europe and North America as wellas more recent experiences of Asia, Africa and Latin America, have broughtout the critical role of basic education in facilitating economic and socialdevelopment. Victorian women were not always wrong, and on this occasion,there is still something to learn from age –old messages that we have somehowmanaged to neglect. Indeed, not just the Victorian women, but also what KidoTakayoshi saw with marvellous clarity in Japan in 1872, remains relevant tous in India nearly a century and half later. It is a good time to catch up.

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Chapter 3

SAME PROBLEM, DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS

The session beginning soon after Prof Amartya Sen’s talk was full of energyand enthusiastic participants. CII has three ongoing initiatives which are alsothe sponsors of the seminar. Shiksha spoke on the reach through technology.CII Quality emphasized the need to bring quality measures and checks that theeducation sector and the industry were drawing from each others learning’s.Most of the discussion centred around questions of why the country had notmanaged to reach full literacy, how to motivate teachers and improve theirsocial standing, how to reach the last child and how to ensure the school goingchildren actually learn. Pratham, an NGO came up with startling figures on thelearning that takes place (or rather does not) in enrolled students. They alsodescribed their initiatives as did many others who spoke. The main problemsthat emerged were the challenge involved in making the curriculum learner-centric, whether to have a uniform curriculum, the role of the corporate sectorin education, and the issues involved in networking and collaborations, thedifferences in perspectives etc. There was also a discussion on whether thecoupon system would work in education and Professor Amartya Sen wascautious in his response. As Professor Sen summed up, the main finding orrather emphasis of this session was the articulation of the diverse nature of theproblem and its solution for there is no one solution or the one which wouldbe successful everywhere.

Vijay Thadani, (Chairman, CII Education Committee): The focus of theCII Education Committee has been, how to make sure our demographic dividenddoes not turn into a demographic disaster? Most of our action happens inimproving work force productivity and employability by making sure thatUniversity education is more relevant to the employer’s needs. Workingbackwards to school and primary education I thought I should talk about threeinitiatives which are very relevant today.

The first has to do with reach, the second has to do with relevance and thethird has to do with quality.

In reach we have talked of universal coverage and enrolment but after enrolmentI think the single largest problem we have is that of drop outs. So how do we

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manage drop outs and many of the issues relating to drops outs that arecoming from social concerns? As soon as the child is old enough the parentsdo not see education connected to livelihood and would therefore like thechild to go back and earn a livelihood rather than continuing with education.The third is the issue of costs and the fourth those who got left behind howdo we get them into the foray?

In terms of relevance how do we make school education seamless so that thereis a seamless connect between school and college education and therefore howdo we provide the right set of economic skills, social skills, creativity and lifelong learning skills.

And the last but not the least a very important issue which has to do withquality and I think a single standard for the measurement of quality which isevading all of us. Given the fact that education is a concurrent subject we havestate level measurement of quality and we have a national level measurementof quality. Thus as far as the poor child is concerned, particularly of a mobilefamily you have a very major concern coming in the form of a single normof measurement. Then of course we have the linguistic and cultural diversitiesto manage within the overall objective of quality.

So in terms of this, one initiative we have been working on is creating a blueprint for a model school, where essentially the key words are that it should bea financially sustainable entity, which should be least dependant on statefunding… maybe it requires a jump start, should use a large dose of technologybecause technology will play a major role in creating equality and equaldistribution of education, student centricity and creating global citizens oftomorrow so that Indians can go out and we can truly encash our demographicdividend.

The second initiative is to address the shortage of teachers and the need toaddress the problem at the grassroots. We have to make teaching a sociallyacceptable profession. Maybe fifty years ago it was but today teaching is aprofession left for those who could not find any other occupation. Thereforein the hierarchy of professions, teaching stands at the bottom and if the bottom-of-the-pile is to be teachers of tomorrow, we can imagine what the work forceof the day after will look like. Therefore to promote recruitment of capableteachers on the lines of something very successful that is happening in the

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United States, we are looking at a movement called Teach for India where weare trying to attract youngsters, the best and brightest from college graduatesto come and give a couple of years of their life, not for free, to becometeachers in urban and rural schools who would need this important resourceto become catalysts for change. In this process they will develop uniqueleadership and life and management skills which will make them indispensableas far as the industry is concerned. This will meet the long felt need of theindustry when they will get first day first hour ready professionals who notonly have the technical skills but also the management and leadership skills.We aim to launch this programme soon. We need a much larger enrolmentfrom everybody.

The third initiative is the affirmative action to do with employability for thosewho have got into the educational system in some form but are not suitablefor employment when they come out of colleges. There is also a ‘UniversityPartnership’ which we are running in partnership with the Delhi University,something like a finishing school. The first batch of 83 students has justfinished and I am happy to report all of them are well on their way to findinggood jobs in the corporate sector.

CII education committee has seven task forces working in the field of education,but for today, the above perhaps are most relevant.

Sharmila Dalmia (Managing Trustee, Shiksha): Shiksha was started with amission to use technology to improve the quality of education, especially inrural areas. We wanted to act now and so did not wait for adequate funds orthe perfect team etc. We wanted to ensure that a poor rural child has accessto the same quality educational material, today available only to the urbanrich. With this aim in mind we developed content and created a portal forteachers to share and collaborate on learning material. Our content is forclasses 6-10 and is made in a way as to encourage creative thinking and helpchildren understand concepts. It is multi lingual and to be used by the child.The Shiksha portal is an open platform to be used but teachers and studentsto share, collaborate and download resources for free. The programme has hadgood impact on both teachers and students. We got enormous feedback andthat has convinced us that every penny and every minute that we have put intoShiksha has been worth it. We are spread across 12 states and we have trainedover 1000 teachers with the help of our partners.

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Babita Mahajan (Ved Vyasa DAV School): As an e-teacher my associationwith Shiksha commenced when I received a CD with animated contents, onechapter of which was on balanced diet which I showed to students of class 6and which proved to be an eye opener convincing them of the ill effects ofjunk food which I was not able to do otherwise. I shared my experiences withother teachers and they in turn were encouraged to use the CD for theirrespective subjects. The Shiksha portal was introduced to us in one of theworkshops. This idea helps us to share our ideas and knowledge on anysubject, download free software, share a useful link etc. I feel I am not alone.I have a voice and I can blog, my e-friends are there to respond to it. Therecently introduced option of upload is great because through this students canshare projects etc., irrespective of their school. The many e-tools have alsogreatly enhanced our teaching-learning processes.

Senthil Kumaran (CII, Institute of Quality): The Institute of Quality islocated at Bangalore and one of our focus areas has been education. Theobjectives with which we are operating out of the Institute of Quality are tocreate and increase the awareness of the concept of TQM in education. Theindustry has been taking advantage of the principles and practices of quality,so how this learning is to be adapted to the education sector is the question.Further, how do we provide training and facilitate the application of TQM ineducation as such so as to improve their processes, whether it is teaching labor any other process as such in the campus. Reaching out to the people whohave been trying to work in the area of education with different models,different approaches – we try to get them together on one platform to sharetheir practices and then see how we could build strong and sustainablepartnerships. Training programmes, wherever we try to offer it, are basicallyright from awareness to school specific and need specific. These are designed,developed and delivered according to the principles of TQM. The institutionswhich come forward with more interest and want to take this journey furtherwe work with them as individual schools and help them implement thesepractices.

The most important thing which we thought could be a replicable model assuch, across the country, is what we have started in Chennai with industryleaders and Madras Christian College High School Alumni Association. It wasa very good mix. I think we got a lot from it because schools came in fromMatriculation, State Board, CBSE and ICSC. All of them working differently

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but by just looking at the tools and practices they went back and adapted it totheir system. So there was a lot of cross learning, a lot of advantages as suchwhich could be seen.

To take these institutions from the basic level to the next level we havedeveloped a model which is called a CII Education Excellence Model. Theseare for schools, which are at a higher maturity level and this is adopted fromthe EFQM, Singapore Excellence Model, and has been used from corporationschools to the ICSC schools. Our approach of not only creating and talkingabout the practices, but to look out for the regional practices, regional bestpractices and regional players to bring them to the national level has workedout well. So we have been trying to do certain activities at Chandigarh andCoimbatore, and then trying to get these practices at the national summit,which is an annual event happening at Bangalore.

On the framework of assessments we not only use the CII model but we havealso looked at TATA Steel Education Excellence Model for assessing theschools at Jamshedpur and we are also working very closely with QualityCouncil of India and the education quality management standard is beinglaunched today at Delhi. Few results which we would like to take you throughquickly:

i) There has been an increase of 15 to 20% in the academic results.ii) In attendance there has been a significant improvement, particularly in

the Corporation Schools, that is the municipality managed schools.iii) Talking about the community and parents interaction in the campus we

were able to find that attendance in the parents-teacher meeting increasedsubstantially.

iv) And then we also introduced something called Parent Talk Session whereevery fortnight the parent walks into the classroom.

v) With the philosophy of TQM of continuous improvement there was aculture which was established and we were able to find that it was notonly the students who were pushed but student, teachers and themanagement have started working together and we could find certainconcepts like 5 S of maintenance and you can find good results as suchcoming in. Just to give you a simple example when we are asking teacherswhy they did not carry any maps and other things to the institution, tothe classrooms as such, they said that it is too difficult to locate the

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required one because there are so many maps. So the simple techniqueof labelling and having some kind of a visual control we found that therewas a change as such in at least picking up the map. Again we are tryingto see how books from the library can be integrated into the routine classrooms.

For all this we have been working in partnership with government and trustswhich are being managed by the corporate houses directly and indirectly.Certain educational societies which are managing multiple campuses acrosscountry have also come forward from their different campuses and takencertain inputs. The corporate houses whether it be TATA Steel or others havealso come forward and most interesting thing which we found, I think, it couldbe a replicable model is the involvement of the alumni.

Gautam Thapar: Before Madhav speaks on Pratham, I would like to say thatwhat he started as an idea 12 years ago in terms of just taking children whohad fallen out of the education system and through remedial measures puttingthem back into the education system has now become a national programme;that a regional programme which started with remedial learning has nowbecome number one national programme, the largest one of which currentlyis called Read India, which ultimately with government support at all levelswill cover all the districts in India, all school districts in India by the end of2010. The things that we have learnt in Pratham over the last 5 or 6 years interms of what is doable, what is scalable, where government support can comein, where it plays a big role, where private support is needed has been an eyeopener for me personally and, I think, for everybody who sits on the Prathamboard it tells us that the problems are solvable, the ways of solving them arescalable, we don’t need to supplant but supplement, and we can do it in amanner which is effective. So Madhav could you tell us this?

Madhav Chavan (National Director, Pratham): This is supposed to be avery brief presentation so I will just run you through what we are doing andhow we ended up there. This is the copy of the Annual Status of EducationReport of 2006. We started doing a nationwide survey in 2005, October –November. We did it with about 700 NGOs and institutions who had participatedin this nationwide. The survey has a sample size of three times the NSSO,about 16,000 villages; at the end of it we have interviewed 1.2 million people,about 750,000 children, 500,000 women in the households. And this annual

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status of education, which we came up with for the first time, was an eyeopener for ourselves. Some people are not in agreement with all the findingsof the report, but this is a nationwide survey, it is a sample survey and it givesus some indication of what is what. The first thing that comes through is thatwhen you go to a household and ask the child or the parent, “Does the childgo to school?” in 2005, 94% households said the children go to school – Imean 94% children were going to school, whether they attend regularly is adifferent matter. As you just saw from the presentation here from Bangalorethe attendance rate is very low. In Bihar 40% children attend school on a givenday. In UP it is about 60%, in the south the attendance is very high 80-85%,90%. So what we have to do and the Indian Government and the StateGovernments, what they have done is and they claim that 98% of India’shabitations have a school within 1 Km, Primary School. And I think on theprovision of a structure called school and a person called teacher, theGovernment of India and the State Governments have done very well. I thinkwe need to applaud that as Indians. Remember you are paying 3% cess foreducation, that is about 15,000 crore rupees per annum that citizens are payingin addition to the regular taxes, assuming that you do pay your taxes. So weneed to ask what happens to these 15,000 crores, I think we should. So if allthe schools are provided what is the problem? If 94% children are going toschool why do we talk about a 50% dropout rate? What does that mean? Ifthere is a 50% dropout rate, how come 94% of children are in school? Whatit means is that children are completing their 5 years of education or 8 yearsof education, they are in the school maybe for 5 years, but not in the 5th grade.If you understand what the problem is. And this happens mainly because thechildren are not learning. And I will now give you the shocking numbers thatwe came up with and I hope you will use these numbers in your presentationshenceforth because people are focussed on dropout rates and retention ratesbut not about the learning problem. In the absence of any other number I thinkyou should use this. In standard 1 if you measure in November across Indiayou will find that excess of 60% children do not know identifying numbers.About 40% children know their alphabets, and this is the lagging behind thatbegins in Standard 1 that goes on till standard 5 and you find in Standard 5on an average an Indian child in a government school, you will find, that 50%children cannot read a Standard 2 level text. In Standard 3 above 50% childrencannot read a standard 1 level text. You can imagine that in the 5th standard,50% children cannot read a Standard 2 text how are they going to moveforward and learn anything else? Math is worse! About 35%, I think, of Indian

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children can do a simple form division sum, if you say whatever number – 369divided by 3 – only 35% children can solve that in 5th grade! Now that is thelevel of education, now if that is the case, then assume that that is your child’sschool, don’t forget about the whole India, what would you do? Well, youhave the options of going and talking to the trustees of the school and sayimprove the school because my child is not learning; second choice is go andfight with the teacher and say, ‘why are you not teaching my child’ and thethird option is say, ‘What the heck. I had better roll up my sleeves and teachmy own child’. What would you rather do? Think honestly. I think you willdo all three of them but first thing you will roll up your sleeves and say I mustteach my child and this is what Pratham has chosen to do and the way to doit is, you know, we look at and Prof. Sen has talked about teachers union, Iagree with that, but the man who got me into education is sitting in front ofme, Anil Bordia, what he led in 1987-88, I mean 88-89 onwards was a NationalLiteracy Mission. The reason I got into this whole business was because theappeal was if you have to transform education in India it is not the governmentthat is going to do it. It is the people of India who would do it. And the peopleof India are not sitting in this room, excuse me, yes, we are people of India,and these people of India are also in the villages and the young people of thevillages, we find, in large numbers are saying I want to help. It is not thetopmost schools, I appreciate the Teach for America and Teach for Indiainitiatives, but the fellows who did not complete their 10th grade and 12th gradeare in the villages, the young women there want to do something of substanceand say, ‘I want to improve my merit as well’. And we find that these youthscome forward and say, ‘What can I do?’. You have to go there not with moneyincentives but simple calls for action saying, ‘You can work for this country.Your own country’. And we have done that. The motivational talk, the simpletalk that goes out is in 1930, Mahatma Gandhi walked for about 300 km for23 days, and picked up salt, hundreds of thousands joined him and the historyof India was changed. Today you don’t have to walk 300 km, don’t have topick up salt, pick up a book and read with the children round you, hundredsof thousands will join you and we’ll change the history of India once again.The task is to teach close to 60 to 80 million children to read, write and dobasic arithmetic. I assure you, the governments are doing many things.

In the last two years where you have seen massive jumps of, in reading and,at least reading, because some targeted attention was paid to them. MadhyaPradesh is one. Himachal is adding its name to it and we have seen changes

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in Andhra Pradesh also. A very simple action of providing supplementaryreading material to the children and give them the reading material, createreading corners, ensure that there is a reading period in the class so that thechildren sit and read and talk about what they have read. Provide them additionalmaterial. Unfortunately most of the schools what we give is a text book,notebook, maybe, I don’t know, notebook or not, but text book certainly, thegovernment provides, but the kind of supplementary reading material that yourchildren have they don’t have. The books are not there, books can be costly,agreed, which you want, there are million schools in India, and if for millionschools, if you want to provide books it can be a very costly affair. We havecome up with a simple formula of creating reading cards which costs no morethan one Re.1, back to back A4 size. One rupee, nice glossy full colour. Weare coming up with ideas of actually creating newspapers with the Hindustangroup and other newspapers. A newspaper a tabloid size of 8 pages doesn’tcost more than a rupee. Now these are innovations that are possible but wewant people to go on the ground and say, “Okay, let us get all our children thebasics of reading, writing, and arithmetic’. And where you are you can startworking at districts, we are happy to work with you. It’s not that there is onesingle solution, there is no single solution, the state government can set thegoals, Government of India , right from the Prime Minister downwards hasbeen writing to the states, saying by the end of second, third grade childrenshould be able to master the simple basic reading, writing, arithmetic skills.The policy environment has been created; states are trying to do it. I think, ifwe support them on the ground, I don’t care if they do it as Pratham or not,but just set that goal and let us all work towards one goal on a massive scaleI think we can change India.

Gautam Thapar: It is not my initiative actually. It is Madhav and where I wasasked to join the board 5 years ago. I thought it was just the most unique idea.The point that he makes and the point I think is really important is it givesthose who have been deprived a sense of self-respect. The children who do theteaching in the community are class X and class XII pass. The kind of reactionI have got from them when I met them, it is absolutely amazing. Not only havethey got their self-respect back but within their communities they are morerespected. And that makes whatever they do that much more effective. So itis the innovation to me that is the most important thing. The scalability at avery low cost, the ability to mobilize resources at the ground level, and theability to deliver results which are by this measurable. And this increasingly,

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by the way, is becoming the most important document the government itself isbeginning to use now to measure how effective has been the change in thekind of provision for education, and the effective use of the money, yourmoney, our money, tax money in providing better Primary Education in thecountry.

Anil Bordia, (Chairman, Foundation for Education and Development): Ido want to supplement what Madhav has said. At this time as Chairperson ofFoundation for Education and Development, which is a programme foradolescent persons, persons who are in the age group of 11 to 20, the programmeis called ‘Doosra Dashak’ which means the second decade. Pehla Dashakmeans the first ten years of one’s life. The second ten years is called theDoosra Dashak. So we are working with persons of this age group and we findthat nearly 60% of them cannot really read or write. I am speaking mainly ofRajasthan, UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, much of Bengal, Orissa etc. – a verylarge part of our country. What we are trying to do is to provide alternativeeducation to these persons and see that they not only receive education butthey use this education to improve the environment in which they live. So ina manner of speaking they are activists for change. The main thing that we tryto do is to work with the village community and create a strong force to seethat the basic services are improved. The basic services which we are workingfor are basically five - the school, aanganvaadi, the sub-centre of health,public distribution system and drinking water. We believe that if these thingscan be taken care of we would have taken care of a good deal of what needsto be communicated and provided to the people. What Professor Sen mentionedas the second task before the Prime Minister, after having liberalized andopened the economy, the second task is to see that these basic services aredelivered to the people properly. Now this is something which we have foundthat in 9 blocks of Rajasthan, which cover about 15 million people, if youwork with the teachers, if you work with the aanganvaadi worker, if you workwith the sub-centre, auxiliary nurse, mid-wife etc. as partners, as friends, yourealize they have so many problems, they are working under such an oppressivesystem of governance that they really need help and someone to hold theirhand and tell them that we are with you and we are going to work together.Once you do this you begin to see that teachers who are, who have beenaccustomed to absenting themselves, they begin to come to school, they beginto teach.

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I think, free education is a very good thing, but personally I do not believe init, I think that every citizen of India, in the villages must contribute something.While Chairperson of a programme called Lok-jumbish we were able todemonstrate that in one third of Rajasthan’s villages every person, the poorestperson living below the poverty line contributed one day’s minimum wage andof course other people contributed much more. So every family must contributewhat they can and every child must receive an education of good quality.These are the kinds of things which we are trying to… just one more thingby the way, apropos of the Shiksha and so many other things which CII isdoing; it is comparatively not so difficult to deliver technology to people. Butit is much more difficult to explain to people the method, the process behindwhich so much of innovation is taking place in IT and manufacturing and soon. So what we need to do is to use the big minds in industry and corporateworld to instil the spirit of innovativeness, institutionalize innovativeness inhuman and social development. And I think that this is another thing, this isnot the occasion and there is not enough time to explain this, but this issomething which we are trying to do, just as you know, vision is now goingdown to the floor level in manufacturing and to the last person in informationtechnology, so how to introduce innovation in social and human developmentso that the changes, the rapid progress which is taking place in the economicsector also begins to take place in human and social development.

Jamshyd N.Godrej: Thank you very much Mr Bordia for that interventionand your experience of managing education systems and the idea that we needto bring in more innovations and new ideas in education.

Amartya Sen: Well, I have been enjoying these discussions very much. Ithink there are three things I want to say to put the discussion in perspective– one is that basic education, school education has a great many differenttypes of problems and the existence of one does not make it necessarily themost important thing to think about all the time. They are very important butthere may be other bigger problems to be concerned with. I think to someextent Madhav raised an element of scepticism on that earlier already bysaying that you know with the kind of problem that we are faced with, say,Teaching for India, Teaching for USA may not touch the lives of great manypeople and I think you may probably say that people sitting here are notpeople of India and then he corrected himself on that – and allowed us to bepeople of India.

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I think it is very important to recognize the nature of that distinction in qualityeducation. I mean this; it is a big thing because we are very concerned aboutthe quality of education. But the nature of quality of education is really extremelyrelative compared with where we are. I mean we are thinking about thiscomputer for a child, now that is a great thing. In fact my wife gave me a $100computer, which actually cost $168 in America. Actually see it wasn’t still inthe market. I could see its prowess. It was fantastic. We don’t have wi fiInternet connection in the house, but all our neighbourhood has. This one, thenew computer immediately captured it from the neighbourhood - with itssensitivity that I discovered that I didn’t even have to have wi fi… it’s awonderful thing. But, you know, this is not where the issue is going to beaddressed for most of the Indian children. I think that was one of the pointsthat Madhav was making. The fact of the matter is that the facilities are ofa completely different kind, which relates to not only the quality of education,dropouts, the fact that they don’t learn enough, etc. We did our study inPratichi Trust and we found that majority of people with two years of schoolingcouldn’t write anything whatsoever, which is really quite extraordinary. Theseare not the dropouts. These have been in school. When we talked aboutteachers, parents’ reluctance, which is a subject that played up a lot but thereis very little evidence of it, but when you find out what it is all about, it turnsout that they relate to some very basic facility. More schools, great manyschools are one teacher schools and you think about sending your little child,little girl of let us say, a six year old, five year old there, you don’t know whatis going to happen when you are going away to the fields and could not becontacted in your agricultural or other pursuits. The child goes and there theteacher is not present what happens then? So you are extremely reluctant todo it.

Another reason was the absence of toilets in nearly all the schools. So youreally have levels of facility which are dramatically different from that whichone is thinking about in terms of the innovations at the top end of it. Now, thatdoesn’t mean that these are unimportant. Huge numbers of people in Indiabelong even to the top 5% or 10% and there I think they do look at, andcertainly whatever can be done to improve their education should be done. Butwe should not blind ourselves into thinking that that is going to solve theproblem. Quality education is very important. Everyone deserves it. But wehave to make sure that the best does not work as the enemy of the good.

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So that brings me to my second point which is the extremely important issueof coverage. And coverage means people going to school, and staying inschool, and doing some work which allow them to learn. I mean these threethings, the enrolment has gone up in a way that the attendance has not. It hasgone up but not at all correspondingly. And attendance very often does notmean that you are actively learning anything very much. Schools are notnevertheless wasted. One of the things we found quite interesting, statistically,is that even when kids go to terrible schools there is an impact on theirthinking. Because I think as an educationist I have to say that quite a lot ofyour education comes from your fellow class mates. You learn things, you chatwith them, getting out of the home is a huge thing. One of the reasons whyschooling relates so much to question of gender empowerment, includingfertility rate is just getting you out of your family. The idea of getting out ofthe family and consider, see people of different community, differentbackground, different class makes a huge, huge difference.

We have been studying the effect of the midday meal: initially there was highprotest because the quality of food was bad and indeed it is bad for the richkids when compared to what they are used to, but for many people this wasthe only meal they were having. One of the thing we found, we found againand again is half the students couldn’t concentrate because they are hungry inthe school. So the meal had a hugely educational effect. But those who arecomplaining that the quality of food has gone down compared with what theyused to get is also true. Similarly there were also objections by some parentsin particular, about their kids sitting and eating together with others. The castebarrier suddenly came in. Now as it happened West Bengal, in that respect, isa more determined state. So that problem was overcome. We did get cooperationfrom the government and that too at the rural level. And that is one of thethings that we are now studying - the impact of eating together itself has aneducational role. So, I think, education counts in a very big way and dependingon which section of the community you are looking at the quality problem iscompletely different.

Now Y. S. Rajan gave me a number of figures, he and I were coming backfrom Japan, we were together in a meeting there, and some of them are in thebackground note but there are many other very striking ones – how ourconcentration is so confined to an extremely narrow proportion of the Indiancitizens and that we really have to change. So I think the question of coverage

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and the question of quality at that level of the coverage, allow it to be blackboard,a book, chalk, and a teacher who fails to show up and more than one teacher,these are, in effect, the central issues for Indian schooling today. That doesn’tmean all the other questions that we have discussed and there were certainnice recommendation, will go away. That is not the case. I mean those problemsare there and have to be addressed. We do want people to ponder.

There is one point that I have to make. There is the question of trying to thinkof labour training in terms of the needs of the industries. That is the demandside. We are looking at the demand on the other side, the demand for basicingredient of living, which is to be able to read, write and count. And interestingthing is that there is really no reluctance on the part of the parents to go there.Indeed willingness to pay something and I also support Anil’s point that if youask them and it is felt that they were being given some kind of voice by payinga rupee for the school children, that voice could be quite important. Oneardent demand that there be parent- teacher committee and they have comeup now, oddly enough much more slowly in Kolkata than in the rural WestBengal are having a huge effect on the teachers. And I think this is the levelat which we have to really think about the question to recognize how divisivethe country is and how we could change that.

Now, there were a number of questions that came up which I think I shouldcomment on the question about the respect a teacher gets. Again it depends onwhere we are. When I decided to teach, my father was a teacher, my grandfatherwas a teacher, so I come from an academic family, so when I opted to becomea teacher my father told me, that you know you will have a lot of time andleisure in your life but you will never have much money. Unfortunately I havea lot of money but, I mean, not compared with people here, I have enough togo by, human needs and all that and it reminds me of what my children arealways telling me, that the real problem is that I don’t manage to cultivate anyexpensive taste at all. That’s certainly true. So I have enough to live, on theother hand I have no time whatsoever. I am always looking at the 29 hour aday, in a race to be able to fit everything in. So that is a very different kindof problem and I must say I have never really felt any lack of respect. And therespect is present, but not only that level, at the other level too. If you gothrough rural areas in India quite often the primary teacher, school teacher isamong the elite. With the pay commission, there has also been a huge payhike. Quite often in the rural area the elites are school teachers. There is no

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lack of interest in that or respect. If anything one of the problems which wefound, which is why we wanted to involve a union is that if you came froma very poor background, or landless labouring family, getting the attention ofthe elite class who happens to be the teacher is very difficult. You have to berelatively rich. That is one of the reasons why it is also so unfortunate, themore powerful voices are withdrawn and go to private school and because,then they don’t have any further interest. You want people to whom the teachershave to listen to. And we found that the responsiveness of the teacher wasleast when the bulk of the students came from landless labouring families.And the question of it came up in some discussion that I might teach myself,my children. But lots of these children are the first time literate. There is noquestion of any parent to be able to do that. It is a very different category ofpeople. In that context it is not only the respect for teachers but the teacher’srespect for the students that is extremely important. And that is why unionsare so absolutely critically important. When the PTA agreed finally to do that,I requested them to look up the objectives with which the trade union wasfounded. And there were others involved in it and of course they all objected,where education for all, national welfare, social change and then came a textof the workers, again a teacher making sure that they are not unfairly dismissedand getting a decent salary. So I think that is a huge problem and I think itdepends both on the attitudes of the Trade Union, it depends on the attitudeof the Left, not being uncritical and just regarding that to be our job, it doesn’tmatter whether it’s a union of airport workers, for somewhere else if theymake a demand then we must support it. And at the same time it also dependson the attitude of the CII and the employers, I mean, as long as one takes theview that the fewer the unions the better, they are not going to pave the path,the cooperative part that you want them to play. It is a big change that we haveto bring in.

There is a question that has come from the floor which is a very interestingone and I will read it out to you – ‘Don’t you think that everyone should haveaccess not only to education but only to quality education?’ There are a numberof propositions here, I will come to that. And the answer is ‘yes’. On the otherhand the quality challenge is at a very different level.

If you want to train everyone in school, which can give everyone a computerand could do all the good things that’s good. I was so impressed by theanimation exercises for example. And I would love all of my own children to

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have that. But if you try to provide that for all of them you are not talking atall realistically about what we can get. There is a question about making somevery elementary things available for them and that is quality too. Having alavatory is quality, children not being hungry in school is quality, not beingdependent on the 100% presence everyday of one teacher is also a questionof quality, but then at the level when there is animation, then there is onecomputer per child all these add to greater quality. None of these problemswill go away and yet we have to see where the quality challenges really arefor the bulk of the people, without denying that anything we can do to improvethe quality of education in the high level will make a difference. After all evenin a very poor school the fact that Ramanujan had a good mathematics teacherwas a huge thing. And we don’t want to take that away. And yet that is notthe challenge that most people were facing because, you know, the teachermight introduce Ramanujan to some books on number theory which othersdidn’t do and yet most people’s case it is a question of being able to do themultiplication table, which is the real challenge we are facing. Now, so, I thinkit is a question of defining what we mean by quality education. Then thequestion goes on to say, hence, let the poor people be given a coupon, financesto be borne by the state, select a school they want to go to, either public orprivate; this will generate a competition between private and the publiceducation institutions right away. This suggestion comes up often again andagain. One can think about that. No country in the world has ever educatedthe entire population on the basis of anything like that. They have had stateschools everywhere from Japan to the United States, to Vietnam to HongKong and Singapore. They have happened on the basis of state schools. Butone could think it Bangladesh has tried some. There are enormous problemsin running them too. in 2001 when three of my friends got the Nobel inEconomics, shared it, George Akerlof on Asymmetric Information’, I was verypleased that the first version of that paper, he was the pioneer of that subject,was presented in the Delhi School of Economics when I was a professor there,he came with George, was visiting us for a year, he gave us the state calledthe Market for Lemon, lemon, he says, is the American slang for a bad carwhich doesn’t go anywhere. And the point was that the owner of the lemonknows something which the buyer of the lemon, does not. There is hugeasymmetric information. Now I think the idea of the coupons works on thesame basis that these parents of the children, they go around they knowsomething about the schools. These are agricultural labourers themselves,illiterate, they have no formal idea of what the schools looks like, they may

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have an idea of what the gate may look like. How sparkling it is. The idea thatyou could exercise on a symmetrical information basis this kind of choice isreally not an easy thing at all to do.

I was quite impressed when I was touring around in Bangladesh and wentaround to many BRAC schools, the quality is fantastic. It is not coupon basedit is only on a dedicated basis. I remember a visit to a school and they seemedto have had some warning of the visit and I was sitting next to, I think, a fiveyear old child, by the window sill and I asked her, “Are you always so welldressed?” She thought about the question for a little while and said, “ActuallyI am always very well dressed, but today is a little more because I think thereis a visitor coming here.”

Now I was just impressed by the general quality. I don’t want to dismiss theidea of coupons but the problems of asymmetric information, the problem ofcost of running really a good school of a kind that competes with others haveto be really taken into account.

I know the given that quality is something interested and motivated parentswould value. My mother was being looked after when she was unwell, by aday nurse and a night nurse and I found that even though her payment wasrather large as compared with others, the day nurse spent about half of it ineducating her boy, sending him to the best possible school. Now that kind ofparent, literate, would make a very good candidate for the coupon system butthe bulk of the parents would not come there and that is why our reliance onstate schools not just private schools or coupon based private schools.

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Chapter 4

MOTIVATION IS ALL THAT MATTERS…

Cakes and biscuits did not divert the participants after tea. The session broughttogether both experiences and activities of various organisations. Set in aframe distinguishing between literacy and education the discussion went on toelucidate the issues behind the problems that directly faced one while attemptingto bring literacy to every child. The experience of both non governmental andgovernmental workers, such as the Bharati Foundation which has taken theonus of doing its bit for the country which, in addition to its current activitiesof supporting education in rural areas, is constructing and running 1000 schoolsacross rural India, and Vijay Bhaskaran, Secretary, Education of the Governmentof Karnataka who spoke on the need for standard assessment procedures andthe lead his state has taken in this matter, involving private support throughschool adoption programmes.

Kalyan Banerjee spoke of the need for interesting and colourful textbookswhile Sulabhani Bhattachariya while noting her impression that the programmesin India, particularly West Bengal were very good indicated that the lacunawas in its implementation. Many others, including Amartya Sen, felt the stepstaken by the government were truly praiseworthy even though not enough.

The session began with Jamshyd Godrej introducing Anu Aga who was tospeak on her experiences both in Bombay and Pune, where she is involvedwith an organisation called Akanksha.

Anu Aga, (Director, Thermax Limited): Thank you Jamshyd. The governmentspends a lot on education and yet we know what pathetic quality it produces.Is there something we can do to demand accountability? It is high time wedemanded governance from the government. And how can we do it? There areNGOs here, there are corporates here, there is CII here, let us all try andanswer the question: how can we do it?

I want to talk about two little initiatives we have taken in education. One isAkanksha, it’s an NGO started by Shahin Mistry, seventeen years ago. Herewe make a difference between literacy and education, education involves farmore than just literacy. Aakanksha has slum children coming to us for 2 hours

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after they have been to a Municipal school and in these 2 hours we are ableto make a tremendous difference. They love learning, they have self-confidence,they learn values and there is a holistic way of educating. We have 40 centresin Bombay and 22 in Pune. But what a pity that we have to complement andsupplement what government is doing, because all these children go toMunicipal schools.

Another experiment done by the Thermax Foundation, Aakanksha andMunicipality in Pune, we have adopted a school. It’s called Vidhya Niketan,a school that is supposed to be for the bright children. The school was not ourchoice. And yet when we took a baseline test, we found that these so-calledintelligent children got below 40% in Maths, English and Science. Again whata sad reflection of our education system!

But if corporates, NGOs and government come together there is a possibilityof making a difference. Recently we attended a workshop which talked abouttwo people in America who, disillusioned with the education system, started60 schools and these are for the poor children who are drop-outs. And theyhave intensive, creative teaching, with the result, that while in America anaverage of about 7% people go to University, 75% of the students from KipsSchools go to University! That’s the difference education can make. So I hopewe can have more schools where we empower children to go higher, forhigher education or go for professional streams. And there was a debate whetherwe need Teach for India or not, I think we need everything. It’s not either or,it is and, and, and.

Rakesh Bharti Mittal, (Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises): I actuallycame across the latest UNESCO global monitoring report, 2007, which rank127 countries. And India was ranked at a low of 112 on Education for AllDevelopment Index. On the fight against illiteracy we slipped by 5 points from100 to 105. And, I mean, the other statistics are well known; the absenteeismof teachers in government schools and the drop-out rates which we have beentalking about and so on. One comment which I want to make here - I feel thatthe Indian society regards children not as a collective responsibility, but as aparental burden. And very few in this country realise that the nation loseswhen children do not attend schools. We all know about the money beingcollected through the education cess, huge amounts of money, but a veryineffective delivery system. The money never reaches, and whatever reaches

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are paid into salaries and no effective actions are being taken. Bharati enterprisesset up Bharati Foundation, with a clear focus of committing to creating andsupporting programmes that bring about sustainable changes through educationand use of technology. And the vision we created for ourselves was to helpunder-privileged children and young people of our country to realise theirpotential. And I believe to do that we need to improve the accessibility andquality of education at the school level and to provide education and trainingopportunities to youth. There are various initiatives which we have undertaken:opening of Bharati Computer Centres, Bharati Libraries in the governmentprimary schools across 16 states in India. And after 12 months, 20% of thechildren could not only count from 1 to 100 but could do multiplication, dodivision, addition and subtraction, while they didn’t know numbers from 1 to10 when we began. They did not know the alphabet and at the end of one yearthey were not only reading stories and paragraphs, but also writing paragraphsand, you know, interacting with other children. And I think to my mind ‘readto learn and learn to read’ programme through Bharati libraries has beenprobably one of the most effective programmes which we rolled out withPratham.

Going forward, all these libraries and computers will be set up in the 1000village primary schools. This programme is the Satya Bharati Schools and theguiding philosophy is to create temples of learning, radiating knowledge andexcellence for under-privileged children. And the target is to have 1000 villageprimary schools, employing over 6,000 teachers on our rolls, covering tobegin with the northern region states from Punjab to Rajasthan, UP, and probablyMadhya Pradesh. We will be delivering education to over 200,000 childrenevery year on an ongoing basis. We will have about 50 to 60 mobile trainers,who will be training these teachers on an ongoing, regular basis with a supportstaff of about 150 plus. Let me tell you what we have done so far. Currentlywe have 20 schools running and about 130 buildings are under construction,and come April there will be 150 new Satya Bharati schools in 150 villages.The training which we are providing to our teachers, and I would also like toshare here, Vijay mentioned about quality teachers not being available, we dida very simple thing. The unemployed graduates sitting in these villages havebeen employed as teachers. They have no qualification, formal training ofteaching. In the evening, the Satya Bharati school children are teaching otherchildren in the village during the play time. And I think that is what we havedelivered by very innovative ways of teaching. And the tools which have been

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created and they are very simple tools, it is difficult for me to really explainbut I will be happy if any one and everyone wants to come and visit theschools and see what we are doing. The key features of the Satya Bharatischools is the English language, computer aided learning, library and readingprogrammes, innovative teaching methodology, and the quality which we aretrying to provide by way of holistic education, teaching-learning aids, teacherstraining and so on and so forth. The accessibility is through scholarships.Mind you the fees we are charging is Rs 5 a month and a girl child is 50%off, the differently abled children we pay 50% fees and my instructions to myteam is if any parent cannot pay this Rs 5, that child will not go back and theFoundation will pick up the tab for that education as well. We also havethrown in a midday meal through a community participation programme, wherethe ladies of the village have been engaged and they provide meals to thesechildren for which Bharati Foundation pays.

Let me tell you what has happened in the last one year. And this is the surveyof 346 parents conducted in 8 schools which we have running in Ludhiana,Punjab. The attendance has improved from under 30% to 70% plus. I am alsosharing the results o some of the survey questions with you: Does the childgo back and share what he or she does at school? Earlier it was 10%, and nowit is touching 90%. Does the child show personality and behaviouralimprovement’ is 90% plus and tries to speak in English which was under 10%earlier is now at 90% - at home. Let me just share an example here with you– one of the ladies, a mother who put her child in school, registered as anilliterate woman and after 1 year she came and signed the attendance registerin English then we had a parent-teacher meeting and she said I was taught bymy child what he has learnt in school. Today out of the 20 schools we haveabout 2100 children and almost 100 teachers. 48% are girl students and 70%are from the SC/ST category. All are below poverty line. 15 km outside Ludhianawhen we talked to parents to pay Rs 15 for a quarter they said we cannot payyou Rs 6 a month, forget about paying you fifteen and that is the poor stateof affairs and I shudder to think what happens in states like Bihar, UP, Orissa,even Punjab far, remote areas.

While the buildings are being constructed we start the community programmeswith students, who will move into the school buildings as the buildings getready. The average number of community members visiting the school is 16per school per month. And the most interesting thing is that they are either

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parents or living in those villages, they just come and see in awe what ishappening in that school. The teacher-student ratio is 1 to 35 and I was justtold that in one of the schools, this lady who comes and sweeps in the morning,my team member asked her, ‘Does your child study here?’ she said, ‘no’. Butshe said, ‘what you are doing has attracted me that before I go for my workI come in the morning and sweep the floor, so that the children can come andstudy in a nice environment.’

The other programme we are doing is the school improvement programme andI am very happy to share here with you that we have signed an agreement withthe Rajasthan government, where we are in the process of picking up, actuallyadopting 50 schools, existing government primary schools, which will be runby the Bharati Foundation from first April 2008 onwards. And the idea is toget into such programmes in Punjab, Haryana and other states so that we canactually scale this programme up much faster than having to wait until 2009to go to 1000 schools.

I think, the community participation has been outstanding. Parents are comingforward to provide meals to their children at their cost, the grandmothers arecoming on Saturdays to come and tell stories. The villagers getting intoshramdhaan during construction of these buildings, to my mind this is anexcellent public-private partnership model, where we are getting the land fromthe panchayats and we put about Rs 20,00,000 for every school building thatgets constructed.

I must also share here with you that we have committed to build a corpus of200 crores to see that this programme runs in perpetuity. But the matter of factis when I go to 1000 schools and at 10 lakhs a year my requirement will be100 crores a year on operational expenditure. And we are fully committed tobuilding that corpus as well, so that these schools not only run but providequality education.

And I have a point to make here, I believe time has come when the governmentswhether at the central level or the states must bring in the corporates and theNGOs into this programme and part of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan should bemade available to actually roll out and extend these initiatives. Because I don’tthink the government can really do everything by themselves. Even if theyhave the will, the delivery system will never let them do things more effectively.

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To sum it up I would say, ‘every child is a dream hoping to be realised’. Andwe at Bharati are doing our bit to ensure that those dreams don’t die.

Vijaya Bhaskaran, (Secretary - Education, Government of Karnataka): Iwould like to take on the issue of accountability that Prof.Sen raised. InKarnataka we spend about 6,600 crores every year on school education. Butaccountability is a measurement of quality which we have only in class X andXII through the public examinations. There is no measurement of quality ofeducation. We all say that we know how low quality is if you are improvingquality, but there is no measure of quality in primary schools in states in India.Therefore, we have set up the Karnataka school quality assessment organisation.The idea of setting this up is to have regular assessments of school quality.There is a difference between assessments, sample assessments of quality. Youtake a sample say 5%, 10%, 20% sample and census assessments of quality.The census assessments gives each school the information about where itstands vis-à-vis other schools. It gives the parents information about whichschool is better. Dr. Prof. Sen spoke about lemons. So we do not know whichschool is good, information asymmetry is there. So census assessment ofquality has to be taken up. Most, very developed countries have censusassessments of quality. For instance, the UK has an annual assessment ofquality of all primary school for children, at ages around 7 and 11. But in Indiawe still do not have that. No state has any regular assessment of quality ofchildren in primary schools on a census level. We have sample assessmentsonly, which are useful at the macro level but they do not give us any informationto improve at school level, at child level. So this Karnataka School QualityAssessment Organisation which we set up in 2005 has been set up to conductcensus assessments of quality. We have already conducted two qualityassessments in 2005 and 06. In the first assessment we covered 40,000 schoolsand 21 lakh children in all the 40,000 schools. We covered classes 5 and 7.

The difference between an examination and assessment is simple. Examinationdetermines whether you pass or fail. It is a high stakes assessment, whereasthe assessment that we do has nothing at stake. It does not determine whetherthe child passes or fails. But it only gives information to the teacher, to thesystem, to the trainer about where the school is, where the child is. So this sortof regular assessment of quality, I think, is most essential for primary educationto improve. We all talk about low quality, about improving quality, but unlesswe measure quality how can we say we have low quality, how can we say we

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have improved quality? We have, through this assessment, found 67% of theaverage competencies of children in class II and 49% in class V and 48% inclass VII. We know every child and what competency every child has. Forinstance which child can add two-digit numbers, which child cannot add. Sowe have listed about 120 such competencies and we have information aboutwhich competency each child has in school, in Karnataka.

Based on this we have taken up a remedial teaching programme which wehave got inspiration through the Pratham initiative, in reading, writing andarithmetic, because as Madhav was saying many children even in class V orVII may not be able to read or count. And through this after the remedialassessment of teaching, which is going on, we will have another assessmentthereby setting in motion a virtual cycle. We have assessment, analysis ofassessment, then remedial measures to improve quality and then furtherassessment to see how they have improved. Between the 2005 and 06assessments, we have therefore found about 14% improvement in quality. Iwould ascribe a large part of this to information which the system has givento the school.

We have also tried to improve community participation. Professor Sen spokeabout the involvement of parents; we have set up school development andmonitoring committees. Unless parents are involved in running of the school,in monitoring the school quality and teacher absenteeism, schools will notimprove. We cannot have any inspectorial system that reaches out to everyschool, everyday. It has to be done by parents who are there on the spoteveryday in every school. Therefore empowering school committees is also avery important thing. We have taken some steps in empowering schoolcommittees. We have, for instance, given them the power to sanction casualleave to the Head Teacher. This was resisted a lot, no other state other thanKarnataka, I think, has given this. Even though this may seem a very smallthing, but this has changed the power equations. For instance teachers aremore educated, they are elite category whereas parents may be less educated.But here you may find an illiterate parent is in charge of the school monitoringand he or she can sanction casual leave. So it has changed the power equations,shifted the balance of power within the school.

We also have a school adoption programmes which we have been runningsince 2001. More than 9000 schools have been adopted and about 200 crores

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of funds have been provided to these schools to improve quality.

Kalyan Banerjee, (Mindtree): My sons are in the CBSE system and theyhave been studying now for the last 11 or 12 years and I find their text booksextremely drab and uninteresting. I don’t know how children could be inspiredto study at all. And I think that should be a basic concern that we have. WhenI compare our maths and science text books with text books that are publishedin UK or other countries, they look so poor. You know, I or you may have theaffordability to buy those. And I can see that my sons are actually magneticallyattracted towards those text books. But the school text books you know theyare a turn off.

Now, I think within the country we have talent, who can really combinetogether, I alone may not be able to devote full time to write a maths textbook. But I can combine with 50 others and can do that. So, one call for actionI would say is, and it need not be just text book, any content. Can we cometogether and create content?

The other idea I would like to share is, can we have a community of schools?Community of schools where you have all kinds of schools, and you knowschools at all levels. So schools that are elite and students in elite schools theywill learn by communicating with other kind of schools, they will learn thevalue of humility, they will learn that they are privileged, and of course theywill share information. And by this act of sharing there will be students inother schools also who would benefit. It will also bring inclusion. It will bringdiversity and those are part of education. So these are two thoughts at the topof my mind and I leave that with you and I am personally, passionatelyinterested in contributing towards this.

Comments from the room:

Sulabhani Bhattacharya (from West Bengal): I am connected with the Boardof Primary Education and I am working as the president of that Board for thelast several years. Actually our Board is a unique one in the sense that it isoperating for the primary section of education, school education, in WestBengal for the last 17 years. And as far as I feel the programmes, plans of thecurriculum, these are, by and large, well drafted, well planned. The problemlies in the level of implementation. And here actually, as Professor Sen, has

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elaborated, the point is to bring the people, rather the teachers so that they cantransact the classroom activities in the desired way. What is happening is somesort of a gap between the matter to be transacted and which is being actuallydone. Now we have some 52,000 primary schools and 66,000 Shishu ShikshaKendras. And what I feel is that it is impossible for any other agency otherthan the government to take care of everything. There should be control of thegovernment in accordance, in the whole system. Of course the industries whohave arranged this programme here are to be congratulated because they areactually willing to play a role in actually promoting of school education.Therefore it is definitely praiseworthy step. But governmental interventioncannot be substituted by any other agency that is what I feel.

V.K. Jain, (Executive Director of Ambuja Cement Foundation): I want tofocus on few issues only. More and more students are now opting for commerceand engineering. They are not taking science. With the result that India isproducing only 10,000 engineers in a year as compared to China, which isproducing 40,000 engineers in a year. This is the trend. What do we do aboutit?

Sir, my second question is that the system of aanganwadis has collapsed –totally. There is no system for pre-nursery education functioning in most of thestates. We work in 11 states of India. The result is that the children of villagersare going to private schools. Professor Sen mentioned about primary school.They are paying a fee of Rs 150 per child in a private primary school. Avillager, imagine, and that is not the end of the game. What is happening, oncea child is admitted to private school, he does not come to our school. He orshe does not come to the jilla parishad school. He or she continues to be withthe private school. That is another point of concern.

Sir, something was mentioned about dropout. I would only say that we havetackled this problem in another manner. We have found that large number ofdropouts have been on account of economic and commercial reasons. We havestarted self-income generating schemes for the parents. And we have succeededto a large extent in ensuring that dropouts has been minimised considerably.

Sir, my last question is everything you can provide, teaching aids, lavatory,mobile libraries, libraries and all. What do we do about motivation, applicationand dedication of the teachers? It is totally lacking.

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K. K. Pande, (Director of Amarpali Group of Institutions, situated inHaldwani, Uttarakhand): A small initiative was taken by a retired professorfrom IIT, Kanpur. And I just wanted to share my views with the people here.Professor had done his schooling in a remote village in Uttaranchal. Belongingto a village he had his primary education there and throughout he did hiseducation with the help of scholarship. Having reached IIT, Kanpur and retiredfrom there, two years ago when I was at the Birla Institute as an intern, wemet (in 2004). He shared his idea with me of putting a lakh of rupees fromhis provident fund to start some scholarship to help the bright students of thevillage and it is from there that we have started working in the school in thevillage, a primary school. Lots has been said this morning about the variousproblems which are really facing the real India, the rural Indian children. 14November 2005 we started with this project giving the students of that schoolwho were 46 in number, uniforms, 2 computers, and supported them withadditional teachers. The government says even if there are 5 classes in theprimary section if they are 49, less than 50 students we have 1 teacher, 50 to100 students have 2 teachers, and only 2 classrooms for 5 classes. How caneducation standards be met with all these? So we worked on, and now we areworking on having 3 more classrooms there, one is already constructed withthe help of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, for another funds have been given by thelocal MLA and for one by the local MP, Mr Bhachat Singh Rawal, the ex-minister for Science and Technology. We have got from the MP from theRajya Sabha, fund for a science centre there, he has given Rs 5 lakhs. Theroom is ready. I think Kanpur is assisting us with 100 experiments for thestudents on science. We are being supported by ASHA (from US) for oureducation. This is the only primary government school which now has tablesand chairs. The strength has gone from 46 to 89 in 2 years. Uniform isprovided to them two times in a year. Sports uniform is given to them. Andwe are supporting them with free teachers and 3 part-time teachers, one forcomputer, one for sports and one for music. I contacted various state resourcecentres across northern India where Hindi books were there we provided over500 books in the library there. The result is the students are also studying, theparents are also studying those books, being for adult education. The attendanceproblem came especially during the monsoon because most of the studentswho are coming there were from the labour class. So we provided them withrain coats also. We debated between an umbrella and a rain coat. So wedecided raincoats so the parents could not use the raincoats and the studentcame to school, because that was a smaller size. So now with raincoats being

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provided to them the attendance improved and even during the monsoon,because you had to travel about, walk in the hills about a kilometre or morewe have 75% plus attendance on a rainy day also. As was mentioned earlieralso the standards and levels of reading, writing, mathematics, English wasvery poor, so we graded them right from 1 to 5 in different categories. A,B,C,D,Eand based on that level we have extra coaching given to them so that theycould match the requirements for that class level. It has shown tremendousimprovement and for this year we have at least five of this students passingclass 5 who should be able to make it to the Navodya Vidyalaya competitiveexam. That is the bench mark that we have kept for the team there. The localbody is working, the local parents, the villagers, the gram pradhan, and theresult is that there is lot of excitement and motivation between the team. Butagain teachers are a problem, because they feel now there is a lot of control,so they can’t take it easy. Otherwise what used to happen either the principalwas there or the teacher was there. We are also collaborating with differentpeople for the middle level and providing them scholarship from our ownfund. We have about 40 scholarships for the middle school and clothes arebeing provided in the rural schools to 3 toppers for each class 6th , 7th and 8th.After X we are asking local people to continue education with the help ofFoundation for Excellence (of USA). For those who qualify class XII withgood grades our institutes management has agreed and last year we had threestudents admitted into hotel management and two students pursuing the BCAprogramme. And this year we have started, expanding the programmes toprovide vocational links.

Michael Walten (World Bank): My affiliations here are Centre of PolicyResearch in the Delhi School of Economics, but the reason I am here todayis I am lucky to have been asked to work with Pratham on the evaluation ofIndia. I would just like to say, I am an economist, so I speak with a littlecaution in this community. Just to highlight couple of things; one of them inquality and the other on information. On quality what I have read about India,is one of the striking features, is the extreme in the quality of education. Imean if I can cite a colleague of mine, looking in the context of internationaltest scores, with data from Orissa and Rajasthan, and finds that these stateshave some of the most, the highest in the quality of test scores of any measuredcountry in an international test. This happens to be teenagers but of course thisflows very much in the primary education, such that it leads to the strikingstatistics that for every 10 American kids who score reading well, teenagers,

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there are actually seven Indian kids who score reading well, because of thesheer volume of India. Whereas for every one American kid who scores reallybadly, who fundamentally fails, I remember the number, it is 200 Indian kidswho are failing. I think it is enormously important if you think of the themeof how Indians have been equipped to participate in the global economy,because this is creating not only the few who are really important for globalcompetitiveness but a huge problem of exclusion for the next 10 or 20 years.And it seems to me any criteria of initiatives have to fundamentally confrontthis question of inequality.

Second point I would make concerns another angle on the theme of information.I am struck both by the centrality of the nexus between what really happensin the school, the centrality of teacher motivation and from the reading andinteractions I have seen that we don’t know a lot about it yet. And I have seendifferent hypothesis on the table. Second there are alternative hypothesis onhow to tackle the teacher motivation issue. One hypothesis is the financialcompensation system is a very bad one for giving incentives to teachers toteach. Teachers aren’t badly paid now, well, relative to other employment theyare quite well paid not by international standards but by Indian standards. Butthe incentive to teach well and have a career which is, which improves theprocess of teaching well is low, comparative to other countries. The otherhypothesis that is really hard to change but actually it is the kind of things theunions are really, that is what they do. They regulate productivity and structuresof working arrangement. The other hypothesis is that it is possible to workwith the intrinsic motivation of teachers through giving them good materialsand through the power of information at the school. But the final comment Isee on information is finding out what works and doesn’t work is hugelyimportant for public debate and that is one of the reasons why I was veryimpressed with Pratham, I am sure this is true of others, but Pratham’swillingness to say work with us to really find out what has worked so that thiscan be propagated and we can understand the fundamental problems.

Kiran Modi: I am from Udhayan Care. Largely our work concentrates onworking with orphaned and abandoned children. We have been talking aboutquality of education and reading, writing as well as arithmetic. But I also feelvery, very strongly that while communicable and non-communicable diseasesare on the rise and they are saying that the global burden of disease is goingto be depression, it is very, very important to teach our children life skills and

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health education right from the primary grades. If we don’t teach them correctvalues and we don’t teach them how to make a correct choice, it is verydifficult for them to grow into individuals who can take decisions and who canmake correct choices in their lives. Thinking about that we have worked with80 schools in Delhi, and we included different kinds of schools, like therewere inclusive schools, there were public schools and private schools on oneside, MCD schools and we included more than 100 teachers and 3000 studentsand developed a curriculum on life skills teaching and health education forprimary grades. This is for classes 1 to 4. Recently I am very happy to see thatwe have made a MOU with Bharati Foundation and hopefully this curriculumwill find its place in the 1000 schools that they are talking about and thiscurriculum is available, any NGO or any school are willing to take we wouldbe happy to offer.

Shikha Kapoor: I have my NGO called Sanchethna, which has a mission ofawakening for self-effectiveness. There is, as Madam Kiran Modi rightly said,a case of depression that is coming up from the very beginning of schooleducation. Life skills are really important.

Anna George: I am from Chennai. I head a school. We are talking about basiceducation. We have many policies but at the grass-root level and as it standsthey fail. I think they fail because of lack of motivation on the part of theteachers as well as the students. Can’t we think of multi-age class rooms atthe elementary level, where like Karnataka model we have assessments andproficiency in the skills become the yardstick for moving up rather than noretention policy?

Ravi: I represent the Jawahar Navoday vidhyalaya, Shimoha. I am the principal.I also take classes, teaching and all. You are probably aware that the JawaharNavodhay Vidhyalaya Samithi is spread all over India, running 567 schoolscatering to the talented students of rural India. And we have a track record tosay that many children who are coming from the very, very remote villageshave gained for themselves wonderful career, many of our ex-students are incivil service, many are in defence service, of course now there is IT boom,many have moved to that. It is my personal experience that even though manyresources are available with the teachers and principals, they do not make useof half of them. So I strongly recommend or rather plead to the all these NGOsand the corporate sector, please think of the measures to empower the head of

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the institutions. If 500 children are there in the hands of one teacher or principal,if he or she is motivated it will go a long way to have an impact. Facility willbecome secondary then. In the motivated condition a principal or a teacher cando miracles even under the tree. So my strong belief is it is time now you allwork out such type of mechanism, or a kind of a regular training or somethingwhich will motivate all the existing teachers and head teachers.

S Bolar: I am from Bangalore. I established and run my own school. Spent20 years in England, came back totally disillusioned and a lost soul finding adecent school for my own children, which is what made me open my own eyesto the reality of the education system in India. Motivation is everything. Youcan do the work of two people, but you never can be two people. Instead youhave to inspire the next person down the line, get him or her to inspire otherpeople, said Lee Iacocca, perhaps one of the greatest motivators in contemporarytimes. The teaching profession attracts a diverse range of people most with aninborn love of teaching. Having marked it for their profession it is imperativethat teachers view their role as an all encompassing endeavour to mould achild’s character and not just limit to imparting knowledge. It’s out of thesechildren that tomorrow’s society is born. The school and its teachers play apivotal role in this development. In a scenario where a teachers constant taskis to manipulate a roomful of live wires and channelize its energy in the rightdirection, motivation is the key factor. How then can we motivate our teachersto peak performance and allow them to realise their full potential? Just focusingon the minimum required is to destroy motivation. We in fact from the ICSEboard and have the freedom to frame our own curriculum, but unfortunatelya lot of heads of ICSE schools are not even aware of this! I don’t think thereis any board that lays down what has to be taught and when. If we can usethese opportunities to help our children, use the freedom we have to helpmotivate our teachers, we would be doing great service our children.

A.M. Pandit: I am basically a teacher in a private school, affiliated to CBSEBoard. Well, CBSE Board gives us the freedom to have our own curriculumup to class VIII. In my school, we have 60% of the students from ruralbackground and 40% from urban background from different walks of life.From my experience I can tell students coming from rural background areshowing far better results than the students from urban background, eventhough children coming from urban background have greater facilities, amenitiesof life. However, students coming from rural background may have the hidden

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talents and all have their hidden talents and teachers have to tap the potential.They have to. The competition a child from rural background faces is reallytough and daunting and this brings their best to fore.

Vandana Kapoor: I am Principal, DAV, Mausam Vihar in Delhi itself. Primaryeducation itself is a challenge as the children at that age are learners not toosmall, not too big and the teachers also have to be very sensitive to be ableto give them basic concepts of life may it be social, or environmental andother things. Recently, we have included the weaker section children from JJclusters. There is a lot of diversity, the children coming from middle class,children coming from upper middle class, then children coming from absolutepoverty, children whose parents are actually workers in homes or they areselling fish or they are doing very menial kind of jobs. So we can providethem school uniform, we can provide them books, but we cannot provide themhome environment. We do our best but how to cope up with the diversity,because the language they speak at home is different, their parents cannot helpthem, we have other children whose parents can help them. School, whateverit is disseminating is understood by the children as well as the parents but thissegment makes around 20% of the students. This year this percentage is littleless, we find it quite difficult though we hold special remedial classes forthem, but what to do of the home environment? This is urban population,because we are working in Delhi. Where this economic diversity comes, theproblem is entirely different which the Delhi schools are facing. Again, themedium of teaching is an issue. These children are very good in Maths but wefind that with language they face a great difficulty if we keep the mediumEnglish we have to teach them language.

Vijaya Singh: I was intrigued by the emphasis on English, the continuousemphasis on English, no doubt, you know, English is a very important languagein our times. But I also feel that, perhaps, this creates a certain kind of animbalance in that we rely too much on English and do not promote the regionallanguage or mother tongue. That perhaps, we need to allocate our attentionand resources towards regional and other languages too.

Ashutosh: With regards to the question of diversity in class, I just wanted toshare something. How do you address diversity and non-availability ofpotentially parents being able to teach the kids? I was in US for eighteen yearsbefore I moved back to India. And I was rather surprised when my child was

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going to school and not getting any home work. So in the parent-teachermeeting we actually asked a question, ‘he doesn’t really bring home work to…what’s happening?’ and the teacher said, ‘if he is bringing home work, I amnot doing my job.’ That said a lot.

Sanjay Singh, (Tata Services): Well, all along we have been talking about thedelivery system and we are saying that the delivery system is clogged, it isinefficient, unproductive, and the money collected by the government is notbeing able to be spent properly. So my question was that instead of paying 3%to the government as education cess, if the government was to allow us arebate instead of 3%, the amount collected would exactly be the same 15,000crores. But if that money was to be spent, not through the delivery system ofthe government but through the delivery system of the NGOs who are involvedin the mission of education, then the quality of expenditure would be muchbetter.

Jamshyd N Godrej: There have been a bunch of questions about the role ofteaching divinity or godliness and cleanliness and those type of issues inschool, you know, that the curriculum has to be lot more wider and inclusive,if you are going to be able to give a broad level of education at the primarylevel. There is a comment from Mrs Prasanna from Coimbatore, saying weneed to improve culture and basically how do we improve culture amongstudents?

There’s is a comment and a question about how does education expand itsexternalities in the sense that, can you draw from successful models in business,whether it is telecommunications or public transport etc.? How can educationexpand to understand some of the good things that have happened there andbring that into education, though it is sort of broadening the area of education?

There are quite a large number of comments and questions which have to dowith not just quality but accountability about how to ensure that, the teachersactually teach, something which we discussed a little earlier and there are alsosome comments about competition and so-called unhealthy competition ineducation. So there are a bunch of questions and comments to do with that.I think we have covered a very wide range of areas.

Rukmini: I am from Pratham. I don’t know if there is anybody here from

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Bihar. But I wanted to highlight that there are times when opportunities openup, when lot of rapid change can happen, in which if people join in the changecan be even more rapid. And I want to highlight the case of Bihar. Because,in Bihar, I think, especially in the field of primary education the last two yearshave been unprecedented. Bihar has a huge backlog of lack of teachers, lackof classrooms and many other kinds of deprivations. And I think a very focused,targeted approach of dealing with these issues is visible in Bihar today. Iwould also like to add on behalf of other people working in Bihar and someother states, like Mr Vijay Bhaskar spoke, I think government too is very opento partnerships in the last couple of years than perhaps it has been before. SoI don’t know how many industrialists work in Bihar but I would suggest thatthere are states in which a lot of work is done by government for some reason.If we work together I think we can move the country much faster than perhapswe feel it is moving.

Santosh Kumar Singh: I have to respond to this. I am from Bihar and I wasamazed to read in Times of India 2 / 3 days back that the average, you know,large number of teachers in primary school, Bihar are not even 10th pass. AndI would also like to bring your attention to the fact that recruitments have beendone in Bihar and I can give you first hand account of that. I am aware thatthe party workers have been recruited and they are not teachers at all. Just tooblige the party men or the caste men these recruitments have been completefarce. What kind of education we are talking about when we are talking aboutcollaborating with the state? And so that is very important.

Rakesh: I am from Chandigarh. This observation is based on the field workthat I did in the hills of Himachal Pradesh. Half the year round, the schoolbuilding infrastructure is used for all the other purposes like for election,immunization programmes and teachers are assigned different duties ratherthan teach. So we have to be very careful that a teacher is meant to teach andnot to perform other governmental duties. This is very chronic, this issymptomatic and more so in the hill state there is only one teacher, in theseschools of 50 students. Now mid-day meal scheme is working at two levels.It also brings the children to school, but it also prevents the teacher fromteaching them. Because if you just have one teacher in the school in the hillswhere they can’t ferry the gas cylinder the teacher goes to the forest to cut thewoods, make the meal, and as there is always the pressure, that the mid-daymeal scheme should be running, I think the government is very bullish on two

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accounts – one, forcing the mid-day meal schemes not on the kids but on theschool teachers to cook rather than teach and secondly, the use of educationalinfrastructure for all other purposes rather than teaching.

Vijendra Pal Singh: I am a Member of Parliament from Rajasthan and havebeen in politics for last 30 years. In rural education and the system one of thebiggest problem is the transfers of the teachers. The dedication and themotivation is not there because of the transfer policy. Every teacher wants toget home to his village, they do not seem to want to teach anywhere else. Thatis the big issue and I think that has been the issue everywhere in most of thestates. This issue has been there for such a long time, every teacher wants toget home and the money that they are getting, now they are getting a lot ofmoney because in rural India they do not have the capacity to spend that andthey want to do a side business along with the teaching. And that is a big, bigproblem. The mid-day meal in Rajasthan has been very, very successful andwe have been able to retain the pupils because of the mid-day meal.

Amit Kaushik: I work with the SRA Foundation. I would just like to comeback to the big picture since we are talking about the Right to Education -Actions Now. Professor Sen highlighted the importance of public institutionsdelivering education and primary health and the fact that nowhere in the worldhas education been universalised without government, without state schools.So creating a parallel infrastructure through private intervention is not goingto work beyond a certain extent. That is clearly the message. The trouble isthat in our country the constitution says that education is a fundamental rightbut the amendment also says that this shall come into force from such date asthe government shall notify. The government hasn’t notified it yet. There is nofollow-up legislation, there is no regulatory framework, there is no legalframework to make sure that this right shall be delivered. My question is thatwhat is it collectively the private sector can do to push the government towardsenacting or towards putting in place such a regulatory framework.

Sugata Bose, (Professor of History, Harvard and Director, The South AsiaInitiative): Just wanted to reiterate the comment that was made about the bigpicture just a little while ago. The government will win some applause todayfor announcing dramatic increases in allocation for education in the 11th plan.But the problem is that, you know, the constitutional amendment was passedin the life of the earlier Lok Sabha, the 13th Lok Sabha, the 14th Lok Sabha

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is in its 4th year and the enabling legislation on right to education has not yetbeen passed and there was a so-called model bill that was circulated by thecentre to all of the states, there have been comments on it, and now apparentlythe centre is saying if an agreed bill cannot be passed by the different statesthen maybe the centre will legislate. And since so many people involved inprimary education from all fields are gathered here, I think it would be a verygood idea to send the message from this meeting that the government shouldnot dilly-dally with this any further. I know that the problems of the primaryeducation bill will not be solved through legislation alone but I think it sendsa very bad signal about what urgency the government considers this challengeof primary education. So, I think we have learnt a lot about the actualexperiences at the level of elementary education from so many teachers andso on but, I think, on this broad policy question too I think a message oughtto go out from this meeting.

Amartya Sen: Well, this has been a very exciting discussion. There is no wayI can respond to all the points that they want me to…such a wonderful andbroad ranging discussion. I think one thing is also being said is how diversethe problems are of school education that we face.

The very different types of challenges depending on where you are , what typeof school, where the kids are coming from, what type of institutional supportyou have and so forth. This is all part of the picture. But I am also happy weare also discussing, I think, what you mentioned as the big picture as opposedto the small picture. And I think we have to make a distinction. I agree by theway with Sugata and Anil Bordia that the big picture includes affirmation ofyour right to education in a rapid way. I mean what has happened is that it ispart of directive principles anyway, the Supreme Court made some judgementswhich were favourable to broader interpretation but it was found out thatlegislations have come in but as Sugata Bose pointed out it has not really beencarried out by the present parliament. We are still running what was done inthe previous parliament and that is really very considerably behind. So I thinkI would add my voice to that certainly but whether this is a kind of forum thatcan pass a resolution, I don’t know, that I leave Jamshyd to decide.

I think, what we have to do is, bearing in mind the diversity of the problemthat we face we have to see that the solutions would and the priorities woulddiffer. Let us just take the very first observation which was done by Anu Agha

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and I think quite rightly she pointed out education is more than literacy. Thatis exactly right. And at some level that is very important and going back allthe way the most basic schooling that is important. And yet, our ability to dealwith it as she described what her organization is doing and I wish that couldbe said all over the country but it is not going to be. So we have to but thatdoes not mean that we are going decry it because whatever is being achievedis being achieved. I think it is really very important when the best could bepursued and at the same time important not to see the best as an enemy of thegood when they are dealing with much more elementary basic problems.

I ought to say in favour of literacy there is a lot of empirical work to indicatethat even though literacy is not the same thing, education by itself it doesmake a big difference. For example Bangladesh’s studies about women’s rights,it certainly shows the ability of the wife to read, read and write, just as thelegislation says makes a difference. Because it so happens that the Bangladeshiconstitution and the legal system gives you many more rights than are exercised.So say the fact that the organisation that Salma Sobhan started which isconcerned with women’s rights. They focus, very much, among other thingson literacy because just being able to read makes a difference. And oddlyenough that fertility correlation that I was mentioning that Jean Dreze andMamta Murty found is a correlation with literacy, female literacy. So actuallyfemale literacy has its own effect because it allows you to communicate withothers, makes a difference. So we mustn’t decry that and yet, I know it is right,that education is more than that. We have to bring in, bear in mind both thesestories.

I think, I was pointedly asked about NGOs that. I am of course favourablydisposed to NGOs; I have been privileged for 3 years to be formally the headof Oxfam as President of Oxfam. Lot of Oxfam’s efforts have gone intoeducation. I think again given the diversity of problems the role of the NGOswill remain very large and, yet, the fact is that there is no way you can coverthe whole of the population with the NGOs. First of all they are driven bywhat we can do. On the other hand there is the need for someone to see whatis happening for the totality of the country. The numbers that emerge are solarge, a big lot at school who are either not enrolled, or lot more likelyenrolled but never showed up. The school authorities always have a big incentiveto pick the largest number of enrolment because that is how success is judgedand from that in fact grants depend. There is built-in bias in enrolment numbers.

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Whereas the information that we happened to get from say census, I think youmentioned that and there is a question of some errors in statistical data, butsampling errors and non-sampling errors. The sampling errors could be far beoutweighed by non-sampling errors when you are doing a sampler. So we haveto use both types of information. The right way to do it with education is notto rely on the Ministry of Education statistics, which are by and large theworst of them.

‘Today did your children go to school?’ and we get information on that, getthe reason right. And then there is the National Sample Survey which is doneat a different level. Small sample on the other hand extremely well detailedthing and that gives you another kind of picture. I remember living in Delhi,in ’68, I remember taking my child who was four and a half to school and thekind of anxieties that the academic families had that the child was growing upand still not doing well, not going to a good school and so on. I still think anew school that had started with a new Head, who was a psychologist and hewas going to change the content of education and there was a little pamphletthat he got saying innovation was the most important and one of the innovationwas the student motivation, and the ability to communicate. So I rememberstanding with my daughter, she is now actually, editor for a little magazine,but at that time she was a little over four or four and a half, I think, and therewe stood in the queue and there was a huge interview and the interview linecame down this fourth, third floor and all through the garden, I was in thegarden, and gradually moved up after three hours and there was an interviewconsisting of about one minute where my daughter was asked I think thegentleman who was actually a well-trained psychologist, picked up a colourpencil and asked her what was the colour of the pencil and she looked as ifshe was being led into a trap, so she said nothing, and then the teacher, theheadmaster picked up another pencil a blue one and said then what is thecolour of this pencil? And again a complete non-reply after which the headmaster told me Professor Sen I will let you know the result of the interviewby letter. As we were coming down the step my daughter asked me in Bengali,of course, saying, what is the matter with this guy, why were they asking sillyquestions? Is he colour blind? So I think information gathering is a very hardprocess and to interpret the data we get may be even more tricky.

There was a question about English medium. See I was trained entirely inBengali medium, English was in fact my third language, my second language

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being Sanskrit; in fact my grandfather showed the same anxiety when I wasreaching five, that I hadn’t yet mastered Sanskrit as I was immediatelydispatched in that direction. But actually, that is something that has reallyhelped me over the years. I think you are quite right. Quite often thecommunication in mother tongue is much easier. On the other hand one of thethings that happened is, that was the big thing after independence and nothingis stated more clearly than the position in West Bengal, where it went verymuch in the mother tongue direction but since over the time English hasbecome such a big way of getting a job that all the students soon demandedEnglish medium and then now of course the government is changing its policy..And I think the room for both English as well as mother tongue education willremain. I think it is a question of finding, seeking the type of instruction andthe medium of instruction that would suit best the need in the country. Mostof the people in India are not taught in English of course, they are taught intheir mother tongue. So it is a question of seeing which way the demand forthe English comes, why it comes, but with this message - there is no way youcan legislate out demand for English, if that were to get you a job. So one hasto be in addition to motivation, we need realism about understanding what isit that you want.

Now I think I can go on there are so many questions - 15; there was a veryinteresting comment about American schools not doing home work and Indianchildren doing a lot and the English come somewhere in between. I think it’svery remarkable the American kids often don’t do it. But I have to say alsothat when my children after spending a few months in India with me and goingto a local school, went back to England, and while there were so many negativethings said about India, I ought to mention that, that returning to England theyfelt that they were well ahead of their class in terms of age. And that happenedagain when we moved to America from England. Because again in terms ofage group, they were well ahead of the class. So I think it’s entirely admirablethat American kids don’t do home work but the fact is that it is not the casethat there is absolutely no reward, I think the Indian system drives peoplemuch more. And that is certainly true. But on the other hand, there is, it ispossible that the American system does not drive them sufficiently hard. Wehave to look at that problem. But the home work problem, immediately andI am delighted you raised that question raises another issue. Because the homework cannot be assisted by parent in huge number of cases because the childis first generation literate, you have to rely entirely on instruction they get in

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school. So again depending on what kind of kids they are, middle class parents,educated and possibly brilliant therein you will get an enormous amount ofassistance that can come to the kid. In other cases you’ll be completely wrongto rely on it. So the recognition of the diversity of the problem is a very centralpart of our exercise.

It’s not the case that the teachers lack motivation in India. No. I don’t believethat that is indeed the case. I think motivation is very widespread in India. Imean education has been very old tradition for our country, which emergedinto independence with 12% literacy. So it is a myth that parents don’t wantto send their children to KG, we have never been able to confirm this on thebasis of any study. They are very keen on that, provided they feel secure aboutchildren, not one teacher school where you wouldn’t know whether youryoung girl is taken care of and so on. Similarly I think the motivation of theteachers is also very much there it is the system which requires fixing. Thereis no question about that. And that is why we need the cooperation of allorganizations including unions which can play a huge part in that. But themotivation is just a matter, it’s not a genetic factor, it’s not that you aregenetically predisposed to have educational motivation or you are not. I think,people, it depends on how it emerges, how a discussion proceeds, how youcan inspire them into thinking about this question.

And I think we have developed, we all do recognize some of the positivethings we have since the general panel of discussion has been so negative thatit is useful to tell ourselves that we are not dealing with a situation that isabsolutely a kind of a desert of nastiness and failure. It’s not like that at all.My wife who is English is always surprised wherever we go, we go to anylocal fair to find little mathematical puzzle books for children. Now this is nota standard way of amusing kids by bringing home a mathematical puzzle bookbut it’s a long tradition. In fact Vijayabhaskara’s namesake, Bhaskara II, whenin his book on Leelavati, which is dedicated to his daughter, Leelavati was thename of the daughter, there are two interpretations of that book’s title, but it’sall about teaching maths and Leelavati. And it’s all addressed to Leelavati. Oh,Leelavati this and Oh, Leelavati that. A question and then answer, a lot ofmathematical things come there, including the Thielen equation. I think thefirst statement in the world of Thielen equation is a conversation with Leelavatibut initially quite interesting Bhaskar is motivating his daughter by saying youwill be very popular if you learn the mathematical puzzles, if you go to parties

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and you can present these mathematical puzzles. I wasn’t certain that Bhaskarwas giving very good advice to Leelavati on that subject. But it is interestingthat that is the case. And we all also often ignore how counting-wise, I mean,how regressive, it looked to me when I first arrived in England and I foundthat people counted one, two, three, four, five since I was used to counting likethat (showing the line breaks in each finger) and there are twenty of thesebreaks in the hand and then if you put a decimal position that’s twenty, thenext is forty, the next is sixty, you have for 400 numbers that by one gestureyou can emphasize and you can do the counting you want to. Now I rememberhaving to explain to my secretary in London School of Economics as to whatthe hell I was doing while I was going on like that. But I think it is not entirelydevoid of merit that we have taken on fairly complicated problems. There arevery positive things we ought to think about and draw on. They also indicate,incidentally, that there are challenges which if met could produce fantasticresults. I mean this we already know that Indian education is so uneven andI am delighted that this inequality question came up again and again, in thisdiscussion. And those who were benefited from good education it is quiteextraordinary how well they do. And that indicates what everyone could do.

If you think about higher education it’s actually something like 5 to 7 % ofthe population who are actually doing excellently but are not a fair share ofthe whole population. I think we can perform extraordinarily better than this.We have a long tradition in emphasizing education preceding here. Three ofus here were in a meeting in Tokyo, Professor Bose, Dr Rajan and myself. Iam chairing this committee on Nalanda and since Bihar came up I want tomention that this was the first leading global university and in Bihar it beganin the 5th century, it died in the 12th century just about the time when OxfordUniversity was being founded. At it’s peak it had 10,000 students, it taught notonly Buddhist studies and Sanskrit, which of course they excelled in but alsoMaths, medical sciences and public health care. Now if you take tradition andwe are trying to revive that in way. This is an initiative jointly by Japan, India,China and Singapore, we can include the Koreans and Thais also because theywere involved too. I think we would be right in interpreting the revival ofNalanda as not just an ancient site, because when they did medicine and mathsof that period they were being contemporary. So we will have in the Nalandaif our recommendations are accepted, we have been working on that, we willhave in addition to Sanskrit and Buddhist studies we will have mathematicsof course. But we will also add Business Studies and so on, because that’scontemporary and that was what Nalanda was.

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Now that’s a huge tradition and again a part of the country which is oftentalked about to be problematic and somebody responded to the Bihar thing bypointing out that this it is terrible there and maybe there is truth in that picturetoo. But it is the diversity and nothing brings out the diversity as sharply asBihar itself as been having some of the best examples of outstanding historyof education and yet having such adversity right now. So I think it is a questionof whether we feel that these are problems that we can engage in, we have todistinguish between the big picture and the small picture, not let the bigpicture be lost in the story of the small picture but the small picture is alsoimportant.

Diversity being what it is, we have to recognise that the solution will bestocked at very different levels across. But it is also very important to demandthe big things that we have to have. I think to say that okay, the governmentdid not do it, the public education need not make everyone literate, privateeducation, NGOs etc. would do it; now they could make a contribution butthat primary function cannot be taken away from the state. That has happenedin no successful country of literacy. It is one of the subjects even Lee KuanYew said and I would agree with the Vietnamese Communist Party leader also,namely that public schools are absolutely essential in getting people educatedand getting to universal literacy. But the positive side is that if we succeed indoing that and right to education would be only one of the ways. The legislationis important but there are so many other initiatives that I am very keen on notonly more public resources going into this but also developing, not just cryingabout accountability, but developing a system through which we can encourageaccountability, we need that system and we need the cooperation of the differentgroups.

I come back to the theme of my talk that we need to address the resourceproblem but we also need organisational reform and that has to pay attentionto the needs, the diversity thereof as well as the incentive structure and weneed the cooperation of various organisations, CII is only one of them, that’sone end. The other end, the unions and the trade unions generally. And I thinkit is that combination on which our future depends and it could be with anyluck and effort a very bright future.

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Chapter 5

HOW ABOUT A TWELVE YEAR OLD TEACHER

Time binds everything in life and more so the proceedings of a seminar. Thischapter brings to you the ideas/concerns of those who sent in their little noteand did not claim time at the seminar as such. Most of them are teacherswhose inputs address their day to day concerns in a school. Beginning withthe B.Ed curriculum, teachers say many things need revamping and more oftechnology has to be incorporated. ‘We have to take bold steps if we are toshake off the factors inhibiting development’. Teachers also spoke of someregular problems in campus management. Some interesting ideas have emerged:one says a motivated 12 year old makes a better teacher than a disinterestedB.Ed., another says learning by rote should be discouraged many say girl’seducation should be paid more attention to, one opinion is that communityparticipation should be increased by hundred percent and yet another participantasks what is the vision we have for education? An interesting suggestion askswhether all the organizations doing exemplary work in primary education canbe networked for better and more effective delivery. A student doing herdoctoral research has also analyzed why we are where we are.

The second section has two inputs on the Right to Education Bill. The Billitself is given in Annexure 2. Leading you then, into this room of differentpeople, diverse experiences, varied problems with unique solutions, comesthis section.

Teachers write:

Divya Joshi, (DAV): The following needs to be addressed to make anymeaningful change in the school scenario: Infrastructure development, Capacitybuilding of staff, e learning, reforms in the quality of school learning, innovationand creativity in school education, an innovative curriculum for different areassuch as mathematics, languages, sciences and new areas such as environmentalawareness, social issues and health-care, safety and security of children,adolescent education, value oriented education, peace education, educationaland literacy projects for underprivileged children in India, privatization ofschool education in India, globalization and school education, corporatepartnership and mentoring, budget allocation for school education, inclusiveeducation, accreditation and resource mobilization.

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Sadhana Bhalla, (Mira Model School): The main concerns which need tobe addressed are the language problem, development of minimum commonsyllabus, weightage to non-formal education, challenge of numbers in theclass and heterogeneity, inclusive education specially given the size of theclassrooms, assessment, specially monitoring individual students, learning andachievement, understanding today’s learner, teaching English at home, classroommanagement, enhancing students’ motivation to learn, developing effectivelong and short-term training programme pertaining to curriculum and learningpractices.

Chitra Nakra, (Ved Vyasa DAV Public School): Education is a necessityfor all and not just a luxury for those who can afford it. A solid educationalspine is required to be able to stand the test of time. Primary education is amust for all children. That is why the country is making strenuous efforts toachieve the targets of free and compulsory education for all children from theage of 6 to 14. It is the minimum education that all children must have. In thesedays of knowledge explosion nobody can afford to be illiterate and ignorant.Moreover education is the key to breaking the vicious cycle of poverty.

Education is largely perceived as urban-centric. The quality difference in primaryeducation between the urban and rural areas results in fewer opportunities forrural students in the higher education stream. Distances between schools andstudents are high in certain states, which reflect in the educational backwardnessof the states. The availability of trained teachers in the rural areas is alsolimited.

The current system emphasizes teaching by rote. The students are less exposedto experimental learning. This curtails the innate spirit of the children to learnthrough experiments and practical situations.

Due to poor infrastructure of school, single classroom schools, schools lackingclass rooms, children drop out before completing five years of primary schooland many of those who stay on, learn little.

A major concern is the gender and caste wise disparity in literacy. Girls facemany obstacles in pursuing education in rural areas and are often expected tomake a crucial contribution to household work and child care.

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Overcrowded classrooms, long distances to school, and high student to teacherratios limit access to primary education.

In service education plays a significant role in the professional growth ofteachers. It provides sites of discussion and debates for teachers. They requirefirst hand experience of making programmes themselves in order to developan interest in the new technology. The availability of computers and linkagefacilities remains quite inadequate. Use of e-tools in teacher training institutescan play an important role.

Specific Actions: School schedules to be more flexible, to allow workingchildren the opportunity of both work and study. The curriculum should beoverhauled to encourage learning through experience and not by rote. Theteacher’s role should shift to that of a facilitator.

Designing of special strategies to overcome the barriers and bridge the gapbetween boys and girls like a system of reward and penalty needs to befollowed. Parents sending their girl child for education should be rewarded.While the Education system has undoubtedly undergone significant progress,a lot still needs to be done to enhance the learning of children.

A. N. Pandit, (Godwin Public School, Rohtak Road, Meerut): We areliving in an age of unprecedented change. Today’s technology is becomingoutdated tomorrow. In such a situation school children are bound to be affected.Technological, cultural and social upheavals are radically changing the waywe live, work and learn. So all educationists have to think and visualizeschools for tomorrow to address the changes in the methods of learning of thefuture. The question at this juncture which arises is whether the schools of thefuture will be different from the standard model of today? The answer isn’tsimply that yes the schools will be different but more importantly, they haveto be. The present methodology of learning is largely on content mastering andit’s reproduction in a memory based examination and is merit based on themarks obtained. Schooling is akin to an assembly line production whereby thechildren are missing out on opportunities to explore different ideas and be ableto decide for themselves what they are best at. The system is such where achild has to follow a particular standard or fail otherwise. So whilst lookingfor the best methodology, it is imperative to change our approach towardseducation itself which will perhaps hold a child’s interest, cultivate and nourishit and perhaps provide a greater scope for personal and communal growth.

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Following strategies ought to be used:Shift in the learning paradigm: A student centric approach. Presently theteacher holds centre stage. Teacher talk (TT) dominates 70-80% of the classroomactivities. In the future, the reverse has to be the norm. 80 % of the learningaction should come from students themselves. There will be regular use of thewell – researched and highly effective paradigm of ‘co-operative learning’.Classes would be a place to discuss ideas and education and not parrot concepts.Interaction as a method of teaching has its advantages. It cultivates an interestand provides initiative to the students themselves. Drop out rates can actuallybe controlled if educational institutions understand their students better andaccommodated them.

The question of ‘disciplining’ students: For the comfort of administration ofschool and to make an impression on parents and public, regimentation in thename of discipline can not be permitted. At present, a great deal of coercion,oppression and suppression is being carried out. Practices of teaching shouldbe such that discipline would be shifted inwards in the students. Childpsychology suggests that deviant behaviour is most of the times a result oflack of attention and an inability to express themselves. Creative explorationwith children of different ideas especially those which are in keeping with achild’s age, dominating culture and times would be a necessary tool in helpinga child focus and discipline himself/ herself, for example, KrishnamurthySchools.

Technology in Classroom: We have to soon bring hi-tech options for ourchildren and make sure that technology is used as a channel of education.Virtual classrooms will soon become a reality. In such a changing scenarioteachers have to be trained in various electronic tools to impart better lessons.Presentations and discussions are an important part of promoting interactionin class.

Exchange Initiatives: We have to prepare our children to be responsibleglobal citizens. This notion can take root even if there are exchanges betweenstudents of different regions. Teachers should also be a part of this exchange.The idea is of intensive interaction between students and exposure to thediversities present in our country. Further, it has been felt that there is a gapbetween the methodology of teaching in school and that in universities. Therehas to be interaction between teachers of school and universities to help studentstrain better for further education.

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Rajiv Sharma, (Spring Dale Senior School, Amritsar): We need masseducation programmes to make the large population literate. We need tovocationalize our education to improve the quality of manpower. Industry andinfrastructure should constantly expand to generate employment and wealthwhich leads to improvement in quality of life. Isn’t this formula simple tounderstand and easy to implement? The question is- do we need this model ofprogress? Is this formula suitable for India which consists of diverse culturaland climatic conditions, largely rural based population and a tightening gripof corruption? What vision statement can we make for India say hundred yearsfrom now following the present model of progress? This is what needs to bethought of by the think tanks, intellectuals, policy makers and educationists.More importantly what needs deep thinking is whether this material successoriented model is desirable for human race! Is it leading towards true humandevelopment? Is the quality of life really improving with increase in spendingpower and dependence on gadgets! Are we not over eating Earth’s resources?Are we not growing less and less sensitive to our surroundings which includeour human and natural neighbours? More simply are we not unhappier thanbefore? These questions need to be debated at all forums particularly thoseconcerning education. It is in schools and colleges where minds develop.Whatever the impact of popular society, the role of education in giving directionto human growth can never be undermined. What we are today is the outcomeof how we were brought up and what we will be tomorrow depends on howwe live our present. We need to question the very basic structure of ourprogress model and an educational initiative is definitely basic to such anexercise.

Harjinder Kaur, (B B P S, Modinagar): On deeper analysis in the field ofeducation - policies and implementation procedures to be adopted, to helpincrease the ‘reach’ faster, the most important and major issue which comesto my mind in the present scenario and which is a matter of concern too, isthe drifting away of quality human resource towards other lucrative professions-lucrative from the point of view of financial gains, corporate culture andglobal exposure. Even for technological tools and e-tools, proficient & trainedhuman resource is essential. Where to hire them from?

Besides the comparatively meagre pay-packet what makes teaching job lesslucrative is the very designation attached to it. The designation is not appealingand appears less dignified.

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Most educational institutions these days boast of 90% results, finest and mostelegant infrastructure, technologically advanced environment and so on and soforth. How many such institutions can boast of raising the living standard ofa certain underprivileged section of society through appropriate educationalprogrammes? In fact the mental faculties need to be woken up, revived andtracked.

A child’s mind is very fragile. If their minds are subjected to the right andsmart thoughts throughout, they will in turn rightly embolden the futureprospects of education system which is today concerning most of us. Once thehuman resource is so tracked the rest i.e. policies, e-tools, practices,implementation issues etc. will soon take its place.

Another very important issue- to overhaul B.Ed teaching practice. The outcomeof teaching should be benchmarked rather than observation during course ofteaching.

Adarsh Kohli, (DLDAV, Shalimar Bagh): Education and life are coterminousand inseparable. ‘Primary’ means ‘first’ and thus primary education deals withthe crucial initial phase in children’s growth when their curiosity, socialinteraction skills are developed. The promise and challenge of primary educationhas to mould itself to suit the emerging changes and needs of our time. Sincea variety of activity-based learning tasks need to be incorporated in primaryeducation, the teacher facilitating such stimuli should get enough time. Thisshould be resolved so that they can lay a strong foundation of the basicconcepts in the learners. To facilitate this, the number of concepts introducedshould be streamlined and there should be scope for individual exploration orguided learning. Since the fine nuances of concept-building are vital at thisearly stage, a single teacher proves to be restrictive. Subject teachers onlyshould teach the respective subjects within a uniform syllabi framework anda well-balanced student-teacher ratio.

The examination system should be uniform of all schools with fewer formaltests. There should be more of continuous internal assessment on the basis ofclass activities, oral response, note-book work and other such parameters.Primary education policy should have a provision to accommodate learning atdifferent rates. There should be special sections where the identified slowerstudents should be given the opportunity of learning at a slower pace.

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Parents are an integral part of education system and there must be an increasedinvolvement of parents in their wards’ conceptual, value-based education.

As dissent and discipline take turns to form the wholesome body of education,the school and parents must work in tandem. Though corporal punishment isdrawing much flak, it must be recognized that disciplining the child augmentsthe learning process. In view of this fact, all authority must not be taken awayfrom the teachers. Instead, a clearly defined policy must be worked out anda few select, trained teachers should be designated the disciplinary role.

A sincere implementation of all these aspects will certainly foster the joys oflearning among primary learners and augur well for the future.

Tripti Kochhar, (Chiranjeev Public School): There is no commonality,regarding the curricula, many schools burden the children with a lot of writtentext work, lack of awareness as to at what age writing should begin, fornursery level. No proper admission criteria or assessment and evaluation criteria.

Anita Sharma, (S.D. Public School): How to reduce the burden of the bag,when to introduce the second language, what values to be inculcated at thisstage and how, use of story telling in teaching of various subjects and insensitization towards surroundings.Every child is fond of cartoon/ animation films. What values they are pickingup? Teachers can talk about them in the class to help the kids in analyzingthese characters and to pick the appropriate values.

Anil Virmani, (Virmani Trust): Greater uniformity between the syllabus ofthe State Education Board and the CBSE.

Sunisha Ahuja, (Room to Read India): The definition of “Quality Education”as of now this is quite ambiguously defined and we find a number of schoolsnot having even the basic infrastructure and other inputs that are essential forany quality teaching to take place in the school. The second most importantissue is of accountability of the system. If a child fails is it not the failure ofthe system and therefore the system has to take responsibility to ensure thatthe child is able to meet the curricular goals as are age and grade appropriate.

Dr Alka Muddgal, (Amity Institute of Education): Three points: the focus

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has to be on underprivileged students. What will they do about private schoolswhich charge anything from Rs150-300 in rural areas? There maybe no actualincome in those families. And of course, how to motivate teachers who arepaid Rs2000-3000 for 6-7 hours and the principal is just a puppet in the handsof the management?

R. Arunkant: I think we need to make a paradigm shift in our concept of ateacher in rural areas. An enthusiastic 12 year old interested in teaching,mentoring or motivating 5,6,7 year olds is a better teacher and should be givendue respect. A disinterested demotivated B.Ed is of no use.

Anjali Makhija, (Sehgal Foundation, Gurgaon): Within the broaderperspective, gender inequity in education needs special attention. While boyshave better opportunities and focus provided by the parents, girls are leftbehind in the race. There needs to be concerted effort, campaign, strategiesand empowerment to increase the literacy rate, especially in rural India.

Dr. Chandreyee Das, (Inspiration, Kolkatta): I believe a very crucial inputto ensuring quality education (added with quantity) is COMMUNITYEMPOWERMENT which traverses the following stages: 1) Access: everycommunity has access to a community centre, 2) Priority: the communitybelieves that education is priority 3) Participation: actively participates in thedelivery process, and 4) Control: is involved in decision making.

Wg. Cmdr C.K.Lowe, (Foresight Society of Human Resources andDevelopment): There are a number of organizations doing laudable work inthe field of quality education, is there any move to bring them under oneumbrella to work jointly by sharing knowledge and experiences to achieve thecommon goal and improve overall efficiency, instead of working individuallyfor one upmanship?

Lekha Srivastava, (India Sponsor Foundation): As a part of its “GettingGirls to School Initiative,” ISF conducted a survey in 2006 on Status ofChildren’s Education of 18,414 households in Delhi’s underprivileged areas.Through this and our experience on working with educational issues, specificallygirls’ education, we would like to point out some critical areas of concern withrespect to primary education. The Right to Education is every child’s right andthe Indian Government has made it a fundamental right through the 86th

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Amendment Act to the Constitution in 2002. For the equitable development ofthe nation, it is imperative that all children receive quality education in school.Since the government school systems have the maximum outreach to thechildren of the country and poor parents can only afford to send their childrento government schools, the step motherly treatment being meted out to thepublic schooling system of the nation needs to be changed.

The quality of education being offered in government schools is an area thatneeds policy level intervention. It acts as a major deterrent to children forenrolling and is also a big reason for children dropping out of school. It hasan adverse impact on both, the parents and the children themselves. The issueof quality education is a multi faceted one, including aspects of infrastructure,teachers capacities, student –teacher ratio, etc.

Through a consultation process conducted with approximately 312 children, a‘Children’s Charter’ was brought out giving the children’s perspectives onwhat they expect out of their schools. Most of the points in this charter relatedto quality issues, like: Teachers actually teaching in the class, treating childrenwith love and respect, Provision of basic facilities like drinking water, electricityand operational, clean and maintained toilets in the schools, getting books ontime. Through these revelations in the charter it was clear that these issuesneed immediate corrective action, specifically in the following aspects: Teachersbeing weighed down with many other non teaching responsibilities like electionduty, surveys, etc. The best solution to this is to limit the responsibilities ofthe teachers to only teaching and student related activities. There is a shortageof teachers in many schools as the vacancies do not get filled and there is alsooverburdening of infrastructure in some schools. Thus we need additionalteachers and more schools in areas with an adverse teacher-student ratio.Some other findings of the survey which are a reflection of the parents’perspectives are given below: Children drop out due to ‘lack of interest instudies.’ As a result the parents do not wish to send them to school as they feelit is a waste of time and they would rather involve the children in other moreproductive activities like sibling care and supplementing the family income.The situation affects the girls more adversely than the boys as their educationis usually the last priority in poor households. This lack of interest happensdue to boring classroom methodology and poor educational quality. Thecapacities of the teachers need to be worked upon here. This can be done byintegrating ICTs into education. The teachers’ training and curriculum

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development could be done through designing of the curriculum with the helpof technologies for teacher training.

Curriculum design should be done on the basis of instructional design ande-learning can also be promoted. Another issue is the entire process of admissionitself, which needs to be made easier, less hostile and more parents friendly.In our work, we have seen that many parents need assistance during the entireadmission process as they are ill treated by the schools, sent back forunnecessary documentation and in some cases denied admission on flimsygrounds. It was observed that almost 50% of the out of school children in thecapital were from the minority community. This is an alarming statistic. ThroughFocus Group Discussions (FGDs) conducted in the Muslim dominated areas,it was also seen that there is a general apathy towards formal education;especially for girls. The ones who are lucky enough to attend school are pulledout as soon as they reach puberty and very few girls actually manage to finishtheir schooling. The government needs to concentrate more on education forthis segment. In the urban context, the issue of migration came out to beanother strong reason for drop outs of children. The seasonal migration leadsto a lot of children dropping out of school. These children either do not goback to school on coming back from the villages or are denied readmissiondue to delayed return. In some cases they also drop out as they are unable tocope with the curriculum. Some accelerated learning modules can be in builtinto the teaching techniques to cope with these cases. For the others thereadmission process into the schools needs to be made clearer and more flexible.

In conclusion, we need to ensure that the basic facilities that go into makinga good school are being provided and that the process of schooling is childfriendly.

STUDENTS WRITE:

S. Manohari Velamati, (PhD Student (Final year), Jawaharlal NehruUniversity): By including the fundamental right to free and compulsoryeducation in our Constitution, the thrust has been much renewed again on oneof the vital sectors determining India’s development. To implement this, SarvaSiksha Abhiyan, a promising programme to achieve universalization ofelementary education by 2010 has been brought out. With hardly three yearsaway to realize its goal, this programme hasn’t accomplished much of what itpromised.

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Over the years, Indian policy makers are well aware of the crucial issuesinvolved in the education sector while drafting many of its programmes. It isapparent from some of the major features of SSA like community ownershipand monitoring; focus on quality and education of girl child etc. Then, whatwent wrong with the initiatives undertaken? Is ‘inefficient implementation’again the blaming factor?

In India, which is a rural dominated society, many people haven’t stillunderstood the necessity and significance of education in shaping one’s progressand growth which thereby can contribute to national development and prosperity.This non realization of the importance of education among the masses is amajor factor effecting extensive school dropout rate at elementary level itself.If the school environment is not favourable enough for a child to continue his/her education, it can easily encourage them to skip the school. Poorinfrastructure; disinteresting methods of teaching and absence of motivationaltechniques by the teachers are some of the contributing factors which are notnew and have been mentioned by umpteen number of studies till now.

But, to bring a sustainable change in the education sector, the pressure has tobe laid on creating awareness among the general masses and the intensivecampaign programmes should focus on bringing attitudinal transformation andshould inculcate more spirit and drive among them to educate themselves andthe family. Additionally, rational utilization of allotted resources and strivingtowards the goals with genuine commitment can only bring success toeducational programmes.

The economic condition is another compelling factor. Expenses to meet thebasic educational requirements including uniform, books and transport arealso the issues of concern for a poor family, for which even one meal a dayis a struggle. They can afford to skip feeding the brain through education. But,it is inevitable to feed their stomachs and this is coercing even the young childto work. As education, employment and many social evils in our society areall influenced by the vicious circle of poverty, addressing each issue individuallynever could change the situation in India.

Moreover, many psychological studies reveal that a human brain can beconditioned easily below 14 years of age. Today’s competitive world addspressure on the student’s mind to achieve numerical growth rather than mentalgrowth. Imparting values and morals for the overall development of a child

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has been pushed to a corner at the basic level of schooling itself. The presentgeneration of students in school is denied “the right to attain the right education”.This aggressive nature of contemporary school education is already showingextreme results as reflected in the materialistic attitude of many younggeneration Indians.

Though the school children are enthusiastic to broaden their knowledge onmany social and general issues of their concern, no efforts have been made toaddress such interests in many of the schools. The totally academic andimpractical characteristic of school education should be replaced by morepragmatic and interesting approach towards learning. Providing recreationfacilities; motivating students towards seeking knowledge rather than ranksand enhancing overall personality development of school children are theneeds of the hour. Instructing vocational skills and technical knowledge atsecondary level of school education can produce more technical personnel andthe demand-supply proportion of such staff should be taken care.

Many scholars till date lamented on the India’s negligible share of GDP in theeducation sector in its annual budget, while many countries including Japanand Korea invested at least 18% of its share towards education. With theexplosion of population growth in India, which is proving detrimental tocountry’s development, if the emphasis is laid on the human resourcedevelopment, the potential of one billion Indians can cumulatively make gloriousimpact on the economy not only nationally but also internationally. When theeducation is spread to all with proper avenues for their growth, social evilsand other economic problems fastened to this issue will be faded in the longerrun. A nation with a scientific outlook should emerge in the end.

Right to Education Bill

Anil Bordia, (Foundation for Education & Development): Need for clarityin policy. The constitutional amendment conferring right to education is flawedin 3 important ways:

Exclusion of 3-6 age group as well as 14-16 age group;

It compels children to receive education; this is a defective formulation of aright because law cannot compel citizens to exercise rights;

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In regard to quality of education the amendment leaves says: “as the state maydetermine”.

Lack of policy clarity is coming in the way not only of implementation ofRight to Education but is preventing delivery of good quality elementaryeducation to all children of the country. There are the following aspects of thematter:

Our country has not had an Education Policy since 1986 (with minor revisionin 1992). That policy had asked for review every 5 years. No review has takenplace since 1992. Meanwhile, radical changes have occurred internationallyand within our country. With changes in government taking place at the centreand in the states, the education policy has acquired more and more distortions.If right to education is to be implemented in a serious manner, there is noescape from central legislation. This was also the recommendation of acommittee of CABE under the chairmanship of Shri Kapil Sibbal. However,there has been re-thinking since then and the matter is with a high level group.That group seems to be vacillating. Only about 1/3 of the country seems tohave achieved universal access to elementary education. Only central legislationwith strong follow-up and adequate financial support will enable the countryto overcome the current stagnation.

Improvement in quality and efficiency of education will make all the difference.Quality is a multi- faceted issue – it includes educational infrastructure,adequacy and competence of teachers, rigorous implementation of NationalCurriculum Framework 2005 with adequate attention to teaching of Englishand radical reform of management. NGOs and people in trade and industryhaving capability and willingness to take care of school system in well definedareas should be enabled to take this responsibility, provided it has done in aspirit of genuine philanthropy.

Meenakshi Gandotra, (Jaswant Modern Sr. Secondary School): The Rightto Education Bill, 2005 has been drafted after the Honourable Supreme Court’sdirective to successive governments to ensure compulsory education to allyoung citizens of India. While politicians label it ‘revolutionary’ legislation,experts feel that the draft bill on the fundamental Right to Education ignoresimportant issues, such as education for children below 6 and above 14. It alsodilutes the meaning of ‘rights’, leaving the door open for the government to

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not meet its obligations. The Bill, to quote briefly, envisions the following:

Children in the 6-14 age group will enjoy the fundamental right to freeeducation;

A body called the National Commission of Elementary Education, constitutedby the Central Government, will be set up to monitor the implementation ofthe act and issue directions regarding the act’s implementation to the authorities,among other things;

The state will ensure that within three years, every child will have a schoolin his or her neighbourhood;

The “appropriate government shall endeavour to provide for pre-schooleducation” in the state; and

It is the responsibility of the parents or the guardians to enrol children as soonthey reach the age of six to a school.

Well, easier said than done! We may legislate, litigate and debate endlessly butthe fact remains that the means to educate scores of children who do not enrolin schools to due lack of access to education or poverty are just not there withcivil society. So how do we ensure implementation matches the intent of theRight to Education Bill? Before we delve into this aspect, let me remind youof the words of the famous teacher Jean Piaget, who said that, “The principalgoal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who arecapable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations havedone; men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers, who canbe critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered.” This, to medefines the concept of education for the future and our so-called establishedinstitutions also need to derive something of value from this quotation.

If the union government focuses on the existing government infrastructure oneducation developed by the various states, protects it from becoming thepoliticians’ playground and implements a focused policy of equipping theseinstitutions with e-tools and e-enabled staff, we may find ourselves in a betterposition to bring education closer to the millions of children who are deprivedof it.

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We are all aware that e-technologies are vastly more affordable and with thegovernment’s policy for setting up e-kiosks in all remote parts of the country,we can also dream of e-technology bridging the digital divide very soon. Nowwhat needs to be done is to develop content for education. And, it is here thatwe need a major departure from our Syllabus based approach. We must makemassive preparations right now, we can’t just wait until it happens. What skillswill the graduating classes of the early 21st Century need to thrive in thisenvironment of accelerating technologically driven change? While developingcontent we must keep in mind the following:

In today’s world, young adults are required to think on their feet, solve problemsindependently and produce results. First, students should be presented withreal-life problems suitable for their level of development and understanding.Most importantly, students should be equipped with a systematic, structuredprocess to follow that will enable them to successfully solve problems,regardless of the content area.

Communication skills are vital for survival in the 21st Century. Reading andwriting are the 2 essential communication skills that have long been thecornerstone of the traditional education system. In today’s emergingCommunication Age, being able to speak and listen are just as important, ifnot more so. Technical reading and writing involves a fundamentally differentcognitive process that requires a very different set of skills than those used forliterary reading and writing. Literary reading as compared to technical readingis the difference between reading a novel or poem and reading a computerscreen or technical manual. Given the amount of technology in our world,technical reading and writing has become a process skill that everyone shouldmaster. Applied technical reasoning skills will be essential to prepare for ourincreasingly technological world. The new age expects us to acquire a completeset of information literacy skills to access, analyze, authenticate, and apply theinformation so that we can personalize it into useful knowledge. It is criticalthat we equip students with these skills. There is a widespread misconceptionthat technology is a subject, that technology is a curriculum. This is absolutelywrong. Learning technology is not about teaching Microsoft Word, Adobe orLinux. It is not even about the cards, cables, RAM or ROM, input or outputissues that fascinate many. What it is really about is using technology as a toolto help us be more productive. First and foremost, teaching students how tobe independent will be a critical outcome that must guide educators as they

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prepare students for the rest of their lives. People who work as entrepreneursmust learn how to be self-motivators, self-learners, and self-assessors. Theywill need to learn about such things as goal setting, time management, stressmanagement, teamwork, self-marketing, presentation making, financialmanagement, negotiation skills and 21st Century communications skills. Wewill have to make a huge shift in emphasis in how and what we teach ourstudents to make our instruction relevant in the modern, competitive world ofpowerful small business. As a result of these many changes, everyone willneed to learn to live life like a quarterback and anticipate the future. We willneed to develop strategies for passing this important mind set skill on to ourstudents. Developing their intuition about where things are going will becritical, because learning will not only be about learning new skills; it willalso be about learning to let go of old skills that no longer work.

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Chapter 6

Pointers to win the marathon cum steeple-chase…WHAT CAN CORPORATES DO?

A couple of days prior to the seminar, Tarun Das, Chief Mentor, CII, hadpublished an article in The Economic Times. He began with talking of howthe government was always looked at for leadership and also always blamedfor not being effective enough. With the recent deregulation and the neweconomic policy of 1991 and the emergence of a strong and competitiveprivate sector he says,

“The private sector is also increasingly engaged in the social sector; be it skilldevelopment, affirmative action, HIV/AIDS, public health, mid-day meals,education and community initiatives- to mention only a few examples. Whilstphilanthropy is not new, the range of social activities has increased enormously.The industry in India has become involved both because of concern for inclusivegrowth as well as enlightened long term self interest. Add to that the fact thatfinancial resources available for social development have multiplied.

The most critical challenge for India is to tackle the issue of elementaryeducation at the grass roots level where the numbers are in millions and theproblems acute… It will not be an exaggeration to say it is a national crisis,however invisible it may be.

Can the corporate sector make a difference, especially a real difference sincethe numbers are very large?

Today the private sector has the consciousness that “inclusive development”is imperative and elementary education is first priority. Corporates also haveorganizational resources available at their disposal thanks to sustained highgrowth and profitability. Individual business leaders also have enormous wealth,so financial resources are not a problem. The corporates are known for theirmanagerial capability, their talent to plan, organize and implement. Putting allthese together, the corporate sector can play a huge role in the field ofelementary education and there is no alternative but for them to do so,supplementing government efforts and resources.

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One area of concern would be domain knowledge of the issues at the grassrootslevel with regard to elementary education especially in rural areas since privatesector, by its very nature is urban-focussed. The question does arise- willarise- whether the urban sector will welcome industry partnership. Handledsensitively and thoughtfully, it should be possible…The rural challenge hasalso to be tackled and this, of course is much much larger because of issuesof access, poverty, infrastructure etc. In both there is only one way…partnership.In taking forward its role and contribution in this field, partnerships withNGO’s will be critical. Ideally a PPP- Public Private Partnership- also involvingthe government at the centre but more so at the state level. In fact at all levels-district, block and panchayat….It is also essential to recognise that there is nosingle formula or solution for the entire country… Going forward therefore,the private sector will need to come into this area much more than it has done.It needs to be clear that this is a marathon cum steeple-chase not a 100-metrerace…If the top 200 corporates partner to support and improve 1,000 schoolseach, 200,000 primary schools will be benefited and millions of childrenwhose futures need to b assured. This is doable. In fact must be done.”

If that is the commitment of the private sector, the government in the eleventhplan has also laid down its plan of action for the next five years. As ProfessorAmartya Sen pointed out and as Mr. Tarun Das has also mentioned, thegovernment’s role in primary education is irreplaceable and all other effortswill supplement and complement it’s efforts and resources.

The Eleventh Plan Document lays down its targets as follows:1. Universal enrolment of 6-14 age group children including the hard to

reach segment.2. Substantial improvement in quality and standards with the ultimate

objective to achieve standards of KV’s under CBSE pattern.3. All gender, social and regional gaps in enrolment to be eliminated by

2011-12.4. One year pre-schools education for children entering primary school.5. Drop-out at primary level to be eliminated and the drop out rate at the

elementary level to be reduced from over 50% to 20% by 2011-12.6. Universalized Mid day meal scheme at elementary level by 2008-097. Universal coverage of ICT at upper primary schools by 2011-128. Significant improvement in learning conditions with emphasis on learning

basic skills, verbal and quantitative.

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9. All EGS centres to be converted into primary schools.10. All state/UT’s to adopt NCERT Quality Monitoring tools11. Strengthened BRC’s/CRC’s (Block and Cluster Resource Centres):one

CRC for every 10 schools and 5 resource teachers per block.

Against that background, the seminar was organized with groups of about tenor twelve participants each. There were twenty such groups. Two groupsdiscussed, independently, one major issue. Their working was structured in thefollowing manner:

• Each group gets one issue• List the possible causes• Identify 3 most important causes• Analyze each cause & list various solutions• Prioritize the solutions• Arrive at a consensus on the 3 most effective solutions• Transfer onto the format provided

Interestingly the issues addressed were very much along the lines of the targetsoutlined by the eleventh plan document. Two groups worked on the issue oflearner-centric education. There was consensus that the syllabus should bechild-centric and able to make the student an “efficient human being.” Itshould be related to practical life instead of making students an instrument ofrote-learning.

The groups came up with the following suggestions:

Issue: Learner-centric education

Over the morning’s discussion, one of the ideas that came up from teachersand educators was that there was no standard or uniform syllabus for childrenacross the country and so how does one measure standards? Or quality for thatmatter. How does one make primary education comparable? So one of thequestions that had to be deliberated upon by this group was whether thereshould be a uniform syllabus across the country. How will the same syllabuswork for informal education? What should be the strategy to deal with them?There is still lot of confusion with regard to the language issue. Though at onelevel, it is recognized that proficiency in the English language has been theone main reason for our participation in the global economy, it is also true in

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rural areas English teachers are difficult to find and that communication wouldbe more complete in the regional language.

Another problem that was discussed by many teachers is that the studentsbelong to different economic and academic levels depending on the family. Asingle class has to cater to all of them. How should they be dealt with? Whatabout non-formal education? How to model the assessment process to judgeexactly how much learning was taking place at each level? One of the surveysof NGO Pratham had confirmed the fear that even though children wereenrolled in schools, their reading writing and arithmetic skills were extremelypoor. There was also another issue raised on how to assess poorly endowedschools. To address all these issues the following exercise was conducted.

1. Uniformity to provide basic guidelines but with a provision ofmodification at the individual level

India is a diverse country and to insist on a uniform syllabus for every childwould make education completely irrelevant. In order to keep it useful tothe child and in order to help the child relate to what he or she is studying,it is necessary to make it as locale-specific as possible. And yet a uniformguideline should be available to chart out the basic topics to be handledand the manner in which it is to be imparted so as to make the educationreceived globally comparable and accepted. The groups felt that “withouta standard target or objective, we can’t achieve the goal of national literacy.But some provisions have to be made for modification in the syllabusaccording to regional/individual requirement.

The Animal School: (A Parable): Once upon a time the animals decided theymust do something decisive to meet the increasing complexity of their society.They held a meeting and finally decided to organize a school. The curriculumconsisted of running, climbing, swimming and flying. Since these were thebasic behaviours of most animals, they decided that all the students shouldtake all the subjects. The duck proved to be excellent at swimming, better infact, than his teacher. He also did well in flying. But he proved to be very poorin running. Since he was poor in this subject, he was made to stay after schoolto practice it and even had to drop swimming in order to get more time inwhich to practice running. He was kept at this poorest subject until his webbedfeet were so badly damaged that he became only average at swimming. But

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average was acceptable in the school, so no body worried about that - exceptthe duck. The rabbit started at the top of her class in running, but finally hada nervous breakdown because of so much make-up time in swimming - asubject she hated. The squirrel was excellent at climbing until he developeda psychological block in flying class, when the teacher insisted he start fromthe ground instead of from the tops of trees. He was kept at attempting to flyuntil he became muscle-bound - and received a C in climbing and a D inrunning. The eagle was the school’s worst discipline problem; in climbingclass, she beat all of the others to the top of the tree used for examinationpurposes in this subject, but she insisted on using her own method of gettingthere. The gophers, of course, stayed out of school and fought the tax leviedfor education because digging was not included in the curriculum. Theyapprenticed their children to the badger and later joined the groundhogs andeventually started a private school offering alternative education.

2. Assessment should be more objective to motivate students to learnconceptual things instead of rote-learning and students as well asteachers both should be assessed under framed structure

Very often students are checked for the “right” answer which is areproduction of the text in the book with even the very same words, includingthe punctuation marks! This needs to be corrected and the teacher has tobe sensitized to understanding that his or her learner should comprehendthe concept, first and foremost. They should be trained to teach their studentsto learn. Learning to learn is the challenge. Their progress should be assessedunder standardized situations with graded tools.

3. Essential infrastructure should be provided to improve the quality ofeducation

As pointed out repeatedly during the seminar, the provision of basic facilitieslike a toilet or classrooms go a long way in improving education.

4. Teaching should be in the medium of mother tongue and English shouldbe taught from primary level

This was a controversial topic for discussion, but the feeling whichdominated was that instruction should be in the local language or the

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mother tongue but teaching of English should be simultaneous and continuousfrom the first days of schooling.

1 Uniformity to provide basic guidelines but with a provision for modificationat the individual level.

2. Assessment should be more objective to motivate students to learnconceptual ideas instead of rote-learning and students as well as teachersboth should be assessed under framed structure

3. Essential infrastructure should be provided to improve quality of education4. Teaching should be in the medium of mother tongue and English should be

taught since primary level.

Issue: Corporate participation

Should the corporate houses be given complete freedom to run elementaryschools with no or minimal fee and with no interventions from any regulatorybody? In addition, what supplementary role can they play with NGO’s, Govt.etc.

The groups identified the causes/needs for this initiative by the corporatesector in the following three points:• Government is not able to deliver consistently• Lack of accountability• Corporate sector considers it to be a social responsibility.• The various contributory factors to the above situation are the huge

population, poverty, diversity on the negative side and availability of humanresources waiting to be made human dividends on the other.

The specific areas where the corporate sector can help were identified as:a) Transportb) Health check-upsc) Lab facilitiesd) Building and equipmente) Teacher training programmesf) Mid day mealsg) Creative education material

Even though so many suggestions and ideas were forthcoming, the generalconsensus was that corporate houses are not yet ready to run schools. They

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had to partner with NGO’s to understand grass root realities and follow somebasic statutory requirements as set out by the government. So the final pointsthat emerged from this discussion were:

1. Assist and provide structured resources to the Government where itlacksMany government schools lack in infrastructure like toilets or kitchen oreven something like compound walls. Corporate houses can identify suchand similar areas and make the necessary funds available. Some otherpoints are mentioned above.

2. Join hands with NGOs to provide education in remote areasSince NGO’s work at the grass roots level and corporate houses, by definitionare urban-based, it is necessary for them to partner with NGOs to delivereffectively because also NGOs would have developed credibility in thearea where they work. If the corporate sector wishes to run a school, itneeds a three dimensional partnership with the government for regulationand academic standardization and with NGO’s for granting expertise at thegrassroots level.

3. E-projects run exclusively by corporate houses for example CII Shikshaand many more

Some projects that require advanced technological know-how or highinvestment should be initiated and taken forward by corporate houses.

4. PPP – some corporate houses are taking low efficiency schools forphysical and monetary support

This is a good model and many more such should be encouraged. It washowever felt that some fees should be charged, even if minimal for oftenthe community also shares the burden of education.

5. Corporate houses giving financial and physical support to NGOsworking for the cause of the children

In some cases where corporate houses want to fund one type of activitylike supporting the girl child or giving scholarship to the bright child, theycould work through NGO’s.

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1. Assist and provide structured resources to the Government where it lacks2. Join hands with NGOs to provide education in remote areas3. E-projects run exclusively by corporate houses for example CII Shiksha

and many more4. PPP – some corporate houses are taking low efficiency schools for physical

and monetary support5. Corporate houses giving financial and physical support to NGOs working

for the cause of the children

Issue : Technology

Today it seems as though technological initiatives have overtaken the traditionalsystems: content generation – animation, cartoons to increase the reach / trainthe teachers & build capacity for them to be self initiators. Can there bemobile technology reach in non-electrified areas?

One of the primary problems in rural areas is poor electricity supply. Eventhough data may show a particular village as fully electrified, few villagerscan afford electricity and often only the “big” man of the village has electricityin his house. Schools run during the day are often completely without electricity.

The group suggested the following possibilities:1. Solar energy

This is very much possible in places like Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, evenGujarat.

2. BiogasBiogas is also perhaps best suited for rural areas

3. Wind energyIn hilly areas, wind energy as great potential.

4. GeneratorSchools could be provided with generators which could work for at leasta few hours in a day so as to be able to meet technological requirements.

5. Mobile busMany NGOs are already running such mobile services. In very backwardareas, this facility is highly appreciated and beneficial to the local people.

6. Mobile training centres7. On-line transaction to monitor education governance

Even though many teachers are not aware of the potential and use oftechnology, this is an idea that may be employed at some stage.

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1. Solar energy2. Biogas3. Wind energy4. Generator5. Mobile bus (mobile learning6. Mobile training centres7. On-line transaction to monitor education governance

Issue: Management of Campus

Special training needs-aptitudes instead of mere seniority - exclusive educationalleaders/Principal/Headmaster training centres in country. Sensitivity toinclusiveness, social context, diversity.

The group looked at the primary role of educational leaders.– to provide leadership to the institution, to colleagues and students– to provide co-ordination between different departments, different agencies

working with the school– to be innovative and recognise and encourage innovativeness in colleagues

and co-workers– should be creative himself or herself and should also provide an atmosphere

conducive to creativity– should have the aptitude to work with the community

Solutions suggested by the group

1. Investment and in-service training for teachersMany people in the field of education felt a teacher does not herself orhimself know the importance of “keeping up.” In today’s times of change,they have to be kept abreast with latest developments in their field andin education as such. Further unless they attend periodic trainingprogrammes, they will slip into routine and boredom.

2. Create an appraisal system and selection on meritThis is perhaps the most difficult to do but will have the greatest impacton maintaining a hard working and committed team. A committed andmotivated principal can achieve wonders, the teachers felt.

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3. Empowerment of Headmaster by delegating powersMany voices asked in pained tones, what is the use of puppets as headsof institutions? They have to be given that power. This is most crucial tothe success of a school. The group also suggests creation of pressuregroups to keep the best in power. This will also keep their standing in thesocial context.

4. Continuous training for teachers and chiefs of institutions – includingvalues life skills, also creating portals and platforms for continuousinteraction

To ensure that the principal or chief who has been given unstinted powerknows how to use it well, regular training programmes and value orientedworkshops and training are absolutely essential.

5. Provide incentives to the dedicated and innovativeEducation policies remain the same even after 60 years and there is acertain complacency that has set in. That should be shaken out

1. Investment and in-service training for teachers2. Create an appraisal system and selection on merit3. Empowerment of Headmaster by delegating powers4. Continuous training for teachers and chiefs of institutions – including

values, life skills5. Provide incentives to the dedicated and innovative

Issue: Teacher Related issues

Teacher training programmes, professional development, recognition, salary.Problems regarding government schools:

In government schools, there is no check on the teachers. They get bettersalary than the private school teacher but do less work and are less responsible.They have job security and so do not perform to their full potential. If an SC/St teacher is appointed care should be taken that her qualifications are adequate.Teachers go for long periods for training in the Sarva Shikhsa Abhiyaan andthat there is no replacement teacher in school.

Solutions suggested by the group

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1. To motivate teachers:• A structured P. M. (Performance Management) system could be put

in place where teachers are rewarded for achieving their goals.Teachers should be trained in business and management concepts

No adequate recognition is forthcoming for the excellent teachers.They need public recognition. Their performance should be appraisedand their strengths brought out, given opportunities to flower.

Leadership qualities to be encouraged.

Corporate houses can facilitate training in business concepts likeTQM, Theory of constraints, Process Management, Goals, Objectives,Vision, Mission etc.

Counsel teachers to develop a more professional attitude towardswork.

• A collaborative portal for teachers could be started at the Nationallevel to provide a resource for teachers all over the country

In terms of professional development, there are lack of refreshercourses, lack of sufficient workshops etc. and lack of a forum forinteraction.

• Managing committees of Government or Government aided schoolsshould have more powers

This will help them to decide issues like the teacher: student ratioand recruitment of teachers.

2. Update teacher education programme

Teacher training programmes are outdated and irrelevant. The skillsimparted are not adequate. It is more a theoretical programme and aptitudeis not truly tested. One interesting teacher training programme that wasquoted was a B.Ed programme approved by the University of Mysoretransacted under in-service training programme over two summer andwinter vacations.

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Training should be school based and knowledge of the subject should bein greater detail. Technology which is an integral part of education shouldbe emphasized.

Some inspiring books for teachers:1. Dibs in Search of Self: by Virginia M Axiline: Ballantine Books2. A Life in School: What the Teacher Learned Jane Tompkins; Addison-

Wesley Publishing Company3. Teacher: Sylvia Ashton Warner; Simon & Schuster4. The Story of My Life: Helen Keller; Kessinger Publishing, LLC5. Biography of Maria Montessori: Rita Kramer; Radcliffe Biography Series6. Anything School Can Do, You Can Do Better: Maire Mullarney; Fontana7. The Feuerstein Instrumental Enrichment Programme: Reuven Feuerstein;

ICELP Publications

A structured P. M. (Performance Management) system could be put in placewhere teachers are rewarded for achieving their goals. Teachers should betrained in business and management concepts A collaborative portal for teacherscould be started at the National level to provide a resource for teachers allover the country. Managing committees of Government or Government aidedschools should have more powers to decide issues like the tacher:student ratioand recruitment of teachers. Update teacher education programme

Issue : Curriculum aspects

Learning opportunities through supplementary reading materials - socialinteractions, non formal education etc. How to introduce this in the currentrigid system? – The issues of learning in various geographical locations.

Social interaction

The group opined that any dimension of social interaction can have educationalvalue. In fact Professor Amartya Sen in his speech had quoted instances ofhow just leaving home and going out to meet other children was educative forthe student. This is one limited expression of social interaction. The questionhowever was how to ensure such interaction. It was suggested that privilegedand educated sections of society take the responsibility as also the educatedyouth be roped in to interact with their younger and less advantagedcounterparts.

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The teacher should be looked upon as a “social giver” and the social responsibilityshould be that of a mentor. Social responsibility and environmental sensitivityshould form the basis of the curriculum, all the rest should be flexible and tobe seen as a seamless unit of enquiry, limitless creativity. Soft skills of thestudents should be developed and they must be able to relate to the real world.Social interaction should be to this end.

Non-formal education-technology as a medium/interactive tool

Peer learning should be structured through teamwork and sports; unstructuredlearning from field trips, camps, travelling, celebrating festivals together etc.Student bodies to build camaraderie amongst them could take the form ofcouncils, leadership forums etc.

Technology should be used to make the classroom obsolete, for this the teachershave to be trained simultaneously if not in the nitty-gritty at least to be ableto appreciate the felicity children usually show with the medium.

Make curriculum more activity based and promote class libraries and producemore reading material that is engaging and cost-effective

Since everything is so exam-oriented, no teacher spends time exploring thepleasures of reading. The problem is compounded by the fact that not muchreading material, well and attractively produced exists. Further the curriculumis so rigid that no reference, no exploratory work is called for. The teacherherself or himself may be unaware of the importance of reading. So thereshould be orientation for teachers, interactive sessions with the family, simplehome assignments for reading, interactive sessions with children to discussreading material, develop interesting material, enjoy and bring out its importancethrough theatre and music etc. Create the need/desire to read. Drop everythingand read (dear time), friendly libraries and other activities to encourage reading.Make curriculum more activity based

Taking the last point further, reading can be made a part of the examinationsystem. The curriculum should not be rigid, but flexible and activity oriented.It should include age –appropriate debates and extempore contests. Story tellingshould be a critical part of the curriculum. The curriculum should be child-centric and the child should be allowed to express. The lecture mode shouldbe replaced.

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1. Create the need/desire/motivation2. Make curriculum more activity based and promote class libraries3. Produce more reading material that is engaging and cost-effective4. Social Interaction5. Non-formal education – technology as a medium/ interactive tool6. Team work and sports7. Empowerment of teachers

The story book of Pancatantra talks of a king called Amarashakti who ruledover the kingdom of Mahilaropya. He was worried and sad. “I am worriedthinking who will rule after me? My sons are not studying well. Everyonecalls them dimwits. They are not hard working. They are not responsible.They do not seem to have any intelligence at all. How will they rule? Howwill they become capable? What will become of the kingdom and its people?”Then Sumitra remembered Vishnu Sharman. He went to the king and said,“Sire, I think I have found the answer. I have heard of a teacher called VishnuSharman. He says he can teach anybody, even the one who is just not interestedin studies. I think he will be able to teach our princes.”So the next day Sumitrainvited Vishnu Sharman to the palace.“If you can make my sons capable ofbecoming good kings, I will give you half my kingdom,” said the king toVishnu Sharman.Vishnu Sharman, a pleasant and happy man said, “Sir, I haveno need for your kingdom, but just give me six months and I will make yoursons the wisest and cleverest in the world.”The king did not really believe himcompletely, but sent his sons to him to try.“I will impart to them the essenceof all wisdom. I will teach them statecraft; the secret of politics and therunning of the government of a kingdom, “ said Vishnu Sharman and he usedthe experiences of all the animals in the forest to make interesting stories bywhich he could teach the lazy princes the difficult lessons he had in mind forthem. Not only did Vishnu Sharman succeed in teaching the princes, he alsoleft behind learning material for generations after them.

Issue : Quality issues

• Definition – Monitoring points/Criteria - Assessment process/Self sustainingsystem

• Covering extremely equipped & very poorly equipped schools in differentgeographical locations.

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Trained teachers and only for teaching.

It has been observed throughout the seminar that teachers in rural areas areused for every other purpose other than teaching. They go cattle counting,census surveys etc. They should not be so used. They should be made proudof their job of teaching and should not be allowed to leave the school campusbecause of the sheer enormity of the job they are doing. This kind of pride hasto be instilled within them.

Monitoring

Should be carried out with the involvement of the parents and through regularPTA meetings. External evaluation and self evaluation should be made part ofthe routine.

Measures of quality

Results could be looked as one indicator though quality itself is relative.Retention, discipline, attendance, happiness of the child may all be taken asindicators.

1. Trained teachers/only for teaching2. Allocate resources/infrastructure3. Child-centered learning/Happiness Index4. Improving prestige of teaching profession5. Stringent recruitment procedures & streamline pre-service and in-service

teacher training.6. Standardising means / method to get optimum outcomes.

Issue: Collaboration & Networking

What are the challenges of networking & collaboration among the educationalinstitutions? NGO’s individual initiatives, corporate foundation etc. Is itcompetition and / or cooperation?

Clear MOU’s identifying different stakeholders’ role and responsibilities

Various ideas were discussed and felt that educational institutions had notreached that stage of maturity to network and build collaborations. Eachinstitution, may further, be built on some ideals and philosophy that may notbe shared with the other agency with which they are networking. So it was

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decided that to circumvent the problem clear MOU’s could help.

Regular monitoring and changing mindsets

Collaborations could be subject to checks that keep all the parties in a goodposition. Further, they should openly discuss and place their plan of action,budget etc.

It was also discussed that very often the right kind of information is notavailable with the schools, for example whom to collaborate with and whatbenefits can be got for their children. A directory of such possibilities in whichthe corporate houses can play a major role, would be useful.

Solutions suggested by the group1. Clear MoU’s identifying different stakeholders’ role and responsibilities2. Regular meets and open communication3. Regular monitoring4. Changing mindsets and building confidence, mutual trust among networking

partners.5. Sharing information and best practices

Issue: Making child friendly textbooks

Attractive for every learner – in poor schools as well. Languages.

Presentation of content: Attractive launch of the topic, pictorial activity basedsimple language. Reduce number of textbooks and connect concepts throughan integrated curriculum approach. Content should be: relevant update,quantitative, value-oriented. Example related to child’s environment

This is a distinct area where the corporate sector can help. Production ofattractive books is very expensive and they should be sponsored. The booksshould take into consideration the student’s need as well as try to provideinformation on patriotism, gender equality, good citizenship, civic sense, etcthrough activities. The language should be simple and there should be lot ofpictoral support.

No textbooks in class I & II/lot of supplement activities

Disconnect text books and exams

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There should be correlation between subjects for better understanding. Eachtopic should lead the child to imagine something exciting. The child should beencouraged to think beyond the text. Teachers have to be trained to teachtexts.

Chand taron kea age nishaan aur bhi hainKi tere makaan aur bhi hainRojo shab me ulajh ke nah reh jaTere imtehaan aur bhi hain

Iqbal

There are more world beyond the sun and the starsThere are, to be sure, more destinations for youDon’t get caught in the trifles of everydayGreater are the challenges awaiting you.

Solutions suggested by the group1. Involvement of all stake holders students, broad-based teachers2. Parents and the community3. Content should be: relevant updated, quantitative, value-oriented. Example

related to child’s environment4. Presentation of content: Attractive launch of the topic, pictorial activity

based simple language. Reduce number of textbooks and connect conceptsthrough an integrated curriculum approach.

5. No textbooks in class I & II/lot of supplement activities6. Disconnect text books and exams7. Textbooks in mother tongue

There were many press reports enthusiastic about industry entering educationin a big way and therefore making available more funds. Feed back fromparticipants ranged from, “I am happy my ideas were taken into account” to“This was a different seminar.”

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Annexure 1THEY ARE DOING THEIR BIT

…some experiences

Ambuja Cement Foundation’s School Support Programme In the year 2003, ACF started the School Support Programme initially atChandrapur in Maharashtra by providing support to 3 Govt. primary schoolswith the objective “to improve the quality of education being imparted inGovt. Primary Schools and to develop a model of primary education that maybe replicated in other schools within and outside the State”. With the passingof time, the programme was extended to more schools and at more ACFlocations. Presently, ACF is undertaking this programme in 12 schools atChandrapur in Maharashtra and in 30 schools at Darlaghat in Himachal Pradeshwhich is benefiting around 1700 and 1400 students respectively upto standard8th. To implement the programme, a MoU has also been signed with theDepartment of Elementary Education of the respective State Govts. Before the launch of the programme, base line surveys were conducted in theschools to identify the gap areas. The survey report revealed that in most ofthe schools of the area, there were no toilets for children (especially femaleteachers and students), lack of adequate teachers and teaching aids, poor libraryand recreational facilities, poor infrastructure and its maintenance etc. Basedon the findings of the baseline survey, the targets for the programme was setto work upon. During the initial stage of the programme, major focus was on the hardwareactivities like maintenance of classroom, distribution of uniforms, utensils,furniture and computers, setting up of libraries and kitchen gardens, add-onsupport to mid-day meal scheme etc. In the next phase, the focus was on thesoftware activities to improve the quality of education.

The ACF’s School Support Programme includes the following hardware andsoftware activities:

HARDWARE ACTIVITIES:

1. Construction, repairing and maintenance of school infrastructure: This is

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the most important activities of the school support programme underwhich the work of construction, repairing, plastering of school buildingand classrooms, black board painting, coloring and whitewash of internalas well as external walls of schools have been done. Signboards havealso been provided. Confined boundary of school premise is alsoconstructed with the support and contribution from villagers. A GobarGas plant and Roof Rainwater Harvesting Structure has also beenestablished in a school and it will be replicated in other schools alsodepending on its feasibility and demand.

2. Development of libraries & teaching materials: For inculcating the readinghabit among the children, set of selected books have also been providedin each school for the development and upgradation of libraries. We havealso been successful in seeking support from Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan inthe form furniture and stationeries for these libraries.

3. Introduction of BALA concept (Building as Learning Aid): In order tomake learning a fun and to create a more children-centric environment atschools, we have undertaken paintings of BALA features in the supportedschools. BALA concept has been developed by UNICEF and it involvesself-instructive educational paintings on the walls of school building andclassrooms.

4. Furniture for schools: One of the most important aspects of the schoolsupport programme is that we have provided class room furniture in allthe supported schools. Earlier the children used to sit on the floor. Theother feature of this activity is that in order to provide employment tolocal carpenters, the order of furniture making and supply was given tothese carpenters.

5. Distribution of computers: Computers have also been provided in theschools and teachers have been trained to operate them. It has also beenplaned to supply some teacher-students friendly educational software tointroduce the child friendly teaching methodology.

6. Uniform distribution: Every year 2 sets of uniforms consisting dress,shoes and woolen cloths is provided to each student in all the supportedschools.

7. Add-on to Mid-day meal scheme: To support the Mid-day meal schemeof the State Govt., utensils for cooking and distribution of meal, gascylinder with stove have been provided in the all the schools. InChandrapur, additional food grains have also been provided to improvethe quality of the meal.

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8. Sanitation and drinking water arrangement: ACF has also facilitated forthe repairing of existing toilets and construction of separate toilets forboys and girls in schools under total sanitation campaign. For the drinkingwater arrangements, RRWHs has been constructed in some of the schoolsin Himachal and hand pumps have been installed in schools at Chandrapur.Stainless steel drums were also provided for water storage.

9. Development of Kitchen gardens and plantations: Promotion andestablishment of Kitchen gardens and plantation are also the part of thisprogram to generate interest among the children towards these basicconcepts.

10. Support for sports and cultural activities: In order to promote sports andcultural activities, cultural and sports kit were provided to the supportedschools, sports equipments were also installed inside the school premise.Various festival celebration events, painting, art and craft workshop andcompetitions, visits to police station, bank, PHC, post office etc are alsoorganized.

SOFTWARE ACTIVITIES:

1. Formation of Project Monitoring Committee (PMC): For the supervisionof the programme, a Project Monitoring Committee was set up comprisingthe Block Primary Education Officers, Panchayat members and membersfrom local community. The committee meets on monthly basis.

2. Formation & Strengthening of VECs/MTAs: To get the local communitysupport for the programme, regular meeting is also conducted with VECs/MTAs. Presently the members’ turnout ratio in these meetings is almost60%. They monitor the issues like education standard in the schools,quality of mid-day meal, absenteeism and drop-outs of students etc.

3. Workshop for VECs/MTA: For the capacity building of VECs/MTAs,workshops and training are also organized on the issues like communityparticipation, teaching learning process, school-classroom environmentand academic support.

4. Capacity building of teachers: Training and workshops are organized forcapacity building of teachers. It is generally 4-5 days residential trainingthrough national level resource persons on multigrade and multiabilityaspects.

5. Evaluation of educational level through DIET: At Chandrapur, theevaluation of the education standard of schools is carried out time to timeby District Institute of Education and Training (DIET).

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6. Health camp: Improving physical health of the children has been one ofthe major focus areas of our school support programme. For the purpose,monthly health camps are organized among all the supported schools toassess the physical development of the children and early identificationand treatment of disease. A mobile health van comprising of Doctors andparamedic staff regularly visits the schools for the purpose. Free medicineis provided to the children. Sensitization of parents on issues related tohealth and hygiene of students are also done.

7. Development of Education Animator/ Bal Mitras: In order to reinforcethe primary education system in village, we have trained educationanimators/ Bal Mitras (local women/ youth) who are regularly conductingclasses for pre-primary education called as Balsanskar Kendra. It helpsin strengthening the base of the students before getting enrolled in theformal schools. Alongwith the Anganwadi teachers, these animators haveaslo been trained on development of education material on their own forpre-primary education. A per child small incentive for 85% attendance ina month is given to these animators by ACF and equal amount is alsocontributed by the parents.

Overall Programme impact: After the intervention of the ACF’s school supportprogramme, the pass out rate of the students has increased from 55% to 80%.Children attendance in the schools has also increased upto 95% and drop-outratio has declined. The members of VECs/MTAs also monitors the progressof their children, quality of food provided and support the progress of theprogramme. The sensitization of the community people on the health issueshas also brought some positive change in their health seeking behaviour.Development of kitchen gardens in schools has helped to improve ambienceof the schools. After the active involvement of the VEC and through ACFsupport, most of the school has got the building in place which was theirprimary requirement.

ACRONYMSACF - Ambuja Cement FoundationBALA - Building as Learning AidDIET - District Institute of Education and TrainingMTA - Mother-Teacher AssociationPMC - Project Monitoring CommitteePHC - Primary Health Centre

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SSP - School Support ProgrammeSSA - Sarva Shiksha AbhiyanTLM - Teaching Learning MaterialTSC - Total Sanitation CampaignVEC - Village Education Committee

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Bharatiya Gramin Vidyalaya, Kunaura, Uttar Pradesh.

S.B. Misra Retired University Professor and Manager of Bharatiya GraminVidyalaya, Kunaura, Uttar Pradesh.

In the matter of education there is talk of reservation on the lines of caste,religion and region but the rural–urban divide is seldom recognized foreducational planning and priority.

The quality of education that the children of 80% population of rural areas arereceiving is miserable, to say it mildly. All the Navodaya vidyalays, KendriyaVidyalayas and public schools are opened in cities and towns while the childrenof farmesrs receive education in single teacher government schools. The ruralstudents coming from such schools compete for jobs with their urbancounterparts like Eklavya competed against Arjun.

My wife Nirmala and I have been working for the last 35 years in a remoterural area in the trijunction of Lucknow, Barabanki and Sitapur distsricts,inhabited predominantly by scheduled caste, backward caste and minoritypopulation. We find there is only lip service for alleviation of depressed sectionsof society.

People from rural areas like ourselves who struggled to achieve education inIndia and abroad and dedicated our lives to the cause of rural education getcaught up in a vicious circle. If any fees are charged from students, theirparents are unable to pay and students drop out. If no fees are charged, it isimpossible to hire good teachers to give quality education. The governmentnorms for recognition and assistance are the same for rural schools as for theurban ones and disparity of resources is completely ignored by the governmentsof the day. Those who open schools for profit find rural areas unprofitabbleand remain confined to cities.

Successive governments indulge in populist measures like midday meals, schooluniform, scholarship and free education but there is no talk of teacher-taughtratio in rural schools. The teachers have to do a large number of odd jobs likehead count of humans and cattle, polio vaccination, statistical surveys and soon and schools remain without a teacher for days together. The purpose of aschool is education, not food and clothing. The basic purpose of a school isoverlooked.

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It is often believed that rural students need vocational training in masonary,carpentary, blacksmithy and weaving while the urban students are meant forwhite collar jobs. I may mention here that during my four years’ stay inCanada I came across many scientists and most of them had rural background.They began as Spartan babies. But for each one of them, we do not know howmany other promising talents failed to survive. Shall we ever think of openingNavoday Vidyalayas in the remotest rural settings that have no electricity, norunning water, no roads or opportunities of employment?

Untouchability is banned in this country but the only untouchables today arethe rural poor. Vision 2020 can have any meaning if only the real India livingin villages gets proper education, knowledge and employment — may bethrough reservation.

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Karnataka School Quality Assessment Organisation

Karnataka School Quality Assessment Organisation is an institutionalmechanism set up to conduct periodic standardized assessments of studentsand schools. The objectives of setting up of KSQAO was to assess learningoutcomes of students, to make available reports of assessment to allstakeholders, to create awareness of issues concerning quality of educationand the need for assessing quality and analyzing the outcomes.

While starting KSQAO Karnataka had experience with standardized schoolassessment in the form of Learning Guarantee Programme, which was conductedin partnership with the Azim Premji Foundation since 2001. These assessmentswere initially done only for about 1000 schools and gradually expanded tocover 6400 schools in 2004-05.

Based on this experience before starting statewide assessment we held meetingswith the teachers association to allay their fears and assure them that assessmentwould be used only for improvement of the school and would not be a toolfor punishing teachers. This was important because primary school teachers ofGovernment schools have to work with children from widely varying socio-cultural and economic backgrounds. It was also necessary because this was anew concept. The idea was to use the outcomes for fine-tuning trainingprogrammes to address weak areas and needy teachers, targeted monitoringand supervision. Also by sharing results with the community and wider peergroup the school would be motivated to show better performance. A programmeof rewards for well performing schools was also envisaged.

With this in view the first assessment was done in January 2006.

This was a massive exercise covering more than 16 lakh children in 35250Government and Govt. aided primary schools.

All children of Classes 2, 5 and 7 were assessed.

Assessment was done by a team of four external assessors: the local CRP, oneteacher from another school and two second year D.Ed students to increaseobjectivity and transparency.

Assessment was done in Kannada, Mathematics, Environmental Science,

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General Science and Social Science through appropriate combinations of oraland written questions. Questions were prepared to test competencies and notmerely memory. Question cum answer papers were printed and supplied to allschools by the KSQAO.

A lot of preparatory work went into laying the ground for this massive exercise.Teachers were oriented, assessors were trained by trainers, master trainerswere trained. Question papers were set taking into account competencies.They were printed and delivered to the assessors. The assessment exerciseitself involved nearly 7500 teams consisting of 30000 assessors. Trainedpersonnel of the APF externally audited the whole programme. The filled inanswer papers were coded onto ICR forms and then scanned. The analysis ofthis enormous data was done by iFlex Company as a corporate socialresponsibility.

The results of the first assessment were released in June 2006.

The results showed that overall children could correctly answer 50 competencybased questions. There was a steep decline in the percentage of correct answersfrom 68% in Class 2, to 49% in Class 5 and further to 48% in class 7.

A second assessment was done of 25% of all schools in Jan 2007.

The results of this assessment showed that average learning levels had increasedby over 13% compared to the 2006 assessment.

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Educating India: How?

Dr. Madhav Chavan1

“Education in India stands at the cross roads today. Neither normal linearexpansion nor the existing pace and nature of improvement can meet the needsof the situation.” This is section 1.9 of the National Policy on Education,1986. What are the chances that we will also find more or less the samestatement in another document in 2026? Your answer will decide whether youare a cynic or an optimist. In any case, the above sentence fits today’s situationonce you ignore the clichéd “cross roads” bit. Primarily what took place overtwo decades is linear expansion and the pace and nature of improvement, ifany, has not been dramatic.

The story of education in India is one of huge gaps between words and deeds,intentions and actions, inputs and outcomes.

At a time when education is not only a matter of greater social justice but alsocrucial to the economic growth and wealth creation, we can ill afford tocontinue this saga of delaying, deferring, and dithering. Clear direction andresolute actions are essential.

One major change in the situation over the decades is that the need for education,which always existed, has now distinctly turned into a demand for education.In the process, education has become commoditized. However, the system thatis responsible for providing education is limited by structures, forms, andcontent, which were created in the supply dominated era which had poorresources to begin with. As we go into the demand era with increased availabilityof resources the normal expectations of easy access and quality are gettingtransformed into expectations of choices, variety and flexibility, especially atthe higher levels of education. Even in the supply dominated era, most policydocuments mentioned the need for flexibility that encouraged creativitynecessary for improvement of quality of education. Yet all we created wererigid and lifeless structures, which have arisen out of the very linear expansionthat was considered not desirable.

1 Dr. Madhav Chavan is a founding member and Director Programs of Pratham. He is also a member ofthe National Advisory Council of the Government of India.

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One of the sections of the 1986 policy spoke about “overhauling” the teachereducation system in the domain of school education. It recommended settingup District Institutes of Educational Training (DIET) and also talked aboutphasing out substandard institutions and creating linkages between departmentsof education and such other good things. The result, predictably, was settingup of the DIETs across the country but instead of phasing out substandardinstitutions we ended up creating more substandard institutions that either didnot have a role or just could not function. The system has gone further overthe next years and created a network of Block Resource Centers (one perblock) and Cluster Resource Centers (one per about 10-15 schools). Abovethese district and sub-district structures are state level bodies- the State Councilfor Educational Research and Training- that are expected to provide academicleadership and the National Council for Educational Training and Research.

All these structures have been “functional”, to use government language, forabout a decade or more in some cases. What is the outcome?

The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER2005 and ASER 2006)2 measuredquality of education at the very basic levels of learning- reading, writing, andarithmetic at children’s homes. The broad conclusions are that:

Nearly half the children in std I cannot recognize alphabets or numbers afterfive months in school- most of the other half can only recognize alphabets butcannot read words.

Half of children in std III can read a std I level text and can solve a subtractionproblem with borrowing.

Half of children in std V can read a std II level text fluently and those whocan read fluently can comprehend what they read unless of course the textincludes concepts that cannot be understood by mere reading. Also, only halfof the children in std V can solve a division sum of three digits by one digit.

Of course, it is also true that the system has set up schools within one km ofevery habitation and barring the exceptions of Rajasthan, UP, and Bihar, in

2 See www.pratham.org ASER, facilitated by Pratham, is based on a massive survey of 318,761 ruralhouseholds, over 718,000 children in age group 3-16, in 575 districts of all states except Sikkim

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most states enrollment of children in the 6-10 age group today is above 95%and in the age group 11-14 it is higher than 90%. Even attendance figures arequite high except in states where school-going is yet to become a habit.

The important point is that the system that was so far largely driven by“physical targets” and spending aimed at creating access has been able toperform tasks of building schools, and recruiting teachers. However, wherehuman element is critical, where issues of quality, effectiveness and efficiencyare concerned, the system has failed rather badly. It must be said that on thehigher education side, where upper classes have a greater stake, changes havecome faster while the elementary education side for the masses has remainedfar behind in reforms.

The problem of educating and developing India is truly a matter of a giganticeffort of human and technical resource development to the last village. Skillsfor planning, managing, teaching are all in short supply. Our literacy today ison par with that of Western Europe of 1850’s and we are also on the brink ofan industrial revolution. Although the top of the pyramid of India compareswell with the best educated people in the world, the middle and the bottom arelagging far behind in their capacities to function in the rapidly modernizingworld. The important task is to accelerate the process of overall building ofcapacities in the society which can be undertaken as a part of the process ofimproving education. Unless we create capacities we cannot educate our peopleand unless we have enough educated and trained people we cannot build ourcapacities. That is the apparent paradox of human resource development.

The point about non-linear expansion and improvement becomes important inthis context.

The tendency, thanks to linear responses, is to do more of the same, put moremen on the job, and spend more in the hope that things will become better.It is true that the current situation is so bad that a little extra focus onimprovement of learning too can help in the short term. However, much moreis needed if we want to take a quantum jump in quality. Increasing spendingwithout reorienting and reforming the system is predictable waste of funds inthe long run.

The Finance Minister in his budget speech has proposed an increase in the

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expenditure on teacher training institutions from Rs. 162 cr to 450 cr in 2007-08. This, in all probability, will go into staffing the poorly staffed teachertraining institutions, paying for equipment, and in sprucing them up. But arewe going to follow the linear path of having the institutions under governmentcontrol in a centralized system to expand an ineffective system? What are themodels of teacher training mechanisms we are going to follow? What sort ofa system are the teachers going to operate under? Will the fully staffed andfunded government institutions perform if the rest of the system remains thesame?

The first task is to make the system outcome oriented. At different levels ofeducation this can mean different things and can be done in different ways. Atthe elementary level skills have to be stressed rather than knowledge and whenthe child completes the “free and compulsory” stage or education or secondarystage of education, aptitude tests should be used for basic certification ratherthan the textbook knowledge-based tests. Achievements expected at differentstandards should be clearly spelled out in measurable parameters that aretransparent. This will shift focus from rote learning to skills learning and alsomake testing considerably free of stress. Students should be allowed to takestandardized state exams at any time they feel they are ready rather thanmaking it an all at once stressful examination. This is not to say knowledgeshould be ignored. Knowledge-based tests can be administered separately andcandidates can be certified subject-wise at different levels by professionalbodies in respective areas. In fact the knowledge courses that a student takesneed not be limited by the traditional. school curriculum. It should not benecessary for a student to be enrolled in a school to appear for theseexaminations and age should be no bar.

The second task is to decentralize the system. At the heart is the issue offunding. The role of the government should change from that of an agency thatruns and manages schools to one of funder, facilitator, and regulator much thesame way that it manages aided schools. In principle, we need to move to asystem where all schools are government funded and locally or privatelymanaged. The Right to Education Bill of 2005 has proposed two major reforms.One is to employ teachers for specific schools rather than in a state pool andto make the job non-transferable. The second is to create School ManagementCommittees (SMC) for schools and transfer all assets to the SMC. The tworeforms beg a clear third reform, that of funding the schools directly. Without

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this the SMC is really not in control. Naturally, the basis of funding has to bethe number of children enrolled. Hence, all layers of governments should fixannually a per child contribution they will make and directly transfer funds toschool accounts. Thanks to the revolution in IT and banking sector, banks arenow able to effect electronic transfers to remote locations and the SSA isbenefiting from it. This situation will only improve. If the Government ofIndia were to decide on a Rs. 500 per child contribution, it would have tospend Rs. 10,000 crore over 20 crore children of India in the age group of 6-14. This is nearly the exact budgetary provision for SSA in 07-08 not countingthe provision for mid-day meals. Of course, in the current situation the SSAfunds largely go to the backward states. Hence, for a bridging period thebackward states may be given extra help for infrastructure creation until theycome up on par with the rest of the states. This may be unfair to the moreadvanced states who have invested in their school construction for years butthe point is to be fair to children and not to this state or that. The one waythe Union government can make an equity statement is by giving uniform per-child expenditure to schools and setting up minimum necessary learning goalsto be achieved in return for governmental investment. Different state, districtand sub-district governments can add to this contribution. The SchoolManagement Committee/ Panchayat should be free to raise funds from othersources such as donations and local taxes too.

Today the per-child annual expenditure on education in states and cities ishard to compute and it varies from Rs. 2,000 per child in some backwardstates to a reported Rs. 17,000 in municipal schools in one of the metros. Ona national scale the per child expenditure today stands at an average of aboutRs. 4,000 per child per annum- that is a monthly fees of Rs.330 per childbeing paid. Once per child costs are clear, measuring performance againstspending will be simpler and might help improve efficiency and accountabilityof the system.

Third, the network of academic support institutions has to be restructured.Largely, these are government owned and run institutions staffed by people ingovernment service who are promoted and the jobs are transferable. Most ofthese institutions suffer from a lack of ownership, leadership, and clear fundingsupport. These institutions should be made autonomous and three-five yearfunding should be tied to work done and performance. Considering thatinfrastructure exists, there may be some problems in changing from a

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government owned system to a system of autonomous institutions but theyhave to be dealt with. It may be possible to invite bids from various educationalinstitutions and NGOs to run these institutions. The institutions should beencouraged to access funding from other sources if they so wish and also runcourses that might bring revenue to the institution.

There is a huge human and technical resource outside the education systemthat is not connected with the task of education. Creative ways should bedeveloped to access this resource. The system works in isolation at the villageand also in the capitals. This isolation can be ended to benefit education in abig way.

Fourth, credible independent testing, monitoring, and evaluation mechanismsto check the performance of various institutions is a crying need. These systemsjust do not exist. The Annual Status of Education Report by Pratham is perhapsthe only completely independent evaluation of the status of education beingconducted annually on a national scale statewise and districtwise. Suchevaluation can be improved and expanded at a cost of less than 0.5 % of theexpenditure on education. In fact setting aside a small fraction of the EducationCess to independently and rigorously evaluate the education status would beimportant. The Planning Commission or an independent Education Commissionbut not the Ministry of HRD could be the nodal organization to commissionsuch evaluation so that the evaluators are at an arm’s length from theimplementing Ministry. In fact, this can be done for all social sector schemes.

These to me are four key reforms for the school system. They could form thecore of non-linear changes in the school system. In the absence of such reformits response to the needs of the future will remain inadequate.

For the first time in human history we are approaching a situation whereknowledge could be accessed by anyone who has the required skills andknowledge base regardless of his geographical location and position in socialhierarchy. The only major limitations are costs and structured controls. A verynon-linear world is emerging which goes against all bottlenecks and unnecessarycontrols. In other words, the access to knowledge is, as always, subject toeconomic factors but the new technology is challenging the old set of socio-economic structures and thinking so that access to knowledge becomes morefacile than ever before. But unless systems are designed to respond to thisnon-linearity, time, effort, and money will be wasted.

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The Maharashtra State Certification in Information Technology is a veryinteresting and successful non-linear response on a massive scale to the needfor imparting computer literacy that can be used in office work or even as aspringboard for higher skills. Its website states that eligibility requirement is“a keen desire to learn Information technology” and 10th std passed is“desirable”. The student can register online for self study, which costs Rs. 720and examination fees which costs Rs. 230 per attempt. If the student joins alisted center, the examination fees are the same but course fees are higher atRs. 1980. The fees can be paid in installments with a slightly higher cost. Inboth cases the student gets study material. The center operators are paid backabout 50% of the student fees once she/ he appears for the examination, whichthey can keep as their income. In reality, many center operators even share apart of this refund with the students because competition is intense. Examinationis online and the certificate is an important criterion for government jobs.Many other employers consider this a basic certification of skills. At least twobanks are listed which are willing to offer loans for entrepreneurs who wantto set up centers.

Is it not possible to replicate such a system for other certification for saywriting, communication, accounting, automobile repairs, plumbing, carpentry,or any skill or knowledge for that matter? This will hold the key in themassive vocational training program about to be launched. But it can also beapplied in the traditional education sector. Imagine a situation where a studentcan choose regardless of what school she went to whether to appear for aCBSE examination or a state secondary school board examination or any otherexamination. The same can be true for degrees being offered. Why is thechoice of certification of a student limited by what school or college she/ heattends?

Delinking degrees from jobs was much talked about for years. But the educationsystem cannot delink degrees and jobs no matter what. The market has to playthat role as it is doing now. The BPO’s, especially of the customer care kind,hardly look at educational qualifications as long as the person can communicatein English. In the low level IT-related jobs skills and certification are moreimportant than a degree. In manufacturing, a trainable person is more desirablethan a person with a meaningless educational certification. As jobs outnumberpeople with good degrees, as specific skills become more important than allround knowledge of a subject, degrees and jobs will not be linked so closely.

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India’s problems of education fall into a 2 X 2 matrix. There are problems thathave accumulated thanks to our socio-political past and there are problemsthat we need to address to prepare for the future. On the other side there areproblems of quantity and problems of quality. Problems of the past are largelyquantitative related to creating access and basic literacy. Problems of thefuture are largely of quality. The education establishment is used to dealingwith quantity. Existing thinking on improvement in quality, however progressiveit may sound, is very input oriented and linear. We are at “crossroads” andhave to choose between continuing linearity vs unleashing non-linearity sothat India becomes not only a literate country but also an educated countryover the next decade.

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Some thoughts on education in schools

Kalyan Banerjee1. We must focus not just on getting every child to school, but also on

improving quality of our schools and education.2. Some missing elements in today’s system:

a. India is possibly the only country in the world where some kind ofethics, values, or spiritual teaching is missing in the curriculum.Missionary schools teach it, but not the standard “CBSE school”.

b. It’s more important to inspire and ignite curiosity than to dumpmore and more knowledge. When inspired, the child will seekknowledge on her own.

c. It’s increasingly agreed that thinking can be taught as a skill, andtime students in India got the privilege of being taught thinking asa basic skill, in school.

d. Ability to think, spirit of inquiry, question, and learning to researchon areas of interest, are more important today than knowledgegathered.

e. Building pride and self-confidence in every child should be a goal.Every child comes with divine potential, and inability to be the bestin memorizing irrelevant and unconnected information must notundermine her confidence. This means a fresh look at buildingstudent-centred rather than evaluation-centric education. Whenevaluation is the main aim, only the top 20% will get positive strokes(compensated by needless pressure), and the rest get quickly labeledas mediocre or below-average. The entire system seems designedfor a low yield of 20%, and this needs urgent correction.

f. How much information in textbooks is connected to real world factsand events that the children notice in real life?

g. Importance of connecting with others to succeed: form deepfriendships, collaborate, empathise, support others in need, …

h. Our textbooks are so uninteresting. Look at a typical Indian maths/science textbook and those from the UK or the old Soviet Union,and notice the difference. While the latter inspire and make maths/science look easy, the Indian textbooks look a big put-off.

i. Learning English is very important, but every Indian child must begood at her mother tongue, and special effort needs to be focusedon that. It’s interesting that you cannot learn your mother tongue ina typical CSBE school, unless you speak Hindi.

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3. In my view, these are important considerations:a. We need quality textbooks that inspire, and hopefully in Indian

languages.b. More focus needed on learning literature, history, and culture. These

are interesting conduits for original thinking, appreciation of diversity,and tolerance.i. Also need to bring in multiple perspectives of growth, and

progress, not just the popular consumer view of growth (orvalues) that we blindly follow. I am not suggesting we thrusta different view, but we need to show there are manyalternatives, and encourage students to find their own answers.

ii. Students need to be comfortable with the fact that there is “noright answer”, that there are possibilities and there areconsequences. Of course it will make evaluation more difficult!

iii. Students, specially the good ones in today’s system, are scaredof ambiguity, or of taking decisions, specially when risk isperceived. From an early stage, must teach that real world hasno obvious answers, and front-runners will need to takedecisions without knowing all.

c. How can we leverage on technology? Technology needs to come tolife not in form of drab CDs substituting uninteresting textbooks,but in live reach (through Edusat?) and creation of communities nototherwise possible.

d. Exposure to variety of activities: drawing, football, debates, evenmusic, can be provided at little cost, and students get wideropportunity in exploring what they are good at.

e. Investment must come more in schools, and across the country,rather than in elite institutions (IITs) that are already good.

4. Strategies for action:a. Where will we get the intellect, funds, and leadership to achieve our

ambitious goals? I believe we have enough “rich and nowhere togo” forty-plus Indians looking to find fresh meaning in their lives.Tap them, not just for their money but also for their intellect andtime. We need inspired teachers to build a generation of inspiredchildren, and this can be the pool to tap on.

b. The “elite” schools in cities have their completely independentagenda. Education must be a collaborative effort among teachers,

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parents and society. Need “training” for parents, as much as teachers.c. Use technology to bridge the gap between good schools and not so

good, also bridge the distance between teacher/mentor and studentas also distance between school and society.

d. Form communities of schools, with a mix of variety of schools. Thediversity will bring in good exposure and the entire spectrum ofstudents will benefit. Technology can be used to bring studentstogether.i. More privileged students and schools need to have responsibility

towards the less privileged.ii. The feeling of privilege and humility that comes with it, must

be built in by design from early stages. Exposure to otherrealities in our society must come early, so children are notisolated from society.

iii. Also create communities of parents, so we have an informedand equipped support network backing the primary educationproviders.

e. Mentoring is important to bring in continuity and a student-centricperspective. Each teacher is just responsible for his/her subject andfor a year. Who looks at the mental, physical, spiritual and skillgrowth of the child? In middle class families of the past generations,traditionally it was the parent who performed this role but that isalso changing. Bringing in mentors is achievable, we have a largepool of caring, intelligent people who want to contribute. Need tostrategise how we can tap them.

f. Create partnerships (with publishers, countries, and with untapped,willing talent within India) for content creation.

g. Create channels for inspiration: multi-school competitions, connectwith society through tours, talks, movies, learning outside classroom,encourage practical experiments

5. Focus on the four Ts: Teachers, Technology, Thinking, Textbooks

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PROJECT ‘SA-VIDYA’ -A SUCCESSFUL EXPERIEMENT.

Prof (Dr) H.D.Bist, a retired Professor from IIT Kanpur, was born and broughtup in a small village named Kulethi, about 2 Km from the now District Headquarter Champawat in the state of Uttarakhand.

HavING done his schooling through scholarships he decided to put asiderupees two lakhs from his provident fund to help provide scholarships andguidance to the young generation from the area.

We met during my days at Birla Institute at Bhimtal and we exchanged ideasabout the degradation of the quality of students entering the professionalcolleges and we reached the conclusion that we need to improve the basiceducation standards itself as the foundation was very weak.

Thus started an initiative to experiment this with a few schools (governmentprimary) and we adopted the Kulethi School. Resources were gathers fromlike minded people to start with and thus started Project ‘Sa Vidya’.

The initial effort saw self satisfaction to the team and we embarked upon abigger plan of adopting the school. This was done in 2005. A project wasdrawn to ensure that the school has one room for each class, a science centre,a library plus computer room. We searched for assistance, and got an initialgrant of Rs 3 lakhs from AHSA for Education USA. Thus began our journeyfor turning the school into a model for PPP.

The school was fully supported with the grant and additional support of a coreteam of dedicated personals on full voluntary commitment. No funds fromgrants were used by any person.

The project was formally launched on November 14, 2005 by Hon’ble SriBacchi Singh Rawat, the MP from the region. Thus Kulethi primary schoolbecame the first and only government primary school to have computereducation from class 1. Today we have built an additional room under SarvaShiksha Abhiyan, a proper toilet under Swajal, a science centre building fromfunds from the Hon’ble MP Sri Satish Sharma, another class room has beensanctioned by Hon’ble MP Sri BS Rawat, and is to be started. Chairs andtables have been provided for each student. The science centre is being fitted

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with over 100 experiments with support from IIT Kanpur and we hope tomake it operational by early 2008. Over 500 books are available in the librarymany received from the various State Resource Centre, which are in highdemand even by the parents of the students as the majority of the parents aredaily wage earner and partially literate.

Under the project each student has been given uniforms, both school andsports including shoes hanky and polish. Rain coats were also supplied toensure that the students make it to school during rainy season. Three additionalfull time teachers are available in addition to the two posted by the Government.Part time teachers for computer, music and games are also assisting in improvingthe overall development of the students. After class assistance is provided tothe weak students. During vacation the teachers are given a refresher courseto improve their performance.

The result is that the school strength has increased from 46 at the start of theproject to 89 in the present academic session. The success has motivated usfor expanding the project to the middle level also in addition to the nearbyprimary schools as students want to enroll into Kulethi School only even if thedistance is more. Two more schools are therefore being partially supported inaddition to a primary school at Haldwani. During the current session a middleschool is also being adopted in Haldwani for starting vocational training sothat the students have their own skills on some vocation and also some tipson entrepreneurship. The aim is to reverse the migration trend. This year oursupport has increased to over Rs seventeen lakhs funds for which are held upfor want of FCRA approval.

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Annexure 2

RIGHT TO EDUCATION BILL 2005

TABLE OF CONTENTSDraft 25-08-2005

Chapter Section Title Page NoPREAMBLE

I PRELIMINARY1. Short Title, Extent and Commencement2. Definitions

II CHILD’S RIGHT TO FREE AND COMPULSORY EDUCATION OFEQUITABLE QUALITY3. Child’s Right to Free and Compulsory Education of Equitable

Quality4. Right Of Transition Till Completion of Elementary Education

III RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STATE5. General Responsibility of the State6. Responsibility of the State towards the Non-enrolled Child7. Provision of Facilities for Pre-school Education8. Provision of Facilities to Young Persons to Complete Elementary

Education9. Responsibility of the Central Government10. Responsibility of the Appropriate Government11. Responsibility of the Appropriate Government to Augment Teacher

Training Capacity Wherever Necessary12. Responsibility of Local Authorities13. Planning For Provision of Free and Compulsory Education

IV SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS14. Responsibility of Schools to Provide Free & Compulsory Education15. Prohibition of Screening Procedures and Capitation Fees

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16. Admission To Schools To Be Generally Done At TheCommencement Of The Academic Year But Not To Be Denied AtOther Times

17. Recognition of Schools18. Norms and Standards for a School19. Power to amend Schedule20. Prohibition of Deployment of Teachers for Non- educational Purpose21. Prohibition of Private Tuition by Teachers22. School Management Committees23. Teachers’ of State Schools to be a School–based Cadre24. Teacher Vacancies In State schools / Fully aided schools Not To

Exceed 10% Of Total Strength25. Teacher Qualifications and Remuneration26. Duties of Teachers27. Accountability of Teachers employed in State school / Fully aided

schools28. Redressal of Teachers’ Grievances

V CONTENT AND PROCESS OF EDUCATION29. Values, Content and Transaction of Elementary Education30. Certification of Completion of Elementary Education31. Prohibition of Physical Punishment32. Teacher Training and Innovation

VI MONITORING OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACT33. National Commission for Elementary Education34. Term of Office of the Chairperson and Members35. Removal from Office36. Vacation of Office by Chairperson or Member37. Vacancies, etc. not to Invalidate Proceedings of Commission38. Procedure for Transaction of Business39. Salary, Allowances and Conditions of Service of Chairperson and

Members40. Member-Secretary, Officers and Other Employees of Commission41. Chairperson, Members and other Officers to be public servants42. Powers of the Commission43. Grants by Central Government

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44. Accounts and Audit of the Commission45. Annual and Special Reports

VII MISCELLANEOUS46. Redressal Of Grievances Regarding Non- Implementation Of School

–Related Provisions Of This Act47. State Level Regulatory Authority48. Prohibition of Causing Obstruction to Participation in Elementary

Education49. Entry Age for Elementary Education and Procedure for Computing

Age of a Child50. Responsibility of the Parent/Guardian51. Penalty for contravention of Sections 15, 16A, 17 and 3452. Power of Central Government, Appropriate Government and Local

Authorities to Issue General Directions53. Power To Remove Difficulties54. Protection Of Action Taken In Good Faith55. Act to be in Addition to and not in Derogation of Certain Other

Laws56. Power of Central Government to Make Rules57. Power of Appropriate Government to Make Rules

SCHEDULE: Norms and Standards for a School(The Education Bill 2005 can be seen at)http://educationforallinindia.com/RighttoEducationBill2005.pdfhttp://www.pratham.org/documents/RighttoEducationBill2005.pdf

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Right to Education Bill 2005

An Act to put into effect the Right to Free and Compulsory Education toAll Children in the Age Group of Six to Fourteen Years

PREAMBLE

Whereas the Preamble to the Constitution resolves to secure to all citizens ofIndia JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought,expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;and to promote among them all FRATERNITY, assuring the dignity of theindividual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;

And whereas, despite the original Article 45 of Directive Principles of theConstitution having made it the duty of the State to provide free and compulsoryeducation to all children up to age fourteen in ten years (1960), the numberof out of school children particularly from the disadvantaged groups and thoseengaged in labour, and those receiving poor quality education has remainedvery large;

And whereas, the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act 2002 has provided forfree and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six tofourteen years as a Fundamental Right under Article 21A of the Constitution,in such manner as the State may, by law, determine;

And whereas the above Act also provides under Article 45 that the State shallendeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children untilthey complete the age of six years;

And whereas the above Act further provides under Article 51-A (k) that it shallbe a fundamental duty of every citizen of India who is a parent or guardianto provide opportunities for education to his child/ward between the age of sixand fourteen years;

And whereas it is considered important and essential to create a humane andequitable society that incorporates the secular values and the ethnic, religiousand cultural diversities of India;

And whereas it is recognized that the objectives of democracy, social justice,

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and equality can be achieved only through the provision of elementary educationof equitable quality to all; and

And whereas it is also imperative to improve the present delivery system ofelementary education by, inter alia, greater decentralization of its management,and making it sensitive to the needs of children, especially of those belongingto disadvantaged groups.

Be it enacted by Parliament in the fifty-sixth year of the Republic as follows:

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Chapter I

PRELIMINARY

1. Short Title, Extent and Commencement(1) This Act may be called the Right to Education Act, 2005.(2) It shall extend to the whole of India except the state of J&K.(3) Provisions of this Act shall be subject to the provisions of Articles

29 and 30 of the Constitution.(4) It shall come into effect from the date of its notification in the

Gazette of India.

2. Definitions(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires: -

(a) “Academic Year” means a period of one year (includingvacations), notified as an academic year by an appropriategovernment, or by a local authority or a school managementcommittee empowered by such government in this behalf, forthe transaction of the course of study prescribed for any gradeof the elementary stage.

(b) “age-appropriate grade”, in relation to a child, means thegrade in which the child should currently be studying if shewas enrolled in Grade I around the time she completed sixyears of age, and had thereafter participated in elementaryeducation continuously. Explanation: Age-appropriate grade forchildren suffering from mental retardation or mental illnessshall be determined keeping in view their mental developmentalso, and not on the basis of their biological age alone.

(c) “Aided school” means a school, which receives aid from agovernment or from a local authority, or both, to meet thewhole or part of its recurring expenses.

(d) “Appropriate government” means: i) the state government inthe case of territory comprised in a State; ii) the Governmentof a Union Territory, in the case of a Union Territory havingits own legislature; and iii) the Central Government, in thecase of other Union Territories.Provided that, in relation to schools and institutions run orfunded by the Central Government, the appropriate government

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shall be the Central Government regardless of their location.(e) “Capitation fee” means any fee, donation or contribution other

than a fee or any payment that an aided/unaided school publiclynotifies at the time of announcement for admission as beingpayable by all children in the event of admission to the school.

(f) “Child” means a person who is not less than six years and notmore than fourteen years of age.

(g) “Commission” means the National Commission for ElementaryEducation established under Section 33 of this Act.

(h) “Competent Authority” means an authority designated by theAppropriate Government as a competent authority for thepurposes of this Act.

(i) “Competent Academic Authority means an authoritydesignated by the Appropriate Government as a competentacademic authority for the purposes of this Act.

(j) “Child in need of Care and Protection” shall have the meaningassigned to it in clause (d) of section 2 of the Juvenile Justice[Care and Protection of Children] Act, 2000 [56 of 2000].

(k) “Compulsory Education” means an obligation on the State totake all necessary steps in terms of this Act to ensure that: (i)every child of the age of six years is enrolled in a school,participates in it, and completes elementary education. (ii) everychild over six years, but less than 14 years, who was not enrolledin a school at the commencement of this Act, is enrolled in aschool, participates in it, and completes elementary education.

(l) “Disability” shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (i)of section 2 of the Persons with Disabilities (EqualOpportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act,1995; and shall include such other conditions as may be notifiedby the competent authority as a disability for the purposes ofthis Act.

(m) “Disadvantaged Group” means scheduled castes, scheduledtribes, other socially and educationally backward classes, andsuch other groups disadvantaged due to economic, social,cultural, linguistic, gender, administrative, locational, disabilityor other factors, and notified as a disadvantaged group in relationto an area, in such manner as may be prescribed.

(n) “Elementary Education” means education at the elementary

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stage in a school.(o) “Elementary Stage” means the stage of school education

corresponding to Grades I to VIII as per courses of studyprescribed by a competent academic authority.

(p) “Equitable Quality” in relation to Elementary Educationmeans providing all children opportunities of access to,participation in, and completion of elementary education inaccordance with the provisions of this Act.

(q) “Free Education” means freedom for the child and her parent/guardian from liability to: i) pay any fee or charges to theschool where the child/ ward is studying, or to an examiningbody or any other external body providing any service throughthe school, and ii) incur such other expenses, as may beprescribed, which are likely to prevent the child fromparticipating in and completing elementary education; Providedthat if textbooks and any other teaching learning material aresupplied free to a non-disabled child under this clause, theyshall be supplied free to a disabled child in such modified formas would meet her learning needs.

(r) “First Generation Learner” means a child, neither of whoseparents has completed elementary education.

(s) “Fully-aided School” means a school, which receives grantsfrom a government or local authority to meet its full recurringexpenses, or such part, being not less than 90%, of the recurringexpenses as may be prescribed.

(t) “Grade”, in relation to the elementary stage, means any of itseight annual sub-stages.

(u) “Guardian”, in relation to a Child means his natural guardianor any other person having the actual charge or control overthe child and recognised by the competent authority as aguardian in course of proceedings before that authority.

(v) “Juvenile in Conflict with Law” means a person who has notcompleted eighteenth year of age and is alleged to havecommitted an offence.

(w) “Local area”, in relation to a Local Authority, means thearea comprised within the territorial jurisdiction of the authority.

(x) “Local Authority” meansi) a Panchayat in respect of rural areas,

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ii) a Municipality in respect of an urban area, andiii) such other authorities as the appropriate government may,

by notification, specify for the areas mentioned therein.Explanation: In case of rural areas situated within scheduledareas, the Gram Sabha shall also be a local authority to theextent laid down in the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extensionto the Scheduled Areas) Act 1996.

(y) “Migrant Family” means a family that does not reside at anyone location for at least such minimum number of days in acalendar year as may be prescribed.

(z) “Minor Punishment”, in relation to a teacher, means anypunishment other than dismissal or removal from service orreduction in rank.

(aa) “Neighbourhood” means such area around the residence of achild as may be prescribed.

(bb) “Neighbourhood School”, in relation to a Child, means anyschool located within the neighbourhood of the residence ofthe child.

(cc) “Non-educational purpose” means any purpose not connectedwith elementary education, or with children’s access to, orparticipation in such education.

(dd) “Out-of-School Child” means a child who is either notcurrently enrolled in a school or, though enrolled, is not ableto participate therein.

(ee) “Parent” means the father or the mother of a child and includesan adoptive father or mother.

(ff) “Participation” in Elementary Education, in relation to aChild, means her:i) regular attendance in school, andii) effective participation in curricular and co-curricular

activities of the school throughout the elementary stage.(gg) “Pre-primary Section”, in Relation to a School means an

establishment, which meets the educational needs, with orwithout other services, of children before the elementary stageof education, either as a part of a school or as an independententity collaborating with it.

(hh) “Prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act.(ii) “Pre-School” means a facility provided by a school to meet

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the educational needs of children at least between the ages of3 and 6 years.

(jj) “Recognised”, in relation to a School means recognized by astatutorily empowered authority, or an appropriate government,or by an authority empowered by such government, inaccordance with a law, rules, or executive instructions governingrecognition of schools.

(kk) “Schedule” means the Schedule referred to in Section 18 ofthis Act.

(ll) “School” means an institution or part of an institution, whichimparts education at the elementary stage or any part of suchstage, and is recognised as a School by a competent authority.

(mm)“Screening Procedure” for Admission to a School meansany procedure that is used to select one child in preference toanother, except in a random manner, for admission to anelementary school or its pre-primary section.

(nn) “Specified Category”, in relation to State Schools means theState schools known at the commencement of this Act asKendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, and Sainik Schools,and such other categories of State schools having a distinctcharacter as may be specified by notification by the appropriateGovernment, for the purposes of this Act.

(oo) “State School “ means a school run by an appropriategovernment or a local authority.

(pp) “Teacher” means a person who teaches full time in a schooland includes the head teacher of such school.

(qq) “Unaided School” means a school which is neither a stateschool nor an aided school

(rr)“Ward”, in relation to a Child, means a child who is underthe guardianship of someone other than a parent.

(ss) “Weaker Section”, in relation to a Child, means a child inneed of care and protection, or a child, the annual income ofwhose parents or guardians is less than such minimum limit asmay be notified by the appropriate government in this behalffrom time to time.

(tt) “Working Child” means a child who:i) works for wages, whether in cash or in kind, orii) works for her own family in a manner which prevents her

from participation in elementary education.

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(2) The female gender, wherever used in pronouns in relation to a childor young person, includes the male.

(3) Words and expressions used but not defined in this Act, and definedin the Constitution, shall have the meaning assigned to them in theConstitution.

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Chapter II

CHILD’S RIGHT TO FREE AND COMPULSORYEDUCATION OF EQUITABLE QUALITY

3. Child’s Right to Free and Compulsory Education of Equitable Quality(1) Every child who has attained the age of 6 years shall have the right

to participate in full time elementary education and to complete it,and towards that end shall have the right, subject to the provisionsof this Act, to:i) be admitted to a neighbourhood school in accordance with the

provisions of Section 14, andii) be provided free and compulsory education in such school, in

the manner provided in this ActProvided that a child who, due to her severe or profound disability,cannot be provided elementary education in a neighbourhood school,shall have the right to be provided education in an appropriatealternative environment as may be prescribed. (Explanation: For thepurposes of this Section, neighbourhood shall be determined inrelation to the residence of the child on the basis of proof of residenceprovided in such manner as may be prescribed, including but notlimited to, ration card or voters identification card of the parent/guardian.)

(2) A non-enrolled child who is in the age group 7-9 years, at thecommencement of this Act, shall, in addition to the right specifiedin subclause (1), have the right to be admitted to an age appropriategrade in a neighbourhood school within one year from thecommencement of this Act.

(3) A non-enrolled child who is in the age group 9-14 years, at thecommencement of this Act, shall in addition to the right specifiedin subclause (1), have the right to be provided special programmeswithin the neighbourhood school to enable her to join, as early aspossible, but in any case within three years from the commencementof this Act, the age appropriate grade.

(4) A child who, though enrolled, is not able to participate in elementaryeducation, shall, in addition to the right specified in sub clause (1),have the right to be provided with suitable conditions, as may be

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decided by the appropriate government, to enable her participation.(5) No child shall be held back in any grade or expelled from a school

until she completes elementary education, except through an Orderof the School Management Committee (SMC).Provided that an Order under sub-section (5) expelling a child fromschool shall be passed by the SMC only in the case of a delinquentchild for whom all other corrective measures have been exhausted,and only after such child and her parents/guardians have beenafforded an opportunity of being heard in such manner as may beprescribed.Provided further that in the event of an SMC passing an Orderunder sub-section (5), it shall also be required to bring such Orderto the notice of the Appropriate Government or local authority asthe case may be, which will then give directions regarding otherneighbourhood schools to which the expelled child shall be admittedfor purposes of her further education

4. Right Of Transition Till Completion Of Elementary Education(1) For every child studying in a school which provides education up to

a level less than class VIII, the Local Authority shall specify aschool, subject to the provisions of Section 14, where such childshall have the right of admission for free education till she completeselementary education (2) Any child moving from one school toanother, including outside the state shall, for the purposes of seekingadmission to another school, be entitled to receive a transfercertificate issued by the Headmaster of the school in which she waslast enrolled;Provided that the absence of such a transfer certificate shall notconstitute grounds for delaying or denying her admission to anappropriate grade in the new school; nor shall such child be subjectedto any test whatsoever to determine whether she is to be admittedto the school.

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Chapter III

RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STATE

5. General Responsibility of the StateIt shall be the responsibility of the State:-(i) To ensure the availability of a neighbourhood school for every child

within a period of three years from commencement of this Act;Provided that in case of non-availability of a neighbourhood school,the State shall provide free transportation arrangements to the nearestschool or provide free residential schools/ facilities,

(ii) To ensure that every child is provided free education in the schoolmentioned in sub-clause (i); Provided that Parents/guardians whochoose to admit their children to the non-free quota in a school shallnot have any claim on the State for providing free education to theirchildren,

(iii) To institute and implement a mechanism for regular monitoring ofenrolment, participation and attainment status of every child, andtaking corrective steps wherever necessary, so that every childcompletes elementary education, and to make information in thisregard available in the public domain, including on an on-line basis,

(iv) To ensure that children in schools receive education (a) of equitablequality, and (b) conforming to values enshrined in the Constitution,and,

(v) To ensure that economic social, cultural, linguistic, gender,administrative, locational, disability or other barriers do not preventchildren from participating in, and completing elementary education.

6. Responsibility of the State Towards the Non-enrolled ChildThe appropriate government shall take necessary steps to ensure that: -(i) All non-enrolled children who are in the 7-9 years’ age group at the

commencement of this Act, are enrolled in a neighbourhood schoolwithin one year of the commencement of this Act.

(ii) All non-enrolled children who are in the 9-14 years’ age group atthe commencement of this Act are enrolled in special programmesin a neighbourhood school, if available, and failing that, in anotherschool to enable them to be admitted to an age appropriate grade ina neighbourhood school as early as possible, but in any case withinthree years of the commencement of this Act.

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7. Provision Of Facilities For Pre-School EducationThe appropriate government shall endeavour to provide facilities for pre-school education in State and fully-aided schools for children betweenthe ages of 3 and 6 years, if such facilities are not already being provided,through Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) or othergovernment programmes, in proximity to such schools.

8. Provision of Facilities to Young Persons to Complete ElementaryEducationIf a young person has, for whatever reason, been unable to completeelementary education by the age of fourteen years but is continuing hereducation in a school at that age, she shall continue to be provided freeeducation in such school till she completes elementary education or attainsthe age of eighteen years, whichever is earlier.

9. Responsibility of the Central GovernmentProvision of Free and Compulsory education shall be the concurrentresponsibility of the Central and appropriate governments, with the CentralGovernment’s responsibility consisting of the following:(i) Provision of financial assistance to State Governments in accordance

with such formula regarding sharing of costs of implementation ofthis Act, as the Central Government may determine from time totime in consultation with State Governments.

(ii) Taking action through appropriate bodies to develop a nationalcurriculum framework, and to develop and enforce standards fortraining and qualification of teachers for elementary education in aparticipatory and consultative manner

(iii) Provision of technical resource support to the state governments,through appropriate institutions, for promotion of innovations anddissemination of best practices in the field of elementary educationand for related research, planning and capacity building

(iv) Monitoring progress of implementation of various interventions,schemes and programmes for achieving the objectives of this Act,and taking appropriate steps in case of default.

(v) Taking such other steps as the President may, by Order, specify.

10. Responsibility of the Appropriate Government(1) Responsibilities in connection with provision of free and compulsory

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education, except those of the Central Government as defined inSection 9, shall be that of the appropriate Government.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of sub-section (1), the appropriategovernment shall ensure:i) Provision of financial assistance to Local Authorities for

implementation of this Act in accordance with such formularegarding sharing of costs of such implementation, as theappropriate government may determine from time to time.

ii) Carrying out of an exercise every year to determine therequirement of schools, facilities and their appropriate locationsfor the implementation of this Act.

iii) Establishment of additional schools as required and makingthem functional.

iv) Deployment of teachers in schools in accordance with theprovisions of this Act.

v) Prescription and periodic revision by the Competent AcademicAuthority of the curriculum for elementary education andcourses of study for each grade thereof.

vi) Provision of a building, teaching aids and learning material ofthe prescribed specifications in accordance with the Scheduleto every State school and fully aided school,

vii) Timely provision of “elements of free entitlement” as prescribedunder section 2(1)(q), to eligible children.

viii) Development and maintenance of a comprehensive database tofacilitate implementation of this Act.

ix) Creation of adequate facilities for training of teachers and otherpersonnel to meet the human resource requirement for theimplementation of this Act.

11. Responsibility of the Appropriate Government to Augment TeacherTraining Capacity Wherever NecessaryEvery appropriate Government shall, within six months of thecommencement of this Act, assess the State’s requirement of professionallytrained teachers as prescribed under this Act, vis-à-vis the capacity ofexisting training institutions, and shall in the event of a deficit, take stepsto augment such capacity so as to match the requirement within suchperiod not exceeding five years from the commencement of this Act, asthe Central Government may notify.

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12. Responsibility of Local Authorities(1) Subject to the responsibility of the appropriate Government as laid

down in Section 10, the Local Authority shall, if empowered by alaw enacted in pursuance of Article 243G or Article 243W of theConstitution, perform the following functions:-i) Maintain the record of all children in its area, who are in the

age group of 0-14 years, with special reference to childrenbelonging to each disadvantaged group, and to weaker sections,in such manner as may be prescribed,

ii) Ensure that every child in the age group of 6-14 years residingwithin its jurisdiction is enrolled in an elementary school,participates in it, and is enabled to complete elementaryeducation,

iii) Plan, budget and provide for additional schools, teachers, andother facilities that may be required as a result of the gapsidentified through the school mapping exercise for ensuringfree and compulsory elementary education,

iv) Monitor the provisioning of prescribed infrastructure, teachersand supporting facilities for free and compulsory education inall schools in its area imparting elementary education,

v) Ensure sustained education of children of migrant familiesthrough special steps, including bridge courses, remedialteaching, and such other interventions as may be required.

(2) To the extent the above functions have not been devolved uponlocal authorities by law, the appropriate government will by rulesdetermine the authorities at various levels, which will perform theabove functions till such time as such functions are assigned by law.

13. Planning For Provision of Free and Compulsory Education(1) Every School Management Committee as constituted under Section

22 shall prepare School Development Plan to cater to the needs ofthe children residing in its neighbourhood in respect of their educationof equitable quality, in such manner as may be prescribed.

(2) School Development Plans, referred to in sub-section (1), shall bethe basis for preparation of plans for provision of free and compulsoryeducation for every local area, block, district, and metropolitan area,in such manner as may be prescribed.

(3) Every appropriate Government and Central Government shall prepare

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plans for provision of free and compulsory education in the State/UT and the country, taking into consideration the Plans referred toin sub-section (2) above.

(4) The plans referred to in sub-section (3) shall be taken intoconsideration while preparing the annual demands for grants forelementary education presented by the appropriate/CentralGovernment to the respective Legislatures/Parliament. (5) T h eplans referred to in sub-section (3) shall also form the basis formonitoring the implementation of this Act, by the NationalCommission for Elementary Education constituted under section 33of this Act.

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Chapter IV

SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS

14. Responsibility of Schools to provide Free and Compulsory Education(1) Schools shall provide free and compulsory elementary education to

children entitled under Section 3 to the extent and in the mannerspecified below:i) State schools, except schools of specified categories, and fully

aided schools - to all admitted children.ii) Aided schools, other than fully aided schools - to at least such

proportion of their admitted children as its annual recurring aidbears to its annual recurring expenses subject to a minimum of25 per cent.

iii) State schools of specified categories, and unaided schools, toat least 25% children admitted to class 1 after thecommencement of this Act, from among children belonging toweaker sections randomly selected by the school, and for thecontinued education of such children in the School thereaftertill completion of elementary education or till they seek transferfrom the school, whichever is earlier.

Provided that if a school belonging to a category mentioned inclauses (ii) and (iii), has a pre-primary section, provisions of subclauses (ii) and (iii) shall apply to the pre-primary section instead.Provided further that free seats in any school, shall be offered by theschool first to eligible children for whom it is a neighbourhoodschool, and shall be offered to other eligible children only to theextent of vacancies remaining thereafter.

(2) For every child admitted and educated in pursuance of (iii) of sub-clause (1), the appropriate government shall reimburse to the schoolat a rate equal to the per child expenditure in state schools/fullyaided schools and state funded preschools, or the actual amountcharged per student by such school, whichever is less, in such manneras may be prescribed.Provided that if a school is already under obligation, at thecommencement of this Act, to either the Central Government or anappropriate government or any authority/agency representing or actingon their behalf to provide free education to a specified number of

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children as a consequence of having received land/building/equipment/other facilities either free of cost or at subsidized rates,such school shall not be entitled to reimbursement under the aboveprovision to the extent of such obligation.

(3) It shall be the duty of every school to supply to the appropriategovernment or to an authority designated by such government, suchinformation as the appropriate government may direct to be furnishedfor the purposes of Section 5(3).

15. Prohibition of Screening Procedures and Capitation FeesNo child or her family shall be subjected to any screening procedure bya school while deciding about admission to the school at the elementarystage, nor shall the family be required to make any payment in the natureof capitation fee.

16. Admission to Schools to be Generally done at the Commencement ofthe Academic Year but not to be Denied at Other TimesChildren shall be admitted to schools as far as possible at thecommencement of the academic year, or within such period thereof asmay be prescribed: Provided that a child entitled to be admitted to aneighbourhood school under Section 3 (1), read with Section 14 of thisAct, shall not be denied admission to such a school at any time of theacademic year; Provided further that a child admitted under the precedingproviso within four months of the commencement of the academic yearshall be enabled to complete the class to which she has been admittedalong with the batch of students admitted at the beginning of the session.A child admitted later in the academic year, who has not come on transferfrom another school, shall complete the class with the next batch ofstudents, unless the school is of the opinion that the child has madesufficient progress in the remaining part of the academic year to meritpromotion to the next class along with the regular batch of students.

17. Recognition of Schools(1) All schools, other than State schools, recognized at the

commencement of this Act, and all State schools, whether establishedbefore or after the commencement of this Act, shall be deemed tobe recognized schools for the purposes of this Act.

(2) No institution, other than State schools, which is intended to be run

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as a School, shall be established or run after the commencement ofthis Act, except after obtaining a certificate from a CompetentAuthority indicating that the latter has no objection to theestablishment and operation of such an institution, or after obtainingrecognition as a School from such Authority.

(3) Every appropriate government shall, within three months from thecommencement of this Act, notify rules governing grant of recognitionto Schools other than State schools. Where rules in this behalf alreadyexist, they shall be deemed to have been framed under this Act, butshall be reviewed and revised to the extent necessary, within sixmonths from the commencement of this Act, so as to bring them inconformity with it.

(4) Every application for recognition shall be made in such form, insuch manner and to such competent authority as may be prescribed,and the competent authority shall finally dispose of the applicationby an Order within a period not exceeding three months from thedate of its receipt;Provided that in the event of rejection of an application, the Ordershall state reasons for its rejection.Recognition of a school other than a State school, may be withdrawnfor breach of conditions referred to in sub-section (4), after givingan opportunity to the management of the school of being heard insuch manner as may be prescribed, and from a date to be specifiedin the Order withdrawing recognition, which date shall not be laterthan 30 days from the date of passing of the Order;Provided that while passing an Order withdrawing recognition, thecompetent authority shall also give directions regarding otherneighbourhood schools to which children studying in the derecognisedschool shall be admitted for purposes of their further education.

(5) No person shall run a school whose recognition has been withdrawnby an Order passed under sub-section (5), after the date specified inthe Order.

18. Norms and Standards for a School(1) No State school shall be established, and no other school shall be

recognized, by any competent authority, after the commencement ofthis Act, unless such school fulfils the norms prescribed in theSchedule.

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(2) All schools, which are deemed to have been recognised at thecommencement of this Act under sub-section (1) of Section 17, butdid not fulfil the norms prescribed in the Schedule at suchcommencement, shall do so within a period of three years, therefrom.

(3) Responsibility for compliance with the provisions of sub section(2), shall be as follows:i) In case of State/fully-aided schools - of the appropriate

g o v e r n m e n t / l o c a lauthority (subject to theprovisions of sections9, 10 &12)

ii) In case of other schools - of the management ofsuch schools;

Provided that the appropriate government may provide financial assistance,in such manner as may be prescribed, to managements of schoolsmentioned in sub-clause (ii) above to enable them to discharge theirresponsibility under this sub-section.

(4) If a school other than a State or fully-aided school, fails to complywith the provisions of sub-section (2), within the time limit specifiedtherein, the competent authority shall, after giving the managementof such school an opportunity of being heard in such manner as maybe prescribed, pass an Order declaring that the school has forfeitedits recognition with effect from a date which shall be specified inthe Order and shall not be later than 30 days from the date ofpassing of the Order;Provided that while passing the above Order, the competent authorityshall also give directions regarding other neighbourhood schools towhich children studying in the derecognised school shall be admittedfor purposes of their further education.

(5) No person shall run a school after the date specified in an Orderpassed under subsection (4).

19. Power to amend ScheduleThe National Commission for Elementary Education may, in consultationwith the Central and appropriate governments, at any time, amend theSchedule to this Act either with respect to the country as a whole or anypart thereof.

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20. Prohibition of Deployment of Teachers for Non-educational PurposeNo teacher of a state or fully-aided school shall be deployed for anynoneducational purpose except for decennial population census, electionto local authorities, State Legislatures and Parliament, and disaster reliefduties.

21. Prohibition of Private Tuition by TeachersNo teacher shall engage in any teaching activity for economic gain, otherthan that assigned by his employer or supervisor.

22. School Management Committees(1) A School Management Committee (SMC) shall be constituted for

every State school and aided school, with such representation ofparents, teachers, the community and representatives of the localauthority, as may be prescribed.

(2) Composition of the School Management Committee shall be soprescribed that:i) At least three-fourths of its members are parents/guardians of

children studying in the school, with proportionaterepresentation among them of scheduled castes, scheduled tribesand other socially and educationally backward classes;

ii) The remaining members are drawn from other stakeholdersections of the community including representatives of the localauthority, teachers, and persons/bodies working for education.

(3) Physical assets of every State school, including its building,appurtenant land and fixtures, and all equipment and furniture, etc.,shall be transferred by the concerned Government/local authority tothe SMC within three months of its constitution under this Act,subject to such terms, conditions and restrictions, and in such manner,as may be prescribed.

(4) The SMC shall perform the following functions, namely:(i) monitor and oversee the working of the school, and plan and

facilitate its development;(ii) manage the assets of the school;(iii) ensure that teachers of the school diligently perform the duties

prescribed for them under Section 26;(iv) disburse salary to teachers from the grants received for the

purpose from the appropriate government/local authority, and

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to deduct payment of salary for the period of unauthorisedabsence, if any, in such manner as decided by the SMC; (v)utilise other grants received from the appropriate government,local authority or any other source for the upkeep anddevelopment of the school, in accordance with the terms ofsuch grant and the rules made in that behalf; and, iii) ( v i )such other functions as may be prescribed by or under this Act.

(5) All moneys received by a School Management Committee for thedischarge of its functions under this Act, shall be kept in a separateaccount, and shall be utilised in such manner as may be prescribed.

(6) Accounts of money received and spent by the SMC shall bemaintained and audited in such manner as may be prescribed.

23. Teachers of State Schools to be a School-based Cadre(1) After the commencement of this Act, teachers in State schools, except

in State schools of specified categories, shall be appointed for aspecific school by such local authority or SMC as may be notifiedby the appropriate government, and shall not be transferred therefrom;

(2) Recruitment of teachers shall be carried out in accordance withtransparent, merit-based criteria, and information thereof shall bemade available in the public domain.

(3) All teachers already serving at the commencement of this Act, inState schools, except in State schools of specified categories, shallbe permanently assigned to a specific State school in accordancewith such procedure as may be prescribed, within a period notexceeding two years from the commencement of this Act, and shallthen not be transferred from the school so assigned.

24. Teacher Vacancies in State Schools and Fully-aided Schools Not ToExceed 10% Of Total Strength(1) It shall be the duty of every appointing authority in relation to every

State school and fully-aided school, to ensure that teachers’ vacanciesin the schools under its control do not at any time exceed 10% ofthe total sanctioned posts of teachers.

(2) Appropriate governments and local authorities shall ensure that, inschools run by them, teachers and their sanctioned posts are deployedin accordance with norms specified in the Schedule, and are notover-deployed in urban areas at the cost of rural areas.

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(3) Deputation or temporary deployment of teachers to schools otherthan those to which they have been appointed shall be prohibited.

25. Teacher Qualifications and Remuneration(1) After the commencement of this Act, only such persons as possess

the qualifications prescribed under the NCTE Act shall be appointedas teachers; Provided that in States which do not have adequate pre-service training capacity, Central Government/NCTE may grantrelaxation in this provision for such period, and to such extent, asmay be absolutely necessary.

(2) Teachers serving at the commencement of this Act who do notpossess qualifications prescribed by the NCTE shall be enabled bytheir employer, to acquire the equivalent of such qualifications withinsuch period not exceeding five years from the commencement ofthis Act, as may be notified by the appropriate government.Provided that the fees payable by a teacher for acquiring suchqualifications, and such other expenses connected therewith, as theappropriate government may notify, shall be borne by the employer.

(3) Terms and conditions of service of teachers serving in schools, shallbe decided from time to time, by the appropriate government,commensurate with prescribed professional qualifications andexperience.

26. Duties of Teachers(1) It shall be the duty of every teacher to:

(i) regularly attend school for its full duration,(ii) transact and complete the curriculum in accordance with the

principles laid down in clause 29,(iii) transact the curriculum in accordance with the time schedule,

decided by the school, subject to general guidelines of theCompetent Academic Authority,

(iv) report every case of non-attendance to the parent or guardianconcerned in the first instance, and in case it persists, to theSMC constituted under Section 22,

(v) regularly assess the learning level of each child, and to providesupplementary instruction needed by the child,

(vi) regularly apprise every parent/guardian about the progress oflearning and development of his child/ward studying in the

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school, and to also regularly report about such progress to theSMC, in such manner as may be prescribed, and

(vii) perform such other functions as the appropriate government orthe appointing authority may specify, consistent with theprovisions of Section 20.

(2) Default by a teacher in the performance of a duty stipulated in sub-section (1) shall amount to professional misconduct, and such teachershall be liable to be punished in accordance with the provisions ofSection 27 of this Act and/or the disciplinary rules applicable.

27. Accountability of Teachers Employed in State Schools and Fully-aided Schools(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law, rules, regulation

or contract for the time being in force, the following provisionsshall apply to every teacher employed in State schools and fully-aided schools:i) Power to grant leave to teachers shall vest in the Head Teacher/

School Management Committee (SMC) to such extent andsubject to such restrictions as regards nature and duration ofleave, and in such manner as may be prescribed;

ii) The SMC, Panchayat at the village level, or a municipal body,as the case may be, shall, where it is not itself the AppointingAuthority for teachers serving in school(s) falling within itsjurisdiction, furnish periodic assessment reports regardingperformance of duties stipulated in Section 26 by such teachers,to the concerned Appointing Authority, in such manner as maybe prescribed;

iii) Unless the State legislature has by law otherwise provided,power to impose minor punishment on a teacher in a StateSchool, who was appointed by an authority higher than, ordifferent from the authority mentioned in column 3 of the tablebelow, shall vest in the Local Authority specified in column 3,and having jurisdiction over the rural/urban/metropolitan areain which the school is situated:-A For teachers in rural areas Panchayat of the

intermediate or village levelor SMC, as the appropriategovt. may notify

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B For teachers in The municipality or SMC,government schools in as the appropriate govt.urban areas may notify

C For teachers in Such authority or SMC, asgovernment schools in the appropriate govt. maymetropolitan areas notify

(2) When an SMC considers a matter in exercise of its powers undersubclause (iii) of sub-section (1), no teacher other than the HeadTeacher, who is a member of the SMC, shall participate in itsproceedings, and the Head Teacher shall also not do so when theSMC is considering a matter concerning him.

28. Redressal of Teachers’ GrievancesIt shall be the duty of the SMC/Local Authority to redress teachers’grievances to the extent they fall within its purview, and to support theteacher in obtaining redressal of such grievances as do not fall within itspurview.

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Chapter V

CONTENT AND PROCESS OF EDUCATION

29. Values, Content and Transaction of Elementary EducationCompetent Academic Authorities while prescribing curriculum andevaluation procedures, and schools while transacting them, shall adhereto the following principles:(i) They shall conform to the values enshrined in the Constitution,(ii) All schools shall function in a child friendly and child centred manner,

and shall in particular:(a) allow the child who is capable of forming her own views the

right to express those views freely in all matters affecting thechild, and allow the views of the child to be given due weightin accordance with the age and maturity of the child,

(b) build on the child’s knowledge, environment and culturalidentity, particularly linguistic, and develop the child’spersonality, talents and mental and physical abilities to theirfullest potential,

(c) use the child’s mother tongue as the medium of instruction asfar as possible, at least during the first five years of theelementary stage,

(d) would rely on activity, discovery, exploration, understandingand problem-solving.

(e) would be free of fear, trauma and anxiety to the child, and (f)conduct learner evaluation in a continuous and comprehensivemanner such that it tests the child’s understanding and abilityto apply knowledge rather than rote learning.

30. Certification of Completion of Elementary Education(1) No child shall be required to appear at a public examination during

the elementary stage except, if at all, at the completion of suchstage.

(2) Every child who completes elementary education shall be awardeda certificate to that effect by the examining body holding publicexamination in terms of sub-section (1) above, or, in case no publicexamination is so held, by the school where she completes it.

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31. Prohibition of Physical Punishment(1) No child shall be awarded physical punishment in any form in a

school.(2) Violation of sub-section (1) by a teacher shall amount to professional

misconduct, and such teacher shall be liable to be punished inaccordance with Section 26 of this Act and/or the disciplinary rulesapplicable.

32. Teacher Training and Innovation(1) NCTE while laying down norms, standards and guidelines in respect

of pre-service training programmes for elementary school teachersshall be guided by the principles laid down in section 29.

(2) The appropriate Government in respect of teachers in State schoolsand fully-aided schools, and managements in respect of teachers inunaided schools, shall take all necessary steps to ensure suitable in-service training and regular academic support, including through theuse of information & communication technology (ICT), to teachersto enable them to implement the principles laid down in Section 29.In particular, all teachers shall be provided opportunities for peerinteraction and encouraged to engage in innovation.

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Chapter VI

MONITORING OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACT

33. National Commission for Elementary Education(1) Central Government shall, by notification, constitute a body to be

known as the National Commission for Elementary Education, tocontinuously monitor implementation of this Act, recommendcorrective measures wherever necessary, and to exercise powers andperform other functions assigned to it under this Act.

(2) The National Commission for Elementary Education, shall consistof:-(a) A Chairperson, who shall be an eminent person with proven

record of service in the field of education;(b) One member each having expertise in the fields of elementary

education, development of disadvantaged groups, childdevelopment/child rights, finance, and law; and

(c) A Member-Secretary having experience/expertise in educationalmanagement.

(3) Chairperson and members of the National Commission shall beappointed by the President, on the recommendation of a committeeconsisting of the following:- Prime Minister, Speaker of the LokSabha, Minister, Human Resource Development, and Leaders ofOpposition in the two Houses of Parliament.

(4) The Commission will perform the following functions, namely:i) To monitor all aspects, including quality, of elementary

education;ii) To act as Ombudsman for the purposes of this Act, and to

direct appropriate authorities to redress grievances of parents/citizens relating to elementary education;

iii) To present an annual report to Parliament on the status ofimplementation of this Act and such other issues pertaining toelementary education as may be prescribed;

iv) To render policy advice to Central Government/appropriategovernment/local authorities regarding effective implementationof this Act; v) To commission such surveys, studies andresearch as it considers necessary for the discharge of itsfunctions, especially in regard to provision of free and

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compulsory education to disadvantaged groups, and todisseminate their findings; and

vi) Such other functions as may be prescribed.

34. Term of Office of the Chairperson and Members(1) The Chairperson and Members shall hold office for a term of three/

five years from the date on which they enter upon their office:Provided that the Chairperson or a Member shall not hold office assuch after he has attained –(a) in the case of the Chairperson, the age of seventy years; and(b) in the case of any other Member, the age of sixty-five years.

(2) The Chairperson or a Member may, by writing under his handaddressed to the President, resign his office at any time.

35. Removal from Office(1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), the Chairperson shall

be removed from his office by order of the President on the groundof proven misconduct or incapacity.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), the Presidentmay, by order remove from office the Chairperson or any otherMember, if the Chairperson or such other Member, as the case maybe, –(a) is adjudged an insolvent; or(b) is unfit to continue in office by reason of infirmity of mind or

body; or(c) is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent

court; or(d) is or has been convicted of an offence which, in the opinion of

the President, involves moral turpitude.

36. Vacation of Office by Chairperson or Member(1) If the Chairperson or a Member, as the case may be –

(a) becomes subject to any of the disqualifications mentioned insection 35, or

(b) is, without obtaining leave of absence from the Commission,absent from its three consecutive meetings, or

(c) tenders his resignation under sub-section (2) of section 34, hisoffice shall thereupon become vacant.

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(2) If a casual vacancy occurs in the office of the Chairperson or aMember, whether by reason of his death, resignation or otherwise,such vacancy shall be filled by making fresh appointment inaccordance with the provisions of section 33, and the person soappointed shall hold office only for the remainder of the term ofoffice for which the Chairperson, or a Member, as the case may be,in whose place he is so appointed, would have held office.

37. Vacancies, etc. not to Invalidate Proceedings of CommissionNo act or proceeding of the Commission shall be invalid merely byreason of –(a) any vacancy or defect in the constitution of the Commission, or(b) any defect in the appointment of a person as Chairperson or Member,

or(c) any irregularity in the procedure of the Commission not affecting

the merits of the case.

38. Procedure for Transaction of Business(1) The Commission shall meet at least once every quarter at such time

as may be fixed by the Chairperson.(2) All decisions at Commission’s meetings shall be taken by majority:

Provided that in the case of equality of votes, the Chairperson, orin his absence the person presiding, shall have and exercise a secondor casting vote.

(3) If for any reason, the Chairperson, is unable to attend a meeting ofthe Commission, any Member chosen by the Members present fromamongst themselves at the meeting, shall preside.

(4) The Commission shall observe such rules of procedure in thetransaction of its business at a meeting, including regarding quorumat such meeting, as may be prescribed.

(5) All orders and decisions of the Commission shall be authenticatedby the Member-Secretary.

39. Salary, Allowances and Conditions of Service of Chairperson andMembersThe salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and conditions ofservice of, the Chairperson and Members, shall be such as may beprescribed:

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Provided that neither the salary and allowances nor other terms andconditions of service of the Chairperson or a Member, as the case maybe, shall be varied to his disadvantage after his appointment.

40. Member-Secretary, Officers and Other Employees of the Commission.(1) Central Government shall, by notification, appoint a person not below

the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India and havingexperience/ expertise in educational management, as Member-Secretary, and shall make available to the Commission such otherofficers and employees as may be necessary for the efficient dischargeof its functions.

(2) The Member-Secretary shall be responsible for the properadministration of the affairs of the Commission and its day-to-daymanagement and shall exercise and discharge such other powers andperform such other duties as may be prescribed.

(3) Salary and allowances payable to, and the other terms and conditionsof service of the Member-Secretary, and of other officers andemployees, appointed in the Commission shall be such as may beprescribed.

41. Chairperson, Members and other Officers to be public servants.Chairperson and every Member of the Commission, and every officerappointed or authorized by the Commission to exercise functions underthis Act shall be deemed to be a public servant within the meaning ofSection 21 of the Indian Penal Code.

42. Powers of the Commission(1) The Commission shall, in the discharge of its functions specified in

sub-clauses (i) and (ii) of sub-section (4) of Section 33, have all thepowers of a civil court trying a suit and, in particular, in respect ofthe following matters, namely:-(a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and

examining him on oath;(b) requiring the discovery and production of any document;(c) receiving evidence on affidavits;(d) requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any office

of the Central Government or an appropriate government, Localauthority or any organisation running schools,

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(e) issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses ordocuments.

(2) The Commission shall have the power to forward any case to aMagistrate having jurisdiction to try the same and the Magistrate towhom any such case is forwarded shall proceed to hear the complaintagainst the accused as if the case has been forwarded to him underSection 346 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

(3) If an enquiry by the Commission discloses a serious default incomplying with the provisions of this Act, the Commission may:(i) recommend to the concerned Government or Local authority

the initiation of disciplinary proceedings, or such other actionas the Commission may deem fit, against the concerned personor persons.

(ii) approach the Supreme Court or the High Court concerned forsuch directions, orders or writs as that Court may deemnecessary;

(iii) recommend to the concerned Government or authority the grantof such compensation to the children affected by the non-implementation of this Act, as the Commission may considerappropriate.

43. Grants by Central GovernmentCentral Government shall, after due appropriation made by Parliament,by law in this behalf, pay to the Commission by way of grants such sumsof money as the Central Government may think fit to enable theCommission to discharge its functions.

44. Accounts and Audit of the Commission(1) The Commission shall maintain proper accounts and other relevant

records and prepare an annual statement of accounts in such formas may be prescribed after consultation with the Comptroller andAuditor-General of India.

(2) The accounts of the Commission shall be audited by the Comptrollerand Auditor-General at such intervals as may be specified by himand any expenditure incurred in connection with such audit shall bepayable by the Commission to the Comptroller and Auditor-General.

(3) The Comptroller and Auditor-General or any person appointed byhim in connection with the audit of the accounts of the Commission

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under this Act shall have the same rights, privileges and authorityin connection with such audit, as the Comptroller and Auditor-Generalgenerally has in connection with the audit of Government accounts,and, in particular, shall have the right to demand the production ofbooks, accounts, connected vouchers and other documents and papersand to inspect any of the offices of the Commission.

(4) The accounts of the Commission, as certified by the Comptrollerand Auditor-General or any other person appointed by him in thisbehalf, together with the audit report thereon, shall be forwardedannually by the Commission to the Central Government, and theCentral Government shall cause the audit report to be laid, as soonas may be after it is received, before each House of Parliament.

45. Annual and Special Reports(1) The Commission shall prepare, for each financial year, an annual

report, giving a full account of its activities, and the status ofimplementation of this Act during that year, and forward a copythereof to the Central Government.

(2) Central Government shall cause the report referred to in sub-section(1), to be laid before each House of Parliament, along with amemorandum explaining the action taken or proposed to be takenon the recommendations relating to the Union and the reasons forthe non-acceptance, if any, of any of such recommendations.

(3) Where any such report or any part thereof relates to any matter withwhich a State Government is concerned, the Commission shallforward a copy of such report or part thereof to such StateGovernment, which shall cause it to be laid before the Legislatureof the State, along with a memorandum explaining the action takenor proposed to be taken on the recommendations relating to theState and the reasons for non-acceptance, if any, of any of suchrecommendations.

(4) The Commission may at any time submit a special report to theCentral Government or to a State Government, on any matter which,in its opinion, is of such urgency or importance that it should notbe deferred till submission of its annual report, and the CentralGovernment or the concerned State Government, as the case maybe, shall cause the special report of the Commission to be laidbefore each House of Parliament or the State Legislature, as the

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case may be, along with a memorandum of action taken or proposedto be taken on the recommendations of the Commission, and reasonsfor non-acceptance of the recommendations, if any.

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Chapter VII

MISCELLANEOUS

46. Redressal of Grievances Regarding Non-Implementation of School-related Provisions of This Act

(1) Anyone who has a grievance that provisions of Sections 12, 14-18, 20,21, 26, 29, 31, 48 and the Schedule of this Act, to the extent that theyrelate to establishment, provisioning, management of schools and conductof activities therein, are not being complied with, may submit a writtenrepresentation in that behalf to, as the case may be, the Local Authorityor the School Management Committee concerned, which shall takeappropriate action on it and inform the applicant within a period notexceeding ninety days from the date of receipt of the representation.

(2) If the person preferring the representation under sub-section (1) above isnot satisfied with the action taken thereon by the Local Authority orSMC as the case may be, he may submit a representation in that behalfto such other authority as may be prescribed, which shall take appropriateaction thereon and inform the applicant within a period not exceedingninety days from the date of receipt of the representation.

47. State-Level Regulatory Authority(1) The Appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official

Gazette, appoint a State-level Regulatory Authority for inquiringinto grievances which remain unredressed even after taking recourseto the remedies provided in Section 46. The composition of theAuthority shall be such as the Appropriate Government may notifyin its official Gazette.

(2) On receipt of a representation under sub-section (1), the RegulatoryAuthority may either itself inquire into the matter, or may refer it forinquiry to such officer of the Appropriate Government or concernedlocal authority as may be prescribed.

(3) For the purposes of the inquiry referred to in sub-section (2), theRegulatory Authority or, as the case may be, the officer to whom itrefers the matter for inquiry, shall have the powers to record oralevidence of such persons, inspect such premises, and examine suchdocuments, as it thinks fit, in order to ascertain whether the provisionsof this Act or rules made thereunder have been complied with. (4)

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Every school and other institution imparting elementary education,and every employer shall afford the Authority/officer referred to insub-section (3), all reasonable facilities for entering into andinspecting premises, examining documents and recording statementsof persons, connected with the subject matter of the inquiry.

(5) Every officer of the Regulatory Authority or of the AppropriateGovernment/local authority to whom a matter is referred for inquiryunder sub-section (2) shall be deemed to be a public servant withinthe meaning of Section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (45 of1860)

(6) If after inquiry as above, the Regulatory Authority is satisfied thatprovisions of this Act are not being complied with, it may, in itsdiscretion, direct the government, local authority or privatemanagement running a school to take such corrective action, andwithin such period, as it may deem fit, or direct that:- i)Proceedings be instituted by the competent authority for withdrawalof recognition under Sections 17 or 18 of this Act, or, ii)Prosecution be launched against the offender(s) under Section 51 ofthis Act.

48. Ensuring Participation in Elementary EducationNo person shall prevent a child from participating in elementary education;Provided that notwithstanding anything contained in the Child Labour(Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (No.61 of 1986), no person shallemploy or otherwise engage a child in a manner that renders her a workingchild.

49. Entry Age for Elementary Education and Procedure for ComputingAge of a Child(1) A child shall be admitted to Grade 1 only if she has attained the age

of five years and ten months before the beginning of the academicyear.

(2) Ordinarily the birth certificate and, in its absence, a declaration bythe parent or guardian shall be treated as prima facie proof of theage of a child, unless the admitting authority has reason to disbelieveit. In case it is disbelieved, the admitting authority shall determinethe child’s age after making an enquiry in such manner as may beprescribed.

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50. Responsibility of the Parent / Guardian(1) It shall be the responsibility of every parent/guardian to enrol his

child or ward, who has attained the age of 6 years and above in aschool, and to facilitate her completion of elementary education.

(2) If a parent/guardian persistently defaults in discharge of hisresponsibility under sub-clause (1) above, the SMC may direct suchparent/guardian to perform compulsory community service by wayof child care in the school, in such manner as may be prescribed.

51. Penalty for contravention of Sections 15, 17, 18 and 48(1) If a school contravenes the provisions of Section 15 by charging

capitation fee, its management shall be liable to fine which mayextend to ten times the capitation fee charged

(2) If a school contravenes the provisions of Section 15 by conductingany screening procedure for admission of children, its managementshall be liable to fine which may extend to Twenty Five ThousandRupees for the first contravention, and Fifty Thousand Rupees forsubsequent contraventions.

(3) If a person contravenes the provisions of sub-section (2) or (6) ofSection 17 or of sub-section (5) of section 18, he shall be punishablewith fine which may extend to Rupees One lakh, and in case ofcontinuing contravention, to a fine of Rupees Ten Thousand foreach day during which such contravention continues.

(4) If any person contravenes the provisions of section 48, he shall bepunishable with a fine which may extend to Ten Thousand Rupees,and in case of continuing contravention, with an additional fine notexceeding Rupees Five Hundred for each day during which suchcontravention continues.

(6) No Court shall take cognisance of an offence under this Act, excepton a complaint made by a person authorised by the AppropriateGovernment in this behalf.

52. Power of Central Government, Appropriate Government and LocalAuthorities to Issue General Directions(1) Central Government may issue guidelines and give general directions

to appropriate governments regarding implementation of this Act.(2) An Appropriate Government may issue guidelines and give general

directions to Local Authorities and School Management Committees

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regarding implementation of this Act. (3) A Local Authority mayissue guidelines and give general directions to School ManagementCommittees regarding implementation of this Act.

53. Power To Remove Difficulties(1) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this Act,

Central Government may, by Order published in the Official Gazette,make suchProvisions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, as mayappear to it to be necessary for removing the difficulty; Providedthat no Order shall be made under this sub-section after the expiryof two years from the commencement of this Act. (2) Every Ordermade under sub-section (1) shall be laid, as soon as may be after itis made, before each House of Parliament.

54. Protection of Action Taken In Good FaithNo suit or other legal proceeding shall lie against the Central Government,an appropriate government, the Commission, a local authority, a SchoolManagement Committee, or any person acting under the direction ofsuch government/ Commission/authority/Committee, in respect of anythingwhich is in good faith done, or intended to be done, in pursuance of thisAct, or any rules or any order made thereunder.

55. Act to be in Addition to, and not in Derogation of Certain OtherLawsProvisions of this Act in relation to (i) children with disabilities, and (ii)children in need of care and protection, shall be in addition to, and notin derogation of the provisions, respectively, of (i) the Persons withDisabilities [Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and FullParticipation] Act, 1995 [1 of 1996], and (ii) Juvenile Justice [Care andProtection of Children] Act, 2000 [56 of 2000].

56. Power of Central Government to Make Rules(1) Central government may, by notification, make rules, within a period

not exceeding three months from the commencement of this Act, tocarry out the provisions of Chapter VI of the Act.

(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoingpower, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters,

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namely:(a) Functions of the Commission under sub-clause (vi) of sub-

section (4) of Section 33,(b) Salary and allowances, and other terms and conditions of service

of the Chairperson and Members of the Commission underSection 39;

(c) The procedure to be followed by the Commission in thetransaction of its business at a meeting under sub-section (4) ofSection 38;

(d) Powers and duties of the Member Secretary of the Commissionunder subsection (2) of Section 40;

(e) Salary and allowances and other terms and conditions of theservice of officers and other employees of the Commissionunder sub-section (3) of Section 40; and, (f) Form of theStatement of Accounts and other records to be prepared by theCommission under sub-section (1) of Section 44. (3) Everyrule notified by the Central Government under this Sectionshall be laid, as soon as may be after it is notified, before eachHouse of Parliament.

57. Power of Appropriate Government to Make Rules(1) The appropriate Government may, by notification, make rules, within

a period not exceeding six months from the commencement of thisAct, for carrying out the provisions of Chapters I-V and VII of theAct.

(2) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoingpowers, such rules may provide for all or any of the followingmatters, namely:-(a) notification of disadvantaged groups under clause (m) of

subsection (1) of section 2.(b) courses of study for the elementary stage under clause (o) of

subsection (1) of section 2.(c) expenses under sub-clause (ii) of clause (q) of sub-section (1)

of section 2.(d) notification of number of days in the calendar year in relation

to migrant families under clause (y) of sub-section (1) of section2.

(e) notification of neighbourhood in relation to a child under clause

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(aa) of sub-section (1) of section 2.(f) the manner in which a child or her parents/guardians shall be

heard in the event her expulsion is contemplated by the SMCunder subsection (5) of section 3.

(g) prescription and revision of curriculum under clause (v) ofsub- section (2) of section 10.

(h) norms for building, teacher aids and learning materials underclause (vi) of sub-section (2) of section 10.

(i) identification and notification of elements of free entitlementunder clause (vii) of sub-section (2) of section 10.

(j) the form and manner in which record of children shall bemaintained by Local authorities under clause (i) of sub-section(1) of section 12.

(k) reimbursement of expenses to unaided schools and schools ofspecified categories under sub-section (2) of section 14.

(l) the manner in which management of a school shall be heard inthe event that withdrawal of its recognition is contemplatedunder subsection (5) of section 17.

(m) manner in which financial assistance will be provided by theappropriate government to schools other than state schools andfully aided schools for complying with the provisions of section18 (2).

(n) functions of School Management Committees (SMCs) underclause (i) of sub-section (2) of section 22.

(o) determining representation of sections of the community underclause (i) of sub-section (3) of section 22.

(p) rules of procedure governing assignment of teachers to specificschools under sub-section (2) of section 23.

(q) the form and manner in which progress of children shall bereported to their parents/guardians and to the SMC under clause(vi) of sub-section (1) of section 26.

(r) nature and duration of leave and the manner in which it maybe granted to teachers under clause (i) of sub-section (1) ofsection 27.

(s) payment of salary to teachers, and withholding of it for periodof unauthorised absence, if any, under clause (iv) of sub-section(3) of section 22.

(t) the form and manner in which periodic assessment reports of

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the performance of teachers shall be provided to the appointingauthority under clause (ii) of sub-section 1 of section 27.

(u) notification of authority competent to impose minor punishmenton teachers in government schools in metropolitan areas underclause (iii) of sub-section (1) of section 27.

(v) the form and manner in which reports relating to implementationof this act and other issues pertaining to elementary educationshall be made to Parliament by the National Commission forElementary Education under clause (iii) of sub-section (4) ofsection 33.

(w) officer of an appropriate government or local authority to whomthe State-level Regulatory Authority may refer representationsfor inquiry under sub-section (2) of section 47.

(x) the manner in which the age of a child may be computed ordetermined under sub-section (2) of section 49.

(y) prescription of curriculum, specifications of classroom, teachinglearning equipment, library, and play material and sportsequipment under items 1, 4 (vi), 8, 9 and 10 of the Schedule.

(3) Every rule notified by an appropriate government under this Sectionshall be laid, as soon as may be after it is notified, before theappropriate Legislature.

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SCHEDULE(See Section 18)

Norms and Standards for a School

S.No. Item Norm1. Curriculum As prescribed by the Competent Academic

Authority

2 Number of teachers:(a) Primary School Enrolment No. of teachers

(Classes 1-5) Up to 60 261 - 90 391 - 120 4121 – 200 5>150 5+ 1Head Teacher>200 Pupil Teacher Ratio (excluding

Head Teacher) not to exceed 40(b) Upper Primary School • At least one teacher per class such that

(Classes 6-8) there is as far as possible at least oneteacher each for1. Science and Maths2. Social studies3. Languages

• At least one teacher for every 35 childrenAs soon as enrolment crosses 100:i. A full time head teacherii. At least part time instructors for:

• Art Education• Health and Physical Education• Work Education

3. Qualifications of teachers As per Section 25 of the Act.

4. Building All-weather building consisting of:i. At least one classroom for every

teacherii. An office-cum-store cum-head teacher’s

room in every school.iii. Toilets (separate for boys and girls)iv. Drinking Water facilitiesv. Kitchen (wherever mid day meal is

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cooked in the school)vi. Barrier-free access

5. Specifications of a classroom As may be prescribed

6. Minimum number of i 200 working days for Primary schoolsworking days/instructional ii 220 working days for Upper Primaryhours in an academic year iii 800/1000 Instructional hours per schools

academic year for primary/upper primaryschools

7. Minimum number of working 45 (Teaching plus preparation hours) hoursper week for the teacher

8. Teaching learning equipment As may be prescribed

9. Library As may be prescribed

10. Play material, games and As may be prescribed sports equipment

11* Boundary wall or fencing

12* Playground/space (with e.g.slides, swings, see- saw,gymnastic bars, sand pit etc.)

B. Desirable

1. Facility for pre-school education in accordance with Section 7.2. Electrification, telephone and at least one personal computer.

* Exemptions may be permitted in appropriate cases

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The Aspen Institute India (TAII) is a non- profit organization dedicated toin-depth discussion of global issues, development of leadership based on values,and a high- level exchange of opinions, information and values.

Its mission is to bring a value- based perspective to the most important issuesof the day and represent the forum of choice for convening and developingleaders in India.

The Institute focuses on the most important problems and challenges facingsociety, the business community and the individual. It invites industrial,economic, financial, political, social and cultural leaders to discuss these issuesin reserved settings that encourage frank and open dialogue.

The Aspen Institute India organizes three types of events. While each isdistinctive with a unique set of goals, they all share the ultimate aim ofpromoting awareness, dialogue, and action on issues essential for a just andprosperous Indian society.

Outreach SeminarsTo promote a deeper understanding of India’s complexities, top thought-leadersare invited to discuss broad – based subjects relevant to Indian society.

Policy ProgramsThese programs seek to improve public and private sector policy decision-making through more informed dialogue and values- based policy making.

Leadership SeminarThese seminars bring together small groups to explore fundamental truthsthrough the Socratic method. The flagship program is the renowned ExecutiveSeminars, which is an exclusive offering for both established and emergingleaders.

For further details please contact:

Basudev MukherjeeEmail basudev.mukherjee@ciionline.org

Annexure 3

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Overview of Shiksha

Shiksha India is a non- profit organization, launched during the India EconomicSummit on 2nd December 2001.It is an initiative of Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) and is managed by Shiksha India Trust. The trust was registeredon January 10th 2002. Mr. Jamshyd N. Godrej is the chairman for the Trust andMs. Sharmila Dalmia is the Founder Executive Trustee.

Mission

Shiksha India’s mission is to spread better and uniform quality of educationacross India. By providing various technology tools and creative tools free ofcost to the academic institutions, Shiksha strives to provide a creative andcollaborative platform for the schools to work and share.

Programme Offerings

The major deliverables are• Free e-collaborative portal for Teachers and Students (www.eshikshaindia.in)• Free e-Teachers’ Club, e-Students’ Club• 32 modules of multimedia rich school curriculum content in the public

domain for children in the age group 12-16• Module on learning basic computer skills- mouse and keyboard• Open source softwares, tools and trainings• Thin Client solution for old computers• Repository of shared content by schools• Resources offered by partners

Present Achievements

Shiksha is already working with over 2000 schools spread across India and thenetwork is growing. With a strong belief in the model of working together,Shiksha has associated with many like minded institutions, organisations, etc.to bring in the paradigm shift from I.T. (Information Technology) toE.T.(Educational Technology) in schools. Some of our major partners are

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KVS (Kendriya Vidyalaya Samiti), NVS (Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti), DAV(Dayanand Anglo Vedic) group of institutions, CDAC Noida, SSA (SarvaShiksha Abhiyan) Chandigarh UT, SASTRA University.

Future Focus

Shiksha’s motto is FIVE ALL’s• Covering All -catering to all categories of academic institutes• Open to All - sharing of source code with interested partners for translation

and modification• All States• All Language• All Subjects

Shiksha has adopted the Open Source platform to introduce and promotee-teaching. Various open source tools and technologies are being delivered toschools and teachers to build their capacity and help them enhance the teaching-learning process.

Project Beneficiaries

Shiksha is open to associate with all like minded parties and so the programmebeneficiaries include various willing academic institutes which fall under anyof the category below

• Formal and Non-formal schools which includes Government Schools, Privateschools and NGO run schools

• College of education offering B.Ed., M.Ed courses• Various Universities

Please note that CII-Shiksha is a free-of-charge programme for any school/institution interested in adopting/ integrating technology for enhancing theteaching-learning experience and making it more effective.

For joining the programme or getting attached with it, please visit

www.shikshaindia.org

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CII Institute of Quality: Education Services

INTRODUCTION:

QUALITY EDUCATION is the foundation to achieve CII-Institute of Quality’smission of “Leveraging the quality movement to transform India into a betterplace”. Also, with the increasing stress on knowledge economy, the role ofeducation is becoming more and more important. Education does not justaffect an individual’s development but that of the society and the nation as awhole.

Faced with global challenges the need of the hour is to strengthen our educationsystem to make it competitive. It is noteworthy that India in the past 60 yearsof independence has undertaken some commendable steps towards providing“Education for All”. Considering the diversity of our country; a lot has beenachieved. To a large extent, we have been able to bring children to school,increase enrolment rates and reduce dropouts. Thanks to initiatives like: SarvaSiksha Abhiyan!!! Even though we have made some progress, several challengesstill remain. One of it being: the aspect of QUALITY.

With changing patterns of education delivery, course content, nature of learnersand organizational structures; quality aspect has become an inherent componentof the educational process for its success. The challenge now is to improve thequality of teaching and learning in our schools. IQ’s Education Excellenceteam works to develop ‘facilitators of quality‘ - by conducting trainingprogrammes and certificate courses. The task the team has setout to achieveis to spread the word of “Quality” in the education sector.

CII - Institute of Quality assists institutions to improve their operational andadministrative processes by working with individual or a group of schools(what we refer to as ‘clusters’) who are treading on the path of Excellence.Our primary objective is to create awareness on ‘Excellence in Education’comparable to global standards. Another objective is to help institutions improvetheir processes on a continuous basis. We also recognize and reward institutions

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making progress towards Excellence and provide a platform at national andregional levels to share best practices. Yet another objective is to help institutionsbuild sustainable partnership with industry. The idea is to equip the institutionsto be more responsive to change, understand and meet the needs andexpectations of the stakeholders. The ultimate goal being that of involvementand satisfaction of all involved in the functioning of an institution.

We understand that changes and progress in the education sector requiresstrong, productive and committed partnerships. The task at hand is too largefor any one agency to handle. Hence, CII-IQ strongly believes and workshand-in-hand with the Government, Corporate, NGO’s, Educational Institutionsand other like-minded individuals and agencies to enhance its reach and bringabout a more efficient, effective and sustainable development.

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES

The concept of TQM though borrowed from the industry has worked wondersfor educational institutions across the globe. The open and in-house trainingprogrammes aim at spreading awareness on “Quality in Education”. All trainingprogrammes are designed, developed and delivered on the basis of Total QualityManagement (TQM) principles and practices. TQM works on the premise ofcontinuous improvement. The objectives of the training sessions are to helpinstitutions understand and imbibe the concepts of quality and its applicabilityin the education sector. Also, institutions will adopt a process approach toExcellence.

The key to the success of initiatives like TQM in education is continuedsupport, whole-hearted involvement and commitment from all members in theinstitution, right from the top management.

Programmes offered• TQM in Education for schools• Enhancing Educational Processes for excellence• Establishing Quality Management System in Schools: the ISO Route• Creating Collaborative School Culture• Cleaner and safer campuses: A 5S approach• Problem Solving approach: The TQM way• Quality tools for School Improvements• Quality Improvement Projects

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• Establishing Performance Standards in schools• Building Teacher Portfolios

Intensive Programmes• TQM in Education - Facilitators Course (School Education)

CONSULTANCY

CII IQ also offers consultancy services based on the specific needs of theinstitution, which are predetermined. This involves working with one schoolat a time and giving undivided attention for the school’s progress andimprovement. The counsellor conducts necessary training programmes andfollow up sessions to ensure implementation of TQM principles. He/she duringthe follow up sessions facilitates and monitors implementation.

Here, the schools have considered various areas that affect the quality of theinstitution. These include: Improving student-teacher-parent relationships,increasing learning levels, optimum utilisation of available resources like libraryand laboratory, administrative aspects like staff and knowledge managementand other student centred processes like participation in extra curricularactivities.

Some consultancy projects undertaken:1. Rosa Mystica High School, Mangalore2. Sacred Heart Higher Primary Convent School, Kulshekar, Mangalore3. St. Theresa’s High School, Bendoor, Mangalore4. Labour India Gurukulam, Marangatapally, Kottayam5. Innisfree House, Bangalore6. New Era School, Mumbai

SCHOOL EXCELLENCE CLUSTERS

A group of 8-10 institutions working together for a common purpose is calleda cluster. The cluster approach encourages mutual learning and sharing of bestpractices to bring about ‘Excellence in Education’. The most prominent featureof a cluster is the ‘cluster meeting’ that is conducted periodically (usually oncea month) to encourage sharing amongst the participating institutions.

The Counsellor who is in-charge of the cluster facilitates the institution’s

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journey towards Excellence. As and when required he/she provides necessaryinputs through training programmes or individual counselling. Primarily, thecounsellor and the member schools work together to meet the predeterminedobjectives. The Principal and two teachers will attend all training programmesconducted. They are in constant touch with the counsellor. These ‘SchoolResource Persons’ (SRP), are expected to transfer the learning to the wholeschool. All activities undertaken as a part of the cluster must seek involvementof all in the school for effective implementation and results.

Currently, CII IQ has initiated and is working with 5 clusters (3 at Chennaiand 1 each at Coimbatore & Mangalore). The clusters at Chennai are incollaboration along with the Kuruvilla Jacob Initiative for Promoting Excellencein School Education. The association started with 24 private schools agreeingto undertake the journey towards excellence in June 2004. The first phase ofthe project ended with schools identifying certain areas for improvement andputting down an action plan for the same. Phase two of the project is underway.

Three clusters of Chennai City Corporation schools are underway. Each clusterhas 10 schools. The cluster approach has produced results in terms of reduceddrop out rates, increase in pass percentage, better student participation in extracurricular activities, increased student accountability, better student-teacher-parent relationships and reduced late coming. Also, the approach propagates- the school, parents and the society to work in tandem to meet the changingdemands of all the stakeholders.

The cluster at Mangalore is an exclusive one for 9 Bethany Educational Societyschools initiated in Jan 2007. The focus here is to improve the quality oflearning. The Coimbatore cluster comprises of 10 schools. The objective is toimprove the operational processes of the schools. Another striking feature ofthe cluster is that it is self-financed unlike the other clusters initiated by us.

Our experiences in working with the cluster have been extremely positive. Thebeauty of the approach lies in the mutual sharing and cross learning thathappens amongst institutions.

EVENTS

CII Institute of Quality attempts to recognize role model institutions that aremaking a significant contribution towards achieving excellence in education.

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Through events like the summits on Quality in Education, we provide a platformfor sharing and networking.

The ‘National Summit on Quality in Education’ is an annual event held atBangalore. Typically, a two-day session that addresses the needs of primary,secondary and tertiary education. Concurrent sessions are held for both, Schooland Higher Education. The theme of the summit generally, addresses to theneed for a realistic appraisal of the state of education and reform efforts, andwhat present realities indicate for the future. Coupled with a constructive andwell-informed speculation about how change in education can be better managedto serve the needs of students, educators, parents, industry and society as awhole. The summit also provides a platform for the education service providersto exhibit their products and services – a separate exhibition area is providedfor the same.

A similar effort is undertaken at regional levels through our regional summits.

Through the summit, we at CII provide a platform for different stakeholdersto interact and share their experiences on the initiatives undertaken to bringabout Quality in Education. It also provides opportunities for learning andnetworking among institutions. Amongst the other things, the summit sets thestage for the educationists to discuss issues of prime importance and concernsuch as innovation, change, competitiveness, technological advancements, etc.and helps us mould the current practices so as to best suit the needs of ourstakeholders.

Dates for the next few summits:• Regional Summit on Quality in Education, Coimbatore: 08 - 09 February

2008• National Summit on Quality in Education, Bangalore: 26 - 27 September

2008• Regional Summit on Quality in Education, Pune: (Date to be finalised)

For further details please contact:

Dr A Senthil KumaranEmail a.senthil@ciionline.org

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S.No Name & Designation Organisation/Institution1 A N Singh, NGO Tata Trust2 A Willia, Manager – Program & Communication Kinderhilfswerk India, Dehradun3 A.N. Pandit, Principal Godwin Public School, Meerut4 Adarsh Kohli, Principal DAV, Shalimar Bagh5 Ajay Kapur, Director+C30-Education Oracle Education Foundation6 Ajay Upadhyay, Director Mediaguru7 Alka Muddgal, Student Amity Institute of Education8 Alka, Student DAV College for Women, Karnal9 Alok Saklani Institute of Education10 Alok Thareja, Vice President JCB India Ltd11 Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate Harvard University12 Amit Kaushik, Director-Education SRF Foundation13 Amy H Billimoria, Principal Tarapore School - Agrico14 Anaam Sharma, Manager-Partnerships Centre for Sceince, Dev. & Media

Studies15 Angela Jacob, Coordinator-Education Prog. Seva Mandir, Jaipur16 Anil Bordia, Chairman Foundation for Education &

Development17 Anil Virmani, NGO Virmani Trust18 Anita Sharma, Principal S.D Public School19 Anita Wadhera, Principal DAV, Pitam Pura20 Anjali Godyal, Program Leader – Life Skills Education Institute of Rural Research and

Development21 Anjali Makhija, (Group Leader – Prog. and Training) Institute of Rural Research and

Development22 Anna George, Principal AMM Matriculation Higher

Secondary School23 Annie Koshy, Principal St. Mary’s School24 Anu Aga, Director Thermax Ltd25 Anubha Williams-Phillip, Manager PR & Comm. Kinderhilfswerk, Uttaranchal26 Anuj Sinha, Head - NCSTC Department of Science &

Technology27 Archna Saxena, Teacher DAV Collge of Education, Karnal28 Arjun Joshi, Advisor Eicher Schools29 Asha, Student DAV College for Women, Karnal30 Asha, Student DAV College for Women, Karnal31 Ashok Kamath, Managing Trustee Akshara Foundation32 Ashok Mehta, Director Saturn Consultants33 Aslesha Thakur, R&D Head Educomp Solutions Ltd34 Atikant Gautam, GM Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd35 Avanish Kumar, Programme Coordinator GMR Varalaxmi Foundation

ParticipantsAnnexure 4

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36 B P Khandelwal, Former Director NIEPA37 B.C Bhardwaj, NGO Somdatt Foundation38 Babita Mahajan, Teacher DAV School39 Balinder Singh, Asstt.VP,-Sustainability Initiative The Sona Group40 Bhumika Jhamb, Comm. & Media Associate Centre for Budget & Governance

Accountability41 Bindu Rana, R&D Head Educomp Solutions Ltd42 Bolar S, Founder Principal Innisfree School43 C K Lowe (Wg. Cdr), Director Projects Foresight Society for HRD44 CBS Venkata Ramana, Principal Secretary Govt. of Andhra Pradesh45 Chanakya Chaudhary, Chief Resident Executive Tata Steel Ltd46 Chandreyee Das Instt. for Plann., Innovative

Res., Appropriate Training &Extension, Kolkata

47 Charu Kapur, Principal Ganga International48 Chhaya Khanna, Principal Scholars Home School, Dehradun49 Chitra Nakra, Principal DAV School50 Debanjan Ray, Sr Manager - HR McDonald’s India51 Deepa Sridhar, Principal Kumaran School52 Deepak Bhatnagar, Adviser TIFAC53 Dipa Dixit, Member National Commission for

Protection of Child Rights54 Dravida Seetharam, Senior Executive IBM India Pvt Ltd55 Gautam Thapar, Chairman Ballarpur Industries Ltd56 Gulshan Gaba, Add.PS Office of Scientific Adviser, GoI57 Gyanendra Badgaiyan, CEO Rajiv Gandhi Foundation58 H.N.S Rao, Commissioner, Principal Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti59 Harjinder Kaur, Principal DAV School60 Himangshu Paul, Dean (Academics) & Adviser RPG Management Institute61 Iqbal Kaur, Lecturer Department of Higher Education,

Chandigarh Administration62 J K Dhanda, Chief Administrator Ramankant Munjal Foundation

(Charitable Trust of Hero Honda)63 J N Godrej, Chairman Godrej & Boyce Mnfg. Co Ltd64 J P Ghate, Director World Trade Centre, Mumbai65 J P Singh, Director Kinderhilfswerk India, Dehradun66 Jane E Schukoske, Executive Director United States Educational

Foundation in India67 Jaya Pallav, Teacher Eicher Schools68 Jayanti Pandit, Teacher Godwin Public School69 Joy B S, Secretary Education BES Educational Society70 Jyoti, Shiksha Partner Amity Educational Resource

Centre71 Jyoti Seth, Lecturer Department of Higher Education,

Chandigarh Administration72 K G Ramanathan, Adviser RIL Group73 K G Ramanathan, Advisor-Corp. Dev. Reliance Group of Indutries

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74 K K Pande, Director Amarpali Group of Institutions75 K K Varma, Chief (Project & Partnerships) Smile Foundation76 K M Wani, Secretary Education Govt of J & K 77 Kalyan Kumar Banerjee, Senior Vice President MindTree Consuslting Ltd78 Kamalini Singh, NGO Surya Trust79 Kanchan, Student DAV College for Women, Karnal80 Kavita Chowdhury, Principal Correspondent Mail Today Neewspapers Pvt Ltd81 Kiran Datar, Former Dean Delhi University82 Kiran Modi, NGO Udayan Care83 Krishan Khanna, Chairman & Founder i Watch84 Krishna Kumar Pande, Director Amrapali Institute, Dist.Nainital85 Krishnan R M, Principal SRF Vidyalaya86 Lekha Srivastava, NGO India Sponsor Foundation87 M P Vijayakumar, State Project Director (SSA) Govt. of Tamil Nadu88 M Roy, Former, Dy Director General CII89 Madhav Chavan, National Director Pratham90 Madhur Motwani, Senior Coordinator Youthreach91 Mahabir Singh, Director Science Olympiad Foundation92 Mala Deep Bhatia, Teacher Eicher Schools93 Mallika Janakiraman, Vice President-Health & Wellness PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd94 Mamta Chawla, Teacher DAV College for Women, Karnal95 Mamta Saikia, Vice President Bharti Foundation96 Manisha, Student DAV College for Women, Karnal97 Manohari Velamati, Ph.D Student School of International Studies of

JNU98 Meenakshi Gandotra, Principal Jaswant Modern School99 Megha Jain, Dev. Professional - Edu. Prog. Seva Mandir100 Michael Walton World Bank101 Mili, Chief Manager, (Social Initiatives Group) ICICI Foundation for Inclusive

Growth102 Mithilesh Singh, Apeejay Stya Edu. Res.

Foundaton103 Mrinalini Kaura, Principal Venkateswara International

School104 Nandini Prasad, Chif of Party Reach India105 Nasir Rafique, NGO N.M Balwa Trust106 Navita Arya, Teacher DAV School107 Neelesh Misra, Sr Roving Editor HT Media Ltd108 Neha Malhotra, Student Amity B.Ed College109 P Kaul, Student Amity B.Ed College110 P N Pankajakshar, Principal Vidyadhiraja Vidyabhavan High

School111 P Ravi, Principal Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya112 P. Govind Raj, Project Engineer CDAC Noida113 Pallavi Raghavan, Research Associate National Knowledge Commission114 Pammi Dutta, Principal DAV School

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115 Pankaj Kumar Singh, Sr.Executive New Delhi Power Ltd116 Parth JShah, National Coordinator School Choice Campaign

President, Centre for CivilSociety

117 Pawan Kumar Singh, Dy GM & Programme Head Akshaya Patra Foundation118 Payal Tangri, Pupil Teacher Amity B.Ed College119 Poonam Rani Gupta, Associate Professor CDAC Noida120 Prasanna Radhakrishnan, Principal GKD Matriculation HrSec School121 Prashant Gupta, Correspondent CSDMS, Noida122 Praveen Arya, President Foresight Society of Human

Resources & Development, NewDelhi

123 Preeti Dhingra, Senior Coordinator Partnerships for Change,Youthreach, New Delhi

124 Priya Jaitely, Counsellor Deptt of Education, Govt. ofRajasthan

125 Priya Ranjan Vaid, Sr.Executive-Corp.Communications McDonald’s India126 Punit Mudhgil, Director – Enterprise Marketing Microsoft127 Purnima, Teacher DAV School128 R A Verma, Executive Director Omaxe Foundation129 Radhika Bharatram, Trustee SRF Foundation130 Radhika Roy, Head-Operations Shri Educare C/o Shri Ram

School131 Rajeev Sharma, Principal Spring Dale Senior School,

Amritsar132 Raji P Srivastava, Special Secretary (Education) Chandigarh Administration133 Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman Bharti Enterprises134 Rakesh Sandhu, Teacher DAV College of Education for

Women135 Rakesh Thakur, Lecturer Department of Higher Education,

Chandigarh Administration136 Raseel Arunkant, Education Consultant Freelancer137 Rashmi Kathuria, Teacher DAV, Ashok Vihar, Delhi138 Ravi, Principal Jawahar Navoday Vidhyalaya,

Shimoha139 Ravinder Singh, Inventor, Consultant Innovative Technologies &

Projects140 Reena Singh, Principal Sikhya School141 Richa Bajaj, Primary - Coordinator Ganga International School142 Rimmi Gupta, Teacher Eicher Schools143 Ritu Kohli, Principal Eicher Schools144 Roopali Taneja, Teacher Sanskriti School, Delhi145 Rukmini Banerji, North India Director Pratham146 Rupa Sen, Education Consultant Freelancer147 S B Misra, Manager Bharatiya Gramin Vidyalaya148 S K Luthra, Joint Secretary Ministry of Petroleum149 S Rath (Col), Special Advisor Usha Martin

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150 S.PVerma, Principal K.V., Nasirabad, Rajasthan151 Sadhana Bhalla, Principal Mira Model School, Delhi152 Sandhya Patil, Consultant Bishnoi , New Delhi153 Sangeeta Bhatia, Principal New State Academy, Delhi154 Sangeeta Kadian, Principal Indian Heights School, New

Delhi155 Sanjay Jadhav, Director Golden Arch Intl. Ltd156 Sanjay Pandey, Country Prog Rep. Instt. of International Education157 Sanjay Singh, Vice President-Pub.Affairs Tata Services Ltd158 Sant Kumar Bhimwal, Coordinator (Social Projects) Hero Corporate Services Ltd,

New Delhi159 Santhosh Kumar Singh, Lecturer Department of Higher Education,

Chandigarh Administration160 Saraswathi Iyer, Principal Udyachal School161 Saroj, Student DAV College for Women, Karnal162 Sasikumar, Shiksha Partner OSSRC, Mumbai163 Satish Kulkarni, Science Counsellor American Embassy164 Shaheen Mistry, NGO Akanksha165 Shakuntala Raha, Advisor Usha Martin/KGVK166 Shalini Arora, Teacher DAV, Shalimar Bagh, Delhi167 Shambhu Ghatak, Sr Res. Associate Centre for Sceince, Dev. & Media

Studies168 Shantanu Prakash, Mg Director Educomp Solutions Ltd169 Sharmila Dalmia, Founder Trustee Shiksha India170 Shashi Manchanda, Principal DAV College171 Sheetal Mehta, Executive Director K C Mahindra Education Trust172 Sheetal Sharma, Director (Public Schools)-I & Co-ordinator DAV College Managing

Committee173 Sherry Grover, Teacher Chiranjeev Schools, Gurgaon174 Shikha Kapoor, Director –Corporate Relations DAV Institute of Management175 Shikha Kapoor, Managing Trustee Sanchetna176 Shweta Singh, Consultant Council for Advacement of

People’s Action and RuralTechnology(CAPART), NewDelhi

177 Sir Joy B S, Secretary BES Educational Society178 Sondar Rajan, NGO Mysore Trust179 Sri Chanchalapathi, Vice Chairman & Mg Director Akshayapatra Foundation180 Srishail Chari, Associate VP- Education & Research Dept. Infosys181 Sudesh, Student DAV College for Women, Karnal182 Sudha Rajamohan, Principal Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Delhi183 Sudhir Bhargava, Principal Secretary, Education Govt of Rajasthan184 Sudhir Kapur, MD & CEO Country Strategy & Bus.

Consultants Pvt Ltd185 Sugata Bose, Professor of History Harvard University186 Suhel Seth, Managing Partner Counselage India187 Sulabhani Bhattacharya, President West Bengal Board of Primary

Education, Kolkata

195

188 Sumita K Kaul, Consultant-Corp. Affairs Educomp Solutions Ltd189 Sunisha Ahuja, Country Director Room to Read India190 Suraksha, Student DAV College for Women, Karnal191 Surender Young, Principal DPS, Hissar192 Surinder Dudeja, NGO Harmony, Delhi193 Suryaveer Chauhan, Teacher S.DPublic School, Delhi194 Sushil Ramola, President-CSR SRF Limited195 Suvyakta Narasimha Das The Akshaya Patra Foundation196 SV Ramanan, HR Head & Corp.Comm. CMC Ltd197 T M Vijaya Bhaskarn, Principal Secy- Pri & Sec. Ed. Government of Karnataka198 Tanushree, Teacher Eicher Schools199 Tewari, Head of CSR TPC200 Tripti Kochar, Principal Chiranjeev Schools, Gurgaon201 Tulika Mehra, Senior Coordinator Partnerships for Change,

Youthreach, New Delhi202 Usha Kakrala, Joint Commissioner Education – Chennai City

Corporation203 V K Jain, Executive Director Ambuja Cement Foundation204 V P Joy, Vice President Reliance Industries Ltd205 Vandana Bansal, Teacher DAV Shalimar Bagh206 Vandana Kapoor, Principal DAV, Mausam Vihar, Delhi207 Vandana Malik, Teacher DAV College for Women, Karnal208 Vasvi Bharatram, Trustee SRF Foundation209 Verghese Jacob, Lead Partner (Byrraju Foundation) Satyam210 Vijay Bhaskar, Senior Coordinator, Corporate Programme Youth Reach, New Delhi211 Vijendra Pal Singh, Member - Parliament Rajasthan Government212 Vijay Thadani, Chief Executive Officer NIIT Ltd213 Vijaya Singh, Lecturer Department of Higher Education,

Chandigarh Administration214 Vijayam Kartha, Founder Principal Kerala Public School215 Vimal Endu Verma, CEO Magic Software216 Vinayak Kalletla, Founder Principal Abhyasa Residential School217 Vivek Kumar, CS Group, NDPL218 Vivian Fernandes, Editor-Economic Policy Television Eighteen India Ltd219 Zarene Munshi,Head – Primary Section Dhirubhai Ambani Intl.School