4.6.4 An independent study of the Shiksha Karmi Project was done in the second half of 1990. The study revealed that the achievement levels of the children in Shiksha Karmi Schools compared favourably with the children in the Panchayat Samiti schools.
4.6.5 A budget provision of Rs. 230 lakh exists in the BE 1991-92.
Lok Jumbish : People's Movement for Education for All: Rajasthan 4.7.1 It is proposed to take up an innovative educational project called "Lok Jumbish: People's Movement for Education for All : Rajasthan" with assistance from Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) in Rajasthan. The basic objective of the project is to achieve education for all by the year 2000 through people's mobilisation and their participation.
4.7.2 SIDA has agreed to support the first phase of the project to the tune of 20 million Swedish Kronars (Rs. 8 crores approx.) They have also agreed to consider collaboration in subsequent phases on the basis of a joint appraisal of the work of Phase I of the programme. A document called "Action Plan for Phase I (1992-94)" has been sent to SIDA for its formal approval. Phase I of the project is expected to start from 1st April, 1992 and it will cover 25 blocks over a two year period from 1992-94. The total project outlay for Phase I is estimated at Rs. 20.1 crore to be shared between SIDA, Government of India, and Government of Rajasthan in the ratio of 3:2:1. The first phase will be followed by the second phase from 1994-99 and the third phase comprising 3-4 years.
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4.7.3 The Government of Rajasthan, which has already approved the project, is taking all preparatory steps so that the project can take off in time. Some pre-project activities connected with this project have already begun and some initial work has also been done in a few blocks.
4.7.4 A budget provision of Rs. 100 lakh exists in the BE 1991-92. (A sum of Rupees 21 lakh released during 1990-91 for pre-project activities has already been utilised.)
Teacher Education 4.8.1 A Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Restructuring and Reorganisation of Teacher Education is being implemented since 1987- 88. It aims at strengthening the teacher education system in the country so as to provide effective training and academic support to schools and adult and non-formal education systems. The scheme has the following five components.
- Mass Orientation of about five lakh School Teachers (MOST) annually till 1989-90 to familiarise them with the major thrusts envisaged in the NPE and to improve their professional competence.
- Setting up of about 400 District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) either by upgrading suitable existing Elementary Teacher Education Institutions or, where necessary, by establishing new ones so as to provide total academic and training support to the elementary and adult education systems at the district level;
- Strengthening of about 250 Secondary Teacher Education Institutions (STEIs), development of about 50 of them as Institutions of Advanced Study in Education (IASEs) and the rest as Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs);
- Strengthening of SCERTs; and
- Establishment and strengthening of Departments of Education in Universities by the UGC.
4.8.2 Achievements under the scheme since 1987-88 have been given in Table 4.4
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Table 4.4
Teacher Education : Achievments
Total for 1987-88 to 1991-92 (as on 22.2.92)
1. Amount spent Rs.187.29
(Rs. in crore)
2. No. of persons 12.96
oriented under (In addition, 4.66 lakh teachers
MOST (in lakh) were covered in 1986)
3. No. of DIETs 287
sanctioned.
4. No. of CTEs 25
sanctioned.
5. No. of IASEs 12
sanctioned.
6. No. of States/UTs 24
covered.
4.8.3. While 1990-91 was mainly utilised for consolidation of the already sanctioned projects, new projects are being sanctioned during the current financial year to cover the remaining districts. One DIET for Pondicherry has already been sanctioned. A number of DIET, CTE and IASE projects are likely to be sanctioned to the States of Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh etc., during the current year. State-wise break-up of the projects sanctioned so far and which have started functioning is given in Table 4.5.
4.8.4 Ten induction training programmes have so far been organised by NIEPA, and NCERT and its Regional Colleges for the faculty of DIETs which were attended by 222 participants. A few more programmes are likely to be held during the remaining part of the year.
4.8.5 Setting up DIETs, CTEs and IASEs is a long-gestation activity in view of the time it takes to put up necessary buildings, and create and fill up posts. Yet, about 150 DIETs have become operational and have started conducting training programmes. Appraisal of few such institutions sanctioned during 1987-88 is being undertaken through external agencies. Reports are now being received which are being examined.
4.8.6 Guidelines for strengthening of SCERTs are being developed. Implementation of this component will begin as soon as these are finalised.
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4.8.7 As regards strengthening of University Departments of Education, UGC's Panel on Education is seized of the matter.
Table 4.5
Number of DIETs operationalised as of December, 1991.
S1 Name of State/UT No. of DIETs No. of DIETs*
No. sanctioned Operationalised
1. 2. 3. 4.
1. Andhra Pradesh 23 23
2. Arunachal Pradesh 1 -
3. Assam 12 6
4. Goa 1 1
5. Gujarat 13 -
6. Haryana 8 2
7. Himachal Pradesh 4 -
8. Jammu & Kashmir 14 6
9. Kerala 14 7
10. Madhya Pradesh 45 30
11. Maharashtra 11 -
12. Manipur 1
13. Meghalaya 3 -
14. Mizoram 1 1
15. Nagaland 1 -
16. Orissa 11 11
17. Pondicherry 1 -
18. Punjab 7 7
19. Rajasthan 27 27
20. Sikkim 1 1
21. Tamil Nadu 21 14
22. Tripura 1 -
23. Uttar Pradesh 62 8
24. Delhi 4 4
Total 287 148
* DIETs where Principals have been posted and/or training programmes are being organised and/or in whose case the States/UTs have sought recurring assistance are considered Operational.
Microplanning 4.9.1 The Working Group set up for the formulation of the Eighth Plan for Elementary Education observed that a great deal of progress had indeed been made in, expanding and improving the facilities and infrastructure for elementary education, but the
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backward areas, regions and groups continued to remain outside the purview of educational process. It, therefore, recommended a change in strategy to enable an area specific, population specific Micro- level planning that would integrate existing programmes with innovative schemes and measures to provide a complete UEE Package which would enable every child within the specified area to regularly enroll, attend school and complete atleast five years of schooling, or its equivalent at the nonformal centre at a pace suitable to him/her.
4.9.2 Basic to such an intensive programme strategy is (i) the concept of participative planning, in which the community is mobilised to take responsibility for identifying its own needs and is given an assertive role in ensuring the successful implementation of programmes to fulfill them; and (ii) a decentralisation of administrative functions to enable local educational personnel to take decisions in respect of their areas and respond with flexibility to the demands of the community. Microplanning necessarily implies area-specific planning, in which the area is ideally a revenue village, but practically a Block, Taluk or District. Within this area, the steps by which this micro level planning will be operationalised are: (i) mobilising community participation; (ii) decentralising educational administration; (iii) reorienting and strengthening local level administrative and resource support systems; (iv) ascertaining educational requirements of the area; (v) bringing to school all children who can be enrolled and providing NFE programmes or other innovative and supportive measures for those who cannot; (vi) seeing that all children regularly and actually participate in primary education; and (vii) planning for the improvement of schools or NFE centres so that effective learning can take place.
4.9.3 Guidelines entitled "Operationalisation Microplanning Guidelines" were circulated to all the Secretaries and Directors of Education of all states and Union Territories, elaborating the concept and detailing the procedure for taking up area-specific projects for UEE package with financial assistance and academic support. A few area-specific projects were started, in which voluntary agencies were given the task of enlisting community participation and providing support in partnership or cooperation with State Government agencies. A determined push was made to converge UEE with the literacy campaign by adopting the microplanning strategy to a campaign mode and district specific UEE projects were drawn up with the District Saksharata Samities and Education Officers in the districts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The year saw area-specific planning for UEE descend from the drawing board to the field.
Minimum Levels of Learning (MLLs) 4.10.1 The strategy of MLLs seeks to improve learning acquisition in schools by focusing attention on what is happening in the classroom, and bringing the principles of equity to bear
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upon it. The strategy aims to lay down learning outcomes expected from basic education at a realistic, relevant and functional level, and prescribes the adoption of measures that will ensure that all children who complete a stage of schooling achieve these MLLs.
4.10.2 The main steps by which MLL is to be introduced in schools are (i) an assessment of the existing level of learning achievement; (ii) a definition of the MLL for area and the timeframe within which it will be achieved, (iii) re-orientation of teaching practices to competency based teaching, (iv) an integration of continuous, comprehensive evaluation of student learning with classroom teaching; (v) review of textbooks and revision where required; (vi) the provision of necessary inputs including provision of physical facilities, teacher training, supervision and evaluation, etc., to improve learning acquisition of MLLs.
4.10.3 The aim of the MLLs strategy is also to provide to the system a measure for performance and efficiency analysis. The endeavor will be to monitor learning achievement to direct greater resources where levels of learning are lower, and to consciously accelerate the pace of development in the needy areas, thereby to reduce disparities, equalise standards and govern inputs for equality improvement by the performance of the system. MLLs were laid down by a committee set up in January, 1990. In 1991-92 action for implementation of the report of the Committee has begun. By December, 1991, eighteen institutions, University Departments, Colleges of Education, etc., had taken up projects for implementation of the report at the field level, covering over 3000 schools and seven lakh children. An amount of Rs. 63 lakh has been sanctioned to those institutions during 1991-92.
4.10.4 These first few projects are oriented to action research with the aim of standardizing a methodology and procedure for well- tested instructional material for competency based teaching; evolving an item bank for use in teacher training, and preparing necessary teams who can guide instructions in the major system. Effort was also made to introduce MLLs into the DIETs and SCERTs by reframing their teacher training programmes and making competency based teaching central to their resource programme.
Bal Bhavan Society 4.11.1 Bal Bhavan Society of India, New Delhi (BBSI) was founded at the initiative of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and established by the Government of India in the year 1955. It is an autonomous organisation fully funded by the Department of Education. The Society has been contributing towards promotion of creative activities among children in the age group 5-16 years. The children, specially from the economically weaker sections of Society and others, find a place in Bal Bhavan to pursue activities of their choice ranging from creative and
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performing arts, environment, astronomy, photography, integrated activities, and physical activities to science related activities. The Society has 52 Bal Bhavan Kendras spread all over Delhi and is also funding two Jawahar Bal Bhavans one in Srinagar and another in Mandi. The National Training Resource Centre at Bal Bhavan imparts training in Bal Bhavan methodology to interested persons including teachers and teacher-trainers. The State and District Bal Bhavans in the country are affiliated to BBSI which provides them general guidance, training, facilities and transfer of information. Bal Bhavan aims at the all-round growth of a child in a free and happy atmosphere.
4.11.2 The Bal Bhavan undertook many science related programmes to create a scientific temper in the children:
(a) A Science Park was created in the BBSI campus at a low cost and with a multi-faceted approach.
(b) Workshops on astronomy and solar energy cell were conducted for teachers of other Bal Bhavans so as to extend science activities to the children of other States.
(c) Three workshops were organised. They were on low cost telescope making, handling and maintenance of mobile planetarium and scientific explanation miracles. The participants were children and teachers from State Bal Bhavans.
4.11.3 A number of environment related programmes were conducted to create environment awareness among children.
(a) A National Conference of Young Environmentalists was organised. The Conference was a unique attempt at providing the children with a platform to put forth their ideas and opinions on the state of environment. It generated awareness about children's rights and a Charter prepared by the child delegates was sent to the UNICEF global summit in New York.
(b) A week-long environment awareness campaign was organised to stress the importance of co-existence of all living beings and the need for ecological balance. State Bal Bhavans, and children from tribal and slum areas participated.
(c) Various programmes were organised to provide opportunities for the expression of creative instincts in the children. These included the Varsha Ritu Abhinandan, Malhar Milan and the Summer Camp that acquainted the children with our rich cultural heritage and provided them interaction with eminent artists and resource persons.
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(d) A National Children's Assembly was held that aimed at teaching children to live in harmony. A children's museum was also inaugurated.
(e) Abhiprerna A five day programme for the handicapped children was organised as part of Bal Bhavan's attempt to provide opportunities for creative expression to children specially the disadvantaged ones.
4.11.4 In order to build the qualities of leadership and physical discipline a 12 day trek to Goa was organised.
4.11.5 Cultural Exchange Programmes were conducted in collaboration with GDR and Cyprus, with a view to fostering a vision of international integration.
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