ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) 4.1.1 Universalization of Elementary. Education (UEE) is a constitutional mandate. Article 45 of the Constitution stipulates, as a Directive Principle of State Policy, that the State shall endeavour to provide within a period of ten year from the commencement of the Constitution for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 year, The sixth Five Year Plan (1980-95) envisaged UEE as a part of the Minimum Needs Programme (MNP). Point 10 of the Twenty POint Programme call for UEE with special emphasis on girls' education. Para 5.12 of the National Policy on Education(NPE) 1986 says "The New Education Policy will give the highest priority to solving the problem of children dropping out of school and will adopt an array of meticulously formulated strategies based on micro- planning, and applied at the grass-roots level all over the country to ensure children's retention at school. This effort will be fully co- ordinated with the net network of non-formal education. It shall be ensured that all children who attain the age of about 11 years by 1990 will have had five years of schooling, or its equivalent through the non-formal stream. Likewise, by 1995 all children will be
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provided. free and compulsory education upto 14 years of age".
4.1.2 Indeed, over the years, the Centre and the States have made considerable investments in promoting Elementary Education. Furnished below is a Table which brings out the status of expansion of Elementary Education since 1950-51.
TABLE 1
Expansion of Elementary Education since
1950-50
1950-51 186-87
Number of primary
school 2.10 lakhs 5.29 lakhs
Number of middle
schools 0.14 lakhs 1.39 lakhs
Enrolment in
Classes I to V 19.15 million 94.46 million
(1987.88)
- of boys 13.77 million 55.06 million
- girls 5.38 million 39.40 million
Enrolment in
Clases VI to VIII 3.13 million 31.90 million
(1987.88)
- of boys 2.59 million 20.23 million
- girls 0.54 million 11.67 million
Enrolment in
Clases I to VIII 22.28 million 126.36 million
(1987-88)
- of boys 16.36 million 75.29 million
- of girls 5.92 million 51.07 million
4.1.3 Despite this level of expansion of education, vast ground is yet to be covered for fulfilling the constitutional mandate of UEE. Drop-out rates are significant; retention of children in schools is low; wastage is considerable. (In 1986-87, drop-out rates were 50.5 in classes I to V and 63.8 in classes I to VIII). There are striking disparities in access to Elementary Education--disparities as between regions, rural and urban areas, boys and girls, the affluent and the deprived and the minorities and the others. The clientele to be serviced in the age group of 5-14 is of the order of eighteen crores, constituting about twentyseven percent of the population, according to 1981 census. While the Fifth All India Education Survey reflects that 94.60 percent of the rural population was served with primary schools/sections within a walking distance of 1 kilometre and 85.39 percent of them was served with middle schools/sections within a distance of 3 kilometres it also reflects the poor status of the infrastructure at the elementary level as brought out by the following Table:
Table 2
Status of school infra- structure at the
elementary level
Primary Uper primary
(Nos.) (Nos.)
Kachcha buildings 72,777 11,280
Thached huts 29,644 2,417
Tents 2,546 314
Open space 39,305 2,969
-------------- ------------
Total 1,44,272 16,980
-------------- ------------
Grand total : 1,61,525
4.1.4 investments are required to improve the school infra- structure in 1.61 out of 6.68 lakh schools (24 percent).
4.1.5 Thousands of schools still lack in terms of basic facilities--play-grounds, drinking water, separate urinals for girls, etc. While in absolute terms investments in Elementary Education over the Plans have been increasing its share in overall investment in education has gone down as may be seen from the following Table:
Table 3
Share of Elementary Education in the overall
investments on education
(Rupees in crores)
OUTLAY
Total Elementary Percentage
Education Education of Col. 3 to 2
1 2 3 4
1st plan (1951-56) 169.00 93.00 55.0
2nd plan (1956-61) 277.00 93.00 34.0
3rd plan (1961-66) 560.00 209.00 37.0
4th plan (1969-74) 822.00 256.00 31.0
5th plan (1974-78) 1285.00 410.00 32.0
6th plan (1980-85) 2524.00 905.00 36.0
7th plan (1985-90) 5733.00 1963.00 34.0
SOURCE: A Handbook of Educational & Allied Statistics, 1987 brought out by Ministry of Human Resource Development.
4.2.0 It is in the above back drop that the efforts that have been made for improvement of Elementary Education under NPE 1986 have to be seen.
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Operation Blackboard (OB) 4.2. 1, The Scheme of Operation Blackboard (OB) aims at bringing about substantial improvement in facilities in primary schools run by Government, Local Bodies, Panchayati Raj and recognised aided institutions. It has three interdependent components namely,
- Provision of a building comprising at least two reasonable large all-weather rooms with a deep varandah and separate toilet facilities for boys and girls;
- At least two teachers in every school, as far as possible, one of them a woman; and
- Provision of essential teaching and learning materials including blackboards, maps, charts, toys and equipment for work experience.
4.2.2 Funds for construction of school buildings are to be provided mainly under National Rural
Table 4
Operation Blackboard : Achievements
1987-88 1988-89 1989-90 Total for
(antici- 1987-88,
pated by 1988-89 &
31.3.90 1989-90
Amount spent
(Rs. crores) 110.26 135.83 137.00 383.09
(130.00)@
Amount committed
by States for school
buildings
(Rs. crores) 300.00 340.00 64.60 704.60
No. of States
UTs covered 27 22 25
No. of blocks
covered 1703 1795 537 4035
No. of schools
covered 21.00% 26.40% 9.90% 57.30%
Posts of Primary
teachers sanctioned 36891 36327 5212 78430
@ The figure in brackets is BE for 1989-90.
* The ninth Finance Commission, in its interim report for 1989-90, recommended grant of Rs. 200 crores as assistance to ten educationally backward states for construction of School buildings, apart from Rs. 41.91 crores for upgradation of standards of administration in the Education, Section. The latter amount was also indicated by the Commission against "Buildings for primary schools."
Employment Programme (NREP) and Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP), now Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY). Funds for other components are provided by the Department of Education. The scheme seeks to cover the Primary schools in all the- blocks/Municipal areas in the country in a phased manner. The target has been to cover 20% blocks/Municipal areas during 1987-88, 30% of them during 1988-89 and 50% of them during 1989-90.
4.2.3 Data on achievements under OB are presented in Table 4.
Non-formal Education (NFE) 4.3.1 The Non-formal Education (NFE) Programme introduced during the Sixth Five Year Plan as a Centrally assisted scheme is now implemented in the educationally backward States of Andhra Pradesh, Arunahal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. It has also been extended to urban slums, hilly, desert and tribal areas and project for working children in all the other States. Under the revised scheme, assistance is being given to State Governments in the ratio 50:50 and 90:10 for running general NFE centres and girls' NFE centres respectively. Hundred percent Central assistance is being given to Voluntary agencies.
4.3.2 The essential features of the revised scheme are: organisational flexibility, relevance of curriculum, diversity in learning activities to relate them to the learners' needs and strengthened, decentralised management. The programme is now being implemented on a project basis. (A project is generally coterminous with a CD block comprising about 100 NFE centres). Voluntary agencies and Panchayat Raj institutions are involved in this programme in a significant way.
4.3.3 Particulars of achievements under the programme since 1987- 88 are furnished in Table 5.
4.3.4 One of the major problems that has been faced in the full implementation of the NFE Programme has been that the State Governments have not always been able to provide counterpart funds consistent with the ratio of sharing of expenditure between the Centre and the states. The consequence has been that only comparatively lesser number of Non-formal Education Centres
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Table 5
Non-formal Education : Achievements
1989-90 Total for
(antici- 1987-88,
pated by 1988-89 &
1987-88 1988-89 31.3.90 1989.90
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
Amount spent 38.41 40.32 25.62 104.38
(Rs. in crores) (48.05) @
NFE Centres 1.93 2.41 2.60 2.60
brought of function
(in lakhs) cumulative
No. of exclusive girls - - 66,793 66,792
Centres sanctioned
cumulative
NO. of voluntary 104 296 364 364
organisations
approved for NFE
programme cumulative
NFE Centres brought to 8,747 20,957 24,287 24,287
function by voluntary
agencies-cumulative
Estimated enrolment
(in lakhs)
NO. of experimental 11 25 34 34
innovative projects
approved-cumulative
No. of States/UTs 15 16 17 17
covered
@ The figure in brackets is Be for 1989-90
have come to be established. Number of out-of school children serviced has also been lesser to that extent.
4.3.5 Emphasis during 1989-90 has been on improving the quality of NFE Programme. Under a project financed by the Department of Education, a three tier training programme of NFE functionaries was taken up by the NCERT. Under the programme, 260 Key Persons from nine educationally backward States were trained. In the States of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh 1,300 NFE Project Officers were also trained.
4.3.6 Another measure to improve the quality of the NFE Programme taken up during the year was promotion of people's participation through voluntary agencies. A seminar on voluntary agencies engaged in innovative and experimental projects was organised at Udaipur. This facilitated exchange of experiences/peer group evaluation in respect of innovative projects and problems encountered in Undertaking such projects.
4.3.7 NCERT and NIEPA came together in conducting workshops on evaluation for the purpose of establishing designs to assess learners' achievements through NFE.
4.3.8 Modalities were also tried out for the purpose of adaptation, in condensed form, of the formal school curriculum in the non-formal stream. The objective has been one of establishing linkages between the formal and the non-formal streams.
4.3.9 An interesting experience has been instance of children from the formal school system trying to avail of NFE facilities as well, including for purposes of language teaming. Reportedly, this has tended to bring about a sense of competition between nonformal and formal institutions in improving teaching-learning in general.
4.3.10 About fifteen research institutes have been addressed to undertake external evaluation, on a sample basis, of the NFE Programme with reference to data thrown up by the existing internal monitoring system.
4.3.11 NFE necessarily has to continue as an important strategy, given the socioeconomic situation in the country. in terms of cognitive teaming, NFE is comparable with the corresponding stages in formal education. it offers scope for adjustment of curriculum and textual materials to the needs of the learners. Its duration is shorter than in formal education. It facilitates teaching at the time convenient for learners. It is economical because highly paid professional teachers are not necessary. Despite these characteristics of the programme, there is an overall lack of conviction on the part of the State Governments, the administrative systems and the functionaries. Adjustment of syllabus is not keeping pace with requirement. The quality of instructors is to be upgraded. Management systems continue to be deficient. There is need for continued efforts on the part of the Centre and States to make this programme a vital instrument in achieving further progress towards universalisation of Elementary Education, particularly considering its cost effectiveness and the vastness of the clientele.
Teacher Education 4.4.1 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 to enable it to provide effective training and academic support to schools and adult and non-
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formal education systems. The Scheme has the following five components: -
- Mass orientation of about 5 lakh school teachers (MOST) annually till 1989-90 to familiarize them with the major thrusts envisaged in the National Policy on Education, 1986, and to improve their professional competence;
- Setting up of about 200 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) and development of about 50 of them as Institutions of Advanced Study in Education (IASEs);
- Strengthening of State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs); and
- Establishment and strengthening of Depart-
Table 6
Teacher Education : Achievements
1989-90 Total for
1987-88 1988-89 (antici- 1988-88,
pated by 1988-89 &
31.3.90 1989.90
Amount spent 47.31 50.56 40.00 137.87
(Rs. in crores) (50.00) @
NO. of persons orien- 4.66 4.42 4.39 13.47
ted under Mass pro- (provi-
gramme for orienta- sional)
tion of teachers
(MOST) ( in lakhs)
No.of district 101 114 1 216
Institutes of Teacher
Education (DIETs)
assisted
No. of Colleges of 8 14 - 22
of Teacher Education
(CTEs) assisted
No. of Instituted 7 3 - 10
of Advanced Study in
Education (LASEs)
assisted
No. of States/UTs` 14 21 22 22
assisted
@ The figure in brackets is BE for 1989-90
ments of Education in Universities by the University Grants Commission.
4.4.2 In Table 6, particulars of achievements since 1987-88 furnished.