3.8.3 The existing uniformities and rigidities are an important factor against decentralised management of education and micro-level planning for UEE. Flexibility in the system has to be emphasised as a pre-condition for successful implementation of this strategy. The areas of flexibility are difficult to delineate, but would include :

(a) possibility of some children being able to achieve certain levels of learning in much shorter duration

(b) implementation of the decision that the academic calendar and school timings should be varied depending on agricultural season and other relevant factors;

(c) scope for appointment of local persons as "teachers" or volunteer workers with training very different from what is provided in teacher training institutions;

(d) changes in the system to meet the expectations of parents and persons belong to the most disadvantaged groups.

3.9 Monitoring of Micro-level Planing

3.9.1 The monitoring system have to be planned with sensitivity. We have seen how a monitoring system with which goes a system of threats and rewards, can result in transmission of data which is far from correct - but it meets the expectations of the superiors in hierarchy. The following steps may be taken to avoid such a happening:

(a) Circumstances should be created in which as many blocks, panchayats, villages, habitations as possible feel motivated to undertake systematic micro-planning;

(b) Quantitative targets should not be laid down, and consequently monitoring would not be with reference to such targets;

(c) The process of micro-level planning should be emphsised, rather than the outcomes -- whether they be completion of micro-planning exercises or the objects of UEE;

(d) While the level of learning (with reference to the minimum levels laid down - mainly in language and mathematics) will be tested by the evaluation system, decentralise monitoring/evaluation

system should appraise co-curricular, extra-curricular activities and attainments in the affective domain;

(e) Informal monitoring at the local levels - through block education committee, school complex, VEC, etc. should be emphasised, rather than quantitative MIS.

4. Testing and Evaluation*

4.1 One of the important weaknesses of our elementary education system is the archaic system of examination of students. A significant reform to be implemented at the start of the Eighth Plan, would relate to testing and assessment.

4.2 Minimum levels of learning will be laid down with reference to Classes III, V and VIII.At the stage of Class III, they would relate only to language and mathematics. At the end of the primary stage, language and mathematics may be supplemented by some additional subjects/topics relating to science, social studies and environment. The minimum levels at the end of the elementary stage (viz Class VIII) will be spelt out more comprehensively and would provide the foundation for proceeding at the secondary level, or to move towards vocational courses should the persons so desire. The levels of learning would be expected to be achieved in NFE also, with such changes, however, as may seem necessary. The competencies in language and mathematics would, in any case, not vary.

4.3 There is a well perceived need for introduction of a proper testing system at the stage of Class III, V and VIII. Students should have a well defined goal of acquiring a mastery level, particularly in subjects which serve as the basic tools of learning. Parents seem to feel dissatisfied with the levels of learning being achieved in schools and would feel happier with a testing system introduced. Teachers too need to know more clearly about the expected outcomes in the courses they teach. Educational administrators would have, in the system of tests of learner, the instrumentality to appraise the performance of institutions and teachers.

4.4 Greatest care will have to be taken to ensure that the testing system does not become a demotivating factor for students, and a threat for teachers. There are experiences which show that tests can be beneficial. In Kenya, examination reform has had a major effect on improvement of pedagogy. It has made it possible for the management and teachers to making a decisive shift from rote learning and memorisation, to a pedagogy to develop reasoning ability and application of learning to everyday life. The tests to be administered to children would be standardised, disagreegated and would serve as an important instrument in reform and reoganisation of the instructional process. Internal tests, to be developed by teachers, would be used at the end of each unit into the end of Class III, and at the end of the year in Class IV, VI and VII. Student testing will be made more comprehensive by involvement of Village Education Committee and school complex staff.

4.5 Testing in the NFE system will follow the same principles as in the formal system, viz. emphasis on reasoning skills, application of knowledge, problem solving etc. The units of testing will naturally not be annual and the difficulties' faced by the first generation learners, working children and girls, who comprise the main clientele of the NFE system, will be kept in view. A test which would be comparable with the corresponding level in the formal system will be administered at the end of a stage in NFE also.

*There is a good deal of confusion regarding the terms examinations, measurement, testing, evaluation, assessment, etc. Here, `testing' is being used to denote learner evaluation (to be conducted in respect of every student) and `evaluation' is being used with reference to assessment or evaluation of student learning to be undertaken on a sample basis.

4.6 A National Evaluation Programme (NEP) will be instituted. The purpose of NEP is (i) to undertake assessment of student learning on a national sample basis; (ii) to assess areas where levels of learning are low so that corrective measures may be taken; (iii) to help develop good quality of standardised tests for the school and NFE systems-, and (iv) to serve as the means to assess the impact of policies and programmes.

4.7 NEP will have to begin on a small scale in selected districts, but it will soon extend to the whole country. An amount of Rs. 8 crores may be envisaged for this purpose. Effort will have to be made to make the sample sufficiently large to enable educational administration to identify districts/blocks which deserve special attention. The techniques of assessment have been refined over the years as a result of the work done by the International Evaluation Association. A relationship has been established between the minimum levels of learning prescribed at different stages of education and NEP in the Philippines. In that Country, on the basis of mean scores, the prescribed minimum levels are scaled up. In Kenya, the Certification of Primary Education authorities widely publicise the results of the scores achieved by different districts, and even schools. This results in demand for better education, and wider involvement of parents in the school system.

5. Monitoring for UEE

5.1 A particular area of educational administration which requires national uniformity, and consequently of active Central coordination, is that of monitoring the progress towards UEE. This "head Count" function, if appropriately designed, should also play a very important role (which it does not at present) as an Input for annual Plan formulation at State and District levels, bringing out from year to year the impact (on earlier identified trends) of the interventions being attempted, and highlighting the position in respect of specific target groups. It should also, it hardly needs to be added, play a major role at the national level.

5.2 The present system of monitoring progress towards UPE/UEE comprises annual collection of the following two kinds of enrolment data by the Ministry from States and UTs, with 30th September as the reference date

(i) Enrolment of students in the primary and upper primary stages as a whole (i.e. Classes I-V and VI-VIII) - for all students, as also separately for SC/ST, sex-wise.

This information has proved comparatively easy to obtain from States, and has been published by the Ministry for upto 1986- 87.

(ii) Class-wise enrolment and number of repeaters for each of the Classes I to VIII - for all students, as also separately for SC/ST, sex-wise.

This detailed data regarding Class-wise enrolment has so far been more difficult to obtain and the latest data published by the Ministry corresponds to the year 1982-83. Until the early seventies, enrolment data for each class was being collected in an age-specific manner. However, collection of age-specific data was discontinued thereafter - presumably due to its complexity and the resultant delays - and only class-wise enrolment, data, without reference to the age of students, started getting collected. The computer facilities now available greatly alter our capabilities in handling data.

5.3 The present system of monitoring spelt out above is inadequate monitor progress towards the targets of UPE/UEE as spelt out in the NPE and POA because they envisage attainment of UPE/UEE amongst children attaining a certain age (11/ 14 years) while, at present, we are not monitoring the age of

children who are in the elementary education system at all. As a result, a is impossible to say, in any given year, what percentage of children attaining a certain age in that year have completed a particular stage of education. Clearly, thus, the present monitoring system needs to be suitably modified if we wish to monitor progress against the specific targets spelt out in the NPE/POA.

5.4 What needs to be monitored at all levels from school upwards is the age distribution of class-wise enrolment, sex-wise, as well as category-wise (i.e. for SC, ST and others). In addition, it would be useful to monitor the number of children passing the Class V exam. also - both for its own sake, and to cross-check enrolment figures. All the information that is thus required can be represented in the form of a matrix. Data in the form of this matrix would have to be generated for each school, or for schools in the chosen samples (depending on whether census or sampling is adopted) and would have to be compiled/aggregated/processed at various higher levels e.g. block, district, state and the Country.

5.5 This data will have to be further refined with reference to the targets stated at the beginning of this section. There will, perhaps, have to be two types of monitoring systems; one, for the school system where class-wise, age-wise and target group-wise data will need to be collected and, two, for the NFE system in respect of which data will have to be compiled with reference to the client group (as stated in the section on targets). It will be necessary to introduce sophistication with simplicity, and comprehensiveness with despatch. The whole system will need to be computerised after necessary try out.

5.6 A mention has been made in the section on testing and evaluation on laying down of minimum levels of learning and establishment of standardised tests. As soon as possible within the Eighth Plan, the monitoring system will have to be related to the system of testing of learners' achievement.

6. Expansion of Facilities

6.1 Our starting point, in considering the provision of school facilities, will have to be the guidelines laid down in the POA viz. provision of a primary school within one Kilometre's walking distance of habitants with a population of 300, or 200 in the case of habitations in remote/hilly and desert etc. areas. According to the findings of the Fifth All India Educational Survey, about 6% of the rural population was not served by primary schools/ sections within a walking distance of one kilometre in September, 1986. This showed a slight improvement over the percentage of 7.12 In 1978, and there will have been some further improvement by the commencement of the VIII Plan. Further some of this rural population does not live in habitations of two or three hundred people, but rather is dispersed in very small habitations where schools would not be viable. Therefore, the actual percentage of the targetted population which will require and warrant new schools will be relatively small. Nevertheless, the continued existence of any habitations which ought to be, but are not served by a primary school, remains an inexecusable gap in the provision of schooling facilities which should be filled as early as possible during the VIII Plan period.

6.2. According to the Fifth All India Educational Survey there were, in September, 1986, 31815 habitations in the country which had a population of 300 or more but did not have a primary school/ section within the walking distance of one kilometre. Similar information is not yet available about habitations in hilly/desert and tribal areas having a population of 200, but It Would be reasonable to estimate that about 35,000 new primary schools would need to be opened during the VIII Plan. Assuming an expenditure of Rs. 1,00,000 over the two- room building and providing for teachers' salary, and also for equipment and teaching/learning material etc. at 20% of the current expenditure (a point to which we shall revert) the cost in the Plan period may come to not less than Rs. 1000 crores. This expenditure would have to be provided for in the State Plan sector and the requirements would vary considerably from State to State. The largest number of habitations requiring primary schools in U.P.

though there will also be substantial requirements in Bihar, M.P., and some other States. In proportional terms the requirements would also be quite high in some of the smaller States like j & K, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam etc.

6.3 Even after such measures there will, as explained above,remain some population not having access to a primary school where schools are simply not viable. In such cases it would be advisable to adopt a dual strategy based both on non-formal education and on the provision of residential school facilities. The opening of residential schools is already an existing strategy for certain tribal areas. Keeping in view also the aspect of feasibility, it is suggested that such requirements should be identified on the basis of careful micro-level planning and the requisite facilities created according to the needs assessed within the first two years of the Plan period.

6.4 The existing ratio between upper primary and primary school is close to 1:4. The Education Commission had recommended as desirable a ratio of 1:3. However, we have to determine the requirements of UPSs in the context of the resolve to move towards universal access upto upper primary stage. The most preferred goal would, therefore, be to upgrade every primary school to upper primary level. In the foreseeable future, however, there may be no alternative to children walking some distance to have access to upper primary school. The existing norm of providing an upper primary school within 3 km. walking distance for all practical purposes denies education at this level to a large section of girls. Coupled with the proposal to increase the number of women teachers in UPSs, a firm decision will have to be taken to provide such schools within 2 km. of walking distance. The logic of universal provision of upper primary education, particularly to girls, directs us to recommend a ratio of 1:2 between upper primary and primary schools. This would imply upgradation of between 90,000 and 1,00,000 primary schools to upper primary level involving an expenditure of Rs. 2660 crores, which should be provided in the State Plans. A decision should also be taken that in future for every two new primary schools to be opened, one existing such school should be upgraded.

7. Improvement of existing schools

7.1 Besides the establishment of new schools there will be a need to add additional rooms and provide additional teachers and equipment etc. for existing primary and middle schools where the situation warrants it, if only to obviate the necessity for repeating a scheme like Operation Blackboard some years hence. It is absolutely necessary that inputs into school education should keep pace with the expansion of the school system. It is necessary in this context, to specify the norms that would be followed. Every primary school would have a minimum of two teachers under the norms already established under Operation Blackboard. It is recommended that a third teacher should be appointed whenever enrolment in a school exceeds 80 and a fourth teacher whenever the number of students in classes IV and V Justify it. This recommendation takes into account the reference in the Programme of Action to the desirability of providing a class room and a teacher for every class, and we are suggesting this norm as a means of operationalising this objective while avoiding wasteful expenditure. The number of additional classrooms should follow the number of teachers with one classroom per teacher.

7.2 We see this programme as an expansion and continuation of the existing programme of Operation Blackboard. Assuming that 60% of Blocks would be covered under the existing pattern of Operation Blackboard during the Seventh Plan period, it would be necessary to cover the remaining 40% to the same scale during the first year of the Eighth Plan. It would also be advisable to continue the salary of teachers appointed under Operation Blackboard under the Centrally sponsored scheme during the entire period of the Eighth Plan. It may be estimated that an outlay of perhaps Rs. 1600 crores would be required for the Central Sector for completing Operation Blackboard on the present pattern. In addition the expenditure

on additional teachers in terms of further upgradation of schools as envisaged in the foregoing paragraph may come to about Rs. 500 crores. The scheme of OB should remain a 100% Centrally sponsored scheme in the Eighth Plan and it should be modified to provide for third and fourth teacher with a condition that the State Government will construct a class room from its own resources for each additional teacher so appointed. Resources for the construction of class rooms may pose a continuing problem. Because of the diverse nature of constructions and need for local adaptability and flexibility, a Centrally sponsored scheme for construction of class rooms would not be appropriate. The utilisation of funds available under the Jawahar Rozgar Yojna should continue, but will scarcely suffice. It will be absolutely necessary to provide sufficiently for the construction of class rooms in the State Plan. The total magnitude of requirements for State Governments for this purpose could well be of the order of Rs. 2000 crores. The actual requirement may also depend on whether the Ninth Finance Commission award includes special allocation for construction of school buildings.