 CABE COMMITTEE ON DECENTRALISED
 MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATION :
 CONSTITUTION AND DELIBERATIONS

National Policy on Education (NPE)

2.1 The provision of free and compulsory education to all children until they complete the age of 14 years is a Directive Principle of the Constitution. Determined efforts have been made towards achieving this goal since 1950. The National Policy on Education (1986) and its Programme of Action gave unqualified priority to universalisation of elementary education and introduced many innovations. The micro-level planning has been conceived as a strategy to achieve this objective which focusses on "family-wise and child-wise plan of action" by which "every child regularly attend schools or NFE centres, continues his/her education at the places suitable to him /her and completes atleast 8 years of schooling or its equivalent at the non-formal centre".

2.2 The National Policy on Education comprehensively charts the future course of educational development. While recognising the pivotal role of the Centre and States in the management of education, it advocates establishment of District Boards of Education. It envisages that:

"District Boards of Education will be created to manage education up to higher secondary level. State Governments will attend to this aspect with all possible expedition. Within the multi-level framework of educational development, Centre, State, District and local level agencies will participate in planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation".

Programme of Action (POA)

2.3 A land-mark development that followed the formulation of the National Policy on Education (1986) was the preparation of "Programme of Action" (POA) presenting the detailed operational strategies for the implementation of the policy. The POA under the theme of Management of Education advocated the creation of District Boards of Education with the responsibility for implementation of all educational programmes including school, non-formal and adult education upto the higher secondary level. The POA postulates that "the Boards will also be vested with the responsibility for planning which would include inter alia, area development, spatial planning, institutional planning, administrative and financial control and personnel management with respect to primary, middle, secondary and higher secondary schools". The POA also envisaged appropriate statutory authority for the District Boards. In view of the fact that the management of education upto secondary level was proposed to be transferred to Panchayati Raj bodies, it was later felt that the concept of the District Boards of Education needs to be substituted by the decentralized administrative set-up that might be created under the Panchayati Raj bodies.

Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE)

2.4 The CABE revised the Programme of Action in 1992 taking cognisance of the developments since 1986. It took note of the Constitutional Amendment Bills introduced in the Parliament on Panchayati Raj and Municipal bodies, envisaging setting up of democratically elected bodies at district, sub-district panchayat and municipality levels. Noting that the Amendment bills were enabling legislations, the POA observed that the States would need to draw up appropriate legislation which among other things must provide for Panchayati Raj Committees on Education. The POA observed that it would be necessary for the Ministry of Human Resource Development to prepare model statutory provisions for the guidance of the States when they formulate their legislation under the Panchayati Raj Acts.

2.5 Since then, the Constitution has been amended for establishing regular democratically elected bodies at the village, intermediate, district and municipality levels. The Constitution provides the pattern of election to these bodies and their tenure. It also provides for the state legislature to legislate suitably in other areas including entrustment of functions to the Panchayati Raj/Municipal bodies, which among other things include, in the case of rural areas, "Education including primary and secondary schools, technical training and vocational education, adult and non-formal education" and in the case of municipalities "promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects".

CABE Committee

2.6 Keeping in view the recommendations of the POA, the Minister of Human Resource Development, in his capacity as the Chairman of the CABE, set up a CABE Committee, under the Chairmanship of Shri M. Veerappa Moily, the Chief Minister of Karnataka, to formulate guidelines on decentralised management of education in the context of 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts. The Committee under its terms of reference was to formulate guidelines for the management of education at district, sub- district and village levels keeping in view the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution of India.

2.7 The Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development set up a Core Group at NIEPA, comprising Shri P.K. Uma Shankar, Shri Baldev Mahajan and Dr. S.C. Nuna, for assisting the CABE Committee in its deliberations. The Core Group assisted the Committee in its deliberations by preparing a number of documents, background papers and materials for the use of the Committee.

First Meeting of the Committee

2.8 The Committee held its first meeting on 26th April, 1993, in New Delhi. It deliberated on the methods and procedures to be adopted for its functioning. The Committee had following documents before it:

1. National Policy on Education (Revised, 1992)

2. Extracts from the Programme of Action (1992) to implement the National Policy on Education

3. Seventry-third and Seventy-fourth Constitutional Amendment Acts

4. Documents published by the National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad on Panchayati Raj:

a. Summary of major Reports on Panchayati Raj

b. Salient Features of Panchayati Raj Acts

c. Structural Patterns

5. Documents prepared by the Core Group:

a. "Panchayati Raj bodies and Development: A Perspective"

b. "Experience of Panchayati Rai bodies in the field of Education in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh".

c. "Issues to be considered by the CABE Committee while formulating its Recommendation on the Decentralized Management of Education under the Panchayati Raj bodies".

2.9 The Chief Minister of Karnataka, presiding over the first meeting, welcomed the participants and highlighted the importance of decentralisation of the educational management. He emphasised that the decentralisation is the key to achieve optimum results in the system of education and explained the importance of restructuring the en fire management system of education in the backdrop of structural readjustment of the economy. Shri Moily laid special stress on participative democracy and said decentralisation was the effective way to ensure education aimed at growth with social justice.

2.10 The Committee during its deliberations, noted that decentralisation did not mean mere delegation of powers; it meant entrustment of certain responsibilities. The educational management has to be a movement of the people. The Panchayati Raj bodies may ensure convergence of services and prevention of fragmentation of work and responsibilities. The Committee also observed that modern administrative methods and practices should be included in the Panchayati Raj system. The Committee also noted that the decentralised management structures should facilitate in achieving the national goals of universalisation of elementary education and total adult literacy.

2.11 There was also a note of caution. It was felt that hasty decentralisation of management of education should be avoided. Need for detailed and indepth studies regarding areas and subjects to be transferred to the Panchayati Raj bodies was also emphasized. The States would have to work out the details, though the Programme of Action provides the guidelines. Some subjects would lend themselves for decentralisation while others like formulation of syllabus, preparation of text books etc. may have to be the responsibility of the States. It was also observed that the Panchayati Raj bodies may require time to equip themselves for the work and decentralisation may proceed slowly and cautiously but surely. The objective of decentralisation must be to administer with greater efficiency.

2.12 At the conclusion of the first meeting, the Committee decided that the views and opinions of the States and Union Territories on decentralised management of education should be obtained and should be available at the next meeting of the Committee. The Committee desired that background notes should be elaborated giving more details about the experience of the States as well as of other countries in the field of decentralised management. The Committee indicated that it would finalise the issues to be considered by the Committee at the next meeting after perusal of all the documents.

Second Meeting of the Committee

2.13 The Committee held its second meeting on 10th June, 1993 at Bangalore. The Committee had before it the following documents:

1. Detailed reports on Structure, Role and Functions of Panchayati Raj Institutions in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharasthra.

2. Papers on different aspects of decentralisation in England, France, Scandinavian countries, Papua New Guinea and Nigeria.

3. A Note containing revised issues to be considered by the Committee.

4. Comments of the States and Union Territories in response to the communication from the Chairman seeking their views.

2.14 During the discussions, it was observed that the decentralised management of education will have far reaching bearing on educational development in the country and hence calls for deliberations in depth. Decentralisation of management was needed not only to improve the quality of education, but also in view of the fact that educational system has become too large and the aspirations of the people can be met only under a decentralist system. It was also noted that the institutional strategies like the Village Education Committee to secure involvement of people should be given importance. While the new system must be cost effective, at the same time, educational administration at district and sub-district level would need to be strengthened. Nomination of professionals would be a step towards providing professional orientation to the Panchayati Raj bodies and building up their credibility. Decentralisation as the means for greater participation of people in the process of educational development is a welcome move. These bodies have manifold responsibilities and they would require financial and administrative support for managing education. Mistakes in education would have long term consequences. Experiments in the past failed because of the lack of planning and financial constraints. The Panchayati Raj bodies would need to be adequately supported and strengthened before giving them additional responsibilities.

2.15 The Committee identified the following issues for detailed discussion at the next meeting:

(i) The education subjects that could be delegated to the Panchayati Raj bodies in the context of 11th Schedule of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment and the inter se distribution of the delegated subjects among the 3-tiers of Panchayati Raj, having regard to:

(a) The need to balance the requirements of uniformity and standardisation on one hand and of participatory management and decentralisation on the other.

(b) The imperative of providing basic education services of satisfactory quality.

(ii) The structures to be created at the Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad levels for the management of education; their composition, powers and functions.

(iii) The powers to be delegated to the Panchayati Raj bodies in regard to educational institutions not managed by the local bodies or the state governments.

(iv) The procedure of recruitment of teaching and non- teaching staff and the extent to which such recruitment, transfer and service conditions could be delegated to the Panchayati Raj bodies.

(v) The powers and functions in regard to administrative and academic supervision of educational institutions that could be delegated to the Panchayati Raj bodies.

(vi) The extent of flexibility which may be provided to the Panchayati Raj bodies in regard to various norms and standards that would be laid down at the state level such as sanctioning of schools, teacher-pupil ratio, appointment of teachers, fees, incentives, curricula, syllabi, text-books, supplementary reading, examination,

academic calander, and curricular, co-curricular and extra curricular activities etc.

(vii) The measures for coordination and integration between the activities undertaken at different levels so that holistic perception informs educational management.

(viii) Mechanisms for providing adequate financial resources to the Panchayati Raj bodies to discharge activities vested in them.

(ix) Financial consequences of delegation of powers to Panchayati Raj bodies.

(x) Strategy for progressively entrusting Panchayati Raj bodies with more functions and powers in the field of education.

(xi) Training of Panchayati Raj functionaries, political and administrative, in the planning and management of education.

(xii) The components of a model legislation in regard to the management of education by Panchayati Raj bodies.

(xiii) Similar issues in regard to management of education in urban areas.

Third Meeting of the Committee

2.16 The third meeting of the Committee was held on 17th July, 1993 in New Delhi. The Chairman emphasised the need for finalising the Report at the earliest as the States are in the process of preparing- necessary legislation under the constitutional provisions of the Panchayati Raj Act. The Committee also noted that decentralisation has been in the force in one form or the other in the country since 1956 and decentralised structures in education had existed even earlier in the form of District Boards. It was also observed that the decentralisation cannot be uniform throughout the country. However, measures to ensure people's participation can be common to all the States. It was also felt that the Panchayati Raj bodies would be necessary to achieve the convergence of related areas like early childhood care and education, primary education and vocational education at the ground level. The necessity to generate resources for education of people was also reiterated. It was felt that the people may willingly contribute if they were given the power.

2.17 Dr. P.V. Ranga Rao, Minister of Education, Andhra Pradesh made a brief presentation to the Committee on the "Views of the State Level Seminar on Management of Education". The main recommendations of the Seminar were:

1 . Constitution of VEC as a statutory body at the Village level with functions and responsibilities as enlisted in the Report of the Seminar.

2. Constitution of District Board of Education as an autonomous, statutory body at the District level with a broad based composition to look-After Upper Primary and Secondary Stages of education with District Education Officer as Member-Convenor and Chief Executive Officer.

3. Academic and Technical supervision to be exclusive function of Education Department with Education Officers at the district and lower level.

4. State Education Department to be responsible for all matters concerned with pre-service, and in-service training of teachers; maintaining uniformity of stand- ards in education; -prescription of curriculum; printing and distribution of textbooks; conduct of examinations and issue of certificates etc.

The Committee also considered the suggestions received from the various State Goverments/Union Territories Administration, and other Institutions in response to the Chairman's communication.

2.18 The Committee noted that the varied experience of the States should be taken into account for preparing future action plans. It was also felt that the recommendations of the Committee should be wise as well as practical. Although there was an unanimity on the need to increase the budgetary allocation but how to raise the resources was a critical issue. The lack of administrative support for the PRIs was also referred to. While it may be possible to involve the Panchayats in the literacy and, non-formal education programmes, total responsibility for formal -education may be a difficult task. The recommendations of the Committee, it was felt, may have to be broad- based and flexible; indicative rather than prescriptive. The States should have freedom to choose the model which suits their situation.

2.19 The Committee felt that while setting up a Village Education Committee, its conflict with the Panchayats should be avoided. The people who are knowledgeable about education should be involved in these bodies. Members of the bodies at the lower levels should find representation in the bodies at the higher level. The experience of some of the States suggest that people at different levels need to be prepared to assume the responsibilities and exercise of the powers which may be delegaged to them. The Committee also felt that it should be ensured that the quality of education does not go down because of the decentralisation. All the proposals should be viable. While resources would need to be raised, optimum utilisation of resources will have to be ensured. Organisational support need to be built into the structures along with accountability and cooperation.