DECENTRALISATION OF MANAGEMENT
 

Shri Chitta Basu, MP, General Secretary, All India Forward Block, 28, Gurudwara Rakabganj Road, New Delhi (15.10.90)

- In the management of educational institutions of all variety the principle of democracy should be maintained. There should be a majority of elective elements in boards of management of educational institutions, including universities and boards/councils of education. Teachers., students and non-teaching employees should be associated with management of educational institutions, though their elected representatives.

Prof. S. Guha Ray, Population Studies Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, 203 Barrackpore Trunk Road, Calcutta

- Decentralisation of education is desired.

Shri S.P. Patil, Headmaster, Z.P. Primary School, Pune (30.9.90)

- Management and ad-ministration of school should be decentralised.

Shri Sita Ram Singh, Lecture, H.N.K. +2 School, Arrah, Bhojpur, (Bihar).

- Primary and secondary schools should be administered by public bodies. Education should be given without any discrimination. Emphasis should be given to education of girls and weaker sections of rural areas.

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- In every public body there should be a full-time education officer and he should be assisted by local MLAs, educationists and officers of education departments.

Shri T.B. Gobinda Rao, General Secretary, Bharatiya Shikshana Mandala, Karnataka, 21, 6th Cross Road, Chamarajpet, Bangalore (9.10.1990)

- An independent and autonomous machinery in the form of a National Educational Authority representing the different sections of the educational community and government should be created for the purpose of formulating and implementing the educational policy.

Shri M.R.N. Gaonekar, Headmaster, Smt. Hirabai Talaulikar High School, Sancordem-Goa.

- The educational complexes should not come under the umbrella of Panchayati Raj or local body.

The Principal, Adarsh Inter College, Shambhuganj, Jonpur (6.10.90)

- The Gram Panchayat and Block Pramukh should be empowered to look after the systematic functioning of the Primary and Junior High Schools.

Shri G.S. Sharma, President, Karnataka Unaided Schools' Management Association, 9 Vanivilas Road, V.V. Puram, Bangalore (15.10.1990)

- Establishment of Educational Complexes with a view to decentralise the management of the school system is a welcome idea. But detailed planning is needed before translating this into action.

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Shri Alain Bernard, Director of Administration., Sri Aurobindo International Institute of Educational Research, Auroville (9.10.90)

- The idea of instituting various educational boards and committees at the levels of local bodies is certainly good if it means meaningful involvement of representatives of the population and genuine interest in the educational process. The one obvious danger is politicisation at all levels which could make of education a plaything in the complex field of local and regional politics.

Prof. V.N. Wanchoo, Director, Centre for Educational Development, A- 55, Ashok Vihar-II, Delhi-110053 (22nd October, 1990)

- The idea of Educational Complexes is not new; but did not succeed in the past. Adequate analysis is necessary before the same is recommended for adoption again.

Justice C.S. Dharmadhikari (Retd.), 343 `Gharkul' West Park Road, Dhantoli, Nagpur-12 (6th October., 1990)

- The Review Committee has suggested, establishment of District Boards of Education and block and village level Committees etc. Idea is very good but if it involves the process of election then the whole purpose will be frustrated. Good people may not contest election and normally it is unwanted elements which get elected. Therefore, some other method should be devised.

Prof. Jacob Aikara, Professor and Head, Unit for Research in the sociology of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Deonar, Post Box No. 8313, Bombay 400088. (6th October, 1990)

- A paradox implied in the proposal on educational complex vis-a-vis the common school system is that school education can be maintained as "Common" only within a complex Since the educational complexes

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are envisaged to be highly decentralised and to cater to the needs of local community, education in the country as a whole is going to be as varied, and presumably unequal, as ever.

- Being a vast country with diverse socio-cultural conditions, India needs a highly decentralised system of education. Thus the proposal on educational complexes appears to be an effective means of taking education to the masses. But there have to be adequate mechanisms of checks.

Shri Ashok K. Angurana, Director School Education, J&K State, Jammu (25th October., 1990)

- Management of the schools requires to be decentralised and local community should be responsible for the management of these institutions but community participation is a very loose term and all the functions of educational planning and administration cannot be left to the local community. Local community can at the most act as watch-dog over the functioning of these institutions and contribute in the up- keep and maintenance of these institutions apart from contributing something materially. But certain functions of a specialised nature require expert guidance and intervention and these cannot be left to the local community. For these, experts in the field of education and administration shall have to be associated. Secondly, the management by locally community would mean certain chosen representatives i.e. those with power and influence.

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Director, Pre-University Education and Ex-Officio Secretary to the Board of Pre-University Education, Government of Karnataka, Palace Road, Bangalore-560001 (16th October, 1990)

- The proposal for entrustment of educational planning and management to the local communities is fraught with danger. Local bodies mostly consist of non-academic persons who matter in society and the voice of the academicians in local councils will not have the weight it should have. As is done in England, we can have local authorities in charge of education where only academicians and professionals have the last word in fixing priorities, objectives and other modalities in education.

Dr. R. Bandyopadhyay, Director, Centre for Applied Systems Analysis in Development, D-5/8, Salunke Vihar, Pune-411022 (19.10.90)

- The committee should lay down time-bound programmes of tasks to be accomplished by the relevant agencies of the District/State/Central educational authorities. The manner of involvement of the local community should be clearly specified by the committee.

- Community managed schools tend to be schools managed by locally dominant groups. In the agrarian hierarcy of rural society in India dominant groups are the affluent farmers and the middle class who tend to ignore the needs of the poorer sections and project an etilist bias in the management of the affairs of the school. Decentralisation, freeing schools from bureaucratic control, making them teacher-managed and encouraging local participation are laudable concepts but have to be applied with caution.

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- Management of the educational institutions should vest in a committee consisting of:

(i) Head of the concerned institution.

(ii) A representative of the cluster.

(iii) One teachers representative from the institute.

(iv) One representative of the parents/guardians.

(v) Two representatives, including one woman, of the local community.

(vi) Two experts on education and education management selected from outside the cluster.

(vii) One representative from the education department. This comittee should overview the administration of the educational institution. Day-to-day administration of the institute should be left to the head of the institution.

Shri K. Narahari, President, Karnataka State Secondary Teachers' Association, 1357, 7th Main Road, Sriramapura, Bangalore-560021 (4.10.1990)

- While there should be co-orientation between Panchayati Raj Institutions and Educational Complexes, special provisions are to be thought of to ensure that schools are not politicised.

Shri R.S. Bharadwaj. General Secretary, Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, K- 30, Green Park Main, New Delhi-110016 (9.10.90)

- The management and control of education should be handed over to an autonomous statutary agency at national, State and other levels,

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consisting of majority of educationists. The working of this agency should be independent like the Judiciary.

Shri S.S. Salgonkar, Jt. D.E. (School Education), Directorate of Education, M.S., Pune (10th October, 1990)

- The concept of local area planning has already found its deep roots in Maharashtra through Zila Parishads and Panchayat Samities. Primary education in Maharashtra has been vested in Zila Parishads on agency basis. Education has been decentralised down Block level in Maharashtra.

- It would be desirable to form separate machinery for inspection and supervision of schools and for giving more attention to quality at school level. This will reduce the line hierachy and policing by the inspectorate system. There is also scope for strengthening institutional capabilities at the local level by way of adequate delegation of powers to District Offices.

Prof. Ali Ashraf, Director, Gandhian Institute of Studies, P.B.No. 1116, Rajghat, Varanasi (13th October, 1990)

- Educational institutions have suffered in the past because of political interference and control not only by the government, but also by politicians and dominant groups in the society. Educational institutions should be protected from non-academic tendencies and forces. The educational goals should be laid down by the political bodies but once they are laid down, their pursuit and implementation should be immune from political pressures and left to the academics.

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Dr. (Smt.) Jyoti H. Trivedi, Raj Mahal, Juhu Koliwada, Bombay (17th September, 1990)

- Community educational complexes be organised keeping in view the area development plans and the manpower requirements. These complexes could consist mostly of pre- primary, primary and adult education sections. A number of such complexes can form into a bigger complex which could include higher secondary education. This bigger complex should serve as a resource centre as well as a centre for monitoring, evaluation and guidance. It would be the responsibility of this centre to send its staff periodically to the primary complexes for teacher training, for teaching some of the subjects which the primary teacher would not be competent to take up, to assess the assignments given to students, solve their difficulties and generally make these complexes feel that they are part of the general stream of education. They can remove inflexibilities of syllabus, attendance, vacation etc. and help in preparing teaching material. On such occassions they can build up a rapport with the neighbouring community. Wherever there are colleges, they must also form part of the bigger complex.

- A separate autonomous funding agency (National Funding Authority for Education) be established. This funding agency should have regional centres which should be responsible for that area and should out across State and Central barriers.

Shri V.S. Jotheeswaran, 7, Pillayar Kovil Street, Extn-Tirupattur (27.10.1990)

- Decentralisation of authority is desirable at all levels of functioning of the academic institutions. Educational institutions

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should be totally free from government control. Education should be under the control of a national body of educational experts who have the interests of students as their sole concern. There should be no link between money and education. The scholarship scheme should be scrapped as there will be no need for the same when education is free. Institutional management should be segregated to relieve the heads of institutions from the administrative and financial chores.

Shri D.J.K. Cornelius, A-916, Poonamalle High Road, Madras (24th October, 1990)

- The development of autonomous schools should be encouraged. This will be catalytic to greater quality and innovation in education. There will also be as a consequence, greater linkages with the regions that they would be serving.

- While the decentralisation envisaged is a positive step, proper monitoring of meaningful autonomy and linkages with Universities needs to be carried out to ensure that the goals set out., are indeed, achieved.

Dr. (Mrs.) Radha Thiagarajan, Vice-Chancellor, Alagappa University, Alagappa Nagar, Karaikudi (19.10.1990)

- Voluntary organisations are to be involved fully in the participative management of all educational needs of the target area.

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- To improve the common school system, inspecting officers should be oriented towards academic inspections and not towards, routine, beauracratic administrative inspection which is prevalent in the existing school system.

Shri J.Sagar, Joint Secretary, Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi (19.10.90)

- The decentralisation of school management will achieve its desired objectives only if accompanied by effective accountability to the community. It is unrealistic to think that school education can be improved merely by removing the remnants that still exist of conventional supervision., without replacing it by some alternative, effective means of control and accountability.

- The education complex system suggested in the paper links local higher education institutions with the school system in "clusters". It may be considered whether this would not continue the present distortions in the system whereby disproportionate importance has been given to the higher education system. The skills involved in primary/elementary education, particularly in the context of any drive towards universalisation, are altogether different from those likely to be available to the Principal of a local college. The primary/elementary educational system needs to be respected in its own right. Therefore, it may be advisable to return to the original idea of school complexes.

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Dr. S. Unnikrishna, Pillai, Principal, Regionl Engineering College, Calicut, Kerala-673601 (18.10.90)

- The system of school management may have to suit local needs. A universal system for the entire country may not be workable. Only the management should be decentralised. The actual set up must suit the needs of the region.

- Extensive decentralisation is needed in the higher education sector. Autonomous Colleges, and Deemed Universities must be encouraged extensively.

Shri K.S. Acharlu, Gandhi Vigyan, 80, Temple Road, I Main, Malleswaram, Bangalore-560 003 (8.10.90)

- The active cooperation of the Panchayati Raj institutions for the expansion and improvement of education for all classes of people should be welcomed. The educational curriculum, syllabus of studies, evaluation, teachers training and other educational matters should be under the advice and direction of a committee of 'elders' of the region who are known for being `nirbhaya', 'nirvair' and 'nispaksha'.

Shri Gangaram. M. Mistry, Headmaster, Unchi Dhanal Prathmik Shala, At&PO Unchidhanal, Distt. Sabarkantha (Gujarat) (15.10.90)

- There should be separate units for supervision and administration at the district and State levels. The supervision and administration should be sympathetic and tolerant.

- School-complexes should be established. There should be separate complexes - one for primary and middle schools and one for secondary and higher secondary schools. It is also necessary to

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organise a separate complex for colleges and universities. The functions of each of these complexes should be clearly spelt-out and they should be provided necessary assistance for performing those functions.

Shri Prayag Mehta, Director, Participation and Development Centre, C- 8/8480, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi (23.10.90)