 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, NON-
FORMAL EDUCATION AND OPERATION
BLACKBOARD

THE PRESENT SITUATION

1. Provision of free and compulsory education to all the children until they complete the age of 14 years is a Directive Principle of the Constitution. Determined efforts have been made since independence towards the achievement of this goal. Between 1950-51 and 1984-85 the number of primary schools increased from approximately 2,10,000 to approximately 5,20,000 and the number of upper primary schools from 30,600 to 1,30,000. Even so, an acceptably large number of habitations are still without primary schools and nearly one-third of the schools in rural areas have only one teacher. The emphasis so far has been on enrolment of children - approximately 95% children in 6-11 age-group and 50% children in 11-14 age-group are enrolled in schools, the corresponding figure for girls being 77% and 36% respectively. However, nearly 60% children drop out between classes I-V and 75% between classes I-VIII. In urban areas there is overcrowding in schools and the condition of buildings, furniture facilities and equipment is unsatisfactory in almost all parts of the country. Rapid expansion, which was not accompanied by sufficient investment of resources, has caused a deterioration in academic standards. A programme of non-formal education has been started but in terms of spread and quality it is rather unsatisfactory.

THE POLICY AND TARGETS

2. NPE gives an unqualified priority to universalisation of elementary education (UEE). The thrust in elementary education emphasises (i) universal enrolment and universal retention of children upto 14 years of age, and (ii) a substantial improvement in the quality of education.

3. The child-centred approach commended in NPE attempts to build the academic programme and school activities around the child. The Policy 'also recognises that unattractive school environment, unsatisfactory condition of buildings and insufficiency of instructional material function as demotivating factors for children and their parents. The Policy, therefore, calls for a drive for a substantial improvement of primary schools and provision of support services. A variety of measures have been proposed for securing participation of girls and of children from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes families, other educationally backward sections and minorities.

4. Conclusive data is not available regarding the number of working children. However, it has been assumed in the Policy that a large number of out-of-school children are unable to avail

themselves of the benefits of schooling because they have to work to supplement family income or otherwise assist the family. NPE proposes taking up of a large and systematic programme of nonformal education,for these children and for children of habitations without schools. The emphasis in NPE is on Organisation of flexible programmes which are relevant to the needs of the learners and the quality of which is comparable with the corresponding stages of formal education.

5. The measures proposed to improvement in quality of element- ary education include reform of the content and process of education, improvement in school buildings and other facilities, provision of additional teachers and the comprehensive programme of teacher education. Minimum levels of learning are to be laid down for each stage, which would naturally include laying down such norms for the primary and upper primary stages.

6. In addition to UEE, NPE also envisages a common school structure throughout the country. Acknowledging that the 10+2+3 structure has now been accepted in all parts of the country, a suggestion has been made that the primary stage should consist of 5 years, followed by 3 years of upper primary.

7. In the past, the targets set for UEE have not corresponded to the investment required for achievement of the goal, nor has it been possible to create the mobilisation which is essential for this purpose. Taking a more practical view of the matter, NPE limits itself to proposing that all children by the time they attain the age of about 11 years will have had five years of schooling, or its equivalent through the non-formal stream, and likewise it will be ensured that free and compulsory education upto 14 years of age is provided to all children by 1995.

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES

8. The central feature of the implementation strategy will be area-specific and population-specific planning. About 75% of the out- of-school children are in nine States : Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. While these States have been treated as educationally backward, enough attention has not been paid in the past to educationally backward pockets and groups in other States. Even within the educationally backward States there are wide disparities which require special treatment. Sustained efforts will be made to revitalise the educational system of the backward States and effort will also be made to see that all backward areas and population pockets make progress to keep in step with others in their milieu. The other elements of strategy will consist of the following:

(a) Children of all families in the country will be provided access to elementary education of good quality.

(b) In view of the role of education in removal of disparities,special measures will be taken to ensure that whatever the socioeconomic background of the children, they get opportunity to achieve success of a level which approximates to the level of children from comparatively better-off sections of society, and the country moves apace in the direction of the Common School System as spelt out in the 1968 Policy.

(c) A nation-wide programme of school improvement, with required multi-level and multi-dimensional planning, will be launched to alter the present situation of institutional stagnation and social apathy. Reference has been made elsewhere about reform of the teacher education system for improvement of the quality of education.

(d) The country's faith and its future generations will be exemplified in the system of elementary education, which will get geared around the centrality of the child.

(e) For their healthy development and to ensure that they enjoy conditions of freedom and dignity, the education system will strive to have all children in Whole-time schools of good quality, and till that becomes possible they will be provided opportunities of part-time non-formal education.

(f) Since NPE lays down that children who complete a stage of education would have achieved certain prescribed skills and competencies, the emphasis will now shift from sheer enrolment to retention and quality of education.

(g) Keeping in view the fact that the situation regarding elementary education varies from one part of the country to another, and sometimes within one district, and even one block, the process of planning will be decentralised and the teachers as well as the local community fully involved in this process.

MOBILISATION FOR UEE- A PREREQUISITE OF SUCCESS

9. An analysis of the achievements and failures in UEE shows that we have tended to excessively rely on opening of schools, appointment of teachers and launching of enrolment drives. The above mentioned strategies will make a qualitative change in the implementation of the UEE programme in the coming years. These strategies will, however, succeed only if a genuine mobilisation, based on participatory involvement of teachers and the community, can be ensured. In specific terms, the pre-requisites for the proposed programme of UEE are as follows:

(1) UEE can come about only as a result of an upsurge - involving all the people concerned. The political parties, particularly their local level constructive workers, will have to play an important role in this regard.

(2) Involvement of teachers at all stages of planning and implementation of the new strategy will be ensured. This will take the form of systematic consultations with their unions and associations, ensuring that they are fully involved in micro-level planning for UEE.

(3) As indicated in the section on Management of Education, the local community will be involved in all aspects of UEE. For all practical purposes, the primary schools and nonformal education centres will be accountable to it. Due care will be taken to ensure that women, youth, and the sections of society who have remained deprived of educational opportunities have an effective voice.

(4) All agencies and individuals who have earned the confidence of the community and who can make a positive contribution to UEE will be involved. These would include youth clubs, Mahila Mandals, voluntary agencies and social activist groups, as well as local development workers, retired teachers, ex-servicemen, etc.

(5) Making the system work is of the greatest importance. Hardly any change can take place unless the schools and NFE centres are properly run, teachers/instructors provide instruction, and other processes of education are followed.

UNIVERSAL PROVISION OF FACILITIES

10. The Fourth All India Educational Survey (1978-79) revealed that 1,90,000 habitations were without schooling facilities. since then several new schools have been opened, but habitations have also come into existence. Considering the whole situation it would be correct to say that the number of habitations without schools is still very large and that many of them are likely to be fairly large habitations. All State Governments will ensure that all habitations with a population of 300 (200 In the case of tribal, hilly and desert areas) will be provided a primary school within the 7th Plan. Effort will also be made, on the lines of Mobile Creches, to set up special schools for specific duration for building and construction workers and other categories of people who shift their residence.

11. Detailed school mapping exercises will be initiated forth-with and completed by the end of 1987-88, in order to prepare a Master Plan of Universal Provision of Facilities for EE. NIEPA has already initiated some exercise in this regard. The basis of school mapping would be to ensure that every habitation which can potentially have 50 children in the primary school should be provided one and an upper primary school opened on primary school catchment basis. For persons belonging to SC/ST and other-deprived sections, residential schools and hostels will be provided on a much larger scale. The programme of Ashram Schools will also be improved and enlarged. Effort will be made towards creation of an inexpensive system of hostels, using the school building and

providing a kitchen room, where local villagers would be engaged on part-time basis to assist with cooking and supervision. Possibility of providing free foodgrains to the students in those hostels out of the accumulated stocks in the country will be explored.

ENROLMENT AND RETENTION

12. According to the Expert Committee on Population Projections, set up by the Planning Commission, the estimated population in 6-11 age-group in 1989-90 will be about 9.61 crores. The present population estimate for this age-group can be taken to be 9.00 crores. Against this the enrolment figures for 1984-85 are 8.54 crores, the gross enrolment ratio for boys and girls being 110 & 74%. However, nearly 22% of the enrolled are outside 6-11 age-group, mostly over- age. The first aspect of the new programme of universalisation is that for some years to come we should have no objection so long as children complete 5 years of education, or its equivalent through the non-formal stream, by the time they complete about 14 years of age.

13. Enrolment by itself is of little importance if children do not continue education beyond even one year, many of them not seeing the school for more than a few days. Emphasis will, therefore, now shift from enrolment to retention and completion by all children of at least 5 years of education. Enrolment drives will be replaced by systematic house-to-house survey in which the teachers, in cooperation with the village community, will discuss with the parents the relevance of schooling and regularity of attendance. Children for whom it is just not possible to participate in whole-day schools, will be enrolled in the non-formal education centres, but it will be ensured that every child in every family receives instruction. It is also important that all children regularly attend school or non-formal education centres. In the event of a child not coming for 2-3 days at a stretch the teacher and/or members of the Village Education Committee will approach the family of the child and persuade them to make the child resume regular attendance. This family-wise and child-wise design of action to ensure that every child regularly attends school or non- formal education centre, continues his/her education at a pace suitable to him/her, and complete at least five years of schooling, or its equivalent at the non-formal education centre, is what is intended by micro-planning at para 5.12 of NPE.

14. By making elementary education child-centred, we would be introducing a long-awaited reform in the system. The most important aspect of this reform will be to make education a joyful, inventive and satisfying learning activity, rather than a system of rote and cheerless, authoritarian instruction. Much of it would depend on reform of the curriculum and co-curicular activities, in respect of which mention has been made in another section. Considering that children in rural primary schools are subjected to all kinds of manual tasks, it needs to be clarified that while manual work by children is not to be shunned, it should

be an educational activity rather than an irksome draft. Practically all States have already banned corporal punishment. But it is stil widely prevalent. Through programmes of teacher education and strict supervision this practice will be effectively prevented. Each District Board of Education will have the power to determine the days of vacation and they would be asked to relate them to agricultural seasons, ensuring at the same time that the number of instructional days does not fall below 220. The non-detention policy has also been accepted in principle for quite some time. In practice, however, for one reason or other, a large percentage of children stil repeat their classes. Non-detention policy will be effectively implemented upto class VIII, while also ensuring that the minimum learning competencies are reached. For this purpose various measures referred to in the section on Examination Reform will be taken.

15. A comprehensive system of incentives and support services will be provided for girls and children of the economically weaker sections of society. A reference to these has been made in the sections on the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Minorities,Education for Women's Equality, etc.. The following items have special relevance to the new strategy of emphasis on retention :

(a) Establishment of day-care centres for pre-school children and infants - as part of strengthening of ICDS, provision of adequate support to the ongoing programmes, and by establishment of a network of new centres;

(b) Provision to the girls of all families below the poverty line two sets of free uniforms, free textbooks and stationery, and attendance incentives;

16. A comprehensive system of rewards and recognition will be created for individuals and institutions who contribute in a significant manner retention of children in primary schools/NFE centres. These rewards may be given to the villages, schools/NFE centres, and to the teachers/instructors concerned. The amount of reward will be enough to ensure that it serves as motivation.

ENROLMENT IN 11-14 AGE-GROUP

17. Keeping in view the high transition rate from primary to upper primary stage, enrolment in the 11-14 age-group will automatically increase after universalisation of primary education. This would be further strengthened as a result of universal provision of upper primary school facilities in the VIII Plan, and by creation of mechanisms for testing the children of non-formal stream for lateral entry into the formal system. These measures will be supplemented by a system of compulsory education legislation. The States which have not enacted such law would be advised to do so and the existing laws in this behalf will be reviewed and

modified on the following lines:

(a) Requiring employers of working children to provide rest and nutrition as well as arrangements for part-time education of good quality, with provision for exemplary punitive action against employers who fail to do so;

(b) Involving the local community and the parents in implementation of UEE and in ensuring that educational facilities are provided to their satisfaction;

(c) Establishing schools and/or non-formal education centres of satisfactory quality within an easy reach of all children;

(d) Creating necessary machinery for implementation of the Acts, emphasising the facilitating aspects rather than the punitive ones.

COMMON STRUCTURE

18. In the meetings of the CABE and NDC in May, 1986, a consensus has already been reached in regard to the need for switching over to a common structure for the first ten years of schooling.

19. The States where the first ten years are divided into four years of primary, three years of upper primary and three years of high school, will attempt to switch over to 5+3+2 pattern by 1995 so that it coincides with the target year for UEE. These States would need to build additional classrooms in primary schools and more teachers will also be needed. However, this would be partially set off by the savings of space and staff in high schools. It will be necessary for these States/UTs to do a detailed exercise to assess the requirement of classrooms, teachers, and funds. Similarly, syllabi, textual materials and school facilities would have to be readjusted and the examination system would have to be reorganised.

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, NON- FORMAL EDUCATION AND OPERATION BLACKBOARD