REDEEMING A PLEDGE STATUS REPORT SECOND MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE, BALI SEPTEMBER, 1995.

 REDEEMING A PLEDGE STATUS REPORT
 SECOND MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE,
 BALI SEPTEMBER, 1995

Introductory

Since the EFA-9 Summit in New Delhi, primary education has been high on India's political agenda and is backed by a national consensus. While India's efforts to reform the economy are well known, the simultaneous efforts to reform education are largely unknown. In 1991, the very year when the economic reforms were launched, the gov- ernment decided to review and update the National Policy on Education, 1986 and to implement it with renewed vigour.

As a follow-up to the EFA Summit, a Conference of Chief Ministers of all the states was held in New Delhi on 15th February, 1994. The Chief Ministers were unanimous that EFA should be given high priority in the country's developmental plans. The Prime Minister, Shri P.V. Narasimha Rao, reaffirmed that allocation for education

would be raised to 6% of GDP by the turn of the century from the present level of 3.7%, a declaration which was reiterated by the President in his address to the Parliament in 1994.

Specific efforts are being initiated in the education sector in the five educationally backward states in the country. A meeting of the Chief Ministers of the four states of this group - Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh - was held in Bhopal on 1st July, 1994 where the participants agreed to give top priority to primary education and literacy. The political consensus that has evolved through these efforts has helped India become one of the few countries where during the stabilisation phase of structural adjustment, expenditure on education has been stepped up. Rather than cut expenditure of key social programmes during adjustment, the

" Universalisation is a feasible task,given the political commitment of the central and state governments, the enhanced allocations being provided to elementary education, the new ambience created by the Panchayati Raj legislation, the Total Literacy Campaigns and new initiatives like the District Primary Education Progamme."

Union Government in India has shown how countries can use the adjustment process to try to possibly "adjust" public expenditure on social programmes as well as to adjust macro-economic imbalances. Public expenditure on education by education departments in the Centre and in the States/Union Territories increased from Rs.213,699 million in 1992-93 to Rs.239,089 million in 1993-94, an increase of nearly 12 per cent. Primary and adult education received a proportionally higher share of the enhanced investment. The plan allocation for elementary education doubled during the period 1991-95, from Rs. 9,666 million in 1991-92 to Rs. 19,402 million in 1994-95. This aspect has been highlighted by many including the World Bank in its report on Social Safety Net Adjustment Credit.

A two pronged approach of Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) and Universal Adult Literacy is being adopted for achieving total literacy.

A heartening feature is the steep decline in the proportion of never enrolled children, boys as well as girls, in all states, including the educationally backward.

A major step to improve efficiency and effectiveness has been the

collective exercise between the Government of India and states to develop a time-bound action plan to reduce drop-outs and to remove systemic deficiencies in the implementation of schemes like Operation Blackboard and Non-formal Education.

A major initiative to achieve UEE, the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), has been launched. It adopts a holistic view of primary education and seeks to operationalise the strategy of UEE through district-specific planning and disaggregated target setting. It has emerged as the main vehicle for UEE as well as for international assistance. A National Elementary Education Mission has been established in August 1995 with DPEP as its core.

Great strides in adult literacy are being attempted by the Total Literacy Campaigns and the Post Literacy Campaigns.

Distance education is emerging as a major vehicle for improving teacher education and as an alternative school. A significant development is the emergence of the National Open School as the node of a network of state open schools.

Another significant initiative that has been launched recently is the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education.

Financing Education

The Central Government's Plan outlay on education nearly doubled during 1991-95, from Rs.9,530 million in 1991-92 to Rs. 18,250 million in 1995-96. Primary and adult education have a proportionately higher share of the increase in these allocations; 50% of the Centre's Plan outlay devolves on the states for implementation of key centrally sponsored schemes like Operation Blackboard and Teacher Education. In spite of financial constraints, expenditure by states has increased from Rs. 170,440 million in 1991-92 to Rs.247,570 million in 1994-95. Even in real terms, the per capita expenditure on education has increased in 1994-95 in many states compared with 1993-94.

The Government has been enhancing the Plan outlays even

as fiscal correctives have been set in motion. The Plan expenditure is increasingly becoming more important in elementary education. The share of Plan expenditure in total expenditure/outlay has increased from about 10.1 per cent in 1990-91 and to 15.4 per cent in 1994-95. Further, the Government of India now supports about 50 per cent of the total Plan expenditure on elementary education by Centre and States. To a certain extent, this tries to reverse the unhealthy trend of almost the entire expenditure on elementary education being spent on teachers' salaries.

Expenditure by all Central and State departments of education in 1992-93 was equal to 3.34 per cent of GNP. When expenditures across departments other than education were included, the share was 3.9 per cent.

Elementary Education

The Indian school system is now the second largest in the world, enrolling 148 million children constituting 82 6- per cent of the children in the age group of 6-14. Of these, 108 million children were enrolled in 573,000 lower primary schools and another 40 million in 156,000 upper primary schools. There are 1.7 million teachers in primary schools and 1.08 million in the upper primary schools. 94.5 per cent of the rural population living in 8.26 lakh habitations has a school within walking distance of 1 km. and 83.98 per cent have an upper primary school within a walking distance of 3 kms. Today, 43 out of 100 primary students are girls as compared to 28 in 1950. Growth in enrollment in the decade of 80's showed an acceleration that has now brought enrollment rates to more than 100 per cent at primary stage. The total number of children enrolled is 144.08 million. Primary education is imparted in 50 languages.

In the endeavour to increase enrollment and achieve the target of UEE, all state governments

have abolished tuition fees in the government, local body and aided schools upto the upper primary level.

In states like Tamilnadu and Kerala, almost every child completes 5 years of schooling and many states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal are on the verge of a similar achievement. A silver lining has been the significant decline in the proportion of never en- rolled children, boys as well as girls, in all states, as brought out by the NCAER study (1993).

Population trends in Indian states largely reflect the differences in primary education coverage at the state level.

According to the Progress of Nations, 1995 brought out by UNICEF, India shows a positive national performance gap in retention levels. The estimated retention of 62 percent of children reaching Class V is 16 percentage points more than the average retention for countries with the same level of economic development as India.

Decentralisation

A renewed emphasis on democratic decentralisation and the Government's commitment to "planning from below" and "people's participation" led to the 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution giving recognition to local self-governing institutions called Panchayats. A three-tier structure at the district, sub-district and village level has been established and many items have been earmarked for the administration of the elected district bodies.

These Panchayats which are to have adequate representation of women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, minorities, repre- sentatives of parents, educationists and appropriate institutions will have the responsibility of preparing development plans and implement- ing educational programmes besides dealing with those subjects closely related to education such as health, social welfare and women and child development. Each Panchayat would constitute a Village Education Committee (VEC) which would be responsible for the administration of education programmes at the village level.

It is envisaged that these fully functioning local bodies would give momentum to the literacy movement. Earlier, they were perceived in the role of watchdogs; today they are expected to play a more dynamic and proactive role in mobilising volunteers for the mass literacy movement, in playing a supportive role in women's empowerment and in assuring that the gains of literacy spread to the weaker sections. In this regard, decentralisation of school management to grass roots level bodies is an important policy initiative.

So far, over a million women have been elected to office and this shift in political power is expected to ensure greater accountability of' the school system to the local community.

District Primary Education Programme

" The Problem in India is one of vast regional disparity which compounded by the fact that we have to impart education in 50 languages. Therefore, any strategy for universalisation has to be contextual. We should think nationally and act locally."

The District Primary Education Programme is conceived as a beachhead for overhauling the primary education system in India. Building upon accumulated national experience as well as drawing from the best features of several state level initiatives, the programme is being implemented in the mission mode. The DPEP moves away from the earlier schematic, piecemeal approach and takes a holistic view of elementary education, emphasises decentralised management and community mobilisation and undertakes district and population-specific planning. It is a scheme sponsored by the Central Government and the Central share of funding has been raised from multilateral and bilateral sources. DPEP goes beyond conventional packages such as opening of new schools and appointing teachers and addresses issues of content, process, quality and equity in education. The programme takes an integrated view of pedagogic issues in primary education development and seeks to build and strengthen institutional capacity in the states as well as local levels, so as to address the challenges of UEE.

The DPEP is not to be seen as an enclave project. It is a multi- faceted programme seeking to overhaul the primary education system in the country. In fact, it is envisaged that DPEP will be transformed into a National Mission for Elementary Education, thus meeting a major commitment of Programme of Action (POA), 1992.

Since December 1993, as a part of the planning process, about 1000 meetings have been held at the districts and blocks and over 70,000 people have participated in these meetings. Six extensive studies on different aspects of basic education were also undertaken. These include a baseline study which is the largest ever in the world covering about 100,000 students. This complex planning process which was done within India with local available expertise is a measure of the capacity and intrinsic strength that exists in the country.

The programme has been initially taken up in 42 districts spread over 7 states. Since then, the planning process has been initiated in 5 districts each in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal where it would be funded by ODA. DPEP is shortly to be expanded to another 55 districts. During 1993-98, attempts are being made to cover 110 districts in a phased manner with an outlay of US $650 million of which US $423 million would be mobilised from external funding. Funding arrangement with European Commission for a grant of ECU 150 million has been concluded. An agreement with IDA for a credit of US $260 million has also been concluded. IDA has offered to provide a second credit line of US $425 million in the fiscal year ending June, 1996.

DPEP provides a well-defined process under which districts draw up plans on the basis of DPEP guidelines, informed by baseline studies, and with some support from state and national level institutions. It is recognised that this is an iterative process, with a clear objective to im- prove the quality of plans over the project period. There is provision for the assessment of alternatives as part of the planning process.

The programme builds upon the experience gained in the Bihar Education Project, the Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Project, Shiksha Karmi Project and Mahila Samakhya. (See Country Report for more details).

National Elementary Education Mission

Deriving inspiration from the success of the mission mode in adult education and in pursuance of the commitment made in the National Policy on Education, a National Elementary Education Mission (NEEM) is being set up with DPEP as its core. The macro objectives of the mission would be to bring to bear upon the UEE a sense of expedition and resolve and to take concerted action in partnership with states, local bodies, teachers and NGOs towards UEE.

A number of sub-missions would be established to address critical areas of elementary education such as non-formal education, teacher training, school effectiveness, learner achievement, community participation and management of education. The organizational structure for NEEM would largely follow the pattern of National Literacy Mission having due regard to the specifics of UEE.

Girl and Women's Education

While UEE is the ultimate goal, no strategy can succeed without addressing its gender and regional dimensions specifically. Gender disparities are yet conspicuous in India. Though girls' enrollment has been outpacing that of the boys, girls still account for only 45.7 per cent of the enrollment at the primary stage. A closer scrutiny reveals a bigger chasm in gender achievements. In the south western state of Kerala, the gender differential in literacy rates is a comforting 7.45%. In the north western state of Rajasthan, it is a disconcerting 34.55%. Recognising this gender bias, most programmes have specific components for ameliorating the condition of the girl child. In the DPEP, for instance, a gender perspective has been incorporated in all aspects of planning and implementation, and is an integral part of the programme. Free education is provided to girls upto Class VIII by various State Governments and UTs.

Mahila Samakhya (Women's empowerment), a Dutch assisted project, is a unique initiative operative in 22 districts spread over Bihar, Karnataka, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. With the aim of empowering women to take control of their own lives, the project pro- vides the crucial conceptual and practical link

between empowerment and education. Unlike other projects, the emphasis of this initiative is not in service delivery but in bringing about a change in women's perception about themselves and that of society in regard to women's traditional roles. The Eighth Plan (1992-97) allocation is Rs. 513 million for this project.

The project has evinced international interest. The Government of India (GOI), in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Embassy in India, organised a ten day International Conference on 'Women's Education and Empowerment' in March 1995 to share the experience of the Mahila Samakhya programme with various African and Asian countries. At the end of the Conference, members of the visiting teams were of the view that the exposure of the Mahila Samakhya programme would be a useful starting point in initiating similar programmes in their own countries.

State level Initiatives

While the DPEP has been targeting backward districts with female literacy below the national average and where TLCs have stirred up a demand for elementary education, several State level initiatives have shown tremendous potential. These are directed at improving literacy levels in the five low literacy states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.