 ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT

4.1 The organisational set up of the Educational Statistical Units at the different levels assume immense significance in view of the vast dimensions of the Indian educational system consisting of about 11.5 crores of students, about 32 lakhs of teachers and 6.75 lakhs of educational institutions at various stages of education. This aspect, therefore, came up for special scrutiny of the Committee.

Central Machinery

4.2 The Central machinery for collection of data comprises of the Statistical Unit of the Ministry, NCERT, UGC and the Directorate of Adult Education.

4.3. Education Ministry has a Planning, Monitoring and Statistics Division functioning under Deputy Secretary who supervises all the Units of the Division, viz. Policy Norms Unit, Planning and Monitoring Unit, Paper Unit, and Students Information Service Unit in addition to the Statistical Unit. The Statistical Wing is headed by an Officer of the. rank of Deputy Director who is assisted in his work by two Research Officers, three Assistant Education Officers and a supporting staff of 7 Senior Investigators and 9 Statistical Assistants and Computers.

4.4 In addition to the statistical machinery working at the Ministry, NCERT and UGC also have separate units for statistical work. NCERT has got a Survey and Data

Processing, unit which has professional staff consisting of one Professor, two Readers, and about 10 Lecturers. The Unit employs temporary research staff (senior and junior project fellows) when they undertake some major project for which such staff is required. The Unit normally has several other projects and was assigned the responsibility of conducting All India Educational Survey. The Statistical and Information Unit of UGC is headed by Joint Secretary who is assisted in his work by a taem consisting of Senior/Jr. Statistical Officer and Statistical Assistants.

4.5. Nearly all the States/Union Territories have got a separate statistical unit existing in their Education Department. These statistical units are generally headed by an officer of the rank of Assistant Director or Statistical Officer in a Junior Class II grade only. Only two States namely Rajasthan and Maharashtra have got statistical units headed by officers of the rank of Deputy Director (Class-I). Statistical Units in the State Education Departments are generally located in the office of the Directorate of Public Instructions/Education. In States, where there are more than one Directorate, the Statistical Unit a located within one of the Directorates, usually the Directorate concerned with school Education. However, it also undertakes the collection of statistics in respect of institutions falling under the control of other Directorates directly or through the help of the concerned Directorates. The system however, differs from State to State. In two States, viz., Bihar and J&K, the Statistical Units are located in the Secretariat.

4.6 At the district level, generally there is one statiscal assistant/ clerk doing the work of collection of statistics in most of the States. But there is no separate statistical staff at Block/Taluka level in any of the States except in Jammu and Kashmir in which there is a post of Tehsil

Planning Assistant who among other things is responsible for collection of the required statistics in respect of primary and middle schools. The, Committee noted that in a number of States other Departments such as Agriculture, Health, etc., have adequate machinery in comparison to the Education Department. The Committee would like to emphasise the need for qualified statistical staff atleast at the district level, if not at the block level.

Co-ordination

4.7 As already mentioned in the earlier chapter the central agencies need to function with clear cut demarcation of responsibility. To ensure greater coordination among the agencies and the user organisations, the Committee recommends the representation of user organisations in the Standing Committee of Educational Statistics, both at the Central and State level. It is further suggested that the Standing Committee should meet regularly every quarter.

4.8 In the light of their recommendations for undertaking sample surveys., studies/investigation of specific areas, theme oriented studies on a larger scale by all the agencies, the Committee feels that the Statistical Units would require improvement of strengthening of the professional competence.

Strengthening of the Machinery

4.9 The existing Statistical Unit of the Ministry of Education the Committee noted, is mainly geared to the compilation/publication activities, besides dissemination of certain general educational information e.g. pay scale, school information, etc. The research/study work is required to be established, as a regular function of the Statistical Unit. In regard to the compilation work also, it was noted that the staff is required to undertake extensive tours for

expediting collection of data and reconciliation as well. This factor should not be ignored in the assessment of staff requirements. It was also observed that the staff for tabulation work was just sufficient for the present slow pace of work and not when tabulations are taken up for Educational statistics series one after the other. For re- ducing the time lag in the compilation, tabulation, publication processes, it is necessary to provide extra hands.

4.10 The present Statistical Unit needs to be entrusted with the tasks of planning, research, evaluation and monitoring pertaining to maintenace of All-India Educational Statistics and for this purpose it should be suitably strengthened. It should be headed by a competent and experienced professional statistician, who should serve as Statistical Adviser to the Ministry of Education. This is also in accordance with the recommendation of the Committee to Review the National Statistical System in India (Recommendation No. 10.1 of the Report published in June 1980).

4.11 The Committee is of the view that existing professional staff in the Statistical Unit is far from adequate for the present task. When the recommendations of this Committee are implemented, the Unit will have further responsibilities requiring further strengthening. The Committee. therefore, recommends that the staff requirements are properly assessed and suitable steps are taken to strengthen the staff at all levels.

4.12 The Committee took note that the UGC has gone ahead with certain re-organisation and strengthening of their unit. The NCERT will also require further strengthening of staff in order to cope with work of organising All India Surveys on regular basis as recommended earlier. The Directorate of Adult Education is presently well geared to their tasks of collection of data.

Organised Pattern in the States

4.13 It is recommended that top priority for strengthening of staff should be given by the concerned authorities particularly in those states where the existing machinery is comparatively weak. The States should prepare proposals for strengthening and expansion of the Statistical Unit of the Department of Education and the proposals should be included in the State Plan proposals.

Problem of Co-ordination in States

4.14 The issue relating to multiplicity connected with the data collection and the remedial measures in this regard is separately discussed in the succeeding chapter. The absence of proper coordination amongst the Directorate of Education on the one hand and the lack of response from other departments concerned with educational institutions are, however, a matter of greater concern, these being the major causes for delay in the collection of statistics. To overcome the practical difficulties and to ensure greater coordination in educational planning, the Committee recommends that the Head of the Statistical Unit should be directly responsible to the Education Com- missioner/Secretary.

4.15 It was also noted that the staff is not adequately qualified and trained. Frequent transfers are also regular feature. Apathy on the part of the statistical staff is not uncommon because of the low priority given to statistical work and its non involvement with the process of planning and management in many of the States. Most of the State Governments do not have a clear cut policy for recruitment and cadre development for staff entrusted with statistical work in the Education Department at different levels.

Statistical Machinery in States

4.16 The Committee, however, recommended certain broad guidelines to be followed by the State Governments, as outlined below:-

(a) The planning, statistics and monitoring unit in States should be under the overall charge of a senior officer, preferably not below the rank of Deputy Director, if required, one or two Assistant Directors should also be provided to assist in the work of planning, monitoring, statistics and Survey, etc. In case of bigger states like U. P. and West Bengal, there is a need to have at least one post of Deputy Director who should be exclusively incharge of work of statistics only, whereas the complete work of planning, monitoring and statistics unit may be headed by an officer, say, of the level of Joint Director or Additional Director.

(b) In case there is only one Directorate of Education, the above unit could also be located there. In case of those States where there are more than one Directorate. the Unit may be located in the Secretariat. However, there should be at least one Assistant Director in all the Directorates of Education to provide the relevant statistical information to the main unit located in the Secretariat which may coordinate their functioning.

(c) At the district level, the task of planning, moni- toring, statistics, evaluation and conducting of required surveys should be exclusively looked after by an adequately senior officer. According to the work load involved, this officer may be assisted by one or more Statistical Assistants.

(d) At the block/taluka level, the Education Officer should himself look after the work of planning monitoring and statistics and survey of the area under his jurisdiction. Strengthening the data base at the block level being crucial for planning and monitoring of educational programmes at grass root level, there is a need for providing a full-time Statistical Assistant to assist him in the work.

(e) Officers heading the statistical and survey unit at the State Headquarters may be drawn from the State Statistical cadre, if any. Where there is no State Statistical cadre, the recruitment to the posts should be made only from amongst those who have a post-graduate degree in Statistics, Mathematics or Economics and with experience in Educational Administration.

(f) Officers for planning and monitoring at the State level and for all such work of statistics and survey at the district level May be drawn from the Educational cadre but their selection has to be carefully done keeping in view their aptitude for planning and statistical work. For such type of posts it would be better if selection is made out of only those persons who have got a post-graduate degree in Statistics, Mathematics or Economics and Education. The talented teachers and headmasters from the field can also be brought on deputation basis, against posts at the block/district level.

(g) The field posts at district and block level should preferably be given special pay/allowance to attract and retain services of talented persons.

4.17 The main function of the Statistical Units at the different levels, are compilation and tabulation. For this, they distribute printed forms to the lower level. Most of the information compiled is done as a matter of routine and does not take into consideration the needs of various levels of administration.

Printing and Distribution of, Forms

4.18 The printing and distribution of forms, is not standardised and results quite often in delay in the collection of information. If handled with expeditious and proper planning, this will greatly help in reducing time lag in data collection. Keeping this view, the Committee recommends that all types of forms should be got printed and distributed preferably at the State level but if necessary at the district level. The size, design and other particulars of the statements should be standardised by the State authorities for uniform use in all the areas.

Use of Computer

4.19 The compilation and tabulation work, both at the Central and State level is done manually with the help of calculators. The use of computer for this work should be encouraged for undertaking diversified and detailed analysis of the statistics collected.

4.20 The Committee considered essential that a Data Bank at the national level is set up in the Ministry which will be of help to different user organisations. Similarly, there is the need for maintaining at the field levels, i.e. block/taluk/district levels, a mini `Data Bank' to meet demands for policy, planning and administration at these levels. For the preparaton of this material, the State Governments are recommended to use the All India Survey material, which contain wealth of information useful for the needs of district educational planning.

4.21 As observed in the earlier chapters, to improve the reliability of data, the supervisory as well as the statistical machinery should undertake checking of data as an integrated part of their regular duties. At least 10 per cent of the institutions should be selected at random for sample check.

Overall Supervision of Collection and Work Review/Monitoring

4.22 For ensuring timely collection, compilation and publication of educational statistics, the Committee recommends that the periodic reviews monitoring of the work of collection of educational statistics is undertaken at the highest level, with the State Education Secretary as its Chairman. Corrective measures, if any, should be taken so as to give adequate importance to the work of collection of educational statistics and to remove all possible bottlenecks, and duplications which retard the speed of collection and compilation of educational statistics and affect the quality of data. It is further recommended that this Committee may review periodically the progress in regard to transmission to the Government of India of educational statistics in the States.