OBJECTIVES AND ORGANIZATION OF THE FIFTH ALL-INDIA EDUCATIONAL SURVEY
2.1 India has witnessed a lot of educational development since Independence. The educational facilities at all levels of education have appreciably increased during the last four decades. The enrolment at the elementary stage has multiplied manifold since 1950- 51. This has been an outcome of diverse efforts put in by the State, towards the implementation of the Directive Principle of the Constitution providing free and compulsory education to all children till they attain the age of 14. In 1956, it was realized that for proper planning of educational facilities right from the grassroot level and for ensuring a balanced growth in all areas-rural and urban- educational statistics collected annually by the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare were not quite adequate. It was then decided to have All-India Educational Survey to collect benchmark data for planning. The Ministry of Education and Social Welfare conducted the first such All-India Educational Survey in 1957. The conduct of the subsequent Surveys-Second (1965), Third (1973) and Fourth (1978)-was entrusted to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
The need for the Fifth All-India Educational Survey was felt in 1986 when, with the formulation of the National Policy on Education, updated data were needed to plan and to implement the educational development programmes, for the improvement of the quality of education suggested in the National Policy on Education. As such, the Fifth All-India Educational Survey, with 30 September 1986 as the date of reference, was taken up. The following have been the main objectives of the survey:
(i) To assess the present position of educational facilities at various school stages, in respect of the coverage of school-going population; the distance to be covered by a child to reach the school; enrolment, in general, and of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe children and girls, in particular.
(ii) To assess the availability of physical facilities like school buildings, playgrounds, drinking-water, urinals, lavatories, furniture and other facilities like medical check-up of students, incentive schemes, etc.
(iii) To assess the position of inputs like blackboard and chalk, library, laboratory, book-banks, etc.
(iv) To know about the. academic and professional qualifications of working teachers with special reference to the teaching of science and mathematics and to determine attrition rates in the teaching profession.
(v) To prepare block maps showing habitations, existing educational facilities, and proposed provision of facilities in a planned manner over a period of time.
2.2 Tools of Data Collection Three schedules, viz. Village Information Form, Urban Information Form, and School Information Form, were developed, keeping in view the objectives of the survey. Detailed instructions on various items were provided in the forms to help the respondents to give correct information.
Village Information Form (VIF) This form was administered in all the villages in the country, which figured in the 1981 Census or any such village which had come up afterwards. This form was got filled in respect of about six lakh villages in, the country. The following were the main items of information of this form.
(i) Male and female population in 1981 and corresponding population of the Scheduled Castes and the Schedule Tribes.
(ii) Actual/estimated population of the village.
(iii) Actual/estimated child population in various age groups.
(iv) Schools available in various habitations of the village and the classes taught.
(v) Estimated population in various habitations of the village.
(vi) Distance at which the schooling facilities for the primary, upper primary (middle), secondary and higher secondary stages are available for each habitation.
(vii) Habitations predominantly populated by the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
(viii) Centres for non-formal education, their number, and enrolment.
(ix) Centres for adult education, their number, and enrolment.
(x) Institutions for the blind, the deaf and/or dumb, for the orthopaedically disabled (handicapped), and for the mentally retarded.
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OBJECTIVE AND ORGANISATION OF THE FIFTH ALL-INDIA EDUCATIONAL SURVEY
(xi) Institutions for pre-primary education in the form of Balwadi/Anganwadi, independent pre-primary school, pre- primary classes attached to a school-their number.
Urban Information Form (UIF) This form was canvassed in all the towns and cities listed as urban areas in the 1981 Census or subsequently notified to be urban areas by the Government. This form was got filled in respect of about four thousand urban areas in the country. The following were the main items of information of this form:
(i) Actual/estimated populations of the city/town and also of the slum areas.
(ii) Actual/estimated child population in various age groups in all areas and also separately for slum areas.
(iii) Number of institutions of different types.
(iv) Centres for non-formal education, their number, and enrolment.
(v) Centres for adult education, their number, and enrolment.
(vi) Institutions for the blind, the deaf and/or dumb, for the orthopaedically disabled (handicapped), and for the mentally retarded.
(vii) Institutions for pre-primary education in the form of Balwadi/Anganvadi, independent pre-primary school, pre- primary classes attached to a school-their number.
School Information Form (SIF) The survey covered all the recognized schools in the country numbering about 7.5 lakhs. These included primary, upper primary (middle), secondary (high) and higher secondary (senior secondary) schools and intermediate colleges and independent junior colleges. The following were the main items of information of this form:
(i) Management.
(ii) Classes taught in the school.
(iii) Type of schools-boys/girls/co-educational.
(iv) Type of school buildings.
(v) Total covered area and the number of classrooms including subject rooms.
(vi) Possibility of further expansion of school buildings and the number of additional rooms required for instructional purposes.
(vii) Use of school buildings for other purposes.
(viii) Availability of various facilities, e.g. playground, furniture, textbook bank, library, blackboards, games and sports material, etc.
(ix) Arrangements for medical check-up of students.
(x) Availability of "king-water and urinals, etc.
(xi) Incentives to students.
(xii) The number of teachers working at various school stages alongwith their qualifications and corresponding details of the teachers belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
(xiii) Enrolment in Classes I to XII and corresponding enrolment of Scheduled Caste/Tribe students.
(xiv) Attrition of teachers.
(xiv) Qualifications of teachers teaching science and of those teaching mathematics at the secondary and higher stages, and utilization of the services of teachers with science qualifications.
(xvi) Vocational guidance facilities in secondary/higher secondary schools.
(xvii) Vocational courses at the +2 stage: courses offered, availability of workshop facilities, trained teachers, enrolment, on-the-job training, follow-up of students, etc.
2.3 Concepts and Definitions The respondents of the Village Information Form, the Urban Information Form and the School Information Form were headmasters and principals of schools. Various terms used in the schedules were defined to avoid confusion or misinterpretation by the respondents. The definitions of the terms used in the schedules were provided along with the instructions for filling in the schedule. The main concepts and definitions of the terms used in the survey are given below.
(i) Habitation: A habitation is a Centre where people live in compact and contiguous manner. The census reports use the term "village" in regard to "revenue village". According to the census definition, a village represents a parcel of land the boundaries of which are defined and settled by the revenue survey or by the cadastral survey. A revenue village may consist of one compact habitation or a number of habitations. One of the habitations may bear the name of village itself. These habitations may be separated from each other by a long distance. For the purpose for provision of educational facilities, a revenue village with its scattered habitations over long distances (sometimes over a number of kilometres) cannot be a suitable unit for location of schools. For the purpose of location of school, a distinct house cluster (habitation) is the appropriate unit. As in the earlier surveys, in this survey also a habitation has been treated as the unit for consideration of provision of schooling facilities. A revenue village having no population at all will be termed as Bechirag or "Deserted".
(ii) Village: The term "village" is used in the same way as in the census reports. It is a parcel of land the boundaries of Which are defined and settled for revenue purposes.
(iii) Urban Area: All the areas which were identified as "urban" at the time of the 1981 Census or subsequently notified to be so, are to be treated as urban.
(iv) Rural Area: The areas which are not urban, shall be treated as rural.
(v) School Stages: The education pattern differs from State to State. Various combinations of classes of the school system constitute primary, upper primary, secondary, and higher secondary stages. Some of the States and Union Territories have provision for junior colleges,
8 FIFTH ALL-INDIA EDUCATIONAL SURVEY
independent PUC and intermediate classes beyond the secondary stage. In this survey these classes/colleges have been considered alongwith the higher secondary stage.
In most of the States and Union Territories the primary stage comprises Classes I-V but in a few States, e.g. Kerala, Karnataka, Classes I-IV constitute this stage. Similarly at the upper primary stage the set of classes may include VI-VII, V-VII, V-VIII, and VI-VIII. At the secondary and higher secondary stages there is variation in the number of classes covered.
(vi) Sections: The group of classes at the primary stage in a school constitutes the primary section; classes at the upper primary stage constitute the upper primary section; and classes at the secondary and higher secondary stages constitute secondary and higher secondary sections, respectively.
A school with Classes I-X in Punjab has three sections--one primary section, and one upper primary section and one secondary section. Similarly, if there is one habitation (in Kerala) with a school for Classes I-IV and another school with Classes I-VII, then for the purpose of enumeration, this habitation has two primary sections, and one upper primary section.
(vii) Block: "Block" in this survey connotes "The block under the community project administration". In this survey the block is the unit for collection and compilation of data. In the States where the scheme of community development blocks is not in vogue, tehsil/taluk has been treated as the unit for collection and compilation of data.
(viii) Recognized School: A recognized school is one in which the course(s) of study followed is/are prescribed or recognized by the Government (Central/State) or University or a Board constituted by law or any other agency authorized in this behalf by the Central or State Government and which satisfies one or more of the authorities e.g. Directorate of Education, Municipal Board, Secondary Board, etc, with regard to its standard of efficiency. It runs regular classes and sends candidates for public examination, if any.
(ix) Management: The authority which runs a school determines the type of management for it-government, local body or private body receiving government aid or not receiving government aid. The schools may, therefore, be classified according to their management as government schools, local body schools, private-aided and private- unaided schools.
All schools run by the State or Central Government, public undertakings and autonomous organizations completely financed by the Government will be treated as government schools.
All schools run by municipal corporations, municipal committees, notified area committees, zilla parishads, panchayat samitis, cantonment boards, etc., will be treated as local body schools.
A private aided school is one which is run by a private organization or agency and receives maintenance grant from a government or a local body.
A private unaided school is one which is managed by a private organization or agency and does not receive grant either from a government or a local body.
(x) Trained Teacher: A trained teacher is one who has successfully undergone a course of teacher training.
(xi) Distance: The distance between two habitations or between a school and a habitation is the convenient walking distance between the central points of the two habitations or the school and the central point of a habitation.
If there are two habitations and the aerial distance or the distance as the crow flies is 1 km.`but the actual convenient walking distance by road or path is 1.5 km then the distance between the two habitations will be the walking distance, i.e.1.5 km. If there are two habitations on the opposite sides of a stream, then the distance between the two habitations will be the actual convenient walking distance across a bridge and not the distance across the stream.
2.4 Infrastructure The Department of Measurement, Evaluation, Survey and Data Processing (DMES&DP) of the NCERT conducted the survey with the cooperation of the Departments of Education of the various States and Union Territories. The DMES&DP provided academic and technical guidance to the States in the conduct of the survey. Three schedules, viz. Village Information Form, Urban Information Form, and School Information Form were evolved by DMES&DP and these were finalized at the National Meeting of the State Survey Officers held in Delhi in November 1986. The NCERT also developed the analysis plan and prepared formats of the Block tables which were discussed and finalized after giving the finishing touches in the course of the Second National Meeting of the State Survey Officers held in Delhi in January-February, 1987. The NCERT then brought out a booklet, Fifth All-India Educational Survey-Guidelines for Survey Officers, for use by the personnel associated with the survey at various levels. The DMES&DP also developed the formats of District tables, State tables and National tables.
The DMES&DP then helped the State Survey Units in organizing State-level training programmes for the District Survey Officers. In order to help the State Survey Units at various stages of the survey, the faculty members of the DMES&DP visited the States as and when needed. They also scrutinized the Block tables of one community block in each of the districts in the country. Finally, the State tables in respect of each State and Union Territory were scrutinized and later consolidated into the National tables.
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OBJECTIVES AND ORGANIZATION OF THE FIFTH ALL-INDIA EDUCATIONAL SURVEY
The DMES&DP also subsequently developed guidelines for writing State Summary Reports, State Reports, and District Reports in respect of the survey.
A preliminary report, entitled Fifth All-India Educational Survey-Selected Statistics, was brought out in February 1989 for the benefit of various users of survey data.
At the State level, the Director of Education/Director of Public Instruction was the ex-officio Director of the Survey in the State. Other personnel at the State level included a State Survey Officer, assisted by one Assistant State Survey Officer for every ten revenue districts or part thereof, two Statistical Assistants, one stenotypist, and a typist-cum-clerk for a period of 12 months. At the district level, there was a District Survey Officer for every revenue district (provided for a period of six months). A Survey Unit for a Union Territory included a Survey Officer, one Statistical Assistant, and one steno-typist for a period of eight months.
The State Survey Units were responsible for collection, compilation, and analysis of survey data for their respective States. The State Survey Units got the three Schedules of the Survey translated into regional languages and got them printed. The State Survey Units organized State level training programmes of seven/ eight days' duration for the District Survey Officers, and they, in turn, organized similar programmes in the districts for the other personnel associated with the Survey at the block and district levels. The unit for data collection and first-level tabulation was a community block. The officer incharge of the block checked all the filled-in schedules for completeness and consistency. To ensure accuracy of data, the District Survey Officers and the staff of State Survey Units scrutinized the filled-in schedules on a sample basis. The Block tables, after rectification of discrepancies, if any, were consolidated into District tables and subsequently the District tables were consolidated into State tables.
2.5 Limitations and Administrative Bottlenecks The completion of the Survey has been delayed to some extent because of the following administrative bottlenecks.
(i) The NCERT did not get sufficient time for advance preparation of the survey. The reference date for the survey was fixed as 30 September 1986 and the first meeting of the State Survey Officers for finalizing the Schedules could be held only in November 1986, and the second meeting for finalizing the formats of Block tables was held in January-February 1987. It could thus be inferred that no preparation time was available. Against this situation, in the Fourth All-India Educational Survey, the schedules and the analysis plan had been finalised in the meeting held in June 1978. The date of reference of the Survey was 30 September 1978.
(ii) State Survey Officers and other personnel in the State Survey Units were to work on a full-Lime basis but in some States the officers were required to look after the survey work in addition to their normal duties.
(iii) Some States did not set up State Survey Units on Lime and/or were late in making appointments of District Survey Officers.
(iv) The States pressed into service the manpower working on the survey, in the collection and analysis of data in respect of "Operation Blackboard" at the cost of the survey work. This proved to be an important factor causing an interruption in the progress of the survey work and a consequent delay of more than six months in the completion of the task.
(v) One of the States went in for computer processing of the data. This misfired because of the inexperience and unpreparedness of the manpower for this type of work. When the State tables were ready, serious discrepancies were identified in the State tables. All the State tables had to be redone, which caused considerable delay in the preparation and finalization of the National tables.