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INDIA: District Primary Education Program
Project Preparation Process
1. The District Primary Education Program (DPEP) is a national financial intermediary and technical Support organization created to manage a rapidly expanding investment program for primary education. The program would serve as the main vehicle for utilizing external assistance to primary education.
2. Preparation of DPEP proposals for external financing required that the DOE address three substantial tasks in parallel. First, an analytical basis for the development and refinement of intervention strategies and to establish baselines for assessment of progress Would need to be created. Second, project development in a large federal system would require decentralization of planning in order to strengthen Popular participation, local ownership and eventual implementation. Third, a national capacity for appraisal, financing and Supervision of state and district sub-projects would need to be created at the same time that state and district proposals would be developed.
3. Preparation Strategy. The strategy of the DOE has been to use the process of completing the three preparation tasks as an opportunity to organize and develop the institutional capacity that Would be needed for program implementation and future expansion. Formal training, national technical assistance and learning by doing have been the elements of the capacity building strategy for each task.
Studies Program 4. The program of project preparation Studies is summarized in Annex 4. In addition to providing the analytical basis needed for initial and evolving intervention designs, the studies program provided a structure for capacity building at national, state and district levels.
5. The national research teams from the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) organized and trained research teams in states and districts, and some of the data analysis was carried out in state institutions. The formal training provided and extensive experience in the management and Supervision of large scale rural educational research has established an initial level of capacity in states and some districts. In all, more than 250 researchers were trained in the process. This capacity would be drawn upon to conduct follow-up assessments to measure project impact in the third and sixth years of the project as well as to carry out evaluation studies of particular DPEP interventions.
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Decentralized Planning 6. Decentralization of education planning and management to districts is a central objective of the Revised National Policy of Education (1992). The policy is further strengthened by the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution of India, which provide for increased authority and responsibility for primary education, among other programs, to district governments. Tile revised national education policy also calls for Popular participation in the development and implementation of primary education.
7. Capacity Building. The DPEP Guidelines issued by the Department of Education require that planning be done at district level with substantial popular participation. While district planning for primary education had been done on a limited pilot basis in the past, preparation for proposed DPEP investments Would be the first time that it would be attempted on a large scale. To strengthen district planning capacity, faculty from NIEPA and NCERT were appointed as chief consultants to each participating state. These individuals participated in the launch of planning exercises at state and district levels, and provided continuing independent advice and technical assistance during the process.
8. In addition, NIEPA organized a series of training programs on educational planning for state and district planning teams, and conducted workshops on key elements of plan development (costing, civil works planning, work planning) at different stages during plan development at which emerging plans were reviewed and revised. NCERT provided similar workshop support for in-service teacher training, textbook publication, and strategy development for girls education.
9. Popular Participation. State and district planning teams were asked by DOE/DPEP to keel) track of meetings held for the purposes of consultations with officials, community leaders, teachers, NGOs and members of communities. The scale of the consultation process is suggested by Annex 3 Table 1, which has been compiled from state and district reports and participant lists and counts. The data indicate that well in excess of 50,000 persons participated in planning discussions at block, village and school levels. Meetings at the district and state levels often involved the same persons; yet the numbers of meetings and participants are still impressive.
10. By and large, district level meetings involved education officials, members of legislature, teachers, and administrators of related programs, such as ICDS. In middle and later stages, these meetings often focused on reviews of evolving plan documents, and on assignments for containing plan development. - 73 -
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Table 1: Participation Meetings
State District Block, Community
and School
Assam 5 (120)
Darrang 11 (92) 44 (2550)
Dhwbri 5 (135) 67 (1765)
Karb Anglong na 6 (2000)
Morigaon 10 (152) 125 (10500)
Haryana 14 (109)
Hisar 2 (36) 26 (479)
Jind 5 (32) 47 (450)
Kaithal 2 (36) 26 (1179)
Sirsa 4 (56) 28 (372)
Karnataka 11 (440)
Belgaon 4 (96) 8 (800)
Kolar 12 (475) 40 (2960)
Mandiya 17 (340) 12 (354)
Raichur
Kerala 4 (108)
Kasargode 8 (89) 4 (69)
Malappuram 1 (20) 47 (820)
Wayanad 8 (na) 8 (na)
Maharashtra 5 (20)
Aurangabad 10 (85) 159 (2240)
Latur 6 (134) 10 (207)
Nanded na na
Osmanabad 17 (104) 36 (11364)
Parbhani 17 (106) 40 (18670)
Tamil Nadu 10 (400)
Dharmapuri 10 (270) 36 (800)
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South Arcot 8 (205) 18 (270)
Thiruvanna. 2 (87) 19 (1865)
TOTALS 49 (1197) 161 (11492) 806 (59527)
Number of meetings (number of participants)
11. The meetings at block level and below had in common consultations with community members, local leaders and teachers on problems in primary education as well as alternative solutions. In districts with concentrated tribal populations, tribal leaders and communities were consulted separately. A variety of approaches were Used. In Assam, for example, mass meetings were conducted at Sub-block level. In Tamil Nadu and Haryana, consultations were organized around school Supervision circuits. In Mandiya district of Karnataka, tribal communities were Consulted by a traveling team of district and block officials. In Parbhani and Osmanabad districts in Maharashtra district officials used the well-functioning network of village education committees to organize meetings with block officials in all villages. A similar approach was followed in Morigaon district of Assam.
12. Other methods were employed in addition to meetings. In Wayanad District in Kerala, a tribal district, detailed micro planning exercises were conducted With communities in the early stages of planning. These exercises involved house to house discussions of primary education along with census taking. Written comments were widely solicited in both Maharashtra and Kerala.
13. Reports of the consultations are available in various languages. While Uneven in depth of coverage, they generally report on issues discussed and recommendations made.
14. At the national level, more than 20 meetings were held during the Course of project preparation. Half of these involved by state and district planning teams. Also participating were leading academicians and senior officers from related national programs, such as ICDS.
15. Continuing the Participation Process. During the first part of the first year of the project the results of project Studies would be discussed in each project district headquarters with officials, teachers, NGO and community representatives. Discussions would be held in the regional language, with summaries of the findings of the Studies for that district presented. The districts initial actions strategies would be reviewed against the findings of the studies, and any needed changes identified.
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16. In each project state, school community organizations -- often called Village Education Committees -- Would be created or strengthened. These community organizations Would be expected to take an active role in school activities. They would also serve as contact points for consultation with teachers, Supervisors and district education officials.
Appraisal and Supervision Capacity 17. The project development team in the GOI Department of Education began preparation of the DPEP program with two years of experience with the preparation and implementation of externally-financed state basic education projects in Andhra Pradesh (ODA), Bihar (UNICEF), Rajasthan (SIDA) and Uttar Pradesh (IDA). This experience had convinced the DOE that rather than rely on the disparate appraisal and Supervision procedures of different external agencies', national capacity to carry out these functions should be developed if India were to become fully self-reliant in managing her rapidly expanding primary education investment program.
18. Full establishment of the DPEP management structure would have to await the approval of anticipated financing support from the European Community and IDA. In the interim, a project development team of three experienced deputy secretaries led full time by a joint secretary was established in the DOE. Funds were provided by the DOE to be passed to the states for project development costs. Tile National Core Team of experts from NCERT and NIEPA was established and financed to provide technical assistance to states and districts.
19. Building Staff Capacity. Two strategies were employed to build staff and consultant capacity for appraisal of Sub-projects. First, DOE project development team members participated fully in IDA preparation, pre-appraisal and appraisal missions. By appraisal, the project team conducted its own formal appraisal of proposals ill collaboration with the IDA team.
20. Second, the DOE project team was itself carrying out the project cycle for the proposed grant from the European Community, with preparation, pre-appraisal and appraisal missions scheduled to come after IDA had completed each stage of project processing. The appraisal process for the European Community grant was carried out largely in Madhya Pradesh. DOF involved members of the National Core Team, external consultants financed by EC, as well as several consultants who were also participating in the IDA DPEP appraisal. In later stages of the this appraisal process, state and district officials from the states developing proposals for IDA were also involved in order to begin the development of a roster of experienced consultants from different parts of the Country.
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21. Both series of appraisal activities were expressly conceived of as on-the-job training experiences for project development team members and national consultants. More than thirty national staff and consultants participated over a twelve month period.
22. Refining Procedures. The DPEP Guidelines issued by the DOE in April, 1993 provided substantial early guidance to districts and states for the preparation of sub-project proposals. At the same time, as proposals were reviewed at different stages, the need for additional criteria and guidelines emerged. These were initially codified for IDA's pre-appraisal mission; they were formally structured and issued prior to IDA's final appraisal.
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Annex 4 Page 1
INDIA: District Primary Education Program
Project Preparation Studies
1. Six project studies were completed in project states and districts. Three are primary education beneficiary assessments: (a) baseline assessments of learning achievement, (b) studies of factors affecting enrollment and dropout for girl students, and (c) studies of the educational context and needs of Scheduled Tribe (ST) students. Three more studies focus on key elements of DPEP program design: (a) teacher education, training, recruitment and motivation; (b) textbook preparation, publication and distribution; and (c) state education financing.
2. The studies were carried out by teams led by scholars from the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA). Study teams were drawn from research and training institutions in participating districts and states. Training in research and analysis methodology was provided by the study team coordinators, both formally and through supervision of data collection and analysis, and report writing. IDA and UNICEF assisted in the preparation of terms of reference for the studies, and provided the financing required. IDA financing came from a grant from Policy and Human Resources Development Fund of the Government of Japan.
A. BENEFICIARY ASSESSMENTS
Baseline Assessments of Learning Achievement 3. The objectives of these studies were: (a) to assess the achievement level of students who were nearing the end of the primary cycle in the districts under the DPEP program and to investigate differences in achievement of the different groups of students (boys/girls, SC/ST students and rural and urban students); (b) to estimate the level of learning of simple skills of literacy and numeracy achieved at the end of class 1 and of students who had dropped out after 3 or 4 years of schooling, and (c) to collect data on relevant pupil background and school factors that could explain differences in the learning achievement of pupils at the end of the primary cycle.