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EDUCATION GUARANTEE SCHEME AND ALTERNATIVE & INNOVATIVE EDUCATION
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10.1Discontinuation
of Existing NFE Projects The
state run NFE projects would be discontinued by 31-3-2001. The VA run NFE projects will also be discontinued latest by
31-3-2001. Fresh district
level proposals for EGS & AIE would be supported from 1-4-2001.
Such proposals would also include proposals of VAs as a part of the
district plan for EGS & AIE. State
Government could finalise and submit proposals for the EGS component prior
to 31-3-2001 since their preparation may not require a detailed
microplanning process. NFE
centres in habitations where EGS schools are proposed to be set up would
need to be discontinued prior to finalisation of the proposal.
Also certain proposals for urban areas where state governments,
municipal corporation/VAs have
completed microplanning and convergence strategies have been worked out
would be considered for funding prior to preparation of district level
plans for EGS & AIE or SSA. 10.2.1
The proposals for EGS & AIE have to be based on the
habitation/village/urban cluster wise requirements. A process of house to
house survey or micro-planning would need to be undertaken in each village
to identify the children between 6-14 years, their educational status,
whether they are currently going to school or not, the specific problems
of children not going to schools etc. Such micro-planning exercises have
been undertaken under Lok Jumbish, DPEP (in several states), Janshala
Programme (GOI-UN) and enough experience is available at least in the 18
states covered under the above programmes for conducting such
micro-planning/survey exercises. The
SSA also requires micro-planning exercises to be undertaken prior to
formulation of village/block and district plans. Based on the specific
information available for `out of school’ children, strategies could be
planned for their education. The initial process of planning would also
include mobilisation of the community.
The involvement of VAs including youth club, women’s groups,
parent’s group, VEC members in the process of mobilisation and
microplanning would be very useful. For the EGS component, identification
of schoolless habitations has to be undertaken in a systematic manner.
Alongwith collection of habitation-wise information, it would be
necessary to ensure that there is a clearly articulated demand from the
community for setting up of new schools.
This is discussed in detail, later in this section (refer Annex III). 10.2.2 For micro-planning/survey several processes could be used by the states. One effective and quick mechanism could be training of a core group of 5-7 members from each village (some could be from the VEC, if a VEC already exists) for conducting house-to-house survey, group discussion, compilation and analysis of information and preparation of a village education plan (which will be a household-wise, child-wise plan of action). It is important to ensure that the village-wise information and the panchayat/block level consolidated records are dynamic in nature i.e. they can be updated on a periodic basis to get a clear idea of the status of the ‘out of school’ children. As is done in several states, VEC formation and mobilisation of the community are outcomes of such village survey/planning exercises. 10.3
Planning for EGS proposals 10.3.1 Proposals for setting up of schools in school-less habitations (EGS)
could be finalised and sent for
approval to the central government even before detailed micro-planning is
completed in all areas. All states/UTs would be eligible for sending
proposals for the EGS component. For
districts currently not covered under projects (DPEP, LJP, GOI-UN) or SSA,
only the EGS component would be supported under EGS & AIE during
2000-01. For the EGS component, a
habitation-wise database would be required that would provide information
about the number of children not enrolled school and the distance from the
nearest government/government aided/local body school.
The proposal for EGS should be available with the State society in
the format enclosed at Annex IV. 10.3.2.
States may like to undertake collection
of this information, prior to a comprehensive
microplanning exercise (which will be required for AIE intervention).
Some states already have this information base which would need to
be updated/verified. In a few
states, EGS-like schools are already functional.
The information for these schools and habitations would also need
to be sent in the format mentioned above. 10.3.3 Community
demand:
the community could articulate its demand for setting up an EGS school
with a request in writing to the Panchayat/BDO/BEO etc. This should include the list of children in the 6-14 years of
age (not going to school) in that habitation’, commitment to get all of
them enrolled in the EGS school, provide suitable accommodation for the
school, regular supervision etc. Articulation
of this demand would require a mobilisation in the planning process which
has to be initiated by the state agencies/PRIs.
However, it is not enough to only collect information as required
for the EGS proposal. The
proposals would need to clearly indicate that community mobilsation and
consultation has been undertaken in all the habitations.
One of the prerequisites for an EGS proposal is clear articulation
of demand by the community. 10.3.4 Guarantee for setting up of
EGS: EGS
& AIE envisages a time bound coverage of schoolless habitations by
setting up alternative schools on a priority basis.
Articulation of a demand by the community for opening of an EGS
school is a pre-requisite for an EGS proposal.
Similarly, there has to be a commitment from the state government
to open an EGS school within a reasonable period of time.
This element of a “guarantee” is an initial component of EGS.
Hence, states should work out detailing of the guarantee including
the time period for approval at various levels. In the Education Guarantee
Scheme being implemented in Madhya Pradesh as a response to the
community’s (Panchayat’s) demand for a school, the state government
provides a guarantee to set up the EGS school by providing a package
including funds for honorarium of the ‘Guruji’, teaching-learning
material, training for the Guruji, some contingency funds and a
supervision and evaluation system, within 90 days of receiving a demand. In West Bengal, the
Shishu Shiksha Karmasuchi (SSK) also operates on a similar community
demand – time bound state response (guarantee) promise, Gram Panchayats
verifies the proposal submitted by the parents of children who want a
school to be opened in a habitation.
If there is no response from the Gram Panchayat within 4 weeks from
the date of submission of the paper by the community, the applicants can
move the next higher body i.e. Panchayat Samiti directly.
Similarly a 4 week period is prescribed for other bodies for taking
a decision on the application.4 10.3.5
The state would
need to finalise the detailed procedure for finalisation of EGS proposals. The steps would include:
Recognising the
centrality of community initiative in this component it is desirable to
clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the community and
different agencies through agreements (see Annex V which provides an
illustrative format for EGS) 5 10.4 Apart from the EGS component
which is applicable throughout the country, states which do not fall in
the educationally backward category would need to identify specific
pockets in Panchayats/blocks, urban slums etc. where the percentage of
`out of school’ children is high and where specific disadvantaged groups
like scheduled tribes, migrating population, street children of
sex-workers, bonded/wage earning child labour are located. Micro-planning
exercises would need be undertaken in these areas. The proposals for AIE in these specific areas could include
state-run EGS & AIE interventions as well as VA proposals. 10.5 Consolidation and approval of EGS & AIE proposals: 10.5.1 After the plans are prepared at the village level,
these could be discussed at the Panchayat level (if necessary) and then
screened in the Block level committee. At the block level, the work of
allocation of specific strategies/villages to VAs may be undertaken. The
Block Committee would forward the plans to the district level committee. 10.5.2 The District Committee would be responsible for
incorporation of proposals in the district plan for EGS & AIE/SSA. It
would have to ascertain that there is no duplication between state &
VA proposals, that there is no dual coverage of children in the formal
schools, aided, unrecognised private schools and proposed EGS & AIE
centres, and basic information supporting the plans is available.
It may be necessary to incorporate some VAs proposals at the
district level also. The district committee would also take into account
programmes like NCLP (National Child Labour Projects) while finalising the
district plan for EGS & AIE. These plans would then be sent to the
state society as a comprehensive, strategy-wise’, consolidated plan for
`out of school’ children for the district.
It is expected that the entire process of
microplanning and preparation of village, block and district plans
could be completed within 3-4 months if intensive guidance and supervision
can be organised by the state society. 10.6.1 The
district plans for EGS and AIE (which would form a component of the DEEP,
once SSA is implemented in that district) would be appraised by the State
Society. The State Society
would undertake an exercise of prioritisation, scrutiny of the database on
which the proposals are based, study the appropriateness of the strategies
selected and suggest modifications if necessary, check conformity with the
EGS and AIE guidelines etc. The
proposals would be sent to the national level with the appraisal report
and recommendation of the state society. The
state society would have the power to approve all EGS & AIE proposals
(State run or VA) which are within an overall ceiling of centre cost of Rs.
845/- per child per annum for primary level and Rs. 1200/- per child per
annum for upper primary level. All
proposals that have unit costs higher than these would need to be sent to
the central government for approval. 10.6.2
As far as
the releases are concerned, the requirements of the States would be
assessed and lump sum grants would be released to the State level
societies in 3 instalments of 40/40/20 each.
The State level society has the responsibility to settle the
accounts at district level and forward a consolidated statement of
accounts to the SSA Mission of this Department.
For the first year of the project, first instalment would be
released @ 40% of the demand projected for the year by the State/UTs and
the 2nd and 3rd instalments of the first year would
be released based on the progress of expenditure reported by the State
level society in the month of October/November and after ensuing that the
State Govt. has contributed its share for the first instalment.
From the 2nd year onwards, first instalment would be
released to the State Society without waiting for audited accounts of the
previous year but after ensuing that the State Govt. has contributed its
share of the instalment of the previous year.
However, the 2nd instalment would be released only on
receipt and settlement of audited accounts for the previous year. 10.7
The process of planning for EGS & AIE in urban slums is more
complex since there are several agencies, including state education
department, municipal corporation/committee agencies like DUDA (District
Urban Development Agency), NGOs etc., where work would need to be
coordinated. A Task Force may be constituted at the city level to prepare
a coordinated plan for the urban slums.
The state education department would need to take initiative to get
the other agencies involved. 10.8 Facilitation
of the planning process There are at least 3 important
pre-requisites for ensuring that appropriate planning process takes place
and feasible plans are prepared:
Such norms could include assigning a high priority
for:
The basis for selection of areas/strategies on a
priority basis should be explained to Panchayats & VECs so that there
is transparency in the decisions taken at the higher levels.. 10.9Initial
steps for operationalisation of EGS & AIE
4 Details of the schemes of EGS
schools in schoolless habitations, in different states, are available
in the Document “Schools in Unserved habitations – Education
Guarantee Scheme” circulated by the Department of Elementary
Education & Literacy
to all states. 5 such a format may have to be finalised in the specific context of the State.
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