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COVERAGE OF SPECIAL FOCUS GROUPS
5.1
EDUCATION FOR GIRLS, SCHEDULED CASTE AND TRIBAL CHILDREN
5.1.1
GIRLS' EDUCATION
Education
of girls, especially those belonging to the scheduled castes and scheduled
tribes, is the primary focus in Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Efforts will be made
to mainstream gender concerns in all the activities under the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan programme. Mobilization at the habitation/village/urban slum level,
recruitment of teachers, upgradation of primary into upper primary schools,
incentives like midday meals, uniforms, scholarships, educational provision
like textbooks and stationery, will all take into account the gender focus.
Every activity under the programme will be judged in terms of its gender
component. Besides mainstreaming, special efforts like the Mahila Samakhya
type of mobilization and organization, back-to school camps for adolescent
girls, large-scale process based constitution of Mahila Samoohs, will also be attempted. The
selection criteria takes into account the low female literacy among the
scheduled caste and scheduled tribe women.
The
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan recognizes the need for special efforts to bring the
out-of-school girls, especially from disadvantaged sections, to school. This
would require a proper identification of girls who are out of school in the
course of microplanning. It also calls for involving women through
participatory processes in the effective management of schools. Experiences
across the states under Mahila Samakhya and under the District Primary
Education Programme have suggested the need for a clear perspective on
women's issues. The provision for girls' education would have to be situated
in the local contexts and interventions designed to suit the specific
community needs in this regard. Special interventions need to be designed to
address learning needs of girls and relating education to their life. The
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is committed to making these interventions possible.
5.1.2 LESSONS FROM PAST PROGRAMMES LIKE DPEP AND LOK JUMBISH
The conduct
of various previous programmes in the field of elementary education, like
DPEP and Lok Jumbish, have thrown up interesting and successful lessons on
gender intervention for improvement in access, enrolment, retention and
achievement of girls. Some of these, which can be adopted by the states in
SSA, are as follows:
Access
and Enrolment
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Regular enrolment drives conducted in most States. In Uttar
Pradesh, a 23 % increase has been recorded in girls' enrolment in 2000-2001
over last year's enrolment figures.
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Conducting special camps and bridge courses for girls to
mainstream them.
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Setting up special models of Alternate Schools exclusively for
girls - angana vidyalayas, bal vidyalaya, bal shalas, Sahaj
Shiksha Kendras, AS cum ECE centres.
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Balika Skikshan Shivirs (Camps for adolescent girls)
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Providing formal schooling facilities in centres of religious
instruction viz., Maktabs and Madarsas.
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Intensive mobilisation efforts among the resistant groups.
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Working in close collaboration with the community in identified
pockets.
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Using women's groups (both formed under the programme and those
already existing), VECs, MTA, to follow up issues for girls' education.
Retention
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Monitoring attendance has been high on the agenda in all states
where micro initiatives for girls' education have been taken up. Community
involvement is high in this process, particularly in mobilising parents for
regular attendance of their children
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Follow up of drop out girls to bring them back to school either
through camps or bridge courses.
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Organizing retention drives to put regular pressure on parents
and the school system to ensure retention of girls. These are not one time
drives but are organised at regular intervals to sustain the pressure and
take up corrective measures as may be necessary.
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In pockets identified for intensive activities, attendance
of each child is monitored to prevent dropouts.
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In
Uttar Pradesh, children are awarded graded colours for their
monthly attendance - green for the best, yellow for the
mediocre and red for the deficient . This system is showing results. Children want to achieve the green
colour.
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It
is proposed to publically felicitate the children with good
attendance records at local level functions. This has not only
enthused the children further, but has also instilled a sense
of commitment and responsibility among parents and guardians.
Achievement
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Special coaching classes/remedial classes for SC girls.
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Creation of a congenial learning environment for girls in the
classroom where they are given the opportunity to learn. This is being done
through special inputs to teachers -either in selected pockets or across the
programme districts
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Remedial classes being organised by VEC/MTA members for girls who are not faring too well at school
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Improved classroom environment to provide equitable learning
opportunities to girls. Most interventions have been through teacher
sensitisation programmes. There are examples of States that have tried to
address the issue of providing congenial learning environment of girls in
the schools/classrooms although the approaches have been varied. States like
Karnataka and Gujarat have taken a lead in this process.
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Kerala
undertook a study on classroom processes with a gender focus
in 168 schools. This formed the basis for the teacher training module developed on this
theme. Almost 28,000 teachers have been taken through this
training and have been given reference material.
Planning
and Implementation
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States have been sensitised on the use of available data for local
level planning for girls' education with community involvement.
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Field-based trainings have been conducted in Assam, Kerala, Orissa,
Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. States have been building on these skills and
are concentrating in certain very deprived pockets. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu have also initiated focused interventions along
similar lines.
5.1.3 EDUCATION OF SC/ST CHILDREN
The
educational development of children belonging to the Scheduled castes and
Scheduled Tribes is a special focus in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Every
activity under the Project must identify the benefit that will accrue to
children from these communities. Many of the incentive schemes will have a
sharper focus on children from these communities. The participation of
dalits and tribals in the affairs of the school will be specially encouraged
to ensure ownership of the Abhiyan by all social groups, especially the most
disadvantaged.
The
interventions for children belonging to SC/ST communities have to be based
on the intensive microplanning addressing the needs of every child. The
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan provides flexibility to local units to develop a
context specific intervention. Some interventions could be as follows:
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engagement of community organisers from SC/ST communities with
a focus on schooling needs of children from specific households
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special teaching support as per need
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ensuring sense of ownership of school committees by SC/ST
communities
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training programmes for motivation for schooling
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setting up alternative schooling facilities in unserved
habitations and for other out of school children
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using community teachers
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monitoring attendance and retention of children from weaker
sections regularly
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providing context specific intervention in the form of a
hostel, an incentive or a special facility as required.
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involving community leaders in school management
The
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will develop context specific interventions, over and
above the mainstreamed interventions, to tackle the problems in girls'
education. All successful interventions so far will serve as the guiding
principle for preparing such interventions. The provision of expenditure up
to Rupees 15 lakhs per year given in the norms can be used for taking up
innovative interventions relating to SC/ST under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
5.1.4 INTERVENTIONS IN TRIBAL AREAS
The
problems faced by children in the tribal areas are often different than that
faced by children belonging to Scheduled Castes. Hence, special
interventions may be needed for such regions. Some of the interventions,
which can be considered, are:
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Textbooks in mother tongue for children at the beginning of Primary
education where they do not understand regional language.
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Bridge Language Inventory for use of teachers.
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Aganwadis and Balwadis or crèches in each school in tribal areas so
that the girls are not required to do baby-sitting.
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Special training for non-tribal teachers to work in tribal areas,
including knowledge of tribal dialect.
5.1.5 PROVISION UNDER SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN
All the
interventions listed above can be undertaken in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
The following provisions have been made for girls' and education of SC/ST
children:
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Interventions for Early Childhood Care and Education
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School/EGS like alternative facility to be set up within one
kilometer of all habitations.
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Up-gradation of EGS to regular schools
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Special mainstreaming camps for out-of-school girls/ SC/ST children
under the Alternative and Innovative Education component.
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Mahila Samakhya like interventions from the innovation fund.
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Provision of process-based community participation with a focus on
the participation of women and SC/ST
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Provision of context specific innovative intervention for girls'
education and education of SC/ST children - upto Rs. 15 lakh per
intervention per year and up to Rs. 50 lakh in a district in a particular
year. The innovative programmes can include:
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Enrolment and retention drives.
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Special camps and bridge courses.
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Setting up special models of Alternative Schools.
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Strengthening of madarsas and maktabs for formal education to girls.
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Community mobilisation including setting up new working groups and
working with existing working groups.
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Monitoring attendance.
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Remedial/coaching classes.
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Providing a congenial learning environment inside and outside the
school.
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Training programme for community leaders to develop capacities for
school management.
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Setting up of Block and Cluster Resource Centres for effective
academic supervision.
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Free textbooks to all girls/SC/ST children up to Class-VIII.
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Mid-day-meal programme to continue as at present.
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Incentives like uniforms and scholarships to be funded from State
Plan only.
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Adequate Teaching Learning Equipment for all Primary and Upper
Primary schools.
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At least 50 % of the teachers to be appointed have to be women.
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Provision for
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school and teacher grants for all teachers.
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20-day in-service training each year for all teachers
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all children with Special needs
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community-based monitoring, partnership with research and
resource institutions, and periodic feedback on interventions
5.2
INTERVENTIONS FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
SSA will
ensure that every child with special needs, irrespective of the kind,
category and degree of disability, is provided education in an appropriate
environment. SSA will adopt
‘zero rejection’ policy so that no child is left out of the education
system.
Approaches
and Options: The thrust
of SSA will be on providing integrated and inclusive education to all
children with special needs in general schools. It will also support a wide range of approaches, options and
strategies for education of children with special needs. This includes education through open learning system and open
schools, non formal and alternative schooling, distance education and
learning, special schools, wherever necessary, home based education,
itinerant teacher model, remedial teaching, part time classes, community
based rehabilitations (CBR) and vocational education and cooperative
programmes.
Components:
The following activities could form components of the programme:
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Early detection and
identification: A concerted drive to detect children with special needs
at an early age should be undertaken through PHCs, ICDS, ECCE centres and
other school readiness programmes. Identification of children with special
needs should become an integral part of the micro-planning and household
surveys.
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Functional and formal
assessment of each identified child should be carried out. A team should
be constituted at every block to carry out this assessment and recommend
most appropriate placement for every child with special needs.
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Educational Placement: As
far as possible, every child with special needs should be placed in regular
schools, with needed support services.
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Aids and appliances: All
children requiring assistive devices should be provided with aids and
appliances, obtained as far as possible through convergence with the
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, State Welfare Departments,
National Institutions or NGOs.
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Support services: Support
services like physical access, resource rooms at cluster level, special
equipment, reading material, special educational techniques, remedial
teaching, curricular adaptation or adapted teaching strategies could be
provided.
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Teacher training: Intensive
teacher training should be undertaken to sensitize regular teachers on
effective classroom management of children with special needs. This training
should be recurrent at block/cluster levels and integrated with the on-going
in-service teacher training schedules in SSA. All training modules at SCERT,
DIET and BRC level should include a suitable component on education of
children with special needs.
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Resource support: Resource
support could be given by teachers working in special schools. Where necessary, specially trained resource teachers should be
appointed, particularly for teaching special skills to children with special
needs. Wherever this option is
not feasible, long term training of regular teachers should be undertaken.
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Individualized Educational Plan (IEP): An IEP should be prepared by the teacher for every child with
special needs in consultation with parents and experts. Its implementation should be monitored from time to time.
The programme should test the effectiveness of various strategies and
models by measuring the learning achievement of children with special needs
periodically, after developing indicators.
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Parental training and community
mobilization: Parents of children with disabilities should receive
counselling and training on how to bring them up and teach them basic
survival skills. Strong
advocacy and awareness programmes should form a part of strategy to educate
every child with special needs. A
component on disability should be included in all the modules for parents,
VEC and community.
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Planning and management:
Resource groups should be constituted at state, district levels to undertake
effective planning and management of the programmes in collaboration with
PRIs and NGOs. An apex level resource group at the national level to provide
guidance, technical and academic support to children with special needs
under SSA may be constituted.
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Strengthening of special schools: Wherever necessary, special
schools may be strengthened to obtain their resource support, in convergence
with departments and agencies working in that area.
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Removal of Architectural barriers: Architectural barriers in schools will be removed for easy access.
Efforts will be taken to provide disable-friendly facilities
in schools and educational institutions. Development of innovative designs for schools to provide an enabling
environment for children with special needs should also be a part of the
programme.
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Research: SSA will
encourage research in all areas of education of children with special needs
including research for designing and developing new assistive devices,
teaching aids, special teaching material and other items necessary to give a
child with disability equal opportunities in education.
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Monitoring and evaluation:
On-going monitoring and evaluation should be carried out to refine the
programme from time to time. For
this, appropriate monitoring mechanisms should be devised at every level and
field tested at regular intervals.
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Girls with disabilities:
Special emphasis must be given to education of girls with disabilities.
Convergence:
All activities, interventions and approaches in the area of education
for children with special needs will be implemented in convergence with
existing scheme like Assistance to Disabled Persons for purchase/fittings of
Aids/Appliances (ADIP), Integrated Education of the Disabled Children
(IEDC) and in coordination with the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment, State Department of Welfare, National Institutions and NGOs.
Expenditure
upto Rs. 1200 per disabled child could be incurred in a financial year to
meet the special learning needs of such children. The ceiling on expenditure per disabled child will apply at the
district level.
5.3 EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE
AND EDUCATION
Realising
the crucial importance of rapid physical and mental growth during early
childhood, a number of programmes of ECCE were started particularly after
the National Policy for Children (1974). The existing ECCE programmes include:
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Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).
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Scheme of assistance to voluntary organisations for conducting Early
Childhood Education (ECE) centres.
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Balwadis and day-care centres run by voluntary agencies with
Government's assistance.
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Pre-primary schools run by the State Governments, Municipal
Corporations and other governmental and non-government agencies.
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Maternal and child health services through primary health centres and sub-centres and other agencies.
The National
Policy of Education (NPE) has given great deal of importance to Early
Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). It views ECCE as a crucial input in the
strategy of human resource development, as a feeder and support programme
for primary education and as a support service for working women of the
disadvantaged sections of society. It has also taken into account the
holistic nature of ECCE and has pointed out the need
for early care and stimulation of children belonging to the vulnerable
sector. Since the age span covered under ECCE is from conception to 6
years, emphasis has been given to a child-centered approach, play-way and
activity-based learning in place of formal methods of teaching and early
introduction of the three R's. The
importance of community involvement has also been highlighted. Emphasis has been given to establishing linkages between
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and other ECCE programmes.
The Revised
Policy Formulation reiterates the postulates of NPE, 1986 on ECCE. The prescriptions of
POA, 1986 continue to be of relevance. What is attempted here is to update the
POA, 1986 taking into account
the developments since then and the need to strengthen the programmes by,
inter-alia,
improving the programme components, co-ordination mechanism and enlisting
community participation in mobilising resources, planning and monitoring.
The Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan realizes the importance of pre-school learning and early
childhood care and its role in improving participation of children in
schools.
In order to facilitate a greater convergence with the Integrated Child
Development Services, efforts to strengthen them in the area of pre-school
education will be made. Specific support will be available to existing ICDS
centres.
In habitations
not covered by the ICDS and wherever the State government is desirous of
starting a pre-school education centre in the formal primary school, support
from the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan could be accessed. In case of a new ICDS
centre coming in such a habitation, the pre-school facility will necessarily
have to work in conjunction with the ICDS.
A provision of up
to Rupees fifteen lakhs per year in a district for any innovative
intervention including for Early Childhood Care and Education has been made.
The District Elementary Education Plan has to have a Plan for Early
Childhood Care and Education. It also has to list the facility already
created under the ICDS. The supplementary support for ECCE will always be in
conjunction with the ICDS. Provision of honoraria for pre-school teacher,
training of Aanganwadi Sevikas for
Pre-school learning, activity materials, play items, etc., could be provided
as support for ECCE.
Recognizing the
continuum of learning and development, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan would make all
efforts to develop an integrated approach to meet the educational needs of
the pre-schoolers. Some illustrative interventions could be as follows:
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Strengthening pre-school component
in ICDS by need-based training of aanganwadi
sevika, provision of additional person, learning materials etc.
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Setting up Balwadis as pre-school centres in uncovered areas.
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Generating awareness on importance of early child development through
advocacy programmes.
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Organising training programmes for community leaders.
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Providing for intensive planning for ECCE.
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Development of materials for ECCE related activities.
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Promoting convergence between the school system and the ECCE arrangement.
5.4 STRATEGIES FOR OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN: EDUCATION GUARANTEE SCHOOLS IN
UNSERVED HABITATIONS AND ALTERNATIVE AND INNOVATIVE EDUCATION FOR OUT OF
SCHOOL CHILDREN INCLUDING CHILDREN IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES
The
Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative and Innovative Education scheme
is a part of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan framework. Guidelines issued
separately under the EGS & AIE shall apply. The management structure for
implementation of EGS & AIE will be incorporated in the management
structure of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Planning, appraisal and supervision
processes will also be the same.
The new scheme makes provision for diversified strategies and has
flexible financial parameters. It has provided a range of options, such as
EGS, Back to School Camps, Balika Shivirs, etc. There are four broad focus areas:
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Full time community schools for small unserved
habitations
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Mainstreaming of children through bridge courses of different
duration
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Specific strategies for special groups like child labour, street
children, adolescent girls, girls belonging to certain backward
communities, children of migrating families, etc.
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Innovative programmes - the innovations can be in the areas of
pedagogic practices, curriculum, programme management, textbooks and TLMs,
etc.
All habitations not having a primary school within one
kilometre and having a minimum of school age children, will be entitled to
have an EGS type school. Children who have dropped out-of-school will have
an opportunity to avail of bridge courses, aimed at their mainstreaming. The
objective is to see the EGS and AIE as integral to the quest of UEE. The
linkages with CRC/BRC/DIET/SCERT will be required for EGS and AIE.
5.5 URBAN DEPRIVED CHILDREN
There
is an urgent need to focus on the educational needs of deprived children in
urban areas. Recent studies indicate the growing problem of schooling of
poor children in urban areas. On account of different administrative
arrangements for the management of schools in the urban areas, often a
number of initiatives for UEE do not reach the urban area schools. Some
significant efforts have been made by NGOs like Pratham in Mumbai in
partnership with the Municipal Corporation and the City Level Plan of Action
in Calcutta. The Municipal Corporation of larger cities will be considered
as "district" for purposes of preparation of Elementary Education
Plans. The arrangements for decentralized management will also apply to
these proposals. These proposals can be developed by Municipal Corporations
and the State government will have to recommend these for funding under SSA,
clearly specifying wherefrom the State share will be provided. All norms of
SSA will apply to urban areas. Besides Ward, Urban Slum clusters will be
unit of planning in such areas.
Urban areas have special problems like the education of street
children, the education of children who are rag pickers, children whose
parents are engaged in professions that makes children's education
difficult, education of children living in urban working class slums,
children who are working in industry, children working in households,
children at tea shops, etc. A diversity of approaches is required to tackle
the educational problems in urban areas. On account of separate
administrative arrangements of schools in the urban areas, there is a need
to coordinate and converge interventions across Departments and local bodies
responsible for elementary education in urban areas.
This calls for a provision of planning distinctively
for the urban areas either as separate plans or as part of District Plans in
the case of smaller towns. In either case, this would require partnership
with NGOs, Municipal bodies, etc. |
