NHRD Journal - National HRD Network

• Accord Highest Priority: Place the issue of
education at par with the other three
priorities - electricity (Bijilee), Roads (Sadak),
and Water (Paani). Accept that education
quality is fundamental to India's status as a
developed nation. We ought to be
knowledge creators and not mere
knowledge receivers.
• Allocation of Required Resources:
Including financial budgets. For too long we
have been speaking of allocating budgets
that are equal to 6% of the GDP vs current
allocation of about 3%.
• Accountability for Quality Education: We
need an attitude of catching the bull by the
horn when it comes to performance of the
delivery system. Illustratively, if almost 50%
students fail in the board examinations, who
is made accountable? Is it the education
minister? The education secretary? The
district or block education officer? The
teacher? Or the hapless student or even more
hapless parents? We have to fix the
accountability suitably.
• Measurement and Review: Review the
status of quality of education at the highest
level of political system: what gets reviewed
and measured also gets prioritized by the
system.
• Enabling Policy Changes: quality
improvement systems are often interlinked
and need a holistic approach. Illustratively,
mere appointing of good teachers would not
help. You need to revamp the academic
support and training system, address
competence issues as well as motivation
issues. And that requires fundamental
policy changes in the risk reward system -
which is currently completely absent.
One of the ministers with whom I was
discussing the education quality issue told me
that you need to make an all round and
multidimensional effort if quality of education
has to be impacted. You need to 'for instance'
educate and influence the policy makers as well
as law interpreters.
Though the principles of "managing change"
might be common, the way it works at the
national level change is significantly different.
Especially in a system where the subject is both
a central as well as a state subject. Since the
change implementers are fragmented, you need
a greater advocacy thrust at a broader level and
an equally powerful demonstration of change
at the grass root level. And for this you need
education activists at the grass root level who
have the broader perspective of education.
Thus, a strategy of achieving macro level
change through series of "micro level"
demonstrations of change as "proof of concept"
is likely to work to raise the quality of education
at a national level.
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November 2007 NHRD Journal