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Changing Framework of Local Governance and Community Participation in Elementary EducationIn fact, following the constitutional directive many states enacted panchayati raj acts in 1950s,though not all followed the same pattern. The situation became quite uneven on the ground asnot many state governments empowered the bodies effectively. Yet all state governments havecontinued to vouch for the policy of decentralization and a variety of political power sharingframeworks have emerged across the country, all under the common banner ofdecentralization and with the objective of enhancing community participation in governance.In general, decentralization seems to mean different things to different people, depending onthe political and administrative context in which the term is being used. Even though usedextensively by policy-makers as well as academics, the public discussion on decentralizationis often confusing, assuming the character of sweeping, cross-disciplinary claims about theeffects of administrative measures on the quality and efficiency of both government and socialinteraction (Fauget, 1997). It is within this ambiguously defined framework of decentralizationthat one has to find meaning to governance 2 reforms initiated in the education sector in Indiafor transfer of powers and authorities to local level actors.With changing priorities across different Indian states, the contours of decentralization ineducation have also undergone a variety of transformations in different parts of the country.This paper presents an analytical overview of the changing framework of governance ofelementary education and community participation in India with a special focus on improvingthe participation of children in schools.Based on a review of academic and government literature, this paper discusses changes andinnovations to education governance in India. It examines initiatives that aim to strengthenlocal governance of education and the effects these have had on service delivery. Improvedgovernance of education has been identified as one way in which levels of access, quality andparticipation in education can be improved (UNESCO, 2009). Improving governance ofeducation has an important role to play in ensuring meaningful access to education for allchildren in India.2 Even governance does not carry a uniform understanding across academics as well as developmentpractitioners. The phrase is taken to include different activities ranging from policy formulation, planning,programme implementation, co ordination, personnel supervision, monitoring and evaluation and so on. Whileweak management is frequently cited as a major impediment to improving education quality and delivery, fewstudies actually report on the personnel characteristics, career development, or professional problems ofadministrators at any level (Chapman, 2002)2
Changing Framework of Local Governance and Community Participation in Elementary Education2. Educational Governance: Changing Policy FrameworkFrom the previous discussion it is clear that in India decentralization has a special significancebecause it advocates for a shift of decision-making centres closer to the people at thegrassroots level. Many initiatives are underway for translating policies of decentralization intoaction and to facilitate this implementation. The government has already initiated structuralchanges and devised various mechanisms for the successful implementation ofdecentralization. The present section focuses on these mechanisms initiated in the educationsector.As India came into existence, bringing together territories with diverse historical, socioculturaland linguistic contexts, educational governance received immediate attention. Theresponsibility for governance of school education was largely given to state governments.Thus, since then decentralization in public governance in general, and in education, inparticular has consisted of moving decision making powers to structures and authorities atsub-state levels. For successful implementation of decentralisation, the main issue seems to bethe establishment of institutional mechanisms below the state level. It is in this context that theconcept of panchayati raj and the community development frameworks were adopted in theyears after independence. The local self-government system under panchayati raj is conceivedto consist of three tiers of political-administrative structures beginning at district level throughthe block level 3 and the village level. This is also viewed as facilitating the emergence ofgrassroots democracy involving people in local electoral process. While politicaldecentralization was to follow this framework, it was deemed appropriate to designate blocklevel as the main unit for development administration. Thus, a Block Development Office wasestablished in each block consisting of 100-150 villages. The district, which was the revenuedivision created during the British period remained more or less intact.Within the education sector, to begin with, the District Education Office remained the maincentre of governance of school education in the district. After nearly 25 years of this set up, aseparate office of the School Education Department came into existence at block (sub-district)level in many states. This was partly due to the enormous expansion of the primary educationsystem during the preceding two decades. The Block Education Office now deals withelementary primary education in many states, while the District Education Office directlygoverns secondary education.The rationale for decentralization in the early years was driven by the agenda to give power tothe people by creating local self-governments through democratic elections. Empoweringpeople through democratic institutions was seen as a value in itself. While, panchayati raj andcommunity development gave the operational framework for decentralization, the contours ofthe discourse were largely defined by the liberation rhetoric that characterised most countriesin the immediate aftermath of colonialism. In fact, the report from the Education Commission(GoI, 1964-66) recommended decentralization of educational governance to ensure betterinvolvement of the community in school education. It was envisaged that community service3 Indian states are subdivided into divisions each comprising several districts. Certain states’ districts are furtherdivided into sub-divisions. (pargana, anuvibhag, mahakuma), which comprise several blocks. Block is anadministrative unit lower to the district level, and comprise several villages or village clusters. It is also referredas tehsil, mandal, sub-division etc. The governmental bodies at the Tehsil level are called the panchayat samitialso see in the site:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_divisions_of_India3
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