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each of these inputs is no doubt valuable, the problem seems to be that these inputs are not organically interconnected. o While integrated strategies have been tried out in some areas across the country (model clusters, joyful learning approaches), the challenge before us today is to make effective practices a central part of the entire schooling system. o It is worth noting that the focus, at least in DPEP and SSA, has shifted to retention. Though an improvement from the earlier focus on enrolment, this is insufficient. Moving from retention to ensuring learning outcomes necessitates a qualitative leap in the way primary and upper primary education is managed. o Teaching time remains a problem area. Interactions with children revealed that the time spent in classroom transaction, especially given high teacher-student ratio / rotation of teachers teaching in the school, reduces the actual time devoted to teaching. A large proportion of the time of children is spent copying down from the board, or self-studying, while the teacher is busy with another group. - The teacher is the fulcrum around whom effective schooling system revolves. While this appears to be a cliché, the real task before us today is to break this down into doable steps, for instance: o Making teachers accountable to measurable learning outcomes. This implies that we need to agree on how learning will be assessed on a continuous basis. This is of particular importance in the context of the no-detention policy being followed at the primary level in most parts of the country and the upper primary level in some areas. Pushing children from one grade to the next without ensuring learning not only defeats the very purpose of schooling, but, as voiced by people, is actually cheating the poorest. There is growing evidence to show that those who can so afford are already taking recourse to private tuitions or private schools. o Effective advocacy for ensuring learning outcomes and making teachers accountable for it implies not only dealing with the general public, but more importantly with teacher unions. It is important to revisit the recurring recommendation (made since the 1960s) that primary school teachers be hired for a specific village school by the Panchayat and their service be made non- transferable. Educational Resource Unit Page 94 April 2003
o While in-service teacher training has received considerable attention in DPEP and other EFA projects across the country, a holistic approach to teacher education is necessary. Effective intervention at the pre-service training stage is called for. Teacher training is not only about imparting skills, but also about enabling the teachers to understand and appreciate the learning needs of first generation school-goers and children from disadvantaged communities. Teacher attitudes leave much to be desired, stereotypical attitudes towards poor children and the ‘use’ of education in their lives needs serious attention. This calls for a systematic review of teacher education curriculum. - The teacher-pupil ratio, both on paper and on the ground in some areas continue to remain an important area of concern. In the schools visited in UP the TPR in rural schools was high as 1:173 in one case! In the tribal school visited in AP, only one of the three teachers was present on any given day. Even where teachers have been deployed, the practice of rotation followed in many areas effectively negates favourable teacher-pupil ratios. This situation begs a more effective monitoring mechanism. o The Village Education Committees / School Development and Management Committees are mandated to monitor teacher regularity. However, interactions with the committees in all the three states indicated that members feel powerless. While there are exceptions, the general point about the real power of these committees needs to be taken on board. o We are yet to fully realise the potential of Teacher Centres / Cluster Resource Centres in ensuring regularity of teaching as well as providing continuous academic support to teachers 11 . o Responsibility for routine enrolment drives and identification of out-of-school children needs to be shifted to Panchayat Raj Institutions and other village level structures like PTA, MTA, VEC and SDMC. - Another context-specific strategy worth exploring, especially in tribal areas, where it has not been easy to ensure posting and regular attendance of teachers, is to locate a school in a cluster (Mandal in case of AP) that is easily accessible and transporting children from the 11 It is indeed interesting that none of the teachers interviewed talked about the supportive role / monitoring role of Teacher Centres (AP) and Cluster Resource Centres (Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh). At best they talked about specific training programmes they had attended under the aegis of DPEP. Educational Resource Unit Page 95 April 2003
Page 1 and 2:
Publication released by World Bank
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Acknowledgements My first and heart
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LIST OF TABLES Table 1: ICD Concept
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GLOSSARY Ab iska kahan fayada hota
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Taluka Administrative unit - often
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concentric domains that span proxim
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Taking its cue from the above frame
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The rising cost of healthcare can h
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This emerging phenomenon of ‘hier
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day workshop in Hyderabad in late A
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Profile of the study area: Key indi
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stable, Uttar Pradesh continues to
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Village Village 1 UP Village 2 UP V
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SECTION TWO: THROUGH THE LIFE CYCLE
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implicated, wholly or partially, in
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women. Since, most children began t
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families… The incidence of low bi
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Box 4: Devdasi woman of Karnataka K
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odies. Running noses, skin rashes a
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low, as is knowledge about the link
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Box 7: Glimpse of healthcare facili
Page 43 and 44: years, in our sample, suffer from e
Page 45 and 46: Measurements taken in the course of
Page 47 and 48: The problem of irregular food suppl
Page 49 and 50: Box 10: The Aanganwadi worker of th
Page 51 and 52: other services (looking after the c
Page 53 and 54: women who are pregnant and those wh
Page 55 and 56: completed primary education, 13 nev
Page 57 and 58: The same issue was reiterated as we
Page 59 and 60: instance, let us take the example o
Page 61 and 62: gradually becoming more common. Wha
Page 63 and 64: desired. In Uttar Pradesh free text
Page 65 and 66: fuzzy. Learning outcomes are integr
Page 67 and 68: discussed earlier, dry rations seem
Page 69 and 70: mixed village pointing to the need
Page 71 and 72: and further fragment the experience
Page 73 and 74: poverty line. The households survey
Page 75 and 76: databases in recent years on the is
Page 77 and 78: and are able to cross the initial b
Page 79 and 80: contrary to current received wisdom
Page 81 and 82: - Height and weight for age an impo
Page 83 and 84: eliable and regular immunisation, m
Page 85 and 86: Table 27: Utilisation of health rel
Page 87 and 88: Aanganwadi worker irregular +++ +++
Page 89 and 90: impedes retention in school is the
Page 91 and 92: for both. Enhancing access without
Page 93: SECTION FOUR: POLICY IMPLICATIONS A
Page 97 and 98: Balwadis of Pratham (Mumbai, Delhi
Page 99 and 100: and monitoring, poor cold chain mai
Page 101 and 102: BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFRENCES 1. Aggar
Page 103: 47. Sundaram, K. 2001. ‘Employmen
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