Universal Elementary Education by 2010 : Pratham Resource Center 1 Universal Elementary Education by 2010 Status, solutions, and strategy
A presentation for the Planning Commission
What we will discuss today : Pratham Resource Center 2 What we will discuss today The Goal.
Status: Rapid assessment in 19 states
The way to catalyze change: Maharashtra
What needs to be done?
The Goal : Pratham Resource Center 3 The Goal
The Goal : Pratham Resource Center 4 The Goal Universal elementary education by 2010
Objectives:
All children enrolled by 2003 (!?)
All children complete four years (!?)of education by 2007
All children complete eight years (!?) of education by 2010
Focus on education of satisfactory quality with education for life.
All social gaps filled at ‘primary’ stage by 2007 and ‘upper primary’ stage by 2010.
Universal enrollment and retention by 2010
Add quality objectives:
All children completing primary stage will be guaranteed age-appropriate basic reading, writing, arithmetic skills by 2007
All children completing eight years will be guaranteed achievement of levels of learning prescribed for grade VIII
Pratham Assessment of Status : Pratham Resource Center 5 Pratham Assessment of Status Sample surveys
conducted in June-Aug 2004
Rapid Assessment of Learning Outcomes : Pratham Resource Center 6 Rapid Assessment of Learning Outcomes Conducted in June and August 2004
Rural districts selected based on accessibility during monsoons
Within each district, 2 blocks randomly selected
Within each block, 5 villages randomly selected
In each village, 50 children between the ages of 7 and 14 tested on basic reading, arithmetic and writing.
Therefore, data of about 500 children per district from 17 states. Total data for ~ 13,500 children.
Survey and testing either on holidays or Sundays : Children on that day are not in school
Pratham led the effort but was also joined by a variety of other institutions, agencies including some government depts
Are children in school? : Pratham Resource Center 7 Are children in school? States with more girls than
boys out of school States with more boys than
girls out of school
Out of school children - Age: 7 to 10 : Pratham Resource Center 8 Out of school children - Age: 7 to 10
Out of school children - Age: 11 to 14 : Pratham Resource Center 9 Out of school children - Age: 11 to 14
Quantity and Quality: Access/provision and learning : Pratham Resource Center 10 Quantity and Quality: Access/provision and learning
Children learning “well” : Pratham Resource Center 11 Children learning “well”
Mid-day meal : Pratham Resource Center 12 Mid-day meal 13 states – 4 states (Orissa, Bihar, Punjab and West Bengal) give uncooked meals; 9 states give cooked mid day meals.
Cooked meals are provided almost daily (in 85-100% cases);
Meals are generally cooked and distributed by someone other than the schoolteacher. (In 15-20% cases, the cook and teachers together distribute the food to the children.)
The food is generally cooked inside the school premises, but it was also found that quite a significant % if the food was also cooked outside the school.Madhya Pradesh & Chhatisgarh: 50-55% cases food was cooked outside. Andhra Pradesh, TamilNadu, Haryana: 12-33% cases food was being cooked outside the school premises
Varied menu: In the Northern States the cooked food menu ranges from Daal, rice, vegetables to Khitchdi. The Eastern States largely provide uncooked meals monthly or once in 3 months in form of rice grain and wheat. The Southern States give rice and sambhar as part of cooked meal.
Aanganwadi : Pratham Resource Center 13 Aanganwadi Anganwadis are running regularly in village schools of all 13 states in 85-100% cases. Exceptions are West Bengal (20% anganwadis running) and Himachal (50%)
About 80% anganwadis are running inside the primary school buildings, in panchayat owned premises or in public places like temples, clubs etc. A mere 9.5% are running in private homes of teachers or villagers (the concentration is very high in Bihar), and another 7% in dalit bastis. The rest are running in open spaces in the village like under a tree etc.
Rapid, step-wise, campaign for 3 R’s is the Way to Catalyze Change : Pratham Resource Center 14 Rapid, step-wise, campaign for 3 R’s is the Way to Catalyze Change
Maharashtra Events : Pratham Resource Center 15 Maharashtra Events Oct-Dec 02: Pratham innovates a learning to read technique.
Jan-Mar 03: Pilot in Zilla Parishad Schools in two tribal blocks of Thane and Nasik districts. (successful)
Apr-Jul 03: Attempts to persuade Government of Maharashtra to scale up. (frustrating!)
Aug- Dec 03: One pilot block each in 30 districts through persuasion at district level (successful)
Jan- Mar 04: Scaling up of pilots in 16 districts for varied periods- 2 months to 20 days.
May- Jun 04: External sample evaluation and comparative status study of ‘treatment’ vs ‘non-treatment’ districts
Aug, 04: Government of Mahrashtra decides to take up ‘quality learning guarantee’ for all children in Zilla Panchayat Schools.
Slide 16 : Pratham Resource Center 16
Success at pilot stage : Pratham Resource Center 17 Success at pilot stage
No dilution effect on scaling up : Pratham Resource Center 18 No dilution effect on scaling up Data: External
Evaluation by
Pune and Nagpur
University, Dept
Of Economics
Jun 2004 33 districts, two blocks per district- one pilot +one treated/NON treated, 5 villages per block, total children 15,000+
State-wide results after scaling up : Pratham Resource Center 19 State-wide results after scaling up Std II “NON READERS” got
a one year head-start.
Std III NON READERS got a two year push,
Std IV NON READERS got a two year push. Data: External
Evaluation by
Pune and Nagpur
University, Dept
Of Economics
Jun 2004
Arithmetic ability : Pratham Resource Center 20 Arithmetic ability University evaluators find a statistically significant improvement in arithmetic ability in the treated blocks after
Learning to Read program. However, Pratham feels that a focused arithmetic program is needed for real change.
Children learn rapidly : Pratham Resource Center 21 Children learn rapidly The key is to provide children with ‘doing’ activities, let the children learn and nudge their learning occasionally.
The activities call for a cultural shift from ‘teacher centric’ to ‘learning centric’.
‘Learning to read’ in less than two months even when taught by a std X-XII educated instructor
Proficiency in basic arithmetic up to division in less than four months after learning to read.
‘Reading to learn’ strengthens learning ability, comprehension of text, and ability to write on one’s own. (about 4 months parallel with arithmetic)
‘Minimum Quality Guarantee Program in Maharashtra : Pratham Resource Center 22 ‘Minimum Quality Guarantee Program in Maharashtra Goal: All children up to std IV must learn age appropriate skills of 3 R’s. All children who have completed 4 years of schooling should be proficient in std IV level 3R’s.
Minimum two Pratham volunteers work with one district to train, assist, monitor and push. More if Zilla Parishad needs.
Schools will set aside 1 hour for focused remedial learning. Choice of methods left to ZP.
Additional Cost: No more than Rs. 15-20 per child, mainly for reading materials.
Duration: 1-2 years for the state.
What needs to be done? : Pratham Resource Center 23 What needs to be done?
Four cornerstones for achievement of Goal : Pratham Resource Center 24 Four cornerstones for achievement of Goal PROVISION: No excuse if classrooms and teachers are available
CAPACITY BUILDING: Teaching-learning and Management
Ability to deliver quality learning achievement in stages
Ability to plan, manage, and execute.
MONITORING/ ACCOUNTABILITY : Simple, intelligible parameters
Local government/ VEC- ‘school report card’
External agency- “Status of education report” annual, district upwards
CAMPAIGNS: Bridge gap between school and home
Voluntary agencies- campaigns: Adult Literacy, Popularization of Science, Libraries-books- reading for children, help children outside classroom, Anti-child labor.
Investment in social capital : Pratham Resource Center 25 Investment in social capital Building village and block level voluntary participation of people through campaigns and specific programs will generate the energy required for implementation, make systems productive, and ensure results.
Stages : Pratham Resource Center 26 Stages Transition stage: (2004-07)
Provision of infrastructure, capacity building, and ensuring that each school delivers basic 3 R’s by the end of 4 years of schooling. (2004-07)
Take off stage:
No untrained teachers (2007-10), all children in-school and proficient in 3 R’s, towards achievement of prescribed curriculum, universal retention for at least 4-5 years.
UEE stage: (2010 onwards)
Universal retention for 8 years
Finance? : Pratham Resource Center 27 Finance? Non-recurring cost: 30,000 cr?
Additional Recurring: About 7-10,000 cr per annum?
State share can be negotiated for quality delivery
Can we plan to provide infrastructure over the next three years while creating mechanisms to ensure basic 3R’s in all states?
Slide 28 : Pratham Resource Center 28 Deadline of 2010 has been set
Let us chase it seriously