ministry of human resource development, govt. of...
TRANSCRIPT
Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India
Guidelines for Planning Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan
December 2014
Table of Content
I-Purpose of the Guidelines ................................................................................................... 1 II-National Education Priorities ............................................................................................ 2 III-RMSA objectives ........................................................................................................... 3-4 Chapter-1 .............................................................................................................................5-15 Access & Equity...................................................................................................................5-15
1.1 Current Status:-. ................................................................................................... 5-6 1.2 Planning approach and methodology .................................................................. 6-13 1.3 Monitoring, Evaluation and Research ............................................................... 13-15
Chapter-2 ....................................................................................................................... 16-30 Quality ........................................................................................................................... 16-30
2.1 Current Status .................................................................................................. 16-18 2.2 Planning Approach and Methodology .............................................................. 18-20 2.3 Implementation strategy ................................................................................... 20-29
Component ............................................................................................................ 21-22 Norm ...................................................................................................................... 22-22 Remarks ................................................................................................................ 22-23
2.4 Monitoring, evaluation and research ................................................................. 29-30 Chapter-3 ....................................................................................................................... 31-33 Governance .................................................................................................................... 31-33
3.1 Financial Management and Procurement ............................................................... 31 3.2 Structures for implementation – ............................................................................ 32
3.2.1 State Implementation Societies (SISs) ....................................................... 32-33 3.2.2 School Management Development Committees (SMDCs) ............................. 32
List of National policies and partner institutions ............................................................ 34-35
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I-Purpose of the Guidelines
Planning in education is a continuous and a dynamic process and has to be closely monitored, updated, with respect to planning for equitable access such as infrastructure and expanding reach through ICT, related recruitment and deployment of teachers and other human resources; for quality such as training and continuous professional development of teachers, curriculum reforms, use of ICT, standardisation of pedagogy, examination etc. In addition, areas of planning like professional development, optimum utilization and rationalization of time, enhancing creative pursuits through research, interactivity etc. also are important and needs to be supported by planning for suitable infrastructure, vacancies and financial requirements. In addition, the planning tool should gradually and eventually become a tool for self monitoring, self appraisal and self-reflection.
While, improving the access, equity and quality parameters of secondary education has been the focus of RMSA, equal importance is needed to demonstrate outcomes. The National Resource Group of RMSA therefore strongly recommends to transition towards a theme based approach than an activity based approach. ‘Whole school based planning and implementation’ becomes critical to ensure that all schools covered under RMSA benefit from all the components of the scheme.
In this context, this handbook has been designed to help the planners at different levels to plan local specific need based interventions for secondary education at the district, state and national level. The guidelines of RMSA and other policy documents and related norms have been provided to aid prepare a comprehensive AWP&B that is actionable, could be monitored and has realistic estimates of fund requirement for each intervention. This document is a work in progress and the objective is to evolve a robust set of guidelines for implementation based on further inputs from the States and other partner agencies.
The guideline has been organised under Access, Equity, Quality and Governance themes each discussing elements such as approach & methodology for planning, implementation strategy, monitoring, evaluation, reporting and norms under RMSA. Further, in order to have a meaningful planning approach, the themes of Access and Equity are discussed together to give an integrated sense of the importance of equity and inclusive dimensions within the planning approach for Access. For example, school mapping and school infrastructure development under Access has to be thought through well with perspectives of access to children with special needs (CWSN) or hostels for girls under the Girls Hostels scheme.
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II-National Education Priorities
Recognising the importance of education in national development, the Twelfth Plan places an unprecedented focus on the expansion of education, on significantly improving the quality of education imparted and on ensuring that educational opportunities are available to all segments of the society (XII Plan, Govt. of India).
The country has made big strides during the last six decades in the field of school education, with unprecedented expansion of school infrastructure and student enrolment. What initially began as a move towards universalising elementary education through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan got greater fillip and a new perspective with the Right to Education Act. Consequent to these developments there has been an increasing demand for secondary education in the country(Secondary Education Planning & Appraisal Manual, NUEPA, 2012
http://rmsaindia.org/images/Planning_and_Appraisal_Manual_SE.pdf
Despite many gains, education in India faces several challenges. A matter of particular concern is the steep dropout rate after the elementary level. The sharp drop-off in enrolment at the middle school level and the increasing enrolment gap from elementary to higher secondary suggests that the gains at the elementary level have not yet impacted the school sector as a whole. Disadvantaged groups are worse off with the dropout rates for SCs and STs higher than the national average. Further, quality of education and learning outcomes at each stage of education is the central challenge facing the Indian education sector today. This is particularly critical since both macro- and micro-level evidence suggests that what matters for both national economic growth as well as individuals’ ability to participate in this growth process is not the total years of education as much as the quality of education and value-addition for each successive year in school as represented by continuously improving learning outcomes and skills.
Improving learning outcomes is crucial for inclusive growth and, therefore, a major focus of the Twelfth Plan is on measuring and improving learning outcomes for all children, with a clear recognition that increasing inputs (number of schools, classrooms, teachers and so on) will by themselves not be enough to ensure quality education for all children(XII Plan, Govt. of India).
In this context, the launch of the 'Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)' in 2009 to achieve universal secondary education in a mission mode marked a major step in this direction. The vision of this programme is to make good quality education available, accessible and affordable to all young persons in the age of 14-18 years (Secondary Education Planning & Appraisal Manual, NUEPA, 2012 http://rmsaindia.org/images/Planning_and_Appraisal_Manual_SE.pdf
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III-RMSA objectives
The Twelfth Plan’s objective for secondary education is to make quality education available, accessible and affordable to the target population in the age group of 14–18 years.
The major objectives of the RMSA are:
(i) to ensure that all secondary schools have physical facilities, staffs and supplies at least according to the prescribed standards through financial support in case of Government/ Local Body and Government aided schools, and appropriate regulatory mechanism in the case of other schools;
(ii) to improve access to secondary schooling to all young people’s according to norms – through proximate location (say, Secondary Schools within 5 kms, and Higher Secondary Schools within 7-10 kms) / efficient and safe transport arrangements/residential facilities, depending on local circumstances including open schooling. However in hilly and difficult areas, these norms can be relaxed. Preferably residential schools may be set up in such areas;
(iii) to ensure that no child is deprived of secondary education of satisfactory quality due to gender, socio-economic, disability and other barriers; and
(iv) to improve quality of secondary education resulting in enhanced intellectual, social and cultural learning; details at http://rmsaindia.org/images/files/Policy-and-regulations/Framework_Final_RMSA_3.pdf
Key updates related to the scheme as of 2014:
(i) The existing fund sharing pattern of 75:25 between centre and states for RMSA would continue for the remaining four years of XII Plan.
(ii) MMER is being increased to 4% out of which 3.5% may be earmarked to the States and UTs and remaining 0.5% may be kept for central level expenditure. The States and UTs where the proposed percentage of MMER may not fulfil the requirement, the funds towards MMER may be extended up to 5% of the budget allocation of the concerned States/UTs. However, the overall percentage will have to remain at an average of 3.5%at the National level for all States and UTs.
(iii) Subsuming of other centrally sponsored schemes of secondary education – Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in School, Girls’ Hostel, Vocational Education, and Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary stage under RMSA. An indicative
Secondary Education: Twelfth Plan Goals: 1. Achieve near-universal enrolment in secondary education, with the GER Exceeding
90 percent by 2017; 2. Raise the GER at the higher secondary level to 65 percent by 2017; 3. Reduce Dropout rate to less than 25 percent by 2017; 4. Ensure quality secondary education with relevant skills including basic competency
in mathematics, science, languages and communication; 5. Implement common curricula and syllabi of nationally acceptable standards for
Science, Maths and English in all schools in the country; 6. Develop life skills including skills of critical and constructive thinking, use of ICT,
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tabular representation is presented in Table 1 to highlight the convergence through these schemes may lead to achieving the overall objective of improving access, equity, quality and governance in secondary education.
(iv) The states may follow State Schedule of Rate or Central Public Works Department rate, whichever is lower for the execution of the civil works.
Table 1: Indicative table to demonstrate thematic convergence of the schemes in RMSA
RMSA Girls Hostels IEDSS ICT in schools Vocational Education Access and Equity
New School/ up gradation of upper primary school to secondary school
Construction of building including two room accommodation for warden
Construction / strengthening of Block Level Resource Room
Provision of Computer Lab
Classrooms; Workshop/laboratory; Office room
Up gradation of KGBV/UPS; Strengthening of Existing Schools. RMSA has provisions for up gradation of UPS to secondary school for KGBVs/ residential upper primary school. Hostel for the same is to be provided under Girls Hostel component/ any other scheme
Furniture and equipment including kitchen equipment
Grant for improving access by removing architectural barriers
Furniture
Adequate safe drinking water facility to be available in every school. Norms of Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) to be followed.
Boring Hand pump
Minor Repair for repair of school building, toilets, playground, computers, electrical fittings, whitewashing, etc.
Provision for toilets, additional classroom, teacher quarters
Quality Teachers of new schools Honorarium of
warden Special Educator Flexi funds for engaging
resource persons/ industry expert
Additional teachers for existing schools Special pay for general teachers
Dedicated ICT/ Computer Teacher
Induction training, in-service training In-service training as part of overall training under RMSA
In-service training- Induction/in-service training
School grant or repair/ replacement of laboratory equipment, purchase of lab consumables, purchase of books, periodicals, news-papers, electricity charge, water charges, purchase of sports equipment, music, dance, painting, etc.
Grant for electricity maintenance
School grant for electricity, computer stationery,/ telephone -Broadband / Internet fees etc.
School grant for raw materials, educational CDs, books, software etc. and office expenses
Provision for science lab, art, craft culture room, library room
Provision for module development, science kit, sports equipment, science fair, book fair, remedial teaching, NIOS, exam reform
Provision for development / acquisition of e- learning resources
Governance MMER is 4% MMER under all the components merged with overall MMER head @ 4%
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Chapter-1 Access and Equity
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan envisions universal access to secondary schools by provisioning a secondary school within a reasonable distance of any habitation to ensure access for universal enrolment of children in the age group of 14 to 18. While the prime focus of RMSA is to expand access of secondary education to disadvantaged groups such as SC/ST, minorities, girls etc. the scheme equally focuses on the requirements of the children with special needs (CWSN) who need to be brought into the domain of general education by making the general school environment CWSN friendly. The scheme provides an opportunity for CWSN, who have completed eight years of elementary education to continue their education in regular schools at the secondary level.
1.1 Current Status:-The current indicators broadly indicate that access to secondary school has improved in the last 4 years, but the dropout rate and transition rate are still areas of concern. This further highlights the need to establish a system for tracking the transition of students from class VIII to class IX and then to class X. The data also supplements the concern raised in the framework regarding unequal opportunity for certain section of the society. The gap in boys and girls educational indicators highlights the need to focus for certain strategies that could reduce gender bias. In view of providing 100% access to those disadvantaged sections of the community (SC/ST/Minority) including the areas affected by natural disaster/extremism affected areas/SFD, RMSA has been an amicable programme that fulfils certain gaps. To ensure equal access to all facilities, each State will have to identify the disadvantaged section of the society, geographically disadvantaged locations, economically disadvantaged group etc and accordingly develop interventions to address these gaps.
57.60%66.70% 68.60%
76.80%
46.20%58.70% 65.98% 76.47%
52.19%62.90%
67.35%76.64%
2005-06 (SES) 2009-10 (launch yearof RMSA)(SES)
2012-13(UDISE) 2013-14(UDISE)
Improving GER in Secondary Education
GER-Boys GER- Girls GER-Total
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1.2 Planning approach and methodology
C. Outcome based Plans a. The planners have to ensure that the planning is not limited to deciding outlays for a
particular financial year. It is to be closely linked to intended outcomes expected out of the efforts of RMSA. For example, executing the in-service training should not be the objective rather; effectiveness of the training, follow-up of the training and building in feedback from field realities should become the objective, which automatically would impact the intended outcome of quality learning in the classrooms. http://rmsaindia.org/images/Quality_Guidelines_Dec2014.pdf
b. The objective of planning exercise is therefore to ensure rational allocation and optimum use of resources. The focus of planning should be, less on issues pertaining to the allocation of resources and more on making the best use of the available resources. Planning is not to be initiated as a onetime exercise, it is a continuous process and unfolds itself in the process of implementing and operationalizing decentralized or district plans. Further, it focuses on operational details to ensure the achievement of the integrated plan targets in the selected unit of the exercise. Strengthening the educational process at the local level is the major focus of the micro-planning exercise so as to ensure an integrated approach. Hence, it should be seen as a regular feature and should be with the active participation of stakeholders at every stage and level.
c. Every component or activity in the plan should be measurable. The activity and its corresponding expenditure would have little meaning if it cannot be assessed on its intended benefits. For example, number of visits to a school has little value unless it is coupled with duration of visit, the activities done during those visit and a feedback from the school on how they benefitted from the particular visit. Therefore, the package of interventions planned under a goal should have clear indicators for a desired outcome. http://rmsaindia.org/images/Planning_and_Implementation.pdf
2009-102010-112011-122012-132013-14
Increasing Inclusion of CWSN
Number of CWSN enrolled
Total number of students enrolled
020000400006000080000
100000
Autis
m
Cere
bral
Pal
sy
Hea
ring…
Men
tal…
Lear
ing…
Mul
tiple
…
Tota
l Bili
nd
Low
Visi
on
Spee
ch…
Loco
mot
or
Distribution of CWSN as per disability
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A. Unit of Planning
a. Under RMSA, habitation is the unit of planning. Understanding the habitation/village may mean identifying the facilities available in the village, understanding the people, their means of livelihood, their social interaction, attitudes towards education etc. Planning should be started at the community level (SMDC and PRI members) to ensure identification of infrastructure gaps, quality in terms of teachers, teachers training, curriculum etc. Coverage of SFG should be identified by the community (SMDC) after intensive discussions with the headmasters/principals and teachers. Proposals and issues related to the above components need to be streamlined and verified at the district level before consolidating at the state level.(Refer guidelines at http://rmsaindia.org/images/Community_Participation_Mobilisation_guidelines.pdf
b. The planning exercise should be a result of extensive consultations at the field level. Expectations, needs and aspirations of teachers should be effectively captured before preparing the plans. Practical difficulties of teacher educators, resource shortage, mutli-tasking working environments should be proactively considered while deciding for annual activities and nature of training programs. Consultations with other departments
Some of the key features for Outcome based or project based planning specially with respect to RMSA planning are listed below: While planning for access, the main criteria would be to saturate the infrastructure gaps of the schools in a single
go. This will not only help in better perspective planning to cover all schools in a phased manner but also is a cost effective strategy. Perspective is to provide the entire required infrastructure to a set of schools in a year and to cover all the schools in stipulated time frame of the scheme. Any school covered for strengthening of infrastructure should be completed in all respects be it inclusiveness (ramps, railing, CWSN friendly toilets) or IT laboratory or offering of vocational courses or science laboratory or library etc.
While ensuring minimum infrastructure and access to secondary schools, the interventions aimed at improving quality of education in schools, education of Girls, education of socially disadvantaged group, community participation etc, cannot be addressed by one or even few strategies implemented as standalone strategies. Hence quality and equity issues need to be addressed in packaged or project mode.
Under project mode planning, the planner has to first identify the area to be addressed and the reasons therein. Strategies looking to address this area/ gap should address all the aspects linked to the selected area. Hence expected outcome has to be defined.
The expected outcome could be improvement in some indicators like enhancement of pass percentage, more involvement of girls in classroom process, increased number of ST/ SC students opting for science subjects, improvement in % of students passing, increase in average marks of students etc. and outputs are tangible outputs like school building, training module, workshops, trained teachers, etc. The planners then need to define multifaceted interventions; outputs expected in the process and prepare time schedule and calendar.
Any strategy thus planned should be a package of various interventions with inter-linkages to the desired results. Desired outcomes would be achieved in long term; hence the proposed strategies should be with at least 3 years perspective. Month-wise and year-wise calendar of activities should be prepared.
Under equity, the State and districts need to identify the disadvantaged group within the State and district respectively. The planner has to also look beyond the standard categories as girls, SC/ ST and SFDs. The disadvantaged group may not be girls in all States as is generally assumed as is the case in Sikkim. However the disadvantaged group could be with respect to social category, gender, geographical location, economic conditions etc. All the different perspective should be used to identify the disadvantaged group and the strategies again has to be in project mode as package of interventions as described above.
Monitoring and evaluation will be a critical factor for successful implementation of any strategy is still more important to be carried out in a time bound manner at all three levels (School, Dist. & State). Regular monitoring and evaluation should be an in-built characteristics of any strategy planned/ proposed. This will further help in strengthening the implementation process as it enables option of corrective action if required at point of time during implementation.
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like Health Women and Child Development, Social Justice, Tribal Development, Minority Development, Rural Development, Urban Development, Drinking Water and Sanitation, etc as well as with Programme Co-ordinators of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan SSA and Teacher Education ( TE) , is extremely critical for RMSA plans.
c. One of the most important data point in any planning is “past experience”. The State Education Department in the past has done multiple studies and researches and the cumulative experience of the faculty, far exceeds any MIS data points. The RMSA State Implementation Society, should leverage upon its rich qualitative databank and create sub-groups to deliberate on different aspects of functional planning. For example, sub-groups on pre-service trainings, curriculum revision, in-service training, monitoring, research and so on could be formed to deliberate on each others’ experiences before putting together the institutional level plan.
B. Integration of Plans
a. The 12th Plan document emphasizes the need for convergence of other secondary schools related schemes under the RMSA (as umbrella programme) and to subsume the four (4) other centrally Sponsored Schemes viz. ICT in Schools, Girls Hostel, IEDSS and Vocational Education under RMSA. Benefits to aided schools as of now are being limited to the current interventions under other schemes and to the exclusion of the core (infrastructure and salary) components of the existing RMSA provisions. At the State level, the convergence would certainly bring an integrated and inclusive (aided schools and higher secondary classes) planning and implementation. Since 2013-14, the State/UT level RMSA Society has been made the nodal agency for planning, implementation and monitoring of all components of RMSA and the four additional schemes. Details at
Table 2 ICT in school http://rmsaindia.org/images/Revised_ICT_Scheme.pdf Girls Hostel http://rmsaindia.org/images/Scheme_Girls_hostel.pdf IEDSS http://rmsaindia.org/images/guidelines_iedss.pdf Vocational Education
http://rmsaindia.org/images/CENTRALLY_SPONSORED_VE.pdf
b. In addition to integration, the planning norms across schemes can be innovatively allocated at the state level. For example, use of technology which cuts across districts and institutions could be optimized through standardised procurement guidance by the State and prioritized to districts and institutions which could really get benefitted
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through its use. For example, it may be very useful for blocks or districts which are facing serious teacher crunch.
c. Apart from the government network, a big network of professional institution scan be created to partner in interventions including in areas relating to Vocational Education, Inclusive Education and ICT focussed activities.
D. Evidence and Need Based Planning using UDISE(http://www.dise.in/udise.html / http://www.nuepa.org/udise.html )
a. Planning based on data is of paramount importance for universalization of access and improvement of quality right from the preparatory stage. Some of the urgent activities include identifying deficiencies in existing secondary schools/higher secondary schools, identifying upper primary schools for up-gradation, identifying underserved areas to establish new schools, streamlining of non-government schools, developing State/UT specific norms for physical facilities etc. In order to initiate a comprehensive school mapping exercise at secondary and higher secondary level, GIS maps of 17 States so far have been integrated with the national NIC GIS platform. This linked to the UDISE data available on http://www.dise.in/udise.htmlprovides a very powerful tool for planners to identify gaps empirically and prioritise goals. The Plan needs to strictly adhere and validate its quantification on these basic facts. It is necessary to develop a reliable data base, i.e. creation of databank under UDISE with disaggregated data at the state, district, block and school levels. It therefore becomes necessary for the states, to keep the UDISE data well updated and also develop capacity among all education officers to use UDISE for planning and budgeting. Analysis of different educational indicators such Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), transition rate from class VIII to IX, dropout rate, Pupil-Teacher Ratios (PTRs), Gender Parity Index (GPI) etc. largely available through UDISE and should become integral part of developing RMSA plans.
b. The State would have to set at least 3 year targets in terms of basic educational Indicators like GER, transition rate, dropout rate etc. in tandem with the RMSA goals followed by assessment of the present status within the State/UTs. These goals would have to be further broken down into year-wise targets and objectives.
c. Based on the state level targets, targets would need to be assessed at the district and sub- district level (block, school). In order to assess the present status at district and sub-district level, a detailed analysis would be required based on UDISE indicators and develop realistic targets for each district. The UDISE indicators that can be studied are: GER, NER, GER at elementary level, GER at upper primary level, Transition rate from class VIII to IX, Transition rate from IX to X, dropout rate, repetition rate, habitations having access to secondary school, PTR, SCR, ratio of UPS to Secondary schools, GPI, representation of students of different social category group, presence of CWSN in schools etc. The UDISE indicators need to be analysed social category-wise, district-wise, block-wise, etc. Further, the indicators may be categorized under different themes such as Access, Equity, and Quality for identification of the concern areas. For example, Access related indicators may suggest that schooling facility is sufficient in
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the State however retention of students at secondary level continues to be an issue or there are certain pockets in the States which have adverse educational status. The planning units will have to accordingly set targets and devise strategies accordingly. (Refer http://rmsaindia.org/images/Planning_and_Implementation.pdf and http://www.dise.in/udise.html
d. It is important to consider that the disadvantaged groups may not only be the SC/ST and girls but may also be identified on the basis of social category, gender, geographical location, economic conditions etc. For example, in Sikkim, girls do not fall under the category of disadvantaged groups. Similarly, children with special needs or differently-abled children have to be intensively identified with the help of SMDCs, NGOs, social welfare department, school readiness programme, medical assessment camps or an interdisciplinary expert team of special educators, clinical psychologists, therapists and doctors. It may include training of the surveyors, enumerators and other government functionaries at different levels.
e. In addition, a detailed educational spatial mapping of the State using Geographical Information
system (GIS) technology is important in order to assess the demand-supply situation as well as mapping of unreached or under-served areas. For example, Special Focus Districts (SFD) and Coverage of Special Focus Groups (SFG) (SC/ST/Minority, Backward tribal blocks etc.) should be given highest priority. The State may certify that such focus areas have been provided with schools before locating new schools elsewhere.
f. Saturating the needs and requirements of each school in a phased manner is more important
than thinly spreading the resources across all schools. For example, strengthening infrastructure
Current Challenges & Issues for Inclusive Education
Lack of Resource Teachers and therapists. Lack of trained teachers on all disabilities. Gap between the students passing out of elementary classes and enrolling in secondary schools. Child
Tracking System needs to be developed. Low enrolment of CWSN Girls Lack of proper and systematic supervision and monitoring system at state and District level Lack of specialists and Therapists in the states. Slow development of Inclusive Model schools in states. Barrier free environment are not appropriate and as per the norms. Non representation of CWSN parents and Special Teacher in SMDC. Lack of sufficient well equipped Resource Rooms.
Pointers to plan for infrastructure:
Upgrade Upper Primary Schools to Secondary schools;
Up-gradation of Upper Primary Ashram Schools to Secondary Ashram Schools;
Enhance the intake capacity of the existing school by way of strengthening of existing secondary schools, by providing additional class rooms, girls toilets, drinking water, laboratories, libraries, ICT, infrastructure for vocational education, art and crafts room;
Repair of existing secondary school buildings and making the school building accessible to CWSN children by providing facilities like ramp, barrier free toilets, and block resource room with equipments, etc.
Provide residential facilities/ hostels for urban deprived and children without adult protection, opening of residential schools for remote and sparsely populated areas. Girls hostels through up-gradation of KGBVs;
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in a school in all aspects such ramps, railings, CWSN friendly toilets, laboratories, libraries, vocational education etc. is more beneficial than planning laboratories in all schools in first year then libraries in all schools in second year and so on.
Suggested strategies for equity and inclusion for CWSN, girls, SC/ST and other disadvantaged groups:
Interventions such as availability of transport, helper support, disabled friendly and separate toilets for girls, residential facilities, transport & escort allowance, secured environment, stipend to girl students etc.;
Provision of aids and appliances procured in convergence with the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, state welfare departments, national institutions such as ALIMCO and voluntary organisations/ NGOs;
Using the provisions of IEDSS, to create an enabling environment not only through ramps but accessible classroom, hostels, laboratories, playgrounds and toilets. Norms of Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment should be strictly followed. Development of innovative designs for schools to provide an enabling environment for CWSN should also be a part of the programme;
Community mobilization such as awareness generation and sensitisation programmes for mobilising parents, enrolment drives in critical areas, counselling for parents and students, training of SMDC members, engaging Panchayat members;
Creating equal learning opportunities through school readiness programmes /foundation courses, learning through open schooling system, adolescent and life skill education, counselling, vocational skill, special coaching camps for students affected by Left Wing Extremism;
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E. Convergence, Coordination and Partnerships
a. Implementation of RMSA ensures convergence & strengthening of resource institutions at various levels, SCERTs, State Open Schools, SIEMATs, CIET etc., at the State level; and University Departments of Education, Reputed Institutions of Science / Social Science / Humanities Education, and Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) / Institutions of Advanced Study in Education (IASEs). In addition, focus is on convergence and coordination with various other ministries, Departments, Schemes etc. In this respect, all States/UTs may put in institutional mechanism for ensuring convergence & coordination with the different existing ministries in the states like Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Youth Affair and Sports, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, MP LAD fund, MLA LAD fund, by constituting and including representatives of these Departments at State and District level Committees that anchor the RMSA planning and implementation activities.
Important considerations for civil works/construction
The allocation for civil works should not exceed 50% of the approved Perspective Plan. However, in a particular year’s Annual Plan, provision for civil works can be considered up to 60% of the Annual Plan expenditure depending upon the priorities assigned to various components of the scheme in that year within the overall project ceiling of 50%.
The unit cost, where not specifically mentioned in the RMSA norms, should be based on SSOR duly notified by state Government or CPWD which ever is lower.
Incorporation of child-friendly internal and external elements should be mandatory in all the new construction and repair works. Some of the other considerations are as under - - Creating shelves in classroom or learning space is important. - The ratio of dimensions of classroom should be about 3:2 or 4:3. It is recognized that square is the best area for
teaching purposes. The floor area of a class room per pupil is taken 1.8 to 2.3 sq.m. for high schools. The minimum height of the room should be 3.6m and if the floor area exceeds 55 sq.m. the height should be 4.2 mt.
- The classroom blocks should be so arranged that the rooms should derive light mainly from the north side. Extension of classrooms should not be made by adding classroom at right angle to the main block. Two blocks should be separated by a distance of not less than height of the higher block for accessibility to natural light in the rooms. Similarly, the glass area of the classroom should not be less than the 1/6th of the floor area and most of the effective light should come from windows in the north wall. The windows should be placed at regular distance so as to ensure uniform of light.
- Ventilators should be fixed as close as possible to the ceiling (15 to 23 cm) with an area of atleast325 sq.cm and there should be 2 open ventilation per each pupil.
- Black boards should never be fixed on the same walls with the windows used for lighting purposes, and the seating arrangement should be such that no students is seated as a distance more than 9 mtr from the blackboard. Distance between rows of seats should be ideally 75 cm but minimum of 45 cm. Space between rows and walls to be at least 30cm
- The sill height of class rooms with furniture arrangement should be not more than 800 mm from finished floor School building to incorporate safety features for resistance against hazards and the new structures should be
constructed as earthquake resistant.
Provisions for renewable energy utilisation may be explored in the school buildings strengthened/ upgraded under RMSA. Solar panels for water heating, running water pump, solar lantern etc. are suggested as some of the possible activities. All schools to be fitted with rain water harvesting system and disabled friendly provisions. RMSA would encourage use of local construction materials and low cost technologies. The States may make use of designs already developed in their specific local contexts or the designs adopted by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.
The School Management and Development Committee headed by the Principal would be empowered to conduct civil works including collaborating in the development of drawings understanding cost estimates, assessing building material quality, keeping accounts, material procurement etc
In order to assure quality of civil works, on independent assessment of the technical quality of civil works through third party evaluation (TPE) is mandatory.
Good construction practices during execution at different stages (can be referred to at RMSA website)
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Table 3 Programs Ministry of Human Resource Development
National Means cum Merit Scholarship, Incentive to girls for secondary education, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas. Details are available at http://mhrd.gov.in/overview-secondary-education
Ministry of Health and family Welfare
School Health Programme. Details are available at http://www.mohfw.nic.in
Ministry of Women and Child Development
Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls or SABLA (Adolescent Girls); Details are available at http://wcd.nic.in/schemes/SABLA-guidelines141210.pdf. Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Boys (RGSEAB) – Saksham (Adolescent boys); Details are available at http://wcd.nic.in.
Ministry of Minority Affairs Scholarship Schemes including Pre-metric Scholarship, Post Metric Scholarship and Merit cum Means Scholarship; Details are available at www.minorityaffairs.gov.in
Ministry of Tribal Affairs Establishment of Ashram schools in Tribal Sub Plan areas, Establishment of Ekalavya Model Schools,Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Hostels for ST boys and ST girls, Pre-Metric and Post Metric Scholarship Scheme, Upgradation of Merit of ST students at Secondary and Higher Secondary Stage; Details are available at http://www.tribal.nic.in/
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
Pre Metric and Post Metric Scholarship for Scheduled Caste Students, Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Yojna; Details are available at http://socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/pmsscnew.pdf
National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)
A number of provisions for CWSN for open schooling such as – - fee concession to the extent of 50%; - no age limit; - nine chances over a period of five years ; - accumulation of credits; - examinations organised at study centres, flexibility in dates, choice of
subjects; etc. Special education materials developed for CWSN
b. The State should also explore private partnerships with corporate sector, NGOs, private universities and incorporate a strategy to fill in the gaps and competencies not available in the government system. The State may explore partnerships in capacity building of State level master trainers, use of technology in communication, monitoring and evaluation or reaching the difficult areas. The State plan may also think of ways to enriching and updating secondary education curriculum with the help of experts in the private sector.
1.3 Monitoring, Evaluation and Research
a. It is important to discuss the monitoring, evaluation and research parameters within the themes of access and equity so that the theme itself is monitored, evaluated and researched in a focused way. This would lead to identification of focused parameters to monitor and measure the outcomes of the theme and the program as a whole.
b. Merging of the four schemes within RMSA triggers the need for a comprehensive monitoring system under the State Implementation Society (SIS) for RMSA. However, the challenges of monitoring all the schemes each having different norms and procedures would have to be managed at the state level. This exercise of process reengineering by the State must take into account the online end to end implementation and monitoring modules that have been enabled on the rmsaindia.org site.
c. The SISs for RMSA would need to develop state level dashboards (preferably web-based) to monitor thematic progress of implementation of plans. These dashboards would have to be linked to district level plans and monitored continuously. This would
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include alignment with the proposed plan, approvals in-case of any deviation and authorisation of any new activities not earlier budgeted in the plan.
d. The State should also devise a system of timely release of funds, efficient and effective fund utilization and preparing timely program and financial reports and updates to Central Government.
e. In addition to the monitoring by SISs for RMSA, various state level institutions also need to engage for monitoring the various thematic areas. For example, construction can be monitored and reported by SMDCs.
f. Collaboration and strengthening with various institutions such as SCERTs, State Open Schools, SIEMATs, University departments of education, Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) / Institutions of Advanced Study in Education (IASEs) funded under the Centrally-sponsored Scheme of Teacher Education etc. is also critical to continuously and comprehensively monitor the progress of ensuring that ‘no child is left behind’ due to lack of infrastructure or access to a secondary school. They can be engaged as monitoring institutions and report on reach of secondary education in remote areas, efforts of SIS on removing architectural barriers, reach through technology and so on.
g. Research and innovation on infrastructure to make it efficient and environment friendly is important not only at the state level but nationally. Examples of good practices, innovative processes need to be shared at national and international level. The state may put together a system of commissioning high quality researches through internal as well as encouraging external researchers(refer innovation guidelines http://rmsaindia.org/images/INNOVATONS_GUIDELINES.pdf
h. In addition to primary research, the state should also encourage state wide dissemination of good secondary research available from other states as well as other countries. The state unit may develop user-friendly, local language summaries of findings from other studies and surveys and disseminate them among their teachers, head masters and other officials. (refer to Equity guidelines http://rmsaindia.org/images/Equity_and_Social_Inclusion_guidelines.pdf
Role of Monitoring Institutions (MIs)
The MIs are expected to cover 25% secondary schools, not exceeding 25 schools in a block of 6 months in each of the districts.
The sample schools to be selected from urban areas, educationally backward blocks, SFDs and schools with CWSN. Full cooperation in the form of sharing data and records is requested from the HM, teacher, SPO, DPO & SMDCs towards the visit of MI officials.
The half yearly draft report of MI should be shared first with the State Project Director (SPD) of RMSA for their comments & finalization before a consolidated report is sent to the SPD with a copy to the MHRD. The report of MI would help MHRD to advise the states against the gaps and further strengthening of the program in the state.
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0.1: Indicative Dashboard
An indicative list of areas on access and equity which may be explored further:
Environment friendly, user friendly, economical and less time-taking construction, education infrastructure
Models of using technology to expand scale and scope of secondary education
Incentive systems to promote greater participation from marginalised or disadvantaged groups
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Chapter-2 Quality
Improving the quality of education and raising the learning outcomes of students is a prime thematic area for RMSA and the scheme is committed to invest and support in the area of quality improvements in secondary education. Compared to the elementary education levels, the issues of quality get more complicated at the secondary education level, due to the importance of education and skills gained at this stage serving as a gateway to the world of work. Quality also cannot be delineated from the theme of access and equity as it demands the availability of quality infrastructure, qualified and trained teachers and most updated and relevant curriculum which equips the students to world of work. Inclusion is an essential element of both quality and equity and these needs to be woven into all interventions related to enhancing quality. Leveraging technology as key enabler in this endeavour is central to the strategy under RMSA.
While the slow development of infrastructure, problems in teachers’ recruitment, their training, continue to be serious challenges in organising quality secondary education, the learning levels of children graduating from the elementary school system impacts the pace of learning at the secondary level.
2.1 Current Status
a. Availability of trained and qualified teachers in the State: All the States have their own recruitment policy. Most of the States/ UTs recruit teachers at secondary level through a combination of direct recruitment and promotion method. The States which have policy of 100% direct recruitment are Bihar, Delhi Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram Nagaland, Punjab, Tripura and West Bengal. On the other hand, Jammu and Kashmir is one State where 100% secondary teachers are recruited through promotion. The current status on availability of teachers with B.Ed. and M.Ed. qualification is as follows:
Trained
100% trained and
qualified Nil
>75% to <100% A & N, AP, Chandigarh,
DNH, DD, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, J& K, Karna,
Kerala, Lakshadeep, MP, Maharashtra, Pudduch, Punjab, Rajasthan, TN ,
Uttarakhand
> 50 to 75% Arunachal Pr., Bihar,
Goa, Himachal, Jharkhand,
Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Orissa, UP,
& WB
>25% to 50% Chhattisgarh,
Nagaland, Sikkim
<25% Assam & Tripura
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b. Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs): In 2009-10, PTR was 30:1 which improved to 26:1 at
national level in 2013-14. States/UTs having PTR less than or equal to the ratio of 20:1 are A&N, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Daman Diu, Goa, Haryana, J&K, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Orissa, Puducherry, Punjab, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and all north eastern states (except Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh). Bihar (50:1), Jharkhand (68:1) and Uttar Pradesh (51:1) have a PTR more than 50:1, which also have a significant vacancy against the sanctioned posts of teachers. (Bihar-35.3%, Jharkhand-76.7% and Uttar Pradesh-54.8%).
c. Vacancies: As per Model Table, AWP&B 2014-15, there is a sanctioned post of 622060 teachers in Government Secondary School at national level and 76.56 % teachers are in position i.e 476270. Grouping of States in range is as follows:
Table 4 Range State/UTs
0%-30% A&N, Arunachal, Andhra, Chandigarh, DNH, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, HP, J&K, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, MP, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
30%-50% Bihar, Daman & Diu, Haryana and Uttarakhand %50 & above
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh
The other area of concern with respect to teacher posting is availability of subject teachers in every school. Other issues include recruitment on untrained teachers or lack of provision to post subject teachers in every school as in Assam or Mizoram. Further, lack of, rationalization of teachers, inadequate training institutes also complicate the situation of handling vacancies.
46% teachers have been recruited out of the total approval of 65979 teachers in new schools upgraded under RMSA and 70% teachers are in place out of the approved 41507 additional teachers in existing schools.
24
26
28
30
2009-10 2010-11 2012-13 2013-14
30 30
28
26
PTR
0100000200000300000400000500000600000700000
Overall Teacher Vacancy Status
Vacant
In Position
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d. Analysis of results of state board examinations: As per the UDISE data of 2013-14, secondary level pass percentage is 74% in Government schools (Boys-74%& Girls-73%).There are 19 States which are at par with national average, these are A&N, Andhra, Arunachal, Assam, Chandigarh, DD, Delhi, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Orissa, Puducherry, Punjab, Sikkim, TN, UP and WB. There are 4 main focus States where pass percentage has been reported as below 50% (DNH, Haryana, J&K and Nagaland). At national level there are 23% students who scored marks above 60% in general category, 6% in STs and 2% in SCs categories.
e. Status of Teachers Training: From 2009-10 to 2014-15, training of 33,78,089 teachers was approved, out of which training has been imparted to only 25.89% teachers (8,74,368).The top 5 States/UTs where performance of training is satisfactory are Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Manipur, Maharashtra and Daman & Diu. States/UTs which need attention are Bihar, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Lakshadweep and Sikkim. In addition, orientation to Head Masters i.e. In-service training of HMs in teaching, Management Training to Headmasters and Leadership Training to HM through NUEPA have risen over the years.
Table 5 Year Headmasters’ In-service
Training Management Training
to Headmasters Leadership Training to HM Through NUEPA
Approved Training Completed
Approved Training Completed
Approved Training Completed
2009-10 300 1301 0 0 0 0
2010-11 16361 25942 0 0 0 0 2011-12 60826 41082 7329 3653 0 0 2012-13 50402 5121 1425 596 0 0 2013-14 62589 2342 5043 1000 11093 0
2.2 Planning Approach and Methodology
Planning for quality has several dimensions. RMSA provides the opportunity to the states to think through the issues of quality and develop plans which are easily doable and have
73.62
76.86
75.39
79.67 79.58
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maximum impact. For example, the state may plan for teacher professional development in subject area specialization (especially Science, Mathematics and English) not only through the RMSA in-service training norms but also other central government sponsored institutions such as College of Teacher Education, SCERT, Regional Institutes of Education etc. Similarly, though an assessment of the existing learning level of students is important; the availability of teachers, their training, relevance of curriculum, vocational training are some of the important dimension which need an integrated planning.
a. State needs to clearly elucidate that it will contribute to improve the quality of learning. It should be explicitly based on “Identification of Learning Gaps (ILGs)” of a particular subject/s viz. mathematics/science/English, etc.
b. Assessment of schools based on ‘Cycle of Accountability’ method is one of the strategies to ensure quality. Schools could be assessing in terms of subject-wise, grade-wise learning levels in the state. The assessment result would help to identify the gap of a particular subject or grade in the district. As for example in state-X, assessment of schools based on ‘Cycle of Accountability’ method could be in the following manner:
State-X
District-A Poor in Math
District-D Poor in Social Studies
District-B Poor in Science
District-C Poor in English
c. On the basis of above method quality could be ensure within the stipulated timeline.
State/UT needs to address that why is the situation of learning enhancement evolved in the state. What are the factors that lead to such a condition? Has the state explored the availability of subject teachers and effectiveness of teaching-learning process?
There could be a detailed analysis of the grade VIII in every state and disseminate the result to schools so that the secondary readiness to learning programmes’ could be finalised timely. Accordingly ‘learning enhancement’ strategies could be formulated
As per ‘school readiness approach’, quality is defined by several characteristics linked with ready schools, including sufficient time devoted to learning in the classroom, adequate supply of learning materials such as books and teaching aids, and effective teaching, pedagogic practices and teachers’ competence.
Methodology should develop for the implementation of project “Enhancement of Learning Level (ELL)”.
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Teacher should design individualized educational programmes to help pupils to consolidate their basic knowledge in different subjects, master the learning methods, strengthen their confidence and enhance the effectiveness of learning.
d. Further, conducting a baseline of learning levels in Std. IX and X is important to decide for appropriate remedial interventions. Such a baseline can help identify areas of weakness and gaps, which may need additional programs such as ‘summer camps’ or additional training of teachers. Such a baseline can also capture the aspiration levels of the children who are near adults and may require strategies for guidance and counselling. Baseline of the available infrastructure can also help plan for vocational facilities and equipments.
e. Assessment of the need of the learners and mapping it with the availability of teachers would subsequently require developing a detailed training calendar in association with training institutions such as SCERTs or CTEs for pre-service as well as in-service training. Using the skill-gap analysis conducted by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), each school may identify two vocational trades keeping in mind the needs of the disadvantaged students. The state may prioritise the implementation keeping in consideration the Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), tribal areas etc. Vocational education would continue to be an essential component in education planning and therefore proper infrastructure linkages with existing ITIs and polytechnics as well as technical knowledge sharing needs to be planned in all secondary education plans.
f. In addition, mobilising, advocating and disseminating quality related issues and especially vocational education with community through SMDCs, school principals, teachers and other government departments is to be planned carefully
2.3 Implementation strategy
The strategies for implementation of quality and processes for planning are closely intertwined and asynchronous. While the planning process would indicate ‘what needs to be done’, the implementation strategy would guide ‘how it needs to be done’. For example, while the baseline of learning level may indicate the areas and subjects for strengthening teaching and learning, the strategies would outline the types and methods of training, classroom pedagogy and methods of assessment. Below are mentioned strategies with respect to teachers, special programs, curriculum reforms and other areas which are not stand alone strategies but have to be planned in an integrated way so as to have maximum impact on quality of secondary education.
A. Provisioning of teachers: RMSA provides flexibility to the states and UTs to provide headmasters, subject teachers to upgraded government schools and additional teachers to existing secondary schools. However, an integrated approach is required while planning for teachers under various schemes such as IEDSS, ICT at schools or Vocational Education. http://rmsaindia.org/images/Quality_Guidelines_Dec2014.pdf
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B. Training of teachers
a. Training of teachers: State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Secondary School Education Board (SSEB), Department of Education in the States/UTs should be closely involved in the planning and implementation of teachers training. Under the Revised Teacher Education Scheme ( http://mhrd.gov.in/teacher-education-overview ), the role of SCERT, IASE, CTEs, have been enhanced to provide teacher training support to the secondary education. While an integrated approach to both pre-service and in-service training is critical, various other components such as development of training content, identification of resource persons and evaluation of training has to be carefully thought through
b. Amendment of the Teacher Training norms under RMSA – Consequent to the subsuming of the stand alone Centrally Sponsored Schemes of ICT in Schools Scheme, Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS) and Scheme for Vocationalization of Education under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan in 2013, the teacher training norms under different schemes are proposed to be harmonised as follows:
Table 6: In-service Teacher Training Existing Revision
Component Norms
Remarks
No. of Days and Financial Provision
Remarks
RMSA @ Rs. 300/day/teacher for 5 days
All teachers/ Principals/ Vice Principals every year Govt and Govt. Aided Schools, Key Resource Persons (KRPs) & Master Resource Persons (MRPs)
RMSA – 10 days (which will include ICT training and IEDSS training) @ Rs 300
Training on subject matters- hard spots, etc; Classroom practices and techniques, classroom management, alternative/ activity based teaching, CCE, guidance
ICT @ Rs. 400/day/teacher for 5 days)
Refresher training in use of ICT in teaching for all teachers
Important considerations for provisioning of teachers:
The States/UTs should maintain unified teaching cadres and separate "RMSA cadre" should be avoided since the teachers are part of the teaching cadres of the state and UTs;
States/UTs need to ensure to fill the vacant teaching posts and target not to exceed the vacancy more than 10% of the sanctioned posts; special attention is required towards the provisioning of subject-wise teachers as it is critical at the secondary education stage;
States/UTs should adhere to the qualification norms laid down by National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) available at http://www.ncte-india.org
Recruitment of untrained teachers is to be avoided. States/UTs which already have a cadre of untrained teachers, should make immediate provision for completing their training on priority basis;
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Existing Revision Component Norms
Remarks
No. of Days and Financial Provision
Remarks
IEDSS -1) Training of Special Teachers/ Resource teachers - 2) Training of General Teachers from 2- 5 days (all teachers) 3) Orientation of Educational Administrators including Principals/ Head Masters, parents, (up to 5 days)
Special Teachers and Resource teachers – With RCI In association with NCERT/SCERT/NIOS/State Open Schools/RCI As per State norms
per day per teacher
&counselling; adolescent education issues, gender sensitization, inclusive practices for CWSN children; and other category children, leadership training, community participation, Proposed to keep as it exists - VE training to upgrading their skill and knowledge
VE @ Rs 600 day/teacher for 5 days
For teachers teaching vocational subjects/ trades in government and government aided schools
Table 7: One time / Induction Training to new teachers Existing Revision
Component Norm Remarks Norms Remarks
RMSA @Rs. 300/day/teacher for 10 days
One time Training for new teachers
10 day residential induction training @ Rs 300 per day per teacher
All newly appointed teachers
ICT @ Rs. 400/ per teacher for 10 days
One time induction training in ICT
Basic Level residential Training course of 7 days by CIET or CIET approved Module. Funds can be released to CIET/ States @ Rs 300 per teacher per day
Only those teachers who are at 0 Level in ICT
VE @ Rs. 550 / per teacher for 20 days
Vocational Education.
Funds will be released to PSSCIVE, which develops the training modules/content for the training. Training
Teachers teaching vocational subjects-trades
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Existing Revision
Component Norm Remarks Norms Remarks
is conducted by different agencies at the state level in consultation with State/UT Directorate of Vocational Education and State Board of
C. School Leadership: Leadership training to headmasters and principals is critical to ensuring quality learning in schools. It is important for the headmaster to understand the strength and weakness of the school and develop quality plans to monitor curriculum, lesson plans, conduct competency based assessments, track and analyse learner’s performance, attendance and retention rates. As a school leader, the headmaster has to instill motivation among teachers and staff towards punctuality and attendance. And as an effective manager, the school leader has to ensure availability of resources in the school and ensure effective delegation. RMSA is committed to provide
Important considerations regarding training of teachers:
NCERT developed training package in generic concern, mathematics, science, social studies and English can be used by the States/UTs and can also be customised accordingly;
States/UTs may use the strategies of National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT) for teacher training available at http://www.nmeict.ac.in http://www.co-learn.in and http://aview.in
Special emphasis on training for handling children with special needs (CWSN) through Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) and other specialised institutes such as National Institute of Occupational Health(NIOH), National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped (NIMH), National Institute for the Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped (AYJNIHH), National Institute for empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD) and All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH);
States/UTs may prepare a panel of Master Resource Persons (MRPs) of the respective subject and the list of MRPs must be uploaded in the website. In addition, the State/UTs, may also identify Key Resource Persons (KRPs) and articulate the selection process of the MRPs and KRPs;
In addition a cadre of experienced teachers, principals or specialists should be identified as ‘coaches’ to observe classroom practices as follow-up of teacher training;
Pre and post “Evaluation Tools” of teacher training should be developed by States/UTs;
States/UTs are encouraged under RMSA to access leadership and professional development programs for school headmasters and other functionaries. The National Centre for School Leadership under NUEPA is one such program. More details at http://www.nuepa.org/ncsl.html
MHRD would be extending support to States/UTs for institutionalisation of school standard and evaluation at the State level. NUEPA is engaged in development of National Framework on School Standard and Evaluation;
NCERT is in the process of taking up National Assessment survey to study the baseline for Class-X. The purpose of NAS is to derive policy directions with a view to keep a tab on general health on school education. The NAS will help in identifying the achievement levels of students of Class X in Modern Indian Language (MIL), English, Mathematics, Science and Social Science;
24
capacity development and leadership training to principals/ headmasters under RMSA schools through the Leadership Development Program by NUEPA. The State/UTs will plan prior confirmation from NUEPA. The State/UTs must ensure in the plan about the possible changes in overall school administration, teacher management and learning achievement of students. Details are available at http://www.nuepa.org details at http://www.nuepa.org/ncsl.html
D. School Readiness: The challenges with the qualitative improvement of secondary education are poor infrastructure, first generation learners, low learning levels, etc. At the same time, the interventions proposed by the State/UTs s are lack of ‘need assessment’ and without specification of the outcomes. There is also lack of clear objective, rationale, strategy, expected outcome and evaluation procedure. To make cost effective implementation of integrated RMSA programme, “School Readiness” approach could be more effective Secondary School Readiness Programme envisages the implementation of a ‘differential classroom’ with children working at different levels and paces. It takes into account levels of literacy, learning, and language proficiency and combines multidisciplinary areas including skill development. Details can be seen at http://www.unicef.org/education/files/Chil2Child_ConceptualFramework_FINAL%281%29.pdf and www.floridaearlylearning.com
E. Learning Assessment: National Achievement Survey (NAS) provides information on the ‘spread’ of learning performance rather than ‘mean average’ scores. States/UTs may use the method of NAS to conduct State/UTs level survey. Only the “State/UTs Level Achievement Surveys” will be accepted for further continuity of any quality
Resources which could be referred to develop school readiness and improve quality:
Project Based Learning (PBL) of Karnataka http://karnatakaeducation.org.in
Tamil Nadu Rural Talent Scheme http://rmsatn.com/index.html , training on heritage education, craft mapping;
Uttrakhand-Learning Level Assessment at Secondary School (http://rmsa.uk.gov.in)
Skill development in Haryana with special focus on girls and children with special needs;
“Enhancement of Learning Level (ELL)” through identification of learning gaps, followed by remedial assistance in Mathematics, Science and English for Class IX students. Currently implemented in Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh;
National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) offers resources for all school subjects and grades in multiple languages. It brings together digital resources such as educational videos, audio, images, documents and interactive modules. Details are available at http://nroer.gov.in/home/
Credit Framework for skills and education under National Skills Qualifications Framework named SAMVAY (Skill Assessment Matrix for Vocational Advancement of Youth) has been recently developed and launched. Details available at www.mhrd.gov.in
Implementation of Bachelor of Vocation (B.Voc) has been approved by UGC for 127 Universities and Colleges and setting up of Community Colleges providing diploma courses in various sectors has been approved for 150 institutions across the country. Vertical mobility of students in the vocational stream can also be accordingly planned. More details at www.ugc.ac.in
Developing courses for teachers through Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Ramanujan Institute for Advance Study in Mathematics, Chennai;
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intervention under RMSA. Some of the key aspect of the State/UTs Level Assessment Surveys are as follows –
States/UTs should assess the students’ abilities in languages, mathematics, science, etc.;
The focus of the assessment should be class wise and subject wise; For learning assessment the State/UTs may use international technique, “Item
Response Theory (IRT)”, which measures the true ability of students to respond correctly to different levels of difficulty in tests;
State/UTs should compare the scores over time and increases the efficiency, accuracy and usefulness of results;
NCERT is in the process of development of “Quality Evaluation Tool” and the State/UTs may take help from the tool.
Details of National Assessment Survey conducted by NCERT are available at http://www.ncert.nic.in/departments/nie/esd/pdf/NAS%20Class%20VIII.pdf
F. Inclusive Education
a. Readiness to Girls’ Education: A Way of Social Transformation: Major concern areas related with girl students are high dropout and low retention. Girl students of the marginalized social groups and girls with disability require special thrust. States/UTs need to conduct ‘gap analysis’ to improve the quality of education among the girl students.
At school level needs to identify the issues and bring the same in the “School Development Plan” with curative measures. The role of SMDC will be defined to bring quality improvement and motivation to parents. The analysis of the “School Development Plan” would bring in the district and state plan
Concern of girl students in sports and vocational education would be integrated under quality interventions.
b. As NCF 2005 has envisaged “children with disability” often confront insensitive environments where their needs are completely ignored. To create an enabling environment not only through ramps but accessible classroom, hostels, laboratories, playgrounds and toilets are more important. States/UTs would prepare plan for CWSN students in a package mode under integrated RMSA to articulate the learning goals that are being targeted and the strategies (methods, materials, models and measurement) that will be used to reach those goals.
c. The CWSN related interventions need to be planned as part of whole school approach be it physical barriers being removed or providing for aids and appliances or resource support to the general teachers in the class. Detailed guidelines on inclusion aspect are available at http://rmsaindia.org/images/IEDSS_Guidelines.pdf
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G. ICT focussed interventions
a. The current ICT in school scheme underwent revision in 2010, and later subsumed under RMSA. In addition, a National ICT Policy in School Education was brought out in 2012 and a wider range of cost effective and energy efficient hardware options were made available. Further, a National ICT curriculum for teachers as well as students has also been developed.
http://ictschools.gov.in/Policy/national-policy-ict-school-education-2012
b. A National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) with participation of all States has been developed with an aim to map teachers and students, schools and institutions into a nation-wide peer network offers digital and digitisable resources (audio, video, interactives, images, documents) in different languages together with online activities to service the needs of all stakeholders, especially students and teachers. www.nroer.in
c. Under the IC in Schools Component of the RMSA, it is expected that all States/UTs would carry out large scale digitization of existing learning resources, translation and development of new learning resources through the NROER Core Teams in States/UTs. It is also envisioned; that all schools should eventually become smart, connected schools, through a common resource internet based platform and fully utilize ICT for enhancing efficiency and improving quality of education.
d. Teacher Enablement under the National ICT Policy in School Education
The ICT in School Education Policy prescribes ICT literacy to be implemented in all Secondary Schools in the country (government and private) within the XII Plan period which will be extended to the Upper Primary Schools by the end of XII Plan, based on resource availability and capacity of the system.
ICT Elective courses at the Higher Secondary Level, for which the courses should be modular in design to enable students to select appropriate software applications based on current needs of higher education and job prospects and courses should be revised frequently to keep pace with emerging trends in ICT.
For the above, an ICT teacher will be needed in Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools. This teacher will be part of the 5 + 1 teacher provision of RMSA Funds for meeting the provision of teachers will be part of the RMSA recurring (teacher) provision.
All teachers, from teachers teaching Class 6–12, will be enabled and trained to be able to use ICT for teaching and learning. This would be part of the RMSA teacher training plan for ICT enablement, which will be based on the present level of ICT knowledge/skills of the teacher. Teacher training plan in ICT enablement will be harmonized with the CIET’s(NCERT) ICT curriculum for teachers, starting with Level -0 for those teachers who do not have basic level knowledge and skills in ICT.
27
States/ UTs would need to prepare ICT Enablement/ ICT Teacher training plan, after a survey of teachers’ present skills. The ICT enablement of teachers should cover all teachers and should be completed within a planned time period and aligned with the teacher training plan under AWPB of RMSA/SSA. Teachers who are already acquainted with basic computer literacy should also be encouraged to take the ICT online course from CIET and States/UTs along with CIET should ensure mechanism and calendar for the same. The training plan should go hand in hand with the provision for teacher training under RMSA/SSA.
Subset of ICT curriculum proposed as initial training for all teachers in a school; to be
treated as eligibility for ICT scheme implementation.
e. While continuing to cater to all government and government aided schools from Class IX to Class XII, and to harmonize with the RMSA funding norms, the components for ICT in Schools under RMSA will now be seen as Non Recurring Components for which a one time approval will be made, and a Recurring Component ,for which approvals will be made under the RMSA recurring provisions. The funding provision will be 75:25 as Central and State share; - except NE States and Sikkim, for which the Central and State share would be 90:10.
f. The Non Recurring Components will be defined as ICT infrastructure for Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools which will
aim at maximising the number of access points; provide for e-classroom (s) for subject teaching;( thus moving away from the desktop and laptop model), server, UPS, etc to an arrangement which will best suit the school, students and teacher needs;
prescribe flexibility in definition of access points (type and number) to enable cost and energy efficient solutions; not to be restricted to PC only;
BOOT model to be restricted to provision of access points – quality of access to be defined;
BOOT to be replaced by BOO; maintenance of access point with appropriate refresh of hardware.
provide range of PPP models; participation of established agencies in education to be explored;
provide ICT kit (Operating System, educational software and content for ICT course);
ensure ICT curriculum for students to form the basis for the ICT classes; and ensure ICT preparedness of all teachers.
g. The recurring component of ICT in School may include:
maintenance and upkeep of ICT infrastructure-build in and define refresh/maintenance cycles through the period of BOO;
stationery such as cartridges, paper, phone internet bill, electricity bill, etc., through enhancement of School Grant for those schools which are ICT enabled;
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e-content , softwares, etc.;
H. Vocational Education and Skill Development: The aim of introducing vocational education at secondary level and higher Secondary level is to enhance the employability of youth through demand driven competency based, modular vocational courses and at the same time reduce the dropout rate at the Secondary level. The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Vocationalisation of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education approved by the Government in September, 2011has been recently revised on 12 February 2014 with a view to align it with the National Skill Qualification Frame work (available on www.skilldevelopment.gov.in ) The revised scheme while introducing vocational education at the secondary level, seeks to integrate vocational education with general education and provide horizontal and vertical mobility to the students. It envisages close partnership with the industry in the design, development, delivery, assessment and certification of skills content. The Revised Scheme Guidelines of the scheme are available on the websites: http://rmsaindia.org/en/ and www.mhrd.gov.in under the section of Vocational Education.
I. Other interventions – sports, libraries
a. Readiness to Spirit of Teamwork and Leadership: Sports and Games: Sports activities are essential for physical, skill, aesthetics, creativity and psycho-social development. There is a need to cultivate recreational interests and promote the spirit of teamwork, sportsmanship and respect for others; leadership and obedience to rules. Planning and implementation need to take care:
State should ensure the availability of sports instructors and equipment in every school;
Emphasis on the inclusion of sports and games from the local area; and inclusive approach so that students of all communities, girls and CWSN students could participate equally;
State should ensure participation of SMDC members to monitor the performance of sports activities; district education officers and district RMSA coordinators will inspect consistently;
Inclusion of international and national best practices in sports activities; and
The state will be prepared holistic need based plan on sports in a package mode.
b. Readiness to Knowledge Centre: Quality based information (books and periodicals)
and convenient access to library in view of inclusive education could promote reading habits. States/UTs may initiate the following strategies to meet out the preceding needs of students.
Library should be DIGITAL and capable to provide online resources;
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Library may approach National Informatics Centre for free training and free library software Like “GRANTHALAYA”; and
School library must develop in its own network for resource sharing with the help of digital library technologies like DRUPAL, MENDLEY, ZOTERO DSPACE, EPRINTS GSDL(greenstone digital library software ), CHATBOT ,WORDPRESS.
J. Innovation: The RMSA framework provides opportunities to the States/UTs to creatively develop initiatives which have a strong impact on the outcomes of quality learning.(refer innovation guidelines at http://rmsaindia.org/images/INNOVATONS_GUIDELINES.pdf While RMSA encourages ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking, , the States/UTs are encouraged to pilot such initiatives through State/UTs funds or through NGOs or through CSR activities. RMSA does not restrict any novel idea to be tried out which could be scaled-up later.
K. Quality Assurance: The States/UTs needs to ensure that the ‘State Curriculum Framework (SCF)’ has either been revised or formulated based on NCF-2005 ( http://www.ncert.nic.in/rightside/links/pdf/framework/english/nf2005.pdf ) and new syllabi and textbooks are accordingly prepared. The specific focus on curriculum study should be in the perspective of quality improvement at secondary education under RMSA.
NCERT consistently analyses the State/UTs curriculum, syllabus and textbooks; and support the States/UTs curriculum developers during curriculum analysis. State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Secondary School Education Board (SSEB) and Education Department in many State/UTs have been working independently but not integrated manner.
State/UTs needs to confirm about the synergetic involvement of SCERT, SSEB and Education Department of the State/UTs government in: curriculum development/revision, preparation of syllabi, textbooks and teaching-learning materials; assessment; and setting of question papers, quality improvement in teaching-learning process, etc.
2.4 Monitoring, evaluation and research
a. Monitoring for quality can be understood in terms of monitoring of processes such as number of vacancies filled, number of teachers trained, quality infrastructure such as libraries, computers, sports made functional and so on. Monitoring of outcomes can be understood in terms of reduction of absenteeism, reduction in dropout rates, increase in pass-out rates, and rise in the level of achievement among students. Some of the monitoring parameters on processes could be –
Number of training sessions given, number of teacher who attended, pre and post test conducted etc.
Identification and selection of master trainers, trainer to teacher ratio, schedule of training etc.
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Development of training and teaching modules, distribution schedule, etc.
Similarly, monitoring parameters on outcomes could be related to students such as learning levels, dropout rates, absenteeism etc. and also teachers such as teacher absenteeism, engagement with students, creating student friendly environment and so on.
b. Developing a baseline audit to capture:
needs and aspirations of targeted teachers; and immediate school community (parents, guardians and children);
capacity development needs of possible teachers based on Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) activity for all teachers, to measure levels of competence;
overview of classroom practices; and material realities in which secondary education program is getting delivered such as
regulatory and physical capacity constraints, willingness and motivation of the implementing cadres etc.
c. Mapping the baseline audit with that of UDISE information and developing a State/UTs level dashboard of information to assess the progress of program implementation and taking corrective action. Ideally, the monitoring dashboard should be an online tool and should be closely aligned to AWPB of RMSA (Refer to MI guidelines and reports at http://mhrd.gov.in/rmsa_monitoring )
0.1 Indicative Dashboard
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Chapter-3 Governance
3.1 Financial Management and Procurement
Regulations for the financial management of RMSA including the procurement of goods and services may be found in the Financial Management and Procurement Manual available on the RMSA website ( http://rmsaindia.org/images/FMP_Manual.pdf ). Some key points for State/UTs to note and some changes in procedures are listed below:
A. Flow of funds: Since 2014-15 funds from Government of India under the integrated RMSA to the State/UTs Implementation Society are being routed through State/UTs Government (treasury). The State/UTs Government has to release the central Share to SIS immediately on receipt and its commensurate State/UTs share to the SIS within one month of receiving the Central Share. For all the components of RMSA (RMSA, ICT, IEDSS, GH and VE), funds are released in an integrated mode. Some key points to ensure timely flow of funds are mentioned below: On receipt of Central share, the funds from treasury should be released immediately
to the SIS preferably along with the commensurate State/UTs’ share. However in the event of any delay expected in release of State/UTs’ share, the Central share should be released to SIS immediately;
To avoid delay in release of Central share from treasury to SIS, it has to be ensured that sufficient budget provision is made in the State/UTs budget for the Central share along with the State/UTs share provision;
The fund received from GoI in State/UTs treasury should be released as full amount to the SIS and avoid releasing it in parts;
State/UTs should inform the MHRD about the release of State/UTs share immediately on receipt of State/UTs share in SIS account or at least as part of online QPR.
a. The conditions for the release of funds are as follows:
Table 8 Condition for release of 1st instalment Condition for release of subsequent
instalments ● Provision for sufficient State/UTs
share in State/UTs budget ● Release of commensurate State/UTs
Share against the total Central funds released so far. This must be accompanied with a copy of the order sanctioning the State/UTs Share;
● Submission of QPR for preceding
● Submission of Utilization Certificate along with the latest QPR showing utilisation of at-least 50 per cent of funds available at the time of submission of the proposal for the next instalment.
● Release of commensurate State/UTs Share against the total Central funds released so far. This must be accompanied with a
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financial year. ● Any other condition indicated from
time to time.
copy of the order sanctioning the State/UTs Share;
● Submission of QPR up to last quarter ● Any other condition indicated from time
to time.
b. The activities approved under recurring head are lapsable after 31st March of the year for which it has been approved. Hence in no case should expenditure be incurred against the approval of previous years. The QPR of previous month should be made available to MHRD by 10th of every month. States/ UTs should adopt the online monitoring system developed by MHRD http://rmsaindia.org/en/prog-management.html. (detailed handbook available on website http://rmsaindia.org/images/Project_Monitoring_System.pdf )
B. Procurement & Disbursement: The fundamental rule of any public buying is to provide the Works/ Goods/ services of the specified quality, at the most competitive prices, in a fair, just and transparent manner. To achieve this end, it is essential to have a uniform and well documented policy guidelines in integrated RMSA scheme which shall be based on latest provisions of GFR (at present GFR- 2005) and as per latest CVC guidelines. The provision of GFR( at present GFR-2005) and CVC guidelines can be referred to at
http://finmin.nic.in/the_ministry/dept_expenditure/GFRS/GFR2005.pdf &
http://cvc.nic.in/man04.pdf .
C. Procurement Plan: After the AWP&B of the State/UTs is approved every State/UTs has to prepare a Procurement plan and upload it on their website under intimation to MHRD/ TSG. The formats are available at http://rmsaindia.org/images/Financial_Management_guidelines.pdf
3.2 Structures for implementation –
3.2.1 State Implementation Societies (SISs)
RMSA has to be implemented through a State Mission Authority, a Governing Council, an Executive Committee and a Technical Support Group (TSG) at the State/UTs level. Section 8.2 Framework for RMSA, on website http://rmsaindia.org/images/files/Policy-and-regulations/Framework_Final_RMSA_3.pdf sets out the management structure at state and union territory level.
3.2.2 School Management Development Committees (SMDCs)
The integrated scheme of RMSA assigns due importance to decentralisation of district plan right from the school level with the active involvement of community members, teachers, local bodies as well as the involvement of non-governmental organisations. Involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Municipal Bodies, teachers, parents and other stakeholders in the management of secondary education, can be ensured through representation in bodies like School Management and Development
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Committees (SMDCs) and Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs).The RMSA framework provides that every Secondary/ Senior Secondary school will constitute SMDC at school level. As per framework of RMSA, SMDC should include representatives of local authority, academicians, subject experts and parents/ guardians of students admitted in respective schools. Accordingly, SMDC should be constituted in all government & Govt. Aided secondary and Senior Secondary schools. Further details can be found at http://rmsaindia.org/images/Framework_Final_RMSA.pdf and
http://rmsaindia.org/images/Community_Participation_Mobilisation_guidelines.pdf
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List of National policies and partner institutions A. National Policies:
The Right of children to free and compulsory Education (RTE). http://mhrd.gov.in/rte
National Policy of Education, 1986, NPE: http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/document-reports/NPE-1968.pdf Programme of Action, 1992: http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/document-reports/POA_1992.pdf
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 : http://www.ncert.nic.in/rightside/links/pdf/framework/english/nf2005.pdf
ICT Policy in Secondary Education: http://ictschools.gov.in/Policy/national-policy-ict-school-education-2012
Inclusive Education agreements and Acts
International Agreements: The Salamanca statement, Biwako Millenium Framework for action (2002) and United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) (2006)
Persons with Disabilities Act,(Equal Opportunities, Full Participation, and Protection of Rights)(1995)-
http://www.wbhealth.gov.in/mental/Acts_Rules/Person_Disabilities.pdf
National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities(1999)
http://www.socialjustice.nic.in/pdf/ntact1999.pdf Rehabilitation Council of India Act (RCI) (1992) http://www.rehabcouncil.nic.in/writereaddata/RCI_Amendments_ACT.pdf
B. RMSA specific Manuals and guidelines: http://rmsaindia.org/images/files/Policy-and-regulations/Framework_Final_RMSA_3.pdf
Secondary Education - Planning and Appraisal Manual http://rmsaindia.org/images/Planning_and_Appraisal_Manual_SE.pdf
Promoting Innovation under RMSA- Guidelines:
http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/upload_document/RMSA_INNOVATONS_GUIDELINES.pdf
Manual on Financial Management and Procurement for RMSA: http://rmsaindia.org/images/FMP_Manual.pdf
Environment Management Framework: http://rmsaindia.org/images/Environment_Management_Framework.pdf
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Operational Guidelines of NSQF: http://rmsaindia.org/images/Guidelines_NVEQF.pdf
C. National Institutions:
Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) www.mhrd.gov.in. Technical Support Group which has been set up within the overall framework of RMSA facilitates the Secondary Bureau of MHRD in planning, monitoring, management and evaluation of the scheme.
National Council of Education, Research and Training (NCERT): http://www.ncert.nic.in
Central Institute of Education and Technology (CIET http://www.ciet.nic.in/
The Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE):http://www.psscive.nic.in/
National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE): http://www.ncte-india.org/
National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA): www.nuepa.org
National Institute of Open schooling (NIOS): http://www.nios.ac.in/
National Skill Development Agency:. http://www.skilldevelopment.gov.in/