FIELD STUDIES IN EDUCATION March 2017

TEACHER ABSENTEEISM STUDYResearch Group | Azim Premji Foundation

TEACHER ABSENTEEISM STUDYResearch Group | Azim Premji Foundation

These papers present findings from Azim Premji Foundation's field engagements in trying to improve the quality and equity of school education in India. Our aim is to disseminate our studies to practitioners, academics and policy makers who wish to understand some of the key issues facing school education as observed by educators in the field. The findings of the paper are those of the Research Group and may not reflect the view of the Azim Premji Foundation including Azim Premji University.

Contact : field.research@azimpremjifoundation.org

Executive Summary

In therecentyears,highratesof teacherabsenteeism ingovernmentelementaryschoolshave

occupiedbothresearchersandpolicymakersasanissueofdeepconcern.Understandably,policy

effortshavebeenorientedtowardsaddressingthisissuebutprimarilywithsolutionsthatinvoke

greater controlover teachers. In thevery recentpast, forexample, in itseconomic survey, the

government has suggested biometric systems as a means of curbing teacher absenteeism

(GovernmentofIndia2017).

Whilethereareindeedreasonsthatkeepgovernmentschoolteachersawayfromclass,thesehave

lesstodowithanydelinquencyonthepartofteachersandmoretodowithsystemicissuesthat

oftenrequirethemtoundertakeotheractivities.Studiesactuallynotethis,andrankdelinquency,

whichcanbedefinedasabsencewithoutreason,isoftenseentobemuchlower,intherangeof

4–5%(cf.Muralidharanetal.2016).

Inthisstudy,weexamineasampleof619schoolsand2861teachersacrosssixstatestoanalyse

moreclosely the issueof teacherabsenteeism.Theseschoolsare in thecatchmentareaof the

regionsinwhichtheAzimPremjiFoundationworks.Weundertooktostudytheseschoolstoobtain

bothanumericalsenseoftheissuebutalsotospendtimewiththeteachersandtoassesshowand

why teachers actually maintain attendance and teaching standards in circumstances where

absenteeismanddelinquencymaybeexpected.

Thefindingsofthestudyshowthatteacherabsenteeism,definedas‘absencewithoutreason’,is

2.5%.Although our sample is not statistically representative of thewhole of the country, this

number is roughly in thesameorderofmagnitudeas inotherstudies.Wealsoexaminesome

potential correlates of overall absence from classroom and find that there are few obvious

systematicdifferencesattributabletothestandardarguments.

Wethenturntosomeethnographiccasestudies.Weprovidevignettesofteacherswho,despite

circumstancesthatmightbetrying,standcountertothewidelyreceivedstereotypeofdisengaged

andfrequentlyabsentteachers.Weconcludebynotingthattargetingandblamingteachersfor

mattersthatarebeyondtheircontroloramanifestationofsystemicdesignissuesislikelytobe

counterproductiveandtoadverselyaffectthegovernmentschoolsystem.

TEACHER ABSENTEEISM STUDYResearch Group | Azim Premji Foundation

1

TEACHER ABSENTEEISM STUDYResearch Group | Azim Premji Foundation

These papers present findings from Azim Premji Foundation's field engagements in trying to improve the quality and equity of school education in India. Our aim is to disseminate our studies to practitioners, academics and policy makers who wish to understand some of the key issues facing school education as observed by educators in the field. The findings of the paper are those of the Research Group and may not reflect the view of the Azim Premji Foundation including Azim Premji University.

Contact : field.research@azimpremjifoundation.org

Executive Summary

In therecentyears,highratesof teacherabsenteeism ingovernmentelementaryschoolshave

occupiedbothresearchersandpolicymakersasanissueofdeepconcern.Understandably,policy

effortshavebeenorientedtowardsaddressingthisissuebutprimarilywithsolutionsthatinvoke

greater controlover teachers. In thevery recentpast, forexample, in itseconomic survey, the

government has suggested biometric systems as a means of curbing teacher absenteeism

(GovernmentofIndia2017).

Whilethereareindeedreasonsthatkeepgovernmentschoolteachersawayfromclass,thesehave

lesstodowithanydelinquencyonthepartofteachersandmoretodowithsystemicissuesthat

oftenrequirethemtoundertakeotheractivities.Studiesactuallynotethis,andrankdelinquency,

whichcanbedefinedasabsencewithoutreason,isoftenseentobemuchlower,intherangeof

4–5%(cf.Muralidharanetal.2016).

Inthisstudy,weexamineasampleof619schoolsand2861teachersacrosssixstatestoanalyse

moreclosely the issueof teacherabsenteeism.Theseschoolsare in thecatchmentareaof the

regionsinwhichtheAzimPremjiFoundationworks.Weundertooktostudytheseschoolstoobtain

bothanumericalsenseoftheissuebutalsotospendtimewiththeteachersandtoassesshowand

why teachers actually maintain attendance and teaching standards in circumstances where

absenteeismanddelinquencymaybeexpected.

Thefindingsofthestudyshowthatteacherabsenteeism,definedas‘absencewithoutreason’,is

2.5%.Although our sample is not statistically representative of thewhole of the country, this

number is roughly in thesameorderofmagnitudeas inotherstudies.Wealsoexaminesome

potential correlates of overall absence from classroom and find that there are few obvious

systematicdifferencesattributabletothestandardarguments.

Wethenturntosomeethnographiccasestudies.Weprovidevignettesofteacherswho,despite

circumstancesthatmightbetrying,standcountertothewidelyreceivedstereotypeofdisengaged

andfrequentlyabsentteachers.Weconcludebynotingthattargetingandblamingteachersfor

mattersthatarebeyondtheircontroloramanifestationofsystemicdesignissuesislikelytobe

counterproductiveandtoadverselyaffectthegovernmentschoolsystem.

TEACHER ABSENTEEISM STUDYResearch Group | Azim Premji Foundation

1

2

1. Introduction

1.1 Background and Rationale

TeacherabsenteeismhasgeneratedalotofattentionasamatterofseriousconcernintheIndian

government elementary school system in the previous 10 years or so. The existing narrative

suggeststhattherearehighratesofteacherabsenteeismingovernmentschoolsandthatthisisone

ofthekeyelementsintheinfirmitiesofthegovernmentschoolsystem.

Sinceabout2005,anumberofstudieshavefocusedontheissueofteacherabsenteeisminIndia

(Kremeretal.2005;Governmentof India2009;Bhattacharjeaetal.2011;Muralidharanetal.

2016).Anumberofthesestudieshavehighlightedthehighratesofteacherabsenteeismandhave

focusedon thepoint that aroundoneout of four teachers are absent on any givenday in the

governmentschoolsystem.Thisstatistichasbecomeafocalpointinpolicydiscussionsonteacher

accountabilityinthegovernmentschoolsystem.

TheAzimPremjiFoundation'sworkwiththeschooleducationsystemovernearlytwodecadeshas

suggestedthatteacherabsenteeismisnotascentralaconcernasthedominantnarrativesuggests.

Inordertobetterunderstandteacherabsenteeism,weundertookafield-levelstudycoveringsome

areasinwhichtheFoundationhasanactivefieldpresence.Thepurposewastoidentifytheextentto

whichandthereasonswhyteachersare‘notpresent’inschools.Inbothourstudyandotherstudies,

teacherabsenteeism,whichisunderstoodasabsencewithoutreasonismuchlowerthanoverall

teacher absence. Typically, teacher absenteeism is in the range of 2–5%,whereas the overall

teacherabsenceisintherangeof20%.Manystudiesdonotpayadequateattentiontothedifferent

reasonsthatcompriseteachers’absenceinschools;reasons,giventherealitiesofthegovernment

school system, range from official duties (academic and administrative) and official other

departmentalworktolegitimateleavesthatteachersareentitledtoundertheirserviceconditions.

Instead,teacherabsence,atleastinthepopularnarrative,isequatedwithteacherabsenteeism.

Equally,teacherabsenteeismisoftenseenasthesinglemostcriticalissue,astancethatignores

manyoftheotherurgentareasofconcerninschoolreform.Forexample,theneedforsystemic

effortstorecruitanddeputeanadequatenumberoftrainedteachersingovernmentschools,the

need to avoidburdening teacherswithnon-academicwork, and theneed to viewmulti-grade

multilevel (MGML) pedagogies as sub-optimal solutions are seldom factored into the ‘teacher

accountability’discourse.Rather,theteachers,bothasindividualsandasagroup,areseentobear

theresponsibilityofalltheshortcomingsofthelargergovernmentschoolsystem.

Inaddition,weundertookasetofdetailedstudiesofselectedschoolsandtheirteachersindifferent

locations.Despitethefactthatthesewereatdifferentlocations,whatwasevidentwasthefactthat

theteachersintheseschoolsmaintainahighlevelofprofessionalismandcommitment—afinding

that isquiteatoddswith thedominantnarrative. Inspiteofexhibitingcharacteristicssuchas

difficultyofaccess,poorschoolinfrastructure,orsometimesevenhighpupil–teacherratio(PTR),

these schoolswere found to have an engaged teacher cadre,with no visible concerns around

teacherabsenteeismexpressedbyeitherlower-levelofficialsorthecommunity.Thesedetailed

casestudiesattempttoconveytherealitiesofteachers’workinthegovernmentschoolsystem,and

thecurrentstudydrawsuponthesetofurtherarguetheinadequatenatureoftheexistingteacher

absenteeismdiscourse.Inparticular,wearguethatfocusingonasingle-pointagendaandonethat

vilifiesteacherswhileignoringthelargerinstitutionallandscapeisunlikelytoyieldanappropriate

andnuancedpolicyresponse.

2. Teacher Absenteeism: field-level study

2.1 Research Objective

Thebroadresearchobjectivewastomeasuretherateofteacherabsenteeisminselectedsiteswith

thepresenceandengagementoftheAzimPremjiFoundation.Thespecificresearchquestionsfor

thestudywereasfollows:

1. Whatistherateofteacherabsenteeismingovernmentschools?

2. Whatarethedifferentreasonswhyteachersareabsentingovernmentschoolsandtherateof

teacherabsenceforthesedifferentreasons?

3. Howdotheratesofteacherabsencevarywithdifferentcorrelatesofteacherabsence?

2.2 Sampling

ThedistrictsandblocksinwhichthestudywascarriedoutisasubsetofthesitesinwhichAzim

Premji Foundation is present, which include some of the more disadvantaged regions of the

country.Thesamplingofschoolsforthestudywasnon-randomandextendedtoschoolsfamiliarto

theteamintermsoffield-levelengagement.Whiletheseschoolswerefamiliartotheteam,they

werenotoneswithwhichtheFoundationhasanydirectschool-levelengagement.Thesample

includedafairrepresentationofruralgovernmentlowerprimaryschools(LPS)andhigherprimary

schools(HPS).Urbanschoolswerenotapriorityandtheywerepartofthesampleonlyinblocks

with high urban density. Similarly, effortsweremade to build in some spread in terms of the

conveniencesamplewithintheblock.Also,eventhoughseparateDistrictInformationSystemfor

Education (DISE)Codeswereusedas the identifyingmarker forselectionofdifferent schools,

effortsweremadetoavoidincludingdifferenttypesofschools(e.g.LPSandHPS)fromschools

locatedwithinthesamecompound.

3

Thestudycoveredsixstatesandvisitsweremadeto619schoolswithatotalof2861teachers

appointedintheseschools.

2.3 Data-collection and analysis

Asetof three toolswereused fordatacollection: (1)aSchoolSchedule, forbasicbackground

informationabouttheschool;(2)aTeacherAbsenceSchedule,torecorddataonteacherabsencein

theschoolduringtheunannouncedschoolvisit;and(3)aTeacherSchedule,forbasicbackground

informationoneachoftheteachersintheschool.Thethreetoolswerebaseduponpreviousstudies

on ‘teacher absenteeism’ and were finalised after a process of internal review and feedback.

Orientationworkshopswerecarriedoutwiththeteamsadministeringtheschedulesatmultiple

levels,inacascademode,regardingthedesignofthestudy,thetools,andtheplanandprocessof

datacollection.

Table 1: Schools and teachers covered: state-wise

States No.ofSchools No.ofTeachers

Chhattisgarh 129 660

Rajasthan 199 1040

Uttarakhand 189 557

Others* 102 604

Total 619 2861

*AcrossBihar,KarnatakaandMadhyaPradesh

2

1. Introduction

1.1 Background and Rationale

TeacherabsenteeismhasgeneratedalotofattentionasamatterofseriousconcernintheIndian

government elementary school system in the previous 10 years or so. The existing narrative

suggeststhattherearehighratesofteacherabsenteeismingovernmentschoolsandthatthisisone

ofthekeyelementsintheinfirmitiesofthegovernmentschoolsystem.

Sinceabout2005,anumberofstudieshavefocusedontheissueofteacherabsenteeisminIndia

(Kremeretal.2005;Governmentof India2009;Bhattacharjeaetal.2011;Muralidharanetal.

2016).Anumberofthesestudieshavehighlightedthehighratesofteacherabsenteeismandhave

focusedon thepoint that aroundoneout of four teachers are absent on any givenday in the

governmentschoolsystem.Thisstatistichasbecomeafocalpointinpolicydiscussionsonteacher

accountabilityinthegovernmentschoolsystem.

TheAzimPremjiFoundation'sworkwiththeschooleducationsystemovernearlytwodecadeshas

suggestedthatteacherabsenteeismisnotascentralaconcernasthedominantnarrativesuggests.

Inordertobetterunderstandteacherabsenteeism,weundertookafield-levelstudycoveringsome

areasinwhichtheFoundationhasanactivefieldpresence.Thepurposewastoidentifytheextentto

whichandthereasonswhyteachersare‘notpresent’inschools.Inbothourstudyandotherstudies,

teacherabsenteeism,whichisunderstoodasabsencewithoutreasonismuchlowerthanoverall

teacher absence. Typically, teacher absenteeism is in the range of 2–5%,whereas the overall

teacherabsenceisintherangeof20%.Manystudiesdonotpayadequateattentiontothedifferent

reasonsthatcompriseteachers’absenceinschools;reasons,giventherealitiesofthegovernment

school system, range from official duties (academic and administrative) and official other

departmentalworktolegitimateleavesthatteachersareentitledtoundertheirserviceconditions.

Instead,teacherabsence,atleastinthepopularnarrative,isequatedwithteacherabsenteeism.

Equally,teacherabsenteeismisoftenseenasthesinglemostcriticalissue,astancethatignores

manyoftheotherurgentareasofconcerninschoolreform.Forexample,theneedforsystemic

effortstorecruitanddeputeanadequatenumberoftrainedteachersingovernmentschools,the

need to avoidburdening teacherswithnon-academicwork, and theneed to viewmulti-grade

multilevel (MGML) pedagogies as sub-optimal solutions are seldom factored into the ‘teacher

accountability’discourse.Rather,theteachers,bothasindividualsandasagroup,areseentobear

theresponsibilityofalltheshortcomingsofthelargergovernmentschoolsystem.

Inaddition,weundertookasetofdetailedstudiesofselectedschoolsandtheirteachersindifferent

locations.Despitethefactthatthesewereatdifferentlocations,whatwasevidentwasthefactthat

theteachersintheseschoolsmaintainahighlevelofprofessionalismandcommitment—afinding

that isquiteatoddswith thedominantnarrative. Inspiteofexhibitingcharacteristicssuchas

difficultyofaccess,poorschoolinfrastructure,orsometimesevenhighpupil–teacherratio(PTR),

these schoolswere found to have an engaged teacher cadre,with no visible concerns around

teacherabsenteeismexpressedbyeitherlower-levelofficialsorthecommunity.Thesedetailed

casestudiesattempttoconveytherealitiesofteachers’workinthegovernmentschoolsystem,and

thecurrentstudydrawsuponthesetofurtherarguetheinadequatenatureoftheexistingteacher

absenteeismdiscourse.Inparticular,wearguethatfocusingonasingle-pointagendaandonethat

vilifiesteacherswhileignoringthelargerinstitutionallandscapeisunlikelytoyieldanappropriate

andnuancedpolicyresponse.

2. Teacher Absenteeism: field-level study

2.1 Research Objective

Thebroadresearchobjectivewastomeasuretherateofteacherabsenteeisminselectedsiteswith

thepresenceandengagementoftheAzimPremjiFoundation.Thespecificresearchquestionsfor

thestudywereasfollows:

1. Whatistherateofteacherabsenteeismingovernmentschools?

2. Whatarethedifferentreasonswhyteachersareabsentingovernmentschoolsandtherateof

teacherabsenceforthesedifferentreasons?

3. Howdotheratesofteacherabsencevarywithdifferentcorrelatesofteacherabsence?

2.2 Sampling

ThedistrictsandblocksinwhichthestudywascarriedoutisasubsetofthesitesinwhichAzim

Premji Foundation is present, which include some of the more disadvantaged regions of the

country.Thesamplingofschoolsforthestudywasnon-randomandextendedtoschoolsfamiliarto

theteamintermsoffield-levelengagement.Whiletheseschoolswerefamiliartotheteam,they

werenotoneswithwhichtheFoundationhasanydirectschool-levelengagement.Thesample

includedafairrepresentationofruralgovernmentlowerprimaryschools(LPS)andhigherprimary

schools(HPS).Urbanschoolswerenotapriorityandtheywerepartofthesampleonlyinblocks

with high urban density. Similarly, effortsweremade to build in some spread in terms of the

conveniencesamplewithintheblock.Also,eventhoughseparateDistrictInformationSystemfor

Education (DISE)Codeswereusedas the identifyingmarker forselectionofdifferent schools,

effortsweremadetoavoidincludingdifferenttypesofschools(e.g.LPSandHPS)fromschools

locatedwithinthesamecompound.

3

Thestudycoveredsixstatesandvisitsweremadeto619schoolswithatotalof2861teachers

appointedintheseschools.

2.3 Data-collection and analysis

Asetof three toolswereused fordatacollection: (1)aSchoolSchedule, forbasicbackground

informationabouttheschool;(2)aTeacherAbsenceSchedule,torecorddataonteacherabsencein

theschoolduringtheunannouncedschoolvisit;and(3)aTeacherSchedule,forbasicbackground

informationoneachoftheteachersintheschool.Thethreetoolswerebaseduponpreviousstudies

on ‘teacher absenteeism’ and were finalised after a process of internal review and feedback.

Orientationworkshopswerecarriedoutwiththeteamsadministeringtheschedulesatmultiple

levels,inacascademode,regardingthedesignofthestudy,thetools,andtheplanandprocessof

datacollection.

Table 1: Schools and teachers covered: state-wise

States No.ofSchools No.ofTeachers

Chhattisgarh 129 660

Rajasthan 199 1040

Uttarakhand 189 557

Others* 102 604

Total 619 2861

*AcrossBihar,KarnatakaandMadhyaPradesh

4

DatacollectionforthestudywasdoneovertheperiodAugust–September2016.Thisisarelatively

stableperiodintheacademicyear,relativelyuninterruptedbyfestivals,vacations,andsoon.The

teammembersmakingtheschoolvisitsplannedthevisitsothattheycouldspendaround2–3hours

(minimum)ineachschool,preferablyaroundthemiddleoftheworkinghoursoftheschool.The

decideddayofvisittotheschoolwiththeintentofdatacollectionwasunannouncedandwasthe

dayonwhich ‘teacher absence’was recorded.For the study, teacherabsencewasdefinedas a

teacherbeingnotpresentphysicallyintheschoolforthedurationofthevisitonlyandforthatday

only.Whiletheteacherabsenceschedulewascompletedontheplanneddayofvisit,insomecases,

datarelatedtotheotherscheduleswascollectedoversubsequentvisits.

Thissectionprovidesasummaryofsomeofthekeyfindingsfromtheoveralldataacrosssixstates.

Theoverallabsenceratewasfoundtobe18.9%,with462teachersbeingabsentoutofthe24421teacherobservationsforwhichabsencedatawasrecorded. Thisisslightlylessthantherates

reportedbyMuralidharanet al. (2016)and closer to theobservations in theAnnual Statusof

1Note:allcalculationsarebasedonlyonthebases/countsofproperlyrecordedresponsesfortherelevantvariables.

2.4 Findings

Table 2: Absence rates (in %)—total and by key teacher-level characteristics

Present Absent

Totalteachers 81.1 18.9

Byposition

Headteachers 83.5 16.5

Otherteachers(notheadteachers) 80.4 19.6

Bygender

Femaleteachers 83.8 16.2

Maleteachers 78.4 21.6

Byacademicqualifications

Highschoolorbelow 77.9 22.1

Highersecondary 83.6 16.4

Graduate 78.9 21.1

Postgraduate 82.0 18.0

Byprofessionalqualifications

Untrained 66.1 33.9

Diplomaorcertificateinbasicteachers’trainingofa

durationnotlessthantwoyears(includingD.Ed) 81.3 18.7

B.Ed(orB.El.Ed) 82.1 17.9

Anyother 73.5 26.5

Byoffice-bearingpositioninteacherunions

Withposition 76.9 23.1

Withoutposition 81.4 18.6

Education Reports (ASER), which have, across the years, reported that teacher absence in

governmentschoolsislessthan20%inmoststates(cf.Pratham2017).Differencesinabsencerates

byvarious individual teacher-levelcharacteristicswereobservedandthesearediscussedwith

referencetoTable2.Theabsencerateofheadteachers(16.5%)waslessthanthatofotherteachers

(19.6%)andabsenceratesoffemaleteachers(16.2%)waslessthanthatofmaleteachers(21.6%)

byalmost5percentagepoints.Thereweresomenoticeablevariationsinteacherabsencebyboth

academicqualificationsandprofessionalqualifications.Theabsenceratewashighestforteachers

with an academic qualification of high school or below (22.1%) and for teachers who were

untrained(33.9%)intermsoftheirprofessionalqualifications.Theabsenceratewasfoundtobe

greaterforteacherswithsomeofficialpositioninteacherunions(23.1%)ascomparedtothose

withoutsuchpositions(18.6%).Someofthesefindingsseemtodifferfromexistingstudieswhile

someothersresonatewiththeobservationsfromthesestudies.Forexample,Kremeretal.findthe

absencerateofheadteachersandmaleteacherstobemorethanthatofbothotherteachersand

femaleteachersandofferthefollowingpossiblereason:‘Powerdifferentialsmayexplainthehigher

absenceratesofolder,moreeducated,andmoreexperiencedteachers,aswellasthefindingthat

malesaresignificantlymoreabsentthanfemales’(2005:662).Thefindingthatmorequalifiedand

trainedregularteachersarelikelytobemoreabsentthanlessqualifiedanduntrainedteachers

(whoaremorelikelycontractteachers),reportedbyMuralidharanandSundararaman(2013),is

notborneoutinourstudy.However,thehigherratesofabsenceofteacherswithofficialpositionsin

teacherunionsisalongthelinesofstudiesthathaveshownthatpoliticallinkagesofteachers,in

terms of teacher union connections, help them bypass official accountability mechanisms

(cf.KingdonandMuzammil2003;Beteille2009).

Forteacherswhowerenotpresentduringthevisit,thereasonsforabsencewerenotedunderthe

followingfivecategories:(I)‘Officialacademicduties’suchastemporarydeputationforteachingin

otherschools,trainings,clustermeetings,andtrainingscalledbynon-governmentorganisations

(NGOs); (ii) ‘Official school administrative duties’ such as data collection, submission of

reports/data related tomid-daymeal (MDM), childrenwith special needs (CWSN), and other

5

Table 3: Stated reasons for absence

Officialduty Authorised Absence

leave withoutreason

Official Officialschool Officialother

academic administrative departmental

duties duties work

Totalteachers–

absenceratesmeasured3.8 2.1 0.9 9.1 2.5

aspercentagesoftotalteacherobservations.*

Byposition–absenceratesmeasuredaspercentagesoftotalabsence.

Headteachers 24.4 18.9 4.4 35.6 16.7

Otherteachers

(notheadteachers) 19.7 9.4 5.3 52.6 13.1

Bygender–absenceratesmeasuredaspercentagesoftotalabsence.

Femaleteachers 15.2 6.5 4.1 61.8 12.4

Maleteachers 25.6 15.8 6.0 37.6 15.0

*As‘overallabsence’and‘reasonsforabsence’arecalculatedbasedonthebases/countsofproperlyrecordedresponsesfortherelevant

variables,therearesmalldifferencesintherespectivetotals.

4

DatacollectionforthestudywasdoneovertheperiodAugust–September2016.Thisisarelatively

stableperiodintheacademicyear,relativelyuninterruptedbyfestivals,vacations,andsoon.The

teammembersmakingtheschoolvisitsplannedthevisitsothattheycouldspendaround2–3hours

(minimum)ineachschool,preferablyaroundthemiddleoftheworkinghoursoftheschool.The

decideddayofvisittotheschoolwiththeintentofdatacollectionwasunannouncedandwasthe

dayonwhich ‘teacher absence’was recorded.For the study, teacherabsencewasdefinedas a

teacherbeingnotpresentphysicallyintheschoolforthedurationofthevisitonlyandforthatday

only.Whiletheteacherabsenceschedulewascompletedontheplanneddayofvisit,insomecases,

datarelatedtotheotherscheduleswascollectedoversubsequentvisits.

Thissectionprovidesasummaryofsomeofthekeyfindingsfromtheoveralldataacrosssixstates.

Theoverallabsenceratewasfoundtobe18.9%,with462teachersbeingabsentoutofthe24421teacherobservationsforwhichabsencedatawasrecorded. Thisisslightlylessthantherates

reportedbyMuralidharanet al. (2016)and closer to theobservations in theAnnual Statusof

1Note:allcalculationsarebasedonlyonthebases/countsofproperlyrecordedresponsesfortherelevantvariables.

2.4 Findings

Table 2: Absence rates (in %)—total and by key teacher-level characteristics

Present Absent

Totalteachers 81.1 18.9

Byposition

Headteachers 83.5 16.5

Otherteachers(notheadteachers) 80.4 19.6

Bygender

Femaleteachers 83.8 16.2

Maleteachers 78.4 21.6

Byacademicqualifications

Highschoolorbelow 77.9 22.1

Highersecondary 83.6 16.4

Graduate 78.9 21.1

Postgraduate 82.0 18.0

Byprofessionalqualifications

Untrained 66.1 33.9

Diplomaorcertificateinbasicteachers’trainingofa

durationnotlessthantwoyears(includingD.Ed) 81.3 18.7

B.Ed(orB.El.Ed) 82.1 17.9

Anyother 73.5 26.5

Byoffice-bearingpositioninteacherunions

Withposition 76.9 23.1

Withoutposition 81.4 18.6

Education Reports (ASER), which have, across the years, reported that teacher absence in

governmentschoolsislessthan20%inmoststates(cf.Pratham2017).Differencesinabsencerates

byvarious individual teacher-levelcharacteristicswereobservedandthesearediscussedwith

referencetoTable2.Theabsencerateofheadteachers(16.5%)waslessthanthatofotherteachers

(19.6%)andabsenceratesoffemaleteachers(16.2%)waslessthanthatofmaleteachers(21.6%)

byalmost5percentagepoints.Thereweresomenoticeablevariationsinteacherabsencebyboth

academicqualificationsandprofessionalqualifications.Theabsenceratewashighestforteachers

with an academic qualification of high school or below (22.1%) and for teachers who were

untrained(33.9%)intermsoftheirprofessionalqualifications.Theabsenceratewasfoundtobe

greaterforteacherswithsomeofficialpositioninteacherunions(23.1%)ascomparedtothose

withoutsuchpositions(18.6%).Someofthesefindingsseemtodifferfromexistingstudieswhile

someothersresonatewiththeobservationsfromthesestudies.Forexample,Kremeretal.findthe

absencerateofheadteachersandmaleteacherstobemorethanthatofbothotherteachersand

femaleteachersandofferthefollowingpossiblereason:‘Powerdifferentialsmayexplainthehigher

absenceratesofolder,moreeducated,andmoreexperiencedteachers,aswellasthefindingthat

malesaresignificantlymoreabsentthanfemales’(2005:662).Thefindingthatmorequalifiedand

trainedregularteachersarelikelytobemoreabsentthanlessqualifiedanduntrainedteachers

(whoaremorelikelycontractteachers),reportedbyMuralidharanandSundararaman(2013),is

notborneoutinourstudy.However,thehigherratesofabsenceofteacherswithofficialpositionsin

teacherunionsisalongthelinesofstudiesthathaveshownthatpoliticallinkagesofteachers,in

terms of teacher union connections, help them bypass official accountability mechanisms

(cf.KingdonandMuzammil2003;Beteille2009).

Forteacherswhowerenotpresentduringthevisit,thereasonsforabsencewerenotedunderthe

followingfivecategories:(I)‘Officialacademicduties’suchastemporarydeputationforteachingin

otherschools,trainings,clustermeetings,andtrainingscalledbynon-governmentorganisations

(NGOs); (ii) ‘Official school administrative duties’ such as data collection, submission of

reports/data related tomid-daymeal (MDM), childrenwith special needs (CWSN), and other

5

Table 3: Stated reasons for absence

Officialduty Authorised Absence

leave withoutreason

Official Officialschool Officialother

academic administrative departmental

duties duties work

Totalteachers–

absenceratesmeasured3.8 2.1 0.9 9.1 2.5

aspercentagesoftotalteacherobservations.*

Byposition–absenceratesmeasuredaspercentagesoftotalabsence.

Headteachers 24.4 18.9 4.4 35.6 16.7

Otherteachers

(notheadteachers) 19.7 9.4 5.3 52.6 13.1

Bygender–absenceratesmeasuredaspercentagesoftotalabsence.

Femaleteachers 15.2 6.5 4.1 61.8 12.4

Maleteachers 25.6 15.8 6.0 37.6 15.0

*As‘overallabsence’and‘reasonsforabsence’arecalculatedbasedonthebases/countsofproperlyrecordedresponsesfortherelevant

variables,therearesmalldifferencesintherespectivetotals.

6

incentiveschemes;(iii)‘Officialotherdepartmentalwork’suchasthatrelatedtoelections,health,

otherdepartmentschemes,andpanchayatmeetings;(iv)‘Authorisedleave’suchascasualleaveand

medicalleave;and(v)‘Absencewithoutreason’.Table3showsthatamongthereasonsforabsence

recordedforthosenotpresentduringthevisits,measuredaspercentagesoftotalabsence,highest

was for ‘authorised leave’ at9.1%, followedby ‘official academicduties’ at3.8%and ‘absence

withoutreason’at2.5%.Therefore,ineffect,teacherabsenteeism,thatis,teachersbeingabsent

withoutanyreason,was foundtobeonly2.5%,withabsencemeasuredaspercentageof total

teacherobservations.Ratesofrankdelinquency,whichcanbedefinedasabsencewithoutreason,

arenotedtobemuchlowerinotherstudiesalso,asintherangeof4–5%reportedbyMuralidharan

etal.(2016),althoughthisisanaspectthatseemstobeunderemphasisedinthelargerteacher

accountabilitydiscourse.

In our study, teachers were also asked the specific reasons for absences under the various

categories.Understandably,differenttypesoftrainings—in-serviceteachertrainingsattheDistrict

InstituteofEducationandTraining(DIET),blockandclusterlevel,SchoolManagementCommittee

(SMC)training,thosecalledbyNGOs,andsport-related—seemedtobethemostfrequentlycited

reasons for absencedue to ‘official academicwork’.Data collectionand submission tovarious

senior offices and MDM-related work were the main reasons for absence due to ‘official

administrativeduties’.Electionduty,differentcensussurveys,andpanchayatmeetingswerecited

asthemainreasonsforabsenceon‘officialotherdepartmentalwork’.Teacherspresentwerealso

askedhow theirworkandschedulewereaffected if their colleagueswereabsent.Mostof the

responsesindicatedthatinsuchinstances,‘teacherscombinedclasses’,‘classesweretakenbya

substituteteacher’,or‘teachersgavesomeclassworktooccupythestudents’.

Further,Table3showsthedifferencesinreasonsforabsencebetweenheadteachersandother

teachers, and between female andmale teachers, as percentages of total absence. Differences

betweenheadteachersandother teacherswere found tobequitepronounced forbothofficial

schooladministrativedutiesandofficialacademicduties,withtheabsenceratesofheadteachers

being9and5percentagepointsgreater,respectively, thanthatofotherteachers.However, for

authorisedleave,theabsencerateofheadteachers(35.6%)isnoticeablylessthanthatofother

teachers(52.6%).Pronounceddifferencesbygenderareseenforofficialacademicduties,withthe

absencerateofmaleteachers(25.6%)around10percentagepointsgreaterthanthatoffemale

teachers(15.2%),andalsoforofficialschooladministrativeduties,forwhichtheabsencerateof

maleteachers(15.8%)isalmost10percentagepointsgreaterthanthatoffemaleteachers(6.5%).

However,forauthorisedleave,theabsencerateoffemaleteachers(61.8%)isgreaterbyalmost25

percentagepointsthanthatofmaleteachers(37.6%).

Table 4: Average teacher absence by correlates at the teacher and school-level

Averageteacher

absence

Correlates

Teacher'sage(years)

age<=30 21.9

30<age<=40 19.0

40<age<=50 17.4

age>50 19.5

Averageteacher

absence

Correlates

Commutetime(hours)

t<=1 18.6

1<t<=2 16.9

t>2 31.8

Schoollocation

Rural 18.7

Urban 19.7

Categoriesofschool

Primaryonly(1–5) 18.8

PrimarywithUpperPrimary(1–8) 17.9

UpperPrimaryonly(6–8) 20.9

Top-downadministrativemonitoring

Notvisited 18.1

Visited 18.6

Bottom-upmonitoring

SMCmeetingbeforeAug-2016 18.7

SMCmeetinginAugorafterAug-2016 18.2

PracticeofMGML

MGMLnotpracticed 18.5

MGMLpracticed 18.4

Schoolfacilities

Toilets

NotavailableorAvailablebutnotused 16.1

Availableandused 18.2

DrinkingWater

NotavailableorAvailablebutnotused 18.7

Availableandused 17.9

Electricity

NotavailableorAvailablebutnotused 18.5

Availableandused 17.8

TablesandChairs

NotavailableorAvailablebutnotused 25.1

Availableandused 17.4

7

6

incentiveschemes;(iii)‘Officialotherdepartmentalwork’suchasthatrelatedtoelections,health,

otherdepartmentschemes,andpanchayatmeetings;(iv)‘Authorisedleave’suchascasualleaveand

medicalleave;and(v)‘Absencewithoutreason’.Table3showsthatamongthereasonsforabsence

recordedforthosenotpresentduringthevisits,measuredaspercentagesoftotalabsence,highest

was for ‘authorised leave’ at9.1%, followedby ‘official academicduties’ at3.8%and ‘absence

withoutreason’at2.5%.Therefore,ineffect,teacherabsenteeism,thatis,teachersbeingabsent

withoutanyreason,was foundtobeonly2.5%,withabsencemeasuredaspercentageof total

teacherobservations.Ratesofrankdelinquency,whichcanbedefinedasabsencewithoutreason,

arenotedtobemuchlowerinotherstudiesalso,asintherangeof4–5%reportedbyMuralidharan

etal.(2016),althoughthisisanaspectthatseemstobeunderemphasisedinthelargerteacher

accountabilitydiscourse.

In our study, teachers were also asked the specific reasons for absences under the various

categories.Understandably,differenttypesoftrainings—in-serviceteachertrainingsattheDistrict

InstituteofEducationandTraining(DIET),blockandclusterlevel,SchoolManagementCommittee

(SMC)training,thosecalledbyNGOs,andsport-related—seemedtobethemostfrequentlycited

reasons for absencedue to ‘official academicwork’.Data collectionand submission tovarious

senior offices and MDM-related work were the main reasons for absence due to ‘official

administrativeduties’.Electionduty,differentcensussurveys,andpanchayatmeetingswerecited

asthemainreasonsforabsenceon‘officialotherdepartmentalwork’.Teacherspresentwerealso

askedhow theirworkandschedulewereaffected if their colleagueswereabsent.Mostof the

responsesindicatedthatinsuchinstances,‘teacherscombinedclasses’,‘classesweretakenbya

substituteteacher’,or‘teachersgavesomeclassworktooccupythestudents’.

Further,Table3showsthedifferencesinreasonsforabsencebetweenheadteachersandother

teachers, and between female andmale teachers, as percentages of total absence. Differences

betweenheadteachersandother teacherswere found tobequitepronounced forbothofficial

schooladministrativedutiesandofficialacademicduties,withtheabsenceratesofheadteachers

being9and5percentagepointsgreater,respectively, thanthatofotherteachers.However, for

authorisedleave,theabsencerateofheadteachers(35.6%)isnoticeablylessthanthatofother

teachers(52.6%).Pronounceddifferencesbygenderareseenforofficialacademicduties,withthe

absencerateofmaleteachers(25.6%)around10percentagepointsgreaterthanthatoffemale

teachers(15.2%),andalsoforofficialschooladministrativeduties,forwhichtheabsencerateof

maleteachers(15.8%)isalmost10percentagepointsgreaterthanthatoffemaleteachers(6.5%).

However,forauthorisedleave,theabsencerateoffemaleteachers(61.8%)isgreaterbyalmost25

percentagepointsthanthatofmaleteachers(37.6%).

Table 4: Average teacher absence by correlates at the teacher and school-level

Averageteacher

absence

Correlates

Teacher'sage(years)

age<=30 21.9

30<age<=40 19.0

40<age<=50 17.4

age>50 19.5

Averageteacher

absence

Correlates

Commutetime(hours)

t<=1 18.6

1<t<=2 16.9

t>2 31.8

Schoollocation

Rural 18.7

Urban 19.7

Categoriesofschool

Primaryonly(1–5) 18.8

PrimarywithUpperPrimary(1–8) 17.9

UpperPrimaryonly(6–8) 20.9

Top-downadministrativemonitoring

Notvisited 18.1

Visited 18.6

Bottom-upmonitoring

SMCmeetingbeforeAug-2016 18.7

SMCmeetinginAugorafterAug-2016 18.2

PracticeofMGML

MGMLnotpracticed 18.5

MGMLpracticed 18.4

Schoolfacilities

Toilets

NotavailableorAvailablebutnotused 16.1

Availableandused 18.2

DrinkingWater

NotavailableorAvailablebutnotused 18.7

Availableandused 17.9

Electricity

NotavailableorAvailablebutnotused 18.5

Availableandused 17.8

TablesandChairs

NotavailableorAvailablebutnotused 25.1

Availableandused 17.4

7

8

Thestudyalsoanalysedaverageteacherabsenceagainstanumberofcorrelatesattheteacherlevel

andschoollevel(Table4).Attheteacherlevel,averageteacherabsencerateswerenotfoundtobe

verydifferentintermsofageofteacherswithaverageabsencerangingfrom17.4%forthosewho

wereagedbetween40and50yearsto21.9%forthoseaged30yearsandbelow.Thedataalso

showedthatformostoftheteachers,commutetimetoschoolwasaround1hourorless,withonlya

fewteacherswithacommutetimeofover2hours.Averageabsenceforthelattercategorywas

foundtobenoticeablyhigher(31.8%)thanthatoftheteacherswithlessercommutetime.

Forschool-levelcorrelates,theaverageteacherabsenceratewasnotfoundtobeverydifferentin

rural andurban schools,with18.7% in rural schoolsas compared to19.7% inurban schools.

Likewise,comparisonsacrosscategoriesofschoolsdidnotshownoticeabledifferencesacrossthe

school categories ‘primary only’ (18.8%), ‘primary with upper primary’ (17.9%), and ‘upper

primaryonly’(20.9%).

Associationofteacherabsencerateswascheckedwithbothtop-downmonitoringandbottom-up2monitoring. Notmuchdifferenceintermsofaverageteacherabsencewasfoundbetweenschools

visitedbyofficials(18.6%)andthosenotvisitedbyofficials(18.1%)inthepastthreemonths.

Similarly,nonoticeabledifferenceinaverageteacherabsencewasfoundbetweenschoolsinwhich

anSMCmeetinghadtakenplacebeforeAugust2016(18.7%)andthoseinwhichanSMCmeeting

hadtakenplaceinAugust2016orafter(18.2%).

Therewasnotmuchdifference in termsofaverage teacherabsencebetweenschools inwhich3MGMLispracticed(18.4%)andinwhichitisnot(18.5%).

Average teacherabsencewasalsoanalysedwithreference todifferentschool facilitiessuchas

availabilityandfunctionalityoftoilets,drinkingwater,electricity,andclassroomfurniture.Except

forclassroomfurniture(tablesandchairs),therewerenonoticeabledifferencesinaverageteacher

absencebetweenschoolshavingsuchfacilitiesandthoseschoolsnothavingsuchfacilitiesorwhere

suchfacilities,thoughexisting,weredysfunctional.

Overall,analysesofteacherabsenceagainstpotentialcorrelatesofabsenceatboththeteacherlevel

andschoollevelshowthattherearefewobvioussystematicdifferences.

2.5 Caveats

Whileourstudyisfairlyextensive,somecaveatsneedtobeoutlinedininterpretingourfindings.

1. The surveywas based on a relatively small convenience sample of schools (per block) in

selectedblocks/districtsthattheAzimPremjiFoundationworksin.Therefore,thestudydoes

notaspiretogeneralisableconclusions.

2. Thedefinitionof‘absence’wasbasedonateachernotbeingpresentphysicallyintheschoolfor

thedurationofthevisitonlyandforthatdayonly.Thiswasduetoboththelimitedresources

(fieldpersonneltime)tocovereachschoolforanentiredayandtheintentionofnotunduly

disturbingtheregularworkingoftheschool.However,mostschoolswerevisitedaroundthe

middleoftheworkinghoursoftheschoolwithatleasthalfoftheschooldaybeingspentineach

schoolfordatacollection.

3. Thiswasaone-timestudy.So,repeatedvisitstoseethereliabilityofintra-schoolobservations

onteacherabsenceandtoaccountforseasonalvariationwerenotpartofthedesign.

2Top-down monitoring was operationalised as visits of district and block-level officials to the school in the past three months and bottom-up

monitoring was defined in terms of recentness of the last SMC meeting. 3Practice of MGML was recorded as ‘yes’ in the case of both official practice and unofficial practice of MGML in the school.

9

3. Qualitative Case Studies

This sectionof the study comprises sevenqualitative case studies.The case studies consist of

purposivelyselectedschoolsfromacrossdistrictsandstatesinwhichtheAzimPremjiFoundation

hasapresence.Theseschools,selectedbasedoncriteriaidentifiedwithhighriskofteacherabsence

inexistingstudies(e.g.remotenessanddifficultyofaccess;poorschoolinfrastructure;andhigh

PTR)inconsultationwitheducationdepartmentfunctionaries,areschoolsthatarereportedtonot4exhibitanyvisibleconcernsaroundtheissueofteacherabsenteeism. Inaway,thesecasestudies

aremeanttosupplement,atonelevel,thefindingsfromthequantitativestudy,whichshowsthat

unauthorised teacher absence in the system—actual teacher absenteeism—is not of alarming

proportionsasunderlinedincurrenteducationalpolicydiscourse.Atanotherlevel,theyaremeant

toprovideaninsightintothechallenges,systemicandindividual,thatteachershavetodealwithon

aregularbasiswithinthegovernmentschoolsystemand,howinspiteofsuchchallenges,they

exhibitexemplaryfortitudeanddedicationtotheirwork.Thelatterinsightislinkedtothelarger

normativeargumentthatthisstudyseekstomakeontheissueofteacherabsenteeism.

Asisvisiblefromthesecasestudies,despitemultipleproblemsanddifficultcircumstancessuchas

remotenessoflocation,difficultyofaccess,shortageofteachers,lackofadequateinfrastructure,

multi-grade classrooms, andmarginalised communitieswho are not able to provide adequate

homesupportfortheirchildren,tonameafew,acrossallsevenschools,weseeteacherswhoare

fully present in school and ensure that they come to school regularly and punctually and

conscientiouslyengagewiththeirtaskasteachers.Theseteachersseemtoengagewiththeirwork

inamannerthatdefiesthepopularnarrativeorperceptionofattitudesandbehavioursofteachers

ingovernmentschools.Here,weseeteacherswhoarecommittedandmotivated,workingunder

sometimesveryadversecircumstancesbutdeeplyinvestedintheoutcomesoftheirendeavours.

Thisbegsthequestion,‘Whatdrivestheseteachersandmotivatesthemtocometoschooleveryday

andengagewiththeirworkthewaytheydo,despitethemanyodds?’

Manyof the teachers interviewedstatedveryexplicitly that theyweredrivennotby idealistic

motives,suchasapassionforteachingoraloveforchildrenoraburningdesireforsocialreform,to

chooseteachingasaprofession.Instead,theirchoicewasdictatedbyconvenience,availabilityof

opportunities,economicconsiderations,andsoon.But,astheteachersalsoshared,overtime,they

have learnt to appreciate the significance and import of their work and they now clearly

demonstratecommitmentandmotivation.Forsome,thismayhavebeenbecauseofaparticular

definingexperiencewithchildrenorinspiringcolleagues;butperhaps,itmayjustbethenatureof

the teaching profession. In other words, given a certain kind of enabling and positive work

environmentthatfacilitatescollegialityandtrust,teacherstendtobecommittedandmotivatedand

holdthemselvesaccountablewithoutexternalsupervisionandmonitoring.Thoseverynormsthat

drivetheirbehaviouralsomakethemaccountable.Thougheachofthesevencasesisuniquein

termsofitscontextanditsownsetofchallenges,somecommonthreadsemergeacrosstheseven

narratives.

First, despite difficulty of access and challenges of commuting, teacherswere seen to be fully

presentevenattheriskofpersonalinconvenienceandasignificantexpenditure.Forexample,inthe

caseoftheKuphargereSchool(CaseStudy3),teachersmadeachoicetostayinthevillagesothat

theywerebetterabletounderstandthecommunityandengagewiththelearningactivitiesofthe

childrenbeyondschoolhours.IntheBasarpurSchool(CaseStudy4),teachershadtousemultiple

modesoftransportandconsiderabletimeintransittoreachtheschool.InallthethreeUttarakhand

schools, as inmany other schools in the state, teachers had to hire a shared taxi, involving a

4Pseudonyms have been used for all participants and actors (teachers, students, officials and parents) as well as for schools, villages and other

such easily identifiable places to retain confidentiality.

8

Thestudyalsoanalysedaverageteacherabsenceagainstanumberofcorrelatesattheteacherlevel

andschoollevel(Table4).Attheteacherlevel,averageteacherabsencerateswerenotfoundtobe

verydifferentintermsofageofteacherswithaverageabsencerangingfrom17.4%forthosewho

wereagedbetween40and50yearsto21.9%forthoseaged30yearsandbelow.Thedataalso

showedthatformostoftheteachers,commutetimetoschoolwasaround1hourorless,withonlya

fewteacherswithacommutetimeofover2hours.Averageabsenceforthelattercategorywas

foundtobenoticeablyhigher(31.8%)thanthatoftheteacherswithlessercommutetime.

Forschool-levelcorrelates,theaverageteacherabsenceratewasnotfoundtobeverydifferentin

rural andurban schools,with18.7% in rural schoolsas compared to19.7% inurban schools.

Likewise,comparisonsacrosscategoriesofschoolsdidnotshownoticeabledifferencesacrossthe

school categories ‘primary only’ (18.8%), ‘primary with upper primary’ (17.9%), and ‘upper

primaryonly’(20.9%).

Associationofteacherabsencerateswascheckedwithbothtop-downmonitoringandbottom-up2monitoring. Notmuchdifferenceintermsofaverageteacherabsencewasfoundbetweenschools

visitedbyofficials(18.6%)andthosenotvisitedbyofficials(18.1%)inthepastthreemonths.

Similarly,nonoticeabledifferenceinaverageteacherabsencewasfoundbetweenschoolsinwhich

anSMCmeetinghadtakenplacebeforeAugust2016(18.7%)andthoseinwhichanSMCmeeting

hadtakenplaceinAugust2016orafter(18.2%).

Therewasnotmuchdifference in termsofaverage teacherabsencebetweenschools inwhich3MGMLispracticed(18.4%)andinwhichitisnot(18.5%).

Average teacherabsencewasalsoanalysedwithreference todifferentschool facilitiessuchas

availabilityandfunctionalityoftoilets,drinkingwater,electricity,andclassroomfurniture.Except

forclassroomfurniture(tablesandchairs),therewerenonoticeabledifferencesinaverageteacher

absencebetweenschoolshavingsuchfacilitiesandthoseschoolsnothavingsuchfacilitiesorwhere

suchfacilities,thoughexisting,weredysfunctional.

Overall,analysesofteacherabsenceagainstpotentialcorrelatesofabsenceatboththeteacherlevel

andschoollevelshowthattherearefewobvioussystematicdifferences.

2.5 Caveats

Whileourstudyisfairlyextensive,somecaveatsneedtobeoutlinedininterpretingourfindings.

1. The surveywas based on a relatively small convenience sample of schools (per block) in

selectedblocks/districtsthattheAzimPremjiFoundationworksin.Therefore,thestudydoes

notaspiretogeneralisableconclusions.

2. Thedefinitionof‘absence’wasbasedonateachernotbeingpresentphysicallyintheschoolfor

thedurationofthevisitonlyandforthatdayonly.Thiswasduetoboththelimitedresources

(fieldpersonneltime)tocovereachschoolforanentiredayandtheintentionofnotunduly

disturbingtheregularworkingoftheschool.However,mostschoolswerevisitedaroundthe

middleoftheworkinghoursoftheschoolwithatleasthalfoftheschooldaybeingspentineach

schoolfordatacollection.

3. Thiswasaone-timestudy.So,repeatedvisitstoseethereliabilityofintra-schoolobservations

onteacherabsenceandtoaccountforseasonalvariationwerenotpartofthedesign.

2Top-down monitoring was operationalised as visits of district and block-level officials to the school in the past three months and bottom-up

monitoring was defined in terms of recentness of the last SMC meeting. 3Practice of MGML was recorded as ‘yes’ in the case of both official practice and unofficial practice of MGML in the school.

9

3. Qualitative Case Studies

This sectionof the study comprises sevenqualitative case studies.The case studies consist of

purposivelyselectedschoolsfromacrossdistrictsandstatesinwhichtheAzimPremjiFoundation

hasapresence.Theseschools,selectedbasedoncriteriaidentifiedwithhighriskofteacherabsence

inexistingstudies(e.g.remotenessanddifficultyofaccess;poorschoolinfrastructure;andhigh

PTR)inconsultationwitheducationdepartmentfunctionaries,areschoolsthatarereportedtonot4exhibitanyvisibleconcernsaroundtheissueofteacherabsenteeism. Inaway,thesecasestudies

aremeanttosupplement,atonelevel,thefindingsfromthequantitativestudy,whichshowsthat

unauthorised teacher absence in the system—actual teacher absenteeism—is not of alarming

proportionsasunderlinedincurrenteducationalpolicydiscourse.Atanotherlevel,theyaremeant

toprovideaninsightintothechallenges,systemicandindividual,thatteachershavetodealwithon

aregularbasiswithinthegovernmentschoolsystemand,howinspiteofsuchchallenges,they

exhibitexemplaryfortitudeanddedicationtotheirwork.Thelatterinsightislinkedtothelarger

normativeargumentthatthisstudyseekstomakeontheissueofteacherabsenteeism.

Asisvisiblefromthesecasestudies,despitemultipleproblemsanddifficultcircumstancessuchas

remotenessoflocation,difficultyofaccess,shortageofteachers,lackofadequateinfrastructure,

multi-grade classrooms, andmarginalised communitieswho are not able to provide adequate

homesupportfortheirchildren,tonameafew,acrossallsevenschools,weseeteacherswhoare

fully present in school and ensure that they come to school regularly and punctually and

conscientiouslyengagewiththeirtaskasteachers.Theseteachersseemtoengagewiththeirwork

inamannerthatdefiesthepopularnarrativeorperceptionofattitudesandbehavioursofteachers

ingovernmentschools.Here,weseeteacherswhoarecommittedandmotivated,workingunder

sometimesveryadversecircumstancesbutdeeplyinvestedintheoutcomesoftheirendeavours.

Thisbegsthequestion,‘Whatdrivestheseteachersandmotivatesthemtocometoschooleveryday

andengagewiththeirworkthewaytheydo,despitethemanyodds?’

Manyof the teachers interviewedstatedveryexplicitly that theyweredrivennotby idealistic

motives,suchasapassionforteachingoraloveforchildrenoraburningdesireforsocialreform,to

chooseteachingasaprofession.Instead,theirchoicewasdictatedbyconvenience,availabilityof

opportunities,economicconsiderations,andsoon.But,astheteachersalsoshared,overtime,they

have learnt to appreciate the significance and import of their work and they now clearly

demonstratecommitmentandmotivation.Forsome,thismayhavebeenbecauseofaparticular

definingexperiencewithchildrenorinspiringcolleagues;butperhaps,itmayjustbethenatureof

the teaching profession. In other words, given a certain kind of enabling and positive work

environmentthatfacilitatescollegialityandtrust,teacherstendtobecommittedandmotivatedand

holdthemselvesaccountablewithoutexternalsupervisionandmonitoring.Thoseverynormsthat

drivetheirbehaviouralsomakethemaccountable.Thougheachofthesevencasesisuniquein

termsofitscontextanditsownsetofchallenges,somecommonthreadsemergeacrosstheseven

narratives.

First, despite difficulty of access and challenges of commuting, teacherswere seen to be fully

presentevenattheriskofpersonalinconvenienceandasignificantexpenditure.Forexample,inthe

caseoftheKuphargereSchool(CaseStudy3),teachersmadeachoicetostayinthevillagesothat

theywerebetterabletounderstandthecommunityandengagewiththelearningactivitiesofthe

childrenbeyondschoolhours.IntheBasarpurSchool(CaseStudy4),teachershadtousemultiple

modesoftransportandconsiderabletimeintransittoreachtheschool.InallthethreeUttarakhand

schools, as inmany other schools in the state, teachers had to hire a shared taxi, involving a

4Pseudonyms have been used for all participants and actors (teachers, students, officials and parents) as well as for schools, villages and other

such easily identifiable places to retain confidentiality.

10

significant personal expense, for their daily commute to school. Yet, these teacherswereboth

observed and reported to be punctual and regular. This perseverance of the teacherswasnot

limited tomaking efforts to be in school. This was also visible in their efforts to involve the

communityinschoolprocesses,oftenmadedifficultintermsofthestructuralproblemsofpoverty,

illiteracy,anddisempowermentthatdistancesociallyandeconomicallydisadvantagedparental

communitiesfrombeinginvolvedineithertheday-to-dayschoolingissuesoftheirchildrenorthe

schoolasapublicinstitution.

Second, as individuals, these teachers and their practices reflected empathy to the needs and

context(mostlydeprivedandexcluded)ofthechildrenandthecommunity,asensitivitytoissuesof

genderandequity, andanaffirmationofequality in their facilitationofpeerprocessesamong

the children and in their own interactions with the children. For example, in the Mandehalli

School(CaseStudy7),teacherswereseencontributingtowardschildren’sneedsandforschool

improvementfromtheirownpockets,afactreaffirmedbymembersoftheSchoolDevelopmentand

ManagementCommittee(SDMC).IntheRuparpurSchool(CaseStudy6),teacherswereobservedto

bothactivelyencourageasociallyequitableenvironmentinschoolprocessessuchastheMDMand

maintainanon-hierarchicalrelationshipintheirinteractionswitheachotherandthechildren.A

keensensitivitytowardschildrenwasobservedintheclassroomprocessesinmostschools,with

scaffoldingofweakerchildreninavarietyofways,eveninthecontextofthetypicalmulti-grade

characterofsomeoftheseschools.

Third,theschoolenvironmentinalmostalltheschoolswascharacterisedbyacultureoftrustand

easy camaraderie, often initiated and supported through the efforts of the headteacher but

sustainedintermsofeverydayworkbyalltheteachers.Acollectivesenseofownershipofschool

processesseemedtoemergefromthiscultureanditextendedbeyondtheimmediatemandateof

designatedworktotheschoolasaninstitution,includinginteractionswithotherstakeholderssuch

asthecommunityandeducationfunctionaries.Forexample,teachersacrosstheschoolswereseen

to autonomously take decisions in the absence of the headteacher, share by rotation the

responsibilityofdifferentschoolprocesses,andensurethatteaching–learningwasnotaffectedby

theabsenceoftheircolleaguesduetoofficialworkorotherreasons.Theywerealsoobservedto

haveworkedoutamongthemselvesprocessesofreviewingtheirownwork—intermsofeither

formalend-of-monthreviewmeetingsorquickmeetingsbuiltintotheirdailyroutine.Mutualtrust

andrespectamongprofessionalcolleagueswereevidentininstanceswhereateachercouldreadily

sharehalftheteachingloadinthelongabsenceofathirdteacher(CaseStudy2),andwhereteachers

feltnohesitationorembarrassmentinadmittingignoranceandaskingtheheadteacherforhelpto

understandcertaincontent(CaseStudy6).

Finally, all the schoolshadheadteachers,whether regularor in-charge,whowereobserved to

articulateawell-definedsenseofwhattheywishedtoseeinandfortheirschools.Formanyofthem,

this had been acquired through a combination of lived experience, exposure to challenging

circumstances in the government school system, and individual application towards self-

development.More importantly, theheadteacherscouldbeseen toeffectively translate for the

otherteachersintheschoolasimilarvisionthroughtheirexemplarypracticesandtheprofessional

valuesystemsthattheyendorsedandworkedtowardsinstitutionalisingwithintheirschools.

Case study 1: Government Girls High School – Uparpur, Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand

GovernmentGirlsHighSchoolUparpurislocatedinUparpurvillage,UparpurGramPanchayatof

DundaBlockinUttarkashidistrict.Thetotalpopulationofthevillageis660with118households.

Thesexratiois1025femalesper1000males.Theoverallliteracyrateis77%,withmaleliteracy

being94%andfemaleliteracybeing67%.

Theschoolwasfoundedintheyear2006withinthepremisesofatempleandtransferredtoitsown

buildingonlyin2013.Theschoolisyettohaveapuccabuildingandelectricity,andtheplayground

issmall.Currently,thereare44childrenenrolledintheschoolacrossClasses6–8.

Itis35kilometresfromtheblockresourcecentre,33kilometresfromtheblockeducationoffice,

and18kilometresfromtheclusterresourcecentre.Connectingroadsandpublictransportare

almostnon-existent.Theonlywaytocommuteisbypersonalvehicleorhiredtransport.Teachersof

theschool,therefore,takeasharedtaxieveryday,atapersonalindividualexpenseofRs.100per

day.Onrainydays,whenthetaxiisunabletonavigatetheroads,theystayoverinthevillage.

Mostofthecommunityisengagedinagricultureanddairywork.Formuchoftheyear,theylivein

‘chaanis’(ahutonhighaltituderegionsinthemountains),keeptheircattlewiththem,andreturnto

theirhomesinthevillageonlyfortwotothreemonthsoftheyear.Duetothis,parentsarenotthere

for much of the school year. The teachers expressed how they considered themselves more

responsibleforthechildrenofthese‘absenteeparents’:‘Iftheparentdoesnotcarefortheirward,

thentheteachermustplaytheroleofparentforthemandtreatthemastheirownchildren’.

11

Table 1.1 Profile of teachers

NameoftheTeacher Shalini(headteacher) Archana Preet

Gender Female Female Female

Age(years) 46 45 40

SocialCategory OBC OBC OBC

AcademicQualification M.A M.A M.A

ProfessionalQualification B.T.C B.T.C B.T.C

Yearofpostinginschool 2006 2006 2014

TotalExperience(years) 26 26 17

SubjectsTaughtNow SocialScience Language Science&Mathematics

Theschoolhasthreeteachers—theheadteacher(in-charge)Shalini,andtwoassistantteachers,

ArchanaandPreet(Table1.1).Theheadteacherhasbeeninthisschoolfortenyears;overall,shehas

26yearsofexperienceinschooleducation.Shehasplayedanactiveandconstructiveroleinthe

establishmentofthisschool.Becauseofherlongassociationwiththeschool,sheisveryfamiliar

withmanyintheparentcommunityandknowsthechildrenwell.Theothertwoteachersalsohave

severalyearsofexperienceascanbeseenfromtheabovetable.

Concernforstudentswasobservedinanumberofwaysinwhichtheteachersarrangedforthose

studentswhoneededextrasupport.Theywerefoundtoassignpeerstohelpthesestudentsona

dailybasis.Theyalsoarrangedremedialclassesforthefirstthreemonthsforthosestudentswho

camefromprimaryschoolandneededsupport tobeabletocopewiththesyllabusofClass6.

10

significant personal expense, for their daily commute to school. Yet, these teacherswereboth

observed and reported to be punctual and regular. This perseverance of the teacherswasnot

limited tomaking efforts to be in school. This was also visible in their efforts to involve the

communityinschoolprocesses,oftenmadedifficultintermsofthestructuralproblemsofpoverty,

illiteracy,anddisempowermentthatdistancesociallyandeconomicallydisadvantagedparental

communitiesfrombeinginvolvedineithertheday-to-dayschoolingissuesoftheirchildrenorthe

schoolasapublicinstitution.

Second, as individuals, these teachers and their practices reflected empathy to the needs and

context(mostlydeprivedandexcluded)ofthechildrenandthecommunity,asensitivitytoissuesof

genderandequity, andanaffirmationofequality in their facilitationofpeerprocessesamong

the children and in their own interactions with the children. For example, in the Mandehalli

School(CaseStudy7),teacherswereseencontributingtowardschildren’sneedsandforschool

improvementfromtheirownpockets,afactreaffirmedbymembersoftheSchoolDevelopmentand

ManagementCommittee(SDMC).IntheRuparpurSchool(CaseStudy6),teacherswereobservedto

bothactivelyencourageasociallyequitableenvironmentinschoolprocessessuchastheMDMand

maintainanon-hierarchicalrelationshipintheirinteractionswitheachotherandthechildren.A

keensensitivitytowardschildrenwasobservedintheclassroomprocessesinmostschools,with

scaffoldingofweakerchildreninavarietyofways,eveninthecontextofthetypicalmulti-grade

characterofsomeoftheseschools.

Third,theschoolenvironmentinalmostalltheschoolswascharacterisedbyacultureoftrustand

easy camaraderie, often initiated and supported through the efforts of the headteacher but

sustainedintermsofeverydayworkbyalltheteachers.Acollectivesenseofownershipofschool

processesseemedtoemergefromthiscultureanditextendedbeyondtheimmediatemandateof

designatedworktotheschoolasaninstitution,includinginteractionswithotherstakeholderssuch

asthecommunityandeducationfunctionaries.Forexample,teachersacrosstheschoolswereseen

to autonomously take decisions in the absence of the headteacher, share by rotation the

responsibilityofdifferentschoolprocesses,andensurethatteaching–learningwasnotaffectedby

theabsenceoftheircolleaguesduetoofficialworkorotherreasons.Theywerealsoobservedto

haveworkedoutamongthemselvesprocessesofreviewingtheirownwork—intermsofeither

formalend-of-monthreviewmeetingsorquickmeetingsbuiltintotheirdailyroutine.Mutualtrust

andrespectamongprofessionalcolleagueswereevidentininstanceswhereateachercouldreadily

sharehalftheteachingloadinthelongabsenceofathirdteacher(CaseStudy2),andwhereteachers

feltnohesitationorembarrassmentinadmittingignoranceandaskingtheheadteacherforhelpto

understandcertaincontent(CaseStudy6).

Finally, all the schoolshadheadteachers,whether regularor in-charge,whowereobserved to

articulateawell-definedsenseofwhattheywishedtoseeinandfortheirschools.Formanyofthem,

this had been acquired through a combination of lived experience, exposure to challenging

circumstances in the government school system, and individual application towards self-

development.More importantly, theheadteacherscouldbeseen toeffectively translate for the

otherteachersintheschoolasimilarvisionthroughtheirexemplarypracticesandtheprofessional

valuesystemsthattheyendorsedandworkedtowardsinstitutionalisingwithintheirschools.

Case study 1: Government Girls High School – Uparpur, Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand

GovernmentGirlsHighSchoolUparpurislocatedinUparpurvillage,UparpurGramPanchayatof

DundaBlockinUttarkashidistrict.Thetotalpopulationofthevillageis660with118households.

Thesexratiois1025femalesper1000males.Theoverallliteracyrateis77%,withmaleliteracy

being94%andfemaleliteracybeing67%.

Theschoolwasfoundedintheyear2006withinthepremisesofatempleandtransferredtoitsown

buildingonlyin2013.Theschoolisyettohaveapuccabuildingandelectricity,andtheplayground

issmall.Currently,thereare44childrenenrolledintheschoolacrossClasses6–8.

Itis35kilometresfromtheblockresourcecentre,33kilometresfromtheblockeducationoffice,

and18kilometresfromtheclusterresourcecentre.Connectingroadsandpublictransportare

almostnon-existent.Theonlywaytocommuteisbypersonalvehicleorhiredtransport.Teachersof

theschool,therefore,takeasharedtaxieveryday,atapersonalindividualexpenseofRs.100per

day.Onrainydays,whenthetaxiisunabletonavigatetheroads,theystayoverinthevillage.

Mostofthecommunityisengagedinagricultureanddairywork.Formuchoftheyear,theylivein

‘chaanis’(ahutonhighaltituderegionsinthemountains),keeptheircattlewiththem,andreturnto

theirhomesinthevillageonlyfortwotothreemonthsoftheyear.Duetothis,parentsarenotthere

for much of the school year. The teachers expressed how they considered themselves more

responsibleforthechildrenofthese‘absenteeparents’:‘Iftheparentdoesnotcarefortheirward,

thentheteachermustplaytheroleofparentforthemandtreatthemastheirownchildren’.

11

Table 1.1 Profile of teachers

NameoftheTeacher Shalini(headteacher) Archana Preet

Gender Female Female Female

Age(years) 46 45 40

SocialCategory OBC OBC OBC

AcademicQualification M.A M.A M.A

ProfessionalQualification B.T.C B.T.C B.T.C

Yearofpostinginschool 2006 2006 2014

TotalExperience(years) 26 26 17

SubjectsTaughtNow SocialScience Language Science&Mathematics

Theschoolhasthreeteachers—theheadteacher(in-charge)Shalini,andtwoassistantteachers,

ArchanaandPreet(Table1.1).Theheadteacherhasbeeninthisschoolfortenyears;overall,shehas

26yearsofexperienceinschooleducation.Shehasplayedanactiveandconstructiveroleinthe

establishmentofthisschool.Becauseofherlongassociationwiththeschool,sheisveryfamiliar

withmanyintheparentcommunityandknowsthechildrenwell.Theothertwoteachersalsohave

severalyearsofexperienceascanbeseenfromtheabovetable.

Concernforstudentswasobservedinanumberofwaysinwhichtheteachersarrangedforthose

studentswhoneededextrasupport.Theywerefoundtoassignpeerstohelpthesestudentsona

dailybasis.Theyalsoarrangedremedialclassesforthefirstthreemonthsforthosestudentswho

camefromprimaryschoolandneededsupport tobeabletocopewiththesyllabusofClass6.

12

Archanasaidthatshetriedto‘payattentiontoallthechildren’,includingthosewithspecialneeds;

shetriedtousedifferentstrategiesforthis.Asalanguageteacher,shefrequentlymadethemworkin

groups—sometimesmixedandsometimesgroupedaccordingtotheirlocallanguage.Accordingto

her, ‘Weshouldgivesometimetochildrentodoguidedtalkamongthemselves,soIdesignmy

lessonwiththeseideasalso’.Sheexpressedhowshebelievedthatherworkspokeforitself:‘My

childrenarearealreflectionorliveevidenceofmywork’.Shealsosharedhowshebelievedthat

childrenrespondtoaffection:‘Childrenwilllearn;onlyyouwillhavetotakecareaboutthem.Ifyou

lovethem,theywillalsoloveyou’.

The teachers decided among themselves the subjects they wished to take responsibility for,

accordingtotheircomfortlevelswitheachsubject.Thereseemedtobea‘cultureoftrust’amongthe

teachers.Theheadteacher’scupboardwaskeptunlockedandallteachershadaccesstorecordsand

documents.Intheheadteacher’swords,‘Itisnotmypersonalpropertyasweallaremembersofthe

schoolfamily;so,weallhaveequalrighttoaccessit’.

TheschoolhasanSMCconstitutedasperthenormsoftheRighttoEducationAct.Theteacherswere

seentobemakingeffortstobuildbridgeswiththecommunitybuttheparents,possiblybecauseof

time constraints and the demands of their livelihood,were unable to engage deeplywith the

educationoftheirchildren.Theheadteachercontinuouslysentletterstoparentsregardingthe

meetings,functions,Aam-Sabha(commonmeeting),andcelebrationofspecialdaysintheschool,

buttherateofattendanceofparentsfortheseeventswasnotverysatisfactory.Theteachersmade

anefforttoperiodicallysharetheirchildren’sprogresswiththeparentsforfeedback;yet,parents

didnotseemtoberesponsiveenough.Theteachersexpressedhowtheyfeltasenseoffrustrationat

thisperceivedlackofengagement.Asoneteachersaid,‘Duringlastmonth’smeeting,Ihaveshared

theresultsofchildrenwiththeirparentsbutnoonewasinterestedtotalkonthoseissues.They

came,sawtheresults,andmovedtotheirworkwithoutsayingasinglewordabouttheirchildrenor

effortofteachers’.

The SMChead Sanjay, an influentialmember of the village, opined that lack of education and

awarenessinthecommunityledtothisattitude.Accordingtohim,parentsbelievedthattheschool

wouldtakefullresponsibilityfortheeducationoftheirchildren.However,appreciatingtheefforts

oftheteachers,henoted,‘Weallareobligedtosuchteacherswhohavesuchastrongprofessional

commitmenttowardsourchildren.Onlyduetosuchcommitment,studentsofourvillageareableto

dowellinthenearbyGovernmentInterCollegeKWHforthelastmanyyears’.Hefurtherelaborated

howtheSMCwasmakingsomeeffortstoimprovetheschool:‘Thisisourbelovedschoolandweall

aretryingtoimproveresourcesintermsoflevellingtheplaygroundandmakingconcreteveranda

forourchildren’.

Case Study 2: Government Primary School – Dunsagar, Dehradun, Uttarakhand

The Government Primary School, Dunsagar was established in 1932. It is one among the 14

governmentschoolsofRajpurBlockinDehradundistrict.Theschoolislocatedinahillyarea,25

kilometresfromDehraduntown.Theschoolisrarelyvisitedbydistrict-levelofficials;however,the

clustercoordinatoroftenvisitstheschool.Thecurrentstrengthoftheschoolis69childrenwith38

boysand31girls.Contrarytorecenttrendsofadeclineinenrolmentingovernmentschools,dueto

themushroomingofprivateschools,thisschoolhasseenanincreaseinenrolmentfrom49children

in2007–08to69childrenin2016–17(Table2.1).Theschoolhasadequatefacilitiesintermsof

infrastructure.

13

Table 2.1: Enrolment in school

AcademicYear Enrolment

2007–2008 49

2008–2009 56

2009–2010 54

2010–2011 60

2011–2012 61

2012–2013 61

2013–2014 64

2014–2015 73

2015–2016 78

2016–2017 69

Thecatchmentareaoftheschoolisquitewide,coveringninehamletsthathavenogovernment

school intheirvicinity.Childrenhavetosometimeswalkadistanceof4–5kilometrestoreach

school.Evenifotherschoolingoptionsareavailable,asinthecaseofonevillage,parentschooseto

sendtheirchildrentotheDunsagarschoolbecauseofitsreputationandbecausetheiroldersiblings

havegonethere.Thepopularlocalperceptionisthatthisisoneofthebestgovernmentschools.

Asignificantpercentageofthepopulationinthecatchmentareabelongstothe‘generalcategory’;

however,thereareafewscheduledcastefamiliesinthevillageswhosechildrenalsoattendthis

school.Theparentcommunitywasfoundtobemoderatelysupportiveandengagedwithschool

processes.

Therearethreeteachersintheschool—Lakshmi,Jyoti,andSunita.Lakshmihasbeenin-charge

since the transfer of the previous headteacher to another school. Table 2.2 provides a brief

backgroundofeachoftheteachers.

Theschoolisbothremoteanddifficulttoaccess.Therearenobasicfacilitiessuchasemergency

medicalhelp,bank,ormarketneartheschool,andtheclosestpostofficeis10kilometresaway.

Thoughwellconnectedintermsofamacadamizedroadthatprovideseasyaccess,publictransport

isavailableonlyforthefirst15kilometresofthe25-kilometrejourneythattheteachershaveto

Table 2.2: Profile of teachers

NameoftheTeacher Lakshmi Jyoti Sunita

(In-chargeHeadteacher) (AssistantTeacher) (AssistantTeacher)

Gender Female Female Female

Age(years) 48 36 36

AcademicQualification B.A B.Sc M.Sc,M.A

ProfessionalQualification BTC B.Ed B.Ed

DateofJoininginDept. 30.11.1988 16.10.2014 17.10.2014

DateofJoininginPSDunsagar 26.09.2013 16.10.2014 17.10.2014

12

Archanasaidthatshetriedto‘payattentiontoallthechildren’,includingthosewithspecialneeds;

shetriedtousedifferentstrategiesforthis.Asalanguageteacher,shefrequentlymadethemworkin

groups—sometimesmixedandsometimesgroupedaccordingtotheirlocallanguage.Accordingto

her, ‘Weshouldgivesometimetochildrentodoguidedtalkamongthemselves,soIdesignmy

lessonwiththeseideasalso’.Sheexpressedhowshebelievedthatherworkspokeforitself:‘My

childrenarearealreflectionorliveevidenceofmywork’.Shealsosharedhowshebelievedthat

childrenrespondtoaffection:‘Childrenwilllearn;onlyyouwillhavetotakecareaboutthem.Ifyou

lovethem,theywillalsoloveyou’.

The teachers decided among themselves the subjects they wished to take responsibility for,

accordingtotheircomfortlevelswitheachsubject.Thereseemedtobea‘cultureoftrust’amongthe

teachers.Theheadteacher’scupboardwaskeptunlockedandallteachershadaccesstorecordsand

documents.Intheheadteacher’swords,‘Itisnotmypersonalpropertyasweallaremembersofthe

schoolfamily;so,weallhaveequalrighttoaccessit’.

TheschoolhasanSMCconstitutedasperthenormsoftheRighttoEducationAct.Theteacherswere

seentobemakingeffortstobuildbridgeswiththecommunitybuttheparents,possiblybecauseof

time constraints and the demands of their livelihood,were unable to engage deeplywith the

educationoftheirchildren.Theheadteachercontinuouslysentletterstoparentsregardingthe

meetings,functions,Aam-Sabha(commonmeeting),andcelebrationofspecialdaysintheschool,

buttherateofattendanceofparentsfortheseeventswasnotverysatisfactory.Theteachersmade

anefforttoperiodicallysharetheirchildren’sprogresswiththeparentsforfeedback;yet,parents

didnotseemtoberesponsiveenough.Theteachersexpressedhowtheyfeltasenseoffrustrationat

thisperceivedlackofengagement.Asoneteachersaid,‘Duringlastmonth’smeeting,Ihaveshared

theresultsofchildrenwiththeirparentsbutnoonewasinterestedtotalkonthoseissues.They

came,sawtheresults,andmovedtotheirworkwithoutsayingasinglewordabouttheirchildrenor

effortofteachers’.

The SMChead Sanjay, an influentialmember of the village, opined that lack of education and

awarenessinthecommunityledtothisattitude.Accordingtohim,parentsbelievedthattheschool

wouldtakefullresponsibilityfortheeducationoftheirchildren.However,appreciatingtheefforts

oftheteachers,henoted,‘Weallareobligedtosuchteacherswhohavesuchastrongprofessional

commitmenttowardsourchildren.Onlyduetosuchcommitment,studentsofourvillageareableto

dowellinthenearbyGovernmentInterCollegeKWHforthelastmanyyears’.Hefurtherelaborated

howtheSMCwasmakingsomeeffortstoimprovetheschool:‘Thisisourbelovedschoolandweall

aretryingtoimproveresourcesintermsoflevellingtheplaygroundandmakingconcreteveranda

forourchildren’.

Case Study 2: Government Primary School – Dunsagar, Dehradun, Uttarakhand

The Government Primary School, Dunsagar was established in 1932. It is one among the 14

governmentschoolsofRajpurBlockinDehradundistrict.Theschoolislocatedinahillyarea,25

kilometresfromDehraduntown.Theschoolisrarelyvisitedbydistrict-levelofficials;however,the

clustercoordinatoroftenvisitstheschool.Thecurrentstrengthoftheschoolis69childrenwith38

boysand31girls.Contrarytorecenttrendsofadeclineinenrolmentingovernmentschools,dueto

themushroomingofprivateschools,thisschoolhasseenanincreaseinenrolmentfrom49children

in2007–08to69childrenin2016–17(Table2.1).Theschoolhasadequatefacilitiesintermsof

infrastructure.

13

Table 2.1: Enrolment in school

AcademicYear Enrolment

2007–2008 49

2008–2009 56

2009–2010 54

2010–2011 60

2011–2012 61

2012–2013 61

2013–2014 64

2014–2015 73

2015–2016 78

2016–2017 69

Thecatchmentareaoftheschoolisquitewide,coveringninehamletsthathavenogovernment

school intheirvicinity.Childrenhavetosometimeswalkadistanceof4–5kilometrestoreach

school.Evenifotherschoolingoptionsareavailable,asinthecaseofonevillage,parentschooseto

sendtheirchildrentotheDunsagarschoolbecauseofitsreputationandbecausetheiroldersiblings

havegonethere.Thepopularlocalperceptionisthatthisisoneofthebestgovernmentschools.

Asignificantpercentageofthepopulationinthecatchmentareabelongstothe‘generalcategory’;

however,thereareafewscheduledcastefamiliesinthevillageswhosechildrenalsoattendthis

school.Theparentcommunitywasfoundtobemoderatelysupportiveandengagedwithschool

processes.

Therearethreeteachersintheschool—Lakshmi,Jyoti,andSunita.Lakshmihasbeenin-charge

since the transfer of the previous headteacher to another school. Table 2.2 provides a brief

backgroundofeachoftheteachers.

Theschoolisbothremoteanddifficulttoaccess.Therearenobasicfacilitiessuchasemergency

medicalhelp,bank,ormarketneartheschool,andtheclosestpostofficeis10kilometresaway.

Thoughwellconnectedintermsofamacadamizedroadthatprovideseasyaccess,publictransport

isavailableonlyforthefirst15kilometresofthe25-kilometrejourneythattheteachershaveto

Table 2.2: Profile of teachers

NameoftheTeacher Lakshmi Jyoti Sunita

(In-chargeHeadteacher) (AssistantTeacher) (AssistantTeacher)

Gender Female Female Female

Age(years) 48 36 36

AcademicQualification B.A B.Sc M.Sc,M.A

ProfessionalQualification BTC B.Ed B.Ed

DateofJoininginDept. 30.11.1988 16.10.2014 17.10.2014

DateofJoininginPSDunsagar 26.09.2013 16.10.2014 17.10.2014

makefromDehradun.Theremainingdistanceof10kilometrescanonlybecoveredbyeitherusinga

personalvehicleorrequestingothercommutersforalift.Theroadisrelativelydeserted,somuchso

thatsometimes,itishardtospotevenasinglepersontravelingonit.Allthreeteachersuseashared

taxifortheircommute.Itishiredbyagroupof8–10teachersworkinginneighbouringschoolsin

thearea.Thetaxiownerpicksuptheteachersfromafewcentralisedlocations.Toensurethatall

teachersreachtheirschoolsontime,theyhavetostartatleastonehourbeforeschoolbegins.The

taxiisbookedfortheentireyear,exceptsummervacations,bythisgroupofteachers;thetaxiowner

chargeseachteacherRs.2500permonth.ThisisacommonpracticeacrossUttarakhandwhere

teachersresideintheclosesttownbutusesharecabstocommutetoschool.

Ofthethreeteachers,onewasawayonmaternityleavesinceJuly2016andwasexpectedtoreturn

onlybyend-December.Inherabsence,theheadteacherandtheotherteacherdistributedthework

loadequallybetweenthemselves.Thelatterexpressedthatshefeltfreetoraiseanddiscussany

issuewiththeheadteacherandtherelationshipbetweenthemwasobservedtobecommunicative

andnon-hierarchical.Recordsarenotkeptlocked-upinacupboardandbothteachershaveaccess

tothem.Itwasalsoobservedthatiftheheadteacherwasawayfromschoolforameetingatthe

clusterresourcecentreortheblockresourcecentre,theotherteachertookresponsibilityforall

childrenandensured that teaching–learningprocesseswerenotaffectedby theheadteacher’s

absence.

Jyoti,forwhomthiswasthefirstpostingandwhohasnowbeenworkingforthepasttwoyearsin

this school, shared how she initially chose to become a teacher because of the perceived

convenienceoftheworkinghours.Shefeltthatwithateachingjob,shewouldbeabletobalanceher

personalandprofessionallife.However,shecontinuedthatanencounterwithaparticularchild,

Asha, and the experience ofworkingwith her over a period of time transformedher attitude

towardsteachingandhervisionoftheprofessionanditssignificance.

ThestoryofAsha(Box2.1)wasnarratedbybothJyotiandtheMDMcookintheschool.Speaking

aboutAsha,Jyotisaid,‘Today,AshaisabletodoalotandIexperienceagreatsenseofsatisfaction

whenIseeher.ShehaschangedthewayIseeandunderstandeducation’.

Box 2.1: Inspiring experience for teacher

AshaisagirlchildcurrentlystudyinginClass2;heroldersisterisinClass4inthesameschool.

WhenAshawasfirstenrolled,shewasobservedtobeverysilentandwithdrawn.Forthefirstsix

months,shealwayskeptherschoolbaginherlap,closetoher,neitheropeningitherselfnor

allowingteacherstoopenitortakeitawayfromher.Once,whentheheadteacher,Lakshmi,

forcefullytriedtopickupherbag,shestartedtohitandkicktheteacherandcriedveryloudly.She

wasnotconsidered‘normal’byherpeers.JyotiworkedwithAshapatientlyandgently,gradually

winninghertrust.Overthemonths,hereffortspaidoff.Now,thereisaremarkablechangein

Asha.Sheparticipatesinclassandshehasbeenperformingwell.Themotherisalsohappytosee

thechangeinherchild.

Indeed,observationsfromJyoti’sclassroomreflectedhowherengagementwassensitiveandnon-

discriminatory.Further,theobservationsshowedtheeffortssheputintosimultaneouslyfacilitatea

rich learningexperience inadifficultmulti-gradeclassroomsituationandmaintaina fear-free

environment,allowingchildrentointeractwithherwithouthesitation(Box2.2).

14 15

Box 2.2: A glimpse of classroom processes

Classes1,2,and4werehousedtogetherinoneclassroom.Everychildfromeveryclasswas

present.Therefore,therewere40childreninclass.Theteacherhadgivenindividualassignments

toeachclass.Class1childrenwereengagedincompletingtheirlanguageworkbook,Class2was

giventwo-digitaddition,andClass4childrenwereaskedtoreadagivenchapter fromtheir

textbook.

The primary focus during the observed period was Class 2. While the others worked by

themselves,theteacherexplainedadditionoftwo-digitnumbersusingtheblackboardtoClass2

andthen,theyweregivenproblemstosolve.WithinClass2,forthesecondexercise,theteacher

further divided the children into two groups, each consisting of 6–7 children. One group

consistedofthosechildrenwhowereabletosolvetheproblemsandthesecondconsistedof

thosewho needed support. The teacher directed the first group to help the second. In this

manner,thelessonproceededsmoothlywithallchildrenlookinghappy.

She appreciated children whenever she could. A child, Rajeev, from Class 2, completed his

mathematicsproblemssoquicklythefirsttimethattheteacheraskedallthechildrentoclapfor

him.Rajeevwasvisiblypleasedbythis.Atthesametime,shewasattentivetowardsthechildren

whoseemedtobestruggling,helpingthempatientlyandcontinuously.Itwasobservedthatthe

childrendidnothesitatetoaskherquestions.

Afterthis,sheaskedthechildrenofClass1tobringtheirworktoherforevaluationandfeedback.

Shethenassessedandrespondedtotheirworkindividually,whileClass4childrencontinuedto

readquietlybythemselves,withoutcreatinganydisturbanceeventhoughtheydidnothavethe

teacher’sattentionsofar.

In other conversations, Jyoti lamented that despite having decent enrolments, there was an

inadequacyofteachersintheschool.Sheexpressedfrustrationathavingtosimultaneouslyengage

withchildrenofdifferentclassesandagesinthesameclassroom.Accordingtoher,thiswasnotthe

rightwaytodealwithchildrenandnotthebestwaytohelpthemtofulfiltheirpotential:‘Nomatter

howmanychildren theremaybe inaclassroom, ifweput twoormoreclasses together, then

somewhere,we are compromisingwith the learning of these children,which is not the right

solution.Ineveryclass,everychildrenshouldgetanadequateopportunitytolearn.Forthis,itis

importanttohaveadequatenumberofteachersforeveryclassandeverysubject’.

Case Study 3: Government Higher Primary School – Kuphargere, Yadgiri, Karnataka

GovernmentHigherPrimarySchool,KuphargereislocatedintheheartofKuphargerevillagein

ruralKarnataka,whichhasatotalpopulationof2259,consistingof447households.Thesexratiois

954femalesper1000males.Theliteracyrateofthevillageis46.1%,withmaleliteracyat59.3%

andfemaleliteracyat32.2%.Scheduledcastesandscheduledtribestogethercomprise43.4%of

thepopulation.OtherdominantsocialgroupsofthevillageareLingayatsandVokkaligas.Themajor

occupationofthevillagecommunityisagricultureandagriculturallabour.Asectionofthevillage

populationmigratesseasonallytourbanareasforconstructionandothercooliework.

Theschoolislocatedatadistanceof28kilometresfromtheSurpurBlockheadquarters.Theaccess

roadstotheschoolareverypoor.Publictransportfacilityisalsopoorandpeoplehavetodepend

upontheirownvehiclesorprivateauto(Tam-Tam),whichisrarelyavailable.

makefromDehradun.Theremainingdistanceof10kilometrescanonlybecoveredbyeitherusinga

personalvehicleorrequestingothercommutersforalift.Theroadisrelativelydeserted,somuchso

thatsometimes,itishardtospotevenasinglepersontravelingonit.Allthreeteachersuseashared

taxifortheircommute.Itishiredbyagroupof8–10teachersworkinginneighbouringschoolsin

thearea.Thetaxiownerpicksuptheteachersfromafewcentralisedlocations.Toensurethatall

teachersreachtheirschoolsontime,theyhavetostartatleastonehourbeforeschoolbegins.The

taxiisbookedfortheentireyear,exceptsummervacations,bythisgroupofteachers;thetaxiowner

chargeseachteacherRs.2500permonth.ThisisacommonpracticeacrossUttarakhandwhere

teachersresideintheclosesttownbutusesharecabstocommutetoschool.

Ofthethreeteachers,onewasawayonmaternityleavesinceJuly2016andwasexpectedtoreturn

onlybyend-December.Inherabsence,theheadteacherandtheotherteacherdistributedthework

loadequallybetweenthemselves.Thelatterexpressedthatshefeltfreetoraiseanddiscussany

issuewiththeheadteacherandtherelationshipbetweenthemwasobservedtobecommunicative

andnon-hierarchical.Recordsarenotkeptlocked-upinacupboardandbothteachershaveaccess

tothem.Itwasalsoobservedthatiftheheadteacherwasawayfromschoolforameetingatthe

clusterresourcecentreortheblockresourcecentre,theotherteachertookresponsibilityforall

childrenandensured that teaching–learningprocesseswerenotaffectedby theheadteacher’s

absence.

Jyoti,forwhomthiswasthefirstpostingandwhohasnowbeenworkingforthepasttwoyearsin

this school, shared how she initially chose to become a teacher because of the perceived

convenienceoftheworkinghours.Shefeltthatwithateachingjob,shewouldbeabletobalanceher

personalandprofessionallife.However,shecontinuedthatanencounterwithaparticularchild,

Asha, and the experience ofworkingwith her over a period of time transformedher attitude

towardsteachingandhervisionoftheprofessionanditssignificance.

ThestoryofAsha(Box2.1)wasnarratedbybothJyotiandtheMDMcookintheschool.Speaking

aboutAsha,Jyotisaid,‘Today,AshaisabletodoalotandIexperienceagreatsenseofsatisfaction

whenIseeher.ShehaschangedthewayIseeandunderstandeducation’.

Box 2.1: Inspiring experience for teacher

AshaisagirlchildcurrentlystudyinginClass2;heroldersisterisinClass4inthesameschool.

WhenAshawasfirstenrolled,shewasobservedtobeverysilentandwithdrawn.Forthefirstsix

months,shealwayskeptherschoolbaginherlap,closetoher,neitheropeningitherselfnor

allowingteacherstoopenitortakeitawayfromher.Once,whentheheadteacher,Lakshmi,

forcefullytriedtopickupherbag,shestartedtohitandkicktheteacherandcriedveryloudly.She

wasnotconsidered‘normal’byherpeers.JyotiworkedwithAshapatientlyandgently,gradually

winninghertrust.Overthemonths,hereffortspaidoff.Now,thereisaremarkablechangein

Asha.Sheparticipatesinclassandshehasbeenperformingwell.Themotherisalsohappytosee

thechangeinherchild.

Indeed,observationsfromJyoti’sclassroomreflectedhowherengagementwassensitiveandnon-

discriminatory.Further,theobservationsshowedtheeffortssheputintosimultaneouslyfacilitatea

rich learningexperience inadifficultmulti-gradeclassroomsituationandmaintaina fear-free

environment,allowingchildrentointeractwithherwithouthesitation(Box2.2).

14 15

Box 2.2: A glimpse of classroom processes

Classes1,2,and4werehousedtogetherinoneclassroom.Everychildfromeveryclasswas

present.Therefore,therewere40childreninclass.Theteacherhadgivenindividualassignments

toeachclass.Class1childrenwereengagedincompletingtheirlanguageworkbook,Class2was

giventwo-digitaddition,andClass4childrenwereaskedtoreadagivenchapter fromtheir

textbook.

The primary focus during the observed period was Class 2. While the others worked by

themselves,theteacherexplainedadditionoftwo-digitnumbersusingtheblackboardtoClass2

andthen,theyweregivenproblemstosolve.WithinClass2,forthesecondexercise,theteacher

further divided the children into two groups, each consisting of 6–7 children. One group

consistedofthosechildrenwhowereabletosolvetheproblemsandthesecondconsistedof

thosewho needed support. The teacher directed the first group to help the second. In this

manner,thelessonproceededsmoothlywithallchildrenlookinghappy.

She appreciated children whenever she could. A child, Rajeev, from Class 2, completed his

mathematicsproblemssoquicklythefirsttimethattheteacheraskedallthechildrentoclapfor

him.Rajeevwasvisiblypleasedbythis.Atthesametime,shewasattentivetowardsthechildren

whoseemedtobestruggling,helpingthempatientlyandcontinuously.Itwasobservedthatthe

childrendidnothesitatetoaskherquestions.

Afterthis,sheaskedthechildrenofClass1tobringtheirworktoherforevaluationandfeedback.

Shethenassessedandrespondedtotheirworkindividually,whileClass4childrencontinuedto

readquietlybythemselves,withoutcreatinganydisturbanceeventhoughtheydidnothavethe

teacher’sattentionsofar.

In other conversations, Jyoti lamented that despite having decent enrolments, there was an

inadequacyofteachersintheschool.Sheexpressedfrustrationathavingtosimultaneouslyengage

withchildrenofdifferentclassesandagesinthesameclassroom.Accordingtoher,thiswasnotthe

rightwaytodealwithchildrenandnotthebestwaytohelpthemtofulfiltheirpotential:‘Nomatter

howmanychildren theremaybe inaclassroom, ifweput twoormoreclasses together, then

somewhere,we are compromisingwith the learning of these children,which is not the right

solution.Ineveryclass,everychildrenshouldgetanadequateopportunitytolearn.Forthis,itis

importanttohaveadequatenumberofteachersforeveryclassandeverysubject’.

Case Study 3: Government Higher Primary School – Kuphargere, Yadgiri, Karnataka

GovernmentHigherPrimarySchool,KuphargereislocatedintheheartofKuphargerevillagein

ruralKarnataka,whichhasatotalpopulationof2259,consistingof447households.Thesexratiois

954femalesper1000males.Theliteracyrateofthevillageis46.1%,withmaleliteracyat59.3%

andfemaleliteracyat32.2%.Scheduledcastesandscheduledtribestogethercomprise43.4%of

thepopulation.OtherdominantsocialgroupsofthevillageareLingayatsandVokkaligas.Themajor

occupationofthevillagecommunityisagricultureandagriculturallabour.Asectionofthevillage

populationmigratesseasonallytourbanareasforconstructionandothercooliework.

Theschoolislocatedatadistanceof28kilometresfromtheSurpurBlockheadquarters.Theaccess

roadstotheschoolareverypoor.Publictransportfacilityisalsopoorandpeoplehavetodepend

upontheirownvehiclesorprivateauto(Tam-Tam),whichisrarelyavailable.

16

Theschoolishousedintwodifferentbuildingsatsomedistancefromeachother.Onebuilding

accommodatesClasses1–4andtheotherbuildingaccommodatesClasses5–7.321childrenare

currentlyenrolledintheschool.Onanaverage,around260studentsattendschooleveryday.

In2003,theschoolwasrunningwith238studentsforClasses1–7withfiveteachers.Therewere

onlyfourrooms,whichwereinastateofdisrepair.Especiallyduringtherains,theschoolgrounds

would be flooded and some rooms would become unusable. The teachers would either club

childrentogetherandconductmulti-gradeclassesorperforcesendthechildrenhome.Theschoolis

nowverywellequippedintermsofinfrastructure.Thishasbeenpossiblelargelyduetotheefforts

ofafewmembersofthecommunityandsomecapableandcommittedheadteacherswho,overthe

years,wereabletomobilisethecommunity.

Despite this engagement of the community with school development, during the period

2003–2013,theschoolwasnotevenabletoformanSDMCduetopoliticalinterruptionandcaste

conflicts.TheschoolgrantssanctionedinthatperiodwereremittedtotheDepartmentduetonon-

formationofSDMC.ThepresentSDMCwasformedintheyear2014;however,itisnotyetactiveand

noSDMCmeetingshavebeenconductedsofar.OnlytheSDMCPresidentvisitstheschoolwhenever

invited;heseemedtohaveaverylimitedunderstandingoftherolesandresponsibilitiesofthe

SDMC.

Table 3.1: Profile of teachers

Name Sex Age Qualification Subjects Duration No.ofposting Durationof

(years) taught ofservice incurrent currentposting

(years) school (years)

Gangadhar Male 35 B.Ed English 13 1 13

Mahendra Male 32 B.Ed Mathematics 8 1 8

Vajramuni Male 29 D.Ed Science, 6 1 6 Mathematics, Hindi

Badri Male 29 B.Ed Kannada, 1 1 1

SocialScience

Currently,theschoolhasfourregularappointedassistantteacherswhoengagewiththehigher

primaryclasses(Table3.1)andthreeparateacherswhotakecareoflowerprimaryclasses.With11

sanctionedposts,thereisavacancyofseventeachers.Twooftheregularteacherswhocomefrom

distantplaces,namelyDharwadandBelgaum,havedeliberatelychosentoliveinthevillage.They

cited thedistanceand lackofavailabilityofpublic transportasoneof thereasonsbehind this

decision;thesecondreasonwassothattheycouldengagewiththecommunity,understandthem,

andbuildagoodrelationshipwiththem,aswellasengagewithchildrenafterschoolhours.Thetwo

otherteacherstraveladistanceof15kilometresone-waydaily.

Assharedbyacoupleoftheregularteachers,theirprimaryschoolteachershadbeenaninspiration

for them to become teachers. The in-chargeheadteacher recalled, ‘Myprimary school teacher

Shankarappahadinfluencedmealot.Hestayedinthesamevillageandspentmuchofhistimein

schoolwithchildren.Ispenttimediscussingwithhiminhishouseafterschoolhours.Iusedtosleep

athishousemostofthetimeandhetaughtmeyogaat4a.m.,andtoreadbooks.Thisinfluencedmea

lotandhenceIoptedfortheteachingprofession’.

The teachers shared how they felt that teaching was a worthwhile endeavour that makes a

significantcontributiontosociety,morethanotherprofessions.Asoneofthemsaid,‘Likewater,air

andlight,educationisalsoafundamentalneed.Givingeducationisnotjustmakingthechildrento

17

readandwrite.Itshouldincludecultureandvalues.Achildcanget80%or90%inhisexams,butif

hedoesn’tknowhowtogel inthesociety,thateducationdoesn’thaveanymeaning.Heshould

respectthesocietyandgetrespectfromthesociety’.

Theschoolday for the teachersstartedat8a.m.,anhourbeforeschoolbegan.Whilechildren

cleanedtheschoolpremisesandbroughtwaterfromthenearbycanaltowaterthegarden,the

teacherstookextraclassesforthehigher-gradechildrenfrom8–9a.m.Theteachersalsotookan

hourofextraclassforMathematicsintheevening,from4.30to5.30p.m.Theyappearedtoworkasa

teamandtheunderstandingandcoordinationamongstthemwasvisibleinthedailyrunningofthe

school.AllprocessespertainingtotheMDMwereorganisedindetailandinturnmanagedsmoothly

by theMDM staff, with one assistant teacher being responsible for supervision. Observations

showedthat theteachers,besideshavingtheir lunch,spent the lunchhourdiscussingrelevant

academicandadministrativeissuessuchasclassdistributionandofficialdocumentationwork.

Transparencywasevidentamongtheteacherswithrespectto informationsharing;grantsand

expenditurestatementsweresharedamongallthroughashareitapp.Theteacherswerealsoseen

tomakeuseofWhatsApptoshareacademicmaterials,readings,andrhymesamongthemselves.

No visible sense of hierarchy based on age, experience, or seniority was evident in their

interactions. This spirit of professional camaraderie is best captured in one of the teachers’

response:‘Theimportantthingisthatwenevertrytotakethecreditindividually;whateverwedo,

wedoitinthenameofteamwork.Thatmightbeourgreateststrength,whichhelpedustobe

togetherandachieveallthis’.

EvenintheabsenceoftheSMCuntil2014anditsnon-functionalstateafteritsformationin2014,

theteachers,byoptingtoliveinthevillage,havebeenabletobuildagoodrelationshipwiththe

community.Despiteavisiblyfracturedcommunitywithamultitudeoffactionsandyouthgroups,

theteachershavebeenabletomobilisefundsforschooldevelopment,includingsettingupofa

librarywithbooks,charts,tables,andchairs.

Theteacherswererarelyabsent,butiftheywere,theyapproachedtheschoolalumnifromthe

community,whohadcompletedtheirgraduationandpost-graduation,totakeclasses.Thealumni

wereobservedtodosowillingly,withoutanyfinancialcompensation.Onotheroccasions,whena

teacherwasabsent,eithertwoclassesweremergedtogetherorhigher-gradestudentsweregiven

theresponsibilityofengagingwiththeclass.

Theheadteacheroftheschoolseemedtohavecontributedalotinbuildingapositiveworkculture

intheschoolandwasawarethathehadtoleadbyexample.Heexpressedhow,onlyifhemanagedto

betransparent,dedicated,andhonest,wouldthosequalitiesbetransferredtotheotherteachers.

Thecomplexanddemandingnatureofhisrolewasevidentwhenhesaid,‘Everyonehasdifferent

opinionsandbeliefs,andbringingpeopletoacommonandsharedunderstandingisatoughjob.

Consideringeveryone’sviews,generalisingallopinions,andtakingeveryone’sconsenttomakea

finaldecisionisatoughtask’.

Case Study 4: Govt. Primary School – Basarpur, Tonk, Rajasthan Government Primary School, Basarpur is located in Basarpur of Kahan Panchayat Samiti,

32kilometresfromKairiBlockand47kilometresfromTonk.Theschoolwasestablishedin2001

with one student, by the present headteacher, and currently has a student strength of 82,

distributedacrossClasses1–5.Ofthe82students,61areKanjarsfromBasarpurand21areof

othercastesfromanothervillagelocated2kilometresaway.

Theheadteacher,Hiralal,hasbeenassociatedwiththeschoolsinceitsinception.Ithasbeenlargely

throughhiseffortsthattheschoolwasestablishedandithascontinuedtofunction.Untilaschool

buildingwassanctionedin2007,hecontinuedtopayrentforaschoolbuildingoutofhispocket.

16

Theschoolishousedintwodifferentbuildingsatsomedistancefromeachother.Onebuilding

accommodatesClasses1–4andtheotherbuildingaccommodatesClasses5–7.321childrenare

currentlyenrolledintheschool.Onanaverage,around260studentsattendschooleveryday.

In2003,theschoolwasrunningwith238studentsforClasses1–7withfiveteachers.Therewere

onlyfourrooms,whichwereinastateofdisrepair.Especiallyduringtherains,theschoolgrounds

would be flooded and some rooms would become unusable. The teachers would either club

childrentogetherandconductmulti-gradeclassesorperforcesendthechildrenhome.Theschoolis

nowverywellequippedintermsofinfrastructure.Thishasbeenpossiblelargelyduetotheefforts

ofafewmembersofthecommunityandsomecapableandcommittedheadteacherswho,overthe

years,wereabletomobilisethecommunity.

Despite this engagement of the community with school development, during the period

2003–2013,theschoolwasnotevenabletoformanSDMCduetopoliticalinterruptionandcaste

conflicts.TheschoolgrantssanctionedinthatperiodwereremittedtotheDepartmentduetonon-

formationofSDMC.ThepresentSDMCwasformedintheyear2014;however,itisnotyetactiveand

noSDMCmeetingshavebeenconductedsofar.OnlytheSDMCPresidentvisitstheschoolwhenever

invited;heseemedtohaveaverylimitedunderstandingoftherolesandresponsibilitiesofthe

SDMC.

Table 3.1: Profile of teachers

Name Sex Age Qualification Subjects Duration No.ofposting Durationof

(years) taught ofservice incurrent currentposting

(years) school (years)

Gangadhar Male 35 B.Ed English 13 1 13

Mahendra Male 32 B.Ed Mathematics 8 1 8

Vajramuni Male 29 D.Ed Science, 6 1 6 Mathematics, Hindi

Badri Male 29 B.Ed Kannada, 1 1 1

SocialScience

Currently,theschoolhasfourregularappointedassistantteacherswhoengagewiththehigher

primaryclasses(Table3.1)andthreeparateacherswhotakecareoflowerprimaryclasses.With11

sanctionedposts,thereisavacancyofseventeachers.Twooftheregularteacherswhocomefrom

distantplaces,namelyDharwadandBelgaum,havedeliberatelychosentoliveinthevillage.They

cited thedistanceand lackofavailabilityofpublic transportasoneof thereasonsbehind this

decision;thesecondreasonwassothattheycouldengagewiththecommunity,understandthem,

andbuildagoodrelationshipwiththem,aswellasengagewithchildrenafterschoolhours.Thetwo

otherteacherstraveladistanceof15kilometresone-waydaily.

Assharedbyacoupleoftheregularteachers,theirprimaryschoolteachershadbeenaninspiration

for them to become teachers. The in-chargeheadteacher recalled, ‘Myprimary school teacher

Shankarappahadinfluencedmealot.Hestayedinthesamevillageandspentmuchofhistimein

schoolwithchildren.Ispenttimediscussingwithhiminhishouseafterschoolhours.Iusedtosleep

athishousemostofthetimeandhetaughtmeyogaat4a.m.,andtoreadbooks.Thisinfluencedmea

lotandhenceIoptedfortheteachingprofession’.

The teachers shared how they felt that teaching was a worthwhile endeavour that makes a

significantcontributiontosociety,morethanotherprofessions.Asoneofthemsaid,‘Likewater,air

andlight,educationisalsoafundamentalneed.Givingeducationisnotjustmakingthechildrento

17

readandwrite.Itshouldincludecultureandvalues.Achildcanget80%or90%inhisexams,butif

hedoesn’tknowhowtogel inthesociety,thateducationdoesn’thaveanymeaning.Heshould

respectthesocietyandgetrespectfromthesociety’.

Theschoolday for the teachersstartedat8a.m.,anhourbeforeschoolbegan.Whilechildren

cleanedtheschoolpremisesandbroughtwaterfromthenearbycanaltowaterthegarden,the

teacherstookextraclassesforthehigher-gradechildrenfrom8–9a.m.Theteachersalsotookan

hourofextraclassforMathematicsintheevening,from4.30to5.30p.m.Theyappearedtoworkasa

teamandtheunderstandingandcoordinationamongstthemwasvisibleinthedailyrunningofthe

school.AllprocessespertainingtotheMDMwereorganisedindetailandinturnmanagedsmoothly

by theMDM staff, with one assistant teacher being responsible for supervision. Observations

showedthat theteachers,besideshavingtheir lunch,spent the lunchhourdiscussingrelevant

academicandadministrativeissuessuchasclassdistributionandofficialdocumentationwork.

Transparencywasevidentamongtheteacherswithrespectto informationsharing;grantsand

expenditurestatementsweresharedamongallthroughashareitapp.Theteacherswerealsoseen

tomakeuseofWhatsApptoshareacademicmaterials,readings,andrhymesamongthemselves.

No visible sense of hierarchy based on age, experience, or seniority was evident in their

interactions. This spirit of professional camaraderie is best captured in one of the teachers’

response:‘Theimportantthingisthatwenevertrytotakethecreditindividually;whateverwedo,

wedoitinthenameofteamwork.Thatmightbeourgreateststrength,whichhelpedustobe

togetherandachieveallthis’.

EvenintheabsenceoftheSMCuntil2014anditsnon-functionalstateafteritsformationin2014,

theteachers,byoptingtoliveinthevillage,havebeenabletobuildagoodrelationshipwiththe

community.Despiteavisiblyfracturedcommunitywithamultitudeoffactionsandyouthgroups,

theteachershavebeenabletomobilisefundsforschooldevelopment,includingsettingupofa

librarywithbooks,charts,tables,andchairs.

Theteacherswererarelyabsent,butiftheywere,theyapproachedtheschoolalumnifromthe

community,whohadcompletedtheirgraduationandpost-graduation,totakeclasses.Thealumni

wereobservedtodosowillingly,withoutanyfinancialcompensation.Onotheroccasions,whena

teacherwasabsent,eithertwoclassesweremergedtogetherorhigher-gradestudentsweregiven

theresponsibilityofengagingwiththeclass.

Theheadteacheroftheschoolseemedtohavecontributedalotinbuildingapositiveworkculture

intheschoolandwasawarethathehadtoleadbyexample.Heexpressedhow,onlyifhemanagedto

betransparent,dedicated,andhonest,wouldthosequalitiesbetransferredtotheotherteachers.

Thecomplexanddemandingnatureofhisrolewasevidentwhenhesaid,‘Everyonehasdifferent

opinionsandbeliefs,andbringingpeopletoacommonandsharedunderstandingisatoughjob.

Consideringeveryone’sviews,generalisingallopinions,andtakingeveryone’sconsenttomakea

finaldecisionisatoughtask’.

Case Study 4: Govt. Primary School – Basarpur, Tonk, Rajasthan Government Primary School, Basarpur is located in Basarpur of Kahan Panchayat Samiti,

32kilometresfromKairiBlockand47kilometresfromTonk.Theschoolwasestablishedin2001

with one student, by the present headteacher, and currently has a student strength of 82,

distributedacrossClasses1–5.Ofthe82students,61areKanjarsfromBasarpurand21areof

othercastesfromanothervillagelocated2kilometresaway.

Theheadteacher,Hiralal,hasbeenassociatedwiththeschoolsinceitsinception.Ithasbeenlargely

throughhiseffortsthattheschoolwasestablishedandithascontinuedtofunction.Untilaschool

buildingwassanctionedin2007,hecontinuedtopayrentforaschoolbuildingoutofhispocket.

18

Herecalledhisstrugglesoftheinitialyearsoftheschool‘Neitherdidtheygivemearoomonrentfor

theschool,nordidtheygiveaplacetosit.ItookaroomonrentforRs.200permonth.Anotherpara

teacherwasposted,afterwhichweworkedveryhard to increase theenrolment. In2007,our

applicationgotpassedandin2008,thebuildingwasconstructed’.

Healsodescribedthecommunity’sreluctancetoaccesstheschoolintheearlyyears:‘Theywould

notsendthechildren,becausetheschoolwasfarandrightinfrontoftheburialground;then,we

madethemunderstandandslowlytheystartedtosendthechildren’.Theschoolislocateddirectly

acrossthevillageburialground,andevennow,wheneverthereisadeathinthevillage,children’s

attendance gets badly affected due to fear of evil spirits. Once the building construction was

completed in 2008, it is largely because of the headteacher’s regular interactions with the

community that the enrolment has climbed steadily over the years (Table 4.1). Besides the

headteacher,therearethreeotherteachersintheschool(Table4.2).

Table 4.1 : Enrolment in school

AcademicYear Enrolment

2008–2009 23

2010–2011 45

2011–2012 49

2012–2013 51

2013–2014 61

2014–2015 71

2015–2016 82

Table 4.2: Profile of the teachers

NameoftheTeacher Hiralal Seema Bhupesh Gayatri

(Placeofresidence) (Headteacher) (Kairi) (Kairi) (Deputed–InKahan)

(Kahan)

Gender Male Female Female Female

Age(years) 36 24 38 38

SocialCategory OBC SC SC SC

AcademicQualification M.AHindi M.AHistory M.AHindi B.A

ProfessionalQualification B.Ed STC STC STC

NumberofyearsinSchool Sinceinception 2013 2016 2013

TheschoolbuildingconsistsoftworoomsbutwithnoseparateareaforpreparingtheMDMandnoseparate room for the headteacher either. The school has adequate infrastructure, though noelectrical connection. In the recent years, the headteacher, in his efforts towards schoolimprovement, has consistently tried to mobilise funds for the construction and extension ofclassrooms,constructionofaboundarywallandaplaceformakingMDM,butwithoutsuccess.Assharedbytheheadteacher,thePanchayatSamitiandtheDepartmenthaveeachpointedtotheother,saying that it was the other’s responsibility. The school is also not on the radar of the localfunctionaries.Thelastofficialvisitwasmadeon26thAugust2016,byaresourceperson;there

19

werenoothervisitsoverthecurrentacademicyear.Theresponseoftheofficialswhohadvisitedthisschoolearlierwasthattheyhadprovidedwhateverthegovernmenthadsanctionedandasmuchsupportastheypossiblycould,emphasisingthatithadstartedasasingle-teacherschoolandnowithadthreesanctionedpostsandanadditionaldeputedteacher.Theywereunabletogiveasuitable response to thequestiononwhy the request to addextra classroomsandaplace forpreparingtheMDMhadnotmovedforward.

The school primarily serves the Kanjar, a socially outcast local community found mainly inRajasthanandMadhyaPradesh.Typically,theyliveontheperipheryofresidentialsettlements.ThemainoccupationofthefamiliessettledinBasarpur,bytheirownadmissionandteachers’reports,includesproductionofcountryliquor,runningbrothelhouses,andextortion.Theyalsoworkasagriculturallabourers.Afewinfluentialmencontroltheentirecommunitythroughcommunity‘panchayats’.Themenareprimarilyresponsible forthefamily livelihood,whilethewomenareconfinedtothehomeandtheymanagetheliquorproduction.Educationisnotaveryhighprioritywith the community. As a result, the attendance in the school is often poor. It was seen thatwheneverthishappened,theheadteacherwenttothecommunityandtriedtofindthereasonsfortheabsenceofthechildrenandmadeeffortstotalktotheparents.Theheadteacherlamented,‘Theparentsarenotaware.Wetrytomakethemawarebutitisnoteasy.ThatiswhybythetimechildrenreachClass8,theyalldropout.Forgetaboutgettingagovernmentjobfortheseslumchildren,notasinglechildhasevenpassedClass10.Theydonotgethelpandsupportfromparents’.Interestingly,onlytheheadteachervisitedthecommunitytofollow-upontheabsentchildren,astheteachersdidnotventureintowhattheyperceivedtobeatroubledarea.

Asobservedbytheheadteacher,sofar,nochildfromthecommunityhasbeenabletocompleteschool(Class10),withtheexceptionofoneboycurrentlyenrolledinClass11inanearbyseniorsecondary school.This senior student appeared tobe a symbolofhope for someof theotherstudents.Duringavisittotheschool,aClass5studentDhirajexplainedthateveryonewasveryinterestedinknowinghowfarthisstudentwouldgobecausehewasarolemodelforthemandtheywere hopeful that hewould guide them after completion of his own education and obtainingemployment.

Yet,despitethelackofawarenessabouteducationinthecommunity,theschoolhasafunctioningSMC,reconstitutedeachyear.Thememberscametoschoolwheneverrequired,andparent–teachermeetings(PTMs)wereseentotakeplaceregularly.Boththeforums,SMCsandPTMs,wereusedtotake decisions and implement actions related to students’ attendance, their learning levels,infrastructure related opinion collection, and information sharing about relevant governmentschemes.

TheSMCmemberswereobservedtobeactivebutplayedmoreofapolicingandmonitoringroleoverseeingteachers’actionsinschoolaswellasoutofschool.AnSMCmemberwasobservedtorebukeateacherforwatchingavideocliponhercellphone,duringlunchtime,‘WahMadam!Areyoulisteningtosongsduringschooltime?’towhichtheteacherreplied,‘Brother,Iwaswatchinganactivityvideotoprepareforanactivitywhichwillbetransactedwiththechildren’.TherewerealsocaseswhereSMCmembersstoppedandquestionedteacherswhowereseencominglatetoschool.

Thecommunity,despiteitsattituderegardingeducation,hadanunderstandingofandappreciatedtheheadteacher’scontributiontotheschool.DuringaconversationwithoneoftheSMCmembers,mentionwasmadeoftheheadteacher’swishtoobtainatransferfromthisschool.Thememberresponded,‘Thiscannothappen;wewillnotlethimgo’.

Thoughtheschooliswellconnectedbyaroad,therearenopublictransportationfacilitiesthatregularlyplyonthis.Twoofthefourteachers,namelytheheadteacherHiralalandthedeputed-inteacherGayatri,resideinKahanandareclosertotheschool.TheothertwoteachersliveinKairiandhavetotraveladistanceof32kilometresonewaytoschooleveryday.Apartfromthedistance,the

18

Herecalledhisstrugglesoftheinitialyearsoftheschool‘Neitherdidtheygivemearoomonrentfor

theschool,nordidtheygiveaplacetosit.ItookaroomonrentforRs.200permonth.Anotherpara

teacherwasposted,afterwhichweworkedveryhard to increase theenrolment. In2007,our

applicationgotpassedandin2008,thebuildingwasconstructed’.

Healsodescribedthecommunity’sreluctancetoaccesstheschoolintheearlyyears:‘Theywould

notsendthechildren,becausetheschoolwasfarandrightinfrontoftheburialground;then,we

madethemunderstandandslowlytheystartedtosendthechildren’.Theschoolislocateddirectly

acrossthevillageburialground,andevennow,wheneverthereisadeathinthevillage,children’s

attendance gets badly affected due to fear of evil spirits. Once the building construction was

completed in 2008, it is largely because of the headteacher’s regular interactions with the

community that the enrolment has climbed steadily over the years (Table 4.1). Besides the

headteacher,therearethreeotherteachersintheschool(Table4.2).

Table 4.1 : Enrolment in school

AcademicYear Enrolment

2008–2009 23

2010–2011 45

2011–2012 49

2012–2013 51

2013–2014 61

2014–2015 71

2015–2016 82

Table 4.2: Profile of the teachers

NameoftheTeacher Hiralal Seema Bhupesh Gayatri

(Placeofresidence) (Headteacher) (Kairi) (Kairi) (Deputed–InKahan)

(Kahan)

Gender Male Female Female Female

Age(years) 36 24 38 38

SocialCategory OBC SC SC SC

AcademicQualification M.AHindi M.AHistory M.AHindi B.A

ProfessionalQualification B.Ed STC STC STC

NumberofyearsinSchool Sinceinception 2013 2016 2013

TheschoolbuildingconsistsoftworoomsbutwithnoseparateareaforpreparingtheMDMandnoseparate room for the headteacher either. The school has adequate infrastructure, though noelectrical connection. In the recent years, the headteacher, in his efforts towards schoolimprovement, has consistently tried to mobilise funds for the construction and extension ofclassrooms,constructionofaboundarywallandaplaceformakingMDM,butwithoutsuccess.Assharedbytheheadteacher,thePanchayatSamitiandtheDepartmenthaveeachpointedtotheother,saying that it was the other’s responsibility. The school is also not on the radar of the localfunctionaries.Thelastofficialvisitwasmadeon26thAugust2016,byaresourceperson;there

19

werenoothervisitsoverthecurrentacademicyear.Theresponseoftheofficialswhohadvisitedthisschoolearlierwasthattheyhadprovidedwhateverthegovernmenthadsanctionedandasmuchsupportastheypossiblycould,emphasisingthatithadstartedasasingle-teacherschoolandnowithadthreesanctionedpostsandanadditionaldeputedteacher.Theywereunabletogiveasuitable response to thequestiononwhy the request to addextra classroomsandaplace forpreparingtheMDMhadnotmovedforward.

The school primarily serves the Kanjar, a socially outcast local community found mainly inRajasthanandMadhyaPradesh.Typically,theyliveontheperipheryofresidentialsettlements.ThemainoccupationofthefamiliessettledinBasarpur,bytheirownadmissionandteachers’reports,includesproductionofcountryliquor,runningbrothelhouses,andextortion.Theyalsoworkasagriculturallabourers.Afewinfluentialmencontroltheentirecommunitythroughcommunity‘panchayats’.Themenareprimarilyresponsible forthefamily livelihood,whilethewomenareconfinedtothehomeandtheymanagetheliquorproduction.Educationisnotaveryhighprioritywith the community. As a result, the attendance in the school is often poor. It was seen thatwheneverthishappened,theheadteacherwenttothecommunityandtriedtofindthereasonsfortheabsenceofthechildrenandmadeeffortstotalktotheparents.Theheadteacherlamented,‘Theparentsarenotaware.Wetrytomakethemawarebutitisnoteasy.ThatiswhybythetimechildrenreachClass8,theyalldropout.Forgetaboutgettingagovernmentjobfortheseslumchildren,notasinglechildhasevenpassedClass10.Theydonotgethelpandsupportfromparents’.Interestingly,onlytheheadteachervisitedthecommunitytofollow-upontheabsentchildren,astheteachersdidnotventureintowhattheyperceivedtobeatroubledarea.

Asobservedbytheheadteacher,sofar,nochildfromthecommunityhasbeenabletocompleteschool(Class10),withtheexceptionofoneboycurrentlyenrolledinClass11inanearbyseniorsecondary school.This senior student appeared tobe a symbolofhope for someof theotherstudents.Duringavisittotheschool,aClass5studentDhirajexplainedthateveryonewasveryinterestedinknowinghowfarthisstudentwouldgobecausehewasarolemodelforthemandtheywere hopeful that hewould guide them after completion of his own education and obtainingemployment.

Yet,despitethelackofawarenessabouteducationinthecommunity,theschoolhasafunctioningSMC,reconstitutedeachyear.Thememberscametoschoolwheneverrequired,andparent–teachermeetings(PTMs)wereseentotakeplaceregularly.Boththeforums,SMCsandPTMs,wereusedtotake decisions and implement actions related to students’ attendance, their learning levels,infrastructure related opinion collection, and information sharing about relevant governmentschemes.

TheSMCmemberswereobservedtobeactivebutplayedmoreofapolicingandmonitoringroleoverseeingteachers’actionsinschoolaswellasoutofschool.AnSMCmemberwasobservedtorebukeateacherforwatchingavideocliponhercellphone,duringlunchtime,‘WahMadam!Areyoulisteningtosongsduringschooltime?’towhichtheteacherreplied,‘Brother,Iwaswatchinganactivityvideotoprepareforanactivitywhichwillbetransactedwiththechildren’.TherewerealsocaseswhereSMCmembersstoppedandquestionedteacherswhowereseencominglatetoschool.

Thecommunity,despiteitsattituderegardingeducation,hadanunderstandingofandappreciatedtheheadteacher’scontributiontotheschool.DuringaconversationwithoneoftheSMCmembers,mentionwasmadeoftheheadteacher’swishtoobtainatransferfromthisschool.Thememberresponded,‘Thiscannothappen;wewillnotlethimgo’.

Thoughtheschooliswellconnectedbyaroad,therearenopublictransportationfacilitiesthatregularlyplyonthis.Twoofthefourteachers,namelytheheadteacherHiralalandthedeputed-inteacherGayatri,resideinKahanandareclosertotheschool.TheothertwoteachersliveinKairiandhavetotraveladistanceof32kilometresonewaytoschooleveryday.Apartfromthedistance,the

20

journey is tedious and can be uncertain in terms of time taken, as it is undertaken in stages(Table4.3).Thewaittimeatthedesignatedspotswheretheychangefromonemodetoanothercanbemore than the actual travel time.To complete the lastphaseof the journey fromKahan toBasarpur,theteacherneedstowalk30minutes.Theotheroptionistotakealiftfromcommunitymembers passing by. Therefore, the commute time, including the wait time, can vary from aminimumof1hourtoasmuchas1hour45mindependingupontheteacher’sluckwithavailabletransport.Thereturnjourneyissimilar.

Yet,itwasobservedthatdespitethesehurdles,theteachers,especiallythetwoteachersfromKairi,

cametoschoolregularlyandspenttheentiredayinschoolbyapplyingthemselvestothejobof

teaching.Thedeputed-inteacherwholivedinKahanwaslessregularandfrequentlyawayonduty

leave.Shereportedlyhadconnectionstolocalbureaucratsandwasseekingatransfer.Incasethe

teachersrequiredleave,theyappliedforleavefollowingdueprocessthattheheadteacherinsisted

upon.

Theteachersseemedtohaveanunderstandingofthedifficultcircumstancesofthechildrencoming

totheschoolanddisplayedtheneedtoputinextraefforts,giventheinadequatenatureofparental

awarenessandsupport.Asoneteachershared,‘Ifthey(thechildren)canbemadealittleaware,

thenonlywilltheybeabletomoveforward’.Studentsinturnwereseentoshareacomfortable,open

andtrustingrelationshipwiththeteachersdiscussingwiththemarangeofproblemsincluding

subject-relatedconfusions,pendinghomework,anduniform-relatedissues.Onesuchexamplewas

alunchtimeincidentwhen,whileplayingcricket,thechildrenweresummonedinforclasshalfway

throughamatch.Accordingtothechildren,sincetherewasabetofRs.5placedontheoutcomeof

thematch,itwasnecessarytocompleteit.Theydidnotfeeltheneedtohidethisfactfromtheir

teachers.Inresponsetothesummons,astudentshoutedout,‘Sirweareplayingonabetanditwill

take10minutesmore’,andtheycontinuedplayingforanother5minuteswithoutfear.

Theschoolwasobservedtofunctionundertheleadershipoftheheadteacher,supportedbythe

combinedeffortsoftheteachers.Eachteacherhadaspecificresponsibility;forexample,onetook

careofMDM,anotherofthemorningassembly,andthethirdwasresponsibleforthecoordination

ofoverallactivities.Theheadteacherwasresponsibleforallinternalandexternalmanagementand

communication,whichincludedinterfacewiththecommunityandtheblockresourcecentre.On

thelastworkingdayofeverymonth,theteacherssattogethertoreviewthepreviousmonth’swork

and plan for the next. The teachers shared that the planning process was consultative and

collaborativeanditincludeddiscussionspertainingtolessonplanning,classroomactivities,and

optimaluseofscarceandavailableteachinglearningmaterials.

Inaddition,theheadteacherhadputinplaceseveralschool-levelprocessestoenablethesmooth

functioningoftheschool.Therewerecommitteesinplacetoworkondifferentactivitiessuchas

cleaningofclassroomsandtoiletsandorganisationofMDM.Almosteverychildwasassignedthe

responsibilityofaplantortree.Wheneverachildgottimeduringtheday,shewouldtendthetreeby

wateringit.Shouldastudentbeabsent,his/hertreehadtobetendedbythestudentwhosetreewas

placednexttoit.Asaresult,thecampuswaswelltended.

Table 4.3: Commute to School

Point-to-pointtravel Mode Distance TravelTime

(kilometres) (minutes)

ResidencetoKairibusstand PersonalVehicle 1–2 5–10

KairitoSamel BusorJeep 25 40–45

SameltoKahan Jeeporliftbylocalvillagemembers 5 10

KahantoBasarpur Liftbylocalvillagemember/Walk 2.5 5–30

21

Case Study 5: Government Middle School Maramtara – Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh GovernmentMiddleSchool,MaramtaraislocatedinMaramtaravillage,nearly17kilometresfrom

the block headquarters at Dhamtari. It comes under the Lalpani Panchayat. The combined

populationofMaramtaraandLalpanivillagesisapproximately2000.ThepopulationofMaramtara

villageis945,consistingof204households.Totalliteracyisaround68%,withmaleliteracyat78%

andfemaleliteracyat57%.ThevillageispredominantlypopulatedwithOBCcommunities,mostly

SahuandYadav,thoughSTpopulation(mainlyGonds)isalsosignificantat36%.Thereisaphysical

separationofcommunitiesinthevillage,wherehousesofSahuandYadavfamiliesaresituatedon

one side of the road that goes through the village, and that of Gonds on the other side.Most

households are dependent on agriculture; many of them earn their livelihood by working as

agriculturallabourersinnearbyvillages.Thelandholdingisconcentratedinthehandsofafew

influentialpeople.

Thenearestprimaryhealthcarecentreis4kilometresawayandthecommunityhealthcarecentre

is7kilometresaway.Thevillage isapproximately5kilometres fromthemainroad.Therefore,

accessibilityisachallenge,withpublictransportbeingnon-existent,andeasyaccesslimitedtothe

fewwhohavepersonalvehicles;evenrickshawsorauto-rickshawsarenotavailable.Until1975,

therewasnoschoolinthevillage.MiddleSchoolMaramtarahasbeensetupsuccessfullyduetothe

combinedeffortsofsomededicatedteachersandselectmembersofthecommunity.

Sukesh,thecurrentheadteacher,joinedthedepartmentin1983andhasworkedinthreeschools

prior to joining Maramtara. As he shared in conversations, he had experience of working in

challengingcircumstancesandinworkingwiththecommunityinhispriorpostingsandevenhadto

walk12kilometreseverydaytoreachschoolbecausetherewasnopublictransport.Eventually,he

decidedtostayinthesamevillage,whichhadnoelectricity.AccordingtoSukesh,thecommunitytoo

wasindifferenttotheeducationoftheirchildren;theywouldfrequentlytaketheirchildrentowork

inthefieldsorforfishing.Insuchcircumstances,Sukeshworkedcloselywiththechildrenandthe

communitytohelpestablishtheschool.

In2008,whenSukeshjoinedMiddleSchoolMaramtara,65studentswereenrolledintheschool,but

sometimes,attendancewasaslowas20%.Thecommunityandparentswerenotseentoplace

muchvalueoneducation;childrenwerenotverymotivatedeither.Thisdisinterestwasparticularly

stronginthecaseoftheSTcommunity.Sukeshdescribedtheeffortsthattheyhadtomakeinthe

earlyyears:‘Wewouldgotothechildren’shomesfirstandtalktotheparentsaboutwhyitwas

necessarytocometoschool.Wewouldtrytomakethemunderstandthatifyouwantyourchildren

to be good human beings, you have to give them an education. For this, school has its own

significance.Wewouldalsotalktothechildrenandtrytobringthemtoschoolwithus.Totalktothe

children,wewouldhavetobecomechildren.Onlythendidoureffortsbearfruit’.Anotherteacher

shared,‘Thechildrendidnotcometoschool;wehadtocallthem.Sir(headteacher)haddonealotof

work but therewere stillmany problems. Afterwards, weworked a lotwith the parents, the

children,thecommunity,andtheSMC—theresultsofwhichweareseeingtoday’.

Atthattime,itwasalsorealisedthattheSMCcouldbeagoodlinkwiththecommunityand,within

theSMC,thewomenmightbebetterpositionedtoinfluencethechildren.Theteacherssharedhow

effortswere thus put into empowering and activating the SMC, through regularmeetings and

involvingwomen in the SMC.As Sukesh said, ‘In thesemeetings,wedid a lot ofwork for the

participationofwomen.Werealisedthatifwecanmakewomenaware,thenperhapsitcanmakea

difference.Wealso said to them that this is your school,notours. Slowlyafterwards, theSMC

becameregularised’.

20

journey is tedious and can be uncertain in terms of time taken, as it is undertaken in stages(Table4.3).Thewaittimeatthedesignatedspotswheretheychangefromonemodetoanothercanbemore than the actual travel time.To complete the lastphaseof the journey fromKahan toBasarpur,theteacherneedstowalk30minutes.Theotheroptionistotakealiftfromcommunitymembers passing by. Therefore, the commute time, including the wait time, can vary from aminimumof1hourtoasmuchas1hour45mindependingupontheteacher’sluckwithavailabletransport.Thereturnjourneyissimilar.

Yet,itwasobservedthatdespitethesehurdles,theteachers,especiallythetwoteachersfromKairi,

cametoschoolregularlyandspenttheentiredayinschoolbyapplyingthemselvestothejobof

teaching.Thedeputed-inteacherwholivedinKahanwaslessregularandfrequentlyawayonduty

leave.Shereportedlyhadconnectionstolocalbureaucratsandwasseekingatransfer.Incasethe

teachersrequiredleave,theyappliedforleavefollowingdueprocessthattheheadteacherinsisted

upon.

Theteachersseemedtohaveanunderstandingofthedifficultcircumstancesofthechildrencoming

totheschoolanddisplayedtheneedtoputinextraefforts,giventheinadequatenatureofparental

awarenessandsupport.Asoneteachershared,‘Ifthey(thechildren)canbemadealittleaware,

thenonlywilltheybeabletomoveforward’.Studentsinturnwereseentoshareacomfortable,open

andtrustingrelationshipwiththeteachersdiscussingwiththemarangeofproblemsincluding

subject-relatedconfusions,pendinghomework,anduniform-relatedissues.Onesuchexamplewas

alunchtimeincidentwhen,whileplayingcricket,thechildrenweresummonedinforclasshalfway

throughamatch.Accordingtothechildren,sincetherewasabetofRs.5placedontheoutcomeof

thematch,itwasnecessarytocompleteit.Theydidnotfeeltheneedtohidethisfactfromtheir

teachers.Inresponsetothesummons,astudentshoutedout,‘Sirweareplayingonabetanditwill

take10minutesmore’,andtheycontinuedplayingforanother5minuteswithoutfear.

Theschoolwasobservedtofunctionundertheleadershipoftheheadteacher,supportedbythe

combinedeffortsoftheteachers.Eachteacherhadaspecificresponsibility;forexample,onetook

careofMDM,anotherofthemorningassembly,andthethirdwasresponsibleforthecoordination

ofoverallactivities.Theheadteacherwasresponsibleforallinternalandexternalmanagementand

communication,whichincludedinterfacewiththecommunityandtheblockresourcecentre.On

thelastworkingdayofeverymonth,theteacherssattogethertoreviewthepreviousmonth’swork

and plan for the next. The teachers shared that the planning process was consultative and

collaborativeanditincludeddiscussionspertainingtolessonplanning,classroomactivities,and

optimaluseofscarceandavailableteachinglearningmaterials.

Inaddition,theheadteacherhadputinplaceseveralschool-levelprocessestoenablethesmooth

functioningoftheschool.Therewerecommitteesinplacetoworkondifferentactivitiessuchas

cleaningofclassroomsandtoiletsandorganisationofMDM.Almosteverychildwasassignedthe

responsibilityofaplantortree.Wheneverachildgottimeduringtheday,shewouldtendthetreeby

wateringit.Shouldastudentbeabsent,his/hertreehadtobetendedbythestudentwhosetreewas

placednexttoit.Asaresult,thecampuswaswelltended.

Table 4.3: Commute to School

Point-to-pointtravel Mode Distance TravelTime

(kilometres) (minutes)

ResidencetoKairibusstand PersonalVehicle 1–2 5–10

KairitoSamel BusorJeep 25 40–45

SameltoKahan Jeeporliftbylocalvillagemembers 5 10

KahantoBasarpur Liftbylocalvillagemember/Walk 2.5 5–30

21

Case Study 5: Government Middle School Maramtara – Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh GovernmentMiddleSchool,MaramtaraislocatedinMaramtaravillage,nearly17kilometresfrom

the block headquarters at Dhamtari. It comes under the Lalpani Panchayat. The combined

populationofMaramtaraandLalpanivillagesisapproximately2000.ThepopulationofMaramtara

villageis945,consistingof204households.Totalliteracyisaround68%,withmaleliteracyat78%

andfemaleliteracyat57%.ThevillageispredominantlypopulatedwithOBCcommunities,mostly

SahuandYadav,thoughSTpopulation(mainlyGonds)isalsosignificantat36%.Thereisaphysical

separationofcommunitiesinthevillage,wherehousesofSahuandYadavfamiliesaresituatedon

one side of the road that goes through the village, and that of Gonds on the other side.Most

households are dependent on agriculture; many of them earn their livelihood by working as

agriculturallabourersinnearbyvillages.Thelandholdingisconcentratedinthehandsofafew

influentialpeople.

Thenearestprimaryhealthcarecentreis4kilometresawayandthecommunityhealthcarecentre

is7kilometresaway.Thevillage isapproximately5kilometres fromthemainroad.Therefore,

accessibilityisachallenge,withpublictransportbeingnon-existent,andeasyaccesslimitedtothe

fewwhohavepersonalvehicles;evenrickshawsorauto-rickshawsarenotavailable.Until1975,

therewasnoschoolinthevillage.MiddleSchoolMaramtarahasbeensetupsuccessfullyduetothe

combinedeffortsofsomededicatedteachersandselectmembersofthecommunity.

Sukesh,thecurrentheadteacher,joinedthedepartmentin1983andhasworkedinthreeschools

prior to joining Maramtara. As he shared in conversations, he had experience of working in

challengingcircumstancesandinworkingwiththecommunityinhispriorpostingsandevenhadto

walk12kilometreseverydaytoreachschoolbecausetherewasnopublictransport.Eventually,he

decidedtostayinthesamevillage,whichhadnoelectricity.AccordingtoSukesh,thecommunitytoo

wasindifferenttotheeducationoftheirchildren;theywouldfrequentlytaketheirchildrentowork

inthefieldsorforfishing.Insuchcircumstances,Sukeshworkedcloselywiththechildrenandthe

communitytohelpestablishtheschool.

In2008,whenSukeshjoinedMiddleSchoolMaramtara,65studentswereenrolledintheschool,but

sometimes,attendancewasaslowas20%.Thecommunityandparentswerenotseentoplace

muchvalueoneducation;childrenwerenotverymotivatedeither.Thisdisinterestwasparticularly

stronginthecaseoftheSTcommunity.Sukeshdescribedtheeffortsthattheyhadtomakeinthe

earlyyears:‘Wewouldgotothechildren’shomesfirstandtalktotheparentsaboutwhyitwas

necessarytocometoschool.Wewouldtrytomakethemunderstandthatifyouwantyourchildren

to be good human beings, you have to give them an education. For this, school has its own

significance.Wewouldalsotalktothechildrenandtrytobringthemtoschoolwithus.Totalktothe

children,wewouldhavetobecomechildren.Onlythendidoureffortsbearfruit’.Anotherteacher

shared,‘Thechildrendidnotcometoschool;wehadtocallthem.Sir(headteacher)haddonealotof

work but therewere stillmany problems. Afterwards, weworked a lotwith the parents, the

children,thecommunity,andtheSMC—theresultsofwhichweareseeingtoday’.

Atthattime,itwasalsorealisedthattheSMCcouldbeagoodlinkwiththecommunityand,within

theSMC,thewomenmightbebetterpositionedtoinfluencethechildren.Theteacherssharedhow

effortswere thus put into empowering and activating the SMC, through regularmeetings and

involvingwomen in the SMC.As Sukesh said, ‘In thesemeetings,wedid a lot ofwork for the

participationofwomen.Werealisedthatifwecanmakewomenaware,thenperhapsitcanmakea

difference.Wealso said to them that this is your school,notours. Slowlyafterwards, theSMC

becameregularised’.

22

By 2010, things started to improve substantially in terms of community awareness about the

school.Now,thecommunityisactivelyinvolvedindecisionmakingandcontributingtowardsthe

betterment of the school. The school has adequate infrastructure in terms of classrooms and

playground but no usable toilets due to unavailability of water. SMCmembers, teachers, and

communitymembers are concerned about this and they have requested the panchayat to do

somethinginthisregard.Currently,theschoolhas41childrenacrossClasses1–7and4teachers

(Table5.1).

Table 5.1: Profile of the teachers

NameoftheTeacher Sukesh Ramesh Jivan Pradeep

Gender Male Male Male Male

Age(years) 53 42 47 37

SocialCategory OBC General OBC General

AcademicQualification M.ASocialStudies M.AMathematics M.ASocialStudies B.AEnglish

Theteacherswerefoundtocommutelongdistancestocometoschool.Theheadteachertravelled

11 kilometres one way, while the other three teachers travelled 16–18 kilometres one way.

Currently,theyallhavetheirowntwowheelers,butitwasnotalwaysso.Earlier,theymanagedby

cominghalfwaybypublictransportandthentakingliftsfromtheircolleagues.

Today,theschooliswellthoughtofandtheteachersarerespectedwithinthecommunityaswellas

bythelocalofficials.Vinod,theclusteracademiccoordinatorwhoisaregularvisitortothisschool

andneighbouringschools,sharedthattheteacherswereveryregularandtheclassroomprocesses

ran smoothly.Parents andSMCmembersechoed similar sentiments.AsanSMCmember said,

‘Teachingisgood.Theteachersteachproperly’.Sheexplainedthatsheknewwhatshewassaying

becausetwoofherdaughtershadpassedoutofthesameschoolandtheyweredoingverywellin

highschool.

Theteacherswerenotonlyregularbutalsopunctual.Theheadteacherexplained,‘Wehavejointly

decidedthatwewillallmakesurethatweareinschool10minutesbeforethemorningassembly

begins’.Theyalsowereobservedtoworkwelltogetherandcommunicateregularlywitheachother,

especiallywhenitcametostudent-relatedmatters.Inonesuchincident,theteachersnoticeda

particularchildinClass8notfocusingonhisstudies,thoughhehadsupposedlybeenagoodstudent

inClass6and7.Theydiscussedthematterbetweenthemselvesfirstandonlythentalkedtothe

parentsandtothechild,expressingtheirconcern.Teacherconcernwasalsovisibleinthecaseofa

childwithspecialneedswhowasstrugglinginschool;theteacherstriedtodowhatwasbestforher,

includinggettingherahearingaidandplacinghercasebeforethepanchayatandtheDepartmentof

SchoolEducation.Unfortunately,theireffortsdidnotyieldanyimmediateresults.

Therewasnovisiblesenseofhierarchyamongtheteachersandtheywereseentotakedecisionsina

participativemanner.Accordingtotheheadteacher,theyallworkedtogetherasateamandhad

completeautonomytodecidewhichclassestheywishedtoteach.Hesaid,‘Isaythatwhichever

classesyouwishtoteach,youmustdecideyourself.Imyselftakeclass,mostlySanskritandSocial

Science’.Inhisabsencefromtheschool,theteacherswereexpectedtoautonomouslytakedecisions

intheinterestoftheschool.Hefurtheremphasised,‘Ifateacherisonleave,wetrynottoletthe

children’sworksuffer’.Teachersalsosharedresponsibilityforotherschoolprocesses.Forexample,

teachersprovidedregularoversightofMDMandofferedguidancewheneverrequiredtotheself-

helpgroup(SHG)thatmanagedtheMDM.Intherecentpast,thereweretwooccasionswhenthe

teachersandthecommunitymembershadtocoordinatetoensurethatMDMwasrunproperlyin

theabsenceoftheregularcook.

Itwasseen that theheadteacherhad tried tocreateavarietyofotherplatforms forchildren’s

learning.Forexample,BalSabhawasonesuchplatform.ItwasheldonSaturdays.Childrengotan

opportunitytospeakinbothextemporeandpreparedfashiononavarietyoftopicssuchasfestivals

and environment. Children themselves planned for this event and communitymemberswere

invited.Theheadteacherexpressedhisbelief that, ‘Todevelop theability to thinkandexpress

fearlesslyandindependently,platformslikethisareverynecessary’.

Case Study 6: Upper Primary School Ruparpur – Bageshwar, Uttarakhand UpperPrimarySchoolRuparpurcomesunderGarudBlockofBageshwardistrict.Itislocated18

kilometresfromtheblockresourcecentreand7kilometresfromtheclusterresourcecentre.There

isnopublictransportandtheschoolcanbereachedonlybypersonalvehicleorahiredtaxi.The

motorableroadendssomedistancebeforetheschool,andonehastowalkthelaststretchofnearly

1.5kilometresonanunevensteeproadtofinallyreachtheschool.Duringtherains,thisbecomes

evenmorechallengingfortheteachersandthestudents.Localgovernmentofficialsalsovisititvery

infrequentlybecauseofitsremotenessandinaccessibility.

Theschoolwasestablishedin2010with1teacherand11students.Overtheyears,enrolmenthas

increasedgraduallyandthecurrentenrolmentis38(Table6.1).MostchildrenarefromanOBC

community,Goswami,fromthevillageRuparpurandothernearbyvillages.Theprimaryoccupation

ofthevillageisagriculture,managedmostlybywomen.Discussionswiththewomenrevealedthat

themeninthevillagetendtoshirkworkandtoindulgeinexcessivedrinking;women,therefore,

managethehousehold,livelihood,andthefamilyeconomy.Theyassumeresponsibilityforsending

theirchildrentoschool,whichwasalsoevidentfromtheSMCmeeting,attendedmostlybymothers.

Table 6.1: Enrolment in school

AcademicYear Enrolment

2010–2011 11

2011–2012 12

2012–2013 16

2013–2014 15

2014–2015 22

2015–2016 28

2016–2017 38

Today, there are three teachers in the school, including the headteacher (Table 6.2). All three

teachers live in Garud and travel a distance of 25 kilometres oneway. Likemany teachers in

Uttarakhand,whoworkinremoteinaccessiblevillagesnotconnectedbypublictransport,theyhire

asharedtaxi totakethemtoschooleveryday.Typically, thetaxipicksthemupfromacentral

locationandthendropsthemoffatschool.InthecaseofRuparpur,theone-waytraveltimecanvary

from1hourto1hour10minutes.Withwaittimefactoredin,thetotaltraveltimeinadaycouldadd

uptoalmost3hours.Table6.3detailsthestepsateacherhastofollowtotravelfromhisresidenceto

theschool.Thecostofthetaxi-rideisRs.80perdayforanindividualteacher,anexpenditureof

almostRs.2000permonth.

23

22

By 2010, things started to improve substantially in terms of community awareness about the

school.Now,thecommunityisactivelyinvolvedindecisionmakingandcontributingtowardsthe

betterment of the school. The school has adequate infrastructure in terms of classrooms and

playground but no usable toilets due to unavailability of water. SMCmembers, teachers, and

communitymembers are concerned about this and they have requested the panchayat to do

somethinginthisregard.Currently,theschoolhas41childrenacrossClasses1–7and4teachers

(Table5.1).

Table 5.1: Profile of the teachers

NameoftheTeacher Sukesh Ramesh Jivan Pradeep

Gender Male Male Male Male

Age(years) 53 42 47 37

SocialCategory OBC General OBC General

AcademicQualification M.ASocialStudies M.AMathematics M.ASocialStudies B.AEnglish

Theteacherswerefoundtocommutelongdistancestocometoschool.Theheadteachertravelled

11 kilometres one way, while the other three teachers travelled 16–18 kilometres one way.

Currently,theyallhavetheirowntwowheelers,butitwasnotalwaysso.Earlier,theymanagedby

cominghalfwaybypublictransportandthentakingliftsfromtheircolleagues.

Today,theschooliswellthoughtofandtheteachersarerespectedwithinthecommunityaswellas

bythelocalofficials.Vinod,theclusteracademiccoordinatorwhoisaregularvisitortothisschool

andneighbouringschools,sharedthattheteacherswereveryregularandtheclassroomprocesses

ran smoothly.Parents andSMCmembersechoed similar sentiments.AsanSMCmember said,

‘Teachingisgood.Theteachersteachproperly’.Sheexplainedthatsheknewwhatshewassaying

becausetwoofherdaughtershadpassedoutofthesameschoolandtheyweredoingverywellin

highschool.

Theteacherswerenotonlyregularbutalsopunctual.Theheadteacherexplained,‘Wehavejointly

decidedthatwewillallmakesurethatweareinschool10minutesbeforethemorningassembly

begins’.Theyalsowereobservedtoworkwelltogetherandcommunicateregularlywitheachother,

especiallywhenitcametostudent-relatedmatters.Inonesuchincident,theteachersnoticeda

particularchildinClass8notfocusingonhisstudies,thoughhehadsupposedlybeenagoodstudent

inClass6and7.Theydiscussedthematterbetweenthemselvesfirstandonlythentalkedtothe

parentsandtothechild,expressingtheirconcern.Teacherconcernwasalsovisibleinthecaseofa

childwithspecialneedswhowasstrugglinginschool;theteacherstriedtodowhatwasbestforher,

includinggettingherahearingaidandplacinghercasebeforethepanchayatandtheDepartmentof

SchoolEducation.Unfortunately,theireffortsdidnotyieldanyimmediateresults.

Therewasnovisiblesenseofhierarchyamongtheteachersandtheywereseentotakedecisionsina

participativemanner.Accordingtotheheadteacher,theyallworkedtogetherasateamandhad

completeautonomytodecidewhichclassestheywishedtoteach.Hesaid,‘Isaythatwhichever

classesyouwishtoteach,youmustdecideyourself.Imyselftakeclass,mostlySanskritandSocial

Science’.Inhisabsencefromtheschool,theteacherswereexpectedtoautonomouslytakedecisions

intheinterestoftheschool.Hefurtheremphasised,‘Ifateacherisonleave,wetrynottoletthe

children’sworksuffer’.Teachersalsosharedresponsibilityforotherschoolprocesses.Forexample,

teachersprovidedregularoversightofMDMandofferedguidancewheneverrequiredtotheself-

helpgroup(SHG)thatmanagedtheMDM.Intherecentpast,thereweretwooccasionswhenthe

teachersandthecommunitymembershadtocoordinatetoensurethatMDMwasrunproperlyin

theabsenceoftheregularcook.

Itwasseen that theheadteacherhad tried tocreateavarietyofotherplatforms forchildren’s

learning.Forexample,BalSabhawasonesuchplatform.ItwasheldonSaturdays.Childrengotan

opportunitytospeakinbothextemporeandpreparedfashiononavarietyoftopicssuchasfestivals

and environment. Children themselves planned for this event and communitymemberswere

invited.Theheadteacherexpressedhisbelief that, ‘Todevelop theability to thinkandexpress

fearlesslyandindependently,platformslikethisareverynecessary’.

Case Study 6: Upper Primary School Ruparpur – Bageshwar, Uttarakhand UpperPrimarySchoolRuparpurcomesunderGarudBlockofBageshwardistrict.Itislocated18

kilometresfromtheblockresourcecentreand7kilometresfromtheclusterresourcecentre.There

isnopublictransportandtheschoolcanbereachedonlybypersonalvehicleorahiredtaxi.The

motorableroadendssomedistancebeforetheschool,andonehastowalkthelaststretchofnearly

1.5kilometresonanunevensteeproadtofinallyreachtheschool.Duringtherains,thisbecomes

evenmorechallengingfortheteachersandthestudents.Localgovernmentofficialsalsovisititvery

infrequentlybecauseofitsremotenessandinaccessibility.

Theschoolwasestablishedin2010with1teacherand11students.Overtheyears,enrolmenthas

increasedgraduallyandthecurrentenrolmentis38(Table6.1).MostchildrenarefromanOBC

community,Goswami,fromthevillageRuparpurandothernearbyvillages.Theprimaryoccupation

ofthevillageisagriculture,managedmostlybywomen.Discussionswiththewomenrevealedthat

themeninthevillagetendtoshirkworkandtoindulgeinexcessivedrinking;women,therefore,

managethehousehold,livelihood,andthefamilyeconomy.Theyassumeresponsibilityforsending

theirchildrentoschool,whichwasalsoevidentfromtheSMCmeeting,attendedmostlybymothers.

Table 6.1: Enrolment in school

AcademicYear Enrolment

2010–2011 11

2011–2012 12

2012–2013 16

2013–2014 15

2014–2015 22

2015–2016 28

2016–2017 38

Today, there are three teachers in the school, including the headteacher (Table 6.2). All three

teachers live in Garud and travel a distance of 25 kilometres oneway. Likemany teachers in

Uttarakhand,whoworkinremoteinaccessiblevillagesnotconnectedbypublictransport,theyhire

asharedtaxi totakethemtoschooleveryday.Typically, thetaxipicksthemupfromacentral

locationandthendropsthemoffatschool.InthecaseofRuparpur,theone-waytraveltimecanvary

from1hourto1hour10minutes.Withwaittimefactoredin,thetotaltraveltimeinadaycouldadd

uptoalmost3hours.Table6.3detailsthestepsateacherhastofollowtotravelfromhisresidenceto

theschool.Thecostofthetaxi-rideisRs.80perdayforanindividualteacher,anexpenditureof

almostRs.2000permonth.

23

Table 6.2: Profile of teachers

NameoftheTeacher Rajesh Lokesh Kedar

Gender Male Male Male

Age(years) 39 39 38

SocialCategory General General General

AcademicQualification M.APoliticalScience M.ScChemistry M.AHindi

ProfessionalQualification B.Ed B.Ed B.Ed

Yearofjoiningtheschool 2015 2016 2015

Table 6.3: Commute to school

Point-to-pointtravel Mode Distance TravelTime

(kilometres) (minutes)

Residencetopick-uppoint Walk 0.3–0.5 10

Pick-uppointtoRuparpurschool

droppingpoint Cab 18–20 40–45

DroppingpointtoUPSRuparpur Walk 1.5 10–15

Teacherswere found toshareagoodrelationshipwitheachother.As they indicated, thedaily

commute together gave them additional timewith each other and helped to build a sense of

camaraderie. Everymorning after assembly, the teachers were observed tomeet and discuss

operationalissuesrelatedtodailyclassroomactivitiessuchasallocationofclasses,timerequired

byeachteacherinaparticularclass,andanyotherspecificchallenges.Throughthisroutineof

informaldiscussion,theyalsodecidedwhatwasneededtobedoneincaseateacherwasabsent.

Accordingtotheteachers,theyrelatedtotheheadteacherasan‘approachablefriend’,ratherthanas

afigureofauthority.Hewasreportedtobeencouragingofnewideasproposedbytheteachersand

tofacilitatetheimplementationoftheseideasintheclassroomsbytheteachers.Inschool-based

interactions, it was observed that the headteacher made efforts to create a non-threatening

environment, which allowed the teachers to be honest with each other in articulating their

differencesorevenexpressing their ignoranceregardingsomecontent.Asoneof the teachers

recalled,‘Once,wewerediscussingatopicduringwhichtherewasareferencetophotosynthesis.I

didnotknowmuchbeyond“theprocessoffoodproductionofplants”.Aftertheclass,Isharedthis

withRajeshSirandthenwebothdiscussedwithLokeshSir(scienceteacher).Heexplainedthe

processindetailanddiscussedthesametopicinhisnextclassalso’.Hefurtherelaboratedthatthe

headteacherwasagoodmanagerwhotookcareofalltheadministrativeworkandotherdemands

thatkeptcomingfromthedepartment.Thislefttheteachersfreetofocusonteaching–learningand

classroom-relatedmatters.

Theheadteacherinquestion,Rajesh,wasaformerclusterresourcecoordinator.Hisbelief,that

childrenneedasupportiveenvironmenttobeabletolearn,wasvisibleintheencouragementhe

gavetochildrentoparticipateactivelyintheclassroomandthewayheusedtheirowncontextand

relevantexamplestodiscussconcepts.Studentswereseentobeactivelyparticipatinginhisclasses

andsharedhowtheyenjoyedhisstyleofteaching.Narratinghisexperience,onestudentofClass8

said,‘Whenwewerestudyingabouttheparliament,RajeshSirtaughtusverynicelyandshowedus

Samvidhaan(Constitution)video.Weenjoyhisclassverymuch’.Eventhecommunitymembers

sharedthathewasoneoftheprimaryreasonswhychildrenhadshownanincreasinginterestin

comingtoschool.Accordingtothem,healsounderstoodthecontextofthecommunityandincluded

themineverydecisionrelatedtoschool,suchasorganisingeventsandcelebrationssuchasthe

AnnualDay.

24

Thecharacteroftheschoolwasreflectedinsomeoftheschoolprocesses.Thechildrenwereseen

takingresponsibility,byrotation,fordistributionoffoodduringtheMDM,regardlessofgenderand

caste.Thisinvolvedtakingtheutensilsandfoodfromthebhojanmataanddistributingthemtoall

thechildren.Theteachershelpedthechildrentolayoutthematonthegroundandsatalongwith

thechildrenonthesamematforMDM.Afterthechildrenwereseated,theheadteacherreshuffled

thestudentsandmadesurethateverygirlsatnexttoaboy.Thereasonfordoingso,heresponded,

wasthatchildrenneededtounderstandandbesensitivetowardsgenderissuesandnotbeafraidof

tacklingtheseissuesupfront.Theschooldidnotfollowthepracticeofringingbellstoindicatethe

endofaperiodofstudy.Accordingtotheheadteacher,‘Thechildrenarenotherefortraining,they

arehereforeducation,whichshouldbewithoutfear’.Heexplainedthathedrewmanyideasfrom

thereadingaroundeducationthathedidregularly.Eventheschoolassemblywasuniqueinits

approach.Itwasconductedinthreelanguages,withHindi,English,andSanskritbeingusedon

alternatedays.Adaybefore,agroupoftwoorthreestudentswerenominatedbytheclassforthe

nextday’sassembly.Alltheproceedings,includinginstructionsandintroductionofstudents,were

inthechosenlanguageoftheday(English,Sanskrit,orHindi).Birthdaysofchildren,ifany,were

celebratedbysingingsongsandpresentingthechildwithapenorothersimilarstationery.

Other school activities that were organised included educational tours, cleanliness campaign,

BalSabha,summercamp,andgardeningweek.Someofthesewereatthebehestofthedepartment

andsomewereinitiativesproposedbytheheadteacher.Forexample,theschoolorganisedatwo-

dayeventaftertheexamseveryyear.Thefirstdaywasdevotedtocleaningtheschoolpremises

thoroughlyandtotakingcareoftheplants.Thenextday,thestudentsandteachersparticipatedina

cookingfestivalwhereallthestudentscookedlocaldishesintheopenandrelishedittogether.This

eventwasanideaoftheheadteachertoacquaintthechildrenwithlocalcuisineandculture.

Case Study 7: Government Lower Primary School – Mandehalli, Mandya District, Karnataka

GovernmentLowerPrimarySchool(LPS),MandehalliislocatedinMandehalliclusterofMandya

NorthBlock,about12kilometresfromMandyadistrictheadquarters.Thoughnotveryfarfromthe

districtheadquarters,theconnectivitytothecityintermsoftransportisverypoor.Thereisasingle

busplyingtothisvillagefromMandya.FromthebusstopatMandehalli,toreachtheschool,onehas

towalkanother2.5kilometres,crossinganuninhabitedlandscapeoffieldsandcanals,whichis

knownnottobesafe.Villagerswithmotorcyclesofferingalifttochildrenonthisrouteisacommon

sightinMandehallivillage.

Thereareapproximately150familiesinthevillage—aprimarilymigranttribalpopulationwho

havegraduallysettledhere.Mostofthemareuneducatedandpooranddependuponpieceworkin

thefieldsanddailywages.Workinthefieldsisavailableonlyatthetimeofaseasonalcrop;during

thenon-seasonperiod,thevillagershavetolookforothersourcesoflivelihood.Becauseofbroken

homes,manychildrenlivewithasingleparentoronlygrandparents.

Theschoolwasestablishedin1981.Sincethen,ithashadasteadyenrolmentofaround30children

everyyear.Currently,theschoolhas25children.Ithasadequateinfrastructureandlargepremises,

whichmakesspaceforbothaplaygroundandakitchengarden.Thekitchengardenismaintained

bychildrenofClasses4and5andtheteachers.ThereisafemalecookfortheMDM.

Theschoolhastwoteachers,Rachaiah,thein-chargeheadteacher,andPrakash,anassistantteacher

(Table7.1).Rachaiahisaseniorteacherwithanexperienceof23years,ofwhich20havebeenwith

this school. The two teachers travel to school together bymotorbike, which frees them from

depending upon local transport. The two teachers were observed to work closely together.

RachaiahtakescareofClasses1–3andPrakashtakescareofClasses4and5.

25

Table 6.2: Profile of teachers

NameoftheTeacher Rajesh Lokesh Kedar

Gender Male Male Male

Age(years) 39 39 38

SocialCategory General General General

AcademicQualification M.APoliticalScience M.ScChemistry M.AHindi

ProfessionalQualification B.Ed B.Ed B.Ed

Yearofjoiningtheschool 2015 2016 2015

Table 6.3: Commute to school

Point-to-pointtravel Mode Distance TravelTime

(kilometres) (minutes)

Residencetopick-uppoint Walk 0.3–0.5 10

Pick-uppointtoRuparpurschool

droppingpoint Cab 18–20 40–45

DroppingpointtoUPSRuparpur Walk 1.5 10–15

Teacherswere found toshareagoodrelationshipwitheachother.As they indicated, thedaily

commute together gave them additional timewith each other and helped to build a sense of

camaraderie. Everymorning after assembly, the teachers were observed tomeet and discuss

operationalissuesrelatedtodailyclassroomactivitiessuchasallocationofclasses,timerequired

byeachteacherinaparticularclass,andanyotherspecificchallenges.Throughthisroutineof

informaldiscussion,theyalsodecidedwhatwasneededtobedoneincaseateacherwasabsent.

Accordingtotheteachers,theyrelatedtotheheadteacherasan‘approachablefriend’,ratherthanas

afigureofauthority.Hewasreportedtobeencouragingofnewideasproposedbytheteachersand

tofacilitatetheimplementationoftheseideasintheclassroomsbytheteachers.Inschool-based

interactions, it was observed that the headteacher made efforts to create a non-threatening

environment, which allowed the teachers to be honest with each other in articulating their

differencesorevenexpressing their ignoranceregardingsomecontent.Asoneof the teachers

recalled,‘Once,wewerediscussingatopicduringwhichtherewasareferencetophotosynthesis.I

didnotknowmuchbeyond“theprocessoffoodproductionofplants”.Aftertheclass,Isharedthis

withRajeshSirandthenwebothdiscussedwithLokeshSir(scienceteacher).Heexplainedthe

processindetailanddiscussedthesametopicinhisnextclassalso’.Hefurtherelaboratedthatthe

headteacherwasagoodmanagerwhotookcareofalltheadministrativeworkandotherdemands

thatkeptcomingfromthedepartment.Thislefttheteachersfreetofocusonteaching–learningand

classroom-relatedmatters.

Theheadteacherinquestion,Rajesh,wasaformerclusterresourcecoordinator.Hisbelief,that

childrenneedasupportiveenvironmenttobeabletolearn,wasvisibleintheencouragementhe

gavetochildrentoparticipateactivelyintheclassroomandthewayheusedtheirowncontextand

relevantexamplestodiscussconcepts.Studentswereseentobeactivelyparticipatinginhisclasses

andsharedhowtheyenjoyedhisstyleofteaching.Narratinghisexperience,onestudentofClass8

said,‘Whenwewerestudyingabouttheparliament,RajeshSirtaughtusverynicelyandshowedus

Samvidhaan(Constitution)video.Weenjoyhisclassverymuch’.Eventhecommunitymembers

sharedthathewasoneoftheprimaryreasonswhychildrenhadshownanincreasinginterestin

comingtoschool.Accordingtothem,healsounderstoodthecontextofthecommunityandincluded

themineverydecisionrelatedtoschool,suchasorganisingeventsandcelebrationssuchasthe

AnnualDay.

24

Thecharacteroftheschoolwasreflectedinsomeoftheschoolprocesses.Thechildrenwereseen

takingresponsibility,byrotation,fordistributionoffoodduringtheMDM,regardlessofgenderand

caste.Thisinvolvedtakingtheutensilsandfoodfromthebhojanmataanddistributingthemtoall

thechildren.Theteachershelpedthechildrentolayoutthematonthegroundandsatalongwith

thechildrenonthesamematforMDM.Afterthechildrenwereseated,theheadteacherreshuffled

thestudentsandmadesurethateverygirlsatnexttoaboy.Thereasonfordoingso,heresponded,

wasthatchildrenneededtounderstandandbesensitivetowardsgenderissuesandnotbeafraidof

tacklingtheseissuesupfront.Theschooldidnotfollowthepracticeofringingbellstoindicatethe

endofaperiodofstudy.Accordingtotheheadteacher,‘Thechildrenarenotherefortraining,they

arehereforeducation,whichshouldbewithoutfear’.Heexplainedthathedrewmanyideasfrom

thereadingaroundeducationthathedidregularly.Eventheschoolassemblywasuniqueinits

approach.Itwasconductedinthreelanguages,withHindi,English,andSanskritbeingusedon

alternatedays.Adaybefore,agroupoftwoorthreestudentswerenominatedbytheclassforthe

nextday’sassembly.Alltheproceedings,includinginstructionsandintroductionofstudents,were

inthechosenlanguageoftheday(English,Sanskrit,orHindi).Birthdaysofchildren,ifany,were

celebratedbysingingsongsandpresentingthechildwithapenorothersimilarstationery.

Other school activities that were organised included educational tours, cleanliness campaign,

BalSabha,summercamp,andgardeningweek.Someofthesewereatthebehestofthedepartment

andsomewereinitiativesproposedbytheheadteacher.Forexample,theschoolorganisedatwo-

dayeventaftertheexamseveryyear.Thefirstdaywasdevotedtocleaningtheschoolpremises

thoroughlyandtotakingcareoftheplants.Thenextday,thestudentsandteachersparticipatedina

cookingfestivalwhereallthestudentscookedlocaldishesintheopenandrelishedittogether.This

eventwasanideaoftheheadteachertoacquaintthechildrenwithlocalcuisineandculture.

Case Study 7: Government Lower Primary School – Mandehalli, Mandya District, Karnataka

GovernmentLowerPrimarySchool(LPS),MandehalliislocatedinMandehalliclusterofMandya

NorthBlock,about12kilometresfromMandyadistrictheadquarters.Thoughnotveryfarfromthe

districtheadquarters,theconnectivitytothecityintermsoftransportisverypoor.Thereisasingle

busplyingtothisvillagefromMandya.FromthebusstopatMandehalli,toreachtheschool,onehas

towalkanother2.5kilometres,crossinganuninhabitedlandscapeoffieldsandcanals,whichis

knownnottobesafe.Villagerswithmotorcyclesofferingalifttochildrenonthisrouteisacommon

sightinMandehallivillage.

Thereareapproximately150familiesinthevillage—aprimarilymigranttribalpopulationwho

havegraduallysettledhere.Mostofthemareuneducatedandpooranddependuponpieceworkin

thefieldsanddailywages.Workinthefieldsisavailableonlyatthetimeofaseasonalcrop;during

thenon-seasonperiod,thevillagershavetolookforothersourcesoflivelihood.Becauseofbroken

homes,manychildrenlivewithasingleparentoronlygrandparents.

Theschoolwasestablishedin1981.Sincethen,ithashadasteadyenrolmentofaround30children

everyyear.Currently,theschoolhas25children.Ithasadequateinfrastructureandlargepremises,

whichmakesspaceforbothaplaygroundandakitchengarden.Thekitchengardenismaintained

bychildrenofClasses4and5andtheteachers.ThereisafemalecookfortheMDM.

Theschoolhastwoteachers,Rachaiah,thein-chargeheadteacher,andPrakash,anassistantteacher

(Table7.1).Rachaiahisaseniorteacherwithanexperienceof23years,ofwhich20havebeenwith

this school. The two teachers travel to school together bymotorbike, which frees them from

depending upon local transport. The two teachers were observed to work closely together.

RachaiahtakescareofClasses1–3andPrakashtakescareofClasses4and5.

25

Table 7.1: Profile of teachers

Nameofthe Gender Age Academic Professional Yearofjoining Yearofservice

teacher qualification qualification service inthisschool

Rachaiah Male 46 PUC TCH 1994 20

Prakash Male 36 B.Sc B.Ed 2014 2

Theconcernoftheteachersforthechildrenwasmanifestinthewaytheytaughtandthewaythey

ran the school.The teacherskneweach childwell in termsof their familybackground. Itwas

observedthateachchildwasgivenattentioninclassandthattheteachersalsopaidattentionto

aspectssuchaspersonalhygiene,especiallyforthosechildrenwhodidnotseemtogetpropercare

athome.Whentheschoolwasfoundtobeinneedofsomethingadditionaltothoseaddressedby

funds received from the department, either donations were sought from the Rotary orGram

Panchayat or the teachers contributed from their ownpockets. Shortage of resources such as

notebooksandpencilswasseentobereplenishedpersonallybytheteachers.

Theteachers’empathywiththedifficultcontextofthecommunitywasseenintheirresponses.As

theheadteachershared,‘Thecommunityisveryinnocentandhumbleandtheparentswanttheir

childrentostudyanddowellintheirlife.Theysendtheirchildrentoschooldespitethehardship

theyface.Theyhardlycometotheschoolbecausetheyareattheirworkinthefieldduringschool

hoursandcomingtoschoolisnothingbutalossofincomeforthatday.Icannotexpectmuchfrom

theparentswhenitcomestofollowing-uponthestudiesoftheirchildrenorprovidingthemwith

uniformsandbooks.Often,afewchildrencometoschoolwithoutbreakfastandhavetowaituntil

noonwhenlunchisprovidedinschool.Wedonotexpectanyfinancialsupportfromtheparents.All

thatwewantistheirinvolvementandsupportforthechild.Weinvitethemforspecialeventssuch

asIndependenceDayandChildren’sdayandprovidethemtheopportunitytoviewthetalentsof

theirchildrenthroughtheculturalprogramsorganisedfortheoccasion.Theyareveryhappywith

theprogressof theirchildren; theyalsoencourageotherparents tosend theirchildren toour

school.For19years,thereisnoreductioninschoolstrength.Wealwayshaveanaverageof25–30

childreninourschool’.

Theeasycamaraderiebetweentheteachersandtheirsenseofcommitmenttotheirworkwasalso

reflectedintheirresponses.AsRachaiahshared,‘PrakashandIhaveaverygoodunderstandingand

mutualrespect.Afterthemorningassembly,bothofusgotoourclassesandseeeachotheragain

duringlunchhour.Ournextmeetingisonlyintheevening,afterschoolhours.Wehavemaintained

thisprinciplesothatourfocusisnotdivertedfromtheclassroomduringclasshours.Whenthereis

someimportantworksuchasadministrativework,webothshareit.Prakashisverycooperativeas

wellasveryconcernedaboutthechildrenandtheschool.Itbecomesveryeasyformebecauseof

our like-mindedness. We discuss together about new things that we can do to improve the

classroom,academicprogressofchildren,andthekitchengarden,andwealsoshareourpersonal

matters.Wearegoodfriendsmorethancolleagues’.

TheheadteacherwashappytobeteachingthelowergradesashebelievedthatClasses1–3were

foundationalforpreparingchildrenforfuturelearning.Healsospokeveryproudlyofthelearning

levelsofthechildrenintheschool,sayingthattheywereaheadoftheirclasscompetenciesand

comparedverywelltootherschoolsandeventheprivateschools.

Both teachers were found to share the same MDM as the children and reported that they

contributedasumofRs.500eachpermonthtomakeupfortheshortfallbetweentheactualMDM

expenses and the official allocated funding and ensure that each childwaswell fed. The two

teacherspersonallyservedthechildrenandateonlyafterthechildrenhadeaten.Milkwasgivento

26

thechildrenthreetimesaweek.Additionally,theheadteachermadesurethathehadasupplyof

biscuitsreadyforthosechildrenwhocametoschoolwithoutbreakfast.Anyvisitortotheschool,

suchasaparent,wasalsoprovidedlunch.TheassistantteacherPrakashcontributedRs.2000and

providedaspecialmealforthechildrenonceayear.

AsconversationswithPrakashrevealed,thoughhewasnotaprimaryteacherbychoice,henow

foundtheworkenjoyable.Heexplained,‘Iliketeaching,henceIchosethisprofession.Iwasnotsure

ifIwantedtoteachsmallchildrenorhighschoolchildrenwhenIwasdoingmycourse.Igotthis

appointmentasaprimaryschoolteacher.Initially,Iwasabitscepticalbutgradually,Istartedliking

mywork.Teachinglittlechildrengivesmealotofsatisfaction,especiallywhenIseerapidprogress

inthem’.PrakashwasobservedtobearegularvisitortotheneighbouringTeacherLearningCentre

andsharedthathefrequentlyborrowedresourcesaswellasengagedindiscussionswithresource

persons.Hehaslearnttouseacomputer,followingwhichhehasboughtapersonallaptopthathe

usedintheclassroomforshowingrelevantvideosandphotographswhileteaching.

The school had an active and cooperative SDMC thatwas seen to be supportive ofRachaiah’s

initiatives.Thelatterinturnwasmeticulousaboutsharingallinformation,especiallyrelatedto

funds and their deployment, to ensure transparency. All SDMCmeetingswere held only after

7.30p.m.intheeveningsothattherewasnodisruptionofworkfortheattendingmembers.Oneof

theSDMCmembers,Keshavaiah,affirmedthepositiveroleoftheteachers:‘Weareluckytogetthese

teachersinourschool.Bothofthemarelikesiblings,committedtotheschoolandchildren,andwe

trustthatourchildrenaregettingverygoodeducationinthisschool.Theyaretransparentabout

theschooldevelopmentfundandincentivesgivenbythedepartment.Wetakecollectivedecisions

whileinitiatinganyschooldevelopmentwork.Whenthereisexcessmoneyrequired,ourteachers

managethefundsbyeithercollectingdonationsormostoften,spendingtheirownmoney.Weare

poorandnotinapositiontocontributefinanciallybutallthattheydemandfromusistosend

childrenregularlytoschool.Byholdingparent–teachermeetings,theyensurethatweknowand

understandtheprogressofourchildren.Almostalltheparentsofthesechildrenarelabourersand

veryfewofthemareliterates.So,theentireresponsibilityofourchildren’seducationliesonthe

teachers’.

Rachaiahexpressedhisfrustrationofbeingthein-chargeheadteacherwithaddedresponsibilities

ofschooladministration,sincethisimpliedthathehadtooftentaketimeawayfromthechildren

andtheclassroom.Helamentedthatifhehadenoughtimeintheclassroom,hecouldhavedone

better: ‘I could have taught Mathematics by referring to different text books, apart from our

textbooks,ifIhadtofocusonlyontheclassroom.Childrencouldgainanenhancedperspective.

Childrenatthisagearecapableoflearninganythingthatyouteachthem’.

Theclusterresourceperson,Sumathi,whovisitedtheschoolsonceamonth,hadthefollowingto

sayaboutthetwoteachers: ‘He(Rachaiah)comes(toclusterorblockresourcecentres)either

beforeschoolhoursinthemorningorafterschoolhoursintheevening.Hedoesnotliketodoanyof

theofficeworkduringschoolhours.RachaiahandPrakashapplyforleaveonlywhenthereisan

emergencyandnototherwise.Bothareveryhonestintheirwork,transparentinmoneydealings,

andcommittedtowork.Thisisoneofthebestschoolsinourblock,despiteallconstraints.The

learninglevelsofthechildrenhereareexcellent,alltheregistersanddocumentsrequiredbythe

departmentareup-to-date,therearenodelaysingivingincentivestochildren,theMDMisvery

nutritious,andthereisawarmatmosphereintheschool.Intimationornon-intimationofmyvisit

doesnotmakeanydifference,asthereisnopretention’.

When questioned about hismotivation, Rachaiah said, ‘I earnmy livelihood because of these

children.Iowethemagoodeducation.Thisthoughtmotivatesmetoteachthemwithdedication’.

27

Table 7.1: Profile of teachers

Nameofthe Gender Age Academic Professional Yearofjoining Yearofservice

teacher qualification qualification service inthisschool

Rachaiah Male 46 PUC TCH 1994 20

Prakash Male 36 B.Sc B.Ed 2014 2

Theconcernoftheteachersforthechildrenwasmanifestinthewaytheytaughtandthewaythey

ran the school.The teacherskneweach childwell in termsof their familybackground. Itwas

observedthateachchildwasgivenattentioninclassandthattheteachersalsopaidattentionto

aspectssuchaspersonalhygiene,especiallyforthosechildrenwhodidnotseemtogetpropercare

athome.Whentheschoolwasfoundtobeinneedofsomethingadditionaltothoseaddressedby

funds received from the department, either donations were sought from the Rotary orGram

Panchayat or the teachers contributed from their ownpockets. Shortage of resources such as

notebooksandpencilswasseentobereplenishedpersonallybytheteachers.

Theteachers’empathywiththedifficultcontextofthecommunitywasseenintheirresponses.As

theheadteachershared,‘Thecommunityisveryinnocentandhumbleandtheparentswanttheir

childrentostudyanddowellintheirlife.Theysendtheirchildrentoschooldespitethehardship

theyface.Theyhardlycometotheschoolbecausetheyareattheirworkinthefieldduringschool

hoursandcomingtoschoolisnothingbutalossofincomeforthatday.Icannotexpectmuchfrom

theparentswhenitcomestofollowing-uponthestudiesoftheirchildrenorprovidingthemwith

uniformsandbooks.Often,afewchildrencometoschoolwithoutbreakfastandhavetowaituntil

noonwhenlunchisprovidedinschool.Wedonotexpectanyfinancialsupportfromtheparents.All

thatwewantistheirinvolvementandsupportforthechild.Weinvitethemforspecialeventssuch

asIndependenceDayandChildren’sdayandprovidethemtheopportunitytoviewthetalentsof

theirchildrenthroughtheculturalprogramsorganisedfortheoccasion.Theyareveryhappywith

theprogressof theirchildren; theyalsoencourageotherparents tosend theirchildren toour

school.For19years,thereisnoreductioninschoolstrength.Wealwayshaveanaverageof25–30

childreninourschool’.

Theeasycamaraderiebetweentheteachersandtheirsenseofcommitmenttotheirworkwasalso

reflectedintheirresponses.AsRachaiahshared,‘PrakashandIhaveaverygoodunderstandingand

mutualrespect.Afterthemorningassembly,bothofusgotoourclassesandseeeachotheragain

duringlunchhour.Ournextmeetingisonlyintheevening,afterschoolhours.Wehavemaintained

thisprinciplesothatourfocusisnotdivertedfromtheclassroomduringclasshours.Whenthereis

someimportantworksuchasadministrativework,webothshareit.Prakashisverycooperativeas

wellasveryconcernedaboutthechildrenandtheschool.Itbecomesveryeasyformebecauseof

our like-mindedness. We discuss together about new things that we can do to improve the

classroom,academicprogressofchildren,andthekitchengarden,andwealsoshareourpersonal

matters.Wearegoodfriendsmorethancolleagues’.

TheheadteacherwashappytobeteachingthelowergradesashebelievedthatClasses1–3were

foundationalforpreparingchildrenforfuturelearning.Healsospokeveryproudlyofthelearning

levelsofthechildrenintheschool,sayingthattheywereaheadoftheirclasscompetenciesand

comparedverywelltootherschoolsandeventheprivateschools.

Both teachers were found to share the same MDM as the children and reported that they

contributedasumofRs.500eachpermonthtomakeupfortheshortfallbetweentheactualMDM

expenses and the official allocated funding and ensure that each childwaswell fed. The two

teacherspersonallyservedthechildrenandateonlyafterthechildrenhadeaten.Milkwasgivento

26

thechildrenthreetimesaweek.Additionally,theheadteachermadesurethathehadasupplyof

biscuitsreadyforthosechildrenwhocametoschoolwithoutbreakfast.Anyvisitortotheschool,

suchasaparent,wasalsoprovidedlunch.TheassistantteacherPrakashcontributedRs.2000and

providedaspecialmealforthechildrenonceayear.

AsconversationswithPrakashrevealed,thoughhewasnotaprimaryteacherbychoice,henow

foundtheworkenjoyable.Heexplained,‘Iliketeaching,henceIchosethisprofession.Iwasnotsure

ifIwantedtoteachsmallchildrenorhighschoolchildrenwhenIwasdoingmycourse.Igotthis

appointmentasaprimaryschoolteacher.Initially,Iwasabitscepticalbutgradually,Istartedliking

mywork.Teachinglittlechildrengivesmealotofsatisfaction,especiallywhenIseerapidprogress

inthem’.PrakashwasobservedtobearegularvisitortotheneighbouringTeacherLearningCentre

andsharedthathefrequentlyborrowedresourcesaswellasengagedindiscussionswithresource

persons.Hehaslearnttouseacomputer,followingwhichhehasboughtapersonallaptopthathe

usedintheclassroomforshowingrelevantvideosandphotographswhileteaching.

The school had an active and cooperative SDMC thatwas seen to be supportive ofRachaiah’s

initiatives.Thelatterinturnwasmeticulousaboutsharingallinformation,especiallyrelatedto

funds and their deployment, to ensure transparency. All SDMCmeetingswere held only after

7.30p.m.intheeveningsothattherewasnodisruptionofworkfortheattendingmembers.Oneof

theSDMCmembers,Keshavaiah,affirmedthepositiveroleoftheteachers:‘Weareluckytogetthese

teachersinourschool.Bothofthemarelikesiblings,committedtotheschoolandchildren,andwe

trustthatourchildrenaregettingverygoodeducationinthisschool.Theyaretransparentabout

theschooldevelopmentfundandincentivesgivenbythedepartment.Wetakecollectivedecisions

whileinitiatinganyschooldevelopmentwork.Whenthereisexcessmoneyrequired,ourteachers

managethefundsbyeithercollectingdonationsormostoften,spendingtheirownmoney.Weare

poorandnotinapositiontocontributefinanciallybutallthattheydemandfromusistosend

childrenregularlytoschool.Byholdingparent–teachermeetings,theyensurethatweknowand

understandtheprogressofourchildren.Almostalltheparentsofthesechildrenarelabourersand

veryfewofthemareliterates.So,theentireresponsibilityofourchildren’seducationliesonthe

teachers’.

Rachaiahexpressedhisfrustrationofbeingthein-chargeheadteacherwithaddedresponsibilities

ofschooladministration,sincethisimpliedthathehadtooftentaketimeawayfromthechildren

andtheclassroom.Helamentedthatifhehadenoughtimeintheclassroom,hecouldhavedone

better: ‘I could have taught Mathematics by referring to different text books, apart from our

textbooks,ifIhadtofocusonlyontheclassroom.Childrencouldgainanenhancedperspective.

Childrenatthisagearecapableoflearninganythingthatyouteachthem’.

Theclusterresourceperson,Sumathi,whovisitedtheschoolsonceamonth,hadthefollowingto

sayaboutthetwoteachers: ‘He(Rachaiah)comes(toclusterorblockresourcecentres)either

beforeschoolhoursinthemorningorafterschoolhoursintheevening.Hedoesnotliketodoanyof

theofficeworkduringschoolhours.RachaiahandPrakashapplyforleaveonlywhenthereisan

emergencyandnototherwise.Bothareveryhonestintheirwork,transparentinmoneydealings,

andcommittedtowork.Thisisoneofthebestschoolsinourblock,despiteallconstraints.The

learninglevelsofthechildrenhereareexcellent,alltheregistersanddocumentsrequiredbythe

departmentareup-to-date,therearenodelaysingivingincentivestochildren,theMDMisvery

nutritious,andthereisawarmatmosphereintheschool.Intimationornon-intimationofmyvisit

doesnotmakeanydifference,asthereisnopretention’.

When questioned about hismotivation, Rachaiah said, ‘I earnmy livelihood because of these

children.Iowethemagoodeducation.Thisthoughtmotivatesmetoteachthemwithdedication’.

27

4. Concluding Thoughts

The study finds that in effect, teacher absenteeism, that is, teachersbeing absentwithout any

reason,isonlyoftheorderof2.5%.Thisalignswithotherstudiesonteacherabsenteeism,which

indicatethatrankdelinquencyislowerthan5%.Otherfindingspointtothesystemicchallengeof

non-schooldutiesthatstillcompriseasignificantportionoftheirworktimethattheteachershave

to spend in activities not related to their primarywork engagement—school teaching. At the

teacherlevel,femaleteachersarefoundtobelessabsentthanmaleteachersandcommutetimeis

seentomakeadifferencewithrelativelylongercommutetimeassociatedwithhigherabsence,both

resonatingwithfindingsfromotherstudiesonteacherabsenteeism.Intermsofotherteacher-level

andschool-levelcorrelatesofteacherabsence,noremarkablesystematicdifferencesareevident.

Inaddition,thesevencasestudiesattempttopresentamorenuancedunderstandingoftheexisting

realitiesofthegovernmentschoolsystemingeneralandteachers’workinspecific—aspectsthat

remainundervaluedincurrentresearchstudiesandpolicydiscourse.Thecasestudiesshowthat

teachersingovernmentschoolsdoengagewiththeirworkasconscientiousprofessionals,evenin

challenging contexts of systemic difficulties and personal inconveniences. This brings us to a

broaderobservationonthenatureofdiscoursethathasbeensoughttobebuiltaroundteacher

absenteeism ingovernment schools.The currentdiscourseoverly stresses thepointofoverall

teacher absence, this being in the order of 20%, which feeds into popular perceptions of an

‘unaccountable’governmentschoolsystem,withaspecificfocusonpurportedly‘unaccountable’

teachers.Thishasalsobecomearallyingpointforpolicymeasuresandinitiatives,oftenexplicitlyor

implicitlydirectedatgovernmentschoolteachers,whichhaveseriousimplicationsfordevelopinga

professionalcadreofregular,well-trainedteachersinthegovernmentschoolsystem.Thepolicy

suggestionsand initiatives range fromreplacementof a regular cadreby contractual teachers,

mandatedbiometric attendanceof teachers, and invitation to retiredprofessionals fromother

domainstovolunteerasteachersintheschoolsystem.Here,‘efficiency’becomesoneofthemost

importantparametersintheevaluationoftheaims,processes,andoutcomesofaneducational

system,oftenatthecostofotherparametersthatmakeforastronggovernmentschoolsystem.

Atone level,what thisdiscourseof ‘efficiency’and ‘accountability’ ignores is thesystemicand

everydayrealityofgovernmentschools,withmultiplefactorscontributingtoteacherabsences,not

allofwhicharerelatedto ‘lackofaccountability’. Indeed,asthisstudyshows,absencewithout

reasonisquiteinsignificantwhencomparedtothesystemicreasons,forteacherabsenceinschools,

suchasotheracademicandadministrativedutiesassignedtothem.Insuchascenario,thecurrent

teacherabsenteeismdiscourseseemstoendorseapositioninwhichtheteachersshouldbesubject

toaninsecureworkenvironmentthatpotentiallycreatesaccountability.

Atanotherlevel,thisdiscoursedoesnotpaysufficientattentiontotheverynatureoftheteaching

professioninwhichautonomyoftendefinestheengagementandendeavouroftheteacherandacts

asthemainmotivatingfactorguidingherwork.Thecasestudiesindeedexemplifythisaspectof

teachers’work.Moreover, accountabilityas conceptualised in the current teacherabsenteeism

discourse overly emphasises ‘individual’ and ‘outcomes’ accountability at the cost of process

accountability. For understanding accountability through the latter perspective, it would be

necessarytoconsidersystemicfactorscontributingtoaccountabilityissues(e.g.poorlydeveloped

systems of teacher preparation, recruitment, and deployment; inadequate institutional

mechanismsforteachermentoringandsupport;andinadequateworkingconditionsforteachersin

terms of alignment to key teaching–learning tasks). Other studies have also emphasised how

absence of teachers’ voices and agency in policy-making and implementation processes,

inadequateappreciationfromimmediatestakeholderssuchashigherauthoritiesandparents,and

absenceofmeaningfulpeer-engagementforumsforself-developmenthaveledtodemotivation

28

amonggovernmentschoolteachers(cf.Batra2005;Ramachandran2005;Mooij2008).Aligned

with these studies, this study also seeks to pave the path for a deeper and more engaged

understandingoftheaboveconcernsandchallengessurroundingteachers’work,whichinturncan

guidethenatureofpoliciesaroundthisissue.

29

4. Concluding Thoughts

The study finds that in effect, teacher absenteeism, that is, teachersbeing absentwithout any

reason,isonlyoftheorderof2.5%.Thisalignswithotherstudiesonteacherabsenteeism,which

indicatethatrankdelinquencyislowerthan5%.Otherfindingspointtothesystemicchallengeof

non-schooldutiesthatstillcompriseasignificantportionoftheirworktimethattheteachershave

to spend in activities not related to their primarywork engagement—school teaching. At the

teacherlevel,femaleteachersarefoundtobelessabsentthanmaleteachersandcommutetimeis

seentomakeadifferencewithrelativelylongercommutetimeassociatedwithhigherabsence,both

resonatingwithfindingsfromotherstudiesonteacherabsenteeism.Intermsofotherteacher-level

andschool-levelcorrelatesofteacherabsence,noremarkablesystematicdifferencesareevident.

Inaddition,thesevencasestudiesattempttopresentamorenuancedunderstandingoftheexisting

realitiesofthegovernmentschoolsystemingeneralandteachers’workinspecific—aspectsthat

remainundervaluedincurrentresearchstudiesandpolicydiscourse.Thecasestudiesshowthat

teachersingovernmentschoolsdoengagewiththeirworkasconscientiousprofessionals,evenin

challenging contexts of systemic difficulties and personal inconveniences. This brings us to a

broaderobservationonthenatureofdiscoursethathasbeensoughttobebuiltaroundteacher

absenteeism ingovernment schools.The currentdiscourseoverly stresses thepointofoverall

teacher absence, this being in the order of 20%, which feeds into popular perceptions of an

‘unaccountable’governmentschoolsystem,withaspecificfocusonpurportedly‘unaccountable’

teachers.Thishasalsobecomearallyingpointforpolicymeasuresandinitiatives,oftenexplicitlyor

implicitlydirectedatgovernmentschoolteachers,whichhaveseriousimplicationsfordevelopinga

professionalcadreofregular,well-trainedteachersinthegovernmentschoolsystem.Thepolicy

suggestionsand initiatives range fromreplacementof a regular cadreby contractual teachers,

mandatedbiometric attendanceof teachers, and invitation to retiredprofessionals fromother

domainstovolunteerasteachersintheschoolsystem.Here,‘efficiency’becomesoneofthemost

importantparametersintheevaluationoftheaims,processes,andoutcomesofaneducational

system,oftenatthecostofotherparametersthatmakeforastronggovernmentschoolsystem.

Atone level,what thisdiscourseof ‘efficiency’and ‘accountability’ ignores is thesystemicand

everydayrealityofgovernmentschools,withmultiplefactorscontributingtoteacherabsences,not

allofwhicharerelatedto ‘lackofaccountability’. Indeed,asthisstudyshows,absencewithout

reasonisquiteinsignificantwhencomparedtothesystemicreasons,forteacherabsenceinschools,

suchasotheracademicandadministrativedutiesassignedtothem.Insuchascenario,thecurrent

teacherabsenteeismdiscourseseemstoendorseapositioninwhichtheteachersshouldbesubject

toaninsecureworkenvironmentthatpotentiallycreatesaccountability.

Atanotherlevel,thisdiscoursedoesnotpaysufficientattentiontotheverynatureoftheteaching

professioninwhichautonomyoftendefinestheengagementandendeavouroftheteacherandacts

asthemainmotivatingfactorguidingherwork.Thecasestudiesindeedexemplifythisaspectof

teachers’work.Moreover, accountabilityas conceptualised in the current teacherabsenteeism

discourse overly emphasises ‘individual’ and ‘outcomes’ accountability at the cost of process

accountability. For understanding accountability through the latter perspective, it would be

necessarytoconsidersystemicfactorscontributingtoaccountabilityissues(e.g.poorlydeveloped

systems of teacher preparation, recruitment, and deployment; inadequate institutional

mechanismsforteachermentoringandsupport;andinadequateworkingconditionsforteachersin

terms of alignment to key teaching–learning tasks). Other studies have also emphasised how

absence of teachers’ voices and agency in policy-making and implementation processes,

inadequateappreciationfromimmediatestakeholderssuchashigherauthoritiesandparents,and

absenceofmeaningfulpeer-engagementforumsforself-developmenthaveledtodemotivation

28

amonggovernmentschoolteachers(cf.Batra2005;Ramachandran2005;Mooij2008).Aligned

with these studies, this study also seeks to pave the path for a deeper and more engaged

understandingoftheaboveconcernsandchallengessurroundingteachers’work,whichinturncan

guidethenatureofpoliciesaroundthisissue.

29

References

Batra,P(2005):“VoiceandAgencyofTeachers:MissingLinkinNationalCurriculumFramework

2005,”EconomicandPoliticalWeekly,40(40):4347-4356.

Beteille,T(2009):Absenteeism, transfersandpatronage:thepoliticaleconomyof teacher labor

marketsinIndia,UnpublishedDoctoralDissertation,StanfordUniversity.

Bhattacharjea,S,WWadhwaandRBanerji(2011):InsidePrimarySchools.Astudyofteachingand

learninginruralIndia,Mumbai:Pratham.

Governmentof India(2009):Teachers’absence inprimaryandupperprimaryschools:Synthesis

reportofstudyconductedinAndhraPradesh,MadhyaPradeshandUttarPradesh,NewDelhi:EdCIL.

GovernmentofIndia(2017):EconomicSurvey2016-17,MinistryofFinance.

Kingdon,GandMMuzammil(2003):ThePoliticalEconomyofEducationinIndia:TeacherPoliticsin

UttarPradesh,NewDelhi:OxfordUniversityPress.

Kremer,M,NChaudhury,FHRogers,KmuralidharanandJHammer(2005):“Teacherabsencein

India:Asnapshot,”JournaloftheEuropeanEconomicAssociation,3(2-3):658-667.

Mooij,J(2008):“PrimaryEducation,Teachers’ProfessionalismandSocialClassaboutMotivation

andDemotivationofGovernmentSchoolTeachers in India,”International JournalofEducational

Development,28(5):508–523.

Muralidharan,K,andVSundararaman(2013):Contractteachers:ExperimentalevidencefromIndia

(No.w19440),NationalBureauofEconomicResearch.

Muralidharan,K,JDas,AHollaandAMohpal(2016):“TheFiscalCostofWeakGovernance:Evidence

fromTeacherAbsenceinIndia,”PolicyResearchWorkingPaper7579,WorldBankGroup.

Pratham (2017):Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2016 Provisional,NewDelhi: ASER

Centre.

Ramachandran,V(2005):“WhySchoolTeachersAreDemotivatedandDisheartened,”Economicand

PoliticalWeekly,40(21):2141-2144.

30 31

References

Batra,P(2005):“VoiceandAgencyofTeachers:MissingLinkinNationalCurriculumFramework

2005,”EconomicandPoliticalWeekly,40(40):4347-4356.

Beteille,T(2009):Absenteeism, transfersandpatronage:thepoliticaleconomyof teacher labor

marketsinIndia,UnpublishedDoctoralDissertation,StanfordUniversity.

Bhattacharjea,S,WWadhwaandRBanerji(2011):InsidePrimarySchools.Astudyofteachingand

learninginruralIndia,Mumbai:Pratham.

Governmentof India(2009):Teachers’absence inprimaryandupperprimaryschools:Synthesis

reportofstudyconductedinAndhraPradesh,MadhyaPradeshandUttarPradesh,NewDelhi:EdCIL.

GovernmentofIndia(2017):EconomicSurvey2016-17,MinistryofFinance.

Kingdon,GandMMuzammil(2003):ThePoliticalEconomyofEducationinIndia:TeacherPoliticsin

UttarPradesh,NewDelhi:OxfordUniversityPress.

Kremer,M,NChaudhury,FHRogers,KmuralidharanandJHammer(2005):“Teacherabsencein

India:Asnapshot,”JournaloftheEuropeanEconomicAssociation,3(2-3):658-667.

Mooij,J(2008):“PrimaryEducation,Teachers’ProfessionalismandSocialClassaboutMotivation

andDemotivationofGovernmentSchoolTeachers in India,”International JournalofEducational

Development,28(5):508–523.

Muralidharan,K,andVSundararaman(2013):Contractteachers:ExperimentalevidencefromIndia

(No.w19440),NationalBureauofEconomicResearch.

Muralidharan,K,JDas,AHollaandAMohpal(2016):“TheFiscalCostofWeakGovernance:Evidence

fromTeacherAbsenceinIndia,”PolicyResearchWorkingPaper7579,WorldBankGroup.

Pratham (2017):Annual Status of Education Report (Rural) 2016 Provisional,NewDelhi: ASER

Centre.

Ramachandran,V(2005):“WhySchoolTeachersAreDemotivatedandDisheartened,”Economicand

PoliticalWeekly,40(21):2141-2144.

30 31

32

32