The two flagship programmes of the Ministry of Human Resources Development the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the Mid-Day-Meal (MDM) respectively have resulted in enhancing attendance of children in schools and have simultaneously improved their nutritional status.
Owing to increase in the number of students completing elementary stage after the introduction of these programmes, there is a surge in demand for secondary education. To provide access to secondary education with special focus on the weaker sections of the society, the educationally backward, the girls, the disabled, children residing in rural areas and other marginalized categories like SC, ST, OBC and Educationally Backward Minorities (EBM) are to be given special attention. Not only universal enrolment, but universal retention and satisfactory quality of learning is also being given priority.
New initiatives during the 11th Five Year Plan for Secondary Education include introduction of ICT in schools. A revamped scheme of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in schools will be implemented in partnership with the States and Private providers. The scheme provides computer-aided education and ICT literacy with broadband connectivity in about one lakh secondary and higher secondary schools of Government, Local Bodies and Government-Aided Schools. It also seeks to introduce Computer Aided Education both at Elementary and Secondary levels.
Priorities for Higher Education in the XI Plan are expansion of access (i.e. of institutional infrastructure), equity (i.e. to ensure effective participation of disadvantaged groups, and to correct regional imbalances), improvement of quality, and optimal use of Information & Communication Technology to promote achievement of these objectives. The outlay is roughly Rs. 85,000 crore. which marks an over 9 times increase (at current prices) over the X Plan expenditure. It aims, inter alia, to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio for the 18-24 years age group to at least 15% by the end of the Plan period.
It is also proposed to launch a National Education Mission through Information and Communication Technology which will provide Broadband connectivity to all the institutions of higher learning numbering about 400 University level institutions and over 20,000 degree colleges besides making available high quality e-content for dissemination through the connectivity to be provided under this Mission.
The XI Plan would also accord priority to promote research of high quality across the Higher Education system, regular updating of curricula and emphasis on regular evaluation, enhancing coverage of the accreditation process, and introduction of necessary reforms in apex institutions like the University Grants Commission (UGC) and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) so as to make them more responsive to current and future challenges and needs.
The National Board of Accreditation of India has been admitted as a provisional member of the Washington Accord during 2007. With this, Indian students graduating from programmes which are accredited by the National Board of Accreditation of the All India Council for Technical Education will have easier access to education and employment opportunities in member countries of the Accord like USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Korea and Singapore.
Good Practices in Delhi Schools
To usher in ICT enabling governance and academic innovations by addressing issues that have a direct or an indirect bearing on classroom teaching, students performance and accountability of teaching staff including office personnel the Directorate of Education, Government of NCT of Delhi launched a comprehensive IT action plan.
The initiatives also include interventions for personnel and office management in the Directorate such as Employee information system, transfer posting module, finance module, library management, infrastructure module, etc. As a result, there has been perceptible change in both administrative and academic output of the Department with human intervention and discretion being minimized resulting in a fair, transparent, accountable and responsive system.
The most important aspects of the ICT implementation are:
• The entire work flow of the Department has been woven into the system such that the users have to work through the system for producing deliverables like the mark-sheet of a child, rather than entering a data arrived at after a process has taken place.
• The implementation of a particular module is always complete. There has never been a pilot. All the users use the system simultaneously.
• The system is a product of an in-house process having organic growth. The needs are identified, solutions mooted, the simplest possible system implemented, tested and fine-tuned.
• It is conceded that the web based system is not a technical marvel. But it is ensured every time and at every level that the system delivers the results it is meant for.
• The system has been pro-actively accepted by all the stakeholders. In fact, the Teachers Union claims that Computerization has been achieved as a result of their tireless efforts.
• There is a definite and unprecedented improvement on all the parameters upon which a School Education System can be evaluated.
Results of Class X increased by an unprecedented 11.7% in the year 2006 and by 17.39% in the year 2007. The number of schools with more than 90% pass percentage have increased in class X. Attendance of teachers can be verified at a given time by anyone either for individual teachers or groups. Information on this aspect is available in public domain at the Website www.edudel.nic.in The online admission system has helped to increase the enrolment of class VI by almost 14% in its first year of implementation.
The discretionary powers of transfers and postings have been done away with as all the transfers and postings are done through a transparent process of computerized transfer system coupled with GIS based postings.
Real time communication mechanism has been provided through MIS mail and every important information is now being sent to each individual employee thereby eliminating the information gap. The accurate and efficient financial management system has been able to ensure almost 100% utilization of funds in time.
Entitlements of the teaching and non-teaching staff are now received in time by them due to computerization of financial system. The repairs of schools have improved substantially through the use of online EOR (Extra Ordinary Repairs) tracking system. Online feedback systems from citizens have been made available in MIS through which any parent or citizen can communicate with the Department or with the Minister of Education.
Delhi Government has won highest number of medals in 2006-07 in National School Games.The Department of Education has won four National e-Governance Awards in last three years.
Replication in other States
The system being online and the educational system being almost the same in the entire country, the system is entirely replicable.
Not only inter-state but inter-department replicability is also feasible, the functioning of government departments being the same all over the states and country. As an example, the Personnel Management Information System (PMIS) initially implemented by PWD, Delhi and later extended to CPWD in the entire country, was designed, constructed and implemented by the Department of Education for PWD, Delhi, in the first place.
Recently, the Government of Haryana has started broadcasting multimedia lessons on its edusat. Moreover, talks are on with Punjab Government for implementation of the entire concept in the state. Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Andamans have also shown interest in implementation of the programmes developed in Delhi in their respective states.
*Inputs from the Ministry of Human Resources Development