NISA नमस्कार

58 Pages·2016·6.11 MB·English

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CONTENTS
2 18
Editorial Azadi Views
A brief note from the editor’s desk and This section contains powerful hindi
messages from stakeholders-NISA articles on education from Azadi.me, a
Secretariat, President and Vice President liberal’s guidebook

24
4
Editor’s Pick Ask Your Lawyer:
Important news pieces on education Legal Boundaries
selected and curated by the editor A regular column answering queries on
matters pertaining to law
5
Education- State of Affairs
25
A complete low down on the major Upcoming Events
happenings in the education sector at A list of major events pertaining to
primary level throughout India education and their details
12
The National Independent Schools
Alliance (NISA) Communiqué
Major initiatives undertaken and news
pertaining to the Budget Private Schools
under NISA
Volume 2 /Issue 2 Page 1
EDITOR’S DESK
SCHOOL VOUCHERS :
NISA NAMASKAR
A PANACEA FOR ALL FAILINGS
EDITORIAL BOARD
Last one decade has witnessed a spurt in efforts aimed at much
awaited improvement in the field of education. For the children in
EDITOR the age group of 6 to 14 years, free and compulsory education is
Avinash Chandra being guaranteed through the Right to Education Act-2009 (RTE
Act) which is, for sure, a big step in this direction. And the next big
step is the New Education Policy (NEP) the present government at
EDITORIAL BOARD
centre is quite serious about. However, even earlier in the year
Kulbhushan Sharma 1968 and again in 1986 the governments of the then Prime
Rajesh Malhotra Minister Late Smt. Indira Gandhi and Late Sri Rajiv Gandhi
respectively had implemented New Education Policies. In the year 1992, some minor
Amit Chandra
amendments were done. But the bottom line of all the National Education Policies remained the
same: governments must augment spends in various fields of education.
CONTENT EDITOR
Even the RTE Act calls for improvement in the quality of education. It emphasizes an over-all
Jyoti Kalbhor improvement like buildings, toilet blocks, playgrounds, appointment of trained teachers, et al.
Post independence, an amount of INR 153 crores was allocated for education in the first FY Plan
and the same was to be spent in the full span of 5 years. Now, this budget for 2016-17 is INR
LEGAL CONTENT ADVISOR
68,968 crores and that too for just one year. This is quite a big leap!
Advocate Prashant Narang
Even Delhi Government has a budget of INR 10,690 crores for education alone for the current
fiscal. Other states like Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra too have substantially increased this
SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM budget. So this is amply clear that the Centre and the State governments have kept education on
Amit Chandra top priority. But what is to be noted here is the fact that thousands of crores that come for the
Thomas Antony improvement of education goes in the name of construction of school buildings, salary of
teachers and staff, new recruitments, teachers’ training, mid-day meal, et al. But, alas, the quality
Jyoti Kalbhor
of education is getting bad to worse, a fact all government and non-government researches prove.
Apart from that, a sizeable chunk of the budget goes to schools in the form of reimbursements
(25% seats of private schools are reserved for the economically weaker and unprivileged classes
and fees for the same being borne by the government) for the fees of private schools. Yet,
irregularities regarding admissions in economically weak and unprivileged quota done by
private schools, make headlines in newspapers time and again. And there are various types of this
irregularities like giving admission to those not eligible for quota or treating those admitted
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under quota as children of lesser God, make them sit separately, conducting separate sessions
Cheques/drafts in favour of NISA for them, not paying attention to them in class.
Education
Undoubtedly, the concerned government takes steps against such schools whenever such news
and complaints are registered but the ‘management’ is smarter and always has a way out. And as
these schools get reimbursements and land for school from government, they anyhow prove their
accountability in front of the government or the concerned authorities. As such accountability of
schools towards students and their guardians stay confined to books. And parents whose
children get admitted to renowned private schools feel so obliged that cannot ever dare to take
school management to task for the said irregularity.
DBT i.e. Direct Cash Transfer seems easy and effective in tackling such issues and stop the
EDITORIAL OFFICE
pilferage of the government fund meant for such purposes. It must be noted that DBT has proved
A-69, Hauz Khas, to be effective in checking misappropriation of government subsidy meant for LPG cylinder and
New Delhi- 110016, India the plan of government to implement it in other sectors is in final stage. Even if education is taken
in the ambit, not only misappropriation of a huge amount in this sector will be checked but the
Tel: [phone]
children will also enjoy the right to education in letter and spirit. They will not only have the
Website: nisaindia.org
purchasing power but also the right to choose. They will themselves foot the bills and get
admitted in the schools of their choice. Now, if they pay the fees out of their pockets chances of
being treated as second class citizens in school will diminish. Schools will take them seriously.
If such children have a ‘say’ in what to choose, such private schools will start bending over
backwards to show they care. It will give rise to a healthy competition amongst schools to attract
more and more such students, who definitely stand to gain. But politicians have a mistrust in this
regard. They fear poor parents may divert the amount for other seemingly urgent needs.
However, the Bicycle Scheme of Bihar has proved to be a crowd (read students) puller for school
For sales, subscription & any which is quite heartening. So, School Vouchers may come handy to stop any chance of pilferage of
other query, funds meant for such children. In fact, School Voucher scheme is a brain-child of an American
economist the Nobel laureate, Milton Freidman. Under this scheme, governments can hand out
contact: [email protected]
school vouchers, for the children that can be deposited as school fees. Subsequently, the schools
can get the vouchers encashed from the government. An exemplary success of such scheme is
Food Stamp given by the American government.
The author Avinash Chandra is the editor of Azadi.me
Volume 2 /Issue 2 Page 2
MESSAGE: FROM STAKEHOLDERS
Mr Thomas Antony,
Mr Kulbhushan Sharma,
NISA Secretariat
President, NISA
Many congratulations to the
Our quarterly magazine, NISA
team on the second edition of
Namaskar has been working as a
NISA Namaskar! As we are the
knowledge transforming bridge
unified voice of all the Budget
within the country. This
Private Schools (BPS), I exhort
magazine keeps you abreast
all our member association
about all of National
leaders for your kind co-
Independent Schools Alliance-
operation. We intend that our
NISA’s state activities organized
activities, voice and positive
by our 23 State Associations. I
intent reach out to maximum people so more people and
would take this opportunity to
schools may associate with us.
share with you the impactful journey of NISA in the past three
months where we had a resounding outreach. We undertook
dedicated meetings with Delhi Education Minister, Manish
Sisodia; Karnataka Education Minister, Tanveer Sait;
Uttarakhand Education Minister, Mantri Prasad Naithani and
Tamil Nadu Education Minister, K Pandiarajan to advocate
policy changes and policy reform ideas faced by our Budget
Private Schools (BPS).
We had larger outreach meetings through a few states,
Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Haryana, where NISA has a Mr Rajesh Malhotra,
presence. These meetings proved to be quite fruitful and Vice President (Advocacy), NISA
helped NISA and our state associations in advocating the
demands of budget private schools.Through these meetings
we reached around 4,500 budget private schools. In 'NISA Namaskar' I see a great
initiative on part of CCS and NISA
Alongside the advocacy activities, we are working on the
to bring into focus the many stories
quality improvement aspect of our budget private schools. We
and journeys that the Budget
periodically keep meeting experts to understand the different
Private Schools (BPS) sector of
aspects of quality improvement for our budget private schools. India has to share with the rest of
We are getting close to our aim of executing ‘NISA 100 Model the world. An often ignored sector
Schools Program’ across the country. You may read it in that has been silently catering to the
further detail in the pages to follow. educational needs of millions of
children of this country has now got a voice of its own. The
I would like to end with a glad note that about 25 budget private
success stories and the challenges of the stakeholders of this
schools from our NISA network got the world rankings and sector which unfortunately have never got the attention they
recognition by Education World, a leading education deserve would now get highlighted. I am very hopeful that
magazine. These schools are contributing to the whole 'NISA NAMASKAR' would prove to be a game changer in the
education ecosystem with their own unique innovation, field of Indian education system and would go a long way in
bridging the gap between perception and reality of the BPS
commitment and passion in providing quality education to the
sector.
children of this country.
Volume 2 /Issue 2 Page 3
EDITOR’S PICK
fell by 1.13 crore students and enrolment in private schools rose by
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
1.85 crore students in India, as per official DISE data.
By 2014-15, out of the total 10.53 lakh public elementary schools in
[Ms Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, the renowned the country, 3.72 lakh (or about 35% of all) public schools had 50 or
Economist and the Professor of Education fewer students, with an average of 29 students per school, 12.7
Economics at University College, London pupils per teacher, a teacher salary expense of Rs 40,800 per year
emphasizes per student funding as the single per child, and a monumental teacher salary bill of Rs 41,630 crore
most powerful way of improving school/ in 2014-15, a diabolical and unconscionable wastage of scarce
teacher accountability.] public resources on pedagogically unviable tiny schools!
While the draft NEP says that “efforts will be made to convert
A New Educational Policy that doesn’t tackle teacher
existing non-viable schools into composite schools for … better
accountability won’t go anywhere
academic performance and cost effective management”, unless the
Source: The Times of India bête noire of school and teacher accountability is addressed, even
Let us not mince our words. Remedying the deep malaise afflicting these merged public schools will empty over time!
education in the country requires taking by its horn the bull of To raise accountability, the government needs to introduce what
school and teacher accountability. Tinkering at the edges will not do almost all good education systems around the world do: incentives
the job. in the grant formula of funding for public and aided schools.
But the framers of the New Education Policy (NEP) must accept Per student funding is the single most powerful way of improving
that the required sweeping accountability reform will inevitably be school/ teacher accountability, used in most educationally
painful as it will be strongly opposed by powerful and vocal lobbies. developed nations. When funding is made dependent on a school’s
Yet the government must face the pain and take a principled rather number of students, then schools have a financial stake in giving
than expedient stance. good education in order to attract and retain students.
The recommendations of the T S R Subramanian committee are a Further, giving per-student funding to schools indirectly, via a
refreshing departure from the routine official ‘being in denial’ of the school voucher to parents (Direct Benefit Transfer, or DBT), fosters
problem; it candidly acknowledges the widespread corruption, lack greater accountability since it empowers parents. With voucher
of accountability and reform-blocking teacher unions. funding, hundreds of parents monitor the school every day. This
The draft of the NEP released by the HRD ministry is more coy and gives schools an inbuilt incentive to be accountable to voucher-
conventional. Most importantly, it shies away from coming up with bearing parents who can punish the schools by withdrawing their
convincing remedies for the frightening disease. children and choosing another school.
At one level, the HRD ministry is to be congratulated for some Voucher schemes can also greatly improve equity, by giving every
excellent provisions in the draft NEP. However, with its huge BPL child in the country the entitlement to attend a private school
number of proposed reforms, the NEP is impractical and in danger of their choice, or at least to poor children in 25% seats of private
of suffering the same oblivion as the 1986 NEP which was also a schools under the RTE Act 2009.
wish list of policies without an overarching theme. The catastrophic accountability situation calls for further root and
While the draft NEP does delineate some accountability-raising branch reform. It requires amendment of Article 171 (3c) of the
measures, most proposals are weak and vague, eg: “Issues relating Constitution, to do away with teachers’ guaranteed representation
to … teacher accountability will be resolved with strong political in the state legislature, which has turned teachers into politicians; it
consensus and will” but how consensus will be forged is not demands that publicly paid teachers (in aided schools) be
specified; “Principals will be held accountable for the academic recognised as holding an office of profit under the government and
performance of the school”, and “Programmes for enhancing … thus be debarred from contesting elections, which has created a
accountability of teachers … will be accorded priority”, but who will culture of political activism among teachers; it needs Election
do these in what time frame is not specified. Commission to reduce the proportion of teachers in the polling
party that mans the voting booths during election time, to reduce
Although the proposal to vest disciplinary powers “with the School
politicians’ perception that teachers decide election outcomes,
Management Committees … to deal with absenteeism and
which causes them to shelter chronically absentee teachers from
indiscipline” is more promising, it alone is inadequate for the
due disciplinary action.
mammoth task. There is also no talk of enacting legislation to give
the policy effect. It needs empowering parents by publishing information through
press/ websites, about the learning levels of children in the
On the contrary access- and inputs-enhancing policies that neglect
different schools within each town, to promote inter-school
accountability have sadly been given legislative force under the
competition. This links directly to the prime minister’s idea of
RTE Act 2009, which the draft NEP does nothing to abrogate.
putting expected learning levels on the wall outside every
Section 6 of the RTE Act obligates states to establish public schools
classroom.
in all neighbourhoods, thus binding states to create more of the
kind of non-accountable public schools that parents are deserting: The idea to formulate a new NEP is a wonderful initiative of the
during the short four year period from 2011 to 2015, despite an current government, but to fail to put accountability centre stage
increase of 9,448 public schools, total enrolment in public schools would be to miss a huge opportunity to restore Indian education to
the greatness it deserves.
Volume 2 /Issue 2 Page 4
EDUCATION: STATE OF AFFAIRS
THE QUALITY OF QUANTITY one teacher—between them, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan have over 48,000 single-teacher schools. Across India,
& THE BROKEN STATE OF over five lakh teacher posts lie vacant. Even those schools with
teachers suffer from teacher absenteeism. According to World
Bank studies, one in four teachers is frequently absent. There is
EDUCATION
physical absence and absence of accountability. Even when
present, teachers are programmed by the system to focus on
Source: The New Indian Express
completing the syllabus, and not necessarily on learning outcomes.
[Shankkar Aiyar Author of Accidental For decades, governments in India have taken refuge in the alley of
India: A History of the Nation’s Passage alibis—about diversity, complexity and scale. And even lack of
through Crisis and Change ] resources. Thailand and Indonesia, much smaller economies with
lesser resources, have shamed India with literacy rates of 94 per
It is rare for a guest to be so candid, so bold to tell the hosts some cent and 84 per cent, way before the dawn of the new millennium.
honest truths. But Tharman As for scale, China in the 1980s had
Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime a literacy rate higher than India has
Minister of Singapore, did just that. today. That this is not an issue of
He told a power-packed audience at resources is better proved by the
Vigyan Bhavan that “schools are the Kerala model. In every decade,
biggest crisis in India” and that “it is Kerala has outdone not just India
a crisis that cannot be justified”. His but also China.
observation is scarcely an unknown The rot in the landscape stems from
fact. What made it attention-worthy the divorce of accountability and the
is the manner in which he absence of autonomy. The systemic
contextualised it. He observed that issues are aggravated by the
“the biggest gap between India and placement of education in the
Singapore Deputy PM Tharman Shanmugaratnam delivers the NITI
East Asia” is the broken-down 'Transforming India' Lecture at a function in New Delhi concurrent list. The First
system of education. The state of Administrative Reforms
education is unjustifiable and haunts aspiring India. Commission (1966) had observed that the role of the Union
The quality of quantity is best illustrated by the ASER Reports of the government in areas which are covered by the state list of subjects
past decade. ASER 2004 informed us that four of 10 students in the Constitution should be largely that of a ‘pioneer, guide,
between Class II and V in government schools could not read level 1 disseminator of information, overall planning and evaluator’. That
basic text and over six of 10 students could not read level II text. It was not to be and education was pitchforked into the concurrent
also reported that five of 10 students could not do subtraction or list. At the operational level, the focus should have been about
division. ASER 2014 informs us that over five of 10 students in Class learning outcomes. Instead, it has been about buildings and
V—and a quarter of students in Class VIII—cannot read Class II budgets. The need for autonomy—for states and schools—has been
text. Just over 26 per cent of students in Class V can do repeatedly made. The case for accountability and autonomy is
division—and only 44 per cent of those in Class VIII could do a settled in logic and validated by success stories elsewhere. Yet the
three-digit by one division. The findings are worrisome. Madhav transition is thwarted.
Chavan of Pratham makes a stark observation in the 2014 ASER The causal reasons for the flailing state of education are many
Report: “A hundred million children have gone through the schools —from the rather casual approach of political class to complex
in the last decade without basic reading and math skills.” issues that determine learning. That said, the failures of the past
It is not that money has not been spent on education. Between 2004 decade dictate exit from the business as usual mindset. The first
and 2014, allocations for education —Centre plus principle must be to fix the structural flaws —for the Centre to
states—quadrupled from `84,111 crore to `3,95,000 crore. Yet facilitate autonomy of policy for states, which translates into
outcomes of quality and quantity elude India. Five decades after the facilitation to achieve learning outcomes. The states on their part
Kothari Commission, the phenomenon of dropouts persists. The too must enshrine autonomy to local governments with a similar
HRD Ministry informed Parliament recently that nearly 62 lakh objective.
children dropped out at the primary level in 2013-14. The failure is At the operational level, schools, teachers and governments must
most visible in rural India—over 35 per cent not literate, 14 per cent embrace technology. Absenteeism of teachers, for instance, will not
have below primary level literacy, and only three in 100 are disappear. How about inducting technology, introducing virtual
graduates. teaching by the best in the states with locally recruited minders?
The paradox is that even as the government ramped up spending, How about making skills training a part of school curriculum?
more parents are sending children to private schools—from 16 per How about incentivising schools and teachers? The BJP is in power
cent in 2005 to 30 per cent in 2015 and estimated to touch 50 per in a dozen states. It has the opportunity to invest in the future. How
cent by 2020. According to NSSO, every fourth school student is about seeking help from NITI Aayog and pushing the chief
also attending private coaching classes. There is no dearth of ministers of these states to create models of innovation that further
programmes either. In fact, one suspects, there are too many of the cause of learning?
them—Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha
The aspiration of Reform, Perform and Transform is a noble intent.
Abhiyan, Rashtriya Uchch Shiksha Abhiyan, Padhe Bharat Badhe
Education would be a good place to start. Shanmugaratnam
Bharat Model School Scheme and so on.
observed that the Modi Sarkar is batting on a good wicket. He urged
That the children are not doing well is both an issue of quantity and the government to graduate from singles and hit boundaries. The
quality. Consider this: Over one lakh schools across India have just advice to eschew incrementalism and adopt radical change to
achieve transformation is well-intentioned and well-timed.
Volume 2 /Issue 2 Page 5
EDUCATION: STATE OF AFFAIRS
NEP WIKI: NEP ALLIANCE DEMOCRATISES
DISCOURSE ON THE NEW EDUCATION POLICY
National Education Policy Alliance, India’s diverse group of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), has started an avant-garde
concept of creating a Wiki on the government’s draft National Education Policy (NEP) to democratize the policy discourse.
The Wiki is at www.nep.ccs.in. The idea is to have an open platform to deliberate, publicly collaborate and find realistic
solutions for the challenges plaguing the education sector and influence the policy in a participatory manner. It is a
collaborative, productive and a transparent platform for public discourse on education policy. Here is some media coverage on
the NEP WIKI initiative.
INDIA SPEAKS : NEW EDUCATION POLICY
Centre for Civil Society and NISA’s representative participated in an elaborate discussion on the challenges and newer
possibilities for the upcoming National Education Policy in ‘India Speaks’ show on Lok Sabha TV.
Volume 2 /Issue 2 Page 6
EDUCATION: STATE OF AFFAIRS
WHY NOT ASSESSMENTS FOR PRIMARY CLASSES
AS WELL IN CHUNAUTI 2018: DELHI HIGH COURT
Delhi High Court issued a notice to all the Municipal Corporations and the Directorate of Education to file their replies by the
next hearing date while hearing a petition filed by India’s leading think tank, Centre for Civil Society (CCS) demanding
Chunauti 2018 to be extended to primary classes as well. The next date of hearing is 28 November 2016.
The current scheme - Chunauti 2018 prescribes assessments and supplementary learning interventions only for children of
classes VI to IX. The recent assessment conducted by Delhi Government of sixth graders found that 74% students were unable
to read or write basic text of Hindi, indicating huge learning deficits accrued during primary classes.
UMANG PROJECT
IMPROVING QUALITY OF EDUCATION IN BUDGET SCHOOLS
The Centre for Civil Society (CCS) in collaboration with National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA) launched ‘Umang’, a
programme to improve the quality of education in budget schools of Ambala district, identified by the Federation of Private
Schools Associations, Haryana.
Volume 2 /Issue 2 Page 7
EDUCATION: STATE OF AFFAIRS
WORKSHOP FOR JOURNALISTS ON EDUCATION: PHILOSOPHY, POLICY & PRACTICE
audience by transporting them to a fantasy
world. Each one of the participants was
asked to close their eyes and visualize their
‘Dream School.’ Every individual spoke
from their experiences and reminisced
about their childhood. This system
emphasized the ‘Minimum Government and
Maximum Governance’ battle cry which has
gradually been applied by the current Modi
government in sectors such as defence,
railways, ease of doing business, and which
Ahead of the cabinet ministerial shuffle, a instances when the Mexico government consequently can be applied in the
motley group of educationists, academicians negotiated accountability with the education sector via:
and journalists came forth to deliberate teachers’ association at the time of pay l Values- Choice and competition-
about the current education system and the raise. The state of affairs in different states competition in the number of schools
strong need to bring about a tangible change. painted a sad picture of the education hence giving an access of choice to
The two day workshop for the fifteen system. parents and children;
participants organized by Centre for Civil
Society in Rishikesh emphasized the urgency l Autonomy and accountability: as two
sides to the same coin, both these factors
of the matter. A strong inclination and root of
should be made available to schools and
the problem was identified in the way the
teachers
Indian government works in terms of
politicization and cost efficiency which are l Innovations and communities: largely
reasons behind the malfunctioning of giving entrée to social and civic
education system. communities to innovate and make a
difference in the education sector.
The Principles that were ruminated:
l Fund students, not schools through the
Voucher system for the simple reason
that the guardian of a child will most
importantly and rationally spend on his
child’s education and future;
l Promote autonomy, not control so as to
determine accountability accordingly;
l Track outcomes, not inputs so as to
ensure a coherent approach in terms of
The second session elaborated on the measurability;
Some interesting activities were undertaken
Education Policy: Voice, Choice and
to engage the participants, acquaint them Incentives which was largely an l Reward performance, not compliance;
with each other and to promote a
interactive session defining the l Encourage innovation, not conformity
freewheeling discussion on ‘education.’ The
parameters of the policy. The takeaways
first day witnessed an interesting ice This exercise also gave resolutions which
indicated that competition and low entry
breaking activity to familiarize the were reflected in another activity the next
barriers amongst schools may ensure
participants. The pairing of individuals was day, where contestants were asked to
better school education.
done, on the basis of iPhone- MacBook, formulate policies based on students,
apple-mango, mountain- river, and then they schools’ governance and improving learning
were asked to come forth and introduce one’s outcomes.
partner along with stating their expectations
from the workshop. The interactive element
Student Centric Policy
of the workshop kept the audience on their
Problems: Rote learning, Uniform
toes and facilitated discussion on a variety of
curriculum, Innovation discouraging
issues.
approach
The first session by Professor Geeta Kingdon Solutions: Innovative pedagogy,
on the state of school education in India, was Activity based learning, Teacher
full of empirical data. The highlights and responsibility, Supplementary learning,
consensus was to increase teacher Case studies (IDEA)
accountability as commended in one of the The third session speaker engaged the
Volume 2 /Issue 2 Page 8