The scenario

1. The scenario After five decades of development education still remains elusive, with 59 million children between 6- 14 still out of school (of which 35 million are estimated to be girls.

2. EDUCATION OF GIRLS Drop out rate is high Out of every 10 girls who enter school only 6 Reach class five A third of the girls who enter class 1 drop out After class 2

3. Policies for Education For AllIn India

4. Policy Initiatives • Significant Involvement of Central Government in literacy and elementary education - National Policy on Education - 1986 • Empowering Local Bodies – 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment

5. Elementary Education as Fundamental Right • Constitutional Amendment making Education a Fundamental Right • A Central Legislation to enforce this Right under the anvil

6. SCHEMES AND PROGRAMMES OF THE GOI • The Government of India is implementing more than 120 schemes and programmes for the welfare and development of children and women through more than 13 Ministries and Departments Very little coordination between these departments

7. The NPA- EFA in India The NPA- EFA India draws the following national goals corresponding to the six Dakar goals • Integrated Child Development Services scheme being universalized - early childhood care and education are an important component of the scheme - Goal 1 • Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Movement for Education For All) launched with the aim of providing 8 years of quality education to all children in the age group 6-14 years by 2010 – Goal 2 and 6 • A comprehensive plan for adolescents, especially girls, in the Tenth Five Year Plan- Goal 3 • National Literacy Mission to provide functional literacy to all illiterate adults in the age group 15-35 years – Goal 3 and 4

8. Achieve sustainable threshold level of 75 percent literacy by 2007 • Special schemes targeted at girls, apart from focus on girls in general scheme _ Goal 5 • Removal of all disparities, including gender, in primary (class I-V) by 2007 and elementary (I-VIII) by 2010 Source: Education for All- National Plan of Action India, Department of Elementary Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, New Delhi

9. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan • Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) - A National Programme for Universalization of Elementary Education launched in 2001 • Goals of SSA: • All children in school by 2003 • All children complete five years of primary schooling by 2007 • All children complete eight years of elementary schooling by 2010 • Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality • Bridge all gender and social category gaps • Universal retention by 2010

10. Some Concerns Challenges that need to be addressed

11. Pre-School Education • Still a Small effort - part of the ICDS Programme Its package of services include supplementary nutrition, immunisation, health check-up, referral services, non formal pre-school education and community participation for children below six years and to pregnant and nursing mothers.

12. Limitations………. • Early Childhood Education component has been rather poor. • The coverage is very uneven across the different parts of the country. • Overall government investment in the programme has been inadequate. • ICDS has focused on quantity rather than quality, expanding rapidly in terms of geographical coverage while underfunding inputs, in particular the training of frontline service providers. • The targeting of children up to three years of age has been particularly poor, and the coverage of the most vulnerable households in communities covered by the project has been inadequate. • it has tended to be almost exclusively government owned and managed, with limited involvement of the public and the health and education bureaucracies. • the programme has failed to replicate the successes of other early childhood development programmes of both the government and non-governmental organizations in the country, mainly because of rigidities in personnel and programming approaches.

13. Huge increase in demand for primary schooling • Enrolment drives • Total literacy campaigns • Incentives such as textbooks, midday meals, dry rations, scholarships • Govt under pressure to appoint more teachers, build more schools, but without allocating sufficient resources

14. An estimated 95 percent of the rural population living in 8,26,000 habitations have a primary school within one km 85 percent population have an upper primary school within three km. 176,523 habitations did not have access to primary schooling

15. System of para-teachers TO DEAL WITH TEACHER ABSENTEEISM AND TEACHER SHORTAGE • Basically a contract teacher • To be a local person • Appointed by the panchayat • Minimum qualification – class 8 • Paid a stipend between Rs 500-1200 • To be trained MAIN BENEFIT: COST SAVING

16. Alternate Schools • To deal with dropouts, working children, migrant children, never enrolled girls • Flexible duration, location, curriculum • Children in groups according to their own pace • Para-teachers have already formed a union and are fighting for regularisation

17. Social disparities still resilient • Local teachers were often found to belong to the dominant caste groups, displaying discriminatory attitudes to tribal children similar to formal school teachers • Functional AS/EGS schools are found to be dominated by the more powerful castes in the village such as the OBCs while tribal children go to the dysfunctional primary school

18. Private schools for the less privileged • Increasingly thought of as an important part of the solution to the problem of schooling for all • Private schools are not a homogeneous category • Private schools for the poor had -Congested, poky rooms -Untrained, poorly qualified teachers -Excessive reliance on rote learning -No use of teaching aids

19. Average cost of sending a child to Primary school Government Private • Fees 16 296 • Non Fee expenditure 302 644 • Total 318 940 Source: PROBE Team (1999, parents estimates).

20. Financing of Basic Education • Increased Investment is Critical - If UEE is to be made a reality in India there is a need to increase the investment in education to 6.0 % of the GDP . • But, effective utilization of finances is equally a challenging task • Need for building professional capability among managers at the decentralized levels in State Education Departments • Though the 2002-2003 budget accorded priority to elementary it is only 3.8 % of the GDP

21. EFA Advocacy and Political Mobilization • Basic Education is still not on the top of the Political Agenda of the country • Need to strengthen the voice of the civil society as well as the professional capability to mould public opinion • Build people-to-people contact and professional networking across the country

22. Efforts by NGOs/independent groups • There a large number of initiatives on a range of issues (such as pedagogy, policy, child labour, budgetary analysis) • Efforts at the local, state and national levels • Most of these efforts are working with different approaches and independent of each other The Probe Team, CYSD – social watch, Pratham, SACCS, BGVS, NAFRE, CACL To name just a few………….

23. Govt –NGO collaboration • NGOs are looked upon as agents for implementation of government programmes • If/When invited for policy deliberations – their concerns/recommendations not necessarily incorporated in the policies • Which NGOs are invited – generally those who are partners of the govt – not too critical of the govt policies and implementation strategies • Sometimes consulted only due the pressure of the donor agencies

24. CEF in IndiaA movement for policy influencing between macro to micro and micro to macro levels

25. Girl child education Strengthening Community participation Collaboration with state government Issues of quality, access, retention Reaching the unreached-issues around disparity Financing education Bringing various stakeholders tog. on the issue of education Policy advocacy two pronged strategy -policy advocacy at the centre/state level -Model building as a tool for policy advocacy Gaps identified CEF Way forward

26. Criteria one a)Strengthening civil society participation -Communitization of education -Setting up of the working group for the WSF4 b)education for democracy c) Media advocacy and networking

27. c)Systematic review of the laws/policies that deny the children their basic rights to Basic Education. -critiquing Manual for planning and implementation of Inclusive education -Concept note schools s night shelters for street children - setting up of a working group to advocate for child rights

28. Criteria 2 • Network serving 200,000 children –tracking achievements of SSA • Setting up of the National Resource Facility • Bringing out the Education Outlook • Network of 2400 NGOs on planning of DEEP – thus influencing budgets at the district level

29. Criteria 3 Model building for policy advocacy /influencing Inclusive quality education for the left out children -education for the children without adult care and protection -education for the differently abled children -education for tribal and SC/ST

30. Governance & Management Advisory Group Management Committee Secretariat

31. Fund flow and Monitoring Action Aid and CEF Partner Partners Oxfam SCF Partners Partners

32. Quarter ReportingNarrative and Financial UK CEF One of the three agencies Partners

33. Thank you