Monitoring of SSA Programme in the State of Himachal Pradesh

1. Monitoring of SSA Programme in the State of Himachal Pradesh

2. Access • Children accessing the Primary school cover maximum distance of 1.5 kms and children of upper primary school cover the distance of 2.5 kms. • Lack of features posing danger to the safety of children accessing the schools • General condition of classrooms was good in most of the schools. Separate toilets for boys and girls exist in most of the schools. • Student classroom ratio and teacher student ratio in the schools was adequate.

3. Special Training Centres • Special Training Centres for out of school children are functional in district Hamirpur and these are not operational in Bilaspur and Una districts but EGS/AIE are functional in district Una. • EVs appointed in Special Training Centres are qualified and well trained. The MI found no dropouts in the schools.

4. Quality Issues • Required no. of teachers have been appointed in all the primary and upper primary schools in all the districts. • Training of 15 days imparted to all the teachers and most of the teachers were satisfied with the quality of training. • Text books have been supplied well in time in the beginning of the session in all the schools • School Grant, maintenance grant and TLM grant etc. have been received in the months of August / September and October. • The teachers expressed the views that both the teacher and the student are equally important in teaching learning process. • Teachers’ talk time is more as compared to that of students talk time

5. Teachers’ relate personal life experiences to learning in a very few classroom situations. Full autonomy provided for learning to students in the classrooms. • Teachers give stress on learning by understanding and do not stress on cramming the things. • English taught in the schools in both mediums i.e. English and Hindi. • Methods of continuous and comprehensive evaluation, grading and marking are in the evaluation of children. • Community members are not very much aware of the changes in teaching and learning process and some community members consider CCE of children un -useful. • No gap in the achievement level of the children belonging to SC,ST, minority community and also that of girls as compared to the achievement level of general students.

6. Computer Aided Learning • Computers and other accessories provided under CAL have been kept in separate rooms by the schools. • Condition of computer rooms is not good in all schools. • Computers are not maintained properly in some schools and complaints lodged for their repair are not attended timely. • All the teachers of the schools do not have proper knowledge of computer.

7. Girls’ Education, NPEGEL & KGBV • NPGEL & KGBV were not operational in all the three districts. • No significant gap found in enrolment, attendance, learning and achievement level in the education of girls. • Separate toilets for girls exist in most of the schools. • No discrimination against girls at the time of assigning the tasks like welcoming the guests in the functions and making them participate in curricular activities.

8. Inclusive Education with Special Reference to CWSN • Inclusive education for CWSN was operational in all the three districts. • Special Educators have been appointed in all the three districts but inclusive education centres are functional in district Hamirpur only. • Behavior of peers was friendly towards such children and that of teachers was same as towards other children.

9. Civil Works • Construction work (wherever sanctioned) has been assigned to SMC. • SMC imparted training for implementing civil works. • Separate account for civil works was maintained in the schools by the SMC. • JEs visit the construction sites rarely. The reason behind it was that the no. of JEs appointed in each district is very less and the post of SDO has not been filled-up in any of the three districts.

10. Community Awareness • SMC as well as community members are ignorant of composition of SMC as prescribed under RTE Act, 2009. • Copy of guidelines has not been provided to the SMC members/chairpersons. Guidelines have not been printed in local language. • SMC members have been oriented regarding their roles and responsibilities by the SSA functionaries. • SMC members have been given training of three days and these members frequently visit the school and monitor the activities of the school.

11. MIS • Training on filling up of DCF provided to all the teachers. • Copies of DCF are generally not available while the copies of School Report Cards are available in the schools.

12. Financial Management • Cash books, pass books, stock/ledger registers are available in all the schools and these have been updated. • All the grants have been released to the schools and the same have been received by the schools in the months of August/September 2010.

13. Mid Day Meal Programme • The MI visited 120 Schools in 1st half of 2010-11 and found that hot cooked meal is served in all the schools. • 80 kitchen sheds were constructed and also in use in districts Bilaspur and Hamipur. 29 kitchen sheds were constructed and also in use in district Una while 4 kitchen sheds were under construction, 4 kitchen sheds have been sanctioned but construction not started and these have not been sanctioned in 3 schools.

14. The MI during its interaction with students, teachers, parents and verification from the registers observed that hot cooked meal is being served to children regularly and there is no interruption in the Programme. • The MI found that all the children enrolled in the schools have opted for Mid Day Meal and there is no variation between the number of children availing the MDM as per MDM registers and the no. of children actually availing MDM on the day of MI visit. • It was also found that the food grains (Rice) is delivered to schools in time and one month buffer stock lies with all the schools. The schools have to collect food grains from the civil supply depot.

15. The cooking cost is received by the schools regularly but not in advance. The same is paid through cash. The MI did not find any discrimination on the basis of gender or caste among children at the time of serving/taking meal. The MI found that variety of food is served in mid-day–meal and the daily menu include rice preparation, dal, and vegetables and in some cases dry fruits also. • The MI during its interaction with children observed that children are satisfied with the quality and quantity of meal. Health cards have been maintained in primary schools and in upper primary schools the record of health has been maintained in registers only. The health check up of children is done in the schools once/twice in a year. Mostly Iron tablets have been provided to children in the schools.

16. MDM is prepared by the cooks/helpers and these have been appointed by SMC. Remuneration paid to cooks/helpers is normally Rs.1000/-p.m. and the same is paid to them regularly. • MDM is prepared in Pucca kitchen sheds constructed for this purpose. Gas and firewood (in some cases) are used for preparing mid day meal. • The cooking process is safe in the schools and the same was good from the hygienic point of view. The MI found that parents and community members frequently check mid day meal in schools.

17. The source of awareness of parents and community members regarding MDM scheme is mostly news papers and the children. • It was observed that block and district level officers inspect MDM Programme after 3-4 months but no such inspection is made by state level officers. The MI during its interaction with students, teachers and parents found that there is improvement in the health of children but generally no improvement in enrollment and attendance of children