Enhancing the quality of primary education

‘Engineering’ the primary education in India

Neeraj Babu C, Apurv Mittal, Anjaly T R, Roshan Sivanesh, Manu Velayudhan

IIT Bombay, Mumbai

Team Jyothirgamaya:

The primary education system in India fails to build the foundational skills in students

Percentage of Std V students enrolled in government schools unable to read Std II textbook

44.00%

46.00%

48.00%

50.00%

52.00%

54.00%

56.00%

58.00%

60.00%

2010 2011 2012

The concerns : A) Reading levels and arithmetic skills of students are a serious concern.

• More than half of std V students are at least 3 grades behind where they should be.

Hypothesis:

• Large student teacher ratio causing less individual attention.

• Poor quality of teachers

B) Lack of exposure to libraries, science labs, computer labs and language labs.

• Almost all the primary schools follow a textbook centered pedagogy.

• 24% of primary schools don’t have a library.

Hypothesis:

• Teachers lack time and motivation to learn technology skills.

• Lack of infrastructure.

C) The quality of mid-day meal is very poor

• Lack of nutrition

Hypothesis:

• Lack of proof/ concrete data to prove that quality is low.

• No committee to question and keep a check.

• No feedback to government.

Source: ASER 2012 main findings

Tapping the potential of educated youth of the nation to address the challenges of primary education

Solution 1 in a nutshell: • Every 2nd year undergraduate student of engineering colleges will be assisting in

pedagogy of the primary students. This will be mandatory for the fulfillment of their degree course.

• Undergraduate students will teach in alotted primary schools every Saturday in a supplementary role.

• A centralized, state level, online allotment scheme which assigns a particular

school, grade and subject according to the preference of the college student to be setup.

• A goal based curriculum guideline to be developed by NCERT. Performance of the primary school students will be evaluated at the end of the academic session based on this guideline and the ‘visiting tutors’ will be graded based on their student’s performance.

• Feedback of mid-day meal scheme to be given by these ‘visiting tutors’ to their college which uploads it in an online repository.

• Large impact on quality of primary education with least capital investment by

roping competent youth. • Improving the student-teacher ratio thus ensuring better attention to students. • A fool proof mechanism to monitor food quality of mid-day meal scheme.

Engineering college students as ‘visiting tutors’

Implementation model

Advantages over existing system

Leveraging the infrastructure of schools during vacations

Solution 2 in a nutshell:

• 3 week internships / exposure to good quality infrastructure like

library, lab facilities, study materials in centrally funded schools like Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodayas during 2/3 month vacation period.

• The target group is the students of std V to VIII from schools which are deprived of above mentioned infrastructure.

• Demonstration and hands on sessions in science / math labs under supervision of school teachers.

• These students will be introduced to various extra curricular activities by utilizing resources available in the host schools.

• Exposure to good quality teaching environment and tools responsible for the overall growth of the student without incurring any major expenses.

Utilizing the infrastructure of schools during vacation

Implementation model

Advantages over existing system

Rationale of choosing Engineering students

• Large distribution of engineering colleges across the country and talent pool of over 14 lakh available

• Proficiency in basic skillsets like arithmetic, reading skills with exposure to use of technology in education

Method of Training and Allotment

• A web Interface for allotment of tutors based on preferences of school, class and subject submitted online

• Training programs to be organized during the semester break before the commencement of the programme in respective colleges based on guidelines issued by NCERT

Development of Curriculum Guideline

• A modular curriculum guideline to be developed by NCERT defining the basic skillset to be developed in students for each subject at every grade level

• Curriculum guide will be followed across the country across education boards • Visiting tutors have to ensure the fulfillment of this goal

Implementation Model of Teaching and Evaluation

• A subject will be divided among a pool of visiting tutors, who will have to ensure that the basic skill sets are attained as per the guideline

• These tutors will maintain a slow pace for teaching so that even the weakest of the students are taken care of

• Question papers to test the basic skills will be developed by state boards based on the guidelines from NCERT

• The tutor will be graded on the performance of the students in her/his class

Mid day meal scheme quality check

• These tutors need to review the mid day meal scheme and other infrastructure based on standard metric developed by the state committee which will be kept confidential

• This review needs to be uploaded in an online repository by the college of the tutor • Monthly evaluation of this repository by FQM Team of the state committee and actions to

be taken accordingly

‘Engineering’ primary education - The roadmap to policy implementation of our solution

Schools with excellent infrastructure will open up their gates for students of schools with inadequate facilities

Implementation model

• The national level committee for the programme issues guidelines for opening up the infrastructure of KVs and Navodayas to the upper primary students of schools lacking infrastructure

• The list of primary schools with limited infrastructure will be available with the state committees

• Internship programs will be floated for 2 to 3 weeks during which the students can utilize the facilities of the host school

• Teachers of the host schools will conduct the workshops / internships which will widen the student’s horizons in pursuit of knowledge

Training methods Internships will be aimed on - • Familiarization with labs and conducting basic science / math experiments • Exposure to extra curricular activities • Vocational training

Management Mapping

MHRD

CENTRAL COMMITEE

STATE COMMITEE

General Education Dept. Technical Education Dept. (DTE)

DEO Engineering Colleges

Schools

CBSE/NCERT

Schools managed by Central government

• Creation of management committees for the programme at central and state level

• Central committee to interact with MHRD, CBSE/NCERT, state committee and the schools managed by Central government for policy implementation

• State committee to implement the programme at the state level

The organization team consists of a central body of 19 members and each state body having 17 members

w

CHAIR PERSON

MEDIA TEAM

2 FTEs

IT TEAM

4 FTEs

LOGISTICS TEAM

3 FTEs

FINANCE TEAM

3 FTEs

COORDINATION TEAM

6 FTEs

L

CHAIR PERSON

FOOD QUALITY MANAGEMENT TEAM

3 FTEs

IT DEPT

4 FTEs

LOGISTICS TEAM

3 FTEs

FINANCE TEAM

3 FTEs

COORDINATION TEAM

3 FTEs

Central Committee

State Committee

Media campaigns, PRO, corporate interactions

IT infrastructure like databases, websites

Transportation, Office management, Logistics management

Fund management Coordination between NCERT, Central school managements in various activities

Complaints from midday meal scheme and redressal

IT infrastructure like databases, websites, online allotment system

Transportation, Office management, Logistics management

Fund management

Coordination between technical education and school education dept. to implement various activities

This organization model will require around INR 60 Cr. Per annum as funding from government

An

nu

al O

per

atio

nal

Co

sts

Organization costs

Central Chair Person

(1 FTE * 10 lakh p.a )

Central Team (18 FTE * 6lakh p.a)

State Team

(16 FTE* 5lakh p.a* 34)

State Chair Person

( 1FTE * 8 lakh p.a *34)

Technology costs IT Hardware & Maintenance

Software and Maintenance

Logistics costs

Allowances to Students

Incentives to performing schools

Funding for teacher training

Establishment Costs

3.11 Cr. INR per annum

50 Cr. INR per

annum

3 Cr INR per

annum

The program will impact lives of 135 million primary school students and create 14.7 lakh teachers every year!!

IMPACT

• Improvement of fundamental skills of students like reading, arithmetic at primary level

• Ensuring maintenance of adequate infrastructure in school and quality of mid-day meal

• Significant improvement in student - teacher ratio

• Access to better infrastructure like libraries and labs for students

• Large pool of talented, knowledgeable and young teachers created

• Social connectivity and student community interaction creating more young leaders

REACH

• 6,58,871 govt. primary schools and 135 million children studying there benefited across India

• 14,73,727 teachers created throughout the nation

• Reaching across India in all states, districts and gram panchayats

Key challenges faced by the policy and it’s mitigation factors

Challenges & Implementation Risks 1. College students may not be well equipped with

the prescribed teaching standards 2. Feedback related to Mid day meal scheme and

infrastructure can be subjective 3. Allocation of schools located far from the

visiting tutor’s college can cause difficulties in transportation and will require funding to meet the tutor’s expense 4. Access to schools in far flung tribal areas is challenging 5. Opening up of infrastructure may incur operational costs to the host schools

Mitigation Factors 1. Design of good quality teacher

training programs for college students

2. Development of standard metrics to grade the mid day meal scheme and the school infrastructure

3. Mechanism to reimburse travel expenses to the students, if needed

4. Clusters of tribal schools should be taken for internships

5. Incentives for the host schools to meet their operational costs during vacations

1. Annual report of statistics of school education ,2011 – MHRD 2. Annual report 2012 – AICTE 3. National Curriculum Framework – 2005 4. Inside primary schools – Pratham foundation 5. Annual status of education report 2012 – Pratham foundation 6. http://mhrd.gov.in/schooleducation\ 7. http://www.education.com/ on 3rd Sept. 2013 8. http://dfpd.nic.in/ on 3rd Sept 2013