Whitepaper

The table below describes these elements:

We try to highlight the important problem areas and suggest a few illustrative strategic choices to address them. As the subject matter is context-specific, the suggestions need to be examined further for suitability of application in different parts of a large state like U.P.

What does the data1 say about secondary education in UP?

• Performance (between 2017-18 & 2018-19)
  • PGI Index improved from 600 to 700
  • Position of P. in the PGI Index Ranking among 37 states and UTs
    • Overall PGI Index ranking: 27
    • Learning outcome and quality: 36
    • Access: 29
    • Infrastructure & facilities: 19
    • Equity: 13
    • Governance & processes: 24
  • Enrolment at secondary government school level from social category is as follows:
    • Scheduled caste: 22%
    • Scheduled tribe: 1%
    • Other backward classes: 8%
    • General:2%
    • Girl students: 45%
  • Dropout rates in secondary level
    • Grade VIII: 4%
    • Grade IX: 61%
    • Grade X: 17%
    • Grade XI: 67%
  • Gender parity index at upper primary is 21; it declines to 0.97 at secondary school
  • Student absenteeism²
    • Overall student absenteeism: 20%
    • Absenteeism due to illness: 2%
    • Absenteeism due to illness of parents: 6%
    • Absenteeism due to low income of parents: 22%
  • Total share of government & government-supported schools at secondary level is 24.57% (whereas it is 62.33% & 54.62% at primary and upper primary level respectively)
  • Rural share of government & government-supported schools is even lower at 24%
  • Secondary school infrastructure (schools that only have secondary level)
    • Schools with building: 73%
    • Schools with electricity: 18%
    • Schools with library: 27%
    • Schools with playground: 91%
    • Average students per classroom: 50
  • Community participation at secondary level (secondary schools & schools with secondary sections)
    • Schools with SMDC:69%

1 UDISE 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019/ASER/NAS/PGI/SEGI. Where data is not available from these sources, data has been captured from other sources such as research papers.

2 Dr. Tirmal Singh [Subject: Education] International Journal of Research in Humanities & Social Sciences [I.F. = 0.352] Vol. 3, Issue: 6,June:2015 ISSN:(P) 2347-5404 ISSN:(O)2320 771X

Impact & Reasons of Absentees in Secondary Schools of Uttar Pradesh DR. TIRMAL SINGH B.ED Dept.

J.N.P.G College, LKO

• Schools with School Building Committee: 48%
• Schools with PTA:13%
• Information and communication technology (ICT) support to secondary schools
  • Schools with computers & internet:26%
  • Schools with dedicated computer labs: 01%
• Teachers (only secondary schools)
  • Pupil to teacher ratio: 38
  • Average number of teachers per school: 5
  • Schools with a single teacher: 91%
  • Vacancy in academic positions in the DIETs functional in state: 65%
  • 95% Secondary schools where four subject teachers are not available: 95%
  • Head teacher vacancy: 81%
  • Subject teacher vacancy: 82%
• Teachers (Composite schools that also have secondary level)³
  • Pupil to teacher ratio: 50
  • Average number of teachers per school: 9
  • Schools with a single teacher: 34%
  • Women teachers: 94%
  • Teachers professionally qualified: 59%
  • Number of teacher training institutions⁴: 1
• Teacher absenteeism⁵
  • Overall teacher absence: 9%
  • Teacher absenteeism (without reason & due to truancy):2.5%
  • Teacher absence in villages: 64%
  • Teacher absence (without reason) in villages: 7%

Inferences from quantitative data

• Significant unmet need for secondary education inP.
• P.’s performance improved in absolute terms but is still unsatisfactory on many counts, particularly on learning outcomes & quality, access, and governance and processes
• There is considerable drop at secondary level in enrolment of both boys and girls leading to lower share of girls at secondary level as compared to the elementary level
• Transition rate into and out of secondary schools is low
• Infrastructure support is modest
• Low level of community participation and sense of ownership
• Low level of ICT penetration
• Pupil to teacher ratio is adverse
• As head teachers are not posted, school administration may suffer
• About 40% teachers are not professionally qualified
• There is lack of subject-specific teachers

3 Recently the state has recruited more than 10,000 Assistant Teachers and 2000 Lecturers.

4 There is only one State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) in the state catering to the needs of 75 districts

5 According to a recent study conducted by the Azim Premji Foundation, 2017 for 6 states including Uttar Pradesh the overall teacher absence was 18.9%, teacher absenteeism without reason or because of truancy was only 2.5%. In a World Bank Group 2016 study, conducted in 1297 villages across India, teacher absence was found to be 23.64%, while teacher absenteeism without reason was 4.7%

• The distribution of teachers in schools is uneven
• Teacher training facility (to train the recently recruited teachers) is inadequate
• Teacher absenteeism is high

Inferences from qualitative data

• The MIS is not integrated enterprise wide
• ICT is not deployed to tap MIS for planning and control
• There are new school buildings that have not been occupied yet. They would need some sprucing up before they could be used
• There has been no third-party evaluation of secondary school system in recent years
• In most school buildings, upkeep is required
• Even in poor families, parents are keen to send their children to schools
• Distribution of schools and teachers is not equitable across the state
• P. is a large and heterogenous. Contexts differ across regions.
• Government spending at secondary education level is low⁶

In the next section we will briefly discuss the possible reasons for this situation.

6 The state was unable to reap the benefit of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) programme for secondary education launched by the GoI during the Eleventh Plan effectively as the funding was restricted to government schools only.

Underlying reasons

Enrolment, specifically of girls:

We observed that the enrolment in secondary level is well below the potential. The enrolment of girl students was lower than boys. Possible reasons could be:

1. High cost (direct and indirect) of education in private
2. Physical access is poor, making it difficult particularly for girl
3. Some social and women-hygiene factors inhibit parents from sending their daughters to secondary school.
4. Schools are available, but school infrastructure is
5. Parents are unaware of the benefits of secondary
6. Parents are not happy about the quality of education their wards
7. Essential counselling is lacking for career and general

Dropout rate:

1. Level of curriculum is Students are unable to cope with the level of education.
2. The schools are not able to generate interest in students about
3. Applicability of what is learned in school is not seen in real-life

Learning outcome and quality:

1. Enough teachers are not there (Pupil-Teacher ratio is high).
2. Subject-specific teachers are not
3. Teachers are not qualified and training is
4. Teacher absenteeism is
5. Teaching infrastructure is
6. School management structure and process is weak, particularly in government
7. Low level of community ownership of education
8. Poor evaluation of students and timely/sufficient feedback to

These items are our hypotheses as to what could be the possible reasons based on the data analyzed and general understanding. Deeper study is required to accept/reject these hypotheses. Keeping this important limitation in mind, in the next section we explain the reasoning behind our proposed recommendations and interventions.

Reasoning behind proposed recommendations and interventions

We highlighted that it is essential to remain cognizant of the ground reality of secondary education in the state of Uttar Pradesh before we suggest areas where initiatives could be undertaken. Within that limitations, we try to list what appear to be important⁷.

We notice four important strategic areas where policy choices are to be made.

1.  Should private participation be encouraged?

As the private sector schools have penetrated the secondary education sector in U.P. The parents appear to find some value in private school education, despite the possible higher cost. The government could accept the fact and consider a policy of leveraging private participation to increase access, quality and learning outcomes.

• There are many ways of
• Establish more private schools (owned and managed)
• More government schools to be managed by private sector
• Government schools to implement private model of management
• Private sector to participate in government schools in select areas and activities where they wish to contribute

Private sector may result in higher fees. The government could offer subsidy to specific categories of students who are unable to afford the cost of private schools.

Where private sector is not forthcoming, government schools should be provided. Much of government resources could be spent on such schools (Schools in remote areas, Schools for special needs). The government could consider establishing these schools as model schools that offer excellent education.

In addition, the government could explore private sector funding for school infrastructure.

By PPP, we refer not only to business corporations and large trusts. We wish to include smaller entities such as SHGs, local community groups, local trade communities, etc.

2.  Should the secondary education in UP go high-tech?

ICT solutions could offer advantages as supplementary tools to enhance access and quality.

The way things are emerging, it is not a question of “whether”, but it is a question of “when?”

U.P. could study the feasibility of launching two specific programmes:

7 It is quite possible that some of our suggestions have already been implemented in U.P. It is also possible that some suggestions have been found unsuitable given the local conditions. Only experienced education administrators from U.P. would be able to take a view on this. We have not examined that part yet in this preliminary assessment.

• “U.P. School Digital 2025”
• “EMIS for UP 2025”

The first programme is about digital education at student level. In would consist of smart classrooms, digital content, online education, online feedback, two-way interactive LMS, etc. There is scope to offer innovative educational content “anywhere” and “any time”. This unfreezes a number of constraints.

The second programme is to help education administrators in planning, monitoring, evaluation using real time. This would lead to more effective policies and programmes for a given $ of the education budget.

3.  Where should the government make significant allocation?

From the conceptual diagram presented at the outset, the most important link in the supply chain is the teacher. Education is essentially a process of knowledge exchange between the teacher and the student. A school education policy that ignores teacher is unlikely to work.

The U.P. government could conceive and launch a massive, comprehensive, high quality teacher training programme that addresses:

• Building soft skills
• Using technology
• Effective pedagogy
• Update subject knowledge
• Understanding student psychology
• Managing the class
• Managing the school
• Motivation

4. Should the principle  be “standardized education” or “customized education?”

It is well-recognized now that many students drop out as they receive education that is at a level higher than they could cope with. A standard solution does not seem to work for all students.

The U.P. government could consider an innovation in the government run schools. Students who need special / additional inputs should be identified and special instructional programmes should be arranged for them. This could be one of the features of the “model school” concept. We could term it as “learning customized.”

Best practices and suggested interventions

Looking at the eight education pillars and their corresponding data, we have identified four areas of opportunities that need immediate attention.

1. Students
2. Teachers
3. Parents
4. Governance

During the past decade, several interventions have been attempted to improve school education in all these four aspects. Some are addressing school education in general while some others are specific to secondary education. Taking inspiration from noticeable and relevant efforts that have been undertaken in India and in some other developing nations, the following pillar-wise recommendations are envisaged.

Education pillar focus: Students

The recommendations under this section focus on:

1. Learning outcomes (quality, assessment)
2. Vocational training
3. Girl child (incentives, career counselling, amenities)

Students’ wellbeing and learning must be maintained as they transit from elementary to secondary schools. A student’s transition can be complicated by the social, emotional, and physiological changes that can negatively impact on their learning. A large review of multiple types of studies revealed links between providing high quality, well maintained facilities in secondary schools and meeting students’ physical activity needs.

Throughout India, educational leaders and policymakers aspire to support students via technological tools to develop 21st century skills that will adequately prepare them to achieve desired workforce competencies and to be successful in a competitive economy. Many factors determine the success of technology-integrated instruction, including school resources, administrator support, teacher attitudes toward technology-integrated curriculum, adequacy of technology, student perception and use of technology, and school.

Several initiatives have been taken in Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand to take advantage of digital technology in school education. To address the weaknesses in educational inputs, U.P. should explore such initiatives. Digital education may well be the most important futuristic initiative. It involves smart classrooms and remote learning techniques. The implementation model depends on the level of ICT enablement in different parts of U.P. Mobile classes, labs on bicycles, and alternate and innovative study venues and coaching centers are some of the initiatives that could be considered to enhance reach.

Choosing a career in a particular stream or profession right at the beginning has a long-lasting impact on a student’s future. Career guidance is very essential for students because without proper guidance a student cannot choose a proper subject for his career and he cannot secure his future. Hence, there is a need of guidance in the selection of subject so that student can choose the subject according to their interest at the secondary level in 10 +2 system and can establish his own identity in this competitive world.

Students with different abilities and students with low self-image or poor self-esteem are at risk of not successfully transitioning to secondary school. Some teachers may also find it difficult to relate to these students and establish positive learning relationships. Some of these students may need health and support strategies to be working before they can become fully engaged in schooling. Governments and school administrators might not be able to afford reductions in class size but grouping students by ability level (often called tracking) is an alternative approach to organizing students for instructions. There is an extensive body of literature on different forms of ability grouping (for example, by ability within classrooms, across levels of the same courses, in tracks or programs of study, and within schools). Engaging pedagogical approaches and well-integrated technology likely improve learning.

Secondary school environments are complex spaces, so we must consider the physical environment to develop adolescent health during the transition from primary schooling. Both students and teachers spend about half of their waking time in schools. It is obvious that schools should have the required amenities (water, electricity, basic sanitation facilities, well- equipped classrooms, library, computer lab, recreation room, playground, boundary wall). Some of these things are basic needs, particularly for girl students and women teachers. A school ranking system like National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), the common accreditation body for public and private schools, can be established to rank schools for amenities.

Merit-based scholarships in which poor households receive regular payments from the government if they meet certain conditions can motivate well deserving students to continue their higher education.

Many states have introduced their own welfare schemes for girl children, which can be availed alongside the central government scheme(s). Some of the popular state-based schemes are Andhra Pradesh & Telangana – Girl Child Protection Scheme; Tamil Nadu – Sivagami Ammaiyar Memorial girl child protection scheme; Madhya Pradesh -Ladli Laxmi Yojana; Haryana – Ladli Scheme; Odisha – Kishori Shakti Yojana; Rajasthan – Rajshree Yojna.

The table below demonstrates recommendations and suggested interventions, along with any corresponding best practice or inspiration.

8 PRATHAM that was specifically targeted at the lowest performing children in public schools in the Indian cities of Mumbai and Vadodara. The program provided an informal teacher hired from the community (known as a Balsakhi or “friend of the child”) to schools, with an explicit mandate to focus on children in 3rd and 4th grade who had not achieved even basic competencies in reading and arithmetic. The program improved students’ test scores (average of math and English scores) by 0.14σ after one year of the program, and by 0.28σ after two years. Most of the gains were observed for students who were “pulled out” of their regular classroom (who were at the lower end of the learning distribution) and not for those who continued in the regular class (though the latter students did experience a reduction in class size for two hours per day). The authors therefore interpret the results as being driven by the fact that the students who were pulled out were being taught at a level corresponding to their current proficiency, as opposed to the proficiency presumed by of the textbook.

Education pillar focus: Teachers

The recommendations under this section focus on:

1. Capacity building and training
2. Motivation levels
3. Performance-linked incentives

It is often found that schoolteachers are drafted by different government departments to undertake many duties (election, survey, data entry, administration, community work, etc.). This reduces the time available to teach in the class and to upgrade their subject knowledge and pedagogical methods. This results in demotivation as well. Teacher training should be an important intervention to help teachers. Identification of training needs and method (structure and system) of offering such training as a regular input should be undertaken. This can be done by utilizing an Education Management Information System (EMIS) to provide requisite data. Self-learning through digital technology could deliver teacher training to fill the gap and this can also be incentivized.

The table below demonstrates recommendations and suggested interventions, along with any corresponding best practice or inspiration.

Education pillar focus: Parents

The recommendations under this section focus on:

1. Monetary incentives
2. Girl child enrolment

It is important to recognize the role of parents in the task of improving learning and academic outcomes for children. OECD’s PISA Report 2012 indicated that regardless of the socio- economic background of households, parents can help children achieve their full potential by spending some time talking and reading with them. Improved parent participation can contribute to teaching-learning practices, improved school management, and enable systemic reform.

The role of parents can be viewed from both the demand and supply side. Parents can create a demand for quality education, and on the supply side, it is important to create a space for parents within the school and learning process. Parents have demonstrated different ways of

participating in their children’s education. These include influencing decisions at the school level, creating learning spaces in their communities, and creating a learning environment in their homes.

To incentivize parents for enrollment and improved attendance of their wards in school, cash transfers have been conceptualized and implemented as social policy tools by various nations. In return for children’s regular attendance to school, families receive a payment with the transfer value generally depending on various criteria such as age, gender and grade of the student.

To transform educational outcomes, programmes must be designed to facilitate change in parents’ attitudes, improve education, incentivize higher level of education, and increase opportunities for girls to learn, work and earn. For instance, the Mukhyamantri Kanya Utthaan Yojana launched in Bihar intends to empower the women in Bihar, under the scheme the state government will spend in excess of Rs. 50,000 on every girl child from her birth till she completes graduation.

The table below demonstrates recommendations and suggested interventions, along with any corresponding best practice or inspiration.

Education pillar focus: Governance

The recommendations under this section focus on:

1. Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
2. Partnerships (private, SHGs, community)
3. Management systems

Considering the inadequacy of government allocated funds, CSR can act as an enabler in bringing the reforms in the secondary education by paving way for bringing in investments through this route. Robust monitoring of CSR funds and channelizing them appropriately can bring a radical change in the education system. Interventions such as investing in school infrastructure, providing learning materials, though are beneficial in the short-term, do not provide a sustainable solution to the existing problems in education.

Corporate researchers recommend areas for high impact CSR spending in education which include establishment of schools under Public Private Partnership (PPP), training of teachers and preparation of school leadership. Public-Private Partnerships are an innovative way of involving the private sector to fill in the gaps within the education system. PPP mechanisms have proved their value around the world by the introduction of innovative pedagogical and school management techniques. They can usher significant changes in increasing access to school, improving quality of education and correcting the under-utilization of school infrastructure.

Various PPP models in England, Colombia and Uganda have explored mechanisms where the government authorizes and reimburses a private operator to manage school operations, with varying degrees of autonomy to innovate. In this context, the two models that can be explored are the school management model of PPP to utilize the school infrastructure provided by the government and manage the school with full operational autonomy, as being implemented by providers such as Akanksha and Muktangan in Mumbai, and the school adoption model of taking over government schools, retaining government teachers while implementing performance management initiatives as operated by Naandi Foundation and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM).

To enhance societal involvement in this sector, partnerships can be explored with various implementing/supporting agencies like weavers’ societies, SHGs, civil society organizations, donor agencies and community-based organizations. To maximize the impact and provide holistic solutions, it is pertinent to establish long term partnerships with implementing agencies and undertake Inter-organizational collaboration plans.

For optimal utilization of resources and increased efficiency, robust mechanisms for monitoring and implementation can be put in place by way of Education Information Management Systems (EMIS). The Tamil Nadu model of planning, administration and governance employs a MIS system at all levels of school departments to streamlining educational administration and performance tracking, from admissions, attendance, and in- class performance, to board results, co-curricular activities and placements.

Furthermore, availability of single source of information and dynamic tracking of various educational indicators can impart a holistic policy perspective through convergence with other departments, agencies and stakeholders that are directly and indirectly associated with the arena of education.

The table below demonstrates recommendations and suggested interventions, along with any corresponding best practice or inspiration.

Conclusion

This brief paper has presented the key aspects of “affordable-quality” secondary education in

U.P. that need attention, namely students, teachers, parents, and governance. Drawing upon secondary sources of data and best practices, 32 strategic recommendations and interventions have been proposed across the four key aspects. The proposed interventions range from short term to medium and long term and provide a preliminary framework for creating appropriate solutions towards building a sustainable and progressive system of secondary education in the state of U.P. These may be considered for further study and customization in consultation with all key stakeholders.