Government of India

Ministry of Human Resource Development

RMSA QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER Quarter 3/October- December 2014

SpotlightExcellence gets impetusBal Swachhata DiwasSwachh Bharat Swachh Vidyalaya - Mapping progress

4 - 7happEningSEncouraging iCt useU-DiSE Review across StatesBuilding Vision Secondary EducationStrengthening planning through State-level Workshops5th RMSa Joint Review Mission successfully concluded

8FEatURE implementing human Resource Management information Systems

11inFogRaphiC Children With Special needs (CWSn) in india’s Schools

12ContRiBUtionSCrossroads

10FEatURE Effective School performance Management

2 - 3

Spotlight

Excellence gets an impetus with the NASA ViSit

The Deba Kumar Bora Memorial NASA visit is an initiative taken by the state of Assam to groom a well-educated and creative generation of students. The vision underlying this programme is to prepare students into future leaders in all walks of life including the world of Science and Technology. Based on the announcement made by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Assam on 1st January 2012, the programme has been aptly dedicated to the memory of State’s beloved visionary, Late Deba Kumar Bora, former Minister and Press Advisor to Chief Minister.

As a part of this endeavour, selected meritorious students of Assam are given opportunity of an exposure visit to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the United States of America (USA). A unique experience in itself, this visit provides students with a lot of exposure to the advances made in Space Science and Astronomy and its related aspects. Students are made to understand Aeronautics in simulated environment including Astronaut Training, shuttle mission control and also get practical experience by conducting experiments with NASA educators. Students directly interact with the NASA Astronauts and scientists which helps generate awareness about

the world and the challenges of space exploitation including the ‘unknown’.

The Students’ visit to NASA is a lifetime experience which results in a journey enabling them to discover their own potential and abilities in order to further excel in life.

Assam is perhaps the first state in the entire country where the students are being taken on such a unique, once in a life time educational tour to NASA under complete State government funding.

Enthusiastic Sannidhya Sharmah belongs to a small town of Namrup under the Dibrugarh district of Assam. However, with his hard work and discliplined approach to studies, he was able to secure the 3rd Position in the Assam HSLC exam , 2014 with 96.5%. He loves Trigonometry and numbers and has to his credit the highest marks in Advance Mathematics (100%) in the HSLC exams. A young chess player and a cricket fan, his ambition in life is to be an astronaut. He says that the NASA trip was an awesome experince and his biggest take away from it was his meeting with an astornaut who was rejected for the first time but then became one of the most successul astranauts of his time. This experience made Sannidhya confident and he now feels that failures are a part of life and cannot hold back success at any time.

Young and vibrant Jyoti Krishnan Kalita of 17 years of age belongs to a small town of Kamrup (Metro) of Assam. He had secured 2nd position in the HSLC exam- 2014 with 96.81% and was selected for 10 days educational visit to the US-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) centre. His ambition in life is to become a Mechanical Engineer from IIT and further aims to become an IAS Officer. He loves physics and plays football. The young boy feels Narendra Modi is his role model. He says his “ best take away from the NASA visit is that hard work always pays off.”

2 | CATALYST- Quarter 2 / July - September 2014

Spotlight

SwAchh BhArAt SwAchh VidyAlAyA Mapping ProgressMaintenance of good health and wellbeing are not only important for the good future of our children but also the future of our country. In this regard, schools with adequate toilet provisions provide children with a healthy and safe environment to learn and grow. This eventually prepares them for the world of work which further helps the communities to prosper and the country to achieve its full potential. Thus, in order to accomplish this long term goal, the Hon’ble Prime Minister made a promise on the occasion of Independence Day (15th August, 2014) to ensure all schools to have functional toilets within the next year and sought cooperation from the corporate sector towards achieving this objective.

As a part of this initiative, the government of India also launched an ambitious ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ and took pledge for a clean India by 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of our Nation. Under the umbrella of this flagship campaign, the Department of School Education and Literacy, MHRD is committed to the campaign of ‘Swachh Bharat: Swachh Vidyalaya’ for provisioning every school with functional toilets.

For this, a modern, user-friendly web portal (http://125.63.72.116:8085/) was developed to allow the corporate partners to express their interest to take up work in schools without toilets and continuously update the state government on the same. It uses dynamic graphs and thematic maps to facilitate the government to monitor status of schools without toilets or those with dysfunctional toilets and track the progress of construction by viewing photographs of the same uploaded by corporates.

The North East Regional Institute of Education, NCERT celebrated the Bal Swachhata Diwas on 14th November, 2014 to commemorate both the Bal Diwas that is celebrated traditionally on the occasion of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth anniversary and the present Swachhata Mission launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on the very same day.

Nerie iNitiAteS

‘Bal Swachhata Diwas’

The programme was inaugurated by the Deputy Commissioner of Ri-bhoi, Dr. Pooja Pandey and approximately 500 people including 350 children of the district were welcomed by Prof. A. Sukumar, Principal NERIE. This program was a mix of fun and learning for the students and comprised of engaging lecture sessions and other interesting activities such as poster exhibition, poster making competition, mime show and puppet show. A cleanliness fair was also organised with

the objective of imparting the message of cleanliness of self and surrounding. Interactive stalls were also set up to inform students on various themes related to cleanliness. These included a poster display stall set-up by the NSS group of Umshyrpy College Shillong, book display by RCPD (Regional Circulation and Publication Division), NCERT Guwahati and a games stall on waste disposal and management by IIM, Shillong.

The children wrote their comments and ideas about cleanliness on a giant Flex board. The programme concluded with the children being oriented to the message of a “Swachh Bharat” and a clean self in an informative and enjoyable manner.

RMSA Quarterly Newsletter | 3

U-diSe reView AcroSS StAteS

Bihar, Meghalaya, MP and odishaUnified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) is a school census based Education Management Information System (EMIS), deployed throughout India for all elementary and secondary schools. The system has undergone evolution since its inception in 1994 through various projects and initiatives, most recently with the integration of elementary level DISE and secondary level SEMIS into a single system in 2012.

A comprehensive review of U-DISE has been carried out in states of Odisha, MP, Bihar and Meghalaya by RMSA-TCA in partnership with RIEs. The objective of the review was to create a roadmap for supportive environment and adequate resources for U-DISE by identifying specific points of intervention for improving data quality at school level and to increase the demand and use of data in monitoring, evaluating and planning for the education system.

The review pointed to several gaps across all levels (schools-blocks-districts-state) in the states which are described below:

• SomefieldsintheDCFswereambiguousandledto confusions and misinterpretations on part of therespondents at school level (HMs and teachers).

• Theprocessofdatacapturefromschoolsisfollowedby data entry at block or district level and subsequentlycompilation at higher levels (district and state). All statesand districts face time and resource challenge which hasadverse impact on data quality.

encouraging ict UseA 10 day capacity building workshop was organised by NERIE, NCERT from 27th Oct- 5th Nov, 2014 to motivate key resource persons to use ICT in ‘Teaching- Learning Process’. The programme aimed at orienting participants with the importance of using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education.

This workshop used a multi-pronged approach which comprised of both deliberation and demonstration of ICT skills by resource persons and practical pratice sessions in ICT labs. These activities helped participants develop their skills in interacting with input-output and storage devices and connecting with each other and the world through various internet services such as e-mailing, chatting, grouping, blogging etc. Besides this, use of Web 2.0 tools, educational softwares and softwares for assessment and assistive technology in the teaching-learning process were the other major components discussed during the workshop.

Participants were prepared on pedagogical skills so as to integrate ICT into the overall teaching-learning process and were prompted to develop and present ICT integrated lessons on various topics. The Central Institute of Educational

happEningS

4 | CATALYST- Quarter 2 / July - September 2014

• Thefocusofstatesisusuallyontimelycompletionofthedata collection process and finalisation of data for use inannual planning process at district and state levels forSSA and RMSA. Hence, the MIS staff have developednecessary skills and expertise only in this area but theircapacities for data verification, analysis, presentation andability to use data still needs to be built.

• Mostadministrative(non-technical)staffarecompletelydependent on the MIS staff for accessing the data asthe manner in which the data is stored is quite complexand needs technical queries to fetch data from U-DISEdatabase.

• Bythetimedataisfinalisedandmadeavailableitisdated (and hence somewhat unreliable) for use at stateand district level for other administrative and academicpurposes.

• Also,therolesandresponsibilitieswithrespecttosecondary schools have not been institutionalised verywell in all the states as compared to elementary schools.The support and co-ordination of SSA office acrosstechnical work such as training on DCF, data entry datacompilation and data verification varies from elementaryschools (SSA staff such as BRCs, CRCs) via-a-vissecondary schools (RMSA staff, nodal HMs).

NUEPA has already begun to take steps to address these issues. Detailed guidelines for filling up the DCF and FAQs have been developed and are now available on www.dise.in . Several states have translated these documents to their regional language and used them for their trainings. NUEPA annually publishes several publications, such as ‘District and State Report Cards’; ‘Annual Flash Statistics, for both elementary and secondary levels’, ‘Thematic Maps’; and Analytical Reports & Tables’.

States are also taking several steps to improve their data quality and its use. Bihar is trying to increase coverage of private schools. They have had a consultative meeting with some private schools and developed a format (removing irrelevant sections) which the schools agreed to fill-up. Meghalaya conducted mass media campaign observing the U-DISE week from 25th of Sept to 9th of Oct along with many states who celebrated 30th September as U-DISE day. State authorities in MP, have initiated a process for simplifying the terminologies in the guidelines and initiated a process through which data from MP Samagra Shiksha Portal (database tracking every child) is cross verified with U-DISE. Odisha has conducted a comprehensive Data Audit along with this review and as a result prepared an Accountability Matrix for allocating responsibilities at block level for data verification and validation (especially for secondary schools) and issued an order in this regard.

Technology, NCERT participated in the workshop through EDUSAT and demonstrated the Web 2.0 tools and NROER (National Repository on Open Educational Resources). The participants were introduced to a software named HOT POTATO, using which they could practice on developing various assessment tools like quizzes, cross questions, matching type questions etc.

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

– William Arthur Ward

RMSA Quarterly Newsletter | 5

happEningS

A State level Workshop for Formulating the Annual Work Plan & Budget (2015-16) was held from 22nd to 26th September, 2014 at Yercaud, Salem district of Tamil Nadu. 35 participants from various districts of the state actively participated in this 5 day workshop wherein members from the Educational Planning Department- NUEPA, New Delhi acted as the key resource persons.

The aim of the workshop was to provide inputs (knowledge and skills) for developing a better AWP&B, 2015-16 at the district and the state level under RMSA in Tamil Nadu.

Following are some of the key outcomes

of the workshop:

1. Enhanced knowledge about thekey features of RMSA and othercentrally sponsored schemes (i.e.

IEDSS, Girls Hostel, Vocational Education and ICT@School); including their norms, the integrated planning framework and appraisal criteria.

2. Better understanding of datarequirements for planning districtlevel Secondary Education, witha focus on use of UDISE datafor filling in model tables andestimation of other requiredindicators for sector diagnosis.

3. Better understanding of the keyperformance indicators for diagnosisof School Education in general andSecondary Education in particular inTamil Nadu. This includes studentsflow analysis and analysis of publicspending on Secondary Educationand utilization of funds receivedunder RMSA.

4. Better understanding and animproved ability to ability to applysimple techniques for the projectionof school age population andenrolment. This is a part of thebroader skills needed to developalternative scenarios for theexpansion of Secondary Educationin the state (i.e. setting enrolmenttargets).

Building Vision for Secondary education 100 districts across 4 states participated in a process to develop vision for secondary education which sets out aspirations for all young people regardless of gender, caste, location, special needs or income levels.

Observations on the RMSA planning process made in 2013 revealed that “a major weakness in the current planning framework is the absence of a longer-term vision and objectives for the period of RMSA’s lifetime up to 2017 and that the annual planning process would benefit from a three-year planning cycle, reviewed and revised annually.

Taking a lead in strengthening the planning process, states of Assam, Bihar, Orissa and Meghalaya participated in a strategic planning process in collaboration with Regional Institute for Education and other state education

institutions. Experts in the areas of gender, special needs, health, teacher training and research also participated and shared their experiences and the

challenges faced by young people in the State. States developed vision for secondary education in a 2-day state level workshop resulting in 3-year

Strengthening Planning through State-level workshops

6 | CATALYST- Quarter 2 / July - September 2014

medium term state plans. This was followed by district level workshops in which districts developed 3-year medium term plans and an action plan for Year 1 which formed the basis for the Annual Work Plan & Budget for the year 2015-16. These workshops were facilitated andconducted by the State RMSA societies.

The process helped build capacity of districts to undertake decentralised, need based, results focussed plans which are based on evidence.

The programme is being supported by RMSA - Technical Cooperation Agency (TCA), a consortium of national and international technical experts led by Cambridge Education which aims to improve the status of secondary education in India through supporting the systems for accelerated planning and implementation of RMSA.

5. Increased with Results FrameworkDocument (RFD) of RMSA, expectedto form a part of the DistrictSecondary Education Plan (DSEP),2015-16.

6. Improved ability to apply the LogicalFramework Matrix (LFM) in designing& describing proposed interventionsin the DSEP and AWP&B of TamilNadu.

7. Enhanced skill in filling costingsheets of the Integrated DSEP forSecondary Education.

8. Acquiring clear idea of non-negotiable areas and other aspects ofthe DSEP appraisal prepared by the

RMSA-TSG at PAB.

5th rMSA Joint review Mission successfully concludedThe Fifth JRM of RMSA was held from 27th January to 9th February 2014. This was a field based review, and five States (Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand) were visited. The Mission members interacted with students, community members, teachers, and district and state level teams during the field visits. In this JRM there was a special focus on the following aspects of the programme:

• Vocational/SkillsEducationinschools

• UDISE(UDISEImplementationStructure)

• TechnicalCooperationAgency’s(TCA)workwithregardtoteachers’management in Secondary Education Sector and teacher training underRMSA.

“I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.”

– Albert Einstein

RMSA Quarterly Newsletter | 7

FEatURE

Implementing human resource management information systems (HRMIS) for better teacher management

SummaryThe prime objective of the Teacher Management component under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme is to support the improved provision of appropriately qualified and skilled teachers to the secondary schools of India.

Implementation of Human Resource Management Information Systems (HMRIS) can play a leading role in improving management of teachers by establishing efficient and accessible online systems to manage payroll, service records and teacher transfer and other teacher management processes.

Legislative and policy supportThe introduction of effective HRMIS de-pends on strong support from legislation and policy relating to teacher manage-ment. Equally, the systems themselves have the potential to provide support for policy on improving teacher quality.

Constant advocacy and trainingAdoption of HRMIS requires a change in organisational attitudes and culture. This change depends on constant advocacy and training which can involve signifi-cant resources. The experience of one state highlights the value of online train-

ing and video conferencing in facilitating successful deployment of the systems and reducing the costs of support.

Consultation during initial developmentSetting up advocacy forums and a com-mittee are essential in the initial stages of development of state HRMIS and can ensure involvement of as many stake-holders as possible. However, a smaller group should be established to expedite the final design according to a set of rules once input has been provided by the initial, larger committee.

RMSA Technical Cooperation Agency (TCA), as part of technical support to RMSA programme conducted reviews of two states (Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh) which have invested in developing HRMIS. Evidence from the reviews highlight common lessons which are critical to successful implementation of these systems. The following piece sets out lessons, highlighting issues experienced by the states, practical solutions and the need for effective planning and an incremental approach to underpin successful implementation of HRMIS.

8 | CATALYST- Quarter 2 / July - September 2014

Outsourcing developmentDeveloping HRMIS requires professional expertise. Outsourcing the work gives ac-cess to the relevant specialist skills to en-sure quality, and avoids the situation where any team become custodians or authori-ties of the system, so promoting owner-ship of the system by other departments. This development also needs to ensure compatibility between how data is coded in different systems. The National Informatics Centre (NIC) can provide a viable option for this outsourcing, while some states have developed their own systems.

Phased and flexibleImplementationStates need to take a realistic, phased ap-proach to establishing HRMIS, getting the system operational in stages rather than waiting until they have the perfect system ready to implement. Under a phased ap-proach basic data may be entered as soon as possible so the system can be used for critical functions at the earliest opportu-nity, with further data and functionality added in later phases. Legacy data also needs to be integrated. It should be an-

ticipated that staff will make errors in data entry during initial implementation, which need to be corrected. Rules should be gradually tightened to remove malpractice.

Integration into a single platformStates should develop early plans for inte-grating systems for teacher management into a single platform. The new platform must be compatible with the needs of the Department of Education. Plans should also be made for ensuring the Department of Education uses the platform. Robust data standards will help ensure the integra-tion of different modules.

U-DISE dataThe Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) database has developed as a reporting tool and so is not supposed to be an operational system. The states need to develop and use their own HRMIS. This may be addressed by using the Teacher Transfer Personnel System (TTPS) as the primary system for managing teacher data and including non-government payroll teachers in the database. Systems that are decentralised to sub-national

levels, and targeted at operational needs, may produce more complete, timely and accurate data than annual census-based systems.

Ongoing developmentHRMIS need ongoing development once established to accommodate the needs of different departments and changes in poli-cies and processes. This ongoing develop-ment must be factored in and an annual budget allocated to cover the development work.

“The mind of the child is always on the alert, restless and eager to receive firsthand knowledge from mother nature. Children should be surrounded with the things of nature which have their own educational value. Their minds should be allowed to stumble upon and surprised at everything that happens in todays life”

– Rabindranath Tagore

RMSA Quarterly Newsletter | 9

others, the system-wide results from PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS are used. These are usually not shared with individual schools and thus have little positive impact. Some places conduct teacher and/or principal performance management using set crite-ria; without testing the overall performance of the school. These first two approaches are common in the United States and Canada, where the prevailing belief is that it is more effective to manage individual performance than that of whole schools. These approaches are generally taken for cost-saving reasons, without a holistic view on the varying factors that affect school performance.

Truly effective school performance management requires regular visits to schools by experienced educators who can judge teaching and leadership in

practice. Whether school visits are called ‘inspections’, ‘quality reviews’ or ‘perfor-mance monitoring’, their purposes are essentially the same: to establish and/or verify the quality of education offered to students and to ascertain the reasons behind specific school outcomes. School performance is best managed by asking a series of questions answered on-site. The core questions are listed below.

Answers are best arrived by using five basic methods of social enquiry:

i) unobtrusive observation of schoolactivities;

ii) opinion surveys of students, parents,teachers and leaders;

iii) Formal and spontaneous interviews;

iv) quantitative data analysis;

v) qualitative document analysis.

Core questions are as follows:

1. How well do students attain appropri-ate curriculum learning outcomes;

2. How do students progress, measuredagainst their different starting points;

3. Which learning skills do students de-velop, appropriate to their age group;

4. How well do students develop appro-priate personal attitudes and socialskills;

5. Which teaching methods are effec-tive;

6. How effectively do teachers andschools assess learning and useassessment information to helpstudents progress further;

7. How well does the curriculum match-es students’ existing knowledge andskills;

8. The health, safety and support levelsof school environments;

9. The effectiveness of school leaders;

10. How well do school facilities andresources support leaders, teachersand students.

When these criteria are applied, school quality outcomes can be effectively obtained, using adjectives targeted at a broad audience, including the four main stakeholders listed above. This method gives managers an accurate and detailed understanding of school performance.

FEatURE

What does effective School Performance Management look like? School performance is managed in different ways across the world. International school performance policies are not always based on school inspections, monitor-ing or review systems. In some places standardised external tests form the basis for judging school performance. This practice is very common, most likely because results can be obtained at a very low cost and can satisfy basic notions of ‘accountability’ and ‘performance management.’

In some places, the sole indicator of school performance is provided through local testing of students’ knowledge and skills across a narrow range of subjects; in

10 | CATALYST- Quarter 2 / July - September 2014

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RMSA Quarterly Newsletter | 11

Prof Sridhar Srivastava | Head, Educational Survey Division, NCERTDr Ranjana Arora | Head, RMSA Project Cell, NCERTDr Sunita Chugh | Associate Professor, NUEPAMr A.N. Reddy | Associate Professor, NUEPAMr Anil Kumar | Assistant State Project Director, RMSA DelhiMs. Poonam Sharma Bhambri | Communications Manager, RMSA-TCA

Chief Editor: Prof Rajaram S. Sharma | Joint Director, CIET, NCERT

Ms Tias DuttaMHRD-TSG, RMSA

RMSA,17, Vijaya Building, 6th Floor, Barakhamba Road, New Delhi-110001

T +91 11 23765617 / 23387948E newsletter.rmsa@gmail.com

Supported by RMSA Technical Cooperation Agency (TCA).

The TCA is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

ContRiBUtionS

Rashtriya Madhyamik

Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)

Young people are the drivers of India’s rapid economic and social progress. To fully realise this significant potential, the Government of India is committed to providing quality secondary education to all children so that they are prepared for higher education, world of work and as citizens of a progressive society.

The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme initiated in 2009, demonstrates the government’s ambition for a secondary education system that can support India’s growth and development.

RMSA aims to increase the enrolment rate to more than 90 % at the secondary stage by the end of the 2017 through provisioning of a secondary school within a reasonable distance of every home. It also aims

to improve the quality of secondary education making all secondary schools conform to prescribed norms, removing gender, socio-economic and disability barriers, and providing universal access and universal retention in secondary level education by 2020. Above all, it aims to dramatically improve learning outcomes so that young people leaving school can play their part in the development of the country.

CrossroadsNadeem has just moved to Delhi from his village in Rampur district of UP and with the pride of a young boy of his age (14 or 15) says ‘you haven’t heard of Rampur, it’s really big’. He started working at a saloon as a helper, sweeping, cleaning and bringing the odd cup of ‘chai’ to the owner and custom-ers. Then he learnt a few skills that helped him to earn a bit more, like cutting hair, shaving, ‘maalish’ (massaging) and even doing facials. He doesn’t say why he moved to a big city like Delhi, but he isn’t too impressed with the grand city; particularly with the condition of the roads in front of his shop, the size of ‘rotis’ and the taste of ‘salan’ available at the local eating-joints.

Nadeem went to a government primary school in his village for couple of years, before leaving for Delhi. “There was hardly any activity in the school”, he says. Teachers were often absent and, when the students were in school, they barely did anything besides scolding and beating a few who would show up. Most children from the rich families in his village attended the local private school, “I liked the way they dressed up, I wanted to be like them but we had no money” he said.

When asked whether he misses going to school, Nadeem vehemently replied that ‘what is the point of going to school when those from my village who travelled 10 kms to attend high-school are also doing the same thing?’ However, Nadeem feels that the little he learnt from his school is now helping

him. He can read enough to find directions to reach where he wants to and find things he needs from the market. He uses his mobile to do all calculations including the exact discount he is offering on a particular package to a customer.

Over the years, he has become quite good at his work and verbally gives an account of the packages available and their prices. While, every now and then the owner seems to inter-vene and boss around, Nadeem has matured as a person and likes being paid only for his work.

Although he feels he has settled in his life and has no regret of not completing his schooling, Nadeem’s story leaves us with numerous important questions that need to be addressed:

why are children like Nadeem dropping out of theirschools?;

how can we ensure that children complete theirschooling?; and

how can children like Nadeem be made to believe thatformal education will add value to the quality of their life?