Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)– Implementation in Jammu and Kashmir- Challenges and suggestions to achieve quality education

 

Murtaza Hussain Mir

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), School of Social Sciences, New Delhi-110068

*Corresponding Author Email: murtz33@gmail.com

 

ABSTRACT:

India’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is the world’s most successful school program. It was launched in 2001 towards the culmination of Ninth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002) to achieve the goal of universalisation of elementary education in the country. It focuses on compulsory education of children in the age group 6-14 years. SSA is an effort to improve the performance of the school system and provide community-owned quality elementary education. It envisages bridging up gender and social disparities in elementary education with special focus on educational needs of girls, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, children with disabilities and disadvantaged children. Despite ambitious objectives of the Program, the Abhiyan fell short of bringing about the required changes as was measured by poor gross enrollment ratio, absenteeism, high dropout rate, poor learning curves, poor quality of teachers and a dismal pupil-teacher ratio. It has been observed that the government run schools lacked the pedagogical tools to mainstream those students who had not been attending school and had surpassed the age bracket at which a normal school going child would attend a particular standard. It was also observed that students passing out of private educational institutions turned out to be better contributors to society as compared to students who passed out of government aided schools, as private schools had the funds to attract better teacher talent and provide for vocational and extra-curricular activities that enabled the students to develop a holistic personality. The scheme provided financial autonomy to schools. This article examines the quality challenges of the program in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

 

KEYWORDS: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rehber-e-Taleem (ReT), TALASH Survey, Quality of Education.

 

 


INTRODUCTION:

Serious concern has been raised in a Government Order issued by the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Government regarding low learning levels of students in the state.1 In the 2014 National Achievement Survey (NAS) of students of the 9th grade, J&K scored 56% and ranked 32 in language assessment, and scored 61% and ranked 30 in Mathematics, out of a total of 34 states and Union Territories (UTs).

 

A 2015 NAS of students of the 10th grade saw 73%, 87% and 85% scoring less than half the marks in English, Mathematics and Science respectively. In the same year, a study by PRATHAM2, found that 22% of 8th grade students could not read the English text meant for 2nd grade students, and 20% could not solve 2nd grade mathematics problems. There have been several underlying reasons, but, largely the ‘No detention’ policy of a child at elementary level is considered to be the main culprit for the drop in the quality of education.

 

The 2016 Government Order also mentions discussions that were held on the ‘New Education Policy’, which saw an overwhelming participation of all stakeholders. Largely, the opinion was that no detention irrespective of performance evaluation, was causing irreparable harm to the quality of education. The system of allowing a child to reach the 9th grade was inculcating a false sense of achievement, causing low motivation, providing negligible incentive to perform, and creating poor attendance and indiscipline.

 

On the basis of these deliberations, and to keep a balance between the quality of learning and motivation levels in children, J&K has decided to allow detention from grades 5 to 8 on the basis of performance in term 1 and term 2.3 Students would be detained on a provisional basis and would be supplemented with 2 to 3 months of remedial coaching during vacations or at beginning of the next session. Thereafter, the student would be revaluated by State Institutes of Education (SIE) for grade appropriate competencies. If the student fails, then s/he would be liable to be detained.

 

In 2012, a Sub-Committee assessed the implementation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) in the context of the No-Detention policy.4 In 2015, the Sub-Committee placed its report5 before the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE). All States/UTs were to share their views on the No-Detention policy. 23 States, including J&K, suggested modification to the No Detention policy. In December 2015, the sub-committee recommended that if a child fails to clear the 5th or 8th grade, additional instructions must be provided and another opportunity to improve should be given to the child, failing which the child may be detained.6 In 2016, the CABE decided that the Central Government must accordingly amend the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act) to allow States/UTs to review the ‘No Detention’ Policy. As per the proposed amendment, if a child fails in the 5th and 8th grade examinations, s/he shall be given additional instruction and an opportunity to appear for a re-examination within two months from the declaration of the result. In case the child fails in the second attempt, the Government may allow schools to detain the child in that class. Notably, the Government may also decide not to hold back a child in any class till the completion of elementary education. Further, no child shall be expelled from school until the completion of elementary education. The proposed amendment seeks to “improve the learning levels of children and will lead to greater accountability and improvement in the quality of education”.7

 

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) framework mentions that RTE Act 2009 has specific provisions for training of age appropriate classes for ‘out of school children’ (OoSC). A large number of OoSC in J&K belong to disadvantageous communities such as those affected by civil strife. J&K has a long history of militancy, extremism, and political unrestand thus the implementation of SSA has remained a challenge throughout. The SSA further advocates establishment of residential schools to accommodate students from sparsely populated, hilly, or densely forested areas with geographical hilly terrains. To date, J&K has 90 residential Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalaya (KGBV) schools.8

 

In 2016, the J&K secretariat issued an order to make alternate arrangements for students of schools damaged by arson.9 Incidents of unrest/hartal have partially/fully damaged a number of schools. Subsequently, classes are discontinued, and students are at a disadvantage with the new session approaching. In such situations, the Chief Education Officer must also shift the affected students to nearby schools. Additionally, the staff members of such damaged schools must be immediately shifted.

 

The Joint Review Mission (JRM) comprising members of GoI and Development Partners the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) and United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) notes that J&K is not governed by the norms of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).10 The regulating body for school education in J&K is the Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE).11 The Board prescribes course of instructions, prepares the curriculum and detailed syllabi, and prescribes textbooks. It also has the mandate to take measures which the Board may think necessary to raise the standard of the education in the state, and advise the government on matters of policy relating to Elementary, Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. Important decisions regarding academic standards, norms as well as the administrative functions of the school system come under the purview of this board.12

 

There have been no steps taken to create a parallel council at the state level. Further, no academic powers related to elementary education have been transferred to SIEs. Additionally, the curriculum for elementary teacher education is also dealt by the JKBOSE. Surprisingly, despite the absence of a proper institutionalized academic structure and expertise, the JKBOSE continues to take on the responsibility of elementary education in J&K. Important tasks, such as setting academic standards and regulating teacher education, continue to be neglected and fragmented and haphazardly divided between different bodies.

 

The JRM highlights the complete absence of any government-run quality teacher education institute and an unprecedented proliferation of private teacher training institutions. Although a recent ban order has been issued13, the need for such institutions is evident as it is fee-based in the universities. In spite of high demand, there is no sign of public spending for state-supported institutions of teacher education. Privatization of teacher education will invite vulnerability to the market forces for future generations of teachers.

Moreover, no State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) or equivalent forum exists to account for dealing with all aspects of elementary school education. The SIE and the District Institute of Education and Training (DIETs) lack in dedicated expert faculty whose capacities can be built up through sustained efforts, research, and engagement to deal with new demands and challenges of the SSA. They seek academic support and mentoring from national organizations like National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) to design context-specific training programs. We must go beyond the ‘need’ analysis and improve capacities with respect to the vision, purpose, and nature of ‘training and orientation’. Moreover, professional teacher development must be broader than simply ‘training’ and not limited to subject based inputs.

 

Surprisingly, the minimum qualification for a ‘general line’ teacher, a term for elementary teachers is passing the 12th grade. As a result, elementary teachers are not expected to have any specific discipline specialization or specialized teacher training. This is an issue, considering how crucial primary education is in the developing process and learning outcomes for elementary students. Fortunately, the basic qualification was recently increased to a graduate with professional qualifications, followed by a screening test by the state government.

 

Thus, the current status of learning outcomes and quality of education in J&K needs to be assessed. Data for the state of J&K as a whole, and the district of Anantnag in particular, has been collected from various sources, which provides a glimpse of the achievements of the SSA. An assessment of current educational trends and the factors affecting these trends can also be made on the basis of this data.


 

 

 

Educational Statistics and Trends:

Table 1

Sl. No.

Key Data

Districts :Kulgam and Anantnag

State

2004-05

2016-17

Trend

2004-05

2016-17

Trend

Anantnag

Kulgam

Total

1

Government Schools

1457

765

1,514

2279

+ Ve

13,379

23,329

+ Ve

2

Private Schools

283

205

371

576

+ Ve

2,546

5,247

+ Ve

3

Madarsas and Unrecognised Schools

0

0

0

0

N

0

2

+ Ve

4

Government Schools: Rural

1330

732

1,373

2105

+ Ve

12,351

21,829

+ Ve

5

Private Schools: Rural

224

175

288

463

+ Ve

1,792

3,776

+ Ve

14

Teachers in Government Schools

5781

3448

7,273

10721

+ Ve

49,392

98,689

+ Ve

15

Teachers in Private Schools

2737

2033

4,511

6544

+ Ve

21,789

59,148

+ Ve

16

Teachers in Madarsas and Unrecognized.

0

0

0

0

N

0

10

+ Ve

17

PTR

28

11

10

21

- Ve

19

12

- Ve

18

Literacy Rate

46.5

60.4

62.69

123.09

+ Ve

55.5

67.19

+ Ve

19

Schools without Basic Infrastructure

1457

763

1506

2269

 

13,379

23246

+ Ve

20

Eligible School less habitations against the total number of habitations

  756  .

2875

  31   .

2160

  59  .

1088

   90_

3248

- Ve

  3134

23683

  3611

29350

- Ve

21

Transition Rate

N.A.

86.9

98.8

185.7

N.A.

N.A.

93.6

N.A

22

Total Child Population (6-14)

226015

(2005-6)

113592

58336

171928

- Ve

2103723

(2005-6)

1720414

- Ve

23

Out of School Children

32468

940

1465

2405

- Ve

222000

39799

- Ve

24

Dropout Rate

7.60

11.8

2.23

7.0

- Ve

N.A.

6.93

N.A.

Source: - District/state report cards UDISE 2015-16 and 2004-5, MHRD appraisal report-2015-16, Statistical Handbook, directorate of economics and statistics J&K table 19.07, 19.04, District AWP&B 2004-5, census 2001.2011, Elementary Education report Card, National University of Educational Planning And Administration, Appraisal report MHRD 2004-05, AWP&B 2005-06 Table 5-A, 5-D, 20016-17 table 3A, TALASH Survey. HH Survey 2002- OoSC 380000 in starting, SES 2004, 10.6 dropout in 16-24 age group

 

 


Inferences:

Based on the data collected (Seen in Table 1), the following inferences can be drawn on the current status of education in J&K, which also take into consideration the social, geographic, educational, and economic status and aptitude of the state, and its communities.

1.    A quantifiable positive trend can be observed in a number of Government schools, with a 56% increase (822 new schools) in Anantnag and 74% increase (9950 new schools) in the state. Further, Anantnag has contributed almost 9.7% of total government schools in J&K.

2.    In contrast, we see a phenomenal positive trend in private schools with a 103% increase (293 new schools) in Anantnag and a 145% increase (3701 new schools) in J&K. Here, Anantnag constitutes 10.98% of total private schools in the state of J&K.

3.    Ironically, population in the age group of 6-14 has shown a negative growth trend, with a drop of 23.93% seen in Anantnag and an 18.22% decrease recorded in the state. Anantnag has almost 9.99% of total child population of J&K as per latest records available.

4.    Furthermore, we see a major escalation in the number of schools in rural areas, with a 92% increase in government sector and an 80% increase in private sector in Anantnag.

5.    We also notice an increase in the number of teachers in government schools. Anantnag alone saw an increase of 85.45% (4940) and the state as a whole has witnessed a 99.81% (49297) increase. The number of teachers in private schools has also gone up. A uniform rate of increase i.e. 139% (3807 and 37359) is documented in Anantnag and the J&K respectively.

6.    The Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) has decreased, which is a positive indicator of the quality aspect. At the state level, it has plummeted from 19 to 12. In Anantnag, it has gone down from 28 to 21. However, subject and class specific teachers are found not to be of good quality.

7.    Overall literacy rate has increased in the last decade.

8.    The number of schools without basic infrastructure has increased in the last decades. Moreover, not a single school has all the requisite infrastructure (classroom, toilets, ramps, drinking water, boundary walls etc.) as per SSA guidelines.

9.    Number of habitations without schools has visibly dropped from 756 to 90 in Anantnag. While, in the state as a whole, the number of school less habitation is increased from 3134 to 3611. However, the number of habitations has increased in district as well as the state both. This number is raised from 2875 to 3248 in the district and 23683 to 29350 in the state of J&K. If the total number of habitations considered constant (as was in the beginning), the pace of opening new schools would have been covered all the habitations of J&K so far. The reason of school less habitations still persists is the creation of new habitation; may be due to the growing culture of nuclear family.

10. The number of OoSC has decreased considerably, but still there is good number of children out of school in J&K. It may be argued here that these OoSC may be from migratory communities such as Gujjars and Bakarwals.

11. The dropout rate in Anantnag has gone up from 7.6% to 11.8%. However, Kulgam and Anantnag were a single district before 2010. Thus, if considered cumulatively with Kulgam, the average dropout rate is just 7% since Kulgam has a low dropout rate. For the whole state of J&K this analysis could not be done due to lack of availability of data.

 

Note- Due to lack of data on pre SSA transition rate, the study feels restricted in terms of building arguments for transition rate


 

 

Trends vs Cause analysis:

Table 1

Sl.

No.

TRENDS

Administrative Causes

Teachers Training

Respective - PTR

Infrastructural Development

Innovative Approaches

Non teaching deputation of teachers

1

Increase in government school

×

×

×

2

Exponential Increase in private school

3

Majority of government and private schools in rural

×

×

×

4

Increased numbers of teachers in private schools

×

×

×

5

Increased numbers of teachers in Government schools

×

×

×

6

Negative trends of PTR in govt. Schools

×

×

7

Increased Literacy Rate

×

8

No Govt. School with all the basic infrastructure

×

×

9

Decrease in eligible school less habitation

×

×

×

10

Increase in total number of habitations

×

×

×

×

×

11

Decrease in total child population

×

×

×

×

×

12

Decreased Dropout Rate for cumulative district

13

Increased Dropout Rate in Anantnag

14

Effectively decreased OoSc Children

×

×

×

15

Still Significant numbers OoSc Children

×

×

×

 

 

Table 1 continued

Sl.

No.

TRENDS

Financial Causes

Social, Political and Cultural Factors

Corruption

Utilization of funds

Militancy

Nuclear Family Trend

Radicalization

Community Involvement

Awareness

Reduced Birth Rate

1

Increase in government school

×

↑↓

×

2

Exponential Increase in private school

×

×

×

3

Majority of government and private schools in rural

×

×

×

×

4

Increased numbers of teachers in private schools

×

×

×

×

×

×

×

5

Increased numbers of teachers in Government schools

×

×

×

×

6

Negative trends of PTR in govt. Schools

×

×

×

7

Increased Literacy Rate

×

×

8

No Govt. School with all the basic infrastructure

×

×

9

Decrease in eligible school less habitation

×

×

×

10

Increase in total number of habitations

×

×

×

×

×

×

11

Decrease in total child population

×

×

×

×

12

Decreased Dropout Rate for cumulative district

13

Increased Dropout Rate in Anantnag

14

Effectively decreased OoSc Children

×

15

Still Significant numbers OoSc Children

×

 

          ×                                      

For the Trend

Against the Trend

No effect on Trend

 


There may be a number of influencing factors that have affected the remarkable growth and improvement of schools at both state and district level. Due to a high number of habitations without a school in the initial phase of the SSA, it was mandatory to open new schools. The pre RTE-SSA and post RTE-SSA government machinery was also keen on establishing new schools. Hefty amounts were spent on constructing of new schools. However, misuse or undue investment over infrastructural development of schools cannot be overlooked. Nevertheless there has been overall progress in the decade under the SSA.

 

The cause of undue investments over infrastructure may be due to high possibility of corruption in infrastructural development. Further, it is observed that a good number of new habitations have also emerged during the period, which needed schools and hence new schools were opened to cater to the demand.

 

In a nutshell, the following driving factors may be determined:

·      Actual need of schools in the region

·      Formation of new Habitations during the period

·      Pressure of performance from government and senior officials

·      Concentration of district educational administration and School Management Committees (SMCs) on infrastructural development.

·      High scope of corruption in infrastructural development

·      Undue local political influence over government machinery

 

There is also a sudden and exponential increase recorded in the number of private schools which may be due to the fact that people have become aware of the quality components in the schools. The undeniable fact is that no government school is yet fully equipped to compete with the quality of private institutions. Moreover, there are other radical forces which are opening their own institutions to propagate their ideology. In order to get affiliated and attract large number of students, these schools are investing heavily on infrastructure and other quality parameters, thereby creating an apparent difference in quality of education between government and private institutions across the state.

 

The following causes can be deliberated to be the driving factors in exponential increase of private schools:

·      Awareness of quality components amongst people

·      No single government school is fully equipped to compete private institutions

·      Local radical forces opening their own institutions

·      Vast difference of quality of education in private and government schools

·      Most of the schools are set up in rural areas because majority of population is concentrated in these regions.

·      The increase in the number of schools is directly proportionate to the number of teachers. In other words, increase in number of schools directly increased the number of teachers in the schools.

·      A decreasing trend of PTR can also be observed in government schools. On one hand, there could be migration of children to private schools from government schools or a constant increase in the number of teachers. Resultantly, the overall ratio of child population is decreasing in the government schools.

·      In a nut shell, following factors can be held responsible for the above discussed trend.

o  Migration of children from government schools to private schools

o  Decreasing overall child population

o  Increase in number of teachers itself

·      The increase in total number of habitations is a significant change in social structure of Kashmir due to preference of living in nuclear families and need for a better lifestyle and quality education for children.

·      Though habitations have increased in numbers, the total number of children has decreased. Militancy has resulted in widespread violence and migration of families and youth, in turn decreasing the birth rate, resulting in skewed child population.

·      The initial data was from the time when Anantnag and Kulgam were a single district and the other benchmarks were taken from the time when both were individual districts. In order to avoid skewed data trends, data from both the districts is taken for comparison. It may be seen that the dropout ratio as a single district is low while if Anantnag is taken separately, it is found to be have increased. This may be because Anantnag holds majority of population while Kulgam is low in population.

·      Though OoSC has decreased remarkably since the implementation of SSA, there are still considerable number of children who have no access to schools and the major portion of such children seem to be from the nomadic community. There have been several efforts taken up to bring these children into the mainstream but with low results.

 

Qualitative Aspects of SSA:

The analysis of the quantitative aspect of SSA highlighted a few disturbing trends, which should have been deliberated upon, before the implementation of the program:

 

1.    Migration of students from government schools to private schools:

There is a clear and visible trend of students migrating to private schooling facilities in J&K. Private schools obtain affiliations on fulfilling the required criteria of the affiliating agency. On the contrary, the infrastructural and other standards set for new government schools are inappropriate which contribute towards drastically reducing the qualitative aspects of the government schools leading to the migration of students towards private schooling facilities. This migration results in depriving the students of government schools in peer group learning.   

 

2.    No government school in J&K with requisite infrastructure as per the norms set by SSA:

It is appalling to observe that none of the government school in J&K qualifies the infrastructural norms and standards set by SSA Annual works Plan and Budget (AWP&B). One of the major causes could be the untimely disbursement of funds from the government. Furthermore, despite massive expenditure shown under infrastructure, it is hard to find a single school with all the requisite facilities available. Moreover, authorities seem to be concentrating more on the quantitative results and neglecting the qualitative aspects of SSA in J&K. However, the rented status of government schools have reduced to 4% from 85% prior to inception of SSA.

 

3.    Teachers training compromised:

As evident from the data there had been inadequate teacher’s trainings carried out in the state. It is hard to find context specific training modules for the teachers. The training also lacks a proper pre-training assessment and post training monitoring. Training seems to be carried out only to cater to the mandates of the scheme and lacks seriousness, though the pattern of training has changed from traditional to modern pedagogy. The deployment of non-domain expert’s to training institutes (SIEs/DIETs) due to political interference has resulted in not achieving the objectives as mandated thereby considerably affecting the quality of teaching. However, continuous consultations with the teaching community have brought some behavioral and attitudinal changes over the period of time.

 

4.    Lack of standardized rules and regulations for recruitment of teachers:

Surprisingly enough, there are no robust screening procedures used for teacher recruitments. Teacher recruitment should be the most important aspect of the scheme in order to ensure quality of teaching in government schools and hence the recruitment rules have to be robust and transparent. One can observe certain ambiguities in the recruitment policy of teachers in the government schools of J&K.

 

As mentioned above, the state government required a basic minimum qualification of passing the 12th grade to be recruited as a teacher till 2016. This ignored professionally qualified B.Ed teachers in the process. Earlier the engagement of teachers was done as per Rehber-e- Taleem (ReT) scheme introduced by the state. The ReT directs the appointment of highly qualified local individuals in local schools while adhering to the basic minimum qualification of 12th grade and no bar on Non B.Ed. qualification. However, recently, the basic qualification has been upgraded to graduate level with professional qualifications, followed by a screening test. 

 

 

5.    Rationalization of PTR:

It is encouraging to note that the PTR is quite high in J&K. However, one can still see disparity in the allotment of teachers with preferences of being placement/deployment in urban areas, even as more number of schools with high enrolment are located in rural areas and without actually adhering to subject specific requirement of schools.

 

Based on the above inferences, it may be argued that the SSA implementing authorities are more concerned with quantitative components like infrastructure and enrolment, while teacher-training and other qualitative indicators are being compromised.

 

6.    Learning outcomes of SSA:

The output of any programme that is intended to increase the qualitative learning and raising the educational levels should be evaluated in terms of learning out comes from the perspective of a student. There are number of reasons responsible for lower learning outcomes under SSA. The most influential factors are listed below: 

i.     Rationalization of teaching staff

ii.    Medium of Instruction not as per NPE 1986

iii.  Number of schools less than prescribed norms due to harsh climate and political turmoil.

iv.   Lack of use of ICT in schools and inclusion of activity based learning.

v.    Absence of SCERT in the state.

vi.   Process of evaluation of  children

vii. Faulty recruitment policy of teachers

a.    Minimum qualification as 10+2

b.    Engagement of untrained teachers

c.    Non availability of subject specific teachers.

viii.           Delay in curriculum  reforms and text books

ix.   Lack of  subject specific experts in DIETs and SIEs

x.    No peer group learning.

xi.   Lack of accountability

xii. Lack of sense of ownership and belongingness of community with low interest in quality related components.

 

Role of the Educational administration in achieving targets of SSA:

The administrative hierarchy envisaged under the SSA-RTE has played a significant role in its implementation in J&K, than the J&K Education Act. New features added to the administrative framework have strengthened the implementation of the program and enhanced efficiency on the ground. Structural changes have affected the implementation positively. The following are the most prominent features of the administrative structure:

 

 

 

1.    Clear-cut and defined roles of SSA authorities:

The roles of authorities have been clearly defined clearly and responsibilities of subsequent authorities are duly assigned, exerting the pressure to perform. This not only ensures the smooth implementation but also enables quick identification of loopholes in implementation so that they are addressed at planning levels. The current administrative structure of SSA in J&K needs a lot more architectural correction, such as implying vertical- specific professional into its structure.

 

2.    Strengthening Accountability amongst authorities:

The accountability of the administration in any massive project is never an easy task. Output oriented programs like the SSA cannot be implemented if authorities are not made accountable. With a 61% literacy rate and 19,054,170 out-of-school children in 2000, India must implement a robust education policy.

 

3.    Multi-level Governance and Creation of School Management Committees (SMCs) and Village Education Committees (VECs):

In early 1990s, political scientists Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks gave the concept of multilayer/multi-level governance. In the Indian context, it is well known as Gandhi’s concept of Gram Swaraj, where the governance and administration starts from the Panchayat – the lowest level of government at the village level. This idea was incorporated in the implementation of the SSA in the form of SMCs and VECs. This proved to be a catalyst in the movement of education for all.  

 

4.    Community involvement:

Despite being one of the stake holders, the community has hardly been assigned accountability in any government initiative prior to the SSA. Community support is crucial for the effective implementation of any government program. The community can ensure that parents are held legally accountable to send their wards to school.

 

In J&K, in the initial years of implementation of the SSA, the community was reluctant to participate, as the state was going through a socio-political turmoil. This resulted in a slow start to the programme. However, in due course of time, and with repeated consultations, community involvement has massively increased though mostly in activities involving construction.

 

5.    Administrative challenges in J&K:

a.      Multiple academic sessions across J&K.

b.      Limited working season in Kashmir Region

c.      Socio political unrest/militancy

d.      Gender bias

e.      Considerable nomadic population

f.       Special status of the State

g.      Frequent transfer of the administrative staff.

h.      Non availability and deployment of vertical specific experts.

 

The indicator analysis of SSA supports the hypothesis that the administrative structure envisage under SSA at various levels are effective for implementation of SSA in J&K.

 

CONCLUSION:

The significant increase in the number of schools in the region and an effective PTR in the state is exceptionally good, implying that there had been an employment boom for teaching and non-teaching staff in the region. It may be argued for the social and economic upliftment for general masses and can be inferred to have negative trend towards militancy in the region.

Further, it is also evident that the SSA could have done better on several other components like

1.    Learning outcomes

2.    Teachers training

3.    Migration towards Private schools

4.    Rationalization of Staff

5.    Undue/Unbalanced infrastructural development

6.    Functioning of Teacher Training Institutes.

 

REFERENCE:

1.     See Review of Policy of "No Detention" up to elementary level, conduct of assessment and evaluation and improved implementation of Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE), Govt. Order No. 338-edu 2016, dated 16.09.2016, School Education Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir. Available at http://www.jkeducation.gov.in/338%20of %202016.pdf

2.     See Pratham’s ‘Lakhon mein ek’ Survey, available at http://www.lakhonmeinek.org/

3.     Standardized Summative Assessment

4.     Change in No-Detention Policy, Press Information Bureau, Government of India. See http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=159006 

5.     Report of CABE Sub-Committee on 'Assessment and Implementation of CCE' in the context of 'No Detention Provision (under RTE Act, 2009). Available at http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/document-reports/AssmntCCE.pdf

6.     Agenda Items for Department of School Education and Literacy for the Sixty Fifth (65th) Meeting of CABE, 2018. Available at http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/document-reports/Agenda65CABE.pdf

7.     See note 6.

8.     Appraisal Report, MHRD, 2016-17 Copy provided by Directorate of SSA, J&K

9.     See Waiving Off of the examinations and elevation to the next level, Govt. order 446- EDU 2016, dt. 17.11.2016. School Education Department, Government of Jammu and Kashmir. Available at http://jammukashmir.nic.in/common/showOrder.aspx?actCode=O16749

10.   Second Joint Review Mission 29 July – 6 August, 2013, Aide Memoir. Available at http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/upload_document/2nd%20Jrm%20Aide%20Memmiore.pdf

11.   The Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education Act 1975. Available at http://jkbose.jk.gov.in/act.php

12.   See note 10

13.   See Public Notice dated 9th March 2018, issued by the NCTE. Available at http://ncte-india.org/ncte_new/pdf/Public_Notice_for_TEIs_2019-20_no_recog.pdf

 

 

 

 

Received on 18.07.2018        Modified on 01.08.2018

Accepted on 07.08.2018      ©A&V Publications All right reserved

Res.  J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2018; 9(3): 567-574.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2018.00095.5