The Hindu Business Line : Elementary education — Go for single programme, decentralise

Five-and-a-half decades after the passing of the Constitution, there are still some 8-10 million children out of school and the dropout rates are still quite high. The several Central schemes aimed at achieving full enrolment and retention have achieved a considerable degree of success but the transaction costs need to be minimised. Bhanoji Rao suggests two initiatives that could be considered in the Eleventh Plan to streamline the schemes.

Seated four to a bench and on the floor, these primary school children in a government school in Andhra Pradesh are proof of the crying need for better elementary school facilities.

ARTICLE 45 of our Constitution is about the provision of free and compulsory education for children: "The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years."

Five-and-a-half decades after the passing of the Constitution, there are still some 8-10 million children out of school and the dropout rates are still quite high, at about a third of all those enrolling in classes 1 through 5. Any effort, therefore, is worth the while to meet the constitutionally set obligation.

The Central Government has initiated a number of schemes to achieve the goals of full enrolment and full retention. The following are the major ones: District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) of 1994, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) of 2001, Mid-day Meal Scheme, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya and Teacher Education.

The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was launched in 1994. The programme components include construction of classrooms and new schools, appointment of new teachers, strengthening of State-level bodies for training of teachers, development of Teaching Learning Material, special interventions for education of girls, SC/ST, working children, etc.

DPEP is an externally-aided project, with 85 per cent of its cost being met by the Government of India and the remaining 15 per cent shared by the concerned State Government. DPEP is structured to fill in the existing gaps by providing inputs over and above the provisions made under Central and State sector schemes for primary education.

At its peak, the programme was operational in 273 districts in 18 States. However, with the progressive closure of different phases of the programme, it is now functioning in 129 districts in nine States. The cumulative expenditure on DPEP up to the end of 2004 was Rs 6,692 crore.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) aims at achieving universal primary education by 2007 and universal elementary education by 2010. SSA, launched in 2001, provides assistance on a 85:15 sharing arrangement between the Central and State governments during the Ninth Plan, 75:25 during the Tenth Plan (2002-07), and at 50:50 thereafter.

Sustainable financing and community ownership are central to the SSA strategy. As for effective decentralisation, funds to be used for up-gradation, maintenance, repair of schools and Teaching Learning Equipment and local management are to be transferred to the Village Education Committee, School Management Committee, Gram Panchayat, or any other arrangement for decentralisation adopted by that particular State/UT.

SSA covers the entire country, except the State of Goa. During the Tenth Plan, an allocation of Rs 17,000 crore has been made for SSA. The total expenditure under SSA for 2003-04 was Rs 3,618 crore. For 2004-05, the Revised Estimate is Rs 5,079.58 crore. In general, the share of the States was around 25 per cent, as mandated.

The human and physical endowment the policy-makers envisaged in SSA include:

one teacher for every 40 children in primary and upper primary;

a primary school within one km distance for every habitation;

upper primary schools number and location to be determined by the number of children completing primary education;

one room per teacher in primary and upper primary schools, with minimum two class-rooms and one verandah and two teachers per primary school; and,

free textbooks for all girls/SC/ST children at primary and upper primary level within an upper ceiling of Rs 150 per child.

As for construction and maintenance activity, the civil works budget has an overall ceiling of 33 per cent of SSA programme funds. A maximum of Rs 5,000 per year for maintenance and repair of school buildings is allowed, along with Rs 2,000 per year for replacement of non-functional school equipment.

The National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NPSPE), popularly known as the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme, was launched on August 15, 1995. Central assistance under the Scheme was limited to the supply of the required foodgrains and its transportation from the nearest FCI depot to the primary school.

The cost of converting foodgrains into a cooked meal was expected to be borne by State Governments/local bodies. Because of the inability of most State Governments and local bodies to provide requisite funds, the cooked meal programme could not be universalised even up to 2004.

The Central Government has since revised the scheme and has launched the "National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education, 2004" which, in addition to providing foodgrains at 100 grams per child per school day from the nearest FCI godown and reimbursement of actual cost incurred in transportation of foodgrains from nearest FCI godown to the primary school subject to certain ceilings, there is the additional assistance for meeting cooking cost at Re 1 per child per school-day. About 10.8 crore children are receiving cooked meals. The Central expenditure per child per annum rose from Rs 1,062 in 2002-03 to Rs 1,302 in 2003-04 and Rs 1,540 in 2004-05. On the basis of average school days of 250 per annum, the average daily cost per child was respectively Rs 4.2, Rs 5.2 and Rs 6.2.

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme is for establishing up to 750 residential schools with boarding facilities at elementary level for girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and Minorities in difficult areas. A provision of Rs 489 crore has been made for the Tenth Plan and Annual Plan allocation for 2004-05 is Rs 100 crore. The setting up of nearly 715 KGBVs have been approved.

The Centrally-sponsored scheme of Restructuring and Reorganisation of Teacher Education was launched in 1987 to create sound institutional infrastructure for pre-service and in-service training of elementary and secondary school teachers, and for provision of academic resource support to elementary and secondary schools.

The following are the important components for which the Centre has been providing financial assistance to States: setting up of District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), strengthening of Secondary Teachers Education Institutions into Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) and Institutes of Advanced Study in Education (IASEs), and strengthening of State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs). For the 599 districts, there were already 535 DIETs and 15 DRCs. Budget Estimates and Revised Estimates 2004-05 for the Scheme are Rs 207 crore and Rs 186.30 crore, respectively. The brief descriptions of the Central government initiatives are enough to show that they are all intended to gain quick results and are examples of the Centre and States cooperating to achieve them. However, since the action is in the rural and urban areas, and the decision-making, supervision and control are at multiple levels of district, State and Central governments in the present dispensation, one should expect relatively high transaction costs.

To minimise transaction costs, two initiatives could be considered for the Eleventh Plan: consolidating all the present schemes pertaining to elementary education into a recast SSA; and providing annual block grants to the States against a Five-Year Plan under the SSA drawn up by the districts and consolidated by the State government.

This could be especially justified in the context of the 50-50 funding that will be in place from the Eleventh Plan onwards in most of the major schemes.

The Central government should insist on Internet-based publicity by the States and districts in regard to grants given per school with full details of how they have been spent. This helps anyone interested to check how the funds are allocated and how they are used in any given district and State. If no such transparency is forthcoming from a State, it should cease to get the Central grant until the problem is rectified.

(The author, formerly with the National University of Singapore and the World Bank, is Professor Emeritus, GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade, Visakhapatnam. He can be reached at bhanoji@gmail.com)

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