Beyond universal access to elementary education in India: is it achievable at affordable costs?

Investment in secondary schooling in India has been neglected for many years. Since the 1990s most emphasis has been on universalising access to elementary schooling, a task that remains far from complete. Under the 11 th National Plan Rastriya Madhyamic Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) has been launched to increase access to grade nine and above. This research monograph explores some of the key issues in managing the growth of secondary schooling. These include the constraints on expansion that arise from current levels of elementary school graduation, the costs and affordability of secondary schooling, the infrastructure needs, and increased teacher supply. Policy dialogue around secondary school expansion is a central concern if India is to close the gap between itself and China and other rapidly developing countries in educating most of its population beyond the elementary level

Determining the Attitudes of Elementary School Teachers towards the Inclusion of Children with Disabilities: A Case Study of Three Elementary Schools in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea.

The global agenda for inclusive education led the Department of Education in Papua New Guinea to develop its policy on special education, which was then endorsed by the government to be implemented in all schools. The emphasis on inclusive education was to ensure that all children, both abled and disabled, were receiving education in schools in their community. The inclusive approach placed the onus on the regular classroom teachers, to establish an inclusive learning environment. This study focused on the factors that were influencing teachers‟ attitudes in the rural elementary schools. Numerous studies show that successful implementation of inclusion of children with special needs largely depends on teachers‟ positive attitudes towards inclusion. The results of this study revealed a number of influential factors on teacher‟s attitudes, it indicated that inclusion of children with disability into mainstream schools is challenging when individual teachers‟ level of knowledge about special education is limited. The aim of this study is to contribute knowledge relating to the elementary education sector in PNG. To date, research in inclusive education in PNG has been confined to primary schools. Seven elementary school teachers representing three schools in a rural district in Goroka, Eastern Highlands Province, PNG, participated in the study. A qualitative approach using semi-structured individual interviews and observations was used to gather data. The study revealed that participants knew how important education was and supported the idea that education is important for all children, even those with disabilities. Further questioning revealed that teachers acceptance of inclusion was determined by a variety of factors. They included teacher training, teaching experience, gender, physical environment, class size, resources/materials, the type of disability, and the effects of cultural belief and geography on inclusion. It also revealed that failure to establish collaborative and trusting relationships between teachers, parents, professionals and very importantly, adequate financial support from the government can have serious impact on the outcomes of inclusion. Though inclusive education is beneficial to all children it is also challenging for educators. Therefore the identified factors need addressing. Addressing these barriers could result in positive attitudinal changes among teachers

Addressing educational disparity : using district level education development indices for equitable resource allocations in India

The challenge of development work in the social sector in India today is one of bridging huge disparities across regions of the country, gender and social groups. Unless national and state policies specifically target resources to address these disparities, achieving higher level outcomes in an inclusive manner, which is the real goal for human development in education and health, will be a distant dream. This paper takes up the case of the Indian government’s Elementary Education for All Mission to understand how this flagship program relates investments to spatial and social disparities. For identifying the most deprived districts in terms of educational inputs, outputs and overall development, the authors estimate district level education development indices for 2003-2004. The contribution of the largest investment program is measured by"per child allocations"and expenditures at the state and district levels for 2005-2006. An analysis of comparing the ratio of allocations to expenditures with the ratio of district level indices to sub-dimensional indices shows that there is an apparent disconnect between the"real investment needs"of the districts, reflected in their level of educational development and the actual allocations made on an annual basis. The analysis shows that although all districts received more funds for investing in elementary education programs, the most disadvantaged and needy districts received proportionately more funds, which helped these districts to bridge access and infrastructure gaps and appoint more teachers. Benchmarking sector development by spatial entities helps not only in monitoring the outcomes, but also in targeting planning and funding to reduce disparities.Primary Education,Education For All,Gender and Education,Access&Equity in Basic Education,

People News

Recent professional developments from SELA members

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa\u27s government and new teacher induction policy: Is the government in harmony with national and international trends in teacher education?

Role of competent teachers is fundamental in improving quality of education, therefore we find more organized and rigorous teacher education programs in those countries which have better quality of education. Quality teachers can be produced from quality pre-service teacher education programs. In Pakistan, raising teachers’ status and competency received a remarkable attention for the last two decades. There has been consistent emphasis on improving quality of teacher education almost in all the National Education Policies in Pakistan. And this emphasis was translated into various reforms and development initiatives such the initiation of B.Ed. (Hons.) and ADE programs. Although due to various causes the targets have not been achieved most of the time, however the need for improvement has been continuously highlighted and solutions have always been proposed. Similar guidelines for the improvement of teacher education are provided in both of the recent National Education policies of Pakistan 2009 and 2017. However this time, one of the obstacles before the initiatives of the policies, especially the new teacher education programs is the provincial autonomy. For example, the new teacher induction policy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is in direct contradiction with the recommendations of the national education policies and international standards of teachers. This paper attempts to raise various critiqued questions on the new teacher induction policy of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, specifically on the fact that the policy has eliminated the requirement of professional educational degrees for all teaching posts. This new induction policy is most likely to create imbalance in the education system by devaluing pre-service teacher education programs in the province. Resultantly, the struggles for raising the quality of education will remain fractional. Therefore, in order to effectively materialize the reforms of quality education, the KP’s government needs to revise this induction policy and give weightage to pre-service teacher education degrees (B.Ed. Hons & ADE). Because these professional teacher education degree holders have the competency to improve the quality of classroom learning along with overall education system

State News

Recent developments from SELA member institutions

COMMUNITY SUPPORT AS AN ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY SOURCE OF FUNDING BASIC EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

The paper discussed the roles of communities as alternative and complementary source of funding basic education in Nigeria. The roles of communities in the provision and management of basic education in Nigeria cannot be over emphasised. The Universal Basic Education Commission, in realization of the indispensable role of community participation in basic education delivery, initiated in its reform programme ,various ways through which community mobilization can be harnessed for sustainable development. Some of these, as highlighted in the paper, include building schools, recruitment of teachers, payment of salaries, provision of furniture, water supply, toilets, etcetera. The paper concludes by reiterating the fact that communities should be seen as partners in progress, always seeking ways of complimenting the efforts of Government.  Article visualizations