RTE Forum (India) – Mr. Ambarish Rai

Post-2015 Education Agenda

Education and skills for inclusive and sustainable development beyond 2015

LIFELONG EDUCATION FOR ALL

RTE Forum (India)

National NGO Consultation UNESCO –RTE

Forum 15.10.2012

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RTE Forum (India) – who we are

The overall membership is 10,000 NGOs in all States of India

It is a National coalition of CSOs working on Educational rights and towards progressive implementation of the RTE Act (2009) including, but not limited to, CACL, CRY, NAFRE, NCE, Oxfam-India, PCCSS, Plan-India, Save the Children, UNESCO, UNICEF, AKF, Action Aid India, Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, World Vision, Room to Read, AIF, Welthungerhilfe, VSO, Christian Aid, and Water Aid as members. As part of its ambit, State processes are underway in Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, West Bengal and AP bringing together these and other regional players. The overall membership of its constituent parts is estimated to be around 10,000 NGOs.

http:// www. rteforumindia.org/

RTE Forum (India)

RTE Road Map

Establishment of neighbourhood schools 3 years Provision of school infrastructure

–All weather school buildings –One-classroom-one-teacher –Head Teacher cum Office room –Library –Toilets, drinking water –Barrier free access –Playground, fencing, boundary walls, library

3 years

Provision of teachers as per prescribed PTR 3 years Training of untrained teachers 5 years Quality interventions and other provisions With immediate

effect

Almost Three Years since RTE became operative

The Right to Education Act (2009)

• The Right to Education is finally a legal right in India after a century long struggle.

• However, in India still progressive erosion of public schooling, a push for meeting enrollment targets often at the expense of putting in place the perquisites needed for learning and a quest for quick fix solutions instead of adequate investment in improvement of the education system as a whole.

• While a series of legal and policy measures were taken to improve the status of education, the status on the ground continued to lag behind their progressive vision and by some estimates, 16 million children remain out of school.

The Right to Education Act (2009) • As in 2010-11, the pupil teacher ratio exceeded the

legal norm in 40% schools and 2 in 3 children were enrolled in schools exceeding the legal norms, over half a million in-service teachers were untrained, and almost a third of the schools lacked school libraries.

• As in 2009-10, 95% schools failed to comply with the full set of school infrastructure norms.

• There are also gross disparities- between the rich and poor (7 years of schooling), rural and urban (3 years), gender (1.5 years), different states (5,5 years) and the different social groups. Sources: Based on district Information System for Education 2011 data ASER Report 2012 Working Group report on Education for the 12th Five Year Plan deriving its analysis on DISE data

The new problems require new solutions

• The world that we seek post 2015 is one in which all children have opportunities of quality free, public schooling at least till secondary education and which is followed by spaces for continuing education. It is one where the role of the education as a tool for social transformation is recognized and is not reduced to being an instrument for basic literacy.

• Check the original Millennium Declaration and Dakar Framework and look into the broader issues that the core treaties raised and not reduce the discussion to just a new set of targets

National NGO Consultation UNESCO –RTE Forum 15.10.2012

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National NGO Consultation in India

• In order to contribute to this Global Consultation of Education NGOs, UNESCO New Delhi with its NGO partners such as RTE Forum, OXFAM India, Save the Children and others, are organizing a National UNESCO - NGO Consultation on Post 2015 Education Agenda on 15th October 2012.

• This meeting gathered more than 50 representatives of international, regional and national member NGOs based and operating in India to discuss and reflect on the achievements, challenges and the future of Education for All. In view of the approaching EFA and MDG target date of 2015, the meeting in particular focused on how to approach 2015 and how to shape the post-2015 international education agenda.

• The meeting also adopted recommendations for the CCNGO/EFA meeting in Paris.

• The same time this National UNESCO-NGO consultation is part of the global UN consultation schedule on Post 2015 Agenda where India is one the countries encouraged to run the national level consultation.

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Submission on Education in the Post 2015 Framework on Behalf of the RTE Forum, India

Broad process and framework • Strengthening of the public system

of education. Private schooling or entry into PPPs, low cost or otherwise, cannot offer a solution to the issues of the poor and marginalized communities.

• Target setting in a right based approach including international treaties and conventions, which have their own goals, indicators and timelines. Need to have the framework of implementation, set responsibilities for implementation, and define action plans and consequences for failure to adhere to targets agreed. Integration of review of conformity with the new targets within Universal Periodic Review and other similar processes.

• Availability and quality of existing datasets is problematic. Mechanisms for parallel civil society processes for authentication of data should also be built in. Data needs to be disaggregated and not rely solely on national averages that often conceal more than it reveal .

• Be grounded in the principle of indivisibility of rights, e.g. child health and survival are prerequisite for learning, especially in the early years. The overall dynamics of the economic system affect child labour prevalence and through it retention.

• Flexibility for goal setting to countries on a few indicators. While the goal may be universal, some of the targets may be local.

A

The content • Reality of the incompleteness of the

existing agenda- both in terms of the EFA and the MDG goals. Access to even UPE has not been fully achieved and some of these targets would need to be carried over in the coming period. All the EFA goals have not received the same attention with some issues (e.g. adult literacy goal) being effectively de-prioritized. It is hoped all goals will receive the same focus in the coming framework backed by equal political and resource commitment.

• Move from enrollment to retention and completion. It is essential to move towards a universal norm of schooling till secondary level and the necessity of having lifelong learning.

• Focus on equity and inclusion, especially on forms of inequality that goes beyond gender. Class, ethnic background, disability, minority status and occupation and descent based discrimination has been recognized in international treaties and requires corresponding focus in the framework. Gender too needs to be seen as cross-cutting and not limited to a single goal.

• Discrimination against these children within schools persists and levels of cultural sensitivity and respect for cultural diversity remain problematic. In addition to putting in place inclusive systems within schools, child protection systems also need to be put in place for categories of excluded children like child labourers, urban poor/ homeless and those at risk.

B

The content • Focus on quality. Mandate a

universal input benchmark for schools partly derived from existing covenants but also provide space for a more disaggregated and nuanced understanding of the problems faced by country specific categories of marginalized groups within the education system. While output in the form of enhancing learning is undeniably important, these are dependent on the inputs having been put into place. Improvement of learning is best tracked through localized teacher assessment, not by setting up a global testing architecture. Narrow testing neglects the multiple dimensions of schooling and is often coloured by cultural and linguistic considerations.

• Include a systemic target looking at extent to which accountability and justice systems have been put in place and back this target by setting up a mechanism for tracking of government progress against national and international commitments.

• Lay down benchmark for financing education. This includes benchmarking of allocation at national level, put in place progressive taxation for education and reiterate the existing commitments of the wealthy country in terms of allocation for education.

• Have a categorical focus on issues of teachers utilizing the 1966 UNESCO Teacher Declaration as a basic framework.

B

Some of the other considerations on specific issues:

The improvement in educational quality is dependent on the recognition of the agency of teachers and the necessity of professionalization of teacher profession. The 1966 ILO/UNESCO recommendation concerning the status of teachers could be a starting point for the discussion. This will need to be supplemented by effective, contextualized teacher training. The recent trend of linking quality (especially in terms of the regulation of teachers) to efficiency (e.g. thought provisions like high stakes testing and performance linked pay) needs to be avoided due to he massive systemic distortions it causes. Localized assessment for learning needs to be strengthened rather than resorting to centralized modalities of assessment.

• Safety of children in schools, classrooms and communities, including the situation of children in conflict and disaster situations and freedom from corporal punishment and other forms of violence in schools.

• Equity and gender are cross-cutting concerns must be considered in all indicators with recognizing the multiplicity of the forms of marginalization.

• Children with disability currently fail to find mention in either the EFA or the MDG frameworks. According to current government statistics, children with disability form the largest share of out of school population in India

C

Some of the other considerations on specific issues:

The EFA agenda cannot be completed while, according to the latest ILO statistics, 215 million children across the world are trapped in child labour. Implementing existing provisions prohibiting child labour and delivering a holistic package of education, prevention and rehabilitation is essential. The urban poor form a growing population. If the MDG 7D is to be met in practice and not just in figures, it is essential to put in place a global definition of a slum to avoid ambiguity but also to provide the basis for universal standards for enumeration of child populations, identifying children out of school and set in place adequate systems of education provisioning. A specific focus on the homeless and neo-migrants is especially important.

• The specific educational rights of indigenous people have been recognized in multiple international treaties and conventions and should be reflected in practice on the ground in terms of cultural and linguistically sensitive instruction, curriculum, materials, syllabi and teacher training.

• The concerns of dalit children do not currently fall under any convention, but require focused action under the framework provided by the UN guidelines on work and descent based) considering the extent of discrimination this group of children face both within schools and communities.

C

Some of the other considerations on specific issues:

• Governance and Accountability • Adequate financing is imperative for

enhancement of quality. International best practice for share of financing for education has been identified (6% GDP, 10% of the budget etc). The funding gap between current allocations and the expected norm can be bridged through progressive taxation and reiterating the commitment of wealthy countries on aid for education.

• The new framework needs to recognize the role of parents and communities in setting the education agenda and provide a framework for decentralization of decision-making and transparency and accountability. Decentralization of planning, structured spaces of parental, community and child participation (through structures like India’s School Management Committees) and a robust system of transparency and accountability across the educational system will go a long way to reform the provisions. Well thought out processes for grievance redressal are also needed at all levels from the local level and above.

C

Some of the other considerations on specific issues:

Focus on Complete EFA Agenda Adult literacy remains an unfinished EFA agenda. At the same time, the existing literacy goal needs to be expanded to be part of lifelong learning and capacity building. The existing binary indicator (literate or illiterate) doesn’t cover the entire range of literacy skills. Pockets of literacy remain even within developed countries- eg. migrants. At the same time, new forms of literacy have emerged to engage with this newly multimodal world. The goal should also include the transformative agenda of education as a means for mobilizing for rights and go beyond a market related framework for adult literacy linked to employability.

• Focus on secondary education with a vocational component. As in 2004-5, he combined secondary and upper secondary enrollment was as low as 40%, although has been growing rapidly since. In the same year, only 65% villages had a secondary school within 5km (the government’s norm) and 63% schools were under private management. The package of education provided to adolescents needs to also look at issues of counseling and sexual and reproductive health education.

• Early Childhood Care and Development agenda is also incomplete. The new framework must include a holistic framework for provisioning from conception to age 8 including care and development backed by adequate financial and human resources.

C

Some of the other considerations on specific issues:

• Higher education is a critical component and an avenue for social mobility for the marginalized community. The continued failure to put in place adequate public provisioning for higher education leads to reproduction of social inequalities.

C

• Prepared with the help of Anjela Taneja, Oxfam India, and UNESCO New Delhi colleagues (Alisher Umarov) based on issues emerging from National NGO Consultation in the Post 2015 Framework jointly organized by the RTE Forum (India’s 10,000 NGO Right to Education coalition) and UNESCO and recommendations from earlier series of consultations on issues of Youth and Adolescents for 12th Five Year Plan organized by Wada Na Todo Abhiyan.

? But wait…

There’s More!

Next National NGO consultation with inviting CSOs from the South Asia sub-region is scheduled for the

beginning of 2013

THANK YOU!!!