TRANSFORMATION OFASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTSProceedings of Workshop with District Education Officers,

DIETs, SCERTs, State Nodal Officers & Central Ministries andWay Ahead

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District Education Officers are real agents of change…….They can transform their districts.

I urge all the participants here today to take a vow to improve education in their districts

WORKSHOP ON “TRANSFORMATION OF ASPIRATIONAL DISTRICTS” INCLUDING EXTENDED GRAM SWARAJ ABHIYAAN

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Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource DevelopmentShri Prakash Javadekar addressing the participants

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Aspirational Districts - Honourable Prime Minister launched the “Transformation of Aspirational

Districts” programme in January 2018 to transform over 100 districts in 28 States- These districts have been ranked on 49 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across

five sectors. Education is one of the sectors with 30% weight attached- Composite and sector-wise ranking of the districts on the baseline data can be

accessed at niti.gov.in/content/aspirational-districts-baseline ranking-map.

Extended Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (EGSA)(from 1st June to 15th August, 2018)- Gram Swaraj Abhiyan was initiated to attain saturation coverage of 7 flagship

programmes- It is now extended to include all the five sectors under the Transformation of

Aspirational Districts Programme and coverage has also been extended to all the Aspirational Districts

- KPIs at Serial Numbers 1 to 4 above are included under EGSA- District Education Officers (DEOs) need to upload data on all the KPIs on egsa.nic.in.

A full day Workshop on “Transformation of Aspirational Districts” was held on 19.06.2018 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi

Over 400 officials from 28 States and 117 districts participated in the Workshop. All Central Ministries concerned, namely, the Ministries of Power, Drinking Water &

Sanitation, Panchayati Raj, and Rural Development, Department of Expenditure and NITI Aayog were represented

State Nodal Officers appointed by NCERT along with representatives of State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) and District Institutes for Education and Training (DIETs) also participated

The workshop was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Human Resource Development Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar. He spoke about the importance of the Programme and the responsibilities of the Officers present in the workshop in making it a grand success. He emphasized that there can be no development without education and that District Education Officers (DEOs) play a key pivotal role towards improving the status of education in their districts

The workshop witnessed lively and extensive discussions. Many new points and perspectives emerged. On the basis of the discussions, the actionable points have been refined and the context has been added to each Key Performance Indicator (KPI). Copies of the communications referred to in the actionable points have been included as annexure.

State Education Secretaries and District Collectors/Chief Executive Officers, Zila Parishads are requested to: regularly monitor the action taken to improve the KPIs & hold review meetings with DEOs ensure data is uploaded by the DEOs at least once a week on the four KPIs in the EGSA portal compare the current status with the base-line data to see if there is any improvement if the improvement is not found to be satisfactory, take up necessary interventions NCERT has appointed State Nodal Officers. All SCERTs should get in touch with them to work

on the methodologies to improve Learning Outcomes In the case of Assam, the Principal Secretary, Bodoland Territorial Council should be involvedDistrict Education Officers (DEO) to review the KPIs through regular meetings with Block Education Officers.

Workshop with State and District Officialson Transformation of Aspirational Districts-19th June 2018, New Delhi

Key Performance Indicators - Education Sector1. Transition from a) Primary to Upper Primary b) Upper Primary to Secondary2. Schools with Functional Girls' Toilets3. Availability of Functional Drinking Water Facility in the schools4. Availability of Textbooks to children5. Availability of Functional Electricity Facility at Secondary School Level6. Elementary Schools Complying with RTE specified Pupil Teacher Ratio7. Learning Outcomes of Classes 3, 5 and 8 in Language and Mathematics8. Female Literacy (15 + years)District-wise data on the above indicators is uploaded at championsofchange.gov.in and updated every month.

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Context The transition/movement of students from primary to upper

primary should be 100%

It is seen that there may be major dropouts at this level due to reasons such as upper primary school being in a different building/location/school, parents having to first identify an upper primary school and take fresh admission, etc.

The District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad should, therefore, be responsible for ensuring automatic admission of all class V students in an upper primary school.

Detailed Activities to be carried out under the responsibility of the District Education Officer:1. Identify the schools with classes V and VI run by the Government

including the State Government, Local Bodies, Aided Schools, Tribal Schools etc.,

2. Call teachers of classes V and VI for a meeting

3. Direct the teachers to

a) identify the upper primary school where every class V student shall be automatically admitted into class VI

b) inform the parents about the school where their child is being automatically admitted in class VI.

Key Performance Indicator 1a Transition from Primary (Class V) toUpper Primary (Class VI)

c) take action to give such admission.

d) go to the residence of those students passing out from Class V, who are not joining Class VI, to encourage them to join

4. Supervise the transition of the students, and remove all hurdles in the process

5. a) Prepare a list of students who have passed out of class V but have not joined in class VI inspite of all the above efforts

b) Discuss this with the District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad and the Education Secretary, identify the further action that can be taken to encourage the students to rejoin in class VI

6. Carry out activities at 3 (d) and 5 above in all schools where classes V and VI are in the same school/ building / location / campus

7. Bring the good work done by the teachers to improve transition to the notice of District Collector / Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parisad and the State Education Department

8. If the number of upper primary schools is too few, the concerned authority should take steps to upgrade the primary schools to upper primary schools.

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Context The transition/movement of students from upper primary to

secondary should be 100%

It is seen that there may be major dropouts at this level due to unique requirements of students at this age besides the reasons mentioned under 1a) such as secondary school being in a different building/ location/ school, the parents having to first identify a secondary school and take fresh admission, etc.

The District Collector / Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad should, therefore, be responsible for ensuring automatic admission of all class VIII students to a secondary school and ensure that schools are doing the needful to address the unique requirements of the students.

Detailed Activities to be carried out under the responsibility of the District Education Officer:1. Identify the schools with classes VIII and IX run by the

Government including the State Government, Local Bodies, Aided Schools, Tribal Schools etc.,

2. Call teachers of classes VIII and IX for a meeting

3. Direct the teachers to

a) identify the secondary school where every class VIII student shall be automatically admitted into class IX

b) inform the parents about the school where their child is being automatically admitted in class IX

Key Performance Indicator 1b)Transition from Upper Primary(Class VIII) to Secondary (Class IX)

c) take action to give such admission

d) go to the residence of students dropping out to encourage them to join class IX

4. Supervise the transition of the students, and remove all hurdles in the process

5. a) Prepare a list of students who have joined ITI or any vocational course after passing out of class VIII

b) Prepare a list of students who have passed out of class VIII but have not taken admission in class IX or joined any vocational course inspite of all the above efforts

c) Discuss (b) above with the District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad and the Education Secretary, identify the further action that can be taken to encourage the students to rejoin in class IX or initiate necessary steps to introduce technical / vocational courses at class IX level

6. Carry out activities at 3 (d) and 5 above in all schools where classes VIII and IX are in the same school / building / location / campus

7. a) Identify the schools where necessary steps need to be taken to meet the unique requirements of students at this age, so that they are encouraged to continue in class IX and beyond, eg. Safety of girls while travelling to school, adequate facilities to handle menstruation, introduction of vocational skills etc. and make efforts to ensure these

b) Publicise the schools which have adopted such practices and appreciate them

8. Bring the good work done by the teachers to improve transition to the notice of District Collector / Chief Executive officer, Zila Parishad and the State Education Department.

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Context All Girls’ and Co-ed schools should have adequate number of girls’

toilets

As per the Report of Causes of Deaths in India 2010-13 of RGI, diarrhoea accounts for 12.8% of the deaths of girls in 5-14 years age group. Lack of toilets is one of the major factors responsible for this leading cause of death among children

A healthy mind needs a healthy body and availability of toilets is critical for maintaining good health of the children

Non-availability of girls’ toilets in schools severely impacts drop-out of girls specially at higher levels

Funds are available for construction and maintenance of toilets under Swachh Bharat Kosh as well as with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj

The District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad should, therefore, ensure availability of adequate number of Girls’ toilets in the schools through convergence of funds.

Key Performance Indicator 2% Schools with Functional Girls’ Toilets

Detailed Activities to be carried out under the responsibility of the District Education Officer:1. Identify schools with no functional girls’ toilet or inadequate

number of girls’ toilets

2. Take up the matter with the District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad for convergence of services and funds for construction, repair & maintenance of toilets. Bring to the notice of the District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, the joint advisory in this regard issued by Govt. of India dated 06.04.2016 (Annexure) and the detailed Government Order No. 151 issued by the Department of Rural Development, Tamil Nadu dated 30.11.2016 in this regard (Annexure)

3. Put up proposals to the District Collector / Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad and ask him/her to forward these to the Department of School Education & Literacy, MHRD to access funds under the Swachh Bharat Kosh which is under the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance for construction of toilets

4. Check from the State Education Department, the funds released / sanctioned to the district under SSA and RMSA till March, 2018 for girls’ toilets and ensure that this is utilized and the toilets are built

5. Involve Parent-Teacher Associations and School Management Committees to make sure the toilets are functional and are cleaned regularly

6. Ask the District Collector/ Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad to encourage PSUs, Corporates etc to donate funds for this.

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Context All schools should have functional drinking water facilities

As mentioned under KPI 2 above, availability of drinking water facility in schools is critical for the good health of the students

The District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad should, therefore, ensure availability of drinking water facilities in the schools through convergence of funds available with PRIs and under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP).

Detailed Activities to be carried out under the responsibility of the District Education Officer:1. Identify the schools with no functional drinking water facility or

inadequate drinking water facility

2. Provide the list of such schools to the District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad so that the District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad can approach the officer concerned with drinking water in the State/District to ensure piped water supply to these schools. Bring to the notice of the District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, the letter issued by the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation dated 15.03.2018 approving the provision of piped water supply in all districts (Annexure) and also the Joint Advisory referred above.

Key Performance Indicator 3% Schools with Functional Drinkingwater Facilities

Context It is essential that all students have the textbooks in their hands at

the start of the academic session The Samagra Shiksha programme has a provision for free

textbooks to children up to elementary level in all Government and Government Aided schools The District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad should

ensure that the textbooks reach the schools within a month of the start of the academic session.

Detailed Activities to be carried out under the responsibility of the District Education Officer:1. Arrange to create a book bank in every Government and Aided

school by taking back as many school text books as possible from the students after the session is over. The Head Masters and Principals should be made responsible to ensure this

2. Ensure that these text books are distributed to the children in the present school session

3. Monitor if new textbooks have reached all elementary schools in the district on time. If not, prepare a list of such schools where the books have not reached and take it up with the District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad and the State Secretary, Education Department to ensure that these schools receive the text books without any further delay

4. Some states and UTs are transferring money through DBT instead of supplying books. Such States should establish strict monitoring mechanism to ensure that the cash is used only for purchase of textbooks.

Key Performance Indicator 4% Schools providing Textbooks tochildren

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Context All secondary schools should have functional electricity It is seen that a village may be shown as electrified but the secondary

school in that village has no electricity The District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad should,

therefore, ensure power supply in all secondary schools.

Detailed Activities to be carried out under the responsibility of the District Education Officer:1. Obtain a list of the electrified villages in the district2. Identify the secondary schools/schools with secondary section in these

villages with no electricity3. Clarify the procedure to be followed for provision of electricity. The

DEOs shall ensure that the Principal / Head of School fills in the necessary forms and that the requisite funds are given for this purpose

4. Take up with the District Collector / Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad to approach the State Department in charge of power supply for ensuring electrification of these schools

5. Ask the District Collector / Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad to take up with the State Departments of Education and Power, the issue of levying domestic tariff only on schools. Advisory dated 2nd April 2018 from the Department of School Education & Literacy in this regard may be referred to (Annexure). This matter may also be taken up with the Chief Secretary of the State

6. Request District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad if he can ensure power supply in balance secondary schools in the non-electrified villages in the district, including solar power.

Key Performance Indicator 5% Schools with Functional ElectricityFacility at Secondary Level

Context All elementary schools (classes I to VIII) have to comply with RTE specified

pupil teacher ratio (PTR) At primary level, the ratio should be 30:1 and at upper primary level, the

ratio should be 35:1 at every school (not in the average) Some schools may have fewer teachers than this PTR Some schools, especially at the District and Block Headquarters may have

excess teachers because the teachers do not want to join schools in the villages where they have been posted The District Collector / Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad, therefore,

should ensure correct deployment of teachers.

Detailed Activities to be carried out under the responsibility of the District Education Officer:1. Identify the Elementary Schools having shortage of Teachers as per RTE

norms2. Identify the Elementary Schools having excess Teachers as per RTE

norms3. Redeploy teachers within the district from schools identified with

excess teachers to schools identified with shortage of teachers, if it is within your power.

4. If not, take up the matter with the State Department of Education for immediate posting and/or redeployment

5. Monitor if the teachers are attending the school where they are posted.6. Initiate disciplinary action in case of proxy teachers7. Provision of Biometric/Online Attendance should be developed to ensure

that there are no proxy teachers and attendance is regularly monitored.

Key Performance Indicator 6% Elementary Schools Complying withRTE specified Pupil Teacher Ratio

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Context In every school, at least 75% students should answer all the questions

correctly in both the subjects i.e. Mathematics and Language The focus of the Govt. so far has been on improving access to schools and

infrastructural facilities in the schools. Having achieved almost 100% enrolment at the elementary level, the focus has now shifted to improving the quality of education Accordingly, Rules to the RTE Act were amended in February, 2017 to

include, for the first time, the class wise, subject wise Learning Outcomes (LOs) till Class VIII. National Achievement Survey conducted in November 2017 was the first of its kind in that the assessment of students, which were earlier based on textbook content, was conducted on Learning Outcomes. District and State level Report Cards have been uploaded on the website of NCERT The district and state level officers in the Education Department with the

involvement of DIETs and SCERT should create awareness about the LOs and ensure that the schools work towards improving the quality of education as well as assess the knowledge of both teachers and students on the LOs.

Detailed Activities to be carried out under the responsibility of the District Education Officer:1. View the District Report Card on the NCERT website ncert.nic.in2. As decided in the workshop, NCERT, SCERT and DIETs will prepare

Guidelines giving indicative activities for improving LOs. DEOs shall ensure implementation of these and ensure monitoring

3. Approach the District DIET, and the State SCERT/SIE, to carry out a) a training needs assessment of teachers using the NCERT’s test

items on LOs for classes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8

b) training of the teachers based on this assessment and

c) post training assessment using the same test items to measure the impact and usefulness of this training

4. The Comprehensive and Continuous Evaluation (CCE) conducted by schools for assessing the performance of students may now be based on the NAS pattern of NCERT and their test items on LOs for classes 3 to 8 can be used

5. Identify students who require extra instruction for bridging gaps and provide the same after school hours

6. Involve the School Management Committee, women SHGs, Gram Panchayats etc in monitoring whether the school is opening on time, teacher is available and teaching, students are attending and other simple activities which will make all the difference to actual learning

7. Find out about good practices being followed by other districts within the State to make learning joyful and share it with the schools in your district

8. Reputable NGOs in the district can be involved in this exercise9. NCERT has appointed Nodal Officers for each state. SCERTS should get

in touch with them to work on the methodologies to improve Learning Outcomes.

Key Performance Indicator 7Learning Outcomesa) Mathematics Performance in Class 3b) Language Performance in Class 3c) Mathematics Performance in Class 5d) Language Performance in Class 5 e) Mathematics Performance in Class 8f) Language Performance in Class 8

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Context India has the largest number of female (15+) illiterates in the world. As per Census 2011, the average national female literacy rate (15+

years) was only 59.3% The female literacy (15+) in the Aspirational Districts is invariably

lower than the national average District Collector/Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad should,

therefore, ensure that all adult females in the district are made literate

Detailed Activities to be carried out under the responsibility of the District Education Officer:1. Identify the illiterate women in your district2. Identify a) NSS Volunteers b) NYK Volunteers c) Educated Retirees d) Educated homemakers who are motivated and willing to teach3. Identify teachers who have received training on how to teach

illiterate adults 4. Form teams with 10 persons from 2 (a) to 2 (d) headed by a trained

teacher 5. Illiterate women may be assigned to the teams so formed to be

made literate6. Involve women SHGs, Gram Panchayat, ICDS staff, ASHA and

other health workers in this.

Key Performance Indicator 8Female Literacy (15 + years)

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