U N I V E R S A L I Z I N G E L E M E N TA RY

E D U C AT I O N I N

I N D I A’ S M E G A - C I T I E S

Issues from Mumbai and Delhi

PRATH A M RESOU RCE CEN TER / UNESCO : 2005 : 1

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 1

PUBLISHED BY Pratham Resource Centre, New Delhi / UNESCO, New Delhi

COPYRIGHT Pratham Resource Centre, New Delhi / Unesco, New Delhi

ILLUSTRATIONS Parismita Singh

DESIGN & LAYOUT OH! Design

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 2

IN/2005/ED/3

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7

PREFACE 8

FOREWARD 10

1

INTRODUCTION 13

1.1 Universal Elementary EducationNational and International Policy Framework and Goals 13

1.2 Mega-cities and urban areas in India 151.3 Identifying Gaps and opportunities:

Universal Elementary Education in Mumbai and Delhi 17

2

ENROLLMENT AND ACCESS 20

2.1 Data and Measurement issues in Delhi and Mumbai SSA surveys 222.2 Overall comparison for the two cities 252.3 Who are the out of school children? Gender and age breakups 252.4 Where are the out of school children? 262.5 What are the major issues concerning access in the mega cities? 302.6 What are the solutions? Strategies in use: Delhi and Mumbai 322.7 Future directions: Thoughts for discussion 34

3

READING , WRITING AND ARITHMETIC

CHILDREN’S LEARNING LEVELS IN DELHI AND MUMBAI 36

3.1 What should children know? 383.2 Measurement of children’s learning: 383.3 Major Findings from Delhi and Mumbai:

Reading, Arithmetic and Writing 41

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 3

3.4 Level of learning in Mumbai’s schools:Marathi, Hindi and Urdu schools 44

3.5 Future directions: Thoughts for discussion 45

4

RETENTION AND COMPLETION 47

4.1 Do children stay in school? Conceptual and measurement issues 474.2 Development of a “tool” to measure staying

on in school transition and completion 504.3 Preliminary findings from Delhi and Mumbai 51

5

POLICY, PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICE SYSTEM READINESS AND

DECIS ION MAKING AT THE SCHOOL L E VEL 55

5.1 Interviews 575.2 Access related responses 585.3 Mainstreaming related responses 615.4 Retention and transition related responses 635.5 Achievement related responses 655.6 Funds flow related responses 685.7 Conclusions 69

6

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION 73

7

REFERENCES 77

ANNEXURE 1

TESTS AND TESTING 78

ANNEXURE 2

SAMPLE RETENTION FORM 82

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 4

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Percentage of out-of-school children 25

Table 2 Children out-of-school by gender 26

Table 3 Children out-of-school by age group 26

Table 4 Mumbai - 6 wards that account for 60% of children out-of-school 28

Table 5 Delhi - 3 districts that account for 50% of children out-of-school 28

Table 6 Geographic spread of out-of-school children 28

Table 7 Geographic spread, in percentage terms, of out-of-school children 29

Table 8 NCERT curriculum framework for school education 37

Table 9 Number of schools and children tested 40

Table 10 Age distribution of children tested 41

Table 11 Reading levels of children 41

Table 12 Arithmetic levels of children 42

Table 13 Writing levels of children 42

Table 14 Reading skills of children in different language medium schools 44

Table 15 Writing skills of children in different language medium schools 45

Table 16 Survival of cohorts through the primary stage MCD primary schools 1989-1999 48

Table 17 Communities surveyed for retention analysis 50

Table 18 Detailed calculation for retention for the cohort of 1999 in Delhi 52

Table 19 Detailed calculation for retention for the cohort of 1999 in Mumbai 52

Table 20 Retention in Delhi 53

Table 21 Retention in Mumbai 53

Table 22 Access related responses 60

Table 23 Mainstreaming related responses 63

Table 24 Transition related responses 65

Table 25 Achievement related responses 68

Table 26 Funds flow related responses 69

LIST OF F IGURES

Figure 1 Reading assessment tool – story and paragraphs 79

Figure 2 Reading assessment tool (continued) – words and letters 79

Figure 3 Arithmetic assessment tool 80

Figure 4 Sample retention form 82

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 5

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Municipal Corporation of GreaterMumbai for granting permission to utilize the data gathered duringthe SSA Survey of Mumbai city for the purposes of this report.

We would like to thank the UEE Mission of Delhi Governmentfor allowing access to the data gathered during the SSA Survey ofDelhi city and for granting permission to utilize that data for thepurposes of this report. Thanks to the Municipal Corporation ofDelhi for allowing us access to their primary schools.

We are grateful to the UNESCO office in Delhi for the activesupport and encouragement for this study.

We thank the entire Pratham team in Delhi and Mumbai forparticipating in different aspects of data collection and discussionsand for enabling the creation of this report.

Core team members in preparing this report: Rukmini Banerji,Harsh Shetty, Rajashree Kabare, Ranajit Bhattacharyya, SharmiSurianarian, Radhika Iyengar, Keya Chaturvedi, ShobhiniMukerji, and others in Delhi and Mumbai zonal and city teams.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 7

PrefaceMADHAV CHAVAN

A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.Aristotle

This report, on the universalization of elementary education for the poor inIndia’s financial and political capitals Mumbai and Delhi, represents one morestep in Pratham’s efforts to realize its mission of ‘every child in school andlearning well’. Over the years, Pratham has grown from being a Mumbai-basedurban organization, to an organisation with almost a nationwide presence,except in the Eastern and the North-eastern states. Pratham has also grownfrom a ‘service provider’ organization to an organization that wishes to impactpolicy by using its practical ground level experience.

The collaboration with UNESCO gave Pratham an opportunity to take alook at its work in the urban context, and to document it. Given the immensepressures of running a large-scale service delivery network, the opportunitybecame a challenge. It is not easy to be a grassroots service provider and aresearch and policy unit at the same time. Over the last five years, Pratham hasbeen trying to build a capacity to do organized studies, if not rigorousresearch, so as to contribute to the ongoing policy debate. A number of youngmen and women, fortunate enough to be educated in well-known colleges anduniversities in India and abroad, joined Pratham and have contributed to suchstudies. More importantly, Pratham’s large cadre of highly enthusiastic andenergetic young women and men have also started participating in these

8

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 8

studies, and in that process, they are able to understand the implications oftheir day-to-day work.

Mumbai and Delhi are two different cities. But, between them, theyperhaps experience every kind of education-related problem encountered inthe rest of urban India. This study is neither complete not comprehensive byany means. However, it is another step in bringing to the fore, problems ofurban education so that policy-makers take resolute steps to address them.

One of the biggest problems of education is the isolation of schools fromtheir surrounding community. In cities, especially in the case of municipal/government schools and school systems, this isolation is total. In spite oftremendous resources available in urban areas, there is no mechanism thatchannelizes these resources to improve government schools beyond one-offdonations of water coolers or NGO-run pilot programs that are neithermainstreamed nor scaled up.

There is an urgent need for lateral thinking, along with resolute actions. Inorder to bring about a change in the urban education scenario. Collaborationand alliances represent the way forward to take on this gigantic task. I hopethis report, together with the volume of articles that is being publishedsimultaneously, will help in this effort; and that more documents abouteducation in urban India will be made available, in order to create an evidencebase for better planning.

October 2005

9

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 9

ForewordMS. MINJA YANG

Director and UNESCO Representat ive, New Delhi

In 2000, the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal adopted aFramework of Action, committing to attain six specific goals related to achieveEducation for All. In the same year, the United Nations outlined theMillennium Development Goals with a view to end poverty and to bridge thedivide between the world's haves and have-nots. Central to these goals oneducation is to achieve universal primary education, ensuring that by 2015, allchildren of school-going age complete a full course of primary education ofgood quality.

Over the last several decades, efforts by central and state governments inIndia, as well as initiatives by non-government groups, has resulted insignificant improvements in access, enrollment in rural areas. However,universal elementary education for the urban underprivileged is still a far cry.

With a large, growing, urban population in India’s teeming cities, there is apressing need to develop collaborative strategies and comprehensivemechanisms with which to identify and address the problems of universalizingelementary education in India’s urban and semi-urban areas.

UNESCO and the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD)have worked to emphasize research and consultation opportunities, bringingtogether NGOs, academics, policymakers, and education officials on acommon platform to discuss the most pressing concerns of universalizingelementary education in urban India.

Together with the MHRD and the NGO Pratham, UNESCO organized aWorkshop on Universal Elementary Education in Urban Areas in India on

10

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 10

March 18, 2005. The workshop provided an important forum to discuss thecurrent status of universalization of elementary education in urban areas, withtwo objectives: to review status and re-visit planning and implementation; andto develop a set of indicators to track the progress of universalization in cities.

The Pratham report draws attention to India’s mega-cities, Delhi andMumbai, to understand and analyze the strategies employed by large Indiancities to achieve the goals of universal elementary education. Majoreducational initiatives in India over the past few decades have focused largelyon rural areas—and while rural India and smaller cities seem to have benefitedfrom such initiatives, larger cities such as Delhi and Mumbai have not been thecentral focus of these programs. To address the issues that may be unique tolarger cities, the Pratham report focuses exclusively on the issues and challengesof mega-cities in their attempt to achieve universal primary education.

The Delhi-Mumbai study investigates a selected set of basic issues relatedto elementary education in large urban areas—namely access, achievement,retention, and decision making at the ground level—and examines these issueswithin the context of evidence that was publicly available. The study examinesworkable solutions and strategies at the micro-level, and attempts to informlarger policy formulations and frameworks for action.

The report concludes with a proposal for collective action in enabling theeffective provision of basic education, as well as in monitoring progresstowards universalization. I believe that this report represents an important steptowards wider discussion of SSA goals and progress.

October 2005

11

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 11

1

Introduct ion

The Millennium Development Goals commit the internationalcommunity to an expanded vision of development, one thatvigorously promotes human development as the key to sustainingsocial and economic progress in all countries, and recognizes theimportance of creating a global partnership for development. Thegoals have been commonly accepted as a framework for measuringdevelopment progress.

United Nations Millennium Declaration, September 2000

1 . 1 U N I V E R S A L E L E M E N TA RY E D U C AT I O N : NAT I O NA L A N D

I N T E R NAT I O NA L P O L I C Y F R A M E WO R K A N D G OA L S

IN SEPTEMBER 2000, the member states of the United Nations unanimouslyadopted the Millennium Development Goals. Universal primary education isone of the eight Millennium Development Goals. For this goal to be achieved,every child in the age group 6 to 14 must not only go to school, but also stayin school through the primary stage of schooling.

In each country, the national government has not only initiated aprocess by which the goals can be realized, but in many cases it has alsodesigned mechanisms to monitor the progress towards these goals. In India,children’s entitlements in basic education are articulated in two documentsof national policy:

13

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 13

THE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO EDUCATION

The Constitution of India adopted in 1950, directed the stateto endeavor to provide free and compulsory education tochildren up to the age of 14, within 10 years of adoption of theConstitution. After 43 years of postponing the deadline, in1993, the Supreme Court had to rule that education hadbecome a fundamental right regardless of the position in theConstitution. It took another 9 years for the Parliament of Indiato modify the Constitution to make education a fundamentalright of the children in the age group of 6-14. As of 2005, theGovernment of India is framing a federal law to ensurerealization of the fundamental right to education. Thus, whilethe state recognized education as an entitlement, it is nowrecognized as a right, and legislation is underway to define theprocess that will best achieve this.

THE SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SSA)

The Government of India created the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA) in the early part of this decade. SSA is a framework ofprograms that clubs all existing Government of India schemesand projects. The declared goals of SSA in brief are:

n All children 6-14 to be enrolled in school by 2003

n All children complete 5 years of education by 2007

n All children complete 8 years of education by 2010

n Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality withemphasis on education for life

n Bridge all gaps in gender and social category groups in theprimary stage by 2007 and elementary stage by 2010

The objectives of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan are in line with thoseoutlined in Universal Elementary Education (UEE) documents.Achieving universal primary education involves universal

14

In t rodu c t i on

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 14

15

enrollment, retention and achievement. Implicitly embedded inthe notion of universal retention and completion of theelementary stage is the idea that children must learn adequatelyso that they can continue to make satisfactory progress throughthe education system.

The Millennium Development Compact (2003) suggests, “Meeting the goalsshould start with the recognition that each country must pursue adevelopment strategy that meets its specific needs. National strategies shouldbe based on solid evidence, good science and proper monitoring andevaluation.” Development of useful indicators, existence of reliable data, anddissemination of available evidence are critical first steps in policyformulations. Based on solid evidence and analysis, discussions and debates atlocal and national levels, locally appropriate policies can be formulated,owned and implemented.

This report focuses on two mega-cities: Delhi and Mumbai. It is a firststep towards outlining, describing and analyzing strategies that these cities areusing to achieve universal elementary education. It is hoped that studies suchas these will lead to better understanding of local realities and opportunities,development of simple indicators for monitoring progress, and improveddesign and implementation for more effective action in improving schoolingand learning for all children in these cities.

1 . 2 M E G A - C I T I E S A N D U R B A N A R E A S I N I N D I A

In current listings of the world’s most populous urban agglomerations,Mumbai and Delhi rank in the top 10 mega-cities of the world. An urbanagglomeration is defined as a central city(s) and neighbouring communitiesthat are continuously built up areas. If Kalyan, Thane and Ulhasnagar areincluded, the greater Mumbai metro area has a population of close to 19million people. The similar figure for Delhi (including Faridabad andGhaziabad) is around 18.7 million.

In-migration accounts for a large proportion of the growth of thepopulation in these urban areas. Migrants come looking for better and morestable livelihoods. Proximity to economically backward states and droughtprone states adds to overall migration levels. High growth rates and high in-

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 15

16

In t rodu c t i on

migration, often of people with low literacy and income levels, lead to thegrowth of slums. Close to half of Mumbai’s population live in slums and inDelhi 25 percent of the population lives in slums. The growth of populationin urban areas is unevenly spread. Geographic units of planning are uneven insize, population and population density. Managing migration and providingadequate basic services to the rapidly growing population is a challenge localgovernment in urban areas face constantly.

Major educational improvement initiatives in India over the last 10 yearshave focused primarily on rural areas. Programs and schemes for improvinginfrastructure, strengthening training and professional development cateredmainly to schools and teachers in villages and rural districts. In many states,serious efforts were made in the field of updating textbooks. In addition,institutional change initiatives at the sub-district level that led to the creationof Cluster Resource Centers and Block Resource Centers were often notextended to urban areas. Rural districts with low female literacy rates werechosen to be DPEP (District Primary Education Program) districts. Whilesmaller cities like Lucknow and Jaipur benefited from being part of the UN-GOI Janshala initiative, mega-cities like Mumbai and Delhi were not part ofthese programs.

At the same time, it is worth noting that efforts at decentralizing ruralgovernance and creating decision-making structures at lower levels haveadvanced further than urban decentralization efforts. The 73rd Amendment(1992) – rural decentralization - to the Constitution has made India one ofthe most politically decentralized countries in the developing world. However,although the 74th Amendment – urban decentralization – laid the legislativeframework for urban decentralization, structural reforms, functional reformsand financial reforms are slow in coming.

Urban poverty policies are also not integrated. Slum development, housing,sanitation, ICDS etc., all operate under different departments at the local, stateand national levels. Without integrated planning, it may be difficult to makeheadway on the reaching the urban poor who suffer from multiple disadvantages.

Among large cities, mega-cities like Delhi and Mumbai warrant specialattention. The pace of growth of population is among the highest in theworld, and tax bases are low. Provision of basic services like education, healthand sanitation is well behind the rate of in-migration into the cities.

In terms of universal elementary education, we need to take a closer look atthe current opportunities available to children in mega-cities. A better

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 16

17

understanding of the current gaps, inequities and inadequacies can result in abetter tomorrow for children, for families, for schools and for communities.

1 . 3 I D E N T I F Y I N G G A P S A N D O P P O RT U N I T I E S

UNIVERSAL ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN MUMBAI AND DELHI 1

In India, as in many other countries, the links between policy, planning andpractice need to be strengthened. Pratham’s reputation and experience derivesfrom large-scale experiences in “mainstreaming” out-of-school children andimproving learning. Given the substantial ground level experience that Prathamhas had with children, schools and communities over the last 10 years, theperspective of this report is implementation oriented.

The aim of this study of universal elementary education in two of India’sbiggest cities is to improve our understanding of the gaps between policy,planning and practice. The report does not attempt to be a status of educationreport. Instead, it focuses on specific sets of issues that need further attentionin the drive towards universalization of elementary education and in efforts forimproving schooling, learning opportunities and outcomes for children in themega-cities of Mumbai and Delhi.

WHAT IS THE FRAMEWORK OF THE STUDY?

There are numerous government documents and data that describe thesituation of schooling in Delhi and Mumbai in recent years. In addition, there

1 Pratham is a citizen’s initiative focused primarily on universalization of primary education. Infact, in several Indian languages, the name “Pratham” itself means “first” or “primary”.Pratham believes that citizens from all walks of life need to join hands with the government tobring every child to school and help them learn well. For over 10 years in Mumbai and for closeto 5 years in Delhi, Pratham has been working with the school system and with communitiestowards universalization of education.

Members of the Pratham Resource Center have authored the education section of theMaharashtra Human Development Report (2001) and the Delhi Human Development Report(forthcoming) and a variety of rapid assessment studies of schooling and learning in differentstates in India. A recent rapid assessment study covering villages in 18 states was presented tothe Planning Commission in August 2004.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 17

18

In t rodu c t i on

are several recent academic studies that attempt to outline the status ofeducation in the mega-cities (such as Banerji 2000, Lambay 1998, Aggarwal1998, Delhi Human Development Report 2004, Juneja 2001, Chugh 2004,Tyagi et al 2002).

In this report, we do not cover ground that has already been covered either

1 ACCESS

Which children are not attending school inDelhi and Mumbai? Where are these childrenlocated? City governments in both Delhi andMumbai commissioned door-to-door surveysas the starting point to Sarva ShikshaAbhiyan. In this section, the survey data iscompared focusing on two questions:

n Are children in school or not, and

n What are the patterns across the city interms of habitations and populations?

A set of illustrative case studies is also part ofthis section.

2 LEARNING

How much does the average child in a localmunicipal school know? Although each classin each school has tests periodically, these aretypically set by teachers and are rarelycomparable across schools. Pratham hasdeveloped an easy assessment tool for basicreading, writing and arithmetic that is usedwith children both in schools and incommunities. The actual data that wascollected from Std 3 and 4 children is helpfulfor highlighting core issues in basic learningin the school systems of the two biggestcities in India.

3 STAYING IN SCHOOL: COMPLETION AND

RETENTION ISSUES

How common is it for a child in Delhi andMumbai to complete the primary stage ofschooling without any change orinterruption? Completing primary school andsuccessful transition up to the end of theelementary stage are important goals in theprocess of ensuring that all children are inschool. Whether done by the government orby academics, most analysis of dropoutpatterns relies on aggregate data. There havebeen very few attempts to track individuals orcohorts over time. For this section of thestudy, we have developed and used a toolthat looks retrospectively at the educationalhistory of children in disadvantagedcommunities.

4 DECISION-MAKING WITHIN THE

COMMUNITY

Who can answer the basic questions ofordinary citizens or parents regarding theirchild’s education? The methodology used forthis section is the following: different peoplewithin the school system in both cities wereasked a series of simple questions aboutaccess, completion/retention, learning,mainstreaming and use of money. It isthrough these responses that we get glimpsesof the structure of decision-making andgovernance within the two school systems.The “common man’s questions” to the schoolsystem helps in uncovering andunderstanding ground level roadblocks andconstraints to universalization.

KEY DOMAINS EXAMINED IN THIS STUDY

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 18

19

by the government or by researchers. Instead, we concentrate on putting thespotlight on issues that need more attention and focus as the drive touniversalization intensifies. The perspective used here is one of experiencedcitizens who have learned realities from working directly with children, schoolsand communities, and are interested in using their experience and analyticalframework to improve opportunities under the on-going Sarva ShikshaAbhiyan programs. We hope that the issues that are raised, the approach that isused, the tools that have been developed, the evidence that is presented, theanalysis of available data and the interpretation of broad patterns and gapswill add to the on-going debates and discussions on universalization.

Under the encompassing umbrella of Universal Elementary Education,four broad domains have been identified. Each of these addresses an importantaspect of the universalization process. We have used different methodologiesin different sections to explore key issues. Within each of these domains,specific questions have been asked. In each case, we compare and contrast theexperiences of Mumbai and Delhi.

The study raises a selected set of basic issues and explores them within thecontext of evidence that was publicly available. At the micro-level, there is adesire to look for workable solutions and strategies. At the macro level, thestudy will hopefully inform larger policy formulations and frameworks foraction.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 19

2

Enrol lment & Access

All children in school, Education Guarantee Centres, AlternateSchool, “Back to School” camp by 2003.

Goal 1 of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

ACCORDING TO THE SSA handbook, “the preparation of habitation levelplans through effective community mobilization for micro-planning and

school mapping is the greatest challenge of the preparatory phase.” As part ofthe preparatory work in each city, large-scale surveys have been carried out.The goal of these surveys was to provide decision-makers with sufficientinformation to create a need based SSA plan specific to habitations in thatcity.

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) appointedPratham as the resource agency to execute the SSA survey in Mumbai city.There was active collaboration between municipal corporation staff, Prathamlocal teams and other non-government agencies. Pratham’s extensivecommunity network was used to recruit local surveyors for this effort. 2.6million households were surveyed to enumerate all children in Mumbai city.Children were asked whether they are in school, have dropped out of school orhave never been to school. This survey was carried out in the months ofJanuary-February-March 2004.

20

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 20

A similar large-scale household survey was conducted in Delhi in 2003 bythe UEE Mission of the Delhi government. Government departments andgovernment schoolteachers played a key role in this survey.

The available compilations from both these surveys have been used in thissection. Two basic questions are being asked:

n Who are the out-of-school children?n Where are the out-of-school children?

Based on existing and available data, Mumbai and Delhi are compared:focusing on whether children are in school or not and what are the patternsacross the city in terms of habitations and populations. A set of illustrativecase studies has also been included in this section.

For a variety of reasons, children in difficult pockets in both cities haveproblems in access to schooling. Six illustrative case studies, three each foreither city, are outlined here to describe different dimensions of the problemsof access to schooling in the difficult pockets.

21

HATHISHALA { DELHI } CASE STUDY 1

Just under the ITO Bridge, where Vikas Marg begins, is Hathi Shala, a large slum area on the easternbanks of the Yamuna (It is so named because elephants live there). The main thoroughfare is anarrow alley flanked by houses and shops. During the rains, this alley is invariably flooded and it isalmost impossible to walk through. Carts laden with vegetables and shops that lurch on the pavementmake it even more crowded. Walking down the alley, you notice the signboards in Bengali. Most ofthe inhabitants of this area are originally Bengali migrants who came here about 20 years ago. Theyusually keep small shops, sell vegetables and fish from the Yamuna belt, or work as daily wageearners.

Most children from Hathishala go to the Shastri Park MCD School. The children living inHathi Shala Part 3, have to walk a long distance just to reach the main road. The Yamuna Pustamain road is difficult to negotiate even for adults, leave alone children. This can be a problem, as theparents go to work or look after the younger siblings at home, and the children have to go to school ontheir own. Some time ago, a schoolgirl had an accident and the neighbours stopped sending theirchildren to school for a while.

Since many families migrated here from Bengal (and possibly Bangladesh) many years ago,formal enrollment in schools is a complicated matter. In order to get their children admitted to aschool, they have to produce affidavits. And as immigrants, they are reluctant to make affidavits thatmight draw attention to their status. As a result, their children stayed out of school, and continue to

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 21

2 . 1 DATA A N D M E A S U R E M E N T I S S U E S I N D E L H I A N D M U M B A I

S S A S U RV E Y S

While the goal of the SSA survey in both Delhi and Mumbai was to lead upto a SSA plan for the districts that comprise the city, there were severaldifferences in the surveys that were executed. Some of the major differences inthe nature and structure of information collected in the surveys of the twocities are outlined below:

n DATA EXTRAPOLATION

In Delhi 1.5 million households comprising a population of 75lakhs were surveyed. While the survey was intended to be acomplete enumeration, in order to match the populationidentified in the survey with census data corresponding to 30lakh households comprising a population of 1.54 crore, the dataidentified in the survey was extrapolated by ward. No suchextrapolation was carried out for the data in Mumbai.

n GEOGRAPHICAL UNIT

In Delhi, the unit of geography used is Kshetra. A Kshetra is acatchment area of a school. Delhi city is divided into 1,823contiguous Kshetras. On an average, a Kshetra has about 1600

22

Enro l lmen t & Ac c e s s

do so. The children also find it difficult to cope in the Hindi medium schools as they grow upspeaking Bengali. Many parents, especially mothers, are not very fluent in Hindi and thus cannothelp their children with schoolwork.

But the most pressing issue in Hathishala at the moment is the imminent relocation of thesettlement to some part of Narela, under the Yamuna beautification plan. Hathishala has been livingunder the shadow of the demolition plan since January 2004. Everyone here knows that they willhave to move though no one knows exactly when. Even the children are concerned. They hope it willnot be during the exams. In March 2004, when the demolition seemed imminent, a delegation ofchildren had given a letter to the local police station requesting them to delay the relocation until theexams were over. The people don’t know if there will be a government school near the relocated colonyor if admissions will be possible if their move is not synchronized with the school calendar. Butneither these children, nor their parents, have a say in the bigger issues that decide their future.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 22

households. There is a large variation in the actual number ofhouseholds in a Kshetra. In Mumbai, the unit of geography usedis Prabhag. A Prabhag is an electoral ward. Mumbai city isdivided into 227 contiguous Prabhags. On an average, a Prabhagas about 13,000 households. For the purposes of the executionof the survey, Prabhags were further divided into Nagars. ANagar is a set of 200-250 households. Mumbai city was dividedinto 2,257 contiguous Nagars.

n AGE INFORMATION

The compiled information from the Mumbai survey listschildren in the 5-15 age group. The survey of Delhi listedchildren in the 6-14 age groups. Although much more specificage-wise raw data has been collected, it was not available in acompiled form.

n GENDER INFORMATION

In Delhi, while gender information is available for children thatare in-school in the 6-14 age groups, gender information is notdivided further into the two age-groups 6-10 and 11-14 in theaggregate tables. This information is available for Mumbai.

n CASTE INFORMATION

The survey of Mumbai listed children’s caste information as ST,SC, OBC, NBC or Open. The compiled tables from the surveyof Delhi did not list children’s caste information.

n OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN

In Mumbai the out-of-school children were further divided intochildren that have never been to school and children that havedropped out of school. This information is not available in thisform for Delhi.

n CHILDREN IN SPECIAL CATEGORIES

The survey of Mumbai, listed children in special categories suchas children on the street without families, children living atrailway platforms, children in shelters, children in institutions,

23

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 23

children in night school, working children (domestic help,structured industries such as zari and leather, hotels andestablishments) and children with disabilities. The availabletables from the SSA survey of Delhi did not list children inspecial categories.

n INCOME INFORMATION

The Delhi survey has information on household incomes.Mumbai survey did not collect this information.

24

Enro l lmen t & Ac c e s s

MUSTAFABAD { DELHI } C A S E S T U D Y 2

In the very midst of the zigzag lanes, overflowing drains and buffalo sheds of Mustafabad(North Shahdara) is the old Mustafabad MCD Primary School - the only primary schoolwithin a reasonable walking distance in this crowded locality teeming with children. Till lastsummer, it was a ‘tent’ school with three tattered tents on a raised platform. In the rainyseason, water gathers in the vicinity of the school just below the raised platform creating a hugepool of stagnant and dirty water. More than 800 children were enrolled there in Std 1 and 2alone. Perhaps half that number attends with any regularity. The older children (Std 3, 4 and5) go to the Bhagirathi Vihar School, which is about a 20-25 minute walk away. This year,the tents have been replaced by cabins—a set of five compact rooms, where the school operatesin two shifts. Close to 60-70 children are squeezed into each cabin. Local people point to thepiece of land adjoining the school. By Mustafabad standards, this is a lot of space. Butpresently it is disputed territory, with cases being fought between the MCD and the others wholay claim to it. The case threatens to be a long drawn one. And in the interim, while thechildren are packed tight into their dingy schoolrooms, garbage and pigs slowly take over thepiece of land.

The lack of space in schools is central to a lot of the enrollment problems of Mustafabad.The woman whose house is next to the school and has both her children studying there tells us‘There are too many children, no studies happen here, it is the Government school after all’.Parents who can afford it, send their children to private schools; there are three private schoolsin the next lane itself, almost 20-23 in the whole area. Others send their children to the localmadrasas. The Government school is clearly not a viable option for many.

The number of out-of-school children, as well as the drop out rates, is high in this area.In fact, the schoolteachers who feel their classes are already too crowded and find it difficult toaccommodate more children do not encourage enrollment of new children. A teacher told us

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 24

2 . 2 OV E R A L L C O M PA R I S O N F O R T H E T WO C I T I E S

The aggregate compilations from the two cities focus on slightly different agegroups: Mumbai reports data for the age-group 5-15 whereas Delhi reportsdata for the 6-14 age group. Therefore, all comparisons need to keep this factin mind. Despite the differences in the nature and structure of the informationcollected in the surveys of the two cities, overall comparison of the survey datafor the two cities indicates:

2 . 3 W H O A R E T H E O U T- O F - S C H O O L C H I L D R E N ? G E N D E R A N D

AG E B R E A K U P S

A closer look at the out-of-school children suggests that a higher fraction ofchildren in Delhi is out of school as compared to Mumbai. Further, thepercentage of girls out of school in Delhi is higher than that of boys.

25

that if all the out-of-school children wanted to attend school, it would become a problem asthere was no way they could be accommodated!

TABLE 1 PERCENTAGE OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL

CHILDREN

MUMBAI DELHI

HOUSEHOLDS 2,446,235 3,014,992

POPULATION 8,383,636 14,315,819

PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL

TOTAL 1,619,802 2,801,212

IN-SCHOOL 1,540,904 2,613,598

OUT-OF-SCHOOL 78,898 187,614

TOTAL 4.87% 6.70%

n The two cities also appear to havedifferent household ratios with thepopulation per household being 3.43 forMumbai and 4.75 for Delhi.

n The ratio of children per household is0.66 for Mumbai and 0.93 for Delhi.

n Despite using a broader age-range inMumbai as compared to Delhi, Delhi hasa bigger population base for children.Overall, the percentage of children outof school indicates that the problem ofout-of-school children is greater in Delhithan in Mumbai.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 25

2 . 4 W H E R E A R E T H E O U T- O F - S C H O O L C H I L D R E N ?

For the survey, Mumbai city was divided into 2,257 Nagars each with about200-250 households. Delhi city was divided into 1,823 contiguous Kshetras.

A further disaggregated look at nagars reveals 30 very difficult pocketsaround Mumbai, which account for about 25% of the children that are out of

26

Enro l lmen t & Ac c e s s

TABLE 2 CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL BY GENDER

MUMBAI DELHI

ALL CHILDREN

TOTAL 78,898 187,614

MALE 41,935 95,673

FEMALE 36,963 91,941

% FEMALE 46.29% 46.24%

CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL

TOTAL 78,898 187,614

MALE 41,935 95,673

FEMALE 36,963 91,941

% FEMALE 46.85% 49.01%

CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL AS % OF ALL CHILDREN

TOTAL 4.87% 6.70%

MALE 4.82% 6.35%

FEMALE 4.93% 7.10%

TABLE 3 CHILDREN OUT-OF-SCHOOL BY AGE GROUP

MUMBAI DELHI

ALL CHILDREN

TOTAL 1,619,802 2,801,212

GROUP 1 879,478 1,616,621

GROUP 2 740,324 1,173,133

GROUP 2 45.70% 41.88%

CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL

TOTAL 78,898 187,614

GROUP 1 33,287 103,643

GROUP 2 45,611 83,971

GROUP 2 57.81% 44.76%

CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL AS % OF ALL CHILDREN

TOTAL 4.87% 6.70%

GROUP 1 3.78% 6.41%

GROUP 2 6.16% 7.16%

n The gender proportion of children inthe two cities of Mumbai and Delhi aresimilar. In Mumbai 46.29% childrenare female, while in Delhi 46.24%children are female. Note that the childpopulation in both cities has greaterproportion of males.

n Comparing out-of-school children tothe total population for each gender,we find that 7.10% of female childrenare out of school while 6.35% malechildren are out of school.

n The age distribution between olderand younger children in the two citiesof Mumbai and Delhi is quite similareven though the age groupings areslightly different (Delhi reports 6-14and Mumbai reports 5-15 age group).

n In Mumbai, a greater fraction ofolder children is out of school: 6.16%children in 11-15 age-groups are outof school while 3.78% children in 5-10age-groups are out-of-school.

KEY MUMBAI DELHI

AGES AGES

GROUP 1 5-10 6-10

GROUP 2 11-15 11-14

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 26

school. Much of Mumbai’s problems regarding out-of-school children may besolved by focusing attention on and developing locally appropriate strategies inapproximately 70 nagars out of the total 2257. This will take care of allnagars where the incidence of out-of-school children is 15% or greater.

The National Capital Territory of Delhi is divided into 9 administrativedistricts. A further disaggregated look at Kshetras reveals 55 very difficultpockets around Delhi where more than 25% of children are out of school.Much of Delhi’s problems regarding out-of-school children may be solved byfocusing attention on and developing locally appropriate strategies inapproximately 135 Kshetras out of total 1823. This will take care of allKshetras where the incidence of out-of-school children is 15% or greater.

Analysis of the geographic spread of the problem of out-of-schoolchildren indicates that the geographic spread of the problem is approximatelytwice that in Delhi as opposed to Mumbai, with 594 Kshetras (32.58%)

27

BHEEMNAGAR { DELHI } C A S E S T U D Y 3

Bheemnagar is a settlement that has sprung up in the spare ground between theNangloi Sabzi mandi and the railway tracks. Its precarious position is not mitigatedby the fact that though other clusters close by are in the process of being authorized,Bheemnagar remains an illegal settlement, prone to fires and accidents on the nearbyrailway tracks. Most of the residents find work in the nearby sabzi mandi, or themen go to work in factories, while the family is occupied in various other activities athome such as pottery or making garlands, plastic bags and pickles. Each home almostfunctions like a mini industrial unit, with the whole family working there. There arenot many incentives that might tempt the children of Bheemnagar to consider going toschool. There is no MCD School. The nearest school is the MCD School Majra(Sultanpuri). But children have to cross the railway tracks to reach it, and this detersa lot of the younger children, with guardians not able to escort the children to schooland back. For a lot of the parents, procuring an affidavit for school admission is alsoa problem. Although MCD schools maintain this is not a necessity any longer, manyparents say otherwise. The level of literacy among the adults is low, and education isnot very highly valued. A child is usually seen to have more value as an extra pair ofhands in the family business, to help at home or look after siblings.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 27

accounting for 80% of the out-of-school children in Delhi while 358 Nagars(15.86%) account for 80% of the out-of-school children in Mumbai.(Comparing the percentage of boys and girls out of school in these kshetrasand nagars does not reveal any major gender differences. Where the fraction ofout-of-school children is high, both boys and girls are not going to school inroughly the same proportions. )

28

Enro l lmen t & Ac c e s s

TABLE 4 MUMBAI WARDS

NO. WARD CHILDREN OUT %CHILDREN

OF SCHOOL OUT OF SCHOOL

1 ME 18,362 23.27%

2 PN 7,908 10.02%

3 L 6,537 8.28%

4 FN 5,294 6.71%

5 GN 4,488 5.69%

6 MW 3,972 5.03%

n Mumbai city is divided into 24administrative wards. Six wardsaccount for 60% of the children out ofschool.

n 5 districts account for 80%of the children out of school, asshown

TABLE 5 DELHI - 3 DISTRICTS

NO. DIST. DISTRICT CHILDREN OUT % OF TOTAL

NAME OF SCHOOL CHILDREN OUT

OF SCHOOL

1 13 NORTH WEST 40,287 21.47%

2 19 SOUTH 37,867 20.18%

3 15 WEST 26,399 14.07%

4 11 NORTH EAST 26,196 13.96%

5 17 SOUTH WEST 20,161 10.75%

6 10 EAST 15,406 8.21%

7 12 NORTH 10,495 5.59%

8 21 CENTRAL 7,497 4.00%

9 20 NEW DELHI 3,306 1.76%

TOTAL 187,614

TABLE 6: GEOGRAPHIC SPREAD OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN

NUMBER OF NAGARS / KSHETRAS ACCOUNTING

FOR PERCENTAGE OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN

NUMBER OF 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

NAGARS

KSHETRAS

MUMBAI 1 2,257 8 22 40 69 105 157 234 358 588 2,257

DELHI 2 1,823 17 44 84 136 206 298 420 594 892 1,823

1 NAGARS 2 KSHETRAS

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 28

However, despite the Delhi geographic spread being approximately twicethe Mumbai geographic spread, the problem of out-of-school children isconcentrated in difficult pockets in both cities, with just 32.58% of theKshetras in Delhi accounting for 80% of the problem.

29

TABLE 7 GEOGRAPHIC SPREAD, IN PERCENTAGE TERMS, OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN

NUMBER OF NAGARS / KSHETRAS ACCOUNTING

FOR PERCENTAGE OF OUT-OF-SCHOOL CHILDREN

TOTAL 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

MUMBAI 1 2,257 0.35% 0.97% 1.77% 3.06% 4.65% 6,96% 10.37% 15.86% 26.05% 100.00%

DELHI 2 1,823 0.93% 2.41% 4.61% 7.46% 11.30% 16.35% 23.04% 32.58% 48.93% 100.00%

1 NAGARS 2 KSHETRAS

RAFIQ NAGAR { MUMBAI } C A S E S T U D Y 4

At the far end of Shivaji Nagar in Gowandi is Rafiq Nagar, a huge slum that formsthe backdrop for one of Mumbai’s largest garbage dumping grounds. The denselycrowded lanes wind through the hutments until they reach a broken boundary wall,which leads to an ocean of waste material beyond. The approach is cluttered with avariety of shapes and sizes of kuccha and pucca (semi-permanent and permanent)dwellings that dominate the landscape. Built very close to each another, these housesand shops are separated by narrow lanes and open drains. In the monsoon, and whenwater is released up stream, the drains overflow and sewage enters the homes thathave been built on the banks of the drain.

Used to the frequent BMC demolitions, most of these homes are makeshift andmade with simply four bamboos and plastic sheets for walls and roofs. After everyperiodic flattening of these temporary constructions, young children will sit for daysguarding their scarce belongings while their parents bargain with the local police tryingto negotiate a few more days stay. Days and hours missed at school are not a concernfor those who must worry about where they will sleep at night.

As an unauthorized slum, the life and duration of the entire community isinsecure and uncertain, dependent solely on the schedule for demolition of that area.Those who are resilient and cross the busy high-way to make their way to the RafiqNagar Municipal School are disillusioned by the gross overcrowding wheresometimes upto 150 children can be found in one class. In this largely migrant

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 29

2 . 5 W H AT A R E T H E M A J O R I S S U E S C O N C E R N I N G AC C E S S I N

T H E M E G A C I T I E S ?

MIGRATING FAMILIES

Mumbai and Delhi have, and will continue to attract migrants in search oflivelihoods. Children in such families will have transition phases. It is likely,however, that if a child was in school and learning well in the previouslocation, parents will ensure that the child is in school and learning well in thenew location as well. Access to school is a major problem for children fromfamilies that work on construction sites or on seasonal work is hard. Unstablelivelihoods and make-shift living arrangements also make it harder for childrento attend school regularly.

CHILD LA B O UR

In every city, there is a fraction of the child population that lives in the citywithout parents. These are the most vulnerable children, working inexploitative situations, and are the hardest to reach. Such children are oftenfound in specific locations such as railway stations, red-light areas, religiousspots, and in specific unorganized sector industries.

HAZARDOUS ACCESS

Although there may be schools within 1 kilometer of a habitation, in manyurban locations getting to the school may be difficult. Major roads, highways,drains, and railway lines often impede easy access.

30

Enro l lmen t & Ac c e s s

community, people are always arriving and others moving out and given the meagerexisting educational facilities, their children invariably do not end up falling withinthe education net.

Survival is key in Rafiq Nagar. Few parents see schooling as a necessity, whenchildren can earn upto Rs 2000 a day sorting through the garbage and recyclingscraps of plastic, glass and even finding the occasional small piece of gold. Water is ascarce commodity and you can often see little children carrying home buckets full ontheir tiny shoulders.

The few parents that do worry about their children’s education prefer to sendtheir children to madrassas where basic Math and English are taught.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 30

OVERCROWDED SCHOOLS

Depending on the pace of increase of population density in different parts ofthe city, schools may simply be unable to absorb more children, given theirspace and teacher resources. In both cities, schools work in two shifts, thusensuring that all available space is used to the maximum. It is generally truethat the percentage of out-of-school children in the neighbourhood of anovercrowded school is relatively high.

LANGUAGE MISMATC H

Despite both school systems providing primary education in several languages,the home language of the child may not be the medium of instruction in theneighbourhood school. Mumbai’s municipal corporation provides schooling ineight languages (Marathi, Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada andEnglish). Yet this issue merits concern in some communities.

2 . 6 W H AT A R E T H E S O LU T I O N S ?

31

KOLSABANDAR { MUMBAI } C A S E S T U D Y 5

The Kolsabandar basti is on the east side of the Shivri harbor railway line. It is anindustrial area with coal godowns, garages and small factories manufacturing ironproducts, where most of its residents work. Not a single shop is to be found here.Everything requires crossing the railway line.

The level of education is low; few people have even basic education. Forchildren to reach the Sewri cross road Urdu school or the Prabodhankar ThakreHindi School, they have to cross the railway line. Parents have to escort them throughthe crossing, which becomes a problem for parents who have to go to work. Thedistance and the hazard both contribute to the high drop out rates of children fromKolsabandar. It is a mixed community with Marathi, Urdu, Hindi, Kannada,and Tamil spoken here. This further complicates the children’s education. Often,newly arrived migrant parents have little idea where to find a suitable school fortheir Kannada or Hindi speaking child. The schools, if any, are too far.

The industrial nature of Kolsabandar, with the presence of factories and thelack of sanitation, also contributes to the many health problems that children here

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 31

STRATEGIES IN USE : DELHI AND MUMBAI

The preparatory work for SSA has been completed in terms of datarequirements. There is detailed data on all habitations in Mumbai and Delhi.Given the size and complexity of these mega-cities, this is a majoraccomplishment. Without local data, it would be difficult to come up withlocally relevant plans. In both cities, there are efforts being made to put plansinto practice.

In Delhi, the UEE Mission of Delhi Government as well as the MunicipalCorporation of Delhi has taken a number of concrete steps to handleproblems of access:

n Providing “learning centres” for out-of-school children: Basedon habitation data (kshetra-wise), estimates and lists of actualout-of-school children, non-government organizations have beenidentified to organize the “learning centers” in each kshetra. Thelocal NGO identifies and recruits teachers based on norms laiddown by the government (e.g. the learning centre instructor musthave a teaching certification) and training is provided by theDIETS. It is expected that the learning centres will operate inavailable space in government schools or other governmentspaces. Each learning center will provide 1100 hours of teachingin a given academic year and it is expected that children will bemainstreamed into the regular government school after thispreparation period.

Close to 3000 learning centres are currently operational inDelhi. There are 40 children per learning centre, so approximately1,20,000 out-of-school children should have been reached.

The policy to use local NGOs to run “learning centres” is agood idea in principle and fits in well with the SSA thrust forcommunity participation. It was hoped that local NGOs

32

Enro l lmen t & Ac c e s s

suffer from. Children suffer from skin problems from playing in the garbage dumps,and respiratory problems from the pollution of the trucks constantly plying in thearea. There is no presence of doctors or health workers in Kolsabandar.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 32

understand local situations and will be more effective inidentifying and preparing out-of-school children for regularschools. From mid 2003 and throughout 2004, the main effortof the UEE mission of Delhi Government was to create this“education net” of learning centres across the city. There aremany challenges that lie ahead: how to strengthen theeffectiveness (in terms of retention and learning) in theselearning centres and how to practically mainstream these out-of-school children into the local primary and elementary schools.

n A “No tent schools” policy is being implemented by MunicipalCorporation of Delhi. Tents are being replaced by “porta-cabins” in locations across Delhi. Although this is a temporarysolution, this is an interim step in the right direction.

n Enrollment requirements have been simplified. It is easier toenroll children in school. Much of the paperwork, certificatesand affidavits that were required earlier are not required anymore. Across the school system and even within communities,this information has been disseminated widely.

In Mumbai, detailed planning is currently on to start implementing SSAplans, for example:

n At each habitation level (prabhag), a committee is being formed.The elected representative (corporator) and the school principalwill be the key members in the committee. Along with other localcommunity members, this committee is currently listing out-of-school children so that “bridge courses” and “alternativeeducation” centers can be initiated. So far, approximately 600such centers have been sanctioned. When they become operationalabout 15000 out-of-school children will have been reached.

n Detailed plans for expanding infrastructure and school facilitiesin overcrowded areas are being formulated. Sanctions for 133additional classrooms have been given.

33

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 33

n Integration of early childhood education centers in municipalschools. 300 balwadis have been sanctioned to be run onmunicipal school premises.

2 . 7 F U T U R E D I R E C T I O N S : T H O U G H T S F O R D I S C U S S I O N

Within the broader framework of SSA, local problems need locally workedout solutions. Understanding children’s needs in specific communities has to

34

Enro l lmen t & Ac c e s s

ANTOP HILL { MUMBAI } C A S E S T U D Y 6

Bharatiya Kamala Nagar (Antop Hill, Matunga) is an unauthorized slum.Bamboo sticks, that slowly sink into the slush, prop up the makeshift shanties alongthe bay area. For the scores of new migrants, particularly from U.P., a shanty in thebay area is the only option. There are few permanent settlers who own their ownhouses, while most people rent theirs and return to their villages for a few monthseach year.

In the city, they usually work as taxi drivers, factory workers or as vendorsin the market. There are approximately 300 out of school children here, and it iseasy to see why. The local Hindi schools (Kada Gaekwaf & Korba Mithegar) are afull hour’s walk away. The Urdu and Marathi students can attend The Haji IsmailSchool, which is 45 minutes away. However, classes are so overcrowded that theycan barely accommodate the average of 90 children registered in each class—students often spill over into the corridors and passages. The only alternative is theKane Nagar School, which is so far that it takes the little children upto an hour anda half to reach there. A small number of children end up attending the nearbymadrassa or religious school.

Education is hence, obviously not a priority for most parents. The sole PrivateSchool in the vicinity charges the exorbitant fees of Rs 150 per child per month. Itis, therefore, nearly impossible for low-income wage earners to support the educationof a family of four or five children. Parents feel that it makes more economic senseto use their childrens labour to help them with their small businesses, be it a smallfood stall or selling flowers at busy traffic signals. Every year the cycle continues andmore and more children fall out of the education net.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 34

be the basis of designing solutions. “Blanket” provisions will still leave gaps.While habitation level data and surveys provide a good beginning point,locally specific flexible strategies and flexible resource allocation will be neededto solve some of the core problems of access in the mega cities. Refocusingresources and attention on a specific set of nagars and kshetras in these citieswill help a great deal in terms of solving issues of access and enrollment. Inthese specific areas, local solutions will have to be sought.

35

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 35

3

Reading , Writ ing & Arithmetic : Children’sLearning Levels in Delhi & Mumbai

Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality withemphasis on education for life.

- Goal 4 of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

TO ACHIEVE THE GOALS OF universal elementary education, SSA emphasizes“satisfactory quality elementary education.” Each year spent in school

should translate into higher levels of learning. To achieve learning goals, thestate has developed curriculum and generated textbooks that specify whatchildren should know at each stage of their educational career.

Measuring the “quality” of processes in education or products ofeducation is a complex task, conceptually and operationally. Yet withoutsome indicators, it is difficult to gauge if progress is being made. While theSSA document highlights issues of pedagogy, teacher training and capacitydevelopment as essential elements for quality improvement, it also states that“the main indicator of the quality of elementary education can be visualizedin terms of its product – the learners’ achievement in both scholastic andnon-scholastic areas i.e. the performance in various subjects of study, andhabits, attitudes, values and life skills necessary for becoming a goodcitizen.”

36

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 36

The entire focus of this section is on learning levels of children. There areseveral reasons for concentrating on children’s learning as the core tounderstanding “quality” of the primary education system. In the early1990s, the revised version of the National Policy on Education emphasizedthe “need for a substantial improvement in quality of education to achieveessential levels of learning.” More than ten years later, it is critical that weassess how far we have come in terms of delivering the basic elements ofprimary education to our children. The SSA goals of universal enrollmentand retention cannot be meaningfully met without adequate improvementsin the learning levels of children.

37

TABLE 8 NCERT CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK FOR SCHOOL EDUCATION

LANGUAGE MATHEMATICS

Basic skills of listening, speakingreading, writing and thinking

Standardization of pronunciation

Good handwriting, correct spelling

Silent reading with comprehension

Creative self-expression

More and more aural and oral skills oflanguage are to be emphasized at theprimary stage

All the skills, i.e., listening, speaking,reading, and writing and thinking are tobe aimed at in a balanced manner by theend of the upper primary stage

Slightly more attention is to be paid tothe skills of reading and writing at thesecondary stage.

The most crucial and ultimate task oflanguage education at all these levelsremains to prepare the learners to usethe languages effectively in either mode(spoken/written) whenever and whereverrequired in their day-to-day lifesituations of all sorts.

Form basic pre-number concepts relatedto size, length, mass etc

Sharpen skills in grouping, classificationand sequential thinking

Sound foundation for learning numbersand developing competency of additionand subtraction

Introduced to numbers and fractions asa concept

Four fundamental operations- addition,subtraction, multiplication, division andcomputational skills related to themneed to be mastered on numbers andfractions

The concepts of length, mass, capacity,money, time, area and volume to bedeveloped along with the units ofmeasuring these.

Gain familiarity with geometrical formsand figures and be able to appreciatepatterns and symmetry in theenvironment. Simple applications ofarithmetical processes should find animportant place.

STD I-II

STD III-V

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 37

3 . 1 W H AT S H O U L D C H I L D R E N K N OW ?

At the time of writing of this report, a detailed curriculum was not availablefrom NCERT due to the NCERT initiative to revamp the curriculum.However, the NCERT curriculum guidelines outlined in the NationalCurriculum Framework for School Education describe the competencies thatchildren must acquire as they move through the primary stage of education(Table 8).

From these curriculum guidelines it is clear that by Std II, children shouldbe able to read and write in one language. By Std III, children should havemastered addition and subtraction of 2 and 3 digit numbers and should beable to divide a 2 or 3 digit number by a single digit number.

Each state curriculum and textbook is based on the NCERT curriculum.For each progressive year in school, it is expected that children will be able tocope with increased level of difficulty in language, maths and other subjects.At the beginning of each year, there is some revision of the previous years’concepts and skills. This revision is visible in the material in textbooks as wellas in teaching-learning transactions in class. At the same time, the pace of thecurriculum and expected skill accumulation and content knowledge acceleratesevery year.

3 . 2 M E A S U R E M E N T O F C H I L D R E N ’ S L E A R N I N G

In each school and class, teachers do assess progress in children’slearning.This is typically done by teachers themselves and is rarely comparableacross schools. This in-class assessment does not enable comparative studywithin the city or between cities either.

In the late 1990s, large scale studies of children’s learning was done inDPEP districts across the country.Following similar methodology andmeasurement, several studies of learning outcomes have been done in Delhi inrecent years (Aggarwal 1998, Chugh 2004). In these studies, there was anattempt to compare children’s performance in specific grades with grade-levelcurriculum.All these studies point to a unsatisfactory picture of learning, withmost schools not reaching even the “minimum levels of learning” criteria setdown by NCERT.

The SSA document states that, “NCERT will undertake baseline

38

Reading , Writ ing & Arithmet i c : Chi ldrens Learning Leve l s in Delh i & Mumbai

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 38

assessment of learning achievements at primary level in non-DPEP states andat upper primary level in all states in order to provide a baseline for the SarvaShiksha Abhiyan.”It is not as yet publicly known whether the new NCERTbaseline studies will follow the logic and design of the previous studies or not.

Another way to explore children’s learning levels is to define basic literacyand numeracy tasks and assess the percentage of children at different gradelevels who are below these absolute cut-offs. (This method has been usedearlier in the case of Mumbai (Banerji 2000) and for Delhi (Delhi HumanDevelopment Report 2004).This moves the measurement of learning fromrelative standards (grade-specific standards) to absolute levels.

This is the approach that has been followed for this study.Children in StdIII and IV in randomly sampled municipal primary schools in Delhi andMumbai were given these simple tasks:

n Reading simple sentences and paragraphs.

n Doing simple subtraction problems (two digits with borrowing).

n Correctly writing a simple sentence that is dictated to them.

Details of the testing process are attached in Annexure 1.Even a quick look at the state textbooks in language and maths in Delhi

and Mumbai will show that all children in Std III and IV are expected to beable to do these tasks.In fact, according to the state curriculum and textbooks,children are expected to do language and maths activities and tasks of muchgreater complexity.

SELECTING SCHOOLS AND CHILDREN FO R TESTING

In order to ensure that the results of testing a portion of the 3rd and 4thstandard children in the two cities of Mumbai and Delhi is indeedrepresentative of the actual status of learning in the two cities, arandomization process was adopted.

In Delhi, 120 schools were randomly selected from the approximately1,800 schools. The intent was to select about 5% of the schools randomly –90 – and then retain some additional schools as backup in case the

39

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 39

headmasters of the schools refused permission to test the children. In eachselected school, the intent was to test all the children in the 3rd and 4thstandard. Most of the schools tested were Hindi medium schools. A few ofthe schools tested were Urdu medium schools.

In Mumbai, the city is divided into four zones:

n A-G

Colaba to Bandra/Sion (Mumbai city)

n HKPR

Bandra to Borivali (Western suburbs) – Western railway

n LN ST

Kurla to Mulund (Eastern suburbs) – Central railway

n ME/MW

Chembur, Govandi, Mankhurd (Northeastern suburbs) –Harbor line

In each of the four zones, 15 schools were selected, 5 each for the differentmediums of instruction - Marathi, Urdu and Hindi. In order to ensure thatthe schools were selected randomly, lots were drawn by writing up all theavailable school names on pieces of paper.

The profile of the children tested in the two cities is indicated in the table.

Children in the 3rd standard should ideally be 8 or 9 years old, while

40

Reading , Writ ing & Arithmet i c : Chi ldrens Learning Leve l s in Delh i & Mumbai

TABLE 9 NO. OF SCHOOLS AND CHILDREN TESTED

MUMBAI DELHI

TOTAL SCHOOLS 60 86

TOTAL CHILDREN 6,849 9332

CHILDREN BY STANDARD

STANDARD 3 3,254 4,636

STANDARD 4 3,595 4,696

CHILDREN BY GENDER

MALE 3,254 4,636

FEMALE 3,595 4,696

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 40

children in the 4th standard should ideally be 9 or 10 years old. The agedistribution of the children tested is shown here:

Age is not a very precisely reported variable but based on the reported ages,majority of children are in the appropriate age ranges.

3 . 3 M A J O R F I N D I N G S F RO M D E L H I A N D M U M B A I : R E A D I N G ,

A R I T H M E T I C A N D W R I T I N G

The textual material that Std 3 and 4 children are expected to read in theirtextbooks is well beyond the level of the test.

41

TABLE 10 AGE DISTRIBUTION OF CHILDREN TESTED

3RD STANDARD 4TH STANDARD

AGE DELHI MUMBAI DELHI MUMBAI

6 0.69% 0.34% 0.13% 0.08%

7 15.47% 21.39% 2.77% 0.36%

8 37.79% 41.61% 18.04% 20.22%

9 25.39% 22.13% 32.41% 38.55%

10 13.65% 7.71% 26.85% 23.37%

11 3.95% 2.30% 10.99% 9.12%

12 2.05% 2.06% 6.67% 3.50%

DON’T KNOW 1.01% 2.46% 2.15% 4.78%

TOTAL 4,636 3,254 4,696 3,595

TABLE 11 READING LEVELS OF CHILDREN

READING LEVEL 3RD STANDARD 4TH STANDARD

DELHI MUMBAI DELHI MUMBAI

CAN READ STORY

OR PARAGRAPHS 54.40% 54.70% 71.10% 63.90%

WORD 15.70% 15.30% 12.20% 13.30%

LETTER 20.60% 22.50% 12.60% 16.60%

NOTHING 9.30% 7.50% 4.10% 6.20%

TOTAL 4636 3254 4696 3595

n In both cities at Std 3 level,50% of the children cannot readeven simple paragraphs.

n In both cities at Std 4 level,30% of the children cannot readeven simple paragraphs.

n Preliminary analysis does notshow any substantial differencebetween the genders in reading.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 41

COMPARISONS BETWEEN MUMBAI AND DEL H I

There are some interesting differences in the structure of primary schooling inboth cities.

n Mumbai has roughly 1200 municipal primary schools ascompared to Delhi’s 1800 schools. There are close to a millionchildren between Std 1 to 5 in Delhi’s municipal schools. Thisnumber is closer to 500,000 for children up to Std 4 inMumbai. The scale of the Delhi municipal school system ingeographic spread is also much larger.

n In Mumbai, 40% of children of the primary school age groupattend private schools—aided and unaided (Juneja 2001). In

42

Reading , Writ ing & Arithmet i c : Chi ldrens Learning Leve l s in Delh i & Mumbai

TABLE 12 ARITHMETIC LEVELS OF CHILDREN

LEVEL 3RD STANDARD 4TH STANDARD

DELHI MUMBAI DELHI MUMBAI

DIVISION 11.40% 0.80% 30.40% 11.40%

SUBTRACTION 38.00% 22.60% 33.50% 28.40%

NO. RECOGNITION 25.70% 32.00% 21.10% 28.00%

NOTHING 24.90% 44.60% 15.00% 32.20%

TOTAL 4636 3254 4696 3595

n In both cities at the 3rdstandard level, over 50% of thechildren cannot do two digitsubtraction problems.

n In both cities at the 4thstandard level, over 30% of thechildren cannot do two digitsubtraction problems.

n Preliminary analysis does notshow any substantial differencebetween the genders inarithmetic skills.

TABLE 13 WRITING LEVELS OF CHILDREN

LEVEL 3RD STANDARD 4TH STANDARD

DELHI MUMBAI DELHI MUMBAI

CAN WRITE 53.26% 52.55% 69.83% 60.45%

CAN’T WRITE 46.74% 47.45% 30.17% 39.55%

TOTAL 4636 3254 4696 3595

n In both cities, at the 3rdstandard level, about 50%children can’t write

n In both cities, at the 4thstandard level, about 30%children can’t write

n Preliminary analysis does notshow any substantial differencebetween the genders in writingskills

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 42

Delhi, approximately a quarter of total enrollment in primaryschools is in private schools (Chugh 2004). These broadnumbers suggest that a broader cross-section of people in Delhiuse municipal schools for their children as compared toMumbai. Mumbai municipal primary schools haveapproximately 15000 teachers (Juneja 2001) and Delhimunicipal schools have approximately 19,000 teachers (DelhiGovt sources 2002).

n Mumbai municipal schools are run in eight languages: Marathi,Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and English. Thefirst three languages are the primary languages. Although Delhi’smunicipal corporation schools also have several languages, thevast majority of children attend Hindi medium schools.

n Mumbai’s municipal school system has two streams in terms ofsupport to schools. There are “beat officers” who provideacademic support to the schools. The beat officers are organizedby language and, on average, are responsible for 12-15 schools.In addition, there are “administrative officers” who areorganized by ward and are part of the ward bureaucracy. Theyare responsible for administrative issues and infrastructure. Delhidoes not have a similar bifurcated structure for academic andnon-academic functions.

A quick look at the broad findings from the learning survey suggests thatMumbai’s performance especially in maths is poorer than in Delhi. But beforeany conclusions can be reached, learning issues in both cities need to beinvestigated further. The reading levels of children in both cities are roughlysimilar, but the difference in maths is quite striking. The data collected fromchildren so far maybe too basic for providing causal answers of any substance,but the patterns seen so far can be used to generate questions for further studyand action.

n Widespread testing is needed in both systems, internally andexternally to firmly establish the extent to which remedial actionis needed. If learning levels are indeed as weak as indicated by

43

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 43

this sample study, then immediate urgent large-scale action willbe needed.

n To what extent does the academic organization of the schoolsystem influence learning? On the face of it, Mumbai’s structurethrough “beat officers” provides ongoing academic support toschools. On average, average enrollment in primary schools andstudent teacher ratios in Mumbai schools is also much morefavourable than in Delhi.

n To what extent does the social composition and educationalbackground of children’s families influence learning levels? Thisstudy did not collect data on children’s family background, butgiven the patterns of private school enrollment in Mumbai, is itlikely that the children from the poorest strata in Mumbai attendmunicipal schools whereas Delhi municipal schools draw from abroader cross-section of society?

3 . 4 L E V E L O F L E A R N I N G I N M U M B A I ’ S S C H O O L S : M A R AT H I ,

H I N D I A N D U R D U S C H O O L S

There are eight languages or mediums of instruction in municipal primaryschools in Mumbai. Marathi, Hindi and Urdu are the top three languages interms of enrollment. In Mumbai, of the 60 schools tested, 20 are Marathi-medium, 20 are Urdu-medium and 20 are Hindi-medium. Analysis of thelearning levels in these schools is indicated:

44

Reading , Writ ing & Arithmet i c : Chi ldrens Learning Leve l s in Delh i & Mumbai

TABLE 14 READING SKILLS OF CHILDREN IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGE MEDIUM SCHOOLS

LEVEL 3RD STANDARD 4TH STANDARD

HINDI MARATHI URDU HINDI MARATHI URDU

CAN READ STORY 52.30% 64.40% 45.70% 61.20% 71.40% 58.80%

OR PARAGRAPHS

WORD 13.20% 15.70% 17.00% 12.60% 11.90% 15.40%

LETTER 23.00% 15.10% 30.70% 16.40% 13.40% 20.00%

NOTHING 11.50% 4.80% 6.60% 9.80% 3.30% 5.80%

TOTAL 1035 1195 1024 1159 1227 1209

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 44

The data indicates that both in Std 3 as well as Std 4 children learning inMarathi-medium schools are ahead in reading skills compared to childrenlearning in Hindi-medium schools who, in turn are ahead in reading skillscompared to children learning in Urdu-medium schools.

Analysis of the writing levels indicates similar patterns.

3 . 5 F U T U R E D I R E C T I O N S : T H O U G H T S F O R D I S C U S S I O N

Learning is the core element of any educational effort. Without adequatelearning, schooling does not “add value” to children in terms of building askill and knowledge base and as a foundation for further educational growth.

The major finding from the data collected above suggests that:

Close to 50% of Standard 3 children in municipal schools inMumbai and Delhi are unable to read simple sentences fluentlyor do simple arithmetic operations or write a dictated sentence.About 30% of children in Standard 4 are in a similar position.

The implications of these findings need to be seriously considered atseveral levels. Schools, families, cities and citizens should not accept that largenumbers of school-going children, who have been in school for three and fouryears, are virtually illiterate.

A very basic test of reading, arithmetic and writing was carried out as partof this study. The results indicate that substantial numbers of children havenot even achieved these basic levels of learning. These findings warrant a muchcloser look into the status of learning within each city and a much deeperunderstanding of its reasons for the current status. A variety of testing toolsand techniques should be used to understand the current status.

It is critical that assessment be used in a proactive way for improvingteaching-learning practices in our schools. Frequent measurement of learning

45

TABLE 15 WRITING SKILLS OF CHILDREN IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGE MEDIUM SCHOOLS

LEVEL 3RD STANDARD 4TH STANDARD

HINDI MARATHI URDU HINDI MARATHI URDU

CAN WRITE 54.50% 60.60% 41.20% 62.30% 65.60% 53.40%

CAN’T WRITE 45.50% 39.40% 58.80% 37.70% 34.40% 46.60%

TOTAL 1035 1195 1024 1159 1227 1209

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 45

levels as a tool for improving the delivery of education is needed to constantlymonitor and track progress of children. The tests and testing process needs tobe accessible to parents and community members so that they too can help inimproving learning. The SSA document suggests conducting periodicassessments of learning every three years. However, this needs to be muchmore frequent without which school systems, as well as parents, will not beable to gauge if the majority of the children are on track.

Large scale “acceleration” of learning is needed if a majority of thesechildren are to have a viable educational future. Support structures (training,monitoring, guidance, accountability) to enable schools to perform bettermust be designed and implemented immediately if “Learning for All” is tobecome a reality. Without a serious and intensive effort at “Learning for All”,Universal Elementary Education cannot become meaningful and durable.

46

Reading , Writ ing & Arithmet i c : Chi ldrens Learning Leve l s in Delh i & Mumbai

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 46

4

Retention & Complet ion

Universal retention by 2010.Goal 5 of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

WITHOUT SEVERAL YEARS of continuous and productive learning, literacyand numeracy skills cannot be sustained over time. The investment

made by households and by governments in enrolling children in primaryschool is lost if children do not last through the primary stage and if they donot accumulate durable language and math skills.

SSA goals emphasize the retention of children through the elementaryeducation stage to ensure that all children complete 5 years of education by2007 and 8 years of education by 2010.

4 . 1 D O C H I L D R E N S TAY I N S C H O O L ? C O N C E P T UA L A N D

M E A S U R E M E N T I S S U E S

The answer to this simple question is critical for understanding where we areon the second SSA goal – “completion of 4/5 years of schooling by 2007”.Descriptive statistics from the government often quote “dropout” figures andresearch studies on universalization also commonly refer to children “dropping

47

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 47

out.”Therefore, it is important to understand how “dropout” is usuallymeasured in government data. At least in the case of Delhi and Mumbai, theefforts have been mainly centered around tracking school-based cohorts fromdifferent years. For example, the overall enrollment in a particular year in a setof schools or in a region is then compared with the overall enrollment insubsequent years.

Existing methods of measuring retention follow a cohort of childrenentering Standard 1 over a few years. Every year, the cohort’s currentenrollment level is measured. Survival of the cohort from year to year isconsidered retention. In the table below, MCD primary school enrollment datais presented (Banerji 2004). Three cohorts that started Standard 1 in 1989,1993 and 1999 are tracked through till Standard 5. Since Delhi’s municipalschools have separate schools for boys and girls, in this exercise boys and girlshave been tracked separately.

There are various problems with calculating dropout or completion usingaggregates. Many of these problems have been outlined in previous studies (seeBanerji 2004). For example, aggregate numbers do not account for migrationor movement of children out of the city or into the city or transferring intoother schools within the city. While a school may show a high dropout rate (i.e.children not continuing in that school), it may actually be the case of childrentransferring to a better school (government or private) in the neighbourhood.Sometimes, in order to avail benefits from government enrolment schemes,parents enroll their children in Standard 1 in multiple schools.

In addition, two categories of children are not acknowledged in such a

48

Re t en t i on & Comp l e t i on

TABLE 16 SURVIVAL OF COHORTS THROUGH THE PRIMARY STAGE:

MCD PRIMARY SCHOOLS 1989-1999

STARTED ENROLLMENT % OF COHORT IN STANDARD

STANDARD 1 IN IN STANDARD 1 1 2 3 4 5

BOYS

1989 82,298 100% 91% 86% 85%

1993 89,840 100% 92% 81% 82% 75%

1999 97,257 100% 92% 87% 85% 82%

GIRLS

1989 82,347 100% 90% 84% 79%

1993 93,271 100% 90% 81% 85% 68%

1999 107,522 100% 84% 79% 74% 68%

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 48

retention analysis:

n Children that have never enrolled in school.

n Children that have migrated into the community and enrolledinto that school, not at Standard 1 but at a higher standard.

Tracking children over time is a time intensive and labour intensive task. Itrequires reliable and uniquely coded child level information at each school thatcan be matched (so that transfers and migrations) can be tracked. As with anyother longitudinal study, the problem of attrition from the sample alsocomplicates matters.

The aggregate view does not give the fine grained understanding that isneeded for looking at the constraints that children (families and communities)face while continuing through the primary and elementary phase. Yet without aclear understanding, it is difficult to come up with strategies and solutions.

The considerable migration of job-seeking populations in and out of mega-cities implies that the population within these large urban agglomerations isconstantly shifting. This trend specifically impacts low-income neighborhoodsin big cities—a vast majority of migrant work is in the form of low-paidinformal labour, obliging those that do migrate to take up makeshift residencesin low-income neighborhoods. Many migrant families move into the cities inincremental shifts—often a few family members remaining in the native villagewhile the bread-winners come into the city first. Consequently, many familieslive across state borders, necessitating frequent visits back and forth. Manychildren in this situation face a number of difficulties—if they attend school atall. Some children are registered in both the village and city school—however,frequent visits home imply prolonged absences from either school. Further,entering school mid-stream requires transfer certificates that parents andfamilies sometimes just are not able to acquire.

The school-based retention aggregates do not take into account out-of-school children and children that transfer out of the government school systeminto the private and private-aided system. The community retention tool wehave used for this part of the study enables us to understand broadly for whichreasons children drop out of school, stay in the same class, or change schools.This provides valuable insights into the retention patterns of children’seducation histories. Towards that end, we hope that a more systematic look at

49

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 49

children’s educational histories will elicit some information that can be used tounderstand the retention patterns of children through the education system.

4 . 2 D E V E LO P M E N T O F A “ TO O L” TO M E A S U R E S TAY I N G O N I N

S C H O O L , T R A N S I T I O N A N D C O M P L E T I O N

In order to deal with many of the problems discussed above, we havedeveloped a “tracking tool” that is based in the community and isadministered in the household rather than in the school. Essentially, it is aretrospective questionnaire that asks about the educational history of allchildren in the household since they were 3 years old. There is also an attemptto match the educational history of the children within a household with somebasic socio-economic demographic characteristics of the household (such as,parents’ education level, current occupation of the head of the household,major family events/crisis, migration information).

The data collection process is fairly labour and time-intensive, but thepreliminary data that has been collected thus far is interesting and providessome insights into the problems of retention.

The communities surveyed across the two cities were purposively selectedcommunities across 5 zones in Mumbai and 7 zones in Delhi where Prathamhas a field presence. In Delhi, an average of 250 households were interviewedper community. In Mumbai, an average of 95 households per community were

50

Re t en t i on & Comp l e t i on

TABLE 17: COMMUNITIES SURVEYED FOR RETENTION ANALYSIS

CITY ZONE BASTI NO. OF

HOUSEHOLDS

DELHI CITY MANAK PURA 250

DELHI NORTH SHAHDARA C-2 NAND NAGRI 250

DELHI NORTH SHAHDARA OLD SEEMA PURI PART 2 250

DELHI NORTH SHAHDARA OLD MUSTAFABAD G. NO-16-17 250

DELHI SOUTH SHAHDARA MULLA COLONY 250

DELHI WEST DELHI NIHAL VIHAR 250

DELHI CENTRAL SHAHDARA PANDAV NAGAR - NEHRU CAMP 1 250

MUMBAI LNST ACHANAK NAGAR 2 114

MUMBAI HKPR GAZADHAR BANDH 2 62

MUMBAI HKPR SHANTI NAGAR 1 64

MUMBAI A TO G TRAZIS CAMP 128

MUMBAI A TO G HIMAT NAGAR 93

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 50

interviewed. The communities surveyed are indicated in Table 17.In selected communities, children were interviewed individually. The

interview determines the following information for the child:

n BAC KGROUND INFORMATION

Current age of the child, occupation of the parents, educationalbackground of the parents.

n CURRENT EDUCATIONAL STATUS

In-school/out-of-school/never-enrolled. If the child is in-school, then the type of the education institution – private orMCD – is requested as well as the Standard in which the child isstudying is requested.

n PREVIOUS EDUCATIONAL STATUS

For each previous year going back to either 5 years of age orpre-school (whichever is earlier), the education status of thechild is collected. For each year, in that year, the informationthat is collected includes: the standard the child was in,whether the child dropped out that year, whether the childfailed that year, whether the child changed schools that year,type of school the child studied in that year. If the childmigrated into the community at some intermediate point, thenthe educational history of that child from the point ofmigration is requested.

The form used for the retention survey is attached as Annexure 2Although this community based retention tool overcomes many of the

deficiencies of the current methods of school based cohort tracking, itcontinues to share a deficiency with the current methods: it does not allow thetracking of children that were part of that cohort but are not in thecommunity today and have therefore not been interviewed.

4 . 3 P R E L I M I NA RY F I N D I N G S F RO M D E L H I A N D M U M B A I

Children in the age-group of 5-14 were interviewed. As a result, cohorts are

51

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 51

available for children entering Standard 1 in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. The cohort for 2004 indicates children inStandard 1 alone. The cohort for 2003 indicates children in Standard 1 andStandard 2. Therefore, cohorts for 2004 and 2003 are uninteresting becausethey do not show children going across at least three standards. Cohorts for1995, 1996 and 1997 have fewer children and are therefore not useful foranalysis and comparison.

For the purpose of presentation, analysis and comparison, only cohorts of1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 are considered.

Below is a detailed calculation of retention for the cohort of 1999 inDelhi and Mumbai is presented:

Through similar computation, retentions for different cohorts in Delhiand Mumbai have been determined in Tables 19 and 20.

The pilot of the retention tool in Mumbai and Delhi has allowedrefinement of the tool, to the point where it can be used for large-scaleanalysis. The category of in-migration into communities has not been

52

Re t en t i on & Comp l e t i on

TABLE 18 DETAILED CALCULATION FOR RETENTION FOR THE COHORT OF 1999 IN DELHI

YEAR IN WHICH SIZE OF COHORT THAT COULD HAVE ENROLLED IN

COHORT STARTED STD 1 STD 1 STD 2 STD 3 STD 4 STD 5 STD 6 STD 7 STD 8

1999 282 270 265 265 255 241 219 190

NEVER BEEN TO SCHOOL 12

IN-MIGRATION

DROPOUT 1 0 1 7 4 14

FAILURE 4 0 9 7 18 15

RETENTION 96% 98% 100% 96% 95% 91% 87%

(YEAR ON YEAR)

CUMULATIVE RETENTION 96% 94% 94% 90% 85% 78% 67%

TABLE 19 DETAILED CALCULATION FOR RETENTION FOR THE COHORT OF 1999 IN MUMBAI

YEAR IN WHICH SIZE OF COHORT THAT COULD HAVE ENROLLED IN

COHORT STARTED STD 1 STD 1 STD 2 STD 3 STD 4 STD 5 STD 6 STD 7

1999 168 168 160 156 150 144 131

NEVER BEEN TO SCHOOL 1

IN-MIGRATION

DROPOUT 2 2 1 5

FAILURE 5 2 5 1 13

RETENTION 100% 95% 98% 96% 96 91%

(YEAR ON YEAR)

CUMULATIVE RETENTION 100% 95% 93% 94% 92% 87%

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 52

adequately captured and merits further attention during design of the surveyform and training of the surveyors.

Although, with the small amount of data currently available, comparisonwith existing school based methods of measuring retention, or comparison ofretention trends across cohorts, or comparison of retention trends across citiesis premature, some indications are highlighted:

Retention rates in Mumbai are marginally higher than in Delhi,and the gap is increasingly narrowing over the cohorts, i.e.retention in Mumbai (82%) was much higher than Delhi (67%)for the cohort of 1998, but by the cohort of 2002, theretention rate is almost the same (87%).

In both the cities of Mumbai and Delhi, while the retention ofthe cohorts of 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 are comparable, thecohort of 2002 (current age 7-8) appears to have poorerretention in early grades. This trend may indicate that a largenumber of children are enrolling in school at a later age thanmost of their peers. Consequently, for older cohorts, even the

53

TABLE 20 DETAILED CALCULATION FOR RETENTION FOR THE COHORT OF 1999 IN DELHI

YEAR IN WHICH SIZE OF COHORT RETENTION BY

COHORT STARTED STD 1 THAT COULD HAVE STD 1 STD 2 STD 3 STD 4 STD 5 STD 6 STD 7

ENROLLED

1998 282 96% 94% 94% 90% 85% 78% 67%

1999 289 98% 97% 96% 90% 86% 75%

2000 326 96% 95% 94% 89% 80%

2001 315 96% 94% 94% 86%

2002 323 89% 89% 87%

TABLE 21 DETAILED CALCULATION FOR RETENTION FOR THE COHORT OF 1999 IN MUMBAI

YEAR IN WHICH SIZE OF COHORT RETENTION BY

COHORT STARTED STD 1 THAT COULD HAVE STD 1 STD 2 STD 3 STD 4 STD 5 STD 6 STD 7

ENROLLED

1998 144 99% 99% 97% 94% 91% 84% 82%

1999 168 100% 95% 93% 94% 92% 87%

2000 177 100% 99% 94% 89% 89%

2001 158 96% 96% 93% 88%

2002 158 99% 91% 87%

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 53

children who had not yet enrolled by ages 7-8 were probablyincluded in the education net subsequently.

As expected, comparison of the retention data with thepublished government data for retention in MCD schools inDelhi indicates greater retention within the system than thepublished data may suggest.

Some other findings indicate that the average age of entry into school isslightly higher in Mumbai than in Delhi. However this may follow fromanother finding—that a greater percentage of children in Mumbai appear totake tuition and join pre-school programs than do children in Delhi. Aninteresting finding suggests that many children are taking help from tuitioncentres even before they enter school.

A concentrated focus on understanding progress of children through theschool system needs to be undertaken by governments, school systems and byacademic researchers.

54

Re t en t i on & Comp l e t i on

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 54

5

Policy, Perce pt ions & Pract iceSystem Readiness & Decis ion Making at the

School Level

AS THE GOVERNMENT embarks on a massive thrust to meet the goals of theSSA, the success of the government’s plans and policies are determined at

least in part by the readiness of the implementing structure and theeffectiveness of decision making at the school level.

The declared goals of SSA in brief are:

n All children in school, Education Guarantee Centres, AlternateSchool, “Back to School” camp by 2003.

n All children complete five years of primary schooling by 2007.

n All children complete eight years of elementary schooling by2010.

n Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality withemphasis on education for life.

n Bridge all gender and social category gaps at the primary stage by2007 and at the elementary education level by 2010.

55

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 55

n Universal retention by 2010.

In order to meet goals 1, 2 and 3 of the SSA:

n ACCESS AND MAINSTREAMING

Children out of school must be brought into the education net.Headmasters and teachers must know how to handle admissionsof out-of-school children brought to their school.

n RETENTION AND TRANSITION

Significant numbers of children drop out during the primarystage of education and also when they are required to changeschools, during the transition from primary to upper-primary (asin Delhi) or upper-primary to secondary (as in Mumbai).Headmasters and teachers must know how to guide childrenthrough this phase to ensure they stay in the education system.

In order to meet goal 4 of the SSA, headmasters and teachers must know howto ensure that all children are learning.

Headmasters and teachers must know about the funds available to themand must put them to optimal use.

In this section, we explore readiness of municipal schools in low-incomecommunities in Mumbai and Delhi to implement simple decisions thatfacilitate the universalization of elementary education.

A survey was conducted of headmasters and teachers. In Delhi,headmasters and teachers of 22 schools were interviewed. In Mumbai,headmasters and teachers of 16 schools were interviewed.

56

Policy, Perceptions & Practice: System Readiness & Decision Making at the School Level

FIVE QUESTIONS ASKED OF MUMBAI AND DELHI SCHOOLS

n The municipal primary school in our locality is very overcrowded.Children are sitting in the verandahs and outside. More space is neededurgently. What can be done about this?

n We have just come to the city from the village. My daughter is ten yearsold. She dropped out of the village school two years ago. We do not have

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 56

5 . 1 I N T E RV I E W S

A set of five basic questions was designed. These are based on commonquestions asked by children’s parents and community members. Allheadmasters and teachers were asked the same set of questions2. The topicscovered were: access, mainstreaming, transition, achievement, and funds flow.

To understand perceptions and practices at the school level, responses wereanalyzed and sorted into the following categories. Although these categoriesare not exactly along a progressive scale, each category does indicate anincreasing degree of engagement with the problem as well as the stated abilityor desire to solve the problem:

57

2 Two interviewers conducted the interview. While one interviewer posed the questions andinteracted with the interviewee, the other interviewer took down notes. At the end of theinterview, the two interviewers regrouped to go over the notes to ensure that all the points ascommunicated by the interviewee were transcribed. After all the interviews were complete, thedata collected in the interviews were analyzed.

any transfer certificate. We really want her to go to school here in thecity. What can be done?

n My child has completed Std...(Standard 5 in Delhi and Standard 7 inMumbai). There is no municipal or government school beyond this stagenear our house. We do not have money to send our child to privateschool. What shall we do?

n My child goes to school everyday, but still is weak in studies. How doyou identify those weak children? What can you do for my child?

n I have heard that under SSA, each teacher is getting Rs 500 forspending on teaching-learning. Have the teachers in our school got it?What will they spend it on?

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 57

LEVEL 1 ENGAGEMENT AND UNDERSTANDING

Did the interviewee have first hand experience of the problem orwas he/she at least familiar with the problem?

LEVEL 2 : ROUTINE (SYSTEMIC) RESPONSE

Is the interviewee able to talk about and describe the standardprocesses and systemic responses that must be undertaken toresolve the problem?

LEVEL 3 : LOCAL BASIC RESPONSE

Are there possibilities of taking action locally? Does theinterviewee refer to decisions undertaken at the school level tohelp ease the problem?

LEVEL 4 : INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE

How much enterprise and initiative is shown at the school levelto tackle the problem in the given context? This refers toresponses, which are beyond the routine systemic response.

5 . 2 AC C E S S R E L AT E D R E S P O N S E S

Overcrowding in schools in many locations in Mumbai and Delhi is a reality.In Mumbai, there is a shift in population from south Mumbai to suburbanlocations on the eastern and western railway lines, leaving schools in southMumbai with extra space and schools in suburban locations bursting at theseams. In Delhi, densely populated areas are in a ring around the city:resettlement colonies in the southern, and western districts and slum localitiesacross the Jamuna are coping with large enrollments, whereas school buildingsin the old city or in newer and posher locations generally have extra space.

The municipal primary school in our locality is very overcrowded.Children are sitting in the verandahs and outside. More space isneeded urgently. What can be done about this?

This is the question that was asked of headmasters and schoolteachers.Examples of comments are shown here as illustrations:

58

Policy, Perceptions & Practice: System Readiness & Decision Making at the School Level

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 58

LEVEL 1 : UNDERSTANDING OR EXPERIENCE OF ISSUE :

“There is no problem of overcrowding in the school as not manyparents prefer to send their children to school here.”

LEVEL 2 : ROUTINE (SYSTEMIC) RESPONSE :

“The requests are put to the School Inspector/AEO/DEO andthey forward the same to the respective authorities above them—upon approval of her request, the funds would be released and thetender process for construction could be started.”

“The school applied for a larger building when the school was built20 years ago. Till last year, all the school got was a verbal promisethough nothing has happened as of yet.”

“Generally, tents are put up in the school area to accommodate theexcess children. Also portable cabins, which are set up in openspaces, are temporary rooms, which can be lifted as a whole andtransferred. A request for a bigger school in a nearby area can alsoput in.”

LEVEL 3 : LOCAL BASIC RESPONSE :

“We try to accommodate by putting two sections into thebigger room.”

“We have a rotation system. (The school had 16 classes but only13 rooms). Classes 4, 5 and nursery had their own rooms.Classes 1,2 and 3 shared a room.”

LEVEL 4 : INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE :

“Many PTA meetings have been held for this as well as manyprotests have been organized. Meetings with the officers show that2.17 crores have been sanctioned for the new building, thoughnothing seems to be happening.”

When all the interviews were coded and analyzed, the broad categorizationwas as follows. Close to 50% of schools in both cities were able to refer to asystemic response to overcrowding, and also indicate that some local action

59

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 59

had been undertaken.The data indicates that in Mumbai, a larger percentage of headmasters and

teachers were aware of the problem of overcrowding. They had eitherexperienced it first hand in the schools in which they had worked or they wereaware that this was a serious issue in many schools. Only 12.5% respondentsfrom Mumbai indicated that the problem did not exist in their school and theyhad not encountered the problem elsewhere, as compared to 36.36%respondents from Delhi.

The issue of overcrowding is a very real one and it affects school lifeimmediately and on a daily basis. Some decisions have to be taken at theschool level to remedy the issue. These usually involve sitting arrangementsthat maximize the available space in the school premises. Verandahs andstorerooms, if any, are used; the headmaster’s office is used.

The routine process for solving this problem involves applying to theeducational authorities for sanctioning buildings. The school system alsoassesses the locations and plans for more buildings. There are very fewovercrowded schools in either city where proposals for expansion of space havenot already been made. The question is: how far has the local school gone orhow persistently has the school followed up on the routine action. Only oneschool in Delhi and six schools in Mumbai reported actions and follow-ups thatwere initiated and carried through which were beyond the systemic response.

While these interviews only suggest usual forms of decision-making at theschool level in Mumbai and Delhi, it does indicate that most schools thatexperience overcrowding are dependent on the school system to solve theproblem. While the school experiences “demand” for space on a daily basis, theprovision of extra space is left to the “supply side”. Very few schools reported

60

Policy, Perceptions & Practice: System Readiness & Decision Making at the School Level

TABLE 22 ACCESS RELATED RESPONSES

LEVEL DELHI MUMBAI

SCHOOLS % SCHOOLS %

INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE 1 4.55% 6 37.50%

LOCAL BASIC RESPONSE 11 50.00% 4 25.00%

ROUTINE(SYSTEMIC) RESPONSE 2 9.09% 4 25.00%

ENGAGEMENT 0 0.00% 0 0.00%

NO CONTEXT 8 36.36% 2 12.50%

TOTAL 22 16

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 60

involving parents, community members or local elected representatives to createa large pressure group in order to hasten provision. There is hardly anybody whobrings up the possibility of using other spaces owned by municipal authoritiesin their localities for extending the school space.

Delhi has traditionally used “tents” as a way of creating extra space forschools. It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of the 2004-2005school year, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had made a policy decisionto do away with all tent schools and immediately replace tents with portable(temporary) cabins. Although this too is a temporary measure, it still indicatesa change in the system’s response in terms of policy and rapid implementationto tackle the issue of overcrowding.

Space comes at a premium in Mumbai. It is commonly thought that 50%of Mumbai’s residents live in slums. Thus finding extra space–whether withinexisting school premises or otherwise–is a more difficult proposition in thecity. Rented spaces have been used in crowded areas like Behrampada nearBandra or in other locations. There has also been the scheme for “satellite”schools or “bhagshalas” linked to a nodal school in the area: these are schoolswhich are physically not connected to the main school, but for purposes ofaccountability and responsibility, are a part of the main school.

Although there are overcrowded locations in both cities, there are specificareas in which this problem can be seen in a concentrated way. In Mumbai, aportion of M-East ward and in Delhi, north Shahdara - the northern portionof the trans-Jamuna belt. As SSA moves forward, it is imperative thatpermanent and durable solutions for space are found in these locations.

5 . 3 M A I N S T R E A M I N G R E L AT E D R E S P O N S E S

Delhi and Mumbai are cities largely made up of migrants. Families come tothese metropolises in search of livelihoods. The move to the city may be aplanned move or it could be a crisis move. It is not necessary that families willtime their move to synchronize with the school calendar. Any migration, if notplanned, is a potential disruption to the schooling career of a child. Thus, ifmega-cities like Delhi and Mumbai are to reach universal elementary educationor SSA goals, they should be adequately prepared to absorb children ofelementary school age at any time during the school year or during theschooling career of a child.

61

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 61

“We have just come to the city from the village. My daughter is tenyears old. She dropped out of the village school two years ago. Wedo not have any transfer certificate. We really want her to go toschool here in the city. What can be done?”

The SSA document outlining the framework for implementation makesprovision for diversified strategies and describes a broad set of options such asEGS, Back to School camps etc. Although “mainstreaming” is an underlyingobjective, the process by which out-of-school children can be absorbedimmediately into the existing school system is not specified. In this section, weexplored this question with schools:

This is the question that was posed to headmasters and schoolteachers.Examples of comments are shown here as illustrations:

LEVEL 1 : UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWLEDGE OF ISSUE :

“If the child gets the transfer certificate then the school will takeadmission at anytime. But we are not allowed to take children inthe middle of the session without a TC. The school during theadmission months requires an affidavit to get the children enrolledinto the school.

LEVEL 2 : ROUTINE (SYSTEMIC) RESPONSE :

“They would admit anyone even without TC, but needed a birthcertificate, affidavit, or some sort of proof of birth.”

LEVEL 3 : LOCAL BASIC RESPONSE :

“The school would also help those illiterate parents for whomobtaining the birth certificate or affidavit was difficult—if theycame to the school and requested admission for their child.”

LEVEL 4 : INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE :

“Admit the child, estimate which class the child should be in, assessthe child to identify if the child is actually at that level or not. Theteachers can also call parents of weak children to give themsuggestions and advice on what to do at home with those children.”

From Table 23 it appears that the problem of admitting out-of-school

62

Policy, Perceptions & Practice: System Readiness & Decision Making at the School Level

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 62

children was well understood as a process. Schools were aware of what wasneeded to bring out-of-school children into the education system. Mostrespondents in both cities provided systemic responses. The data indicates thatfor the set of headmasters and teachers interviewed nobody was unaware ofthe problem. As with other issues, there were schools who had taken stepsabove and beyond those prescribed by the regulations. The sample is small andso it is incorrect to attempt generalizations, but there are more schools inMumbai as compared to Delhi that show individual initiative in addressing theproblem of admitting out-of-school children.

5 . 4 R E T E N T I O N A N D T R A N S I T I O N R E L AT E D R E S P O N S E S

In Delhi, municipal primary schools cater to children up to Std 5. Thereafter,children move to a secondary school for Std 6 onwards. Each secondary schoolhas a set of feeder municipal primary schools. Primary schools are under thejurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and secondary schools arerun by Delhi Government.3 In Mumbai, most municipal schools are upto Std7. Children then move into secondary schools.

The SSA document outlining norms for intervention under SSA states that“based on the number of children completing primary education, up to aceiling of one upper primary school/section for every two primary schools.”

“My child has completed Std...(Standard 5 in Delhi and Standard

63

3 There are approximately 350 school run by Delhi Government that are composite schools inwhich there are classes from Std 1 to Std 12.

TABLE 23 MAINSTREAMING RELATED RESPONSES

LEVEL DELHI MUMBAI

SCHOOLS % SCHOOLS %

INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE 1 4.55% 6 18.75%

LOCAL BASIC RESPONSE 1 4.55% 4 0.00%

ROUTINE(SYSTEMIC) RESPONSE 17 77.27% 4 68.75%

ENGAGEMENT 3 13.64% 0 12.50%

NO CONTEXT 0 0.00% 2 0.00%

TOTAL 22 16

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 63

7 in Mumbai). There is no municipal or government schoolbeyond this stage near our house. We do not have money to sendour child to private school. What shall we do?”

This is the question asked of headmasters and schoolteachers. There were avariety of responses to this question. Here are some comments as illustrations.

LEVEL1 UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE ISSUE :

“There were enough schools around the area for most of the children.”

“We cannot do much in the transition dropping out problembecause MCD is responsible for making the child study until grade5th after that the Delhi Administration takes over.”

LEVEL 2 ROUTINE (SYSTEMIC) RESPONSE :

“Transfer to Sarvodaya Schools was not difficult as the school wasaffiliated to a sarvodaya school therefore children were transferredwithout any difficulty, with a transfer certificate”

LEVEL 3 : LOCAL BASIC RESPONSE :

“The school has an affiliation with the Sarvodaya School. A list issent to this school for the children who need admission, and on theday of admission the teachers go with the students for assistance.”

“Sometimes teachers even assisted parents in the admission process,when they required certification that their child was a good student,or went to a particular primary school, etc.”

LEVEL 4 : INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE :

“If the child wants to study, then go to night school near the house.The primary school informs the night school and requests them towaive the fees for bright children.”

The broad analysis of the data indicates that most headmasters and teachers inboth cities provided routine (systemic) responses to the question of ensuringthat children continue in the education system. Only one respondent in Delhiwas unaware of the problem. In Mumbai, several respondents showed

64

Policy, Perceptions & Practice: System Readiness & Decision Making at the School Level

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 64

individual initiative to reduce the severity of the problem.Interestingly, in comparison to responses from the school, the issue of

continuation from primary school to secondary school is of prime concern toparents of children in primary schools across Delhi and Mumbai. It wouldhave been interesting to discuss the same set of questions with groups ofparents from the same area.

School mapping (linking primary schools to upper primary/ middle andsecondary schools) in Delhi and Mumbai would indicate areas where there isgap. Detailed tracking of children would also indicate whether all childrenwho complete primary school are provided for in government or municipalupper primary/middle or secondary schools in the area.

5 . 5 AC H I E V E M E N T R E L AT E D R E S P O N S E S

The assumption that underlies successful completion of the elementary stageof education is that children will complete the learning levels expected ofthem at each grade level. Through the primary stage, children are not held backor “failed” if they have been attending school regularly. But after the primarystage, promotion is not automatic. Usually there is no uniform remedialeducation program within the school system hence if a child begins to lagbehind academically, he/she is more likely to drop out. In India, even ineducated families, providing learning support to children is seen as theresponsibility of parents and families. For families where parents are noteducated or unable to help children academically, and unable to pay for privatetuition, children’s learning is even more a matter of concern.

65

TABLE 24 TRANSITION RELATED RESPONSES

LEVEL DELHI MUMBAI

SCHOOLS % SCHOOLS %

INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE 0 0.00% 4 25.00%

LOCAL BASIC RESPONSE 3 13.64% 1 6.25%

ROUTINE(SYSTEMIC) RESPONSE 16 72.73% 11 68.75%

ENGAGEMENT 2 9.09% 0 0.00%

NO CONTEXT 1 4.55% 0 0.00%

TOTAL 22 16

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 65

"My child goes to school everyday, but still is weak in studies. Howdo you identify those weak children? What can you do for my child?”

This is the question asked to headmasters and schoolteachers. Some illustrativecomments are as transcribed below:

LEVEL 1 UNDERSTANDING OF CONTEXT OR NOT:

“I have never experienced an instance where the children could notread or write. No parents have ever come up to me with such arequest throughout my career.”

“The teachers try to put in their 100% for the student and try toensure an equal opportunity for every one. Although very commonamong class 5, but very difficult for teachers as parents are not atall interested as well the children. In every class there are at least10-15 such children whose parents will not buy any books orstationary for the children. Also, whatever you teach the child,he/she rips up the next day. Very difficult to handle such children,other children lose out if such children are given any importance.”

“The teachers identify the weak children. There is no time to dealwith these kids separately. That is very difficult to do.”

LEVEL 2 ROUTINE (SYSTEMIC) RESPONSE :

“The biggest problem is getting parents to send their children toschool regularly. Moreover, parents often cannot ensure thatchildren are reaching school at all. Irregular attendance is the mainreason why children are not able to learn adequately. Even theparent teacher meetings (held once in three months) have poorattendance of the parents. Parents don’t bother much what thechildren learn, they are busy with their work.”

“This school has always had a shortage of teachers. There have beenmany cases where the child is 12 but cannot write his name. It isimpossible to pay attention to these children separately. We tend toignore them and work with children who have the ability to learnsomething more.”

66

Policy, Perceptions & Practice: System Readiness & Decision Making at the School Level

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 66

LEVEL 3 LOCAL BASIC RESPONSE :

“The teacher can identify weak students and separately give themremedial education and extra assistance, after school, separatelyfrom other children, etc. Some 5-6 children alone would qualifyfor this sort of instruction; in a few weeks they are up to speedagain (in 10-15 days they can cover the subject).”

“Yes. Children who cannot read or write do exist in the school.The HM tests the children monthly and extra attention is thengiven to such children.”

LEVEL 4 INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE :

“I also speak to the parents about giving specific instructions as tohow to deal with children at home – ensure that they get theirhomework done; spend at least 15 minutes to ensure that the childis learning, etc. If more time is spent by the parents getting thechild to learn at home, then the results are instantaneous…Thereis parent involvement in the general school activities, andspecifically in PTA—that the parents met once every secondSaturday of every month, and discussed all matters includingissues with school building, finances, etc.”

“(These are comments from contract teachers in a school: “Thecontract teachers suggested methods such as model teaching, peerlearning (teachers), getting more skilled students to help out weakerstudents, etc. Also getting parents more involved – although thecontract teachers were quick to point out that the children weremost often first generation learners and parental support was notnearly sufficient.”)”

“We call parents of the weaker children to school and ask them towork with their children.”

Interestingly, the routine (systemic) response in this situation is teachers/headmasters referring to parents and to PTAs. The school system’s response to lowlevels of learning is to involve parents. The system itself does not offer an in-school system wide response to children who need academic support. There

67

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 67

are schools and teachers who have organized remedial education efforts in theirown schools and classes, but these fall more into the category of a localresponse or an individual initiative. The data indicates that in Mumbai, a largerpercentage of headmasters and teachers have engaged with individual initiativesand local basic responses to address the problem of poor learning.

The SSA document outlining the framework for implementation refers to“providing for remedial teaching and enrichment programs at due occasions inall classrooms” as part of the section on quality issues in elementary educationalong with “improving teaching-learning processes to make them child-centered, activity based and mastery-learning oriented.”This provision has tobe planned and implemented as part of the school system’s response to theneed for learning support.

5 . 6 F U N D S F LOW R E L AT E D R E S P O N S E S

As part of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, each primary and upper primary schoolwill get an annual grant of Rs. 2000 for “replacement of non-functionalschool equipment.”This money can be spent only by Village EducationCommittees or School Management Committees. In addition, every primaryschoolteacher and upper primary schoolteacher will get Rs. 500 per year.

“I have heard that under SSA, each teacher is getting Rs 500 forspending on teaching-learning. Have the teachers in our school gotit? What will they spend it on?”

68

Policy, Perceptions & Practice: System Readiness & Decision Making at the School Level

TABLE 25 ACHIEVEMENT RELATED RESPONSES

LEVEL DELHI MUMBAI

SCHOOLS % SCHOOLS %

INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE 2 9.09% 7 43.75%

LOCAL BASIC RESPONSE 2 9.09% 4 25.00%

ROUTINE(SYSTEMIC) RESPONSE 9 40.91% 3 18.75%

ENGAGEMENT 8 36.36% 0 0.00%

NO CONTEXT 1 4.55% 2 12.50%

TOTAL 22 16

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 68

Here are some samples of responses:

LEVEL 2 : ROUTINE (SYSTEMIC) RESPONSE :

“Each teacher spent on teaching aids (charts, maps, etc.) and it wasnot a problem to receive the funds. They had to maintain a registerof all vouchers/materials they spent on and to report to authoritieson how the funds were spent.”

“Only the regular teachers have received a Rs.500 teaching aid,which is spent on the school materials though no reporting is requiredon the cash spent, a file has been maintained for school purposes.”

The analysis of the data indicates that head masters and teachers were aware ofthis provision:

In both cities, all headmasters and teachers were aware of the funds. Allrespondents provided systemic responses to this question. No headmasters orteachers had attempted to either pool the money together to buy larger itemsor had invested the money in any non-conventional items. Items purchasedwere, typically, charts, maps, globe etc.

5 . 7 C O N C LU S I O N S

The interviews and responses to a set of simple questions provide a glimpseinto how schools are responding to the opportunities and provisions underSarva Shiksha Abhiyan. To a large extent, the successful implementation of a

69

TABLE 26 FUND FLOW RELATED RESPONSES

LEVEL DELHI MUMBAI

SCHOOLS % SCHOOLS %

INDIVIDUAL INITIATIVE 0 0.00% 7 0.00%

LOCAL BASIC RESPONSE 0 0.00% 4 0.00%

ROUTINE(SYSTEMIC) RESPONSE 22 100% 3 100%

ENGAGEMENT 0 0.00% 0 0.00%

NO CONTEXT 0 0.00% 2 0.00%

TOTAL 22 16

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 69

program, scheme or campaign depends on the ability of the ground levelstakeholders to translate policy into practice. Thus, understanding perceptionsand actions at the school level is essential for analyzing where more effortneeds to be placed as the process of universalization moves forward.

OVERCROWDING AND ACCESS

Decisions regarding buildings and construction are rarely takenat the school level. Hence, the fact that most schools do notrespond with a great degree of individual initiative is notsurprising. Delhi has already taken steps in this school year toreplace tent schools with temporary structures. MunicipalCorporation in Mumbai has initiated the planning process forlooking into issues of access and infrastructure in one of theirmost difficult areas – M East ward.

One of the key elements of the SSA planning was theparticipation of a larger cross-section of citizens in the process.For example, in Mumbai, the baseline surveys were indeed aparticipatory effort (Pratham coordinated the survey with thesupport and help of municipal authorities, other NGOs andcommunity people). However, the school level responses indicatethat schools expect that the push to translate the provisions inSarva Shiksha Abhiyan related to buildings and classrooms intopractice will come from the school system itself. No respondentreferred to efforts by community groups, parent teacherassociations or elected representatives pressurizing the governmentfor the fulfillment of SSA norms within a given time frame.Whether in planning, in demanding or in helping to implement,participation of the local community needs to be broadened.

M AINSTREAMING

In municipal schools in both Mumbai and Delhi, the process ofenrolling out-of-school children into regular schools has becomerelatively simpler in the last few years. Government orders andmechanisms are widely known within the school system. Thebureaucratic red tape has been removed to a large extent. Thisdoes not mean that parents and children do not face anyproblems when they go to enroll a child in school. What the

70

Policy, Perceptions & Practice: System Readiness & Decision Making at the School Level

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 70

school level interviews indicate is that there is a systemicresponse to this problem, which is widely known, and a systemicresponse exists.

The issue of what to do with out-of-school children once theyare enrolled is a more complex one and there are no clearsystemic answers. Schoolteachers do speak of the difficulties ofoverage children in younger classes.

For example:

In which class to put a 10 year old who has just been enrolled inschool? What should be taught to an 8-year-old child who hasreturned to school after having dropped out for a few years? Howcan the age-grade structured school system handle a vast influx ofout-of-school children?

The SSA document outlines strategies for bringing out-of-school children into the education net. Most of these strategiesrefer to education guarantee centers, bridge courses and otheralternative and innovative schemes. The underlying assumption isthat these out-of-school children will be “prepared” formainstreaming in schemes and programs outside the mainstreamand then will be brought in. Once they are enrolled in theschools it is expected that they will be similar to theircounterparts in age and grade and academic ability. There is noexplicit reference to the absorption of such children directly intothe regular schools.

PROVIS ION AND UTILIZATION OF FUNDS

SSA provides a small grant to schools and to teachers. Thispractice has been initiated in the school systems of both citiesrecently. All teachers are aware of this grant; they receive it andusually spend it on small items of use in the classroom. As ofnow, individuals use the grants in fairly standard ways. It ispossible that as time goes on and as funds become a customarypart of the school’s inputs, more innovative ideas may emergeand schools may take the initiative to enhance the learningenvironment of their classrooms is new ways.

71

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 71

RETE NTION AND LEARNING

The discussions on retention and transition at the school levelindicate that an automatic progression through the schoolsystem is assumed. Most headmasters and teachers in both citiesprovided routine (systemic) responses to the question ofensuring that children do not drop out of the education netwhen they undergo a transition of schools. However, theresponses suggest that the responsibility of ensuring thatchildren continue their education is really on parents. Thispicture comes through even more strongly on the issue oflearning. The schools interviewed here seem to believe that“guaranteeing” learning is up to the parents.

72

Policy, Perceptions & Practice: System Readiness & Decision Making at the School Level

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 72

73

6

Concluding Thoughts for Further Discussion

THE PROVISION OF Universal Elementary Education in mega-cities likeMumbai and Delhi is a tremendous and daunting task. With the Sarva

Shiksha Abhiyan as an overarching umbrella, local governments in both citieshave begun to take on the challenge of universalization. Citizens andinstitutions are beginning to participate in this process in different ways.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan framework for implementation identifiesurban deprived children for special focus. The document highlights specialproblems of street and working children and points to recent studies thatoutline the growing problems of schooling for poor children in urban areas.The need for a diversity of approaches is underlined.

The intent of this report is to focus discussion of policy makers andpractitioners on some issues that warrants closer attention. We hope that theissues raised, the approaches used, the tools that have been developed, theevidence that is presented, and the analysis of available data and theinterpretation of broad patterns and gaps, will add to the on-going debatesand discussions on universalization of education.

Urban areas, in particular the mega cities of India like Mumbai and Delhi,due to their sheer size, scale and multiplicity of problems need distinct,separate planning, implementation, participation and delivery processes.

Four broad domains had been identified. Within each of these domains,specific basic questions have been asked. In each case, we have compared theexperiences so far in Mumbai and Delhi. We have used different

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 73

74

methodologies for attempting to answer these questions:

n ACCESS

Preparatory work in terms of mapping access problems andidentifying out-of-school children has already been completed inboth cities. The SSA surveys and the illustrative case studiesindicate that there are specific issues regarding access inparticular localities in both cities.

More specifically, there are distinct geographic areas where theconcentration of out-of-school children is very high. Forexample, there are 30 nagars in Mumbai and 55 kshetras inDelhi where the percentage of out-of-school children in 25% orhigher. Overall, 70 nagars out of 2257 total nagars in Mumbaiand 135 kshetras out of a total of 1823 kshetras in Delhi needfocused attention. With resources and local partnerships, specificlocal solutions need to be designed in these areas.

Although general schemes for out-of-school children arealready in the process of being implemented, more flexiblestrategies to meet local needs and contexts need to be designed.Understanding opportunities and constraints in eachcommunity will be key to developing durable solutions.

n LEA RNING

How much does an average child learn in a local municipalschool? Although each class in each school has tests periodically,these are typically set by teachers and schools and are rarelycomparable across schools. A set of basic literacy and numeracytasks was administered individually to a randomly selected set ofchildren in Std III and IV in both cities.

More specifically close to 50% of Standard 3 children inmunicipal schools in Mumbai and Delhi are unable to readsimple sentences fluently or do simple arithmetic operations orwrite a dictated sentence. About 30% of children in Standard 4are in a similar position.

The findings indicate serious weaknesses in the ability of bothsystems to deliver basic learning in primary schools. The analysisleads us to the conclusion that accelerated learning methods on a

Conc lud in g T hough t s fo r Fur t h e r Di s cu s s i on

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 74

75

large scale need to be undertaken by municipal primary schoolsystems in both cities to enable children to catch up with wherethey need to be academically. Without a serious focus onlearning, progress on SSA goals will be not be durable orsustainable.

n STAYING IN SCHOOL: COMPLETION AND RETENTION ISSUES

How common is it for a child in Delhi and Mumbai to completethe primary stage of schooling without any change orinterruption. A new tool that looks at the educational history ofchildren has been developed and piloted.Understanding of transition and retention patterns on a city-wide scale is needed before solutions can be charted.

n DECIS ION-MAKING AT THE SCHOOL LEVEL

Interviews were used as way of understanding decision-makingon basic issues at the school level. Preliminary analysis ofresponses from teachers indicates that there is a systemicresponse to most of the basic questions raised, however fewschools show individual enterprise or initiative in thinking oracting “out of the box”.

More specifically, on the issue of overcrowding andmainstreaming, schools refer to standard processes of responseundertaken by the system. On the issue of learning, the clearmessage from the schools is that the responsibility of organizingremedial action falls on the parents. In the perception ofteachers and head-masters/mistresses, there is no systemicresponse for helping children who are academically weak or havefallen behind to “catch up”.

To translate Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or Universal Elementary Education fromrhetoric to reality, a larger, more participatory approach is critical. Governmentcannot alone be responsible for provision, monitoring and accountability. It isup to citizens to participate in the effective provision of basic education aswell as in monitoring progress towards the SSA goals. Wider discussion ofSSA goals and progress done in different forums with cross-sections ofcitizens is needed. It is hoped that this report is one such step in that

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 75

76

direction.Children’s lives cannot be compartmentalized into separate sectors.

Children go to schools and live in families and in communities. Insecurelivelihoods and constant migration affect not only children’s educationaltrajectories, but also the very foundation of their lives. Poor health andsanitation, inadequate nutrition, among other things, affect children’seducational futures. While Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan/ Educational for All focuson the universalization of elementary education, successful and sustainablestrategies must include a comprehensive look at children’s lives in the mega-cities.

Both in Mumbai and Delhi, often there are gaps and lack ofsynchronization between different administrative structures within educationand across the social services sector. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan may well providethe opportunity to integrate and optimize the provision of all basic servicesfor urban children.

Education and Learning for All is a challenge in any context. This is evenmore so in two of India’s largest and most complex cities. We hope that thisreport will provide new inputs for a wider discussion and debate at the cityand national level about how to achieve the best possible educational future forour children.

Conc lud in g T hough t s fo r Fur t h e r Di s cu s s i on

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 76

77

7

References

Aggarwal, Yash. 1998. “Primary Education in Delhi. How Much Do theChildren Learn?” National Institute of Education Planning andAdministration, New Delhi.

Banerji, Rukmini. 2000. “Poverty and primary schooling: field studiesfrom Mumbai and Delhi”. Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 35,No. 10, pp 795-802.

Chugh, Sunita. 2003. “Why Children Dropout? Case Study of aMetropolitan Slum”, Bookwell Publishers, New Delhi.

Delhi Human Development Report, 2004. Forthcoming. DelhiGovernment.

Juneja, Nalini. “Primary education for all in the city of Mumbai, India: thechallenge set by local actors”. UNESCO IIEP. Paris. 2001.

Lambay, Farida. 1998. “Education of the poor in Mumbai: Issues andChallenges”. Paper presented at the Seminar on Indian mega citiesand education of the poor, NIEPA, New Delhi 2-4 September1998.

Tyagi, R. S. et al. Educational Administration in Delhi.Structures, Processes, and Future Prospects. National Instituteof Education Planning and Administration. New Delhi. 2000.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 77

78

ANNEXURE 1

Tests & Test ing

The children were tested individually and classified according to the level theywere able to reach. The tool is quite simple and anyone can assess the readinglevels of children in a class, a slum, or a village in a very short time. Mass scale,broadly reliable rapid testing and quick verification are also facilitated due tothe tool.

The child is shown a simple text (paragraph) at first. If she/ he can read itreasonably fluently, a longer text (story) is shown. The level of difficulty of thestory/longer text is like that of a chapter in a Std 2 textbook. Fluent readingof the story/text qualifies the child as a “Story” reader. If a child can read thegiven paragraph (even if she/he reads slowly) the child is called a “Paragraph”reader.

If the child cannot read the simple paragraph with ease, she/he is shownsome simple words. The child may read the individual letters and the vowelsigns separately but in the end pronounce the word. This qualifies the child asa “Word” level reader. If a child cannot read words, she/he is shown a list ofalphabets. If she/he can at least identify five alphabets she/he is classified as a“Letter” child. A child who does not recognize even the alphabets is classifiedas a Zero/Nothing level child.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 78

79

FIGURE 2 READING ASSESSMENT TOOL – WORDS AND LETTERS

FIGURE 1 READING ASSESSMENT TOOL – STORY AND PARAGRAPHS

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 79

80

Annexure 1

ARITHMETIC ASSESSMENT TOOL

Children are classified as follows according to the highest arithmetic skillreached:

1 Division level

2 Subtraction level

3 Number recognition level

4 Nothing level

Here too, the child is tested individually and categorized on the basis of thehighest level reached. The process starts with the subtraction problems. If a

5 We know from prior testing experience that most children who can do this division task cando multiplication tasks using 3 digits and 1 digit quite easily. We know from prior testingexperience that children who can do a carryover subtraction problem can easily do an additionproblem with borrowing.

FIGURE 3 ARITHMETIC ASSESSMENT TOOL – STORY AND PARAGRAPHS

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 80

81

child is able to do 2 correctly, then the child is shown the division problems. Ifhe/she can do two division problems correctly then the child is categorized asa “division” child. If the child can do the subtraction problem, but not thedivision problems, then he/she is categorized as a “subtraction” child. Ifhe/she cannot do the subtraction problems, he/she is asked to recognizenumbers.

If he/she cannot do subtraction but can recognize at least 4 out of 5numbers then the child is a “number recognition” child. If the child cannot doeven the number recognition task then he is a “nothing” child.

WRITING TASKS

Children are classified as follows according to their writing skills:

1 Can write

2 Can’t write

A simple sentence of 4 to 5 words is dictated to the child and he/she is askedto write it down. If she/ he can write it correctly then the child is classified as‘Can write’. (One or two simple spelling mistakes are forgiven). If not, thechild is classified as ‘Can’t write’.

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 81

82

ANNEXURE 2

Sample Retention Form

UN_06 11/26/05 2:41 PM Page 82