Regional Workshop on Strengthening Capacities ... - unesdoc, unesco

Decentralization of educational management: experiences from South Asia

H E P Research Report N o . 107


R . Govinda with case studies from: Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka

Paris 1997 U N E S C O : International Institute for Educational Planning

The views and opinions expressed in this volume are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of U N E S C O or of the H E P . The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this report do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of U N E S C O or H E P concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or its authorities, or concerning its frontiers ou boundaries. The publication costs of this report have been covered through a grantin-aid offered by U N E S C O and by voluntary contributions m a d e by several M e m b e r States of U N E S C O , the list of which will be found at the end of the report.

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© U N E S C O January 1997

Preface The issue of decentralization entered the educational management debate in South Asia nearly 50 years ago, in the w a k e of gaining independence from colonial rule. While the interest and efforts to decentralize gradually waned thereafter, it has again c o m e to the fore; decentralization is seen as a management solution to improve the efficiency of the education system. Although the educational management scene in the region is quite complex, a number of countries in South Asia have acquired a wealth of experience through their various attempts at decentralizing education. Within this context the International Institute for Educational Planning ( H E P ) , U N E S C O , encountered considerable interest a m o n g those countries to carry out a systematic analysis and comparison of their policies and practices in thefieldof decentralization. This endeavour was conceived within the Institute's Programme on 'Capacity building for decentralized planning and management of primary education in South Asia', which was designed and implemented in co-operation with U N I C E F . National teams were set up in each of the five countries taking part in this project: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The national analyses were based on a set of c o m m o n research guidelines, resulting from an exercise designed and coordinated by the H E P , to review and document the decentralization processes adopted in the five selected countries. The original papers prepared by the teams were presented and discussed at a Regional W o r k s h o p held in Kathmandu in December 1994. This publication forms the end result of this research process. T w o considerations have guided the research project, and thus also the preparation of this publication. First, decentralization policies and practices can be analyzed from various angles. For instance, one can analyze the situation mainly from the principles of power sharing a m o n g different stakeholders in the management system; or, in a well-structured and hierarchical bureaucratic system, which is the case in most of the countries in the region, the analysis m a y focus on the administrative levels at which decision-making powers are to be vested under decentralization; or, one m a y also look at the process of decentralization from a functional point of view, as has been done in the

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Preface

present effort, in terms of w h o does what and what difference could decentralization m a k e in this regard. In this case, the focus of analysis is on the specific roles and responsibilities of different management personnel functioning at the centre as well as various points of the periphery. Second, it is observed that discussions on decentralized management in education focus m u c h more on primary education than on other levels. This is possibly due to the fact that both in terms of administrative machinery and institutional network, primary education represents a vast field and decentralized management is perceived as the only means of efficiently maintaining and developing such a large system. With this in mind, the present volume attempts to gather the experiences of different countries mainly in the sphere of primary education management. The present volume is organized in two parts : Part I gives a comparative overview and analysis of the situation in South Asia based on the papers prepared by the five participating countries, as well as on other available sources on the policies and practices of decentralization in the sub-region. It reflects on h o w well prepared and ready the different countries are in their efforts to introduce decentralization and examines the scope for succeeding in and sustaining such endeavours. It also highlights the steps to be initiated in order to strengthen decentralization policies and practices in primary education based on past and ongoing experiences. Part //constitutes the bulk of the book. It consists of the national review papers prepared by the respective teams and of a number of other studies, undertaken as part of the project, in order to give a fuller picture of the state of decentralization in the sub-region. The texts included in the current volume are edited and abridged versions of the original ones discussed at the 1994 Regional Workshop. However, the overview presented in Part / d r a w s extensively from the original versions of these papers. It should also be mentioned that the IIEP's interest in decentralization has not been limited to the South-Asian region. The Institute had already undertaken, between 1992 and 1994, a similar investigation in Latin America, equally relying on a set of national research teams. The results of this project have led to a publication, analyzing and comparing the experiences of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. 1 1.

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Carlos N . Malpica Faustor, 1995. Decentralization and planning of education: recent experiences in five Latin-American countries. Paris: U N E S C O / I I E P .

Preface

The H E P is following up on this research in several ways, two of which can be highlighted here. First, the knowledge and experience gained have been integrated in the Institute's training programmes, at international and regional level. Second, one of the central conclusions of the research relates to the weakness of existing school supervision and support services which, in a decentralized education structure, are becoming more important actors. A s a result, the H E P is n o w implementing a project on "Improving supervision and support services for basic education".

Jacques Hallak Assistant Director-General, U N E S C O Director, H E P

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Acknowledgements The research study which has resulted in this volume was conceived and carried out at H E P as part of a larger programme of Capacity building for decentralized planning and management of primary education in South Asia. M r Gabriel Carrón, Senior Programme Co-ordinator, H E P , actively participated in all stages of the research study, from its conceptualization to its implementation, and in the preparation of this book. 1 should record m y sincere thanks to M r Carrón for his continuous support and guidance, without which neither the research study nor the completion of this book would have been possible. I a m particularly grateful to M r Jacques Hallak, Director, H E P , for the keen interest he has shown in this work and for the very valuable observations on an earlier version of the synthesis paper included in the book. I should like to express m y special thanks to U N I C E F colleagues from various countries and regional offices, in particular to M r Jim Irvine, Regional Education Adviser, R O S A , U N I C E F , Kathmandu, w h o have contributed in a variety of ways to the study.

R . Govinda

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Contents Preface

5

Acknowledgements

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Part I:

Decentralized management of primary education in South Asia: policy and practice

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Introduction

13

I. II.

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III. IV. Part II:

Decentralized m a n a g e m e n t : m e a n i n g a n d rationale Decentralization of educational m a n a g e m e n t : the South-Asian scenario Implementing decentralization: s o m e critical issues Capacity building: basic prerequisite for decentralization

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Experiences from South Asia

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25 38

1. Bangladesh

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Decentralized m a n a g e m e n t of primary education in Bangladesh by Kazi Fazlur Rahman; Anowarul Aziz

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2. India

105

Decentralized management of elementary education: the Indian experience by Trilok N. Dhar

107

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Contents

Decentralized management in primary education in Maharashtra by Sheel C. Nuna Decentralization of educational planning in India: an assessment of training needs by N. V. Varghese 3. Nepal

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149 177

Decentralized management policies and practices in the primary education sector in Nepal by Shreeram Lamichhane; Gaja Sunder Pradhan, Bijaya Kumar Thapa with the assistance of Bharat Bilas Pant; Hari Prasad Upadhyaya; Kishor Shrestha; Rom Prasad Bhattarai 179 4. Pakistan

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Decentralized planning and management of primary education in Pakistan: a review of policies and practices by Team of professionals, Academy of Educational Planning and Management

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Decentralized management of primary education in Sindh Province by Ghizala Kazi

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5. Sri Lanka

259

Decentralization in education: the Sri Lankan experience by Wilfred J. Perera; H. Palihakkara

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Parti Decentralized management of primary education in South Asia: policy and practice

Introduction T h e issue of decentralization features prominently in all contemporary discourses on educational m a n a g e m e n t . This is true not only in the industrialized countries but is also, or perhaps more, true of the ongoing debates and discussions in the developing ones. In fact, the issue of central control versus regional autonomy is not n e w to the field of public administration. A t different points of time, policy-makers in almost all countries have dealt with the questions of balancing central control by national governments with appropriate levels of relative autonomy to local or sub-national units for selfmanagement. However, the recent re-emergence of the debate on this issue is marked by a relative unanimity a m o n g educational policy-makers in favour of decentralization. Yet, the actual manifestation of the process of 'decentralization' in terms of the rationale put forth, as well as the operational features adopted, varies very widely across different countries. A s a result, the concept has remained vague and highly ambiguous, even though used extensively by policy-makers as well as intellectuals. Within this global context, the developments in the educational management systems in the South-Asian countries represent a wide spectrum of policies and practices. Also, the m o v e towards decentralised management of education has given rise to a number of issues demanding the attention of educational planners and managers in these countries. A n attempt is m a d e in the following to examine some of these critical issues, with particular reference to decentralised processes adopted for planning and management of basic education programmes. Within South Asia, this volume is confined to an analysis of the situation in five countries, namely, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. 2 The initial section of Part I is devoted to discussing and clarifying the concept of decentralization. This is followed by a global review of the rationale put forth for introducing decentralised management practices. T h e second

2.

Unless otherwise specified in the text, references made to the situation in these countries are mainly based on the findings of case studies carried out for the purpose, abridged versions of which are presented in Part ¡I of this volume.

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section of the paper gives an account of the South-Asian scenario in terms of the background characteristics of the countries and the current trends in the policies and practices of decentralization. A n attempt is m a d e in the third section to identify and discuss the critical issues involved in the process of decentralization in general, and with respect to the educational management systems of the South-Asian countries, in particular. T h e last section oí Part I is devoted to a discussion of possible strategies for strengthening decentralised management processes in South-Asian countries, with particular focus on the needs for building capacities for planning and management at various levels.

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Parti Decentralized management of primary education in South Asia: policy and practice

I.

Decentralized m a n a g e m e n t : m e a n i n g a n d rationale

Irrespective of the proclaimed rationale for initiating decentralised management, all decentralization measures involve far-reaching decisions on power sharing and inevitably carry political overtones. A n y operation aimed at achieving s o m e form of decentralization is not merely a technical and administrative undertaking: the nature and 'degree' of power transferred within such a reform process are dependent upon political will and the power struggles that underlie all efforts to achieve decentralization (Adamolekun, Robert and Laleye, 1990). It is therefore natural that decisions in this regard generate serious political debate and contestation. W h a t result out of such debates as policy prescriptions are invariably influenced by a number of background factors characterizing country-specific conditions such as the geographical expanse, historical traditions and existing system of political administration. Variation in the w a y decentralization measures are adopted in different countries arises partly due to the highly ambiguous nature of the concept itself. It has been interpreted and adopted by different countries in altogether different w a y s . This is particularly true with respect to the sphere of educational management. Decentralization lexically implies 'moving away from the centre'. This need not imply less government control; it m a y only m e a n spreading the central control points across the territory towards the peripheral units. O n the other hand, one can also take a point of view that decentralization should necessarily m e a n a weakening of the central government control and as a corollary imply e m p o w e r m e n t of local units of management. A s mentioned earlier, the interpretation adopted by a country

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depends on a variety of factors which are uniquely country specific and not easily refutable from outside. 1.

Multiple connotations of decentralization

Traditional literature on the subject refers to a variety of management phenomena, all under the rubric of 'decentralization' (Adamolekun et al, 1990; Rondinelli et al, 1984; Weiler, 1989; Lauglo, 1990). These include at least three easily distinguishable trends. T h e first trend is that in s o m e countries decentralization is perceived to consist of adding to the existing political and administrative structure a number o f 'deconcentrated' or decentralised bodies, either at the local level alone or at two or three levels (districts, departments, and so forth). A n obvious implication of this process is to m o v e the administrative set-up nearer to the action setting, but by increasing the weight of the bureaucracy. It is often expressed that this approach to decentralization is only "a means to increase - not weaken - the role of the state in decisionmaking, though locally placed civil servants m a y be better informed than central bureaucrats and can therefore take more account of 'local views'" (Lauglo, 1990). A series of decentralization measures implemented in France during the last decade are often considered to represent a process of conscious déconcentration, as the national Ministry of Education continues to have overall power and control over the total system of education. O f course, in actual operation, local-level authorities m a y use a considerable amount of powers and authorities as defacto delegated to them. A second trend identified is c o m m o n l y referred to as 'delegation'. In this case the state apparently transfers some of the powers of decision making to bodies outside the government bureaucracy. This would theoretically allow for involvement of non-governmental organizations in the management process. However, in practice, such 'delegation' of authority generally involves parastatal entities, created by the state itself to handle special areas of public concern. Even though such delegated bodies would enjoy s o m e amount of autonomy from state control and allow for participation of non-government personnel in decision making, they are easily dispensable as their creation is effected mainly through executive orders of the state and not through promulgation of law. Establishment of Textbook Development Corporations in different states of India is a good example of such an approach. S o m e authors consider a m u c h broader interpretation of 'delegation', which includes

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vesting of decision-making powers with m e m b e r s of the bureaucracy within the government hierarchy d o w n the line and away from the centre. This in a w a y blurs the distinction between 'déconcentration' and 'delegation'. 'Devolution' is the third kind of reform generally considered as representing a more comprehensive and genuine approach to decentralizing the management process. In this case, specified powers are transferred to sub-national units through appropriate legal reform processes; generally these units consist of local self-governments constituted through democratic means. In countries which adopt such a model, "... decentralization is considered and perceived as an in-depth reform which is both a fundamental and an essential part of national development. In this case, decentralization is presented as a 'choice of society'. Decentralization therefore becomes an ideological choice, an equation in which participatory democracy is directly proportional to decentralization" (Adamolekun et al, 1990). Is a 'liberal democratic' political set-up at the national level and/or at the grass-roots level, essential for adopting devolution policies in the education sector? This is a difficult question. In reality, there are examples with a centralized socialist pattern of government, devolving significant authority for decision making to local units, along with powers for financial mobilization and control. Reforms introduced in China during the past decade could be considered under this category. Yet one should differentiate between such a situation, which m a y be called pragmatic devolution of selected powers and authorities, from the qualitatively different form of a democratic devolution process, operating in a liberal democratic set-up supported by ideological conviction. In the latter case, the role of the elected people's representatives becomes fundamental, while in the former this m a y be totally absent. S o m e authors also include 'privatization' as part of the decentralization framework. In this case, the government divests itself of powers hitherto considered as its prerogative in favour of non-governmental bodies. This would in effect mean handing over control of public services to private bodies, irrespective of their basic motive to acquire such powers. S o m e authors, therefore, place a rider that private bodies be voluntary organizations or nonprofit-making bodies (Shaeffer, 1994:19). Yet, it is contestable whether privatization can be considered as an approach for decentralizing the management of an essentially public service, such as education.

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In fact, privatization is never an all-or-nothing question. It has always existed, on a small or a large scale, in the education sector in all countries. But, there is hardly a case where education, particularly at the school stage, has been completely handed over to private agencies. In general, there is little debate on the proposition that school education at the basic education stage is primarily the responsibility of the state. Yet, this is in no w a y seen as precluding the participation of the private sector in education development activities. There are countries where, due to historical reasons, management of primary schools is predominantly in the hands of private organizations. However, even in these cases, the government has significant control over the operation of the system through grants-in-aid, inspection and supervision and such other mechanisms; in fact, curriculum control and teacher certification policies and practices are getting more and more centralized in m a n y parts of the developed world. 2.

Nature of decentralization: a framework for analysis

The above description of the different models of decentralization presents a broad taxonomy for classifying the systems of management operating in different countries. Yet, it is almost impossible to capture in any definition all the nuances that emerge in the actual implementation following any of these approaches. Further, it should be emphasized that a normative definition of decentralization that is universally applicable is neither possible nor desirable. This is especially relevant to the field of educational management. With the deep implications that decentralization is likely to have for sharing political and bureaucratic power, one cannot externally prescribe the appropriate formula for educational management. Decentralization can be viewed either as a fundamental value to be internalized into the system of educational management, or as a technocratic solution for the problems that are encountered by any education system. Thus, the actual practice of decentralized management will significantly vary from one country to another. A n d even within a country, debates and disagreements on appropriate forms of decentralization are likely to continue a m o n g policy-makers and practitioners. This is quite evident from the state of almost perpetual change in which educational management has remained, even in well-developed education systems functioning in relatively stable

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politico-administrative environments of the developed world. Therefore, understanding the educational management system in any country will demand a framework of analysis which attempts to view the management system from different vantage points in terms of the decentralized processes involved. Such a framework would be based on at least four major considerations, as discussed in the following paragraphs. 2.1

Decentralization of decision-making

processes

Decentralization in educational management is never an all-or-nothing phenomenon. S o m e functions, such as decisions on the nature and methods of classroom teaching, by their very nature have to be left to the persons performing that function. Decision making in educational management could be seen at three distinct levels, varying in terms of their importance and implication for the decentralization processes. The three levels are: (i) policy-making level; (ii) programme-formulation level; and (iii) programme-implementation level. Decisions at the policy-making level are invariably m a d e in all the countries by the central authorities. However, the situation with respect to the other two levels varies considerably. For instance, in large countries with a federal setup, the centre m a y not go beyond formulating the broad policies, and programme formulation and implementation are managed completely by the constituent units. 2.2

Territorial considerations

T h e second important consideration for examining the nature of decentralization measures adopted is with respect to the size of the subunits. Again, in large countries, decentralizing the planning and managing functions to the state or provincial level m a y not represent real decentralization if the states themselves are very large in terms of geographical expanse and population. T h e critical question is: How small and how local can the basic unit be? Size and location of the decentralized units for educational management are likely to be dependent on four different factors. T h e first factor is the geographical expanse of the country. Large countries with a multi-level democratic set-up would demand a different approach to decentralization as compared to the relatively small and compact ones. Large systems cannot be so directly controlled from the top as small

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systems, even w h e n those in power nationally seek to concentrate authority in their hands. S o m e déconcentration will, of necessity, be required. Central control in large systems will probably need to rely more on rules and regulations than in small systems, because the officials at different levels in a large system are less likely to be personally k n o w n to each other (Lauglo, 1990). O n the other hand, decentralization in small states raises a unique set of questions very different from the ones occurring in larger states (Bacchus, 1993). T h e second factor is the politico-administrative arrangement adopted in the country. A s already noted, all decentralization measures involve fundamental political questions of power sharing. Therefore, it becomes essential that the decentralized units of educational management are as far as possible in synchrony with the divisions made for political and administrative purposes. Further, sub-national units such as states, provinces, and districts in a country are not necessarily carved out with the explicit consideration of efficient governance. They evolve historically into natural zones based on a variety of sociocultural factors such as ethnicity and language, which are of crucial importance in creating decentralized units for educational planning and management. Finally, if efficiency in educational management is one of the bases for decentralization, it becomes imperative that the size and jurisdiction of the decentralized units are decided on the basis of size of the educational enterprise itself, in terms of number of institutions to be managed, or the number of teachers employed, and so on. 2.3

Decision-making

authority in the local unit

A s already indicated, in terms of the multiple connotations that 'decentralization' has c o m e to acquire, the central question is who in the decentralized level will exercise the powers and authorities vested?' For instance, not all kinds of decentralization would lead to increased participation by the people, if that is one of the considerations for decentralizing the management framework. A s Webster observes on the situation in one of the states in India, decentralization need not always result in the e m p o w e r m e n t of the people and reduction in state control. "Far from it, the extension of the state outward and d o w n w a r d s can just as well serve the objective of consolidating the power of the central state as it can serve the objective of devolving power a w a y from the centre. It can extend the state's control over the people just as it can aid the people's control over the state and its activities.

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Decentralization is very m u c h a double-edged sword" (Webster, 1992: 129130). Within the decentralization approach adopted in a country, several alternatives m a y emerge with their implications for the way power for decision making is shared a m o n g the different actors. Power could be vested in the hands of democratically elected representatives or it m a y be with members of the civil service. The bureaucracy could again consist of central government representatives or the members of the local administration. Even where local self-governments function, educational management decisions m a y be kept outside their purview as is the case in s o m e states of India. O n the other hand, even in an apparently centralized set-up, some communities and the educational establishment m a y develop unwritten conventions of active consultation and collaboration in all matters. In fact, policy proclamations and sometimes even legal provisions m a y be at total variance from the practice of educational management. In most countries, decentralization measures are implemented through executive orders from the government, which ensures easy abrogation of powers delegated to local bodies or their transfer back to the hands of central government representatives. 2.4

Functional decentralization

All educational management functions are not of the same kind and importance. Whether recognized or not, authority to perform certain functions is always held in premium and can b e c o m e a source of conflict a m o n g functionaries at different levels. For instance, curriculum preparation and personnel recruitment are areas in which perennial debates occur as to w h o should have the authority to perform these functions. Thus any decentralization measure has to tackle the question of implicit hierarchy encompassing the various management functions, and decide as to the level - central government to the school level - at which different functions are to be performed. Needless to say, in systems having several tiers of office, from the centre to the school, the situation becomes more complex - each level is eager to assume the authority for decision making, but to pass o n the responsibility for implementation to others! It m a y even jeopardize the operation of effective accountability mechanisms. Again, it is impossible to m a k e any a priori assessment of the number of layers that would m a k e the system more efficient as, in thefinalanalysis, it is the rational distribution of functional areas and

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the internal efficiency of each layer that would determine the overall system efficiency. The 'school-based management' reforms currently being adopted in some countries attempt to tackle this question by keeping only two layers - the centre and the school - intact and practically knocking off all other intermediary layers of management. T h e recent reforms package introduced in England is a case in point which accords more autonomy to the school, assigns a more powerful role to the national government, leading to a loss of power of the local authority which is essentially the educational arm of county or borough government (Caldwell, 1990). Whatever be the number of layers of management, the significant question o n the distribution of functions a m o n g different points in the organizational structure has to be carefully settled. There is no right formula for the distribution of functions across different decentralized units. M a n y m a y lay considerable emphasis o n central co-ordination as a m e a n s of maintaining the identity of a national system of education. S o m e others would insist on this for the sake of ensuring efficient functioning of the education system. It is often argued that s o m e uniformity of school structure, teacher training, timetable and syllabuses in the schools, and m o d e of examination is necessary in order to ensure equivalence of credentials and mobility a m o n g institutions as well as a m o n g the different parts of a country. However, as Lauglo (1990) points out, "Notions of efficiency requirements are in fact heavily conditioned by established patterns of legitimacy: w h o should have the right to decide? Federal states often lack even basic central direction to ensure equivalence of credentials. In Switzerland, G e r m a n y and the U S A , it is the m e m b e r states that certify teachers; the nation state does not have the authority to require equivalence". In fact, this is true of the practice prevalent in the states of India also. It is, therefore, imperative that the placement of each function within the decentralized set-up is carefully examined not only against the rational criteria of efficiency, but also for its appropriateness and acceptability in the eyes of the actors involved. 3.

Rationale for decentralization: differing perceptions

While interpretations of the meaning of decentralization are often subject to disagreement and confusion, a generally accepted view of educational decentralization is that it signifies "a wider representation of legitimate interests" in the public school system (Lauglo and M c L e a n , 1985). Irrespective

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of the variations in its manifestation, the m o v e towards a more decentralized system of educational management seems to have been prompted by two basic, although somewhat unrelated, motives: legitimacy and efficiency. Legitimacy of centralized control by national governments in matters of direct concern to c o m m o n people, such as educational management, has c o m e under serious questioning in the recent past all over the world. Seen from this angle, decentralization of management is essentially a matter of political policy in deciding h o w m u c h autonomy the local community or local self-governments could enjoy with respect to educational management. O n the other hand, the question of efficiency is essentially guided by a pragmatic concern to ensure that the public resources invested in education are put to best use. Whereas these represent two broad considerations prompting decentralization, they have been interpreted with varying nuances according to the socio-economic and political conditions prevailing in different countries. In fact, the characteristics of the resulting systems of educational management in different countries are too varied to be ascribed exclusively to either of these two motives. It is almost impossible to establish any clear-cut c o m m o n trend in the adoption of decentralized management practices. O n e can see that the reforms to decentralize educational management have been prompted by different compelling factors in different countries. Reviewing the situation in some of the developed countries, six factors have been identified as the prime rationale for this m o v e towards decentralized educational management (Caldwell, 1990). The first factor is the perceived complexity of managing the m o d e m education system from a single centre and the g o v e r n m e n t s ' acceptance of decentralization as a practical means of improving the efficiency of the system. Another explanation seems to lie in a n e w view of equity which seems to place emphasis on ensuring that each individual student has access to the particular rather than an aggregated mix of resources in order to meet the needs and interests of that student. This is in contrast to the widely held view of equity which emphasizes the special needs of disadvantaged groups of the society in a collective fashion, and relies on central intervention as the means of achieving equity. Third, findings from studies of school effectiveness and school improvement have been mentioned as justification of decentralization. Fourth, increased autonomy for teachers and fewer bureaucratic controls have invariably been included as elements in the case for the enhancement

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of the status of teaching as a profession. Fifth, there is popular demand for freedom to choose schools according to varying perceptions of quality of education by the general public; the uniform straitjacket programmes of schooling which are centrally determined and prescribed d o not meet this demand. Lastly, it is considered that the education sector should follow the developments in otherfieldswhich were earlier presumed to be the concern of the central government exclusively. It is suggested that one m a y accept centralized determination of broad goals and purposes of education, accompanied by decentralized decision making on the means by which these goals and purposes will be achieved, with those people w h o are decentralized being accountable to those centralized for the achievement of outcomes. While these are a m o n g the prime influences for decentralization of educational planning and management in s o m e of the developed countries, the situation is even more complex in the developing countries which are still struggling to universalize primary education. Nevertheless, even in the developing countries, a predominant view is emerging that centralized state control is responsible for the poor state of affairs, and it is essential to bring in decentralization and local community participation in order to redeem the situation. This view is often promoted, at least implicitly, by the conditionalities placed by international agencies involved in educational development. According to Maclure ( 1993), three arguments underscore this line of thinking: (a) since central governments are increasingly unable to direct and administer all aspects of mass education, decentralization of planning and programming will result in improved service delivery by enabling local authorities to perform tasks for which they are better equipped; (b) since mass education has placed an inordinate strain on state resources, decentralization will improve economies of scale and will lead to more appropriate responses to the particular needs and situations of different regions and groups; and (c) by engaging active involvement of community and private sector groups in local schooling, decentralization will generate m o r e representativeness and equity in educational decision-making, and thus foster greater local commitment to public education. M a n y analysts seriously question the value of decentralization as a means of increasing the efficiency of the system. Reviewing past efforts in this regard, it is emphasized that decentralization cannot be seen as a panacea for the ills of the existing education system in the developing countries (Rondinelli, et al, 1984; W u n s c h , 1991). Slater (1989) argues from a world

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systems perspective that policies of decentralization in poor countries are of little consequence due to the peripheral status of these countries in the global context of development. There are m a n y scholars w h o question the basic genuineness of the m o v e to decentralize as a means of empowering subnational and local communities. It is possible that giving power to regional and local political units m a y be a political strategy to appease regional forces. Severest criticism of decentralization comes from those w h o consider it to be antithetical to the concern of equity, which is of fundamental importance in poorer countries. Bray (1987) points out that m a n y developing countries saddled with extreme resource scarcity, look to decentralization as an escape route. Under the guise of decentralization and participation, poor communities are burdened with the task of financing their school systems. Also, national governments m a y endorse decentralization and community participation in order to maintain their legitimacy. But "invariably the imperative of control outweighs the state's need for legitimacy. Consequently, decentralization and participation become political ploys, useful symbolically for purposes of discussion, but entailing minimal political cost, as little is done in the form of implementation" (Weiler, 1983). II.

Decentralization of educational m a n a g e m e n t : the South-Asian scenario

1.

T h e background

Countries in the South-Asian subregion present a wide spectrum in terms of physical features and natural resources as well as socio-cultural characteristics. O n e can also observe wide variations with regard to the population size and geographical expanse of the five countries under study. Obviously, these variations in some of the basic characteristics have direct implications for the w a y the public administration mechanisms have evolved in these countries. S o m e of the basic features of the five countries and the respective status of primary education are given in Tables 1 and 2. The whole subcontinent is characterized by high population growth rate and density. While Sri Lanka is an exception in terms of population growth, Bangladesh has an unprecedented population density of 849 persons per square kilometre. India, with a population of nearly 900 million, is the second most populated country in the world after China. But within the subcontinent,

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India spreads itself across a vast area of land surrounded by other relatively smaller countries of the region. In general, all the countries are poor in terms of their economic status. In particular, Nepal and Bangladesh belong to the category of Least Developed Countries ( L D C s ) . However, during the recent past a general sense of optimism has been observed with respect to economic development in almost all the countries. Table 1. Population characteristics a n d per-capita income

Country

Population size (000s) (est. 1993)

Population density (inhabitants per sq.km)

% urban population 1993

GNP

per capita

US$

Annual growth rate

(1992)

(%) 1980-1992

Bangladesh

122,210

849

17

220

1.8

India

896,567

273

26

310

3.1

Nepal

21,086

150

12

170

2.0

128,057

161

33

410

3.1

17,894

273

22

540

2.6

Pakistan Sri Lanka

Source :

World Education Report, U N E S C O , Paris, 1995.

The sub-continent consisting of relatively young independent nations, has been the h o m e of very ancient civilizations. A m o n g the people of the region, one can find several c o m m o n strands amidst wide diversity with respect to race, culture, traditions, religious affiliations and so on. The sub-continent, most of which shares a c o m m o n historical legacy through the colonial past, is at present embedded in a very diverse political mosaic. In India and Pakistan, the constituent states operating within a federal framework enjoy a high level of political autonomy while the other three countries have a basically unitary politico-administrative arrangement. Nepal is a unique case, with a monarch as the head of the state that has embraced a multi-party democracy very recently.

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With the exception of Sri Lanka, the countries in South Asia are a m o n g the least developed with respect to basic education. It is most likely that by the year 2000, the illiterate population in these countries will account for more than 50 per cent of adult illiterates in the world. The primary education scene in these countries is also quite disturbing, with low levels of enrolment and high rates of drop out. T h e most alarming factor is the wide gender disparity in all the countries except Sri Lanka. Yet one should recognize that commitment to providing basic education for all in these countries c a m e only recently, after achieving independence from British colonial control. In fact, all the countries have m a d e tremendous progress in terms of creating educational infrastructure for providing primary education. However, the poor status of basic educational development shows that the w a y ahead for achieving the goal of education for all is a difficult one. Table 2 . Status of basic education

Estimated adult illiteracy rate 1995 (%)

Gross enrolment ratio at primary level (1992)

1991 cohort reaching Grade 5

Boys

Girls

Total

Bangladesh

61.9

84

73

47

India

48.0

112

89

62*

Nepal

72.5

130

87

NA

Pakistan

62.2

57

30

48

9.8

106

104

92

Sri Lanka

* 1989 cohort Source : World Education Report, U N E S C O , Paris, 1995.

27


It is within this context that the countries have taken up the task of reforming their education systems to make them more responsive to the needs and aspirations of the people. Decentralization is perceived as one such effort to bring in structural reforms in the w a y primary education programmes are managed in the countries. Historically one can trace long traditions of community self-governance in the region, but the countries are currently entrenched in relatively centralized systems of m a n a g e m e n t , largely unchanged from what w a s inherited from the colonial past. However, within this context, all the countries demonstrate an explicit policy commitment to decentralize p o w e r and establish locally representative mechanisms for educational management. Whether in the long run, this will lead to a truly participatory democratic system of self-governance by the people is, of course, a difficult proposition to assert. 2.

Decentralization of education: policy and practice

In all the countries of South Asia, policy commitment to decentralize power and bring in greater involvement of the people goes beyond the concerns of the education sector. In their effort to realize this goal, which began essentially as a reaction to the long subjugation to colonial control, different countries are at different stages of organizational change. Also, considerable variations can be observed in the emphasis laid on different aspects within the overall policies empowering the people at the grass-roots level. Different countries in the region have achieved varying degrees of success, but all s h o w a consistent underlying policy c o m m i t m e n t to m o v e towards a decentralized system of educational management. This is quite evident from the policy documents that have emerged, from time to time, in all the countries. 2.1

Initial orientations

A s w a s mentioned, different countries of the region attempted to institutionalize the decentralization process through different organizational means. The organizational arrangement for educational management inherited by the countries from the colonial rulers was essentially centralized. This, of course, did not matter significantly as education was essentially an elitist phenomenon under colonial rule. Immediately after achieving Independence, all the countries launched programmes of mass education with an underlying

28

Decentralized management ojprimary education in South Asia: policy aiul practice

commitment to remove inequalities in educational opportunities. Moving away from centralized control in educational governance was seen as an obvious requirement for achieving these ends. The strategy preferred by the planners in India and Pakistan was to adopt fundamental reforms in the sphere of public administration through the creation of democratically elected local bodies which would eventually usher in decentralized management in education. This, in a way, was implicit in the reform packages of the panchayat raj system in India and the basic democracies programme of Pakistan, both initiated in the 1950s. But unfortunately the programmes, in spite of expressions of political commitment, never materialized into an organizational reality. For instance, as the Indian case study points out: "After the initial flush and fury, interest in 'democratic decentralization' waned. Barring a few, most of the states showed little interest in the effective functioning of the institutions representing the people. At the village level, the relative inexperience of the people, lack of knowledge and lack of resources to undertake meaningful development activities, and at the block and the district levels, tightening of bureaucratic controls on their finance and functioning, rendered panchayat samitis and zilla parishads ineffective". However, the rhetoric of giving power to the people through grass-roots level democratic organizations has persisted. The recent debate and the ensuing adoption of the panchayati raj bill by the Indian parliament represents the renewed commitment of the national leadership to revive and operationalize the concept of self-governance by local communities through the panchayat raj mechanism. This, in turn, is seen as a m o v e to decentralize educational management, as the legislation passed by the parliament provides for control and governance of primary education by the elected panchayat bodies. But as the Indian study points out, the legislation leaves m u c h to the wishes of the state governments and it is doubtful whether, in the prevalent system of political pluralism, the state-level leadership would be willing to share powers with the local leadership. H o w e v e r , with the expansion of the school education system, the administrative bureaucracy has also grown in size in all the states of India. Sub-national administrative units have sprung up at several levels, covering

29


the long distance from the state government to the village school. Nevertheless, educational management continues to be an essentially bureaucratic affair involving a multi-level hierarchical set-up. This has led to a certain amount of 'déconcentration' of responsibilities and, at the same time, has resulted in an increase in the weight of the bureaucratic machinery. But there has been only marginal delegation of decision-making authority to personnel w h o are involved in actual action in the field. The story is not dissimilar in Bangladesh, which inherited the colonial system initially and then the erstwhile East-Pakistan administration. In fact, one of thefirststeps taken by the Bangladesh government was to nationalize all the schools and bring all teachers under direct control and supervision of the central government. Successive government policies have sought to reform the situation and devolve power d o w n the line, but essentially in conjunction with changes in the political-administrative sphere. T h e result has not been very encouraging, leading to increasing bureaucratic control, albeit with a certain amount of déconcentration of powers. Sri L a n k a also began with an explicit c o m m i t m e n t to political decentralization. In fact, the search for an appropriate formula for power sharing between central government and democratic units at sub-national levels continues. H o w e v e r , Sri L a n k a adopted a pragmatic view for decentralizing educational management by, at least partially, delinking the educational management sector from the ongoing efforts to decentralize the public administration system through political reform. This basic philosophy and rationale that has guided decentralization of educational management in Sri Lanka is quite evident from the recommendation of the Bandarawela Conference (1961) which became the basis for a series of reforms that followed: "Decentralization is one of the important m e a n s of securing efficiency and speed in handling the day-to-day w o r k of administration. Decentralization connotes delegation of authority to Regional offices and the lessening of concentration of power at the H e a d Office". O n e m a y observe that the proposal w a s to go for a measured 'déconcentration' without waiting for the democratic decentralization policy to be implemented in the sphere of public administration. This set the tone for several rounds of decentralization reforms that followed. Accordingly, over a

30


period of time, wide-ranging changes were introduced to decentralize the management of school education by creating a number of sub-national units and creating school clusters, and delegating considerable power and authority to these decentralized units. 2.2

Current policy commitments

and practices

All the countries, in their recent policy statements on education, have without exception reiterated their commitment to promote decentralization and ensure greater community participation. In fact, this is stated as the key strategy for achieving universal participation in basic education as well as for improving the efficiency and quality of the education system. It is important to recognize that the search for the ideal arrangement for power sharing is a continuous process. A s pointed out in the case study on Sri Lanka, there has been a recent m o v e to re-centralize s o m e of the powers that were vested in the field-level units. This m o v e is stated to have been prompted by lack of effective supervision of the activities carried out at the divisional level, which is coextensive withpradeshiya sabhas, the local selfgoverning bodies. It is too early to conclude whether this recentralization is really justified for reasons of efficiency and quality assurance or if it has only been a cover for reasserting bureaucratic control over grass-roots-level management functions. Nonetheless, irrespective of its value implications, it highlights the difference between the efficiency-driven decentralization process and the ideology-based one. The former allows for quick adjustments to be m a d e in the organizational framework, purportedly for achieving greater efficiency. The latter approach inheres an element of relative inflexibility due to the incumbent legal processes of delegation and devolution within a democratic framework. It m a y be observed that Sri L a n k a has pursued the policy of decentralization with remarkable consistency, irrespective of frequent political changes. Decentralization has been promoted systematically from 1960 onwards. In a way, whether pre-meditated or not, the country has gone in an incremental fashion from simple déconcentration to delegation of powers to sub-national units. A n d currently, the country is trying to establish a decentralized system of political administration and to synchronize with it the institutional arrangement for educational management. India began with an ambitious proposal to introduce grass-roots-level democracy and to m a k e educational management a part of that institutional

31


arrangement. But progress has been quite slow. Interest in decentralization revived significantly after the National Policy on Education in 1986. This interest increased with the recent enactment related to panchayat raj institutions by the Indian parliament. However, "In the Indian federal set-up, most structural reforms fall in the state sector. T h e centre can only offer incentives and guidelines. Even where the central government has specific roles to play, implementation is by-and-large left to state governments" (Misra and Nataraj, 1981). O n e has to wait and see the nature of the legislation that different states would adopt in order to assess the impact of this recent m o v e on panchayat raj. The n e w Education Policy of Pakistan adopted in 1992, explicitly recommends considerable delegation of powers to the district level and the creation of school managing committees. But the point that needs special attention is its specific recommendation for adopting a 'liberal and simplified policy' for promoting private-sector initiative in thefieldof education. A s the case study on Sindh province points out: "Most probably, constraints in funding Education will have urged the Government to try to drive the further educational development in the direction of privatization. Perhaps, the concern is also to be in harmony with the intention of the World Bank. Tapping n e w resources in the private sector, however, implies more commercialization (resulting in danger of increasingly disadvantaging the poor and perhaps of corruption)". Bangladesh has literally m o v e d back and forth in its policies towards decentralization. With the 'decree of nationalization of 1973', the central government assumed sole authority for the management of primary education and disbanded all the District School Boards as well as the school managing committees. (In fact, m a n y state governments in India acted on similar lines, around that time). T h e Primary Education Act of 1981 proposed to set up local Education Authorities and School Managing Committees in order to ensure participation of local communities. But these measures were never implemented due to political changes which occurred soon after. A second attempt w a s m a d e to decentralize education through the upazilla system initiated in 1982. But, again, the system could not survive the change in government in 1990 and the primary education management reverted to total central control. In its latest policy pronouncement, m a d e in 1990, the

32


government proposed the establishment of School Managing Committees and Parent/Teacher Associations in all the schools. "But this time it is being done in fulfilment of the donor conditionalities of the General Education Project, designed to provide substantial increase in the financing of the primary education development programme". Will such moves, prompted by external forces, survive in practice? Also, "... the authorities and powers given to these local bodies do not have any legal sanction; and teachers and education officials perceive these bodies as ineffective and sometimes interfering". If the content of policy statements is any indication, Nepal presents the most radical position of all, in terms of empowerment of sub-national units of management. According to the Education Act and Education Regulations 1992: "the District Education Officer is m a d e responsible for giving permission to open primary schools, to close d o w n a school and to appoint, transfer or even dismiss a primary school teacher". Substantial powers have been given to the School Management Committee and the head teacher. For instance, the Act m a k e s the teachers fully accountable to the head teacher by authorizing the head teacher to suspend or withhold increments to teachers. For a relatively small country with 75 districts, the D E O is given such overriding powers that the Regional Education Director, w h o is in charge of several districts, is expected to c o m e in only when there is a dispute or w h e n inter-district matters are involved. It appears that the powers have not remained only on paper. T h e field study observations reveal that incumbents at various levels have begun using the power and authority vested in them by the 1992 Act. However, there is lack of clarity regarding the roles and responsibilities; also, participation of the community members in the school management process does not clearly emerge. The Case Study highlights this point:

33


" M a n y a problem emerges from lack of a clear concept among the education personnel about the full range of their authority and responsibilities. ... S o m e of them d o not act at all, taking recourse to the ambiguity in the rules and regulations while some others over-react w h e n they ought to have acted with discretion". Interference by political leaders in implementing the policy directives is another disturbing feature. O n e should, nevertheless, appreciate the fact that rural areas of Nepal, which include about 90 per cent of the population, are still steeped in high levels of illiteracy and, more importantly, the country has only recently embraced a system of multi-party democracy. Structural reforms with deep implications for power sharing are bound to create n e w forces of contention and temporarily disrupt the balance. It would be impudent to pass judgement so early and discard the n e w policy prescriptions without fair trial. 3.

F r o m ideology to limited rationale of efficiency

While the countries have continued their commitment to a policy of decentralization in educational management, the nature of the discourse has undergone sharp changes. A s was already mentioned, in the early stages after Independence, the decentralization rhetoric was always projected on the basis of ideological considerations. A s countries newly liberated from political domination by the colonial masters, 'power to the people' and 'grassroots-level democracy' were basic credos to be valued and implemented in their o w n right. Legitimacy of such propositions did not c o m e under critical examination. In contrast to this, the rationale put forth in the more recent policy pronouncements are replete with more pragmatic considerations of efficiency and quality. For instance, the Central Advisory Board of Education ( C A B E ) Committee on decentralization in India argues, quoting international trends: "It is increasingly becoming evident that the bureaucratic systems are not able to manage the challenges in the field of educational development and people's participation is seen the world over as an essential prerequisite for achieving the goal of education for all. It is in this context that the Committee perceives the entrustment of educational programmes to institutions of local self-government as a step in the right direction" ( C A B E Committee, 1993).

34


But, the committee also advocates caution in entrusting specific functions to the body of elected representatives, virtually reiterating the colonial administration's argument that power could not be transferred to people because they were not ready and capable of exercising it and were likely to misuse it. This in itself need not be a matter of concern. T h e really disturbing feature is that in m a n y cases the re-emergence of interest in decentralization has been directly prompted by pressures and conditionalities placed by international donor agencies. W h a t is the value of and long-term impact of such enforcement by external agencies? S o m e analysts (Slater, 1989) express serious apprehensions about the appropriateness of such interventions. This is further compounded by the emergence of official advocacy for privatization of education even at the basic stage. A s already mentioned, the recent developments in Pakistan illustrate this point. Directly referring to such developments, George (1988 quoted by Slater, 1989) argues that "Increasingly, in this species of official discourse, one can detect traces, elements of a project of ideological 'leadership'. There is an attempt to hegemonize a certain reading of decentralization, to deploy it as a watchword, to utilize it in the creation of consent around privatization and deregulation". The situation in the countries of South Asia m a y not warrant such paranoia of external ideological control. Nevertheless, the spirit underscoring this cautionary note cannot be ignored. Implantation of extraneous ideas and mechanisms could prove to be counterproductive, if they are not in congruity with local culture and ethos. It is important to recognize that changing social organization patterns is an arduous and time-consuming task and demands patience and understanding on the part of national and international agencies alike. Unfortunately, more often than not, the agents of change and development w h o operate under tight schedules of implementation and evaluation of impact, m a y fail to appreciate this basic fact. 4.

Innovative efforts for decentralized m a n a g e m e n t of education

Primary education is by and large a state enterprise in all the countries. Therefore, it is natural that attention is focused mainly on the initiatives m a d e for system-wide reforms. However, it is significant to note that in all the countries, the state has provided considerable leeway for experimentation

35


through government as well as non-government sponsored innovative projects and programmes. M a n y of these innovations represent unique approaches to decentralization in various spheres of educational management. In many cases, these innovations have paved the w a y for designing the m a n a g e m e n t framework for decentralization. A case in point is the massive project initiated by the Government of India under the banner of the District Primary Education Programme ( D P E P ) . The project attempts to put in place a n e w framework for management of primary education at the district level, which functions with considerable autonomy and has the objective of involving the community in an active manner. The D P E P has its precursors in at least two previous enunciations within the education sector. First are the explicit recommendations contained in the National Policy on Education of 1986, later reiterated in the 1992 statement, that the district and lower-level management organs be fully authorized for the planning and management of primary education. The second promoter of this concept has been the success of District Saksharata Samitis created for literacy campaigns. In this connection reference should also be made to the experimental efforts being m a d e in several other Education For All projects in India, such as the Bihar Education Project and the Lok Jumbish project in Rajasthan. The D P E P framework, however, raises certain critical questions which have a bearing on its long-term maintenance in the Indian context. T h e modality adopted for giving autonomy to the district-level body is not altogether new to certain other sectors. For instance, similar bodies, such as the Small Farmers D e v e l o p m e n t A g e n c y , have been created under the rural development sector, which has been characterized by s o m e analysts as 'controlled decentralization' (Mathur, 1985). In that case, the management body at the district level is not fully incorporated into the bureaucracy at the district level and therefore not bound by it. Also, as a centrally sponsored scheme of the Government of India, the D P E P maintains an independent identity at the district level, away from the general education administration set-up in the State. It raises the question: can this really lead to a systemwide transformation of the educational management set-up of the State? Similarly, the Basic Primary Education Project (BPEP) in Nepal, although on a smaller scale, represents a unique effort as it has been the testing ground for m a n y of the decentralization ideas incorporated in the 1992 Act. But, the B P E P is placed in a more advantageous position due to the cover provided

36


by the 1992 Act. The Satellite Schools programme and the m o v e to create Education Committees under the auspices of the Compulsory Primary Education Programme in Bangladesh represent other interesting innovations which attempt to directly bring the community into the educational management framework. But without the legal backing from national legislative bodies, can they survive? Past experiences in this regard are not really encouraging. However, time-bound and project-based innovations cannot be equated with processes of social transformation at the systems level. The former are mainly technical interventions, while the latter inevitably involve serious political decisions. The critical question is: can these projects be considered as harbingers of system-wide reforms bringing in an era of decentralized educational management? or will they remain mere showpieces of smallscale successes? Even under most optimistic circumstances one cannot but wonder as to the proportion of these innovative efforts that can be scaled up to cover the whole system. A frictionless, smooth transition from the project mode to the programme mode cannot always be assumed. For instance, in the context of the D P E P in India, two critical issues have to be tackled: "(a) A smooth transition from project to programme m o d e depends on the w a y the concerned policies, rules and regulations are re-oriented to accommodate the n e w initiatives. O n e of the c o m m o n tensions that arise in this regard is with respect to project personnel and their integration into the system. This will be a complex question in the case of D P E P , as the Project becomes operational with a relatively n e w set of policy guidelines only in some selected districts, while the existing rules and regulations will continue to be in force in the remaining. H o w do w e overcome this problem of dual sets of rules and regulations and ensure smooth integration of the project with the regular programme? (b) Adoption of the project initiatives in the regular programme cannot be seen as an 'all or none' affair. All elements of the Project m a y not get integrated into the regular programme of primary education at all. Decisions on this will have to be m a d e on concurrent analysis of each c o m p o n e n t element in the Project throughout the period of implementation. This will reveal not only the worthwhileness of retaining the project component in the long run, but also its financial viability in terms of cost effectiveness" (Govinda and Varghese, 1994). Further, as long as one is operating within the framework of an innovation, it is not likely to be questioned by the stakeholders in the larger system. However, m a n y components of such innovations m a y become a bone of

37


contention w h e n they m o v e to the main stream. H o w does one minimize such friction and h u m a n tensions within the management hierarchy? Can the integration process withstand the opposition from within the system posed by the long entrenched vested interests supporting the maintenance of the status quo? III. I m p l e m e n t i n g decentralization: s o m e critical issues It has already been noted that all countries in the region are attempting to decentralize their educational management structure. In this, some countries are still trying to fine-tune the policy orientations to facilitate the introduction of decentralized management processes. S o m e others have m o v e d further and are struggling to redesign their organizational arrangements to accommodate the changes. H o w e v e r , the most c o m m o n approach, except in Sri Lanka, is to experiment with n e w approaches on a limited scale under the banner of different Projects, hoping that they will, in course of time, replace the existing centralized structures. Irrespective of the stage that different countries are in or the different paths they have chosen to follow, it is realized that introducing decentralization demands a fundamental transformation that encompasses the whole field of educational management, demanding the introduction of a n e w management culture. Obviously, such a fundamental transformation cannot be achieved without tensions and tribulations. Thus the educational planners and policy-makers in all the South-Asian countries are faced with a n u m b e r of issues in the process of implementing decentralization measures. S o m e of these critical issues are discussed in the following. 1.

Creating the institutional framework from above

Implementation of decentralization measures has brought in its wake n e w organizational arrangements at all levels of educational management. The school management committees, parent/teacher associations, school cluster committees, village education committees, and various other bodies being created at the district, block, and thana levels, represent this phenomenon. This has also raised the need for fundamental changes in the roles and relationships among different stakeholders in thefield.H o w is this transformation process taking place? The answer with regard to all the countries, is that it has been an endeavour sponsored totally from above, by the State itself. The critical issue is whether such state-promoted efforts

38


to institutionalize grass-roots-level processes of management will work? C a n one engineer transformation of social systems from above? A n d , even if these measures are enforced through centrally designed programmes, will they survive and take root? In fact, m a n y studies including, for instance, the case study on Maharashtra, point this out as a major cause of poor success in implementing various decentralization measures. This argument is not altogether invalid. In fact, some even question the capacity of the state in these countries to initiate and sustain such changes. Arguing on these lines, Laclau ( 1985) points out that these 'peripheral states' have all assumed form through a process of decolonization, following an external logic, rather than acting in response to the internal growth of centres of hegemonic power. A n d therefore, the state's capacity for intervening in any process of social transformation is quite limited. O n e m a y or m a y not fully accede to this argument. However, can the state afford to go for the other alternative and allow the grass-roots-level forces to evolve, leading to a restructuring of the social relationships within the community that facilitate the adoption of a modern organizational framework for management? The governments have yet to eschew the colonial mind-set that, allowing for a free play of the grass-roots-level forces, would lead tofissiparoustendencies which would jeopardize national interests. A n unstated assumption is that the State always acts with noble intentions in favour of the masses, which only s o m e m a y fully endorse. The essential tension between the grass-roots-level forces and the State continues to simmer and significantly influence implementation of policies that attempt to decentralize power and enhance more direct participation of the people at large. In fact, the situation is quite ironic. A s Myrdal ( 1968:896-897) had pointed out already s o m e 3 0 years ago, there is reason to believe that in pre-colonial times, South Asia had reasonably well-developed systems of obligations comparable to those in Europe. But, colonialism led to a decay of the ancient village organization without creating a substitute.3 Placed in such a situation it appears that the state has n o alternative but to act from above. It should also

3.

"The present difference between Europe and South Asia came about gradually. In Western Europe, despite periods of decay, the long-run trend has been toward perfection of these systems of obligations and their transformation from a network of individual relationships into obligations to the community. ... South Asia has not experienced a similar evolution from the primitive and static village organization. Instead,... colonialism ordinarily led to a decay of the ancient village organization without the creation of a substitute ..." (Myrdal, 1968).

39


be appreciated that the n e w arrangements are being created not in a vacuum but in the context of a well-entrenched system. It is not just an installation of a n e w framework. The attempt is to deliberately create radical forces within the existing system that are potent enough to dislodge the old, or possibly subsume the old in the n e w organizational framework. Thus, in spite of the internal contradictions and inherent weaknesses, the state is compelled in these countries to adopt a top-down approach for creating n e w institutional structures in the field, however inappropriate such a policy m a y seem to be. It also places n e w demands on the educational planners, requiring them to evolve creative and rapid ways of integrating these apparently exogenous institutions into the local cultural and administrative framework. Are the educationists well equipped to handle such a challenge? 2.

Achieving synchronization between political reforms and the educational management system

Transition from one system m o d e to another is bound to entail a certain amount of tension and conflict. But if these conflicts persist, they m a y prove detrimental to the smooth functioning of the system and the n e w system m a y never take root. H o w does one avoid such a situation? Analyzing the developments taking place in different countries of South Asia, one finds two kinds of transition phenomenon. The first is where there is a process of delegation of powers to lower-level authorities from the central level. This m a y create tension a m o n g teachers and other field functionaries, w h o m a y feel threatened due to the proximity of the controlling authority. At the same time, delegation of powers to lower level obviously involves disempowerment at the central level. This m a y be resisted and there m a y be instances where the authority to act m a y never be fully transferred to the decentralized units. M a n y of the complaints expressed during thefieldvisit in Nepal, undertaken as part of the case study, seem to be arising out of these tensions of delegation. The second kind of tension spot is related to transition from bureaucratic control to e m p o w e r m e n t of community representatives. A s Maclure (1993) points out, based on a study of school reforms in Burkina Faso, "Public schools, even in the most remote communities, remain a part of a large state bureaucracy which ... militates against the transformation of schooling as a

40


genuine community enterprise.... state bureaucracies tend to be hierarchically structured and function according to precepts of normalization and routine. T h e typical structure and modus operandi of state bureaucracy is antithetical to major change and community-level 'lay' input into the management of routine public sector tasks". This kind of tension arising out of the immutability of the bureaucratic control mechanisms can be quite debilitating. O n e finds several such tension spots building up in the Indian states, including Maharashtra. A n important source of these tensions is the dual control that exists over the education department personnel, including school teachers. The recent m o v e in Sri Lanka to create zonal offices above the divisional offices which correspond to the pradeshiya sabhas is also perceived as a w a y of denying the powers to the community representatives in the pradeshiya sabhas. In fact, there was also an earlier m o v e to re-centralize by creating a multi-cluster-level office. All the case studies report complaints of instances where the delegation of power has remained only on paper as the decentralized units have never been allowed to use them. It is not that the State or the central authorities always act in an arbitrary manner. For instance, the Sri Lanka case studies refer to empirical evidences which indicated congestion of work at the Regional Directorate level and also neglect of schools outside the cluster framework. Again, as mentioned in the Nepal study: "It is no exaggeration to say that, in the field of education, all powers emanate from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Social Welfare ( M O E C / S W ) which reserves the right to interfere with, to curtail or to withdraw the powers it has entrusted to the education personnel working at various levels in different parts of the country. Normally, the M O E C does not interfere with the actions of its line agencies; but at times when things get stuck or an explosive situation arises for one or other reasons, the Ministry is compelled to use its heavy hand or to deal with the situation directly by short-circuiting the normal procedure". A critical question is, " H o w does one build an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence between the bureaucracy and grass-roots-level bodies entrusted with educational development activities?"

41


3.

Debureaucratizing the m a n a g e m e n t system: h o w far should one go?

Even if one does not fully endorse Maclure's (1993) view of bureaucracy as renegade and antithetical to empowerment of people, one cannot deny the inertia that a well-entrenched bureaucracy is likely to offer for change processes. A n d one finds that the existing institutional arrangement for management of primary education in all the countries is highly bureaucratic and hierarchical. The case studies also highlight that the existing hierarchical arrangement is a major factor hindering decentralization. Inertia for accepting change manifests itself in a variety of ways in all the countries. Traditional public administration practice in the region has been that everything be specified in writing. All procedures need to be authenticated in writing for them to be considered legitimate. The existing structures have their legitimacy not so m u c h in terms of the activities performed, but in terms of what is specified in the books and job charts. H o w does one dismantle this vestige of the colonial period and create a n e w culture of communication, where more transparent procedures are set and validated by action rather than through specifications in the job chart? This is essential for initiating decentralized management practices. A big danger is that decentralization m a y result in the creation of more bureaucratic levels through formal organizational structures at the grass-roots level. The above observations raise the question: h o w does one institutionalize decentralization without further strengthening of the bureaucratic machinery? This is a complex question to answer. In fact, in all the countries concerned, past government actions to centralize power, such as the m o v e by the Bangladesh Government in 1973 to nationalize all primary schools, have led to tremendous concentration of power in the hands of the bureaucracy. With massive expansion of the primary education programme, the bureaucracy has also grown in size. In fact, the déconcentration measures implemented from time to time in all the countries, have resulted in the spread of administrative structures deep d o w n into the education network. Also, some countries in the region, such as Sri Lanka, as well as s o m e Indian states, have created special civil service cadres for administering education. Finally, in political systems with empowered local self-government bodies, political upheavals at the national and provincial/state levels have their echo at the grass-roots level. In such circumstances, devolution of power to elected representatives can threaten stability in the organizational arrangements in

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the field and thereby strengthen the hands of the bureaucracy instead of giving more power to the community. Under these conditions, one has to carefully decide at each decentralized unit, a proper mix of community involvement and bureaucratic control. The right question to tackle is: h o w m u c h of bureaucracy is desirable and functional at different decentralized units? 4.

Tackling the problem of interface m a n a g e m e n t

O n e of the basic assumptions underlying decentralization is that it will m a k e the management process more inclusive, building a sense of partnership a m o n g all the stakeholders. But, this m a y be a difficult goal to achieve, given the fact that the personnel in the education sector have been nurtured under the concept of a single line of control. Also, one cannot expect the central authorities to hand over power to the decentralized units, whether they are bureaucratic or community based, if they do not have trust in the commitment and capabilities of the people in those units. N o r can one believe that the grass-roots-level bodies will overnight change their perceptions of the bureaucracy and the genuineness of their intention to involve the community in decision-making processes. Building genuine partnerships in decision making is a tenuous process, to be pursued with faith in h u m a n intentions and capabilities to arrive at consensual understanding. T h e key to success in such an endeavour seems to lie in building an effective mechanism for continuous interaction a m o n g different stakeholders. Thus the question is: " W h a t measures could one initiate to ensure effective interface management between various interest groups concerned with education such as the central government, decentralized institutions, the school authorities, independent community groups, and so on?" Interface management between the central government and decentralized units, and between the central government (or its 'deconcentrated' regional representatives) and N G O s , m a y vary according to the decentralization system which has been implemented. However, a basic requirement for this to happen is that, "the attitudes and behaviour of both government employees and local leaders must change. This is essential if the value and relevance of shared decision-making and greater participation by local communities in the planning and development management process is to be a reality" (Adamolekun et al, 1990). Apart from appropriate measures for such vertical communication, it

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is equally important to create an effective means of horizontal communication a m o n g different field-level establishments. Absence of such a mechanism can lead to serious functional anomalies, very well highlighted by the case studies. For instance, the Sri Lankan study refers to instances where different authorities were sending conflicting instructions to the divisional offices regarding the same subject, namely, operation of the mid-day meals programme. Better interface management also demands greater sensitivity to the needs and capacities of the grass-roots-level functionaries. Inappropriate communication strategies can prove to be counterproductive to the goals of decentralization. For instance, the Sri Lanka study, quoting an empirical investigation, points to the need for sending circulars to functionaries in a language they understand: "The production of documents only in English was seen as a serious drawback by 75 per cent of those w h o were interviewed. Several officers even of the district office had not gone through the documents". In fact, this is a problem that is quite often observable with respect to centrally emanating official actions in all countries of the region. Further, interface management should not be seen as consisting of mechanisms of technical co-ordination or an exercise in public relations. It has to be a constant and pervasive endeavour of all partners involved in the educational management process. This would demand carefully planned action on at least three fronts: (a) Improvement in communication capabilities a m o n g all concerned, supported by a reliable information system so that rationality prevails in joint decision-making processes. (b) Development of a c o m m o n understanding of the roles to be played by different partners functioning in different units, such as the school m a n a g i n g committees, the school authorities, state department representatives at various levels beginning from the central government, and so on. The case studies clearly bring out that m a n y of the incumbents in the field are not aware of the specific roles and responsibilities they are to play; nor do they k n o w of any power vested in them. (c) Change from a model of supervisory control to one of guidance and facilitation. This will demand a total abandoning of the existing superior-

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subordinate relationship between the personnel in central government and decentralized units or between the departmental inspection authorities and the school personnel. 5.

C o m m u n i t y participation as the backbone of decentralization: h o w to m a k e it w o r k ?

A basic objective of decentralized management in all the countries of the region, is that it will promote the participation of local community members in the process of educational decision making. In pursuance of this goal, different institutional mechanisms have been created to participate in the management of primary schools. In Sri Lanka, the School Development Board is to perform this function, while the school managing committees have a similar role to play in Nepal and Bangladesh. The village education committees in Maharashtra and the parent/teacher associations in all the countries are supposed to provide the forum for participation of community members. While this presents a very rosy picture, experience with them has not been uniformly satisfying. Several issues need to be examined in this regard. T w o critical questions are: Are these bodies functioning effectively and regularly? H a v e they been able to generate genuine community participation in school management? Formation of such grass-roots-level mechanisms marks the first essential step towards community involvement. A s experience shows, the challenge to be faced is: " h o w does one activate the functioning of these committees and sustain their involvement in school management?" Reports from Sri Lanka reveal that even though the school development boards were given considerable importance, they were not at all active in m a n y places. Similar is the case in Bangladesh, Pakistan and most states of India. Maharashtra seems to be an exception to this problem as the village education committees in m a n y places seem to be quite active. This m a y also depend on what roles are assigned to such grass-roots-level committees. For instance, in Bangladesh: "... such committees are mainly confined to the preparation and updating of the list of eligible students for enrolment, motivating the parents, and supervising the attendance of learners". These tasks m a y not in themselves be attractive enough to mobilize the participation of the community in school management. However, the case of

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satellite schools and the S M C s in Nepal demonstrate that communities do take an active interest if they are really empowered to act. A closer study of the functioning of S M C s in Nepal with all the powers vested in them, along with the head teacher, m a y hold good lessons for others, provided they are allowed to function without undue political and bureaucratic interference. A n essential prerequisite for sustained participation through such mechanisms is an ambience of mutual confidence and open, informal interaction among the stakeholders. This would also imply that decision making with respect to school functioning is m a d e transparent and open to the community members (Govinda and Varghese, 1994). W h a t mechanisms does one create for sustaining such open communication among the stakeholders - between the school and the departmental authorities as well as with the parents and the community? Obviously, mere creation of formal bodies such as V E C s and S M C s will not be enough. Finally, effectiveness of such mechanisms to generate genuine community participation also largely depends on the nature of the community groups. It is necessary to begin with a realistic understanding of the community characteristics in the South-Asian countries. This is essential because, "ideologies of educational decentralization frequently assume a dichotomy between a socially organic local community and the nation state and the local community tends to be defined in ideal terms corresponding, for instance, to an Athenian conception of participatory democracy" (Lauglo and M a c L e a n , 1985). Such wrong assumptions m a y lead to highly dangerous decisions on management responsibilities. The dangers involved are clearly highlighted in the Indian study: "The contention that rural communities are composite and cohesive is not valid. Studies of villages have indicated group formations, not only on the basis of economic and political interests, but more often, on the basis of caste, religion and ethnic composition. O n e should therefore not approach panchayat raj institutions from a romantic view of communities, but from the point of view of endemic and continuous conflicts of group and individual interests and constant shifting of alignments and loyalties. Educational policy-makers and administrators are ill-equipped to live and deal with a situation of conflict".

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M o r e than 25 years ago, Myrdal (1968), elaborating on this issue in the context of India, came to a similar conclusion: "Another hope inspired and initiated from the centre is that a system of locally elected bodies, the panchayat raj, better k n o w n under the label 'democratic decentralization' or 'democratic planning,' will encourage the masses to participate in the management of local affairs and thereby weaken the power of the local political bosses. ... the most conspicuous immediate effect of such efforts has been to strengthen the grip of the rural elite, the self-elected boss class, over the masses. Whenever locally elected bodies are given powers worth scrambling for, they are almost invariably run in the interests of the dominant caste in land and wealth. The system of panchayat raj, like the basic democracies in Pakistan, has not, in general, thrown up any n e w leadership in rural areas". That such bodies m a y even run counter to the basic philosophy of community empowerment is clearly brought out by a recent study (Perera, 1994) done in Sri Lanka. The report states: "Although there are members from the community in the School Boards, they represent only the minority elite w h o are rich and knowledgeable. According to the principals, socially disadvantaged groups have nothing m u c h to contribute, and do not have the necessary calibre to get things done". Whether it is in view of such observations on the functioning of the School Development Boards or due to other political exigencies, the Government of Sri L a n k a recently decided to abolish them. School Development Societies which operated previously were revived to function in place of the school development boards. Such moves also underscore the significant difference in an ideology-driven decentralization process, wherein empowerment processes are embedded within a legal framework, and a process of decentralization which is prompted by an avowed concern for efficiency. In the latter, as demonstrated by the Sri Lankan case, decisions are m a d e and practices are reversed through executive orders which cannot be questioned by any stakeholder. The message from the above evidence is quite clear. Within the decentralized m a n a g e m e n t framework, the parameters of community participation at the grass-roots level have to be carefully specified, taking full notice of the local socio-cultural context. Totally disbanding central authority

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m a y prove to be a costly mistake. O n e should possibly try to exploit all forces at central as well as grass-roots level in a 'hybrid' framework (Hallak, 1990). Nevertheless, for decentralization to be effective, as Shaeffer ( 1994) cautions, it is necessary " to decentralize from a position of strength - from a relatively strong central system". It is important to remember that one is trying to institutionalize a n e w set of power-sharing mechanisms in place of an existing centralized control model; one has to avoid the danger of creating a power v a c u u m , resulting in a chaotic condition in the field, or strengthening undesirable forces operating at the grass-roots level to usurp power. 6.

Issues involved in personnel m a n a g e m e n t

Appointment and posting of personnel in general, and of teachers in particular, remains a thorny question whether decentralization is adopted or not. However, with decentralization, the contenders for performing this crucial function have multiplied and have given rise to m a n y issues. T h e review of the situation in different countries of South Asia reveals that, b y and large, the central government has kept the prerogative of appointing teachers. However, in most of the countries the district authorities are given some role to play in this process. For instance, in Bangladesh: "... appointments are done centrally with thana quotas based on written tests and district-level interviews". E v e n in the State of Maharashtra in India, w h e r e educational management has been decentralized to a considerable extent to the district level, teacher recruitment remains a state-level activity. O f course, "... primary school teachers are recruited to a district cadre by a district-level selection committee and are transferable within the district. But they are first screened through a written examination, conducted at the state level, which becomes the main deciding factor". T h e situation in other countries is similar except that the n e w 1992 Act gives a m u c h greater role to the district level in the recruitment of teachers in Nepal:

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" . . . the District Education Committee has been mobilized along with necessary powers to play a more active role in the planning and dispensation of educational benefits in each district. The Teacher Selection Committee has also been empowered to play a more vital role in the selection of primary school teachers". In fact, the basic debate on personnel recruitment policies has to be examined at two levels. The first level of debate is within the government sphere. T h e contention is, w h o should have the locus of control in the appointment of teachers and other personnel - the central government or the decentralized units? Here the assumption is that the personnel will continue to b e employees of the national or state governments. W h e n the decentralization principle is applied, the locus of control for appointments will be located in the decentralized unit. A s a corollary, the decentralized unit will also have the authority for transfer and for taking disciplinary measures, under the overall control and supervision of the central government. Such a m o v e would represent a delegation of authority to lower levels, yet retaining the monolithic structure of the teacher cadre at the central level. The second level of debate concerns the effective transfer of all control and authority over the educational personnel to a body of elected representatives or any other parastatal organizations at the decentralized unit. In this case, the personnel will cease to be the employees of the central government. In fact, devolution of other activities without giving up control over personnel matters can create a situation of power conflict, as in Maharashtra: " T h e personnel placed by the state government Department of Education with the District and other panchayat bodies have dual allegiance in their work. O n the one hand, they are under the administrative control of the panchayat bodies yet, on the other hand, they are under the service of the state government". A similar observation is m a d e in the Bangladesh case study: "Teachers as central government employees have no accountability to the S M C s or any other local government body". For the present it seems the governments in all the countries are unwilling to give up control over this area.

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O n e should also examine a third dimension of this debate, which arises out of the positions taken by teachers and other groups of personnel. In a way, national governments m a y not be completely free in deciding on this issue. A s the studies from all the countries report, teachers, in general, are not in favour of shifting the centre of power in this regard from the distant u n k n o w n central authorities to familiar figures in the local bodies. This is particularly true with regard to delegating the authority for promotion, transfers and disciplinary actions. Are teachers afraid that the local bodies m a y not act justly? O r is it a ploy to cover their inefficiency, which is likely to be exposed if the authority is vested in the local body? Whichever is the case, the problem is not a simple one. A s reported in the Indian study: "The situation has become m u c h more complicated than it was four decades ago, partly because of increased politicization of teachers' unions and their emergence as a significant political force". This has, of course, been exploited by political parties of all hues and shades, whether in power or in the opposition. It appears that no government is keen on tackling the issue squarely for the fear of losing political leverage with the m a m m o t h union of teachers. The main victim in this unresolved power conflict is the quality of education. It is urgent that the governments act in this regard more decisively if the primary education systems are to function with even m i n i m u m levels of efficiency. 7.

Financing of primary education

The pattern of financing of primary education in a country will have a direct impact o n the process of decentralization. Primary education programmes throughout the country are almost fully funded by the state. Only a small segment of the system is run without receiving even grants-inaid from the state. In fact, management of finances is also undertaken by the official hierarchy in the central ministries. A s most countries in the region are undergoing severe financial constraints, the governments have been exploring alternative avenues for financing the primary education programme. This becomes doubly complicated as, at the same time, the primary education system will continue to expand, with more and more children joining the schools.

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Here again, several issues are involved which have a bearing on decentralization. The first issue to be examined is the w a y financial resources are mobilized for primary education. It has been observed in m a n y developing countries that under the umbrella of decentralization, governments tend to depend more and more on the community to finance primary education. Participation is often defined as extraction: that is, parents, the community at large, and even teachers, are seen as sources offinancialand material support and physical labour (Shaeffer, 1994). This is not yet a serious problem in the countries of South Asia. But m a n y innovative projects promoted by the governments tend to endorse such means of mobilizing resources. In Sri Lanka, it was found that school development boards were used, and even perceived by teachers and parents, as mere fund-raising bodies. Functioning in poverty-ridden conditions, and with a huge number of poor children outside the school, these community financing methods can portend serious consequences in terms of equity. Another tendency observed in m a n y countries is the m o v e to expand private schooling as an alternative to government funding of primary education. Until recently, private schooling, which is generally very expensive, could be found expanding only in urban localities. But n o w this trend is observed in rural areas also. The governments in some of the countries have begun to endorse this, without any attempt to moderate. This m a y also, in the long run, exacerbate the already existing inequalities in the countries. F r o m a broad angle, private financing of education can be considered as a positive m o v e to relieve pressure on the governments. However, if this is allowed to grow unchecked without any moderation by the government, and if government reduces its investment in education proportionately, it will seriously affect the interests of the poor. M a n y question whether governments in the poorer countries are taking these means of privatization and community financing as escape routes from the commitment of providing free and compulsory education. Another issue of concern is the allocation and sharing of resources for education between the central government and the decentralized units. A c o m m o n trend reported in the Latin-American countries has been to use decentralization as a means of passing on the responsibility for funding education to the decentralized units. This can obviously have a serious impact on the development of basic education. Decentralization should necessarily be accompanied by appropriate formulae for sharing of public resources.

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Handing over responsibility to implement without adequate financial support from the centre can be observed in South Asia also. A s stated in the Indian case study: "Earmarked funds and locally-raised resources which, in the economic situation of m a n y rural areas would be difficult to find, would not provide to the local bodies enough funds to deal with expansion and quality improvement of elementary education. The financial constraints, as the history of local body institutions has s h o w n for years, will adversely affect their ability to m a n a g e elementary education, m u c h less enhance its quality. There is need for a system of differential grants which take care of the economic capacity of different villages and localities". Recognizing this problem, s o m e countries propose to mobilize local resources by raising n e w taxes or by redefining the framework for sharing the revenue in an appropriate fashion. For instance, under the Social Action Programme in Pakistan, it is proposed that: " A proportion of zakat and ushr funds collected at the local level would be diverted to the education sector, either at the district or at the provincial level. The existing iqra surcharge collected by the Federal Government and meant for education has not been m a d e available for this purpose. In future, provincial governments would be given their proportional share to meet resource constraints in the field of education. Enhanced user charges would be introduced and the government of the day must make a political decision on this matter in order to help the provincial governments to meet their targets. While the private sector is being encouraged and greater resources and more freedom is being given to this sector, privatesector schools on the high end of the fee/income bracket need to be taxed in accordance with their earning potential. These funds can then be utilized to cross-subsidize low-income private initiative". While the proposal seems to be very radical, calling for sweeping changes in the process of resource mobilization for education, one has to carefully examine the feasibility of implementing it in the field. It is a well-known fact that more than 9 0 per cent of expenditure on primary education goes towards salaries, leaving very little resources for developmental activities. The question is, ' h o w is this money utilized?' Are

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the local decentralized units, including the primary schools, given any freedom in this regard? The general trend is that the local bodies such as the district education office and, particularly, the primary school, have very little scope for decision making in this regard. M o s t of the funds are earmarked by the Centre. However, governments seem to have become moreflexiblein this regard. In Maharashtra, a District Fund is created which is operated by the district authorities; also, the village education committees are given specified amounts of annual grants which can be utilized by the committee for developmental purposes. Schools in Sri Lanka are given freedom to utilize the funds raised through the school development boards. Similar initiatives are being tried out in Bangladesh and also in Nepal. Innovative experiments in s o m e countries, such as the Shikshak Samakhya (Teacher E m p o w e r m e n t ) programme in M a d h y a Pradesh, and the proposal to provide a specified amount of untied funds to each primary school under the District Primary Education Programme, represent m o v e s to inject a n e w sense of freedom and financial autonomy into individual schools. 8.

Control o n curriculum and textbooks: a contentious issue

Transactions that take place in the school through mechanisms of h u m a n interaction constitute the core of education. The contours of these transactions are in turn controlled through the instrumentality of curriculum and textbooks. Thus, the agency determining the curriculum and preparing the textbooks enforces an implicit control over the whole of the teaching-learning process and, by implication, on the nature of the products coming out of the school system. W h o determines the school curriculum and textbooks in the countries of South Asia? W h a t role do the decentralized units play in this process? T h e studies reveal that in all the cases, curriculum and textbook preparation are quite centralized activities. In all the countries except India, the task is performed by specialized bodies created at the national level by the central governments. In India this is done by similar bodies functioning at the state level. Considering the size and diversity of the conditions in India, this is tantamount to a centralized model, as in other countries. T h e case study on Sindh province in Pakistan points out that: " ... the existing practice of curriculum development indicates that the Federal Government is the only guiding and controlling authority on this matter. Even if the provincial bureau makes an attempt in

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this regard, thefinalapproval is still to be sought from the Federal Government.... Teachers are legally bound to use the textbooks printed by the Sindh Textbook Board, which acts as the 'gate keeper' to m a k e sure that only the prescribed books are used in the schools". T h e legitimacy of this centralized approach in dealing with curriculumand textbook-related matters is generally defended by the governments on several grounds. First, it is argued that designing and production of curriculum and textbooks are specialized and expensive activities for which the decentralized units do not have the necessary wherewithal. Second, it is pointed out that decentralization of this process m a y result in chaotic conditions in thefield,without any comparability of the outcomes of schooling in different parts of the field. Also, textbook availability at reasonable cost cannot be ensured if this task is left to private and non-governmental authorities. Thus centralization is seen here as a pragmatic arrangement. Finally, it is stated that for reasons of national unity, and in order to ensure the inculcation of national values and ideals, it is imperative that this function is performed by central bodies. H o w sound are these justifications for centralization? Even though one cannot completely reject these arguments, there are other facets to this question. It should be recognized that all the countries of the region have multi-ethnic population groups living in very diverse conditions. Added to this are factors of language and religious affiliation. C a n a centrally prescribed curriculum meet the norms of relevance with respect to the lifestyles and living conditions of such diverse groups of people? Interestingly, the policy rhetoric in all the countries emphasize the need for making school education relevant and needs-based. But, in practice, this does not seem to be honoured by the governments. In fact, curricular issues have become matters of dispute between the national and sub-national authorities on several occasions, highlighting the ideological and political sensitivity of the subject. It is difficult to pass any judgement on the appropriateness or otherwise of the current practices in this regard. H o w e v e r , the situation does d e m a n d the acceptance of pluralism in perspectives related to curricular matters. Relevance to the life of the children should be given priority over ideological considerations. A related development that needs consideration in this context is the question of learner evaluation. National testing programmes are becoming a c o m m o n feature in m a n y countries of the world. This is also seen by m a n y as an indirect m e a n s of exerting control over the curriculum and teaching-

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learning processes. Even though central testing programmes have not become a part of the national activity in any country, India and Bangladesh have brought out specifications of m i n i m u m levels of learning at the national level. Needless to say, this could eventually be perceived by schools and regional authorities as centrally prescribed norms to be followed by all the primary schools. In fact, the textbooks in several Indian states are being revised to fully conform with competency specifications m a d e under the M i n i m u m Levels of Learning order issued b y the Government of India. 9.

Building on the principle of local accountability for school functioning

Debates on curriculum as a means of enforcing ideological hegemony and external control over educational processes assume that schools do function effectively and the outputs from the school would imbibe the knowledge and values incorporated in the curriculum. Is this assumption reasonable? Perhaps not. In fact, quality of schooling is a matter of major concern in all the countries of the region. Relevant questions in this regard are: W h a t mechanisms are used to monitor school functioning? H o w sensitive are these to the grass-roots-level conditions? At present, the only standard practice adopted for this purpose in all the countries is the school inspection apparatus of the state education department. But the inadequacy of this mechanism to deal with the question is highlighted by all the case studies. A s the Indian study points out: "The conditions are particularly bad in rural communities, where inspectors and supervisory personnel of the education department are unable to penetrate. The supervisory machinery in most states has not kept pace with the expansion of the education system, either in terms of number or the quality of personnel". A s pointed out in the case study on India, over a period of time, "the time spent on inspection by the District Education Officer ( D E O ) has drastically declined in all the states". The D E O has become more and more office-bound and is saddled with grievance redressai tasks in a big way. Another study reported that a typical D E O spends around 32.5 per cent time on administration, 21.7 per cent in management of examinations, 19.5 per cent in management of academic activities, including inspection, 10.6 per

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cent in planning activities, 10 per cent on redressai of grievances, and around 5.7 per cent on budgeting and finance. T h e Sindh study also points out that: "... the supervisor is entrusted with such numerous and multifarious duties that he ceases to function as a professional guide and becomes an odd-jobs m a n , running errands and submitting proforma. Thus his real work is being neglected". T h e study goes on to add: "It is rather disconcerting that supervision was never considered an essential part of the teaching p r o g r a m m e . T h e Education Policy statements, including the comprehensive Report of the Commission on National Education, did not devote due attention to instructional supervision. Only passing references have been m a d e and it is mainly the administrative aspect that has occasionally been referred to". Sri Lanka has tried to tackle this problem by decentralizing the task of supervision to the school cluster level. Bangladesh has tried to reinforce the existing supervisory mechanism; the Assistant Thana Education Officer is assigned the task of supervising 20 schools every month and organizing cluster-level training programmes for the teachers. Also, several innovations are being tried out in different countries. For instance, the Resource Centre and Cluster System, designed under the B P E P , is a strategy for decentralizing administrative, supervisory and academic activities at the local cluster level, and is to function as a centre for providing professional support. Further, Nepal has delegated the authority for monitoring school functioning to the S M C s under the 1992 Act. Also, the head teacher has been given more powers for internal management of the school. In Maharashtra, the village education committees have been assigned the task of monitoring day-to-day functioning of the school. Despite these decentralized arrangements, academic supervision seems to be quite inadequate. T h e m o v e to take the apparatus for monitoring school functioning nearer to the school site is a welcome feature and is in line with global trends. However, considering the poor conditions in which the schools are functioning, jumping to the extreme of school-based management and disbanding the existing supervisory mechanisms m a y not be desirable. Rather, it should be more meaningful to design a strategy that combines the positive features emerging from various innovative practices adopted in different countries of the region. Such a strategy would perhaps consist of three major components:

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(1) (2) (3)

strengthening the internal m a n a g e m e n t mechanisms within the school by redefining the role of the head teacher and the school m a n a g e m e n t committees; strengthening external academic support to teachers by streamlining the external inspection mechanisms and creating locally based teacher support systems; and creating a social accountability mechanism by involving the community through such institutions as village education committees.

This three-pronged strategy needs to be supported by two other important factors. These are: (a) A clearly defined set of performance indicators of effective school functioning. In order to have a c o m m o n frame of reference, this has to be evolved through joint exercises a m o n g all the parties concerned. But, it is important that this is evolved locally and not prescribed externally by the central authorities, (b) With a view to ensuring that decisions are based on rational considerations, it is essential to build a local-level information base. This again has to be done locally in order to be sensitive to the contextual conditions in which the school is functioning. IV.

Capacity building: basic prerequisite for decentralization

A s discussed in the initial part of the paper, decentralization is being promoted in different countries with a variety of theories. Reviewing the experience of several industrialized countries, Caldwell ( 1990) states, based on an O E C D report, that "the recent experience of O E C D countries shows that it is increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to control complex modern education systems from a single centre". Initiatives for decentralization have c o m e in these countries as a government response to complexity. Implicit in this response is an underlying faith among the central authorities that the decentralized units, if given the necessary authority and resources, possess the capability to deliver the goods efficiently. However, complexity of the education system is not unique to the industrialized world. The situation in the developing countries is even more complex. But in these countries, lack of capacity at the decentralized level is often put forth as the reason for withholding decentralization measures. Reflecting o n the issue of decentralization, Lauglo (1990) states that "The distribution of authority will be conditioned by the confidence which politicians and officials have in their subordinates. If they are ill-trained and poorly motivated, their superiors will seek to simplify and standardize the tasks, using highly directive supervision. This is the

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case in m a n y developing countries". This clearly highlights h o w fundamental is the need to build m a n a g e m e n t capacities if decentralization management is to b e c o m e a reality in m a n y countries. T h e above analysis raises several questions with respect to developments in the South-Asian region. First of all, it is necessary to critically review the existing situation. H o w bad is the situation in these countries? Second, what does capacity building consist of? H o w can the countries cope with the needs for capacity building? 1.

L a c k of capacity as the basis for rejecting decentralized m a n a g e m e n t

It is difficult to decide whether reluctance to decentralize management is fully explained by the apparent lack of management capacity at thefieldlevel. It is true that thefield-levelpersonnel in these countries seriously lack planning and management capabilities. This is well illustrated by all the case studies. For instance, the Indian study points out that: " M o s t of the D E O s are not trained in educational planning. T o m a n y , educational planning means supplying information to the higher authorities, for which they normally depend on their statistical assistants". But is it not essentially an 'egg-chick dilemma'? H o w could they acquire capabilities if they have n o opportunity to practice them? This point has been highlighted by several studies. Again, as the Indian study points out: " E v e n w h e n they are trained and possess skills in planning and management, they rarely get a chance to utilize such skills. T h e priorities are fixed at the state level, thefinancialallocations are decided at the state level, and hence the responsibility of district-level officers is confined to preparation of implementation schedules. M o r e often than not, these targets (implementation dates and schedules) are also provided by the state governments, which reduces the role of the district officers to just carrying out the directives from the state level". Similar findings have been stated in the Pakistan case study. S o m e typical comments from the D E O s were: " W h a t a m I? Just a post office, passing o n orders from the top". "Instructions are issued from Lahore to open schools at this place or that and I simply have to obey." " W h a t financial powers? Purchases

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are m a d e in bulk in Lahore and w e have to be content with whatever is shipped to us". Reviewing the situation in m a n y developing countries, Hallak (1992) summarizes that ' T h e typical district office operates solely as a 'mailbox', transmitting guidelines, decisions, and rules from the central offices d o w n to the lower layers of the administrative machinery -there are no incentives to encourage the intermediate levels to report mis-management, violation of rules, or, on the other hand, the good performance of institutions, requiring rewards or encouragement. Nor are there incentives for the intermediate levels to promote, at the lower levels of the system, initiatives, innovative attitudes, or educational experiments with a risk element". This kind of situation can hardly enthuse the field-level personnel to acquire n e w capabilities. Rather it nurtures a culture of indifference to the functioning of the system. A s the Bangladesh study states: "This (lack of capacity) becomes a useful ploy for the central authorities to take over all decision making, even those legitimately to be done at the lower levels". A s a consequence, it legitimates further strengthening of central control while keeping the rhetoric of decentralization. 2.

N e e d for a broadened vision of capacity building

The above analysis has an important lesson for all those concerned with the development of primary education. There is no point in lamenting the policy of central control adopted in m a n y countries. The need is to initiate urgent action for designing and implementing capacity-building programmes in the decentralized management of education. Effective decentralization which envisages basic transformation in the organizational framework and genuine empowerment of the people at the grassroots level, demands the emergence of a n e w 'world view' on what constitutes educational management. Merely dismantling the bureaucratic system and passing resolutions in the national parliament m a y not suffice. Decentralization presupposes transparency in transactions at all levels. The culture of confidentiality in official matters which characterizes all government affairs in South Asia has to change. It involves, therefore, the creation of a n e w management culture - a culture built on faith and freedom, not on suspicion and control. Thus, capacity building has to

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go beyond mere development of s o m e technical skills and knowledge. It should aim at changing the attitude of the people involved and instil commitment to democratic principles and processes. W h a t constitutes such a capacity-building programme? A n d w h o m will it encompass? Change is needed not only a m o n g the people at the grass-roots level, but also at all other levels of the management hierarchy. Hallak and Carrón (1994) reiterate the point that training alone will not d o if an overall change and improvement in the system is intended. Capacity-building activities, according to them, have to be conceived with a broadened vision, consisting of three basic components. T h efirstcomponent relates to development of basic knowledge and skills for effectively contributing to educational development programmes. Designing of such programmes should take into consideration the changing scenario in the education sector, including the involvement of international agencies in a big way. This is particularly true of the South-Asian countries. The second component is the development of an appropriate institutional framework to function effectively. A s already highlighted in the earlier paragraphs, precious h u m a n resources are being wasted as trained personnel are not provided with necessary institutional facilities to utilize the knowledge and skill they possess. It is important that institutional facilities are not seen only in terms of physical infrastructure. It is equally important to create a positive environment for work and personal development. T h e third component is the development of a favourable policy environment. This should include "commitment at the highest government level to improve national capacities, adequate legal jurisdiction to encourage ownership and operation of education systems by the various actors involved, and shared commitment and accountability in participation in the management of the public sector". 3.

Magnitude of the task

With decentralization, the contours of decision-making units take an altogether n e w shape. Obviously, n e w players holding stakes in the peripheral management units become crucial to ensure efficient functioning of the system This is in contrast to the situation in a relatively centralized system where the role of managers in the peripheral units is limited only to implementation of decisions m a d e by the central unit. Beginning from the grass-roots level, the primary school head teacher becomes the critical link in the decentralized system. Including the head teachers

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along with numerous officers at various other levels will m a k e the number of persons to be considered for capacity building very large in all the countries. For instance, the number of persons concerned with planning and management of primary education in Bangladesh is nearly 40,000, as indicated in Table 3. Organizing professional capacity-building programmes for such a large number of management personnel in a sustained fashion is definitely a very demanding task. The situation is even more acute in a country like India, with around 465 districts and an average of about 2,000 primary school head teachers in each district. The number is multiplied several-fold if one adds community representatives such as members of the school managing committees, and several local-level community management mechanisms that are likely to c o m e up with decentralization. H o w does one tackle this stupendous task? D o the countries have adequate institutional resources to organize capacity-building activities on such a massive scale? Table 3 . M a n a g e m e n t personnel in primary education Level/office

Designation category of officers

Central level - Directorate of Primary Education (DPE)

1. Director 2. Deputy Director 3. Assistant Director 1. Deputy Director 2. Assistant Director 1. District Primary Education officer 2 . Assistant District Primary Education Officer 1. Thana Education Officer 2 . Assistant Thana Education Officer 3. Head teacher (Government)

Regional level Divisional Office Field level - District

Thana level Cluster (sub-thana) level School Teacher training and educational research Primary Training Institute National A c a d e m y for Primary Education

1. Superintendent 1. Director 2. Deputy Director

No. 4 10 22 5 5 64 64 64 2,001 37,741

53 1 2

(NAPE) Total

40,036

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4.

Existing institutional facilities for capacity building in educational planning and m a n a g e m e n t

T h e national case studies revealed that w h e t h e r o n e goes for decentralization or not, institutional facilities for training and research in educational planning and m a n a g e m e n t are quite inadequate in proportion to the personnel involved in the primary education sector in all the countries of the region. A quick overview of the existing facilities in the five countries under review should be worthwhile. In Bangladesh, there are two nationallevel institutions involved in providing training and orientation in educational planning and m a n a g e m e n t . These are the National A c a d e m y of Educational M a n a g e m e n t ( N A E M ) and the National A c a d e m y of Primary Education ( N A P E ) . O f these, responsibility for training of personnel in planning, m a n a g e m e n t and supervision in education lies with the N A P E . T h e study very clearly points out that the A c a d e m y is unable to fully cope with the task. It is observed that: "Since the Independence of Bangladesh in 1971, particularly during the Second and Third Five-Year National Development Plans (1980-1985 and 1985-1990), massive institutional changes took place in the primary education sector in Bangladesh. A s a result of these reforms and changes, more than 40,000 management personnel of various levels, from central to the school, came up in the system. Phenomenal increases, both in the development investment and recurrent expenditure, have taken place. This trend is bound to continue in the foreseeable future. Further, the introduction of Compulsory Primary Education in the whole country has posed a n e w challenge to the administrators. To face this challenge requires an enhancement of the management capacity of the personnel in the primary education sector through training. Yet, the fact of the matter is that the existing training facilities are gravely deficient in this respect.... At present, the institutional capacity of N A P E to perform the role of an apex training and research institute in thefieldof management and planning in primary education is very limited. Unless N A P E is equipped with qualified and efficient permanent staff of its o w n , it will not even be able to carry out its current mandatory tasks, let alone face new challenges to c o m e in the future.... It is another matter that there is practically no training institutions focusing on planning and management at district or thana levels which is crucial for decentralization to succeed".

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Just strengthening the national-level institutions will not suffice. It is essential that arrangements for professional training and orientation are also decentralized, with suitable institutional infra-structure. The problem of poor institutional facilities for management capacity building is not confined to Bangladesh. It is a c o m m o n feature in all the countries of the region. A s the study from Sindh in Pakistan points out: "The training of planners, managers and administrations in education has never been given emphasis in the past. There w a s n o arrangement for this purpose at the provincial level until the M a n a g e m e n t Training Unit w a s established under Sindh Primary Education Development Programme ( S E P E D ) . This is a n e w institute and is not adequately staffed for catering to the training needs of educational planners, managers and administrators.... At the federal level, the A c a d e m y of Educational Planning and M a n a g e m e n t is the only institution concerned with the conduct of programmes of evaluation and research related to education, in general, and of programmes dealing with planning and management, in particular". Reviewing the existing institutional facilities in India, the study points out that: "In the present set-up there is no provision for regular training of functionaries of education at the district or sub-district levels. T h e organizational arrangements available at the state levels are (i) the State Institutes of Education (SIE); (ii) the State Council of Educational Research and Training ( S C E R T ) ; and (iii) Institutes of management and general administration. A n analysis of training activities undertaken by these organizations in the recent past shows that the training activities of the SIEs and S C E R T s have seldom focused on the planning and management aspects of education. Both of them virtually function as teacher training institutions. Similarly, the state institutes of administration and management also rarely organize any programmes specific to the educational sector". Recently, the country has decided to establish one institute in each district k n o w n as the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) in order to meet professional training needs at the district level. While this is a welcome step in strengthening institutional infrastructure at decentralized levels, the situation is very uneven across the districts. M a n y of the D I E T s are poorly

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staffed and most of them are following the model of SIEs and S C E R T s , functioning mainly as teacher-training institutions. Another proposal adopted in the country is to establish a state-level institution in each state, dedicated to the task of professional development in educational planning and management. T h e Indian study further points out: "In the absence of any clear-cut training plan and institutional arrangements, the brunt of training of all categories of personnel in educational planning and management has become the responsibility of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA). ... (However,) given the sheer size of the grass-rootslevel functionaries, N I E P A m a y not be in a position to intervene at the level of primary school headmasters, supervisors, cluster- and block-level functionaries, etc. Even in the case of district-level officers, the number is too large to be trained by N I E P A . Therefore, there is a need to look for alternative organizational arrangements to train educational planners and administrators". In Sri Lanka, the task of professional capacity building in educational planning and management lies with the National Institute of Education. Considering the small size of the country, the Institute reaches out fairly effectively to the managers working at the field level. Yet the inadequacy of institutions capable of orienting local-level functionaries in decentralized planning and management is also severely felt in Sri Lanka. The study observes: "It is unfortunate that Sri Lanka, though it has initiated decentralization in a substantial w a y during the last decade, has not designed specific training programmes on decentralized management for different categories of personnel.... A s a consequence, even though readiness for improvement can be found in some schools, there are no wellsupported m a n a g e m e n t intervention schemes and supportive structures at the division and other levels". The problem in Sri Lanka, as well as in other countries, m a y not be simply one of skill development in educational planning and management. A larger issue concerns the need for attitudinal reorientation of the incumbents at various levels of the system. It is unlikely that mere training and orientation in technical knowledge and skills of management will solve the problem.

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Nepal is struggling with afledgelingset-up, unclear as to the direction in which one should go. With a generally very low level of education development, the task of even training primary school teachers seems to consume all the attention of the education policy-makers. T h e Nepal Government has recently set up a national institution, namely, the National Centre for Educational Development. "The main responsibility of N C E D is to provide in-service training to primary school teachers. Besides, N C E D also offers management training to the regional education directors, district education officers, school supervisors and headmasters. Presently, the Centre does not have its o w n building. However, it is proposed that the N C E D will be equipped with nine regional training centres at different strategic parts of the country with its headquarters in Kathmandu". While these proposals will take time to fructify, outreach of the Centre, particularly with regard to educational planners and managers at the local level, remains a distant reality. However, considerable efforts for training of headmasters and members of the school managing committees have been initiated under the expanding development programme of the Basic and Primary Education Project. It m a y also be noted that: "There are some other training institutions which are involved in providing training to local leaders, people's representatives and other development authorities in the area of designing and implementing development plans. Surprisingly however, these institutions do not seem to have considered primary education as one of the main areas of local development, as a result of which they do not give priority to primary education in their programmes". The Nepal case study goes on to observe: " A s things stand n o w , the training programmes for teachers and other education personnel are designed at the central level. This approach is likely to overlook the actual training needs at the grassroots level. The district and local-level people should be encouraged and even m a d e responsible for developing suitable training programmes for various personnel in their respective constituency. This measure will ensure development of need-based training components and involvement of the very custodians of the local

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educational affairs. Local initiative and creativity should be fostered and not thwarted, as is often happening n o w " . It is quite evident from the observations m a d e in the various national case studies that decentralized management would d e m a n d a more elaborate arrangement for training of educational personnel. T h e existing arrangements are far from satisfactory to reach all persons concerned with planning and management of education. With decentralization, the demand for capacity building will further increase as more and more people from the local units are likely to take on n e w planning and management responsibilities. It is also important to recognize that capacity building under a decentralized set-up has to b e c o m e more and more participatory in order to remain sensitive to local needs and aspirations of all the stakeholders. This will m a k e the task even more complex. 5.

Learning from experience

Whether decentralization is proposed and promoted on ideological grounds or with a view to improving functional efficiency, the involvement of people of the peripheral units within a framework of self-governance becomes a basic prerequisite. This is so, irrespective of whether only the system is becoming deconcentrated, or whether there is genuine devolution of power to the people at the grass-roots. In any case, genuine faith and confidence a m o n g the central leadership with regard to the capacity of those in the decentralized units is inevitable. But this becomes more and more difficult as the systems become more bureaucratized. A s the Sri Lanka study points out: "Even if there was a willingness to devolve power and responsibility, the local-level people were not prepared to take over. Even those w h o had to hand over their responsibilities were not trained to 'give u p ' . There was a real need for reorientation of the bureaucracy. Functional decentralization has m o r e to do with change in attitude and values than creating structures. Preparation of people becomes even m o r e crucial w h e n it c o m e s to dealing with the primary education sector". Thus there is no quick w a y to build capacities and deploy trained people to implement decentralization measures. It is inevitably a gradual process of transformation. At the heart of this process is the attitudinal reorientation of

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all concerned for rebuilding the faith in the imperative of allowing people at the periphery to manage their o w n affairs more significantly with a m i n i m u m of central diktat. It is imperative that decentralization of educational management is accompanied, or even preceded, by a certain structural reorganization of the system. T h e studies reveal that most of the countries have created a bureaucratic structure which has peripheral units practically encompassing the whole hierarchy from the ministry to the school. In other words, m u c h of the needed management structure is in place already; or, at least the contours of a decentralized system of management is clearly drawn in all the countries. But the system continues to be centralized as people managing the decentralized units have very little freedom and authority to act independently. The need therefore is to reform the existing functional specifications within the structural hierarchy. This will m e a n bringing n e w persons into the decisionmaking process. N e w players in the management process demand n e w role definitions. Again, as the case studies highlight, lack of clarity on the roles and responsibilities is a big hindrance in implementing decentralized management. A critical question here is w h o will redefine the roles and responsibilities? Or, in other words, w h o will rewrite the rule book to accommodate n e w players from the peripheral units to participate in the decision-making framework? Is the existing centralized management set-up capable of doing this? T h e current level of efficiency of the system becomes a determining factor in this regard. The 'centre' of a reasonably efficient system m a y be ready to shed some of the existing powers and authorities, along with functions and responsibilities, in favour of the peripheral units. But, this becomes more and more difficult in a system working at a low level of efficiency. T h e fear that even the m i n i m u m semblance of order maintained in the system m a y break d o w n is likely to hinder any positive action. Is it an unjustified fear? It is again a matter of faith and attitudinal reorientation a m o n g those w h o matter at the central level. This is also essential for reducing the gap between provisions and de facto implementation that invariably accompanies most policy initiatives in the region. Another apprehension that holds back the central authorities from introducing genuine decentralization is the fear that decision making at the local level is likely to be less rational and be swayed by personal considerations. While one m a y question the basis of such an assumption, the crux of the

67

Decentralization ofeducational management: experiences from South Asia

matter is the general non-dependence on empirical information while deciding vital matters at school and at local levels. A s the case studies have pointed out, considerable interference from the local political elite is a factor difficult to contend with. T h e solution seems to lie in creating an empirical information base, quantitative as well as qualitative, at the local level and to thereby help the local-level managers to m a k e data-based decisions. Obviously, mere creation of a data base will not be adequate. Concrete programmes have to be evolved to inculcate the habit of using information at the grass-roots level. It should be recognized that consolidation at district, state or higher levels reduces the capacity of the information to effectively influence actions at the peripheral units. Currently, most of the focus on information base creation is on setting up national or state/provincial-level management information systems. This m a y be useful but not adequate for a decentralized system of management. A s a result, the nature and functioning of the system at the other end continues to remain shrouded in mystery with n o concrete information. This is in spite of the fact that data are essentially generated from the school and by the teachers themselves. Yet a local-level supervisor or administrator often remains ignorant of the material conditions in which the schools function. A n important dimension of the creation of such a locallevel information base is the likelihood of making the whole.system more transparent to the stakeholders and thereby introducing greater efficiency and public accountability. It is perhaps m o r e prudent to delink déconcentration and delegation measures in education from broader political devolution policies. That waiting for political devolution is not essential, is well demonstrated by the experiences in countries that have gone ahead with decentralization. Such an approach will also help define the roles and responsibilities of the peripheral units and the managerial incumbents at that level. This will m a k e it easier for transfer of powers and authorities to the political units as and w h e n they c o m e up. In fact, in order to define roles and functions, one does not need to wait for the creation of political units. There is also a pragmatic consideration for adopting such a stagewise approach to decentralizing educational management. It m a y be noted that currently, operating with nationalized m e g a systems for primary education is the rule in all the countries of the region. This has left the peripheral units practically unattended by anyone in the managerial framework. Obviously, political devolution is no substitute for meeting the standard requirements of

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management and maintenance of the system. Invariably, political equations of power sharing take a longer period to clearly define as compared to defining n e w roles and responsibilities within a deconcentrated m a n a g e m e n t framework. Experience from Sri Lanka shows that it takes time to learn the habits of using delegated power by the managers in decentralized units; also to follow the directions from a delegated authority of a manager. M o v i n g from such a situation of decentralization to real e m p o w e r m e n t at the grassroots level through political devolution is a slow process of socio-political transformation. Contrary to this, Nepal is an example of trying a technical solution by putting together community bodies in charge of primary schools directly. A s brought out by the case study, this is likely to lead to recentralization through political manoeuvres, thereby creating a set-back to effective decentralization. Bringing school and community closer is a policy orientation in all the countries. A n important question that needs to be closely examined in this regard is whether one could equate community participation in school management with political devolution of control over primary schools. This is particularly relevant in the Indian context, where the creation of local selfgoverning bodies under pancliayat raj or establishment of Village Education Committees, empowered through executive orders of the state governments, is often viewed as a strategy for bringing in community involvement. However, experience shows that such an approach is not essential as community participation can c o m e without political devolution. This is well illustrated by the programmes of L o k Jumbish in India or that of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee ( B R A C ) in Bangladesh. Also, the existence of elected political bodies at the local level need not guarantee that power and control over primary school management will be vested in them. For instance, the Union Councils in Bangladesh are elected bodies, but have practically no influence over primary school education. C o m m u n i t y participation is fundamentally a voluntary coming together of people for a c o m m o n cause. Executive actions constituting school managing committees, or creation of local self-governing bodies through electoral processes, can give the necessary legal framework for community participation but cannot on their o w n substitute for the voluntarism that underscores effective participation in any communitybased action.

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V.

Conclusion

It is true that decentralization cannot by itself solve the numerous maladies afflicting the systems of education whether they are in the developed or the developing countries. But, one cannot view the process of decentralization in a mechanistic manner only as a technical response to a managerial problem. It has to be necessarily grounded in a philosophy of democratic participation. Yet, one cannot be critical of policy-makers w h o are hesitant to endorse decentralization based on pragmatic considerations of economy and efficiency. Also, one cannot justify discarding decentralization on the basis of prejudices and flippant empirical evidence of its detrimental effect on the efficiency of the education system. While centralist hegemony can be less defensible on grounds of legitimacy, uncontrolled pluralism and autonomy in the field m a y lead to a state of chaos. After all, the evidences from the field are not unequivocal, and furthermore, social organizations cannot be moulded purely based on a positivistic framework. In this regard, it should be stated that the centralization-decentralization question in educational management cannot be resolved by opting for one and rejecting the other. Both forms of management perspective are bound to remain and it does not help to classify systems in a dichotomous framework. W h a t is more important is the development of a n e w culture to work together at all levels, based on the principles of collaboration and partnership in place of control and coercion. Such a n e w culture of management can be built only on a pervasive faith and commitment to democratic principles and processes. The challenge is: ' H o w does one ensure such a commitment a m o n g all concerned?' In conclusion, there has been plenty of rhetoric expounding the value of decentralization and participation. Policy documents of national governments, as well as of international agencies, are replete with arguments in favour of decentralized management in education. But, practice has not kept pace with these proclamations. It is time that more concrete activities for transforming the management structures and practices are initiated. It is again counterproductive to labour on the absence of m a n a g e m e n t capacities at the grass-roots level. Capacity building and introduction of decentralization can go hand in hand. Neither of the two has to wait for the other.

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Bibliography Adamolekun, L . , Robert, R . and Laleye, M . 1990. Decentralization policies and socio-economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa, Economic Development Institute of the World Bank and Panafrican Institute for Development. Bacchus, K . 1993. " S o m e problems and challenges faced in decentralizing education in small states". In Kevin M , Lillis, Policy, planning and management of education in small states, International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris. Bray, M . 1991. Centralization versus decentralization in educational administration: Regional issues, Educational Policy, Vol. 5, N o . 4 , December 1991. Caldwell, B . 1990. School-based decision-making and management: International perspective, pp. 3-26. In Judith D . Chapman (Ed.) Schoolbased decision making and management, The Palmer Press, London. Govinda, R . and Varghese, N . V . 1994. District-level plan implementation strategy with particular reference to school improvement, International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris. Hallak, J. 1990. Investing in the future: setting educational priorities in the developing world, International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris. Hallak, J. 1992. Managing schools for educational quality and equity: finding the proper mix to make it work, International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris. Hallak, J. and Carrón, G . 1994. The contribution of H E P to capacity building: training alone is not enough, HEP Newsletter, Vol. XII, N o . 1, JanuaryMarch 1994. Laclau, E . 1985. The hegemonic form of the political: A thesis. In Abel, C . and Lewis, C M . (eds.) Latin America, economic imperialism and the State: the political economy of the external connection from Independence to the present, Athlone Press, London. Lauglo, J. 1990. Factors behind decentralization in education systems: a comparative perspective with special reference to Norway, Compare, Vol. 20, N o . 1,21-39. Lauglo, J. and McClean, M . 1985. The control of education: International perspectives on the centralization-decentralization debate, Heinamann, London.

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M a d u r e , R . 1993. School reform in Burkina Faso: The limited prospects of decentralization and local participation, Canadian and International Education, Vol. 22, N o . 2. Mathur, K . 1985. Small Farmers Development Agency in India: A n experiment in controlled decentralization. In Rural development in Asia, Sterling Publishers, N e w Delhi. Misra, R.P. and Nataraj, V . K . 1981. "India: blending central and grass-roots planning" in W.B.Stohr and D . R . Fraser Taylor, Development from above or below?, John Wiley. Myrdal, G . 1968. Asian drama: An inquiry into the poverty of nations, Pantheon, N e w York. Perera, W . J . 1994. "Improving the institutional development capacity of disadvantaged schools" In Education For All, Vol. 1, March 1994, M O E and H E , Sri Lanka Presidential Commission on Youth (1990), The Presidential Commission on Youth, Department of Government Printing, Sri Lanka. Rondinelli, D . A . ; Nellis, J.R. and Cheema, G . S . 1984. Decentralization in developing countries: A review of recent experience, World Bank, Washington D . C . Shaeffer, S . 1994. Participation for educational change: a synthesis of experience, International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris. Slater, D . 1989. Territorial power and the peripheral State: The issue of decentralization, Development and Change, Vol. 20, N o . 3, pp. 501531. Webster, N . 1992. Panchayati Raj in West Bengal: Popular participation for the People or the Party? Development and Change, Vol. 23, N o . 4 , pp. 129-163. Weiler, H . N . 1983. Legalization, expertise, and participation: strategies of compensatory legitimation in educational policy, Comparative Education Review, Vol. 27, N o . 2, pp. 259-277. Weiler, H . N . 1989. Education and power: The politics of educational decentralization in comparative perspective, Educational Policy, Vol. 3, N o . 1, pp. 31-43. Wunsch, J.S. 1991. Sustaining Third World infrastructure investments: decentralization and alternative strategies, Public Administration and Development, Vol. 11, N o . 1, pp. 5-23.

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Partïï Experiences from South Asia

This part consists of eight papers contributed by different authors or teams from five selected countries in South Asia. Five papers give an overview of the situation in each of those countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Decentralization policies and practices however can differ quite substantially from one region to another, especially in the two largest countries among thesefive:India and Pakistan. For that reason, two contributions focus on the provincial or state level and cover respectively the State of Maharashtra and Sindh Province. The eight contributionfinallyexamines in detail the issue of training for decentralization in India. The different papers are based on a research exercise, designed and coordinated by the IIEP, in order to review and document the decentralization policies and practices adopted in the five selected countries. The original documents prepared by the teams or authors were presented and discussed at a Regional Workshop held in Kathmandu in December 1994. Based on the discussions, the papers were further revised. The texts included in the current volume are therefore edited and abridged versions of the original ones. In particular, the sections in the original versions of the papers, dealing with capacity building for decentralized management, have been considerably summarized. However, the overview presented in Part /has drawn extensively from the original versions of these papers.

Part II Experiences from South Asia The second part of this volume consists of eight papers based o n systematic research exercises carried out in the five selected South-Asian countries, namely: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The papers highlight the varying experiences of the countries with respect to decentralization of primary education management. In order to carry out such an analysis, a broad research framework was prepared by the International Institute for Educational Planning. In each country the framework was discussed with educational management professionals and appropriate adaptations were m a d e to suit the conditions characterizing the educational set-up. The focus of the research framework, nevertheless, w a s mainly o n carrying out a functional analysis within the decentralization efforts in the respective countries. Using the specific framework thus evolved, a research team in each country prepared review papers based on desk study as well as field investigation. The purpose of the field work was to elicit the perceptions of practising functionaries on different dimensions of the issue and also to assess the current state of implementation of decentralization policies with respect to primary education. T h e paper o n Bangladesh, Decentralized management of primary education in Bangladesh, by Kazi Fazlur R a h m a n and Anowarul Aziz is a historical-analytical account of the way successive governments in the country, within a span of less than 25 years, have m o v e d back and forth in framing their policies on educational management. Current government policy favours decentralization and it explicitly advocates the involvement of the community in educational decision-making at the grass-roots level. Authors of the paper credit this current policy orientation mainly to the overt and covert influences m a d e by national and international agencies functioning in the country. Whether one accepts such an observation or not, it is true that despite the policy pronouncements, there seems to be little change in the highly centralized system. A s the paper highlights, this is mainly due to its extensive bureaucratization and the general unwillingness to relax central control over the system at various levels of the hierarchy. A n interesting aspect of primary

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Decentralization of educational management: experiencesfromSouth Asia

education in Bangladesh is the burgeoning presence of N G O s , and their continuous effort to forge a coalition for educational development, largely outside the government framework of operations. It is difficult to say whether such a coalition can really offer a viable alternative to the state-promoted and controlled schooling mechanism and, furthermore, one cannot completely rule out the political undercurrents influencing the functioning of nongovernmental organizations. In any case, this overwhelming presence of N G O s in the primary education sector has added a unique dimension to the decentralization debate in Bangladesh. Three papers have been included to describe the status of decentralization in the education sector in India. In thefirstpaper, Decentralized management of elementary education: The Indian experience, Trilok N . Dhar presents an overview of the situation in India, tracing the evolution of policies related to decentralization over a period of nearly 50 years. While the paper highlights the continued commitment to decentralization at the national policy level, it also points out the recalcitrance of administrators to convert these policies into actions. The paper elaborates on the panchayati raj (PR) framework adopted in India for devolution of political powers through democratic processes, but expresses apprehensions about whether it is adequate to ensure decentralization of educational management in the country. Referring to the recent constitutional amendment with regard to panchayati raj elections, the author feels that too m u c h is still left to the state governments regarding the subjects to be transferred to the P R bodies, which is essential for making decentralization effective. H e concludes therefore that real decentralization of management control over primary education m a y not c o m e about at all in most of the states. The paper also points to the conflicting fact that, as in all the states, primary school teachers are state employees and are in general not in favour of decentralization. This is very similar to the situation in Bangladesh. Under these circumstances, the extent of decentralization in the sphere of primary education management is highly dependent on the state governments. Keeping this in mind, the author gives a brief comparison of the situation in some of the major states of India. The second paper on India, Decentralized management of primary education in Maharashtra, prepared by Sheel C . N u n a , deals with the situation in one specific state of the country, namely Maharashtra. Having such a state-specific paper was, in fact, a conscious decision. For India as well as for Pakistan, it w a s considered inadequate to limit the discussions

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only to the national scene. The constituent states in India, and correspondingly the provinces in Pakistan, enjoy wide-ranging powers with respect to primary education; they are also mainly responsible for the regular administration of the system. Keeping this in mind, in both the countries two papers were prepared - one giving the national scene with respect to decentralized management of primary education, and the other paper focusing exclusively on a selected state or province. Accordingly, the paper on educational management in Maharashtra attempts to capture the situation in one of the educationally better-developed states in the western part of India. T h e significant factor highlighted by the paper is the essential tension that underscores decentralization; it is exemplified by the conflicting role expectations a m o n g stakeholders operating at different levels, namely, the state and the grass-roots levels, on the one hand, and political and bureaucratic control machinery at every level, on the other. T h e third paper on India is "Decentralization of educational planning in India: an assessment of training needs". This is a special one written by N . V . Varghese, describing the existing state of efforts for building capacities a m o n g professionals in the area of educational planning and management. T h e paper presents a historical review of the educational planning process alongside attempts to highlight the changing training needs of the personnel involved. T h e author describes in detail the ongoing developments as regards decentralized planning under the District Primary Education Programme ( D P E P ) and against that back-drop, elaborates the emerging requirements for planning and management capacities at various levels. T h e paper effectively illustrates the type of prospective analysis to be m a d e in assessing capacity-building requirements under a decentralized planning set-up. Thus, read along with the other two papers on India, this clearly brings out the importance of paying special attention to capacity building, if decentralized planning and management structures, created from the district level and below under the D P E P , are to be sustained after the project period. This question is relevant not only in India, but also in most other countries in the region which are implementing decentralization measures within the framework of projects for primary education development. The special value of this paper lies in thefirst-handreport by the author regarding the processes currently being adopted to build capacities for planning a m o n g the districtlevel functionaries.

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A s already mentioned, there are two papers describing the situation of decentralized management in Pakistan. T h e first paper, Decentralized planning and management of primary education in Pakistan: A review of policies and practices, prepared by the A c a d e m y of Educational Planning and Management, presents a broad perspective of the official policies and programmes of primary education in the country. It highlights s o m e important initiatives of the government that characterize the nature of the management system operating in the country. It also points to the wide gap between policy commitments and programme implementation. A major part of the paper is devoted to describing the education management-related components of the 'Social Action Programme', which lays a very high emphasis on universal primary education and literacy for all youths and adults. The second paper on Pakistan, Decentralized management of primary education in Sindh Province, by Ghizala Kazi, deals in m u c h greater depth with the specifics related to management of primary education in Sindh Province. A s already noted, Pakistan being a federal state, major policies and programmes on school education are initiated by the provincial governments. T h u s , one finds considerable variety with respect to the extent of decentralization adopted in different provinces of Pakistan. T h e province of Sindh, as pointed out by the author, is committed, at the policy level, to creating a more decentralized arrangement for primary education management. T h e main barrier for implementing the policy, according to this paper, is the deeply entrenched bureaucracy and the unionized school teachers. She also points to the role of the World Bank and other donor agencies in influencing policy formulation by the government, in particular in relation to the promotion of private initiatives. A point highlighted by both of the papers on Pakistan is that of inadequate utilization of existing management capacities, while lamenting the lack of skills for implementing various education development programmes. This mismatch is definitely a matter of concern warranting the attention of national planners and policy-makers. The following paper, Decentralized management policies and practices in the primary education sector in Nepal, has been prepared by a team of researchers from the Centre for Research in Educational Innovations and Development. It reveals the bold policy initiatives taken by Nepal in order to establish a decentralized management mechanism for education through the wide-ranging education reforms promulgated in 1992. The authors highlight two important factors inhibiting the implementation of various radical proposals

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incorporated in the reforms package. O n e is the relative lack of experience and understanding a m o n g the various stakeholders to assert and assume their roles and responsibilities under a decentralized system. T h e second factor is the high level of bureaucratic resistance to the adoption of a decentralized mechanism which is likely to disempower them in a variety of w a y s . These are well illustrated by the findings of the field observations and interviews with grass-roots-level workers carried out as part of the case study. T h e authors also highlight the n e w structures and processes being implemented under the Basic and Primary Education Project ( B P E P ) , a large p r o g r a m m e for primary education improvement mainly funded by external sources. This p r o g r a m m e aims at developing a decentralized framework with the district as the unit of m a n a g e m e n t . B P E P has already covered m o r e than half the number of districts in the country and is expected to take on primary education reform in all the 75 districts during the next phase of development. In comparison to the massive expansion of the initiative, the capacity for planning and m a n a g e m e n t from the district level onwards seems to b e woefully inadequate. This, according to the authors, has b e c o m e a reason for reintroducing centralized management mechanisms in s o m e functional areas. Sri Lanka represents a case with m u c h greater decentralization in educational management as compared to all the other countries of the region. This is remarkable for a country consisting of a relatively small and compact island. T h e paper, Decentralization in education: the Sri Lankan experience, by Wilfred Perera and H . Palihakkara, captures this point in considerable detail. However, the authors do not express full satisfaction with the state of affairs which essentially consists of decentralization of powers, assigning expanded roles and responsibilities to the peripheral units. This is possibly due to the current expectation in the country to bring genuine devolution of powers to elected representatives at the provincial level. T h e authors point out a variety of factors that seem to hinder effective implementation of decentralization at thefieldlevel. The factor which is c o m m o n to this, and other countries of the region, is that of the role played by the bureaucracy. T h e paper traces the historical changes that have taken place, beginning from the first efforts towards decentralization immediately after independence to the current m o v e for political devolution of powers to locally elected bodies. Corresponding to the changes in the sphere of public administration, educational management processes have also undergone a significant transformation. The authors consider the lack of capacities for planning and management at thefieldlevel as a major

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barrier for introducing further measures towards decentralization of educational management in the country. A c o m m o n feature of all the papers is that they try to present a broad sweep of historical developments leading to the present status. Second, all the papers try to locate the discussion on decentralized management in education within a context of the overall development of primary education in the country, on the one hand, and the developments in the broader sphere of public administration, on the other. This section should be viewed essentially as an exercise in comparative education, attempting to present a panoramic view of the situation in the South-Asian region. T h e papers included in the volume are abridged versions of the original case studies prepared by the authors. However, care has been taken to faithfully reflect the views of the authors expressed in their original papers and the abridged versions clearly indicate the trends in policies and practices, adopted in the five countries of the region, with regard to decentralized planning and management of primary education. While Part / of this volume attempted to synthesize the emerging strands in different countries, Part II attempts to delineate the uniqueness in the policy and practices of different countries in a contextual and historical perspective.

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1. Bangladesh

Decentralized management of primary education in Bangladesh by Kazi Fazlur R a h m a n * and Anorwarul Aziz**

I.

P r i m a r y education in Bangladesh: a historical perspective

In Bangladesh, the tradition of a widespread system of basic education pre-dates the advent of British colonial rule. Reports of administrators in the mid-eighteenth century testify to the fact that there was, on an average, one school per 400 persons.1 It was a decentralized system, built and maintained by the community for the education of its o w n children. Besides the 3Rs, these schools provided religious and moral instruction to the children according to the needs of the community. Colonial rule in Bangladesh began in 1757, on the capture of political power by the East India C o m p a n y . The n e w rulers had no special interest in the education of the people in the colony. Rather, the economic and social changes brought about by colonial rule gradually, but steadily, eroded the ability of the community to support the traditional system of education. While the traditional institutions declined, a small number of schools, patterned after the system prevalent in England, were opened. The first change in the British rulers' attitude to education came in 1854, with a policy document k n o w n as W o o d ' s Despatch.2 In fact, it led to the institution of a structure which despite m a n y modifications, survives in its essence even today. It introduced a system of grants-in-aid which, although very limited in number and meagre in amount, led to a modest revival in the number of primary schools. In the area of educational management, a Directorate of Public Instruction was created to administer the grants-in-aid,

* ** 1. 2.

Former Secretary for Education, Government of Bangladesh. Director, National Academy for Primary Education (NAPE), Dhaka, Bangladesh. Nurullah, Syed and J.P. Naik, History of education in India, Macmillan, Bombay, 1943. Ibid. p. 159.

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carry out general supervision of the schools and submit to the government annual reports on the state of education.3 Nevertheless, the system continued to depend substantially on community support. The enactment of the Bengal Rural Primary Education Act in 1930 4 constituted a major breakthrough after a long period of stagnation. It was indeed a landmark in the history of education in the then province of Bengal, of which the present State of Bangladesh constituted the major part. The avowed intention of this Act, w a s the ultimate introduction of compulsory, universal primary education. For this purpose, it provided both a framework and a financing mechanism. A t the apex, it created a Central Primary Education Committee to advise the government on all matters relating to primary education. A district School Board for each district was set up. District education funds were created by the imposition of an education tax, augmented by government grants. The authority for the management and administration of the rural primary schools was entrusted to these boards. Municipal bodies enjoyed the same responsibility in respect of urban schools. For the day-today administration and m a n a g e m e n t , a M a n a g e m e n t Committee w a s established for every school. Under this Act, all properties and assets of primary schools were transferred to the respective District School Boards. These Boards were composed of the representatives of the elected members of the then District Board and Union Boards (the lowest tier of local government bodies), elected teachers' representatives, representatives of the guardians and concerned local-level government officials. Each Board w a s made responsible for arranging the school budgets and opening new schools. In this task, the Boards were to be assisted by the officials of the Directorate of Public Instruction. T h e District Inspector of School (DIS) was the ex-officio secretary of the Board. Under the D I S , there were Sub-divisional Inspectors of Schools and Sub-inspectors of Schools. Even though the country was under colonial rule, the system introduced by this Act was quite democratic and decentralized for the time and circumstances. During the Pakistani rule, beginning in 1947, the authority and responsibility of the School Boards were systematically whittled d o w n . Finally, in 1957, all functions of the Boards were transferred to the District Magistrate 3.

Ibid., p. 166.

4.

Ibid., p. 529.

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(subsequently designated as Deputy Commissioner). T h e only redeeming feature w a s that these changes did not substantially affect the traditional community involvement at the level of individual schools, and generally, some degree of decentralization in local management of the system still survived. It can thus be said that, even before independence, Bangladesh had a long tradition in the management of primary education by the community and local bodies. Most of the primary schools of today were established by the initiative of the community in the past. Community members extended active help and co-operation in building and maintaining the schools. The managing committee of the school kept a constant watch over school affairs and school property while the headmaster was given considerable freedom and authority to manage the school. 1.

Primary education in independent Bangladesh

The emergence of a sovereign and free Bangladesh rekindled the hopes and aspirations of the people. The Constitution adopted in 1972 declared the establishment of a uniform, mass-oriented and universal system of education to all children and the removal of illiteracy as among the fundamental principles of state policy.5 In 1973, ostensibly as a first step towards achieving these objectives, the government issued a Decree of Nationalization6 of all primary schools in the country. With this decree, the central government assumed sole authority and responsibility for the establishment and supervision of all primary schools in the country. It took over all the funds available with the District School Boards as well as all movable and immovable properties of the Boards and individual schools. All school managing committees were abolished. All primary school teachers of the newly nationalized institution, numbering 142,824, became central government employees. The appointment, posting, • transfer, supervision, both academic and administrative, of this huge number of teachers, and the management of schools, involving even minor repairs, became the responsibility of the central government. Such a totally centralized management of the primary education system in its entirety was, perhaps, without parallel anywhere in the world. 5. 6.

The Constitution of Bangladesh. Primary schools (taking over) Ordinance, 1973. Bangladesh Gazette, 31 October 73.

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S o m e of the consequences of nationalization, even though unintended, were: (a) T h e traditional link between the school and the local community w a s substantially weakened. A s central government employees, the teachers c a m e to feel that they were not in any manner accountable to the community. In their n e w official capacity, they became accountable solely to their supervisor in the official hierarchy. (b) The local community, guardians, or even elected local government bodies, lost all rights and responsibilities in the matters of management and maintenance of the schools. (c) Mobilization of local resources through financial, social and moral support from the community more or less ceased. (d) Planning and development of n e w schools became centralized, leading to inadequate consideration for local conditions and needs. 2.

Structural and legalreforms (1979-1990)

Substantial and unprecedented increases in financial outlay for primary education w a s but one aspect of the reform measures initiated by the then government in 1979. This was accompanied by a series of other measures, a m o n g which the following deserve special mention: (a) a separate and fully-fledged Directorate of Primary Education and Mass Education w a s set up; (b) a Curriculum Development Board w a s established, with a view to developing an improved instructional system; (c) n e w rules for the recruitment of primary school teachers were promulgated; these stipulated that at least 50 per cent of new recruitment to teacher cadre should be w o m e n . The unintended harmful consequences of the nationalization of primary schools m a d e itself felt more deeply after a few years, w h e n community involvement in schools dwindled. In this context, the Primary Education Act (1981)7 was enacted with a view to ensuring active participation of rural communities (including the guardians). Under this Act, a Local Education Authority was formed in each sub-division (present district). A further purpose 7.

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The Primary Education Act, 1981, The Bangladesh Gazette, 19 October 1981.

Bangladesh

of this Act was to improve the supervision and management aspects of school activities by delegating power to local bodies. T h e Act of 1981, in a real sense, w a s a step forward for the decentralization of administration, management and supervision of the activities of primary education in the country. T h e Act had the scope to involve local people in the management and supervision of the day-to-day school activities. But, even before it could be implemented, a change of political power took place in the country and its provisions were discarded. The following decade witnessed a vast increase in resource allocation for primary education, but virtual stagnation in the areas of policy and management. A major breakthrough occurred in February 1990, with the enactment of the Primary Education (Compulsory) Act, a reiteration of the national commitment to provide basic education for all. At about the same time, the government agreed to establish a School Managing Committee ( S M C ) and a Parent/Teacher Association (PTA) for every primary school, in fulfilment of the donor conditionalities of the General Education Project, designed to provide increased finances for the primary education development programme. 3.

Developments since 1991

There have been a number of highly significant developments since 1991. The Primary Education (compulsory) Act 8 c a m e into force partially on 1 January 1992, and w a s m a d e effective in the whole country in 1993. According to this Act, all children between six and ten years of age, must be enrolled in school and receive five years of primary education. A number of committees have been formed to help implement the provisions of the Compulsory Primary Education Act. At the grass-roots level, there is a ward committee. Committees of community representatives have also been set up in thana and district levels. The power and functions of these committees are, of course, mainly confined to the preparation and updating of the list of eligible students for enrolment, and motivation of the parents for regular attendance of their children in the school. Thus, the responsibilities given to these committees are just motivational and promotional, rather than managerial and supervisory. 8.

Monitoring Report of D P E . Government of Bangladesh, 1995.

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Nevertheless, the various committees set up under the Act have begun to motivate parents to enrol their children in school and organize meetings and cultural functions in their areas to create awareness amongst people regarding primary education. However, not all such committees are uniformly active and effective. At the national level, a separate Division of Primary and Mass Education was created directly under the office of the Prime Minister. This Division, headed by a Secretary, is now responsible for planning and implementing all activities related to primary as well as adult education programmes. At the school level, S M C s and P T A s started functioning, albeit with varied levels of effectiveness. Widespread local-level mobilization of teachers, parents, community leaders and officials began as part of the nation's E F A campaign. Non-formal primary schools set up in the mid-1980s on a pilot basis by a few N G O s , among w h o m the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee ( B R A C ) was the most prominent, proved their effectiveness in providing primary education to the children w h o had never had an opportunity to attend a formal school or had dropped out from one. The years after 1990 witnessed a phenomenal expansion of this system. At the same time, many smaller N G O s and local community organizations started emulating the successful B R A C model. This has opened up an entirely new dimension in the primary education scene in Bangladesh. II.

Current status of primary education

In the formal system, primary education in Bangladesh is of five years' duration consisting of five grades (classes) and covering the age group 6 + to 10+. Children are supposed to be enrolled in Grade I at the age of 6 + and complete primary schooling at the age of 10+, after five years of schooling. However, a large number of younger children of 4 or 5 years of age swarm to primary schools for enrolment, which has given rise to the creation of baby or infant classes in almost all of the schools. These baby classes function within the premises of the government primary schools, though not officially approved. The schools in the formal system are of different categories, namely, government, registered private, unregistered private, private, satellite schools and Ebtedayee Madrastras. The government primary schools are 37,470 in number. They are managed, supervised and financed by the government.

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Bangladesh

The teachers of these schools are full government employees and they receive their salary and benefits from the government budget. The registered and unregistered primary schools are managed by the community. The number of registered and unregistered schools is nearly 13,000. T h e teachers of both these categories of schools are not employed by, and therefore do not receive a salary from, the government. But, the schools receive afixedamount as a monthly block grant from the government. Recently the government declared a pay scale for the teachers of registered and unregistered schools of the country. A certain percentage of the newly declared pay scale will be given by the government towards the salary of the teachers of these schools. Satellite schools are, in fact, feeder-type schools preparing children to join the main government primary schools. With the introduction of compulsory primary education in the country, the enrolment of children increased tremendously and the idea of creating satellite schools emerged in order to accommodate the increased number. T h e satellite schools are one-teacher schools for the young children of classes I and II. W h e n the children complete class I and II, they are sent to the main primary schools. Thus, one main primary school m a y have two to five satellite schools. T h e satellite schools are set up by the community and all the teachers of satellite schools are w o m e n . T h e management of satellite schools is fully in the hands of the community as the government only gives a lump s u m to the teachers of these schools as remuneration. There is yet another type of primary school in Bangladesh, where stress is laid on religious instruction, alongside the normal curriculum as in other primary schools. They are called Ebtedayee Madrashas. These schools have been set up and are managed by the community. T h e salary of the teachers and other expenditures are met from the subscriptions and donations from the community. T h e government sometimes gives financial assistance in the form of block grants. Besides the formal system, primary education is also being given under the non-formal system. In principle, the non-formal system is not designed as an alternative or substitute for the education provided in government primary schools. T h e N F P E system is, rather, complementary to the formal system and aims at enrolling drop-outs and non-starters, particularly girls, a m o n g the poorer families.

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III. Functional analysis of p o w e r s a n d responsibilities of m a n a g e m e n t personnel at different levels a n d locations The education policy of a nation consists of national goals and objectives, as well as strategies, including those relating to the institutional arrangements and systems of management. In Bangladesh, there exists no single comprehensive national policy document, declaration, statute, or code containing all, or even most of the components of a national policy relevant to education in general, and primary education in particular. The National Policy, such as currently exists, is a composite of m a n y elements occurring in the National Constitution, as Acts of the parliament, international treaties and covenants entered into by the government, along with executive decisions by the concerned ministries. 1.

Overall organization and m a n a g e m e n t of primary education

Under the existing arrangement, the national policy for primary education is formulated by the Primary and Mass Education Division ( P M E D ) . T h e Directorate of Primary Education (DPE), the Compulsory Primary Education cell (CPE) and an Integrated Non-formal Primary Education Programme function under the direct control and guidance of the P M E D . The Compulsory Primary Education Cell which is responsible for implementing C P E programmes, conducts periodic child surveys in thefieldwith the help of primary school teachers in order to assess the progress made. The C P E also partly subsidizes teachers' salary to registered non-government primary schools. The Integrated Non-formal Primary Education Programme is principally responsible for managing the governmentinitiated and funded N F P E activities, which are mainly used for extending basic education to adult illiterates. For functional purposes, the D P E is divided into four Divisions: (a) Administrative and Establishment Division; (b) Planning and Development Division; (c) Training Division; and (d) Monitoring and Evaluation Division. Besides the above-mentioned divisions, there is a management information system directly under the control of the Director-General of the D P E . The D P E has one attached department, namely, the National A c a d e m y for Primary Education ( N A P E ) . Professional training for primary school teachers is provided through N A P E and 54 Primary Training Institutes (PTI). Bangladesh is divided into five administrative divisions, 6 4 districts and 481 thana. The educational administrative set-up at each of these levels is headed

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Bangladesh

respectively by a Deputy Director of Primary Education ( D D P E ) , a District Primary Education Officer ( D P E O ) , and a Thana Education Officer ( T E O ) . These officers are vested with the responsibilities and authority for supervision, control and management of primary education in the country. A District Primary Education Officer ( D P E O ) is supported by one Assistant District Primary Education Officer ( A D P E O ) and one Assistant Monitoring Officer ( A M O ) . A Thana Education Officer ( T E O ) is supported, generally, by four A T E O s . The total number of A T E O s is 2,260. Each A T E O is in charge of a cluster consisting of about 20 primary schools. At the local level, each primary school has a School Management Committee ( S M C ) . The S M C , comprising the head teacher and selected representatives from the community, is normally constituted by the D P E O . A n education committee headed by the T E O also exists at the thana level for the management of primary education within a thana. However, these committees have been set up by executive orders and not through legislative processes. The 'line-plus-committee ' form of management of primary education, described above, is mainly intended to supervise the operation of primary schools, in an extended hierarchical and geographically dispersed organizational framework. The addition of committees could improve supervision, provided the committee m e m b e r s were elected through a process ensuring effective community representation and if the roles and responsibilities of the committees were specifically defined under law. This, in reality, has not been done. Hence, it is difficult to ensure that the intended improvement in the managerial efficiency of the system can be achieved. For effective decentralization, it is essential that the S M C s and thana committees are given adequate authority and responsibility for management of schools under appropriate legal provisions. Another essential element required for the effectiveness of supervision in this type of top-down organizational framework is to have an efficient management information system for decision-makers at higher levels of the hierarchy. Efforts to create such a comprehensive M I S have not met with m u c h success. 2.

Training and recruitment of teachers

A s of 1990, the total number of teachers in primary education was 189,508, of which 158,113 were in government schools. Only 20 per cent of the total number of teachers were female. Teacher training is provided in 54 Primary Training Institutions (PTIs) normally located in district headquarters. A s there exist 64 districts, it is clear that s o m e do not have any such institution. O n an

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average, the 54 PTIs together train around 5,000 teachers every year. The duration of the training is one year. The National A c a d e m y for Primary Education at M y m e n s i n g h conducts a c o m m o n examination for all the PTIs and issues Certificates in Education. In 1990, around 75 per cent of all teachers had received the one-year Certificate in Education. In recent years, the percentage of untrained teachers has risen, particularly due to the massive recruitment of about 20,000 teachers in 1992-1993. The proportion of untrained teachers in the recognized non-government primary schools is very high. A Central Committee for the selection of primary teachers has been created by the national government. T h e Director General of Primary Education functions as its chairperson. A t the first stage, the D G P E administers a written test (multiple-choice questionnaire) and subsequently interviews are held at the district headquarters. Based on the performance of the candidates, the committee prepares a merit list from each thana. Appointment of teachers is supposedly done according to the merit list. Postings are normally given to the locality in which a teacher belongs. A teacher without training is required to undergo training within four years from the date of joining and is not made permanent in his/her position if he/she does not successfully complete the required training. A s noted above, in 1981 new recruitment rules stipulated that 5 0 per cent of all n e w entrants would be female candidates, although this has not always been strictly followed. Since February 1991, 6 0 per cent of direct recruitment to the cadre has been mandated for female candidates, 20 per cent for the dependants of primary teachers, and the remaining 20 per cent for other male candidates. The promotion of teachers to higher ranks within the primary education cadres, as well as transfers, are decided by the district committees, based on qualification and performance evaluation reports given by T E O s and A T E O s . In principle, the process seems rational, but numerous allegations of corruption, nepotism and political favour, have greatly impaired the credibility of the system. 3.

M a n a g e m e n t of finance

All government primary schools are fully dependent on central government resources, channelled through the national budget. Generally speaking, this budget has two distinct components, revenue and development. Emoluments of the administrative, supervising and teaching staff and the

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Bangladesh

routine maintenance of schools are met from the revenue budget of allocation. Construction of n e w buildings and major renovations, establishment of n e w training institutions etc. are funded under project heads (largely donorfinanced), as part of the development budget. T h e latter m a y also include emoluments of a teacher for a few initial years in n e w schools set up under the development project. Until 1978-1979, the share of primary education in the total development outlay for education was about 15 per cent. In 1979-1980 this was raised to slightly less than 50 per cent. Since then, the financial allocation for primary education has consistently increased, both in absolute terms and in terms of the proportion of total investment on education. However, the funds are solely managed by the hierarchy of the government education system bureaucracy. N o local government institution, or representative public body, including S M C s (where these exist and are active) have any role to play in this respect. T h e planning, design and construction of n e w schools are handled by the Facilities Department under the Ministry of Education for the urban areas, and the Local Government Engineering Department under the Local Government Ministry, in rural areas. W h a t is true for developmental financing, is to a large extent also true for recurrent expenditure. Spending on salaries is managed centrally by the Ministry of Education. Every year a petty cash of T K 300/400 is made available to the head teacher for minor repairs and buying supplies. Sometimes S M C s m a y voluntarily raise some funds for purposes such as petty repairs or improvement of infrastructure facilities. But, schools are in general starved of any regular budget to implement internally designed developmental efforts. O n e recent development has been a phenomenal increase in NGO-operated non-formal primary schools. These are largely supported by external aid in the form of donations, supplemented by occasional community contributions, both in cash and kind. Donors provide funds, with government clearance, directly to the respective N G O s . 4.

Curriculum and textbooks

O n e of the crucial elements of an instructional programme is curriculum development. In the past, Bangladesh did not have any institutional arrangement for curriculum development. The task of curriculum development used to be carried out by a committee formed by the government from time

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to time. However, it was widely felt that the country should have a permanent institutional arrangement for curriculum development. Consequently, the National Curriculum Board was set up in 1980. It was later merged with the Textbook Board in 1983, to form the N C T B with the mandate of providing quality curriculum and textbooks to the children. N C T B has a Curriculum Branch and a Textbook Branch. The main tasks of the curriculum branch are to: (a) formulate the objectives of primary education in terms of national needs and aspirations; (b) bring about change, revise, develop and renew the curriculum and syllabus, consistent with the educational needs of the children; (c) prepare teacher's guides, children's exercise books and other complementary teaching/learning aids, according to the requirements of the revised curriculum; (d) evaluate textbooks and other teacher/learning aids and revise them in accordance with the results of the evaluation.9 Textbooks in all subjects at the primary level (classes I-V) are developed and produced by the N C T B . T h e N C T B prints about 5 0 million textbooks every year for primary school children. Textbooks are distributed to children free of cost. U N I C E F supplies paper and grants for the printing of textbooks. The Directorate of Primary Education ( D P E ) receives delivery of the printed textbooks from the N C T B . T h e D P E then sends them to the D P E O . T h e school receives them from the D P E O through the T E O and distributes them to the children free of cost. 5.

M a n a g e m e n t of school functioning

The school operates under the management and leadership of a head teacher. The head teacher is expected to maintain a proper rapport with the departmental authorities ( A T E O , T E O and D P E O ) as well as the community. Every school has an S M C , although not all of them are active. The S M C co-operates with school authorities in the management of the school. It is also expected to look after the school buildings and other properties. The government has laid d o w n the responsibilities of the S M C , but the S M C does not have any real standing in 9.

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Introduction to NCTB,

Dhaka, p. 2 .

Bangladesh

supervising the functioning of the school and the teachers. The functioning of the S M C , in fact, depends upon the good relationship between the school teachers and the S M C members. There is also a P T A in m a n y schools. The P T A has a small role in the management of schools. Recently, ward, thana and district compulsory primary education committees have been established. These committees are expected to play a significant role in implementing the Compulsory Primary Education Act in their jurisdiction. The D P E O is the key person in the hierarchy of administration w h o determines the school calendar and prepares the school holiday list. In the case of irregular activities of teachers, the D P E O has the authority to take disciplinary measures against them. The headmaster in such a case only reports to the T E O and the T E O puts the proposal to the D P E O for action according to the rules. The head teacher's authority is confined only to sanctioning casual leave for his subordinate teachers. 6.

Internal m a n a g e m e n t of schools

The responsibility of running the school lies with the head teacher, w h o is expected to prepare the class routine, assign the subjects to be taught by teachers, and oversee the teaching/learning activities in the classroom. The head teacher is authorized to report to the T E O , through the A T E O , on the classroom performance of teachers. The head teacher, in co-operation with other teachers, prepares an annual plan for organizing cultural and co-curricular activities in the school. In order to cement the relationship between school and community, the head teacher is expected to take the initiative in inviting social leaders, S M C and P T A m e m b e r s to school functions. The head teacher is to maintain all school records and ensure the upkeep of the school building. Furniture, latrines, tube-well for drinking water, playground, etc. are required to be maintained by the head teacher in close co-operation with other teachers and S M C m e m b e r s . There is n o provision for recurring grants for minor repair jobs on the school building, furniture, latrines and tube-well. The head teacher has to depend largely on community subscriptions. It is the responsibility of the head teacher to ensure that the school premises are kept clean, with the help of the children and the teachers.

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1.

Monitoring the qualitative aspects of school functioning

A network of supervision mechanisms from the central to the cluster level has been established in order to oversee the activities of primary schools. The A T E O is the cluster-level supervisor, w h o is to supervise around 20 primary schools and also organize cluster-level training for teachers. During the supervision of a school, the A T E O is expected to visit classrooms and observe teachers' performance as well as children's response and involvement in the teaching/learning process. Later, through cluster-level training and guidance, the A T E O should remedy the problems, if any, identified during the classroom visit. T E O and D P E O are also expected to pay supervisory visits to schools, periodically. These supervisions are aimed at bringing about qualitative improvement in teacher performance and children's educational progress. To what extent these expectations of supervision and guidance are fulfilled by the A T E O s and others is difficult to say. There is an urgent need to launch a serious review of the system of supervision and its impact on the quality of the teaching-learning process in the primary schools. The evaluation system in the primary schools of Bangladesh is exclusively internal and there is no external examination for primary school children. The evaluation of children in classes 1 and 11 is continuous10 and the results are expected to be recorded and reported to the parents. But, to what extent the continuous evaluation system is practised in schools is a matter for research. At the end of class II, all the children are promoted to class III. There is a provision for providing remedial teaching to the weaker children in order to bring them at par with the others. The evaluation of the children of classes III to V , is generally accomplished by two examinations, one half-yearly and the other annually. The examination papers are set by the teachers. The halfyearly examination is formative in nature, while the annual one is terminal. The children are promoted to the next higher class on the basis of the results of the annual examination. T h e decision to hold an examination and the promotion of children remains the responsibility of the head teacher of the school. In addition to the school examination, there is a scholarship (externaltype) examination, which is conducted by the Deputy Director of each division.

10.

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Flexible promotion policy and continuous evaluation. N C T B , Dhaka, p. 5.

Bangladesh

IV.

Field-level perceptions o n p r o b l e m s a n d prospects of introducing decentralized m a n a g e m e n t

In order to understand the ground-level reality and assess field-level perceptions, a field study w a s undertaken as part of the research for this paper. T w o districts were visited, namely Gazipur and Jamalpur, and focused group discussions were held with various categories of personnel involved in the planning and management of primary education, including D P E O s , T E O s , A T E O s , head teachers, S M C , P T A members and C P E committee members, with a view to collecting empirical information about the state of management and supervision of primary schools. The main objective was to assess the current situation in thefieldand, based on the same, to identify the training needs. The most significant finding from thefieldstudy is that most of the fieldlevel officials ( D D , D P E O , T E O ) do not have any specific training on the administration and management of primary education. Neither their basic training in T T C s (leading to B . E d degree), with its focus on secondary education, nor any in-service training equip them for the effective exercise of these responsibilities. In managing their o w n offices and discharging many of their administration duties, they heavily depend on office assistants. D u e to the lack of the requisite administrative and management training and knowledge of relevant personnel, financial and administrative rules and procedures, they tend to be slow in decision-making and problem-solving. Deficiency in communication skills, and inadequate appreciation and understanding of the role of the community also constrain their performance. These officials urgently need to be equipped with proper training according to their job needs, in order to upgrade their management skills and performance. To summarize the above, it can be said that the administration of primary education in Bangladesh consists of two distinct stages: policy formulation and implementation. T h e policy stage is in the hands of the P M E D . T h e implementation is the responsibility of the D P E . P M E D formulates policy, prepares investment plans, initiates laws and makes major decisions regarding primary education in the country. It also prepares the budget, ensures interministerial co-ordination and maintains international relationships. Moreover, the P M E D appoints, transfers and gives promotion to senior-level officers of

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the D P E as well. D P E , on the other hand, implements the policies, plans and decisions adopted by P M E D . For this purpose, it deploys variousfield-levelofficers: the deputy directors, D P E O s , T E O s , A T E O s and finally, the head teachers. F r o m the point of view of territorial coverage, the existing structure m a y be looked upon as decentralized. But, in terms of delegation of power and authority, it is centralized. From the administrative point of view, D P E O s and T E O s hold very important posts; but their power and authority is very limited. D P E has laid d o w n what they are supposed to do and what they cannot do. They cannot appoint teachers as and when need arises in any school under their jurisdiction. T E O s are not authorized to allocate resources to schools even in times of emergency 11 , let alone in normal times. They have practically no say in the planning of primary education in their district. All the aforesaid work is done centrally. Thus, in every respect they are dependent upon the decisions of the higher authority. The entire system is hierarchy based and highly centralized. Thus even though the bureaucracy has expanded and has placed officials to administer and support quite small constituencies, one cannot characterize this even as effective déconcentration of powers. A T E O s are thefield-levelsupervisors and, at the same time, master teachers. Their main responsibility is to bring improvement to classroom teaching, as well as management of schools. It is mandatory for an A T E O to visit 2 0 schools a month. Thus a school, by and large, is supervised only once a month, on average. The supervision of schools by D P E O s and T E O s has hardly any influence on the management and on the quality of the teacher/learning process as their visits are few and far between, and generally without any follow-up. However, for the day-to-day supervision and management of the school, the S M C is supposed to be responsible. This body has community-level representation, but does not have legal authority in respect of resource mobilization or financial management. T h e teachers, as central government employees, have no accountability to the S M C s or any local government body or any other community-level organization. 11.

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Bangladesh is a land of natural calamity. Flood and cyclone are c o m m o n phenomena in the life of the people of this country. Eitherfloodor cyclone, and sometimes both, cause damage to a great number of schools almost every year and thwart school activities. The local-level education officials can do little in emergency situations, but report to the higher authority in their hierarchy. It takes a long time to initiate and complete the construction and repair work of schools and their furniture and this causes great loss to the education of the children. In the circumstances, the decentralization of authority and power to local bodies and local officials is the proper remedy.

Bangladesh

Thus in most cases the role of the S M C s has remained largely notional rather than real. It w a s found that the P T A s in most of the schools are practically nonfunctional and exist only on paper. O n the other hand S M C s are found to exist in most schools. It is reasonably effective where the relationship between the school head teacher and S M C members is good. In such cases, S M C and school teachers were found to work hand-in-hand for the well-being of schools. S M C s in these schools even c o m e forward withfinancialand material assistance in times of school need. They help the teachers to keep the school buildings and premises clean, and to safeguard its properties. It has been reported that some S M C members also take classes when there is a shortage of teachers in the school. But such S M C s are few in number. The majority are inactive and their existence can be seen only on paper. O n e reason for the S M C s being inactive is that they have no legal authority, they cannot play any legal role regarding school and teachers. The school authorities in any case are not accountable to the S M C and they do not often bother about its functioning. S M C s have been given responsibility, but they do not have any legal power to exercise it effectively. O n e very interesting observation to note here is that the teachers, A T E O s and T E O s are not in favour of delegating any legal authority to S M C . This implies that they do not like any effective involvement or intervention from a local body. D P E O , of course, opined that some legal powers have to be given to S M C s so as to m a k e school authorities accountable to local bodies. D P E O s also believe that without community participation, the day-to-day management of schools and the quality of teachers will not improve. It is of course difficult to assert that S M C s will really become more effective in influencing the functioning of the primary school in a positive way merely by the sanctioning of legal powers. A s already noted, for the implementation of compulsory primary education, there are district, thana and ward committees all over the country. T h e ward committee is mentioned in the C P E Act 12 , other committees have been formed by an executive order. Their functions and responsibilities have also been laid d o w n . During the field study it was observed that these committees, by and large, extend their co-operation to the schools and parents for the enrolment of children. A s a consequence the enrolment of children in primary schools has increased significantly.

12.

Compulsory Primary Education Act 1990.

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W h a t has been depicted above, does not vouch for the existence of a decentralized system of administration of primary education in the country. This is in sharp contrast to the highly functional, albeit informal, system of decentralized administration of primary education that was prevalent in Bangladesh in the past. T h e situation has significantly changed with the massive expansion of facilities for basic education programmes in the recent past. T h e School Board 13 system during the British, and the initial years of the Pakistani, period and provisions under the upazila system later on, provided some mechanisms for decentralized management of primary education in the otherwise centralized system of administration. These have, however, been discarded one after another, and no n e w mechanism for decentralization is currently under implementation, even though the rhetoric in policy statements continues. Prior to the nationalization of primary education in 1973, all primary school teachers were accountable to a community body for their performance. However, after becoming central government employees through nationalization of schools, they found it easier to deal with T E O s and A T E O s than with any community body. Therefore, the teacher community did not like the concept incorporated in the Local Education Authority ( L E A ) Act of 1981 14 , the first attempt at decentralized administration in independent Bangladesh. It is generally perceived that this Act could not be implemented due to the resistance from teachers and, consequently, due to the lack of political support from the government which c a m e into power soon after the passing of the Act by the parliament. The second attempt was the upazila system of 1982. Under this system, the administration of primary education was decentralized and the authority of management, planning, budgeting, transfer and promotion of teachers w a s delegated to the Upazila Parishad (an elected local-government body). However, it was widely perceived that this was proposed with a tacit political motive; the government in power wanted to use upazila as its political base. In spite of such allegations, the upazila system could have been developed into a model, locallevel administrative body through modification and change. But, the system could not, again, survive the change of government in December 1990. N o other local government body w a s created to take its place.

13.

Nuruallah, Syed and J.P. Naik. History of Education in India. MacMillan & C o . Ltd., Bombay, 1943, p. 529.

14.

The Primary Education Act 1981. The Bangladesh Gazette, 19 October 1981.

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V.

Building institutional capacity for decentralized m a n a g e m e n t

At present, there are two types of training institution in Bangladesh which cater to the training needs of the personnel of the primary education sector. O n e is P T I and the other is N A P E . PTI provides pre-service training to the would-be teachers of primary schools in Bangladesh. N A P E gives in-service training in administration, management and supervision to different levels offieldofficers. Previously, the responsibility of giving management training to the officers of primary education was within the National A c a d e m y for Educational Management ( N A E M ) . In 1988, the above responsibility c a m e to N A P E . Since then, N A P E has been engaged in imparting management training to thefield-levelofficers of primary-level education in the country. A s a result of the massive institutional changes which took place in the primary education sector, especially during the 1980s, m o r e than 40,000 management personnel of various levels, from central to the school, joined the system. Exceptional increases, both in the development investment and recurrent expenditure, have taken place. These trends are bound to continue in the foreseeable future. Further, the introduction of compulsory primary education in the whole country has posed a n e w challenge to the administrators. T o face this challenge requires, in addition to decentralization, an enhancement of the management capacity of the personnel in the primary education sector through training. Yet, the fact of the matter is that the existing training facilities are gravely deficient in this respect. At present, the institutional capacity of N A P E in performing the role of an apex training and research institute in thefieldof management and planning in primary education is very limited, especially from the point of view of its h u m a n resources. Unless N A P E is equipped with qualified and efficient permanent staff of its o w n , it will not even be able to carry out its current mandatory tasks, let alone face n e w challenges to c o m e in the future. In response to the demands of time and reality, it is an urgent task to develop N A P E as a viable training and research institution through restructuring staff patterns and upgrading its status rather than setting up a n e w institution. Then, it would be able to acquire high-level expertise in n e w professional areas, by creating scholars from different fields of specialization, i.e. public administration, institutional management, planning, educational research, economics of education, participatory training methodology, curriculum development and similar areas. T h e government is seriously considering a proposal for transforming N A P E into an apex national

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institution in thefieldof primary education. The World Bank has recently established a team of national experts to evaluate the needs of N A P E and submit proposals for its restructuring so that it can play an adequate role in building the management capacity of the officials working at various levels in the primary education sectors. A n e w structure of N A P E will have to be worked out so as to enable it to discharge the new responsibilities proposed here. N A P E should have specific recruitment rules of its o w n . Appointment to all the posts has to be m a d e in accordance with the recruitment rules through the Public Service Commission, qualifications for appointments to each post, criteria for promotion and other conditions, must be clearly mentioned in the recruitment rules. Besidesfield-leveleducation officers, there are head teachers of primary schools. The number of head teachers is nearly 50,000, including N G O and private schools. Most do not have any management training at all. They are managers and instructional leaders of the school; they should be given management and leadership training to carry out their job effectively. It is not possible for N A P E to organize management training for this vast number of head teachers. A n alternative is to use PTIs for this purpose. Ten or more PTIs, as necessary, m a y be identified as satellite centres of N A P E , in order to give management training to the head teachers of primary schools. N A P E faculty members, in collaboration with PTI staff, m a y be made responsible for conducting these courses. S o m e N G O s , like the Bangladesh Association for Community Education ( B A C E ) and the Underprivileged Children Education Project ( U C E P ) have been running non-formal primary schools on a limited scale since the late 1970s. However, non-formal education received a big boost in the mid-1980s, with B R A C launching a major programme with substantial external support. U p to n o w it has set up about 24,000 such schools. A large number of smaller N G O s are also active in thisfield,m a n y of w h o m are dependent on substantial donor finance. B R A C has its o w n arrangements for short training courses for N F P E teachers. But, it has no link or liaison with the government-managed training system. Management personnel of the B R A C system are also provided within the organization. However, most of the teachers and managers of N F P schools supported by other N G O s do not have opportunities for any kind of training, either pedagogical or managerial. N A P E m a y help design appropriate training courses for them and arrange for the same to be given in PTIs. N A P E m a y also collaborate with B R A C and other N G O s operating in thisfieldin this regard.

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Bibliography Aziz, M d . ; Anowarul et al. 1993. Education and national development, Ahshania Mission, Dhaka. Bangladesh Gazette. 1973. "Primary schools (taking over) Ordinance, 1973", 31 October. Bangladesh Gazette. 1981. The Primary Education Act, 1981, 19 October. Bangladesh Education Commission Report. 1974. Bush, T. et al. 1980. Approaches to school management, Harper and R o w , London. Bush, T . 1986. Theories of education management, Harper and R o w , London. Choudhury, R . A . 1987. Prathamic Shiksha Proshashan. West Rampual, Dhaka. Constitution of Bangladesh. Directorate of Primary Education. 1985-1990. An outline of Second primary education project 1985-1990, Bangladesh, Dhaka. Ellen Sattar. 1982. Universal primary education in Bangladesh, University Press, Dhaka. Everard, K . B . 1985. Effective school management, Harper and R o w , London. Government of Bangladesh. 1990. Compulsory Primary Education Act 1990, Dhaka. Hooja, R . and B . Y . Raju. 1993. Decentralized planning in multi-level framework, Rawat Publications, N e w Delhi. Hossain, M . , Hedayel. 1994. Traditional culture and modern system, University Press of America, N . Y . Hough, J.R. 1984. Educational policy: an international survey, Croom Helm, London. Knezevich, S.J. 1962. Administration of public education, Harper and R o w , London. Nurullah, Syed and J.P. Naik. 1943. History of education in India, MacMillan and C o . Ltd., Bombay. Styrbjorn Gustavsson. 1990. Primary education in Bangladesh: for whom?, University Press, Dhaka. U N E S C O . 1984. Towards universalisation of primary education: Review of national plans and innovative efforts, U N E S C O Regional Office, Bangkok.

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2.

India

Decentralized management of elementary education: the Indian experience by Trilok N . Dhar*

I.

Historical perspective

1.

Colonial period

Mass education in India, until the formulation of a Colonial policy on education, w a s available in madrassahs, tols, pathshalas etc. established and maintained generally by the local landlords. Instruction provided was often of low grade, consisting primarily of an acquaintance with the three R ' s on which the student, depending upon his means and ability, could build in the district/ town school. Teachers in these institutions performed, in addition to providing instruction, m a n y functions, for instance, conducting religious ceremonies for which they received contribution in cash and kind from the households, depending on the resources that families possessed or were able to muster. In spite of its rather rudimentary character, mass education was fairly extensive and provided the basic skills of literacy and numeracy to a large majority of the people. T h e management of the school was local - often by the feudal Lord w h o financed its activities, with local families keeping a watch over what the teacher did with their wards. O f course, involvement of families depended primarily on their aspiration for their wards and the resources that they could contribute for the upkeep of the school. That of the landlord depended upon h o w enlightened he/she was and the interest he/she had in the welfare of the people. This rather simple system of education received a jolt with the East Indian C o m p a n y and later colonial administration extending its hold over the country and land settlements, which reduced the power and financial resources of the landlords and local chieftains. Former Joint Director, National Council of Educational Research and Training ( N C E R T ) , N e w Delhi, India.

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Most of the small landlords lost their main source of income and could not contribute to the support of the school. In the initial stages, the interest of the colonial administration remained limited as far as education of the people w a s concerned. T h e W o o d ' s Despatch of 1854, while suggesting the need for 'education of the masses', was concerned more with the creation of a centralized system, with universities being recommended as apex institutions functioning in principal cities. T h e impression that Indians needed exposure to western liberal education, since their o w n resources of learning were scanty, determined the need for education through the m e d i u m of English, which naturally was only to be acquired by a few. The approach adopted w a s that of ' d o w n w a r d filtration' - education of classes resulting through a process of emulation and interest of the affluent in the welfare of their less fortunate countrymen. Universities as apex institutions would by this process promote education of the people. That this did not happen has been well documented. Thus, with the disappearance of local pathshalas and madrassahs, India at the end of the nineteenth century became an illiterate nation. The efforts and interest in spreading mass education were limited. Except for a few well-meaning individual administrators and Christian missionaries, no systematic effort was m a d e by the colonial administration to promote education of the people in their o w n m e d i u m . T h e pre-disposition and preference of Indians for western education which was, in the long run, economically more remunerative, abetted the virtual disappearance of the system of mass education. T h e economic conditions of the people deteriorated with the systematic destruction of village crafts and they found even subsistence living difficult. In such a situation, education was the last priority and mass education a major casualty. The Directorates of Education concerned themselves with the establishment of schools in selected localities. M a s s education was left to fend for itself. Involvement of the people, already not large, disappeared, with the administration being regarded as the principal if not the sole agency for promoting the educational interests of the colony. Local control of education was unthinkable in a situation where the representation of people in managing their affairs, either at the central or provincial level, was not considered feasible for lack of experience. It w a s only in 1919 that, under the diarchical arrangements, some subjects in provincial administration were transferred to people's representatives. Education w a s one subject which, it was felt, could easily be given over to Indian control.

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India

While mass education under this arrangement received some attention, control of the finance department b y the colonial administrators created insurmountable difficulties. In any case, the government of the day was not enthusiastic to promote free and compulsory education. The bill sponsored by Gopal Krishan Gokhale, in 1917-1918 in the Central legislature, allowing discretion to local governments to introduce free and compulsory primary education, fell through due to official opposition. 2.

Post-Independence era

It was with the attainment of Independence in 1947 that serious thought was given to measures for promoting education of the masses. Article 45 of the Constitution adopted in 1950, stipulated the provision by the State of free, compulsory and universal education for children up to the age of 14 years within a period of 10 years. With the State being defined to include the Central Government, state governments and local bodies, the provision and control of elementary education became a joint responsibility of the three tiers of administration. The initiation of social and economic planning in the early 1950s heightened interest in expanding educational facilities at different levels. It w a s felt that without the close involvement of the people and their representatives, the process of social and economic development would not be meaningful. W h a t should be the nature of local self-government institutions, particularly in rural areas, was an issue which required consideration. This was due in respect of all developmental activities such as elementary education, health, w o m e n ' s and children's welfare, which affected intimately the life of the people. The process of development, it w a s agreed, should be through the active participation of the people, since activities aimed at promoting their capacities and welfare, affected their lives. T h e community development programme, launched in 1952, represented the first systematic effort to decentralize authority and involve village communities with planning and execution of local programmes of economic development. The lowest unit for the administration of c o m m u n i t y development p r o g r a m m e s , w a s conceived to b e the development block (comprising approximately 100 villages). The block officer, supported by various extension officers, became the nodal functionary. At the village level, a trained multi-purpose village-level worker was appointed to provide knowledge and information about practices that would promote

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people's capacities. A schematic budget, detailing the financial provisions for various development programmes - agriculture, health, social education, etc. - w a s designed and financial resources placed at the disposal of the block administration. The block development officer and the block development committee were m a d e responsible for initiating and implementing activities and for utilizing the budget in the manner prescribed. At the district level, a district development committee, headed b y the collector and with representatives from various departments, was responsible for district-level plans. Both at block and district levels, people's participation was emphasized. Although conceived as a m o d e l experiment in the process of decentralization of development administration and expected to bring about rural transformation, particularly with its emphasis on agriculture, the community development programme did not serve these objectives fully. The block development officers controlled not only the finances, but also the conception of schemes and their implementation without involving people in any meaningful manner. Block development became a 'bureaucratically controlled activity'. The main reasons for its failure to motivate and involve people in the development process was that the system worked as a topdown model for stimulating rural change. The experience was no different at the district level, where the collector tended to promote his/her perceptions of what development should aim at and h o w it could be effected. 3.

Panchayati Raj

A major step in what is known as democratic decentralization was the report of the Bal want Rai G . Mehta Committee in 1957 (entitled Report of the team for the study of community projects and national extension service). The team was constituted by the Committee of Plan Projects of the Planning Commission. T h e basic philosophy governing the recommendations of the Committee was: "The Government should divest itself completely of certain duties and responsibilities and devolve them to a body which will have the entire charge of development work within its jurisdiction, reserving to itself only the functions of governance, supervision and higher planning".

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T h e Committee recommended a three-tier administrative structure for development: • • •

Village panchayat constituted purely on an elective basis with specific representation to w o m e n and scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. At the block level, an elected self-governing institution (Panchayat Samiti) constituted by indirect election from village panchayats and with its jurisdiction co-extensive with a development block. A t the district level, constitution of Zila Parishad (with district collector as its chairman) consisting of presidents of panchayat samitis, m e m b e r s of State legislative assembly and m e m b e r s of parliament representing the area and the district level officers.

T h e Committee recommended that all three tiers of the scheme "should be started at the same time and operated simultaneously in the whole district". In the recommendations, panchayat samiti occupied a significant place, since the block was to be treated as the administrative unit of all development departments with one unified set-up. T h e expenditure under community development schemes should be integrated with the normal development expenditure in the block and the budget of all development departments in the district, split up block-wise. The team suggested the devolution of financial resources as well as authority to panchayat samitis. Administration of primary schools w a s one of the functions which the team recommended that these samitis should perform. Apart from specific sources of revenue transferred to it, the team recommended that the State Government "should give to these samitis, adequate grants-in-aid conditionally or unconditionally or on a matching basis with due regard to economically backward areas". Other major recommendations which had implications for education included: • • • •

assignment of all central (state government) funds to be spent, in a block to the samiti for the performance of its functions; while, being under the "technical control of the corresponding districtlevel officers, exercise by the samiti's Chief Administrative Officer of administrative and operational control over various functionaries"; approval of the panchayat samiti budget by the zila parishad; the power to supersede a panchayat samiti in the public interest to rest with the government;

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•

no authority was visualized in education for village panchayats although it w a s to "act as an agent of the panchayat samiti in executing any schemes entrusted to it".

Commenting upon the reasons for the failure of the experiment, the Committee on Panchayati Raj Institutions, 1978, stated: " T h e dissociation of the growing and complex p r o g r a m m e of development with Panchayati Raj Institutions which were considered inadequate, the inability of the bureaucracy to be attuned to execute the programmes through local bodies, the lack of political will to foster these institutions, several internal deficiencies in the functioning of Panchayati Raj institutions and, above all, the lack of clarity about the concept itself weakened the entire system". In pursuance of the recommendations of the T e a m , most of the States enacted legislation, creating generally the r e c o m m e n d e d three-tier administration for development (except Kerala which has only a one-tier system viz. village panchayats) with different nomenclatures. B y and large, primary and social education were entrusted to block-level panchayat samitis, except in: • • • • • •

West Bengal, where the Act provided for the State to assign to gram (village) Panchayats duties regarding primary, social, technical and vocational education; Rajasthan, where the Act has assigned functions in respect of education and culture to village panchayat; Kerala, which has only gram panchayats with responsibility for education and culture; Himachal Pradesh, where the government might assign to village panchayats specific responsibilities for the provision of educational facilities; Gujarat, where the gram panchayats are expected to perform a wide variety of functions in respect of education and culture; Bihar, where the Act provided for 'supplementary duties' in respect of primary education to gram panchayats.

Most of the states passed Panchayati Raj Acts in the early 1960s. After the initial enthusiasm, interest in 'democratic decentralization' waned. Barring a few, most of the States showed little interest in the effective functioning of the institutions representing the people. A t the village level, the relative

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inexperience of the people, lack of knowledge and lack of resources to undertake meaningful development activities, and at the block and the district levels, tightening of bureaucratic controls on their finance and functioning, rendered panchayat samitis and zila parishads ineffective. In the case of education, the opposition of teachers and their unions to these bodies' control over them led to withdrawal of such authority. Since the Acts did not provide for elections for these bodies on an obligatory basis, in m a n y States, regular elections of panchayat raj institutions did not take place. This lacunae has been remedied in the 73rd A m e n d m e n t of the Indian Constitution. A number of committees were set up to examine the reasons for failure and suggest remedial measures. The reports of these Committees failed to deal squarely with associating people's representative bodies with educational development. The 1978 Committee recommended that in regard to education: "... the unit of educational administration should be identical with the block" and that "each block should have an Education Subcommittee of the Block Advisory Committee, and later of Panchayat Samiti responsible for maintenance and working of schools". The blocks were expected to be provided with the necessary funds and trained personnel to achieve the immediate goal of introducing free and compulsory education. The responsibility of the block administration would be in respect of primary education and social education. A document prepared by the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration for the Central Advisory Board of Education Committee on Decentralized Management of Education has analyzed the experience of Panchayati Raj bodies in the field of education in respect of the five States of Andhra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Except for Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, where the impression "gained during discussions with the State representatives is that the system had really taken off and gained acceptance", the position appears to be disheartening. In Gujarat, a number of functions which were earlier vested in the Education Committee (district level) have been toned d o w n "by the Panchayat Raj bodies". In Karnataka, "the Panchayati Raj bodies are under suppression and "the teaching community, by and large, is not very m u c h inclined to work under Panchayati Raj bodies". In Uttar Pradesh, the Zila Shiksha Samiti (District Education Committee of the District Council) "does not have a significant role to play in the planning and execution of educational programmes".

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The ineffectiveness of local representative institutions is not the case in rural areas only. Except for a few municipal corporations in metropolitan cities, municipalities in cities and towns have not performed as well as in s o m e other countries. They have seldom undertaken forward planning and have not managed their affairs efficiently and effectively. Often they have been hotbeds of corruption, personal favouritism and self-aggrandizement. Their developmental functions have been minimal although they levy for them charges on the people. The Commission on Centre-State Relations (1988) referred to one aspect of their recent failure: "Local bodies have always played an important role in India. They were the cradle for the emerging leadership in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Unfortunately, over the years, these have, for all practical purposes, ceased to be significant for power-sharing. T h e safety valve that local bodies provide for minority communities to effectively participate in the governance of the country, w a s often abandoned thoughtlessly for small immediate advantage. T h e consequences have been serious in a composite society like ours. Frustrations of the deprived communities have often led them to give up the Constitutional path in favour of violent agitations". II.

Policy f r a m e w o r k

1.

National Policy 1986

The Education Policy in India has not, in any meaningful manner, considered the nature of decentralization of educational management, except by paying lip service to the need for associating local communities with their education. W h a t it has advocated is primarily of the nature of pious exhortation, without in any way indicating the specific structures and roles of representative institutions at different levels of administration. The National Policy on Education- 1986, has stated: (i)

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"District Boards of Education will be created to manage education up to higher secondary level. State governments will attend to this aspect with all possible expedition. Within a multi-level framework of educational development, central, state, district and local-level agencies will participate in planning, co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation".

India

(ii) " A very important role must be assigned to the head of an educational institution", (iii) "Local communities, through appropriate bodies, will be assigned a major role in the programme of school improvement". 2.

P r o g r a m m e of Action

The programme of action - 1986, which aimed at providing an indication of the nature of actions needed in order to implement the directions of the Policy (National Policy on Education), w a s more specific as to the roles that different administrative bodies would have to play at different levels of administration. The programme, however, left m u c h of the action to State governments, in the expectation that they would, forthwith, initiate the necessary measures. This expectation has not been fulfilled. T h e programme indicated, a m o n g other things: •

•

•

•

3.

the establishment of District Boards of Education for formulation of development strategies and for planning and implementation of all educational programmes and supervision of all educational activity; the need for vesting the Boards with appropriate statutory authority "without which these bodies cannot effectively manage the functions entrusted to them" and provision of funds to them; the desirability of clearly spelling out guidelines delineating the relationship between the State Government and the Boards, particularly in respect of levels of recruitment and structure of cadres of teachers of different categories; constitution at the village level, o n the basis of State government guidelines, of Village Education Committees to look into the overall management of all educational programmes. National Education Policy 1992

T h e 1986 National Policy on Education and the P r o g r a m m e of Action were revised in 1992. T h e revisions do not mark any substantial advance on the thinking crystallized in 1986 versions of the two documents. T h e major change seems to be in the recognition of the Government's intention to a m e n d the Constitution in regard to the m a k e - u p and functions of panchayati raj institutions. T h e 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution have n o w been approved. The Programme of Action 1992, while noting the constitutional

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amendments proposed, suggested, a m o n g other things, the constitution of a village education committee: "... which would be responsible for administration of delegated powers in the field of education at the village level", its major responsibility being the: "... operationalization of micro-level planning and school mapping in the village through systematic house-to-house survey and periodic discussions with the parents". For these and other functions it would be necessary to vest village education committees with appropriate statutory and necessary financial and administrative authority. T h e Programme of Action suggested that the State Government would consider entrusting these committees with the following functions: "Generation and sustenance awareness among the village community ensuring participation of all segments of population; and developing teacher/instructor and community partnership to oversee and manage the effective and regular functioning of the schools and centres". It was also suggested that the Ministry of H u m a n Resource Development should "prepare model statutory provisions for the guidance of States w h e n they formulate their legislation under the Panchayati Raj Act". In the case of urban areas it was noted that the 74th amendment provided for the constitution of municipal corporation, municipal councils and nagar (town) panchayats. 4.

Constitutional amendments, 1992

Article 4 0 of the Indian Constitution, which forms apart of the Directive Principles of State Policy, states: "The State shall take steps to organize village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as m a y be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government".

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It should be noted that while Directive Principles of the Indian Constitution provide major directions in which State policy should m o v e , they are not justiciable. Unless backed by suitable legislation, and/or appropriate interpretation by the Supreme Court, they remain largely inoperative. Their implementation depends substantially on the interest and enthusiasm of the government of the day. The constitutional amendments of 1992 - 73rd being in respect of Panchayati Raj institutions in rural areas and 74th being in respect of urban areas - provide n o w a legal framework for the constitution and functioning of local self-government institutions. It should be pointed out that although passed by the Parliaments, these amendments are in the nature of 'enabling legislation' for creating these bodies and defining the extent of their authority. T h e states are obliged to set up these institutions and delegate to them powers and financial resources which they consider appropriate/adequate. T h e amendment states that "they shall be constituted at the village, intermediate and district levels". They provide for representation to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportions that they have to the population in the area, and reservation of "not less than one third of the total number of seats for w o m e n " . A n important element of the amendments is the obligation on the part of the States to constitute panchayats within a period of six months of the expiry of five years' duration and/or if they have been dissolved for s o m e reason. This is a major advance which is likely to deter the State governments, as has been the case, from keeping these bodies in perpetual abeyance. These institutions are expected to be endowed with specific powers and obligations and financial resources by the legislation that the State governments pass. T h e Governor of the State has to constitute within one year of the passing of the amendment and after expiry of five years, "a Finance Commission to review the financial position of the Panchayats" and to m a k e recommendations regarding: • • •

the distribution between State and the panchayats of receipts from taxes, duties, etc. ; specific tax revenue to be assigned to panchayats; grants-in-aid from the State to the panchayats.

With these provisions, panchayats might emerge as economically viable institutions with adequate authority. M o s t States, however, have yet to enact legislation constituting panchayats, as follow-up action to the two constitutional amendments.

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5.

The C A B E Committee

Since States have been, in the context of the two amendments, considering the nature of legislation that they will enact, the Central Advisory Board of Education (Ministry of H u m a n Resource Development) decided to set up a committee under the Chairmanship of M r V . Moily, Chief Minister of Karnataka State "to formulate guidelines on decentralized management of education in the context of 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts". These guidelines were expected to cover district, sub-district and village levels. T h e Report of the Committee has been accepted by the C A B E recently. The report is the latest document on decentralization of educational management. T h e impression that one receives from reading the report is that it has adopted a cautious approach in its recommendations. A s the Committee, in its deliberations, says: "... it was felt that hasty decentralization of management education should be avoided" and that "Panchayati Raj bodies m a y require time to equip themselves for the work and decentralization m a y proceed slowly and cautiously". T h e guiding principles formulated by the Committee include: • • • • • • •

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that these bodies will "require adequate preparation and strengthening before they are called upon to perform the n e w roles and functions"; since they are "still relatively inexperienced in the tasks of administration, there is obvious need for capability building of elected m e m b e r s " ; "in the initial stage they would require financial and resource support from the State Government and the Centre"; they "must be sensitized to the need for handling educational cadres with restraint, imagination, sympathy and genuine understanding"; they "must be enabled to build their links with professional institutions and voluntary organizations and to seek their support and assistance in promoting their educational efforts"; as regards delegation of powers, "there can be no single model for all State", the delegation depending upon "their past experience, present perceptions and circumstances and future requirements"; the State governments "must provide requisite support and administrative assistance".

India

The recommendations regarding structure and roles of panchayat have been grouped under six major heads: (a) structure for management; (b) role and functions; (c) powers; (d) funds; (e) organizational/administrative support; and (f) preparation and training requirements. The major recommendations of the Committee include: "... constitution of standing education committee at panchayat, panchayat samiti and zilaparishad levels; supervision of elementary schools; promotion and enrolment drives, mobilization of resources, construction and repair of facilities, regular reporting on functioning of schools, preparation of plans on the basis of prescribed guidelines, laying d o w n academic and administrative norms, disbursement grants to schools etc.; in regard to staff (which has been a contentious issue) the C o m m i t t e e has opted for services of teachers of government schools and senior subordinate officials of the Education Department etc. to be placed at the disposal of panchayats; the panchayats (block and district levels) will have the powers to recruit, appoint and transfer staff of its schools and departments, the finances of these bodies to consist of State grants, earmarked funds, receipts raised from taxation on identified items, donations and voluntary contributions". In conclusion, the Committee states: "It is increasingly becoming evident that the bureaucratic systems are not able to m a n a g e the challenges in the field of educational development and people's participation is seen the world over as an essential prerequisite for achieving the goal of education for all. It is in this context that the Committee perceives the entrustment of educational programmes to institutions of local self-government as a step in the right direction." Since it is a document which is likely to influence legislative provision in respect of education, it m a y be worthwhile to c o m m e n t upon s o m e of its deficiencies. A m o n g others these include: (i)

The basic stance of the committee is its advocacy of caution in entrusting specific functions to bodies of elected representatives. It has suggested a cautious approach, virtually reiterating the colonial administration's argument that power could not be transferred to people because they were not ready and capable of exercising it and are likely to misuse it.

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(ii) It has not based its recommendations on any critical analysis and evaluation of the experience of panchayati raj institutions which were set up as a consequence of the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee. Quite a few evaluative reports were brought out by the Association of Voluntary Agencies for Development ( A V A R D ) on the experience of these institutions. (iii) It would have, in particular, been useful to analyze the reasons for, a m o n g other things, the super-session of panchayats by States and/or withdrawal of their powers in respect of recruitment, appointment, transfer and control of educational personnel. The issues in this regard need to be squarely faced. Educational personnel need to do justice to the task for which they receive remuneration and people's meaningful involvement with educational administration would be a major step in that direction. T h e extent of delegation offinancialresources for educational development, the perceptions and functioning of bureaucracy would be the two other areas requiring critical study. (iv) S o m e of the assumptions of the committee are questionable. For instance, its contention that a "village normally represents a cohesive community" has not always been borne out by anthropological and sociological studies of village communities. The introduction of direct elections in these communities has demonstrated the hidden conflicts and alignments on the basis of religion, caste, ethnic composition, economic status, etc. The transfer of power and resources tends to bring to the surface the significance and relative influence of these and other alignments. These schisms tend to b e c o m e more complex as one moves up the tier of administration, since with larger resources to manipulate, group formations proliferate. III. Existing administration structures T h e analysis in relation to the existing administrative set-up, the involvement of people's representative bodies and the nature of community participation, has been m a d e in respect of six states, namely, Kerala, Haryana, Punjab, G o a , Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. T w o of these States - Haryana and Punjab - are from the northern region, t w o - Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh - from the north-eastern region, and one each from the southern and western regions, Kerala and G o a respectively. They present a varied picture of the educational situation in the country. Before discussing the situation at sub-national levels, it would be

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worthwhile to explain briefly the role of the Union (Central) Government and national institutions in elementary education. 1.

Role of the Central G o v e r n m e n t

Although, as stated earlier, it is constitutionally concerned with the universalization of elementary education, the Union (Central) Government has, as such, no direct role in the supervision and administration of elementary education. Nevertheless, for the promotion of education it is obligatory on the part of the Central Government to resort to meaningful interventions in this area. M o s t of its interventions have been in the nature of financial support to States for both expansion of elementary education and its qualitative improvement. A m o n g the former, illustrative programmes for which support has been provided, include: • • •

appointment of teachers for elementary schools both to reduce the extent of educated unemployment and expand facilities; support to programmes for promotion of girls' enrolment and participation; support to states and voluntary organizations for the establishment and maintenance of non-formal education centres, particularly in educationally backward states. A s regards the latter, the illustrative programmes include:

• •

•

establishment/strengthening of State Councils/Institutes of Educational Research and Training; operation blackboard under which assistance has been provided to states, for improvement of infrastructure of elementary schools, construction of additional space and appointment of additional teachers in single-teacher schools; establishment and maintenance of District Institutes of Education which provide academic training and research support to elementary schools.

In recent years, the Government of India has negotiated with, and obtained financial support from, international financial institutions for elementary education in selected states. In s o m e other states bilateral assistance has been obtained through central government's initiative. The Central Government has also, on the basis of the recommendations of the Finance Commission,

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Decentralization of educational management: experiencesfromSouth Asia

transferred additional resources for promotion of elementary education in educationally backward states. Such transfers have, however, been rare. T h e institutions established by the central government - National Council of Educational Research and Training, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, National O p e n School, etc. - h a v e liaised with state governments and state-level institutions in such matters as curriculum planning, textbook preparation, preparation of print and non-print materials, training of educational functionaries etc. These institutions have been primarily concerned with research, training, and extensive support to school education. They wield considerable influence on the system, particularly in improving its quality and effectiveness. 2.

Role of the States

Punjab and Haryana: In both these States, as in the case of other states, the overall responsibility for education, including elementary education, rests with the Education Minister and Secretary, the latter a general administrator drawn from the Indian Administrative Service. A Directorate of Primary Education/Public Instruction exists which administers and supervises elementary education. At the district level, the District Education Officer is in charge of elementary education. A t the block level, Primary Education Officers perform a number of administrative and financial functions. Local bodies do not maintain any schools. N o village education committees have been set up. People's participation generally takes the form of donating land and building for the school. Arunachal Pradesh: While overall control rests with the State Education Department, three autonomous district councils have been established which administer and supervise primary education in southern parts, a relatively backward area. Each district council is under the charge of a Chairman, assisted by a Deputy Chairman. While these Councils have authority to manage primary schools, "in actual practice, the Education Department continues to play significant administrative and academic roles in thefieldof primary education in the district council", in respect of such subjects as recognizing n e w primary schools, approving syllabus and textbooks, creating teachers' posts, providing grant-in-aid to schools, etc.

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"The Council (Lai A u t o n o m o u s District Council) faces certain difficulties because it does not have any financial powers and the funds allocated to it by the Education Department are not always adequate to meet its requirements". Mizoram: The overall control lies with the Director of Public Instruction, w h o is assisted at the district level by a Deputy Director, and at the field level by Assistant District Education Officers. In this State, the role played by local bodies in educational administration is mainly advisory: "The gram panchayats at the village level, anchal samitis at the block level and zila parishads at the district level put forward educational proposals, which after scrutiny and approval by the concerned authorities, are incorporated in the district plan". Goa: T h e Minister and Secretary are in charge of all educational programmes. With respect to elementary education, they are assisted by the Directorate of Education at the state level and an Assistant Director in each zone. Kerala: The Minister and Secretary are supported by the Directorate of Public Instruction, which has a number of officers to look after various sectors of education. At the district level, the Deputy Director (one for each revenue district) is assisted by Education Officers and Assistant Education Officers (for taluk - county level). Recently District-Level Councils have been set up. Every district council ensures adequate representation for w o m e n and scheduled tribes and scheduled castes. Education functions of the Council include management of government schools at all levels - pre-primary, primary, basic and secondary. They function within the rules prescribed by the state government. Although there are local bodies in towns and cities "they have no obligation in the field of education". IV.

Prospects a n d issues

This section discusses the prospects for decentralization of the management of elementary education in the context of past experience and recent governmental initiatives. S o m e of the problems associated with involving people at the grass-roots level, with planning the establishment, administration and maintenance of elementary schools through legally created

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Decentralization of educational nuuiagement: experiences from South Asia

entities are also discussed. Being in the nature of individual perceptions, they might be biased and appear to be too pessimistic about the future course of events which is, in any case, difficult to predict. A study of past experience can be largely responsible for the view that nothing m u c h can be expected in the near future. T h e situation has become m u c h more complicated than it was four decades ago, partly because of increased politicization of teachers' unions and their emergence as a significant political force. Bureaucratic perceptions, which have determined the nature and extent of resource and authority delegation, do not seem to have undergone any drastic change, although lip service continues to be paid to associating people with the management of affairs which are close to their well-being. M a s s illiteracy and lack of resources which could promote independent initiatives m a k e it difficult for ordinary citizens - particularly those of poor rural communities to exercise the power that adult franchise has given them. Their economic and social situation makes them dependent on the exercise of individual judgement by powerful forces in the areas. In respect of certain functional areas, there is no difference of opinion as to where the control should rest. Curriculum development, training of personnel, preparation of teaching and learning materials, etc. are activities undertaken at the Central level by the National Council of Educational Research and Training and the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration, and at the State level by the State Councils/Institutions of Educational Research and Training. Training of teachers is the responsibility of training institutions which are established and maintained either by State governments or private management. Recently the Government of India has supported the establishment in States of District Institutes of Education, the primary objective of which is to provide in-service training and on-the-spot guidance to primary schools. This represents a major development initiative on the part of the Centre, the basic objective being to create at the district level infrastructure for qualitative improvement of primary education. Until n o w State and national-level institutions have been primarily responsible for providing primary schools with research, extension and training support which, in view of the considerable distances, has posed significant problems. Consequently, the needs of primary schools have either not been fully met or completely neglected. This has been the case particularly in respect of primary schools located in far-flung and poor areas.

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1.

Constitutional provision

A s indicated earlier, while the directive Principle of the Constitution enjoins the establishment of local bodies, particularly panchayati raj institutions, the provisions are not justiciable. Consequently, n o legal action can be taken against the State, which alone can take the initiative in the institution of panchayats or keep them in suspended animation for long stretches of time, as has been the case. T h e 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution have n o w provided a context which obliges states to constitute panchayats and hold regular elections to them on the basis of direct elections at the expiry of five years and within six months if, in the public interest, a state decides to supersede a panchayati raj institution. Thus, the amendments have taken away the states' right to keep these institutions perpetually in suspended animation. These amendments are, however, enabling in nature, in the sense that states have to pass the legislation to constitute panchayats. They are also expected to decide upon their structure - except for obligatory representation to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and w o m e n - and the authority and resources with which they will be delegated. If the C A B E Committee, constituted to formulate guidelines for the guidance of the states, is any indication, the states are likely to exercise abundant caution in delegating authority to panchayats to manage locally relevant affairs, including elementary education. The authority proposed by the C A B E Committee for panchayati raj institutions will not allow them, for instance, to punish recalcitrant teachers. The personnel are expected to be placed at their disposal, with their service matters remaining the concern of the Education Department at the State and/or district levels. The C A B E Committee's recommendation regarding financial resources of panchayats, including State Government and Zila Parishad grants, will involve considerable discretion by the States. Earmarked funds and locally raised resources which, in the economic situation of m a n y rural areas would be difficult to raise, would not provide to panchayats enough funds to deal with expansion and quality improvement of elementary education. Although chaired by a State Chief Minister and with six Education Ministers as its m e m b e r s , the Committee did not seem to have found it convenient to list the items of taxation from which Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads will raise

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resources. T h e financial constraints, as the history of local body institutions has s h o w n for years, will adversely affect their ability to manage elementary education, m u c h less to enhance its quality. There is need for a system of differential grants which take care of the economic capacity of different villages. 2.

Nature of rural communities

T h e contention that rural communities are composite and cohesive is not valid. Studies of villages have indicated group formations, on the basis of economic and political interests, but more often, on the basis of caste, religion and ethnic composition. The areas of conflict heighten with the introduction of direct elections. T h e implicit faith in panchayati raj institutions, however, is that once established, they will function smoothly, without pulls and pressures from different sources. Direct elections lead to disruptive forces at a more heightened level as one moves up the ladder - from the village panchayats to panchayat samitis at the block level and zila parishads at the district level. The reasons seem to be obvious: relatively larger authority and resources and, therefore, greater scope for manipulation of m o n e y and m a n p o w e r , the perception that representative institutions at these levels will assist in building relationships for the advancement of political careers. O n e should not, therefore, approach panchayati raj institutions from a romantic view of communities, but from the point of view of endemic and continuous conflicts of group and individual interests and constant shifting of alignments and loyalties. Educational policy-makers and administrators are illequipped to live and deal with a situation of conflict. It must also be recognized that in local communities, individual and group decision-making is dependent upon alignments which have been forged on economic grounds. While bonded labour has been abolished, the landlord, whose land the agricultural worker tills, has considerable authority. So does the local m o n e y lender and the owner of the provision store. 3.

Spatial considerations

In the case of primary schools (Grades I-V) and non-formal education centres, the unit for planning and administration is normally a habitation - a cluster of households rather than a village. T h e Fifth All-Indian Education Survey (1990) has indicated that in 1986, while inhabited villages numbered 579,148, there were

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981,864 habitations, in respect of which availability of educational facilities had to be judged. T h e numbers had increased from 573,842 and 964,684 respectively in 1978. A sizeable proportion of the habitations have very small populations, are distant from each other, particularly in states with large hilly and desert tract, and are generally inhabited by people with few resources. The distribution of habitation by population size in 1986 is given in Table 1. O f the 982,000 habitations, 623,000 (63.4 per cent) have an average population of less than 500. Habitations numbering 452,000 have a population of less than 300. It is no doubt true that habitations with a population of less than 500 contain only 22 per cent of the rural population. But, w h e n one thinks of decentralizing management of primary education to village communities, one must think of the nature of arrangements that will be desirable and feasible for these habitations. A n important point to note in this context is the size and composition of the habitation, which has implications not only on w h o will represent them, but also on the kind of resources, a m o n g others expertise, that they can generate in managing primary education and the linkages that they will establish with a village which might be m a n y kilometres away. Table 1. Population size of habitations - 1986

Population

Number (000)

Population (million)

Proportion to total (%)

6

49

0.65

8.21

Proportion of population (%)

(i)

5,000 and above

(ii)

2,000-4,999

44

125

4.45

21.00

(iii)

1,000-1,999

111

151

11.28

25.30

(iv)

500-999

197

138

20.11

23.30

(v)

400-499

73

32

7.42

5.45

(vi)

300-399

98

34

10.05

5.69

(vii)

200-299

131

32

13.32

5.34

(viii) 100-199

171

24

17.36

4.12

(ix) Total

below 100

151

9

15.36

1.44

982

594

100.00

100.00

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4.

Authority and delegation The active involvement of people will depend upon:

• • • •

the authority that is delegated to them; the extent to which people's representative institutions will be allowed to exercise the delegated authority; the resources that are transferred for the exercise of that authority; the administrative control that the department will exercise.

The record to date on all these accounts has been dismal. Without legislation on the basis of the two Constitutional amendments having been enacted in m a n y states, and the fact that the people's representative bodies have not c o m e into existence and c o m m e n c e d their operations, it is difficult to indicate the extent of authority which panchayats will be allowed to exercise. A s indicated earlier, one can expect a cautious approach in regard to the extent of delegation of authority, barring some States such as West Bengal, where substantial powers have already been transferred to gram (village) panchayats in the form of the obligatory, other and discretionary duties, and where every gram panchayat has to establish a G r a m Panchayat Fund to which is credited income from various sources, including the taxes which they have been authorized to levy (such as land and building; professions; trades; culling and employment; duty on transfer of immovable property; fees on the registration of vehicles; fee for providing sanitary arrangements in religious and other places; stamp duty; etc.). 5.

Control of personnel

Administrative control of personnel has remained a contentious issue. While, in the beginning, administrative control, for instance of recruitment and transfer of teachers, was vested in block-level panchayat samiti (Rajasthan), the authority was subsequently withdrawn as a consequence of numerous complaints of misuse of power by samiti m e m b e r s . In view of these developments, education department personnel (including teachers) remain under both the technical and administrative control of the Department in most States. The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee's recommendation that technical officers should be "under the administrative and operational control

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of its chief administrative officer" remains unimplemented. T h e lack of administrative control has most probably prevented local bodies from bringing to book inefficient and recalcitrant personnel. While these local agencies can complain, the process of dealing with complaints at departmental level is long-drawn and frustrating. In recent years, representatives of workers have assumed considerable significance and power. The personnel in the education system, particularly teachers, have formed unions which are n o w a force to reckon with. Even w h e n there is large-scale teacher absenteeism, the governments have found it difficult to bring about any form of discipline in the ranks of teachers. The documents that N I E P A circulated to the C A B E Committee indicate that teachers do not like to be brought under the control of local bodies. T h e conditions are particularly bad in rural communities, where inspectors and supervisory personnel of the education department are unable to penetrate. The supervisory machinery in most states has not kept pace with the expansion of the education system either in terms of number or the quality of personnel. For the politicians, teachers' unions provide a source of m a n p o w e r which can be used for promoting their interests. 6.

Exercise of authority

The second most important factor would be the extent to which these bodies would be allowed to exercise their authority and function without bureaucratic controls that tend to stifle initiative. It is no doubt possible that due to inexperience, the representatives of the people will commit m a n y mistakes. This might also be a 'consequence' of the enthusiasm generated by n e w - w o n freedom. The experience of panchayati raj institutions, established after the report of the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, has not been very satisfactory. The complaint was that the Block Development Officer exercised complete control over the functions and finances of panchayat samitis. Unless bureaucratic perceptions and expectations change, the experience of the past is likely to be repeated. The control that the people's representatives exercise must be real in terms of their actions leading to specific consequences. W h a t is also important is that they should perceive that they have been endowed with specific authority to promote the development of the communities that they represent.

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7.

Resources

T h e possibility of adequate resources being transferred to panchayati raj institutions and local bodies in towns and cities has already been mentioned. A welcome feature of the 73rd and 74th amendments is the provision which enjoins the governor of a State to constitute every five years a finance commission to r e c o m m e n d the transfer of resources to local bodies. It is presumed that this commission will work largely on the pattern of the finance commission that the President of India appoints everyfiveyears to recommend devolution of resources to the State. There will, however, be a difference. In the case of the central finance commission, there are constitutionally laid-down sources of central revenues for which the finance commission is expected to develop principles of sharing. In the case of local bodies, amendments do not provide for any specific sources, the proceeds of which the finance commission can play with. T h e real fear is that, given the context of constraints of resources, about which the States are often very local, local bodies willfindit difficult to get justice. 8.

N e e d for training

It needs to be pointed out that there is a complete lack of expertise in planning, project formulation and in monitoring the execution of development programmes in education. T h e lack of expertise is visible at the level of the states, as at other tiers of administration. T h e Administrative Reforms Commission had very particularly c o m m e n t e d upon this. T h e consequence has been the general acceptance of the schemes that are developed at the centre either by the Planning Commission or the central ministries. There is need for functionaries of local bodies to be trained in plan formulation, its implementation, and in general administration. While specific training in institutions like N I E P A , State Councils of Educational Research and Training, Institutes of Administration, etc. would need to be organized, as an interim measure itinerant teams of experts could be deputed to interact with officials or local bodies and assist them in project formulation, project costing and project implementation. This section has tended to be somewhat pessimistic. T h e experience of the past has been primarily responsible. H a d panchayati raj institutions been allowed to function, people's representatives would have by n o w gathered experience and expertise in managing their affairs. Maharashtra provides a good example. " O f course, most of them would have committed mistakes; helping hands would have assisted them in

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becoming more efficient and effective". This did not happen. T h e experiment was termed as a failure almost before it had begun and taken root. Unless the present proposals are handled with faith and patience, the earlier experience is likely to be repeated. In his analysis of Panchayati Raj Acts passed in s o m e states after the two Constitutional amendments, M a h i Pal has stated: "But these State Acts go against the spirit of not just the amendment but of the Constitution, which sees the panchayats as institutions of self-government". In his view, the State Acts, by conferring controlling powers on bureaucracy and by not giving them administrative and financial autonomy, are likely to fulfil the objective of creating self-governing institutions in the countryside. It needs to be recognized that there is no escape from associating people with the management of their affairs. Such association must be real and born of the conviction that people have an interest in their development and welfare and that they have and/ or can generate the capability to solve problems rationally if they are given the opportunity and resources. The attempts to involve communities in peripheral activities like white-washing of school buildings, if they exist, are not likely to be exciting and to provide the needed motivation to enhance the spread of education and to improve its quality through community effort.

Bibliography Administrative Reforms Commission. 1967. Report of the Study T e a m o n Machinery for planning, N e w Delhi. Administrative Reforms Commission. 1969. Report on State Administration, N e w Delhi. The Constitution (Seventy-third A m e n d m e n t ) Act 1992. The Constitution (Seventy-fourth A m e n d m e n t ) Act 1992. Department of Rural Development. 1978. Report of the Committee of Panchayati Raj Institutions (Chairman: AsokaMehta), N e w Delhi.

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Department of Rural Development. 1985. Report of the Committee on administrative arrangements for rural development and poverty alleviation programmes (Chairman: G . V . K . Rao), N e w Delhi. Educational administration in Kerala, NIEPA/Vikas Publishing House, N e w Delhi. Educational administration in Goa, NIEPA/Vikas Publishing House, N e w Delhi. Educational administration in Arunachal Pradesh, NIEPA/Vikas Publishing House, N e w Delhi. Educational administration in Mizoram, NBIEPA/Vikas Publishing House, N e w Delhi. Educational administration in Punjab, NIEPA/Vikas Publishing House, N e w Delhi. Educational administration in Haryana, NIEPA/Vikas Publishing House, N e w Delhi. Government of India. 1988. Commission on Centre-State Relations: Report (Part I), N e w Delhi. Lockheed, M . E . and Verspoor, A . V . 1990. Improving primary education, Draft prepared for World Conference on Education for All, Jomtien, March 1990. Mahi Pal. 1994. "Violating the spirit of Panchayati Raj", Times of India, 26 August, 1994, N e w Delhi. Ministry of H u m a n Resource D e v e l o p m e n t . C a b e C o m m i t t e e o n Decentralized management of education: Report (Chairman: V . Moily), N e w Delhi. Ministry of H u m a n Resource Development. National Policy on Education: 1986 and 1992, N e w Delhi. Ministry of H u m a n Resource Development. Programme of Action: 1986 and 1992, N e w Delhi. National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration. 1993. C A B E C o m m i t t e e on Decentralized M a n a g e m e n t : Major issues for consideration, N e w Delhi, 28 M a y , 1993 (mimeo). National Institute of Rural Development. Salient features of Panchayati Raj Acts of selected states, Centre for Panchayati Raj, Hyderabad. National Institute of Rural Development. Documents of Panchayati Raj: structural pattern, Hyderabad. N I E P A . Experience of Panchayati Raj in the field of educational planning and administration, N e w Delhi (mimeo). N I E P A . Panchayati Raj and development: a perspective, N e w Delhi (mimeo). Planning Commission. 1957. Report of the Team for the study of community projects and national extension service (Chairman: Balwant Rai G . Mehta), Committee on Plan Projects, N e w Delhi. Syed Nurullah and J.P. Naik. History of education in India, McMillan, Bombay.

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Decentralized management in primary education in Maharashtra by Sheel C . Nuna*

I.

The background

The present State of Maharashtra comprises portions of the former territories of the N i z a m of Hyderabad and various other princely states in central Maharashtra, British territory of the erstwhile B o m b a y Presidency and the Central Provinces. B o m b a y , being a major core of colonial development, acquired extraordinary significance as a centre of education. With the establishment of a department of education in 1855, in the w a k e of W o o d ' s Education Despatch of 1854, both school and higher education benefited in the immediate hinterland of the port-city. T h e impact of these developments was evident in the steadily increasing literacy rate, which had remained above the national average ever since 1901. According to the census of 1951, the State of B o m b a y had an average literacy rate of 16.67 per cent. B y 1961 the national average had risen to 24.02 per cent, and it became 29.82 per cent for Maharashtra. The corresponding 1991 figures were 64.87 per cent for Maharashtra and 52.19 per cent for all India. Equally significantly, the State has reported creditable progress in the field of primary education, including education of people belonging to backward groups and areas. The old British records contain numerous references to the progress m a d e in this direction. Under the programme of universal primary education pursued during thefirsttwo decades of this century, enrolment of children registered a steady increase. A large number of social organizations, such as Rayat Sikshan Sanstha, founded by Bhaurao patil in 1919, were instrumental in the spread of primary education (Mathew, 1979:129). The British policy, however, supported social segregation as it provided for maintaining special schools for the children of the lower castes. Even though opposition to separate schools increased with the nationalist movement, particularly Fellow, National Institute of Educational Planning and Management, N e w Delhi, India.

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Decentralization of educational experiences from South Asia

management:

after the installation of the popular government in 1937, these schools could be abolished only after 1947. The enrolment, however, increased phenomenally during the decade ending with 1947 {Table 1). The period after Independence was dominated by the social reform movement led by Baba Saheb Ambedkar. This generated a n e w climate for the realization of civil rights and eventually paved the w a y for the spread of literacy on an unprecedented scale. Equally important was the impact of the G r a m Shikshan M o h i m launched in 1961 (Kamat, 1968: 100-101). Evidently, these developments produced positive results. If one chooses 1991 as the benchmark, the enrolment ratio as well as literacy rates in Maharashtra are higher than the all-India average. However, the State is characterized by alarming disparities in the levels of education, due to the unequal pace of development. Five geographical regions, viz. Khandesh, Konkan, Western Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha, have shown a differential pattern of growth. It m a y be significant to note that the Marathwada region, which witnessed a strong social reform movement, has lagged behind compared to other regions in the spread of primary education. Table 1. Primary education in Maharashtra (Former B o m b a y State) N o . of primary N o . of pupils in schools primary schools

Year

Aided schools

Indigenous schools

All backward class pupils in primary schools

1855-1856

322

20,950

-

2,306

NA

1870-1871

2,788

149,298

44

3,330 (in 1875)

NA

1881-1882

5,388

332,688

196

3,954

6,000

1901-1902

8,987

513,211

1,929

2,470

NA

1921-1922

12,622

798,508

2,690

1,139

53,956

1936-1937

12,901

1,140,299

1,808

542

140,134

1946-1947

18,992

1,665,042

6,684

-

234,713

Source:

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J.P. Naik, A review of education in Bombay State, 1855-1955.

India

O n e of the significant measures initiated to overcome effectively the existing disparities has been to decentralize the planning and decision-making process so that specific problems can be addressed in a realist perspective. The Community Development Programme of the First Five-Year Plan and subsequent enactment of Panchayati Raj legislation in different states, including Maharashtra, were a step in this direction. Maharashtra is considered as one of the states which are making significant strides in the sphere of education. S o m e of the indicators of educational development are presented in Table 2 . It m a y be seen from the figures that the enrolment ratio has risen to 129.4 per cent in classes I-V, but high drop-out rate is a matter of concern. However, compared to the allIndia average, the performance of the State is better in terms of various parameters. Primary education in Maharashtra is under the control of the Zilla Parishad (District Council). O f the total primary schools in the State, 90.88 per cent are under Zilla Parishad, 0.70 per cent under central government and 0.69 per cent under state government. Private aided schools account for 4.32 percent and private unaided schools for 4.03 percent of primary schools. Table 2. Primary education in Maharashtra and India Indicator

Maharashtra

India

Literacy rate, 1991

64.87

52.19

Female literacy rate, 1991

52.32

39.19

136.30

105.70

37

45

% Rural population covered by primary schools within 1.0 k m . , 1986 Drop-out rate at primary level, 1991

97.95 36.96

94.60 48.08

% Primary schools under local bodies, 1992

90.88

NA

Gross enrolment ratio, 1993 (Classes I-V) Teacher/pupil ratio (Primary) 1993

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II.

T h e beginning of decentralization through Panchayati R a j

Accelerating the process of development through the active participation of the people has been one of the significant planning endeavours since Independence. This has been referred to as decentralization of power, to the extent that the villages would undertake and execute the programmes of development with the active support of the State. India after Independence geared itself to change the structure of development administration. T h e launching of the Community Development Programme in 1952 was a first step in this direction. Development was seen as an integrated process and thus the need for a development administration sensitive to the aspirations of the people was emphasized. This led to the creation of development blocks. The Block Development Officer ( B D O ) in the process was visualized as a key functionary. T h e B D O was supported by extension officers representing all development departments. D o w n w a r d s it ended in trained multi-purpose village-level workers. The system went upwards to the district development committee, headed by the district collector. Public participation was to be ensured through the Block Development Committee. The community development programme was thought to be a model experiment in the decentralization process. It was to bring transformation in the rural areas, with the focus on agriculture. However, it was soon realized that it did not serve the purpose, to a large extent, because of excessive bureaucratic control. In the period that followed, development became a bureaucratically controlled activity. In m a n y ways it was considered alienated from the masses and insensitive to their aspirations. Thus it failed to mobilize and involve the rural masses in taking decisions about the activities which affected their lives directly. The main reason for its failure to motivate and involve people in the development process was that the system worked as a top-down model for stimulating rural change. The Government of India, during the Second Five-Year Plan, appointed the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee to study the contents of the community development programmes and their achievements, and to assess the extent to which they had succeeded in utilizing local initiative and creating local institutions involved in socio-economic development of the rural areas. T h e Committee observed that one of the least successful aspects of the Community Development Programme was its attempt to evoke popular initiative. T h e Committee therefore recommended devolution of powers to a body which

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would have entire charge of the development work within its jurisdiction with the Government, reserving to itself functions such as guidance and supervision, higher planning and provision of necessary personnel and finance. The Mehta Committee noticed that attempts m a d e to harness local initiative or create local leadership by formation of ad hoc bodies, which were mostly nominated, had not succeeded in the past. The Committee therefore concluded: "so long as w e d o not discover or create a representative and democratic institution which will supply the local interest and supervision and care necessary to ensure that expenditure of m o n e y upon local objectives conforms to the needs and wishes of the locality, invest it with adequate power and assign to it appropriate finance, w e will never be able to evoke local interest and excite local initiative in thefieldof development" (Balwant Rai Mehta Committee: 1957). The Mehta Committee therefore proposed the establishment of a statutory body at the block level called the Panchayat Samiti. This was indirectly elected by the Village Panchayats and assigned specific functions and specific items of revenue. It also felt that the existing District Board, or any other body at the district level, would be superfluous and suggested the provision of a coordinating body at the district level, namely Zilla Parishad, consisting of all the Presidents of Panchayat Samitis, M L A s and M P s and all district-level officers in charge of development departments as m e m b e r s , with the Collector as Chairman. T h e Committee hoped that Panchayat Samitis would develop local initiative leading to the emergence of n e w leadership with involvement at the grass-roots levels. In the late 1950s, w h e n most of the states enacted their Panchayati Raj Acts on the basis of the recommendations of the Balwant Rai M e h t a Committee, the State of Maharashtra adopted a different pattern based o n the recommendations of the Naik's Committee. T h e pattern adopted had the following distinct features: (1) A strong organization at the district level, wherein Zilla Parishad were entrusted with more significant functions and powers than the Panchayat Samiti. T h e Zilla Parishads were constituted as statutory bodies, assigning the status of administrative committee to Panchayat Samiti. (2) Second, the executive functions were separated from the deliberative and policy-making functions entrusted to Panchayati Raj institutions.

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(3) There were provisions for direct elections to the Panchayati Raj bodies at the district level as against indirect elections from one body to another. (4) M e m b e r s of Parliament and State Legislatures were excluded from the ex-officio membership of the Zilla Parishad. The structure under the Panchayati Raj Act in Maharashtra w a s designed so as to organically link the apex body (ZP) with the middle-tier body (Panchayat Samiti) and then link the latter with the lowest unit (Panchayats). The three-storied edifice was built up with the express intention to bring to the district and lower levels not only the pattern of decentralized democracy, but also decentralized administration. The entire structure was conceived in such a w a y as to enable the higher bodies to consider and tackle the problems of the lower bodies within the general development framework in their forums and to provide the necessary supervision, guidance and control in respect of the lower bodies. With the formation of Zilla Parishads, all the developmental departments were transferred, with all its staff under its control. Class I and Class II officers were transferred on deputation from corresponding States services to Zilla Parishads. Accordingly, the subject of primary education w a s also transferred to the Zilla Parishad. Since then, the management of primary education has been implemented according to the provisions of the Zilla Parishad and the Panchayat Samiti Act, 1961, and the B o m b a y Primary Education Act, 1947. In fact, education is the biggest charge under the Zilla Parishad. III. T h e nature of decentralization in M a h a r a s h t r a In Maharashtra, the functions of the Zilla Parishads and the Panchayat Samitis are detailed in the first and second schedules separately under Sections 100 and 101 respectively of the Act. Further, Maharashtra practises the committee system in the Zilla Parishads to increase the participation of the Councillors in the decision-making process in development. Besides the Standing Committee, seven Subject Committees are constituted under the Act [Section 78( 1 )]. These are: (a) Finance Committee, (b) Works Committee, (c) Agriculture Committee, (d) Social Welfare Committee, (e) Education Committee, (f) Health Committee, and (g) Animal Husbandry and Dairy Committee.

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1.

M a n a g e m e n t of education through Panchayat Raj institutions

Management of primary education in Maharastra is carried out at the level of Zilla Parishad (District level) and Panchayat Samiti (Block level). While the overall responsibility lies with the Zilla Parishad, the Panchayat Samiti looks after those aspects which do not require policy decisions but are of great significance for making the system work effectively. There is no Panchayati Raj institution at the village level entrusted with the management of primary education. The Village Education Committee ( V E C ) which exists at the village level is constituted under government resolution. H o w e v e r , it includes the elected representatives of Panchayats as members. 1.1 Role of Zilla Parishad The following functions have been entrusted to the Zilla Parishad with respect to primary education: • • • •

establishment, management, maintenance, inspection of and visits to primary schools and basic schools, including provision of grants to aided schools; grant of loans and scholarships to students; construction and maintenance of school buildings of the Zilla Parishad and other educational items; provision of equipment and playgrounds for schools. 1.2 Role of Panchayat Samiti

The following functions with respect to primary education are entrusted to the Panchayat Samiti: • • •

construction and maintenance of primary school buildings; provision of equipment and playgrounds for primary schools; management of primary schools and other educational items. 1.3 Role of Village Education Committee

Characteristic to the management of education in Maharashtra is that the Village Education Committee has been assigned a significant role. Although

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it is not a part of the Panchayati Raj system and is constituted under a Government Order, the roles and functions assigned to the V E C m a k e s it a vibrant body. Ordinarily it consists of not less than five and not m o r e than seven m e m b e r s . W h e r e a Panchayati Village consists of more than five but less than 10 wadies (habitation), the Village Education Committee has at least one representative from each such wadi. W h e r e a Panchayati Village has 10 or more wadies, the Village Education Committee consists of not less than 10 and not m o r e than 15 m e m b e r s . The role, functions and powers of the V E C , as defined in the Government Order, are as follows: ( 1 ) A s an elected body, it will be responsible for the total development of the village and will play the role of leadership. Moreover V E C will take an active part in the educational planning and development process. (2) Through the m e d i u m of education, it will initiate various n e w programmes for the all-round development of the village. (3) It will generate a climate in the village for monitoring the target groups to obtain m a x i m u m benefit from the facilities and programmes introduced for their development. (4) It will assume the responsibility of mobilizing community resources for building up a sound infrastructure for educational development of the village. Apart from these broad specifications of the role of the V E C , certain concrete activities are also assigned to the V E C which are listed below. (1) T o arrange a survey for ascertaining educational needs of the village. (2) T o prepare long-term and mid-term plans of development of education in the village. (3) T o undertake enrolment drives for enrolling all children of school-going age and initiate various support services for their retention. (4) T o establish rapport with the parents of non-attending children and persuade them to send the children to school regularly. (5) T o ensure smooth and efficient functioning of the educational institutions, N F E and A E centres in the village. (6) T o provide basic amenities to school/NFE/AE centres with the help of the local community, viz. furniture, educational aids and equipment, drinkingwater arrangements, play-grounds, urinals, books, uniforms, etc. (7) T o oversee and monitor the educational development of the village. (8) T o involve local teachers, youth and w o m e n workers in the programmes of

NFE, AE and ECCE.

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¡itdia

(9) T o seek active co-operation from various organizations such as Mahila Mandais, youth clubs, etc. ( 10) T o m a k e available the facility of a play-ground by obtaining free land of the required size from the villagers and developing the same. (11) T o encourage schools to undertake various programmes for the cultural and social development of the village. (12) To record a note of appreciation of the outstanding work done by teachers and instructors and to report defaulters to higher authorities, and to bring better discipline in the management of education at die village-level in its multi-dimensional activities. In order to ensure smooth and efficient functioning of the primary schools, N F E and adult education centres etc., the V E C has also given the following powers in terms of monitoring and supervisory control. (1) To visit the schools/centres of N F E , A E etc. in the village. (2) To check attendance registers and other records maintained by schools/ centres at least once in every three months. (3) T o enquire and report discrepancies in the educational and physical facilities in the village, if any, to the Block Education Officer. (4) T o sanction casual leave to the Head of the School and recommend his medical and long leave. (5) T o recommend the annual budget of the school/centres to B E O . (6) T o accord sanction to the contingent expenditure up to Rs. 1000 per a n n u m within the sanctioned budget. (7) To approve the annual report of the educational development of the village. (8) T o write-off unserviceable articles up to the value of Rs. 100/-. (9) T o supervise the work of construction of the school buildi ng. (10) T o supervise the current and special repairs of the school building. 2 . Functions of education officers T h e District Education Officer (Primary) is the key functionary at the district level. He/she works as a Secretary to the Subject Committee o n Education. He/she is also accountable to the Chief Executive Officer of the Zilla Parishad, as well as to the Regional Deputy Director of Education. While the former exercise a greater control, the latter has powers related to academic aspects of primary education. T h e District Education Officer exercises complete control over primary education within the district. D E O is assisted b y the Deputy District Education Officer, w h o s e primary

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responsibility is to inspect and supervise the primary schools within the district besides helping the D E O in his work. A significant aspect of the Maharashtra educational administration is the creation of the post of Block Education Officer at the block level. Their important duties are as follows: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Supervision and control o ver Zil la Pari shad/primary schools in the Block. Visits and guidance to the Zilla Parishad and aided/private primary schools. Necessary guidance and help to pre-primary schools, non-formal education centres, adult education centres, etc. Inspection of all primary schools with the help of Extension Officers. T o raise the educational standards through various programmes or activities. T o create co-ordination between educational institutions, students, teachers, headmaster, etc.

O n the administrative side, the functions of a Block Education Officer include the following with respect to primary education: ( 1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

M i n i m u m 120 days tour and 80 night halts per year. Administrative control over schools within the Block. Monitoring of the utilization of grants by private schools. Submission of required information to the higher authorities. Entertaining complaints and taking required action after enquiry. Submission of proposals regardi ng the opening or closing of any school or de-recognizing any private primary school. Implementation of various schemes such as the construction of primary school buildings, book bank, supply of dress and writing materials to the S . C / S . T . students, etc.

It m a y be pertinent to note here that the powers of decision making are vested with Panchayat Samiti and Block Development officers. Thus Block education officers play only an advisory role in decision making. The following are s o m e areas where B E O s have an advisory role in taking decisions. (i) Transfer of primary school teachers. (ii) Opening or closing of primary schools. (iii) Selection of site or place for school building, etc.

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3.

T h e p o w e r conflict

The President of the Zilla Parishad and the Chairman of the Education Committee are the elected office-bearers of the Parishad, while the Chairman of the Panchayat Samiti holds a parallel elected office at the tehsil level. T h e day-to-day execution of the policies adopted by the Zilla Parishad and the Education Committee, including the Panchayat Samitis at the Block level, is obviously the important concern of the administrative officials. Demarcation of the lines of distinction between the duties of the officials and the responsibilities of the elected office-bearers is however difficult. In the process of 'supervising' and 'controlling' the execution of policies and the decisions of the elected bodies, the office-bearers tend to encroach upon the area of concern to the officials. Similarly, the elected office-bearers are suspicious of the officials trespassing into their preserve of policy-framing and decision making and denying them the exercise of their privileges. These problems are greater in the case of personnel management. O n e of the major ways by which the Panchayati Raj representatives have wielded their dominance and political influence over the school teachers is through the issue of transfers and postings. E v e n though transfers and postings are to be done strictly by the Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad, on administrative or other grounds, over the years the Panchayati Raj representatives have utilized their position, and influenced the transfer of teachers. 4.

Recruitment and transfer of teachers

T h e recruitment rules of the teachers were revised in 1993 by the Government of Maharashtra by replacing the Divisional Selection Board by a District Selection Board chaired by the District Collector, and comprising of Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad, Education Officer (Primary )/Tribal Welfare Officer and Social Welfare Officer as its m e m b e r s . In the revised system of recruitment, the recruitment system gives nearly 90 per cent weight to the written examination, which is conducted at the State level by the Director of Education, and only 10 per cent weight is given to the interview held under the Chairmanship of the Collector by the District Selection Board. T h e m i n i m u m qualifications of the primary school teachers have also been revised from S S C and D E d to H S C and D E d . T h e D E d

143


syllabus in the case of H S C has been upgraded in accordance with the standards of H S C . (A similar system of recruitment has been proposed by the Director of Education, Government of Maharashtra, for the private aided schools also). Transfer of teachers is to be done strictly by the C E O , Zilla Parishad. However, in some situations, transfers are also effected by the Chairman'of the Education Committee. Under the existing policy of the Government of Maharashtra regarding the transfer of teachers, the primary school teachers are required to be transferred every three years and they are required to be posted at least 10-15 kilometres away from their h o m e town in order to ensure that they stay at headquarters. The assumption is that the primary school teachers would function more effectively and objectively if they were not posted to their h o m e town. However, in the long run it has been observed that in most of the Zilla Parishads, the primary school teachers manage to stay at one village for an average of 10 to 15 years. Even though they are posted more than 10-15 kilometres away from their h o m e town, they rarely stay at the headquarters of their posting. 5.

Inspection and supervision

Inspection and supervision in the State of Maharashtra is a multi-control phenomenon. A primary school comes under the supervision of the following: ( 1 ) Village Education Committee; (2) Extension Officer (Education); (3) Block Education Officer; (4) Block Development Officer; (5) Deputy District Education Officer; (6) District Education Officer; and (7) Regional Deputy Director of Education. However, it is the extension officer w h o is supposed to inspect primary schools more frequently. The posts of Extension Officer (Education) have been created at the ratio of 1 extension officer for 40 primary schools. This norm has been relaxed for the remote hilly and far-flung areas in the identified tribal districts in the State, where the ratio is one officer for 20 primary schools. However, dayto-day supervision is the responsibility of the V E C . Despite all these arrangements, there are significant loopholes in the process of supervision, particularly with respect to academic supervision. 6.

School management

Administration at the school level is carried out by the headmaster of the school. This position carries m u c h importance as regards the administration of primary education at the primary school level. A post of Head of a primary

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India

school is sanctioned with a separate pay scale for all upper primary schools, as well as primary schools having 200 or more enrolments. The lower primary schools with less than 200 enrolments, however, remain without the post of head of the school and are left to periodic supervision by the Extension Officer (Education). In order to ensure qualitative development of primary schools through effective and scholarly interaction with the secondary schools in the vicinity, the scheme of 'School-Complex' was launched in the State about a decade ago. In the State, 576 secondary schools are effectively participating in the scheme by providing academic guidance to the primary schools in the vicinity. Short-term training programmes and periodic meetings of primary teachers are also conducted. Inspection and supervision of the working of the primary schools is carried out annually. Besides, the education department has evolved a 'gradation tool' to gauge the progress and development of primary schools. This tool helps the school as well as administrator to identify the deficiencies in the proper functioning of primary schools and find out the areas that need improvement. The Village Education Committee also supervises the day-to-day functioning of primary schools, particularly with respect to the attendance of students and teachers. 7.

Teacher education and training

The pre-service teacher training is imparted in 85 government, 98 aided private and 110 unaided private junior colleges of education in the State. T h e pre-service teacher training programme, Diploma in Education, is a two-year training p r o g r a m m e . T h e examinations are conducted b y the Bureau of Students every year. The p r o g r a m m e of in-service training of teachers is conducted in the 101 divisions of 68 colleges of education to orient the primary teachers working in Zilla Parishad, Municipal and Corporation schools in the State. T h e duration of the programme is 21 days. During this training, every teacher gets a stipend of R s . 1 5 0 / - in rural areas and R s . 1 7 5 / - in urban areas. T h e in-service training is n o w compulsory for the career mobility of the teachers. In order to cater to the needs of hilly areas and tribal habitations, the State Government has appointed untrained teachers in these areas. T o enhance further the number of S C / S T teachers, the State Government has also relaxed the training qualifications at the time of employment. In order to enable these untrained teachers to have the facility of training, S C E R T started a cell of correspondence teachertraining courses in 1974; and about 40,000 teachers have been distance-trained.

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Based o n the recommendations of the study group in 1986, the State G o v e r n m e n t has closed d o w n 178 junior colleges of education. In view of the importance being attached to the in-service training of teachers in the context of universalization of elementary education, alternative m o d e s of organizing the training need attention. U n d e r the Centrally Sponsored S c h e m e , the G o v e r n m e n t of Maharashtra is to start 11 District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), which are expected to take care of in-service teacher training needs, a m o n g other activities. These D I E T s are being established b y upgrading selected G o v e r n m e n t Teacher Training Colleges. 8.

Finances

T h e State of Maharashtra has a provision for the District F u n d at the level of Zilla Parishad. T h e following are paid into the district fund. (a) the balance in the local fund of a district or of 'djanapad area formed under the relevant District Boards Act; (b) the net proceeds (after deducting the expenses of assessment and collection) of any residue of the taxes payable in the District under the relevant District Boards Act; (c) T h e proceeds (after such deductions as m a y be prescribed) of the taxes in the District; (d) the balance of the amount of the tax on professions, trades, callings and employment after deducting such percentage thereof as is to be assigned to a panchayat under the relevant clause in the Act; (e) all rents and profits accruing from property (including ferries) vested in a Zilla Parishad; (f) the proceeds of all tolls and leases of tolls on roads and bridges vested in the Zilla Parishad which are levied in the District under the Tolls on R o a d s and Bridges Act, 1875, or any corresponding law in force in any part of the State; (g) all sums received by the Zilla Parishad (in the execution) of, or from taxation under this Act; (h) the interest on and the sale proceeds of any securities (and the dividends payable in respect of and the sale-proceeds of, shares, if any) held by the Zilla Parishad; (i) all sums contributed by private persons; (j) the receipt on account of charities and trusts placed under the management of a Zilla Parishad;

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(k) all grants, loans assignments and contributions made by the State Government; (1) all grants, loans and contributions meant for Panchayat Samitis or any institutions or persons and to be paid through the Zilla Parishad by Government; (m) all other sums received (including any moneys borrowed under the Act) by or on behalf of the Zilla Parishad under this Act or any other law for the time being in force; (n) all sums paid by the State Government to the Zilla Parishad to meet expenses for the performance of any agency function; (o) all sums released by w a y of penalty otherwise than by way of a fine in a criminal case; and (p) all amounts received from persons for supplying or providing services, facilities, benefits or amenities. The Village Education Committees in some areas of the State have been making significantfinancialcontributions to the promotion of primary education. Besides contributing to construction and maintenance of school buildings, their contribution to the development of physical infrastructure in primary schools has been praiseworthy. 9.

State-Panchayati Raj Continuum

While the P R bodies play the most significant role in the management of primary education, the education department of the State government plays its role in the management of academic components. According to the Panchayati Raj Act the following areas c o m e under the control of the State Department of Education. ( 1) (2) (3) (4)

laying d o w n of syllabus; description of textbooks; conducting scholarship examinations; conducting primary school examinations and standard fourth examinations; and (5) such other powers as m a y be vested in the State government under the B o m b a y Primary Education Act, 1947. The Regional Deputy Director of Education provides a link between the Department of Education and Zilla Parishad. The State government, however, remains a major partner by providing appropriate grants to the Zilla Parishads.

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IV. In conclusion The State of Maharashtra is one of the states where management of education has been entrusted to PRIs. The system has been in operation for the past three decades. Although there have been various instances when the system came under serious strains, the system has been able to resolve these. While the administrative arrangements seem to be working well, the academic component of the primary school is neglected. The school complexes which were created for academic supervision have not been able to undertake this task effectively. The conflict between elected representatives of Zilla Parishad and administrative functionaries, particularly with respect to personnel management, has been generating strains on the system. This area needs to be looked into very carefully. The village education committees which have been established and empowered, and are reportedly working well in certain areas, m a y , ultimately, emerge as a significant catalyst for the development of primary education.

Bibliography Government of India. 1957. Committee on Plan Projects: Report of the Team for the study of community projects and national extension services, N e w Delhi. Government of Maharashtra. 1991. The Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samities Act, 1961. Kamat A . R . 1968. Progress of education in rural Maharashtra. Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Poona. Mathew, A . 1979. Karmveer Bhaurao Paul, Rayat Sikshan Sansthan, Satara. Naik, J.P. 1971. Education of the Schedule Castes, 1965-1966, ICSSR, N e w Delhi.

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Decentralization of educational planning in India: an assessment of training needs by N . V . Varghese*

Introduction India has one of the largest networks of primary schools in the world. It has around 566,000 formal primary institutions imparting education to about 102 million children. Nearly 9 0 per cent of these institutions is funded and managed by the public authorities. Therefore, any attempt to bring about an overall improvement in the system depends essentially on the efforts initiated in the public domain and the readiness with which the schools respond to such initiatives. Managing such a large network of institutions is in itself a major challenge to policy-makers and planners. Needless to say, the decentralization of decision making becomes an essential and unavoidable step to improve the operational efficiency of the primary units in the network. This understanding is at the heart of policy-making while initiating n e w steps in decentralized planning and management of education. This paper sets out to identify training needs for effectively implementing the district plans in India. Training needs identified in this paper aie based on the available documented empirical evidence, and discussions with district and locallevel educational functionaries involved in the preparation of district plans under the District Primary Education Programme ( D P E P ) . The paper is organized as follows. The next section discusses the emergence of the district as the unit for decentralized planning in India. Section II reviews the earlier efforts to build local-level capacity to plan and implement educational programmes. Section ///highlights the emerging areas where training is required for district officers and school headmasters. The concluding section makes a tentative proposal regarding the organizational arrangements required to carry out training activities. Senior Fellow, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), N e w Delhi, India.

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I.

Educational planning in India

Educational planning in India is an integral part of overall economic planning. In the initial stages, the major focus was o n the expansion of the system and planning efforts were mostly confined to and centred at the federal level. H o w e v e r , the expansion of the education system that has taken place was not in line with that planned. M a n y attribute such a pattern of expansion to a lack of vision o n the part of policy-makers. J.P. Naik notes that "unfortunately educational planning in the post-independence period has neither had a vision nor a direction and forms one of the weakest sectors in the national planning" (Naik: 1965, p. 15). Linking education with major social and economic concerns w a s not a serious issue for the planners and hence there were no concerted efforts to develop comprehensive educational plans. T h e situation has changed n o w and at present India is experimenting with developing educational plans at various levels. 1.

Multi-level planning framework

Educational planning in India has a multi-level framework, with planning efforts initiated and carried out at national, state and district levels. At the national level, the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Education provide leadership and guidance for educational planning. T h e Planning Commission is responsible for developing Five-Year Plans and Annual Plans for the whole country. Serious efforts are also m a d e by the Commission to closely scrutinize the state plans on an annual basis so as to ensure that the plans reflect national priorities and that they can be carried out within budgetary constraints. At the state level, the Department of Education is organized at two focal points: (i) policy making and co-ordination carried out at the secretariat level; and (ii) direction and regulation activities carried out at the directorate level (Mukherji: 1970). O n e of the positive developments in the process is the creation of planning units or cells at the state levels. In all the states, one can see a designated planning officer in the education department. The planning cells are intended to do a rigorous job of drawing up state-level educational plans. Suchrigorousexercises are rarely attempted at the state level, partly due to the lack of planning competencies at this level. Very often "these units were not effectively manned by technically trained persons" (Mathur: 1980, p.7).

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At the sub-state level there are Divisions/Circles and Districts. Large states have divisions mediating between districts and state. H o w e v e r , for planning purposes the unit of decision making is either the state or the district. Within the district, the District Educational Officer ( D E O ) deals with all issues pertaining to school education. T o a typical D E O , drawing up a district plan essentially means drawing u p district-level schemes. T h e operational areas for the district officers are expansion and rationalization of educational facilities, and hence most of the D E O s are busy with preparing proposals regarding the opening of n e w schools, upgrading existing schools, provision of additional staff, rationalization of existing staff, etc. Even in these cases, major decisions are taken at the state level and the responsibility of the districtlevel authorities is mainly confined to preparing proposals. Below the district level, there are Block Educational Officers or supervisors and inspectors of schools, w h o directly interact with the primary school headmasters and teachers. 2.

District as the unit for decentralized planning

Planning in India in the initial stages used to be centralized at the federal level and officialized at the state level. The need for a decentralized approach, although recognized from the very beginning, w a s not translated into an operational practice. Targeting of efforts in the Indian plans were always towards certain backward pockets and segments of the population. T h e first serious effort to m a k e a disaggregated analysis of development of elementary education was in 1978 (Ministry of Education and Social Welfare: 1978), w h e n planners identified the educationally backward states in India and argued for a more directed intervention by the government in the area of primary education in these states. In the 1980s, the Planning Commission (1984) appointed a Committee on District Planning under the chairmanship of H a n u m a n t a R a o . T h e Committee clearly identified the district as the lowest viable unit for decentralized planning in India. The National Policy on Education (Department of Education: 1986a and 1992a) and the P r o g r a m m e of Action (1986b and 1992b) reiterated the need for decentralization in education, keeping district as the basic unit for planning and management. T h e Policy did envisage creating a District Board of Education to initiate, co-ordinate and integrate educational efforts and plans.

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T h e Seventh Five-Year Plan (Planning C o m m i s s i o n : 1985) adopted decentralized planning as one of the major strategies to achieve the plan targets. T h e Working Group on Elementary Education (Planning Commission: 1989) constituted in the context of the Eighth Five-Year Plan, noted that there were educationally backward districts in educationally advanced states, and there were educationally advanced districts in educationally backward states, and hence argued for keeping the district as the unit for initiating planning and management activities in thefieldof education. T h e N D C Committee on Literacy and Elementary Education (Planning Commission: 1992a) and the Eighth Five-Year Plan (Planning Commission: 1992b) further categorized the districts into three types: (i) high-literacy districts where enrolment was universal and retention rates were high, and hence the emphasis needed to be on programmes pertaining to quality improvement; (ii) Total Literacy Campaign districts, where the Campaign had already produced an increased demand for primary education and conditions were conducive to increase the pace of growth of primary education; and (iii) low-literacy districts, where provision of facilities was poor, delivery mechanisms inadequate and community awareness at very low levels. These were efforts initiated at the policy-making level to create politically favourable conditions to decentralize planning efforts. T h e C A B E C o m m i t t e e on decentralized m a n a g e m e n t of education (Department of Education: 1993a) emphasized the need for integrating educational planning and management efforts at the district level with the Panchayat Raj institutions. T h e District Primary Education Programme ( D P E P ) (Department of Education: 1993b), is the most recent effort to translate the idea of decentralized planning into an operational reality. T h e D P E P envisages planning from below, with wider participation in the planning process and linking school improvement efforts with efforts in thefieldof educational planning at the district level (Varghese: 1994a). 3.

N e e d for developing planning competencies at the district level

In practice, efforts towards decentralized planning in India used to suffer from two problems: (i) district plans were prepared for the district at the state level with or without any consultation with the people at the district level; (ii) the districts did not have any power to allocate, reallocate or mobilize resources and hence they had tobe at the mercy of the state-level authorities (Varghese: 1990). Consequently, there w a s no felt need at the district level to develop planning competencies.

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In fact, one of the limitations of planning efforts at the lower levels was the lack of planning competencies at the district level. Most of the D E O s are not trained in educational planning. T o m a n y , educational planning means supplying information to the higher authorities and they depend on their statistical assistants for this purpose. Therefore, one of the essential conditions or prerequisites for decentralization is to develop competencies to plan, manage and implement district plans. In other words, capacity building should form an integral part of the district planning process. Capacity building can be facilitated through t w o modes: (i) learning by doing, in which case there m a y not be any organized and structured training programmes; (ii) through training programmes. Perhaps this is the most c o m m o n practice, followed in m a n y cases by programmes designed and developed, based on the specific requirements. Irrespective of the m o d e of training chosen, the objective is to m a k e people capable of analysing their problems and articulating them so as to seek solutions. II.

C a p a c i t y building at the district level: the earlier efforts

India does not have a comprehensive plan to develop planning competencies at the district level. This is one of the reasons for its failure to initiate and implement district-level plans. In 1970, the Ministry of Education decided to look into this matter for thefirsttime and a national seminar was organized with this purpose in mind. Based on the recommendations of the national seminar, the Ministry appointed a Committee under the chairmanship of Professor M . V . Mathur, the then Director of the National Staff College of Educational Planners and Administrators. T h e Committee consulted a broad spectrum of officials and obtained their views through a structured questionnaire. Based on these responses the Committee ( N S C E P A : 1972) could clearly identify the role and functions of district education officers. This w a s thefirsttime that an effort w a s m a d e to systematically look into the question of capacity building at lower levels so as to train people to undertake planning responsibilities. 1.

Role a n d functions of the D E O : the expectation

The Mathur Committee identified the role and functions of the D E O s in five broad categories: (i) an administrator; (ii) a supervisor and inspector; (iii) a professional leader and innovator; (iv) a development generalist and planner; and

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(v) a bridge builder between the school and the community. M o r e importantly, the Committee identified 22 specific functions to be undertaken by the district-level educational officers. The thus identified functions are: (i) appointment, promotion and transfer of teaching and non-teaching staff; (ii) performance appraisal of teaching and non-teaching staff; (iii) disciplinary control of teaching, non-teaching and inspecting staff; (iv) inspection of subordinate offices under their control; (v) sanctioning and disbursement of grants-in-aid; (vi) disbursement of teacher salaries; (vii) audit and inspection of accounts; (viii) dealing with disputes between teachers and management; (ix) quasi-judicial functions; (x) dealing with local bodies and panchayat raj institutions; (xi) providing academic leadership and technical advice; (xii) conducting inspections; (xiii) surprise visits; (xiv) organizing orientation/inservice training programmes; (xv) dissemination of n e w ideas and popularization of tested good practices; (xvi) encouraging experiments and innovations; (xvii) co-operating and collaborating with other departments in the overall planning of the district; (xviii) formulating, implementing and evaluating educational plans at the district level; (xix) guiding and promoting programmes of institutional planning; (xx) fostering public relations; and (xxi) securing community participation for improving and developing educational institutions. 2.

Functions of district educational functionaries : the practice

T h e Mathur Committee has clearly defined the role and function of D E O s in detail. W h i c h of these functions are carried out by them in practice? There is very little evidence on this issue. S o m e of the recently completed administrative surveys have thrown s o m e light on this matter. Table 1 shows the actual time spent by the educational functionaries at various levels in the States of Punjab and Kerala. For the same level of functionaries, the time devoted to various activities varies between states. For example, in the State of Punjab a larger share of the time of the officers is spent on office work, as against Kerala, where a larger share of time is spent o n inspection activities. Inspection and travelling account for nearly half the time of a typical D E O in the State of Kerala. There is a considerable difference between the time-spending pattern of different levels of officers within the State of Punjab. Surprisingly, the circle-level officer in Punjab spent more time in inspection activities. The D E O s and B E O s spent only one-tenth of their time on inspection. The pattern of time spent by the D E O s clearly shows that their actual work is at variance with what they are supposed to do according to the Committee recommendations.

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One of the important things that can be noticed is that over a period of time, the time spent on inspection has declined in all the states (Table 2). T h e decline was sharper in the States of Haryana and Punjab than in the State of Kerala. Correspondingly, there is an increase in the time spent on office work in these states. In Kerala, the time spent on office work remains more or less the same. Receiving visitors seems to be a major area of activity for the D E O s in Punjab. D E O s in Kerala and Haryana spent a lot of time in redressai of grievances of their employees. W h a t is evident in the tables is that the time spent on improving school functioning is being reduced. Table 1. T i m e spent o n different activities (%) Punjab Circles DEO 25.0 10.0

1. Visits and inspection 2. Travelling

11.0

11.0

3. Receiving visitors

20.0

21.0

4. Meetings 5. Office work

10.0 30.0

10.0 39.0

4.0

6. Redressai of grievances Total Source:

100.0

Kerala

DEO

AEO

34.5

42.9

12.5

10.9

6.0 8.5

4.0 6.7

22.5

9.0

32.3

3.2

16.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Kapoor et al. ( 1994a); Kapoor et al. ( 1994b).

Table 2 . Change in utilization of time by the D E O s

Activities 1. Visits and inspection 2. Travelling 3. Receiving visitors 4. Meetings 5. Office work 6.Redressai of grievances Total Source:

Punjab 26.4

7.7 17.2

8.0 31.0

9.7 100.0

1972-1973 Haryana Kerala 33.0 12.0 13.0

9.0 28.0

5.0 100.0

42.8 12.1

9.5 8.8 22.8

4.0 100.0

Punjab 10.0 11.0 21.0 10.0 39.0

9.0 100.0

1990-1991 Haryana Kerala 15.0 10.0

5.0 15.0 40.0 15.0 100.0

34.5 12.5

6.0 8.5 22.5 16.0 100.0

Kapoor et al. (1994a); Kapoor et al. ( 1994b); Mahajan et al. (1994).

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In other words, the priority of the D E O in spending time deviates substantially from the Committee recommendations. It is interesting to discover the actual time spent by the D E O s in planning activities. In one of the studies which analyzed the diaries of around 10 D E O s in Andhra Pradesh (Venkamma: 1990) for a period of one year, the investigator worked out the pattern of time spending. Accordingly, a typical D E O spends around 32.5 per cent in administration; 21.7 per cent in management of examinations; 19.5 per cent in management of academic activities; 10.6 per cent in planning activities; 10.0 per cent in redressai of grievances; and around 5.7 per cent in budgeting and finance. All the efforts to ascertain what is really happening at the grass-roots level show that the D E O s spend little time on planning activities, burdened as they are with routine administrative activities. This is one of the reasons w h y there is a lack of demand for planning and management courses for the D E O s . Even w h e n they are trained and possess skills in planning and management, they rarely get a chance to utilize such skills. In other words, the planning capacities cannot be developed unless demand for the same is generated at the local level. In a public system the demand can be generated only if it has a direct link with what is actually practised. This m a y call for a change in the role perception of the D E O s to facilitate decentralized planning. 3.

Capacity building: the expectation

While emphasizing the need for developing planning and management capacities at the district level, the Mathur Committee also looked into other levels of administration and strongly argued for developing competencies at other higher levels starting from the district. The proposals in this regard can be summarized as follows: (i) to start with, the state secretaries of education are to be exposed to the n e w developments and innovative ideas in the field of education, to facilitate directed action and to give leadership to the programmes. Hence, there is a need for refresher courses for the state secretaries of education, preferably for a period of three-four days; (ii) the education department at the state level has m a n y senior-level officers, such as deputy directors, joint directors, additional directors, deputy secretaries, etc. w h o should be exposed to the planning and management of education for a somewhat longer duration. Therefore, there is a need to organize inservice training programmes of one-four weeks' duration; (iii) the D E O s are

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the key persons at the district level, and improving their competencies is very important, not only to initiate but also to sustain any planning efforts. They need a longer exposure of four-six w e e k s ' duration. The Committee also recommended a three months in-service course to be organized for the D E O s during their probation period. 4.

Capacity building: the reality

In the 1970s there were few organizations in the country to impart training in educational planning and management. In the 1960s the Government of India started developing institutes to train educational functionaries at the state level. In 1963-1964 seven State Institutes of Education (SIE) were opened in seven states; in 1964-1965 nine such institutes were opened in another nine states, and in 1969-1970 one more institute w a s opened in another state. It w a s envisaged that there would be possibilities of developing courses in collaboration with other agencies at the state level. The Committee envisaged that the major responsibility of organizing practice-based training programmes would be vested with the SIEs, and the training on educational planning and management would be organized directly by the N I E P A . T o facilitate organization of such training programmes, there was a need to strengthen the SIEs. Therefore, the Committee strongly recommended the setting up of an educational planning wing, consisting of carefully selected faculty, at the SIEs. H o w e v e r , this did not happen. In the present set-up there is n o provision for regular training of functionaries of education at the district or sub-district levels. T h e organizational arrangements available at the state levels are (i) the State Institutes of Education (SIE); (ii) the State Council of Educational Research and Training ( S C E R T ) ; and (iii) Institutes of management and general administration. A n analysis of training activities undertaken by these organizations in the recent past shows very interesting patterns. Unfortunately, the training activities of the SIEs and S C E R T s have seldom focused on the planning and management aspects of education. Both of them virtually function as teacher-training institutions. Similarly, the state institutes of administration and management rarely organize any programmes specific to the education sector. T h e analysis has s h o w n that only less than 1 per cent of the total programmes conducted by these agencies are on education. There m a y be occasions in a particular year where such an institution has organized programmes on education. A m o n g

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the states, M a d h y a Pradesh in the recent past did organize more than one programme in education through its State Institute for Administration. In the absence of any clear-cut training plan and institutional arrangements, the brunt of training of all categories of personnel in educational planning and management became a responsibility of the National Staff College for Educational Planning and Administration, which was later transformed into the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration ( N I E P A ) . N I E P A started a three-weeks training p r o g r a m m e for senior educational administrators in the 1970s and a three-months diploma course for district education officers ( D E O s ) from the early 1980s onwards. T h e senior-level administrator's programme has been successful in imparting training to m a n y state-level officers. Nearly 300 district-level officers are trained under the diploma p r o g r a m m e . A n evaluation of the diploma programme up to 1988 (Aggarwal: 1990) showed that a majority of the trainees was receiving some training in planning and management for the first time, and 91 per cent of the respondents reported that the programme was very useful and helpful in improving their efficiency and effectiveness in the areas of educational planning and management. In the late 1980s, N I E P A conducted orientation programmes for very senior-level educational functionaries, especially IAS officers, at the request of the Department of Personnel. T h e participation w a s assured for these programmes by the department of personnel. Interestingly, m a n y of the participants were not from the Education Department. Apart from this, N I E P A organizes training programmes on specific themes in which several district- and state-level officers have participated. N I E P A conducts training p r o g r a m m e s in educational planning and administration on a regular basis. Most of them are of short duration, say, one or two weeks. It conducts on an average nearly 50-60 training programmes a year, imparting training to around 1,200 educational functionaries of the state and district level. A n evaluation of N I E P A training programmes (Bhushan: 1990) has shown some interesting trends: (i) a scrutiny of the background of the officers participating in the programmes shows that N I E P A programmes have invoked a response from middle-level personnel; (ii) senior-level functionaries are not responsive, due to their preoccupation with more priority areas in their routine administration; moreover, m a n y senior-level personnel consider incountry training to be less useful to them; (iii) there is a shift in the clientele

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group of participants coming to N I E P A ; increasingly staff m e m b e r s from District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET) are participating in the programmes. The n e w clientele group, although playing a dominant role at the district level, are not directly involved with the planning and management of educational programmes on a large scale. Such a shift is evident even in the case of the three-months diploma programme, which is almost tailorm a d e for the D E O s . Given the sheer size of the grass-roots-level functionaries, N I E P A m a y not be in a position to intervene at the level of primary school headmasters, supervisors, etc. Even in the case of district-level officers, the number is too large to be trained by N I E P A . Therefore, there is a need to look for alternative organizational arrangements to train educational planners and administrators. W h y are the state governments not organizing training programmes in educational planning and administration? Discussions with different state government departments reveal s o m e interesting facts. First, at the state level, educational planning is identified with preparation of budgets and this responsibility is vested with the finance officer or planning officer of the Department of Education. Therefore, there is n o felt need for organizing training programmes. Second, educational planning and administration as an activity is yet to be developed at the state and district levels. M o s t of the educational functions are identified with teacher-training activities. Needless to say, m a x i m u m effort and time is spent on teacher-training activities. With the emergence of teacher training as the dominant activity, programmes pertaining to the planning and management became casualties. Third, very important from the skill development point of view is that there are no competent trainers at the state level to impart training in planning and management in education. This is one of the reasons w h y state governments have to always look towards national institutes like N I E P A to design and impart training to their officers. Unfortunately, given the size of the personnel to be trained, national institutes like N I E P A are not in a position to meet the demands. The tendency at the state level is to equip the officers with rules and regulations and expose them to financial management and budget preparation. This is facilitated through the departmental tests, which are essential eligibility conditions for the promotion of the officers. Since n o active decentralized planning takes place at the district level, the need for the programmes is also rather limited. Even under the existing framework, what is practised as a

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district planning exercise, is nothing but déconcentration and delegation of powers. The district authorities do not have the freedom to mobilize resources of their o w n or reallocate the available resources. The priorities are fixed at the state level, the financial allocations are decided at the state level, and hence the responsibility of district-level officers is confined to preparation of implementation schedules. M o r e often than not, even these targets (implementation dates and schedules) are also provided by the state governments, which reduces the role of district officers to just carrying out the directives from the state level. III. Training needs in the changing context In India there is a provision of untied funds to the districts to equip them to fix their o w n plan targets and to evolve their o w n strategies of plan implementation. A s of n o w the share of untied funds is very low - less than 10 per cent - in most of the states. It is expected that with more freedom and improved competency of the district-level authorities, this share will increase so as to cover almost all the major activities to be initiated by the district-level authorities. In addition, the emergence of panchayat raj institutions has further improved the scope for practising decentralized planning. The expectation is that in the coming years decentralization will be a reality and hence there will be felt d e m a n d for programmes oriented to improve competencies in educational planning and management. These changes can be seen in general terms and also in specific terms, especially in the case of the D P E P districts which have already undergone the experience of preparing district plans. T h e type of n e w d e m a n d which will emerge depends upon the type and nature of activities to be undertaken and completed by the functionaries at the local level. The n e w context in India in the field of decentralization of education raises n e w types of d e m a n d for training in educational planning and management. The emerging situation consists of two types of trends: (i) the general trend towards decentralization, which will be the case in all districts in the country; and (ii) the specific requirements of the externally funded project districts. T h e essential difference between these two types of districts will be that in the case of externally funded projects, the fund allocation will be based on the projects which are proposed in the district plans. There is an element of healthy competition a m o n g states and districts to prepare better

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plans. Moreover, technical help and assistance is forthcoming o n a m o r e urgent basis to these districts than to other districts. A b o v e all, the plans prepared by these districts are closely scrutinized by the national experts and international funding agencies. The implementation of the p r o g r a m m e is also closely monitored. The n e w initiatives, although confined to selected districts in the present context, will be expanded to other districts in the coming years. Therefore what is planned and implemented in these districts can be a guidance to other districts regarding the nature of activities to be initiated in future. O n e of the positive things about planning and m a n a g e m e n t activities at the district and lower levels is that the artificial distinction that is maintained between planning and managing activities at the macro level, disappears. Second, the persons w h o are planning, also have to implement the plans, which m e a n s the plans b e c o m e m o r e and more realistic. With decentralization becoming a c o m m o n feature, the demand for planning and management capacity at the local levels will increase. Not only that, n e w clientele groups m a y be emerging to carry out specific functions, and hence the requirements will become diversified. These two factors together, m a y make it impossible for any central-level organization to undertake the responsibility of organization of the training programmes on a regular basis. Perhaps the role of the national-level resource organizations also m a y change. The nature of change depends on the nature of demand imposed on it by the lower-level planning functionaries. Commenting upon the general trend throughout the world, Carrón (1992) notes that in a decentralized context "planning units at the central level restrict themselves to ensuring a m i n i m u m of prospective work and co-ordination, doing research and gathering data, facilitating decision making and policy formulation, and providing various support services to the decentralized levels and performing some basic functions of monitoring and evaluation" (p.4). A n y realistic proposal to develop local-level competencies in planning and management should be based on a review of the job description - what the functionaries are doing at present and what they are supposed to do in the coming roles. If there is a gap between the competencies required and the competencies available, then there is a need for training intervention. W h a t is described in the following paragraphs is based on the several studies conducted to identify the training needs of the D E O s , and also the district plans prepared by the locallevel people in the 42 districts involved in the D P E P p r o g r a m m e .

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1.

Training needs: the D E O s

S o m e of the studies in the recent past have evaluated the role and functions of the D E O s ( for example, see Premi et al. ( 1990); V e n k a m m a ( 1990); Aggarwal (1990); Bhushan (1990)). All these studies have identified the role and functions of the D E O s and other staff at the district level and assessed the training needs. In addition, while the district plans were prepared m a n y inadequacies in terms of competencies were noticed. Discussions with the officers have revealed the specific training requirements of the officers. Moreover, the district plans contain proposals regarding training of the local-level educational functionaries. A n analysis of all these show the specific areas of training required for planning and effectively implementing the district plans. A n effort is made in this part of the paper to briefly describe the thus identified training requirements. (i)

Prioritization of local needs and micro planning

This has c o m e mostly from people w h o have undergone the practice of drawing up district plans through a participatory process. O n earlier occasions, district plans were drawn up mostly by the officials. But w h e n the planning process and plans were open for public discussion, it became essential to ensure that the local d e m a n d s were articulated and properly represented in the plans. This has created a difficult situation for the D E O s and other locallevel officers regarding the items that can be chosen and given first priority, and the issues which are to be given second priority. For the local people all areas are of equal priority but, for a planner, one has to keep in mind the financial constraints and hence prioritization of the issues becomes essential. M a n y of the district-level authorities lack competency in the methodology of prioritizing in the context of planning. The need for micro planning b e c a m e a reality to m a n y of the local-level functionaries while preparing the district plans. However, the difficulty faced by them is of two kinds: (i) h o w to integrate the different micro-planning activities into one plan; and (ii) the micro-planning exercise takes a long time, but the plans are to be submitted within a short period of time. Therefore the difficulty is to establish links between micro-planning exercises and the districtplanning process. M o r e specifically, m a n y educational functionaries are in a dilemma as to whether to g o for micro-planning exercises in the initial stage itself, or wait for the district plans to evolve. M a n y see the micro-planning exercises as part of the plan implementation process. M a n y of them really

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lack the necessary skills to undertake micro-planning exercises and link them with district plans. (ii) Costing of educational projects, programmes

and plans

M a n y of the D E O s are familiar with budgeting and very often this job is done for them by the finance officer. Even in budgeting, costing was not a part of the exercise. In the n e w context, while preparing plans the district has to evaluate different strategies and choose the one which is most effective and costs the least. This raises issues pertaining to costing of the programmes which need to be developed at the local levels. (Hi) Co-ordination and linkage with other departments The effort in the decentralized plans is to ensure convergence of services at the grass-roots level so as to achieve a level of integration between services at the local level. This needs a great deal of co-ordination with other departments. The co-ordination activities are at two levels: (i) At the level of planning to ensure that no programme is duplicated and, hence, the resources thus saved can be utilized for another activity. This requires a study of the plan proposals of other departments in advance, so that such proposals do not get duplicated in the plans, (ii) At the level of implementation. Although the activities are reflected in the plans, their implementation is by different agencies. The question thus becomes: h o w to ensure better co-ordination between the implementation responsibilities. (iv) Participatory process of planning The drawing up of plans involve a participatory process. Most of the educational functionaries are used to responding to orders from above, and preparing plans in a participatory m o d e is totally n e w to them. H o w to organize meetings and focused group discussions, etc. are n e w areas to them. There is a need for orienting educational functionaries for this purpose. (v)

Dealing with elected bodies

Zillaparishads (district-level local bodies) have c o m e up in m a n y states. The educational functionaries are accountable to these bodies in addition to their responsibility and accountability to their supervisors. Very often, the

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dual control creates an element of tension. T h e areas of jurisdiction and powers of the department and Zilla Parishads are not always clear. This is an area of immediate concern for m a n y district-level functionaries. (vi) Accounting practices There is a need to establish convergence between schedules of activities and the budget proposals. T h e accounting procedures are not always very clear to m a n y educational functionaries. M a n y require training in these practices, so as to enable them to present the expenditure accounts in the format in which they are required to be presented. (vii) Computer

applications

M o s t of the routine w o r k is increasingly becoming computerized. Sometimes computers are available, but there is nobody to use them. T h e D E O s feel that computer users, w h e n they are present, should have a m i n i m u m knowledge of computer functions so that they are less dependent o n others. Moreover, for effective monitoring there is a need to be computer literate regarding the Educational M a n a g e m e n t Information System ( E M I S ) . At present, the E M I S is almost totally computerized. The district authorities have to ensure that the information asked for is provided. T h e functionaries recognize that the computer can be very helpful in avoiding the repetition of efforts in collecting and collating information. (viii) Planning for teacher training In the present context, in-service training of teachers is given high priority. There are various agencies at different levels involved in the process. T h e aim is to cover all the teachers under the in-service training programmes within a period of time. This requires the drawing up of training plans at different levels and establishing better co-ordination between different agencies imparting training. (ix) Using research for decision making Educational decision m a k i n g used to be based m o r e o n personal experiences than on empirical evidences. The district plans prepared at present are based more on empirical evidence generated from various sources. It

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becomes essential to justify the strategies suggested. This requires a supportive empirical evidence. The district educational functionaries have to be trained in using this research evidence in the actual planning process. (x)

Monitoring indicators

While the need for monitoring is talked of in general terms, very little light is thrown on the areas to be monitored and the indicators to be used to monitor the activities. A n effective plan implementation process envisages building up indicators to monitor the activities. The E M I S can be effectively used if these indicators are identified and necessary information is collected. (xi) Negotiating skills N o w the district plans are to be justified and resource allocation depends upon h o w far the D E O is in a position to convince the funding agency (whether it is the state or central governments or the external agency); negotiating skills are quite rewarding in this context. Such skills are useful to defend the district plans in any forum. 2.

Training needs : the supervisors

The D E O s , of course, are responsible for educational planning and management at the district level. However, they seldom have time to visit schools, especially primary schools. M a n y studies in the recent past (Jangira et ai: 1994; Varghese: 1994a) have shown that the D E O s get little time for effectively intervening in the school-level activities. For example, more than 5 0 per cent of the teachers in Haryana, Kerala and Tamilnadu have said that they get little or no academic support from the D E O s . The link between primary schools and administration is established through the inspecting and supervising officers. There are m a n y A E O s or A D I S s or inspecting or supervisory officers under each D E O . It is their duty to ensure the efficient functioning of schools by providing academic leadership and occasional visits to the primary schools. Table 1 has shown the pattern of time spent by the inspecting officers in two states. It is surprising to note that although these officers are specifically meant to inspect schools and supervise academic activities, they d o not have adequate time to do so. There is n o uniform pattern regarding the number of schools allotted to an inspecting

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officer. It varies a m o n g states between 30 to 120 schools. Therefore, it is virtually impossible for m a n y of them to have one visit to all the schools in every year. However, what is surprising in the table is that they are not in a position to devote adequate time for this purpose. Their time is used for m a n y other activities, especially office work. Consequently, m a n y schools in India remain un-inspected and unsupervised for several years. M a n y of the inspecting officers are not trained in the job that they are supposed to perform. In some states the A D I S is a promotion post for the primary school headmasters. In such instances they are familiar with primary school teaching at least. However, in m a n y states, officers inspecting primary schools are drawn from high school teacher cadres. N o t only do they lack training, but they are not familiar with handling primary classes either. There is an urgent need to organize in-service training programmes for this cadre of people. T h e number of such people in each district is not very large and can be covered if a proper plan is drawn up. However, there are not m a n y training materials available at the district levels. The state-level organizations like the S C E R T or SIE have to take leadership in this regard. 3.

Training needs: the headmasters

D E O s normally exercise remote control on the functioning of a primary school. T h e inspecting officers are occasional visitors to the schools. T h e day-to-day management of the school is essentially the responsibility of the school headmasters. Headmasters in primary schools are appointed based on seniority, and hence they are supposed to have longer years of experience of handling primary classes. A close study of the profile of headmasters shows that they are relatively elderly functionaries with very little exposure to recent developments in the field of education. F e w of them have received training while teaching. But it is especially a rare case if they have received training in planning and managing of primary schools after they have become headmasters. There is one major difficulty in identifying primary school headmasters for training. In India, m a n y schools continue to be two-teacher schools. In m a n y states, a school will be provided with a designated headmaster only w h e n there are three or four other teachers. This m e a n s that in the majority of cases, the primary schools function without any designated headmasters.

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In such schools the senior-most teacher of the school acts as the head teacher. In terms of selecting headmasters for training, such an arrangement creates problems. The same head teacher, if transferred to another school, need not be the head teacher; it depends on the seniority of the teachers in that school. O n e problem is h o w to match the teacher training and headmaster training for such teachers. In other schools there m a y be designated headmasters. The job requirements of the headmasters vary according to the number of teachers and students the school has. In large schools, the managing of the teaching/learning activity is almost like managing a firm; everything needs to be structured and formalized, which is not always possible in educational institutions. There have been m a n y studies conducted in the recent past to identify the training needs of the headmasters (see for example Chanda: 1990; Goel: 1990; A h m e d : 1990; Janghaet al.: 1994; Varghese: 1994). Several meetings are held to assess the training needs of various educational functionaries, including the headmasters. The recently completed district plan exercises give a high priority to improving school effectiveness. Needless to say, within the school, the headmaster is the kingpin to direct and supervise the school activities. Based on these studies and interactive meetings the following areas of training could be identified: (i)

General administration

This is an area of concern expressed by almost all the headmasters that one comes across. In terms of time allocation of headmasters in different activities, general administration is the single largest category. A s mentioned earlier, the headmasters were teachers and some of them did receive training in pedagogical themes. But classroom teaching forms a smaller share of their official time. S o m e of the headmasters, especially in the large-size schools, do not teach any class on a regular basis. Teaching is different from managing a school. Within general administration there are various areas which, they feel, should be urgently attended to. Maintaining records is one such area. T h e headmasters are supposed to maintain different types of records. Very often they are not provided with any clerical help. Therefore, they have to m a k e the entries and keep the information ready to be supplied whenever asked for.

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In m a n y a situation, the headmaster is the disbursement officer. In this case, the headmaster has to prepare the salary bills of all the teachers and get the m o n e y from the treasury. M a n y headmasters express difficulties in carrying out this responsibility. In schools where a mid-day meals scheme is in operation, the administrative responsibility of the headmaster is still more. W h a t the headmaster needs is a general training in office management and administration. (ii) Institutional planning Headmasters have heard about the need for developing institutional planning. However, they are not clear about the concept and even less clear about h o w to draw up an institutional plan for their school. Very often, headmasters are tentative about the areas in which they can take decisions without waiting for approval from the higher authorities. T h e most c o m m o n practice is that headmasters act in response to the directives they receive from the higher authorities. They seldom initiate activities. To facilitate schoolbased initiatives it is essential to m a k e the headmasters competent in drawing up institutional plans. Institutional plans can be quite misleading in many primary schools where the student and teacher numbers are very small. In such contexts, perhaps, any informal arrangement mutually agreed upon by the teachers m a y be more helpful. However, in large-size schools, there is a need to draw up institutional plans to assign specific responsibilities. This becomes handy for monitoring the school activities. (Hi) Monitoring school activities T h e necessity of monitoring is established once the institutional plans are drawn. However, the major responsibility of the headmaster lies in effectively managing the school activities. Monitoring becomes essential in this context. Monitoring has very m a n y dimensions in primary schools. First and foremost in structuring the school activities is to draw up a timetable of academic activities. Within the school this is a major responsibility of the headmaster. This, in fact, forms the basis to closely monitor the school activities. Preparation of the timetable is closely linked to the teacher deployment policy within the school.

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Another major responsibility of the headmaster is to allocate teachers to different classes. In general one finds three different patterns of teacher allocations: (a) the same teacher is allocated to one grade to teach all the subjects; (b) different subjects are given to different teachers to teach in the same class; and (c) the same teacher teaches different subjects in different grades. All these variations are possible since the teacher-training programmes are not oriented towards any specialized teaching in the primary classes. F r o m a strictly administrative point of view, cases (a) and (b) are more important. W h e n headmasters were asked about the logic behind the pattern of allocation, the responses show that their main concern was to account for teacher absenteeism and the possibility of monitoring of teaching activities. In a situation where different teachers teach different subjects, if one teacher is absent, the effect gets distributed a m o n g different classes and the relative loss in each class m a y be less than in a situation where the whole class has missed the whole day, as m a y be the case under pattern (a). M a n y headmasters prefer (b) for a different reason. According to many, w h e n a teacher is assigned to teach all the subjects in a class, the teaching process follows his or her likes and dislikes. There is no way of scrutinizing or supervising the teaching activities. In situation (b) the teachers change between periods and, with a change in teacher, the subject is also changed. This ensures a better distribution of time between different subject areas which can be easily monitored. The teacher allocation policy itself is a matter of major concern in m a n y primary schools. Very often, grades 1 and 2 have teacher allocation policy (a) and grades 3, 4 and 5 have teacher allocation policy (b). O n e m a y also find that government schools follow more of policy (a) and private schools follow policy (b) (Govinda and Varghese: 1993; Varghese: 1994b). Another dimension of the monitoring is the supervision of teaching/ learning activities. Most of the schools have a system of classroom observation by the headmasters. This is neither done on a regular basis nor in any systematic fashion. This is done in an informal fashion and no feed-back is given to the teachers. Other forms of teaching evaluation are rarely attempted in the schools. T h e inspecting officers rarely visit the schools o n a regular basis and even w h e n they visit, their comments on the visits are rarely available to the teachers. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen the in-school evaluation process.

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Another equally important issue pertaining to monitoring of school activities is student evaluation. Teachers conduct periodic tests. But they are seldom discussed in the teacher meetings, if held. M a n y states practice automatic promotion policy at the primary level. Therefore, the students are not subjected to any external evaluation, at times until the child completes 10 years of education. Therefore, it is essential to monitor student learning at the school-level itself. (iv) Dealing with Panchayat

members

At the local level the school management is to be increasingly brought under the direct responsibility of the elected representatives. The local panchayat members m a y have a say in school matters. H o w is the in-school management going to be reorganized as a result of the changes at the local level? Headmasters and local-level educational functionaries seldom show their ability to adjust to the local-level political processes. This is more so w h e n they are not a part of the process. H o w to manage such local-level political pressures is a question of paramount practical importance to the school headmasters. fv)

Linking schools with the community

Research evidence has shown that community participation has improved school functioning. M o s t of the schools have s o m e organizational arrangements, mostly in the form of parent/teacher associations or village education committees, to meet the parents on a regular basis. However, the meetings are not held regularly and often these associations are defunct. The headmaster, however, can play a vital role in revitalizing these organizational arrangements. Normally, in schools where a headmaster is active and motivated, the meetings are more regular and community participation is forthcoming. There is a need for head teachers to be exposed to the benefits of such arrangements, on the one hand, and to be informed of mechanisms to manage the community groups, on the other. This is more so in a situation where the government is thinking of providing a lump-sum amount to each school. The spending of the lump-sum grant m a y be a joint responsibility of the headmaster and the school management groups within the village.

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(vi) Planning for equipment and aids In the present context of decentralized planning, head teacher responsibility is not confined only to managing the given facilities, but also to improving the existing facilities. Each school is going to be provided with a lump-sum amount. The headmaster, in collaboration with the teachers and P T A s or V E C members, has to prioritize and prepare a plan to equip the schools within the next few years. Purchase of equipment and aids has to follow from this long-term perspective of strengthening the material conditions of the school in the long run. IV.

Organizational arrangements for training: a tentative proposal

The need for training of local-level functionaries in the areas of educational planning and management is recognized. O n e has also tried to identify some of the crucial areas where training needs are very acute. The discussion m a y be complete only w h e n some tentative idea regarding the organizational arrangements for training is provided. The need is for recurrent in-service training programmes. Therefore the structure that is envisaged needs to be of a sustainable nature. Earlier efforts to develop a planning and administrative wing in the SlEs did not materialize. The S C E R T s came into existence, but they were focusing entirely on the teacher-training activities. The state institutes of administration do not consider it a rewarding effort to organize courses in educational planning and management on a regular basis. Therefore, one m a y have to think about n e w structures that are to be created in this context. To start with, one m a y have to have an idea regarding the quantity of training needs in each district. In any given state, there m a y be a manageable number of D E O s w h o are to be trained. Their training needs to be rather rigorous in the methodology and should be of relatively long duration, say for at least one month. They are to be directly trained at the state level so that direct experience is obtained. This is more so in the areas related to planning, general administration, rules and regulations and accounting procedures. W h o will train them at the state level? While the general administrative training can be obtained from the state institutes of administration, education-

al


specific training has to be from specialized institutions. Perhaps, the most viable solution is to start separate institutions for educational planning and administration. In fact, there is a proposal to start State Institutes of Educational M a n a g e m e n t and Training ( S I E M T ) in all the states. The proposals are already prepared by s o m e of the D P E P states. The S I E M T is supposed to perform the following functions: (i) organize training programmes and workshops; (ii) conduct and facilitate research and evaluation; (iii) create databases to monitor the activities; (iv) assessment of learner achievement; and v) extension and dissemination. T h e S I E M T m a y have academic branches in the areas of (i) area planning; (ii) institutional planning and management; (iii) organization and management; (iv) statistics and survey; and (v) educational research and evaluation. In other words, the training requirements of the D E O s can be easily met by the S I E M T if they can be created and developed. But the question is w h o will be the trainers in the S I E M T ? It becomes the responsibility of national resource organizations to develop competent faculty in S I E M T through proper selection and orientation. Given the n u m b e r of states which are going to start S I E M T in the first phase, organizations like N I E P A m a y be able to organize specific training programmes for the S I E M T faculty. The supervisors and inspecting staff also m a y be trained at the S I E M T level. However, over a period of time this can be shifted to district levels if the faculty at the D I E T level is trained to train these functionaries. T h e D I E T at the district level has a department of planning and management. These faculty m e m b e r s are to be trained in S I E M T in the areas of institutional planning, community participation etc. and they should be mainly responsible for training the headmasters in the specific areas. H o w e v e r , the training of headmasters in accounting, general administration and financial management needs to be organized in a decentralized manner, with the active support of the S I E M T or state-level administrative or management institutions. The village education committee m e m b e r s and the panchayat m e m b e r s are to be given orientation in primary school management and the need for community participation. T h e D I E T , in collaboration with the Block Resource Centres, have to organize these programmes. This m a y necessitate developing Resource persons at the block levels b y the D I E T s . If school clusters c o m e into being, the head teachers of the lead schools are to be specially trained in the D I E T S .

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T o s u m up the proposed organizational arrangements for the training suggested: (i) national resource organization training the faculty m e m b e r s of the S I E M T ; (ii) S I E M T imparting training to the D E O s - in matters pertaining to general administration and financial management, in collaboration with the state institutes of administration, and in educational planning and management by the S I E M T ; (iii) training of D I E T faculty by the S I E M T , with help from other state-level organizations if necessary; (iv) supervisors and school inspectors to be trained by the S I E M T ; (v) Headmasters to be trained b y the D I E T in all areas except in general administration and financial management, which m a y be organized in a decentralized manner in collaboration with the S I E M T ; (vi) panchayat and village education committee members are to be provided orientation, the resource persons trained by D I E T in collaboration with the Block resource centres; the areas of concern being community participation in school management and general orientation to problems of primary education in the district. T h e responsibility of organizing occasional refresher courses for seniorlevel educational administrators, if needed, can be vested with the national resource organizations. The proposal envisages reduced direct intervention of national resource organizations in providing training to local-level educational functionaries. Their help m a y be increasingly sought in promoting research and developing materials for training. Organization of training programmes envisages developing training modules, training plans and making arrangements for imparting training. The state and district-level agencies m a y have to depend on the national-level agencies in the initial stages to develop materials for training especially in the areas of educational planning and management, institutional planning etc. Over the years, the local-level organizations m a y b e c o m e self-sufficient in terms of material development and capacity to impart training to all the educational functionaries at the district, block and institutional levels.

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Bibliography Aggarwal, Y.P. 1990. Diploma in educational planning and administration: an evaluative study, NIEPA, N e w Delhi, (Mimeo). A h m e d , J 1990. Assessing training needs of heads of minority language primary and secondary schools in the City District of Bangalore, Karnataka, D E P A Dissertation, NIEPA, N e w Delhi. Bhushan, Satya. 1990. Training needs of educational planning and administration in India: challenges and responses, Paper presented at the Seminar on Training Institutes, HEP, Paris (Mimeo). Carrón, Gabriel. 1992. Capacity building for educational planning and administration: IIEP experience, IIEP Contributions N o . 6, IIEP, Paris. Chanda, M o h a n , V . 1990. A study on priority of training needs in management development of heads of priman' schools in Kerala, D E P A dissertation, N I E P A , N e w Delhi. Department of Education. 1986a, 1992a. National Policy on Education (and its revised version), Department of Education, M H R D , N e w Delhi. Department of Education. 1986b, 1992b. Programme of Action (and its revised version), Department of Education, M H R D , N e w Delhi. Department of Education. 1993a. CABE Committee on Decentralized Management of Education; A Report, Department of Education,

M H R D , New Delhi. Department of Education. 1993b. District Primary Education Programme, Department of Education, M H R D , N e w Delhi. Goel, D . R . 1990. Identification of training needs for headmasters of primary schools in Delhi, D E P A Dissertation, NIEPA, N e w Delhi. Govinda, R . and Varghese, N . V . 1993. Quality of primary schooling in India: A case study of Madhya Pradesh, IIEP, Paris and N I E P A , N e w Delhi. Jangira, N . K . ; Singh, Ajit and Yadav, S . K . 1994. Training needs and motivation of primary school teachers, N C E R T , N e w Delhi (Mimeo). Kapoor, M . M . ; Dhingra, A . and Tyagi, R . S . 1994. Educational administration in Punjab: Structure, processes and prospects for the future, Vikas (for N I E P A ) , N e w Delhi. Kapoor, M . M . ; Sreedharan, T . H . and Goyal, J.C. 1994. Educational administration in Kerala: Structure, processes and prospects for the future, Vikas (for N I E P A ) , N e w Delhi.

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DEOs, NSCEPA, New Delhi. Planning Commission. 1984. Report of the Committee on District Plans, Vol. 1, Yojana Bhavan, N e w Delhi. Planning Commission. 1985. The Seventh Five-Year Plan, Yojana Bhavan, N e w Delhi. Planning Commission. 1989. Working Group on Early childhood education and elementary education, Yojana Bhavan, N e w Delhi. Planning Commission. 1992a. NDC Committee on Literacy and elementary education, Yojana Bhavan, N e w Delhi. Planning Commission. 1992b. The Eighth Five-Year Plan, Yojana Bhavan, N e w Delhi. Premi, K . ; Indiresan, J. and Juneja, N . 1990. Training needs assessment task analysis of DEOs: a national study, N I E P A , N e w Delhi (Mimeo). Varghese, N . V . 1990. Decentralized educational planning, NIEPA, N e w Delhi (Mimeo). Varghese, N . V . 1994a. "District Primary Education Programme: The logic and the logistics", Journal of Educational Planning and Administration (forthcoming). Varghese, N . V . 1994b. School quality and student learning: A study ofprimary schooling in Kerala, (Project Repon of the Baseline Assessment Study under D P E P ) , NIEPA, N e w Delhi. Venkamma, S. 1990. Planning process at the district level: the role of DEO in Andhra Pradesh, D E P A Dissertation, NIEPA, N e w Delhi.

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3.

Nepal

Decentralized management policies and practices in the primary education sector in Nepal by Shreeram Lamichhane, Gaja Sunder Pradhan, Bijaya K u m a r Thapa with assistance of Bharat Bilas Pant, Hari Prasad Upadhyaya, Kishor Shrestha and R o m Prasad Bhattarai*

This paper attempts to give a picture, as well as an analytical review, of the situation prevailing in the primary education system in Nepal with decentralized management policy and practice in the perspective. T h e paper has been divided into five sections. Section I contains a brief account of overall educational development in Nepal, together with a description of primary education and its management structure. Section II deals with the current policies and practices regarding decentralized management in the primary education sector. Section III gives a functional analysis of the roles and responsibilities of education personnel at various levels. Section IV gives an inventory of the capacity-building activities that are taking place and are available in the country. A n d the last section, Section V, focuses on some major issues faced in decentralized management practices in Nepal and also possible strategies for improvement. I.

Educational development in Nepal

In the history of educational development in Nepal, the setting up of a democratic system of government in 1950 marked a significant step, creating favourable conditions for the rapid expansion of educational facilities in the kingdom. The government showed a strong willingness to provide education for all, and the people, in their turn, responded on an unprecedented scale in establishing schools at various places. Consequently, the number of primary and secondary schools increased phenomenally from a mere 321 and 11 in 1951 to 19,498 and 2,309 in 1992 respectively. Team from Centre for Research in Educational Innovation and Development (CER1D) Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

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Correspondingly, there has been considerable growth at the higher education level also. In 1971, Nepal introduced the National Education System Plan ( N E S P ) with policies and programmes to streamline the education system in the country and to promote educational facilities on the basis of social equity. The traditional primary education structure in Nepal was of five years' duration. Focusing on the objective of primary education essentially for enabling children to acquire basic skills (three Rs), the N E S P (1971-1976) changed that structure to Grades I to III so as to m a k e primary education easily accessible to the children living in all areas of the country. Under the Plan the government undertook to bear 100 per cent of the salaries of teachers at the primary-school level and 75 and 50 per cent at the lower-secondary and secondary-school levels. Apart from these, the government embarked upon various other incentive schemes, including meeting full salaries of all school teachers in remote districts, and distributing textbooks free of cost to primary school students. T h e Plan was a big success in so far as its aim to take education to as m a n y people as possible was concerned. It was also instrumental in bringing the education sector to the forefront of the government's attention. But because the schemes under the Plan were rigid and were applied uniformly across the board for all regions and for all groups of people, the Plan had several weaknesses. In the n a m e of systematizing educational activities, it placed the responsibility for operation of schools almost exclusively on the government. C o m m u n i t y involvement w a s confined mainly to developing physical facilities, so m u c h so that the local people were expected to provide building, furniture and such other things to the schools, but they were not allowed to have m u c h say in their overall administration. T h e irony here w a s that the Plan failed to involve the community in pedagogic and major administrative matters but, at the same time, it expected it to meet the material needs of its local schools. This centralized control, in which all important decisions had to c o m e from the distantly located District Education Office, not only alienated the local people from the schools, but also weakened the very parameters that were required for strengthening the operation of a school. However, there are arguments in support of vesting all powers at the district level. In this context, Yannakopoulous (1980) has suggested that responsibilities be delegated to district-level government agencies rather than to the communities and the schools. According to him, in the agro-rural and

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under-developed communities of Nepal, the responsibility of such an important area as education should not be left fully to the local people, as educational development has to be linked with a well-integrated and systematized effort of national development. T h e Plan, however, did not completely rule out a place for people's involvement in decision-making activities. A gradual shifting of responsibilities from district to local school level based on the demonstrated capacity of local leadership was foreseen as a matter of policy. However, except for some de-concentration measures, no significant steps were taken in this direction (Agrawal, 1988). Between the period from 1979 to 1988, there w a s very little activity in the area of educational planning. In the late 1980s, Nepal started to develop programmes with a focus on meeting the basic needs of the people. Primary education which again w a s restored to the earlier structure of Grades I to V , was one of the basic needs defined by the programme. T h e Ministry of Education and Culture published a calendar of operations on plans and programmes pertaining to the fulfilment of the basic needs in the education sector. In this regard, government committed itself to making primary education free for all children and to distributing textbooks free of cost to all primary school students. Thus the programme was by and large more expansion-oriented than improvement-oriented. Targets were set to enrol all primary school-age children in schools, and calculations were m a d e regarding the number of schools and teachers required to teach all those children. In addition, targets were set to provide 150 hours of training to all primary school teachers. A National Education Commission was formed by the government in 1990 with the purpose of improving the existing system. T h e Commission came up with several salient observations on the low level of performance ( N E C , 1992, pp. 161-162). S o m e of thesefindingswere as follows: • • • • •

The internal efficiency of primary education is very low, for instance 50 per cent of grade I students d o not go to Grade 2 . The performance level of Grade 5 completers is not higher than that of Grade 3. The actual number of days a school runs is just half of the officially prescribed number of days (180). Not even half of the class-hours are sufficiently utilized by the teachers. Most educational institutions are not able to produce necessary manpower; moreover, educated people cannot easily find employment because of the irrelevancy of what they have learnt to the job market.

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The Commission suggested that development of h u m a n resources, advancement of social integrity, modernization of society, and providing educational opportunities to the deprived and disadvantaged people of the country, be set as the major goals of the education system for the country. In order to achieve universal primary education, His Majesty's Government of Nepal has been operating since 1993, with loan assistance from I D A and grants from D A N I D A , U N I C E F , U N D P and I D A , a national project called the Basic and Primary Education Project (BPEP). Most of the features of two previous projects, Seti-ERD and PEP, have been retained in this large-scale national project. The Seti Education for Rural Development Project (Seti-ERD) and the Primary Education Project (PEP), both designed for improving the quality of education, were initiated in the early 1980s. The Seti-ERD project was started in 1981 with the assistance of U N E S C O and U N D P / U N I C E F / A G F U N D . The project was implemented in five districts in the Seti zone in western Nepal. The main components of the project were (a) establishing resource centres for eight to ten schools to help supply instructional materials and teacher training, (b) creating a literate environment in the area by setting up reading centres, (c) conducting literacy classes, (d) providing part-time skill training to w o m e n , (e) developing primary teacher training facilities, (0 rehabilitating physical facilities of the schools, and (g) preparing instructional materials. The P E P was implemented with World Bank loans and U N I C E F grants in six districts that represent different geographical regions of the country. It covered a wide range of activities, somewhat similar to those of the Seti-ERD project, that were intended to help improve the primary education system. The activities of the n e w B P E P project have, so far, been extended to 4 0 districts (out of a total of 75) of the country on a phase-wise basis. It is expected that the project will cover the whole country by 1997, when its first phase comes to an end. II.

Decentralized m a n a g e m e n t in primary education In general

The legal provision m a d e towards decentralization in modern Nepal goes back to 1966 when the Local Development Act was enforced by the then prevailing partyless Panchayat system of government. The Act divided the country for administrative purposes into 14 zones and 75 districts, with each one placed in charge of a politically appointed Zonal Commissioner (now

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defunct) and a Chief District Officer respectively. In 1971, an amendment was m a d e to this Act and the post of a District Panchayat Officer, n o w k n o w n as Local Development Officer or L D O , was created at the district level, whose job was to look after various aspects of development work in the District Panchayat (now k n o w n as District Development Committee). At about the same time, the N e w Education System Plan (1971-1976) w a s introduced with a big bang. Although the Plan m a d e a plea for decentralization, it shifted, in the course of integrating educational development with systematized efforts at national development, the decision-making authority from School Management Committees ( S M C s ) to District Education Committees ( D E C s ) and to District Education Offices ( D E O s ) and considerably curbed the community's participation in educational and administrative aspects, except in the case of making personal financial contributions. Later, realizing the problems arising from the policy of delegating less decision-making authority to communities, the government, at different points in time, m a d e major changes in the education regulations, with focus on decentralization of schools and colleges as one of the underlying principles. The Decentralization Act which was promulgated in 1982, did not effect m u c h change in this set-up, although the Act did confer upon the local Village Panchayat (Development Committee) greater responsibility for formulating and implementing local development plans. This Act, as well as the Decentralization Rules of 1984 and District Development Committee Act of 1991 ( H M G / N e p a l , 1991), aimed at empowering, mobilizing and strengthening the political bodies at the district level. T h e n e w legal framework further provided for more involvement of user committees in the implementation of local development projects. However, in the words of Martinussen (1993, p. 26) the fact remains that, at the same time, "a large number of Central Government line agencies extended or created branch offices at the district level". Other important reforms were connected with: • • • • •

establishing district education school funds; giving the green light to run private schools; reconstituting S M C with greater authority delegated to it, including that of teacher recruitment and transfer; allowing schools to revise school fees upward; and relegating all government-run schools to the status of grants-in-aid schools.

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Decentralization of educational'management: experiences from South Asia

T h e m a n a g e m e n t of public schools w a s thus handed over to the communities. A system of giving block grants-in-aid was introduced, in line with the government's commitment to meet the teachers' salaries for a fixed staff size so as to prevent indiscriminate hiring of teachers and also to encourage local resource mobilization by the schools (Upadhyaya, 1993, p. 48). Under the Education Regulations of 1985-1986 ( M O E C , 1986), which were brought into force more or less in line with the Decentralization Act of 1982, District Education Committees and School Management Committees have been vested with a fairly high level of decision-making authority. The S M C was formed by the District Education Committee on the recommendation of the headmaster in each school. However, they did not exercise m u c h of the decisionmaking authority vested in them. The possible reasons for this anomaly were that the teachers, w h o considered themselves to be government employees, were not so willing to take orders from the S M C s and the community people did not have any direct say over the formation of S M C s (Thapa, 1994). Moreover, all or a major portion of the teachers' salaries c o m e directly from the government. Recently, the government has again amended the Education Act and the Education Rules and Regulations ( M O E C / S W , 1992). These amended versions gave premium to community participation in education, and laid stress on community mobilization through the local government bodies and concerned committees. A n analysis of the roles and responsibilities assigned to various levels of authorities by this amended Act as well as the Rules and Regulations is given in the following section of this paper. The amended Act as well as the Rules and the Regulations fairly reflect the decentralization policy of the Eighth Five-Year Plan ( N P C , 1992) and also of the B P E P Master Plan ( M O E C , 1991 ) and respects the m e m o r a n d u m of the National Education Commission ( N E C , 1992). In the context of decentralization, the previous administrative machinery was vulnerable to two loopholes: ( 1 ) an over-centralized administrative structure tended to dictate or impose decisions, to m a k e interference inadvertently, to delay the implementation of even centre-prescribed decisions, etc. and (2) lack of direct accountability at all levels for discharge of administrative functions. Interference by political bigwigs, the vicious circle of red-tapism and bureaucracy and, above all, the typical style of functioning with which foreignaided projects have to fall in line are also responsible for the above-mentioned hindrances. Moreover, since most of the people live in rural or, in m a n y cases, in remote rural areas, the centre cannot reach them easily all at once.

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Keeping all these things in mind and aiming to achieve the aforementioned goals of the education system, Nepal's Eighth Five-Year Plan (1992-1997) has specified the policy orientations for programmes during the plan period ( N P C , 1992, pp. 75-76). The policy specifications directly related to primary education within the purview of decentralization are as follows: • • • •

Basic and primary education will be developed and expanded. T h e involvement of local communities, N G O s and the private sector will be encouraged. Necessary arrangements will be m a d e to e m p o w e r the local bodies so that they can enforce free and compulsory education, if they so desire. Quality of teaching/learning methods will be improved, physical facilities in schools upgraded and the teacher-training programme expanded. In order to increase the participation of w o m e n in education, priority will be given to the appointment of female teachers in primary schools. Primary schools are required to have at least one female teacher in each.

M O E C prepared in July 1991 a Master Plan on Basic and Primary Education in Nepal ( M O E C / S W , 1991). The Plan makes recommendations for adopting a clear-cut system of assigning responsibilities, together with the delegation of authority to the education personnel at various levels. These include authorizing the District Education Officer to appoint primary school teachers on a permanent basis, dismiss teachers, suspend grants-in-aid to schools, give sanction to n e w schools, relocate primary schools, appoint resource persons for resource centres and supervise primary and secondary schools. Similarly, the School Managing Committees were to be given the authority to raise funds for the schools as well as to exercise greater powers and functions, as stated in Education Regulations, 1990. In the same way, primary school headmasters were to be given the power to suspend or to withhold annual grade increment of the teachers. In addition to what the Eighth Plan and the B P E P Master Plan have to say, the National Education Commission ( N E C , 1992) in its report has m a d e recommendations for adopting a more decentralized management system. In the light of all these recommendations, the M O E C / S W has brought into force an amended version of the Education Act of 1972 and the Education Rules and Regulations of 1992 ( M O E C / S W , 1992) which grants the local educational authorities (regional, district and school level) more power in matters of educational administration. The Act makes provision for forming

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related committees, including those for level-wise examinations and teacher recruitment. The motive behind this wide-scale power division and the pinpointing of responsibilities is to enlist local people's greater participation in thefieldof education and to m a k e the educational activities training, from planning to implementation, in the particular district functional and efficient. Under the present Regulations, in so far as the government's decentralization policy is concerned, some tangible steps have really been taken. For example, the District Education Officer has been vested with more power so that she/he has n o w the authority to grant permission to open primary schools on afixedquota basis, to close d o w n a discredited school and to appoint, transfer, reward or even dismiss a primary school teacher. Similarly, the District Education Committee has been mobilized and empowered to play a m o r e active role in the planning and dispensation of educational benefits in each district. The Teacher Selection Committee has also been empowered to play a m o r e vital role in the selection of primary school teachers. The School Managing Committee has been given greater authority so that it can also play a more important role in strengthening and systematizing the overall functioning of the school. However, the role it used to play before in terms of appointing teachers and recommending teachers for transfer has been assigned to the D E O . This seems to have been done in order to prevent undue politicization in the school as well as to allow monitoring to take place at the district level. The headmaster's role is mainly academic: she/he is m a d e responsible for managing and overseeing the day-to-day activities of the school. The headmaster cannot exercise any direct power in the selection and dismissal of teachers. Her/ his role is n o w more of a recommendatory nature than decisive in these respects. 1.

Decentralization-related innovative approaches adopted b y major projects

During the 1980s various innovative educational projects were implemented basically with a view to augmenting the quality of and access to primary education in Nepal. These projects, generally, have tried in their m o d e of operation to decentralize the m a n a g e m e n t system and to enlist community participation to a great extent. The following is a brief analysis of the relevant aspects of three major innovative projects mentioned above, namely, Education for Rural Development

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in Seti Z o n e (Seti-ERD Project), Primary Education Project (PEP) and Basic and Primary Education Project (BPEP). Innovative approaches adopted and tried out in these projects concerning the decentralization of m a n a g e m e n t and c o m m u n i t y participation are: (a) establishment of resource centres and the cluster system, (b) development of teaching and learning materials at the local level, (c) supportive supervision system, (d) involvement of local community, and (e) in-service on-the-spot training programme for teachers and school management personnel. 1.1

Resource centre and cluster system

T h e concept of the resource centre and the school cluster system w a s first initiated by "Education for Rural Development in the Seti Z o n e " Project in 1981. Considering its effectiveness, and drawing from the experiences gained from this project later, P E P in 1984 and B P E P in 1992 also included, with necessary modifications, the clustering and resource centre system as an integral part of their activities. O n e of the major aims of adopting this concept is to administratively and academically support the satellite schools within the cluster by sharing resources, stimulating local involvement, solving problems in a shared manner on the spot, and channeling national and district educational policies and information d o w n to the school level in an effective way. A number of differences exist in terms of management and coverage of the R C models adopted by these three projects. The resource centre model under the Seti-ERD has been designed to function as a training centre and as a channel for the supply of materials as well as for providing supervisory support to literacy programmes and to the cluster of satellite schools. Evaluation study reports indicate that R C s in this project had a positive impact on primary school teaching/learning and creating m o m e n t u m for community participation in primary school activities. The specific activities of R C s under the Primary Education Project were: • • • •

to conduct in-service teacher training; to undertake distribution of instructional materials; to employ the service of the resource person (RP) as the key factor to create academic environment within the R C and to keep contact with primary school teachers in the cluster areas; to get school supervision and monitoring conducted by R P as a followup to teacher training;

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• • •

to provide assistance for teachers in developing teaching materials; to m a k e provision of education and training for out-of-school children, w o m e n and girls; and to arrange for discussions on academic issues in the cluster schools in Friday meetings.

Keeping in view the successful implementation and benefits (BPEP, 1993a, p. 12) of the school clustering system and R C activities in these two projects, the Basic and Primary Education Project has also relied on this concept as a strategy for decentralizing administrative, supervisory and academic activities at the local cluster level, which would otherwise be centralized at the district level. The major activities of R C s under the B P E P include: • • • • • •

developing annual educational programmes; conducting training/seminar/workshop for teachers, headmasters, management committee m e m b e r s ; supervising the activities implemented in the satellite schools in the cluster; providing professional support to the school teachers; implementing non-formal education programmes; and supplying teaching and supplementary reading materials.

Concerning the efficiency and impact of the resource centre an evaluation study conducted in 1993 states that the introduction of R C has created a discernible impact in improving the quality of education. R C has been found to be quite effective in disseminating the n e w curriculum, teaching methods, educational materials and course contents. A s such, R C can be an effective m e d i u m to take government policies and programmes to the primary schools and local communities quickly and effectively (BPEP, 1993b, p. 24). It has also been a viable means of decentralizing educational activities, such as supervising the satellite schools, conducting training programmes at respective clusters, developing teaching/learning materials with the use of locally available materials, distributing educational materials and disseminating the educational policies and programmes in an effective way. R C is managed by the Resource Centre Managing Committee ( R C M C ) , which is composed of local community m e m b e r s and school headmasters. B y organizing training programmes for S M C m e m b e r s and local leaders also, it has been successful in securing community participation in the management of R C s as well as satellite schools.

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1.2

Development level

of teaching and learning materials at the local

Development and supply of teaching-learning materials, including supplementary materials and supportive equipment and materials, at the local level have been given priority in all three projects. In the Seti-ERD project a standard set of teaching-learning materials, ranging from blackboards and weighing scales to simple agricultural tools and musical instruments, is provided to all the primary schools under its coverage. They are accompanied by supplementary readers, developed in the project site based on the social, cultural and geographical conditions specific to the region. These readers cover a variety of topics not covered by the textbooks. The Primary Education Project has m a d e available textbooks, teachers' guides, guidelines, supplementary reading materials, blackboards, slates and teaching kits to the schools in the project districts. T h e Instructional Materials Development P r o g r a m m e of the Project organized workshops at the central and district levels for developing the materials. The teachers are encouraged to prepare instructional materials and also to use them. Project schools are helped in their preparation of the necessary teachinglearning materials. The Primary Material Unit ( P M U ) produces and distributes prototypes of various education materials. Necessary inputs for developing and using teaching-learning materials were given to the schools. Workshops designed to teach the teachers h o w to prepare the materials were held. Preparation of instructional materials at the local level was emphasized. A n evaluation study of the project conducted in 1989 revealed that the instructional materials received from the project and from other sources have been found to be useful and are used by teachers in the classroom 1.3

Supportive supervision system

Supervision of the school activities, especially of the classroom teachinglearning activities, plays a crucial role in providing quality education. This is even m o r e true in a country like Nepal, where a majority of the primary school teachers are untrained, not well qualified and not motivated. The supervision system of primary schools in the country has, practically speaking, not been functioning for m o r e than a decade. The reasons are m a n y : high number of schools per supervisor; the supervisors are required to

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work in the central D E O office; they lack training, their competency as well as motivation is low; most of the supervisors have not b e e m doing academic supervision for years and so their confidence level has dipped; and virtually no incentives are given to the supervisors. In the face of this problem the Seti-ERD, P E P and B P E P have tried out alternative supervision systems of their o w n using the Resource Centre and satellite cluster schools. Under the Seti-ERD project, one of the major responsibilities of the R C school is to supervise the satellite schools. Selected Resource Centre teachers are given seven days' training in methods of supervision of project activities. The project provides supervision manuals, forms and guides for each activity to be monitored. Provisions were m a d e to m a k e almost six visits per school year to every satellite school in the cluster. For facilitating the burden of R C activities, including supervising the cluster schools, each R C is provided with an amount equivalent to salary for one additional senior teacher. The responsibility of supervising the satellite schools in the Seti-ERD project was institutional rather than individual. Besides the supervision m a d e by the R C school the project also hires supervisors from the D E O ' s office in order to supervise the R C and satellite schools and, likewise, the project staff members also carry out supervisory functions. The supervision m a d e under this project encompassed all the project activities, including instructional activities of the primary schools. A n evaluation study conducted in 1986 revealed that the supervision m a d e by the R C teachers was more regular and was marked by greater interest in the educational process, use of teaching aids, demonstration class, class observation and evaluation of teaching than that made by other sources ( C E R I D , 1986). P E P and later B P E P have used a slightly different model of supportive supervision. They have recruited a Resource Person in the R C and made her/ him responsible for supervising the satellite schools within its cluster. However, since the R P has had the responsibilities of training and operation of R C activities at R C school, studies conducted in 1986 and 1993 revealed that the R P s were not able to supervise the cluster school frequently ( C E R I D , 1986; B P E P , 1993b). 1.4

Community education

involvement in the development of primary

In the field of primary education, the government has recently placed great emphasis on securing community involvement in the management of

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primary education. T o this end, efforts are m a d e to activate local-level school management committees. All the three projects mentioned earlier are giving emphasis to the involvement of the community in the development of primary education. For the purpose of familiarizing the concerned community people with the objectives of the projects, as well as with the roles and responsibilities of the school management committee, training programmes have been organized under each of these projects for school management committee members and local leaders. The evaluative studies of Seti-ERD and P E P have revealed considerable improvement taking place in the awareness level of the local people and in the work style and performance level of S M C members in all kinds of activities as a result of the training programme they have participated in. Similarly the headmasters of P E P schools found what they learnt in their training very useful in mobilizing people's participation ( C E R I D , 1986 and 1989). O n e of the major goals of the Seti-ERD project was to m a k e the primary school teachers change-agents of community development. S o , the teachers were trained in the adult education and community development methods. O n e of the objectives of the Seti-ERD project w a s to encourage the rural communities to improve their life-style through their o w n efforts. So, under this project all school construction activities were undertaken by the community people themselves, for which the project subsidized the expenses under a contract signed with the school management committee. Subsidies were made on the basis of payment by results. Under the Primary Education Project and the B P E P , community people have also been involved in the development of physical facilities of primary schools. O n e noteworthy change has occurred, relating to the contributions m a d e by the project and the local community. In the Seti-ERD and P E P model, 4 0 per cent of construction costs was subsidized by the project and 60 per cent by the community. The Basic and Primary Education Project revised its commitment upwards so that 60 per cent is to be borne by the project and 4 0 per cent by the community. Evaluative studies of the Seti-ERD, P E P and B P E P show that the emphasis placed and strategies adopted by these projects in order to involve community people in the management and development of primary education, especially in the development of physical facilities development, are by and large successful.

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1.5 On-the-spot training programmes for teachers, headmasters and school management committee members Conducting short-term training programmes for primary school teachers and headmasters was one of the major decentralized activities of the SetiE R D project and of P E P . This has also been strongly emphasized and implemented by the B P E P . In relation to the management of primary education, all three projects have also organized such training programmes for the S M C m e m b e r s and related local leaders. These training programmes have been developed on the basis of practical field experiences and have been frequently modified to suitfield-levelrequirements. Teacher-training programmes developed and organized by all these projects emphasized practical activities such as micro-teaching, practice teaching, preparation of teaching-learning materials using locally available resources. The Seti E R D project had also included a number of practical development-oriented activities such as widening the village paths, construction of latrines, etc. The field-based teacher-training programme centred in R C s w a s first introduced by the Seti-ERD project. This approach to teacher training was an innovative step in the sense that it provided training to the trainees in their o w n workplaces, which created a congenial atmosphere to acquire necessary teaching skills. Recognizing the effectiveness of the short-term training programmes conducted by various projects for primary school teachers, a short-term primary teacher training programme of 150 hours' duration was introduced as an essential part of the Basic Needs Programme in the education sector in the country. The three-modular basic teacher training course of P E P has also been recognized as equivalent to basic teacher training of 150 hours. III. Decentralization of p o w e r s a n d roles related to p r i m a r y education Nepal has so far had a tradition of centralized power structure. Only of late, by w a y of deconcentrating the load of work at the Centre or its regional offices, a policy of delegating certain powers and functions through statutes, acts and regulations has been gradually adopted. However, it is no exaggeration to say that, in the field of education, all powers emanate from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Social Welfare ( M O E C / S W ) , which reserves the right to interfere with, to curtail or to withdraw the powers it has entrusted to

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the education personnel working at various levels in different parts of the country. Normally, the M O E C does not interfere with the actions of its line agencies; but it sometimes so happens that w h e n things get stuck or an explosive situation arises for one or other reasons, the Ministry has to use its heavy hand or to deal with the situation directly by short-circuiting the normal procedure. A s things stand n o w , with the promulgation of the Education Act 1972 and of Education Rules and Regulations 1992, M O E C / S W has clearly delineated the powers and functions of each of its line agencies and of the community-level education personnel ( M O E C / S W , 1992). 1.

Roles and functions of different actors

In this section, while highlighting the roles and functions of various incumbents, attention has been paid to focusing on stipulated roles and functions of the concerned personnel vis-à-vis their practices in reality. At the central level stands the Ministry of Education, Culture and Social Welfare ( M O E C / S W ) . It is responsible for planning, implementing and overseeing educational programmes in the country. The Ministry is headed by a Minister w h o , usually, is assisted by an Assistant Minister. The secretary is the highest administrative officer of the Ministry. The M O E C / S W has three major divisions - General Administration, Educational Administration and Planning. Each division is headed by a Joint Secretary. There are altogether 14 sections under these divisions. Each section is headed by an under-secretary w h o , in turn, is assisted by a section officer and other support staff members. The General Administration Division takes care of personnel management, staff recruitment, transfers and promotions, and public relations. The Educational Administration Division takes care of matters related to formal/non-formal school-level education and higher education. It is also responsible for training, supervision and scholarships. The Planning Division prepares annual and time-bound plans in line with national education policies. This Division also carries out the task of monitoring and evaluating the educational programmes that are in operation all over the country and, side by side, maintains an information system for educational inputs, outputs and outcomes. Also working under the Ministry is the Nepal National Commission

for UNESCO.

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There are also five Regional Directorates and 75 District Education Offices which look after educational administration at the regional and district levels. In addition, there are various line agencies, such as the Curriculum Development Centre, Distance Education Centre, Office of the Controller of Examinations, National Centre for Educational Development, Department of Archaeology, and Higher Secondary Education Board, which provide related educational services to the country. At the bottom of all the Ministry's service units are the schools. Moreover, there are 16 autonomous institutions, including Tribhuvan University, that fall within the purview of M O E C / S W . Let us examine now, on some crucial issues, the role played by the main actors, under the central level. 1.1

Planning and programme

development

The responsibility of planning and programme development is vested in the School Management Committee ( S M C ) , District Education Committee ( D E C ) , District Education Officer ( D E O ) , and Regional Education Director ( R E D ) . At the school level, the headmaster, in consultation with other teachers, prepares the school's annual plan and submits it to S M C for approval. Similarly, the D E C prepares the annual education plan for implementation in the district as a whole by the office of the D E O . R E D , on the other hand, is m a d e responsible for overseeing educational programmes at the regional level. 1.2

General administration

Headmasters, S M C members and supervisors are m a d e responsible for carrying out administrative functions at the school level and D E O s and R E D s at the district and regional levels respectively. In general, headmasters, S M C members and supervisors are expected to run the school administration within the framework of the prevailing rules and regulations and to maintain a good learning environment at the school. The responsibilities of general, personnel and educational administration have been given to the offices of D E O s . 1.3

Financial

management

The responsibility offinancialmanagement basically, in terms of mobilizing resources, allocating resources, preparing the budget and bringing about changes in financing plans in accordance with the demands of time and

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situation, is usually borne by headmasters, S M C s and D E O s . Experiences in mobilization through local bodies vary considerably. For instance: "District Development Committee of Kaski has earmarked for education 75 per cent of the district's share of the land revenue which amounts to 90 per cent of the total. But because the revenue has not been realized in full, not m u c h progress can be registered in this connection". " A sum of nearly 600,000 rupees has been earmarked for the education sector by Pokhara Municipality. F r o m this budget each primary school gets 30,000 rupees a year". F r o m a m o n g the S L C pass students from Pokhara, one boy and one girl w h o secure the highest total marks in their respective gender group are each given 5,000 rupees a year. The school which brings the best results in the year is given Rs. 25,000/. In every school one boy and one girl each gets a monthly stipend of Rs. 100/-. Possible financial help is given to schools for making toilets, piped water supply, etc. Materials like cement, and corrugated sheets are also m a d e available to certain schools. 1.4

Monitoring, supervision and evaluation

Various tasks pertaining to monitoring, supervision and evaluation have been specified for headmasters, S M C s , supervisors, D E O s , D E C s and R E D s . Headmasters are m a d e responsible for ensuring that the classes are running well, that the teachers are doing a good job, and all in all, that the school is running pretty well. Supervisors are required to help teachers in performing their job well by assessing their work and providing help to promote their efficiency. Similarly, D E O s are responsible for making decisions regarding teachers' transfer, promotion, and punishment on the basis of their performance. D E C reviews the progress of educational activities at the district level and sends reports to D E O s for necessary action. Likewise, the office of the R E D is responsible forjudging the performance of D E O s , ensuring that the instructional materials required for the district are available in time and in required quantity, and assessing overall educational administration at the regional level. The onus of making regular and on-the-spot supervision of a school in all its financial, academic and organizational aspects falls largely on the

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headmaster and the school supervisor. T h e headmaster is primarily m a d e responsible for overseeing the general day-to-day affairs of the school, with the school supervisor making periodic visits for purpose of supervision. T h e headmaster prepares quarterly, half-yearly and annual progress reports of the school and submits these to the S M C and to D E O . T h e S M C m e m b e r s are required, as well as authorized by the nature of their responsibility, to supervise the activities of the school from time to time. The D E O evaluates the job performance of the teachers and makes recommendations to the M O E C for promotion, award-giving or transfer of teachers. The D E C makes periodic reviews of the progress m a d e in the overall education programmes in the district. At the top there is R E D , that monitors and evaluates the performance of each D E O in the region and takes disciplinary action, w h e n necessary. R E D also sees to the fact that centrally prescribed textbooks are available in the region well in time for the n e w academic session to start. 1.5

Curriculum, textbooks, reference materials and

examinations

Generally headmasters, supervisors, S M C s , D E O s and M O E C / S W are involved in various capacities in taking care of activities pertaining to curriculum, instructional materials, and examination. T h e headmasters m a k e sure that the textbooks are available and m a k e necessary arrangements for conducting examinations. The supervisors undertake the task of holding discussions with teachers regarding the methods of teaching. The S M C s take care of ensuring availability of textbooks and other instructional materials. Similarly, D E O s are required to m a n a g e the terminal examinations of the primary schools at the district level. M O E C / S W prescribes the curriculum and, at the same time, holds itself responsible for the distribution of free textbooks and the selection of reference books. In the process of introducing the revised curriculum in primary school grades, a n e w curriculum was prescribed for grade 1, but almost none of the headmasters received copies of the n e w grade 1 curriculum during the first year after its introduction. According to the current practice, textbooks are first purchased by the schools and the amount spent is thereafter reimbursed by the government. This has caused considerable delay and confusion in the field. H o w e v e r , this appears to be a temporary problem to be overcome with better management and adoption of suitable decentralized mechanisms.

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O n e view expressed in connection with the government's textbook distribution policy is that a book should not be given free of cost. S o m e minimal price must be set on each book so that, on account of the payment she/he has m a d e for it, the user will value it and take good care of it. This should be seriously considered for better management of the textbook distribution scheme. It m a y be noted here that the curriculum and textbooks are nationally prepared and uniformly prescribed for all public schools. Public schools are also allowed to prescribe some selected reference books from the governmentapproved list and to start teaching English at its o w n discretion and expense from early grades, if the school so chooses, instead of from the fourth grade as prescribed by the official curriculum. But most government-aided public schools are found to take only an indifferent attitude towards intensifying the pace of progress in the achievement level of their students. It is stipulated in the rules and regulations that supplementary reference materials can be prescribed by schools with the approval of D E O . But this is not happening in all cases. Surprisingly, the D E O cannot simply take any action in this connection because of the effect it will have across the board. 1.6 Training

programmes

For the management and operation of training programmes, district-level educational administrators and headmasters, as well as some of the nationallevel educational agencies, have been assigned to perform specific roles. T h e headmaster recommends the names of teachers for training. T h e S M C selects the teachers for training and, at the same time, makes the nominated teachers pledge-bound to serve in the school at least for two years after the training. The school supervisor also plays a recommendatory role in identifying teachers for training and also does the task of organizing meetings and short-term experience-sharing programmes for headmasters, teachers, etc. T h e D E O organizes meetings of headmasters, S M C m e m b e r s and teachers for enhancing the quality of education in the district; the D E C m a y also undertake organizing educational programmes like training, sports competition, exhibitions, etc. T h e Regional Education Director conducts training programmes, seminars, workshops, etc. in the region according to schedules set by M O E C . The National Centre for Educational Development, which has recently been set up, conducts special training package programmes

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to education personnel of different levels in the academic as well as the management sector. The P E D P assists N C E D in its institutional development. •

Teacher-related jobs

The tasks of the selection of primary school teachers, payment of teachers' salary, approval of leave and administration of teachers' promotion, reward and punishment are divided a m o n g various educational units/personnel such as headmasters, S M C s , D E C s , D T S C (District Teacher Selection Committee) and the offices of the D E O s and R E D s . The responsibility of each unit/personnel has been clearly stipulated. Allocation of quota of teachers is m a d e by the Ministry by striking a balance between the local needs and the availability of budget. Usually the quota isfixedby following a principle that is based on equity and social justice, that is to say, remote rural areas are usually given preferential treatment. The criterion set by the education regulations for allocating teacher quota is to provide one teacher for every 20 students in the mountains, 30 in the hills and 40 in the Tarai. However, as a result of student proliferation, the practice that is being followed in these years is to provide one teacher for each multiple of 55 enrollees in each school. It is the job of the S M C to inform the D E O about any vacancy that has to be filled up in the school as well as to m a k e demand for sanctioning additional posts for new teachers. The D E O then undertakes the task of distributing teacher quota in consonance with the rules set by the Ministry. S M C provides information to D E O on vacant posts and makes fresh demands, if necessary, for allotment of additional posts as well as teachers to their school. The D E O fixes vacant posts on the basis of the quota allocated by M O E C to that district and submits the required list to the District Teacher Selection Committee ( D T S C ) , which is formed under the chairmanship of the Chief District Officer and with the D E O as ex-officio m e m b e r - c u m secretary. The D T S C invites applications, conducts tests, including interviews, and recommends the names of selected candidates for appointment by the D E O . The D E O finally publishes the results and places the selected teachers in appropriate schools. In case of complaints over selection and appointment, the Regional Education Director will intervene under the direction of M O E C . Selection of teachers at the school level is m a d e by the District Teacher Selection Committee, which is formed under the chairmanship of the Chief District Officer with the D E O as the member-cum-secretary. The D E O is

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also given the power to appoint teachers on a temporary basis, to withdraw the standing post of a teacher and to transfer teacher posts, if the placement in the particular school is objected to by the S M C of the school. In the case of inter-district transfer, the concerned R E D ' s consent has to be gained. The headmaster can grant leave to a teacher according to the prevailing regulations. H e can take leave for himself for up to three days at a time. The D E O is empowered to grant extra-ordinary leave for up to one year at a time and for up to two years during a teacher's service period. The D E O is also entitled to grant study leave for up to two years in part, or at one stretch to a teacher w h o has been o n regular service for five years or more. 2.

Field study observations on performance of decentralized roles and functions and related problems

Despite the stipulated roles and responsibilities assigned to each specific educational entity, confusions and contradictions occur while implementing them. In this context, the stipulated roles of education personnel were compared with their actual practices by (a) organizing a half-day meeting with 11 primary school headmasters and two school supervisors, and by (b) a one-week'sfieldvisit to Pokhara and Baglung districts. During the field visit the researchers met several education personnel and discussed with them the efficiency level of the work they performed and the difficulties they encountered in discharging their duties efficiently in the present context. S o m e of the findings in this respect are stated in the following paragraphs. 2.1

Teacher appointment and quota

Even though the D E O s are vested with authority that gives them a great deal of latitude in taking care of education at the school level, they face various difficulties in carrying out their responsibilities. Citing some of the problems, they said that the selection of teachers is often messy and in m a n y ways it is a risky job that m a y lead to unforeseen consequences. Pressure comes from m a n y sources so that fair selection becomes almost impossible. In m a n y cases, in order to avoid confrontations, D E O s have to disappear from their stations minutes before the selection results are announced. The decentralized authority has given the District Teacher Selection Committee, of which the D E O is the ex-officio secretary, the power to recruit school

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teachers, but there are several hearsay reports that pressure is unduly brought to bear upon the D E O . Thus, the D E O s , w h o m a y also have private ends to serve, m a y need to be cautious when it comes to selecting a few only from among a large number of candidates. Field observations reveal that the criterion for allocating teacher quota, one teacher for 55 enrolled students, is not followed properly. In m a n y cases, D E O s felt that they failed to implement the policy of allocating one teacher quota for 55 enrollees. During the field study some cases were found where a sufficient teacher quota had not been sanctioned in proportion to the number of students. O n the other hand, there were cases where teacher quota was allocated even though the number of students was m u c h less. In fact, some D E O s pointed out their helplessness in performing their responsibility of allocating teacher quota according to the exact enrolment figures effectively. In some of the schools one or two teachers (outside of D E O quota) have been recruited by the school itself to fill the extra classes and they are paid only a small amount from the school funds. In m a n y cases these teachers are found to work hard but, as usually happens, when a regular post lies vacant in the particular school and the temporary teacher working there for the same job applies for it, she/he is, in most cases, likely to get dislodged from the school, with a fresh appointee taking her/his place. 2.2

Teachers' salaries and transfer

The District Education Committee prepares the education budget for the district. D E O deposits the sanctioned amounts in the bank account of each school. The School Management Committee pays salaries to individual teachers on M O E C scales. The S M C is also authorized to pay additional salary to any of the teachers if the school can afford it. While teachers receive their salary regularly, they seldom get it on time. Indeed, the budget often does not c o m e on time and only a very few schools, even in the valley, can afford to pay the teachers' salary on time out of other funds. O n e such exception is a school, centrally located in Kathmandu, which is supplementing its income by letting out the ground-floor of its building to several shop-keepers. This has enabled the school to give a m u c h higher salary to the teachers. However, it was also pointed out that the school did not take in m a n y students w h o wanted to join that school. The motive behind it was to obviate the need for taking in more teachers, which would force

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them to share the dividends with a larger number. This is a classic example of h o w poor or even counter-productive the performance level of overpaid teachers can be if the payment one gets is guaranteed. Also it goes against the basic state policy of giving equal opportunity to all children to benefit from the state-supported system. The critical question is, h o w m u c h freedom to individual schools in matters of raising resources, deciding on student admissions and teacher salaries is desirable under decentralization? Complaining against the practice of D E O s regarding the transfer of teachers, some of the headmasters from the Kathmandu Valley said that transfers were m a d e mostly on an ad hoc basis and that their opinions were never taken seriously in this respect. It was pointed out that often ineffective teachers stay put in one school without getting any transfer, becoming a permanent liability to the school. 2.3

Training for teachers

D E O s seem to have been constrained in various ways while performing their roles in relationship to training. For example, as the education leader of the district, the D E O ought to have enough technical manpower, especially school supervisors at her/his disposal. But, in reality, this is not the case. Hopefully, M O E C / S W will recruit more such technical personnel in the near future. In addition, in order to be able to discharge their responsibilities, m a n y D E O s felt that they needed training in areas such as personnel management, educational planning, financial management, pedagogical knowledge and project implementation. Similarly, school supervisors also need to be trained in areas such as school management, development of physical facilities and infrastructure inputs. According to D E O s , whatever training the supervisors might have received, it did not seem to have helped them m u c h in doing their job well. Furthermore, in the views of a D E O , though D D C personnel are mostly political people, they ought to be given some orientation in planning, programming and implementation. While observing a class in one of the schools in Pokhara it was found that the teacher was teaching word by word from the textbook. Students' participation was almost nil. The teacher said he did not k n o w h o w to motivate the students. The training he received was inadequate and was mostly theorybased. The teacher did not use any teaching materials, not even the blackboard. H e had however several complaints and excuses to m a k e for all his

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shortcomings. Teachers in another school of Pokhara also had no training. They had no clear concept of about what and h o w they should teach the students. In one class observed, 33 students out of 41 were present. T h e teacher was using, as usual, the same lecture method, with only casual use of the blackboard, but the students seemed to participate more or less actively in group and in chorus. At the end of the class, only seven students were, on being cross-examined, found to have understood the lesson taught. Another D E O also did not seem to be happy with the existing training practices. In his words, training should be related to teaching methods for teachers and headmasters and to financial, supervisory, administrative aspects for headmasters, S M C members and supervisors. The current training package seems to be loaded with theories. •

Supervision

The field study revealed that supervision seldom takes place in schools. The traveling allowance that the supervisors once used to get was discontinued s o m e years ago. T h e very large number of schools makes quality supervision an impossible task. There are only four supervisors at present for 400 schools in Kathmandu. However, the government is n o w in the process of recruiting quite a number of supervisors. These n e w recruits of course lack training background, are fresh from the university and are in their twenties or early thirties only. Supervision is one of the weakest links in the chain of the primary education system. T h e prevailing custom with the present supervisors is for them just to hop around two, three or even four schools in a row and catch the school staff off-guard. However, the supervisors do m a k e a point of paying frequent visits to problem schools. "The D E O in Kaski pointed out that he is authorized to deal with all matters relating to primary education in the district and he is doing his job well according to the rules and regulations. However, he is seriously handicapped by the shortage of supervisors". O n e of the school supervisors of Baglung district, in this respect, indicated that his role has at present assumed a more administrative form than academic. H e added that supervision is not taking place properly for lack of enough supervisors. H e thinks that supervisors must be given the power to transfer

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teachers. Otherwise s o m e teachers tend to ignore or even defy them. In addition, they must have the power to m a k e some critical on-the-spot decisions and to take immediate actions. A D E O added that the academic qualifications of a supervisor must be put at M . E d . A poorly qualified and relatively inexperienced supervisor, as is the case today, often makes a poor show. 2.4

Reward,

discipline and promotion for teachers

The headmaster m a k e s recommendations for promotion, award or punishment of a teacher. The supervisor endorses or makes recommendations on his/her o w n for promotion, award or punishment of any school teacher within his/her jurisdiction. The D T S C also makes recommendations for promotion, etc. of teachers. Finally, the D E O , acting o n the basis of recommendations m a d e by D T S C , supervisors, and headmasters, decides w h o is to be given promotion, reward or punishment. The headmaster is authorized to deduct from an erring teacher's salary an amount of up to seven days' salary. The S M C is empowered to mete out matching punishment to a teacher, but in cases w h e n suspending or dismissing a teacher is called for, the D E O ' s approval has to be given. The D E O , w h o handles all cases of promotion, reward and punishment, has the authority to place the teacher w h o has been rejected by a school (as well as the post) in s o m e other school. The D E O also has the power to fine a teacher up to Rs. 2,000/-, to stop a teacher's annual grade increment or his promotion, as well as to cut d o w n grants given to a school or even to degrade the level of the school. One thing that usually hampers school-work is that quite a few teachers take frequent and often long leaves. Leave-taking without previous notice is more often a rule than an exception in most schools and offices. Even a strict headmaster w h o wields the power to mete out punishment for defaulters cannot fully enforce discipline in the school in this regard. It is often argued that local teachers m a k e better teachers. But in matters of regularity and punctuality, the local teachers are often found to be not quite serious. They even cut classes. In such circumstances, one of the schools was found deducting from the teacher's salary a proportionate amount for every class he failed to take, and paying the amount to the teacher w h o took the class as his proxy. Contrary to this story, one head teacher referred to her near-helpless condition in not being able to remunerate those teachers w h o did not even go

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on the personal leave to which they were entitled. This is, of course, appreciable from the point of view of ensuring quality. The headmaster should, therefore, have s o m e discretionary funds at her/his disposal. She/he should be allowed to raise s o m e m o n e y from the students for such purposes. Moreover, one D E O mentioned that supervisors can m a k e recommendations for giving promotion to certain teachers, but this does not always take place in practice. The process of promotion is taking place only at a very slow pace, with the result that most of the teachers do not hold any high hope of getting promotions. In the case of giving awards, in only a few cases are school headmasters consulted or any importance attached to their recommendations. O n e headmaster, however, said that the two names that he forwarded for awards did get the awards. In the present context, this is an unusual story but a really heart-warming one. Punishment is meted out more for political reasons than for inefficiency. S o far as school administration is concerned, there is not m u c h place either for carrots or for sticks. A good teacher seldom gets the recognition she/he deserves, nor does a non-performing teacher get any kind of punishment she/he ought to receive. In the context of the job security that a teacher is given, the fear of punishment is so minimal that the level of efficiency of an unscrupulous teacher is apt to go on dipping with each passing day. Most teachers today are not likely to observe professional ethics unless good examples are set meticulously by top-level people and unless reward and punishment are given to all in a fair and unprejudiced manner. Recognition of work is a great motivating factor and penalty based on sound judgement, if given impartially and unfailingly, would serve as a strong deterrent to sub-standard performance. 2.5

Local participation

At present, the community people are not, in most cases, aware of the role school education plays in their life. People's willing participation in local community education is thus still a far cry from what has been envisaged or expected by education policy-makers. T h e local agency often requests the opening of a school in its area, but the supporting resources are hardly available from the locality. People often m a k e demands for educational facilities, but they do not seem to have become fully aware of the contributions they ought to m a k e on their part as well. T h e local political-party people have to be mobilized to take an interest in thefieldof education in their locality. A s it stands n o w , most of the political parties are covertly engaged only in an all-out campaign to win people over

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to their side, especially during the election period. Their roles in community development activities are sadly minimal. T h e m a y o r of one municipality said that he w a s not able to pay m u c h attention to the education aspect because of his preoccupation with m a n y other things. H e admits that primary education is still a major concern of the Ministry of Education, but being engaged in other day-to-day affairs, it is not yet likely that this aspect will find an important place in the blueprints of his municipality. S M C m e m b e r s are not happy with the fact that they have been given only functions and responsibilities. They lack the power to take actions by w a y of maintaining order in the school. If this situation continues, they say they will go to the extent of resigning from S M C . S M C therefore should be vested with m o r e p o w e r and, to this end, they need to be given s o m e orientation. D D C and Municipality both claim to have mutual jurisdiction over the municipality area. This dual authority stands as a big hurdle w h e n the question of levying a cess or tax is mooted. T h e Municipality, as it stands n o w , is not given due credit from the government side. T h e government, mostly because of its political interest, shows a tendency to take the credit for itself for any good things it does or gets done in the community. This feeling not only creates a gulf between them, but also alienates the local body from government-sponsored activities which hinders effective implementation of a decentralized management policy and well-co-ordinated national development efforts. S M C is constituted largely on the basis of political linkages. So more than in attending to the academic side, it takes an interest in political manipulation. According to the demand of the day, S M C must be vested with the power to reward and punish the headmaster and the teachers, which again m a y encourage unwarranted use of the power given. There are risks of misusing the powers on political grounds. In general, teachers and supervisors are, in the existing circumstance, a disappointed group because they have to work under several constraints in the process of exercising the authority they are vested with and in discharging their responsibilities. A s they have indicated, it is mainly interference all the w a y d o w n , and sometimes even peremptory orders from political bigwigs, with threats of dire consequences, that prevents them from carrying out their duties honestly and impartially. In addition, the direct orders that usually c o m e from higher authorities overruling their o w n decisions, or directing them to act in a way that requires

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bending the existing rules and regulations to which they are bound, stand as great impediments to maintaining their professional ethics. Such a situation makes them lose face and, as a result of their low morale, they become diffident and almost dysfunctional. Being too scared to do anything assertively on their o w n , they become pre-disposed towards only passing the buck and waiting for decisions to c o m e from the top on all occasions. T h e woes of primary school headmasters are numerous. They play the key role in the actual day-to-day operation of the school. Their level of knowledge, personality and personal behaviour invariably go a long way in making the school flourish and prosper, but if they lack motivation and commitment, the school is almost doomed to failure. But in the scheme of things today, the headmaster is the most neglected and the most heavily loaded person, and is often m a d e the target of criticism from the high and the low. Academically and economically they do not stand at a vantage position from where they can perform their duties methodically and conscientiously. They are often taken for granted, as just a cog in the machine. IV.

Capacity building for decentralization

Based on the roles and responsibilities assigned by the current Education Rules and Regulations to personnel at various levels, some glaring training needs were identified for those working at different tiers of the education edifice in the country. The training needs, mentioned in this chapter, are thus an amalgam of perceived needs, as the study team has determined, and of felt needs, as the field investigators identified on the basis of the discussions and on-the-spot observations. T h e needs thus singled out were later meticulously examined and prioritized by the study team. All in all, the n e w roles and responsibilities that have to be discharged, in the context of the enforcement of the Decentralized Education Regulations pertaining to the promotion of primary education, have been taken of the focal areas to which the training needs are to be directed. A n d due consideration has also been m a d e of the opinions expressed by the concerned personnel on the nature and content of training required for them. 1.

Training needs

District education officers are the key people w h o take care of planning, implementing and monitoring to plan, administer and manage educational

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activities at the district level. The areas where they need training include the concepts and techniques of educational planning, documentation of data and information, operation of school examinations, monitoring and evaluation, maintaining public relations, financial management and communication skills. The areas where supervisors need training include classroom teaching, supervision techniques, establishing rapport with teachers and community people, development of teaching materials, evaluation, and communication skills. T h e next important entity, at the school level, is the School M a n a g e m e n t Committee. T h e m e m b e r s of the Committee also require training in such aspects as the educational aims, targets, standards, and regulations. Understanding ways and means of making school observation in terms of book-keeping, classroom teaching, and the system of conducting examinations, is another area of training for these m e m b e r s . Considering the roles the headmasters have to perform at the school level, it is pertinent to enhance their efficiency and job effectiveness by imparting to them various skills through training that includes concepts on child development, scope and curricular content, methods of teaching, techniques of evaluation, school's roles for community development, financial and administrative management, educational planning, and leadership qualities. In the same vein, since teachers are also at the heart of the daily management and operation of teaching/learning activities in the class, emphasis should be given to providing training to them, with focus o n better student achievement. Specifically, training for the teachers should lay priority on such areas as principles of child learning, enhancement of content knowledge, methods of teaching, use of audio-visual materials, concept of the teacher as a change agent, and development of knowledge and skills in one of the work areas, for instance agriculture, health, nutrition, music, etc. 2.

Provision of training

There are currently several training centres and institutions in the country. Those training institutions provide various types of training for different levels of educational personnel, at the national level or at the local level. T h e available training facilities, currently involved in training, are inadequate, from the point of view of capacities and infrastructures. A s discussed earlier, the types of training vary according to the stipulated roles

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and responsibilities for personnel working at different levels of management. The national-level training institution, namely, the National Centre for Educational Development, which has recently been established under the M O E C / S W , has started conducting training programmes for educational administrators and also teachers. There are certain other training institutions which are basically involved in providing training to local leaders, people's representatives and other development authorities, in the area of designing and implementing development plans. However, these institutions do not seem to have considered primary education as one of the main areas of local development and therefore do not give priority to primary education in their programmes. V.

M a j o r issues in decentralization of educational m a n a g e m e n t

The importance recently given to the gradual adoption of a policy of decentralized management in most of the development-related areas in Nepal is certainly a welcome sign towards evolving a well-functioning management system. Nepal has had, over the last two decades or so, bitter experience of the people distancing themselves from active participation in education because of the tight policy followed by the government in matters of education in the country, under the National Education System Plan of 1971. Learning from this inadvertence, the M O E C / S W has, over the years, obviously made efforts in several ways to simplify the management procedure and, for that matter, to enlist the participation of the local people in the promotion of education in their o w n community. To this end, the existing education rules and regulations have been thoroughly improved on a more pragmatic basis and the functions and responsibilities of the education personnel at each level have been pinpointed and their powers clearly specified. In the primary education sector, the D E O s , by the very nature of the powers and responsibilities they hold in the present scheme of things, play the central role. Depending on h o w tactfully and competently they play their role, they can exert great influence in the local community development through the promotion of education. To fulfil this challenging task, the D E O s have to be not only academically competent, but must also possess leadership qualities. O n e of the weakest links in the M O E C / S W ' s activity chain is the supervision system. It is heartening to note here that the Ministry is planning

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to strengthen its supervision network by increasing the number in the cadre of supervisors and by providing training to them. The irony is that the people look upon teachers for almost everything concerning their children's education. O n the other hand, the teachers feel embittered about their low status in terms of financial gain and social prestige. For teachers to take a real interest in doing their job well, their personal status matters a great deal. This aspect is something nobody has paid enough attention to so far. T o m a k e the students the centre of the teachers' instructional activities is an important role the community has to play. A n d it must be one of the main focuses of the education system to support the teachers sufficiently and to improve their image. Disgruntled teachers tend to pass on prejudiced views and bad values to the students. Similarly, the community people need to be m a d e well aware of the contributory role they have to play in the overall development activities that concern them. Everything should go well, if the decentralized management policy as prescribed by the current Education Rules and Regulations works well. But problems do occur n o w and then so that the smooth functioning of the dayto-day affairs in the primary education aspect gets momentarily disrupted. These problems emanate from the unseen loopholes or indeterminate lacunae existing in the prevailing rules and regulations or from the erratic performance of s o m e people in the administration. Sometimes rules are set aside or circumvented to get something done in one's o w n way, with the result that the whole administrative machinery gets affected. S o m e of these problems, identified on the basis of documents, experience and classroom observation, and corresponding suggestions, are mentioned below: 1.

2.

Lack of a clear concept among the education personnel regarding the full range of their authority and responsibilities: M a n y a problem emerges from this situation. Quite a few education personnel have been found to do almost nothing when things do not get going or to over-reach themselves where they ought to have acted discreetly. Frequent transfers from and indiscriminate recruitment of personnel in strategic posts very m u c h account for this inertia. This situation calls for selection of right persons for the right jobs and for providing to them all possible forms of training and other inputs like familiarization and exposure programmes. Ambiguity in the roles to be played: This is often caused by some of the rules and regulations that are found to be equivocal or ambivalent. There have been various occasions where a person becomes unsure of

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3.

4.

5.

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the role she/he is expected to play so that w h e n it comes to the crunch she/he often bungles the matter in hand or shies away from taking any decisive step on her/his o w n . Such a climate is usually created w h e n there is too m u c h interference from above, or w h e n a duty-conscious person senses the imminent danger of getting penalized on personal or political grounds if the action she/he takes is going to alienate one or another top-level persons. In the case of schools it is the headmaster w h o is often bossed about by an S M C chief or by a D E O , or even by the parliament m e m b e r of the constituency, so that, as a p a w n in the hands of higher-ups, she/he can hardly m a k e any mark on her/his o w n as the helmsman of the school. Gap between policy statement and actual implementation: There are several instances of the policy line being trespassed or short-circuited with intent to expedite work or to get the intended (usually of vested interest) results. Such a drastic step is often resorted to by the political authorities of the country to show what power they hold in the mainstream of politics here. Bureaucrats, in m a n y cases, give w a y to such pressures, thus setting a bad tradition of people trying to m a k e capital of their connections with high-level people. The feudalistic work-style is thus still lingering, as a result of which those w h o are affected are left wondering whether it pays to follow the rules and regulations or to obsequiously stoop to pressures from above. Lack of commitment to empower: Placing people in specific positions will not keep things running in a satisfactory manner. Rules and regulations on paper apart, efforts must also be m a d e to stimulate the role performers to play their roles earnestly and confidently. This requires building confidence in them to work efficiently. Recognition should be given to them for the good things they do. Their inadvertent lapses and oversights must be tactfully handled so that they regain confidence in the w a y they do the work. In the present set-up, there seems to be an undercurrent of feeling that discourages the role players from playing their roles in a fair and confident manner. This feeling stems from cases especially w h e n their straightforward style of work goes against the grain of locally influential people w h o , having their o w n vested interests to serve, try to work against them. Less motivation to take risks: A s matters stand n o w , m a n y administrators are less enthused to takerisksby adopting n e w strategies of management. E v e n high-ranking people concede that teachers or, for that matter, any other civil servants, are found to work honestly and

Nepal

vigorously until they get permanent status in their jobs. Once their service is m a d e permanent they get de-motivated to work with the same tempo and thus their performance starts b e c o m i n g sub-standard. This atmosphere prevails to such an extent that one is likely to think that w h e n all other fellows are getting paid even for not doing their job well, there is no point in pulling their full weight either. This kind of psyche has been taking dangerously deep roots. Therefore, all-out efforts must be m a d e in this aspect before it becomes too late to m e n d . Excessive bureaucratic control over the pedagogic aspect: Especially at the school level, the education clock does not always tick accurately. Bureaucracy and underhand power-play often exert their adverse effect upon the smooth running of class instructions. S o m a n y bad examples have been set by those w h o have the power to boss the teachers and the headmaster that the norm in all related affairs becomes governed by the theory of 'might is right'. Politicization, personal grudge, selfaggrandizement and the like, are often allowed to play their dirty games, which invariably affects the academic activities of the school. Extremely strict adherence to rules or, on the other hand, lack of proper control, tends to lower the academic standards of a school. There are several cases in various parts of Nepal where classes are not taken by teachers for several days and, also, where teachers go to class but never teach. Lack of paradigm shift on the part of the central-level authorities: The central-level authorities have to bring about a radical change in their attitudes as well as their work-style. They have to be more considerate and humanistic to their subordinates and more respectful of good qualities in others so that a good atmosphere of working in unison prevails. The authorities, with their patronage and able leadership, can help bring about a good team spirit, each one working fearlessly and independently on the right lines by maintaining a good balance in the work process and a good rapport with all concerned. Lack of resources in schools: At present most schools are handicapped for lack of adequate funds. In order to mete out justice in terms of social and regional equity, more funds need to be channeled to poorer schools and the Village Development Committees should be vested with the power to levy taxes for the improvement of local primary schools. Problems in teachers' recruitment and dismissal: The present system of appointing and dismissing teachers in the n a m e of giving security to their jobs has led to deterioration of standards in schools, partly because S M C s in some schools have little hold on the school teachers, and partly

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because the teachers do not have to bother about their getting penalized for not doing their job well, as long as they have the blessings of some higher-ups. S M C s must be allowed to have a greater say in the recruitment and dismissal of teachers. 10. Teachers not allowed to play their full role: Generally speaking, teachers are not well treated. They are discriminated against in many ways. It is important that greater trust be placed in them and they should be enabled to assert themselves and to play their roles freely and in a dignified manner. At present the teachers, though some of them are admittedly not well qualified, are hamstrung from all sides. Their opinions must be given greater weight in the academic aspect of the students. 11. Lack of necessary authority for supervisors: At present supervisors cannot have m u c h say in matters of rewarding and punishing headmasters and teachers. In this respect, it must be noted that a great deal of weight should be given to the opinions of the supervisors regarding the performance level of the teachers. 12. Vicious circle of freedom and control: If, under the decentralization policy, freedom or greater latitude for working is given to the personnel of a certain level, this very freedom is usurped through bureaucratic manoeuvring, with the covert aim of getting things done in one's o w n way. This see-saw game of freedom and control is, as far as one can judge, unending. Once freedom is curbed directly or indirectly, the chances are that control will always be the rule of the g a m e in all activities, thus causing the whole engine of management to go one step forward and two steps backward. 13. Research-related innovative schemes not selectively institutionalized: Quite a number of research study and innovative project activities have been carried out with respect to ensuring greater co-ordination and to speeding up the pace of improving the access and quality of primary education. In this context it is important that the good aspects of these projects be singled out, accentuated and widely applied. 14. Non-involvement of local people in working out training programmes: A s things stand n o w , the training programmes for teachers and other education personnel are prepared at the central level. This approach is likely to overlook the actual training needs at the grass-roots level. The district and local-level people should be encouraged and even made responsible for developing suitable training programmes for various

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personnel in their respective constituency. This measure will ensure the development of needs-based training components and the involvement of the very custodians of the local educational affairs. Local initiative and creativity should be fostered, and not thwarted as is often happening now. 15. Exclusion of the education sector in the decentralization support system: Lately, the government has been engaged in running a Decentralization Support System, with aims to educate the local leaders on h o w best they can undertake local development affairs, as well as to stimulate them to take a sincere and active part in the programmes and activities related to the development of their o w n community. This is obviously a welcome step but it is equally important that this scheme should include the education aspect also, particularly the primary education sector. Non-inclusion of the education sector in the thrusts of this scheme is unfortunate. If the local people, with their o w n labour and initiative, can get all the children in their community meaningfully engaged in receiving quality education, it m a y be said that the development process in that community has reached a take-off stage. However, the efforts that are being m a d e today to sensitize and mobilize the people into playing their roles satisfactorily, are laudable. 16. Low level of awareness among the district-level education personnel: Surprisingly, most of the district-level education personnel do not seem to be fully aware of their terms of reference regarding their o w n responsibilities and functions, so that they often work with insufficient foresight. In addition, their faculty of judgement is apt to be clouded by various forces that work upon them. B y means of training and good support, they are not only to be vested with powers and functions but also, at the same time, encouraged to be self-assertive as well as performance-oriented. Recognition of work serves as a strong incentive for better performance. 17. Too much interference in education personnel's work: M o s t education personnel have, in the present-day conditions, to work under great strain, especially when they have to contend with several kinds of pressures from various leaders and higher authorities. Such a situation is more often a rule than an exception. Efforts, therefore, need to be m a d e to create a favourable climate for working honestly and fearlessly. There are several anecdotal cases of the S M C chiefs sending their school head teachers on errands, even at the cost of the school work. Similarly,

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there are several hearsay facts of local political leaders putting undue pressure on the D E O especially in matters of teacher selection and transfer. A s long as such practices go on as an acceptable norm, h o w can the decentralization efforts take effect in the right spirit? To forestall such incidents, it requires courage on the part of the decision-maker to neutralize the pressures imposed on her/him. A n d it is equally essential that good sense should prevail upon the favour-seekers, so that they stop unreasonable interference in the interests of promoting professional integrity and ensuring a fair deal for all.

Bibliography Agrawal, G . R . 1988. Challenges of educational financing in Nepal. Kathmandu: Centre for Economic Development and Administration. B P E P . 1993a. A report on qualitative performance of BPEP. Kathmandu: Author. B P E P . 1993b. An evaluation report on some primary education project components. Kathmandu: Author. C E R I D . 1986. An evaluation of education for rural development in Seti Zone. Kathmandu: Author. C E R I D . 1989. Primary education project: An interim evaluation report. Kathmandu: Author. Crowley, P. 1990. The Seti project: Education for rural development in Nepal. Kathmandu: The Seti Project. H M G / N e p a l . 1991. District Development Committee Act. K a t h m a n d u : Author. Martinusen, J. 1993. Local authorities in Nepal. Kathmandu: Ministry of Local Development, H M G / N e p a l . M O E C / S W . 1986. Education directives 1986: In reference to the decentralization process. Kathmandu: Author. M O E C / S W . 1991. The basic and primary education master plan 19912001. Kathmandu: Author.

M O E C / S W . 1992. Education Act 1971 and Education Rules and Regulations 1992. Kathmandu: Author. M O E C / S W . 1994. Ministry of Education, Culture and Social Welfare: A profile. Kathmandu: Author.

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National Education Commission ( N E C ) . 1992. A report of the National Education Commission. Kathmandu: Author. National Planning Commission (NPC), H M G / N e p a l . 1992. The Eighth FiveYear Plan (1992-1997). Nepal: H M G / N e p a l . Thapa, B . K . 1993. Financing of education in developing countries: Implications for Nepal. Unpublished P h . D . dissertation. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. Upadhyaya, I.P. 1993. Cost sharing and policy options for the future of education in Nepal. In C . H . Williams and C S . Basnyat (Eds.), Priorities and policy options for the future of education in Nepal. Kathmandu:

IEES-MÖEC/SW. Yannakopoulous, P . Z . 1980. Eleven experiences in innovations in decentralization of educational administration and management of local resources. Paris: U N E S C O .

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4.

Pakistan

Decentralized planning and management of primary education in Pakistan: a review of policies and practices by a team of professionals at the A c a d e m y of Educational Planning and M a n a g e m e n t *

Introduction Provision of universal primary education has been an important national goal of Pakistan since its emergence as an independent country in 1947. Education for all children is valued as a basic right and is considered vital for achieving other goals, such as economic and social development, national and political integration, and development of individual dignity. Pakistan, like other developing countries, faces the dual challenge of improving the quality of education, while increasing primary school coverage and retention rates in rural areas. In spite of persistent efforts to provide universal primary education, figures available for 1992-1993 reveal that 11.79 per cent of the rural schools in Pakistan did not offer complete primary education and 55.56 per cent of rural children between the ages of fivenine had never attended school. In 1993, the gross enrolment ratio in rural primary schools was 44.44 per cent, while drop-out from primary schools was considerably high. Several factors, such as the fast-growing population and lack of resources, have contributed to the already dismal situation in the education sector in Pakistan. Additionally, a substantial part of funds allocated to the education sector are illspent or un-utilized due to the highly centralized system. This is further aggravated due to poor planning, which is grossly affected by lack of accurate data and statistics. It is because of these and numerous other factors that Pakistan has not experienced the progress desired, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in primary education. Although successive governments have claimed increases in literacy, the population growth rate of about 3 per cent neutralizes the increase in the annual literacy rate to only half a per cent. A E P A M , Islamabad, Pakistan

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This paper will analyze the various issues related to decentralization of education management in Pakistan, through a review of relevant policies and practices, along with a study offield-levelperceptions on related issues. T h e paper begins with abrief overview of various policy statements with implications for decentralization of planning and management processes in primary education. This is followed by a discussion of the various issues involved in decentralization and a brief presentation offield-levelfunctionaries on the existing practices and processes in the management of primary education. The paper has been prepared based on a careful analysis of existing documents on the policies and practices currently in operation, as well as various proposals m a d e for decentralization of the planning and management system in the previous education policies presented since the creation of Pakistan in 1947. It is also based on interviews with some government functionaries involved in implementing decentralization measures. Further,fieldvisits to districts of Punjab were conducted by the members of the research team in order to study the functioning of local-level mechanisms. Also included were structured interviews with top policy-makers at the federal and Punjab Government levels, with a view to elaborating on the implications of each of the policy statements. Through literature review and interviews mentioned above, an attempt has been m a d e to understand the rationale for decentralization, its need, its requirements and its use for effective management. I.

T h e history of decentralization of education

1.

T h e background

T h e formal education system in Pakistan comprises a number of stages, the first being the primary stage. This stage lasts five years and normally enrols children aged five-nine years. T h e primary stage is followed by a three-year middle stage, a two-year secondary stage, and a further two-year higher secondary stage. T h e higher secondary stage is also called the 'intermediate stage' and is usually part of college education. T o obtain a degree, four years of higher education, after 10 years of primary and secondary education, are required. Pakistan inherited a w e a k educational set-up at the time of Independence. A very large number of people were illiterate and the n u m b e r of educational institutions w a s inadequate to impart education to all the children of schoolgoing age. Keeping this context in view, a National Education Conference

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was convened in 1947 which recommended that universalization of primary education should be achieved within a period of 2 0 years. Since then, U P E has remained one of the very important objectives of all governments in Pakistan. Following this, n e w facilities and infrastructure have been created; cadres of trained m a n p o w e r have been produced; various projects have been launched and attempts have been m a d e to give the country an education system suiting the aspirations of its people and catering for its development needs. A s a result, educational infrastructure and facilities in Pakistan today present a m u c h different picture than they did in 1947. W h e n Pakistan became an independent country in 1947, there were only 8,900 primary schools, with an enrolmentfigureof 0.77 million. A s against this, the number of primary schools in 1992-1993, including mosque schools, was estimated to be 124,000 with an enrolment of 14.1 million. The number of middle schools was estimated to be more than 9,000 in 1992-1993 with an enrolment of 3.5 million. There were about 10,000 high schools with 1.25 million students. In addition, there were in 1992-1993 more than 700 secondary vocational institutions with an enrolmentfigureof over 90,000. Although there has been a substantial increase in the number of primary schools from 1947 to date, some of these schools, particularly in rural areas, are almost non-operational either because of their location or due to non-availability of local teachers. Teachers posted from other areas get themselves transferred. At least 3,000 rural schools have less than 10 students and another 2,000 have none. A World Bank Mission Report of 1994 reviews the situation with respect to physical facilities and states that in 1990, there were 3,220 female shelterless schools in rural areas and 69 in urban areas. Pakistan, with 63 per cent of Gross Enrolment Rate ( G E R ) stands far behind India, with a G E R of 97 per cent, and Bangladesh at 83 per cent. While G E R for girls in India is 83 per cent and Bangladesh 68 per cent, Pakistan's G E R for girls is a dismal 41 per cent. The total enrolment in primary education is estimated to be 14.1 million. The net enrolment rate is even lower, estimated to be between 45 and 52 per cent. The enrolment of girls is roughly half that of boys. Only about 45 per cent of those w h o enter school actually complete Grade 5. The adult literacy rate is estimated at 43 per cent for m e n and 19.6 per cent for w o m e n 1 . 1.

It is to be noted that all Pakistan figures are estimates as a population census was last carried out in 1981 and accurate enrolment figures have only become available in the last year through the National Education Management Information System.

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Internally, the differences between G E R s of provinces are equally striking. Punjab stands highest, with a 6 2 per cent G E R , and Sindh is at second position with 31 per cent. Urban/rural differences in terms of provincial G E R in Sindh show a further imbalance, while G E R for urban/rural girls in Sindh shows an amazing imbalance, heavily skewed towards urban Sindh. Higher G E R s for girls (58 per cent) in A J K calls for an altogether different analysis as to h o w such a backward area, with far less resources, could have well over half of its girls enrolled in primary schools, more than the affluent Punjab, with a 55 per cent G E R for girls? 2.

Policy perspectives o n decentralization

It is against this backdrop that various national education policies were framed at different times. The important ones are reviewed in the following paragraphs with a view to highlighting the emphasis on what has been one of the major problem areas, namely, centralization of education management. 2.1

Previous policy orientations

In 1959, the 'Report of the Commission on National Education', stated that: "The creation of separate sections with considerable autonomy within their spheres of responsibility introduces a concept of the devolution of authority that has not received m u c h practical application in our educational administration. W e have been quite slow to delegate authority and responsibility effectively and as a result those in high educational posts are under an unnecessary load of administrative duties. A s a consequence they have seldom had the time to concern themselves with long-range planning or to provide the kind of educational leadership that is needed. In the organizational arrangement outlined above, the provincial head of the department, for example, should be involved only in policy matters, problems that raise policy questions, and the problems of co-ordination. Operational decisions should be m a d e in the appropriate divisions where authority and responsibility should be further delegated. Unless there is a willingness and a conscious effort to decentralize the decision-making process, the problems will never be solved rapidly nor the pace of educational progress quickened".

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In addition, the 1959 Policy recommended that the administration of primary education should not be entrusted to local bodies. Rather, it should be organized on a district basis in West Pakistan and on a sub-divisional basis in East Pakistan (presently Bangladesh) through primary education committees. Each committee should consist of a Deputy Commissioner or his nominee as Chairman, and four other members, including the District/ Sub-Divisional Education Officer ( S D E O ) . The districts/sub-divisions should be further divided into units of 10-15,000 population, with an area or union committee consisting of three m e m b e r s nominated b y the deputy commissioner/sub-divisional officer. It was recommended that certain powers, such as transfer of teachers, should be delegated to these committees. The policy pleaded that compulsory primary education must receive continuous attention at the highest levels of government. It was proposed that a committee be set up in each province, with the Governor as the chairman, in order to deal with the question of additional funds required for compulsory primary education. Similarly, 'The N e w Education Policy' of 1970, also stressed that decentralization of educational administration be introduced to ensure academic freedom and financial autonomy required for the healthy and efficient growth of educational institutions at various levels. It was also emphasized that essential measures should be initiated to decentralize the administration of educational institutions in order to allow community participation and ensure academic freedom, efficient administration and financial autonomy to the educational institutions for their proper development. The policy stated: "In order to achieve these objectives, the provinces should consider the desirability of setting up District School Authorities and Zonal College Authorities which m a y be autonomous in character exercising full powers in the administration of these institutions. The district school authorities m a y be assisted b y Tehsil/Advisory Committees which will help enlist the participation of local communities and the public servants working at that level in the planning, development and maintenance of schools and the welfare of students and teachers". Then c a m e the National Educational Policy and Implementation Programme of 1979. O n e of its major thrusts was that since the existing institutions, structures and modes of operation cannot accommodate effective

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implementation of policies, the Federal Ministry of Education, the Provincial Departments of Education, the Directorates of Education and other agencies should be reorganized to eliminate wastage and to ensure operational efficiency in terms of policy directives. In this context, it was proposed: "Educational administration will further be decentralized for effective supervision and management of education through providing more powers and facilities to educational management at lower levels. In this regard, District School Education authorities with sufficient powers and funds will be constituted in every district to oversee and administer school education. The policy also recognized the need to motivate primary school teachers to undertake their work more effectively. Opportunities in this respect will be provided in vertical mobility. Before setting u p district school authorities, Education Council will be set up as advisory bodies on the pattern of the National Education Council; the A c a d e m y of Planning and M a n a g e m e n t will also be set up to provide training to supervisors and administrators in the field of Planning and Management". T h e main problem identified in the 1979 policy was the linkage between the organizational structure of educational administration and the general administrative set-up of the civil service. Realizing that the nature of the educational service requires specialized capabilities and management, it suggested the restructuring of the system of educational administration into a specialized service. 2.2

National Education Policy (1992)

In 1988, a review of the implementation of the 1979 Education Policy w a s undertaken and various weaknesses were diagnosed in the education system. It was felt necessary to re-order priorities and revise the strategies. Consequently, a N e w Education Policy w a s announced in 1992. In order to achieve U P E , it foresaw the construction of a large number of schools and classes, a large-scale maintenance programme and the increased recruitment of teachers. It also demanded to give predominant attention to girls' education, both in respect of enrolment and incentives, and stressed the eminent role to be given to the private sector and N G O s in the implementation of the Policy. Reviewing past efforts towards decentralization, one m a y state that since the creation of Pakistan, a n u m b e r of policies/plans c a m e one after the other,

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in quick succession but almost none had clear strategies for the decentralization of primary education, although all appreciated the need for it. However, emphasis had been laid on the promotion of free and compulsory primary education, with a target of achieving Universal Primary Education ( U P E ) within a stipulated time. The 1992 education policy realizes that U P E will not be possible without actually decentralizing the system. In this regard, the 1992 education policy stresses that substantial changes are required in the administration of education, particularly at the primary level, to improve the efficiency of the system. In respect to financing, private funding to education is being promoted. Education foundations at provincial and federal levels have been established for the development of education in the private sector. The Policy reflects some radical steps which, apart from using innovative means for attracting private finance, also provide for the development of infrastructure and for the implementation of plans for the promotion of primary education in collaboration with local communities. In addition, for decentralization of primary education, the Policy (1992) recommends creation of primary education authorities (Directorates of Primary Education) at the Federal and Provincial levels. Looking into the decentralization process, the Policy stresses it as an utmost need for the programmes of Universal Primary Education and suggests achieving it through the active participation of the community and elected representatives. Accordingly, villages are to serve as units in rural areas for mobilizing community participation and mohallahs in the urban areas. O f direct relevance to the question of decentralization in this regard are the following strategies mentioned in the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1993-1998): • • • • •

School M a n a g e m e n t committees shall be constituted at the village, settlement and institutions levels. For better supervision, not more than 15 schools shall be allocated to each supervisor and the mobility of the supervisory staff will be enhanced. The A c a d e m y of Educational Planning and Management will further be strengthened to enable it to expand its programme at provincial level, where similar Academies will be established. The District Education Officer ( D E O ) shall be delegated appropriate financial, administrative and managerial powers. To facilitate people at the grass-roots level in terms of basic education, projects developed/identified by elected representatives, especially legislators, will be implemented through government agencies.

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•

• • • • • •

II.

A liberal and simplified policy will be adopted to enable the private sector, especially the philanthropic organizations, to undertake the task of educational development; the major thrust of private participation will be directed towards the rural areas and w o m e n ' s education. It will accelerate the pace of educational development in the primary sector, literacy and technical and vocational education. A system of 'matching grants' and loans will be devised to provide financial support to private organizations, including non-governmental organizations. All public funds the for development of primary schools will be utilized through the local village education committees; these will also be m a d e responsible for the management and supervision of the schools. Educational institutions set up in the private sector will be provided with: (a) interest-free loans from the banks; (b) plots in residential schemes at reserved prices; and (c) rebate on income tax. Local bodies will take steps to generate resources exclusively for educational development in their area. T o improve the efficiency of the school system, school education will be decentralized to district level for better supervision; the local community will be involved for the provision and maintenance of school buildings. G o o d textbooks written by renowned educationists will be provided through the private sector; for each course, multiple textbooks will be approved and institutions will be free to select any of these textbooks. Present administrative a n d organizational structures

Education in Pakistan is primarily a provincial subject. H o w e v e r , under the 1973 Constitution, it has been put o n the Concurrent List and the Federal Government has been given the responsibility for policy, planning and promotion of educational facilities in the federating units to meet the needs and aspirations of the people. T h e federal government also acts as the overall policy-making, co-ordinating and advisory authority. 1.

Overall administrative set-up

A t the federal level, there exists a Ministry of Education which has been assigned responsibilities regarding the following: •

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Policy, planning, curriculum, syllabus, centres of excellence, standards of education.

Pakistan

• • • • • •

Libraries, m u s e u m s and similar institutions controlled orfinancedby the federal government. Matters concerning Pakistani students in foreign countries and foreign students in Pakistan. Islamic education. Copyright, inventions, designs, trade-marks, and merchandise marks. Federal agencies and institutes for research and professional or technical training for the promotion of special studies. Inquiries and statistics relating to the above-mentioned matters.

The Federal Ministry of Education, with its general responsibilities for the direction and development of the education system, comprises a number of Wings concerned with planning, administration, international co-operation, curriculum, federal institutions, primary and non-formal education, secondary and technical education, higher education and research, learned bodies, sports and welfare, each headed by a joint educational adviser. In addition, there are attached departments and autonomous bodies under the administrative control of the Ministry. At the Provincial level, the Education Department is governed by the Provincial Education Minister and the Provincial Education Secretary. The Department is responsible for the administration of all levels of schooling. It also directly administers related institutions, including curriculum development and research centres, teachers training institutions and such other organizations as the Bureau of Curriculum and Extension in each province. The planning and monitoring cell at Karachi and the management unit for study and training at Peshawar are administered by the respective departments of education. The provincial education departments also administer the implementation of federally funded projects. In Punjab and Sindh, the administration of education was decentralized or deconcentrated in 1973 with a view to making management more efficient and effective, whereas in N W F P similar measures were adopted in 1979. Recently, the provinces of N W F P and Punjab have established separate Directorates of Primary Education to strengthen the planning and management of primary education programmes. For purposes of educational administration, each province is divided into divisions headed by a Director (one each for school and college). For the primary education management, each division consists of a number of districts.

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In each district, the school management is controlled by the District Education Officer. T h e supervision of primary schools falls under the jurisdiction of the district offices, while secondary schools c o m e under the administrative control of the regional director of education. 2.

Ongoing initiatives in primary education

The Government has recently taken several initiatives to improve the situation of primary education. Their implications o n the issue of decentralization are discussed in the following pages. 2. / Social Action Programme

(SAP)

Education figures as a top priority item in the Social Action Programme which was launched in 1992-1993. Initially, a programme for three years w a s formulated but, following the exercise carried out for the Eighth Five-Year Plan, it was extended tofiveyears (1993-1998). The S A P hasfivemain components, the most important being education. The education component of S A P aims at rapid expansion of basic education, for which over 55,300 new primary schools, with 6.4 million additional enrolments are envisaged. The programme also covers such other vital areas as teacher education and adult literacy. The main responsibility of implementing the programme lies with the provincial governments which would need to involve the N G O s and private sector. They are required to place greater emphasis on primary education, particularly girls' education. T h e annual rate of increase in the enrolment of girls is projected at more than double the rate of increase for boys, giving 61 per cent of the n e w seats in schools to girls. Priority would also be given to the improvement of the school environment and teacher training, and to increased availability of teaching aids and textbooks. These inputs will be complemented by such incentives as nutrition for girls and security and transport for female teachers in the rural areas, and by such measures as regulation of child labour and compulsory enrolment in areas where an adequate number of schools exist. For girls' primary schools, the Government will buy land if the community is not able to provide free land in an easily accessible area. Co-education will be introduced at the primary level under female teachers, wherever feasible. In the matter of provision of buildings, shelterless schools would receive priority.

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For the effective and efficient execution of S A P , operational responsibility would rest with community organizations and the local bodies, which would also involve the private sector and N G O s . Measures will also be taken to improve the capacity of the concerned agencies to undertake community organization and to prepare and implement sound participative policies, projects and programmes. Selection of sites for schools would be determined by District Committees, which include representatives from various local bodies. With a view to encouraging private sector investment in education, Education Foundations have been set up in the provinces. These foundations provide financial assistance to individuals and institutions for the creation of infrastructure for education and also encourage them in other ways to take up more activities in the rural areas. At the conclusion of the Eighth Five-Year Plan, S A P is expected to have helped achieve the following targets in education: •

Breakthrough in the primary participation rate of boys from 85 per cent to 96 per cent and of girls from 5 4 per cent to 82 per cent. • Increase in literacy rate from 35 per cent to 4 8 per cent. A s can be appreciated, S A P has placed due emphasis o n effecting decentralization in meaningful ways. Its stress on the execution of various programmes through local bodies, on the involvement of local communities, on participative policies and o n decision making at the district level is particularly noteworthy. 2.2

Improvement

of educational statistics

For the proper development of the education sector, it is imperative that accurate and reliable information about all aspects of the system should be m a d e available well in time to help enlightened decision making, pragmatic strategic planning and efficient administration on the one hand, and to ensure effective monitoring and evaluation, on the other. B e it the targets set under S A P or be it the objectives of other ongoing projects, development of the education sector can neither be objectively planned nor effectively monitored without the availability of scientifically collected authentic data about the existing facilities and future needs - not in generalized terms but about each and every tehsil, a small administrative unit.

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With this in view, a project called National Educational Management Information System ( N E M 1 S ) was launched in 1991 with the collaboration of U N D P , U S A I D and U N E S C O . Under this programme, computerized E M I S centres were created throughout the country at district level and educational data under various indicators were collected and processed. These data will constitute one of the most important components for the monitoring and evaluation of S A P and the various other programmes launched to promote education in the country. The data set will also help monitor the effective implementation of decentralization efforts in the provinces. 2.3

Qualitative

improvement

In addition to quantitative expansion and its monitoring, measures have also been introduced to reform the primary education curriculum. Based on a baseline data, improved curriculum and instructional material for Grades I-III have already been introduced, evaluated and refined. C o m m u n i t y involvement, development of local expertise and bringing the curriculum, textbooks and learning material closer to the child's life and making them relevant to the community, constitute salient features of the programme. After experimenting with the n e w curriculum/textual material in four districts, Punjab has introduced it throughout the province, with effect from the academic session of 1994-1995. 2.4

Literacy

programmes

Estimates of the literacy rate in Pakistan range from 29 to 35 per cent. Pakistan is n o w said to have a population of over 120 million. This means that even if one accepts the higher estimate of the rate of literacy (35 per cent), the country has 57 million illiterates. Even if there is a substantial increase in literacy in coming years, Pakistan will enter the twenty-first century with a very large number of illiterate population and work force. A n d if the population growth does not radically decline during this period, the number of illiterate citizens of Pakistan entering the twenty-first century will be even higher. T o address the situation, efforts are under w a y to increase the literacy rate through methods other than formal education only. A 10-year National Literacy Plan has also been prepared by federal and provincial agencies in consultation with downstream organizations to double the literacy rate (from 35 per cent to 70 per cent) by making 24 million illiterate persons of age group 10 plus literate by the year 2003.

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Pakistan

The Plan will be carried out in two phases offiveyears each, relating it to the country's nationalfive-yeardevelopment plans. In implementing the Plan, the following strategies, which emphasize a decentralized approach and involvement of the community in implementing the programme, will be used: (i) involvement of government and semi-government organizations; (ii) effective participation of educational institutions; (iii) involvement of industrial units; (iv) involvement of N G O s and social welfare agencies; (v) making the National Literacy Programme an integral part of social services and development programmes; (vi) reinforcement of literacy and post literacy; (vii) priority to the promotion of female literacy; (viii) use of area-specific approach; (ix) use of mass media and other motivational techniques; and (x) integrating literacy with population, environment, and such other functional education topics. III. G a p b e t w e e n policy a n d practice: analysis of field perceptions A s can be seen from the foregoing account of policy initiatives, funding patterns, p r o g r a m m e launching and education promotional ventures, a good deal of emphasis is currently placed on decentralization. Almost in all policies and programmes, the district is taken as the point of reference. T h e education administration machinery in the province starts, so to speak, with the district. H e n c e , in a w a y , structural arrangements can be said to be in place for decentralization. In Punjab, as in other provinces, the District Education Officer ( D E O ) is supposed to be the one w h o suggests to the higher authorities school mapping, administers government policies within the district, supervises educational institutions and is responsible for organizing the delivery of education both in terms of quantity and quality. T h e D E O is the administrative head in w h o m is vested the authority to hire and fire, powers to transfer and the responsibility to r e c o m m e n d promotions. Theoretically, the D E O is also the one w h o controls the finances allocated to his district, deciding h o w m u c h funds to be spent and where. In theory at least, the decentralization process has been taken even below the district level - to the tehsil and markaz levels in Punjab, particularly with regard to appointment and transfer of teachers. T h e decentralized arrangement described here represents a highly satisfactory one on the face of it. H o w e v e r , this arrangement has not been

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able to produce the desired result, at least not in the desired measure, for the simple reason that it is not allowed to operate in the same spirit in which it has been devised. In practice, the powers delegated to the District Education Officer are to be found mostly on paper. They are exercised by someone else sitting at some higher place. During thefieldinterviews, this fact was highlighted by almost all D E O ' s . S o m e of the telling observations by the respondents are reproduced below: -

-

-

W h a t a m I? Just a post office, passing on orders from the top. I a m hardly consulted in decisions which essentially relate to m y o w n district, from the top. All transfer orders are issued over m y signature but I a m not the one to decide. Instructions are issued from Lahore to open schools at this or that place and I simply have to obey. W h a t financial powers? Purchases are m a d e in bulk in Lahore and w e have to be content with whatever is sent to us. Funds are released so late - mostly towards the end of the financial year - that I can hardly plan their proper utilization. There is a policy to post the newly recruited teachers to the rural areas at least for an initial two-three years. But w h o cares? D o you think I can decide w h o goes where? I a m only told to issue posting orders. I a m supposed to visit each school under m e at least three times in a year but do I have enough funds to undertake such extensive touring? A n d look at the number of schools under m e . Is it physically possible for anyone to visit these m a n y schools, and that three times, even if funds are m a d e available? Frequent changes of governments m a r development schemes. Y o u only have to look at the school buildings under construction, but left unfinished following a change in government, to appreciate the problem.

The detailed discussions with the concerned officials identified 'political interference' as the main reason underlying the above complaints. A n d that should not surprise anyone w h o knows Pakistan's peculiar political situation. After having remained under authoritarian rule for so long, it is faced with the problem of heightened popular expectations from the elected representatives - even irrational expectations. People from each constituency

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approach their elected representative for opening n e w schools, giving employment, and for postings and transfers. The pressure is so great that not m a n y find it easy to resist. Orders are issued and recommendations are m a d e and the powers of the district education officers are thrown to the wind. Another problem relates to the delegation of responsibilities but without the corresponding authority. Authority m a y have been vested in the D E O in principle, but it is actually exercised in most cases from Lahore. Yet another problem is the lack of trained staff in the district office to m a k e use of technical inputs such as the M I S . Unable to interpret the data and base his management on them, the D E O finds it easier to pass them on to the provincial headquarters. N o wonder then that decisions are taken elsewhere. O n e more reason for the ineffective implementation of different decentralization schemes is the practice of frequent transfers. Not allowed to stay in one place for the usual three-years period, m a n y D E O s find it difficult to bring about a change in management patterns and administrative norms. IV.

Suggestions for c h a n g e

T h e foregoing analysis of Pakistan's primary education system demonstrates the magnitude of problems standing in the w a y of achieving E F A goals and the importance of genuine measures for decentralization. While the responsibility of solving the problems rests, in the main, with the government, parents, communities, N G O s and donors must also c o m e forward in a big way to help and assist the government. The following measures will be helpful in this regard: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

Insulating educational bureaucracy from day-to-day political pressures and ensuring a more free hand to manage education, Strengthening and upgrading the technical k n o w - h o w and management skills of headmasters and other school personnel, Conducting more frequent reviews of the functions and processes of educational institutions, particularly at the district level, with a view to suggesting required changes, According greater priority to recruiting local teachers, for which more incentives m a y be offered.

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(v)

Revising policies concerning primary school teacher training programmes, providing for greater emphasis on, and opportunities for, relevant in-service training, (vi) Placing greater responsibility on the D E O s and other functionaries to ensure that every child is in school, (vii) Involving local communities m o r e closely in local education management, (viii) Upgrading the qualifications and redefining the functions of D E O s . (ix) Providing the District Education Office with qualified staff to handle quantitative data, including M I S . (x) Avoiding frequent transfers of those holding management positions, (xi) Ensuring real delegation of financial powers to the district offices, (xii) Devising a formal system of consulting the concerned D E O in all education-related matters regarding his/her district. Keeping the capacity-building needs in view and recognizing the key position occupied by the D E O s as the most important link for effective decentralization, a selected group of D E O s was interviewed. O n the basis of their responses and our understanding of the system, the following recommendations are m a d e for making the role of the district-level educational managers more effective. Although most of the officers working at the district level in Punjab are experienced teachers, it is frequently complained that m a n y are not experienced in administrative and financial matters. It is therefore imperative that after their appointment/selection to such posts, they are given extensive training before they take up their assignments. This training should be at least for one year and should be tailor-made for their specific job assignment rather than generalized in nature. The training programme should include financial management, accounts, service matters, rules and regulations and the techniques of inspection and evaluation. It m a y also include h u m a n relations skills. Equally important is the need to arrange similar in-service training programmes and refresher courses. The role of the community should be strengthened to enable it to monitor the performance not only of teachers but that of officers also. The involvement of the community can also check the exaggerated claims of s o m e officers about school visits and tours.

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Pakistan

V.

Conclusion

The education of Pakistan's 20 million children is a major challenge. Government efforts alone, no matter h o w elaborate, cannot solve the problem. The most sensible solution on the part of Government is to involve nongovernmental agencies as equal partners. Equally so, millions of adults should be educated, as they do not benefit from the formal education system. For this task, the involvement of N G O s and community participation is even more important. Policy statements are quite elaborate on this issue. The Government is not only conscious of the problem, but has m a d e policies to address it. Education policy is prepared at the national level but implemented at the provincial level. The situation and level of implementation differs from province to province and, similarly, the execution of the projects, both at national and provincial levels. The Government allocates a comparatively small percentage of funds for education. Never since the creation of Pakistan (1947) has the Government spent the entire sums, however small, allocated for education. The m a x i m u m amount of funds used in any budget year is 7 0 per cent of the total. The prime reason, identified duringfieldvisits and interviews at the Federal and Provincial levels, is the centralization of formal structures at the federal and provincial headquarters. Almost all the educational policies and development plans speak of the need for decentralization. But policies in this regard have not been fully implemented. The responsibilities and job descriptions do, however, give a false impression of decentralized authority and responsibilities. The actual practice is nonetheless very sharply skewed towards the centres. T h e Government n o w must consider a detailed programme of implementing decentralization policies at least at the district level, in thefirstinstance, as that level constitutes the right forum for this management change.

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Decentralized management of primary education in Sindh Province by Ghizala Kazi*

Introduction Pakistan is divided into four Provinces, namely Punjab, Sindh, North West Frontier Province ( N W F P ) and Baluchistan. The respective share of the four provinces in the total population of the country is 48 per cent, 22 per cent, 17 per cent and 13 per cent. In addition, the Federal Government directly administers the tribal areas adjoining N W F P and northern areas. The State of Azad J a m m u and Kashmir is in administrative union with Pakistan. Each province has a directly elected Legislative Assembly with a Chief Minister and functions under the overall authority of a governor w h o is appointed by the President. Azad J a m m u and Kashmir has its o w n president, prime minister and legislative assembly, while the northern areas are administered by the federal government. Under the constitution, the provinces have been given autonomy in thefieldsof education, health, agriculture, local government, water and sanitation. Federal Government has overall control of defence, foreign affairs, foreign aid, banking, currency, transportation, oil and natural gas, and national highways. With regard to educational m a n a g e m e n t , the Federal Government's responsibility is to establish guidelines, to allocate development funds, to determine curriculum revisions and examination changes, etc. The responsibility for operating the education system and implementing the programmes lies with the provinces; this includes meeting the recurrent expenditure, while the development expenditure is normally met by the Federal Government. Organizational structures for educational administration in all the four provinces are basically similar to one another. Administration and management of the educational institutions in the provinces is the responsibility of the provincial education department, headed by the Provincial Deputy Education Secretary, Government of Sindh, Pakistan.

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Pakistan

Minister for Education and the Education Secretary. While the ministry is expected to provide policy directions, the various directorates functioning at divisional or district levels as subordinate offices to the Education Department must implement the programmes. Recently, provincial governments have also established separate Directorates for primary education. Management and supervision of schools in hierarchical order goes d o w n to districts and tehsils (next smaller units), where the District Education Officers ( D E O ) and the Sub-Divisional Education Officers ( S D E O ) , respectively, are the executive authorities for primary and middle schools. Following the current practice of running separate schools for boys and girls, there are usually separate district offices for male and female affairs. The national percentage for literacy was estimated at 31.5 per cent in the Economic Survey of Pakistan (1992). A m o n g all the provinces, the literacy rate in Sindh is the highest at 33 per cent, which is possibly due to the high level of urbanization in the province. Sindh has the highest proportion of urban population, which is 43.5 per cent of the total population, and has the high population growth rate of 3.6 per cent in rural areas and 4.9 per cent in urban regions ( S E M I S , 1993). Table 1. Population, age group 5-9 (in thousands)

Sex

Urban

Rural

Total

Boys

972

1,331

2,303

Girls

897

1,279

2,176

2,610

4,479

Total

1,869

Source: SEMIS report, 1993. In 1990, the total population of Sindh was around 26.14 million, out of which the total primary schóol-age population (five-nine years) was estimated to be 4.48 million (Table 1). O f these, only 2.24 million are enrolled in the primary schools (Table 2). The imbalance in enrolment deepens when urban-rural and male-female enrolments are compared. The gross enrolment rates for urban-

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rural and male-female are placed at 62-42 per cent and 69-30 per cent, respectively (Table 3). The drop-out rates at primary level are estimated to be 20 per cent in urban and 50 per cent in rural areas. This shows that barely 20 per cent of children complete their primary education. Table 2. Enrolment in primary schools (in thousands)

Sex

Urban

Rural

Total

Boys

677

903

1,580

Girls

475

189

662

Total

1,152

1,090

2,242

Source: SEMIS report, 1993. In the 1981 census, the population growth rate of Sindh is 3.6 per cent as against the national rate of 3.1 per cent. O n the basis of this population growth rate, each year 0.2 million children are added to this age group, but very low public investment in primary education (only 7.8 per cent of the Annual Development Programme budget) does not match even the natural increase in population. This inadequate funding has contributed to a high rate of illiteracy in the rural areas and, in particular, among females ( S E M I S , 1993). Table 3. Gross enrolment rate in primary schools

Sex Boys Girls

Urban

70% 53% 62%

Rural

Total

68% 15% 42%

69% 30% 50%

Source: Action Plan for Education for all in Sindh. Government of Sindh, Education Department, 1992.

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Pakistan

Primary education is mainly provided by the government primary schools and mosque schools. There are more than 30,000 schools in the province (Table 4), most of which are poorly built and badly maintained. The schools are also inadequately furnished and are without teaching and learning aids. Moreover, the majority of schools in the rural areas have no sanitation or drinking-water facilities. In the majority of cases, these primary schools are single-sex schools. Table 4. Primary schools including m o s q u e schools in Sindh, 1992/1993

Sex

Urban

Rural

Total

Boys

2,952

21,022

23,974

Girls

1,429

4,882

6,411

Total

4,381

26,004

30,385

Source: SEMIS Report, 1993.

I.

M a n a g e m e n t of p r i m a r y education in Sindh

Sindh Province is divided into several administrative units. At the apex of the pyramidal structure is the Provincial capital, followed by five divisions, 21 districts, sub-divisions, talukas, union councils and villages. The Provincial Education Department is m a d e up of the Secretariat and various functional directorates. The following paragraphs give a brief description of the roles and functions of different layers of administration with respect to primary education in Sindh. 1.

T h e administrative structure

For the management of primary education and externally aided projects, there is a Planning and Co-ordination W i n g within the Education Department. This wing w a s strengthened in 1990-1991 on the recommendation of the

239


World B a n k under Sindh Primary Education Development Project. T h e purpose of this measure w a s to strengthen planning processes in the secretariat and to m a k e project management an integral part of the work of the secretariat ( S P E D P , 1989). T h e planning and co-ordination wing has special responsibility for: (a) development and management of primary education; (b) overseeing the preparation and processing of all development schemes for primary education; (c) co-ordinating and managing the availability of development and nondevelopment funds for primary education; (d) providing focal point for co-ordination of all provincial agencies involved in primary education; (e) co-ordinating donor agency involvement in primary education development; (f) monitoring progress in development p r o g r a m m e s a n d removing obstacles to primary education expansion and qualitative improvement of primary schools; and (g) co-ordinating with the Bureau of Curriculum in implementing the programmes of pre-service and in-service teacher training (Welton, 1994). T h e Sindh Education M a n a g e m e n t Information System ( S E M I S ) is also attached to the planning and co-ordination wing. S E M I S provides a centralized education data base containing information on quality indicators such as student enrolment, teachers, and infrastructure facilities such as number of schools, condition of schools, etc. 1.1

Director

of

Schools

A s mentioned earlier, Sindh has five divisions, namely, Karachi, H y d e r a b a d , Sukkur, Larkana and Mirpurkhas. E a c h division is headed b y a Director of Schools. T h e Director of schools at primary level co-ordinates a n d plans the primary education development p r o g r a m m e s and projects in the Division. T h e responsibility of the Director includes supervision, provision of e q u i p m e n t and buildings, a n d ensuring the efficient m a n a g e m e n t of primary education at divisional, district a n d local levels.

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Pakistan

Recently, a separate Directorate o f P r i m a r y E d u c a t i o n h a s b e e n established in Sindh at each divisional headquarters, headed b y a Director (Primary Education) w h o has the following responsibilities: (a) co-ordinating and planning primary education development programmes and projects in the Division; (b) helping to develop the educational data bases for primary education and supervising the data collecting and school-mapping system; (c) helping to develop criteria for the provision of n e w primary schools and additional classrooms in existing schools, provision of improved supplies of school furniture, teaching material, textbooks and learning material; (d) processing district development proposals; (e) identifying and resolving problems and bottle-necks that appear in the implementation of development programmes and projects in primary education; (f) ensuring the efficient m a n a g e m e n t of primary education at the divisional, district and lower levels; (g) regular inspection of educational institutions (Welton, 1994). 1.2

District Education

Officer

T h e District Education Officer ( D E O ) heads the m a n a g e m e n t o f all primary, middle and secondary schools at the district level. There are separate D E O s for m a l e and female schools. T h e D E O has duties and responsibilities related to financial, administrative, planning and development, personnel and staff m a n a g e m e n t , and inspection, supervision and guidance of teachers. In a w a y , the w h o l e structure of administration in the education sector revolves around the D E O , w h o is the key supervisory and administrative officer for all the schools in the district. A l m o s t all decisions of staffing, promotion and resource allocation m u s t g o from the D E O to the higher authorities. 1.3

Sub-Divisional

Education

Officer

(SDEO)

A t the sub-district level, the sub-divisional education officers are responsible for m a n a g e m e n t and supervision of primary schools. Besides their supervisory role, they are responsible for improving the learning atmosphere in schools a n d maintaining liaison with the local c o m m u n i t y .

241

Decentralization of educational nuiiuigement: experiences from South Asia

1.4

Supervisors/Learning

Co-ordinators

The supervisor of schools takes the responsibility for information collection on the performance and professional development of teachers of primary schools. He/she should be able to combine the roles of an inspector, an academic adviser, and an administrator. T h e posts of learning co-ordinators were created during the Second Primary Education Development Project (1985-1991). A total of 376 learning co-ordinators have been appointed in order to promote closer supervision of schools and provide need-based support to teachers. Specifically, functions of the learning co-ordinators include: (a) reducing teacher absenteeism; (b) substituting for absent teachers; (c) providing a communication network between the management and the school; (d) providing improved models of teaching; (e) increasing community support for schools (Welton, 1994). 2.

Major functional areas of primary education and problems

Although national policies and plans are announced by the Federal government, these have to be adopted and implemented by the provincial governments. M a n a g e m e n t of major functional areas in Sindh corresponding to various programmes under implementation in the province, are described below. This clearly points to the highly centralized nature of management in almost every functional area of primary education. 2.1

Establishing new schools

According to Sindh Educational M a n a g e m e n t information System's census report of 1993-1994, there were, in that year, in all 32,476 primary schools in Sindh (including mosque schools). T h e students-teacher ratio ranges between 23:1 and 25:1 in these schools. The report has presented an alarming situation, as there are 10,000 schools which do not have any building. These are called shelterless schools and they function in the open, under a tree or in s o m e sort of a shed. Moreover, there is a total of 1,812 closed schools, established, but lying closed for want of teachers, or established at places

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Pakistan

with an insufficient number of five-nine year-old children to be enrolled in the schools. T h e government has set certain norms to ensure the feasibility of establishing a n e w primary school. T h e considerations are: • • • •

m i n i m u m population of 300 in the area; free availability of land is ensured; nearest school is at a distance of 2.5 kilometres for boys and 1.5 kilometre for girls; m i n i m u m expected enrolment of 100 to 200.

While the criteria appear to be very reasonable, the onus is left on the D E O to study the feasibility and m a k e suitable recommendation to the government. Thefinaldecision is taken at the Provincial level by the Education Secretary and the Education Minister (SPEDP, 1989). This centralized decision making without the aid of a well-supported school mapping and micro-planning exercise, has created serious anomalies in the field. However, since 19931994, on the recommendation of the World Bank, the Education Department has started employing S E M I S data, especially for construction/reconstruction of buildings for shelterless schools and the addition of classrooms in the existing primary schools. 2.2

Provision of equipment and furniture

Equipment and furniture are provided to the primary schools by the Sindh Government according to standard norms specified: 10 dual desks per classroom; 1 table per school; 2 chairs and blackboards per school; and 1 steel almirah per school. Apart from the fact that such a centralized n o r m m a y not suit the needs of all schools, the procedure followed for purchase poses several problems. For the purchase of furniture and equipment, there is a central purchase Committee at the secretariat level with the Secretary - Education as the Chairman. All the purchases for the schools in Sindh are m a d e through this purchase committee. Because of this centralized system, each year huge amount of funds for purchase lapse due to non-utilization.

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2.3

Recruitment of teachers

The requisite qualification for becoming a primary school teacher in Sindh is matriculation (10 years of schooling) with certificate of training in primary education (PTC). Courses leading to P T C are offered by the Government College for Elementary Teachers by training in special units attached to secondary schools k n o w n as P T C units, and training through the distance education system by Allama Iqbal O p e n University. Recruitment of primary school teachers is not done at the school level nor at the district level. The posts are advertised in the newspapers and interviews are conducted at the concerned divisional headquarters by a committee comprising the concerned director schools, D E O concerned and the S D E O . O n the basis of the interviews, a merit list is prepared by the Committee which is sent to director schools and Secretary - Education for the approval of the names thereon. Final approval of the names of the selected teachers is granted by the Minister of Education. T h e school to which the teacher is being appointed does not have any say in the whole process. Therefore, the teacher does not feel any affiliation with the school and, in fact, there is widespread feeling that the centralized recruitment system affects the recruitment of teachers on a merit basis. 2.4

Teacher posting and transfers

The post of a primary school teacher in Sindh, as in other provinces, is transferable from one school to another. This approach has created a grave problem of non-availability of teachers in remote rural areas. M a n y teachers appointed and posted to such schools often get themselves transferred to schools in urban areas, or to schools nearer to their homes. In a way, this issue is related to non-availability of local teachers from the catchment area of the primary school. A s long as teachers from one district are posted to other districts which m a y not be of their choice, it is very likely that regularity in the delivery of primary education will continue to suffer. There are numerous personal and sociological problems which confront both the teachers and the students. Local teachers drawn from the community where the school is located have first-hand knowledge of the socio-cultural setting in which they have to teach, and can become initiators of change in the community due to their enhanced social position. Another related issue in this connection is of

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Pakistan

shortage of female teachers. The enrolment rates of girls in Sindh Province are dismally low, and this is attributed by m a n y to lack of female staff. The major problem pointed out by the field functionaries is the growing political nature of teacher management, including appointments, posting and transfers. It is strongly felt that the centralized control over these matters has considerably reduced accountability of teachers at the grass-roots level and has become a cause for teachers' absenteeism. Teachers w h o are appointed due to political pressure invariably try to influence departmental authorities, affecting their performance and the overall efficiency of the system. 2.5

Training of teachers

A s already pointed out, m i n i m u m educational qualification required to become a primary school teacher is 10 years of schooling (matriculation) with Primary Teaching Certification ( P T C ) . M o s t of the institutions offering these courses are located in urban areas and, therefore, candidates from urban areas receive training, whereas rural candidates are mostly deprived of the facility, leading to lack of trained teachers in the primary schools in rural areas. Policy regarding the certification requirement is also centrally decided at the Provincial level. About a decade earlier, the government followed the policy of appointing teachers without training w h o were to be sent for training thereafter. Accordingly, the only requirement was of successful completion of 10 years of schooling. This has resulted in 36,000 untrained primary school teachers in Sindh ( S E M I S , 1993). It is in this context that the government has formulated a shortened training course of four months' duration to ensure at least a m i n i m u m package of training to all primary school teachers. Efforts being m a d e under the Teacher Training Project to diversify the delivery mechanisms of teacher training should also be viewed in this context. 2.6

Curriculum and textbooks

Until 1972 there was no permanent institution responsible for curriculum development in Pakistan, as it was not viewed as a distinct and specialized function. Thus the entire curriculum activity was carried out o n an ad hoc basis through committees which were created for a specific purpose at a specific time and were dissolved as soon as the work was over.

245


However, after 1972, development and revision of curriculum for primary education w a s given emphasis and, therefore, the National Bureau of Curriculum w a s strengthened and re-organized at the central level. Correspondingly, a Provincial bureau of curriculum was established in Sindh in order to develop effective co-ordination between the National bureau and the Provincial bureau of curriculum. But the existing practice of curriculum development indicates that the Federal Government is the only guiding and controlling authority on this matter. Even if the provincial bureau takes an initiative, final approval is still to be sought from the federal government. The textbooks and other relevant instructional materials are generally published by the national bureau in collaboration with the provincial bureau. Given this situation, the schools are discouraged from devising their o w n curricula using a variety of resources. Teachers are legally bound to use the textbooks printed by the textbooks board, which acts as 'gate keepers' of knowledge to m a k e sure that the prescribed books are used in the schools. This can be illustrated by one of the circulars issued by the Department stating that: "... all the heads of schools, teachers, parents and students shall m a k e sure that the textbooks prepared and published under the authority of Sindh Textbooks Board only are purchased and used in the classroom". In reality, the renewal of curricula is either based on armchair research or the 'intuitive knowledge' of a small group, in general, or on imported innovations from the western countries, in particular. This narrow approach to curriculum development does not allow for the active participation of curriculum users. Interestingly, the Government of Pakistan also endorses the fact that the quality of public instruction continues to deteriorate, the system has not positively responded to the curricular inputs provided. T h e curricula, apart from being overloaded, have not kept pace with the advancement of knowledge and the textbooks do not promote self-learning (Situation Analysis, 1992). Furthermore, lack of participation of curriculum users in the curriculum development process has also negatively affected the curriculum change process. In theory, it is said that the teachers have been given participation in the curriculum development process, but in practice the Committees are overwhelmingly dominated by bureaucrats and educationists w h o are not involved in teaching (Ghafoor, 1990).

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Pakistan

2.7

Supervision

The usual supervisory structure in Sindh is that the District Education Officer (or a Divisional Education Officer) is assisted by a team of Assistant Education Officers or Assistant Sub-Divisional Officers. The number of schools, including mosque schools, in the jurisdiction of a D E O / S D E O ranges between 80 and 150, therefore, the ratio of teachers to supervisors is so disproportionate as to make meaningful interaction an unrealistic expectation. Moreover, the supervisor is entrusted with such numerous and multifarious duties that he/she ceases to function as a professional guide to the school authorities and teachers. It is rather disconcerting that supervision was never considered an essential part of the teaching programme. The education policies, including the most comprehensive Report of the Commission on National Education, did not devote due attention to instructional supervision. Passing references have been m a d e and it is mainly the administrative aspect that has occasionally been referred to. There has been some confusion about the role expectation of a supervisor. He/she is usually considered an administrator and an evaluator but according to the modern theories of instructional supervision, the supervisor has to function as a change agent and should provide consultative and instructional service, stimulate professional growth in teachers, foster improved h u m a n relations, and evaluate instruction. T h e supervisor is expected to offer constructive criticism, actually demonstrate effective teaching methods, inspire teachers to improve their performance, assume leadership responsibilities and influence teacher behaviour in such a w a y as to facilitate pupil learning. In short, the supervisor is expected to provide in-service education which, being individualized, can prove more beneficial. Apart from this lack of role clarity, the sub-division education officers are burdened with enormous administrative duties and are unable to pay frequent visits to schools and, even w h e n they do, they either have no time, or do not have the proper expertise, to offer guidance. 2.8

Learning

co-ordinators

In 1979, under the Primary Education Project (PEP), the World B a n k and the Government of Pakistan created another level in the official supervisory ladder called Learning Co-ordinators ( L C ) . In order to raise the quality of teaching and learning, the learning co-ordinators were to work at the Union

247


Council level, which is the lowest administrative unit of government. T h e programme was launched in all the provinces (but not in every district). Each L C was to supervise and work with teachers of 10 to 20 schools, see them at least once a m o n t h in the classroom, observe their lessons, and m a k e suggestions on h o w to improve teaching and learning (Marland and Wilson, 1994). In a report of the World B a n k - O D A mission carried out by Cambridge education consultants in 1992, the authors are rather ambivalent in their comments on the efficiency of the L C activities. But they point, clearly enough, to s o m e issues which need attention to ensure and promote the effectiveness of the L C . A m o n g these are: • • • • • • •

Ensuring that L C really understand and pass on better classroom practices. Ensuring that they do not take on an administrative role, or b e c o m e inspectors. Providing suitable L C training material. Supervising L C to ensure that they really go to schools and that they interact. Achieving a clear relationship between L C and the Assistant S u b Division. Finding a w a y to regularly monitor the L C . Evaluating the effectiveness of the whole (LC) programme. 2.9

Management

of finance

The Federal Government allocates the funds for the Annual Development P r o g r a m m e on the basis of the predetermined share of each Province. Normally, at first, the province formulates its proposals based on the developmental needs, which are then examined by the federal ministries of education and finance. T h e n according to availability of resources, the funds are allocated and released to each Province for development as well as for other expenditures. O n e m a y state that the share of primary education within the education sector is increasing every year, and the funds are also protected against transfer to other sectors. Even a cursory analysis will clearly reveal that all decisions related tofinancialmatters are centralized at the provincial level. In fact, there appears to be little freedom for the officers at the lower levels to m a k e vital decisions related tofinancialallocation as well as utilization.

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It m a y be observed that relatively high levels of investment have been m a d e by the Government for the expansion of primary education in Sindh Province. But these are insufficient to achieve the goal of education for all. However, it m a y be noted that primary education in Sindh is heavily assisted by external donor agencies. In the past the flow of foreign aid w a s a casual and uncertain phenomenon, but it has considerably improved and become more stable in recent years. II.

T o w a r d s decentralization of p r i m a r y education in S i n d h

It is evident from the above discussion that the existing education system has been characterized by highly centralized structures and decision making in all spheres: legal, administrative, cunicular, pedagogical, and organizational. Educational policies and reforms are designed by the political and technical elite, without systematic consultation with the society at large. A small group of individuals often decide what the learning needs are for all and h o w they are to be catered to. Although the concept of participation has b e c o m e commonplace in all policy discussions, participation in education is still narrow in conception and limited in practice. Learners and communities are usually referred to as beneficiaries, and teachers classified as inputs, together with textbooks and other instructional materials. Parents remain outsiders, requested to participate through 'voluntary contributions - cash or labour' to the (otherwise impossible to maintain) school system. Students are passive listeners in the classroom; teachers are passive executors of predetermined curricula; and parents are passive receivers of complaints and results. In order to change this malaise in the management set-up for primary education in Sindh, the concepts of popular participation and social mobilization for basic education have been introduced in a variety of ways, particularly with regard to girls' and w o m e n ' s education. Traditionally, these terms have been associated with N G O s and are widely k n o w n in the context of non-formal education programmes such as the ' H o m e Schools', the 'Community Schools' and the 'Street (Karachi) Programmes' or specific projects such as the Orangi Pilot Project ( U N I C E F , 1993). Attempts are being made to apply these to the formal education programmes also.

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Since 1992 several governmental and non-governmental organizations have been establishing basic education centres in small villages in m a n y rural areas. These centres are clustered in certain districts and provide non-formal primary education along with relevant life knowledge and skills to young girls (5-12 years). O n e important step within primary education has been the up-grading and incorporation of mosque schools into the Universalization of Primary Education (UPE) effort. The strategy to revive mosque schools, initiated in 1982-1983, has resulted in a significant expansion of primary education and a challenging opportunity to explore non-conventional approaches. In fact, the need has long been felt for decentralization in the education management set-up. T h e rationales for decentralization are clearly indicated in the official policy documents. For instance the Report on Education policy and implementation in Pakistan (1993) lists the following: (a) The people making the decisions are nearest to the source of action, and to the consequences of these actions. They are therefore in a good position to weigh all the information, and to m a k e sound decisions. (b) Motivation is improved, as people have more influence in their jobs. They feel a sense of ownership, and b e c o m e empowered. (c) Projects have a better chance of success. People w h o have been involved in making decisions are keen to m a k e them work. (d) Creativity of the organization is increased. G o o d ideas can flow upwards as well as downwards. Realizing the importance of decentralization in improving the efficiency of the primary education system, the Government of Sindh has been making considerable efforts in the recent past to initiate innovative actions in the planning and management of primary education which promote decentralization and community participation. Implementation of the Social Action Programme (SAP) has to be seen in this context. S o m e of the major aspects of the S A P which have implications for planning and management of primary education are discussed below. The objectives of the S A P for primary education include attempts to streamline and smoothen the functioning of the administrative, organizational and managerial machinery of the education sector. The other main goal of S A P is to increase enrolment in primary schools, with greater emphasis on girls.

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1.

Creation of data base

It is recognized that the Government of Sindh has to develop and maintain an extensive and reliable data base on primary education if it is to carry out any meaningful planning in the years to c o m e . In order to do this, a separate data-gathering cell has been established at each district which is linked to the provincial headquarters as part of the S E M I S . It is foreseen that the establishment of such district-level databases will go a long way in facilitating a decentralized approach to decision making in education. 2.

Construction of schools

There is a need to involve the local community in the construction process of schools. A possible modification of design, resulting in cheaper costs, will have to be studied and implemented. Furthermore, it is proposed that if the community desires to have a school, it m a y be appropriate to expect the community members to provide the labour input. Thus, once materials are made available by the government, the cost of the project can be shared. Similarly in urban areas, the community would be asked to contribute a certain amount of the construction cost. 3.

Support to the private sector

Given the growing private sector contribution to education and the Government's o w n financial and managerial constraints, the government recognizes and acknowledges the importance of private initiative in primary education. The private efforts are being streamlined by issuing broad regulatory guidelines, the government department acting only as a watchdog, meddling as little as possible in the functioning of schools under private management. In lowincome areas in the cities of Sindh, the government needs to provide grants and loans to the private sector so that they can set up schools. Further, if a community is willing to contribute a building for a school, the government should be willing to provide textbooks and/or teachers, and other teaching-learning material. The Basti and H o m e School Programme, the Orangi Pilot Education Project in Karachi, the Alasti Education Project in Thatta, the U N I C E F Primary Education Curriculum Reform Project, which has developed a n e w textbook for class one, and the U N I C E F H o m e Schools Teachers Training Programme, are just some

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of the successful projects which have been carried out outside the government structure of management of primary education. It is necessary to learn from these experiences, as these programmes have not only been successful, but several of them have also been implemented at minimal costs and are, therefore, considered replicable. 4.

Increase i n resource mobilization

A proportion of zakat and ushr funds collected at the local level would be diverted to the education sector, either at the district or at the provincial level. T h e existing iqra surcharge collected by the Federal Government and meant for education has not been m a d e available for this purpose. Provincial governments would be given their proportional share to meet resource constraints. Enhanced user charges would be introduced and the government of the day must m a k e a political decision on this matter in order to help the Provincial government to meet the targets. While the private sector is being encouraged and greater resources and more freedom are being given to this sector, private-sector schools on the high end of the fee/income bracket need to be taxed in accordance with their earning potential. These funds can then be utilized to cross-subsidize low-income private initiative. 5.

Promotion of teacher trai ni ng

T h e private sector is also expected to contribute to the training of school teachers. The performance of the private sector has been impressive and its initiative in teacher education will be encouraged. T h e private sector will be permitted to build training institutions in urban areas, while N G O s which operate in rural and in smaller towns, will be given financial and technical assistance to train rural school teachers. 6.

Education Foundation

The Sindh Education Foundation was established in 1992-1993 in Sindh with the objective to (a) help N G O s and individuals to establish non-commercial and non-profit educational institutions in the Province; (b) grant interest-free loans to educational institutions; and (c) evolve programmes for raising the standard of education and improvement of the literacy rate. N G O participation is sought with

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a view to expanding the reach of programme activities, establishing partnership between government and N G O s , and incorporating community participation in expanding and upgrading educational facilities in the Province. The Sindh Education Foundation has undertaken social, economic and educational development work in the backward villages of Karachi East District. The approach is based on organizing integrated, multi-sector activities. The guiding principles behind the functioning of the Education Foundation are: (i) T o establish a good working relationship between government and private enterprises for the promotion of quality education. (ii) T o provide leadership in the quest for quality education as a joint venture. (iii) T o promote the skills of teachers and provide the necessary tools to motivate and to match the standards of private schools, and to bring the non-formal sector to a stage where it augments government efforts for quality primary education, through self-reliant community-based educational centres. The current priority areas of Sindh Education Foundation are the following: (i) promotion of female education; (ii) promotion of education in rural areas and urban slums; (iii) promotion of education of the disabled and the discriminated sections, or of people in especially difficult circumstances (Ghulam Ali, 1994). 7.

Parent/teacher associations ( P T A )

T h e need for the involvement of parents and teachers in the proper maintenance and running of an educational institution has always been recognized. However recently, under the Sindh Government's notification, P T A s have been formed in all educational institutions with the specific purpose of enhancing the role of parents in improving the functioning of schools and in facilitating better relationships a m o n g the teachers, learners and parents. 8.

Directorate of Primary Education

Primary education, along with middle and secondary education, used to be under the administrative control of the Director Schools of each region. With a m o v e towards decentralization, the directorates of primary education at regional level have been notified. These directorates shall be headed by

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Director - Primary Schools, supported by the District Education Officer (Primary) in each district. T h e y will have the authority for recruitment of teachers, funds will be placed at their disposal, and they shall be fully responsible for each development activity at primary level. 9.

Education committees at division, district and sub-division level

The Government of Sindh has also constituted education committees at district and sub-divisional levels. These committees are expected to strengthen the functioning of schools both in terms of improvement in infrastructure and other facilities, and with respect to the quality of performance. They are also to promote the role of the P T A s in improving school functioning. III. Training of personnel for decentralized planning a n d m a n a g e m e n t All the above innovative policies have been adopted or are being adopted by the Sindh Government as a m o v e towards decentralization. However, past experiences in moving towards decentralization have not proved very successful, since efforts were limited only to issue of notification, orders, and policy directives. The main bottleneck identified is the traditional attitudes and perceptions a m o n g the planners and administrators regarding the control and accountability mechanisms for monitoringfield-levelactions. Proper training of administrators at all levels on the implications of adopting a decentralized management set-up, is recognized as a prerequisite for successful implementation of decentralization policies and practices. Following are some of the important points that need to be highlighted in this regard. (a) The traditional hierarchies need to be dismantled: true decentralization needs an overhaul of the structure of the organization. This is where the clarification of functions and responsibilities needs to be provided. Hard questions need to be asked and classified regarding the nature of the decisions to be m a d e at any level. A good communication network has also to be established. (b) T h e extent to which m e m b e r s of staff functioning at various levels of the management system can be involved in decision making depends firstly on whether they can be treated as responsible and capable professionals with a sense of involvement, and second, on the management style of the leaders. S o m e leaders feel the need to hold on to their power rather than share it with

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m e m b e r s of their teams. This reaction often results in less responsible behaviour in people. (c) T o set up a decentralized system of management, mere writing of n e w rules is not enough. People need support in understanding the n e w arrangements. Training is essential so that everyone knows where they fit in and what is expected of them. (d) Decentralization means that people meet and discuss more than they did before, w h e n they were ordered to act. It is necessary to recognize that this change in behaviour takes time and has to be constantly nurtured a m o n g administrators at all levels. M e r e statements on the need for training capacity building a m o n g planning and m a n a g e m e n t professionals o n decentralization will not suffice. These statements of intention have to be matched b y action for creating adequate institutional capacities for conducting such p r o g r a m m e s of training and orientation. In this context, it m a y be mentioned that the training of educational planners and administrations in the m a n a g e m e n t of education has never been given emphasis in the past. There w a s n o permanent arrangement for this purpose until the M a n a g e m e n t Training Unit was established. This Unit, which has to cater for the training needs of the whole of Sindh, has been established under the Sindh Primary Education Development P r o g r a m m e . T h e Unit has especially been established for the management training of planners from the secretariat, all the district education officers, sub-division education officers and supervisors. But, being a n e w institute, it is not yet adequately staffed for catering to the training needs of educational planners, managers and administrators. Conclusion With regard to administration of education systems, there are advantages and disadvantages in both centralized and decentralized systems. Centralized control m a y be m o r e efficient for s o m e purposes, such as producing textbooks, training teachers, and ensuring that the level of educational services provision is appropriate and equitable. Highly centralized control can, however, impede information and resource flow and limit the ability of schools to respond to local needs.

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Choice of the system m a y also depend on the availability of professionals capable of performing planning and management tasks at different levels. The federal government normally attracts competent managers, administrators and planners more so than the provincial governments. A s a result, the federal centre tends to dominate and this creates a feeling of superiority at the federal level. T h e traditional power structure reinforces this tendency to dominate the provinces. T h e high degree of control through the federal authorities prevents the development of local initiative and creativity and, furthermore, it impedes the adaptation of programmes to local circumstances. A s federal plans, by and large, allow activities at local levels in the hierarchy, strengthening the lower levels promises to be m o r e effective than attempts to prop up the structure of the Federal Government. Devolution should even start below the level of provincial governments, as similar structures and habits as exist at the federal level can also be found at the provincial level. Promoting provincial and local diversity must not conflict with national policies. Encouraging and enabling those acting at grass-roots level to m a k e use of the full scope of the existing possibilities has to be regarded as a first step in the direction of devolution. This will m a k e it easier to agree on new lines of communication and decision making in the next step. It must be mentioned that organizational reform, or the strengthening of managerial and institutional capacity, must be one of the cornerstones of all school improvement strategies. Particularly important for success are the support and the commitment of the various stakeholders, including politicians, administrators, teachers and parents. However, advantages and disadvantages of each system have to be kept in view and, slowly and gradually, the system m a y be changed towards a decentralized primary education management one by creating awareness and capacities a m o n g all concerned.

Bibliography A g a K h a n Foundation. 1989. Evaluation of Sindh Secondary Improvement programme, Karachi. A g a K h a n Foundation. 1993. N G O Resource Centre, Karachi.

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Pakistan

Allama Iqbal Open University. 1994. New primary teachers' orientation course, Islamabad. Bhatti. 1987. Primary education development retrospect and prospect, National Economic Council, Islamabad. Ghafoor. 1990. Non-formal education in Pakistan, Ministry of Education, Islamabad. Ghulam Ali, Anita. 1990. Situation analysis of basic education in Sindh, Government of Sindh, Karachi. Ghulam Ali, Anita. 1994. "Sindh Education Foundation", a presentation before the Chief Minister, Government of Sindh, Karachi. Government of Pakistan. 1987. Pakistan Year Book, Islamabad. Government of Pakistan. 1990. Pakistan National Conference on Policy options for better education outcomes at primary level, Islamabad. Government of Pakistan. 1992. Economic sun>ey of Pakistan, Islamabad. Government of Pakistan. 1992. Situation analysis, Islamabad. Government of Pakistan. 1993. Education policy and implementation in Pakistan - the management of change, A decentralization workshop, Oxford University Press, Karachi. Government of Sindh. 1988. Staff appraisal report, S P E D P , World Bank, Washington. Government of Sindh. 1989. Sindh Primary Education Development Programme, Karachi. Government of Sindh. 1990. Girls Primary Education Development Project, Karachi. Government of Sindh. 1992. Action plan for education for all in Sindh, Karachi. Government of Sindh. 1992. Social Action Programme for Sindh, Karachi. Government of Sindh. 1992. Teachers' Training Project, Karachi. Government of Sindh. 1993. Staff appraisal report, S A P , World Bank, Washington. Government of Sindh. 1993. S E M I S - Sindh Education Management Information System report 1992/1993, Karachi. Government of Sindh. 1994. "Establishment of district development boards under S A P " . Notification No. SO(Acd-l)3-5/92, Karachi. Government of Sindh. 1994. "Establishment of Directorate of Primary Education, Notification SO(Admn-1)5-6/92, Karachi. Government of Sindh. 1994. "Establishment of divisional, district and subdivisional education committees", Notification No. SO(Acd-l)2-2/92, Karachi.

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Government of Sindh. 1994. "Parents/teachers Association", Notification No. SO(ACD-I)2-2/1993, Karachi. IIEP/DSE/IDRC. 1993. Decentralization and participation in education, Seminar S E A M E O I N N O T E C H , Manila. I K O Consult. 1993. Study of education sector in Pakistan, Frankfurt, Germany. Khawaja, Sarfaraz. 1989. Basic education for all: Policies and plan 19471989, Ministry of Education, Islamabad. Khawaja, S. and Brennan. 1990. Non-formal education - myth or panacea of Pakistan, Islamabad. Marland, H . and Wilson. 1994. Pilot in-service training programme, O D A , Karachi. M e m o n , M . 1990. A study of the curriculum change process in Pakistan, Government of Sindh, Karachi. Ministry of Education. 1989. Involvement of the private sector in the promotion of primary education in Pakistan, Islamabad. Ministry of Education. 1989. Plans and policies, Islamabad. Ministry of Education. 1992. Education policy, Islamabad. National Economic Council. 1989. Primary education improvement desired measures, Islamabad. Qaisarani, N . 1989. Improvement of the private sector in the promotion of priman' education in Pakistan. Qaisarani, N . and Khawaja. 1989. Planning of basic education in Pakistan, A E P M , Islamabad. Shaeffer, S. 1991. School and community collaboration for educational change, H E P , Paris. U N I C E F . 1993. Education for All, Karachi. U N I C E F . 1994. Popular participation, mobilization and decentralization for EFA, Islamabad. Welton, J. 1994. Major structures, functions and processes of education planning and co-ordination as they relate to the Sindh Primary Education Development Programme (SPEDP), O D A , Karachi.

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5.

Sri Lanka

Decentralization in education: the Sri Lankan experience by Wilfred J. Perera* and H . Palihakkara**

Introduction The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an island with a land area of 65,606 square kilometres and a population of 17.6 million. The schoolage population is estimated to be around 4.2 million. T h e country has a multi-ethnic society consisting of 74 per cent Sinhalese, 18.1 per cent Tamils, 7.1 per cent Muslims, and 0.8 per cent others. T h e average density of population is 260 persons per square kilometre, with a wide variation across the country ranging from 2,603 persons per square kilometre in the densely populated areas to 36 in the sparsely populated regions. The rural sector, which is predominant, consists of 72.2 per cent of the total population. In addition, 3.6 per cent live in plantation settlements. The country is divided into several provinces for political administrative purposes. In all, there are 25,000 villages in the country. Sri Lanka has a recorded history which stretches from 6 0 0 B . C . to the present day. T h e island w a s ruled by ancient Sinhalese Kings from the sixth to sixteenth centuries. The Portuguese landed in Sri Lanka in 1505 and the Dutch took over the island in 1656. The British replaced them in 1796 and ruled the country until Independence in 1948. After Independence, Sri Lanka has m a d e great strides in the spread of mass education, leading to high literacy rates in contrast to most other countries in the region.

Chief Project Officer, National Institute of Education (NIE), Maharagama, Sri Lanka. Director of Distance Education, National Institute of Education (NIE), Maharagama, Sri Lanka

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The total number of schools in 1993 was 10,710, with an enrolment of 4,237,643 students. O f these, 10,160 were government schools, accounting for 4,172,897 students. O f these government schools, 96 per cent provided primary education. O f them nearly 29 per cent were exclusively primary schools (having classes from years 1 -5). T h e total number of primary students in government schools was more than 50 per cent. Though the primary schools had 144 students on average, it might be more relevant to note that 899 schools had less than 5 0 students and 1,291 had between 50-100 students. T h e government spent Rs.14 billion, or 10 per cent of its total expenditure, on education (including higher education) in 1993. Although this w a s a 12 per cent increase over the amount spent in the previous year, the educational expenditure in relation to G D P declined from 2.9 per cent in 1992, to 2.8 per cent in 1993. It has been discovered that the impact of free education policies has been affected by the imbalance in the distribution of uneven historical and district-wise socio-economic development, and the economic constraints of a 'developing' country which limits both provision and utilization of educational facilities. There has been a growing concern among educationists on the disparities and inequalities of educational opportunities a m o n g the disadvantaged urban schools and remote rural schools. A number of research studies carried out by the National Institute of Education (NIE) have particular relevance to the problems of education in disadvantaged primary schools. They provide ample data to identify a number of issues and expose several 'hidden' problems. The National assessment on educational progress in language and mathematics study for Years 4 and 5 (Kariyawasam, 1989), revealed that the performance in types 2 and 3 schools' is shockingly poor and suggested that immediate remedial action is needed.

1.

262

School types in Sri Lanka: Type 1 A B : Schools with G C E A / L classes. Type 1C: Schools with G C E A / L arts and commerce classes. Type 2 : Schools with classes up to year 11. Type 3 (i): Elementary schools with classes up to year 8. Type 3 (ii): Primary schools with classes up to year 5. Type 1 A B : schools are promoted as National schools and, at the moment, there are 171 National schools.

Sri Lanka

The study further stated that there is a marked disparity a m o n g urban and rural schools and among districts. The Entry Competency Study (UNICEF, 1988) found that entry competencies of children in disadvantaged schools were lower than the national sample. It was estimated that 53 per cent of those seeking entry to Year 1 in the disadvantaged schools need special help. They experienced greater difficulty in writing movement co-ordination, letter reading, terms of relations, sentence structure, counting and pictorial operation. A study on Disparity in achievement of primary level (Ekanayake and Sedere, 1989) compared performance levels across year grades. A striking finding here was the increase in the percentage of underachieves in each successive year levels in both language and mathematics. This is not to say that achievement was declining, but that the proportions of children achieving in relation to the level expected by the national curriculum for that particular grade, was declining. Special efforts have been m a d e in the recent past to bring about qualitative improvement in primary schools by w a y of teacher development and improving infrastructure, furniture and equipment. Several selected schools have benefited from specific projects such as the Primary Schools Development Programme (PSDP), Plantation Schools Education Development Programme ( P S E D P ) , and Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP). Special attention needs to be paid to schools where both primary and secondary education is provided. A National study (Kularatna et ai, 1990) reported that as m a n y as 67 per cent of year 5 students in type 2 schools were achieving at a level below Year 5 expectations, whereas this figure was only 54 per cent in type 3 schools. Little (1990) has attributed this notable difference in low achievement between type 2 and type 3 schools to the fact that in the former, there is more competition for resources, notably teachers' time, as there are students sitting the General Certificate of Education (Ordinary Level) examination. In larger schools most of the income comes from donations at admission and by w a y of facilities fees paid by parents of primary students. But most of this m o n e y is spent for sports and other co-curricular activities of secondary students. O n e wonders h o w ethical is such a state of affairs and, in fact, some educationists n o w propose that schools should be of two main types, those w h o have classes from years 1-8, and those having classes from years 9-13. It is argued that, a m o n g other benefits, the younger children would have more opportunities for personality development, which is one major aim

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in education. O f the total number of primary students in the country, only 20 per cent study in primary schools and the others study in schools which have both primary and secondary sections. Therefore, w h e n one talks about primary education in Sri Lanka one has to consider not only primary schools, but also secondary schools that have primary sections. T w o distinctions could be m a d e between the two. Firstly, in a primary school, the same personnel m a n a g e and plan both the school and primary education at school level, whereas in a secondary school (more so when the schools are larger) the personnel working in the primary section manage and plan primary education, while the school is planned and managed by those in the secondary section. Secondly, larger schools are either totally or partly managed by the central ministry, whereas primary schools are managed by the province. It is apparent that straightjackets such as standardized measures, m a y not fit in to every school alike because of their unique contextual characteristics. Although there should be some form of uniformity in the school system within a national framework, there has to be some flexibility in the processes, in order to be able to adapt and adjust according to the contextual needs. This is more crucial w h e n it comes to primary education, for it is the place where the foundation of student life is being laid. Therefore, instead of single pyramid top-down decisions, there is a need for collaborative decisions, that might be helpful in making education relevant and meaningful to individual children. It is also envisaged that capacity building and empowerment of people at grass-roots level, are crucial in this process. This could be done only through functional decentralization, in which all those w h o are directly involved with the children get the opportunity to take part in decision making. If schools are to be effective, they have to adapt to local circumstances, and schools must beflexibleto meet the unique demands of their relevant population. Therefore, it is obvious that policies, methods and curricula decided at the centre m a y not fit in to the specific needs of each and every child. Teaching and learning occur in schools, and more so in classrooms. Increasing the authority and autonomy of principals and teachers to choreograph their o w n programmes and activities and to take responsibility for students' success or failure could be achieved only through functional decentralization. Thus, decentralization of functions with a sense of actual needs is very crucial in relation to the endeavour in making education effective at the primary level.

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However, that does not m e a n to say that Sri Lanka has had no form of decentralization in education. In fact, it has a long history in terms of decentralization, and certain remarkable efforts have been achieved during the past three decades, as explained below. I.

Decentralization policies a n d practices in education: a n evolutionary perspective

History indicates that in the early stages of educational progress in any country, the tendency is to adopt a centralized form which can mobilize philosophies, resources and energies effectively and produce a comparatively high level of efficiency in the short run. But with time, by decentralizing some of its power and responsibilities, the centre can concentrate more on matters of primary significance and high priority. 1.

Initial m o v e s towards decentralization: an historical overview

In Sri Lanka, from its very inception, education was managed centrally, e.g. moulding policy, issuing advice and instructions. M a n y steps have been taken by successive governments towards the decentralization of educational administration with a view to upgrading the operational efficiency of the school system. Setting up a Department of Public Instruction, in 1869, could be counted as the first step taken to identify education as a special social need by assigning the functions of the central government to a department. T h e Director, Department of Public Instruction had the powers to control, direct and supervise schools. The whole island was divided into three administrative districts and each was under an inspector of schools. In 1912 the Department of Public Instruction was named Department of Education and its head was designated as Director of Education. A n Assistant Director w a s also appointed. B y 1914 there were five districts and the Inspectors of schools were designated District Directors of schools. In 1931, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) w a s granted partial responsible government. The Department of Education was n a m e d the Ministry of Education and a minister was vested with powers to frame policy, control and direct the educational administration. The year 1940 saw the beginning of a n e w category of schools, named the Central schools, which were desti ned

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to play a vital role in the history of education in the country. Based on certain administrative reports, Jayasuriya (1971, pp. 438-439) thus summarizes the aims of the central schools. 1. 2.

3.

To collect together the pupils w h o have passed the primary stage from all schools within a certain radius and provide education for them in Central schools staffed with the best teachers obtainable. A training, cultural as well as practical, was envisaged with provision in the curriculum for academic subjects, including art, music and experimental science, and for practical instruction in vocational subjects, such as agriculture, commerce, housecraft and handicrafts. To correlate the education imparted with the needs of the locality; to prepare pupils for life, according to their ability and natural equipment, by creating a love for their village environment and by concentrating on occupations, traditional or otherwise, which could be developed nearer the pupils' h o m e to counter, as far as possible, the tendency of village youth to migrate to towns and semi-urban areas in search of employment and thereby to swell the ranks of the unemployed and become useless to themselves and to the community. Jayasuriya (1969, p. 98) goes on to say: "The better developed Central schools provided a wide variety of subjects - arts, science, agriculture, commerce, handicrafts, and yet they were unable to m a k e children, most of all the good ones, interested in agriculture and handicrafts. In other words, agriculture and handicrafts were without exception the Cinderellas of the Central schools. However vital agriculture and crafts studies were to the economy of the country, they were overshadowed in Central schools by the superior prestige of the pure arts and science. Agriculture and craft skills had to be salvaged from their submergence in the sea of academic subjects in Central schools".

The philosophy of thefirstMinister of Education in Sri Lanka, Dr C . W . W . Kannangara, was to remove the privileges and prejudices of education through equalization of educational opportunities for all children in all areas. The report of the Special Committee on Education (Sessional paper 2 4 of 1943), of which Kannangara was chairperson, had two major premises: (a) every individual must have equal opportunity so that, provided he has the necessary innate ability, he can lift himself from the humblest to the

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highest position in the social, economic and political life of the nation; and (b) education in a democratic society should be free at all stages. The most revolutionary reform in the educational history of the period, was the introduction of free education from kindergarten to the university, with effect from 1 October 1945, and to m a k e the mother tongue the m e d i u m of instruction in primary classes. T h e creation of central schools, the introduction of free education and change over to the m e d i u m of instruction from English to Sinhala/Tamil, has resulted in the expansion of the schoolgoing population. The deserving students from the villages have entered the mainstream of education. Though Kannangara perceived education to be a fundamental h u m a n right and this could be achieved through equal participation, this was interpreted differently as providing equal access to education. M a n y did not perceive that participation data does not reveal the entire story. Improving enrolment alone is not enough. If the quality of education that is provided is low and aspirations of those w h o seek it are low, then there is very little that education will do to improve the quality of life of the people. T h o u g h the central schools were a failure in terms of curricular diversification, they provided quality secondary academic education similar to or in s o m e cases even better than, what was provided in the few good urban schools. T h e central schools, in no uncertain terms, brought secondary education within easy reach of the lower-middle class and poor pupils. M a n y of them entered university in the 1950s and 1960s, making a new impact in the administrative machinery of the country. But the past two decades have shown a gradual deterioration of the central schools which, almost for three decades, remained the cream of the school system, a matter of concern for all educationists. The existing administrative machinery could not fully cope with the increasing complexity of problems and volume of work. In the late 1950s, several attempts were m a d e to formulate a scheme of a decentralized administrative system that suited the then society, but without m u c h success. 2.

Creation of education regions and districts

The first significant recommendation for decentralization c a m e from a conference of officers held in April 1961. The terms of reference given by the then minister to the conference was:

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"to explore the administrative set-up in the Department of Education with a view that it might be necessary to gear administration to changed and changing conditions in the country" (Report of the Education Conference held at Bandarawela, 1961). The conference thus expressed the need for decentralization. "Decentralization is one of the important m e a n s of securing efficiency a n d speed in handling the day-to-day w o r k of administration. Decentralization connotes delegation of authority to Regional offices and the lessening of concentration of power at the Head Office". The recommendations of the conference were implemented in October 1961, creating 10 educational regions, under assistant directors, and 13 educational districts, under education officers. The head office retained the power to deal with questions of policy in all administrative matters and in addition reserved for itself all major issues. The regional offices were m a d e responsible for accounting, finance, administration and establishment work in the area controlled by the office. T h e assistant director was put in charge of overall administration, with the task of supervising and co-ordinating the work of the district offices in the region. District offices were authorized to exercise the same functions as the regional offices, for accounting and payment. In terms of its impact, this phase of decentralization was a success. It created a better machinery to satisfy local needs than existed before. It also provided the m u c h needed functional efficiency at the centre to cope with the variety and complexity of problems associated with an expanding system. However, these attempts were more in the form of déconcentration and delegation of tasks than a genuine effort towards decentralization. Taking note of the positive gains from the earlier efforts, educational planners considered further decentralization in 1966. A deliberate effort was m a d e towards the implementation of a more comprehensive decentralization scheme in line with the recommendations of a 'Committee on Administrative R e f o r m s ' . This structure w a s an endeavour with varying degrees of implementation, depending upon the attitudes of the ministry officials. The Proposals for Reforms in General and Technical Education (1966), which was based on the recommendations of the above committee, stated:

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" A strong and well-organized administrative set-up, with well-defined lines of authorities as well as checks and balance a m o n g different authorities, reinforced by adequate provision of the consultation of public opinion, is of vital importance to an efficient system of administration". The main objective of this exercise, was to integrate some ministries with departments for better co-ordination and expeditious implementation of government decisions. Education was one of the ministries amalgamated in this manner. The number of education regions was increased to 15, and each region was placed under a regional director of education, with full autonomy. H e was n o w responsible for promotions and training of teachers and the general administration of the regions without reference to Colombo. T h e director of education w h o headed the department (ministry) was designated Director-General of Education and his post was combined with that of the Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Education. Subsequently, the posts of Deputy-Directors General were created to manage the tasks of primary, secondary and technical education. 3.

Changes si nee 1970 and curricul ar reforms of 1972

The decentralization of the administration carried out in 1961 and in 1966, had given the ministry an organizational infrastructure. However, it was felt that due to the division into primary, secondary and technical education, compartmentalization and duplication of functions had occurred, which hindered rather than helped the management process. Therefore a n e w structure was set up. It w a s also strongly felt that educational institutions and their administration must be more closely related to the communities which they were designed to serve. Ariyadasa (1976, pp. 16 and 19) states: "Instead of the division into primary, secondary and technical education the n e w allocation of functions were (a) educational planning, (b) educational design, in-service education of teachers and research, and (c) school organization and implementation. This was a m u c h more workable arrangement since it cut across the barriers of levels and focused on functions. This allowed a unitary approach to education and permitted the three deputy directors general to c o m e together with the director general for discussions in all matters affecting the entire school system".

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The 1972 educational reforms integrated a vocational component into general education. Pre-vocational studies were given a key position in the curriculum. These pre-vocational courses drew on traditional vocational subjects such as w o o d w o r k and weaving and on the specific occupations of the locality. The local expertise was to be utilized. It was envisaged that the pre-vocational subjects would develop positive attitudes in pupils towards productive work and help them to engage in self-employment in their local environment once they left school. The age of admission was raised from five to six years and the n e w nine-year c o m m o n curriculum n o w consisted of an environment-based primary curriculum and a c o m m o n four-year junior secondary curriculum for all students. Besides the two pre-vocational subjects, integrated mathematics, integrated science and integrated social studies were also introduced. C o m m u n i t y orientation w a s promoted through subjects such as cultural heritage and socio-economic environment, principles of socialism and project work. Teacher's guides, materials, textbooks, and science equipment were provided and laboratories were set up. Large in-service training programmes in all disciplines were arranged. G C E (O-level) and (A-level) examinations were replaced with the National Certificate of General Education at Grade 9 and Higher National Certificate Examination at Grade 11. This was done with the view of devaluing the heavy examination orientation. The 1972 reforms were a remarkable exercise in curriculum reform, and were perceived as central to decentralization of educational management. However, w h e n a new government c a m e into power in 1977, the earlier examinations were reintroduced. The pre-vocational subjects were replaced by the earlier practical subjects. This shows h o w political interventions can dominate over expertise-determined policies in countries like Sri Lanka. Jayaweera (1988, p . 34), however, has attributed several factors that contributed towards the downfall of the 1972 reforms. "Although ideological commitment was strong, the reforms were defeated by environmental and resource constraints and opposition to measures such as the proposed abolition of the G C E (A-level) examination - the gateway to the national and international labour market. It is instructive to note that the reforms were not supported by changes in the economic structure and environment. Socioeconomic inequalities determined the content of pre-vocational courses which, in turn, tended to reinforce disparities".

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4.

Creation of t w o ministries

In 1978 the Ministry of Education was split into two ministries, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education. Further additions were m a d e in 1979, with the establishment of the Ministry of Education Services and the Education Committee of the Public Service Commission. 5.

Reforms of 1981

Major educational reforms were introduced in 1981. The regional departments of education and the district offices, were reorganized and restructured in order to reduce the 'system overload' of the regional director, enabling him to concentrate on tasks of greater development orientation. It was proposed that the existing circuit system be replaced by the cluster system. (a)

School clusters

A group of schools within a defined geographical area, were m a d e a cluster for the purpose of better organization, management and development. The cluster was a fully fledged administrative unit, having a leader of its o w n (principal of the core-school) with delegated powers to administer the unit organized for the achievement of certain identified goals. This w a s done to enable better utilization of resources of both the state and community. T h e cluster system is thus explained in the 1981 Education Proposals for Reform: "Each cluster will function as an administrative entity to meet the educational needs of the entire area it serves. Pupil admissions, requisitions of supplies, capital expenditure and allocation of teachers will be on the basis that each cluster is one organizational unit. Thus, the smallest unit for planning the development and organization of the school system will henceforth be the school cluster" (p. 9 ) . The clusters were encouraged to m o v e towards greater self-reliance so that they might shoulder heavier responsibilities and also be vested with greater authority with regard to the management of the cluster activities. It w a s envisaged that a school cluster would compromise a number of primary schools and several secondary schools. A cluster was to have a total pupil enrolment of about 3,000-5,000 students. The objectives of the cluster system could be summarized as follows.

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

To achieve qualitative development in education through intensive and systematic supervision, evaluation and follow-up action of the schools within the cluster. To up-grade the neglected, underdeveloped remote schools by making them participate in cluster activities. To enable schools to be managed by a body of more competent personnel. The functions of planning, management, supervision and administrative duties would be delegated to the cluster principal. To minimize/eliminate wastage, duplication in the provision and use of facilities, and help to achieve optimum utilization of scarce resources, both personnel and physical, within school clusters. To obtain the m a x i m u m participation of the community to a m u c h greater degree and ensure the m a x i m u m contribution of the public for up-grading educational facilities of their school complex area.

The reforms proposed that larger schools be left out from the school cluster scheme on account of their size and resources they c o m m a n d . Schools in remote areas were also to be left out. The exclusion of unitary (larger) schools and isolated remote schools from the clusters can be viewed as contrary to the overall process. O f course one possible factor for such a m o v e could be that very large schools with high recognition, with very high pupil and teacher numbers and very small remote schools, have their unique traditional values. They m a y also have different social demands, which creates a gap with the rest of the schools. The clusters replaced the circuits which were administered by circuit education officers. Each circuit had approximately 30-50 schools. W h e n the circuits were substituted by the clusters, there arose n e w administrative problems, since most cluster principals lacked administrative experience. In m a n y cases cluster leadership was inadequate. However, w h e n there were good leaders as cluster principals, there were very positive results. A Study on Bandarawela district (Perera: 1989, p. 6) revealed that there were less qualified personnel working as cluster principals. The ministry had stipulated that the cluster principal should be from the Sri Lanka Education Administrative Service ( S L E A S ) or should at least hold the post of Grade 1 in the Sri Lanka Principals Service (SLPS). There were some cluster principals w h o held grades below. Even those qualified had not received the necessary training. If the cluster was to become an effective unit, it was necessary to give the principals of the core-schools adequate training and sufficient administrative support so that they would b e competent to carry out

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development plans for the clusters. Frequency of supervisory visits had not visibly improved and supervisory techniques in most cases remained the same (Staff College: 1986, pp. 79-80; Perera: 1989, p. 11). There were also marked imbalances a m o n g clusters themselves. Perera, in a study on the district of Bandarewala ( 1989, pp. 4-5), found that in some clusters pupil enrolment was very high, while in others it was very low (Table 1). Table 1. N u m b e r of pupils in clusters - B a n d a r a w e l a district

Number of pupils 8,000 Number of clusters 01

7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000

1,000

0

01

11

03

05

03

12

03

12

Another factor highlighted by Perera (1989, pp. 5-6) is the variation in the number of schools that belong to each cluster. T h e imbalance in the number of schools a m o n g clusters in the Bandarawela district is shown in Table 2. Table 2 . N u m b e r of schools within the clusters - Bandarawela District Number of schools within 4 cluster N u m b e r of clusters with that number of schools 2

5

6

1 5

7

8 9

3 5 4

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

8

9

9

4

1 2

1

Though the criteria for clustering schools is not the number of students or the number of schools, they are also factors that have to be considered - the cluster needed to be the smallest unit for planning and organization in the school system. A n extra large unit is difficult to manage. A case highlighted by a Staff College study ( 1989, p. 41 ) concerns a cluster in the Ratnapura district. It consisted of 13 Sinhala m e d i u m schools and 5 Tamil m e d i u m schools with 6,390 pupils. Nine of the schools were situated about 12.8 kilometres towards different directions

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to the core school. The principal of this cluster, a highly motivated lady with a lot of innovative ideas, w h o had managed the cluster for eight months, has only been able to m a k e one visit per school and found it difficult to visit schools located in the periphery. She felt that the cluster should be divided into two organizational units. O n the other hand, an exceptionally small unit would hardly m o v e towards self-reliance. T h e limited number of grades, streams, teachers and physical resources available within such a cluster would not provide the best possible schooling to the community. Another problem was the sharing of resources (Perera: 1989, p. 6; Staff College, 1989, p. 50). There was a concentration of resources at the core school. The basic model of the cluster, that of sharing resources and helping the smaller and backward schools, was often not realized. The above and other studies also revealed that most core-schools themselves did not have certain basic facilities such as typewriters (or typists) and duplicating machines (Weerasingha, 1990, p. 12). (b) The district organization Twenty-four education districts, co-extensive with the 24 administrative districts, were established. Each district had a department of education, headed by a director of education. For effective administration, each department in each district was vested with authority to carry out the educational policies of the government, as well as to take the initiative in adopting the policies to suit the particular needs of the district. (c) District-level curriculum development T h e reforms proposed that in the development of curriculum material for schools, the district variations must be kept in view. There must be freedom for experimentation and innovative activity. Teacher educators, district education department personnel, school principals, and, in particular, practising teachers, had to be involved in the curriculum development, thereby helping them to understand and appreciate the n e w developments. (d) F r o m examinations towards continuous assessment Evaluation was to be done on a continuous basis, thus reducing reliance on the external examinations. T h e external examination process had to be

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decentralized, allowing for some district variations and greater participation of those actually engaged in teaching. This m o v e did not succeed. W h e n a n e w minister took over the portfolio in 1989, continuous assessment was abandoned. There was already stiff opposition from the majority of the teachers and parents to continuous assessment. Teachers saw this as an additional burden and parents had no faith in a school-based evaluation system. Parents also found that suddenly their children were over-burdened with h o m e assignments. This was a very clear example of the fact that no innovation should be introduced unless the people w h o are directly affected by it are prepared in advance. The need to sustain the confidence and good-will of politicians also seems necessary to achieve success in innovations, however 'educational' the issue is. 6.

Reforms of 1984

The expectations embodied in the 1981 reforms were unmatched by appropriate organizational structures and m a n a g e m e n t implementation strategies. T h e need for further decentralization w a s identified and by the year 1984 a set of n e w measures w a s produced. Through these measures the centre expected to establish an effective and efficient management system which would provide the necessary support to implement a meaningful programme for educational development. The Report on Management refonns in the Ministry of Education, Sri Lanka (1984, p. 7) emphasized that: " M a n a g e m e n t capability at school, regional and ministry levels for education development is determined by the availability of appropriate organization structures, planning mechanisms and practices, efficient work systems and implementation processes, effective supervision systems, personnel evaluation and accountability, integrated information system with appropriate technological facilities, dynamic personnel policies and practices, training and career development programmes focused on performance improvement of individuals and organizations, and availability of institutions for co-ordinating the formulation, implementation and evaluation of policy. Such capabilities will be enhanced by the extent to which a clear strategy for improving management is designed and implemented; and will be enriched by the availability of institutional arrangements enabling the participation of client groups in the educational programmes at operational level".

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6.1

The sub-regional level

The report (p. 14) suggested that an intermediate, multi-cluster layer between the R D E office and the cluster be established in order to: (i) deconcentrate development work congesting at the R D E office; (ii) co-ordinate and supervise the work congesting at the R D E office; (iii) service the needs of schools outside the clusters; (iv) reduce travel costs and time of supervising staff. This layer was named the Divisional Education Office. Atfirst,divisional offices were established on a pilot basis in four districts, and subsequently expanded to the others. Each office was headed by the Divisional Education Officer and w a s to have four divisions, as follows. (i)

The Education Development Division, under the divisional education officer. Its task was to formulate, implement and appraise the plans and programmes to ensure m a x i m u m utilization of resources. (ii) Education Administration Division, under an education officer. Its aims were to provide infrastructure services, instructions, guidelines and material inputs to the schools. (iii) Finance Division, under a Financial Assistant. It had to support services in finance, accounts and supplies. (iv) General Administration Division, headed by an Education Officer. Its task was to ensure personnel management functions in schools within the division, and to provide office management and support services. 6.2

The school level

The reforms very strongly viewed the principal as a first-line manager of the ministry and recommended further delegation of authority to the principal. T h e principal's role as institutional leader was emphasized. T h e reforms suggested that he should be held accountable for educational development activities of the school. The report on reforms (p. 9) stated that: "Principals be given the delegated authority necessary to punish any teacher, supervisor, or other school employee up to a reprimand or a fine of up to one week's pay, also the authority to suspend any student for misconduct or misbehaviour up to one month. H e should be given the financial authority in the school and also to take action on the annual school board of survey accordingly. The principal of a

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school should be held responsible for the preparation, implementation, management, control and review of the annual school plan". The report noted that the principals do not adequately delegate and assign functions and responsibilities to their deputies and sectional heads. The roles of Grade and Subject co-ordinators were recommended. The supervisory staff of a school must form the Central Management Group, thereby working as a team. It is their responsibility to implement a systematic programme of teacher supervision, evaluation and development under the leadership of the principal. T h e principal and his subordinates were encouraged to be given a higher degree of authority. 6.3

Operational difficulties of 1984 reforms

The management reforms of 1984, were mainly focused on building up a planning and management culture at the institutional level. However, due to multifarious factors, the proposed structural changes did not always bring about efficiency. ' G a p s ' were observed in the capacity and efficiency of the established schools system, on the one hand, and multiple levels of management of supra school level on the other, in attaining n e w education goals. Cabrai (1989), based on a study in the Kegalle district, quotes an officer as saying: "Management reforms have really reduced efficiency. Everywhere it is mere duplication. Divisional office prepares pay sheets, but they have to be approved by the regional director" (p. 7). Specific duplication examples are revealed in several studies. Another example, quoted by Cabrai (1989, p. 17): " O n c e our office (the district office) called a meeting of the cluster core-school principals. O n the same day another meeting was called by the divisional office on s o m e important cluster matters. Most principals came to our meeting and could not participate in the meeting at the divisional office". Perera (1989, p . 14) has pointed out that, two interviewees expressed the fear of the possibility of the divisions being subjected to dual control on some issues. O n e quoted example was:

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"The district has laid d o w n s o m e guidelines on the provision of the midday meal. Consequently a circular was sent directly to the divisions by the ministry on the same subject, which proposed a different procedure of doing it". Manoharan (1988, p. 4) identified several instances in the Batticaloa district where the district office also carried out duties assigned to the divisional office, thus duplicating the work. " O n e of the functions of the divisional education office is the assessment of divisional cadre requirements, obtaining and maintaining the cadre and inter-divisional transfers. T h e divisional education office used to call for necessary statistics from the cluster principals to assess the teacher cadres of the division. T h o u g h this was done systematically, the district office effected teacher transfers of the division without consulting the division and in m a n y cases the copies of such transfers did not reach the divisional office in time. The divisional office, therefore, w a s unable to maintain up-to-date data. The district office used to call for the same particulars separately and assess teacher cadres of schools. This double exercise is a waste of time, material and energy". Manoharan (1988, p. 5) adds: "Because of the direct dealing with the teachers, school heads and cluster principals by the district office, they have the tendency to communicate direct or m o b around the district office and rob the precious time of the district director and his chief education officer, that could be utilized for educational planning and development. Most of the time district office personnel interview teachers on their problems, mainly on transfers, which could be solved at the divisional level". Another defect, observes Manoharan (1988, p. 10): "Payments of salaries were entrusted to the division. Paysheets were prepared and cheques were issued by them. Subsequently this was centralized to the district office, which is contrary to decentralization". These examples highlight the need for a more precise definition of authority between the ministry, the district and the divisions. In the process of decentralization conflict, confusion and duplication is inevitable, but they can be minimized by defining clearly what to decentralize, to what degree and h o w .

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T h e n e w package of decentralization needed m o r e educational administrators, personnel specialized in different areas of management such as planning, finance, curriculum supervision, etc. M o r e supporting staff, m o r e buildings, furniture and vehicles were needed. Perera (1989, p. 12) points out that the most unfavourable factor for successful decentralization in the Bandarawela district, w a s the lack of h u m a n and physical resources. This study revealed that four out of the five divisional offices in the district lacked the required cadre of officers and all except one were housed in temporary buildings. This is emphasized by the Staff College (1989, p . 22) study of the Ratnapura district : "Most of the offices are apportioned from existing school buildings with makeshift arrangements. Out of the six divisional offices in Ratnapura only three are substantially equipped. T h e others are managing with m i n i m u m building space and furniture. Four offices do not have the full complement of officers. In one office the D E O is the sole officer himself. N o n e of the offices were provided with a vehicle". The Kegalle district study (Cabrai; 1989, p . 9) also points out the lack of competent personnel to manage the newly formed structures. At the school level too, the reforms failed to achieve the expected objectives. Perera ( 1989, p. 8 ) points out that the reforms remained at suggestion level as the proposals were not followed up with relevant circulars. "Though the reforms proposed a fair amount of responsibilities to be handed over to the principal, it did not happen. Even in the case of teacher transfers, they were consulted only in some cases. The authority and responsibility that the management reforms proposed were not vested with the principals. O n the one level the ministry had not followed up its policy by amending the necessary circulars, regulations etc., while on the other, principals have notrisento the occasion to exercise the power and authority that should be their due". H e further adds: "The decentralization of the functions within the school has not been fully carried out. Principals have not adequately delegated and assigned functions and responsibilities to their deputy and sectional heads. A s suggested in the reforms, most schools had formed central

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management groups, but what w a s expected from the group w a s not happening. In the first place they don't seem to form and work as a team. Teacher supervision, evaluation and development is not done in some schools, and in schools where they were done, needed improvement. Another problem was that the personnel of the central m a n a g e m e n t group, too, lacked authority as they had not been formally appointed. They didn't hold special posts and felt they were being called to perform additional tasks without additional remuneration. It is extremely essential under a s c h e m e of decentralization that the promotional prospects of teachers should be based on a proper scheme of evaluation" (p. 9). Several studies have highlighted that, for the reforms to be effective, relevant documents should reach the personnel at different implementation levels in a clear and easily comprehensible form, and on time. Perera (1989, p. 13) states: " T h e production of documents only in English w a s seen as a serious drawback by 75 per cent of those w h o were interviewed. Several officers even of the district office had not gone through the documents". According to the Staff College (1986) study, 53 per cent of the principals in a sample from three districts had communication problems with the documents, such as: (a) (b) (c) (d)

the production of the documents after the innovation; the production of the documents only in English; inadequacy of advance communication flow to the school; flaws in the terminology and expression in documents.

E v e n though the structural changes proposed in 1984 reforms were implemented, the functional changes expected had taken place only partially. 7.

Establishment of Provincial Councils

T h e Provincial Council Act of 1 9 8 7 , enacted as the Thirteenth A m e n d m e n t of the Constitution, led to an island-wide devolution of political and administrative functions. In the year 1988, the 13th a m e n d m e n t to the

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constitution was passed by the parliament and a totally n e w administrative structure w a s introduced to the country with the aim of allowing m o r e autonomy and independence to the provinces to m a n a g e their affairs. Provincial ministries were established and a minister was put in charge of education. T h e post of provincial secretary w a s also established. T h e provincial councils had c o m e into being with very strong devolved muscle power. Education w a s one of the devolved subjects. Thus, the structures set in motion consequent upon the introduction of management reforms in the early 1980s, had to be reorganized in the light of implementing the devolved functions under the 13th amendment. T h e R D E system w a s abolished. Education divisions, comprising 100150 schools, were carved out as educational administrative units, at the operational level. In the domain of general administration, 268 divisional secretariats were established as administrative units in line with the geographical areas of political agencies, 'pradeshiya sabhas', municipalities and urban councils, with a view to bringing the decision-making process to the grass-roots level and translating the participatory planning process into a more realistic situation. A s regards the educational administration, the ministry too had to fall in line with the government policy imposed on decentralization of administration, and action was taken to establish education divisions, coextensive with the divisional secretariats of general administration. The provision of facilities for all state schools other than specified schools became a provincial function. Appointment of principals to types 2 and 3 schools, implementation of non-formal education programmes, construction and maintenance of buildings, libraries, playgrounds, procurement and distribution of teaching aids, issuing of visual aids and audio-visual materials, furniture and other equipment, were s o m e of the functions that c a m e under the province. The construction and maintenance of educational buildings, libraries, playgrounds and infrastructure facilities to the national schools, and the provision of furniture, teaching aids and audio-visual materials to them, was to be handled by the national ministry, whereas the same functions in the other schools were to be dealt with by the provincial ministries. Silva et cd. (1993) identified several problems that arose in educational administration with the establishment of the provincial councils. The authority and the responsibilities of the provincial director had been reduced with the emergence of the provincial ministries. The provincial director w a s m a d e accountable to the provincial secretary and wherever there were strained

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relationships between the two, problems occurred. The divisional office was often subjected to dual control by the provincial ministry and the provincial department. T h e officers in the divisional offices found themselves facing uneasy situations and were left wondering w h o their real master was. The roles of the provincial secretary and provincial director needed to have been defined more precisely. Whenever a provincial ministry was run by the opposition party to that of the central government, there arose s o m e complex problems. The provincial director often implemented the decisions of the central government. There were occasions w h e n both the provincial ministry and the provincial department effected teacher transfers. The central government started promoting bigger schools to the national school status to bring them under their control. In fact, one provincefileda case against the central ministry for establishing national schools in their province. This does not m e a n to say that w h e n the province was ruled by the same party that ruled the central government, things were smooth. The provincial ministers sometimes complained that the national minister/ministry interfered in their work. However, if decentralization is viewed in a functional perspective, and if the guiding principle is genuine participation of those at the local level in the decisionmaking process, Sri Lanka still has a long w a y to go. 8.

Important events and changes since 1 9 9 0 8.1

The National Education

Commission

The parliament passed an act in early 1991 (National Education Commission Act, N o . 19 of 1991 ) and the National Education Commission was appointed in July of the same year. The functions of the Commission were primarily to m a k e recommendations on educational policy in all its aspects, with a view to ensuring continuity in educational policy and enabling the education system to respond to the changing needs of the society. It was expected to review and analyze periodically the national education policy and plans in operation, and where necessary to r e c o m m e n d changes. T h e following major areas were to be considered: (a) character building; (b) nation building; (c) development of general competencies; and (d) development of specific capabilities. 8.2

The Zonal

Organization

Considering the geographical location of divisions in the provinces and their number as well as the multiplicity of functions, they needed to have

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strong linkages between the centre and the periphery. A s such, a number of divisions were grouped together to form a Zone. T h e head of the education zone, the zonal director, was responsible to the provincial director of education, for the implementation of quality improvement programmes. T h e zonal director of education w a s supposed to strengthen the vital linkages, and play a pivotal role in co-ordinating educational development. H e had directly to liaise with the P D E , D D E and the schools and, through the P D E , with the M O E , the N I E and other agencies. T h e zonal organization w a s an innovative mechanism set in motion to strengthen the links as well as to co-ordinate educational development. T h e major functions of the zonal organization were to: (1) maintain, supervise and enhance the quality of the teaching/learning process at school level; (2) co-ordinate and implement in-service teacher training programmes, in collaboration with the M O E , N I E , Department of Examinations, other Departments and universities; (3) utilize effectively limited specialized personnel involved in science, mathematics, technical subjects, English and special education; (4) co-ordinate activities of foreign-funded programmes; (5) co-ordinate teacher establishment activities pertaining to m o r e than one divisional level; (6) co-ordinate co-curricular, cultural and library activities; (7) collect information. 8.3

School Development

Boards

School Development Boards were established by the then Minister of Education and Higher Education by Gazette (extra-ordinary) in February 1992. This w a s considered an innovative m a n a g e m e n t strategy, set in place to enlist community and parental support for the upgrading of the operational efficiency of the school system. T h e following were to be the main functions of the school development boards, to: (1) assess and assist in the current needs and performance of the school and to r e c o m m e n d relevant improvements to academic curricula and m o d e s of teaching, to the N I E and to the school; (2) promote sports and recreational, literary, aesthetic, social, vocational, and other extra-curricular activities in the school;

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(3) promote cultural, religious (including inter-cultural and inter-religious) and moral activities in school; (4) assist in the development and maintenance of school infrastructure; (5) assist in the improvement and expansion of facilities of the school with regard to libraries, educational equipment and learning aids; (6) ascertain the requirements of the school, such as school books, midday meal stamps, student uniforms, and to effect their distribution; (7) foster and strengthen the welfare activities of the school community and preserve its identity and traditions; (8) interact productively with the media so as to engender a cohesive relationship between the school, on the one hand, and the community and religious institutions, on the other; (9) assist in the m a x i m u m utilization by the school of the state allocations and contributions from the community, and to take necessary steps for the proper disbursement thereof; (10) assist in the development of the personality of the pupils in schools, with a view to inculcating in them a spirit of caring for, and sharing with, the members of the school community, team work and organizational ability. A closer analysis of school boards revealed that in most primary schools they did not exist. E v e n in schools where they existed, the major emphasis was on generating resources. Although the community was represented, it was mainly by minority elites, as the principals themselves felt that the socially disadvantaged groups had nothing m u c h to contribute, nor did they have the necessary calibre to get things done. W h e n members were elected to the boards, democratic election procedures had not taken place, especially in the rural primary schools. Principals had n a m e d the members w h o m they thought suitable. Those selected hardly attended the meetings in rural primary schools. Even teachers were not involved in the decision-making process. M a n y understood school boards as fund-raising bodies. If school development boards were to comply with their objectives, based on collaborative decision making of the stakeholders of the schools, the school principals and teachers should have been m a d e aware of their objectives through an appropriate strategy. There w a s no evidence of authentic shift of power to the locality and its people. There was no proper information flow from the members of the school boards to the other stakeholders. However, the school development boards did not exist long enough to assess their progress, as they were abolished in February 1995 by a ministry circular. School development societies, which had operated previously, were to function instead.

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II.

T h e present situation

1.

T h e present m a n a g e m e n t structure

T h e administrative set-up of the education system of Sri Lanka, is organized under the Minister of Education and Higher Education, w h o is responsible for the Cabinet of Ministers and the Government of Sri Lanka. T h e Secretary to the Minister of Education and Higher Education is responsible for the implementation of government policy o n education, and the proper functioning of all administrative and m a n a g e m e n t matters of the Ministry. (a)

National Ministry

It is at this level that national policy decisions are taken, national-level plans are m a d e and mechanisms of progress and monitoring are set in motion. T h e following specific areas are also directly managed at national level.

1.

Instructions, Boards and supply of services: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v)

2.

National Institute of Education (NIE); Department of Education Publications; Department of Examinations; B o o k Development Board and the Library Services Board; supply of educational services such as free meals, free books and uniform material, etc.

Education development p r o g r a m m e s such as: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)

School development; National Schools; Non-formal education; Teacher education;

(v)

Infrastructure development;

(vi)

Finance and accounts.

(b)

Provincial ministries of education and provincial offices of education

The provincial ministry is organized under a minister. T h e secretary to the provincial ministry is responsible for the proper functioning and

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m a n a g e m e n t of the ministry. T h e provincial education office will constitute the apex of the provincial educational administrative structure. (c)

Zonal education offices

The zonal education offices will be responsible for duties pertaining to quality improvement in education, as well as all administrative and establishment work that was carried out by divisional education offices. To carry out his prime objective, that is quality improvement in education, the zonal director will be assisted by a team of specialist D D E E / A D E E . The team will consist of about 18 D D E E / A D E E specialized in different subject areas. A n additional zonal director will be appointed to the zonal office to organize the administrative functions. A zone will consist of a number of divisions and about 150 schools. (d)

Divisional education office

The Divisional education office established under the zone has control of about 40 schools. Supervision of schools will be entrusted to the D D E / A D E in charge of the divisional education office. H e will primarily be a field officer and will be required to carry out school supervision, collect A R R and guide the master teachers in quality improvement activities. H e will have a group of master teachers. The divisional office will be relieved of its present activities pertaining to general administration, finance, buildings and supplies. (e)

The school

The school, the delivery point of education, is headed by the Principal, w h o is responsible for its efficient management. The school is free to develop relationships with the parents and well-wishers, government officials, political and social leaders and the public, w h o are vital for school development. (f)

District education office

In addition to the above offices, a district education office under a Class 1 S L E A S officer will b e established in each district. This office will coordinate all the activities of the zonal offices.

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2.

Problems involved in effective decentralization 2 . 1 Ambiguities in objectives in terms of decentralization

O n e major drawback in the decentralization process, can be identified as ambiguities in relation to their objectives. There seem to be discrepancies in the dominant meaning of policy changes at various levels, such as the proposed (recommendation) level, policy level and implementation level. Similarly, the purpose and the objectives of decentralization have also been changing over time, according to the political needs and socio-economic demands. The word decentralization was often used loosely and has acquired a diffused meaning. Similarly, objectives behind decentralization also seem to have changed from time to time. Although the prime objective of decentralization was to get the locals involved in making their o w n decisions, there was no consensus, even a m o n g the people at one given level, not to mention two different levels. This can be seen from the steps taken since the early twentieth century in making the education system decentralized. In fact, the steps taken towards decentralization came from the State as a response to various advisory and commission reports. S o m e consider that in 1987 the provincial councils were established in order to maintain national unity due to the secessionist threats. The objectives or the purpose of decentralization are based on different perceptions. Decentralization has meant different things for different groups of people. For example, empowerment to local levels through decentralization and devolution has been suggested by the Presidential Commission (1990), as a resolution to the problems incurred due to inequality and discrimination at local levels. They would have looked at the problem from a participatory notion of democracy and wanted to get the local stakeholders involved in decision making. W h e n it c a m e to the policy process level, decentralization has been seen from a liberal democratic notion of market economy (allows everyone to grow as they wish), which is poles apart from the initial version. According to social and participatory democratic notions, such trends are liable to increase the prevailing gap between rich and poor schools. O n e of the major objectives of the governments in power to decentralize, was to get the local support to generate necessary resources for the developmental activities of the local schools. This was the case even before Independence (1948). The colonial rulers themselves found it difficult to cope with demand

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for resources and were seeking more and more financial support from the public. The enactment of 1906 and 1907 education ordinances, is afineexample of encouraging local support to meet the financial needs of the schools. This agenda of generating resources has been prominent throughout, irrespective of the objectives highlighted from time to time. This was most evident with school development boards. During the past couple of years the opening of international schools has been encouraged. There is a worldwide trend to share educational costs between governments and local people and it is butrightto reflect whether Sri Lanka can avoid this trend. D u e to the quantitative expansion that has taken place, countries are faced with shortages in physical as well as h u m a n resources. T o overcome these shortages governments have tried to increase the number of personnel outside the education system involved in educational activities. Private benefits on education in m a n y instances exceed social benefits. There is a strong argument put forward by m a n y countries that education has reached a ceiling, since governments can no longer afford to provide for continual expansion of the education systems, as in the past. They believe that support has to be sought from parents, community members, community institutions and other voluntary organizations. In the Sri Lankan case, one can find that decentralization has taken place more in administrative work than in education development. Teachers do not mind whether they are paid by the district office, zonal office or by the divisional office, as long as they get the money on time. W h a t they need, but what has not been forthcoming, is a systematic frequent facilitation that could improve their performance. Decentralization is a means to develop, rather than a form of government. 2.2

Social and cultural constraints

Because of the post-colonial mentality of having to be submissive to the leaders, it is believed that the ordinary populace found it difficult to perform as decision-makers. E v e n if the masses wanted to, the power groups were reluctant to get the masses involved. This was aggravated under colonialism because of the prevalent master-slave system. E v e n after Independence, the gap between the decision-makers and the masses did not really change because of the influence of such strong traditional practices. Therefore, decision making related to planning and management at local levels, has not been realized.

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2.3

Frequent changes in policies and

programmes

In the past two decades, decentralization has b e c o m e a fashionable word. T h e word seems to have b e c o m e rather 'diluted', and m u c h lip service has been paid to it. It has been considered m o r e as an end than a m e a n s . Therefore, changes have frequently been m a d e without allowing the change to stand the test of time. 2.4

Lack of resources

Decentralization processes carried out so far have created different levels. N e w roles and functions have emerged. T h e personnel were not trained for their n e w roles. M o r e supportive staff were needed, but were not recruited. M o r e buildings, furniture and vehicles were required. Studies have revealed that one important factor that hindered decentralization w a s the lack of physical and h u m a n resources. 2.5

Lack of preparation

In effecting decentralization, different pressure groups can arise from the population and this has happened on several occasions, especially during the curricular reforms of 1972 and when continuous assessment was introduced in 1987. If a change is to take root, intense preparation of pressure groups is necessary. It is evident from the Sri Lankan experience that a reform or an innovation can succeed only if political leaders both in power and in the opposition are involved. If not, at least their blessings are needed. Decentralization can be successful only if there is systematic and careful preparation. Those w h o hand over authority must m a k e genuine efforts to prepare those at the periphery. Similarly, those w h o take over, must have a desire to exercise that authority and they must c o m e out of their shells and prepare themselves to take over. It is also evident that only certain groups are being trained or receive the necessary awareness to face changes. For example, principals are being trained, but not the officers at the middle-management level, so they are unaware of the change. There is a lack of flow of necessary information. There is a need to create an awareness a m o n g all those w h o are involved in a change, from the central to the grass-roots level. Staffing is a critical issue in decentralization and an important aspect of staffing is m a n p o w e r development.

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III. Capacity building for decentralized m a n a g e m e n t 1.

Assessment of training needs at different levels for effective implementation of decentralization measures

Decentralization in educational administration demonstrates the willingness of a country to strive at improving its education system through greater participation of local communities. Through a process of decentralization, it is expected to maximize the efficiency of the education system. Sri Lanka, on a number of occasions, restructured and reorganized its educational administration with this in view. O n e of the features over the past few decades has been to break up regional offices. But decentralization has not been viewed from a functional perspective. Though the geographical units of administration have shifted from the central to the middle levels, the schools which are at the periphery have remained almost unchanged. The fact is that decentralization was not viewed as a strategy for improving functional efficiency. E v e n if there was a need to devolve power and responsibility, the local-level people were not prepared to take over. Even those w h o had to hand over their responsibilities were not trained to 'give u p ' . There w a s a need for bureaucratic reorientation. Functional decentralization is more a change in attitude and values rather than creating structures. Preparation of people is more crucial when it comes to the primary level. It has already been highlighted that a major draw-back in achieving the effects desired by the established, decentralized mechanisms, lies in the personnel at different levels. In most cases the managerial skills are not acquired automatically. Training has become more critical because of devolved management. T h e starting point of any training p r o g r a m m e is undoubtedly the identification of training needs. The Sri Lankan Ministry of Education, in the early 1980s, identified the management inefficiency of its personnel as detrimental to the quality of education provision and became increasingly concerned over it. The Report on M a n a g e m e n t Reforms (Ministry of Education, 1984, p. 7) stated: "Principals are unaware and have not been adequately trained in management skills to function as managers".

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The report went on to say (p. 27): " T h e Sri Lanka Education Administrative Service ( S L E A S ) personnel, by and large, are inadequately equipped in the theory and practice of management. The pivotal line managers from the Principal to the Regional Director of Education, are not skilled in the main function areas of management". O n e central factor in school development, is the school's capacity to effectively accommodate the educational changes designed and packaged at the central level and to creatively initiate, develop and implement innovative ideas and practices after careful analysis of the school's needs and organizational factors. Each school possesses distinct organizational features which m a k e them respond to a unique development strategy. The internal capacity of the school for self-renewal cannot be achieved without a conscious effort of the internal m e m b e r s of the school and the community. The decentralization process has not increased the participation of the school principals in the educational decision-making process. Most principals do not seem to initiate self-renewing activities based on school and community needs. The principals still wait for the 'top' to direct, advise or guide. O n the contrary, it should be the reverse. T h e initiatives must c o m e from the school. They do not o w n the capacity to conduct studies related to school development and use the knowledge generated, for their o w n organizational improvement. Most principals engage predominantly in service, advisory and auditing activities, but do not seek to change or improve through innovative practices. In functional decentralization it is necessary that they acquire a n e w role. They need to develop the ability for team work. T h e principal must get the other staff involved in school development. A closer study reveals that, at present, teachers assume that their only task is to teach, and are mostly engaged in teaching, that is mainly delivering the formal curriculum that is designed at the centre. With the decentralization of management, their role needs to change to that of a researcher, resource generator, and developer. 2.

Ensuring periodic skills upgrading for the m a n a g e m e n t personnel

For educational management personnel to perform well, they need a wide range of competencies. These competencies m a y be acquired incidentally on-the-job and from day-to-day professional interaction with superiors, peers

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and subordinates. However, the best w a y to ensure that these competencies are acquired is by a systematic process that include direct instruction, planned exchanges a m o n g practitioners, seminars, activities, case studies, etc. Educational managers are immensely helped w h e n they are brought together and are exposed to formally planned activities, often with facilitation or instruction by a trainer. Participants m a y learn by 'being taught', through observation, discussion and reflection, individually or in groups. Educational m a n a g e m e n t training has b e c o m e m o r e critical because of devolved management and the increasing pace of change. There is a need to have a comprehensive training policy that caters for the training needs of different types of personnel at different levels. At present, management training is not compulsory. If reforms involving decentralization are to succeed, training should be given to a person named or selected for a managerial position as a pre-induction requirement. Rules and regulations have to be established for this. Similarly, before being appointed as a teacher, pre-service training must be given. Rules and regulations must also be m a d e that at least every person holding a managerial position, receives training once in every three years or so. It is unfortunate that Sri Lanka, though it has initiated decentralization in a substantial w a y during the last decade, has not designed specific training programmes on decentralized m a n a g e m e n t for different categories of personnel. W h e n deciding on training needs, and suggesting a plan for strengthening the capacity of training, it is important to take into account the existing training programmes, training institutes and pool of trainers. The country has management training institutes, these institutes conduct several training p r o g r a m m e s that have an indirect bearing on decentralized management. IV. Conclusion Dalin et al, based on an international study, (1994, pp. 260-261) write: "In the excellent schools the teachers and the headmaster (as well as parents) feel m o r e empowered and more committed and they work more actively to adapt the n e w curriculum and materials to their needs. A t the same time they work more closely with the

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supervisor and feel pressure to 'do itright'.In other words, to delegate responsibilities to the school does not mean to leave the school alone". M o r e systematic decentralization and delegation of responsibilities is an effective strategy to release h u m a n energy and m a k e a centrally designed reform more relevant to the users. Decentralization alone does not m a k e sense. It is w h e n a systematic decentralization process is combined with a clear government role in setting standards, providing materials, support, training and supervision, that decentralization works. Delegation of responsibilities is both a challenge and opportunity for the school. Delegation does not automatically lead to e m p o w e r m e n t and commitment. A n active, supportive and determined headmaster, active use of the opportunities of staff development, use and adaptation of materials to meet with local needs, and a co-operative climate are elements of the local institution-building process that is needed for decentralization to m a k e sense. Institution building is a complex process and needs to be supported by staff development. It is recommended that the local district office carefully supervises the school and provides necessary support to enable the school to take full advantage of decentralization. If functional decentralization, as envisaged in the paper, is to be achieved, all personnel working at the school level have to be empowered and guided.

Bibliography Ariyadasa, K . D . 1976. Management

of educational reforms in Sri Lanka,

UNESCO, Paris. Bray, M . 1984. Educational planning in decentralized systems, The Papua New Guiñean experience. H o n g K o n g Colocraft Ltd. Cabrai, L . M . C . 1989. Kegalle after management reforms in education, unpublished paper. Dalin, P., A n y o n o , T . , Biazen, A . , Dibaba, B . , Jahan, M . , Miles, M . B . and Rojas, C . 1994. How schools improve: An international report, Cassell, Wiltshire.

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Ekanayake, S . B . , Sedere, M . U . 1989. Disparity in achievement - A case study of Sri Lanka, N I E , Sri Lanka. Fernando, N . (ed.) 1984. Management of educational development in Sri Lanka, Ministry of Education, Colombo. Harris, H . T . B . 1983. The administrative structures of education case studies of sixteen countries, U N E S C O , Paris. Jayasuriya, J . E . 1969. Education in Ceylon: Before and after Independence, Associated Educational Publishers, Colombo. Jayasuriya, J.E. 1971. Educational policies and progress during British rule in Ceylon, Associated Educational Publishers, Colombo. Jayaweera, S . 1987. Educational policies and change from the midtwentieth century to 1977, N I E , Sri Lanka. Kariyawasam, T . 1989. National assessment of educational progress in language and mathematics, N I E , Sri Lanka. Kularatne, N . G . , Dharmadasa, K . H . and Dharmawardane, H . M . C . K . 1990.A national study of wastage in education in Sri Lanka, U N E S C O / NIE. Little, A . 1992. Towards a research programme of education in disadvantaged primary schools in Sri Lanka, Sida, Stockholm. Liyanage, S. and Perera, W . J . 1995. Improving the institutional development capacity of disadvantaged primary schools. A paper presented at the International Conference on School and Improvement, Leeuwarden Nederlands, January 1995. Lyons, E R . 1977. Administrative support for educational reforms, Final Report of an I I E P / R O E A Seminar, Bangkok. Manoharan, S.S. 1988. Decentralization in the Batticaloa District. Unpublished paper. Ministry of Education. 1969. Education in Ceylon, a Centenary Volume, Chapter 58 - Administrative changes in Ceylon, C o l o m b o , Government Press. Ministry of Education. 1981. Educational proposals for reform, Colombo. Ministry of Education. 1984. Report on management reforms, Colombo. Ministry of Education. 1987. Reorganization of the District Administration, Colombo. Ministry of Education and Higher Education. 1993. Educational statistics of Sri Lanka 1992, Policy Planning and Review Division, M O E and H E , Sri Lanka. Palihakkara, H . , Perera, W . J . , Ariyadasa, M . A . and Basnayake, D . 1994. Review of existing policies and practices for strengthening decentralized management of primary education - A Sri Lankan

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perspective. A paper presented at the IIEP/UNICEF Regional workshop on Strengthening capacities for decentralized planning and management of primary education, Kathmandu, Nepal 13-21 December 1994,

UNESCO.

Perera, W . J . 1987. Move towards decentralization: The Sri Lankan experience in educational administration. Unpublished paper. Perera, W . J . 1989. Decentralization - The Bandarawela Experience. Unpublished paper. Perera, W . J . 1994. "Improving the institutional development capacity of disadvantaged schools" In Education For All, Vol. 1, March 1994, M O E and H E , Sri Lanka Presidential Commission on Youth (1990), The Presidential Commission on Youth, Department of Government Printing, Sri Lanka. Saxena, A . P . (ed.). 1980. Administrative reforms for decentralized development, Kuala L a m p u r , Asian and Pacific Development Administration Centre, City Press. Silva, G . N . de., Ginige, L . , Gunasekera, S., Perera, W . J . , Ranasinghe, R . H . H . G . , Balasooriya, A . S . 1993. Decentralization in education, a study of problems arising out of the new provincial set-up, N I E , Sri Lanka. Staff College for Educational Administration. 1986. An impact evaluation of the pilot project on the decentralization of regional administration of 1984 in Kegalle, Chilaw and Matara Districts in Sri Lanka, A case study, N I E , Sri Lanka. Staff College for Educational Administration. 1989. A study of introducing educational innovation through management practices. A Preliminary draft presentation on the Ratnapura district, N I E , Sri Lanka. U N I C E F . 1988. Entry competency of Sri Lankan children in UNICEF assisted schools, N I E , Sri Lanka. Yannakapulos, P.Z. 1983. Experiences in innovations in decentralization of education administration and management of local resources, U N E S C O , Paris.

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