30 CESS MONOGRAPHS Primary Schooling in Andhra Pradesh Evidence from Young Lives School Based Component S. Galab P. Prudhvikar Reddy V. N. Reddy CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STUDIES Begumpet, Hyderabad-500016 May, 2013 CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL STUDIES MONOGRAPH SERIES Number - 30 May, 2013 Series Editor : S. Galab © 2013, Copyright Reserved Centre for Economic and Social Studies Hyderabad Note: The views expressed in this document are solely those of the individual author(s). Rs. 200/- Published by : Centre for Economic and Social Studies Begumpet, Hyderabad-500 016 Ph : 040-23402789, 23416780, Fax : 040-23406808 Email : [email protected], www.cess.ac.in Printed by : Vidya Graphics 1-8-724/33, Padma Colony, Nallakunta, Hyderabad - 44 CONTENTS Preface vii List of Tables ix Acknowledgments xi Executive Summary xiii CHAPTER-I Introduction 1 Objectives 2 Methodology 3 Organization of the Study 4 CHAPTER-II Strength of Students and teachers 6 School infrastructure 7 Structure of classrooms 9 Age of schools 10 Medium of instruction 10 Innovative Programs 11 Functioning of available facilities 11 Student and Teacher Amenities 12 Sanitation Facilities 13 Mid-day Meal 13 School Management 13 School maintenance 13 Student health and well-being 15 School timetable and extra-curricular activities 15 Educational / recreational trip during last three years 16 School Disruption 16 Student access/retention/repetition/support 16 Community Support 16 School Expenditure 17 Sum up 19 iv CHAPTER III Profile of the Principal/Headmaster 20 Service details 21 Incentives for the headmasters 22 Curriculum 23 Decision Making 24 Profile of Mathematics Teacher 25 Salary and Incentives 28 Teaching Preparation 29 Teacher's Capacity Index 29 Timetable and time allocation 31 Index of work load and school records maintenance by Teachers 31 Teaching and Learning Materials (TLM) 32 Sum up 36 CHAPTER IV School Achievement 37 Parent and Community Participation 43 Academic Monitoring Committee (AMC) 43 Parent Teacher Association (PTA) 44 Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI) 44 Student Strength, Teacher Strength and Requirement 44 Multi-grade teaching 45 Teacher absenteeism/punctuality 45 Teacher monitoring and management 45 Principal/HM views and attitudes 46 Index of Self Confidence 47 Important indicators of good school 47 Teacher appraisal index 47 Teacher appraisal and feedback 47 Teacher attitudes 49 Teachers' Satisfaction Index 49 Index of Teachers' students' learning 50 Sum up 51 v CHAPTER V Determinants of the Performance of Class V Students 52 All Schools 54 Government Schools 54 Rural government schools 55 Urban government schools 55 Private schools 55 Rural private schools 56 Urban private schools 56 All schools (with grades) 56 Government schools (with grades) 57 Rural government schools (with grades) 57 Urban government schools (with grades) 58 Private schools (with grades) 58 Rural private schools (with grades) 58 Urban private schools (with grades) 58 Private aided and un-aided schools in the rural areas 58 All rural schools and rural private schools 58 All rural schools and rural private schools with grades 59 Performance of backward and advanced districts 60 Quintile Analysis 61 Government Schools 62 Private Schools 62 Sum up 62 CHAPTER VI Perceptions of Education Officers on the Issues Related to Primary Education 63 Education in the Community: Provision and Perceptions 63 Roles and Responsibilities of the Education Officers (EOs) 65 Quality of Schooling 66 Private and Public School Choice 68 Policy Programmes 70 Sum up 72 vi Appendix-1: 73 A brief about the Young Lives Study 73 APPENDIX-2 YOUNG LIVES METHODOLOGY 74 Quantitative Research-Young Lives Sampling Strategy 74 Selection of Districts 75 Economic Indicators 75 Human Development Indicators 75 Infrastructure Development 75 Final List of Districts Selected for the Survey 76 Selection of Sentinel Sites (Mandals) within the districts 76 Selection of Villages within the Sentinel Sites 77 References 78 Primary Schooling in Andhra Pradesh : Evidence from Young Lives School Based Component vii Preface T he first World Conference on `Education for All' was held in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990 with an objective to achieve the global goal of `Education for All' by the year 2000 or at the earliest. The summit held in New Delhi (December 1993) chalked out strategies to achieve the universal primary education by the year 2000 and also emphasized on removal of gender disparities in primary education, reallocation of resources to basic education and empowerment of local communities to monitor their children' education, etc. Thus the importance of primary education was neglected in India for a long time. Government of India have realized and willing to improve primary and secondary education by making legislations and planning to cover all the sections in the age group of 6 - 14 years and assuring free education for the deserved. The 10th plan envisaged the need to bridge all gender and social gaps in enrolment, retention and learning achievement at the primary stage by 2007 and reduce the gap to 5% at the upper primary stage. Though girls' enrolment has shown a significant rise during the last few years, the difference in the enrolment ratio between boys and girls continues to exist. It is indeed important to identify the types of schools in which the children are enrolled. The mushrooming of small schools in the recent past coupled with government programmes resulted in reduction in the out-of-school children. The encouraging figures in enrolment have little consequence if considerable number of children fails to complete even middle school. [Another aspect is, do we have adequate number of qualified teachers to teach? It is equally important that teachers recruited should have some professional training in pedagogy. Apart from these issues teachers should have an ideal atmosphere to teach with sufficient infrastructure and academic facilities. Additionally, functioning of schools should reflect the quality of their outcomes. It is true that there are schools irrespective of the type of the school, functioning well and some are not. There is need to understand the entire gamut of issues of the functioning of such schools to replicate in other schools. For instance, whether involvement of PRIs and other gross-root level bodies such as school management committees and VECs have any impact in improving the elementary education? Quality improvement in schools is linked to many factors including a regular system of monitoring. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act may perhaps help in addressing the complex issues in elementary education. This Monograph has been prepared duly reflecting the entire gamut of issues currently facing in primary schooling in Andhra Pradesh. It is a difficult task to get a unified account of all the complex issues in primary education and we tried to fill this through this monograph. Starting from the basic issues, this monograph attempted to cover all the vital issues including access, infrastructure facilities, availability of qualified teachers, governance issues including the role of community leaders, at one place. Needless to say, any errors that do remain are entirely our own responsibility. I would like to express my sincere thanks to other co-authors of this monograph who have made enormous efforts in bringing this evidence based research piece. I am sure that this research piece will be very useful to the researchers and policy makers. Director LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1.1: Number of Sample Schools across Districts in Andhra Pradesh 4 1.2: Number of Young Lives Children Studying in Sample Schools in Andhra Pradesh 5 1.3: Total Number of Children Studying in Sample Schools across Districts in Andhra Pradesh 5 2.1: Location, Size, Teacher Strength and Physical Infrastructure Facilities in Primary Schools 7 2.2: Index of innovative programmes 11 2.3: Computer and Communication Facilities in Schools 12 2.4: Expenditure Pattern on School Amenities 17 3.1: Number of Head Masters and Math Teachers Working Across Government and Private Schools 21 3.2: Headmasters' Experience (Total service)Across Type and Location of the School 22 3.3: Headmaster's Monthly Salary and Other Household Income 22 3.4: Percentage of headmasters receiving rewards / incentives in the rural and urban areas 22 3.5: Qualification of Mathematics Teachers by Location and Type of the School26 3.6: Proportion of Teachers Working as Headmasters and as Vidya Volunteers 26 3.7: Distribution of Regular, Temporary Teachers and Teachers Having Specialized Training 27 3.8: Teacher Service (in years) by Location of School 27 3.9: Proportion of Teachers studied in English medium 27 3.10: Current Gross Salary per month (Rs.) 28 3.11: Gross Household Income Per Month Other than Salary (Rs.) 29 3.12: Percent of Teachers Receiving the Rewards in the Rural and Urban Areas 29 3.13: Teacher Capacity Index to Tackle Student Problems While Teaching 30 3.14: Teacher Capacity Index to Manage Student External Problems 30 3.15: Schools Reporting that Students Going for Private Tuition 30