development agenda leaders speak
50th issue special
Recruit Teachers Only on Contract Basis www.worldbank.org.in
Sam Carlson Lead Education Specialist, The World Bank
Integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into education has long been initiatives undertaken by World Bank – what has been the success so far and what is awaiting in future? It is generally believed that ICTs can empower teachers and learners, promote change and foster the development of ‘21st century skills, but data to support these beliefs are still limited. Proponents argue that ICTs can and will transform teaching and learning processes from being highly teacherdominated to student-centered, and that this transformation will result in increased learning gains for students. ICTs are seen to be less effective (or ineffective) when the goals for their use are not clear. While such a statement would appear to be self-evident, the specific goals for ICT use in education are often, in practice, only very broadly or rather loosely defined. The positive impact of ICTs is more likely when linked to changes in teachers’ 28
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pedagogy, which in turn requires focused, iterative teacher professional development to realise changes in classroom practices. The uses of ICTs for simulations and modeling in science and math have been shown to be effective, as have word processing and communication software (e-mail) in the development of student language and communication skills. It may be that more useful analyses of the impact of ICT that emerge when the methods used to measure achievement and outcomes are more closely related to the learning activities and processes promoted by the use of ICTs. Most users feel that using ICTs make them more effective and self-directed learners. In addition, there appears to be general consensus that both teachers and students feel ICT use greatly contributes to student motivation for learning. Placing computers in classrooms enables integration with core curricular subjects and greater use of ICTs for ‘higher order’ skills than placing computers in separate computer laboratories. This can be facilitated by use of portable laptops and ‘computer labs on wheels’ which can move from classroom to classroom as needed. For me, getting the technology INTO the classroom is critical to get beyond simple ICT literacy skills and should be the objective for the future. What is your vision for education of India in the next millennium? My vision of education in India by 2150 is one where ALL children complete Class 12 and develop the intellectual curiosity, skills, habits and knowledge needed to succeed in the global economy. Students who want to continue on to higher education can, while those who want to enter the labour market will be able to because they will have the knowledge and skills to be productive. This vision also includes more active participation of parents in the functioning
of public schools such that political pressure and public debate are focused on how to improve public schools and student learning outcomes, rather than on what are the rules for admission into private nursery schools, which seems to be the case today. What has been the strategy of World Bank in drafting formulations and framing policies? Which are the states that are currently under your projects? In India the World Bank supports the Government of India’s efforts to improve elementary, secondary, technical and vocational education. WE work mainly at the national level in support of centrally sponsored schemes such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the recently launched Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA). We also support 400 Industrial Training Institutes across almost all 35 States and UTs, and another 150odd technical/engineering colleges spread around the country. So in that sense ALL States are benefitting from the World Bank’s support. We do, however, provide some additional targeted support to a few States, such as Bihar and Karnataka, through capacity-building grants, and do some cutting-edge operational research in other States such as Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. This work is primarily designed to generate lessons which can be applied at the national level. In education, what is the share of percentage focused only on South Asian region including India and the response so far? India is the World Bank’s single largest recipient of support for education, which is entirely appropriate given India’s size, education sector needs and the government’s commitment to mobilising domestic resources to invest in education. Our financing is offered on concessional
50th issue special terms, meaning at 0% interest, with 35 years to repay and 10 years of grace during which no repayment is required. In terms of existing portfolio of projects, we have provided USD 1.1 billion for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and are currently preparing additional financing of USD 750 million to support SSA through 2012. Our Vocational Training Improvement Project includes financing of USD 280 million and our recently negotiated Second Technical/Engineering Education Quality Improvement Project will provide another USD 300 million. We are also preparing our support for Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (secondary education) for USD 600 million. Taken together, this represents about one-third of the Bank’s total active education portfolio of USD 8.8 billion in 2009. Your comments on the Government’s initiatives in the area of education and implementing ICT in education in India. If I had to summarise my impressions, I would say there remains too much focus on putting computers in laboratories for teachers and students to develop ICT literacy skills, and not enough focus on getting ICTs into the classroom so that they can enhance productivity and support teacher and student learning across all subjects. While a lot of teacher training has been offered, often through innovative public-private partnership models, not enough genuine teacher professional development has been provided to help teachers skillfully integrate ICTs into their classrooms. I believe this may change with the revised centrally sponsored scheme ICT@Schools and the adoption of the new Policy for ICT and Education. Your thoughts on Public Private Partnership in education sector in India and the recent developments related to? I am quite enthusiastic about the POTENTIAL of public private partnerships (PPP) to improve educational opportunities and learning outcomes for students who traditionally have attended only government schools. This potential lies in the ability of public authorities to craft PPP contracts to align private sector incentives with public policy objectives. For example, the Grant-in-Aid scheme through which government finances the costs of aided private schools is a form of PPP. Unfortunately, this does not include any incentives for private aided schools to improve educational outcomes. Personally, I am much more in favour of
The RTE Act makes it compulsory for government or local authorities to ensure enrollment, attendance and completion of elementary education. PPPs where the public financing follows the student not the teacher. Hopefully, we will see the implementation of the RTE Act pave the way in this direction. Your comments on Right To Education Act in India (RTE), advantages and disadvantages the Act has? Very specific and rather demanding “norms” are spelled out in the Act regarding school-level pupil:teacher ratios, school infrastructure, and other inputs into the learning process. Furthermore, this is justiciable, meaning if this is not done then legal proceedings may be initiated against government authorities. This is a huge additional obligation on the State. So will Indian citizens assert their rights under this Act? Will they hold government accountable to deliver? Equally important, will Indian citizens join the School Development Committees which are foreseen under the Act and do their best to improve public schools, or will the middle and upper classes continue to exit the public system for private schools and forget about their neighbourhood public schools? Will Indian citizens whose children currently attend private schools welcome the disadvantaged students into “their” private schools without social stigmatisation, or will they try to keep them out? Lets wait and watch! In RTE, the reservation of 25% seats for weaker sections in all private schools has stirred debate. Your comments on that, please. The RTE Act gives an impetus to this with the stipulation that private schools will need to allocate 25% of their seats to disadvantaged students, to be reimbursed by the government at the school’s or the government’s unit cost. Personally, I am in favour of this reservation so that children from a wide range of social and economic backgrounds may attend school together. Unlike most things in life, brainpower is equally distributed among all children, regardless of socio-economic category. Disadvantaged children deserve a chance to demonstrate this. I also think this policy may introduce some degree of healthy competition between public and private schools. We would like to study this issues over the next ten years to see educational outcomes of disadvantaged
students. Besides, the RTE Act stipulates that all schools (public and private) must adhere to the norms specified in the Act; those that are unable to comply within a period of three years will not be recognised. Unrecognised schools which nonetheless continue to function after this period may be sanctioned quite severely. The problem is that many of these schools serve urban poor children where land and infrastructure are very scarce, such that it will be nearly impossible (and perhaps unaffordable) to comply with all the norms in the Act. Simply shutting them all down if they do not comply with the norms of the Act may not serve the interests of the students attending them. I think this may need some more thought. What needs to be planned to achieve the target of 15% GER by 2012 set by the government recently to solve school drop-out problem in secondary education? Simply put, there is a combination of supply- and demand- side interventions at both elementary and secondary education levels which will need to be implemented. Firstly, the elementary education completion rate needs to increase. At the secondary level, there are huge supply gaps in terms of available classrooms, subject-specific teachers, learning materials, etc., especially in rural areas. RMSA is focused on filling these supply gaps over the next ten years. My two greatest concerns at the secondary level are teacher supply/effectiveness and community/parental involvement to hold schools accountable. To achieve a 75% GER at the secondary level tens of thousands of additional subject-specific teachers will need to be recruited. Personally, I would be in favour of decentralising teacher recruitment to the school committee level, and initially on a contract basis. A teacher performance assessment system would be put in place and if teachers do well their contracts could be converted to permanent status after several years. Meanwhile, teacher effectiveness is likely to increase if parents and local community members/ political authorities are overseeing school performance. World Bank’s recent report on Secondary Education in India tried to capture the relevant points. \\ digital LEARNING
january 2010
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