ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EDUCATION IN HIMACHAL PRADESH
Sanjeev Kumar
INTRODUCTION
There
are four stages in school education structure in H.P. Primary (Age group 6-11) classes I-V; Middle (Age group 11-14) classes VI-VIII, High
(Age group 14-16) classes IX-X and Senior Secondary (Age group 16-18) classes
XI-XII. The SCERT has the responsibility
of designing the curriculum, developing text books, evaluation criteria and
tools and providing training for DIET faculty. The Director of Education is
assisted by the Additional Director (Schools), who is assisted by the Joint
Director (Elementary Schools). Each district has a Deputy Director. The Grampanchyat has the responsibility of controlling and
maintaining the primary and middle schools, providing mid day meal to the
students, and providing grants and scholarships to the students. The Grampanchyat reports to the Block Development Committee and
Zilla Parishad regarding
the requirements and performances. There is tremendous progress of education in
Himachal Pradesh since 1990. In 1990 - 91, there were only 7,471 primary
schools and 1,066 middle schools. In 2003 - 04, there were 11,013 primary
schools. In March, 2006, there were 2,400 middle schools.
ELEMENTARY
EDUCATION
There
is lack of trained teachers in Govt. sector. In some schools, one or two
teachers teach all the five classes. It has been reported that 47.76% male and 34.88% female teachers are
working in Govt. primary schools on regular basis and 09.09% male and 7.3% female
are working in Govt. primary schools as para -
teachers. In the primary schools, along with senior secondary schools 47.02%
male and 49.96% female teacher are serving on regular basis in Govt.
institutions, and percentage of para - teachers in
such schools is very low. In the primary schools, 8.41% are SC male and 3.58%
are ST male teachers, while 3.50% are SC female and 1.93% are
ST female teachers. The ratio of SC/ST teacher is still low. Himachal
Government has made primary education compulsory by promulgating “Compulsory
Primary Education Act; 1997” with effect from April, 1998. To encourage enrollment
and reduce the drop out rate in these schools, various scholarships and other
incentives are being provided to the students of primary schools in the State
which include: IRDP scholarship @ Rs. 150 per student per annum, free writing
material and free text books for all students in tribal area, free
clothing/uniform to girl students in tribal area, free text books to
IRDP/SC/ST and OBC students in non-tribal areas, girl attendance scholarship @
Rs. 20 per student per annum, poverty stipend scholarship @ Rs. 4 per month,
scholarship @ Rs. 8 per month on Lahaul-Spiti
pattern for all students of tribal area, Rs.150 per month scholarship
to the children of army personnel. In the year 2006 -2007, Rs.539.07 crore was
spent on the primary school education. The Mid-Day-Meal scheme was launched in
the State on 15.8.1995. This scheme was implemented initially in 13 CD Blocks,
then, it was extended to 33 CD Blocks and finally, in all the 72 CD Blocks of the
state. Initially the Government of Himachal Pradesh provided food grains @ 3 kgs rice per month/ to children in classes I- V in
Government and Government aided school with 80% attendance for 10 academic
months in a year. However, it was found that distribution of food grain per
se would not achieve the professed objective of providing supplementary
nutrition, since uncooked rice is either used by other members of the family,
or resold in the market for economic benefits. With effect from 1.9.2004, therefore,
the Government of Himachal Pradesh provided hot cooked meal of high calorific
value and protein content to all children of primary classes, in Government / Govt Aided primary schools as well as EGS
centres of the state. For the year 2007-08, it is expected that 5,30,016
children in classes I-V and 39,229
children in classes VI-VIII in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) will avail
the mid day meal programme for 242 days.
The State Government has made a provision of Rs. 14.40 crores in their
budget.
To achieve total literacy in the State, a Literacy Mission has been
started in each district with the co-ordination between primary school
education Department and the District Saksharta
Samiti under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner.
The State Government has launched an ambitious scheme known as “Saraswati Bal Vidya Sankalap Yojna” under which
13,612 new class rooms are proposed to be constructed in three years in a
phased manner. Under decentralization of powers to Panchayti
Raj institutions, some powers were devolved to them
during the year 1996 which includes inspection of primary schools, repair
and maintenance of primary school buildings and monitoring of various
incentive schemes being provided to the children of primary schools. Now the ownership
of all the primary school buildings has been given to PRIs.
The State Government is formulating a policy to recruit Gram Vidya Upasaks under ‘Himachal Gram Vidya Upasak
Yojana’ in view of large number of vacancies in
the remote / difficult/ inaccessible areas of the state. Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan launched by
the Government of India for achieving the goal of Universal Elementary
Education (UEE) in the country has also been adopted by the State Government.
Its objective is to provide elementary education to all children up to the age
of 6-14 years. Education of girls and children belonging to the scheduled
castes and scheduled tribes are identified for special focus. In the
financial year 2007-08, Rs. 90, 00,000 has been allotted for pre matric scholarships for OBC poor family students of
elementary classes and Rs. 594 crores for SC students under Sub-plan. Also Rs.
197 crores on capital works on schools and colleges which include new class
rooms, science labs and other infrastructural needs. During the year 2001-02,
there were 3,188 middle units i.e. 1,674 middle schools, 978 middle units of
high schools and 536 middle units of senior secondary schools were functioning
in the Pradesh under the State Govt. management. Up to March, 2006 there were
2,400 middle schools, 850 high schools and 1,150 senior Secondary schools.
Teacher Empowerment
Himachal Pradesh government has made provision for the short term
training courses for primary school teachers under Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). As short term in training has
been conceived as a continuous program for empowerment of lower primary and
upper primary school teachers, short duration training modules are being
developed time to time as per the emergence of needs for making teachers
abreast of new and relevant skills. At present, these training programmes are
conducting under ADHAAR programme. More emphasis is being given to (CCE)
Continuation Comprehensive Evaluation (Samagra
Mulyankan). It means that the students are to be
evaluated without conducting examinations. Training modules have been developed
for teaching of languages (English and Hindi), Mathematics and Science subjects
in the light of subject specific needs of teachers and teacher training
evaluation study. Training of the teachers in English is important as it has been introduced as a subject right from
class I. It enabled the teachers to develop the proficiency in English and
professional competency for teaching English as well. Another important training module has also
been devised so that the teacher can teach topics of science through
experiments and activities in a very simple manner. In addition to subject
specific training modules, induction
training for EGS teachers, training modules for BRC co-coordinators and
CRC coordinators have also been developed so that the implementation,
monitoring and supervision would take place in a co-coordinator manner. The
implementation is largely the responsibility of the State Project Director
(SSA), District Institute of Education and Training (DIETs) - 12 DIETs in 12
Districts and Deputy Director of Education. All the districts have educational
blocks and each block has a Block Resource Centre (BRC) with self sufficient
facilities for the training. Teachers from each block are identified and trained
to function as Resource Person (RP). The batches of 35-40 teachers undergo
training together in an identified school Cluster Resource Centre (CRC). The
same group selects one of the teachers as coordinator or sometime these duties
are carried out by the CHT. The coordinator decides all the formalities for the
training. The training programmes aim is
to include all the teachers in the training turn by turn. Every teacher has to
attend the training programme sessions for 15 times in one academic year. There
are 6 special training lectures on the specific subject and 9 general lectures
on teaching learning strategies and teaching aids. At intervals, the feedback
is taken by the coordinator of the BRC/CRC. The training programme sessions are
arranged in the vacation periods so that the regular teaching is not affected.
Students’ Enrolment
In
the year 2003 - 04, there were 590139 students in Govt. primary schools and
16128 students in private primary schools. In primary rural Govt. schools, there
were 568009 students and 14390 in students were in private primary rural
schools. In Govt. primary with middle, high and senior sec. school, there were 5,195
students while such Private schools, there were 67,440 students. In such rural Govt. schools, there were 2,331
students while in Private schools; this number is again very - very high, that
is, 42,202. The most of the parents prefer Private Public schools for providing
their children better quality education (English medium). The percentage enrolment of SC students in primary schools
was 30.2% and middle school was 26.3%. The SC girl students were 48.7% at
primary level and 48% at middle level. But, the enrolment of ST students was
very low - 5.5% in primary and 4.7% in middle schools. ST girl students were enrolled
49.1% at primary and 46.2% at middle school level.
Drop
Out
There
is very low drop out rate compared to previous years. In 2003- 04, the total
drop out rate for classes I - V was 16.98% in which 15.87% were boys and 18.15%
were girls. The drop out rate for class I - VIII was 14.28% in total, in which
13.29% were boys and 15.32% were girls. This drop out rate was 26.28% in 1993
-94 for classes I-V and 19.74% for classes I - VIII.
Infrastructure
In
2003-04, there were
11,013 primary and 2,076
middle schools. In 11,013 Govt. primary school buildings, 6,758 were
cemented and well equipped, while 943 were partially cemented. 815 buildings
were kuchha and 2,278 buildings were of multiple
types. Some schools had no building. These are located in remote villages in
some houses or in rented buildings. In most of the villages, schools are
located at reachable distance except in remote snowy areas located in Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnour and Chamba districts.
Drinking Water and Toilet Facilities
During
2003 - 04, 85.6% primary schools had drinking water facilities and 96.8%
primary + senior secondary schools had this type of facilities. 28.2% primary
schools had common toilets and 70.9% primary + senior secondary schools had
this facility. Only 12% primary schools had girls’ toilets and 88.1% primary +
senior secondary schools had this facility.
Education
of Children with Disability
A
number of awareness programmes are advertised with the help of Grampanchyats and Anganwadis (pre
- primary schools). 12,525 disabled were enrolled at primary school level out
of which, 7,475 were boys and 5,050 were girls. 3,898 boys and 2,753 girls were
enrolled at middle school level and there were total 11,373 boys and 7803 girls
enrolled at primary school and middle school level. Assistance is being given
to children in the form of books, stationery, free transport facility, escort
allowance for blind children.
Literacy
Programme
As
per Himachal Gyan Vigyan Samiti, there are 4, 97, 974
people who are illiterate. The Samiti has taken the task of making
these people literate.
CONCLUSION
Many
new schools are going to be opened under SSA and Govt. Special quota. Special
funds are being provided for taking care of quality. H.P. Govt. is now focusing on the remote
areas and snowy areas. Activities are being undertaken to make people aware of
their responsibility in respect of the education of the deprived group. Let
this march continue towards the peak of excellence.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Divya Himachal, March, 08th, 2008.
Himalya Kesri, September 4, 2007.
H.P.
Bhasker, January 25th, 2007.
Selected Educational Statistics, 2002 – 03.
Ministry
of Finance (2006) Economic
Survey, 2006. Govt. of
NIEPA
(2004) State Elementary Report Card, NIEPA,
NCERT (2002) Seventh All
Times
of