Programmes > Regions > Asia

India
Bangladesh

India

DFID has committed over £200 million to primary education in India, as part of a collective effort involving the government of India and the states and other donors. Our support is making a difference, especially because it is for the long term and responds to specific needs of the poorest and most excluded: especially girls, children from disadvantaged caste and tribal communities and those who migrate to find work and escape hunger.

Just one example of how effective external support to local strategies, routed through a co-ordinated national programme, can be is from the state of Andhra Pradesh, where there are nearly 11 million children aged 5-14.

A Family Survey in 2000 identified one and a half million children still out of school and over 800,000 potential dropouts. A massive campaign to mobilise the communities to enrol and retain every child in school, to help eradicate child labour and improve the schools was stepped up. The first mandal (local government unit) to achieve 100% enrolment was proudly declared a child labour-free zone last October. In another district, over 4000 children in one year, who had never enrolled or had dropped out, were helped in special centres to get ready for successful mainstreaming into the school system.

Across India, there is growing evidence that our joint efforts can break the cycle of generations of exclusion from educational opportunities for girls and the poor.

The Census 2001 indicates that the improvement in literacy has been very significant in some of the states like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Introduction

The performance of India in universal elementary education and literacy has been unsatisfactory when one looks at the five decades of development planning. The progress however, has been better in the decade of the nineties, as captured by some recent surveys like the National Decennial Census (2001), National Family Health Survey - II ( 1998-99), the National Sample Survey 1995-96, etc. There has been a perceptible community demand for education though the provision made by the State has been inadequate to meet this demand. There is still a very long way to go before every child up to the age of 14 years will have free and compulsory education of satisfactory quality. Some efforts at providing elementary education to all has been expedited on account of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's ruling in 1993 declaring education of children up to the age of 14 years to be a fundamental right. Various Committees of Education Ministers and Experts in Education have since then made recommendations with regard to making elementary education a fundamental right. The process of consultation has culminated in the approval of a holistic and convergent national programme for universal elementary education called "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan "( Education For All).

Statistics

Perusal of independent survey reports and findings reveal the following :

In the light of all these findings, it may be safe to make the following inferences -

• The percentage of currently enrolled children has certainly gone up considerably since 1986-87.
• The Gross Enrolment Ratio is often not a correct reflection of the actual numbers.
• The NFHS findings, though based on a sample, are quite reliable.
• The Net Enrolment Ratio may be slightly lower than the NFHS figures for 6-10 age children attending schools ( 81.9 % ) as that includes children who may not be in age specific classes.
• The Net Enrolment Ratio may be in the range of 70-80 % at present.
• Assuming that there are nearly 190 million 6- 14 age children in India and assuming that nearly 80 % are attending school ( 79 % as per NFHS 1998-99 ), the total out of school children in the 6-14 age group will be 38 million. The number of out of school children in the 6-10 age group, assuming that there are 115 million children in that age group and 82% are attending school , will come to 20.7 million.
• Considering that completion rates and achievement levels are unsatisfactory, the unfinished agenda is very large in elementary education.
• Improvement in number of children attending schools is on account of the strong community demand for education that has been found to be an important factor in all recent surveys.
• While it confirms improvement in access, it is not an indication of any improvement in quality. In fact, quality may suffer if adequate resources are not provided to meet the learning needs of the large number of children who have joined the school system.

Salient Developments since the National Policy of Education 1986

Some of the salient developments since the National Policy of Education 1986 are as follows:

• Launch of the scheme of Operation Blackboard in 1986-87 to provide two teachers, two rooms and teaching learning materials to all the Primary Schools; The utilisation across the States has been uneven.
• Extension of the scheme to provide an additional teacher in Upper Primary Schools and a third teacher in Primary Schools with more than 100 children since 1993. The utilisation across the States has been uneven.
• Launch of the Scheme for Strengthening Teacher Education in 1986-87 to provide for the establishment of District Institutes of Education and training. More than 80 % districts have established this institution since then. Though not very effective in providing academic leadership at the district level in many States, the DIETs were envisaged as a major institution for improvement of quality.
• Expansion of the Non Formal Education scheme with support to more than 800 Non Government Organisations along side government run Centres to cater to the learning needs of the out of school children. The Scheme has now been modified to provide opportunities for establishing an Education Guarantee School in unserved habitations and to hold ' Back to School Camps' for the 9-14 age group out of school children.
• Launch of the all women Mahila Samakhya Programme ( late eighties ), currently working in selected Blocks of nearly 10 percent of the districts of the country for organising women's groups around issues of development, and empowerment though education.
• Efforts at Decentralised Management of Elementary Education in the light of the 73rd and the 74th Constitutional Amendment and the recommendation of the Central Advisory Board of Education ( CABE ) in this regard ( 1993). The pace of decentralisation has varied across States.
• Launch of State focused Basic Education Projects with external agency support in educationally backward States like Andhra Pradesh (APPEP), Bihar( BEP), Rajasthan ( Lok Jumbish and Shiksha Karmi Projects ) and Uttar Pradesh ( Education For All Project )in the late eighties/early nineties.
• Launch of the District Primary Education Programme in 1994 with external support for Universal Primary Education and for improvement in the learning achievements of children. DPEP has since then expanded to nearly 260 districts of 18 States ( More than 50 %of the children in 6-10 age group are covered. While the DPEP is a externally assisted Project which is additional to the current efforts in the district, the Super Goals of the Project are really Programme Goals. Being a Project, success of the DPEP also depends on the commitment of the State to facilitate institutional development and to allocate adequate resources for teachers, teacher development, learning materials for children, and School facilities.

Most recent development

• Launch of the National Programme for Nutritional Support to Primary Education in 1995. It provides for 3 kilograms of food grains per month for children in primary schools who have more than 80 % attendance. Only six States/Union Territories ( out of 35 ) are currently providing hot cooked meals. The rest provide grains.
• Launch of the holistic and convergent National Programme for Universal Elementary Education, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, with the following objectives :
• All children in School, Education Guarantee Centre, Alternate School, Back to School Camp by 2003;
• All children complete five years of primary schooling by 2007;
• All children complete eight years of schooling by 2010;
• Focus on elementary education of satisfactory quality with emphasis on education for life;
• Bridge all gender and social category gaps at the primary stage by 2007 and at elementary education level by 2010;
• Universal retention by 2010.

Districts have initiated the process of preparing District Elementary Education Plans reflecting all current investments in elementary education and the uncovered gaps. Preparation of Village/ urban cluster level Education Plans through intensive community owned processes of microplanning and school mapping are the basis for planning under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. It is too early to comment on the success of such an approach as it is still in its infancy. In order to achieve the targets set by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a mission like approach has to be adopted. In fact a National Mission for UEE has already been approved for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Nearly all the States have established State level Implementation Societies. Faster oprationalization of such efforts are required for achievement of EFA goals.

Key Educational Issues:

• While the Central Government's allocation for elementary education is increasing, in a number of States, real increases in per capita investment in elementary education is not taking place. With its emphasis on sustainable financing and a long term perspective, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is expected to increase the Central government's financing of elementary education in States
• Effective decentralization down to the School level is still a far cry in many States; community participation is often limited to construction of School facilities; school autonomy is ineffective on account of slow pace of devolution.
• Too many low - cost alternatives are being experimented with. Greater emphasis has to be given to their long term sustainability, including issues like teacher motivation and quality of education;
• Not much work has happened in making education more relevant and in encouraging learning by doing and learning by observation; Activity based and child centred learning arrangements are still very weak;
• Systems of assessing learning progress of pupils is still very weak and largely external. Need for community based approaches for assessing learning progress of pupils in a wide range of areas and not just cognitive learning.
• Institutional Development for pursuing quality is still weak in most States. District Institutes of Education and Training, Block and Cluster Resource Centres have to become centres of excellence. Teacher development, working with communities, women's participation in the affairs of the school, association of weaker sections with schools are areas that will require much greater attention;
• Girls' education, education of differently able children, education of children belonging to SC/ST communities/ religious and linguistic minorities require special attention;
  Sustainable maintenance of school facilities is still weak.
• Community Based Monitoring, transparency in the affairs of the school, and credible MIS, research and evaluation activities need further development.
• Programme for the 0-6 age group are with the Department of Women and Child Development. While recent evaluation Study on the interventions for this age group indicate decline in Infant mortality in villages covered by the programme, the neglect of the 0-3 age group acquires critical importance considering that two thirds of the infant mortality is neonatal ( within four weeks ) and malnourishment in this age has a permanent debilitating impact on the learning progress of the child.
• Health awareness in schools is also weak though a few innovations have been tried out.
  

DFID Programmes

Case Studies

The Census 2001 indicates that the improvement in literacy has been very significant in some of the erstwhile educationally backward States like Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. While the first two are partner States of DFID, DFID supports the third phase of two major Projects in Rajasthan - the Lok Jumbish and the Shiksha Karmi.
Some recent developments in these States are as follows:

Madhya Pradesh

• Decentralization through Panchayati raj involving the community at various levels in the management of elementary education;
• Recruitment of more than 70,000 locally selected Shiksha Karmis to fill up teacher vacancies;
• Setting up of more than 20,000 Education Guarantee Schools in unserved habitations with a local Guruji, to meet the learning needs of at least 25 children in tribal and 40 children in non tribal unserved habitations;
• Implementation of the District Primary Education Programme in a large number of districts, involving the local people inprogramme implementation;
• Setting up of Block and Clluster Resource Centres for academic supervision and monitoring;
• Padhna - Badhna movement for literacy involving the local community in the identificationof 'gurujis' and learners and monitoring mlearning by a system of social assessment;
• Community mobilization by a regular system of mass contact - Lok Sampark Abhiyan.
  

Andhra Pradesh

• Significant initiatives for Primary Education under the Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project and the District Primary Education Programme in19 of the 23 districts;
• Large scale community mobilization through mass contact programmes, literacy campaigns, Self Help Women's Thrift Groups, DWCRA groups of women for self - employment;
• New Education Act for community participation provides for elected School Committees. Membership is open to parents of children studying in the School. Participation of women and parents from the weaker sections provided for in the Act;
• Appointment of nearly 70,000 teachers / Vidya Volunteers to provide teachers as per need;
• Large scale community mobilization for basic education through mass contact programmes like Janamabhooomi that brings the government closer to the people;
• Focus on participation of Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes in basic education;
• Useful work of NGOs like the M. Venkatrangaiyah Foundation in mainstreaming out of school children through ' Back to School ' Camps;

Rajasthan

• Work of Lok Jumbish in 75 Blocks has encourgaged community mobilization for UEE;
• Focus on educationof girls in the activities of the Women's Development Programme, Lok Jumbish, Shiksha Karmi along with the efforts of a large number of NGOs;
• Work of Shiksha Karmi in remote regions;
• Setting up of more than 11,000 Rajiv Gandhi Golden Jubilee Schools in unserved habitations;
• Provision of free textbooks for children;
• Community participation in Total Literacy Campaigns;
• Involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions in programmes of basic education.
  

Our Partners

Department of Elementary education and Literacy - http://www.nic.in (go to Department of Education)
State governments of Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa - http://www.nic.in (go to States)

Contact Point for further information

Department of Elementary Education and Literacy - http://www.nic.in
DFID India for information on DFID Projects.

Bangladesh

Background

Education is not only the basic human rights but also officially recognised by the constitutions of Bangladesh to provide compulsory, free primary education. Bangladesh, as a state, has constitutional obligation of providing basic education to all its citizen by removing illiteracy. The right to education is inscribed in article 28, clause 3 of the constitution of Bangladesh. It is also mentioned that government will take necessary measures to eradicate illiteracy within a stipulated time frame.

To meet the constitutional obligation, the GOB has taken a number of measures those are: pass the law bringing non –government primary schools under the GOB management (1973/74), enacted Primary education act and established primary education directorate (1981), pass and introduced the compulsory primary education act (1990), Primary and Mass Education Division (PMED) was established in 1992, and to eradicate illiteracy, Directorate of Non Formal Primary Education (DNFPE) was established in 1995.The education ministry in Bangladesh is further bifurcated : the ministry of Education (MoE) manages secondary, tertiary and vocational education only.

To fulfil the constitutional obligation, the country has adopted an Education Policy in 2000. Through this policy, the GOB has given more commitment to education and plan to uplift the primary education from present five –year cycle to eight- year cycle by 2010. Bangladesh also made commendable progress in recent years on various indicators (enrolment, completion and attendance rate enhanced and gender gap in enrolment is disappeared) of Primary Education.

Although the investment in education terms of GNP is low compared to other South Asian countries, primary education receives about half of the education sector budget. Yet, problems remain. Of the 20 million primary school aged children, four million are out school, and another four millions or more drop out before completing primary education. 

The gains in number are all impressive and encouraging. However, mere improvement in quantitative term is not enough to attain “ Education for All” (EFA). The goal of EFA assumes a minimum level of quality of education and evidence suggested that Bangladesh has not done equally well in guaranteering quality education to its children.  Bangladesh was among the 164 nations participating in the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal who pledged to make education for all a reality by 2015. The GOB and development partners have been committed fully to support costs in the attainment of basic education over the last 2/3 decades.

Spend on education in Bangladesh is lower than in other developing countries.  However, the budget set in June 2001 shows an increase in overall absolute spend on education (an increase of 6% allowing for inflation) and, combining the revenue and development budgets, education has the biggest share (13.5%) overall of all the sectoral budgets – for example: health, transport, agriculture etc.  The actual percentage share of the revenue and development budgets has, though, not significantly increased since the mid-90s.  A simple way of acquiring a perspective on these figures is to note the calculation that approximately £2 per annum per head of population is spent on primary education in Bangladesh. 

NGOs play a unique role, in Bangladesh, in providing access to non-formal education.  According to Education Watch they contribute about 8.5% of the gross enrolment statistics; that is, they provide for about 1.6million children (and BRAC alone cater for about two-thirds of that number). 

Key Changes in Education Status indicators for Bangladesh, 1991 to 2000

Sources

PMED  “The Year 2000 Assessment” Bangladesh Country Report for Education For All (EFA) Dec 1999/Jan 2000

DPE, Primary Education Statistics in Bangladesh (as at June2000), published January 2001

Annual GoB Budget details published by Ministry of Finance, Central Government Operations

World Bank Education Sector Review, published 2000

Education Watch “Hope Not Complacency” report - an independent study of both NGO and GoB primary schools as at 1999; published by CAMPE

Current DFID-funded programmes

Government of Bangladesh (GoB) programmes

The biggest and highest priority project is Effective Schools Through Enhanced Education Management (ESTEEM).  This is one of many projects in the Primary Education Development Programme (PEDP), which is a multi-million dollar, multi-donor supported series of projects.  ESTEEM is worth £20million over 5 years and inputs are managed on our behalf by a team of consultants based in the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE). ESTEEM supports PEDP by strengthening management functions including planning, monitoring & evaluation, academic supervision, financial management and management at all levels to help improve the quality of primary education for all. ESTEEM is due to end in October 2003.

“Hard to Reach” is a programme worth over £11million, of which DFIDB contributes £4.3million. It aims to provide non-formal basic education for hard to reach children in hazardous and exploitative child labour.  The project’s full title is “Basic Education for Hard to Reach Urban Children” (BEHTRUC) and is implemented by the Directorate for Non-Formal Education (DNFE), led by UNICEF and co-funded by ourselves and Sweden (SIDA).  The project is due to end in June 2003.

The project memorandum has recently been approved for DFID’s contribution to the DNFE/ADB/DFID Post-Literacy and Continuing Education Programme. The total budget for the programme is £66m and the funding consists of an ADB loan of £43m, GOB financing of £13m and a £9m contribution from DFID.  The programme is intended to enhance the livelihood options, increase incomes and support the empowerment of 1.6m neo-literate poor women and men.  This 6 year programme was scheduled to begin in late April 2002 but the inception mission has been postponed until  loan effectiveness has been fulfilled.

DFID-funded NGO programmes

Our biggest investment in an NGO is through BRAC’s Non-Formal Primary Education (NFPE) programme.  DFIDB currently contributes £13.7 million to a total programme cost of £73million, funded by a large donor consortium (AKF, CIDA, DFID, DGIS/RNE, EC, NOVIB, and UNICEF).  This programme provides an improved and full range primary curriculum that allows learners to retain numeracy and life skills.  It also provides some basic education for older children.  The programme is due to finish in May 2004.

REFLECT is an ActionAid (Bangladesh) project, which DFID alone supports at a cost of £1.6million over 5 years, which aims to empower poor village people (especially women) through helping them to acquire literacy and other skills including problem solving.

The Underprivileged Children’s Education Programme (UCEP) is both the name of one of Bangladesh’s longest established NGOs and the name of its core programme.  The project provides a mix of formal and non-formal education and vocational job placement training for urban working children.  A 4^th phase was approved in Jan 2001, the total cost of which is £5.6million, and co-funders are the Swiss (SDC), Norwegians (RNorE), Danes (DANIDA), Save the Children Sweden and UCEP itself.  DFIDB’s contribution is £1.64 million.

Friends in Village Development Bangladesh (FIVDB) has a Sylhet-based Children’s Education Programme which DFIDB alone supports, to a total of £1.28million over 3.5 years.  This project aims to extend the Active Learning Project (ALP) to more schools within FIVDB’s programme so as to continue to improve the quality of primary education.

The latest studies by “Education Watch” (for which CAMPE provide the Secretariat) completed in 2001.  This project was added to our portfolio in November and is co funded by NOVIB.  This initiative aims to produce regular reports informing GOB and other stakeholders of progress against various indicators relating to the quality of education, particularly in primary schools.

Partners

DFID Bangladesh works with a wide cross section of partners,  other bilateral agencies, multilateral agencies,  development banks and NGOs.  The names of the organisations are listed above in the section on project details.

Contact

Dr Rokeya Khanam,  Education Sector Manager, DFIDB, Dhaka, Bangladesh