PRE-APPRAISAL NOTE: TAMIL NADU
The Project Approval Board meetings for RMSA to consider the State/UT Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) for 2015-16 are scheduled to be held from February 2015 and all States/UTs are expected to be in the process of preparation of online submission of AWP&B for integrated Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan. The format for submission of Plan Proposal for 2015-16 along with detailed guidelines on all components under RMSA is available on the website www.rmsaindia.org.
With this in view and to facilitate the UT to submit AWP&B 2015-16 in a acceptable form ensuring convergence of various components of converged RMSA Scheme, the following check points in respect of various component of the Scheme are being provided as under:-.
A. UDISE data:
· If there is any change in the management category of schools i.e Government./Government Aided etc. in the UDISE figures in 2013-14 & 2014-15, the same should be indicated with proper justification.
· The Secondary schools indicated with 0 enrolment in the UDISE data should be cross checked thoroughly and reasons thereof should be indicated. If there is any proposal for strengthening of any Government school the availability of land in the school in the UDISE data of the school should be ensured.
Ø New School :
· Construction / Functional status of each school should be mentioned in the PMS website for all approval years.
· 11 digit UDISE code should mention clearly on the proposal
· Distance from Upper Primary to Secondary should be taken from UDISE 2014-15.
· Check the connectivity of schools from all weather roads should be checked.
Ø Strengthening :
· While selecting the schools under strengthening, the priorities should be given to :
· Special focus districts
· Girls school
· School with own building
· School with good enrolment
Ø IEDSS :
· While preparing the IEDSS proposal, the number of children should be generated from UDISE 2014-15 only. No other sources will be accepted other than UDISE.
· Provide the UDISE code for all schools covered by IEDSS instructor with the AWP&B.
Ø ICT :
· School once covered under ICT@School scheme will not be taken under new proposal this year.
· Recurring grant can be proposed for last two implemented years under recurring head of this year. Recurring grant will be a part of State’s Annual Work Plan from this year onwards.
While selecting the schools under scheme the priorities should be given to :
· Special focus districts
· Girls school
· School with Computer Room / electricity
· School with good enrolment
Ø Girls Hostel :
· UDISE code should be provided for all the schools covered by the respective Girls Hostel.
Ø Vocational Education
· 11 digit UDISE code should mention clearly on the proposal
II. Education Indicators:
Status
GER (2013-14) / NER (2013-14) / Drop out Rate (2013-14) / Transition Rate (2013-14)Given by the State / Flash Statistics / Given by the State / Flash Statistics / Given by the State / Flash Statistics (2012-13) / Given by the State / Flash Statistics
93.22 / 92.50 / 84.56 / 61.59 / 7.96 / 10.20 / 93.56 / 92.90
Suggestion/ Action plan for AWP & B 2015 – 16
1. In the last year AWP&B, the data on indicators was provided for only 30 districts. The State is advised to furnish the Educational Indicators for all its 32 districts in order to get the correct picture of indicators and performance of the state.
2. An anomaly/ negative decrease in the indicators needs to be investigated and justification to be included in the plan document, for example: It was observed that the GER has decreased from 107.40% in the year 2012-13 to 93.22% in 2013-14.
3. The districts where indicators are low should undertake activities and projects targets to squeeze the gap. For example: district of Kanniyakumari has 0.42% increase of drop-out rate.
III Access:
Status
GAR:- The Gross access ratio at the state level is 90.27%. Out of 93855 habitations, 84726 habitations are served by secondary schooling facility.
Suggestion for State:
· Inconsistency in Total Habitation number: - In the previous year’s habitation number was inconsistent in different places like 94614(page 524), 93855(as per model table), which should be avoided.
· Low GAR: - The GAR in the state is 90.27%, however the district, Dharmapuri (57.71), Salem (66.62), Erode (64.64), Coimbatore (71.43), Dindigul (55.10), Virudhunagar (70.49), Ramanathapuram (51.63), Thoothukkudi (69.80), Krishanagiri (73.27) are having low GAR then the State average GAR. The State should submit proposals and action plan for these districts to address the issue .
· The MI report of Tamilnadu covering 3 sampled districts (Thanjavur, Thiruvarur Nagapattinam) indicates 574 students out of 5605 student enrolled in 60 sampled schools have to travel more than 5 kms. to reach their secondary school. As reported, no transport/ residential facilities is provided to these students by the school. State may like to look into the options if required (i.e. if students are dropping out due to this distance).
· Considering the MI report and observation under “Access”: It is observed that state has 9129 habitation which are un-served by any secondary schooling facilities. Therefore the state is suggested to plan special / alternative intervention such as transport facilities, residential facilities and open schooling etc. to fill the gap of secondary schooling facilities for such habitation. The State needs to also look into the feasibility of these options. Also all these interventions may not be supported under RMSA and hence convergence plan should be included.
IV. Civil Works
Status : (Source AWP&B 2014-15)
• Poor progress in Civil Works: In the previous years, under RMSA 1096 new schools were approved for up-gradation from Upper Primary to Secondary schools and 2038 schools were approved for strengthening of existing schools under civil works. However, the performance of the State in respect of civil works is not encouraging. Out of approved 1096 new schools, the State has completed the civil work of only 100 schools, whereas construction of around 99 schools is in progress. No civil works for strengthening of 2033 existing Schools has been taken-up till date, except for toilet blocks (474), drinking water (213) and ACR (250), Science lab (236) approved in the year 2010-11 & 2011- 12. The reason cited by the State for huge pendency of civil works is escalation of the rates. Utilization of 8% of available fund under non-recurring head of RMSA is an area of concern. The State should evaluate possibility of making good deficit of funds and ensure expeditious completion of these structures. An action plan on this may be submitted in the plan proposal.
• Under Girls Hostel no progress civil work has been reported. The State should share problems and strategies to ensure completion of approved girls hostels as all the central share payment in respect of these structures has already been released.
· The MI report (IIT, Madras) of Tamilnadu covering 3 sampled districts (Thanjavur, Thiruvarur&Nagapattinam) covering the period of 6 months (Jan 2014 – June 2014 ) reflects availability of less libraries in the secondary schools in sampled districts. Out of 60 sampled schools of 3 districts, the library with adequate seating space was found to be available only in 3 schools. The State should clarify the position in the plan proposal.
Issue:
• Overall progress on civil works is very slow and poor.
Suggestion/ Action plan for AWP & B 2015 - 16:
· The state govt. has to arrange for gap funding between the cost of civil works approved under RMSA norm and State SOR and completes its huge backlog of civil works and should come up with the clear Action plan/calendar for undertaking and finishing the pending civil works in the Plan Document.
· Further it is observed that the state has already achieved XI five year plan target of GER i.e. 75% at secondary level and the state access ratio (90.27%) is also good. Considering the huge backlog of civil works, the State may consider not proposing new components under Civil in AWP & B 2015 – 16 and to concentrate on completion of existing structures.
V.Quality:
Teacher Recruitment and Teacher Training:
Status
Teachers Sanctioned and Vacancy in Schools having classes IX-X
No. of Govt. Secondary Schools / No. of Secondary School TeachersSanctioned post / In position / Vacant
5775 / 59197 / 49053 / 10144
Source: AWP &B 2014-15, Model Table-6
Total No. of schools approved under RMSA / New Teachers approved under RMSA / In-position / Vacant1096 / Teacher: 6568 / 5023 / 1545
Total No. of additional teacher approved till date is 6752 out of this 5000 teachers are in-position as reported by the state.
Suggestion for State:
· In 2014-15, the teacher training progress seems to be slow. In the plan, the State should specify the reason for slow progress of teacher’strainings and should include a clear cut action plan/ calendar for the successful completion of teachers trainings proposed in AWP & B 2015 –16. Status on teacher training module should also be included.
· On teacher training, if the State has conducted any impact analysis of trainings conducted, the finding should be part of the plan.
· In accordance with newly framed RMSA guidelines (refer website), the state should avoid planning independent intervention; rather they should focus on proposing a project and should adopt holistic project based approach to intervention. In the project, the role and significance of teacher training should form part of the projects.
· State should ensure that all these special education teachers (for whom the financial support is being made from IEDSS) should be deployed in the school(s), and if they are serving more than one school in the vicinity then their formal deployment should be with the school having larger number of CWSN children.
· Adoption of project based approach: The PAB 2014-15, for integrated RMSA emphasized the need for the States to adopt a holistic project based approach to interventions wherein selected activities are put together in a manner that the outcomes and objectives that are envisaged through those interventions that are clearly defined and are measurable over a period of time through basic indicators such as enhancement in enrolment (CWSN, Girls SC..) retention, transition, performance or reduction in drop out and so on. Each such intervention needs to be substantiated by its performance outcome which should be taken up for evaluation by the State as part of its MMER activities.
· Quality of Inclusion in Secondary schools (CWSN under IEDSS): The issue of deployment of special education teachers was highlighted that at present, there is no deployment policy of special education teachers in any state and their (special education teachers) role in secondary classes need to be clearly outlined. At present, in most States, most of these teachers have not been deployed in the schools but rather at the block headquarters with no defined role and responsibility.
· PAB advised that States should ensure that all these special education teachers (for whom the financial support is being made from IEDSS) should be deployed in the school(s), and if they are serving more than one school in the vicinity then there formal deployment should be with the school having larger number of CWSN children.
· For the student-wise component under IEDSS, the State needs to indicate the number of CWSN of different categories in detail (Visually Handicapped, Hearing Impaired, Orthopedically Handicapped, etc. and the particular appliances and aids needed for them) for actual release of funds. Also the discrepancy regarding the teacher and special educator’s deployment in the current data needs to be corrected. The State must ensure that these teachers are deputed in the schools and in case of a school teacher attending more than a single school, then the place of formal posting (from he/she is drawing salary) should be indicated.
· The PAB had emphasized that Secondary Schools need to be made more inclusive for CWSN, with adaptations of infrastructure to be planned under the RMSA non-recurring / civil works component, while the teacher training for improving inclusive practices (targeted at CWSN) of Subject teachers should be within the RMSA teacher training package. These suggestions should be kept in view while making proposals for AWP&B 2015-16.
· Quality under Guidance & Counselling: To address the concern of counselling of students, the State was advised to consider training at least one teacher in each school in Guidance and Counselling and adolescent issues as part of in service training of teachers. The action taken on the suggestion and further proposal in this regards be under part of the Plan proposal.
The State is also required to furnish the modified details pertaining to teacher recruitment/Training /Salary and other components under quality for the year 2014-15 approved activities.
VI. Equity:
Suggestion
· The MI report (IIT, Madras) of Tamil Nadu covering 3 sampled districts (Thanjavur, Thiruvarur&Nagapattinam) covering the period of 6 months (Jan 2014 – June 2014 ) reflects 26.67% CWSN dropout in 60 sampled school. Therefore, the State needs to plan interventions which would help retain CWSN in secondary schools.
· Similarly, MI report reflects that the reason for absenteeism of girls in 37 sampled schools is the earning for livelihood responsibilities. Therefore the State may suggest an action plan to reverse the trend.
3.ICT
Status
· Total of 5265 RMSA schools have been approved under ICT scheme.
· As per the current progress report supplied by the state, the state is yet to implement ICT in its 4345 schools (including 5 smart schools) approved in 2010-11, 2011-12.
· Also 925 schools sanctioned from 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009 has completed its 5 years of implementation.
Suggestion
· The plan should include the efforts made by the State for sustainability of ICT after completion of 5 year support period.
· Evaluation report required to be submitted by the state.
4.VE
Status
Till date the State of TamilNadu has not planned for implementing Centrally Sponsored Vocational Education Scheme.