More than three decades of research on the effects of instruction and schooling on student achievement are creating a new science of education. Starting in 1998 McRel began synthesising this growing body of research through meta-analyses of research on student characteristics and teacher and school practices associated with school effectiveness. The results of The first two meta-analyses have provided practitioners with specific guidance on the curricular, instructional and school practices that when applied appropriately can result in increased student achievement.

Tim Waters, Robert J Marzano and Brian Mc Nulty

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Nearly a year after India passed the landmark right to education law making schooling compulsory, influential madrasa administrators are preparing to resist it, maintaining the law is a threat to Muslim religious schools. Seminary leaders from all sects will assemble in Delhi in July-end for consultations. called by the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, the country’s largest cleric body. Some of their concerns may be valid, legal experts said.

“The Act recognizes only one type of school and only one type of education. It can be used to outlaw madrasas,” Mahmood Madni, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind leader, told HT.

Former vice-rector of the Darul Uloom seminary, Qari Mohammed Usman, also termed the law an attempt to gain “backdoor entry” into madrasas.

“The right to education law could be shaky on two grounds,” said Faizan Mustafa, vice chancellor of National Law University, Cuttack. First, it is seen as violating the right to set up minority institutions under Article 30 of the Constitution. Second, it stipulates that parents should make up 75 per cent of a school’s administrators. This violates another constitutional guarantee that gives minority institutions a virtual free hand in running their affairs.

Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, aware of the brewing dissent, is said to be considering an amendment to the existing law.

Muslim clerics had squarely opposed efforts of the previous UPA regime to regulate madrasas, and direct them to teach secular subjects as well.

Madni, however, said the forthcoming meeting would address the issues of “evolving a consensus among clerics to introduce secular subjects voluntarily and also seek changes to protect madrasas”.

Zia Haq, Hindustan Times, July 12, 2010

At its simplest level, liberalisation equals the removal of market distortions. Price or supply control by the government can create artificial scarcities and lead to irrational pricing either too high or so low and populist as to be unviable. In the long term, society and consumers inevitably pay the price.

Since the reforms of 1991, India has recognised the logic of liberalisation in business sectors as far apart as telecom and energy. Yet, it is unconscionable that such an approach is deliberately ignored when it comes to a compelling arena: school education. Policy neglect if not policy perversity is leading to a crying paucity of good private schools in India’s biggest cities.

Why does school education remain a shaming embodiment of India’s shortage economy? There is massive demand; parents have paying capacity; entrepreneurs and service providers are ever willing to fill the gap. However, policy angularities and an over-bureaucratised regulatory system present an overwhelming obstacle. City authorities determine school fees, place ceilings on the size of schools, make it near impossible to change land use to open new schools. All this is happening even in Delhi, India’s capital.

As per Delhi Development Authority (DDA) regulations, no new school (nursery-class XII) in the city can extend beyond four acres. That apart, land use norms meant to protect residential areas from encroachment by factories and commercial complexes are being misconstrued. State and city governments routinely use them to prevent the setting up of schools in residential neighbourhoods even if they benefit rather than endanger the local community.

The crux of the issue is the state’s encroachment upon the autonomy of private, unaided schools, and its cussed refusal to facilitate remunerative pricing of school education services. The fees issue is the thin end of the wedge. State governments use it to bully and tighten their influence on private schools. These schools are asked to get clearance, and frequently denied clearance, for a fee hike. The matter is painted in vulgar terms: so-called “elite” schools are accused of “profiteering”, without any larger “social responsibility”.

In its judgement in TMA Pai Foundation vs State of Karnataka (2002), an 11-member bench of the Supreme Court made a perceptive comment: “There is no compulsion on students to attend private schools. The rush for admission is occasioned by the standards maintained in such schools and recognition of the fact that state-run schools do not provide the same standards of education. The state says it has no funds to establish institutions at the same level of excellence as private schools. But by curtailing the income of such private schools, it disables those schools from affording the best facilities because of lack of funds.”

How does this happen? Consider an ongoing controversy. Seventy-five per cent of the running expenses of a private school go towards staff salaries, human resource being critical to institutional quality and reputation. In 2008, the Sixth Central Pay Commission submitted its report to the government of India. As a consequence of its acceptance, in 2009 there was a knock-on revision of wages by state governments. As such, government schoolteachers in some states found their salaries going up by 60 per cent.

Obviously private schools were also obliged to increase their salaries. There was both a market and a regulatory principle at work here. As per the Delhi School Education (DSE) Act, 1973, private schools cannot have a lower salary matrix than government schools. The DSE Act is a particularly draconian piece of legislation that requires private schools to seek prior permission for even routine administrative tasks.

Theoretically, the DSE Act is limited to Delhi. Even so, it has become the template being used by a variety of state governments to “fix” private schools. It is increasingly cited by authorities in states such as UP, Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra and Assam.

In 2009, after the Pay Commission award and its cascading impact, private schools sought to raise fees. In Delhi, the state government allowed private schools to charge Rs 4,500 as a one-time fee and raise regular fees by up to Rs 500 a month. When it came to permission for the annual fee hike in April 2010, however, another controversy was triggered. The only school allowed to cross the Rs 500 barrier and take its fees further was Sanskriti School, run by the Central Civil Services Society!

In Mumbai, ministers and bureaucrats ran a media campaign against private schools and then appointed Kumud Bansal, former secretary in the Union human resource development ministry, as head of a committee to the study the “Fee Structure for Un-Aided Schools”. In October 2009, the Bansal panel submitted its report. Citing court judgements and case law, it recommended “private unaided schools should have the autonomy to fix the school fees”. It also argued that a “reasonable surplus” of “up to 15 per cent of the total revenue” could be retained by the school for future investment, and that this would not amount to profiteering.

Will Maharashtra accept the Bansal report? In nine months, the state government has not made up its mind. Meanwhile, schools and governments in Delhi and other states are waiting for that big decision in Mumbai. It will set a precedent and leave its mark on the future and viability of private schools across India.

Ashok Malik, The Times of India, July 9, 2010

The government’s special schools have discovered that their selection process is in direct violation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, which stipulates that entrance tests are illegal up to class VIII.

The Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs), a special group of 594 schools across India, have conducted two rounds of “selection tests” to pick students violating the Act’s provisions, which took effect on 1 April.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the official monitor of the law, has asked the schools to scrap the test.

“Yes, we have written to Navodaya Vidyalayas. Conducting tests for admission is a violation of the RTE Act,” Lov Kumar, member secretary of NCPCR, said on Thursday. “We have got complaints and have acted upon them.”

Under the Act, the entrance test should be scrapped or the law amended, he said.

“We don’t have anything against any particular institution, but we are the official monitoring agency for RTE,” Kumar said.

NCPCR authorities said the schools that have broken the law will need to scrap the test and use a lottery to choose students.

The schools have a total of 207,000 students, with 30,000 entering every year in class VI, according to official statistics. These schools were set up in 1985 to provide quality education to talented children predominantly from rural areas selected on the basis of a written test.

JNV commissioner Manoj Singh said the schools have written to the human resource development (HRD) ministry, seeking its intervention. “Whatever final decision they take, we will abide by it,” he said.

Another JNV official close to the development said the schools would seek an exemption. “We are catering to the poor and there should not be any hindrance in selecting quality students from rural backgrounds,” he said on condition of anonymity.

“The JNVs are doing very well and part of the credit goes to quality student intake. Instead of implementing it universally, the RTE needs to be amended in favour of special schools like JNVs,” the official added.

JNV students appear to be faring well in the Central Board of Secondary Education board exams. In the 2010 class X exams, JNVs had a pass percentage of 98.72% against 83% in general government schools. Independent, or public schools, had a 91.79% pass percentage.

NCPCR has also pulled up Delhi state government-run special schools known as Rajakiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalayas for conducting entrance tests. The state government, which runs 19 such schools, has been given time until 15 July to comply with the law.

Delhi education minister A.S. Lovely has sought Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s intervention in the matter, said an HRD ministry official close to the development.

NCPCR has asked all state chief secretaries to ensure that the Act is implemented, said Kiran Bhatty, national commissioner of RTE.

Prashant K. Nanda, Mint, Jul 9 2010

Expressing concern at the ratio of school passing students joining colleges, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Sunday favoured Public-Private Partnership to tackle this as the government “lacked financial resources and wherewithal to achieve the tall order.”

While the present Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is 12.4 per cent, government’s target is around 30 per cent by 2020 and to realise this, the participation of private players and other stake-holders is important, Mr. Sibal said while delivering the first Kuruvila Jacob Memorial Oration here.

The task of achieving 30 per cent is a “tall order” and not an easy task considering that India presently had 400-500 universities and 5,000 colleges. To achieve the said rate, over 700 universities and 25,000 colleges are required, he said.

“How will that happen? Who will build them? The government cannot do it alone; there are no financial resources and the wherewithal. We require the PPP method. Open up universities to private sector. Allow private entrepreneurs set up universities,” the minister said.

Private players must be encouraged in this process by setting up an ‘Education Finance Corporation’ to allow easy access to credit for those who want to set up educational institutions, Mr. Sibal said, adding they should be given certain tax incentives.

Stakeholders such as the Centre, State governments, panchayats, parents and NGOs should work together in developing the education scene, as that alone would help “teach children in Naxal-affected areas or hinterland of Orissa, Jharkhand or Chattisgrah” among other places, he said.

The Hindu, July 11, 2010

The number of government primary schools with less than 15 students has increased to 253 from last year’s 210.

Officials at the directorate of education (DoE), however, say there are no plans to shut these schools.

“Even though they have few enrolments these schools will continue to function. We need schools to cater to students in the locality,” Anil Powar, deputy director of education told TOI on Wednesday.

It may be recalled that the DoE had a different stand on the issue in 2008. It had then sought to send students from low-enrolment schools to schools with better enrolments. The move was scrapped following stiff opposition from parent teacher associations. The PTAs had pointed out that students would have to travel longer distances to reach school.

Explaining the continued drop in numbers in government primary schools, Powar claimed, “The population in rural areas is dwindling on account of migration to urban areas for employment. ”

He added, “With better transportation facilities, parents who would otherwise not think of sending their children to urban schools are doing so. ”

Meanwhile, the number of government primary schools with less than 15 students has seen steadily increasing since the last two years. While such schools stood at 172 in 2008, last year, 210 schools reported low enrolments.

This year the number of such schools is up by 53. For the state, running schools with low student enrolments not only leads to a wastage of funds, but the quality of education in these institutes also suffers.

This is because the state is unable to provide additional teachers and other facilities. As per DoE regulations, only one teacher is provided for every 24 students. Since the introduction of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, however, para-teachers are being deployed at schools with low enrolments to raise the quality of teaching.

Meanwhile, statistics collected by the DoE show schools in rural areas have the most number of low enrolments

for this academic year. In the Sanguem taluka alone there are 44 such primary schools. The number of such schools in Ponda is 37, followed by Sattari (30), Pernem (27), Salcete (24), Bicholim (23) and Canacona (22). In Bardez 19 government primary schools have enrolments of less than 15 students, while the number in Tiswadi taluka is 14.

The number of government primary schools with low enrolments is relatively lesser in urban areas.

The Times of India, July 8, 2010

Keeping in view the Right to Education Act, the higher authorities of education department have asked all the government schools to refund fees charged from students from Classes I to VIII.

According to instructions issued by Krishan Kumar, Director General Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Punjab, all the government schools are supposed to refund fees to students from Class I to Class VIII from April to June.

“Following these instructions, parents of wards studying in government schools have welcomed this decision. However, teachers feel the pinch and are calling it extra work.

A government school principal said, “We collected three types of funds from students —amalgamated fund, parent-teacher association fund and physical education fund—and deposited these accordingly. Now, we will have to withdraw this amount from the respective bank accounts and distribute it to students of our respective schools. It is a very time consuming exercise.” While another government schoolteacher said, “The government schools will reopen onJuly 1 and we have been asked to ensure 100 per cent attendance from the very first day. And on the same day, the monthly tests will start. We are in a fix as many children who belong to UP and Bihar do not turn up on the very first day after vacations, so how they would appear in the monthly test.”

Despite repeated attempts, none of the officers from the district education office could be contacted.

Anupam Bhagria, Indian Express, July 02 2010

The Union government is in discussions with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to enrol students in the programme from the day they enter school.

The effort will help monitor the education system, speed up and smoothen the grant and repayment of student loans and track millions of school and college dropouts.

The human resource development (HRD) ministry has already had two rounds of consultations with Nandan Nilekani, chief of the unique ID programme, in the last three months on making it mandatory to enrol around 250 million students in schools and colleges across the country, according to the ministry.

The benefits for the student community will be manifold, HRD minister Kapil Sibal said on Tuesday in New Delhi.

“A student’s entire educational record will be linked to the UID number and a bank will not have to worry about the chance of any forgery in certificates or false claims on educational qualifications,” said a ministry official close to the development, requesting anonymity. “This will speed up the process and at the end it’s the students who will not get hassled.”

Student loan repayments can start as soon as the borrower gets employed as all records will be linked to the UID.

According to HRD ministry data, 9% of 12 million students pursuing higher education have taken study loans. The total outstanding on such loans in the year to March is Rs32,000 crore, according to the Indian Banks Association.

The government can use the UID to monitor the education system and put a number to parameters such as school dropout rates. The ID programme will include photographs, fingerprints and iris scans.

“The fingerprint and iris change up to 18 years of age, hence the parents’ biometric identity proof will be kept as a foolproof measure,” said the official cited above. “Once a student turns 18, the biometric prints and photo will be taken as the final one for future use.”

According to ministry data, 25.5% of primary (classes I-V) school students drop out every year. Between class I and class X, this widens to 56.8%—more than half the students who start school don’t finish class X.

Currently, 237 million students are in the Indian school system till the 12th standard, with around 136 million of them in primary schools (Class-I-V), official data show.

The system may help stem the dropout rate, especially among poor students who are forced to opt out because they can’t pay the fees, said Pabitra Banerjee, programme head of the Smile Foundation, a voluntary organization working in the education sector.

The government estimates the number of children missing school at 8.1 million, but the number could be three times as much, said Banerjee.

“Clubbing the UID with the Right to Education Act can really be a major push for universalization of education in India,” he said.

The unique ID could also curtail the chance for wrongdoing, such as teachers signing up at multiple educational institutes to meet accreditation requirements.

First Advantage Pvt. Ltd, a background screening firm, found at least 15% of resumes checked last year contained false information, Mint reported on 25 March.

Prashant K. Nanda, Mint, July 9, 2010

The Centre plans to appoint central watchdogs in each state to monitor the implementation of the landmark right to education law, following a Supreme Court model to keep track of how states perform. The right to education commissioners will report to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the apex monitor for the law, but the proposed project will be funded by the human resource development (HRD) ministry, top government sources have told HT.

The initiative reflects the significance of the law — the Centre does not have similar commissioners for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, mid-day meal or other major education programmes it runs.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act — passed by both Houses of Parliament last year and implemented from April 1 this year — provides legal guarantee of schooling for all children between six and 14. The UPA rates the act as one of its biggest achievements.

The SC-appointed commissioners on the right to food are tasked with submitting regular feedback to the apex court on the implementation of food-related schemes across the country. This feedback is often critical of the Centre and of state governments.

“Instead of the SC, the right to education commissioners will report to the NCPCR, an autonomous statutory body. The idea is that like with the SC commissioners, our commissioners should be in a position to give objective feedback,” an HRD ministry source said.

Reports of the right to education commissioners on the performance of different states will form the basis for central suggestions to these states.

The HRD ministry’s decision to appoint commissioners also reflects the absence of complete trust between the Centre and states on the implementation of key social sector schemes, sources reluctantly admitted.

But the sources also asserted that the commissioners “must not be misunderstood” as a central ploy to intervene in state implementation of the right to education law.

“These commissioners are not bosses of state governments — the latter is in charge. But there is nothing wrong in keeping track of how the law is being implemented. The state governments also want the law to succeed,” a source said.

Charu Sudan Kasturi, Hindustan Times, July 11, 2010