VISION: 2017-2030 (From the perspective of Execution of RTE Act. 2009 in the Sikkim State)

SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN 

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 

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VISION: 2017-2030

(From the perspective of Execution of RTE Act. 2009 in the State)

VISION STATEMENT:

“ALL CHILDREN IN THE AGE GROUP OF 6 TO 14 YEARS HAPPILY ATTEND SCHOOLS WHERE A QUALITY INCLUSIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT THAT IS RESPONSIVE TO CHILDREN’S VOICE AND FUTURE REQUIREMENT EXISTS.”

Mission Statements:

 Attainment of Universal Enrolment

 Quality assurance in elementary education

 Shift in school monitoring system

 Optimum involvement of community and civil society in school management

A. UNIVERSAL ENROLMENT 

Expected changes at School Neighbourhood Area level

 Every school has its neighbourhood area 

 Schools have detail records of children of their respective neighbourhood areas 

 Every village or Gram Panchayat Unit has the practice boosting on being “Zero Dropout Village” or “Out of School Children Free Village”. 

 All schools are in easy access to all categories of children including children with special needs

 Zero overage and underage children in the classrooms 

 Schools, Cluster, Districts and State analyse the information collected through U-DISE (ASMITA) to track children’s participation in schools

Strategies for 2017-2024

a) School Neighbourhood Mapping 

b) Rationalization of existing schools OR make alternative arrangements for enrolment as per the Rule 4 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2010 (State RTE Rules, 2010) aligning with findings of School Neighbourhood Mapping

c) Provision of barrier-free and children-friendly environment in all schools to promote retention

d) Special provision for the enrolment of children of floating population in nearby schools 

e) Implementation of Section 12 of RTE Act, 2009

f) Development of effective child tracking mechanism 

g) Special Training (Bridge Courses) for out of school children (OoSC) to put them in age-appropriate class 

h) Use of U-DISE (ASMITA) to track children’s attendance in schools (Web-based children tracking)

 

Action Plan for 2017-20

(i) To earmark school neighbourhood area of each and every State government school which are established to provide access to schooling for the children up to the age of 14 years

(ii) To issue instructions to all the District HRDD office to carry out the school neighbourhood mapping activity within 2017-18 and update Village Education Register in 100% schools taking the jurisdiction of their respective neighbourhood area

(iii) To identify the habitations or hamlets from where the children are attending their nearest schools beyond the distance limit as specified by State RTE Rules, 2010

(iv) To chalk out the actions to address the issues identified under Sl. No. (iii) taking following three options - 

(a) Arrangement of safe and free transportation facility 

(b) Provide free residential facility OR

(c)  Rationalization of schooling facility (shifting of schools)

(v) To identify the children belonging to weaker section and disadvantaged group in the school neighbourhood

(vi) To make a list of recognised private unaided schools and private aided schools with their intake capacity in LKG and admission of children [identified under Sl. No. (v)] in such schools as per Section 12 (1) (c) of RTE Act, 2009 

(vii) To calculate the expenditure to be reimbursed in account of the children [identified under Sl. No. (v)] studying in private unaided and private aided schools

(viii) To provide ramps, handrails, disable-friendly toilets, hand wash area and drinking water area in 30% existing schools

(ix) To include ramps with tactile patterns and hand rails in new school building plans

(x) To include provision of barrier-free elements in all the new infrastructure plans 

(xi) Documentation of accomplishments of planned activities and achievements ‘Desired Outcomes’ for 3-Year i.e. 2017-20 and preparation of report.

B. QUALITY ASSURANCE IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

Expected Changes at the Classroom Level

 Materials enriched classroom & school [Libraries, Dolls Corner, Reading corner, Mathematics corner, Display boards, Subject-wise walls, etc.] 

 Flexibility – space and time – as per requirements of active learning 

 Planning – assessment of available materials & developments of new materials to conduct active & appropriate learning 

 Involvement of all the students of the classroom in active learning – increase in engagement time  – idea of inclusive activity 

 Formation of activity bank according to subject & units with the help of CRP/BRP 

 Scope for students to create new activity on the basis of experiences/activities conducted by teachers. 

 Identification of cognitive variation of children/ learner with supports of DIETs/RPs at block level 

 Spare scope for teachers to work on active learning to make it more active at classroom level - (Teaching load reduction)

 All teachers develop a sensitivity to the children’s emotional needs and provide a range of suitable and appropriate learning opportunities for the all round development of every child 

Strategies for 2017-2024

a) Learner-friendly infrastructure/school design which supports students’ learning

b) Optimum use of reading corners, learner-friendly environment, library, school campus, laboratory, locally available materials, etc. to provide learning opportunity to children 

c) Use of Learning Indicators in teaching learning processes

d) Provision of platform for teachers in schools to share their training experiences as soon as they join schools after attending in-service trainings/ workshops/ orientation programme

e) Effective implementation of School Twinning Programme

f) Peer Classroom Observation among teachers 

g) Guardian Teacher System in schools 

h) Sharing of good classroom practices at Cluster level and Block Level meetings by teachers

i) Establishment of  regular sharing of students’ performances with parents/guardians

j) Analysis of teachers’ performance through the information collected through PINDICS, QMTs and U-DISE (ASMITA) by schools, Clusters, Blocks, Districts, State and SCERT/DIETs and re-design the support activities 

k) Strengthen Teacher Performance Appraisal through learners

l) FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT be made a tool to collect regular feedback of children’s holistic development (not only scholastic) 

m) Regular in-service teacher training duly identifying relevant training needs 

n) Establishment of strong connection between activities (includes projects also) and learning 

o) Teachers focus more on giving the learning opportunities/ learning experiences (focus on making children learn) than on teaching (covering syllabus)

p) Use of ICT in teaching learning process 

q) Rational deployment of teachers 

r) Appointment of subject-wise teachers for primary classes 

Action Plan for 2017-20

(i) To establish Inclusive Education Cell in DIETs and SCERT

(ii) To establish Research Study Cell in SCERT which recommends areas of in-service teacher training 

(iii) To encourage and support teachers to use reading corners, learner-friendly environment, library, school campus, laboratory, locally available materials, etc. during classroom practices

(iv) To instruct schools to carry out School Twinning Programme with appropriate and relevant objectives 

(v) To orient teachers to implement Learning Indicators 

(vi) To implement ‘Guardian Teacher System’ in 100% schools

(vii) To instruct school heads to provide platform for teachers to share their training experiences

(viii) To  implement ‘Peer Classroom Observation system’

(ix) To organise series of trainings to in-service teachers on the use of Formative Assessment to enhance children’s learning and help them to gain mastery on different scholastic and co-scholastic areas 

(x) To start the culture of sharing between teachers and parents on regular basis

(xi) To provide SMART classrooms to 90 schools with elementary classes along with internet connection 

(xii) To train teachers teaching at elementary levels on effective use ICT in teaching learning process

(xiii) Documentation of accomplishments of planned activities and achievements ‘Desired Outcomes’ for 3-Year i.e. 2017-20 and preparation of report.

C. SHIFT IN SCHOOL MONITORING SYSTEM

Expected shift in School Monitoring System

 All the monitoring officials posted at different levels are appropriately updated in educational planning, implementation and pedagogy

 Cluster Resource Centres have full-fledged Cluster Resource Centre Coordinators equivalent to the rank of Assistant Education Officer 

 Block Resource Centres have full-fledged Block Resource Centre Coordinators equivalent to the rank of Assistant Director 

 Monitoring officials posted at different levels have short term/ long term School Monitoring Plans

 One each standby monitoring vehicle at Block Resource Centre

 School monitoring provides on site pedagogical and academic supports

 Adequately qualified Block Level Subject Specific and Inclusive Education Resource Persons (Block Level RPs) conducting regular academic monitoring

Strategies for 2017-2024

a) Placement of full-fledged Cluster Resource Centre Coordinators in Clusters and Block Resource Centre Coordinators in Blocks

b) Monitoring of schools with school specific pre-identified parameters by lower level monitoring institutions like Block Resource Centres/ Cluster Resource Centres

c) Conduct of academic monitoring of schools in random by DIETs and SCERT on regular interval

d) Preparation of level-wise school monitoring plan and Monitoring calendar 

e) Allocation of a monitoring vehicle to BRC 

f) Placement of Subject Specific and Inclusive Education Resource Persons at Block Levels (Block Level RPs) who regularly visits schools and provide academic and pedagogical feedbacks to system levels officers including DIETs and SCERT

g) Capacity building of  Block Level RPs to compensate the lacunas of in-service teacher training conducted for pedagogical reforms

h) Analysis of information collected through Quality Monitoring Tools, PINDICS and U-DISE (ASMITA)

Action Plan for 2017-20

(i) To appoint full-fledged Cluster Resource Centre Coordinators in Clusters and Block Resource Centre Coordinators in Blocks with appropriate role definitions

(ii) To capacitate every Block Resource Centre as the centre for in-service teacher training 

(iii) To instruct BRC/CRC Coordinators to hold monthly academic meetings of schools/cluster heads respectively wherein they can organise one each model classroom teaching by a teacher who has recently attended in-service teacher training 

(iv) To organize capacity building programme for Cluster/Block Coordinators to identify various issues that exist at school and cluster levels 

(v) To instruct Cluster Coordinators, Block Coordinators and District Officials to identify the parameters for school monitoring according to identified school, cluster and block specific issues 

(vi) To instruct School Heads, Cluster Coordinators, Block Coordinators and District Officials to prepare School Monitoring Plan and calendar

(vii) To instruct school heads, cluster coordinators, block officials, districts officials and State officials to analyse the information collected through PINDICS and establish a system of chain appraisal mechanism to provide continuous feedback to teachers improvement

(viii) To provide a monitoring vehicle to every block resource centre

(ix) Documentation of accomplishments of planned activities and achievements ‘Desired Outcomes’ for 3-Year i.e. 2017-20 and preparation of report.

D. OPTIMUM COMMUNITY AND CIVIL SOCIETY PARTNERSHIP IN SCHOOL MANAGEMENT

Expected partnerships of Community and Civil Society in School Management

 Community and Civil Society involve themselves in planning for their school

 School Management Committee places their School Development Plan in Gram Sabha and asks for approval 

 Community, PRIs and Civil Society check attendance of teachers and students in schools

 Parents visiting schools, checking drinking water safety, maintenance of toilets, observing their ward’s classroom and testing mid day meal

 PRIs put education of children upto the age of 14 years in priority list

Strategies for 2017-2024

a) Encourage and involve community and civil society in planning processes of their neighbourhood schools 

b) Make it compulsory for all schools to submit their School Development Plan to their respective Gram Prashasan Kendra (Gram Panchayat Unit)

c) Instruct all school heads to constitute School Management Committee as mandated by RTE Act, 2009

d) Schools be made most accessible places for parents and community leaders 

Action Plan for 2017-20

(i) To train all school heads on the process of Preparation of School Development Plan and Community Management Skills

(ii) To train local authorities about their roles and responsibilities as per the mandates of RTE Act, 2009

(iii) To instruct School Management Committee to involve community and civil society in the planning process of their school

(iv) To instruct School Management Committee to place their School Development Plan in Gram Sabha and encourage community and civil society to advocate the plan thus submitted

(v) Documentation of accomplishments of planned activities and achievements ‘Desired Outcomes’ for 3-Year i.e. 2017-20 and preparation of report.

                                                              ♥♥♥

SOME SUGGESTIVE ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE LEARNING OF THE CHILDREN

The State is conducting in-service teacher training under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan through SCERT, DIETs and District Project Offices. During last two years, the State has conducted series of in-service teacher trainings for 1536 teachers teaching in Classes I & II, 3468 teachers teaching Classes III to V and 372 teachers teaching mathematics and science in Classes VI to VIII on “Teaching through Activities”. The sole purpose of these trainings is to equip the teachers to teach the children through activities thereby making the classroom practices more activities based, collaborative and joyful. This is also expected that this new approach will ensure higher order leaning and instill the habits of thinking aloud among children.

However, the recent school visit reports of the District Collector, South, reveal that the trainings being provided to teachers are not getting its place inside the elementary classrooms. There may a range of reasons for ineffectiveness of these training inputs. One of the most significant reasons can be the lack of administrative instructions to different level monitoring officials i.e. school heads, Cluster Resource Coordinators, Block Resource Coordinators, Sub-Divisional and District level monitoring officials regarding effective implementation of training inputs at classroom level. Hence, an instruction to the heads of schools and officials of different levels to initiate different activities to stimulate the training impacts in the schools and innovate various activities to bridge the competency gaps of low performing students is need of the hour. The strategies should include the activities to support the better performing children as well for further improvements. Some of the suggestive activities for school heads, CRC/BRC Coordinators, Sub-Divisional and District level officials are given below:  

I.         Activities for School Heads

a)       To ask the teachers to share his/her training experiences through a presentation as soon as the teacher joins school after completing the training

b)        To ask all the teachers irrespective of their category to be present during the presentation

c)        To make arrangements to conduct a model class for the teacher to demonstrate the teaching skills acquired from the training

d)   To encourage all the teachers to apply new teaching skills in classroom practices propagated  by the training programme

e)     To observe classes and appreciate the new teaching strategies applied by the teachers and provide onsite support if required

f)    To inspire teachers to initiate innovative classroom practices and to appreciate/reinforce them as and when the need arises

g)    To encourage and provide support the teachers to use various resources available in the school and its vicinity like Reading Corners, Learner-friendly environment, school campus, locally available materials, etc. during the teaching learning process

h)   To instruct the teachers to identify the children who have been performing below the expected level and to provide additional support during teaching hours to meet up the learning gaps so that all children reach the desired grade appropriate competency level

i)        To encourage the subject teachers to share the students’ performances with their parents on a regular basis and to involve them in the teaching learning processes

j)      To initiate Guardian-Teacher system allocating a fix group of students to every working teacher and ask them to keep track of their learning and behavioural patterns for improving on their weak areas

k)        To take pictures/record videos of all the innovative activities and classroom practices being carried out by the schools/teachers and to share it during the SMC/PTA/MTA/Cluster/Block meetings

l)          To prepare documents on the good practices of the school/teachers and share it with the Cluster Resource Coordinators/ Block Resource Coordinators/ District Officials

m)    To identify the best performing teachers, give recognition to their contribution, at public gatherings and make it a base for the recommendation of these teachers for the teacher awards on Teachers Day.

II.      Activities for Cluster and Block Resource Coordinators, Sub-Divisional and District Level Officials

a)     To monitor and supervise the activities of the school heads on the effectiveness of in-service teacher training in schools

b)      To support and reinforce the school heads and the teachers to apply training inputs 

c)    To appreciate the schools and teachers on the materialization of the inputs acquired during the training

d)   To observe classroom teachings of the teachers whose students are falling behind and provide onsite support to the teachers for improvements

e)      To encourage the system of peer classroom observations among teachers wherein a teacher observes her/his peer’s classroom teaching and thereafter suggest teaching improvements 

f)     To provide a platform for pedagogically sound teachers to share her/his teaching experiences within the clusters/blocks

g)     To identify best performing  schools/teachers and document the processes, impacts and outcomes

h)       To motivate schools to identify the low performing students and organize special remedial classes

i)          To encourage the schools to establish close and continuous contact with parents

j)          To support schools to  organize parenting programmes at regular intervals

k)        To support the Guardian-Teacher system initiated by the school heads

l)          To prepare documents on the process of the good practices of schools/teachers, impacts on children’s learning and character building and its major outcomes.  

m)  To take pictures and video clips of various innovative practices initiated by the schools/teachers

n)  To strategize actions for sustainability and extension of the good practices in the neighbouring schools

o)        To share the good practices of schools and teachers at various platforms and higher offices including teacher educational institutions like DIETs and SCERT

p)      To identify the best performing teachers, recognize her/his contribution at public gatherings and make it a base for the recommendation of teachers for teacher awards. 

Thank You!

QUALITY MONITORING TOOLS - Consolidation of District Reports (2nd Quarter 2015-16)

State Project Office has consolidated the 2nd Quarter District Monitoring Formats of all four districts of Sikkim in respect of Academic Session 2015-16. The consolidation presented herein are of following 6 (Six) areas: 

1. Initiatives/ strategies adopted by teachers for improving teaching learning process:

a)      Teachers are trying to use activities to teach the children and trying to make the classroom collaborative.

b)      Involved maximum number of students to participate in classroom activities

c)      Preparing attractive TLMs with low cost locally available materials

d)     Adopted play way method in teaching leaning process

e)      Adopted Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation in true sense

2. Specific efforts made for making classrooms inclusive (CWSN):

a)      Ramps and disable friendly toilets are being provided in schools

b)      Special attention by all teachers to them according to their disability

c)      Resource Teachers make frequent visits and give suggestions (provide onsite supports)

3. Ways in which training inputs were used by the teachers:

a)      Teachers started using collaborative teaching techniques

b)      Teachers are conducting Continuous and Comprehensive Assessment

c)      Lecture method is now replaced by activity method

d)     Conducted debates, group discussion, role play and interactive session in the classroom

e)      Sharing of training inputs with fellow teachers

4. Suggestions for upcoming training programmes:

a)      Teachers are to be trained on Teaching through Activities

b)      School heads should be involved in training

c)      Training should be conducted in vacations

d)     Subject-based training is to be conducted

e)      Training to conduct Formative Assessment

f)       Training of school heads on Quality Monitoring Tools is to be given

g)      Training on phonetics for the teachers teaching English in primary classes

  5. In formation on Children with Special Needs (CWSN) and admission of Out of School Children

District	Children with Special Needs (CWSN)		Out of School Children admitted in the age-appropriate class
	Identified	Enrolled	Boys	Girls
East	242	99	05	04
North	84	41	0	0
South	208	85	72	53
West	148	117	38	31
Total	682	342	115	88

  6. Functioning of School Management Committee

Activities	East	North	South	West
a) Number of SMCs	233	76	231	227
b) No. Of schools where School Development Plan have not been prepared	-	-	-	-
c) No. Of schools not involving SMCs in preparation of this plan	-	-	-	-
d) No. of SMCs which have not been given training about their roles and functions	-	-	-	-

The most grey areas reported is the Functioning of School Management Committees. It seems that the district offices are simply consolidating the Block Monitoring Formats and submitting to State without analysing it at their levels. The districts need to go through the reports submitted by the blocks and provide positive feedbacks to Block Resource Coordinators to materialize the mandate of Section 22 of the RTE Act 2009. 

The above consolidation doesn't include Learners' Assessment of Summative Assessment I. 

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