ROLE OF WORLD BANK IN EDUCATION IN INDIA

World Bank

 Education is a powerful driver of development and is one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace, and stability. Although there has been great progress in the last decade, some 121 million children are still out of primary and lower secondary school, and 250 million children cannot read or write although many have been to school. 

Education has large, consistent returns in terms of income and counters widening inequality, but this potential is too often unrealized due to alarmingly low learning levels. Providing all children with a quality education that teaches them skills for work is critical to end poverty by 2030. 

The World Bank Group is committed to supporting countries that request financing or technical assistance to be able to reach Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 , which calls for access to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030.  It helped draft and is a signatory to the Education 2030 Framework for Action, which will guide countries through the implementation of SDG4. 

To make this vision a reality, the World Bank Group is mobilizing all available resources. The Education Sector Strategy 2020, “Learning for All” emphasizes that the knowledge and skills youth gain through learning help lift them out of poverty and drive development. Countries are encouraged to “invest early” because foundational skills acquired early help lifelong learning, “invest smartly” in efforts proven to improve learning, and “invest for all” children and youth.

Achieving learning for all also means moving beyond financing the inputs that education systems need, to strengthening these systems to deliver results. There is growing demand from countries for Results-Based Financing, which is a promising set of tools to help achieve better alignment of incentives and desired outcomes by making financing contingent on the achievement of pre-agreed results. This approach has shown promise and could help countries leverage the financial resources needed to achieve the SDGs.

In May 2015, at the historic World Education Forum in Incheon, Korea, the World Bank Group committed to double its Results-Based Financing support for education to $5 billion over the next five years. Over a quarter of this has already been delivered.

In April 2016, the WBG committed to investing $2.5 billion over five years in education projects that include adolescent girls (aged 12-17) as direct beneficiaries. About 75% of this investment will be in low-income countries, largely in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

The World Bank Group’s support to education focuses on areas that matter to developing countries:

• Ramping up Early Child Development investments to enable a lifetime of learning and raise future productivity.
• Ensuring that children who are in school are actually learning foundational skills.
• Lowering barriers to quality education for girls and children from disadvantaged communities.
• Fixing the wide disconnect between skills development, higher education and the labor market.
• Addressing systemic issues at all levels, to increase efficiency and transparency.
• Increasing innovative Results-Based Financing in responding to country demand.

It is important for education systems to provide students at all levels with the skills necessary to promote productivity and growth.

Investing in young children (from birth to age five) before they even enter primary school—ensuring they have the right stimulation, nurturing and nutrition—is one of the smartest investments a country can make to address inequality, break the cycle of poverty, and boost productivity. The “Stepping Up Early Childhood Development” report is a practical guide for policymakers and practitioners about how to invest in young children.

Quality education can only be achieved with excellent teachers. A 2014 report, “Great Teachers: How to Raise Student Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean”, distills the latest evidence and practical experience with teacher policy reforms. “How Shanghai Does It”, a 2016 World Bank Group report, also highlights how the most impressive aspects of Shanghai’s education system is the way it grooms, supports, and manages teachers, who are central to any effort to raise the education quality in schools.

To help increase labor market productivity, the World Bank Group examines how education can play a role in addressing the skills mismatch present in many countries around the world. The Skills Toward Employment and Productivity (STEP) skills measurement survey is shedding light on skills gaps and mismatches by generating new, internationally comparable data on adult workers’ skills. The World Bank Group also produces several regional skills reports, including the Preparing the next generation in Tanzania : challenges and opportunities in education, Developing Skills for Innovative Growth in the Russian Federation, and Sub-Saharan African Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Research : A Decade of Development.

The World Bank Group’s Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) platform has been widely used around the world, producing 167 country reports that help assess education policies and identify actionable priorities.

The World Bank Group conducts and supports rigorous impact evaluations to generate stronger evidence about what works in education under different conditions. Also, in Africa, Service Delivery Indicator (SDI) surveys track performance and quality of service delivery in education and health across countries and over time. At a global level, the World Bank Group’s EdStats website features more than 2,500 internationally comparable education indicators on access, completion, learning outcomes, expenditures, and more.

During 2000 to 2016, the World Bank Group invested $46 billion in education. Over the period of 2000-2015, the share of education in World Bank Group lending has doubled from five percent to about 10 percent, showing the importance of education in the overall portfolio.  The World Bank Group’s lending for education for fiscal year 2016 was $3.4 billion, which is the same as the average lending for education over the past 10 years. The World Bank Group’s current active education portfolio is $14.5 billion.

 In many countries, World Bank Group funds are also helping to crowd in much larger resources from governments, as well as other development partners, resulting in harmonized education programs and lower transaction costs for governments.

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In India, from 2012 to 2015, the massive nationwide Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan program for elementary education reached more than 120 million children across about 1.4 million schools, helping improve the pupil-teacher ratio from 30 students per teacher to 25. During that same period, teacher attendance improved from 75 percent to 85 percent, while the share of professionally trained teachers remained stable, thereby establishing the foundation for improved quality of education. In addition, the ratio of girls to boys enrolled in government schools improved from 1:1 in 2012 to 1:1.03 in 2015.

The World Bank Group collaborates closely with United Nations (UN) agencies and development partners and will strongly support countries as they work towards the SDGs.

The World Bank Group a co-convener of the World Education Forum (May 2015; Incheon, Korea)—the most important global event on education in a decade.

The World Bank Group was instrumental in creating the multi-donorGlobal Partnership for Education (GPE), an important partner in basic education, in 2002. Efforts to better coordinate education financing from GPE and the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank’s fund for the poorest countries, are underway.

The World Bank Group partners with bilateral donors, for example, with Norway, the United States, and Germany for the Results in Education for All Children (REACH program), which is supporting efforts to build evidence on RBF in education.

Other trust fund partners include Australia, the European Commission, Ireland, Korea, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

The World Bank Group is also working with new partners including Teach for All, the Arab World Initiative, the Early Childhood Consultative Group, the Global Reading Network, the Building Evidence in Education (BE²) Group, and the Global Compact on Learning Donor Network. 

The Planning Commission

The Planning Commission

History

The Planning Commission was set up by a Resolution of the Government of India in March 1950 in pursuance of declared objectives of the Government to promote a rapid rise in the standard of living of the people by efficient exploitation of the resources of the country, increasing production and offering opportunities to all for employment in the service of the community. The Planning Commission was charged with the responsibility of making assessment of all resources of the country, augmenting deficient resources, formulating plans for the most effective and balanced utilisation of resources and determining priorities. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Chairman of the Planning Commission.

The first Five-year Plan was launched in 1951 and two subsequent five-year plans were formulated till 1965, when there was a break because of the Indo-Pakistan Conflict. Two successive years of drought, devaluation of the currency, a general rise in prices and erosion of resources disrupted the planning process and after three Annual Plans between 1966 and 1969, the fourth Five-year plan was started in 1969.

The Eighth Plan could not take off in 1990 due to the fast changing political situation at the Centre and the years 1990-91 and 1991-92 were treated as Annual Plans. The Eighth Plan was finally launched in 1992 after the initiation of structural adjustment policies.

For the first eight Plans the emphasis was on a growing public sector with massive investments in basic and heavy industries, but since the launch of the Ninth Plan in 1997, the emphasis on the public sector has become less pronounced and the current thinking on planning in the country, in general, is that it should increasingly be of an indicative nature.

Functions

The 1950 resolution setting up the Planning Commission outlined its functions as to:

1. Make an assessment of the material, capital and human resources of the country, including technical personnel, and investigate the possibilities of augmenting such of these resources as are found to be deficient in relation to the nation’s requirement;
2. Formulate a Plan for the most effective and balanced utilisation of country's resources;
3. On a determination of priorities, define the stages in which the Plan should be carried out and propose the allocation of resources for the due completion of each stage;
4. Indicate the factors which are tending to retard economic development, and determine the conditions which, in view of the current social and political situation, should be established for the successful execution of the Plan;
5. Determine the nature of the machinery which will be necessary for securing the successful implementation of each stage of the Plan in all its aspects;
6. Appraise from time to time the progress achieved in the execution of each stage of the Plan and recommend the adjustments of policy and measures that such appraisal may show to be necessary; and
7. Make such interim or ancillary recommendations as appear to it to be appropriate either for facilitating the discharge of the duties assigned to it, or on a consideration of prevailing economic conditions, current policies, measures and development programmes or on an examination of such specific problems as may be referred to it for advice by Central or State Governments.

Evolving Functions

From a highly centralised planning system, the Indian economy is gradually moving towards indicative planning where Planning Commission concerns itself with the building of a long term strategic vision of the future and decide on priorities of nation. It works out sectoral targets and provides promotional stimulus to the economy to grow in the desired direction.

Planning Commission plays an integrative role in the development of a holistic approach to the policy formulation in critical areas of human and economic development. In the social sector, schemes which require coordination and synthesis like rural health, drinking water, rural energy needs, literacy and environment protection have yet to be subjected to coordinated policy formulation. It has led to multiplicity of agencies. An integrated approach can lead to better results at much lower costs.

The emphasis of the Commission is on maximising the output by using our limited resources optimally. Instead of looking for mere increase in the plan outlays, the effort is to look for increases in the efficiency of utilisation of the allocations being made.

With the emergence of severe constraints on available budgetary resources, the resource allocation system between the States and Ministries of the Central Government is under strain. This requires the Planning Commission to play a mediatory and facilitating role, keeping in view the best interest of all concerned. It has to ensure smooth management of the change and help in creating a culture of high productivity and efficiency in the Government.

The key to efficient utilisation of resources lies in the creation of appropriate self-managed organisations at all levels. In this area, Planning Commission attempts to play a systems change role and provide consultancy within the Government for developing better systems. In order to spread the gains of experience more widely, Planning Commission  also plays an information dissemination role.

Role of Planning Commission 

Through the Plans Five Year Plans :  First  Second  Third  Fourth  Fifth  Sixth  Seventh  Eighth  Ninth  Tenth Eleventh

The scope of work of the Education Division covers:

• Different stages of education such as Pre-primary, formal and non-formal Education, Secondary, Senior Secondary, University and Technical Education;
• Special areas such as that of girls' education, Education for the children of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes;
• Adult Education and Education in the backward areas.

2. The major Education programmes relate to achieving the aim of Universalisation of Elementary Education through Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Adult Education, Vocationalisation of Education, Teacher Education, Science Education, Educational Planning, Administration and Supervision, Physical Education, Games and Sports, Scholarship, Language Development, Book Promotion, Libraries, Youth Service Schemes, Cultural Institutions and activities etc.

3. The Education Division performs the following functions, within the areas of its concern:

1. Formation of long-term, medium-term and annual plans for the Central and the State/Union Territories levels, defining the phases in which they should be implemented, assigning their inter-se priorities and resource allocation;
2. Coordination of the education plans of the States/Union Territories and the central agencies including the University Grants Commission and the National Council of Education Research and Training as well as of the national-educational plan with the development plans in other sectors, assessing and indicating adjustments needed in the plan policies, programmes and priorities so as to achieve national goals and objectives;
3. In support of the above functions, maintain educational statistics and undertake/promote/support research studies and surveys covering –
   (a) Generation, collection, compilation and analysis of data and relevant information (b) Programme evaluation and prognosis and
   (c) Alternative and/or supplementary measures and new policy initiatives in the field of education;
4. Collaborate with and/or advise/assist the concerned Government Departments, international organizations and other agencies like NUEPA, NCERT, UGC in matters such as;
   (a) Foreign technical assistance for education development;
   (b) Training of educational planning functionaries;
   (c) Administrative reforms, innovations and experiments bearing upon economy efficiency and effectiveness of educational services; and
5. Examine resource mobilization and low cost strategies/alternatives and make recommendations in this regard;
6. Review of Committees and Commissions, Central Advisory Boards and Annual/Five Year Plan;
7. The technical staff of the Division is also working on the Educational Statistics received from the MHRD, and the Department of Statistics and other agencies.

Art and Culture

The functions of Education Division are primarily to provide over-all policy and guidance in formulation of plans and programmes for preserving and promoting the rich cultural heritage of the country. These are plans/programmes of the Ministry of Culture, whose main activities are of archaeological excavations, promotion of visual and literary arts, preservation of the material and non-material heritage, developing of museums, libraries and institutions. A number of institutions have been actively associated with the promotion, preservation and dissemination of rich cultural heritage of India.

Youth Affairs and Sports

The Education Division also looks after the over-all planning and policies of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports take steps to channelize the energy of the youth into constructive work and to inculcate in them noble and patriotic values. These programmes stress promotion and up-gradation of necessary life skills amongst the youth through vocational training besides creating employment opportunities for them. Efforts are made to involve youth in national building activities. The Division also addresses issues relating to promotion of sports, sports talents and sports infrastructure in States/UTs.

Justice Verma Committee (2012)

Justice Verma Committee        Justice Verma Committee was constituted to recommend amendments to the Criminal Law so as to provide for quicker trial and enhanced punishment for criminals accused of committing sexual assault against women.  The Committee submitted its report on January 23, 2013.

Background:            On December 23, 2012 a three member Committee headed by Justice J.S. Verma, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was constituted to recommend amendments to the Criminal Law so as to provide for quicker trial and enhanced punishment for criminals accused of committing sexual assault against women.  The other members on the Committee were Justice Leila Seth, former judge of the High Court and Gopal Subramanium, former Solicitor General of India.         The Committee submitted its report on January 23, 2013.  It made recommendations on laws related to rape, sexual harassment, trafficking, child sexual abuse, medical examination of victims, police, electoral and educational reforms.  We summarise the key recommendations of the Committee. Rape:       The Committee recommended that the gradation of sexual offences should be retained in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC).      The Committee was of the view that rape and sexual assault are not merely crimes of passion but an expression of power.  Rape should be retained as a separate offence and it should not be limited to penetration of the vagina, mouth or anus.  Any non-consensual penetration of a sexual nature should be included in the definition of rape.       The IPC differentiates between rape within marriage and outside marriage.  Under the IPC sexual intercourse without consent is prohibited.  However, an exception to the offence of rape exists in relation to un-consented sexual intercourse by a husband upon a wife.  The Committee recommended that the exception to marital rape should be removed.  Marriage should not be considered as an irrevocable consent to sexual acts.  Therefore, with regard to an inquiry about whether the complainant consented to the sexual activity, the relationship between the victim and the accused should not be relevant.  Sexual assault:  Currently, “assault or use of criminal force to a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty” is punishable under Section 354 of the IPC with 2 years imprisonment.  The term outraging the modesty of a woman is not defined in the IPC.  Thus, where penetration cannot be proved, the offence is categorized as defined under Section 354 of the IPC. The Committee recommended that non-penetrative forms of sexual contact should be regarded as sexual assault.  The offence of sexual assault should be defined so as to include all forms of non-consensual non-penetrative touching of a sexual nature.  The sexual nature of an act should be determined on the basis of the circumstances.  Sexual gratification as a motive for the act should not be prerequisite for proving the offence.  The offence should be punishable with 5 years of imprisonment, or fine, or both. Use of criminal force to disrobe a woman should be punishable with 3 to 7 years of imprisonment. Verbal sexual assault: At present, use of words or gestures to “insult a woman’s modesty” is punishable with 1 year of imprisonment or fine or both under Section 509 of the IPC.  This section should be repealed.  The Committee has suggested that use of words, acts or gestures that create an unwelcome threat of a sexual nature should be termed as sexual assault and be punishable for 1 year imprisonment or fine or both.    Sexual harassment: Some of the key recommendations made by the Committee on the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2012 that is pending in Parliament are provided below: Domestic workers should be included within the purview of the Bill.  Under the Bill the complainant and the respondent are first required to attempt conciliation.  This is contrary to the Supreme Court judgment in Vishakha vs. State of Rajasthan which aimed to secure a safe workplace to women.  The employer should pay compensation to the woman who has suffered sexual harassment. The Bill requires the employer to institute an internal complaints committee to which complaints must be filed.  Such an internal committee defeats the purpose of the Bill and instead, there should be an Employment Tribunal to receive and adjudicate all complaints. Acid attack:  The Committee opined that the offence should not be clubbed under the provisions of grievous hurt which is punishable with 7 years imprisonment under the IPC. It noted that the offence was addressed in the Criminal Laws Amendment Bill, 2012 which is currently pending in Parliament.  The Bill prescribes a punishment of imprisonment for 10 years or life.  It recommended that the central and state government create a corpus to compensate victims of crimes against women.  Offences against women in conflict areas:  The continuance of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in conflict areas needs to be revisited.  At present, the AFSPA requires a sanction by the central government for initiating prosecution against armed forces personnel.  The Committee has recommended that the requirement of sanction for prosecution of armed forces personnel should be specifically excluded when a sexual offence is alleged.  Complainants of sexual violence must be afforded witness protection.  Special commissioners should be appointed in conflict areas to monitor and prosecute for sexual offences.  Training of armed personnel should be reoriented to emphasise strict observance of orders in this regard by armed personnel. Trafficking:  The Committee noted that the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956 did not define trafficking comprehensively since it only criminalised trafficking for the purpose of prostitution.  It recommended that the provisions of the IPC on slavery be amended to criminalise trafficking by threat, force or inducement.  It also recommended criminalising employment of a trafficked person.  The juvenile and women protective homes should be placed under the legal guardianship of High Courts and steps should be taken to reintegrate the victims into society. Child sexual abuse: The Committee has recommended that the terms ‘harm’ and ‘health’ be defined under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000 to include mental and physical harm and health, respectively, of the juvenile.           Punishment for crimes against women: The Committee rejected the proposal for chemical castration as it fails to treat the social foundations of rape.  It opined that death penalty should not be awarded for the offence of rape as there was considerable evidence that death penalty was not a deterrence to serious crimes.  It recommended life imprisonment for rape. Medical examination of a rape victim: The Committee has recommended the discontinuation of the two-finger test which is conducted to determine the laxity of the vaginal muscles.  The Supreme Court has through various judgments held that the two-finger test must not be conducted and that the previous sexual experience of the victim should not be relied upon for determining the consent or quality of consent given by the victim.      Police reforms: The Committee has recommended certain steps to reform the police.  These include establishment of State Security Commissions to ensure that state governments do not exercise influence on the state police.  Such Commissions should be headed by the Chief Minister or the Home Minister of the state.  The Commission would lay down broad policy guidelines so that the Police acts according to the law.  A Police Establishment Board should be established to decide all transfers, postings and promotions of officers.  Director General of Police and Inspector General of Police should have a minimum tenure of 2 years.  Reforms in management of cases related to crime against women:  A Rape Crisis Cell should be set up.  The Cell should be immediately notified when an FIR in relation to sexual assault is made.  The Cell must provide legal assistance to the victim.  All police stations should have CCTVs at the entrance and in the questioning room.  A complainant should be able to file FIRs online.  Police officers should be duty bound to assist victims of sexual offences irrespective of the crime’s jurisdiction.  Members of the public who help the victims should not be treated as wrong doers.  The police should be trained to deal with sexual offences appropriately. Number of police personnel should be increased.  Community policing should be developed by providing training to volunteers. Electoral reforms: The Committee recommended the amendment of the Representation of People Act, 1951.  Currently, the Act provides for disqualification of candidates for crimes related to terrorism, untouchability, secularism, fairness of elections, sati and dowry.  The Committee was of the opinion that filing of charge sheet and cognizance by the Court was sufficient for disqualification of a candidate under the Act.  It further recommended that candidates should be disqualified for committing sexual offences.  Education reforms:  The Committee has recommended that children’s experiences should not be gendered.  It has recommended that sexuality education should be imparted to children.  Adult literacy programs are necessary for gender empowerment.

Janardhana Reddy Committee (1992)

Janardhana Reddy Committee (1992)

       The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) in its meeting held on 8-9 March, 1991 examined the procedure to be adopted for consideration of the report of the Ramamurti Review Committee and decided that a CABE committee to be constituted to consider threcommendations of the Ramamurthi Committee. The CABE committee was appointed under the chairmanship of Sri.Janardhana Reddy on 31st July, 1991 to review the implementation of the various parameters of NPE taking into consideration the report of the Ramamurti Review Committee.

The major recommendations of that committee are listed below:

1.       Common School system: effective measures need to be taken to implement the provision of NPE in regard to common school system. To this end, disparities between schools should be ended as early as possible by upgrading the quality of ordinary schools and providing amenities for achieving minimum levels of learning.

2.       Navodaya Vidyalayas:The scheme should continue and a Navodaya Vidyalaya should be set up in each district as originally envisaged. Further, the following measures are suggested.
Constant review to keep the scheme as cost effective as possible.Ensuring the continued validity and reliability of the admission tests by periodic evaluation and appropriate modification of admission procedures, and More particular attention to the pace-setting role of these institutions.

3.       ECCE: the scope of Article 45 of the constitution need not be enlarged. The Anganawadi workers should play an expanded role for a number of activities and support services for women and children, such as child care, family welfare, nutrition and health.

4.       Universalisation of elementary Education: what is needed is not so much a constitutional amendment as suggested by Ramamurti Committee as a manifestation of a national will to achieve UEE. Operation Black board, being one of the priorities strategies for UEE, should continue during the vii plan, in an expanded and extended form.

5.       Adult and continuing education: the ‘dual track approach’ of promoting simultaneously UEE and adult literacy should continue in educational planning. Programmes of post- literacy and continuing education should be planned for neo-literates.

6.       Secondary Education: it would be necessary to bring about a planned expansion of secondary education facilities all over the country to cope with new demands for secondary education. Open learning should be given utmost encouragement.

7.       Vocationalisation of Education: the existing vocational stream at the +2 level may be suitably strengthened and, wherever possible, the vocational courses may be started from class ix also. The idea of core vocational course is attractive. The work experience programme should have practical orientation in relation to various subjects.

8.       Management of Education: the idea of educational complex may be tried on an experimental basis in selected areas. The District Board of Education should be set up and operationalised expeditiously. Constitution of specialized stale level education Tribunal is desirable. “Making the system work” has to be treated as non negotiable. Formulation and Implementation of an Action Plan to put into practice the strategy outlined in the NPE is strongly recommended.

9.       Resources for Education: the practice of teaching education as a residual sector in the matter of allocation of resources should be reversed. Need based financing has to be provided for priority areas like UEE, Adult Literacy and vocationalisation. Higher education and technical and management education has to be progressively made largely self- financing by revising the fee structure with appropriate support to the needy students by way of student loans.

 Considering the reports of the two Review Committees, NPE, 1986 was revised in 1992 with an addition of two  paras and modification of 31 paras.