UNIT 1: ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

Elementary Education in India since independence(Brief

study)
• Development of national system of education
• Constitutional provisions regarding elementary
education
• Recommendations of National Policy on Education
(NPE- 1986 revised in 1992)
• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) objectives, strategies
and experiences.

Unit 2: Elementary Education in Arunachal Pradesh

• Brief history of elementary education in Arunachal
Pradesh
• Role of Government
• Role of NGO
• Vision for future: Public- private partnership in
education

Unit 3: Structure and function of Elementary school system

• Structure
• Types of schools under different bodies of
administration.
• Role and Responsibilities of educational
functionaries at elementary level.
Unit4: Right of Children to fee and Compulsory Education
(RTE) Act- 2009
▪ Elementary education as fundamental right of all
children of 6-14 years age
▪ Child entitlements under RTE act and Education
of Disadvantage/disabled Children
▪ Composition and function of school
Management Committee
▪ Preparation of school development plan
▪ Guidelines for conduct of Arunachal Pradesh
Teacher Eligibility Test (APTET) and Central
Eligibility Test (CTET)

Unit 5: Problem in Elementary Education with special

reference to Arunachal Pradesh
• Medium of instruction
• Problems of access, enrolment, retention and
quality education
• Multigrade and multilevel teaching (MGML)
• Teachers Absenteeism.
• Students drop out
• Non-availability of minimum essential facilities

Unit 6: Action research and innovative

• Action Research: concept, meaning and steps.
• Innovation: concept, meaning and steps.
UNIT- 1
Brief study of Elementary education in India after
Independence:
After Independence, the most spectacular change at
the primary stage was the implementation of basic
education which was accepted as the National system
of education, more effort was made to spread basic
education throughout the country.
New schools were established and existing schools
were converted into basic schools. The salient features
of the experience centered curriculum of the basic
education were incorporated in traditional primary
schools.
Besides the teaching of language, arts, social studies,
science, arithmetic, emphasis was laid on different
activities in development of certain basic skills in pupil,
pertaining to various crafts. But with the passing of
time, the emphasis was shifted from different activities
and the curriculum became more or less subject
centred. Moreover, due to non-availability of qualified
teachers the old curriculum could not be properly
implemented.
The structural pattern of primary schools adopted
before independence continued more or less the same
even after independence. Duration of lower primary
cause was three years (Classes I-III), upper primary was
five years (class I-V) and middle school 7 years. There
was no uniformity as regards to the size of the class
and number of subjects taught.
As time went on, it was thought to introduce a uniform
pattern of educational structure throughout the
country. So, in the new pattern of 10 year schooling,
the primary stage covers the children of 6-11 years of
age and the classes course of 1-5. Duration of the
higher primary is 3 years for the age group 11-14 years,
consisting of classes 6, 7 and 8.

Constitutional provisions regarding elementary

education:
1. Free and compulsory education
Provision for early childhood care and education to
children below the age of 6 years.
a) Article 45
The state shall endeavour to provide early
childhood care and education for all children until
they complete the age of six years.
2. Right to education
a) Article 21A
The state shall provide free and compulsory
education to all children of the age 6 to 14 years in
such a manner, as that may determine (86th
amendment act 2002).
b) 93rd Ammendment (Primary education a
fundamental right)
Now by 93rd amendment of the constitution the
primary education has made a fundamental right. It
has become a legal right.
3. Education for women
Article 15
This article is regarding no discrimination against any
citizens on grounds of sex, religion, race, place of birth.
Article 15(1) of the presentation empower the state to
make any special provision for women and thus
improve their education also.
4. Instruction in mother-tongue at the primary stage
a) Article 350-A facilities for instruction in mother
tongue at primary stage.
b) Article 350-B provides for the appointment of a
special officer for linguistic minorities with the object
of investigating into the matter relating to safeguards
provided for linguistic minorities under the
constitution.
5. Promotion of Hindi
Article 351 is related to promotion of Hindi the
constitution also provides for the development and
propagation of National languages, Hindi.
6. Right of minorities to establish and administer
educational institutions
Article 30 states that:
 a) All minorities whether based on religion or
language should have right to study and
administer educational institutions of their
choice.
b) The state shall not discriminate against any
educational institution in respect of grant in-aid
on the ground that it is under the management of
a minority whether based on religion or
language.
Recommendations of National Policy on education
(NPE – 1986 revised in 1992):
On April 20, 1986 education Policy was placed before
the Indian parliament for consideration and approval
result priority assigned to education by government of
Sri Rajiv Gandhi. The policy had following objectives:
1. Vocationalization of education; particularly at
secondary stage of education the curriculum should be
job oriented
2. To awaken people about various scientific and
technological developments and to make the students
at the various stages of education aware of the same in
order that they may utilise them in their future life.
3. To encourage the governmental and non-
governmental efforts for wiping out let illiteracy and to
emphasize a necessity of adult education, formal
education and open schools.

The basic recommendations of the policy were related

to National form of education, emphasis on learning,
delinking degree for any service, vocationalization of
education, importance on moral values, emphasis on
reforms in the examination system, education of the
weaker section of the society, starting of an all India
educational service, starting of open universities,
establishing many Navodaya vidyalayas, women
education, operation blackboard and preservation of
culture. In order to minimize the prevailing distinction
between men and women, it has been recommended
that in technical and vocational education women
should be accorded due place. It was suggested that
the textbooks hinting at the distinction between men
and women in providing facilities should be rewritten
according to the new educational policy.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA):

Objectives:
• Children in school education guarantee or
alternative school centres, ‘back to school camp’ by
2003
• All children complete five years of primary
schooling by 2007
• All children complete areas of elementary
schooling by 2010
• Focus on elementary education of satisfactory
quality with emphasis on education for life
• Bridge all gender and social category gaps at
primary stage by 2007 and elementary education
level by 2010
• Universal retention by 2010

Broad strategies Central to SSA programme:

• Institutional reforms is part of the SSA the central
and the state government will undertake reforms
in order to improve the efficiency of the delivery
system.

• Community ownership - based interventions

through effective decentralization this will be
augmented by involvement of women groups, VEC
members of panchayati Raj institutions.

• Sustainable financing: The SSA is based on the

premise that financing of elementary education
interventions has to be sustainable. This calls for a
long-term perspective on financial partnership
between the Central and the State Government.
• Accountability to community: SSA envisages
cooperation between teachers, parents and PRIS,
as well as accountability and transparency
according to the community.
• Priority to Education of Girls: Education for girls
especially those belonging to the scheduled castes,
 scheduled Tribes and minorities will be one of the
principal concerns in Sarva Shiksha abhiyan.
• Institutional Capacity Building:
The SSA conceives a major capacity building role
for national, state and district level institutions like
NIEPA, NCERT, NCTE, SCERT, SIEMAT and DIET
• Role of teachers - SSA recognizes the critical and
central role of teachers and advocates of focus on
the development needs.
• Thrust on Quality : SSA lays a special thrust on
making education at the elementary level useful
and relevant for children and effective teaching
learning strategies.

History of SSA:
As an intervention programme, it started in 2002 and
SSA has been operational since 2000-2001. However,
its roots go back to 1993-1994, when the District
Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was launched,
with an aim of achieving the objective of universal
primary education. DPEP, over several phases,
covered 272 districts in 18 states of the country. The
expenditure on the programme was shared by the
Central Government (85%) and the State
Governments (15%). The Central share was funded
by a number of external agencies, including the
World Bank, Department for International
Development (DFID) and UNICEF.By 2001, more than
$1500 million had been committed to the
programme, and 50 million children covered in its
ambit. In an impact assessment of Phase I of DPEP,
the authors concluded that its net impact on
minority children was impressive, while there was
little evidence of any impact on the enrolment of
girls. Nevertheless, they concluded that the
investment in DPEP was not a waste, because it
introduced a new approach to primary school
interventions in India.
UNIT – 2
Role of government:
a) Establishment of school
b) Supply of textbooks
c) Preparation of educational calendar
d) Appointment of teachers and other staff
e) Disbursement of salary of educational staff
f) Providing scholarships
g) Construction of educational infrastructure
h) Ensuring of RTE
i) Policy making on education and its
implementation
j) Ensuring inclusive education
k) Focus on girls education
l) Support for co-curricular activities
m) Provision of MDM
n) Provision of uniforms
o) Providing laboratories and libraries
p) Framing of curriculum
q) Registration of private schools teachers training
and capacity building
 r) Incentives and awards for teachers and
students
s) Providing safety in schools - physical emotional
mental and social

Role of NGOs:
• Providing affordable quality education to the
students of Arunachal Pradesh
• Education for differently abled children
• Education for girls
• Education for the children of the backward
class in groups
• Residential education/schooling
• Spreading education in remote places

Some of the NGOs working in the field of education in

Arunachal Pradesh:
• Oju welfare mission
• Ramakrishna mission
• Vivekananda kendriya vidyalaya
 • Onge welfare society
• Abo Tani educational and cultural society
• Donyi Polo mission
• Baum Kakir mission

Vision for future: Public-Private partnership (PPP)

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) in education are
long-term contractual relationships between the
government and a private provider for all or some part
of the delivery of education infrastructure and
services. They have been used to provide the framing
structure through which to bring the public and private
sectors together to complement each other’s strengths
in the financing and provision of education services.
PPPs can help extend the reach and effectiveness of
government funds, encourage innovation in education,
increase safety, efficiency, and capacity of physical
educational infrastructure, and given the right public
policy context, extend access to educational services
and parity of services received across a population.
They allow government to maintain strategic, financial
and regulatory control over public education, allowing
them step back from the day-to-day delivery and
management of the infrastructure and/or service in
situations where their resources are limited.
In India, PPP has proposed an important strategy in the
eleventh five year plan. Among many things, the plan
has proposed the setting up of 6000 new model
schools in secondary Education affiliated to Central
board of secondary Education (CBSE). Of these, 2500
are to be under the PPP model. The intention is to set
up these schools in backward regions and remote
areas where good schooling facilities do not exist, so
that quality education is accessible in the backward
regions as well.
UNIT – 3
Structure and function of elementary school system:
As per NEP 1986 and modified in 1992 the structure is
5+3. Five years of primary schooling and then three
years of upper primary schooling. The system is
headed by a ministry, secretariat, directorate, district
directorate (DDSE), BEO, Headmaster incharge and
teacher incharge. As per NEP 2020, the schooling
structure is 4+3+3 (two years pre-school and 1 and 2)
(three years in class 3, 4 and 5)(three years upper
primary i.e 6,7 and 8)

• Structure:
1. State level:
a) Ministry
b) Secretariat
c) Directorate
2. District level:
a) DC – Deputy Commissioner
b) DDSE – Deputy director of school education
c) DPC – District project coordinator
 3. Block level:
a) BEO/BRC – Block research centre/Block
education office
b) CRC – Cluster resources centre
4.School level:
a) Head of school: Principal/Head Teacher
b) Teachers

• Types of schools under different bodies of

administration:
There are basically five types of institutions to look
after the development of primary and secondary
education. They are:
a) Government schools ( State and central)
b) Privates schools
c) Schools run by NGOs
d) Govt. Aided private and NGO run schools.
e) Schools run by municipalities and panchayats.

Role and responsibilities of educational functionaries

at elementary level:
• Functionaries:
 a) DDSE/ DPO at district level
b) 2.DPC at district level
c) 3.BEO/BRCC at block level
d) CRC at circle/cluster level
e) HM incharge/ Teacher incharge at school level.

• Roles and functions:

1.Ensure universal access
2.Ensure inclusive education.
3.Ensure implementation of RTE ACT Norms.
4.Ensure proper implementation of MDM
5.Ensure correct data collection and upload of
students/children
6.Ensure RTE Entitlements like textbooks,
uniform, free education, scholarship etc.
7.Ensure community participation.
8.Ensure safety and security of children

Functions of:
• Education Ministry:
The minister of education is assisted by education
secretary and DPI(Director of public instruction)
functions of minister of education are:
a) Formulation of education policies in providing
leadership to the educational programme of
state
b) Framing of policies procedures rules and
regulations to determine standard of
education
c) Coordination of the education program of the
states in order to promote efficiency
d) Inspection and evaluation to determine
efficiency of the operations
e) Providing consultative and information
services
f) To run schools established by government
g) Promoting research activities related to
education program
h) Advising the legislature on certain issues and
matters and satisfying the legislatures about
the efficient conduct of educational
 administration by replying on the questions
asked by them

• Directorate of education:
Assisted by a number of deputy and assistant
directors, the directorate of education performs
the following functions:
a) To present proposals of procedure for
adoption secretary and to executive if
approved by the education minister
b) To keep the government informed about
the conditions and progress of all types of
education and the people’s needs and
requirements regarding education
c) To supervise, control, inspect and guide
educational institutions including private
institutions in state
d) To supervise the work of the government
officials, inspector, teachers of government
institutions and to deal with their leave,
transfer and discipline
 e) To disburse funds as sanctioned by the
government
f) To determine and disburs grant in aids to
privately managed institutions
g) To organise training of secondary school
teachers
h) To provide expert advice sports today
institution and secretariat

• District education officer:

District education officer performs almost all the
functions as are performed by the DPI at the state
level. Important functions of DEO are:
a) Give permission to schools in their district
when the schools fulfill certain conditions
b) To issue grant to the aided schools
c) To supervise the functioning of schools
d) To carry out the annual inspection of the
schools
e) To implement policies and orders of the
highest authorities regarding education
f) To give directions to the subordinate staff
 g) To hear the cases of teachers and give
judgements regarding their cases

• The institutional heads:

The principal is attached to the school directly, so the
success of programs of the school depends upon them.
Their functions during the year could be studied under
these headings:
a) Before the session: This is the time when the
Headmaster/Principal plans the program for
the whole season with the help of their
teachers. They make plan for academic year to
maximise admissions and other works to be
formed in the year.
b) During the session: During the session, the
Headmaster/Principal is busy in routine was
discipline works and other programs.
c) At the end of session: At the end, the principal
for masters is busy for the proper conductance
of board examination and other school
examination of the students to the next higher
classes. Declaration of results and to this effect
 on annual report, are some of their important
functions.

• Block education officer:

The block education officer performs following
functions and exercise following powers in their
jurisdiction:
a) To deal with matters of all teaching and non
teaching staff working in elementary
schools
b) To forward the matter to concern district
officers if required to do so as per
procedures rules and directions issued from
time to time
c) To deal with all court matters and assist the
concerned DEO and higher authorities in
proper and effective defence of various
court cases pertaining to the elementary
education department
d) To deal with the matters pertaining to
recognised and aided private schools and
 recognised and un-aided private schools at
elementary level
e) To maintain the account statements, cash
book and expenditure deposits, etc. in
respect of funds/grants received under
various schemes

• Head teachers:
Head teacher has to play seven major roles in an
elementary school. They are:
a) role in planning
b) role in school organisation
c) Teaching role
d) role in supervision
e) role in guidance
f) role in maintaining relations
g) role in general administration
UNIT : 4
Elementary education as fundamental right of all
children of 6-14 years:
The Constitution 86th amendment Act 2002 inserted
article 21-A in the Constitution of India to provide free
and compulsory education for all children in the age
group of 6 to 14 years as a fundamental right in such a
manner as the state may, by law, determine. The right
of children to free and compulsory education (RTE) Act
2009, which represents the constitutional legislation
envisaged under Article 21-A, means that every child
has a right to full time elementary education of
satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school
which satisfies certain essential norms and standards.
Article 21-A and RTE Act came into effect on 1st April
2010. The title of RTC act incorporates the words 'free
and compulsory'. Free education means that no child,
other than a child who has been admitted by his or her
parents to a school which is not supported by the
appropriate government, shall be liable to pay any kind
of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him
or her from pursuing and completing elementary
education. compulsory education casts an obligation
on the appropriate Government and local authorities
to provide and ensure admission, attendance and
completion of elementary education by all children in
the 6-14 age group. With this India has moved forward
to a rights based framework that casts a legal
obligation on the central and state governments to
implement this fundamental child right as enshrined in
the article 21A of the constitution in accordance with
the provisions of the RTE Act.

The RTE Act provides for the :

• Right of education right of children to free and
compulsory education till completion of
elementary education in a neighborhood school.
• It clarifies that compulsory education means
obligation of the appropriate government to
provide free elementary education and ensure
compulsory admission attendance and completion
of elementary education to every child in the 6 to
14 age group. ‘Free’ means that no child should be
liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses
 which may prevent him or her from pursuing and
completing the elementary education.
• It makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be
admitted to an age appropriate class.
• It specifies the duties and responsibilities of
appropriate government local authority and
parents in providing free and compulsory
education and sharing of financial and other
responsibilities between the central and state
governments.
• It lays down the norms and standards relating inter
alia to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), buildings and
infrastructure, school working days, teacher-
working hours.
• It provides for rational deployment of teachers by
ensuring that the the specified pupil-teacher ratio
is maintained for each school rather than just as an
average for the state or district or block, thus
ensuring that there is no urban-rural imbalance in
teacher postings. It also provides for prohibition of
deployment of teachers for non-educational work
other than decennial census, elections to local
 authority, state legislatures and parliament, and
disaster relief.
• It provides for appointment of appropriately
trained teachers i.e teachers with the requisite
entry and academic qualifications.
• It prohibits (a) physical punishment and mental
harassment; (b) screening procedures for
admissions of children; (c) capitation fee; (d)
provide tuition by private tuition by teachers and
running of schools without recognition.
• It provides for development of curriculum in
consonance with the values enshrined in the
constitution, and which would ensure the all-round
development of the child, building on the child’s
knowledge, potentiality and talent and making the
child free of fear, trauma and anxiety through a
system of child friendly and child centred learning.

Child entitlements under RTE Act and education of

disadvantage children:
Textbooks; Uniforms; Library with books, newspapers,
magazines; Sports equipment; Play material; mid-day
meal; Special training for age-appropriate education;
Transfer certificate; Other expenses.

Composition of school management:

Composition of school management committee: Total
twenty members,
i. A school management committee shall be
constituted in every school, other than an unaided
school, within its jurisdiction, within six months of
the appointed date, and reconstituted every two
years.
ii. 75% of the strength of the school management
committee shall be from amongst parents or
guardians of children.
iii. Provided 50% of committee shall be women.
iv. Provided further that proportionate representation
shall be given to the parents or guardians of the
children belonging to disadvantaged group and
weaker section.
 v. The remaining 25% of the strength of the school
management committee shall be from amongst the
following people:
a.One-third members from amongst the elected
members of the local authority, to be decided
by the local authority.
b. One-third members from amongst teachers
from the school, to be decided by the teachers
of the school.
c. One-third from amongst local
educationists/children in the school, to be
decided by the parents in the committee.
vi. To manage its affairs, the school management
committee shall elect a Chairperson and Vice
Chairperson from among the parent members. The
head teacher of the school or where the school
does not have a head teacher, the senior most
teacher of the school shall be ex-officio member-
convener of the school management committee.
vii. The school management committee shall meet
atleast once a month and the minutes and
 decisions of the meetings shall be properly
recorded and made available to the public.

Functions of SMC:
The school management committee shall perform
following function namely:
i. Monitor the working of school.
ii. Prepare and recommend school development plan.
iii. Monitor the utilisation of grant received from the
appropriate government.
iv. Perform such other function as may be prescribed.
v. Ensures regularity and punctuality of teachers.
vi. Monitors that teachers are not overburdened by
non-academic work.
vii. Ensure enrollment, attendance and retention of all
the children from neighborhood in the school.
viii. Monitor the maintenance of norms and standards
of the school specified in the schedule.
ix. Identifies the needs and make special provision for
the children admitted under RTE Act and children
with special needs.
 x. Monitors the identification and enrollment
facilities.
xi. Monitor implementation of mid-day meal.

School development plan:

Every SMC constituted under sub section-1 of Section-
21 shall prepare a school development plan in such
manner as may be prescribed school development
plan, so prepared under sub section-1 should be the
basis for plan and grants to be made by the
appropriate government. The meeting is said to be
held at least once a month and minutes and decisions
of the meetings should be properly recorded. The
school development plan shall contain the following
details:-
• Estimates class wise enrollment every year.
• Physical requirement of additional infrastructure
and equipment, calculated with reference to the
norms and standards.
• Financial requirements, when necessary.
 • Year wise detail of required additional financial
financial resources for training facilities of children
taking admission in accordance to age specific
classes.

TET (Teacher eligibility test) is it compulsory

examination in all Indian States for recruitment of
teachers at primary and middle-level classes in
government schools. However it is just one of the
eligibility requirements. Candidates need to fulfill
either eligibility criteria laid down by the respective
schools for selection. The exam is conducted at both
center and state levels. The minimum eligibility for
appearing in the exam is graduation and
degree/diploma in elementary education. The exam is
conducted yearly, twice a year or once in two or three
years on the basis of the vacancies available for
teaching post in government schools.

APTET(Arunachal Pradesh teacher eligibility test) :

The teacher eligibility test is conducted a two levels:
 • Central level
• State level
The exam conducted it Central level is known as
central teacher eligibility test and those conducted at
the state level are known as teacher eligibility test(TET)
with state name as prefix. For example Arunachal
Pradesh teacher eligibility test(APTET)

APTET exam comprises of two papers:

• Paper-I for primary level classes(1 to 5)
• Paper-II for upper primary level classes(6 to 8)

TET Eligibility for Paper- I

• Candidates who have passed senior secondary or
any equivalent exam with at least 50% and have
passed or are appearing in the final year of 2-year
diploma in elementary education.
• Candidates who have cleared senior secondary or
any equivalent course with at least 50% marks and
 have passed or appearing in the final year for your
bachelor of elementary education.
• Candidates who have passed graduation and
passed or appearing in the final year of the 2-year
diploma in elementary education.

TET for Paper-II:

• Candidates who have caused graduation and
passed or appearing in the final year of 2-year
diploma in Elementary education.
• Candidates who have passed graduation with at
least 50% and passed or appearing in the 1st year of
B.ed.
• Candidates who have cleared senior secondary
with at least 50% marks and passed or appearing in
the final year of B.El.ed.
• Candidates who have passed or appearing in the
final year of 4-year integrated course B.A, B.ed,
B.Sc, B.El.ed and or any equivalent course.

CTET:
CTET is an eligibility test conducted by Central Board of
Secondary Education (CBSE) twice a year. Those
aspiring to be teachers in government schools can get
jobs in all centrally-run government schools like KVS
and NVS through CTET exam.
UNIT – 5
Medium of Instruction:
English is the medium of instruction in the schools of
Arunachal Pradesh. It is because the state does not
have a common language. Most of the languages are
rather dialects and have no scripts. Besides English,
Hindi and local dialects are used as medium of
instruction.

Problems of access, enrollment, retention and quality

education:
The state is almost hilly and mountainous. Most of the
villages in the interiors of the state do not have motor-
able roads. Therefore the children do not have
comfortable access to education. They have to walk
long distances to reach schools. This has adversely
affected the enrolment of children in the schools. The
retention rate is also in the state due to the above
factors. Besides, the economic condition of the most of
the people of the state is not sound.
Since most of the villages are in the interior places,
teachers do not prefer to serve there. Most of the
schools are served by very few teachers. This has badly
affected the quality of education in most of the
government run schools. People prefer to send their
children to private schools.

Multigrade and multilevel teaching (MGML):

The term ‘multigrade’ teaching generally refers to a
teaching situation where a single teacher has to take
responsibility for teaching people across more than
one curriculum grade within a timetable period.
Schools with multi-grade classes are referred to as
multigrade schools. A classroom that accomodates
more than one grade (example grade 1-3) is called a
multi-grade classroom. Traditionally, due to low
learner numbers, classes are multigrade. However, the
same principles apply for both multi-level and multi-
grade classes.
Teachers absentism:

When teacher is repeatedly absent, the student

performance can be significantly impacted in a
negative way the more days a teacher is out of the
classroom the lower their students tend to score and
standardized tests.
There are many reasons one could advance for teacher
absenteeism. Some may be unavoidable whilst others
avoidable. Whatever reasons teachers may advance
for their absence, undoubtedly absenteeism create it
creates tremendous hardships for teacher colleagues
and student learning, hinders improvements, and
productivity in our nations’ schools. In light of
immense hardships brought about by the teachers
absenteeism, it is critical to get a deeper
understanding of the issues surrounding its causes and
likely impact on student learning with a view to
address the problem.
Teacher absenteeism brings additional pressure on
Teachers who attend school regularly, causing them to
be frustrated and resort to absenting themselves from
work. Teachers develop negative job attitude, low
motivation and morale which lead to further
absenteeism. It is found that when students are
exposed to a high quality environment, they usually
receive a successful education experience. However,
teacher absenteeism causes a discontinuity in
sequential learning largely brought about by and
prepared substitute teachers or oversized classes or
none at all.

Teachers absenteeism with regards to schools in

Arunachal Pradesh:
Teachers absenteeism has been a major issue across
Government schools in Arunachal Pradesh. The state
has been facing difficulties in posting teachers in
remote areas where schools adequate students but
hardly anyone to teach them. Teachers absenteeism is
very common in Arunachal Pradesh, particularly in the
state government schools and Central government
schools. This is mainly due to the reason that there is a
lack of accountability of teachers and if observed, ‘lack
of accountability on the part of the duty of
Principals/Head of institutions in controlling the issue.
There are various reasons for absenteeism among
teachers such as truancy, school refusal, distant
posting of husband and wife, overloaded co-curricular
activities, requirement of study leave for professional
development, relationship between students and
teachers, relationship between head and teachers,
insecurity, family problems and the most popular
reason in the context of Arunachal Pradesh,
‘irregularity of salary’.

Students drop out:

A dropout is someone who has left school ot college
before they finished their studies. Some of the reasons
for this are as follows:
• Poverty, accessibility and availability are the major
reasons of school dropouts in India.
• Academic failure
 • Struggle in school on a daily basis is the biggest
reason most students choose to drop out of High
school
• Attendance/preparation
• Students must attend school consistently
• Disengagement
• Pregnancy
• Financial difficulties
• Mental illness
• Drug use/Addiction
• Disabilities
According to data by the ministry of human resource
development the national dropout rate at the primary
level was 4.34% 2014-15 and it was even higher at the
secondary level AT 17.86%. There are many reasons
why a child might dropout from school, which range
from migration of families and child marriage to lack of
school infrastructure such as drinking water and
toilets.
Another reason why dropout drop rates rise of a class
5 is that this is the stage when a child reaches the age
10-11 years, when it is considered suitable for
induction into child labour. The role of the teacher,
too, is critical as dropouts often speak of teachers
beating them, and complain that teachers waste class
time in chit-chat with other teachers. In the state of
Arunachal Pradesh, school dropout is a major concern.
Arunachal Pradesh has the worst dropout rate in the
entire country. Against the national dropout average of
6.35% in the primary level, the percentage of dropout
rate in Arunachal Pradesh is 23.25%. It is evident from
the statistics that the condition of primary education in
Arunachal Pradesh raises grave concerns for the whole
country and if not addressed timely, it will lead to
further worsening of the dropout rate in the state.

Non-availability of minimum essential facilities:

With respect to students school facilities affect health,
behaviour, engagement, learning, and growth in
achievement. Thus, researchers generally conclude
that without adequate facilities and resources, it is
extremely difficult to serve large numbers of children
with complex needs. Some of the minimum essential
facilities for education are:
• Teacher
• School building and classroom
• Benches and desks
• Textbooks
• Electricity
• Safe drinking water
• Separate toilet for boys and girls
• Library
• Laboratory
• Safety (mental, physical and emotional)
• First aid
• Scholarships and incentives for children belonging
to disadvantage group
• Mid-day meal
• Games and sports items
• Hostels and wardens
School facilities improve the quality of the study
environment in the school. Thus, improving the quality
of education. For example, if the classroom layout
considers the room’s audibility, then the students will
be able to focus and concentrate more on their studies
with teacher teacher is facing fever distractions. In
most of the schools of Arunachal Pradesh there is
acute shortage of these facilities.
Unit-6
Action research:
Concept and meaning:
Definition: Action research is a disciplined process of
enquiry conducted by and for those taking the action of
primary reason for engaging in action research is to
assist the ‘actor’ in improving and/or refining their
actions.
OR
Action research refers to a wide variety of evaluative,
investigative and analytical research methods designed
to diagnose problems or weaknesses, whether
organisational academic, or instructional, and help
educators develop practical solutions to address them
quickly and efficiently.
It is a method of systematic enquiry that teachers
undertake as researchers of their own practice. The
enquiry involved in Action Research is often visualised
as a cyclical process, one example of which is shown
below:
The start of the process is usually an issue or situation
that, as a teacher, the person wants to change. The
person will be supported in turning this ‘interesting
problem’ into a ‘researchable question’ and then
developing actions to try out. They will draw on the
findings of other researchers to help develop actions
and interpret the consequences.
STEPS:
Action research may also be called a cycle of action or
cycle of inquiry, since it typically follows a predefined
process that is repeated over time. Educational action
research can be engaged in by a single teacher by a
group of colleagues, who share an interest in a common
problem or by the entire faculty of a school. Whatever
the scenario, action research always involves the same
7 step process. These seven-steps which become an
endless cycle for inquiring teacher, are the following:

1. Selecting a focus : The first step in the process is

vitally important. Selecting a focus begins with the
 teacher, researcher or a team of action researchers
asking:
a.‘what elements of your practice or what aspect
of student learning do you wish to investigate’?

2. Clarifying theories : This step involves identifying

the values, beliefs and theoretical perspectives of
the researchers hold relating to their focus.
3. Identifying research questions : Once a focus
area has been selected and the researcher’s
perspectives and beliefs about the focus have been
clarified the next step is to generate a set of
personally meaningful research questions to guide
the inquiry.

4. Collecting data : Professional educators always

want their instructional decisions to be based on the
best possible data. Action researchers can
accomplish this by making sure that the data used
to justify their actions are valid (meaning the
information represents what the researchers say it
 does) and reliable (meaning the researchers are
confident about the accuracy of their data).

5. Analysing data : During this portion of the seven

step process teacher researchers will methodically
sort, sift, rank and examine their data to answer two
generic questions:
‘What is the story told by these data?’
‘Why did story play itself out this way?’
By answering these two questions the teacher
researcher can acquire a better understanding of
the phenomenon and the investigation and as a
result can end up producing grounded theory
regarding what might be done to improve the
situation.

6. Reporting results : The reporting of action

research most often occurs in informal settings that
are far less intimidating then the venues where
scholarly research has traditionally been shared.
Faculty meetings, brown bag lunch seminars and
 teacher conferences are among the most common
venues for sharing action research with peers.

7. Taking informed action : Taking informed action

or ‘action planning’ is the last step in the action
research process. When teachers write lesson plans
or develop academic programs, they are engaged in
the action planning process.

Three Purposes for Action Research:

As stated earlier, action research can be engaged in by
an individual teacher, a collaborative group of
colleagues sharing a common concern, or an entire
school faculty. These three different approaches to
organizing for research serve three compatible, yet
distinct, purposes:
• Building the reflective practitioner
• Making progress on schoolwide priorities
• Building professional cultures

Why action research now?

If ever there were a time and a strategy that were right
for each other, the time is now and the strategy is action
research! This is true for a host of reasons, with none
more important than the need to accomplish the
following:
• Professionalize teaching.
• Enhance the motivation and efficacy of a weary
faculty.
• Meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student
body.
• Achieve success with “standards-based” reforms.

Innovation:
Concept and meaning:
Innovation can be defined as a process that involves
multiple activities to uncover new ways to do things. In
general, innovation is based in the creation or redesign
of products, processes, or business models for the
benefit of an organization. Innovation in education is
similarly focused on making positive changes, but in this
case, these changes will directly benefit a classroom,
school, district, university, or even an organization’s
training and learning practices.
Approaches of innovation towards education:
Educators and administrators take a variety of both
large- and small-scale approaches to this process. For
instance, innovation in education might include:
• An educator recognizing a need for ideas to be
better shared among other teachers in their district
and developing processes that more easily facilitate
that.
• A professor identifying a gap in understanding
among the students in their classroom and
brainstorming new, creative ways to approach that
topic.
• An administrator identifying the need for better
communication between teachers and parents, and
working to create an online system that allows for
more transparency into their child’s progress.

Importance of innovation in education:

Innovation in education encourages teachers and
students to explore, research and use all the tools to
uncover something new. It involves a different way of
looking at problems and solving them. The thinking
process that goes into it will help students develop their
creativity and their problem solving skills.

Steps:
The innovation process consists of three steps :
1. Insight : Understanding the situation or the
problems regarding the institution.
2. Identifying the problem : Identifying the
problem regarding the situation.
3. Creating a solution : Finding an appropriate
solution to the problem.