Emptying of government schools

Challenges of small schools and school consolidation

Shivakumar Jolad*
*Work done in Collaboration with K Vaijayanti, Akshara Foundation, Bengaluru

Talk at IIM Indore, Dec 2017

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has
data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit
theories, instead of theories to suit facts.
- Sherlock Holmes (A Scandal in Bohemia)

2
School profile of India

Based on District Information System on Education (DISE )

2014-15 data and compilation by MHRD

3
 Small and tiny government schools

Total government schools 1.1 million

Almost 50% of the government schools have enrollment 50 or less

Source: DISE data ; Geeta Gandhi Kingdon : The Private Schooling Phenomenon in India: A Review, IZA DP No. 10612, March 2017
4
 Interstate variations- Tiny schools
Number of tiny (<20) government schools- 2010 to 2015

Maharashtra 12,859

Andhra Pradesh* 12,359

Madhya Pradesh 11,625

Karnataka 10,492

Rajasthan 7,595

Uttarakhand 7,038

Jammu & Kashmir 6,815

Assam 5,847

Himachal Pradesh 5,541

Odisha 5,113

Chhattisgarh 4,832

Uttar Pradesh 4,789

West Bengal 4,413

Tamil Nadu 3,098

Jharkhand 1,807

Gujarat 1,471

Punjab 1,392

Haryana 725

Kerala 360

Bihar 12

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000

Tiny Govt schools- 20 or less 2015-16 Tiny Govt schools- 20 or less 2010-11 (Data from DISE; tabulated by Geeta Kingdon, 2017)
5
 Emptying of schools
GHPS Vagata
Grade 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
1 10 6 6
2 9 9 8
3 10 8 8
4 16 9 11
5 14 15 10
6 35 29 26
7 40 34 27
Total 134 110 96

Currently 82 students on roll-

On the day of visit- head count 60

Out of the 96 students on roll, 24 are

Government Higher Primary School- Vagata
SC, 24 are Muslim children (50%)
Bengaluru Rural

Field visit and DISE 2015-16 data

6
 Small Schools- Bengaluru Rural
GLPS, Paramanahalli
GHPS, Hunasehalli

2015-16
2016-17
Class Enrollment
1 3
2 2
3 0
4 0
5 2
6 0
7 0
Total 7
Total teachers : 1
Schools in Shivajinagar, Bengaluru Urban
GULPS MAKHAN ROAD GULPS RAHAMANIA CORP URD HPS, NARAYANPILLE STREET

2015-16
2015-16
On the day of visit :
On the day of visit : 7 40 students
students ,
2 Teachers
Runs in a small house with
two rooms.
Facilities are very poor
8
 Ensures access to Equity: Participation from
neighborhood schools disadvantaged groups, Tribals
• Policy of access Inefficiency: Poor
and equity
• Constitutional resource allocation
Obligation Policy of Access
• Neighborhood
schools Teacher allocation
•
(Multi grade teaching)
Poor perception
about government
Shifting terrain of Small
schools public and private schools Schools
• Poor Learning Inadequate resources
outcomes in GS
• RTE 12(1)(C)

Demographic Decline of Poor learning

• Falling Fertility Population
levels outcomes
• Saturated GER in
schools
Reorganization of schools

Consolidation of Efficient school siting to Efficiency gains – reinvest

neighborhood schools ensure access and equity in education

9
 Access to Schools
• 1964-66-Kothari commission recommends- Universalization of elementary education;
Neighborhood schools and Common School System

• All India Education Survey, 1965: basic distance and population norms for opening
primary schools.

• NPE-1986 and PoA 1992- policies to increase access to education

• Education for All: Launch of the Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative
and Innovative Education (AIE)
– EGS: School within the radius of 1 km in areas which has at least 15-25 children in the 6–14 age group
– AIE: Established by the state in locations with populations of fewer than 300 individuals
• Right to Education:
– Neighborhood school: 1 km walking distance from the habitation of a child at the primary level (class 1
to 5) and within 3km walking distance for upper primary level (class 6 to 8)
– 12(1)(C): 25% reservation for EWS in private schools

RASHMI DIWAN, Small schools in rural India: ‘Exclusion’ and ‘inequity’ in hierarchical school system, Policy Futures in Education, Vol. 13(2) 187–204, 2015.
10
 Expansion of Schooling 1950-2015
12.7 lakhs
20 Crore

2.23 lakhs
2.2 Crore

• Nationally, about 98 per cent of the rural habitations have a primary school within
a distance of 1 km, 96% upper primary within 3 kms

• The Net Enrollment Rate (NER) in primary schools has improved to about 88.1 per
cent in 2013-14.
11
 Decline in Child Population
(in millions)
INDIA
Karnataka
(in millions)

Population pyramids INDIA

Projections by Shivakumar Jolad, based on Census 2011 , SRS 2014-15 and TFR projections models
9
 Growth of Private Schools

Devanik Saha (IndiaSpend), Bloomberg Quint, April 17, 2017

Government schools loose 13 million b/w 2010-11 and 2015-16

Source: DISE data ; Geeta Gandhi Kingdon : The Private Schooling Phenomenon in India: A Review, IZA DP No. 10612, March 2017

13
2
Private schooling in India

14
SCHOOLS SIZE DISTRIBUTION IN
KARNATAKA

15
2
 Karnataka school profile

DISE 2015-16

Karnataka has total of 75489 schools (DISE 2015-16) out of which about 50,000 schools (65%) are
run by the state Department of Education (DOE).
16
Karnataka Primary School Size Distribution (LPS, Cl: 1-5)

Karnataka Distribution of Government Primary Schools (LPS) in Karnataka

Enrollment bins (0,25] (25,50] (50,100] (100,150] (150,200] (200,3000]
Schools 11799 6630 2701 542 93 20
Schools (%) 54.2 30.4 12.4 2.5 0.4 0.1
Cumulative Schools (%) 54.2 84.6 97.0 99.5 99.9 100.0

Total Enrollment 178155 233539 183508 64415 15866 5250

Enrollment (%) 26.2 34.3 27.0 9.5 2.3 0.8
Cumulative Enrollment (%) 26.2 60.5 87.4 96.9 99.2 100.0
Mean Enrollment 15.1 35.2 67.9 118.8 170.6 262.5
Median Enrollment 15 34 65 116 167 256

Data: DISE 2015-16

• 54% of K-Government schools have enrollment less than 25 - i.e. per class enrollment is less than 5

• 85% of schools have enrollment less than 50 i.e. Less than 10 Children per class
17
 Teacher distribution- Government LPS (Class: 1-5)

Multi grade teaching

Teachers per grade in government primary schools by Enrollment Category

Median Mean Max. Enrollment bin (0,25] (25,50] (50,100] (100,150] (150,200] (200,3000]
2.000 1.996 11.000 Median 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.8 0.8 1.2
Mean 0.34 0.43 0.56 0.70 0.80 1.23

18
District wise analysis

Hassan : 80% GLPS - Enrollment below 25,

98 % below 50 !
19
 Government primary and upper primary
(HPS: 1-7 or 1-8)

Min. 1st Qu. Median Mean 3rd Qu. Max.

0.0 62.0 109.0 140.8 188.0 1058.0

Karnataka Enrollment of Government Primary and Upper Primary

Enrollment range (0,50] (50,100] (100,150] (150,200] (200,300] (300,1100] Sum
Schools 3760 6232 4240 2732 2973 1926 21863
Percentage 17.2 28.5 19.4 12.5 13.6 8.8 100
20
Variations- Administrative divisions

From: Wiki 21
 Government HPS- teachers

Multi grade teaching

Teachers per grade in P+UP Schools by Enrollment Category

Median Mean Max.
5.000 5.397 32.000 Enrollment (0,50] (50,100] (100,150] (150,200] (200,300] (300,1100]
Median 0.43 0.57 0.71 0.86 1.00 1.38
Mean 0.45 0.57 0.71 0.84 0.99 1.36
22
Government Secondary Schools (8-10 or 9-10)
Karnataka Enrollment in Government Secondary Schools (8-10)
Enrollment bins (0,50] (50,100] (100,150] (150,200] (200,300] (300,400] (400,1100]
Schools 108 813 1007 613 606 205 177
Schools (%) 3.06 23.04 28.53 17.37 17.17 5.81 5.02
Cumulative Schools 3.06 26.10 54.63 72.00 89.18 94.98 100.00
Enrollment
Total Enrollment 4,283 64,702 1,25,296 1,06,306 1,46,538 6,97,45 93,815
Enrollment (%) 0.70 10.59 20.52 17.41 24.00 11.42 15.36
Cumulative Enrollment (%) 0.70 11.30 31.81 49.22 73.22 84.64 100.00
Mean Enrollment 39.66 79.58 124.43 173.42 241.81 340.22 530.03

Median Mean Max.

141.0 172.9 1026.0

23
 Govt Secondary School Teachers

Teachers per grade in Government Secondary Schools by enrollment category

1st Qu. Median Mean 3rd Qu. Max. Enrollment (0,50] (50,100] (100,150] (150,200] (200,300] (300,400] (400,1.1e+03]
7.0 8.00 8.4 9.0 38.0 Median 2.33 2.67 2.67 2.67 3.00 3.33 4.33
Mean 2.38 2.66 2.78 2.87 3.07 3.48 4.62
24
 Teacher and maintenance

Number of teachers in small and tiny govt schools in India Annual Per pupil expenditure on teachers-2015-16

50 or Less 923929
633323
50 or Less 41164
208534
20 or Less 138033

10 or Less 55822 20 or Less 78260

42843

5 or Less 19419
21277
10 or Less 153441

Zero 6961
14304

5 or Less 387992
0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000 700000 800000 900000 1000000

Number of Teachers 2015-16 Number of Teachers 2010-11

0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 400000 450000

25
 Access and consolidation in US
School Districts

Expanding
Consolidation
access

The Landscape of Public Education - A statistical Portrait through the years, Epicenter, Education
Policy Institute, April 2011
8
School consolidation

27
 Schools around Vagata GP, Bengaluru Rural

GHPS Vagata
Grade 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17
1 10 6 6
2 9 9 8
3 10 8 8
4 16 9 11
5 14 15 10 Currently 82 students on roll-On the day of visit- head count 60
6 35 29 26
7 40 34 27
Out of the 96 students on roll, 24 are SC, 24 are Muslim
Total 134 110 96
children (50%)
Field visit and DISE 2015-16 data 24
GLPS- Paramanahalli and Hunasehalli
Paramanahalli
Hunasehalli

2015-16
2016-17
2015-16 Class Enrollment
1 3
2 2
3 0
4 0
5 2
6 0
7 0
Total 7
Total teachers : 1 30
Schools around Vagata, Hosakote,
Bengaluru Rural

Vagata

Makanahalli Parmanahalli

Hunasehalli

Bengaluru Rural-
31
 Vagata School Consolidation

Vagata Cluster- Post Consolidation

Parameter C-I C-II
Classes 1-10 1-8
Total Enrollment 479 240
Total Teachers 22 12
Teachers Per Grade 2.20 1.5
Pupil Teacher Ratio 21.77 20
Pupil To Grade 47.90 30 32
 Bengaluru Urban North- N3, Oph Road

CORP URD HPS NARAYANPILLE STREET

GUHPS RAHAMANAIA BHARATHI NAGAR

GULPS MAKHAN ROAD

GULPS V, K, O

33
 School Profiles- OPH Road
GULPS MAKHAN ROAD GULPS RAHAMANIA CORP URD HPS, NARAYANPILLE STREET

2015-16
2015-16
On the day of visit :
On the day of visit : 7 40 students
students ,
2 Teachers
Runs in a small house with
two rooms.
Facilities are very poor
34
OPH Road- School Consolidation

35
 School Consolidation in India- Odisha
• Norms for mainstreaming merger (mainstreaming !)
– Phase I (Already executed): Schools with enrolment of 5 or less than 5 children to
be mainstreamed (merged) with a nearby school.
Transport and escort facility is promised to be provided to the children.
– Phase II (under consideration): Schools with enrolment of 10 or less than 10 children
to be mainstreamed (merged) with a nearby school.

• Proposed to attach a Shikya Sahayak to ensure the transition

from the closed to mainstreamed schools.

• Other stipulations :
– Villagers are to be assured that, if there are required numbers of children, the
school will start operating again (demerged).
– Teachers posted in the sub-optimal (closed) schools are to be posted to the nearest
school where children are mainstreamed so that children of the closed school will get
more attention and benefit.
– Infrastructure created if any is to be handed over to the concerned Gram Panchayat
and will be managed by the villagers
Srinivasa Rao, School Closures and Mergers: A multi-state study of policy and its impact on public education system
Telangana, Odisha and Rajasthan, Save the Children, 2017
36
 School Consolidation- Telangana
• Norms for rationalization of teacher posts and
staff
– Schools without any enrolment to be merged to nearby school.
– Schools with 1-19 enrolment to be merged with other primary school
within a walking distance of one KM of neighbourhood areas.
– In tribal areas, the schools without enrolment or with 1-19 enrolment to be
merged with the nearby schools including schools under Tribal Welfare
Department and posts shall be shifted to the respective managements.
– Surplus teachers to be shifted to a needy primary or upper primary school

• Telangana’s merger policy so far does not have any provision of

transportation allowance or escort allowance.

Srinivasa Rao, School Closures and Mergers: A multi-state study of policy and its impact on public education system
Telangana, Odisha and Rajasthan, Save the Children, 2017
37
 School Consolidation- Rajasthan
• Primary school/s with less than 30 children, following
the RTE norm, were merged with the school situated
within one KM range and having the higher enrolments.

• Merge primary and upper primary schools with

secondary and higher secondary schools. Merged schools
are declared as “Adarsh Vidyalaya” or “Model Schools”.

Srinivasa Rao, School Closures and Mergers: A multi-state study of policy and its impact on public education system
Telangana, Odisha and Rajasthan, Save the Children, 2017
38
Srinivasa Rao, School Closures and Mergers: A multi-state study of policy and its impact on public education system
Telangana, Odisha and Rajasthan, Save the Children, 2017
39
Can this trend be reversed?
• Remodeled in 2016-17,
inaugurated June 10th.

• Has 1560 students.

• 65 Teachers (5 Govt + 60
Contract)

• Cost : Rs 16 Crore
(funded by IMA)

• K-1-10, will add 11-12

soon.

• Classes run full

(2 sections: Boys and Girls
separate)

GHPS, VKO, Shivajinagar

40
THANKS!

41
EXTRA SLIDES

42
 Karnataka schools
Residential Schools

Sl.No School Name SC ST BC Total

1 Morarji Desai PU / Residential Schools 215 46 151 412
2 Kittur Rani Channamma Residential Schools 110 46 - 156
3 Ekalavya Residential Schools - 10 - 10
4 Atal Bihari Vajapai Residential Schools 10 01 04 15
4 Dr B R Ambedkar Residential Schools 100 25 - 125
4 Indira Gandhi Residential Schools 65 25 10 100
Total 500 153 165 818

DISE 2015-16

Source: Karnataka Residential Schools Association

43
District wise variations

44
 Small schools : access v/s efficiency
Access Efficiency
• Access to neighborhood schools • Small schools are inefficient
is ensured
• Constraints on Infrastructure
• Compliance with legal and Teacher allocation
provisions
• equitable distribution of
resources
• Access in remote and tribal
areas
• Vertical linkage across grades
is broken

45
 Access to Education- Pre Independence
Hunters Education Commission, 1882-83
• 1800-1900: Destruction of
Indigenous education and (1881-82)

Introduction of Modern
education
– 1813- 1854 (A Period of
Experiments ) Charter Act to
Education Despatch
– 1854-1900 (Victorian Era) Period of
Westernization of Education-
Indianization of its agencies
• 1881-82: Hunters Education
Commission found – male
Literacy 16.3% , Female 0.4%

Naik, J. P., & Nurullah, S. (1974). Students' history of education in India 1800-1973. MacMillan company of India limited.
46
 Access: 1950-2010
• 1950- Constitution of India- Article 45, Directive principles of state policy
"The State shall endeavor to provide within a period of ten years from the commencement of
this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age
of fourteen years.”

• 1964-66-Kothari commission recommends- Universalization of elementary education;

Neighborhood schools and Common School System
• 1986- National Policy on Education (NPE)- and Program of Action (PoA) 1992
– Operation Blackboard (OB), District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET), Schemes on
Non-Formal Education (NFE), District Primary Education Program (DPEP)…

• 1997: Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative and Innovative Education
(AIE)
• 2001: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Expansion in funding; conversion of EGS to formal
schools
• 2009-2010: The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act
– Neighborhood school: 1 km walking distance from the habitation of a child at the primary level (class 1
to 5) and within 3km walking distance for upper primary level (class 6 to 8)
6
– 12(1)(C): 25% reservation for EWS in private schools
Interstate variations- small
schools

48
 All India- small schools (DISE)

43% of Primary schools have enrollment less than 50

70% of Primary schools have enrollment less than 100

49
 Government, private comparison
Karnataka Size distribution Primary Schools

Enrollment Range (0,25] (25,50] (50,100] (100,150] (150,200] (200,3e3] Sum

Govt Schools (GS) 11799 6630 2703 540 93 20 21785

Pvt Schools (PS) 736 986 1440 673 247 246 4328

Govt Schools (%) 54.2 30.4 12.4 2.5 0.4 0.1 100.0

Private Schools (%) 17.0 22.8 33.3 15.5 5.7 5.7 100

50
51
 Government, private comparison
Karnataka Size distribution Primary Schools

Enrollment Range (0,25] (25,50] (50,100] (100,150] (150,200] (200,3e3] Sum

Govt Schools (GS) 11799 6630 2703 540 93 20 21785

Pvt Schools (PS) 736 986 1440 673 247 246 4328

Govt Schools (%) 54.2 30.4 12.4 2.5 0.4 0.1 100.0

Private Schools (%) 17.0 22.8 33.3 15.5 5.7 5.7 100

52
 Private - HPS

Median Mean Max.

199.0 250.3 2611.0

Karnataka Enrollment of Private Primary and Upper Primary

Enrollment (0,50] (50,100] (100,150] (150,200] (200,300] (300,1000] (1000,3000] Sum
Schools 596 1079 1282 1097 1832 2081 130 8097
Percentage 7.36 13.33 15.83 13.55 22.63 25.70 1.61 100

53
GULPS MAKHAN ROAD, BHARATHI NAG

On the day of visit : 7 students ,

2 Teachers (1 Kannada+1 Urdu)
Runs in a small house with two rooms. Facilities are very poor

54
 GUHPS RAHAMANAIA BHARATHI NAG

On the day of visit : there were 30-40 students

5 teachers were there. Many classrooms were unused.

Akshara charts on Math and Urdu were being used !

55
 CORP URD HPS, NARAYANPILLE STREET

Its more than a century old (1912)

On the day of visit : there were about 70 students (as per HM)
Excellent infrastructure. Has high school attached to it (first floor)

56
Chamarajanagara- Maddur

57
Chamarajanagara- Nagavalli

58
An idea is worth its salt if it is politically
acceptable, socially desirable, technologically
feasible, financially viable and
administratively doable.
-Anil Swarup, Education Secretary, MHRD

http://idronline.org/nonprofits-dont-need-to-scale-dramatically/

59
 Growth in education- Colonial Era
• Macaulay minutes- 1834; Woods Education Despatch 1854; Hunters commission 1882-83

• push for Free and Compulsory education; Expansion of mass education

Gokhale- 1911; Wardha Conference – 1937; Sargent Plan 1945
Access Equity?

Children in Schools
M:-16.3%
F: 0.84%

Naik, J. P., & Nurullah, S. (1974). Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen (2015),
Students' history of education in India 1800-1973 “An Uncertain Glory: India and its contradictions”
5
 Access: 1950-2010
• 1950- Constitution of India- Article 45, Directive principles of state policy
"The State shall endeavor to provide within a period of ten years from the commencement of
this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age
of fourteen years.”

• 1964-66-Kothari commission recommends- Universalization of elementary education;

Neighborhood schools and Common School System
• 1986- National Policy on Education (NPE)- and Program of Action (PoA) 1992
– Operation Blackboard (OB), District Institutes of Education and Training (DIET), Schemes on
Non-Formal Education (NFE), District Primary Education Program (DPEP)…

• 2001: Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

– Expansion in funding; Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and Alternative and
Innovative Education (AIE)
• 2009-2010: The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act
– Neighborhood school: 1 km walking distance from the habitation of a child at the primary level (class 1
to 5) and within 3km walking distance for upper primary level (class 6 to 8)
– 12(1)(C): 25% reservation for EWS in private schools
6