1. Challenges and Ways forward for ensuring
that all government elementary schools are
effective in promoting learning of each child
Rajesh Kumar
LOKMITRA
www.lokmitra.org.in

2. RTE Act – A half-hearted Step
• Lokmitra believes that education is the way to build a better
world that is inclusive, sustainable & driven by love. Right to
Education has some provisions that enable progress towards
that vision.
• RTE Act also has some limitations. Spirit of being a
fundamental right has been undermined. Some issue of
systemic change, availability of resources, are not covered by
the Act.
• Right to Education demands a quality education for each
child. Norms prescribed in the Act for the school can only be
an enabling factor for quality education. There is effort by the
system to meet the norms, but doing so without substantial
increase in education budget will deliver limited solutions.

3. RTE Act – A half-hearted Step
• System is still struggling with providing sufficient teachers to
each schools, quality of pre service, in service training is still
detached from classroom reality and fragmented.
• Education system and its way of functioning have not
changed. Teachers are directed with so many instructions (but
not bound to follow them, many a times due to no
information) that they lose initiative as there is no one to
inspire for collective vision.
• So most teacher, continue to have low motivation and low
accountability. Consequently there is hardly any improvement
in prospect of each child’s learning.

4. Way Forward
• Systemic changes will be slow, dependent on collective
demand of major stakeholders & champions.
• Some of potential schools and interested teachers, SMCs
should be given support in way that they each school
changes itself from within. This is based on continuous
process of learning that is based on collective reflection.
• Such structures and processes are promoted in school
that supports this continuous collective learning. This
needs to weave various strands in the Act along with
some of new norms of SSA so that there is space to
intervene and there is synergy.
• Collective voice emerging in the process will also
influence larger system for suitable support to schools.

5. Way Forward
• Effort of Lokmitra has evolved taking into consideration
these understanding.
• Over last one decade Lokmitra has been engaging with
elementary education system in multi-pronged and
multilevel manner.
• This engagement has not been under any formal
arrangement. Still there has been space to intervene,
support, demand and strengthen a growing number of
parents and teachers for change.
• Lokmitra believes that change is possible if we work with
long term perspective by mobilising parents & teachers
to work collectively to transform the school from within,
and in the process influence the education system &
political system. It is a long drawn task but a critical one.

6. School Improvement - Promoting Vision &
its Achievability for Teacher’s motivation
• Teacher motivation is key issue for initiating the process,
especially when there are so many disincentives & social
pressure against positive change.
• If teachers get a feel of better school, where children & teacher
both are at ease and filled with joy of doing and learning, there
is scope to overcome initial inertia.
• Next challenge would be collaboratively working out an activity
system which convinces teachers that vision of each child
learning is possible.
• During last two years Lokmitra has fine-tuned an Activity
System (drawing from its own and others experiences) that has
appeared promising. As school makes effort towards vision,
sufficient handholding and support is required.

7. Systemic Change – Collective voice of
Parents & NGOs/CSOs.
• Since 2005, Lokmitra has evolved the practice of federating
SMC, by mobilising parent members at Cluster and Block Level,
as Parent Association.
• Emerging leaderships of parents from SMC/PA have been
involved at district and state level advocacy.
• This has been done by bringing NGOs & SMCs/PAs together
under an education coalition (Basic Shiksha Manch - BSM)
• Along with this Lokmitra has promoted another practice of
Teachers Learning Forum.
• These two practices are showing the pathway for local
mobilization for larger and sustained change in education
scenario and system.

8. Approach of Lokmitra
SMC
School
Based
Activity
System
Teachers’
Learning
Forum
Parent
Association
Broad
Based
Education
Coalition

9. Activity System to Improve School from Within
• Responsibility to fulfil each child’s right to learn in school is
shared with all children, all teachers and parents.
• Listening to what others have to say is the starting point of
learning. So Activity System provides opportunity so that each
one is listened.
• Children are organized in collaborative learning system in
groups, enabling learning from each other (enabling children’s
active, cooperative and reflective learning).
• Teachers are expected to respond to children’s responses
toward learning.

10. Activity System to Improve School from Within
• Weekly/Fortnightly meetings of teacher in which they discuss
case studies of children and classroom observations. This is at
the heart of school management.
• Case studies need to focus on learning as experienced by
children in their classrooms and learning from each other.
• Parents and teachers work together, sharing responsibility for
educating children.
• Lokmitra is trying to enable SMC members to emerge as
effective group, being able to delve into root causes of the
problem, being able to take joint responsibility rather than
passing the buck to each other or to the government.
• During last two years with encouraging response in some
schools (like Manpur Sahawa, Sointha in Raebareli).

11. SMC
OOOOOO
OOO
OOO
OOO
OOO
OOO
OOO
 Collectively setting Aims &
Objectives (attendance,
retention, learning etc)
 Collective understanding of
Quality of Education
 Analysis of Problems and
find solutions.
 Evolving and tracking the
learning system of school
through monthly meetings.
OOO
OOO
OOO
OOO
OOOOO
OOO
OOO
OOO
OOO
Teachers Group
OOO
OOO
OOO
OOO
Parent Teacher
Meeting for
Each Class
OOO
OOO
SMC
BAL MANCH
Children’s Group & BAL MANCH
Teachers Group
 Becoming sensitive to Children’s Learning
 Weekly Learning Session, reflecting on Case Work with
Children and each others observation of teaching practice.
 Listening to SMC, Bal Manch, PRI and taking lead in preparing
School Development Plan
 Head Teacher ‘s Leadership for promoting Children’ Right to
Learning.
 Each Class has children divided in Groups of
6-8 for collaborative Activity Based Learning.
 Children also taking responsibility for
attendance and learning.
 Children from Each Group of Each Class
collective meet every week for BAL MANCH.
Plan Children’ Collective Activity and suggest
for School Improvement.

12. Challenge of Quality Education
• RTE Act requires teacher to promote learning of children
without fear and coercion. The Act expects teachers to cover
the curriculum.
• Most teachers believe that children will study when they are
given fear of examination and pass-fail.
• RTE has provision for Continuous and Comprehensive
Evaluation so that teachers are able to understand what
children are learning and what are learning needs.
• Thus Child Centred teaching has been visualised, building on
children’s natural curiosity and previous learning.
• Official trainings don’t facilitate Teachers’ own Construction
of Knowledge, on the basis of reflecting on experiences,
analysing experiences and drawing conclusions. On the
contrary, many faulty ideas get promoted (like children from
poor economic background being of low IQ).

13. Promoting Teachers as Learning Community for
enhancing their Capacity & Motivation
• During 2007, the idea of involving teachers through their own
peer learning emerged for addressing the problem of low
capacity of teachers and lack of academic support.
• Teachers Learning Forum is promoted as voluntary initiative of
teachers in which they periodically assemble on holidays to
share their teaching practices and learn from each other.
• This practice is expected to make teachers proactive for their
own learning and improvement of school. This will further
convey a message to education department and academic
support system that teachers needs to be provided
participatory learning spaces and some autonomy. Top down
bureaucratic supervision is not the solution for teachers’
accountability and performance.

14. Promoting Teachers as Learning Community for
enhancing their Capacity & Motivation
• Practice evolved in one Block and got well accepted in about 10
other Blocks, reaching out to about 600 teachers. Average
attendance of teachers in a block level meeting is about 20.
• Lokmitra also did Policy Advocacy for promoting the idea of
Peer Learning among teachers. (through workshop of
knowledge Commission and through its regular advocacy
effort). Now Peer Review at Cluster level has become part of
New Framework of SSA.
• Good Practices of Teachers, shared during the meeting, are
collected and published periodically (Pragya).

15. Collectivization & Advocacy by Parents
Block Parent Association
• During 2004-06 Lokmitra has effectively evolved concept and
practice of SMC & Parents Association to address the
powerlessness faced by parents in engaging with education
system and to promote their continuous learning to work for
school effectiveness.
• Parent members of SMC federate at Cluster, Block level mutial
learning and collective advocacy. Making their voice heard to
officials & peoples representatives at Block, District & sate
level.
• In 2008, DHRUVTARA, an documentation on practice of Parent
Association in story form was developed and printed.
• By 2009, in pre RTE phase, BPA has been active in three
Blocks.

16. Collectivization & Advocacy by Parents
Block Parent Association
• Parent Association got sustained and with new members
when SMC got constituted under RTE Act in 2011 and in 2013.
• Lokmitra tries to convey to teachers that larger problems
faced by teachers can only be addressed by larger combined
power of parents and teachers. SMC can support teachers in
negotiating local power structure and in problem solving.

17. Basic Shiksha Manch (BSM), Education Coalition
• During State Assembly Election in 2007, idea of coalition
emerged, while taking a collectively prepared Charter of
Demand to contestants.
• BSM has emerged as a broad based coalition of Parent
Association (Block level Federation of parent members of
School Management Committees, SMCs), NGOs, CSOs,
academicians & individual activists.
• It is intended that Parent Associations would be in leading
role, with more than fifty percent representation in
organizational level activities.
• BSM is emerging as a two-tier structure, at district level for
keeping a watch on quality of education delivered and
demanding better implementation and at state level for policy
advocacy.

18. Impact
• Effort of LOKMITRA, Basic Shiksha Manch and Parent
Association has contributed to development with RTE Act.
• Advocacy for influencing the Model Rule gave a direct result in
terms of being provisioned that a Parent would be
chairperson of SMC. In State RTE Rule of UP it has been
included that SMC will be formed in open meeting, as
demanded by BSM.
• There is perceptible and growing change in attitude of
teachers, parents, NGOs and Officials. Parents are taking
leadership in SMC, Parent Association and even in mobilizing
parents in neighbourhood areas.

19. Impact
• Subsequent to consistent effort Govt Order for SMC formation
was made in June 2011. It had such provisions, as demanded
by BSM, like formation of SMC in open meeting of parents,
sufficient parents in SMCs (11 parents in 15 person body),
selection of parents from each class, Chairperson/Vice
Chairperson from parents etc.
• Subsequently RTE Rules was enacted in July. Except for few
provisions, it was a satisfactory Rule.
• In 2013, Govt adopted many suggestions made for proper
reconstitution of SMC, like provision of Quorum, admission of
children at the close of session, involvement of NGOs, display
of name of selected members, etc.

20. Impact
• Growing enthusiasm and participation of NGOs from about 40
districts for advocating for realization of educational right of
children. There is growing capacity of BSM to organize large
scale campaigns and activities at short notice through its
participatory approach.
• Lokmitra had hoped that with by getting large number of
NGOs in the state, there would be fast spread of practice of
Parent Association. This hasn’t happened. But there is
agreement and some progress on ground. Lokmitra aims to
promote Block level Parent Associations in most rural and
urban areas of Uttar Pradesh.

21. Insights from engaging with education system
• Parents want to educate their children. If children are not
regular in school then somewhere school is not able to fulfil
the needs of children.
• There is lack of suitable learning environment that promotes
meaningful learning. Special opportunities are required for
the children belonging to first generation of learners.
• In a system controlled and managed from above, parents
assume that school belongs to distant government and
morale of teachers becomes weak.

22. Insights from engaging with education system
• Within a broad policy guideline, teachers’ accountability
should be towards parents of children.
• All the solutions for betterment of school are not at school
level. So intervention should be systemic, covering all
components and related systems, at all levels.
• Any educational intervention should promote collective
dialogue for within and in between key stakeholders, so as to
promote better understanding and suitable action. Any
intervention implanted from outside, or carried out as add on,
will have little chance to get integrated or meet the purpose.

23. Broad Ideas for moving ahead
• For effective governance of basic education, changes are
required in policy, planning, administration and management of
education so that decentralization and participation is
promoted.
• To initiate the process of change a draft for extensive change be
prepared for discussions in groups of teachers, educationists,
officers, peoples’ representatives and with parents as well. This
way the draft of change will become better and the ground will
be ready for implementation of those changes.
• Teacher’s Learning Forum along with that of SMC & Parent
Association will build a different institutional system where
there is local accountability as well as some autonomy for
teachers. Thus prospect of decentralized system of democratic
governance of schools will grow.