Education Department

Draft Guidelines for Performance Audit on Outcomes in School Education

1 Introduction Education is the most important tool for social, economic and political transformation and a key instrument for building an equitable society. Education is the process by which societies deliberately transmit their accumulated information, knowledge, understanding, attitudes, values, skills, competencies and behaviors across generations. It involves communication designed to bring about learning. A well-educated population, equipped with the relevant knowledge, attitudes and skills is essential for economic and social development in the twenty-first century. School Education is a Concurrent Subject under Constitution of and falls within the domain of Centre and States. The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21- A in the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right. Accordingly, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, became effective from April 2010.

The (since 2000-01), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (since 2009-10) and Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education (CSSTE) are the three major flagship school education development programmes launched by Government of India and being implemented in partnership with State Government. While the SSA aims for elementary level (Class I-VIII) to implement the RTE Act, the RMSA covers classes IX-XII and CSSTE aims to provide infrastructural and institutional support to Government Teacher Education Institutions to enhance the overall efficiency of teachers across class I-XII by setting up of District Institute of Education and Training (DIETs), strengthening of State Councils of Education Research and Training (SCERTs). Further the cabinet committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), GOI has approved (March 2018) the Integrated Schemes for School Education (i.e. Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan) extending from preschool to class XII from. April 2018 with inclusion of all three separate schemes.

The Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has the following objectives:

(i) Provision of quality education and enhancing learning outcomes of students; (ii) Bridging Social and Gender gaps in School Education;

(iii) Ensuring equity and inclusion at all levels of school education;

(iv) Ensuring minimum standards in schooling provisions;

(v) promoting vocationalisation of education;

(vi) Support States in implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory States Education (RTE) Act, 2009; and

(vii) Strengthening and up-gradation of State Councils for Educational and District Institutes for Education and Training (DIET) as nodal agencies for teacher training.

Under the SSA sector-wise development programmes are designed to harmonize the implementation mechanisms, resources and transaction costs at all levels i.e. state, district and schools. The shift in the focus is from project objectives to improving systems level performance and schooling outcomes which will be the emphasis of the combined scheme along-with incentivizing states towards improving quality of education. The term outcomes in school education depend the overall development of the students which refers to either (1) the desired learning objectives or standards that schools and teachers want students to achieve, or (2) the educational, societal, and life effects that result from student outcomes are the intended goals of a course, program, or learning experience. In the second case, student outcomes are the actual results that students either achieve or fail to achieve during their education or later on in life.

1.1 Targets for school education indicators under Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) The school education is a subject on the concurrent list and state is critical for improving the outcomes in cost effective ways. Outcome of school education in the state can be evaluated mainly through the outcome audit of four areas viz. access outcomes, learning outcomes & quality, equity outcomes and Governance processes.

SDGs on education have focused to ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education for all. It also aims to build and upgrade educational facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitivity and ensure that all learners acquired knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development. Various targets have been fixed in respect of different education indicators to be achieved by 2030. In order to measure state performance towards quality education, seven national level indicators have been identified, which capture two out of the ten SDGs targets for 2030 outline under this goals. The status of as well as India in these indicators and their targets are indicated in the given table:

Table No-1

Indicator Bihar India Target (in per cent) Net enrollment ratio ( 1 to 10) 77.04 75.83 100 Correct response on learning outcomes in language, 55.67 54.69 67.89 mathematics and EVS for class V Correct response on learning outcomes in language, 47.75 44.58 67.17 mathematics, Science and Social Science for class VIII Out of school children in the age group of 6-13 4.95 2.97 0.28 Average annual dropout rate at secondary level 25.90 17.06 10.00 School teacher professionally qualified 53.97 81.15 100 Elementary and secondary schools with PTR less than/ 21.75 70.43 100 equal to 30 (Source: Niti Aayog) 1.2 Expenditure on education Status of total grants of the state and expenditure on education during 2013-14 to 2017- 18 is given in the table below:

Table-2 Year wise total grants and expenditure of the state as well as grants and expenditure on the education (₹. in crore) Total grant Expenditure Year All Bihar Education Percentage All Bihar Education Percentage 2013-14 113152.93 15657.80 13.84 73841.58 11633.98 15.76 2014-15 139976.59 21553.01 15.40 85225.79 13857.22 16.26 2015-16 153258.98 21857.12 14.26 110064.67 16398.71 14.90 2016-17 175493.47 20119.93 11.46 123124.54 16962.48 13.78 2017-18 194315.71 28020.89 14.42 134711.56 20515.16 15.23 Total 776197.68 107208.75 13.81 526968.14 79367.55 15.06 (Source: Appropriation accounts data from VLC) During 2013-18, the State has expended ₹79367.55 crore towards education, which a percentage of total Government expenditure was 15.06 per cent. Percentage of expenditure on education to GDP of the state ranged between 4.72 and 5.12 per cent.

2. Organizational set-up The education department headed by Principal Secretary is over all responsible for the management of elementary and secondary education in Bihar. Prior to launch of Samagra Shiksha, School education from class 9 to 12 was administered by District Education Officer at District level and Director Secondary Education at state level. However, after launch of Samagra Shiksha, School education in Bihar is managed by the Bihar Education Project Council (BEPC). BEPC, a registered society under Society Registration Act, is the implementing Society of Samagra Shiksha in the state. At state level the General Council (GC) of BEPC under the chairmanship of Chief Minister is responsible for overall policy guidance and review of implementation of the programme and Executive Committee (EC) under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary/Secretary is responsible for administration and implementation of Samagra Shiksha. The State Project Director (SPD), BEPC is the member Secretary of EC. At district level district executive committee headed by district magistrate is responsible for co-ordination and monitoring of the programme and district programme officer, SSA is responsible for implementation of programmes of school education. Besides, programme implementation at block, cluster and school level was supervised by the Block Education Officer, Cluster Resource Centre Coordinator and Vidyalya Shiksha Samiti respectively. The pre-schooling education in Bihar is under the overall control of Pr. Secretary Social Welfare Department and managed by Director Integrated Child Development Services. The organogram of Samagra Shiksha at state level is given as under:

Organizational set-up for Pre-Schooling Education in Bihar

Pr. Secretary Director Anganwadi DPO(ICDS) CDPO Social (ICDS) Center Welfare

Organizational set-up for School Education in Bihar Principal Secretary, Education Department

State Project Director State Council of Director, Director, Primary Director, Research Bihar Education Education Director Jan Secondary Project Council (SIS Education & Training Research and Shiksha Education of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan) Training (SCERT) 38 District District Institute Programme of Education and DPO, Shaksharta Officer Samagra Training (DIET) Shiksha Abhiyan

537 Block Block Education Resource Centre Officer

5622 Cluster Resource Centre

88232 Schools 72554 GoB, 77 GoI, 13278 Private, 2323 Aided

Source: UDISE data 2017-18, All Management Schools

2.1 Management of Examinations School education examinations in Bihar is managed by national and state level boards. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Council for Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) etc. are national level boards, whereas Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), Bihar Sanskrit Shiksha Board, Bihar State Madarsa Education Board and Bihar Board of Open Schooling and Examination (BBOSE) are state level boards for providing and managing school education in Bihar (both private and Government sector schools).

The Secondary and higher secondary school examinations are managed by four autonomous boards under the control of Education Department of the state as indicated in the chart given under: Bihar School Examination Board

Bihar Board Education of Open Bihar Sanskrit Department, Schooling and Shiksha Board GoB Examination

Bihar Madarsa Eduction Board

2.2 Category wise schools, enrollment and available teachers in the state Based on the UDISE data 2017-18, Category wise number of schools, class wise enrolment and available teachers in the state during 20017-18 is indicated in the table below: Table-3 Number of districts, CD blocks, Clusters and villages in the state

2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 Districts 38 38 38 38 38 Education Blocks 537 537 537 537 537 Clusters 5,460 5,620 5,589 5,619 5,651 Villages 40,288 40,630 40,779 40,865 40,941

Table-4 Details of functional schools and availability of teachers Category of Schools No. of Teachers Students Sl.No. All Management School 1 Primary only with grades 1 to 5 42724 153913 5852047 2 Upper Primary with grades 1 to 8 36823 331012 12795728 3 Secondary with grades 1 to 10 2313 28420 1522017 4 Higher Secondary with grades 1 to 12 1795 26278 1263434 5 Upper Primary only with grades 6 to 8 267 2214 103408 6 Secondary with grades 6 to 10 211 1591 62451 7 Higher Secondary with grades 6 to 12 84 1298 53320 8 Secondary only with grades 9 & 10 1126 9962 496461 9 Higher Secondary with grades 9 to 12 2548 38331 2611610 10 Higher Secondary only with grades 11 341 7218 421938 & 12 Total 88232 600237 25182414 Table-5 Year wise and class wise enrolment Name of class 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 Class 1 31,28,920 30,55,035 33,92,382 25,39,841 23,84,883 Class 2 29,71,476 31,47,703 31,94,536 31,40,218 26,62,420 Class 3 30,57,127 30,83,665 33,05,396 30,52,098 30,85,596 Class 4 29,96,188 30,61,088 31,39,774 30,73,569 29,67,150 Class 5 28,65,632 29,92,865 31,38,000 29,23,359 29,58,664 Class 6 23,07,185 23,76,666 25,50,091 23,96,390 22,95,725 Class 7 21,41,493 22,93,249 24,07,456 23,73,857 22,65,644 Class 8 17,68,537 21,22,733 23,04,150 22,20,132 22,12,660 Class 9 13,84,246 16,16,397 18,05,886 17,16,740 16,13,753 Class 10 12,32,110 14,21,772 16,15,541 16,32,166 16,40,373 Class 11 4,21,667 5,62,075 6,34,811 4,19,463 6,13,934 Class 12 3,67,037 5,19,438 6,01,614 5,81,152 4,81,612 Total Enrolment 2,46,41,618 2,62,52,686 2,80,89,637 2,60,68,985 2,51,82,414 (Source: UDISE data 2017-18, All Management and Operational Schools) 2.3 Private tuition/coaching center As per National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) observation, the portion of Private tuition and coaching in education sector is very high in the state. The proportion (per 1000) of student taking private coaching for levels of school education for Bihar as well as in India is indicated in the table below:

Table-6 Primary Upper primary Secondary & Higher secondary

Male Female Male Female Male Female All India 231 201 280 246 378 347 Bihar 468 397 557 429 672 631 (Source: -NSSO 71st Round Report-2014-15) Above table showed that 67per cent of the male and 63per cent of the female student of secondary and higher secondary classes are taking private tuition whereas the all India percentage of the same is nearly 38 & 35per cent respectively.

Considering the NSSO report the number of students taking private tuition/ coaching in the state and average expenditure per student for pursuing general course during 2017-18 extrapolated to as in the Table 7 & 8 respectively:

Table:7 Number of students enrolled and taking private tuition/ coaching Secondary & Higher Primary Upper Primary Secondary Male Female Male Female Male Female Total enrollment 7138610 6921103 3337203 3436826 2218651 2131021 Students taking 3340401 2747678 1858822 1474398 1490933 1344674 private tuition (46.8) (39.7) (55.7) (42.9) (67.2) (63.1) (Extrapolation %) (Source: Total Enrolment from U-DISE- 2017-18) Table:8 Average expenditure per student for pursuing general course during 2017-18 Secondary & Higher Primary Upper Primary Secondary Male Female Male Female Male Female Total enrollment 7138610 6921103 3337203 3436826 2218651 2131021 Extrapolation % 46.80 39.70 55.70 42.90 67.20 63.10 Students taking private tuition 3340401 2747678 1858822 1474398 1490933 1344674 TOTAL (Male + Female) 6088079 3333220 2835607 Average expenditure per student 2687 3409 15320 per annum 1635.87 1136.29 4344.15 AMOUNT (₹ Crore) 7116.31 Source: Enrolment UDISE 2017-18; Expenditure: NSS Report No. 575: Page A-274

As can be seen from the above table that a large number of students were taking private tuition/ coaching. Availability of quality teachers, use of teaching learning materials (TLM) and improvement in quality of teaching in the class room would reduce the need for private tuition and coaching.

In order to provide for the control and regulation of private coaching institutes of the State for providing better academic support in preparation of different competitive examination and curriculum and admission into specialized institutions etc. Bihar Coaching Institute (Control & Regulation) Act, 2010 was enacted in the state (28 April 2010). Accordingly, all the private coaching institutes are required to register with the concerned districts within one month from the enactment of this act and after the commencement of this act, no coaching institute is to be established or run without obtaining valid registration certificate.

3 Audit objectives Performance audit of “Outcomes in School Education” would be taken up to assess:

 Whether universal access to school education was made available to all children?  Whether quality of education was ensured at all learning levels?  Whether student’s academic and social performance got enhanced?

4 Methodology adopted for preparation of Guidelines With a view to identify performance indicators for enhancing the range and depth of audit checks and comment on outcomes and systemic issues a workshop on ‘Outcome measurement in School Education’ was held on 10December 2018 Headquarters Office, New . In the workshop participants included experts from the field of education, stakeholders from civil society, academia, public policy etc. had expressed their views on the matter through power point presentation. In the workshop measurable outcome indicators for a school education at various level were discussed.

Further, as per Headquarters office direction this office has been nominated as lead office (LAO) for preparing guideline to conduct “Audit of Outcomes in School Education”. This office has organized different stake-holder meetings (SHM) (comprising Economists, Educationists, Agriculturists, and representatives from Trade & Industry and Asian Development Research Institute and officers from the related Departments and associated units of ) in four cycles to discuss the outcomes of schooling and education as well as the suitable indicators and the method for measuring these outcomes. A pilot study in and districts was conducted and audit questionnaire and pro-forma were issued to different respective units of Education Department and District Programme Officer of ICDS to obtain primary information relating to pre-schooling and school education system functioning in the districts. Apart from above, audit team also visited nine offices1 located at for obtaining information relating to school education system in India.

Besides, survey/study reports which have been conducted on education outcomes by National Achievement Survey (NAS) under NCERT, Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) of Pratham an NGO, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Result-Framework Document (RFD) for Department of School Education and Literacy, GoI, School Education Quality Index (SEQI) prepared by Niti Aayog have also been considered for identifying the indicators of outcomes in school education. Data available in Unified District Information System for Education (U- DISE), a school census based Education Management Information System (EMIS) have been taken for preparation of guidelines and finalization of indicators.

5 Indicators of Outcome in School Education In continuation of assessment of audit objectives, this performance audit also attempts to identify and measure the progress of outcomes in school education through accepted priorities of the government under the declared education polices/schemes of school

1 Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy, Government of India, Central Board of School Examination (CBSE), National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Sangathan (KVS), Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS). education on the basis of certain performance indicators (refer- Annexure I). These indicators were taken up on the basis of earlier studies on different level school education, objectives of education schemes (initiated by the central/state government and come up during four round stake-holders (consisting representatives from different section society viz. educationist, retired teachers, industry, agriculturist, NGOs etc.) meeting. The indicator broadly covered three categories of outcomes in school education i.e. status of universal access, quality of education and student performances. In case of indicators of student performance assessment regarding minimum level of learning in different level of classes would be drawn through specific competency of designing suitable questions and its evaluation for different level of classes.

6 Audit design Matrix Issues analysis based on audit objective and their respective audit design matrix is enclosed in Annexure II. In order to collection of information at State, District and School level and for consolidation of draft report 44 proformas were prepared and enclosed as Annexure-III.

7 Audit Criteria The performance audit of Outcomes in School Education would be benchmarked against the criteria derived from the following sources:

 SSA-RTE, RMSA, Teacher Education and Samagra Shiksha guidelines issued by GoI;  National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Curriculum Framework and guideline for Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) by GoI;  Frame work for implementation of schemes issued by GoI;  Manual on Financial Management and Procurement by GoI;  Annual Work Plan and Budget (AWP&B) and U-DISE;  School Quality Indicators framed by NCERT;

 Sustainable development goal 2017-2030 and

 Orders and circulars issued by GoI and GoB from time to time

8 Scope and extent of Audit &Methodology The proposed performance audit will cover the period from 2014-15 to 2018-19. Records would be seen in the education department at the Government level, Directors, Primary and Secondary Education and Director, State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT) at directorates’ level, State Project Director (SPD) of BEPC as state implementing society and Director, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Bihar, Patna.

Apart from above, at the implementation level records would also be examined in the offices of the District Education Officers (DEOs) and District Programme Officers (DPOs) and District Institute of Education and Training of selected districts. Records of sampled Block and Cluster level officers as well as sampled schools (Primary, Middle and Secondary) would also be scrutinized during audit. Examination would be conducted of any existing database/ digital records maintained at the state/ directorate/ school levels. Interviews/ survey of the beneficiaries’ / stake holders would be carried out to assess the outcomes in school education. For pre-schooling education, records of District Program Offices (ICDS), concerned Child Development Project Offices (CDPO) of sampled blocks and 2 Anganwadi centers (AWCs) in the catchment area of the selected CRCs would be scrutinised. Photographic, audio, video evidence would also be collected to support the audit observations.

9 Audit Sampling Given the heterogeneity of the universe of the study in terms of levels, types of schools, interventions at various levels, social schemes, socio-economic aspects, a multi-stage stratified sampling technique was used to identify the sample. Different indicators were used to make the stratification statistically robust. The sample also took into consideration four important features of Bihar, such as, levels of literacy, migration, flood, and existence of Naxalite.

Selection of Districts

In Bihar there are nine divisions and 38 districts. To have a representative sample, one district from each division and one additional district being state capital have been considered for selection to cover the 25 per cent of the existing districts. A composite index was developed by ADRI on the basis of different parameters for selection of districts. Accordingly, 10 districts2 have been sampled.

Selection of Blocks

Three BRCs (Blocks), in the sampled districts having 20 or more blocks, and two BRCs (Blocks), in the sampled districts having less than 20 blocks were selected. Three urban

2 , , Gaya, , , Patna, Purnea, Rohtas, Saran, Supaul blocks (one from each district) and two rural blocks of each districts were selected based on highest and lowest Net Enrolment Ratio (NER). Accordingly, 23 blocks were selected.

Selection of Cluster Resources Center

From the selected blocks (rural and urban), two clusters of schools were selected in this stage of stratification. The selection of clusters was based on the ratio of number of upper primary school (1-8 std.) to number of primary school (1-5 std.). From the sequence of clusters, top cluster (with the highest ratio) and bottom cluster (with lowest ratio) were selected for the study. In this stage, two clusters in every 11 clusters in a block was selected for the study.

Selection of schools

Within a cluster, five schools were chosen for the study. The criteria such as pupil- teacher ratio, enrolment ratio and infrastructure of the schools as adopted to arrive at an index to choose schools from a cluster. Two schools out of five schools, were chosen from two extremes, that is, the best performing school and the least performing school. Apart from that, other three schools were represented the middle of the distribution of the schools. These three schools were selected using circular systematic sampling with random start.

Further, two Anganwadi (ICDS) centers were selected from the vicinity of the best performing and least performing school each.

In case any sampled school could not be surveyed, then a replacement can be drawn from the list of the schools – preferably the next indexed school in the list of the cluster by coating justified and valid reason.

Apart from the main sample frame, seven ‘other’ schools3 were purposively selected as part of the study, Simultala School, one of the best school in Bihar run by State Government, in and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, a CBSE curriculum school, of the selected districts will also be part of the study.

At the ultimate level of stratification, about 17 per cent schools of the sampled blocks were chosen for the survey to make the sample representative.

3 • Private School – One, Sanskrit Board School – One, Secondary School – One, Higher Secondary School – One, School run by local management – One, School (6 – 8 grade) – One and Madrasa - One As the multi-stage stratified sample was based on scientifically decided criteria, the size of the sample was the optimal representation of the population and would give estimates at the 5 per cent relative precision.

10 Findings based on previous audit experience Experience gained from previous years audit of DPOs and schools at different level are as below:

Sl Audit findings 1 Inadequate planning 2 Delayed release of grants to BEPC 3 Delay in payment of teacher salary. 4 Outstanding Advances 5 Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) not maintained as per norms. 6 Habitation without School 7 Non admitted of OoSC in appropriate class. 8 Non availability of the basic facilities in govt. schools 9 Unfruitful expenditure and Shortfall in Civil works 10 Irregular establishment of unrecognised school Partial implementation/Irregular re-imbursement of fee to the private unaided 11 schools under 25% quota 12 Dress, Books and Study material not provided to the Children. 13 Non availability of CAL/ICT Lab, library, sports material etc. 14 Non enrolment in Pre-Schools. 15 Less men-in-position against sanctioned strength 16 Non formation of VSS in Schools. 17 Inadequate monitoring

11 Dashboard A data dashboard4, an information management tool to visually tracks, analyzes and displays key performance indicators (KPI), metrics and key data points for monitoring the entire process of the Performance Audit would be prepared.

4 A dashboard is the most efficient way to track multiple data because it provides a central location for businesses to monitor and analyze performance. 12 Limitation of Data Integrity One of the limitations faced by audit was by incomplete information furnished by concerned offices. The facts and figures in the guideline are based on the data available in U-DISE, NSSO, Census-2011 etc. The required information/records had not been furnished to audit despite request followed by reminder to the concerned department.

The draft performance audit report would be developed on the basis of audit objectives and in accordance of the performance audit guideline for Planning, Implementation and Evidence & documentation.