RESEARCH PROPOSAL Introduction Indian policy and planning literature
for education draws its value base from the 'synthetic ideology' [Guhan 1985:256]
of the Constitution. In the sector of elementary education 'policy' derives
from three types of policy instruments: the education sector of national
development Plans; National Education Policy; and the Constitution [Guhan
1985]. Each of these fits into a broad definition of social policy as 'assuming
responsibility for people's needs and creating the means by which resources
and services are allocated to meet those needs for the amelioration of individual
and social problems'[Outram 1989: 13].
The content, or rhetoric of Indian educational
policies and plans is consistent with a liberal, humanitarian approach: education
as a force for the good, contributing towards the realization of equal access,
reduction of gender inequality and thus a move towards greater equality and
national integration. However, despite the constant reiteration over 50 years
of these guiding principles-upon which the 'ideal society' is predicated-
the picture of the India of this century is one of a society beset, albeit
to different degrees in different places, by inequality, factionalism and
other tensions which appear to be worsening rather than stabilizing and diminishing.
The development of the elementary sector
of education has been characterized by an approach that has attempted to
ensure physical access to a school for all children but neglected qualitative
aspects of the education provided in those schools. Explanations for this
were seen to include the lack of capacity to plan for quality, as well as
the estrangement between planners and local environments; and the discrepancy
between the importance Plan documents attribute to elementary education and
the low proportion of financial allocation that actually goes to that sector.
A further factor is that plans and policies are implemented through government
bureaucracy, which is hierarchical in nature and oriented towards systems
maintenance. Its norms discourage innovation and are ill-suited to the role
of development administration. Information tends not to flow upwards from
'grassroots' to higher levels of bureaucracy where key decisions are made,
contributing to the gap between policy and practice.
At the school level, civil society participation
is now accepted as a significant component of any policy to improve educational
performance in the country. Increased partnerships between the school and
the community leads to autonomy and flexibility in decision making, which
in turn lead to higher levels of productivity and accountability. In this
effort of incorporating new initiatives, non-governmental and voluntary effort
has begun to play a significant role. NGOs are providing missing facilities
in areas not reached by the government. Many educational innovations are
emanating from voluntary action and from those who are dedicated and committed
to bring about educational change.
This study intends to map the involvement
of Civil Society Organizations in primary and secondary education with a
particular focus on the implications such involvement has for educational
policy. Civil Society Organizations is being conceptualized for the purposes
of this study, as including private enterprises and organizations, religious
or caste based associations, co-operatives, unions and the vast field of
NGOs. The study uses the category of Civil Society Organizations (instead
of NGOs) to bring within the fold of analysis, the multiplicity of non-State
interests represented by these organizations. Further, it also draws attention
to the challenges that the problematique of 'civil society' poses for policy
analysis and research.
Statement of the Problem This study will seek to engage with three related problems: (1) the problematique of the multiplicity of interests represented by civil society organizations; (2) the participation of civil society may merely replace the constraints of the State with constraints of the market; (3) the gap between the educational reform policy and implementation due to internal contradictions; Firstly, Civil Society Organizations
(CSOs) have come to be seen as essential to the construction of what are
assumed to be the social pre-conditions for more accountable, public and
representative form of governance in education. As commonly understood today,
these are institutions that may usefully guide and influence strategies designed
to accomplish 'transitions'. Can the category of civil society serve-as Ralf
Dahrendorf claimed-as the conceptual and practical 'key' to such 'transitions'
(Dahrendorf, 1990 & J. Cohen and A. Arato, 1992)? It is important to
note that CSOs are not homogenous both in terms of the interests they represent
and in terms of their structures.
As Sami Zubaida shows in his discussion
of Egypt, for instance, two drastically opposed conceptions of the civil
society in critical intellectual discourse, a 'secular-liberal' and an Islamic-communal
one: and they do not stand in a symmetrical relation to democratic politics.
The first presses the case for legal recognition of voluntary civil associations
(political parties, unions, pressure groups). The second delimits as ‘civil
society’ a space of practices and activities unregulated by the legal-constitutional
state, but which conforms to interpretations of Islamic tenets. Similar phenomenon
is evident in India too. There it is problematique to argue that CSOs involvement
is intrinsically democratic. This poses a challenge for policy to expand
the scope of democratic activism within the educational sector.
Secondly, a study of the educational
component of the National Plans in India shows that education appears as
a mere instrument in a technicist oriented development 'vision'. Such a perspective
on education takes the state's requirements as the base line of needs which
education should fulfill: it fails to consider the very different myriad
of community level cultures and needs, or the importance of education in
an individuals life. The utilitarian view of education espoused by national
planners does not admit a discussion of the potential worth of education
as a means of empowering individuals to change aspects of their own lives,
even within constricting socio-economic circumstances. To narrow education
to the primary role of turning out 'human capital' is to deflect from the
values reiterated in those same plans and policies: and, as later years have
proved, investment in human capital is not a simple economic equation.
The new education policies foster the
idea that responsibility for education and welfare, beyond a minimum required
for public safety, is to be defined as a matter for individuals and families.
A recent report on policy reforms argued that "decentralizing the management
of public education and encouraging the expansion of private and community
educational institutions must be given thrust"(Birla-Ambani Report, 2000).
In such cases the civil society becomes increasingly defined in terms of
market, thereby reducing the primary role of education as turning out 'human
capital'. A preliminary comparison of Plan documents and literature from
CSOs shows that there is no significant differences in their stated objectives
of primary and secondary education, except that the state's needs are replaced
by the interests of the market and the revivalist communal groups. In such
a context can educational policy playa role not only to moderate the state,
but also the market, while protecting secular citizenship in the country.
Thirdly, analysts of Indian public policy
and its outcomes make four common criticisms: a. A weak nexus between policy and instruments b. The large degree to which administrative discretion has been retained and used to dilute or defeat policy objectives. c. The use of a single or small set of instruments to promote a large number of objectives, not all of which may be capable of consistent pursuit. - d. And internal intra-policy inconsistencies and inter-face inconsistencies in allied policies. (Guhan 1985:259) This study will analyse these issues with reference to CSO participation in educational policy reforms. For example, recent policy has set the following objectives for the coming decade:
Research Questions
Objectives of the Study
Methodology o Selection of Respondents / Sampling Twenty two organizations undertaking projects which meet the following criteria will be randomly selected from a database of development organizations. 8 other organizations would be purposively selected for case studies. The selected 30 reform projects will represent different kinds of CSOs operating in the education sector in India- private enterprises, co-operatives, Christian missionaries, neo-hindu groups and so on. o Sources of data Primary data will be collected from these CSOs and from the Government. Secondary data will be obtained from archival sources, public records and policy departments of both government and the CSOs. o Methods & tools of data collection A questionnaire would be mailed to 30 organizations that presently undertake education development projects. Out of this 8 projects would be selected for case studies. Primary data collection will involve extensive interviews and use of questionnaires. Content analysis of relevant policy documents of the government and the CSOs will also be undertaken. Necessary tools would be developed and validated before use. o Data Processing and Analysis The data collected will be tabulated using appropriate computer software. Statistical analysis of quantitative data and the textual/content analysis will be undertaken. |
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