REPORT OF NATIONAL EVALUATION

OF
KASTURBA GANDHI BALIKA VIDYALAYA
(KGBV)
AND
NATIONAL PROGRAMME FOR EDUCATION
OF GIRLS AT ELEMENTARY LEVEL
(NPEGEL)

2008
 INDEX

S.No. State Page

1. National Evaluation Report of Kasturba Gandhi

Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) 1-12

2. National Evaluation Report of national Programme

for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) 13-26

3. State Report of Assam and Meghalaya (NPEGEL/KGBV) 27-75

4. State Report of Haryana and Maharashtra

(NPEGEL/KGBV) 76-104

5. State Report of Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab

(NPEGEL/KGBV) 105-135

6. State Report of Manipur and Mizoram

(NPEGEL/KGBV) 136-167

7. State Report of Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh

(NPEGEL/KGBV) 168-193

8. State Report of West Bengal and Tripura

(NPEGEL/KGBV) 194-220
 VERSION 2, 9 FEBRUARY 2008

NATIONAL EVALUATION – II

KASTURBA GANDHI BALIKA VIDHYALAYA (KGBV)

Objectives and Scope of the Scheme:

“The scheme would be applicable only in those identified Educationally Backward Blocks
(EBBs) where, as per census data of 2001, the rural female literacy is below the national
average and gender gap in literacy is more than the national average. Among these blocks,
schools may be set up in areas with:
concentration of tribal population, with low female literacy and/or a large number of girls
out of school;
concentration of SC, OBC and minority populations, with low female literacy and/or a large
number of girls out of school;
areas with low female literacy; or
areas with a large number of small, scattered habitations that do not qualify for a school
The criteria for eligible EBB will be the same as in the NPEGEL scheme of SSA.

Gender disparities still persist in rural areas and among disadvantaged communities.
Looking at enrolment trends, there remain significant gaps in the enrolment of girls at the
elementary level as compared to boys, especially at the upper primary levels. The objective
of KGBV is to ensure access and quality education to the girls of disadvantaged groups of
society by setting up residential schools with boarding facilities at elementary level.
The components of the scheme will be as follows:
Setting up of residential schools where there are a minimum of 50 girls predominantly from
the SC, ST and minority communities available to study in the school at the elementary level.
The number can be more than 50 depending on the number of eligible girls. Three possible
models for such school have been identified and given at Annex.I(a) to I(c).
• To provide necessary infrastructure for these schools
• To prepare and procure necessary teaching learning material and aids for the
schools
• To put in place appropriate systems to provide necessary academic support and for
evaluation and monitoring
• To motivate and prepare the girls and their families to send them to residential
school
At the primary level the emphasis will be on the slightly older girls who are out of school and
were unable to complete primary schools (10+). However, in difficult areas (migratory
populations, scattered habitations that do not qualify for primary/ upper primary schools)
younger girls can also be targeted
At the upper primary level, emphasis will be on girls, especially, adolescent girls who are
unable to go to regular schools
In view of the targeted nature of the scheme, 75% girls from SC, ST, OBC or minority
communities would be accorded priority for enrolment in such residential schools and only
thereafter, 25% girls from families below poverty line.
Established NGOs and other non-profit making bodies will be involved in the running of the
schools, wherever possible. These residential schools can also be adopted by the corporate
groups. Separate guidelines are being issued in the matter.
(Source: KGBV Guidelines, GOI, 2003-04)

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1 A National Evaluation (II round) of the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV)
scheme was commissioned by the Department of School Education and Literacy,
Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India in 12 states. Six teams
were constituted to carry out the evaluation.
i Assam and Meghalaya - J.M. Abhyankar and Mona Yadav;
ii Haryana and Maharashtra - J. Kameshwari and Sharda Jain;
iii Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab - B.H. Girija and Usha Nayar;
iv Manipur and Mizoram - Deepa Das and A.K. Singh;
v Uttarakhand & Chhattisgarh – Nishi Mehrotra and Subhashini Paliwal;
vi West Bengal & Tripura – Najma Akhtar and Vimala Ramachandran.
The team leader was Vimala Ramachandran.

2 The team was briefed by GOI on 19th November 2007. Field-visits were done in
November and December 2007. The entire team met in Delhi on 7 to 9 December 2007
to discuss the state visits and agree on the consolidated national report. This synthesis
report draws upon the individual state reports and highlights the common issues emerging
from the state reports.

3 The specific objectives of the evaluation were to:

i Assess whether the objectives of the KGBV scheme are being met in KGBV schools
that have been operationalised.
ii Assess the availability and quality of infrastructure in these schools including
progress in new school buildings or hostels approved so far and condition of rented
accommodation.
iii Study the category wise enrolment of girls and reasons thereof in KGBVs.
iv Retention of girls enrolled and efforts made towards the same.
v Assess status of the quality of learning (pace/achievement levels).
vi The availability of teaching learning materials in KGBV schools, number and quality
of teachers.
vii The parental/ teacher/ community’s perceptions regarding functioning of KGBVs.
viii Whether effective processes for mobilization of dropout girls in the EBB was
undertaken by State/ district SSA/KGBV programmes to maximize awareness of
KGBV school.
ix Study the role and effectiveness of NGOs and other non-profit organizations in
running KGBVs.
x Highlight state specific good practices that could be disseminated.
xi Suggest up to a maximum of three items in which the design of the present KGBV
scheme needs to be changed with well-based justifications.

4 Overarching Observations
i The second round of evaluation covered states where there was some delay in
operationalsing the scheme. During the preliminary briefing GOI informed the team
that these states were not ready for the evaluation in January 2007 as most KGBVs
were fairly new. Therefore, it is important to keep in mind that the states covered
under this (second stage) of the evaluation were at varying degrees of
preparedness.
ii As observed in the first stage of the evaluation (February 2007) it is important to
place on record that the KGBV scheme has been well received by parents and the
community and has the potential to respond to the educational needs of out-of-school
girls in the 11+ age. In particular, it is of immense value in areas where girls drop out
after primary schools because of distance or of terrain.
iii The scheme has been able to reach out to SC, ST, OBC and Muslim girls in very
backward and remote regions of India. It is noteworthy that 44 per cent of students in
the 12 states covered are from Scheduled Tribe community and 21 per cent from

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 Scheduled Caste groups. Field visits revealed that the girls studying in KGBV are
from extremely poor families and many of them are first generation school goers.
iv There has been overwhelming positive response to the scheme and most all states has
understood the basic purpose of the scheme. However few states seem to be using it
as a hostel facility for girls who are already enrolled. Noteworthy among them are
Punjab and West Bengal.
v The ability of a given state to reach out to girls who have dropped out depends a great
deal on the proactive interest taken by the state government. Where the leadership at
the state level has given the scheme top priority – the scheme has been implemented
in letter and spirit and implementation has been good and they have been able to
reach out to out-of-school girls. Conversely, where the state government leadership
has not appreciated the spirit of the programme and given the scheme the priority it
merits, implementation down the line has not adhered to the schematic pattern.
vi It was also noted that the presence of a woman coordinator at the state / district level
makes a significant difference in the ability of the government to not only adhere to
the schematic pattern but also ensure that KGBV are sensitive to a range of physical /
medical needs of adolescent girls. In states where the state level NPEGEL
coordinator is not a woman – we found that sanitary towels and other essential items
are not provided and the wardens are not able to discuss these needs with male
coordinators.
vii Clarity of guidelines issued by the state, workshops to orient block / district level
personnel and regular monitoring makes a huge difference. Good in Maharashtra and
Tripura.

Table 1: Status of KGBV: sanctioned, operational and category-wise enrolment

% Total % % %
Sanctioned Operational
Operational Enrolment % SC % ST OBC Muslim BPL
Assam 15 11 73.33 733 5.73 58.66 34.11 0.55 0.95
Chhattisgarh 84 84 60.71 6895 20.00 54.00 23.00 0.49 2.51
Haryana 9 7 77.78 415 20.72 0.00 23.61 40.72 11.33
Jammu &
Kashmir 51 11 21.57 654 0.00 6.88 0.00 61.31 31.80
Maharashtra 36 15 41.67 1413 19.96 59.38 14.37 0.57 5.73
Manipur 1 1 100 30 0.00 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Meghalaya 1 1 100 60 0.00 98.33 1.67 0.00 0.00
Mizoram 1 1 100 142 0.00 70.42 29.58 0.00 0.00
Punjab 2 2 100 52 42.31 0.00 57.69 0.00 0.00
Tripura 7 7 100 140 0.00 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Uttarakhand 25 13 52 1108 46.66 5.42 16.52 24.91 6.50
West Bengal 59 44 74.58 1968 24.95 30.08 7.93 7.98 29.07
Total 291 197 67.70 13610 20.71 44.22 18.73 7.71 8.52
Source: DoSEL, MHRD, GOI, 2007 and State Reports of the evaluation team 2007.

5 Status of KGBV:
i The model-wise number that was reported to be functional at the time of the field
visit against the number of KGBVs sanctioned is given in the tables 1 and 2. In the 12
states covered 67.70 percent of approved KGBV are operational. The reasons for
inability to operationalised approved KGBV range from difficult terrain and high cost
of construction of building (Jammu and Kashmir), delay in selection of NGO due to
procedural / legal issues (Maharashtra)
ii The significant finding of this review is that 6 of the 12 states visited are not
adhering to basic schematic provisions that categorically mention that this
programme is meant for out-of-school girls. Out of the remaining 6, three are
partly adhering to the schematic requirement. This is a serious shortcoming and GOI
may wish to request the concerned state governments to ensure that KGBV school
primarily reach out to out-of-school girls in the upper-primary age group.

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 iii The proportion of girls from different social groups is given in table 1. Majority of
the girls studying in KGBV are from SC, ST and OBC groups. The evaluation teams
also noted that an overwhelming majority of girls were from poor families – thereby
meeting both the poverty as well as social group criteria of the scheme.
iv One state – namely Meghalaya – has handed over the KGBV to a missionary
institution which has not adhered to any of the schematic requirements – the girls are
not accessing full time school and only Catholic children are being enrolled. This
merits urgent attention of GOI.

Table 2: Basic information about KGBV in 12 states covered by this evaluation

Reach out to Criteria of selection Building Remarks
Model
out-of-school
adopted
girls
Poverty criteria not All rented Large number of
Assam II Yes, mostly adhered in all out-of-school girls
in the state
Admitted girls who 51 own building, Quality of food
completed class 5, 33 in rented very poor. No
Chhattisgarh I (100) No
poverty / social building record on drop
group criteria met. outs
Advertisements and All rented In Mewat KGBV
No. Say they
pamphlets in run by Mewat
reached out tot
Haryana I (NGO) villages and CRC Model School
potential
played crucial role Society
dropouts.
in selection
Potential drop Through HM / BRC All rented and Teachers paid
outs, girls who buildings in very poorly, schematic
Jammu & I (6) and
complete class 5 poor state provision not used.
Kashmir II (7)
but no
accessible UPS
SSA mobilizers All rented, but well Classes 5-8, as
Yes, most drop
Maharashtra I (100) identify girls as per managed and primary ends at
outs
social group norms endowed class 4
House to house Rented. High drop out
I (100
Manipur Yes survey. Poverty Construction
capacity)
criteria used underway
All Catholic girls, Own, DC given High drop out,
no survey or any additional funds badly run, no full
No, ad hoc
Meghalaya II (NGO) other transparent time school, rosary
admissions
method adopted. prayer for 3 hours
a day
Did survey but Own building Objective not
No, used as
enrolled already clear, most
Mizoram III hotel for girls
enrolled girls dropouts Chakma
already enrolled
girls
No effort made Not clear how girls Own building, Many girls from
Punjab III to identify out- were identified very spacious same village
of-school girls
Through panchayat Own building, Only 20 girls in
Tripura III Partly met and school HM secure with each KGBV
boundary wall
SSA survey, Rented or 10-15 per cent
I (4), II Not entirely,
poverty criteria used government school drop out – due to
Uttarakhand (11), III 30% girls
building. Land just sickness.
(10) dropouts
acquired
No, used as Ad hoc, no effort Own, in school Objectives not
West Bengal III hotel for girls made to identify compound appreciated
already enrolled out-of-school girls

6 Enrolment and access:

i This evaluation finds that the access related objectives have not been met in 6 of the
12 states visited (see Table 1 and 2). A large proportion of girls studying in the
KGBVs are those who were already enrolled in school or had just completed class 5.

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 There are very few over-age and under-age girls in states where the KGBV is being
used like a hostel. However there are over-age girls in those states that have tried to
reach out to out-of-school girls.
ii The selection criteria used vary across the 12 states visited as evident in Table 2.
While most states said they used HH survey data, systematic mapping of out-of-
school girls has not been done in most of the states visited. Advertisements, word-of-
mouth information and proactive role of primary school headmasters have been
reported.
a In Assam almost all the girls were out of school and were not enrolled anywhere
before they joined KGBV – even though no systematic procedure was adopted
for identification.
b In Chhattisgarh girls who had completed class 5 were admitted. However, it was
heartening to note that orphaned and abandoned girls were admitted in KGBV.
c Haryana adopted two modalities – they advertised widely in the catchment
community and CRC played a key role. However, the evaluation team found that
most of the girls were not dropouts before they joined KGBV.
d J&K: Girls who had completed class five and those who were potential dropouts
were admitted in KGBV.
e In Maharashtra community mobilisers of SSA identified girls using poverty and
social group as criteria.
f Manipur used door to door survey in 20 villages around the KGBV. They made a
list of eligible girls and admitted 60 out of which 13 have since dropped out.
g The selection process was ad hoc in Meghalaya. A Catholic mission admitted
girls – all of them being Christians.
h Mizoram conducted a survey and ultimately selected girls who were already in
school. This provided only hostel linked to a Sardar Vallab Bhai Patel School
(government middle school).
i Punjab government got the facilities in place and then admitted girls – none of
the girls are school dropouts.
j Tripura has worked closely with panchayats to identify girls and also manage the
hostel. The proportion of out-of-school girls varied across the two districts
visited.
k Uttarakhand used SSA survey data and held camps with mothers and girls for 2
weeks, followed by 2 months residential bridge course. Teachers, NPRC (Nyay
Panchayat Cluster Level Resource Persons), PTA and other cluster level SSA
functionaries were involved in selection.
l West Bengal has not tried to reach out to out-of-school girls and girls from
existing UPS or those who had completed class 4 were admitted into KGBV –
which is being used as a hostel facility.
7 Retention and dropout:
i The states do not collate information on drop out. The data available essentially
pertains to the total enrolment and social-group-wise categorisation. During field
visits almost all the teams reported that girls had dropped out. On the whole the
proportion of dropouts from KGBV is not high.
ii This clearly demonstrated that KGBV is catering to a felt need of the community and
once girls are given the opportunity to study in a residential school, they are retained.
However, overall cleanliness / quality of food and security influence retention.
iii The one notable exception is Meghalaya. Initially 62 girls were enrolled but when the
team visited the KGBV there were only thirty seven. More efforts are also needed to
bring back girls who have dropped out as the KGBV still has vacancy. The BMC had
provided the list of 32 out of school girls to the NGO on 5th April, 2007 for their
enrolment in KGBV but till date the management has not made efforts to contact the
girls.
8 Infrastructure:

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 i Six of the twelve states covered are running KGBV in rented premises. While the
quality of infrastructure is very poor in four of the six states, the quality of rented
building is very good in Maharashtra. For example Assam government has rented
government buildings – the toilets are inadequate and space remains a huge problem.
Maharashtra has not constructed any building so far but over 2 acres of land has been
procured for KGBV. Land acquisition remains a problem in Haryana and for example
in Jind (Haryana) girls are being bussed as hostel building is not ready. The
evaluation team is of the view that this is a duplication of expenditure as SSA already
provides for transportation for girls at upper primary level. In Uttarakhand the rented
buildings are cramped and not very hygienic – as ventilation is very poor.
ii The budget provided for building construction is inadequate in Uttarakhand, Tripura
and Jammu and Kashmir. It may be essential to review construction costs in difficult
terrain where land preparation is expensive and materials cost increased due to
transportation costs.
9 Overall environment:
i Though conceptualised as a part of the broader SSA strategy, the KGBV often
functions as a stand alone institution at the ground level. The challenge will be think
through how to bring in decision-making and governance structures that on the one
hand link the KGBV to the local community (local VECs/PTAs etc and parents) and
on the other hand to the cluster, block and district level SSA structures.
ii Cleanliness / hygiene emerged as a serious issue in Uttarakhand where poor
ventilation and cramped space was further exacerbated by shortage of toilets and
difficulties in accessing water. Similarly in one KGBV visited by the team in
Chhattisgarh girls were going to the nearby pond to bath and wash clothes. Many
girls have gastro-intestinal problems. In West Bengal and Tripura sanitary towels
were not being supplied to the girls and menstrual hygiene was not given adequate
attention.
10 Education quality:
i The overarching finding of this evaluation is that there is no significant difference in
the quality of education imparted in regular government schools and KGBV. It is
worth noting that the teaching and learning processes visible in KGBVs was textbook
oriented and in most states and was not very different from the formal schools. The
states following Model III have essentially used the KGBV scheme as a hostel with
some supplementary tuition being imparted through tutors in the KGBV. The states
adopting models I and II (with the exception of Meghalaya) have hired qualified
persons as teachers. In Meghalaya the KGBV is run more like a NFE centre and girls
are taught for barely three hours.
a In Manipur teachers have been appointed in an ad hoc manner from a nearby
private school. In Uttarakhand the warden and one assistant teacher is from the
regular teacher cadre. The remaining 3 are Anudeshika - paid 1000/- a month for
a full time job – disregarding the minimum wage requirement of the government.
Teachers and Anudeshikas are not hired according to subject-wise requirements
of KGBV. The system seems to be ad hoc.
b In contrast the selection of teachers has been done with great care in Maharashtra.
Young energetic and caring women with appropriate educational qualifications
have been selected. Similarly the tutors in Tripura are also highly motivated and
qualified.
ii The assessment process is also similar to formal schools. Given that the children live
together the KGBV could be more creative and also plan the classroom / learning
processes better – by integrating the non-academic with the academic. KGBV can
lend themselves to very different classroom practices. While it may be too early to
comment on how the KGBV would develop and grow – the initial indications are that
they are not very different from formal school.
iii The teaching-learning needs of girls in the KGBV are a challenge as well as an
opportunity. Those who had dropped out for a few years or faced a break in their

6
 schooling due to family or other circumstances need a lot more effort / time to catch
up with their peers who have continued in school. The challenge could become an
opportunity in a residential programme that enables students to remain in school for 2
to 3 years. KGBVs can be the model schools where it can be effectively and visibly
demonstrated that educational backwardness of many generations can be overcome
and girls can be role models. This is possible if there is a realisation that the learning
needs of such children merit greater understanding including sensitivity to their
background. It is essential to work out what methods and materials to use to
accelerate learning, how to enable children to reach grade level knowledge and skills.
A residential school can add great value to the quality of education – as it is evident
in the Mahila Shikshan Kendra experience of Mahila Samakhya and also some of the
KGBV schools visited in the first round of the evaluation in 2006-07.
iv It is disappointing to note that in the 12 states visited by the team, little effort has
gone into leveraging a residential schooling to introduce a more interactive method of
teaching. The library books (where available) are not being fully utilised.
v While most of the KGBV visited maintained records of periodic examinations / tests
– the evaluation team did not notice any significant difference between regular
students and KGBV girls. However, in al most all the states the students, their parents
and teachers said that additional tuition and individualised support by warden and
tutors has made a big difference. They also said that since the girls are able to devote
time to studies this in itself has made a huge difference to their learning.
vi Language is a serious issue in tribal areas where the students face learning difficulties
as the textbooks are in the state language. This issue merits serious attention.
vii Most of the vocational courses and classes were gender stereotypical. Tailoring,
sewing, embroidery, pickle making etc were common. Where these have been
planned professionally (like in one KGBV of Tripura) even these traditional
vocations add value. However, the problem is that in most of the KGBV visited the
vocational aspect received little serious attention and only some ad hoc teaching /
training were taking place.
11 Teachers and tutors:
i When the KGBVs reach out to drop outs, to girls from disadvantaged communities,
from extremely poor families and also from those in difficult circumstances, (as is the
intention) it is often insufficiently appreciated that these children come to school with
varied experiences and different learning levels. Therefore, teachers need special
training / sensitisation to enable them to understand and appreciate the special
learning needs of the students. In this respect in almost all the states the teams found
that the training given was woefully inadequate. The teachers were not familiar with
techniques for accelerated learning.
ii The teams met with KGBV teachers who were young and enthusiastic. Overall the
girls looked cheerful and happy. However, in-depth interactions with teachers
revealed that many of the wardens and teachers living with the children needed more
training to efficiently manage / administer the school, plan for health and nutrition
and in the importance of hygiene.
iii We were informed that the resources available for additional training were meagre
and that routine academic training was to be done out of the SSA training budget.
Perhaps more thought / planning needs to go into the special training and ongoing
academic support needs of KGBV teachers. Being in a KGBV is a once in a lifetime
opportunity for all the students and this opportunity should be used to enable the girls
acquire a more broad based education and emerge as aware and confident young
women.
iv It was also felt that there needs to be a policy / guideline in each state for the
recruitment and training of KGBV teachers / tutors (in model III) and some kind of
forward planning for the teachers themselves could help motivate them. Many of the
part-time teachers / tutors are young and have a lot of potential which can be
developed.

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12 Enriched curriculum
i The most disappointing feedback from the 12 states was to do with the enriched
curriculum. While the students are playing a range of games and some of the girls are
learning cycling / karate – there is no systematic approach to enriched curriculum in
the KGBVs visited in the second round of evaluation.
ii A careful documentation of life skills education and preparation of booklets with
games and activities, audio tapes of songs could be valuable. Equally – integrating
reproductive health education, sensitivity / awareness of the environment, legal
rights, citizenship education (Bal Panchayats) and awareness about social issues
could be a valuable addition to the KGBV curriculum.
iii These KGBVs can become a turning point tin the lives of girls who are exploring
fulltime education after a gap or after dropping out. These girls can become role
models in their community who can possibly emerge as a special cadre of girls who
could play a catalytic role in their communities through the messages and practices
they take back. This will help link them more creatively into their community and the
panchayat. For this they will also require leadership training which will need to be
integrated into the KGBV curriculum.
iv The Mission is concerned that no attention is being paid to the issues of adolescence.
As most girls are close to puberty age or have attained puberty, they need to be
educated on personal hygiene as well as to understand the emotional and physical
changes taking place. As part of vocational training, girls could be trained in the
preparation of sanitary napkins. The inability to manage menstruation often leads to
drop out or irregularity. These inputs can very easily be given by the wardens.
However, wardens themselves need training and inputs on adolescent health, and the
manner in which they can help the girls in their overall development. The Mission
was informed that SSA is in contact with the Department of Health and Women and
Child Development on the issue of preparation of sanitary napkins. The Mission
urges that this issue be addressed as quickly as possible
13 Health and overall development:
i As reported in the first evaluation done in 2006-07, in this round too hygiene,
sanitation and physical environment of the KGBV emerged as one of the worrisome
issues in many KGBVs. The rented buildings where the girls are housed temporarily
are not suited as the space was inadequate – mainly because large private buildings
are not available at the block level in many states. Availability of water (in some
KGBV the girls had to bath and wash in a nearby pond or fetch water from a well) is
also an issue of concern. Storage of rations, washing space near the kitchens, disposal
of garbage and sanitation needs greater attention. Health problems like scabies could
partly be attributed to overall hygiene and also availability of sufficient water to
practice personal cleanliness and keep the environs of the KGBV clean.
ii The evaluation found that the location of KGBVs is an important issue. While there
cannot be any strict national guideline or norms, it is nevertheless important for each
state government to pay special attention to location and facilities – especially access
to safe water and sanitation facilities.
iii A worrying issue that emerged in West Bengal is that the entire 750 allocated per
child per month for food is not utilised. The government has allocated Rs. 150
towards uniforms and have permitted the KGBV to use Rs. 600 per child per month.
As a result the children do not get three sumptuous meals every day. There is also no
convergence with the civil supplies authorities to procure rice, sugar and oil at
subsidised rates.
14 Parents / community perception
i The evaluation team met with parents in most of the KGBVs visited (except Tripura).
In Maharashtra mothers very excited that their daughters are able to read and write.
Discussions with parents were quite insightful in Assam. Parents were happy with the
arrangement and overall environment of the KGBVs. Parents are called for monthly
meeting but they are free to come and meet their daughters as and when they feel like

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 it. Unfortunately, parents’ meeting record register was not maintained. In Haryana a
range of activities have been undertaken as part of environment building. These
included rallies, mobilizing senior female citizens (Dadis and Nanis). The impact of
this effort is showing results. The community is supportive of the programme as was
clearly evident in the interactions with representatives of the community that included
panchayat members, religious leaders, parents and especially older women. This has
been a commendable effort on the part of SSA. The rationale of residential schooling
for older girls in particular was well articulated by a father who said at home the girl
is not left alone to study and everyone feels free to make demands on her time. And if
she does not study she is scolded in school for not performing well and at home if she
spends her time studying she is scolded for not fulfilling her household
responsibilities. What was encouraging is that there seems to be growing community
consensus on the right of a girl to education. This sentiment was echoed by mothers
in several KGBV visited in Uttarakhand.
ii There is active support of Jan Bhagidari Samiti in Chhattisgarh whose chairperson is
a person nominated by the local MLA. The JBS was supportive and generally
facilitative in two cases. In one case it was too interfering in the hostel nitty-gritty
like specifying which brand of rice to purchase for the hostel. In another case the JBS
member had hired his premises out to the KGBV at an exorbitant rent. In Katghora,
the lady Chairperson of the JBS who is also the Chairperson of the Kshetra Panchayat
is extremely supportive to the warden in times of emergency as she is a local resident.
iii There is no committee for parent participation in Meghalaya. According to the
Hostel rules parents are allowed to meet the girls only on Thursdays from 8.00 am to
9.30 am and an Sundays from 9.00 am to 10.00 am and 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm. The
overall environment is secretive and parents are not permitted to even see the
dormitory.
iv In Tripura the team could not meet the parents as the girls residing in the KGBV
come from remote villages. However, the team met with people (women and men)
from the main village who seem to be quite happy with the arrangements. They
wanted to send their own girls to the hostel and we noticed that many families were
extremely poor and their children looked malnourished and weak. They asked why
such facilities were not being provided to their children – boys and girls
15 Financial:
i The financial situation with respect to flow of funds from GOI to the state seems to
be fairly good across the 12 states – except in J& K where GOI has not released
funds for the current financial year. Coordination between KGBV in-charge and the
SSA directorate is weak and the state government has not pursued fund realise issues
with GOI. The KGBV in-charge said that shortage of funds (from GOI) have been
affecting implementation. Apparently the cook in one school had not received salary
for 2 years. Salaries are also very low (Rs. 1200 pm for warden and cook, and
teachers Rs. 1500 per month). Teachers do not even get even minimum wages of
unskilled workers. This has affected the programme.
ii In Punjab the unspent balance is high and this could be attributed to number of
eligible girls. Against the sanctioned strength of 50 girls per hostel, there were only
25 girls in each school and the district authorities believe that the sanctioned strength
is only 25.
iii In Assam while funds have been received from GOI the cost of construction (which
has gone up in the last two years) has affected infrastructure development. The salary
given to the teaching and non teaching staff is not according to the GOI guidelines.
For example warden receives Rs. 5000 per month, full time teacher get Rs 3000, and
part time teacher gets Rs 2000, the care taker gets Rs 2000 and chowkidars and cook
gets Rs. 1500 /-
iv In West Bengal the programme started after a delay of almost two years and flow of
funds from the state to the district has not been smooth.

9
 v In Maharashtra delayed approvals due to legal issues has resulted in low utilisation of
funds. Civil works have not yet taken off.
vi In Uttarakhand low utilization is a reflection of the fact that construction of KGBV
buildings has not begun in the state. So far only one KGBV building construction has
commenced, in Sitargunj. This needs to be expedited as the schools are facing space
and operational constraints in hired buildings which are ill suited to the requirements
of the KGBVs
vii In Tripura fund flow is not an issue. The state releases funds at one time (when it
received from GOI) and the district also transfers funds to the Block immediately
(within 7 days) the Block holds the money and transfers money to the VEC (which
manages the school funds) and the bank account is signed by Pradhan (VEC
chairperson) and Secretary (HM). The Panchayat, VEC Chairperson and HM are
responsible for managing the funds of the school, including KGBV, NPEGEL and the
school (MDM etc). It is indeed noteworthy that in South Tripura the VEC manages
the funds of the KGBV effectively as VEC chairpersons take active interest in the
KGBV. The 50 rupees stipend is handed over to the girls every six months. During
discussions it was felt that – possibly the state can think about how best this stipend
can be saved by the girls in order to help them complete 10 years of education (for
classes 9 and 10) ad also use it as an effective mechanism to teach them about
banking.
viii In Meghalaya the evaluation team was unable to get a clear picture of funds flow
ands utlisation. The stipend money of Rs. 50 was being split up - Rs. 30 was spent by
the girls and Rs. 20 was handed over to the warden as savings to be paid back to the
girls at the time of their leaving the KGBV. The detailed break up of the expenditure
under the broad heads was not provided. All the procurement is done by NGO office
and is not locally procured. It was found that the budget on TLE and parents meeting
was not being used. The team observed that there were financial irregularities like
less salary being paid to the teachers, procurement procedures not being followed, not
following the staffing pattern provided by GOI. Spending Rs. 35,85,241/- for a
model structure estimated to have been constructed for Rs. 15,00,000/- incurring
expenditure on inadmissible items like transportation, maintenance, bridge course
expenses etc.
16 Monitoring and support / link with SSA
i The overarching feedback that we received from the 12 states is that while KGBV
scheme is an integral part of SSA – the BRC/CRC personnel are keenly aware of the
programme and in many states are actively involved in selection of students and
teachers and also monitoring financial and administrative issues.
ii Academic support however remains weak. The KGBV teachers said that they do not
get regular academic inputs from CRC and BRC. We were also informed that
monitoring is mostly financial and administrative.
17 Good practices
i In this second round of KGBV evaluation we did not come across any significant
good practices. There are some promising initiatives – but it is too early to call them
good practices. A few of them are as listed below:
ii Reaching out to dropout girls in Okhalkanda, Nainital: Okhalkanda was declared an
EBB block as per the 1991 Census. But in 2001 Census this status was withdrawn.
According to the SSA HH survey of 2007 the block has 27 dropout girls. This
situation requires a review in view of the discussions with KGBV girls in Khansui.
We had a group discussion with the girls about how they came to join the KGBV.
They informed that they had dropped out of school after completing class V as they
found it difficult to travel to UPS across a river in the monsoon and winter. Upon
asking how were far their village was located; they informed that the farthest village
was Kakodaja, 95 km away. The village had 20 girls of which 3 were attending the
KGBV. These 3 girls also counted about 20 girls by name in their village, who had
dropped out of school. Similarly, 2 girls from Padampur, “three days walk” away

10
 counted 8-10 girls from their village who had drooped out of school. Nine girls from
Kundal village, 50 km away, who were in the KGBV also said that 6more girls in
their village had dropped out. At the end of the exercise it emerged that 60 girls from
9 villages, ranging in distance form 5 Km to 90 Km from the KGBV were dropouts
as per specific information form the students form these villages. Seven girls also
informed that they had younger sisters who were never enrolled (7) and eight girls
informed that they had 10 elder sisters who had dropped out after class V, and were
married now. This KGBV had admitted 10 pairs of sisters and three sisters who had
no mother. We met the father who had come to meet the team. He was very
overwhelmed that his daughters could study because of the KGBV as there was no
one to take care of them at home. Though he was worried how he would manage after
they passed class 8. Twenty girls came from agricultural families. Of the group of 50
girls only 4 girls reported that their mothers had been to school and 12 whose fathers
had studied between class 8-10. This KGBV is serving a large block which is spread
out in 3 directions. To cover the catchment more such KGBVs are need to reach out
to other dropout girls in the area who are as yet untapped, even though the
Okhalkanda has been declared a non EBB block. The state needs to ensure proper
targeting of dropout girls to provide educational access to girls through Bridge
Courses, KGBVs and linkages with NIOS for those who have passed class.
iii Assam: The KGBV buildings are secure and spacious with open spaces. All posts are
filled (even though the number does not conform to the KGBV scheme) and there is
100% retention. The state government has ensure good quality 2 tier beds and
mattresses and 2 blankets for every child. All KGBV have cooking gas supply. The
entire 750 per child per month spent on food. The quality of food is good and
sumptuous. Donation taken for TLE, TV / DVD Dish, computers. The state
government has issued strict instruction that there should be no compromise on food.
There is good convergence with civil supply departments - subsidised grains / sugar /
oil / kerosene. Excellent team in the state level.
iv In Chhattisgarh the government has been able to dovetail state funds for infrastructure
through the Jan Bhagidari Committee. However this has also led to greater
interference of the committee in the day to day management of KGBV.
v In Haryana the team found that the girls look genuinely happy and there is a desire to
learn / enjoy life; strong community and panchayat support; government is also proud
of it. In Mewar where the focus is on Meo – the teachers are Hindus and girls are
Meo and it is working well. The government’s insistence on a minimum space of 3
acres is a good idea.
vi In Maharashtra the KGBV were very clean, all children participate in the cleanliness
drive – the campus is clean and beautiful. . The records were also well maintained.
vii In Tripura the state government has given the KGBV scheme high priority and this
has ensured that the programme is regularly visited by the state gender coordinator.
17. Design change related recommendations to GOI:
a. The unit cost for construction need to be revisited in the XI Five Year Plan.
Construction cost in hilly areas (Uttarakhand, Tripura and Jammu&Kashmir)
and remote areas (Northeastern states) is much higher due to higher cost of
materials and also land preparation costs.
b. A dedicated budget needs to be made for training and continuous academic
support to KGBV teachers and tutors. Similarly a lump-sum / dedicated
budget could be allocated to enable state government to hire the service of a
group of experts to enrich the curriculum.
c. GOI could explore linking KGBV to the National Open School – so that girls
who complete class 8 can continue to be linked to the KGBV and appear for
10th class examinations through the open school. This may require minor
modification in the scheme.
18. Recommendations for the state governments:

11
a. First, all the states should adhere to the scheme and enhance intake to 50 or
100 per KGBV. Six of the 12 states have not adhered to the schematic
requirement of reaching out to out-of-school girls. GOI needs to raise this
issue and link future approvals / fund releases to adherence to basic
schematic pattern.
b. Second, an intensive orientation workshop is required for all the Wardens and
7 BRC/CRC staff who are associated with KGBV. This should include
gender sensitisation, managing a library and supplementing formal education
with enriched curriculum, how to enhance the self-esteem and confidence of
the girls. This training could include sharing of best practices from different
states and from MSK (Mahila Samakhya). The wardens need to learn to
manage existing space better. This workshop could also include planning for
excursions and organising preparatory camps (bridge courses) within the
schedule of the KGBV. The vocational component also needs to be discussed
in the orientation workshop. It may be good to invite the local woman
panchayat member to the workshop so that she can monitor the KGBV more
effectively.
c. Third, there is a need to ensure that teachers are paid a decent wage (adhering
to the provision in the scheme) and teacher training needs greater attention
and in should include appropriate pedagogy, keeping the unique opportunity
of transacting meaningful education to girls in a residential mode.
d. Fourth, the states need to reach out further to the deeper layer of out of school
girls through village mapping. Existing group of girls / mothers could act as
active linkage to this layer.
e. Fifth, the education department could interface with the health department
(NRHM / RCH) and provide Iron and folic Acid, de-worming, regular health
check-up (including eye testing) and special support to girls with disability;
f. Sixth, it is recommended that the KGBV organise bi-annual meeting of
parents to get a feedback and also help them support the girls.
g. Seven, all KGBV should maintain record (including child-wise profiles and
compiled information) on enrolled, attending and drop out girls. Information
on dropouts need to be collated at the state level.
h. Lastly, hygiene and cleanliness is an integral part of education. The students
should be educated about how to maintain a clean toilet and bath area and
ensure that their environment is clean.

12
 VERION 2, 9 FEBRUARY 2007
NATIONAL EVALUATION
NPEGEL
The National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) is a
focussed intervention of Government of India, to reach the “Hardest to Reach” girls,
especially those not in school. Launched in July 2003, it is an important component of SSA,
which provides additional support for enhancing girl’s education over and above the
investments for girl’s education through normal SSA interventions. The programme provides
for development of a “model school” in every cluster with more intense community
mobilization and supervision of girls enrolment in schools. Gender sensitisation of teachers,
development of gender-sensitive learning materials, and provision of need-based incentives
like escorts, stationery, workbooks and uniforms are some of the endeavours under the
programme.

The scheme is being implemented in educationally backward blocks (EBBs) where the level of
rural female literacy is less than the national average and the gender gap is above the
national average; in blocks of districts which are not covered under EBBs but are having at
least 5% SC/ST population and where SC/ST female literacy is below 10%; and also in select
urban slums. About 3164 educationally backward blocks are covered under the Scheme in the
States of Assam, Haveli Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat,
Jharkhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar
Pradesh, Uttaranchal Meghalaya Dadra & Nagar and West Bengal.

Source: GOI, Department of School Education and Literacy, MHRD

1. A National evaluation of National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level

(NPEGEL) was commissioned by the Department of School Education and Literacy,
Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India in 12 States. The six
teams were constituted to carry out the evaluation are as follows:
i Assam and Meghalaya - J.M. Abhyankar and Mona Yadav;
ii Haryana and Maharashtra - J. Kameshwari and Sharda Jain;
iii Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab - B.H. Girija and Usha Nayar;
iv Manipur and Mizoram - Deepa Das and A.K. Singh;
v Uttarakhand & Chhattisgarh - Nishi Mehrotra and Subhashini Paliwal;
vi West Bengal & Tripura – Najma Akhtar and Vimala Ramachandran.
The team leader was Vimala Ramachandran.

2. The team was briefed by GOI on 19th November, followed by field-visits through in
November and December 2007. The entire team met in Delhi from 7th to 9th December
2007 to discuss the state visits and agreed on the consolidated national report. This
synthesis report draws upon the presentation of highlights during the meeting and
individual state reports while presenting the common issues and exceptional highlights
that emerged from the state reports.

13
3. As per the TOR the specific objectives of the evaluation were to:
i Assess whether the objectives of the NPEGEL scheme are being met in Educationally
Backward Blocks where the scheme has been operationalised.
ii Assess the availability and quality of infrastructure in these schools including
progress made in providing additional room, toilets, drinking water and electrification
through NPEGEL funds. Check how this is dovetailed with normal SSA funding to
augment school infrastructure. Activities that are being organized in the additional
room that has been made available to the MCS and the benefits perceived by
girls/parents/community.
iii Assess the material inputs (e.g. teaching learning equipment, library, sports
equipments, vocational training, computers, self defence, life skill education, riding
bicycles etc.) that have been provided to the MCS under NPEGEL – what has been
provided, whether they have been used, the extent to which schools/girls have
benefited from these inputs, their present condition, and their usefulness.
iv Comment on the additional incentives (e.g. uniforms, stationery etc.) that may have
been provided – the items, their cost, how the items were decided upon and assess the
benefits accruing to the girls who received them.
v Study the impact of interventions targeted at ‘out of school’ girls, the coverage of
girls/villages by the interventions in the cluster, and ascertain the extent to which
these girls have been educationally benefited through mainstreaming or learning
through open schooling systems or alternative learning centres. In this context it will
be useful to assess whether the number of ‘out of school’ girls shows a declining
trend in the cluster/block
vi Linkages with systems of open learning – nature of linkage, number of girls
benefited.
vii Study the interventions for ‘in school’ girls – describe them, and assess their ability to
impact on the learning outcomes as well as improve their attendance/retention and
generally creating a supportive environment for girls’ education in the area.
viii Progress made with regard to gender training of teachers in the clusters – study the
training module, method, training materials and the resource support used for these
trainings. Ascertain its linkages with the general in service training under SSA every
year and the value addition by this gender training.
ix Study the ECE centres, libraries, bridge courses, remedial classes, vocational/life
skills education programmes wherever they are being implemented assess benefits to
the girls and linkages with other girl child oriented inputs in other SSA components.
x Find out the extent of community involvement in planning, implementation and
monitoring of NPEGEL, the additionally through NPEGEL funds over and above
community training under other component of SSA.
xi NPEGEL being run through different management systems eg. Mahila
Samakhya/NGOs/SSA - assess their role, effectiveness and inter-linkages.
xii District and State systems designed for monitoring progress of NPEGEL and for
capacity building of NPEGEL implementation in the field/districts.
xiii Highlight state specific good practices, which could be disseminated.
xiv Suggest changes/modification in the design of the present NPEGEL scheme with
justifications (Not more than 3).

14
4. Overarching observations:
a. In most of the states visited the implementers had a limited understanding of
the objectives and strategies envisaged in the scheme – there are some
exceptions of course. In some states implementation is inconsistent while in
many states it is still at a nascent stage. There is also some confusion between
the girls’ education aspects of SSA and the specific provisions of this
scheme. It is evident that there is an urgent need to enable all functionaries -
gender coordinators, BRCs and CRCs to see the link between all the
interventions and evolve them as an organic and integrated strategy that
addresses the needs of girls in a decentralized manner. Since the
commencement of KGBV and NPEGEL programmes, gender has once again
been brought centre stage, it is imperative that all SPOs take a lead in
developing an overall gender perspective and integrated approach to girls’
education. While the potential of the NPEGEL is seen as critical, the
translation onto the ground is fairly limited.
b. In most of the states visited the activities taken up under the scheme are
limited to the MCS (Model Cluster School) and have not percolated to the
other schools in the cluster. The exceptions that were visible depended a great
deal on block and cluster level leadership or the individual teachers. Cluster
level planning for universal enrolment and attendance of girls and planning
for dropouts was not very clear in the majority of the clusters visited. State
and district level officials in many states do not have an understanding of
gender issues despite the fact that they have undergone some kind of gender
trainings organised by the SSA state offices, except 3 states – West Bengal,
Manipur and Mizoram. In Chhattisgarh there is clarity of vision at all levels
and it is also integrated with health (Mitanin programme).
c. In WB the district level officials frankly admitted that they were not clear
about the scheme and that it will take some time before they understand the
scheme. Discussions also revealed that they had not read the guidelines and
were unclear about what the main objectives of this scheme.
d. In Tripura and Maharashtra there is a clear understanding among senior
officials that NPEGEL is a scheme which provides additional resources and
opportunities to facilitate access to quality education for the hard-to-reach
girls from deprived communities. Hence it is not a duplication of SSA
provision. Rather, it rests on recognition that universalizing girls’ education
requires 'additionalities' of diverse kinds.
e. The scheme reflects the ground reality of individual agency very
appropriately. When a dynamic / interested and also sensitive officials takes
charge the texture of the scheme changes for instance in Tripura - a dynamic
Panchayat President (lady) and HM has energised the MCS to reach out to all
the villages in the cluster. In Punjab the teacher award money is being used to
give prizes to outstanding girls. At the other end in West Bengal, a male
urinal has been constructed in the NPEGEL room and local officials were not
aware that this contravenes the guidelines. In Manipur and Mizoram no
specific orders for the scheme have been issued. Neither have guidelines nor
operational manuals been developed. In fact, discussions on implementing
the scheme have been rather limited.

Table 1: Coverage

15
 State Districts EBB Clusters Remarks
Assam 8 15 98
Chhattisgarh 15 101 1424 Coverage is total
Haryana 10 36 326
Jammu and
13 109 302 563 approved
Kashmir
Maharashtra* 17 36 524 As of July 2007
Manipur 1 1 3 Total 8 clusters in the EBB
Meghalaya 0 0 0 Discontinued in 2007
Mizoram 1 1 12
(47 were sanctioned in 2005-06 and 39
Punjab 1 1 8
withdrawn in 2006-07)
According to GOI there are 40 approved
Tripura 3 7 7
MCS clusters
According to GOI – 398 clusters are to be
Uttarakhand 13 377 covered in 38 Blocks in 13 District. 20-22
schools covered in one cluster.
West Bengal 10 59 1064 Called Udita Kendra, implemented in 2007.
Source: Data collected during the evaluation, November-December 2007
*: Data not provided in state report

f. The ad-hoc approach to vocational training was evident, perhaps because of

limited vision, in almost all the MCS schools visited. The focus was on
gender stereotypical craft work and tailoring, embroidery and weaving skills
rather than vocational skills. These classes were being run on a short-term
basis without envisaging a time bound course that would enable the girls with
complete competency. This gave an impression of haphazard planning and
execution.
g. In many states (Uttarakhand, Tripura, W Bengal, Mizoram) the coordinators
at different levels are male. Gender sensitisation of officials at different levels
has not been done and as a result this scheme is being viewed as a routine
SSA component for building, materials and incentives.

Table 2: Basic information on NPEGEL, 12 states covered in this evaluation

Is entire
Whether fully Are out of school girls
State cluster Main activities
operational targeted
covered
No, identified
Yes, through Mahila
Assam MCS in October No Planning stage only
Samakhya
2007
Coaching classes, Meena
Yes, cluster
corner, craftwork of the girls,
Yes and well too big Identification and
some MCS have computer.
Chhattisgarh integrated into sometimes enrolment of dropout
Incentives given including
SSA covering 30- girls
cycles and sharing library
40 schools
(across schools)
No – only Incentives (cycles, sweaters,
Haryana Yes MCS school bag, dictionary etc.); hobby No
covered classes, Meena kit,
Vocational training, ECE
Not fully – but Yes, to
Jammu and where there is no AWC,
activities have identify out- Yes – has started
Kashmir educational excursion, health
started of-school girls
camps
Yes – in
Incentives (uniforms, cycles
Maharashtra Yes training and Yes
for VI-VIII class girls, bags)
camps
Yes, through Remedial teaching in 3.
Proposed – but not yet
Manipur No remedial Proposed incentives, ECE
started
teaching planned

16
 No – it has been
Meghalaya No No No
discontinued.
Vocational training – content
not defined, child care centre.
Incentives given to girls
Not addressed. However
Mizoram Yes Yes, partially (educational material and even
mobile school being run
school supplies like stamp pad
and chalks). Teacher awards
for girls enrolment given
Vocational training –
traditional stitching /
Punjab Yes No embroidery. Decoration pieces No
with waster material. No
additional incentives.
Yes in one Remedial teaching, vocational
district and no classes (tailoring, weaving) Yes in one district and no
Tripura Yes
in other Bicycles for girls living in far in other district visited
district visited off villages – 20 in each MCS.
Remedial training / coaching,
Yes, state gardening, candle making,
Yes, gathered information
guidelines health check-up camps, yoga,
Uttarakhand No –analysis and follow-up
issued from knitting, taikwondo etc. Child
not evident
time to time, care centres – catering to girl
children only.
Team informed that out-
of-school girls covered
Remedial teaching, vocational
but did not see evidence
West Bengal Yes No (tailoring etc ad hoc), school
of this during field visit –
award (criteria not spelt out)
except in one where list
shown by HM.

5. Whether objectives of the scheme are being met:

a. On the whole – this evaluation is of the view that the objectives of the scheme are
not being met. The good exceptions are very few and scattered, but overall
evidence of cluster level, context specific planning was not quite visible.
Activities are not determined according to local conditions.
b. In five of the twelve states the scheme is not fully operational as capacities to
analyse the situation of girls’ education in the clusters and plan on the basis of the
analysis needs has yet to be developed/strengthened for enhancing the outreach
and impact of the NPEGEL scheme.
c. The vision to treat the MCS as a resource hub for all the girls and schools in the
cluster is not visualised. As a result, the programmatic focus has been essentially
on girls in the MCS and the village in which the MCS is located. Though distance
of MCS to the other schools and villages were highlighted as limiting factors in
states like J&K, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Mizoram.
6. Quality of infrastructure and dovetailing with SSA:
a. The state-wise situation with respect to infrastructure is given in table 3
below.
b. Buildings have come up in 9 of the 12 states visited – however girls’ toilets
was not available in 4 of them and in one state the team saw a male urinal in
place of a girls’ toilet and room itself was being used by the sports teacher.
c. In some states the infrastructure development is of good quality – the MCS
room and toilets well constructed with the requisite equipment being in place.
While the infrastructure may be there the usage for the purpose is often not
proper as in Manipur where the rooms are being used for local level
NPEGEL committee meetings and in one cluster being used as a lunch room
by the children for eating their midday meal and also for teacher training.

17
 Table 3: Infrastructure, usage and costing related information
State Infrastructure ready Usage Costing related
Assam No yet ready - -
Vocational training and other No comment in state report
Chhattisgarh Yes, with toilets
activities on construction cost
Haryana Yes, but no toilets as yet Hobby classes, vocational training
Jammu and Yes – with functioning Vocational training, library and Cost of construction higher
Kashmir toilets also as additional classroom than budgeted
Yes, completed, but huge Vocational / hobby classes, singing Additional funds mobilised
Maharashtra
variation in quality. / dancing in some through MPLADS
In progress in 2 clusters.
Funds not adequate for
Manipur No provision made for -
toilets also.
toilets
Meghalaya Initiated in cluster visited - Insufficient funds
Buildings are fairly good
Yes, rooms constructed.
Mizoram Vocational training with open space. But have
Attached toilet for girls.
tin roofs.
Yes with functioning Have mobilised additional
Punjab Materials are kept
toilets and running water. funds.
Yes building ready – but High cost of construction
Sewing machine, sports equipment,
Tripura no toilets in 3 MCS cited as reason for inability
musical instruments etc.
visited. to construct toilets.
For vocational training and girls No comment in state report
Uttarakhand Yes – with toilet.
specific activities on construction cost
Saw sewing machine in one, mostly
Yes, no toilets in all, in No specific comment on
West Bengal new building not yet used. In one
one male urinal. construction cost.
school it was inaccessible.

7. Material inputs and training (including vocational):

a. While a range of materials was available in the MCS – their usage varied.
Sewing machines were the most common equipment available. The approach
to tailoring is ad hoc and (with the exception of a few MCS visited) there was
no specific curriculum and the approach to vocational education was ad hoc.
There are a lot of activities, with the girls learnt a bit of this and that, some
hobby classes – but not gaining enough competencies. Computers were
available in 2 – 3 states, but there were no teachers. Some MCS in these
states had new sports equipment neatly stored in almirahs, which was not
used by the girls.
b. Mostly, part-time instructors have been employed for vocational
courses/hobby courses, who themselves require professional training and
visioning to plan courses to engender proper competencies in the students.
c. There are examples that could be looked at for instance, the skill based
education in Chandigarh, where the skill training is integrated into the
timetable, whereby a child gets 100 hours of training in a given skill during
the course of the academic year. The state governments could endeavour to
make the vocational trainings more professional by inviting national
institutions like NID to develop designs and train the girls in new ways of
using local materials they are familiar with. This would certainly enhance the
value of the products they can make. The focus should be to teach them more
than what they would learn at home.
d. The library books and TLM have been provided in the majority of states, but
usage is a critical factor. The use of library and supplementary reading
material in classroom transactions has still to commence.
e. All the review team members felt that a strong life skills component needs to
be added for girls at this level. A common curriculum for the MCS and the
KGBV could be developed.
f. Remedial teaching and private tuitions are fairly common as parents and girls
are eager to do well in examinations once they are in school. They view
education as an important step towards personal development and securing

18
 the future of children. This is true for both boys and girls. Before and after
school remedial teaching was visible in 50% of the states visited through part
time teachers.
g. In a couple of MCS visited in Uttarakhand, Maharashtra girls were doing
taikwondo and karate respectively, sewing/stitching, painting, papier mache
and other things as well. While in the former state they had the dress for the
purpose in Maharashtra they were wearing the regular skirts and blouses
which were cumbersome. The review team strongly recommends extension
of karate/ taikwaondo training in all schools as well as the KGBVs, along
with provision of appropriate uniforms.

8. Additional incentives:
a. Seven of the twelve states have provided specific additional incentives.
b. Provision of cycles has been quite popular and where (like in Tripura,
Chattisagarh) it is targeted towards girls who live more than 2 or 3 km from
the school – it has made an appreciable difference to their attendance.
c. In some states like Uttarakhand and Haryana girls have been provided
sweaters, socks and shoes apart from the regular uniforms.

9. Are out-of-school girls being reached:

a. Presently, out of school girls ‘the hardest to reach” are getting little attention
under NPEGEL where regular schools are normally identified. In 6 of the 12
states (50%) all the schools in the cluster are not being covered and the
programme is limited to the specific MCS. In three –four states the hard to
reach girls are not being accessed because of the terrain and geographical
barriers, as in Uttarakhand, Mizoram and even Chattisgarh.
b. In five states out-of-school girls are not being addressed and in two states the
team did not find evidence of out-of-school girls being involved (even though
the state government said that they had tried to bring out-of-school girls back
to school).
c. In Haryana the mission saw older out of school girls being reached, more by
chance than the result of a well thought out strategy. What this suggests is the
possibility of having well planned skill training that could actually serve to
attract older girls into the school system and once the girls come regularly a
plan for building basic elementary level competencies could be worked out.
Also in Uttarakhand through MS, older out of school girls were reached for
professional courses, albeit for sewing and tailoring.
d. The focus on the ‘out of school’ girls in the blocks needs to be addressed
through NPEGEL. Additionally, capacities to analyse the situation of girls’
education in the clusters and plan on the basis of the analysis needs to be
developed/strengthened for enhancing the outreach and impact of the
NPEGEL scheme. Ability to connect with the needs and priorities of the
ground situation while planning would be critical.
e. Out of school girls visible in the different state level data have been tapped
for inclusion in schools to some extent only. They need to be carefully
tracked not only for retention but also for improved learning levels. Their
vulnerability to dropout is high, so unless they are tracked consciously they
may slip back to the old status.

10. Linkages with open schooling or learning:

a. In none of the states had the SSA state offices established any formal
linkages with open schools, perhaps because of a lack of vision. This is a
major lacuna in the scheme which needs to be addressed by all states so that
the efforts of the scheme are not in vain. Girls have to move to secondary

19
 level through different strategies and the open school system is one which is
crucial for many of them in remote areas.

11. Interventions for in-school girls to improve attendance, learning etc:

a. In a couple of states like J&K and Chattisgarh remedial teaching and student
evaluation for learning outcomes is being carried out at block & cluster levels
so as to raise the learning capacity of girls. After evaluation the girls securing
less than 40% marks in particular subjects are being given subject specific
remedial teaching through trained part time teachers, either before or after
school. This helps in increasing the learning capacity of the girls, which
indirectly helps in retention and completion.
b. Another very popular intervention thought of by states was providing
vocational training (sewing, candle making, weaving, tailoring, knitting) and
this was viewed as a strategy to improve attendance. Despite these being
gender stereotypical, the parents, teachers, communities and girls themselves
were very happy with these inputs which have somewhat helped in improving
retention of girls. “This will help them to stitch their own clothes and
uniforms and that of their family members to some extent.” In more than 4-5
states the girls said they are able to stitch their uniforms when they wear out
or tear after they have learnt sewing.
c. Giving cycles to girls living more than 2 to 3 km away, in non hill regions, is
also being perceived as an intervention to improve attendance. Cycling to
school really improves the self confidence levels of girls. They also feel that
they will be able to continue their education after class 8, as they can cycle to
the secondary school too, later.
d. Under the NPEGEL scheme sports events, symposiums, debates and cultural
programmes have been carried out at zone, district, block, and even cluster
levels in 3-4 states. These competitions have instilled a sense of achievement
and confidence in the girls, besides providing them exposure as they have to
go to the district and state level for participation. Travelling and living in
large groups as a team really impacts their sense of identity. And when they
win in events they feel even more elated.

12. Gender training for teachers in the cluster:

a. In seven of the twelve states only some gender training has been done. In one
state coordinator informed that gender training was done but the team did not
see evidence of it during field visits. In two other states training was planned
and partially executed. The gender training module in shown in two states
was the routine one for regular teachers, but not specific for NPEGEL. The
gender component remains weak for lack of sufficient understanding of the
concept itself and its operationalisation as gender is equated with number of
girls.
b. It was difficult for the team to assess what kind of gender trainings were
imparted and whether they had any impact. In the majority of states what
surfaced very clearly was that having fulfilled the basic requirement of
providing qualified teachers, further investment in capacity building was
wanting. The requirement is for weaving in imagination and exposure to
constructivist approach to learning as an ongoing framework of teaching-
learning transaction. These inputs can optimize the existing investments of
training at all levels.
c. However, in co-ed schools as in J&K, it was felt by the teachers and the
officials that exclusive attention and activities for girls is good but neglecting
boys is not warranted. Many activities can be planned for both boys and girls
together which could be low cost or no cost so that gender friendly schools
are developed on the whole. Similar observations were made by the team

20
 from Maharashtra, where boys were marginalised reflecting adverse
discrimination. Even excursions which were planned for girls only, upset
parents as boys were not included. This has led to some resentment especially
in areas where the overall reflects poverty / deprivation is high This feedback
came from J&K, Tripura. As regards other incentives too there were
differences - girls had uniforms and bags and boys were in tattered clothes in
Maharashtra.
d. The states have yet to evolve focal areas of research, extension and
information dissemination to increase output of gender sensitive, quality
teaching-learning material especially in regional languages, and decentralized
area-specific models of interventions to break gender stereotypes and bridge
gender disparities.

13. Linkage with SSA components / strategies for girls education:

a. The state and district officials perceived a great deal of overlap between SSA
girls’ education component and the specific provision of NPEGEL. While
this scheme is fully integrated into SSA – there is little clarity on how this
scheme could be leveraged to make a difference for out of school girls and
school going girls at the cluster level.
b. In most of the States the two GOI schemes -NPEGEL and KGBV - have their
separate existence managed by separate individuals, hence there are no
linkages drawn between NPEGEL and KGBV.In Dahanu Block Haryana for
instance, the MCS was a few minutes walk away from the KGBV and there
was no interaction between the MCS and the KGBV. It had not occurred to
the managers that it is desirable to have an interaction between the KGBV
and the school as this would have helped foster an interaction and dialogue
between differently placed girls.

14. Community involvement:

a. This is another weak area and with some notable exceptions as again it is
subsumed in routine SSA activities. Parents / local community have not been
involved in planning, implementation and monitoring of this scheme. There is
little engagement in exploring how community involvement could be used to
improve girls’ access to and retention in schools. There are however some
notable exceptions – in Tripura one NPEGEL school was being closely
monitored by the local panchayat president and she had forged close linkages
with the community (see good practices for more details).
b. However – meetings with the community in most of the states (invited to the
school on the day of visit) revealed that the parents appreciate additional
incentives, vocational training, cycles and other specific activities. Since
these activities were limited to the MCS largely, parents from distant schools
felt that their girls were losing out on the opportunity of even these basic
skills.
c. In Haryana, the effort to involve older women has been an effective strategy.
They serve as escorts to girls, and in a few cases the women stay at the school
to escort the girls back home. This strategy addresses the security concerns of
parents but also creates a space for older women to play a key role in
ensuring the education of girls. Similarly community leaders and PTA
members, especially older men were emphatic in stating that girls need
education even beyond the elementary level. In some cases they stated that
the community would provide the land for a good high school to be
constructed. With community aspirations on the rise, the responsibility on the
system increases to provide quality education.

21
 d. So far, only MTAs and MS/Women’s Groups are have been involved for
seeking active support for MCS in NPEGEL. The large emerging network of
SHGs in several states could be potential partners too.
e. Girls were most excited when talking about excursions they had been on. In
one state the criteria of selecting girls for such trips was the first three girls in
the class with good results (in classes 6-8) from each MCS in the block. But
again girls from other schools in the cluster were left out.
f. In Chhatisgarh and J& K during the community mobilization, MCS girls
played a vital role in spreading the awareness regarding the schooling of girl
child and equity between boys and girls and the fundamental right of
education.
g. In Tripura the VEC and Panchayat have identified out-of-school girls and
have made efforts to enrol them and also provide vocational training as an
incentive to come to schools. Such one off examples can become the norm if
efforts are made by functionaries to partner with communities.

Table 4: Community involvement, gender training and monitoring

Gender training of Separate Coordinators
State Community involved
teachers monitoring trained
MS coordinators
Assam No No No
trained, not SSA
Yes – 11 day module
on gender issues and
Chhattisgarh No No Yes
5 days on girls
education
Haryana Yes Yes No -
Jammu and Yes – in construction and also
Yes No No
Kashmir monitoring activities
No information in
Maharashtra No information in report No No
report
No – yet to
Manipur No Yes in 3 clusters No
evolve
Meghalaya No No No No
Yes, active guidance –
Planned and partially
Mizoram meetings, awareness campaign, Yet to evolve No
done
hoarding and posters
No training but some members
of community came forward
Punjab No No No
with support for health check
up, donations.
Yes – by state
Yes in one district and no in
Tripura No gender No
other district visited
coordinator
Yes, but not specific
Uttarakhand Yes Yes Yes
to NPEGEL
Budget allocated and
spent but not
West Bengal No No No
confirmed in school
visit

15. Management and monitoring:

a. The planning process of the scheme remains top down as in other
components and schemes. The inputs given were more for management and
implementation rather than vision to include excluded and dropout girls in
education and improve the quality of education in schools.
b. In all states separate accounts are being maintained for NPEGEL and this
does not seem to be an issue.
c. The management system for NPEGEL is the same as the SSA programme
across all states, but with a few exceptions (at block level where a dynamic

22
 teacher, gender coordinator or CRC/ BRC takes active interest in the scheme)
monitoring is being done alongside SSA.
d. Monitoring is also specific to utilisation of budget, construction and in a few
places ticking off activities that are in the activity plan. Systems of qualitative
monitoring of the NPEGEL scheme are yet to evolve. At present attendance
and regularity is being monitored –the next step could be to monitor learning
outcomes more rigorously and encourage the BRC and CRC to provide
substantive academic support to NPEGEL schools. They could become a
“quality hub” – and emerge as a centre for continuing education and training
of teachers in the cluster.
e. Decentralised planning was evident in one NPEGEL school each, in Tripura
and also in Chattisgarh. Such good practices need to be disseminated with in
the state and other states so that other NPEGEL schools emulate the example.
f. In Uttarakhand there are no dedicated coordinators for NPEGEL at cluster
level to handle and render support to the large number of schools. CRCs are
totally detached, playing no active role in support, planning or coordination
of activities even though AWPB were made at cluster level.
g. Across all states MCS has visibility only as model demonstration school –
others are not learning from it – there is poor sharing of facilities and
activities across large number of schools in cluster.
h. Evidence of planning with a detailed annual calender of activities was visible
in Chhattisgarh, developed at block level, for activities around the cluster
schools. The team witnessed the cluster level sports and cultural meet
organized in Koshwara cluster for three days. There was whole hearted
support from the Pradhans and the Panchayat members to organize and
manage it. On the way to Raipur several other such events were also visible
along the way in other clusters. The ownership of NPEGEL activities by the
committees at village and cluster level and the autonomy in planning has
resulted in several variations and innovations

16. State-specific good practices:

a. Assam: Bridge course run by Mahila Samakhya and self defence training for
girls. Bridge courses run by AMSS are well planned and the team observed
that the teachers who are appointed are sincere and dedicated and are
properly trained. The out of school girls have really benefited from it
especially in the scattered habitation of tea tribes. Activities like self defence
training, story telling and observing the girl child day on 24th September has
been very useful for motivation of girls for education. Under the NPEGEL
scheme life skill training leadership, adolescent health, challenges for girl
child & for kishori manchs have been organised. Skill up- gradation trainings
for girls above 14 years have also been planned. AMSS proposes a training
programme in tube-well repair, mobile repairing, cutting- tailoring and bee
keeping with the assistance of UNICEF. The community in the form of
school management committee is involved in most of the activities but under
SSA. (State Report Assam: J.M. Abhyankar and Mona Yadav)
b. Uttarakhand: Mahila Samakhya, in Uttrakhand has undertaken
implementation of NPEGEL in 6 blocks in its operational districts through 32
Model Cluster Schools. Strengthening and augmenting awareness building.
MS also including drop out older girls in vocational training and remedial
teaching. The functionaries commenced the programme through: Awareness
and contact meetings with women and the community about girls education
through– jathas, nukkads, wall writing, discussions and distribution of hand
bills; Collection of school level data from schools; Village level surveys to
identify further numbers of drop out girls; and Motivation of dropout girls to
join schools, bridge courses, MSKs. This was followed up by a process of

23
 identification of anudeshikas to teach girls; conducting remedial teaching
classes to help girls of classes 4& 5, enrolled in schools; organising
vocational courses for older drop out girls – primarily tailoring as a full
fledged course of 4 months; starting up ECCE centres associated with schools
in areas where ICDS centres not there; continuing meetings with mothers and
community to ensure retention of girls in schools and preparing older girls for
continuing education through NIOS. MSP links up and partners with SSA
more at community level to enlist support for working with girls both in
school and out of school for furthering their education as it works with
sanghas in the villages. They are able to reach out to the hard to reach girls in
distant villages among marginalised communities to enable them to access
education. (Source: Uttarakhand Report, Nishi Mehrotra and Subashini
Paliwal, December 2007)
c. Haryana: Summer camps on life skills for upper primary school girls –
included physical exercise, yoga and exposure visit. Starting with 3 MCS in
2003-04, by 2007-08 Fatehabad district has 35 MCS and 61 child care
centres. Under the NPEGEL programmes a wide range of vocational
activities have been introduced such as tailoring, soft toys, cooking and
cutting, darri making, embroidery, beautician course, household remedies and
domestic maintenance have been introduced. As part of sports and cultural
activities, yoga, dancing, games, road safety, first aid courses and health
related activities have also been introduced. What merits special mention,
however, are the 5 summer camps that were organized in mid 2007 for girls
at the upper primary level as part of life skill development. 4 camps were
held for 10 days each and one camp for 15 days. In each camp 50 girls
participated. The duration of the camp was for a minimum of 4 hours per day.
Starting with morning assembly the day schedule included physical exercise/
yoga, vocational classes and recreational and cultural activities to develop
that confidence and articulation of the girls. 2 vocational/hobby activities
were taken up everyday for which 2 vocational instructors were appointed.
The camp also included exposure visits to historical places. Source:State
Report Haryana: Kameshwari and Dr. Sharada Jain reporting on Fatehabad
District.
d. Tripura: Full ownership of KGBV and NPEGEL by the state government –
and being implemented with vision and mission. The scheme has been
understood by the officials managing the programme. The state government
organised one orientation workshop. However the team observed variation
across districts. In Dhalai the HM and Panchayat leader are fully aware and
have used the scheme to ensure girls not only enroll but also attend school.
However this was not the case in South Tripura partly due to recent transfer
of IS, BRP and CRP. The understanding at the state level is excellent and the
gender coordinator has attended GOI workshop in Patna. The state team is
highly motivated – partly due to the personal interest taken by the Principal
Secretary to ensure the state is able to maximise the provisions of the scheme
to bring out-of-school girls into the formal stream. The NPEGEL scheme is
essentially focused on getting out of school girls back to formal schools and
also ensure the potential dropouts are retained through provision of bicycles
and vocational training. The VEC and Panchayat have identified out-of-
school girls and have made efforts to enrol them and also provide vocational
training as an incentive to come to schools. Providing cycles to girls from far
off villages has made an appreciable difference.
e. Tripura: Dhanyaram Karbaripara SBS, Chaumanu, Dhalai District, a best
practice NPEGEL school. As we walked into the NPEGEL school in Dhalai
district we were greeted by the Panchayat Pradhan and the Head Master. The
school was buzzing with activity and we saw 20 bicycles parked in the

24
 school. The school has 8 classes, 438 students and 8 teachers (3 women
teachers). The building a modest structure and located in a poor village. The
students, teachers and panchayat leaders were all present to tell us about their
efforts to make sure all girls enroll and attend school. The Panchayat Pradhan
Mrs Onita Das explained that they have been able to get 17 out of the 25
drop-out girls from their cluster into school. They organised community level
workshops in 4 Panchayats (40 habitations) and requested parents to identify
the girls who had dropped out. The school then offered to give the girls
bicycles to come to school and also agreed to provide uniforms, books,
school bag and stationery. The local Panchayat then sent names of out-of-
school girls to the school. The teachers and Panchayat went house to house
confirming the names of the girls. They also discovered 10 out-of-school
boys. This is one of the few NPEGEL schools that have made serious efforts
to reach out to all villages / schools in the cluster. Vocational training classes
– professional 3-month course in tailoring, bamboo work and weaving have
been introduced in the room built under NPEGEL. The school has hired part-
time teachers from the community to impart training. The girls displayed the
work they had done and confidently explained the syllabus of the tailoring
course. When we asked how they were able to reach out to all the schools /
villages in the cluster – they HM Mr. Milan Mitr Barua said that it has been
possible because of the wholehearted support of the Panchayat and the
teachers. This school is indeed unique and merits special mention as a
national best practice in the NPEGEL programme. (Source: State report,
Vimala Ramachandran and Najma Akhtar, December 2007)
f. Chhattisgarh: A dynamic model school cluster, Chhattisgarh. In the Kotmi
MCS school the lady motivator of the NPEGEL cluster, Sunita Saraf, is a
dynamic lady who travels form Bilaspur by train to her job. She coordinates
the cluster of 21 schools in very rugged region of schools scattered far and
wide. Kotmi village itself is very large having 11schools. There are 3 month
coaching classes for science and math and this is done 2 hours before the
school hours. 11 girls have been identified for Open Schooling. Health check-
ups for all girls and mothers have been organized in every school. There are
three monthly creative crafts activity (papier mache / paper bag making) at
the cluster level and in other schools in the cluster. They have honoured
teachers in schools with 100% enrolment, retention and results - particularly
for 5th and 8th. Seven girls from this cluster have stood in the merit list of
class 8 and 25 girls in class 5. There were competitions and Pradhan fed
children for 3 days. They have 8 women members in Jan Bhagidari Samiti.
Sunita spoke of the inspiring story of two girls who benefited for furthering
their education though the vocational course. She told about Parmeshwari
Sahu an OBC girl who dropped out of school after class 1. She joined school
again in class 4, continued her schooling, where she learnt sewing in the
vocational course. Her father a rickshaw puller saved money to buy her a
sewing machine. She now stitches clothes in her spare time to fullfil her
dream of studying further using her own money. Similarly Ram Kumari,
whose father had a disability dropped out as the family could not afford to
send her to school. She was a very regular student so Sunita kept motivating
her to continue her studies. She too benefited by the sewing class. Her uncle
saved up some money to buy her a sewing machine through which she
enough to support herself and her family financially. This year she will
appear for the class 10 exam. A very basic skill has helped these girls to
move out of poverty with dignity and above all, move up the educational
ladder. Source: Chhattisgarh state report: Subhashini Paliwal and Nishi
Mehrotra

25
17. Recommendations:
a. Overarching – for GOI:
i. The basic purpose of this scheme does not seem to have been met in
the states visited in the course of this evaluation. As of now activities
are being planned according to the schematic template at the state
level and the district / block functionaries are seen as implementers.
They have not been able to use the scheme imaginatively as per the
local context. Consequently, context specific planning, to reach out to
out-of-school girls, potential dropouts and girls who are irregular as
been missed out. There is also a great deal of perceived overlap
between SSA and NPEGEL.
ii. The team is of the view that this scheme is not fully being
implemented in spirit of the design, though some good practices have
emerged randomly. The visioning process on how the scheme can be
contextualised has not taken off. The state and district officials are
comfortable with standardised guidelines due to lack of visioning and
perspective building at different levels. The team advises that a lot
more inputs be facilitated by the state SSAs to strengthen the
perspective of the state coordinators, gender coordinators and BRCs
for them to appreciate the nuances of the scheme and address gender
issues in the larger / wider school system.
iii. This scheme should be discontinued in states where the governments
that have not shown proactive interest in implementing the scheme
and view it as yet another “diktat” from GOI. It is recommended that
the scheme be made purely voluntary and approved only when a state
government come up with specific decentralised plans. Equally, the
scheme should be discontinued from states where only one or two
blocks have been identified as EBB and the concerned state
governments could be encouraged to focus on girls’ education within
SSA.
iv. Activities that are being provided for in SSA should not be
duplicated in this scheme – especially bridge courses, alternative
schooling. The funds allocated for cluster level activities (60,000 per
cluster) need to be reviewed as they are insufficient for an entire
cluster of schools, some of which are very large (18-20 schools).
Equally, it may be worthwhile to review the scheme and make it
more open-ended so that context specific planning can be done.
Creative and very location / situation specific strategies are
necessary. The scheme must proactively encourage alternative
models and strategies.

b. State specific:
i. GOI could assist the state governments (through regional resource
groups / national resource group) in perspective building and in
communicating the scheme in its totality, the degree of flexibility
available for context specific intervention and share strategies
adopted by different states.
ii. A professional approach is necessary for the vocational component.
The states need to take it seriously and ensure that the girls acquire
competency in what ever vacation in which they are being trained.
Casual / ad hoc approaches do not make any significant impact.

26
National Evaluation of the Kasturba Gandhi Balika
Vidyalaya (KGBV) Scheme and National Programme
for Education of Girls at Elementary Level
(NPEGEL) in Assam and Meghalaya

By

Shri J.M. Abhayankar and Dr. Mona Yadav

Submitted to

The Department of School Education and Literacy

Ministry of Human Resource Development
Government of India
December, 2007

27
 Acknowledgement

Member of the evaluation team express their gratitude to the Department of

Elementary Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development,
Government of India, for giving an opportunity to be a part of the National
Evaluation of the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme (KGBV) and
National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL) as a
component of the scheme of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA). The support and
cooperation extended by the State, district and block functionaries of SSA,
Assam Mahila Samta Society, KGBVs and NGO at all levels in Assam and
Meghalaya is highly appreciated as without their support it would not have been
possible to complete the evaluation work.

J.M. Abhyankar
Maharashtra Prathamik Shikshan Parishad
Maharashtra

Mona Yadav, NCERT

28
 IMPLEMENTING THE KGBV SCHEMES IN ASSAM AND
MEGHALAYA
1. Introduction

A National evaluation of the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) scheme was
conducted by the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human
Resource Development, Government of India in 12 States. As a part of this evaluation
the KGBV in Assam and Meghalaya were studied by a team comprising Mr. J.M.
Abhyankar and Dr Mona Yadav.

The KGBV scheme was launched during 2004-05 when 750 residential schools were
allocated to different states with educationally backward blocks. Later in February
2006 another 430 KGBVs were allocated to the States. This evaluation tries to broadly
understand how well the scheme has taken of vis-à-vis the vision of the scheme.

1.1 Specific Objectives of the Evaluation

The specific objectives of the evaluation are to :

1. Asses whether the objectives of the KGBV scheme are being met in KGBV schools
which have been operationalized.
2. Assess the availability and quality of infrastructure in these schools including
progress in new school building or hostels approved so far and condition of rented
accommodation.
3. Study the category wise enrolment of girls and reasons thereof, in KGBVs.
4. Retention of Girls enrolled and efforts made towards the same.
5. Assess status of the quality of learning (pace / achievement levels).
6. The availability of teaching learning materials in KGBV schools, number and
quality of teachers.
7. What are the parental / teacher / community’s perception regarding functioning
of KGBVs.
8. Find out whether effective processes for mobilization of drop out girls in the EBB
was undertaken by State / district SSA / KGBV programme to maximize
awareness of KGBV School.
9. Study the role and effectiveness of NGO’s and other non-profit making bodies in
running KGBVs.
10. Highlight state specific good practices which could be disseminated.
11. Suggest up to a maximum of three items in which the design of the present KGBV
scheme needs to be changed with well based justification.

1.2 Objectives of the KGBV Scheme

The promotion of dropout girls in the older age group, those who failed to transit to
the upper primary level of education pose a serious concern as it has created a sizeable

29
backlog of older out of school girls. The KGBV scheme has been designed to tackle this
backlog by providing access to upper primary education through residential schools to
special category girls who are ‘out’ of school. First preference is accorded to girls who
are:

• Living in scattered habitations with no school at close proximity

• In difficult terrains
• From migrating populations
• In difficult circumstances like abusive homes, orphan girls, girls who are
differently abled, daughters of sex workers etc.

This scheme is not meant for girls who are enrolled in school or those out of school
girls who have a school within access

30
31
 IMPLEMENTING THE KGBV SCHEME IN ASSAM :
FINDINGS BASED ON FIELD VISIT

KGBVs Visited

The evaluation team visited the KGBVs in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia district on 22nd and 24th
November 2007. All the KGBVs in Assam were sanctioned in second phase. The State has
started the implementation of KGBVs from 2006-07. Most of the KGBVs were operationalized
from the first quarter of 2007. The KGBVs visited were running in the Govt. premises. Efforts
were made to select the KGBVs on the basis of the category of the girls enrolled in these
KGBVs and their location to get a representative picture of the KGBVs being run in Assam.
The team was not able to see any KGBV running in rented premises.Details of the KGBVs
visited is given in the table below.

Category of Girls.
District EBB Location of KGBV Date of Estd.
SC ST OBC Min BPL Tot
Dibrugarh Panitola BTC of Chabua 27.02.2007 5 5 38 0 2 50
Tinsukia Guijan Govt. Women’s 13.03.2007 3 30 17 0 0 50
ITI Campus

The category wise enrolment of girls in all 15 KGBVs is given in Annexure . In the light of the
specific objectives of the evaluation, interactions were held with teachers, wardens, cooks,
care takers, girls enrolled in KGBV,school management committees, Gram Panchayat
Presidents, District Programme Officers, Block Mission Coordinators, Associate Block
Resource Center Coordinators (ABRCC), District Programme Coordinators, Consultant
(Special Focus Group), District Mission Coordinators, Additional Deputy Commissioner, State
Consultant, Executive Director, Programme Associate and the State Mission Director during
the visit to the State. One full working day was utilized for observing the working of KGBV.
The Classroom / School processes, living area, cooking and dining area, area for recreation,
sports and physical activities area, toilet and bathing space were observed and records being
maintained were studied.

Whether Objectives of the KGBV being met :

• The team found that State Government was adhering to the Govt. of India guidelines
barring few exceptions and the same has been communicated to the concerned
implementing authorities.
• The State has adopted Model - II for functioning of the KGBV and the blocks adopted
for running of the KGBVs is predominantly of ST and OBC concentration, wherein there
are more Tea-Tribes community and these tea tribes fall under the category of OBC.
• The team observed that for four primary schools there is one upper primary school and
for fourteen primary schools, one secondary school, which is insufficient as per the
Government guidelines especially the upper primary schools. This shows that there are
large numbers of small scattered habitations especially of tea tribes’ community that do
not have access to primary or upper primary schools. Some of the children of these
tribes have been covered by KGBVs but many more children, especially girls still remain
out of school.
• Thus the state should have adopted Model - I with 100 girls instead of Model – II with 50
girls. The Panitola Block of Dibrugarh had 1155 out of school girls and Guijan Block of

32
 Tinsukia district has 612 out of school girls, even if fifty girls are enrolled in KGBV still
there are many who are still out of school.
• The KGBV at Panitola Block has girls in the age group of 8 -14 enrolled in stranded I –IV
as a result of which none of them will complete class VIII by the time they attain the age
of fourteen plus. Out of these there were two girls of Class VI dropout who were enrolled
in class Ist and 5 girls of class V dropout who were enrolled in IIIrd standard. However,
when this issue was discussed with state authority they assured that these girls would
be enrolled to age appropriate classes and simultaneously they would be given Bridge
Course for completing the course of lower classes. The Guijan EBB Blocks has properly
adopted the norms for enrolment of girls as they have enrolled girls in classes V, VI and
VII respectively.

1. Infrastructure :
Out of fifteen KGBVs seven KGBVs are being run in rented building whereas the other
eight KGBVs are being run in Govt. Building. The two KGBVs visited by the team were
being run in Govt. Buildings. The schools which the team visited clearly indicated that
considerable effort had gone in selecting and making the building comfortable. The
following provisions were there in the building of KGBV at Panitola.
1. Classroom – one
2. Office cum teachers staff room : one
3. Wardens’ room : one
4. Dormitories: seven (with four two tier beds accordingly eight girls were accommodated in
each room.)
5. Dining Space : five benches and desks ( twenty girls at a time can be served dinner)
6. Kitchen room : one (spacious)
7. Store room : one (spacious)
8. Toilets : Four toilets, (out of these one toilet was used by staff)
9. Bathrooms : four bathroom, (one was used by warden)
10. In the center of the building there was a small garden in which a small space was
utilized for kitchen garden and the rest of the space was used for growing seasonal
flowers.
11. There was a play ground where girls were found playing games and there was lot of
open land for playing Khabadi and Volley ball.
12. Cook and chowkidars’ room – one

As observed by the team three toilets and three bathrooms are inadequate for fifty girls.
Moreover the toilets do not have taps though there was a hand pump nearby the toilets and
the girls draw their own water before using the toilets or going for bath. The toilets and
bathrooms were clean. Toilets particularly were an issue of concern with regard to regular
water supply but efforts were being made to keep them clean. There was only one classroom
where all the four standards were being taught which definitely is inadequate and impedes the
teaching learning process. There is no medical room, where girls can be treated separately,
no common room for recreational activities and no computer room. For construction purpose
the state and district authorities are still in a process of procuring adequate land. The KGBV at
Panitola is being run in a building provided by Basic Training Center and, it is fully secure for
girls. The estimated cost of the construction of the hostel as per the design providing all
infrastructures exceeds the financial provision of Rs. 15 lakhs under Model – II, as pointed out
by the concerned state authorities. Land acquisition has been a draught process and has
been the main cause of delay.

33
The following provisions were there in the building of KGBV at Guijan Block.
1. Classroom – three
2. Office – one
3. Full Time Teachers’ room – one
4. Wardens’ room – one
5. Kitchen room cum store – one
6. Dormitories : five (with five two tier beds accommodating 10 girls in each room)
7. Toilets – eight
8. Bathroom – eight
9. Playground –huge ground was there in front of the hostel for girls to play games
10. Cook and Chowkidars’ room – one
11. Big open space inside the hostel for carrying out indoor activities.

The team felt that there is inadequate space for recreational / vocational activities and there is
no sick room. The environment was very clean, congenial and most suitable for educational
institution. The KGBV is being run is the women’s ITI campus which is very safe for girls. The
toilets and bathrooms were very clean and adequate. The two tier beds, desks and benches
for classrooms and dining room were sufficient for girls. Both the KGBVs were provided with
steel almirah for office use, table chair for office and classrooms, mirror for girls in each room,
black boards, utensils for kitchen and children, buckets and mugs, service utensils, plastic
water tanks, notice board, three big trunks for staff and office purpose, gas and burners, one
pressure cooker of 10 liters and one pressure cooker for 5 liter. One mattress, two bed sheets,
two woolen blankets, one pillow and one mosquito net for each girl and for teaching and non
teaching staff were provided. A pair of shoes, socks, comb, hair oil, washing soap, bathing
soap and two set of uniform were also provided to each girl child.

The Guijam KGBV had a T.V and DVD which they got through donations whereas Panitola
KGBV did not have any teaching learning equipment. The State authorities said that they did
not have any provision for TLE grant in their budget provisions (but they are purchasing
computer and televisions through donation money).

2. Category wise Enrolment of Girls and Reasons thereof :

It was seen that the state had not made efforts to reach out to the specified categories of girls
in terms of their social background.

2.1 As per the census data of 2001, Schedule Caste population is 6.85%, Schedule Tribe is
12.41% in Assam. Against this population, enrolment of children in the age group of 6 –
14 in Standard – I to VIII in respect of SC is 10.56% and ST is 14.37%. But surprisingly
in all the 15 KGBVs run by the State , out of total 733 girls selected for these residential
schools, SC girls are 42 (5.73%), Schedule Tribes 430 (58.66%), OBC girls 250
(34.10%), BPL girls 7 (0.95%) and Muslim girls just 4 (0.5%).

2.2 The team observed that in Panitola KGBV SC girls were 5 (10%), ST girls 5 (10%), OBC
girls 38 (76%), Minority girls 2 (4%). In the KGBV of Guijan the team found that SC girls
are 3 (6%), ST girls 30 (60%), OBC girls 17 (34%) with no girls from BPL and Minority
Community.

34
2.3 The team obtained class wise data of out of school girls in the educational block of
Hapjan, in which Guijan KGBV is located. It had 1829 out of school girls. Out of these
SC girls are 324 (18%), 274 ST girls (14%), 1231 OBC, MOBC & General (68%).

2.4 It is evident from the census data and the data obtained through DEO Hapjan that
enrolment in KGBVs is disproportionate to their percentage in the population, the girls of
SC and ST are more out of school. But the benefit of this scheme has been mostly
extended to OBCs and Schedule Tribes. It seems that there were little efforts to attract
girls of SC, Minority and BPL categories for KGBV. The benefit of this scheme was
exclusively extended to ST and OBCs i.e, 92.76% leaving less then 8% for SC, Minority
and BPL category. Girls of BPL and from other category had the right to 183 seats in all
the 15 KGBVs whereas they had to be satisfied with mere 7 seats.

2.5 It was also observed that a wide campaign in 15 EBB Blocks, of 8 districts could not be
arranged to reach 11,162 out of school girls and their parents. Only very few parents
through one or the other source could gather the information about KGBV. Respective
authorities at these blocks clarified that they had instructed CRCCs to contact the
parents of out of school girls, but no systematic strategy was adopted for mobilization.
From the poor response to a very attractive programme, it seems that the message
could not reach the targeted group.

2.6 The team felt that there were no set criteria followed by State in enrolling the girls to
KGBVs. On the basis of the information given by CRC the girls were selected by DMC
(District Mission Coordinator). As there are SC, ST, OBC and Minorities out of school
girls in the State some criteria should have been kept in selecting the girls’ category wise
and age wise according to their percentage in the population.

2.7 Dropout girls and never enrolled girls have been enrolled both in Panitola and Guijan
block. But in Panitola block the girls were enrolled in Classes – II to IV without
considering the age and class at which they dropped out from. These dropout girls
should have been enrolled in class – V, VI, & VII and then given appropriate Bridge
Course to make them capable of the class accordingly to the age and the class they
dropped out from. Besides, girls who have dropped out there were never enrolled girls
also who have also been made to join the class – I or II without considering their age.
The team when asked the teachers and BRC members about it, they expressed that
they were not aware about the criteria to be followed. However, at the Guijan block the
girls were properly placed in various classes according to their age and class whether
they were dropouts or never enrolled.

2.8 One way of determining the effectiveness of the reach of KGBVs is to cross check with
the data from the child tracking systems which provides insight into the general and age
wise schooling status of the children within particular geographical boundaries. The
evaluation team suggested that these data source be used to cross check the girls who
have benefited from the KGBV scheme and the extent to which this has impacted on the
number of out of school girls in the EBBs.

The data on out of school children for every EBB should be used to generate a list of
10+ years dropout and never enrolled girls in the blocks. A criteria should be set to
select the girls who are most deserving from this list of out of school girls to be enrolled
in existing KGBV and the new KGBVs.

35
3. Process of Mobilization for Enrolment :

At the State and district briefing it was revealed that on the basis of the survey, block
wise list were used to reach the families of the girls and carry out mobilization
activities. The process followed by them was door to door visit and publicity through
the VEC members. However, in the KGBVs visited the mobilization efforts appeared to
be adhoc and there was little evidence of the efforts made for the publicity. The
identification, mobilization and enrolment process thus needs to be made more
rigorous.

4. Retention :

Retention of girls in the two KGBVs has been good. Absenteeism from the attendance
registers was found to be occasional, this usually ranged between a day or two. In the
Panitola district the attendance register showed that five girls were absent for few days
as they had gone for pooja holidays to home and have not returned. In the Guijan
district on the day the team visited the KGBV out of fifty girls forty seven were in the
class except three girls who were also present but were in warden’s room taking rest
as they were suffering from diaorrehea, headache and stomach ache.

5. Environment in the KGBV :

The environment in the two KGBVs visited was congenial for education. The teachers
both part time and full time were found to be having a very good relationship with the
girls and were sensible to the learning needs of the girls. The girls when asked about
the relationship with the teachers, they all expressed that they were very happy with
the teachers especially Warden. Both the schools visited had good access and space
for outdoor activities. Girls were found to be playing games and skipping. There was
enough space within the campus of the school for drying clothes and carrying out other
small personal activities within the school compound.

In Panitola KGBV, the chowkidar and cook stayed within the school campus and their
room was near the room of the girls, which could pose as a problem for security of
girls. Their room should have been near warden’s room or outside the school
compound. One full time teacher should also be made to stay in school along with
warden to help her in case of any exigency. In Guijan block the Cook and Chowkidar
had a separate room outside the school compound near kitchen which was very
appropriate. Moreover, one warden and one full time teacher stayed within the school
campus for safety of girls. The school campus was full of greenery and plants and the
environment seemed to be secure for girls.

Telephones were not available in the KGBVs, the team felt that telephone should be
made available to the wardens for communication and for use in case of any
emergency. Even children could have access to contact their families if required.
Kitchen gardens were there in the two KGBVs and these were maintained by girls,
cook and warden.

6. Routine:

There were no specific written guidelines given by the State authorities to the KGBVs
regarding the daily routine to be followed .The instructions for the daily routine had

36
 been verbally given to the wardens in a meeting, so every KGBV was following
different daily routine.

The daily routine was found pasted on the wall of the Guijan KGBV and not Panitola
KGBV. The team when visited the children were found playing sports and doing
physical activities. The
5:00 am Wake up present routine does not
5:30 am – 7:00 am Self Study have provision for developing
7:00 am – 8:00 am Cleaning as per roaster reading skills as there is no
8:00 am -9:00 am Breakfast library and reading material
9:15 am – 9:30 am School Assembly for girls. Reading library
9:30 am – 1:30 pm School activities books should be
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm Lunch & cleaning of dining encouraged. There is no set
area pattern for supervised study,
the girls study on their own.
2:30 pm – 3:00 pm Rest
On Saturday the school
3:00 pm – 4:30 pm Sports and physical
organizes quiz, debate and
activities
story telling competitions.
4:30 pm -5:00 pm Washing of clothes etc.
The State needs to re-look
5:00 pm – 5:30 pm Tea
the prescribed daily schedule
5:30 pm – 5:45 pm Prayer so as to utilize the day more
5:45 pm – 8:00 pm Study effectively. Opportunities
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm Dinner should be provided to girls
9:30 pm Bed time for developing their self
expression through activities
like children’s wallpaper, magazine etc as they have enough time in residential school.
The instructional time for school activity is less then four hours which is not appropriate
for an effective teaching learning process. There should be provision for vocational
and extra curricular activities like computer education, weaving, tailoring, cutting,
personality development, life skill etc.

7. Food:
No specific guidelines has been provided by the State regarding the menu to be given
to the girls but, State authorities had given instructions to the districts to not to
compromise on the issue of food. Separate Kitchen and dining space has been provided
for in all the KGBVs. All the KGBVs have LPG connection and large gas burners though in
some KGBVs it is not used on daily basis as the supply of LPG cylinder is not regular.
Provision for firewood is also made in all the KGBVs.

For every KGBV there is one cook but during the discussion it emerged that one cook
could not manage the kitchen alone, they needed a helping hand so they requested that a
helper should also be provided. The Chowkidar sometime helps the cook in managing the
kitchen.

In the menu in a week non-vegetarian items like fish and meat are provided for two
days and one day eggs are provided. In four weeks’ two weeks fish and two weeks meat
is provided. In meat item no chicken is provided only mutton is provided as chicken is
costly. Fruits like orange; banana and guava are given occasionally. When the girls joined
the KGBV they wanted rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner but with the passage of time
they began to accept the food like chappati, rice and vegetable as is being provided in

37
 KGBV. The team had lunch with the district authorities and children at Guijan KGBV
which was nutritious and well cooked.

8. Quality of Education :

• In Panitola there was only one classroom where all the different standards were
being taught by four teachers at the same time which hinders the smooth
classroom transactions for every class, especially girls under KGBV who are
educationally disadvantaged and need constant care. This matter when discussed
with ADC (additional deputy commissioner) Dibrugarh, he assured that additional
rooms would be made available to the KGBV.

• When girls enter the KGBV they are made to take an assessment test on the basis
of which the BRCs and CRCs assign them to respective classes. The books and
curriculum of the formal school is followed in the KGBV. The girls when asked
certain basic reading and writing questions, they were able to give correct
response.

• The achievement results register prepared at Panitola showed that girls scoring
more than 60% marks were 29 and those who scored more than 50% were 21 and
there were no failures. In Guijan test is taken every month, the test result of the
October month showed that 36 girls passed and 14 girls had less than pass
percentage, the girls who secured less were given remedial teaching.

• Most classrooms observed did have teaching learning materials but it was not
sufficient. The walls of the schools and the classrooms could be better utilized and
more attractive teaching learning materials could be prepared. Textbooks have
been provided to the KGBVs but there was no library or reading corner. The team
was informed that Meena Campaigns have been organized in various districts at
state level and life skill training is given to adolescent girls by the gender unit of
Mahila Samakhya.

• Remedial learning at Guijan is an integral part of the KGBV. Apart from the school
routine there is remedial instruction after the school hours.

• Recruitment of female teachers for KGBV is done by the administration at the state
level. Selection of teachers is done on the basis of the entrance examination and
an interview. The teachers are all kept on the contractual basis for eleven months.
For each kGBV there is one warden, two full time teacher, two part time teachers,
one cook, one chowkidar and Assistant cum care taker.

• All the teachers have received a five days training on the KGBV after their
placement. All the teachers except one in both the KGBVs were trained graduate
or post graduate. Not all the subjects taught at KGBVs have teachers with
graduation in the school subject for example at Panitola there is no Hindi, Science,
Art and Physical Education teacher and at Guijan there is no Mathematics, Hindi,
Art and physical education teacher.

38
 • No in-service training has been arranged for teachers in content and methods of
teaching under SSA. There has been no linkage with SSA regarding trainings on
teaching learning material and on bridging techniques held at CRC and BRC level.

• The record of the learning achievement has been maintained at KGBV but there is
no record maintained for achievement in non scholastics area and there is no
portfolio or girl child profile in the form of cumulative record.

9. Parental / Community Perception :

• Discussions with parents were quite insightful. They were happy with the
arrangement and overall environment of the KGBVs. However a lot more needs to
be done with the parents to motivate them and encourage them to support their
daughters for their retention in the KGBV.

• Parents do visit the schools frequently to meet the girls. Parents are called for
monthly meeting but they are free to come and meet their daughters as and when
they feel like it. Parents’ meeting record register was not maintained. Thus it was
suggested by the team that record of parents visits; including photographs of
individuals having visiting rights must also be maintained as a security measure. In
general the community appreciated the KGBV and has a high degree of
acceptance of the Institution. But there is no record of formal meetings being held
with the community. The parents and community were apprehensive of sending
their children to High School as it is at far distance. So they were of the view that
KGBVs facilities should be extended to the High School level. The girls of the
KGBV were also very enthusiastic and wanted to study further in the same school.
They also wanted the school facilities to be extended to High school level. It will be
useful if VEC and community involvements is more for better functioning of
KGBVs.

10. Mobilization of dropout girls in EBBs

• Identifying and reaching to the out of school girls is an integral part of SSA survey.
Most of the girls reported that they dropped out of school and were at home doing
household work. The existing bridge courses and enrollment drives have not been
able to reach out the older girls in the villages. Therefore KGBV programme is an
asset for all the students but the State has adopted Model –II which accommodates
only 750 girls and more than 10,000 girls are still out of school.

• The CRC played a key role in mobilizing the dropout girls for enrolment in two KGBVs.
The team met the school Management Committee President and a gram panchayat
President who had played a key role in mobilizing girls and continued to take an active
interest in the school functioning.

11. Health and Overall development :

• One comprehensive Health check up camp was held at all the KGBVs for girls
immediately after their admission to the KGBV. Regular medical check up is being
organized in all KGBVs which was confirmed by the girls and through the Health
Register.

39
 • The overall development of girls has been good. The girls were taught songs, dance
and sports and physical activities. When the team visited the KGBVs the girls sang
song and showed dance. They also participate in various competitions like quiz, story
telling, extempore and debate on every Saturday. However there is no vocational
course being implemented in the KGBVs. The State authorities informed the team that
district level award was given to KGBV girls at Darang on 15th august 2007 as their
parade was very good.

• First aid boxes have been provided to each KGBVs, but regular supply of Vitamin A,
iron tablets, deworming tablets needs provision. Some amount of money should also
be given to warden for use in case of any emergency.

• During the visit it was observed that KGBVs have undoubtedly given a positive
experience to girls. Most of the girls came from rural areas and the only thing that has
been constant in their lives was poverty and the demands of the work at home,
domestic chores, collecting firewood, working in field and sibling care. The girls’ were
hesitant to go back to their previous lives; rather they were motivated to continue their
education and aspiring to become teacher, doctors and nurses. For girls it was
freedom from work at home and to be responsible for only their studies and have a
luxury to play and engage in other leisure activities.

12. Management :

• The local advisory board has been constituted in each block to monitor the day to day
activities of each KGBV. The board consists of officer in-charge of local police station,
doctor of the local Hospital, Local gram panchayat president, Local Anchalik
panchayat Member, local VEC president and associate BRCCs of the concerned
block. The local body though well constituted but the team felt that the monitoring work
is not effectively carried out by the advisory board as this work is entrusted to the BMC
(Block Mission Coordinator) also.

• The chairman of the SSA at district level who has been designated as Deputy
Commissioner (DMC) looks after the management and has been given full authority at
the district level to closely monitor the functioning of the KGBV. The district Gender
coordinator, the special cell in KGBV district provides the overall guidance to the
KGBV staff. The district gender coordinator visits each KGBV at least 2 -3 times in a
month. A district level purchase committee has been constituted for procuring of non
recurring items. The BMC is responsible for the purchase of recurring items by
appointing rate contractors.

• The warden is not in constant touch with the management of the KGBV as she has not
been assigned any significant role in decision making besides being the custodian of
the girls. The warden maintains the following registers.
1. Teacher attendance register.
2. Admission register
3. Record of girls’ parents/guardians
4. Students attendance register
5. Students leave register
6. Mark / result register
7. Stock register
8. Health register

40
 9. Text book distribution register
10. Parents visiting book
11. Petty cash book at the hostel level
12. Records of monthly distribution of consumable items of girls.

13. Financial :
• The guidelines issued by State Project Office (SPO) have detailed out the financial
norms of the KGBV scheme, which facilitates the process of implementation. The
SPO has procured centrally two tier iron beds and provided to all KGBVs. For the rest
of equipments like steel almirah, chair, table, gas stove, uniform, chappals, shoes,
blackboard, play materials and first aid box, the Deputy Commissioner has been
entrusted to make the procurement and provide them to the respective KGBVs.

• The team saw the cash book, stock book, daily stock register, voucher and salary
register, but the items entered in stock book did not mention its cost.

• The teaching learning equipment TLE grant was not provided by the State to the
KGBV. The financial provision amount was not included in the annual budget of KGBV.
The stipend money of Rs. 50 per month remains unutilized and the writing material
provided so far does not match with the admissible amount of Rs. 600 for a year

• Medical care / contingencies is available at the district office and the warden does not
have money in her hand to meet out any emergency.

• The salary given to the teaching and non teaching staff is not according to the GOI
guidelines. For example warden receives Rs. 5000 per month, full time teacher get Rs
3000, and part time teacher gets Rs 2000, care taker gets Rs 2000, chowkidars and
cook gets Rs. 1500 /-

• The budget of 2007-2008 provided allocation for all the items of expenditure except
TLE.

• In the admissible items of expenditure no money has been spent so far on preparatory
camps, PTA and school functions, examination fees, vocational and specific skill
training and miscellaneous maintenance.

14. Monitoring :

• No specific process of feedback has been initiated by the State Mission Office on the
implementation status of KGBVs. The warden and teacher do not participate in the
monthly meetings of CRCs and BRCs. Their issues and concerns do not get adequate
attention.
• The visits to the KGBV by district level functionaries, including the District Gender
Coordinators are adhoc and there is no system in place. It is suggested that a platform
for sharing, feedback and review be created where key functionaries from the district
and the KGBVs come together at regular intervals.
• Besides the regular system of monitoring and review, a system of external review
every year may be considered. This review may be modeled along the lines of the
present national evaluation. Integration of the KGBVs into the mainstream system of
academic support and review should be taken immediately.

41
15. Good Practices :

Convergence is done by the state with the food and civil supply department of
respective districts to supply the rice, sugar, atta and Kerosene oil at the
subsidized rates.
The KGBV do not have any grant for TLE so the items like TV, DVD players’ dish
antennae are being provided through donations by corporate houses and banks.
The rented and government buildings taken up for running the KGBVs are well
placed, secure for girls, have good construction and with adequate space for living
and play area.
In the formal school systems, the sports and physical education, yoga and
meditation is not a part of the curriculum but in KGBVs State instructions have
been given to provide yoga and meditation training to girls.
The State has given a 5 days rigorous training to the teachers of KGBVs on how to
run KGBV effectively.

16. Issues and recommendations:

Various issues came forward in the course of the evaluation of the KGBVs which are listed
with the recommendations.
There is no proper representation of various categories like SC, minorities and BPL
girls chosen to be enrolled in the KGBVs. There is a need to evolve a criteria for
the enrolment in KGBVs so that there is a proper representation of each category
proportionate to their percentage in the total population.
The policy of adopting Model – II, instead of Model – I by the state was
inappropriate as there are many number of out of school girls in the age group of 6
-14 years. Thus all 15 KGBVs need conversion from Model-II to Model-I
immediately.
The budget allocated for Model-II construction is Rs. 15 lakhs as unit cost but the
State is still in the process of acquiring land for the construction of KGBVs. By the
time they start the construction work the unit cost of KGBV is going to rise, thus the
amount of Rs 15 lakhs is grossly insufficient for the construction of each unit and
should be as per the approved construction rate of the district .
As observed, four classes were being run in one room in one KGBV which is
grossly erroneous. Thus there should be one separate room assigned for each
class.
The cook and chowkidar were living in the room adjacent to the dormitory of girls;
they should be provided room outside the campus. The warden, the full time
teachers and part time teachers should all stay in the campus thus, it is relevant to
review policy on women teachers and other staff to stay in the campus.
The salary of teaching and non teaching staff is not according to the Government
pay scales. As a policy decision the pay scales of the KGBVs staff should be at par
with the State Govt. teacher’s salary pattern norms.
The salary to the teachers and to the contractors was not paid for three months at
the Panitola KGBV due to the absence of appropriate authority at district level. Due
care should be taken to ensure that funds are released from district level to the
block in time so that the staff gets salary on time.
The KGBV should not run classes from I to IV as in Panitola KGBV, they should
instead enroll the girls in V to VIII standards and then provide them with additional
bridge course to bring them at par with the standard in which they are enrolled.
Not all the subjects taught at KGBVs have subject wise teachers and they are
graduates of subjects which are not school subjects. During recruitment care

42
should be taken that each subject representation is there in the qualification of the
teachers.
Ensure that BRCC and CRCC provide requisite academic support to the KGBVs
and make the KGBV a part of the monthly review process.
The pace of construction needs to be stepped up to ensure infrastructural
adequacy.
The daily schedule of the KGBV needs change so as to utilize the day more
efficiently for learning.
Mainstreaming of girls from KGBVs is an immediate problem, the high schools in
Assam are sparsely located and parents are not willing to send their girl child to far
off school. Thus KGBV should be upgraded to high school level or alternatively a
high school should be provided within the radius of 5 kms.
Parents’ involvement should be more in KGBVs and there is need to develop an
interface between VEC and parents meeting.
Vocational component and life skill training has not been taken up in KGBV
schools. To make girls economically independent this component should be
extensively taken up.
A working monitoring system should be evolved and it is important to create a
platform for sharing and learning.

43
 Details of Enrolment Status of KGBV Schools

Enrolment of girls Total

Sr. Place of Model
District Block Agency Girls Remarks
No. KGBV (I/II/III)
Minority enrolled
SC ST OBC BPL
Muslims Others
SSA,
Sissibargaon Rented House II 8 41 1 0 0 0 50
Assam
1 Dhemaji
SSA,
Murkongselek Rented House II 0 48 2 0 0 0 50
Assam
SSA,
2 Darrang Bhergaon Rented House II 0 35 13 0 2 0 50
Assam
Govt. Abandon SSA,
3 Dibrugarh Panitola II 4 0 44 0 2 0 50
Building Assam
Govt. Abandon SSA,
Lumbajonj II 2 47 1 0 0 0 50
Building Assam
Govt. Abandon SSA,
Socheng II 5 30 15 0 0 0 50
Karbi- Building Assam
4
Anglong Govt. Abandon SSA,
Longsomepi II 2 44 4 0 0 0 50
Building Assam
Govt. Abandon SSA,
Somelangso II 0 50 0 0 0 0 50
Building Assam
SSA,
Tamulpur Rented House II 8 38 3 1 0 0 50
Assam
5 Nalbari
SSA,
Nagrijuli Rented House II 3 25 16 6 0 0 50
Assam
Govt. Abandon SSA,
6 N.C. Hills Diyungbra II 0 33 0 0 0 0 33
Building Assam
Pashim Govt. Abandon SSA,
7 Sivasagar II 3 0 47 0 0 0 50
Abhoyapur Building Assam
SSA,
Hapjan Rented House II 2 8 40 0 0 0 50
Assam
Govt. Abandon SSA,
8 Tinsukia Guijan II 5 30 15 0 0 0 50
Building Assam
SSA,
Itakhuli Rented House II 0 1 49 0 0 0 50
Assam
42 430 250 7 4 0 733

44
 Implementing the NPEGEL Scheme in Assam : Findings Based on Field Visit

Introduction

The evaluation team was briefed about the NPEGEL activities carried out by SSA society and
Assam Mahila Samata Society in Assam on 21st November, 2007.

In the briefing with the State officials, the state officials admitted that they have not
fully operationalized the Scheme of NPEGEL, it is at the preparatory stage and they
have just completed the work of identification of Model cluster Schools in the month
of October, 2007

The Population of Assam is 2,66,55,528 as per the Census of 2001, out of which the female
population is 1,28,78,491 i.e. 48.30%

The category wise percentage of population is given below :

SC ST Child Population (6-14 Yrs) Child Population Child Population

SC (6-14 Yrs) ST (6-14 Yrs)
6.85% 12.41% 23.32% 10.56% 14.37%

Types of School:

Schools Primary Upper Primary with Upper Primary + Primary Other

Total Primary Upper Sec+High Sec +U.P.+Sec_
Primary High Sec
37894 30039 5015 925 1341 33 541

From this data it can be inferred that for 4 primary schools there is one upper primary school
and for 18 primary schools there is one secondary school.

Out of School Children in the State

Population in the age group Enrolment in Class I-VIII Out of school children in the
of 6-14 age group 6-14 yrs
62,18,262 38,78,258 23,40,004

There are very few secondary schools and students have to travel long distances for higher
education. Parents do not prefer to send their girls to long distances for education as a result
there are lot of dropouts and out of school girls at upper primary and higher secondary stages.

45
 Percentage of SC & ST Enrolment to Total Enrolment :

Primary Stage Upper Primary (Class 6-8) Total Elements (Class 1-8)
Classes I to V
% of SC % of SC % of ST % of ST % of SC % of SC % of ST % of ST % of SC % of SC % of ST % of
Enrolme Girls to Enrollme Girls to Enrollmen Girls to Enrollment Girls to Enrolment Girls to Enrollme ST
nt Total SC nt Total ST t Total SC Total ST Total SC nt Girls
enrollme Enrollme Enrollment Enrolme enrollme to
nt nt nt nt Total
ST
Enroll
ment
10.40 48.87 14.20 49.37 11.11 48.55 14.98 47.49 10.56 48.80 14.37 48.94

The NPEGEL Scheme is being implemented in fifteen educationally backward blocks in eight
districts. The total clusters covered in these EBBs are 98 and total out of school boys and
girls in these educationally backward blocks are 11,162. The schools selected for Model
Clusters are all lower primary schools. It has been mutually agreed by State authorities that
the responsibility to implement NPEGEL programme in 67 clusters of three districts Dhemaji,
Darang and Tinsukia will be carried out by Mahila Samata Society (MSS) and the rest of the
31 clusters of five districts will be run by SSA Society. The memorandum of understanding to
this effect has been signed by State Programme Director Assam Mahila Samta Society
(AMSS) and Mission Director SSA on 1st February, 2007. The team visited the NPEGEL
Model cluster school run by SSA Society in Bali Jansiding L.P. School, Panitola Block,
Dibrugarh District and AMSS run Model Cluster School at village Hapjam Borpather, Block
Hapjan, District Tinsukia on 23rd November, 2007.

After the State briefing, visits to the model cluster school and discussions with the district and
blocks officials and other functionaries the team observed the following.

1. Whether the objectives of NPEGEL Scheme are being met:

• The team observed that the State authorities have made some efforts in providing
schooling facilities for out of school children by upgrading the EGS centers into a
formal primary school. Still there are many out of school children especially girls and
this effort is still insufficient. For providing access to the girls who are out of school
there has been no efforts made under SSA. But the NPEGEL run by AMSS are
providing alternative schooling to out of school girls through bridge courses.
• In the briefing session with the State Officials, they admitted that they have not fully
operationalised the Scheme of NPEGEL, it is at preparatory stage and they have just
completed the work of identification of model cluster school in the month of October,
2007.
• The AMSS has planned out activities under NPEGEL for greater involvement and
participation of girls like holistic development of girls through self defense training,
story telling sessions, talent search examination for class IV girls and providing
alternative learning opportunities.

46
 • Since the NPEGEL is not fully operationalized the activities related to quality education
for girls has not been taken up however , the state has prepared a plan for it.

2. Availability and Quality of Infrastructure in NPEGEL Schools

• The Programme Approval Board did not sanction funds for additional room for a Model
Cluster School in the State.
• Toilets, drinking water arrangements and electrification work are being carried out
through SSA funds and State Resources.

3. Material Inputs

• The primary schools have been adopted as Model Cluster Schools and hence they all
are not entitled for Teaching Learning Equipment grants under SSA. Thus, the model
cluster schools do not have any teaching learning equipment, library facilities, sports
equipment, computer etc. In the briefing with the State officials this matter was
discussed by the team and the SPD agreed that they would rectify and select upper
primary schools as Model Cluster School.

4. Additional Incentives

In the approved annual work plan and budget of 2006-07 and 2007-08 funds were not
provided to implement the activities of additional incentives.

5. Impact of interventions targeted at out of school girls

• The team observed that in SSA society run NPEGEL cluster all alternative schooling
centers like EGS, bridge courses and other innovative activities were carried out
through SSA. Hence, providing alternative innovative schooling for out of school girls
as a part of NPEGEL activity and mainstreaming such girls did not take place.
• Assam Mahila Samata Society had given training support to teachers of Bridge course
centers through NPEGEL funds. Through UNICEF funds AMSS started 12 Bridge
course centers from July, 07 for a period of six months covering 404 out of school girls
in Hapjan, Guijan, Itakhuli, Sisiborgaon, Muskong Selek in Bhergaon Blocks. The
team visited Gangabri Tea Garden Centre and Annadbag tea garden centers where
out of school girls in the age group of 6 to 14 were getting education. These centers
just accommodated 30 to 37 girls leaving behind hundreds of out of school girls in
need of educational support. AMSS coordinator pointed out that after having
completed the bridge courses, mainstreaming of these girls would be difficult as the
tea garden schools located in respective areas of the center do not have capacity to
accommodate and mainstream these out of school girls who have completed bridge
course of six month duration. It was observed that with the inception of SSA and
UNICEF intervention, the number of out of school girls has considerably reduced.

6. Linkages with system of Open School learning

No effort in this direction was observed by the team. The State officials stated that
open school learning system is not there is the State as NIOS (National Institute of

47
 Open Schooling) does not have reading material in Assamese Language, as a result
girls do not have the benefit of open learning system.

1. Intervention for ‘in school’ girls

Model clusters have been identified by the state in the month of October, 07. Both
SSA and AMSS have planned to undertake all the activities of NPEGEL scheme
shortly.

8. Gender training of teachers

The state budget for NPEGEL does not reflect any allocation of funds for the gender
sensitization training of teachers. Hence no separate training programme to sensitize
teachers on gender was taken up both by SSA society and AMSS. But from
discussions with officials it emerged that gender sensitization is one of the training
components under SSAs. AMSS has sensitized their state, district, block and cluster
officials on gender but these officials have yet to sensitize the teachers on the gender
issues.

9. ECCE centers, libraries, Remedial Teaching

These activities have not been included in the state budget for NPEGEL and
hence these activities have not been carried out in the state.

10. Vocational / Life Skills Education programme

The NPEGEL under SSA has yet to start the vocational/life skills education activities
for girls studying in upper primary schools. At present all the MCS identified in
October 07, are running in lower primary schools. Moreover activities of vocational
training and life skill training would be more appropriate for girls studying in the upper
primary schools.

However, AMSS under the NPEGEL scheme have organized life skill training
leadership, adolescent health, challenges for girl child & for kishori manchs at 12
training centers covering 360 senior girls. AMSS has planned to organize skill up-
gradation training for girls above 14 years in 12 centres, covering 6 blocks. AMSS
proposes a training programme in Tubewell repairing, Mobile repairing, Cutting-
tailoring & Bee keeping with the assistance of UNICEF. Beside this AMSS has
organized self-defence training in 43 schools of 35 clusters covering 5 blocks with the
support of UNICEF.

11. Community Involvement in Planning, Implementation and Monitoring of

NPEGEL

The team observed that NPEGEL programme does not involve the community at
present. The community in the form of school management committee is involved in
most of the activities but under SSA. Though AMSS have not initiated activities under
NPEGEL, they have carried out awareness drive for community leaders and sangha
women. Discussions were held by the team with the AMSS officials and SSA officials
on the present situation of girls’ education based on baseline survey. A special
programme on awareness was organized by AMSS for observing ‘Girl Child Day’ on

48
 24th September to attract community attention towards issues related to girls’
education.

12. NPEGEL run through different Management System

In Assam NPEGEL is urn by SSA society and Assam Mahila Samta Socieyt (AMSS).
It was observed by the team that as AMSS already has a structure in place under its
functioning for carrying out gender related activities. AMSS in more organized in
carrying out the activities of NPEGEL in comparison to SSA society. Moreover AMSS
has established a convergence with UNICEF through which they are carrying out
gender training, life skills training, story telling and self defense training especially for
out of school girls.

13. System for monitoring progress of NPEGEL

During the discussion with state officials, it was admitted by them that no separate
system to monitor activities under NPEGEL exists under SSA society. The present
administrative set up for SSA is entrusted to look after the activities of NPEGEL. The
team observed that there is no State Gender coordinator, no gender unit of SSA
society, no formation of core group for girls education, no village/block plan prepared,
no formation/mobilization of MTA/PTA, there is no district gender unit, no gender co-
ordination committee, there is no block level gender co-ordinator and no model cluster
coordinators are in place to monitor NPEGEL activities.

But the team found that AMSS has co-ordinator at State, District, Block and cluster
level, properly trained to take up the responsibility under NPEGEL. AMSS had organized
a 4 day orientation programme for AMSS team and block coordinators and a 3 days
orientation for all cluster co-ordinators.

14. Good Practices

• Bridge courses run by AMSS are well planned and the team observed that the
teachers appointed for bridge course are properly trained. They are sincere and
dedicated. The out of school girls have really benefited from it especially in the
scattered habitation of tea tribes.
• Activities like self defense training, story telling and observing girl child day has been
very useful for motivation of girls for education.
• There is no provision of paying salary to the model cluster coordinators under
NPEGEL scheme but the AMSS is paying salary to them from the AMSS funds. As
they are paid well, these coordinators are dedicated in carrying out their duties well.
All the functionaries at State, District, Block & cluster under AMSS perform their duties
well and the work of AMSS is commendable.

15. Changes /modifications, if any

• Funds should be made available in the budget of SSA society for the construction of
additional room in a model cluster school, TLE, additional incentives and for
community mobilization.

49
• Activities such as teachers training, ECCE, bridge course, remedial teaching &
alternative schooling should not be a part of NPEGEL scheme as SSA has sufficient
funds to take care of all these activities. Beside this, because of duplication of these
activities unnecessary confusion is created in the minds of field level functionaries.
• SSA authorities should immediately form gender units and appoint gender
coordinators at Sate, District, Block and cluster level for effective implementations and
monitoring of NPEGEL activities.

• Since there is a lot of confusion, duplication of activities and difficulty is faced

by the State, District and Block Offices in maintaining separate accounts, it is
suggested that NPEGEL funds be transferred to innovative activity for Girls’
Education under SSA and this separate scheme be merged as soon as possible.

50
Acti Activities PAB Approved AWP & B 2006 – 07
vity Approved budget Achived Balance
no.
Unit cost Phy Fin Phy Fin fin
A Model cluster school for girls
a.1 Grant for Model cluster school for 0.3000 109 32.70 0 0.000 32.70
girls
a.2 Toilets blocked 0.2000 109 21.800 0 0.000 21.800
a.3 Furniture/equipments for blocked 0 0.000 0.000
office
Sub total 54.500 0.000 54.500
B Other activities for model cluster 0 0.000 0 35.820 -35.820
school
b.1 Recurring grant to model cluster 0.2000 109 21.800 0 0.000 21.800
school
b.2 Awards to school 0.0500 109 21.800 0 0.000 21.800
b.3 Evalution, remedial teaching, 0.000 0 0.000 0 0.000 0.000
bridge course & alternative
schooling
b.4 Vocational training during summer 0.2000 109 21.800 0 0.000 21.80
camp with the support of khadi &
village industry commission
b.5 Teachers training 0.0000 0 0.000 0 0.000 0.000
b.6 Model child care centers[2 centers 0.0000 0 0.000 0 0.000 0.000
per cluster]
Recurring grant 0.0500 218 10.900 0 0.000 10.900
6.1
Non- Recurring grant 0.5000 218 2.180 0 0.000 2.180
6.2
b.7 Award to best girl child 0.0050 0 0.000 0 0.000 0.000
b.8 Award to best female teacher 0.0100 0 0.000 0 0.000 0.000
Sub total 62.130 35.820 26.310
C Additional incentives 0 0.000 0 0.000 0.000
Sub total 0.000 0.000 0.000
D Community mobilization
activities
Sub total 7.030 3.114 3.916
Total 123.660 38.934 84.726

51
Activity Activities Approved AWP & B 2007 – 08
no. Spillover Fresh Total
Unit cost Fin Phy Fin Fin
A Model cluster school for girls
a.1 Grant for Model cluster school for girls 32.700 0.000 0.000 32.700
a.2 Toilets blocked 21.800 0.000 0.000 21.800
a.3 Furniture/equipments for blocked office 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
Sub total 54.500 0.000 54.500
B Other activities for model cluster school
b.1 Recurring grant to model cluster school 0.200 0.000 109.000 21.800 21.800
b.2 Awards to school 0.050 0.000 109.000 5.450 5.450
b.3 Evalution, remedial teaching, bridge 0.200 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
course & alternative schooling
b.4 Vocational training during summer 0.200 0.000 109.000 21.800 21.800
camp with the support of khadi & village
industry commission
b.5 Teachers training 0.040 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
b.6 Model child care centers[2 centers per 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
cluster]
6.1 Recurring grant 0.050 0.000 218.000 10.900 10.900
6.2 Non- Recurring grant 0.010 0.000 218.000 2.180 2.180
b.7 Award to best girl child 0.005 0.000 109.000 0.545 0.545
b.8 Award to best female teacher 0.010 0.000 109.000 1.090 1.090
Sub total 63.765 63.765
C Additional incentives 0.000 0.000 0.000
Sub total
D Community mobilization activities
Sub total 0.000 3.826 3.826
Total 54.500 67.591 122.091

52
 List of Model Cluster Schools for NPEGEL Scheme
No. Name of Model Cluster School Name of Cluster Name of Block District

1 Dhunaguri LPS Amguri Sissibargaon Dhemaji

2 Akajan LPS Akajan Sissibargaon Dhemaji

3 Natun Balijan LPS Betanipam Sissibargaon Dhemaji

4 No. 1 Harulung LPS Borlung Sissibargaon Dhemaji

5 Mishing Chapari LPS Simenmukh Sissibargaon Dhemaji

6 Dimo Bali Janajati Dimou Sissibargaon Dhemaji

7 Kulamua LPS Kulajan Sissibargaon Dhemaji

8 Pumi Mujalia LPS Madhya Sissi Tongani Sissibargaon Dhemaji

9 No. 2 Phulbari LPS Malinipur Sissibargaon Dhemaji

10 Lakhipur LPS Muktiar Sissibargaon Dhemaji

11 Link Ki Chuk LPS Namoni Sissi Tongani Sissibargaon Dhemaji

12 Nilakh Palengi LPS Nilakh Sissibargaon Dhemaji

13 Society LPS Silapathar Sissibargaon Dhemaji

14 No. 1 Majbari LPS Silashuti Sissibargaon Dhemaji

15 Sissibargaon Majalia LPS Sissibargaon Sissibargaon Dhemaji

16 Sripani Majalia LPS Sripani Sissibargaon Dhemaji

17 Mecheki Tengoni Ujani Sissitengani Sissibargaon Dhemaji

18 Kalaguru Bishnu Rabha LPS Jonai Murkang Selek Dhemaji

19 Okland Bholai LPS Bahir Jonai Murkang Selek Dhemaji

20 Bahir Silley LPS Silley Murkang Selek Dhemaji

21 Purana Jalom LPS Kemi Jalom Murkang Selek Dhemaji

22 Silikhaguri Bodo LPS Rajakhana Murkang Selek Dhemaji

23 Tari Bijoypur LPS Rayong Bijoypur Murkang Selek Dhemaji

24 Nahar Bandana LPS Siga Murkang Selek Dhemaji

25 Sikari Govt. LPS Gali Sikari Murkang Selek Dhemaji

26 Takaguitang Govt. LPS Laimarkuri Murkang Selek Dhemaji

53
27 Bardondi Bodo LPS Ramdhan Dikari Murkang Selek Dhemaji

28 Simluguri Mikir LPS Telem Murkang Selek Dhemaji

29 Namkir LPS Dekapam Murkang Selek Dhemaji

30 Hastinapur Bodo LPS Missamora Murkang Selek Dhemaji

31 Jadumoni LPS Simen Chapari Murkang Selek Dhemaji

32 Tadunia Bodo LPS Somkong Murkang Selek Dhemaji

33 Mezguri LPS 98/2 Pub Kumarikata Nagrijuli Nalbari

34 No. 1 Balagaon LPS Suagpur Nagrijuli Nalbari

35 No. 2 Dakhin Gandhibari LPS Gandhibari Nagrijuli Nalbari

36 No. 2 Jokmari LPS Dakhin Defeli Nagrijuli Nalbari

37 Ahiyabari LPS Kachukata Nagrijuli Nalbari

38 Niz Sapkata LPS Salmara Tamulpur Nalbari

39 Jogeshpur LPS 82/1 Pub Kumarikata Tamulpur Nalbari

40 No. 2 Chechapani LPS 72/3 Pachim Kumarikata Tamulpur Nalbari

41 Bahbari LPS 71/2 Pachim Kumarikata Tamulpur Nalbari

42 No. 1348 Hazaragaon LPS 78/2 /dakhin Kumarikata Tamulpur Nalbari

43 Barbita LPS Pachim Tamulpur Tamulpur Nalbari

44 Kahibari LPS Mazdia Tamulpur Nalbari

45 No. 3 Baraliapar LPS Dakhin Tamulpur Tamulpur Nalbari

46 Barpathar LPS Hapjan Hapjan Tinsukia

47 Borgaon LPS Barekuri Hapjan Tinsukia

48 Bishnu Nagar LPS Tipuk Hapjan Tinsukia

49 No. 1 Kardoiguri LPS Kardaiguri Hapjan Tinsukia

50 No. 7 Kathigaon LPS Tingrai Hapjan Tinsukia

51 Santipur LPS Barhapjan Hapjan Tinsukia

52 Baruahola LPS Bartuahola Guijan Tinsukia

53 Panitola Nagar LPS Panitola Guijan Tinsukia

54 Guijan LPS Guijan Guijan Tinsukia

54
55 Bajaltali LPS Bajaltali Guijan Tinsukia

56 Dhulijan LPS Langkachi Itakhuli Tinsukia

57 Bokapathar Debicharan LPS Lakhipathar Itakhuli Tinsukia

58 Kushal Konwar LPS Tengapani Itakhuli Tinsukia

59 Ramcharan Agarawala LPS Rangpuria Itakhuli Tinsukia

60 Bhergaon Girls ME School Bhergaon Bhergaon Darrang

61 No. 1 Kacharipara LPS Gopchachuba Bhergaon Darrang

62 Khasiachuba LPS Ghorasal Bhergaon Darrang

63 No. 1 Rowmari LPS Nichilamari Bhergaon Darrang

64 No. 440 Totolapara LPS Parbahu Chuba Bhergaon Darrang

65 Pachimpatla LPS Pachim Patla Bhergaon Darrang

66 Borakhat LPS Bartongla Bhergaon Darrang

67 Pub Rajgarh LPS Bharat Ratna Bhergaon Darrang

68 No Niz Guriajhar LPS No Niz Garuajhar Bhergaon Darrang

69 Mothedi LPS Mothedi Socheng K. Anglong

70 Phonglanso LPS Phunglanso Socheng K. Anglong

71 Mukhim Mukhin LPS Socheng K. Anglong

72 Mailoo Disau LPS Mailoo Disau Socheng K. Anglong

73 Teteliguri LPS Koncjuk Atoi Langsomepi K. Anglong

74 Waisong LPS Haldiati Langsomepi K. Anglong

75 Lonbinik Nodi LPS Disobai Langsomepi K. Anglong

76 No. 2 Bithilangso LPS Bithilangso Somelangso K. Anglong

77 Takelangjun LPS Takelangjun Somelangso K. Anglong

78 Vr War Govt. LPS Vr War Govt. Somelangso K. Anglong

79 Langlogso LPS Langlogso Somelangso K. Anglong

80 Borlangpher LPS Borlangpher Lumbajong K. Anglong

81 Karia Tarang LPS Tari Adong Lumbajong K. Anglong

82 Thaiphungdisa LPS Dhansiri Lumbajong K. Anglong

55
83 Ch. Langharang LPS Nathenglangso Diyangbra N.C. Hills

84 Probdisa LPS Probdisa Diyangbra N.C. Hills

85 Noyapur LPS Digandu Diyangbra N.C. Hills

86 Palaipa LPS Palaipa hadi Diyangbra N.C. Hills

87 B. Langku LPS Kriminglangdisa Diyangbra N.C. Hills

88 Narsingwari LPS Narsingwari Diyangbra N.C. Hills

89 Khanlung Bagicha LPS Towkok Pachim Abhoypur Sivasagar

90 No. 3 Gowalapathar LPS Sonari Pachim Abhoypur Sivasagar

91 Arunodoy LPS Abhoipur Pachim Abhoypur Sivasagar

92 Hatigadhoi LPS Hatiali Panitola Dibrugarh

93 Deodhai LPS Naduwa Panitola Dibrugarh

94 Balijan Chaiding LPS Dinjoy Panitola Dibrugarh

95 Amguri LPS Chabua Pulunga Panitola Dibrugarh

96 Potlungamara LPS Ranchangi Panitola Dibrugarh

97 Bindhakata LPS Bindhakata Balijan Panitola Dibrugarh

98 Kangikhowa Abhyasan LPS Jerai Panitola Dibrugarh

56
 Implementing the KGBV Scheme in Meghalaya: Findings Based on Field Visit

Introduction

The evaluation team visited the only KGBV in the State of Meghalaya on 28th November,
2007 which is located in the village Baljeh Agal, Jengjal, West Garo Hills, Meghalaya. The
KGBV visited is being run and managed by NGO St. Anthony’s Mission as given in the
prospectus of the NGO but when the team visited the KGBV, the MOU shown to the team
revealed that the agreement was made with NGO, named as the Catholic Church, Baljeh
Agal. The NGO has a prior experience of running educational institutions. They have formal
school just half kilometer away form the KGBV and enjoy a good credibility with the local
community and the State Government.

The State did not provide any guidelines regarding the selection of the NGO in the absence of
which the then Deputy Commissioner of West Garo Hills had entrusted the work of running
the KGBV to the NGO and all the files related to the KGBV were handed over to the secretary
in charge of St. Anthony’s mission. All the information regarding the dropout girls was given to
the secretary of the NGO and the NGO selected the girls for the KGBV.

Whether objectives of the KGBV being met

• The team found that State Project Office communicated all the GOI Guidelines to the
district implementing authority i.e. Deputy Commissioner, West Garo Hills but the
Deputy Commissioner formulated his own guidelines not fully in consonance with the
guidelines of GOI.
• The State has adopted the model II for functioning of the KGBV i.e. 50 girls although
the number of out of school girls is 1197 in the educational backward block of
Romrang (as given in the Annx).
• The Romrang block has population of out of school girls from indigenous origin and
other religions but the school admitted girls from a particular religion only.
• The school is running lower level primary classes though KGBV is meant for classes V
to VIII.
• The minimum age for admission to KGBV has been given in the prospectus as 10
years but in MOU the minimum age is 12 years.
• For the last fifteen months, since the inception of the KGBV the management is just
running bridge courses and they have not upgraded the girls to the formal upper
primary classes.
• The KGBV Scheme could not reach to the more marginalized and hard to reach girls
as the work for the selection of girls was carried out by to the NGO without any
selection criteria.
• As observed by the team not all categories like SC, OBC and Minorities were
represented during the selection of the girls for KGBV as appeared in DISE data.
• The retention rate at KGBV is very poor. The benefits of KGBV could not be sustained
even for girls who were enrolled. There were 62 girls enrolled out of which 25 dropped
out.

57
 • As per the objectives of KGBV, the girls have to be enrolled in the upper primary
classes but the team observed that neither the girls were enrolled in primary classes
nor in upper primary classes.

1. Infrastructure

• The KGBV is running in a newly constructed own building. The land measuring two
bigas was donated to the NGO by the local person. This Land belongs to the NGO
and not to the SSA Society. Funds for construction of KGBV were made available by
the Government through the KGBV funds and District Rural Development Agency,
West Garo Hills. The construction work was monitored by the NGO concerned.

• The KGBV complex covering 5206 sq. feet area was completed within a period of 22
weeks. The KGBV residential school has one 60-bedded dormitory for the students
and one room for the staff; one dining room and kitchen each for the staff and the
students; 3 class rooms; 1 work room; 7 toilet without taps and 1 bath room; 5 water
tanks and one multipurpose shed, drying place etc. This shed could accommodate at
least 100 students for group activities as well as for common instruction, seminars,
camps etc.

• The school building clearly indicated that considerable effort has gone in selecting and
constructing the building. There is enough space in front of the school which is
generally used by girls as playground. There is one huge dormitory which
accommodates all the sixty girls, however when the building was getting constructed
care could have been taken to make two dormitories instead of one as it would have
taken care of noise pollution. It could have also provided some privacy to girls and
girls could have enough space near the beds to sit and study or carry out some
activities. In one dormitory there are 65 beds which give a cramped look and do not
provide enough space to girls to carry out small activities as getting dressed, sitting
and doing other activities. The toilets were sufficient in number and clean but they did
not have regular supply of water. The girls had to draw water from the tanks and use
for toilets.

• The front space in front of toilet had two taps which the school authorities said were
used as bath area. There was no separate place for bathroom as the team was told
that the girls are not used to having bath in closed spaces, they prefer having bath in
open space near the water tanks. This the team felt was matter of concern and
separate bathrooms should have been constructed when the building was being
constructed. The girls should be taught to have bath in bathrooms. Having bath in
open spaces can have drainage problem and changing clothes in open space can
pose a problem for their security as they are adolescent girls.
• There was no room for chowkidar and cook to stay in the campus. The authorities did
not keep chowkidar as they wanted to keep a female chowkidar which they could not
get. They did not want to keep male chowkidar. The cook was also female and there
wan no helper. The team felt that the condition of having only female chowkidar was
not appropriate and the authorities should keep a chowkidar for safety of the girls.

• There was a separate land with the NGO near the KGBV which they use for growing
vegetables and they teach the girls how to grow vegetables.

58
 • The classroom, dormitory, kitchen and toilets were reasonably well ventilated and
clean. Adequate water supply has been ensured for cooking, washing, bathing and
drinking in the KGBV, there were no constraints regarding water as the State has
enough rainfall and water was collected in five tanks through rain harvesting.

• The classrooms were spacious and had good quality desks and benches. There were
big blackboard in the classes with teachers’ chairs and tables. The classrooms did not
display any teaching learning material; all the walls of the classroom were blank
without any charts and timetable. There was no indication of the category of the class
and subjects taught in the classrooms. When enquired it was told that since girls were
going for two months holiday from the next day so everything including TLM was kept
inside the office which seemed to be inappropriate as there was no indication on the
walls that there was any display of charts on them.

• The girls were provided with one mattress, one bed sheet, one blanket and one towel.
The other things like bath soap, washing soap, hair oil, shoes, socks, uniform, bag,
trunks to keep clothes etc were purchased by girls themselves. None of these items
were given by KGBV management. The team felt that the girls should at least be
provided with two bed sheets and two blankets as it is easier to wash and use and
moreover it is very cold in Maghalaya, one blanket is not sufficient during winters.

• The KGBV had three sewing machines on which the girls were taught sewing and had
one typewriter to teach girls typing but it was not in use as they did not have staff to
teach typing. A part time teacher was called for teaching girls sewing as told by the
NGO functionaries.

• One typewriter and three sewing machines are not sufficient for teaching sixty two
girls. The TLE grant was not utilized as there was no provision of any equipment like,
computer, T.V., DVD etc. and other TLM material.

• There was no sport items in the KGBV when asked the warden said that girls play
kabadi.

2. Access and Enrolment

• In the district of West Garo, the total population of children in the age group of 6-14
years is 96,359 and the children enrolled in this age group are 91,883 this means that
there are still 4,476 children who are out of school. In the EBB block of Rongram the
girl population in the age group of 6-14 yrs is 5,373 and the girls enrolled in school are
4,176 which means that there are still 1,197 girls out of school. Out of these only 62
girls were enrolled in the KGBV and from these 62 only 37 retained which shows that
there are still 1160 girls who are still out of school (as per the data provided by the
State Project Office). The block has 234 habitations with 8770 households. The girls
for KGBV have been randomly selected from the five centers of bridge courses. All
this shows that the entire block has not been equally represented. The KGBV does not
have a representation of all marginalized categories like SC, OBC, minorities and BPL.
All girls belong to Christian community, which seems to have been done purposely by
the NGO i.e. the Catholic Church while selecting the girls and it does not seems to be
a matter of coincidence.

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 • The selection procedure based on age, socio-economic background marginalized
group and girls who have dropped out have not been followed. The girls who are
above fifteen have also been enrolled in the KGBV. The team when studied the MOU
it was revealed that the minimum age for selection of girls was kept as 12 yrs.

• Given the targeted nature of KGBV, its relevance as well as the generous budget
allocation, it is important that efforts are made continuously to maintain optimal
enrolment. There were no efforts made by the NGO to bring back the girls to the
school. The school was not able to raise the confidence of the parents as the girls
were not sent back to the school by the parents after vacations.

• The girls are not enrolled in the KGBV to a particular class according to their ages.
There were three girls who were class V dropout and were enrolled for bridge course
for the last fifteen months. The team felt that these girls should have been enrolled at
least in fifth standard.

• The student’s are charged a sum of Rs. 100/- as security against damages to the
property or materials in the schools. They have to also bear the cost of uniform, bags
and trunks and daily necessities. This adversely effects the enrollment and retention
of girls in KGBV as evident from the dropout rate.

• The very fact that the KGBV management is not following the formal schooling pattern,
having less weightage in daily routine for teaching-learning activities, compulsory work
either in kitchen garden or collecting firewood or cooking, religious prayers for one and
a half hour, less time for sports and other co curricular activities and very rigid
environment has compelled the girls to leave the school.

3. Process of Mobilization for Enrolment

In the State and district briefing it was revealed that there were no set criteria or
strategy for mobilizing out of school girls for joining KGBV. There were no efforts
made to attract or motivate girls to join the KGBV. The State authorities had left every
thing to the NGO to select girls for residential courses and for KGBV. The district
never inquired nor help was sought by the NGO from the BRC and CRC for
mobilization of the parents. More coordinated effort is required between the NGO and
district authorities for mobilization of the community.

4. Retention

Retention of girls in the KGBV is not good. Initially 62 girls were enrolled but when the
team visited the KGBV there were only thirty seven. More efforts are also needed to
bring back girls who have dropped out as the KGBV still has vacancy. The BMC had
provided the list of 32 out of school girls to the NGO on 5th April, 2007 for their
enrollment in KGBV but till date the management has not done anything.

5. Environment

• The girls appeared to have settled down well in the KGBV. The nun of the NGO
working as warden of the school was found to be having a very enabling relationship
with children however the other teachers seemed to be a little discrete. The warden’s

60
 personal commitment was found to be of a high order. The team had interaction with
the girls; the girls were smart and well dressed but seemed to be little scared. They
were not opening out much, they seemed to have low self confidence.More activities
need to be incorporated in their daily routine to raise their self confidence and self
esteem.

• One full time teacher was staying in the school campus but her services were not used
for other activities except for the school hours from 9:45 am to 3:00 pm. Kitchen
garden was being maintained in the KGBV by the warden and the cook with the help
of the girls. The girls were made to help the cook in cutting vegetables, cooking food
and getting fire wood from nearby forest. The girls were also given duties for cleaning
the entire school and toilets. The team felt that girls should not be sent out for getting
fire wood as there is provision in the financial budget for procuring fire wood.

• There was ample of space for out door activities in the school but no sports items were
there in the school and the sister of the church being warden of the school did not
organize much sports activities, she herself did not seem interested in sports activities.
The whole school had a much disciplined look. The school campus was very near the
church building and other formal school so the campus was secure for girls. There
was no telephone facility available in the school; the team felt that telephone facility
should be provided to the warden for smooth functioning of the KGBV and also to meet
out any emergency.

6. Routine

There were no specific instruction given by the state and the district authorities about
the daily routine of the school. The NGO is having an experience of running formal
schools so the warden and teachers had made their own routine. The girls were not
much aware about the routine and there was no written format pasted on the dormitory
or in the classroom regarding the daily routine or time table to be followed by the girls.
The girls were responding differently and were not clear about the duration of time for
which they carry out various activities in the KGBV. The warden when asked about it
she gave the daily routine as under which is slightly different from the routine given in
prospectus.

Daily Routine Given by Warden Hostel Time Table and Daily

Routine as per Prospectus
5.30 am Wake up 05.00 am Rising
5.30 am – 6.30 am Getting ready 05.30 am study
6.30 am – 7.45 am Morning prayer 06.30am Prayer
7.45am – 8.45 am Cleaning, getting firewood 07.30 am Morning Job
(as per roaster)
8.45 am – 9.30 am Meals 08.45 am Meals
9.30 am – 9.45 am Assembly 09.30 am Leaves for School

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9.45 am – 11.35 am I and II Period 12.00 noon Tea
11.35 am – 11.40 Five minutes break 03.30 pm Social work
am
11.40 am – 12.35 III period 04.30 pm Games
pm
12.35 pm – 1.20 pm Tea Break 05.30 pm Bath
1.20 pm – 3.00 pm IV and V period 06.00 pm Meals
3.00 pm – 6.00 pm Rest or girls are free to 07.00 pm Prayer
carry out any activity)
6.00 pm – 6.30 pm Rosary 08.00 pm Study
6.30 pm – 7.00 pm Dinner 08.15 pm Recess
09.00 pm News/TV

Routine for Holidays & Sundays

05.30 am Rising
0.6.30 am Prayer
07.30 am Morning Job
08.45 am Meals
09.30 am Study
10.30 am Recreation/Practices
12.00 noon Tea
01.00 pm Cleaning
02.30 pm Work
07.00 pm Quiz/Competitions/Camp Fire etc.

In the routine there is no supervised activity as it is physically not possible for one warden to
supervise all the activities of the school. The warden was not aware that other full time
teachers and part time teachers’ service could be utilized for supervising the various activities
of the girls. The present routine does not have provision for developing reading skills as there
is no library and reading material for girls, Reading Library books should be encouraged.
There is no set pattern for supervised study, the girls study on their own. Opportunities should
be provided to girls for enhancing their self esteem and self confidence through life skills
training or organizing activities like children’s wall paper, magazine, debate quiz etc. The daily
routine has less weight age for formal studies and more time for carrying out labour work and
religious prayer. This is against the child labor act and the principle of secularism. There is
no provision for sport and physical activities in the daily routine.

7. Food

No definite weekly menu has been planned for KGBV; children usually have two times
meal one in the morning and one in the evening. They have tea break around 1.20 pm

62
 where tea is served. Rice is the staple diet and hence it is provided in the morning and
evening along with a vegetable and dal. Since most of the girls are non-vegetarian the
same is provided to the girls thrice a week. Twice in a week the student are given egg.
Dry fish is also provided for the dinner. There is no provision of milk and it is a cultural
practice to have tea with out milk. Though access to vegetables was difficult, attempts
to grow local vegetables were evident in the KGBV. Wood was used as a fuel for
cooking as supply of LPG was not dependable. The girls of the KGBV themselves go
to the jungle to cut fire wood.

For the KGBV there is a female cook but from the discussion it emerged that as there
was no other help, the girls were helping the cook in washing, cleaning and cutting
vegetables. There was no provision for providing fruits to the girls.

8. Quality of Education

• As per the discussions with the district officials and NGO staff it emerged that the list
of out of school children is provided to the NGO by the CRC coordinator. The NGO
then select girls (on what basis it is done was not made clear) to be admitted in bridge
course under NPEGEL which they name it as KGBV School Bridge Courses under
NPEGEL. The students for KGBV are selected from these bridge courses and
categorized into four groups depending on their ability to read and write

• All instructions are given in Garo, the mother tongue of the students. For easy
teaching the students have been divided into four groups according to their ability to
learn and grasp :

Group 1. Those that have never gone to a school nor have any educational background.
There are 9 students in this category
Group 2. Those that have some educational background like pre primary class I etc.
There are 14 students in this category
Group 3. Those that have been dropped out from classes 2 to 3. There are 13 students
in this group.
Group 4. Those who have completed primary education. There are 3 students in this
group.

• The first group is taught the language basics like the alphabets and numbers etc. The
second group is also introduced to the alphabets and also taught to use words and
sentences. The 3rd group is taught selected chapters of L.P. section and the fourth
group is made to revise selected chapters of classes 3 and 4. At the start students are
not provided with textbooks. Instead they have reading and writing practices normally
from the blackboards or from their notebooks.

• The school provides all learning materials prepared by the NGO and one notebook
each. Incase of damage, additional materials can be obtained at the payment of
actual price. The NGO functionaries said that in line with the directives of the
Government on KGBV, they had decided in the recent Managing Committee meeting
that a separate syllabus be developed suitable for the girls admitted in KGBV with the
help of DIET or other agencies dealing with school curriculum, but they were not able
to show the government directions to the team.

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• The books of the formal school are not taught at the present. This team felt should not
be done as the KGBV should be treated as formal residential school and moreover the
girls studying in KGBV would face the problem of mainstreaming if they follow different
curriculum. The most striking and erroneous thing that the team felt was that none of
the groups were taught environmental studies or social studies or science. They were
only being taught Garo, English and Maths of no particular class. The team during
interaction when asked certain concepts of EVS and social studies the girls were not
aware about it. They did not even know the capital of India. The school holds exam
every two months, the last exam was held in the month of October. The achievement
register when seen, it showed results varying from 17% to 96% in English, 36% to
92% in Garo and in Math’s 36% to 96%.

• None of the classrooms which were observed had any teaching learning material,
charts timetable or even calendar on the walls. The walls of the school and classroom
should be better utilized for various thoughts, slogans and other low cost teaching
learning material.

• Learning material has been provided to the girls but there was no library or reading
corner. It seemed from the interaction with girls that teaching was primarily textbook
oriented during the school hours.

• It is important that all the subjects should be taught at KGBV. The teachers need to
plan their classroom transaction with proper lesson planning. It is important that
teachers should be oriented to pedagogic principles and methods as they have not
received any such orientation so far. Interactions with children revealed that students
did not have knowledge about science and Hind language. It is important to
encourage scientific temperament in children with active exploration and
experimentation. The girls should be placed in age appropriate classes from class V
to VII. The state SSA should build capacities of the NGO through organized cross
visits, sharing bridge strategy materials and documentation as well as organize training
of NGO functionaries in this regard.

• Local song and dance seemed to be a feature of their free time. Vocational training
like stitching, mushroom cultivation, gardening is being provided to girls though this
training skill is at a very small scale. Vocational training remains weak. Much thought
has go into designing a vocational curriculum that complements the academic focus.

• Remedial learning was not done at the KGBV. The girls have school routine after
which they do self study on their own; there is no remedial teaching by full time or part
time teachers before or after the school hours. The teaching is exam oriented and as
such no learner centered holistic approach to teaching is applied.

• There has been no excursion for the girls. Excursions provide an excellent opportunity
for group work and self learning so excursions should be planned with rationale.

• Recruitment of female teachers for KGBV has been done by the school management
committee. There are 4 full time teachers. There is no science, mathematic, social
studies, art, sports and Hindi teachers. The teachers have been recruited on
contractual basis. The salary of the teachers is also not as per GOI norms.

64
 • One full time teacher and warden stay in the campus with the students, the rest
fulltime teachers stay outside the campus.

Particulars of Teachers Appointed in KGBV

S. No. Qualification Status Salary/month

1 B.S.W. Warden & 4000/-
Headmistress
2 B.A. & T.T.C. Asst. Teachers 3000/-
3 B.A. Asst. Teachers 3000/-
4 P.U. Asst. Teacher 2500/-
5 P.U. Office Assistant 2500/-
6 - Cook 1500/-

• The three full time teachers stay only during the school hours. Not all the teachers
have the desired qualification for teaching school subjects. There is no mathematics
and science graduate nor does the school has Hindi or Science teachers and except
one they all are untrained teachers. There were two untrained undergraduate full time
teachers who were paid less than the graduate teachers. The warden has BSW as
qualification which is not suitable for the post of the head of the institution. The
warden and one full time teacher are nuns and do not have requisite academic
qualification for teaching the formal subject at upper primary level. They have a
separate room, kitchen, dining space etc for themselves which is privilege provided to
them. They have not received any training from the state or district level SSA office.
The capacity building of teachers needs to be strengthened with a particular focus on
learner – centered pedagogy especially for older girls. The NGO functionaries when
asked they stated that they propose to approach the education department for
including the teachers for the normal training programmes conducted by the
department of education from time to time. Only warden is responsible for all the
activity of the girls, team felt that all the fulltime teachers especially the one staying in
the campus should also share the responsibility.

• Four full time teachers have been appointed and there is no part time teacher which is
not in accordance with the norms of GOI. There is no chowkidar for the KGBV.

• There is no academic support form the BRC/CRC, they do not visit the KGBV on
regular basis.

• The KGBV maintains records in the self designed format like school attendance, hostel
attendance, stock register, achievement register, but there were no health register and
there was no information on the health status of girls. There was no formal record of
parent meeting and community involvement. It would be useful for the state and NGOs
to jointly evolve a list of records to be maintained along with some details of how to
maintain the records.

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9. Parental / Community Perceptions

• The team reached the KGBV in the late afternoon due to the long distance to be
travelled and the parents could not be met. However the NGO functionaries told the
team that they share a good understanding with the community and the community
was aware about the functioning of the KGBV. Currently there is no committee with
parent participation that manages the school. Also no organized parent meetings are
held to discuss issues of children with parents. According to the Hostel rules parents
are allowed to meet the girls only on Thursdays from 8.00 am to 9.30 am and an
Sundays from 9.00 am to 10.00 am and 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm No visitors including
parents are allowed to enter the dormitory of the girls even for an urgent need in which
case the warden will intimate the students.

• It is suggested that parents meetings and community support is vital for sustaining the
KGBV school. Thus meeting with the community should be more often held to share
children’s progress and discuss any other issues.

10. Health, overall Development

• No comprehensive health camp was organized at the KGBV for girls at the time of
admission. Regular medical checkups have also not been organized by the NGO and
there was no health register maintained.

• The over all development of the girls has been good. The girls were taught poems and
were given little time to play. The girls when asked academic questions they were
able to answer and some of them have even embroidered handkerchiefs for
themselves and for their family members.

• Vocational training on embroidery, stitching, savings was given to girls. The team felt
that there was no regular sports activity though sports being a very important activity
for over all development of girls. There were no sports items like ball, cricket,
badminton etc. There was no regular sport period in their daily routine neither was
their any period for music, dance or any other hobby which the girls wanted to pursue.

• First aid box was there in the KGBV but regular supply of vitamins A, iron tablets,
deworming tablets needs provision.

11. Administration/Management of KGBV

A managing Committee consisting of the following members was formed to supervise and
manage the KGBV:

a) Chairman/President The Deputy Commissioner & Chairman, SSA, West Garo Hills.
b) Secretary The In charge, St. Anthony’s School and Mission, Baljek Agal
c) Ex-Officio Members The District Mission Coordinator, SSA, West Garo Hills
d) Nominated Members The Block Mission Coordinator, SSA West Garo Hills
The Girls’ Education Coordinator, SSA, West Garo Hills.
e) Five elected members including two teacher’s representatives.

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 • The committee does have District Mission Coordinator, SSA and Block Mission
Coordinator SSA as members of the managing committee but it was revealed that they
were never called for any meeting and they had no role to play in the activities of the
KGBV everything was done by the NGO functionaries without involving them. After the
change of new DC, now the district functionaries have been instructed to involve them
selves in all the activities of the KGBV.

12. Financial

• The guidelines issued by the State Project Office (SPO) to the DC and the DC with the
NGO functionaries have detailed out the norms suitable to them for running the KGBV.

• Regarding the financial utilization under the different budget heads, the team was
unable to get a clear picture. They were not giving the stipend money of Rs. 50 to the
girls and out of the Rs. 50 meant for writing material, Rs. 30 was spent by the girls and
Rs. 20 was handed over to the warden as saving of the girls to be paid back to the
girls at the time of their leaving the KGBV.

• The detailed break up of the expenditure under the broad heads was not provided. All
the procurement is done by NGO office and is not locally procured. It was found that
the budget on TLE and parents meeting was not being used.

• The team observed that there were financial irregularities like less salary being paid to
the teachers, procurement procedures not being followed, not following the staffing
pattern provided by GOI. Spending Rs. 35,85,241/- for a model structure estimated to
have been constructed for Rs. 15,00,000/- incurring expenditure on inadmissible items
like transportation, maintenance, bridge course expenses etc.

13. Monitoring

• The NGO have not put in place any system of monitoring and review of progress of the
KGBVs. Neither the State Office nor the District Office has yet put in place a system of
regularly monitoring the work of the NGOs and the status of implementation of the
KGBV scheme.

14. Good Practices

• Convergence is done with the SJRY for construction of model structure of the KGBV
having spacious rooms, classrooms, toilets, activities room and enough space for
carrying out sport and co curricular activities.

15. Issues and Recommendations

• SSA – NGO partnership need to be better defined and strengthened by creating a

better understanding of the scheme to facilitate implementation. There should be
regular reviews that are jointly held by the two stakeholders to address some of the
academic support needs and some other emerging issues.

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• SSA officials and the NGOs need to understand that the KGBV is like any other
government school having the same rights and entitlements and ensure that the
warden and teachers become a part of monthly meetings held at the CRC and BRC
and this school must be included in DISE.

• The KGBV at present is running as a residential bridge course where students are not
taught according to a particular class but according to their level of understanding.
The girls enrolled are all 10 year plus and they are placed in group I,II or III level
instead of classes. By the time they would be taught for class V onward they would
be over age. These girls should be enrolled in upper primary classes and then taught
through remedial teaching to bring them at par to the level of classes to which they
are enrolled according to their age.

• The important subjects like Science, Social Studies or Environmental Studies and
Hindi are not taught to the girls. The girls should be taught these subjects with
immediate effect.

• A security of Rs.100 is charged from the girls at the time of admission which should
not be charged by the NGO as it would defeat the purpose of KGBV to enroll girls
from marginalized groups. An amount of Rs. 20 is also deposited with the NGO from
the writing material grant for girls as their savings which should also be avoided. The
girls in turn should be provided with tooth paste, brush, uniform, chappals, socks,
shoes, sanitary napkin, bathing soaps, school bags, trunks etc.

• Only one bed sheet, one blanket is provided to girls which is not sufficient especially
in winters. At least two bed sheets and two blankets should be provided.

• It would be useful for the State and NGOs to jointly prepare a list of records to be
maintained along with some details of the records to be maintained as per the format
prescribed by the State.

• The State SSA needs to get its data base in all aspects of the KGBV implementation,
and basic to this would be to put a monitoring system in place.

• The data on out of school children for every EBB should be used to generate a list of
10+ years dropout and never enrolled girls in the blocks. A criteria should be set to
select the girls who are most deserving from this list of out of school girls to be enrolled
in existing KGBV and the new KGBVs.

• Teachers in the KGBVs need to be provided induction in-service training as a part of

the teacher training programme like other Government school teachers.

• Enable teachers to plan the content and classroom processes appropriate to the
KGBV. This may be through a structured peer interaction and with some support form
BRC/CRC or experts. This would help mainstream the KGBVs with the regular school
education system in the State.

• Teacher orientation in child-centered methods and pedagogy seem to be critical. They

need to be oriented in assessment methods to place children in appropriate levels of
learning.

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 The salary to the teachers and to the contractors was not paid for three months at
the Panitola KGBV due to the absence of appropriate authority at district level. Due
care should be taken to ensure that funds are released from district level to the
block in time so that the staff gets salary on time.

Not all the subjects taught at KGBVs have subject wise teachers and they are
graduates of subjects which are not school subjects. During recruitment care
should be taken that each subject representation is there in the qualification of the
teachers.

The daily schedule of the KGBV needs change so as to utilize the day more
efficiently for learning. The focus in the daily routine should be more on learning
activities rather than going for cutting firewood and spending more time on prayer.

• No school education committees with parent participation have been formed also no
organized parent meetings are held to discuss issues of children. Parent meetings be
organized at regular interval to share girls’ progress and discuss any other issues.

• Neither the State Office nor the District Office has yet put in place a system of regularly
monitoring the work of the NGOs and the status of implementation of the KGBV
scheme.

Note :

On the whole it is was seen that the present NGO is running the KGBV as a residential
bridge course center for one particular religious community violating most of GOI
guidelines. Hence team strongly suggests that the responsibility to run the KGBV
should be entrusted to the SSA Society instead to NGO.

69
Implementing the NPEGEL Scheme in Meghalaya : Findings Based on Field Visit

The evaluation team was briefed about the NPEGEL activities by the state official on 28th
November, 2007. The state officials in the meeting clearly mentioned that NPEGEL scheme
has been stopped in the State. This activity was being carried out in only one EB block but in
the year 2006-07 the same was no more a EB block as the gender parity index in this block
was higher than the national index. The funds for NPEGEL were discontinued from the year
2006-07.

‘The extracts of the PAB meeting held for 2006-07 as provided to the team are placed below’:

• As per list of EBBs provided by MHRD to the Appraisal Teams no block qualifies for
the scheme now.
• The Gender gap provided by the state for previously approved Rongram block was as
per 2001 census, The minutes clearly stated that. “Since no fresh proposal can be
approved under NPEGEL the state can sustain the activities started under NPEGEL
for girls’ education under the innovative component of girls”.
• The NPEGEL activities in the Rongram block was discontinued as per the decision
taken in the PAB meeting vide letter of State Project Director to district mission
coordinator, West Garo Hlls district dated 9th October, 2006.
• Till 28th February, 2006 the state received Rs. 12.82 lakhs under the NPEGEL
scheme. The state spent Rs. 9.65 lakhs for carrying out the following activities (as per
the discussion and papers provided to the team).
-Construction of additional five classroom Rs. 9 lakhs
-Community mobilization in five clusters Rs. 65,000/-

The NPEGEL though has been discontinued but the team visited the model cluster school at
Rongram United Secondary School, Rongram. The construction of the additional room was
taken up by the school management committee. The team was not shown the records on the
details of the expenditure incurred. But the cluster coordinator who is also the Headmaster of
the middle school informed the team that the cost of construction to two rooms was Rs. 2 lacs.
The amount of Rs. 2 lacs was not sufficient to construct two rooms thus the community also
contributed in the construction cost in the form of construction material and free labour cost.
Drinking water facility was made available through SSA funds and electrification was carried
out by community participation.

Beside these no other activities under NPEGEL scheme were carried out in the Model Cluster
School.

As per the figures provided by the state the number of boys enrolled in upper primary schools
is 76,693 and the girls enrolled are 77,654 which is higher than the boys enrolment. The
population of out of school children in the age group of 6-14 years is 37,234 out of which
16,681 are girls and 20,553 are boys. This shows that there are more girls who are enrolled
and more boys who are out of school. The gender gap also ranges from 9.06 to 16.67 which
is better than the national average. Thus the team feels that any special programme like
NPEGEL is not required for the State.

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 Status of Education in Meghalaya

The State of Meghalaya has a population of 23.18 lakhs:

• The majority of the population is of Scheduled Tribes i.e. 85.94%
• The gross literacy rate of the State is 63.31% with female literacy rate
being 60.41%
• According to the house hold survey, the total number of habitations is
7171 of which 6057 habitations have access to primary education and
those having access to upper primary education is 1617
• The out of school children stand at 1.51 lakhs
• The PTR at primary level is 1:29 and that at Upper Primary level is 1:24
• GER at Elementary, Primary and Upper Primary level is 82.98%, 101,
37% and 57.44% respectively
• NER at Elementary, Primary and Upper Primary level is 58.08%, 70.96%
and 40.21%.

MEGHALAYA

Project Details of 2003-04 Proposal (2004-05) Recommendations (2004-

05)
PAB Utilization Balance Spill Spill Fresh Total Spill Fresh Total
Approval Over Over Over
SSA 4022.64 705.11 3317.53 954.25 954.25 4785.76 5740.01 954.25 4460.04 5414.29
NPEGEL 5.63 0.33 5.30 2.30 2.30 14.40 16.70 2.30 10.53 12.83
Total 4028.27 705.44 3322.83 956.55 956.55 4800.16 5756.71 956.55 4470.57 5427.12

RONGRAM E.B. BLOCK

The Population of the Block was 55475 persons with 26143 males and
29314 females. 26924 were total workers with 73.6% Agricultural Workers,
9.5% Agricultural Labourers, 2.3% engages in Household Industry and 14.6%
engaged in other works.

71
 Statement Showing Approved AWP and B for NPEGEL,
Achievement of NPEGEL and Funds Released to NPEGEL States
(Position of Expenditure, GOI Released, State Share Received for NPEGEL Till 28th Feb., 2006)

Activities approved under NPEGEL for 2005-06

No. Activities Target Achievement
(Till 28th Feb., 2006)
Phy Fin Phy Fin
1 No. of Model Cluster Schools 5 5 5.00
2 No. of Girls Enrolled in Model Cluster 260
Schools
3 Additional Incentives
3 No. of Girls Benefited 260
(a)
3 (b) Type of Incentives
4 Please mention the Type of Activities
undertaken
4 (a) Student Evaluation
4 (b) Remedial Teaching
4 (c) Bridge courses 5 4
4 (d) Any other
5 No. of ECCE Centers 4 3.00 Nil
6 No. of Teachers traibed on Gender
Sensitization
7 Community Mobilisation in Clusters 5 0.63 5 0.65
8 Total No. of Girls Benefiting from NPEGEL 260
Civil Works
9 Additional Classroom / Activity Centers 3 6.90 5 4.00
10 Toilets
11 Drinking Water
12 Electrification
13 Others
Financial Details (Rs. In lakhs)
14 Approved AWP and B 2005-06 Spill Over 8.20

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 Unspent BF 6.41
15 Funds Released by GOI 4.81
16 State Share received 1.60
17 Total Funds received 12.82
18 Expenditure incurred 9.65

NPEGEL Progress Report

No. Activity Description Target 2006-07 Achievement as Percentage

on 31-12-2006 (%)
Phy Phy
NPEGEL
1 No. of Districts 1 1 100
2 No. of EBBs 1 1 100
3 No. of Urban Slums
4 No. of Clusters 5 4 80
5 No. of Clusters in Urban Slums
6 (i) No. of MCS (Cumulative) 5 4 80
6 (ii) No. of Girls Enrolled in MCS
7 (i) Const. of Addl. Classrooms 5 4 80
7 (ii) Toilets
7 (iii) Drinking Water
7 (iv) Electrification 5 1 20
8 Award to Best School /
Teacher
9 (i) Remedial Teaching (No. of
Girls)
9 (ii) Student Evaluation (No. of
Girls)
9 (iii) Bridge Courses (No. of Girls) 150 124 82.66
10 Girls Learning through Open
Schools
11 Teacher Training
12 (i) No. of ECCE Centers opened

73
 under NPEGEL (Non ICDS
area)
12 (ii) No. of Children Covered in
these Centers
13 Primary (Additional Incentives)
No. of Girls Covered
14 Upper Primary (Additional
Incentives) No. of Girls
Covered
15 Community Mobilization (No. 500 405 81
of People Trained)

Expenditure Incurred under NPEGEL during 2006-07

No. State Outlay Opening Funds State Total Expenditure % of

Approved Balance Released Share Funds Incurred as Expenditure
in 2006 by GOI Received Available on 31st Dec.,
2006 2006
1 Meghalaya Nil 6.12 lakh - - 6.12 Nil

74
 NPEGEL Progress Report

State: Meghalaya
No. Activity Description Target 2006-07 Achievement as on
31st Aug., 2006
Phy Fin Phy Fin
NPEGEL
1 No. of Districts 0 1
2 No. of EBBs 1
3 No. of Urban Slums - 14.22 L
4 No. of Clusters 0 -
5 No. of Clusters in Urban Slums 0 -
Non Recurring Grants
Civil Works
6 Const. of Addl. Classrooms 0 0.00
including toilets, Drinking Water,
Electrification
TLE
7 One time grant of TLE, Library, 0 0.00
Sports, Vocational Training, etc.
8 Maintenance of school and part time 0 0.00
instructor to MCS, etc.
9 Award to best School / teacher 0 0.00
10 Students Evaluation, Remedial 0 0.00
Teaching, Bridge Courses and
Alternative Schools
11 Learning through Open Schools 0 0.00
12 Teacher Training 0 0.00
13 Child Care Centers 0 0.00
14 Additional Incentives
Primary 0 0.00
Upper Primary 0 0.00
Sub Total 0 0.00
15 Community Mobilization and 0 0.00
Management Cost
Sub Total
Total (NPEGEL)
Source: Target taken from PAB Minutes, 2006-07

75
 Report of National Evaluation
KGBV and NPEGEL programme in Haryana
November 2007

Ms. Sharda Jain

Ms. Kameshwari Jandhyala

Evaluation of KGBV and NPEGEL programme in Haryana

I. Introduction

A review of the KGBV and NPEGEL programmes in Haryana was undertaken as part of
the national review of the KGBV programme commissioned by Government of India.
The Review Mission consisting of Ms.Kameshwari Jandhyala and Dr. Sharada Jain
visited Haryana during 26th to 29th November, 2007. The Mission places on record its
deep appreciation of the open and frank discussions with SSA officials and the support
extended during the field visits.

The review process included interactions and discussions with a wide range of people-
Senior SSA officials, students and staff of the KGBVs, and students, teachers, BRCs and
CRCs at the MCS. The Evaluation started with a briefing at the SPO at Chandigarh,
where the Mission had an opportunity to discuss the 2 programmes with
Shri.Raghavendra Rao, SPD SSA and other state level SSA officials that provided a good
background within which this review could be located.

Field visits were made in 2 districts of Jind and Mewat. The Mission visited 2 KGBVs (
one each in Jind and Mewat Districts) and 5 Model Cluster Schools (MCS) in the 2
districts. Detailed Itinerary is at Annexure-I

II The KGBV programme

The KGBV programme became operational from middle of 2006. At the time of the visit
of the Mission all the 9 sanctioned KGBVs had started and were at various stages of
functioning, with 3 KGBVs having been started just a month ago. Given the recent
launch of the programme the Mission appreciates the proactive state leadership in getting
the KGBV programme fully operational.

Haryana has 36 EBBs spread over 10 districts. The KGBV programme has been started
in 3 of these districts. 8 out the 9 KGBVs are located in the 2 districts of Jind and Mewat
and 1 is in Kaithal district. The majority f the KGBVs are located in Mewat district which
has a high concentration of Muslim minority population.

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Haryana opted for Type I i.e. residential school for 100 girls. As some of the KGBVs
have started very recently enrolment has not reached the optimal level as per the type of
KGBV. See Table I below for details

II Implementing partners

The government decided to implement the KGBV programme in partnership with NGOs.
6 KGBVs that were started in 2006 are run by reputed NGOs that have experience of
running educational institutions. In Jind 1 KGBV is run by Sir Chhotu Ram Trust and in
Mewat 5 are run by a quasi governmental society, the Mewat Model School Society that
had been set up by the Mewat Development Agency.

As there was a poor response to the advertisement inviting NGOs to run the balance 3
KGBVs, it was decided to give 1 more KGBV to the Mewat Model School Society, and 2
have been started under the aegis of the District Child Welfare Society.

The Mission was informed that each of the partners has brought in their own resources to
the KGBV in various ways. For instance the Mewat Model School Society has its own
vast school infrastructure/academic resources that have been used for the KGBV as well.
Both the partner NGOs demonstrate a great degree of commitment to the cause of girl’s
education and give hope that in their hands the KGBV programme would realize its
stated objectives.

II. Infrastructure

Starting civil works has been slow. The Mission was informed that some of the delay
resulted from problems faced in acquisition of land for construction of the KGBV. The
State has required that each KGBV be established in a 3 acre campus, a requirement the
Mission fully endorses and appreciates as it gives ample opportunity to develop a fully
equiped campus that could include a good playground. This has also meant that there
have been delays in the acquisition of land and consequently construction of the KGBV
school-cum hostel.

At Jind the Mission saw one KGBV that is nearing completion. The design of the hostel
building provides ample space for boarding (2 large dormitories), a separate warden’s
room, a library cum study room, dining room, large kitchen with a separate wash area,
and 8 bathing stalls and 8 toilets. The proposal is to get bunk beds and also provide some
storage space for each child. The courtyard in the middle of the hostel is a good design
feature where the girls could meet in the free time. As the KGBV is on a 3 acre plot a
separate block of classrooms have been built. It is anticipated that this KGBV would be
completed very shortly.

Several issues were raised regarding the involvement of NGOs in running the KGBVs.
The State concerns related to ownership of land and other assets, and continuance of

77
teacher salaries once the project comes to an end. Some clear guidelines in this regard are
being sought.

78
II.1 Some issues regarding the interim arrangements for the KGBV

In the interim, except for 1 KGBV in Jind, all the others in Mewat are being run as day
schools, with selected girls being bused to the KGBV everyday. As there is already a
provision under SSA of arranging transport for girls going to upper primary, the question
that arises is what if any is the necessity of considering these set of girls for boarding.

The Mission is of the view that running the KGBV as a day school means that the
opportunity for providing extra academic inputs such as life skills is being lost. The
Mission strongly suggests that from the next academic session the possibility of running
the KGBVs in rented premises as residential schools be explored. This is being done
across the country and there are some excellent examples of how even in limited spaces,
teachers and students have created a very good learning environment.

In Jind the KGBV is running as a residential facility in a primary school that is also
located within the campus where the KGBV building is being built. All the basic
furniture such as bedding, tables, chairs, a fully equipped kitchen has been provided for.
One fortunate aspect is that there is ample water availability.

III. Targeting and Social/ educational profile of girls in the KGBVs

It is heartening to see that marginal groups as the figures demonstrate have been reached
as per the guidelines. See Table I below for details.

Table I: Enrolment in KGBVs as on 21.11.07

SL No Location Block District SC BC Meo BPL Total
1. Hathin Hathin Mewat 24 12 12 22 70
2. Punhann Punhanna Mewat 9 13 43 5 70
3. F.Jhirka F.Jhirka Mewat - 16 48 64
4. Nagina Nagina Mewat 2 2 29 2 35
5. Taoru Taoru Mewat 6 2 27 - 35
6. Nuh Nuh Mewat 1 16 18 35
7. Safakheri Uchana Jind 16 26 8 50
8. Fulia Khurd Narwana Jind 14 9 8 31
9. Rajound Rajound Kaithal 19 10 6 35
Total 86 98 169 47 415
Source: SSA Haryana, November 2007

III.1 Selection process

The modalities for identifying girls for the KGBV were primarily through issuing of
pamphlets. It was reported that ABRCs and NGOs were also involved in village visits
and in identification of prospective girls. By and large the selection seems to depend on
the applications received in response to the advertisement after which final selection is
made on the basis of social marginalization.

79
The Mission draws attention to the fact that this modality may not be the most effective
strategy, as the poorest may not respond to an advertisement. A detailed block mapping
of out of school girls needs to be done to zero in on the neediest. The Mission was
informed that such a process has been initiated and from next year onwards would
perhaps inform the selection process.

What needs to be noted is that by and large all the girls admitted in the KGBVs have
completed class 5 and have come from school to the KGBV. During the field visit the
Mission met very few girls who were actually drop outs. The Mission was informed that
as parents were unwilling to send the girls outside the village; these girls are potential
drop outs. In Mewat, for instance, where girls have to travel anywhere between 3-5 kms
to go to an upper primary school, parents prefer to send their girls to the hostel. At one
level it is heartening to see the mobilization of Meo girls and the active support of the
parents for their education.

It is important however, to get girls who have been out of school for more than a year and
at the same time have a process whereby the most likely to drop out are enrolled in the
KGBV. Efforts need to be made to get girls from areas where upper primary access is
difficult because of distance or strong societal barriers that do not allow girls to travel for
education. Given the fact that the Government of Haryana has decided to provide
transportation facility for girls to attend upper primary schools, the selection process and
criteria maybe revisited. The Mission once again reiterates the critical need to map the
status of girls education at the block level both in terms of out of school girls and pockets
where upper primary access is difficulty and could contribute to a large of number of
girls being potential drop outs.

IV. Teachers/wardens

All the teachers in the 2 KGBVs the Mission visited are certified teachers. In Jind where
the KGBV is a residential school, there are 3 full time teachers, with one of them also
being a warden. In the KGBV run by the Mewat Model School Society there are 2
teachers as enrolment is currently low. The Mission was impressed with the open
interactions between the teachers and the students and the eagerness of the teachers to
learn new ways to improve their teaching approaches.

Except for some briefing, the teachers/ warden have not received any specific inputs on
how to run a residential school. Further the brief interactions with the teachers indicated
that though almost all children have formally completed class V, most of the girls did not
have the requisite class V competencies. In such a situation the teachers have been left to
their own devises to work out ways of handling multilevel learning situations in each
KGBV. The Mission commends the efforts of the teachers in handling such a situation.
The teachers are looking for support and inputs in this area. There is an urgent need to
provide training to all KGBV teachers in multi level teaching methodologies.

80
V. Enriched curriculum

The KGBVs follow the state syllabus and the teaching is centered on transaction of the
complete syllabus. As of now there is no clear understanding or direction on an enriched
curriculum. In the one residential KGBV at Jind, teachers and wardens have made some
effort to encourage creative skills such as singing, some theatre, sewing and games. The
role of the warden becomes very critical in providing such inputs. It appears that wardens
have not really received any inputs on the role they can play in helping the adolescent
girls to understand and cope with issues of adolescence.

As most of the girls are at the age of puberty, there is an urgent need to incorporate a
strong life skills component. The 2 NGO partners and the teachers running the KGBVs
need support to understand what life skills are, why it is important for girls and how it
can be transacted with the girls. SSA needs to play a pro-active role in developing this
component as well as in providing training and resource support to the 2 NGOs. Within
SSA itself the gender coordinators themselves need perspective building and training to
be able to provide resource support to the KGBVs.

The Mission is concerned that no attention is being paid to the issues of adolescence. As
most girls are in the puberty age or have attained puberty, girls need to be educated on
personal hygiene as well as to understand the emotional and physical changes taking
place. As part of vocational training, girls could be trained in the preparation of sanitary
napkins. The inability to manage menstruation often leads to drop out or irregularity.
These inputs can very easily be given by the wardens. However, wardens themselves
need training and inputs on adolescent health, and the manner in which they can help the
girls in their overall development. The Mission was informed that SSA is in contact with
the Department of Health and Women and Child development on the issue of preparation
of sanitary napkins. The Mission urges that this issue be addressed as quickly as possible.

On the issue of life skills, the Mission suggests that inputs be provided not only to the
wardens but also to all the part-time teachers, BRCs as well as all the gender
coordinators. At the same time efforts need to be made to source material as well as
resource support on this from NGOs and programmes such as Mahila Samakhya.

VI. Community responses/ support

A range of activities have been undertaken as part of environment building and for
community mobilization. These included rallies, mobilizing senior female citizens (
Dadis and Nanis). The impact of this effort is showing results. The community is
supportive of the programme as was clearly evident in the interactions with
representatives of the community that included panchayat members, religious leaders,
parents and especially older women. This has been a commendable effort on the part of
SSA. The rationale of residential schooling for older girls in particular was well
articulated by a father who said at home the girl is not left alone to study and everyone
feels free to make demands of her time. And if she does not study she is scolded in school
for not performing well and at home if she spends her time studying she is scolded for not

81
fulfilling her household responsibilities. What was encouraging is that there seems to be
growing community consensus on the right of a girl to education.

Having recognized the benefits of the KGBV all the community leaders and parents one
met were unequivocal in their demand for extending the KGBV upto class X. ( As one
parent said,” Hum umeed lekar aye hai. Hamari baat sarkar tak pahuchaye).

82
VII. NPEGEL

Haryana has 10 districts that have 36 educationally backward blocks. In these EBBS
NPEGEL is being implemented in 326 clusters. The Mission visited 5 Model Cluster
schools in the districts of Jind and Mewat.

Table II and III below give details of achievement against targets as well the types of
incentives being given.

Table II: Achievement as on March 2007 was as follows:

Sl Activities Target Achievement as on
No. 2006-07 31.307
1. No.of clusters 326 326
2.(i) No. of MCS 326 326
(ii) Girls enrolled in MCS 261874 261874
3.(i) Const of addl.classrooms 86 73*
(ii) Toilets 86 86
(iii) Drinking water 86 86
(iv) Electrification 86 86
4. Award to best school/teacher 326 326
5.(i) Remedial teaching ( girls covered) 261874 231759(88.5%)
6. Teacher training 15506 15506
7.(i) ECCE under NPEGEL(non-ICDS area) 652 652
(ii) Children covered 19560 19560
8. No.of primary girls receiving additional 204180 68392
incentives
9. No.of upper primary girls receiving 57694 34186
additional incentives
10. Community mobilization (no.of people 20250 6750
trained)

VII.1 Community mobilisation

• Under community mobilization the efforts to involve older women has been an
effective strategy. In some villages older women have been mobilized to serve as
escorts to girls, and in a few cases the women stay at the school to escort the girls
back home. The Mission appreciates this strategy as it not only addresses the
security concerns of parents but also creates a space for older women to play a
key role in ensuring the education of girls.

Once again the Mission commends the effective mobilization strategy.

Community leaders and PTA members, especially older men (at Khor Basar
village) were emphatic in stating that girls needs education and beyond the
elementary level. In some cases they stated that the community would provide the
land for a good high school to be constructed. What was also being demanded is
an extra hour after school for girls to complete their homework as most of the

83
 adults are illiterate and not able to provide any academic support to the girls at
home. With community aspirations on the rise, the responsibility on the system
increases to provide quality education.

VII.2 Infrastructure and Convergence

• The Mission was informed that SSA is making efforts to converge with other
related departments such as Panchayati Raj for the provision of drinking water in
around 9,000 schools.
• The fact that toilet facilities are a basic necessity for girls in school and women
teachers, is yet to be internalized by school management. We visited 5 NPEGEL
Model Cluster Schools
1. One campus which had a girl’s primary school and Activity Centre for older girls
had no toilet facility. “It is under construction,” we were told. There were three
women teachers, who, to our surprise, were not complaining. “How do you
manage?” we asked. “We use the neighboring school facility,” they said. We
visited that: two dark, dingy, unkempt, small units with hardly any light even to
see whether it was clean or dirty!
2. Two other schools had very ‘unusable’ facilities. Girls and teachers had resorted
to some improvisations which they did not talk about.
3. One school had two well-constructed toilets with water arrangement through SSA
in 2005, but the ‘modern’ white tiles had turned black and dirty over the years,
and a rough jhadoo was kept in a corner to clean. . .totally mismatched to the tiled
floor. Very few girls seemed to be using it. “Outside is easier,” one girl said.

The KGBV situation is slightly different. The buildings which are being constructed
have a planned provision of adequate number of toilets. As yet, there is only one
residential KGBV. There the facilities appear to be satisfactory. What is missing here
also is the concept of upkeep and cleanliness as part of user’s responsibility. Girls are
fully dependant on the safai karamchari (“sweeper class”) to do the cleaning.
It was obvious that this matter was a low priority issue in the entire planning.
Not only is it important to provide appropriately designed toilets, but it is equally
important to detail a system for its upkeep. It needs to be made a necessary part of
quality education.

VII.3 Incentives
• Under the incentives a host of things are being given to the girls. During 2006-07
the incentives provided were as follows:
Table III: Incentives
Incentive No. of Beneficiaries
Cycles 11845
Jersies & Shoes with socks 4000
School Bags - 21852

Books for competitive exam 2500

84
 Dictionaries 1866
Cookery Kits 1400
Geometry box 600
School Uniform 2270
Candle Making Kit 600
The Mission was informed that depending on the need of a given block incentives
are decided. For example in some areas jersies and socks are a necessity given the
weather conditions. In all NPEGEL MCS Meena kits have been provided. Cycles
have been provided mainly for girls at the upper primary level and reportedly this
has resulted in better attendance and regularity of the girls. And not surprisingly
the cycle is the most popular of all the incentives with the girls.

VII.4 Teaching Learning Equipment and hobby classes

Under the teaching learning equipment, libraries, instruments for vocational

training have been provided. The major activity under the 5 MCS the Mission
visited seems to be the running of hobby classes. The main activities are candle
making, sewing, knitting and the making of decorative items such as flowers with
waste materials. Part time instructors have been appointed for running hobby
classes for girls in the 6th to 8th classes. This has been started recently from
September 2006.

VII.5 Functioning of the MCS

The MCS we visited presented studies in contrast. In one MCS in Jind that was
located within the campus of a higher secondary school there was little evidence
of how the additional room was being used, though we were informed that some
hobby classes are being held. In another MCS in Mewat, the possibility of how
the MCS could serve to attract older out of school girls seemed evident. Here the
children were desultorily engaged in some knitting and along with them there
were 4 older girls, who were quite obviously never enrolled girls. This was the
first instance that the Mission came across where older out of school girls seemed
to have been reached. But this seems more by chance than the result of a well
thought out strategy. What this suggests is the possibility of having well planned
skill training that could actually serve to attract older girls into the school system
and once the girls come regularly a plan for building basic elementary level
competencies could be worked out.

The ways in which an active, involved teacher and school management could
optimize the NPEGEL intervention was clearly evident in the MCS at Kherla Nuh,
Mewat.. The school has 66 girls in classes 6 to 8. In addition to the usual hobby
classes of candle and chalk making, and products from waste materials, the
Meena manch is active meeting once a month, and the girls have been
encouraged to learn songs and dance. The most remembered activity is the
exposure visit to the Trade fair at Delhi. The girls are active, bright and excited
with whatever their teacher introduces them to. Even here if the teachers had

85
some exposure on how to use the MCS to help girls explore and understand their
world, and build life skills, the expectation of providing an enriched curriculum
would be better realized.

86
Summer camps: a best practice under NPEGEL, Fatehabad District

Fatehabad District has 3 EBBS, Bhatttu, Bhuna, Fatehabad. Starting with 3 MCS in
2003-04, by 2007-08 Fatehabad district has 35 MCS and 61 child care centres. Under the
NPEGEL programmes a wide range of vocational activities have been introduced such as
tailoring, soft toys, cooking and cutting, darri making, embroidery, beautician course,
household remedies and domestic maintenance have been introduced. As part of sports
and cultural activities, yoga, dancing, games, road safety, first aid courses and health
related activities have also been introduced.

What merits special mention, however, are the 5 summer camps that were organized in
mid 2007 for girls at the upper primary level as part of life skill development. 4 camps
were held for 10 days each and one camp for 15 days. In each camp 50 girls participated.

The duration of the camp was for a minimum of 4 hours per day. Starting with morning
assembly the day schedule included physical exercise/ yoga, vocational classes and
recreational and cultural activities to develop that confidence and articulation of the girls.
2 vocational/hobby activities were taken up everyday for which 2 vocational instructors
were appointed. The camp also included exposure visits to historical places.

Several activities are slated for the rest of the year such as a 2 day gender sensitization for
all MCS with a focus on operationalising the Meena Manch and use of the Meena kit,
confidence building of the girls and so on. A 2 month remedial coaching class for all girls
studying in classes 3 to 8 is scheduled for December 2007 and January 2008

VII.5.1 Overall the MCS needs some imaginative planning:

o The MCS currently serves only the children in the school in which it is
located. There is little understanding on how the MCS could serve as a
hub for planning interventions for girls in the catchment area, with the
MCS becoming a training/resource centre. This is one possibility that
could be explored.

o There is a need to re-look at the use of the Meena kit. Children enacted
scenes from the Meena material in which the focus is on sending girls to
school and that boys and girls are equal. They have not gone beyond the
kit. It has become a limiting factor both for the teacher and the girls. While
it has been a good initial activity there is a need to go beyond and have
something more appropriate for girls already in school and help them
rediscover their roles.

o There is a need to move away from a ad hoc approach where a lot of

activities are introduced with girls gaining competency in none of them.
While the girls are happy with whatever little that is being done, it would
be useful to plan training in whatever skill that is being imparted whereby
the girl gains a certain competency. There are examples that could be

87
 looked at for instance, the skill based education in Chandigarh, where the
skill training is integrated into the time table, whereby a child gets 100
hours of training in a given skill during the course of the academic year.

o At the same time as mentioned above, a strong life skills component needs
to be added. A common curriculum for the MCS and the KGBV could be
developed.

VIII. Pedagogy

It is very heartening to note that teacher qualification is a matter of serious concern in

SSA management. The teachers we met were mostly graduates with B Ed degrees.
However, in spite of their preparatory pre service training, it was apparent that the
teachers were finding the KGBV and NPEGEL challenges beyond their existing
competencies.

1. They had no exposure to the techniques for dealing with a heterogenous group.
Multi-level teaching was not a familiar concept to them. Hence, the standard,
homogenized classroom approach was being followed with rather disappointing
outcomes.
2. The use of library and supplementary reading material in classroom transaction
has not been introduced either in MC schools or in KGBV as yet.
3. Theatre in education as a strategy for building reflective skills with practice in
role-play, spontaneous improvisation etc. is unfamiliar to them. Drama as an
activity is certainly practiced but it consists mostly of rote dialogues.

What surfaced very clearly was that having fulfilled the basic requirement of providing
qualified teachers, further investment in capacity building was wanting. The requirement
is for weaving in imagination and exposure to constructivist approach to learning as an
ongoing framework of teaching-learning transaction. These inputs can optimize the
existing investments. The readiness to absorb such an orientation exists at all levels.
State, Block and School level functionaries expressed a great desire for such an exposure.

IX. Linkages between AIE, NPEGEL and KGBV

• This is an area in which one was not able to get a clear picture. Bridging if any is
being done through the setting up of alternative learning centres under funding
from the AIE component. The Mission is concerned about the quality of these
AIE centres. During the course of the field visit to an MCS the Mission briefly
observed an AIE centre that was functioning within the compound of the primary
school. There were several issues that came to mind. If the AIE centre is running
in the school campus, why are the children not in school? Secondly what is the
pedagogic value of the AIE learning? What was unclear is the linkage between
the AIE centre, NPEGEL or the KGBV? There is a need to think this issue
through to evolve a plan whereby girls can move from the AIE centre to school or

88
the KGBV, this would of course require detailed block and village level mapping
and planning.

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Recommendations for KGBV and NPEGEL in Haryana

• Improved data base and tracking

The Mission suggests the development of an overall block level database and strategy to
identify and track out of school children, which could then be the basis for development
of a block plan as well as for tracking the movement into schools, the KGBVs or other
alternatives such as AIE available in the block. This would also ensure that the neediest
are brought to the KGBVs.

• Developing an enriched and sensitive curriculum

o As the NPEGEL and KGBV target girls in the vulnerable adolescent age
group, a well developed life skills curriculum needs to be developed
relevant to the Haryana context. This would also imply that the wardens,
teachers, gender coordinators and other block level officials receive
training on this component
o Hygiene and sanitation (upkeep/cleanliness of toilet facilities) should
become part of quality education. A systematic provision of appropriate
cleaning equipment should be ensured to implement this much-needed,
and obvious, component of holistic education. More so if we are serious
about countering ‘untouchability’ at the very basic level.

Strengthening pedagogy

o As the KGBVs draw girls at different learning levels, teachers need training in
handling multi levels.
o It is our recommendation that any training which is organized for teachers should
have a demonstrative component. The trainers should actually conduct sessions
and then hold discussion on the methodology used to make the entire exercise
meaningful for the teachers. One KGBV in a functioning mode could provide the
venue for holding a workshop with approximately 30 teachers. Similarly,
NPEGEL schools could be used for demonstrating techniques. This would be
more effective than an insulated training programme with no direct impact on the
target group.

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Annexure I Itinerary
Date Details
26.11.07 Briefing and interaction with SPD SSA and other State level SSA
Officials

27.11.07 • Field visit to KGBV at Safa Khedi, Uchhana block, Jind District.
Interaction with students, teachers, representatives of NGO partner,
Sir ChhotuRam Memorial trust, BRC, parents and village elders
• MCS at Senior Secondary school Dumerkha Block

28.11.07 • MCS at Khor Basar village, Mewat. Interaction with PTA and VEC
• KGBV at Nuh Block, Mewat District
• MCS at PS Nai Nangala village
29.11.07 • MCS at UPS at Kherla, Nuh Block
• MCS at PS Pinangwa village, Punnhana block

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 Report of National Evaluation

KGBV and NPEGEL programme in Maharashtra

December 2007

Ms. Sharda Jain

Ms. Kameshwari Jandhyala

I. Introduction

I.1 The National Evaluation team comprising of Ms. Kameshwari Jandhyala (ERU) and Dr.
Sharada Jain (Sandhan) visited Maharashtra between Dec. 5-9, 2007 to review progress in the
KGBV and NPEGEL schemes against their stated development objective of reducing gender and
social disparity at the elementary level. The emphasis of the scheme is on improving access to
quality education in schools, specially at the upper primary level for girls belonging to socially
disadvantaged groups (Schedule Caste (SC), Schedule Tribe (ST), Minority, Other Backward
Classes (OBC) and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families) residing in the educationally 'backward'
blocks (EBBS) through setting up of residential schools and innovative processes. These schemes
are not independent interventions. They are coordinated with other existing interventions of the
Department of School Education viz. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

I.2 In order to observe first hand functioning of KGBVs and NPEGEL schemes, the team visited
four Model I KGBV schools operational in Thane and Nashik districts in Maharashtra. The team
also visited NPEGEL centres in Model cluster schools in these districts. The Mission visited the
Dahanu, Talasari and Mokhada blocks in Thane district and Peint and Trambekeswar blocks in
Nashik district. The detailed itinerary is at Annexure I

I.3 The team is grateful to the Principal Secretary (Education) and State Program Director SSA for
ensuring rich and fruitful discussion on project activities, especially with regard to the constraints
in the implementation as well as the potential for progress at all levels. From the meetings and
discussions it is quite evident that the political and administrative leadership is committed to the
KGBV mission and understands its relevance in achieving Universalisation of Elementary
Education. The members of the Mission express their thanks to the State Project Director,
Assistant Director Gender Coordinator and the entire team of block functionaries for their
cooperation and facilitating the evaluation. Most of all, the members of the mission express their
thanks to the school teachers, children and community members, who participated actively in
discussions and expressed their views unhesitatingly.

This report is organized under two broad heads viz. KGBV scheme and NPEGEL.

II. Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV)

II.1. Choice and mode of operationalisation

Maharashtra State has opted for Model I for all 36 sanctioned KGBV with the intake capacity of
100 girls for hostel and schooling. At the time of evaluation 16 KGBVs were functioning having
stated in January of 2006. See Table I below for details:

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93
 Table I: KGBV status

Division No. Sanctioned No. Operationalised

Aurangabad 18 5
Mumbai 4 3
Nashik 7 6
Kolhapur 1 0
Nagpur 2 0
Latur 4 2
Total 36 16

We were also informed that six more KGBVs have recently been cleared for operationalisation
bringing the total number of operational KGBVs to 22.

II.2 The KGBV scheme is being implemented entirely through NGO partnership. A Committee of
Experts was constituted to draw up guidelines for selection of NGOs. The requirement was to find
NGOS that have credibility on the ground and have experience of working on development and
educational issues. The process of finalizing the NGO partnerships has been fraught with several
difficulties, including court cases and therefore delays. However, the state decision to stick to the
policy of working through NGO partners is commendable. The NGOs finally selected and running
the KGBVs is as Table II–

Table II:List of NGOs implementing scheme of KGBV in Maharashtra State

S.No. District Block Name of NGO

1. Thane Talasari* Vidya Prathisthan Baramati, Pune
2. Vikramgad Adivasi Seva Mandal, Borivali, Mumbai
3. Dahanu* Haribhai Omji Vakil Trust Dahanu
4. Nanded Dharmabad Datta Shikshan Prasarak Mandal Hotala, Nanded
5. Mudkhed Gramvikas Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, Nanded
6. Hingoli Hingoli Shri Shivaji Shikshan Prasarak Mandal Hingoli
7. Beed Dharur Chhatrapati Shivaji SHikshan Prasarak Mandal Kej,
Beed
8. Jalna Ramnagar Shivaji Shikshan Prasarak Mandal Jalna
9. Ghansavangi Om Shanti Dnanmandir Shikshan Sansthan ambad
Jalna
10. Ambad Mastyodari Shikshan Sanstha Ambad
11. Nandurbar Nandurbar Nandurbar Taluka Vidhayak Samiti Nandurbar
12. Taloda Adivasi Devmogra Education Society Taloda
13. Shahada Pujya Saneguruji Vidya Prasarak Mandal Kudal
14. Nashik Peint* Adivasi Seva Samiti Nashik
15. Surgana Adarsh Samata Shikshan Prasarak Mandal, Nashik
16. Trambakeshwar* Gramodaya Shikshan Sansthan, Deongara

* Blocks visited by the Evaluation Mission.

II.3 The state has delegated full responsibility of day to day management to the NGO. However,
CRC Coordinators have had an important role to play in the identification of girls through their
community mobilisation activities. They are also expected to play a significant role in monitoring
the schools, including supporting the teaching - learning processes.

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III. Infrastructure

III.1 No building construction work has begun as yet. The state has required that the KGBV be
constructed in a minimum 2 acre plot. There are several issues relating to the ownership of land
and building that need to be sorted out. The Mission was informed that during 2007-08 there is a
likelihood of civil works picking up pace

III.2 The KGBVs are mostly functioning in rented premises. In Peth, in Nashil district, the
implementing NGO has a large educational campus and has allocated part of its own building for
the KGBV. The other 3 KGBVs that the Mission visited were all in rented premises.

III.3 The problem that has emerged in Trambakeshwar is with respect to the rental. While the
NGO takes great pride in this venture of educating girls, they also complain that the rental
allocation under the KGBV is totally insufficient and the State does not compensate them for the
very high rent they are now paying.

III.4 Dahanu and Talasari schools have basic minimal facilities and have very skillfully utilized the
space. Girls and teachers have made the most of whatever is available. In Trambeshwar, the rented
facilities are very much better, with appropriate fittings, beds and ample grounds for games. In all
these 3 KGBVs the Mission was impressed with the great efforts made to maintain the premises
very clean. In Peint, however, the Mission is concerned that with the poor hygienic conditions, and
the impact this is having on the girls as it was reported that many suffer from scabies.

III.5 The decision to involve NGOs has its pros and cons. On the positive side, this has speeded up
activities, helped in giving a sense of belonging to a much larger group. Also the ground level
linkage of these NGOs contributes towards strengthening the schools. It has also brought in
additional resources to the school in as much as it becomes a point of prestige for the NGO to
demonstrate its achievement.

III.6 All the current NGOs have a political base. They are MLAs, ex-MLAs, ex ministers or related
to the above group. In a way their motivation is to be linked positively to the tribals and deprived
classes. What needs to be ensured is that their management processes are following national
interest, as per the constitutional mandate, with full transparency. Despite a long history of running
educational institutions for adivasis, pedagogic complacency about the possibilities in KGBV
scheme was observed in one of the NGOs. They were very alert about the number of girls enrolled,
infrastructure needs, maintenance of Registers and accounts. But the need to have a sharp focus on
appropriate teaching-learning processes was hardly visible. The overtone was more of 'welfare' and
'kindness' for the girls, rather than one of a unique opportunity for doing meaningful education
through a residential course. This perhaps is an area where SSA needs to provide some inputs.

IV. Targeting and enrolment of girls :

IV.1 As Table III below shows that targeting of SC and ST and other backward groups has been
quite good, especially the tribal girls. However, a lot more needs to be done to bring in girls from
the minority muslim communities. The Mission was informed that it is only in Jalna and Parbani
that there is a concentration of Muslim community. There are 2 KGBVs in Jalna and between them
there is only an enrolment of 10 girls. Perhaps what is required is greater community level
initiatives to bring in Muslim girls.

Table III Enrolment of girls during 2005-06 and 2006-07 in 16 KGBVs

Year SC ST MINORITY OBC BPL TOTAL

2005-06 282 839 8 203 81 1413
2006-07 227 848 10 149 94 1443

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 ENROLMENT OF GIRLS AS IN 2006-07

7.08%
17.09%
11.22%

SC
0.75%
ST
MINORITY
OBC
BPL

63.86%

IV.2 Profile of girls in the KGBVs visited by the Mission

IV.2.1 In all the 4 KGBVs visited by the Mission, most of the girls belonged to the Warli tribes.
Except for one KGBV none of the other 3 have a full enrolment as per guidelines. As in
Maharashtra, the primary level is upto class IV, many girls have completed class IV and the
KGBV provides an opportunity to go upto the elementary level. It was good to note that the school
had taken on some girls who were never enrolled before. It was heartening to note that most of the
girls are drop-outs. As Table IV below shows the bulk of the girls in the 4 KGBVs visited had a
gap of 1-2 years between dropping out of school and then continuing after joining the KGBV.
What is commendable is bringing in girls who had a gap of more than 3 years. There is a need to
have disaggregated picture of the educational status of the girls as this is critical to plan the type of
academic inputs they would require. The disaggregated profile given in Table IV below is based
on a very quick calculation done during the Mission and would perhaps need to be cross checked.
But what the data suggests is there is a considerable gap between dropping out and joining the
KGBV. The implications for teaching are obvious in that some amount of bridging/ or accelerated
learning needs to be facilitated before the girls are in a position to sit in an age appropriate class.
See Table V for class-wise distribution of girls

Table IV: Educational Profile of Girls in KGBVs visited

KGBV Total no. Never Enrolled after Drop out for Drop out 1- Drop out
of girls enrolled completing class IV in 6 months 2 yrs 3-4 yrs
school
Dahanu Block, 69
Thane district
Talasari Block, 68 2 53 13
Thane district
Tribamkeswar, 107 107 ( Drop
Nashik district out after 4th)
Peint, Nashik district 78 13 6 55 4
Total 322 2 13 6 215 17
Source: Field Notes, December 2007

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 Table V Class wise distribution

KGBV Total Class Class Class Class Class Class Class Class
No I II III IV V VI VII VIII
Dahanu Block, Thane 69 36 33
district
Talasari Block, Thane 68 21 28 20
district
Tribamkeswar, Nashik 107 49 33 21 4
district
Peint, Nashik district 78 1 2 7 8 32 26 31
Total 2 2 7 8 138 120 72 4
Source: Field Notes, December 2007

Never Enrolled and early drop out Girls Enrolled in KGBV

(Talasari, Thane district)

IV.3 The Girls

IV.3.1Girls looked happy, well fed and well organised. Some appeared very young / small, but we
were told that their growth has been stunted due to malnutrition and poverty in early years.
All the girls seemed to enjoy their newly acquired uniforms. However, it was a point of concern
that in most cases they had only one uniform. Also, the maintenance, ironing etc. required for the
design chosen, could be a problem. Efforts are being made to encourage participating in local
sports competitions and other cultural activities. This aspect of the KGBV is perhaps the most
popular with the girls.

The extracurricular activities at the KGBV at Dahanu block, Thane district included participation in games
competitions, visit to a local temple, participation in the district programme of village cleanliness campaign,
picnic to a forest area, traditional dance and folk dances and participation in the independence day
celebration in the local gram panchayat. The girls participate in all children’s activities at the zilla parishad
level.

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 Participation of KGBV Girls Interschool Sports Competition at Cluster Level

IV .4 Teachers

IV.4.1 Teachers selection has been very satisfactory. We met some teachers who demonstrated
great potential. On the whole, they were all well qualified, young and energetic. In one KGBV the
warden / teacher is a tribal who has received education in Ashram Shala. She is an excellent role
model / mentor for the girls. Teachers appeared to be friendly and close to the students, generating
a pleasant working atmosphere.

IV.4.2 Different mechanisms have been created at the local level to accommodate women
teacher's personal family conditions. In 3 KGBVs, the warden was supported by other teachers in
as much as they took turns for being with the girls at night. All of them had family responsibilities
(some had small children) and needed to fulfill expectations from them. In Peth, all the teachers
lived in the school hostel, despite a very austere setting.

IV.5 Records and documentation: Meticulous

SSA needs to be commended for the detailed and clear guidelines given for the running of the
KGB including the maintenance of records and documentation. As a result in all the KGBVs
visited records were maintained in a meticulous fashion. Every single child had a personal profile.
The stocks register was well maintained. Attendance registers were accurately filled. On the
whole, one could say that "systems are in place".

IV.6 Interface between SSA and KGBV

IV.6.1 The team had detailed meeting with SSA functionaries in Thane and Nashik regarding
KGBV scheme and their roles (See Annexure II). It was evident that they all, in one voice,
approved of the relevance of KGBV scheme. They saw their role primarily in identifying the girls
as per the norms and guidelines given to them. They had used posters, pamphlets as well as door-
to-door visits to get the first lot of girls. During the discussion, it surfaced clearly that there is still
a large section of out-of-school girls who could be eligible candidates for this scheme. A deeper
layer is yet to be tapped and possibly greater effort would be needed to reach the older, never-
enrolled or drop-out girls especially from minority community. In the visit of the evaluation team
there was a singular absence of any functionary or student from the minority community in
KGBV.

IV.6.2 CRC has not seen its role in the pedagogic area. They feel that they have helped in the final
selection of teachers also and that they are all "well-qualified". The fact that teachers have B.A.,
B.Ed., or B.Sc. B.Ed degrees does not equip them with skills to handle a residential course, has not
been a matter of concern to the Block / Cluster level functionaries. They themselves seem to have

98
very little exposure to latest developments in pedagogy. And the realization that KGBV offers a
unique possibility for achieving 'quality education' through an integrated approach has yet to be
internalised. SSA role in pedagogic support is critical and currently seems missing. This is an area
that merits immediate and sustained attention.

IV.7 Quality of learning and enriched curriculum

IV.7.1 The teaching methods as seen during the visit were found to be quite the same as in routine
government schools. This is a matter of serious concern. The teachers find themselves ill equipped
to handle the heterogeneity in the group they have to handle. Apparently it is grade VI and VII that
they are handling but in reality they have to teach quite a few girls with even limited literacy.
Some girls could read well but there were many senior girls who could not read a newspaper
fluently. It is obvious that multilevel teaching techniques are required to facilitate a pace of
learning which could match the learning needs and style of learners. This, however, was missing.
What needs special mention and appreciation is that in all the KGBVs teachers on their own have
devised ways of assessing the different learning levels and grouped girls accordingly for special
attention and inputs. Obviously the teachers need more systematic training on how to handle multi
level classes.

IV.7.2 Some teaching aids were visible in a standardised way. The ability to evolve appropriate
learning material to help girls acquire basic skills in language and maths has not been part of
teacher's training. Nor is this input coming from SSA as yet. Either short bridge courses, within the
given scheme have to be designed or a link with NPEGEL scheme in which a preparatory bridge
course could become a supportive input to the KGBV needs to be thought about.

IV.7.3 While some activities have been introduced there is a need to introduce life skill
curriculum. The Mission was informed that the SCERT is currently evolving such a curriculum to
be introduced in the KGBVs. The Mission recommends that this be also introduced in all the MCS
centres as well.

IV.8. Community Participation

IV.8.1 This was one of the most positive aspects in the operationalisation of the scheme. In each
KGBV, the evaluation team had an opportunity to meet with mothers, fathers and community
seniors. All the groups expressed great satisfaction with the design of the scheme and looked
forward to its being extended to Class-X.

IV.8.2 It was particularly heartening to meet with mothers of the KGBV girls. They were ever so
excited that their daughters were learning to "read and write". They were all, very obviously from
very poor background living on daily wages or minimal level of agriculture. Their support to this
venture was very visible.

V. NPEGEL

The assessment of NPEGEL scheme in Maharashtra was undertaken at three levels –

• Initial and wrap meeting at the state level

• Observations and discussions at model cluster schools in Thane and Nashik
• Focussed meeting with BRC / CRC functionaries at district level to understand their
interpretation of the scheme

V.1 State level Perceptions : There is a broad clarity of concept among senior functionaries –

99
 • NPEGEL is a scheme which provides additional resources and opportunities to facilitate
access to quality education for the hard-to-reach girls from deprived communities. Hence
it is not a duplication of SSA provision. Rather, it rests on recognition that universalizing
girls education requires 'additionalities' of diverse kinds.
• It provides for an additional room in model cluster schools; so that new activities get
'space' within the formal educational structure.
• There is flexibility with respect to what will be done under NPEGEL. The specificities
need to be contextualised. Hence, Cluster Resource Centres get increased role in decision
making.

While the potential of the NPEGEL is seen as critical, the translation onto the ground is fairly
limited.

V.2. Observations on the MCS

Two MC schools in the vicinity of KGBVs were visited in Thane district. In Nashik, one model
cluster school was visited.

V.2.1 There is great variation in the quality and dimension of additional room in the schools. In
Dahanu for instance, the CRC an active and resourceful woman has mobilized additional resources
under MPLADs funds to have a good 2 storey building constructed with the ground floor being the
MCS and the upper floor the CRC. The MCS here is a modern, well finished and equipped room.
The stark contrast is presented at Mokhada, an interior village which is obviously poorly endowed
where the MCS room is in a very poor condition with hardly any facilities. The CRC and the
teachers feel helpless in dealing with this situation. The frequency of 'visits' by CRCs in effect
registers the degree of importance that is given to this unit.

V.2.2 A range of 'vocational activities' have been initiated in almost all the centres visited. These
could be taken more as hobby classes rather than vocational. They include embroidery, sewing on
machine, making decorative items, cards, mats etc. in one case beautician's course is also initiated.
In two schools, the quality was reasonable while in one, the work needed fuller attention. These
activities are undertaken by a part time teacher. The school was unable to give a very satisfactory
response to the teams query regarding its outreach to other villages / schools. A detailed work plan
to facilitate the main objective of this input was not seen. In Dahanu Block for instance, the MCS
was a few minutes walk away from the KGBV and there was no interaction between the MCS and
the KGBV. It had not occurred to the managers that it is desirable to have an interaction between
the KGBV and the school as this would have helped foster an interaction and dialogue between
differently placed girls.

V.2.3 It was a matter of great delight to note the quality of singing and dancing that was
demonstrated by girls – particularly in one school where boys cooperated fully by playing
drums.Theatre activities are seen almost every where. However, repetitive performances of Meena
- material were the demonstrated outcome. Girls certainly enjoyed singing, dancing which was an
important input; but their 'drama' performance was more a set of rote-learned dialogue. It gave a
ritualistic turn to a creative idea. Even the theme of the play was intriguing. The evaluation team
was keen to understand why the girls were arguing for sending girl-child to school, since they were
already there and the play was not performed on community grounds. This, apparently, was not a
question for the teachers as well.

V.2.4 In one school, that was a non-MCS school there was an excellent attempt at training girls in
Karate. The instructors were also very competent. But the girls were in skirt / blouse uniform
which inhibited free movement of the limbs. Proper karate-dress could help greatly in such a
situation. The Mission strongly recommends extension of karate training in all schools as well as
the KGBVs, along with provision of appropriate dress for learning / practicising Karate.

100
V.2.5 One area of concern that surfaced during a visit to a classroom in an MCS school, was that i
while the girls looked cared for and in well stitched uniforms, boys were in tattered clothes. Also
they were sitting in an ostensibly marginalised way on the side. Once they were involved in a
mixed dialogue by the evaluation team, the atmosphere turned positive and cheerful. Focus on girls
is fine but the class-room needs to demonstrate gender equity in a meaningful way.

V.2.6 Provision / distribution of cycles to girls for attending Classes VI-VIII has greatly been
appreciated by parents / neighbours besides giving enormous confidence to girls themselves. The
team met a few girls in Mokhada MCS, Thane district which is situated in a hilly area with a
difficult terrain. They come to the school on their bikes, covering a fairly long distance without
fear or inhibition. It has a strong demonstration effect.

V.3 Addressing gender in the wider school system

V.3.1 In Nashik district the Mission was informed that starting in 2006 5 day residential camps for
groups of 100 girls at the upper primary was organized. So far 1500 girls from 15 blocks had been
covered. The objectives of the residential camp were to have discussions on adolescent health
issues, social issues as well as give the girls an opportunity to learn an hobby. The Mission
appreciates this effort as the gender focus has gone beyond the MCS alone.

V.3.2 However, each of these, the KGBV, NPEGEL and the above activity are all seen as discrete
interventions as there is a perception that each has a separate funding pattern and budgetary
allocation. There is an urgent need to enable all gender coordinators, BRCs and CRCs to see the
link between all the interventions and evolve them as an organic and integrated strategy that
addresses the needs of girls in a decentralized manner. Now that through the KGBV and NPEGEL
programmes, gender has once again been brought centre stage, it is imperative that the SPO take a
lead in developing an overall gender perspective and integrated approach to girls education in
Maharashtra.

V.4 BRC-CRC Functionaries

V.4.1 While almost all functionaries felt that this scheme has helped in reaching out to the girls
who are really 'distant' or in 'different' situation, they seemed to be a bit confused about
decentralised-planning. What are the activities which should be chosen? This required imagination
and a bit of daring. They feared that they may take a wrong decision if they tried out something
new. "Give us a list of things with unit costs – we would adjust our budget accordingly".

"We feel comfortable in carrying out clear instructions. Here there are no specific details."

V.4.2 What surfaced is that an orientation in the range of "possibilities" may help. While the
guidelines do give these possibilities, a detailed discourse and question / answer session may
produce more creative responses.

VI. Recommendations for KGBV and NPEGEL

1. Reaching out to the most marginalized

• While in the first round tribal girls have been reached and this is commendable, there is a
need to reaching out further to the deeper layer of out of school girls through village/block
mapping. Existing groups of girls / mothers could be enabled to play a proactive role in
this process.

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 • There is an urgent need to evolve a coherent and well thought out strategy to address and
mobilize girls from the Muslim community. This area needs to receive top priority.

• The development of a block plan could be considered to decide where the girls identified
(never enrolled, drop outs, older girls) would go- the KGBV or into schools. This would
also enable closer tracking of such girls.

2. Strengthen teacher training in KGBVs

• Teachers of KGBVs need pedagogic training in handling multi level situations. This area
needs urgent attention.

3. Life skill education in KGBVs and MCS

• As there is a unique opportunity of transacting meaningful education to girls in a

residential mode, teachers of KGBVs also need sustained inputs on how to impart life
skills education that is not didactic but in a manner that is empowering for the girls.

• The MCS also offers an opportunity for imparting life skill education, not only for the
school in which it is located but also for the schools within its catchment area. This would
require not only inputs to teachers but also the development of an implementation plan.

• There is an urgent need to relook at the hobby classes introduced both in the KGBV and
the MCS and to move away from an ad hoc approach. It would be useful to plan training
in whatever skill that is being imparted whereby the girl gains a certain competency. This
would require integrating the activity into the time table and providing options to the
children to gain competency in one or two hobbies. (There are examples that could be
looked at for instance, the skill based education in Chandigarh, where the skill training is
integrated into the time table, whereby a child gets 100 hours of training in a given skill
during the course of the academic year.)

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Annexure I

Itinerary

Date Details
5.12.07 Briefing at SPO, Mumbai

Interaction with Mr.Kavde, SPD, SSA, State Gender Coordinator, Representatives of NGO partners

Discussion with Ms. Gokhale, Principal Secretary, Education

Departure to Thane district

6.12.07 Visit to KGBV at Dahanu Block, Thane District. Interactions with students, teachers and some mothers

Visit to MCS at Ashagarh, Dahanu block

Visit to UPS, Sarauli Para, Dahanu block

Interaction at Dahanu with CRCs, Resource persons, physical education teachers, cluster gender coordinators
7.12.07 Visit to KGBV at Talasari. Interactions with students, teachers and some mothers

Visit to MCS at Mokhada Block. Interactions with BRC, Block gender Coordinator, teachers and some girls.

Departure to Nashik district

8.12.07 Visit to MCS at Anjineri, Nashik district. Interaction with teachers, vocational training teacher, block gender
coordinator

Visit to KGBV at Tribamkeswar. Interaction with students, teachers and NGO representatives

Visit to KGBV at Peint. Interaction with students, teachers and NGO representatives
9.12.07 Interaction with DPC, CRCS and gender coordinators of Nashik district

Feedback Meeting with Ms.Gokhale, Principal Secretary and Mr.Kavde, SPD SSA at Mumbai
10.12.07 Departure to Delhi

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Annexure II

List of Participants
Meeting at Nashik on 09.12.2007

S.No. Name Designation

1. Pawar S.M. Kendra Pramukh, Dhabadi, Peint
2. Shinde Sunanda Gender Coordinator, Peint
3. Takalnor Rajashri Jayant Gruh Pramukh (KGBV)
4. Jagtap B.D. ADEI, Peint
5. Sawale W.P. Kendra Pramukh (Mohapada)
6. Sahare Motiram Hari Kendra Pramukh, Peint
7. Wani D.N. Kendra Pramukh, Dolharmal, Peint
8. Dhamane S.A. Kendra Pramukh Nandondi, Peint
9. Jadhav S.C. Kendra Pramukh, Khohar, Peint
10. Gangurde B.W. Kendra Pramukh, Kulwandi, Peint
11. V.K. Pawar Kendra Pramukh, Kulwandi, Peint
12. B.T. Bhoye Kendra PRamukhe, Jagamodi, Peint
13. Bhadange Y.G. Kendra Pramukh, Bhuvan, Peint
14. Bagul D.P. Kendra Pramukh, Khokartale, Peint
15. Bhalerao U.M. Gruh Pramukh, KGBV, Trimbakeshwar
16. Bajnor B.P. ADI, Trimbakeshwar
17. Waghere L.D. Gender Coordinator, Trimbakeshwar
18. D.L. Koli Extension Officer Education, Trimbakeshwar

Meeting with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Thane, Block Dahanu

1. Shri Deshle Assistant Director (SSA)

2. Ms. Swati Haveli State Gender Coordinator, KGBV Incharge
3. Smt. Salgaonkar Assistant Incharge of NPEGEL
4. Ms. Chandarani Kusekar District Gender Coordinator
5. Shri Janathey Block Education Officer
6. Ms. Madhumati Patil Block Gender Coordinator
7. Shri Shailesh Raut Block Coordinator

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 REPORT ON THE EVALUATION OF NPEGEL AND KGBV
PROGRAMMES OF JAMMU & KASHMIR
TEAM MEMBERS:Professor Usha Nayar and Ms.Girija.B.H
Field visit: 27th Nov to 1st Dec, 2007

At the outset, the evaluation team would like to thank the functionaries of the SSA at all levels for
extending their support and co-operation in evaluating KGBV and NPEGEL schemes especially the
State Gender Coordinator,Shri Ramesh Hakim, the CEOs Districts Udhampur and Pulwama,
District/Block and Zonal Gender Coordinators of Districts Udhampur, Srinagar and Pulwama and the
teachers , head teachers and staff of all institutions visited and the very enthusiastic and warm parents
and community members in the field.

List of school visited by the team members:

S.N Programmes Schools Date of visit
1 KGBV, Ghordi, Zone Ghordi, Dist Udhampur. 28.11.2007
2 KGBV KGBV, Karmulla Tral, Zone Pulwama, Dist 30.11.2007
Pulwama,
3 MCS, Government Middle School, Village Gandala, 28.11.2007
Dist. Udhampur.
4 MCS, Government Middle School, Zeewan, Dist 29.11.2007
NPEGEL
Srinagar
5 MCS, Government Middle School, New Threed 29.11.2007
Nishath, Dist Srinagar.
6 MCS, Government Middle School, Chatle Hama, 29.11.2007
Dist Srinagar.
7 MCS, Government High School, Poochaal, Dist 30.11.2007
Pulwama
8 MCS, Government High School, Nehama, Dist 30.11.2007
Pulwama

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Part I
KGBVs Visited in Jammu & Kashmir
The main thrust of the KGBV scheme is to provide access at upper primary level to disadvantaged
sections of girls in EBBs, who have remained outside the educational system despite interventions of
other government programmes due to persistent socio-economic, cultural and topographical reasons.
Out of 14 KGBVs sanctioned in Feb 2005, 2 KGBVs started during 2005-06 and 11 during 2006-07.
37 KGBVs sanctioned during 2007-08 Plan for the year 2006-07are yet to be operationalised & are
likely to start in Kashmir province w.e.f.Dec 2007& in Jammu province w.e.f. April 2008 in
accordance with the academic session in the two provinces. In all, out of 51 KGBVs (7 under model -
1 and 44 under model-2) sanctioned to the state, 13(6 under model-1 and 7 under model-2) have been
operationalised.

In response to the TOR, we have the following major observations:

The GOI guidelines clearly state that the emphasis is on girls who have been out of school, who are in
areas that do not have a formal middle school, girls of migratory families, girls who have completed
class 5 and are likely not to transit to the upper primary level. ALSO THAT UNDER NO
CIRCUMSTANCES GIRLS FROM REGULAR SCHOOLS WILL BE ADMITTED IN
KGBVs. At the primary level emphasis will be on the slightly older girls who are out of school and
were unable to complete primary schools (10+). At the upper primary level, emphasis will be on girls,
especially adolescent girls who are unable to go to regular schools.
i. However, in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, we found that girls who had freshly passed
out of primary schools in their respective villages were enrolled in Class VI. It was
reported that those villages do not have a middle or high school and the mountainous
terrain and continued insurgency deterred parents to send their daughters outside of their
village on foot as road connectivity is poor and there is near absence of public transport.
In that sense, girls of such remote villages with highly scattered populations would by
definition fall under the hard to reach groups. Of course, preference is given to
SC/ST/OBCs/Minorities and BPL families Both in District Udhampur and District
Pulwama, no out of school or drop out girls were on rolls. The girls were from very poor
families.
ii. The objective of creating a positive self esteem and good physical and mental health
among girls and parental and community acceptance, admiration for the programme and
support was clearly visible.
iii. Despite constraints of funds, the quality of education in these KGBVs was very high as
the teachers were highly qualified, majority being trained PGs and even MCAs. The
concerned CEOs and the Gender Coordinators were taking special interest both in
management of the limited hostel accommodation as well as class room instruction.
iv. The facility of the hostel to the girls from the tough terrain regions is really admirable.
The parents expressed that their girls would not have continued their education after
Class V if KGBVs would have not come to their rescue. The criteria for admission of
girls to be limited to mainly out of school girls and drop outs has been adopted though
the number of out of school & drop out girls is less.Further we may state that these girls
belonged to SC, OBC and BPL families with very poor economic means. Had this option
not been given to them, most of them would have dropped out after Class V.
v. This scheme has managed to attract and retain girls from most difficult areas.. However,
the boys from these areas also face similar problems and many drop out on account of
poor attendance, as travelling on foot in these areas requires enough body energy and
calories especially during winters and rains. There is demand for similar institutions for
boys at the block level to increase access and equity to deprived groups in difficult
remote areas.
vi. Due to lack of funds either from MHRD or from state, the provision of medical facilities
is negligible, though the State Coordinator Gender has very good idea of covering all the

106
 KGBV girls under the medical insurance which will ensure the medical attention even at
the time of emergence.. Health check ups have been done at the start of the session.

2. Infrastructure facility and staff

i. Both KGBVs were being run in rented buildings and had limited provision for bathrooms and
toilets. Keeping the local situation in view a temporary shed type toilets & bathrooms were
available in Pulwama KGBV. In Ghordi KGBV the State Gender Coordinator has given on
spot instructions to the ZEO & ZEPO to provide better toilet & bath room facilities & the
concerned authorities has assured that the same will be sorted out without any further delay.
Also the space was not enough to accommodate 100 girls in the rented buildings and in both
the enrolment was more than 70 and with negligible non attendance. Girls and teachers
reported that usually, the parents come and take their wards home for the weekends. Warm
clothes and beddings were insufficient. May be more care is needed to provide heavy woolens
like thick Pherans and quilts/blankets to the girls to fight cold and inclement weather. Even
the short distance from the rented hostel to the school was a hazard when it rains and snows.
Special allocations may be required for providing rain coats, Gum Boots and umbrellas. A
total of Rupees 100/- is being given to the enrolled girls, Rs. 50/- as stipend and Rs.50/- for
course material. The girls are purchasing necessary materials like stationeries and toiletries on
their own. The Warden in charge of KGBV Karmulla Tral said that if any balance is left
under maintenance grant for girls, toiletries would be provided.
ii. In hilly areas, there is need to look at the norms for all construction costs as the building
materials are transported from the plains and this increases the expenses. It is also possible for
the State to look at low cost designs using local materials like stone and wood for
construction rather than getting bricks from the plains. This is only one example. There are
several innovations being done to make school buildings and hostels to suit the local ecology
and climate in several national institutions and in IITs like Roorkee.
iii. Remedial teaching is being conducted during zero hours in KGBV Karmulla Tral., but there
are no bridge courses.
iv. Rent is being paid out of miscellaneous including the School Maintenance Grant @ of Rs.
40,000/- per annum for 100 girls & @ Rs.35, 000/-for 50 girls. But unfortunately in 2007-08
Plan the rent for 51 KGBVs have been sanctioned @ Rs.30,880/- without any differentiation
between model I & II & the same have been reflected by the State Gender Coordinator
through SPD SSA J&K Govt.to the MHRD for rectification. In this very context we as
evaluators strongly recommend that the actual amount meant for the rent purpose be provided
to the state at an earliest so that the girls may not suffer for no fault of theirs. Further it is very
difficult for the districts to arrange accommodation for 100 girls with a meager amount of rent
provided under norms keeping the topography in view were the said KGBVs are sanctioned.
This is insufficient to pay rent of both hostel and school buildings.
v. The State is all ready to build all 51 KGBVs during this year, land has been located. Of the
Rs.254.10 lakhs approved for 14 KGBVs, GOI share of Rs.4.33 lakhs and no State share
received by SSA during 2004-05 followed by Rs.186.43 lakhs from GOI and Rs.63.525 by
State during 2005-06. There is no release of KGBV funds for 2006-07. For 2007-08,
Rs.1527.725 lakhs (Rs.618.9 lakhs under fresh and Rs.908.75 lakhs under spillover) has been
approved but no release of funds till date. Recurring cost for 7 KGBVs of Model – I@
Rs.19.05 lakhs/KGBV-I = 19.05 x 7=133.35 lakhs.Recurring cost for 44 KGBVs of Model –
II@ Rs.13.13 lakhs/KGBV-II = 13.13 x 44=577.72 lakhs.
Therefore the Recurring cost of 51 KGBVs comprising of 07 Model –I KGBVs & 44 Model
– II KGBVs = Rs.133.35 + Rs.577.72 = Rs.711.07 lakhs. But unfortunately the fresh outlay
(Recurring cost for 51 KGBVs for the year 2007-08)have been wrongly calculated as
Rs.618.975 lakhs at the rate of Model –II KGBV (not even at the rate of Model –II correctly
but below than that of the Model-II KGBV).Hence the recasting of the said 51 KGBVs be
done on the basis of rate of KGBV Model-I (07) & Model – II (44) so that the difference
Rs.711.07 – Rs.618.975 = Rs.92.095 lakhs be sanctioned & approved as a fresh in favour of

107
 J&K State so that the proper operationalisation of the said 51 KGBVs takes place in letter &
sprit of the said scheme. (See Table 1)
Moreover the SSA of J&K was unable to go for construction because non availability of funds for
example for 14 KGBVs comprising of 07 Model-I & 07 Model-II the J&K SSA was supposed to
receive Rs.557.76 lakhs but till date has received only meager amount of Rs.254.10 lakhs which is
insufficient to operationalize the 14 KGBVs even in the rental buildings. All credit goes to J&K SSA
that despite of financial constrains the authorities are trying hard to establish these residential schools
in their own buildings. The difference in the approved allocation of funds has already being taken by
the state with the MHRD hoping that the same will be sorted at an earliest from their side.
Table - I
Budget Summary w.r.t. KGBV in J&K State:
State Year AWP&B Releases Due State Shortfall/ Total Fund Expendi Remarks
Share as Excess Available ture
Per GOI
Fresh Spillover Approved GOI State
Jamm 2004-05 Rs.254-10 Rs.4.33 Nil Rs.1.44 Rs.1.44 Rs.4.33 Nil Actual amount to be approved
u & Lakhs for operationalisation of 14
Kash Approved KGBVs should have been
mir which Rs.557.76 Lakhs which includes
includes Rs.317.10 for 7 KGBVs of
Non- Model-I @ Rs.45.30 per KGBV
recurring Model-I & Rs.240.66 lakhs for 7
Rs.151 & KGBV Model-II @Rs.34.38 per
Recurring KGBV Model-I
Rs.103.10
2005-06 No Nil Nil 186.245 63.53 Rs.62.10 Excess 254.1 266.35 Rs.12.25 lakhs taken as loan
Projection from SSA kitty.
2006-07 No Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil
Projection
2007-08 Rs.618.975 Rs.908.75 Rs.1527.725 7 KGBV-I - Rs.70 lakhs
lakhs lakhs lakhs 7 KGBV-II - Rs.52.50 lakhs =
Actual Rs.122.50 lakhs Fresh 37 KGBV
Amount -II @ Rs.21.25 Non-recurring
should part = Rs.786.25 lakhs
have been Total=122.50+786.25
Rs.786.25 =Rs.908.75 lakhs
lakhs
Total 190.575 63.53 63.525 Nil -12.25 -

vi. Zonal Education Officers and District Education Planning Officers expressed the shortage of
funds in KGBVs. Due to the non availability of funds, the construction of building have not been
started, the other important activities like distribution of uniforms, medical care, vocational/skill
training and salary to staff have to be taken care off.
vii. The wardens of the school are deputed from the department. There is a problem in getting the
services of a female teacher from the department as a warden has to work as a residential staff.
The State can revise the guidelines and appoint a warden on contractual basis.
Table 2. KGBV Staff structure and details of honorarium
S.N Staff details Number Honorarium to each/month
1 Warden 1 Deputed from the department
2 ReT teachers 7 Rs.1500/-
3 Cooks 2 Rs.1200/-
4 Chowkidar 1 Rs.1200/-
5 Sweeper 1 Rs.1200/-
6 Peon 1 Rs.1200/-
Source: Data provided to team by the KGBV Karmulla Tral during the visit.
viii. Rehbari Taleem (ReT) Teachers are selected at the Zonal level through a committee after inviting
applications from suitable candidates. The minimum eligibility criteria is 10+2 for ReTs who are
appointed on consolidated pay with a honorarium of Rs.1500/- per month for a teacher. Many of
the teachers had a Master’s degree with B.Ed and we came across a MCA who had worked earlier
in a temporary capacity in a Degree college . They expressed their anguish at the low honorarium

108
 being paid to them which was less than even an unskilled daily wage labour. They requested that
their wages are increased and made at par with regular teachers who work for fewer hours and ,”
In our case, we travel on foot for several hours to reach the school even in inclement weather”.
Keeping the difficult terrain in view, the KGBV teachers should receive better pay and privileges.
As per the guidelines, there is provision for appointment of full time teachers with full scale. The
State may revise the pay scales of the KGBV teaching and non teaching staff out of KGBV funds.
There is need to standardize remuneration of KGBV staff which is already in the mind of State
Gender Coordinator if the over all development in the KGBVs is to be taken care off.
ix. Low honorarium did not deter them from empathizing with these girls from disadvantaged
section/areas and their commitment and enthusiasm was infectious. Coming from relatively well
off homes, they state, “ to begin with we felt cold and dampened in our spirits but soon grew to
love these girls and now we feel we are on a social mission. But, please do ask the authorities to
pay us well”. Our observation is that in case we want to retain such high quality teachers, we need
to look sharp and revise their salaries to a decent level. Or else we lose them.
x. The girls enrolled in KGBVs were those who had completed Class V and were potential drop outs
as the middle school was out of their reach. There were some never enrolled or dropout girls in
KGBV Karmulla Tral. However, a few girls of KGBV Ghordi said that they had left school for a
few months before joining KGBV.
xi. Self discipline and Self esteem among girls is admirable in both the schools especially in KGBV
Karmulla Tral which started functioning 2 years ago . KGBV Ghordi was only 4 months old.
xii. During the interaction with the parents, they were of the opinion that their boys were also equally
disadvantaged and requested to open hostels for boys on the same lines of KGBV. Also, the
parents requested that KGBVs should be upgraded up to Class X at least so that girls complete
their high school education. “Otherwise, they will neither be here or there as with just middle they
cannot get any job and high/ higher secondary education is the entry point for second level
technical education/teacher education, higher professional and general education. Please help our
girls to cross these bridges,” expressed some CEOs, teachers and some enlightened community
leaders.
3. Category wise Enrolment:
At the state level the distribution of girls in KGBV category wise is SC-18%, ST-14%, OBC-10%,
BPL-5%, Muslims-47% and Orphans-6%. Against the target of 950 for the year, they have been able
to enroll 929 girls.
Table-3: District wise enrolment in the KGBVs of J & K
SC ST OBC BPL Muslims Orphans Total
Baramulla 0 35 65 0 100 0 200
Budgam 20 0 0 0 80 0 100
Pulwama 0 0 0 0 200 0 200
Leh 0 43 0 0 0 0 43
Kargil 40 0 0 5 0 45 90
Udhampur 72 4 16 29 0 0 121
Poonch 0 0 2 0 57 0 59
Rajouri 3 44 0 8 0 12 67
Kathua 30 8 7 0 4 0 49
Total 165 134 90 42 441 57 929
% of
enrolment 18 14 10 5 47 6
Source: data provided to team by J & K
Among the KGBVs visited by the team, KGBV, Ghordi, is a SC dominated block and KGBV
Karmulla Tral is a Muslim dominated block.

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Table 4: Category wise enrolment in the KGBVs visited by the team.
Attendance
Schools SC ST OBC Min BPL Total on the day of
visit
KGBV Ghordi,
Dist Udhampur 39 03 06 - 29 77 67
(model-I)
KGBV Karmulla
Tral, Dist Pulwama - - - 72 - 72 66
(model-I)
Source: Data provided to team by the KGBV schools during
There was lower enrolment against the target of 100 in each school, which may be due to the problem
in accommodation. There was a great effort by the school team to keep the girls in a congenial
atmosphere with affection.

4. Retention of girls: Also girls keep visiting their homes frequently for various reasons due to which
attendance of girls is low. The team feels that there must be a proper schedule for the girls to visit
their homes and parents visiting their daughters in the school.

5. Quality of learning: The curriculum being used in the KGBVs are in coherence with the regular
system. Classroom teaching was observed by the MHRD team as also by the State officials. The
quality of instruction was good and this can perhaps be attributed to their being highly qualified. ReT
teachers have been trained for 20 days at the Zonal level with the help of the training module used for
training ReT teachers of Government schools. But there is no special training particularly given to
equip the staff to manage residential schools and be able to teach condensed courses to bring them to
the level of Class VI, VII and VIII.

6. TLM: Teaching or learning equipment like library books, lab equipments, maps and chards were
found in the classrooms. But their number was in scarcity. This may be attributed to the shortage of
funds either for the purchase or preparation of the required materials. Also the building in which
classes were held in KGBV, Karmulla Tral, was very small even to accommodate 70 girls.

7. Parent/teacher/community perception regarding functioning of KGBVs; The

parent/teacher/community perception regarding functioning of KGBVs were very positive. The
villagers were extremely happy that such a magnificent institution has been provided to their daughter
even though they themselves reside in semi pucca / pucca buildings. They were very happy the
quality of food supplied to the girls. Also academic activities and learning and leisure time activities
were appreciated. Sports and physical fitness activities were conspicuous by their absence as also
music and arts. All of these could contribute to the enrichment of the KGBV school curriculum.
Sports and physical exercises including Judo and Karate could enhance the physical and mental fitness
of girls and thus building higher level of self confidence.

8. Mobilizing Out of school girls: The District Education Planning Officer of district Pulwama said
that the eligible girls were identified by Zonal and Cluster level functionaries like ZRPs and CRPs.
Also ReT teachers have brought few girls after getting information from the girls who had already
enrolled about the girls in their own villages. Most of these girls had completed Class V in their
respective villages and were enrolled to Class VI in these KGBVs.

9. NGOs involvement: No NGOs are managing the KGBVs in J & K..

10. Good practices of the state: With limited accommodation, limited funds, difficult terrain and
harsh weather conditions, the management of the KGBVs was in good hands and all cooperation was
being given by the community in the management of the KGBVs and full interest was taken by the
teachers and the parents. It was wonderful meeting a charming Kashmiri woman cook in Pulwama,

110
who has been cooking for the last two years and very cheerfully without any formal orders. She served
us with a smile the same food she had cooked for the girls.

11. Suggestions for Modification of the present KGBV Scheme:

i.. There is need to standardize the salary component of the KGBV Staff. We have come across some
anomalies in Punjab and J&K. In Punjab, the Cook is getting Rs. 3500/- whereas the KGBV teachers (
mostly post graduates and training, also some MCAs) were drawing Rs. 1500/- per month and all
other staff were getting not more than Rs. 1200/- per month as wages. This was causing great
consternation among them as they were not even getting the minimum wage fixed for unskilled
labour.
ii. As we have observed all three models of KGBV, Model III in Punjab and Models I and II in J&K,
our recommendation is that Model III with larger intake should be preferred on the lines of Punjab
where close proximity and expert supervision of Senior Secondary School Principals is adding to
quality management of hostels and also quality of education being received by these girls from
marginalized sections. As there was persistent demand from the girls and their parents for extending
the Scheme at least up to Class X.
iii. As regards criteria, our suggestion is to give priority to SC/ST/OBC/Minority/BPL girls who have
successfully completed Class V and do not have a Middle/High/Higher Secondary school in their
village of residence located in remote areas or have difficult topography. Our premier concern should
be to encourage smooth transition of rural girls from primary to higher/professional/technical
education. We need to chart out separate route for poor girls who wish to continue their education ( in
school) and those who are drop outs and never enrolled ( Out of School). Both are equally important.
As rural girls do not cross the village hedge and thus need that every primary School is upgraded to
Middle schools in their village for achieving the Fundamental Right to Elementary Education.
However, it would sad if they drop out after Class VIII for want of access to High/Higher Secondary
School. We need to build bridges to Secondary and later higher education in every rural Block either
through provision of safe transport at Public expense or liberal provisions for residential schools in
sparsely populated areas with difficult terrain. As observed on the ground, the KGBVs need to be
located close to Block Head Quarters so that all other civic amenities such as health, sanitation,
security, postal and telephone services, schemes and services of other allied development departments
and agencies like the Red Cross Society, Scouts and Guides and extension programmes of higher
education( NSS) can be availed for all round growth and development of all rural girls. As on date,
even after 60 years of planned development a Rural Girl stays a deprived category and among them
SC/ST/OBC/Minorities BPL girls are worst off.
iv. In mountainous terrain is much heavier compared to the planes as most of the materials are procured and
transported from the plains. It is therefore recommended that for the state of J & K the norms set for cost
of construction needs to be revised. We also propose that considering the extremely cold climatic
conditions, special allowance may be introduced for distributing heavy woolens overcoats raincoats,
gumboots to beat the weather as also extra quilts and blanks for KGBVs located in mountains.

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 Part II
NPEGEL, Jammu & Kashmir

NPEGEL has been formulated for education of under privileged/disadvantaged girls from Classes
I to VIII as a separate and distinct gender component plan of SSA to achieve UEE for girls in
EBBs. The programme is specifically targeted for all kind of girls namely out of school, drop
outs, overage, working girls from marginalized social groups, girls with low attendance and also
girls with low levels of achievement. Certain interventions addressing the specific needs of girl
children have been included to develop and promote facilities to provide access and to facilitate
retention of girls and to ensure greater participation of women and girls in the field of education
and to improve the quality of education through various interventions and to stress upon the
relevance and quality of girls’ education for their empowerment.

In J&K, 563 Model Cluster Schools have been sanctioned since 2003-04 in 109 EBBs of 13
districts. Out of these 302 MCS have been operationalised upto 30th Sept 2007.
Table 1.Status of NPEGEL in J& K as on 30th Sep. 2007 ( MHRD)
Cumulative target till Cumulative Achievement as on
S.N Activity
2007-08 Sept 2007
1 No. of MCS 563 302
2 Additional room 563 302
3 Toilets 563 302
4 Drinking water 563 302
5 Electrification 563 Nil
6 No. of ECCE centres opened 1126 604
7 Awards to best School/Teacher 563 Nil
8 Learning through open School 0
9 No. of teachers trained on gender sensitization 6040
10 Remedial teaching (No. of girls) 588
11 Bridge Courses (No. of girls covered) 0
12 Student Evaluation (No. of girls covered) All Students Through CCES
13 Additional Incentives
Uniforms 0
Other incentives 0
14 Total no. of girls benefiting from NPEGEL 31500
15 No. of NGOs involved in the program. 0
16 Community mobilization ((No. of people trained) 20000

Table 2: Details of NPEGEL scheme – sanction and operationalisation J& K

Year Sanctioned Operationalised Year of operationalisation
2003-04 104 Nil Nil
2004-05 - 104 2004-05
2005-06 183 183 2005-06
2006-07 15 15 2006-07
2007-08 261 Getting started 2007-08
(as per academic session)
Total 563
Source: Data provided to team by the state office, J&K.

Table 3: Progress under non-recurring components of NPEGEL J& K

Infrastructure (Addnl room+D.water TLM component (TLE+Lib+
+Toilet+Electricity+ CFS) Voc.material+Sports)
Year Target Achievement Target Achievement
2003-04 104 Late sanction
2004-05 104 104 100%
2005-06 183 183 100%
2006-07 15 15 100%
2007-08 261 261
Total 563
Source: Data provided to team by the state office, J&K.

112
In response to the TOR, we have the following major observations:
Five NPEGEL schools (one in Udhampur dist, two in Pulwama dist and three in Srinagar dist) were
visited by the team members and scrutinized records and materials including Cash Books, Balance
Sheets, Pass Book and all other materials related to the implementation of the scheme.

1. Assessing the fulfillment of the objectives of the NPEGEL scheme

The NPEGEL has been introduced since 2004-05, the field functionaries of all the three districts
express that, the programme could only be effectively absorbed only after the present State Gender
Coordinator took over the charge. The scheme is being operationalised for girls of Classes I-VIII in
Girls’ Middle Schools, mostly vis a vis the objectives of NPEGEL as a supplement to over all effort to
enroll, retain and empower girls (future women) of the State.
i. The Programme has succeeded in generating a girl child friendly school and a pro active State and
community participation.
ii. Even though very traditional vocational skills are being given in NPEGEL schools, a special room
and toilet facilities for girls exclusively, has led to better enrolment and retention according to the
State officials and has generated a lot of enthusiasm among parents, teachers and the community.
However, in coed schools, it was felt by the teachers and the officials that exclusive attention and
activities for girls is good but neglecting boys is not warranted. Many activities can be planned for
both boys and girls together which could be low cost or no cost so that a gender friendly school
emerges and the spirit of the Programme to generate Gender Equality and empowerment becomes the
beacon. .
iii. The State has a very dynamic Gender Coordinator who is trying his level best to operationalize the
scheme and has gender sensitized his Districts, blocks and Zonal Gender Coordinators as also the
teachers and the community in a short span of six months since joining and is putting the Programme
on rails.
iv. Gender stereotyping of vocational courses exist in most schools visited except one where girls
were learning book binding.
v. The links with other elements of the SSA like Girls’ Education Funds, KGBV , bridge courses,
EGS/AIE, teachers’ training need to be strengthened.
vi. Focal areas of research, extension and information dissemination to increase output of gender
sensitive, quality teaching-learning material especially in regional languages, and decentralized area-
specific models of intervention need to be evolved. to break gender stereotypes. and bridge gender
disparities.
vii. The Programme has been introduced only about two years ago , coverage is not complete and all
activities under the guidelines have not jelled up completely., therefore it would be premature to
evaluate the impact on the State as whole.and the chence, it wo
2, The Availability and quality of infrastructure in MCS and the benefits perceived by
girls/parents/community
All five schools visited had built an additional room, toilets, drinking water and electrification through
NPEGEL funds. The quality of construction and maintenance and upkeep was good. These additional
rooms were being used mainly for vocational training activities and for MTA meetings etc.
3.Assessment of the material inputs that have been provided to the MCS
The State did share materials including TLMs, CDs, and other materials helping in the review/
development of textbooks, development of guidelines for incorporation of gender concerns,
development/ compilation of supplementary reading material for girls, including life skills, which
would provide the support needed for girls’ education during the team’s visit. Further the District
Gender Coordinator of Srinagar explained that training designed had been prepared and the resource
persons from various areas were invited and discuss with the topic according to their own concept
papers.

113
 i. Almirahs containing library books had been placed in the additional room but looked brand new.
The sports materials were also displaced in the addition room and were also looking new. Library
books & sports material is being shared by all the schools under that very MCS, this information is
being provided by the head teacher of MCS . More over the vocational training is being provided
to in & out of school girls of that cluster were the MCS is sanctioned.
ii. As few of the Middle Schools have been upgraded to Secondary Schools, the additional rooms are
being used as a classroom to accommodate the students of higher classes.
iii. Cost of the construction of building is very high in those difficult terrains of J&K, the state needs
to be provided with higher cost for this.
iv. In most schools, vocational skills being imparted in the additional room by the part time instructor
were highly gender stereotyped comprising, sewing, embroidery, cooking, painting and preparation
of decoration pieces. Book bind was also being taught in one of the MCS. Despite this, the
parents, teachers, communities and girls themselves were very happy with these inputs and has
helped in improving retention of girls. “ This will help them to stitch their own clothes and
uniforms and that of their family members to some extent. The decoration pieces made out of
waste materials or no cost materials were quite attractive. Even, if one were to say that all products
produced in a short span of three months training in one trade/art may not be marketable on
account of very high quality, these activities have definitely created a sense of fulfillment and
achievement among these girls, also promoting in the aesthetic sense.

4.Additional incentives provided to girls

No additional incentives were being given to girls under the NPEGEL.

5.The impact of interventions targeted at ‘out of school’ girls

Table 5:Information about Out of School girls in the NPEGEL Blocks

Out of School Out of School
Out of School Girls
S.No. District Block Girls Girls
2007-08
2005-06 2006-07
1 Kupwara 08 CD Blocks. 4755 7376 8902
2 Baramulla 14 CD Blocks. 14069 10128 8773
3 Srinagar 04 CD Blocks. 5268 4862 3628
4 Budgam 08 CD Blocks. 10350 8401 4857
5 Pulwama 06 CD Blocks. 4939 3254 2860
6 Anantnag 12 CD Blocks. 8985 7577 6722
7 Leh 06 CD Blocks. 258 245 101
8 Kargil 07 CD Blocks. 1333 936 454
9 Doda 14 CD Blocks. 9747 8209 6980
10 Udhampur 12 CD Blocks. 7561 5748 6827
11 Poonch 05 CD Blocks 7036 3227 3491
12 Rajouri 07 CD Blocks. 6456 3725 4200
13 Kathua 09 CD Blocks. 1465 2408 3024
Grant Total 123CD Blocks. 82222 66096 60819
The state has reported decrease in overall numbers of out of school girls after introduction of several
SSA interventions. However it is premature to attribute to the impact of NPEGEL as the programme
is barely less than one year old. Further as the situation obtains in the state, all NPEGEL activities are
targeted at girls in Classes VI, VII and VIII and not out of school girls.
District Gender Coordinator, Srinagar said that out of school girls have been attending vocational
training classes and in the meantime, there is an effort to enroll these girls into schools.

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6.Linkages with systems of open learning
Linkages with systems of open learning do not exist.

7.The interventions for ‘in school’ girls and their impact of the learning outcomes
The activities under NPEGEL programme were not limited to Model Cluster Schools only but shared
by the schools surrounding the MCS but there is further scope of enhancement which we can accept in
near future. Also NPEGEL is perceived as a programme of imparting vocational training to the girls
in school. However these have improved their attendance/retention and helped generally creating a
supportive environment for girls’ education in the area. NPEGEL components like bridge courses do
not apply as only in school girls are covered.
Girls’ specific Remedial teaching and student evaluation for learning outcomes is being carried out at
block & cluster levels so as to raise the learning capacity of girl child. After the student evaluation
through CCES, the girls securing less than 40% marks in the particular subjects are being given
subject specific remedial teachings through trained teachers. This helps in increasing the learning
capacity of the girls, thereby achieving the self satisfaction which in turn helps in retention
&completion rate.
Under NPEGEL scheme sports events, symposiums, debates & cultural programmes are being carried
out at district, block, zone & even cluster levels. Girls of MCSs in collaboration with out of school
girls are involved in organizing nuked natak for depicting the life of girl child who is well read & the
one who has not attended the school. During the community mobilization MCS girls play a vital role
in spreading the awareness regarding the schooling of girl child &equity between the two & the
fundamental right of education.

8.Progress made with regard to gender training of teachers in the clusters

Gender training of teachers in the clusters under NPEGEL has been carried out in almost all the clusters
except the ones where the MCSs has been recently sanctioned . This is because non receipt of the payment
either from MHRD or from State. Gender sensitization teachers training for 2-3 days has been carried out
by all the districts where ever MCSs have been sanctioned till 2006-07 .
It was reported that Gender Training of teachers is being conducted either at district level or zone level &
also at cluster levels. Also reported that CRPs, ZRPs and Zonal Gender Coordinators of Budgam district
have received 2-3 days training

9.Other activities conducted under NPEGEL programme

Through out the J&K State all the Primary schools have started Pre-primary classes which has helped in
overcoming the sibling care there by resulting in the increase of enrolment not only in primary section but
also in upper primary section. The enrolment in pre-primary level is more than that of 1.19 lakhs.
To lay the foundations for proper psychological, physical & social development of the children, reduce the
incidences of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition & school drop-outs, the ICDS scheme is in implementation
in J&K State through a network of 121 projects running 10399 Anganwari Centers covering 3-42 lakhs of
children in the age group of 0-6 years. This is in addition to th the ECCE centers which has been opened
where there is no AWCs. The state is now planning to have a convergence between the two so that the
better results are being achieved & the desired result of UEE is being achieved well in time. The positive
impact of the set of activities like vocational training, educational excursions, health camps etc. was
tremendous as noted above.
10. Community involvement in planning, implementation and monitoring
SSA is trying its best to provide training activities for community involment in planning, implementation &
monitoring of NPEGEL. It is the community which takes part during the construction of ACRs & DWF. A
committee is being framed in each cluster involving ZEO, Head teacher, Sarpanch / Panch which take keen
interest in planning, implementation & monitoring & are meeting as & when required to take the stock of
the fresh situation & suggestion from the community are well taken for the smooth functioning &

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implementation of the NPEGEL scheme in the cluster .Community is being given prior information
regarding the activities that are to be implemented in the whole of the cluster & it is the community which
has demanded extension of vocational training beyond the stipulated period of time.

11. Inter-linkages with different management systems

NPEGEL is being run only by the State Education Department.

12. District and State systems designed for monitoring progress of NPEGEL
At district level Chief Education Officer along with a team of DRGs at the District , Block & Cluster level
are monitoring progress of NPEGEL. At state level worthy Secretary Education Department, SPD SSA &
State Gender Coordinator are monitoring the progress of the same. In those districts visited by the team, all
the District Gender Coordinators reported that they the monthy review meeting have helped them to
implement NPEGEL and KGBV programmes in a effective manner.
13. State Specific good practices
This is the first ever major centrally sponsored programme for Elementary Education in J&K. Despite an
extremely difficult terrain and climate, the State, District, Block and Zonal Coordinators of Gender as also
the CEOs, have a good rapport with the teachers, parents and community support and admiration is coming
in good measure. In one school, a teacher’s brother who was a doctor came in and gave free health check
up to girls and boys. This speaks well of the effort made by the concerned NPEGEL personnel at the
District, Block and Village level to mobilize the community and creating girl friendly environment within
and outside school.
14. Suggest changes/modification in the design of the present NPEGEL scheme .
i. The present NPEGEL scheme has its conceptual location in NPE 1986 and the Revised Programme of
Action 1992 which were based on the fundamental right of equality between sexes ( Non-Discrimination)
also giving the State to right to practice Protective Discrimination to remove the cumulative disadvantage
of women and to empower them to live with dignity. The Guidelines issued by the MHRD are replete with
several steps to translate this fundamental right into Gender Equality and Gender Sensitivity in education
and society in general. In focusing the programme only on infrastructure and activities meant for only for
girls at the school level, development of gender sensitivity and accepting the spirit of gender Equality by
both boys and girls as complementary to each others, as partners in life is lost. While special attention
being given to girls from backward areas and communities is appreciated by the parents and the
community, interaction with boys in coeducational schools showed their feeling a sense of neglect. For
instance, the NPEGEL Room can be used only by girls, health camps are meant only for girls , so is
remedial coaching. And, they feel worst when girls are taken out for educational tours in buses and they are
left behind. Are we really doing gender equality? The programme speaks of the need to focus on providing
good quality education to girls. This may be feasible in all girls’ schools but cannot be the guiding principle
for coeducational schools. Further, the Gender component stays weak for lack of sufficient understanding
of the concept itself and its opoerationalization as gender is seen as equal to Girls, mostly. The gender
sensitization community remains neglected even though some mobilization is done to enrol and retain girls.
Presently, out of school girls are getting little attention under NPEGEL where regular schools are normally
identified. Further, only MTAs and MS/Women’s Groups are mentioned for seeking active support and the
large emerging network of SHGs in several states as partners is ignored. Maybe, we need to look at this.
ii.The recurring annual grant of Rs. 60,000/- per cluster which may have anything between 15 to 25
schools including primary and Middle schools/sections in Secondary, higher Secondary schools are
expected to carry out a large number of activities . This fund is insufficient to implement all the
programmes in the Cluster. At best it is covering only one MCS and a couple of other schools. The
Programme appears to be limited to Classes VI-VIII, thereby neglecting primary school children
completely.
iii.Networking is missing with NGOs and research organizations, and even inter and intra departmental
coordination is not visible on the ground. Very often management of Classes I-V and Classes VI-VIII
continue to be under different Directorates and officers at the State/District/Block level. Role of DIET and
SCERT/SIEs need to be made more explicit as done in some states. Presently, out of school girls are
getting little attention under NPEGEL where regular schools are normally identified. In the States visited

116
by the team, Girls Education Head under SSA continues to seen separately fro NPEGEL and KGBV has its
separate exisitence.
iv.In mountainous terrain is much heavier compared to the planes as most of the materials are procured and
transported from the plains. It is therefore recommended that for the state of J & K the norms set for cost
of construction needs to be revised. We have noted that the programme has focused on girls in Classes VI,
VII, VIII and even primary school girls are excluded, there is perhaps need to look for inter linking various
schemes of SSA like the NRBCs, RBCs, Distance Education for working out a distinct programme focused
on out of school girls.
Keeping in view some of the issue above, we strongly recommend a re -look at the NPEGEL, both in
terms of structures/components and funding

Annexure I
Itinerary of the team’s visit to Jammu and Kashmir
Date From (place and To (place and Total Mode of Remarks
time) time) time journey
spent
Delhi, Jammu, 1.15hrs Flight Reached airport at 7.30am.
1.45 pm 3.00 pm The GO Air flight was
cancelled at 12.30 p.m.
Rushed to Terminal IB to
catch Kingfisher Flight at
1.45 p.m.
Arrival at Jammu Circuit house 0.45hrs Official
27.11.2007
Airport, 3.00pm 3.45pm Vehicle
4.00pm 6.30 pm 2.30 hrs Discussion with the State
Gender Co-ordinator of J&K
at the Circuit house
Field Visit to Kathua District
cancelled. Informed no flights
taking off from Jammu
Jammu, MCS, Ghandala, 4.00hrs Official small single road along deep
7.00 am Udhampur, Vehicle valley, poor condition,
11.00am potholes and boulders,
28.11.2007 negotiated by vehicle and on
foot to reach the school and
come back to main road..
11.00am 12.30pm 1.30hrs Review of NPEGEL
programme ar MCS,
Ghandala, Udhampur
MCS, Ghandala, KGBV, Ghordi, 2.00hrs Official Equally hazardous journey to
Dist.Udhampur, Dist.Udhampur, Vehicle and back, expert driver
12.30pm 3.30pm
3.30pm 5.30pm 2.00hrs Review of KGBV programme
at Ghordi
KGBV, Ghordi, Hotel Chanakya, 2.30hrs Official Night halt at Udhampur
Dist.Udhampur, Udhampur Vehicle
5.00pm 7.30pm
Udhampur MCS, Zeewan, 6.00hrs Official
7.30am Srinagar Vehicle
1.30pm
1.30pm 2.30pm 1.00hr Review of NPEGEL
programme at MCS, Zeewan,
Srinagar
29.11.2007 MCS, Zeewan, MCS, New Threed 0.30hrs Official
Srinagar Nishath, Srinagar Vehicle
2.30pm 3.00pm

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 3.00pm 4.00pm 1.00hr Review of NPEGEL
programme at MCS, New
Threed Nishath, Srinagar
MCS, New Threed MCS, Chatle 0.30hrs Official
Nishath, Srinagar Hama, Srinagar, Vehicle
4.00pm 4.30pm
4.30pm 5.30pm 1.00hr Review of NPEGEL
programme at MCS, Chatle
Hama, Srinagar
MCS, Chatle Circuit house, 0.45hrs Official Night halt at Srinagar
Hama, Srinagar, Srinagar Vehicle
5.30pm 6.15pm
Circuit house, KGBV, Karmulla 2.30hrs Official
10.00am Thral, Vehicle
Dist.Pulwama
12.30pm
30.11.2007 12.30pm 2.30pm 2.00hrs Review of KGBV school,
Karmulla Thral.
KGBV, Karmulla MCS, Poochaal, 0.45hrs Official
Thral, Dist.Pulwama Vehicle
Dist.Pulwama 3.00pm
2.30pm
3.00pm 4.00pm 1.00hr Review of NPEGEL
programme at MCS,
Poochaal, Dist.Pulwama
MCS, Poochaal, MCS, Nehama, 0.45hrs Official
Dist.Pulwama Dist.Pulwama Vehicle
4.00pm 4.45pm
4.45pm 5.30pm 0.45hrs Review of NPEGEL
programme at MCS, Nehama,
Dist.Pulwama
MCS, Nehama, Circuit house, 1.30hrs Official Night halt at Srinagar
Dist.Pulwama Srinagar Vehicle
5.30pm 7.00pm
01.12.2007 Circuit house, Airport, Srinagar 1.00hrs Official The flight was delayed by
Srinagar 1.00 pm Vehicle 2.00 hrs
12.00 pm
Srinagar Delhi, 1.30hrs Flight
5.00pm 6.30pm

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REPORT ON THE EVALUATION OF NPEGEL AND KGBV PROGRAMMES OF PUNJAB

TEAM MEMBERS: Professor Usha Nayar and Ms. Girija.B.H

Field visit: 20th to 24th November, 2007

At the outset, the evaluation team would like to thank the functionaries of the SSA at all levels for
extending their support and co-operation in evaluating KGBV and NPEGEL schemes especially the
ASPD, Shri Sawan Iqbal Singh, in charge of KGBV and NPEGEL, The District Education Officer (
Elementary Education),District Gender Coordinator, and all staff of District Ferozepur, Block Gender
Coordinators of Abohar and Khuian Sarwar, Block Education Officers of all 19 Blocks of District
Ferozepur and the teachers , head teachers and staff of all institutions visited.(List at Annexure)

List of school visited by the team members:

S.N Programmes Schools Date of visit

1 KGBV, Village Nihal Khera, Block Abohar, 22.11.2007
Dist Ferozepur.
KGBV
2 KGBV, Village Dharamapura, Block Khuian 23.11.2007
Sarwar, Dist Ferozepur.
3 Government Sr. Secondary School, Village 22.11.2007
Bandiwala, Block Abohar, Dist Ferozepur.
4 Government Secondary School, Village 22.11.2007
Patrewala, Block Abohar, Dist. Ferozpur.
NPEGEL
Government Sr.Secondary School, Village 22.11.2007
Nihal Khera, Block Abohar Dist. Ferozpur
5 Government Middle School, Village Kundal, 23.11.2007
Block Khuian Sarwar, Dist Ferozepur.

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 Part I
KGBVs Visited in Punjab
The main thrust of the KGBV scheme is to provide access at upper primary level to disadvantaged
sections of girls in EBBs, who have remained outside the educational system despite interventions of
other government programmes due to persistent socio-economic, cultural and topographical reasons.
The KGBV scheme has been introduced only in 2 EBBs in one district of Punjab, namely, Ferozepur
in two Educationally Backward Blocks , Abohar and Khuian Sarwar. Punjab has adopted Model-3
where the hostels are located next/close to the Sr. Sec. Schools in the village. In case of both KGBVs,
the hostels are being run next to Sr, Sec. Schools in the respective villages. At present only 51 girls
are enrolled in these two hostels against the sanctioned strength of one hundred ( 50 each).. These
girls attend the adjoining Govt. Sr. Secondary School in Classes VI to VIII
The KGBVs were sanctioned during 2005-06 and have been operationalised in 2006-07. Both the
hostels were built in a record period of 6 months and are well equipped with the required facilities
like furniture, beddings, kitchen equipment, hostel staff and compound with pleasant flowering plants
and a lawn. We may note that all the required facilities as mentioned above were in place before
enrolling the girls in April 2006. It was indeed a pleasure to visit these beautiful complexes which
were aesthetic and spotlessly clean. The girls were extremely cheerful and in good mental and
physical health. They were adhering to the Day’s schedule displayed on the verandah wall. Study,
physical exercises, sports and games and singing and dancing were a part of their day at the hostel.
The dormitories, toilets, dining hall, kitchen and the Library cum Resource room were all very
spacious and spotlessly neat and clean. The hostels had very good residential wardens ,an Accountant,
a full time Cook, a Helper, a peon, and a watchman. The respective Principals of the Sr. secondary
Schools had taken personal interest in the construction and maintenance of the hostels and in
grooming these young girls through suitable activities during school hours. The community members
were equally enthusiastic and were very happy with the introduction of the KGBV scheme in their
respective Blocks/villages. The Parents were highly satisfied with the performance of their daughters
and their over all grooming .

In response to the TOR, we have the following major observations:

We discovered on our arrival that they have not received the TOR of the evaluation from GOI and
hence gave us the briefing on various aspects of the programme. The person in charge of
KGBV/NPEGEL had joined around 3 months ago and did not have complete information in his files
which he received from his predecessor on the scheme and its operationalisation.The information
flow appeared to be insufficient as only single page orders were received by the implementers at the
district/block level mainly giving items of expenditure and not the broad purpose and goals of the
scheme. This has lead to under spending of building fund and overspending of other recurring and
non-recurring costs.
1. Assessing the fulfillment of the objectives of the KGBV scheme
The GOI guidelines clearly state that the emphasis is on girls who have been out of school, who are in
areas that do not have a formal middle school, girls of migratory families, girls who have completed
class 5 and are likely not to transit to the upper primary level. ALSO THAT UNDER NO
CIRCUMSTANCES GIRLS FROM REGULAR SCHOOLS WILL BE ADMITTED IN
KGBVs. At the primary level emphasis will be on the slightly older girls who are out of school and
were unable to complete primary schools (10+). At the upper primary level, emphasis will be on
girls, especially adolescent girls who are unable to go to regular schools.

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 i. However, in the State of Punjab, we found that girls who had freshly passed primary schools were
enrolled in Class VI, some of them even from the same village. Therefore, in some manner of
speaking, the objective of reaching the hard to reach out of school girls through KGBVs has not been
kept in view while admitting girls to the two KGBV hostels.
ii.There was another major gap noticed in the number of girls covered in the two KGBVs. Against
the sanctioned strength of 50 girls per hostel, there were only 25 girls in each and the district
authority, the DEO(elementary) was sure that the hostel was meant for 25 girls only and any attempt
on her part to exceed this number would invite audit objections, “If I enroll even one extra girl, audit
objection would be raised”, she stated. Consequently the scheme has benefited only 50% of the
approved number of girls i.e., 100 for these 2 hostels and that too not stipulated by the guidelines.
The state says that the funds received under KGBV (Model-III) programme were meant for 25
girls only for both the hostels in 2004-05 sanction order (the State’s reply is apphended to the
report)
2. Infrastructure facility and staff
i.Due to some gap in communication, only Rs.10.00 lakh per KGBV have been released to the district
for the construction of the hostel buildings against the sanction of amount of Rs.15 lakhs by the
Government of India. Therefore while all other rooms like the dining hall, the library/activity room
and the bathrooms, the kitchen were very spacious , the two dormitories could accommodate only 25
girls. The State has replied that despite this office's demand vide memo no. 23/1-
2006/SSA/KGBV-6904, dated 26.06.2006 for the release of the balance amount of Rs. 5.00 lacs for
each of the hostel buildings, GOI didn't release the additional funds required for the hostel buildings.
ii. The bathing rooms were much too large. There were 3 WCs and 3 bathing rooms in each hostel
The bathing rooms were much too large and could be easily converted into 6 in the same area. The
total space allotted to WCs and bathrooms could suffice six units each of these two complements. The
implementing authorities at the district level and the KGBV Building Committees have constructed
the hostels according to the plan provided by the SPO. They were under the impression that this plan
was sent by the GOI. iii. However in the financial estimates, the cost estimates for 50 girls
(excluding non utilization of Rs.5.00 lakh on building construction), the rest of the non-recurring and
the recurring items of expenditure have been sanctioned for 50 girl students per hostel. This has been
utilized for just 25 girls in both hostels. This implies that there is under utilization of the
construction grant and double the sanctioned amount spent per girl child for approved recurring
and non recurring costs/activities/items.
Budget Sanction and expenditure of KGBVs as on 7.11.2007
Govt.
Govt. Sr. Sec.
Sr.Sec.School,
School, Nihal
Dharampura, Total
Khera, Block
Block Khuian
Abohar
Sarwar
Recurring 1089500 1089500 2179000
Amount received Non-recurring 1815250 1815250 3630500
Total 2904750 2904750 5809500
Recurring 698572 571232 1193645
Amount spent Non-recurring 1481080 1489266 2970346
Total 2179652 2060498 4240150
Recurring 390928 518268 985355
Unspent balance Non-recurring 334170 325984 660154
Total 725098 844252 1569350
Source: SSA state office, Punjab, Nov 2007
As there is no provision to appoint teachers, only part-time staff has been appointed on contractual basis
for managing the KGBV hostels.

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 KGBV Hostel Staff Pattern
S.N Designation Honorarium per
month
1 Warden/Teacher Rs.4500/-
2 Accountant Rs.1500/-
3 Cook Rs.3500/
4 Helper Rs.1500/
5 Peon Rs.1500/
6 Sweeper Rs.1000/
7 Watchman Rs.1500/
Source: Data provided by KGBV, Nihal Khera on 22nd Nov, 2007
3. Category wise enrollment
The distribution of existing girls is as per the guidelines i.e, SC-50%, BC-25% and others 25% including
BPL households. In this as girls from regular schools have been admitted in class 6, the out of school girls
in the upper primary age group have also been left out.

Class SC BC Gen Total

KGBV, Nihal Khera, Abohar 6 2 1 1 4
Block 7 9 9 18
8 1 3 4
Total 12 13 1 26
KGBV, Dharampura, Khuian 6 4 4 8
Sarwar Block 7 5 7 12
8 3 2 5
Total 12 13 25
Source: Data provided to team by the KGBV schools during the visit.
4. Retention of girls:As the girls are enrolled from the main stream schools, retention is not a
problem in these KGBV schools.
5. Quality of learning: Since they are graduating from regular school and placed at Sr.Secondary
level, the pace of their learning levels are reportedly good as per the school head.
6. TLM: Since the TLM grant is available for all elementary classes under SSA, the regular
Sr.Secondary schools these girls were attending, they were making use of them. Library books,
Television, LCD projector etc were placed in the KGBV library/resource room. Whether this
TLM grant is available to the Sr.Secondary school was not clear. Very rush pace of field visits
due to a large number of hours spent commuting from district to the villages where these KGBVs
(also NPEGEL schools).
7. Parent/teacher/community perception regarding functioning of KGBVs: The
parent/teacher/community perception regarding functioning of KGBVs were very positive. The
villagers were extremely happy that such a magnificent institution has been provided to their
daughter even though they themselves reside in semi pakka /pakka buildings. They very happy
the quality of food supplied to the girls. Also academic activities and learning and leisure time
activities were appreciated. Sports and physical fitness activities were conspicuous by their
absence as also music and arts. All of these could contribute to the enrichment of the KGBV
school curriculum. Sports and physical exercises including Judo and Karate could enhance the
physical and mental fitness of girls and thus building higher level of self confidence.
8. Mobilizing Out of school girls: May be some gap in dissemination of guidelines, the process of
identifying drop out girls in the EBB was not undertaken by State. However it is to their credit
that the process for selection of girls was duly advertised in all the villages through pamphlets and
stickers pasted in Gurudwaras and panchayath office, to tell people the availability of the new
facility i.e., KGBV scheme. The demand has exceeded the provision and numerous parents have

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 been turned away. Further there was all round demand for extending the provision to class 9 and
10. Because according to teachers and parents, completing just middle school would not lead the
girl any where. Interaction with the girls showed them they were absolutely happy with all the
facilities and they were doing very well in the classes as it came out from the performances in the
cultural programme. There is likelihood of some continuing their education after 8th but others
said they stay at home.
9. NGOs involvement: We did not come across the involvement of NGOs in managing KGBV
schools during our visit.
10. Good practices of the state: The proximity of the hostel to the Senior Secondary School is a
great advantage as the Principals who are highly qualified and committed are in charge of these
hostels. We have already mentioned above the high standards of construction, maintenance and
running of the KGBV hostels in Punjab and the highly conducive environment which has
definitely helped these girls to develop a high self esteem and self confidence. Although, the
criteria for admission of girls to be limited to mainly out of school girls and drop outs has been
violated, we may state that these girls belonged to SC, OBC and BPL families with very poor
economic means. Had this option not been given to them, most of them would have dropped out
after Class V.
11. Suggestions for Modification of the present KGBV Scheme:
i.There is need to standardize the salary component of the KGBV Staff.We have come across some
anomalies in Punjab and J&K. In Punjab, the Cook is getting Rs. 3500/- whereas the KGBV teachers (
mostly post graduates and training, also some MCAs) were drawing Rs. 1500/- per month and all
other staff were getting not more than Rs. 1200/- per month as wages.This was causing great
consternation among them as they were not even getting the minimum wage fixed for unskilled
labour.
ii. As we have observed all three models of KGBV, Model III in Punjab and Models I and II in J&K,
our recommendation is that Model III with larger intake should be preferred on the lines of Punjab
where close proximity and expert supervision of Senior Secondary School Principals is adding to
quality management of hostels and also quality of education being received by these girls from
marginalized sections. As there was persistent demand from the girls and their parents for extending
the Scheme at least up to Class X.
iii. As regards criteria, our suggestion is to give priority to SC/ST/OBC/Minority/BPL girls who have
successfully completed Class V and do not have a Middle/High/Higher Secondary school in their
village of residence located in remote areas or have difficult topography. Our premier concern should
be to encourage smooth transition of rural girls from primary to higher/professional/technical
education. We need to chart out separate route for poor girls who wish to continue their education ( in
school) and those who are drop outs and never enrolled ( Out of School). Both are equally important.
As rural girls do not cross the village hedge and thus need that every primary School is upgraded to
Middle schools in their village for achieving the Fundamental Right to Elementary Education.
However, it would sad if they drop out after Class VIII for want of access to High/Higher Secondary
School. We need to build bridges to Secondary and later higher education in every rural Block either
through provision of safe transport at Public expense or liberal provisions for residential schools in
sparsely populated areas with difficult terrain. As observed on the ground, the KGBVs need to be
located close to Block Head Quarters so that all other civic amenities such as health, sanitation,
security, postal and telephone services, schemes and services of other allied development departments
and agencies like the Red Cross Society, Scouts and Guides and extension programmes of higher
education( NSS) can be availed for all round growth and development of all rural girls. As on date,
even after 60 years of planned development a Rural Girl stays a deprived category and among them
SC/ST/OBC/Minorities BPL girls are worst off.

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 Part II
NPEGEL, Punjab
NPEGEL has been formulated for education of under privileged/disadvantaged girls from Classes
I to VIII as a separate and distinct gender component plan of SSA to achieve UEE for girls in
EBBs. The programme is specifically targeted for all kind of girls namely out of school, drop
outs, overage, working girls from marginalized social groups, girls with low attendance and also
girls with low levels of achievement. Certain interventions addressing the specific needs of girl
children have been included to develop and promote facilities to provide access and to facilitate
retention of girls and to ensure greater participation of women and girls in the field of education
and to improve the quality of education through various interventions and to stress upon the
relevance and quality of girls’ education for their empowerment

In Punjab, 47 Model Cluster Schools were sanctioned during 2005-06 for 12 EBBs of 7 districts
and were operationalised during the same year. But all of them were withdrawn except 8 MCSs
during 2006-07. Four clusters out of six clusters have been covered in each of 2 EBBs in one
district of Punjab, namely, Ferozepur.

Status of NPEGEL in Punjab as on 30th Sep. 2007 (data circulated by MHRD)

Cumulative target
Cumulative Achievement
S.N Activity till
as on Sept 2007
2007-08
1 No. of MCS 8 8
2 Additional room 47 47
3 Toilets 47 47
4 Drinking water 47 47
5 Electrification 47 47
6 No. of ECCE centres opened 0 0
7 Awards to best School/Teacher 8 2
8 Learning through open School 0
9 No. of teachers trained on gender 0
sensitization
10 Remedial teaching (No. of girls) 0
11 Bridge Courses (No. of girls covered) 0
12 Student Evaluation (No. of girls covered) 850
13 Additional Incentives
Uniforms 45
Other incentives 15
14 Total no. of girls benefiting from NPEGEL 850
15 No. of NGOs involved in the program. 0

In response to the TOR, we have the following major observations:

Four NPEGEL schools (one in Khuian Sarwar Block and three in Abohar) were visited by the team
members and scrutinized records and materials including Cash Books, Balance Sheets, Pass Book and
all other materials related to the implementation of the scheme.
1.Assessing the fulfillment of the objectives of the NPEGEL scheme
The NPEGEL has been introduced only in 2005-06 and it may be premature to evaluate the
efficacy and impact of each component separately in the EBBs where the scheme has been
operationalised. The scheme is being operationalised for girls of Classes VI-VIII in seven
Coeducational Senior Secondary Schools and in one Girls’ Middle School and thus cannot be expected
to impact Punjab State as a whole vis a vis the objectives of NPEGEL as a supplement to over all
effort to enroll, retain and empower girls and women of the State.
i.The scheme has already been curtailed to a very limited physical area due to criteria for selection of
EBBs and hence does not evince much interest at the State level, although the activities and the girls

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observed in the three field visit schools did give a very positive feed back despite lack of any detailed
guidelines from the state. All they received at the district level were single page instructions on items
and expenditure pattern including limiting of vocational skills to traditional areas of cooking, sewing,
painting, music and embroidery. Computers, self defense, life skills education , sports equipment etc.
were not included even in State Items -Budget sheet.
ii.The SPD reported inclusion of a gender unit and a person, and the person handling girls’ education
at the State level reported that she was only handling vocational training.The KGBV and the NPEGEL
are with a ASPD at the State lecvel and by the DEO Elementary Education and District Gender
Coordinator at the District level and the Block Gender Coordinator and the concerned School
principals at the ground level. None of these concerned personnel had been exposed to the broad goals
of the Scheme as they had not been provided with the NPEGELl Gudelines issued by the MHRD. Also
none of them had received any gender orientation or training. Thus ,this does not enable them to
develop innovative gender sensitisation / training programmes for teachers and administrators of
NPEGEL. However, with even this limited understanding and exposure they have been able to create a
girl friendly approach among their officials and teachers and girl friendly schools and enough
community enthusiasm and support. The well off community members and organizations like the
Lions Club and Rotary Club are giving generous support and the local doctors are organizing health
check up camps for girls free of charge.
iii.In Punjab, due to communication gap, the award money is being distributed to outstanding girls and
not to teachers and the schools for whom it is meant under the NPEGEL
iv.Focal areas of research, extension and information dissemination to increase output of gender
sensitive, quality teaching-learning material especially in regional languages, and decentralised area-
specific models of intervention remain non existent and little is being done to break gender
stereotypes.
2, The Availability and quality of infrastructure in MCS and the benefits perceived by
girls/parents/community
All three schools visited had built an additional room, toilets, drinking water and electrification
through NPEGEL funds. The quality of construction and maintenance and upkeep was very good.
These additional rooms were being used mainly for vocational training activities and for MTA
meetings etc.There was very good display of TLMs prepared by general SSA funds in all class rooms
and verandahs in the three NPEGEL schools. Also, these schools were well maintained, neat and clean
and were utilizing school maintenance grants to the fullest. However, no CFS components were
constructed.

3.Assessment of the material inputs that have been provided to the MCS
The State level briefing did not share any materials including TLMs, CDs, films and other materials
helping in the review/ development of textbooks, development of guidelines for incorporation of
gender concerns, development/ compilation of supplementary reading material for girls, including life
skills, which would provide the support needed for girls’ education.
i.Almirahs containing library books had been placed in the additional room but looked brand new. The
schools have purchased more furniture out of TLM funds. This fund must be utilized for library
books, lab materials, TLMs, sports materials and vocational materials.
ii.In all schools, vocational skills being imparted in the additional room by the part time instructor
were highly gender stereotyped comprising, sewing, embroidery, cooking, painting and preparation of
decoration pieces. Despite this, the parents, teachers, communities and girls themselves were very
happy with these inputs and has helped in improving retention of girls. “ This will help them to stitch
their own clothes and uniforms and that of their family members to some extent. The standard of
embroidery and stitching was fairly good and almost professional in one school. The decoration pieces
made out of waste materials or no cost materials were quite attractive. Even, if one were to say that all
products produced in a short span of three months training in one trade/art may not be marketable on
account of very high quality, these activities have definitely created a sense of fulfillment and
achievement among these girls, also promoting in the aesthetic sense.

125
4.Additional incentives provided to girls
No additional incentives were being given to girls under the NPEGEL. The State Of Punjab is giving
free uniforms and text books to SC girls and Non SC girls are covered under SSA.

5.The impact of interventions targeted at ‘out of school’ girls

No information was provided about interventions targeted at ‘out of school’ girls or girls in EGS/AIE
centers

6.Linkages with systems of open learning

Linkages with systems of open learning do not exist.

7.The interventions for ‘in school’ girls and their impact of the learning outcomes
The interventions for ‘in school’ girls are limited to a few schools in the clusters. These have improve
their attendance/retention and helped generally creating a supportive environment for girls’ education
in the area. NPEGEL components like bridge courses do not apply as only in school girls are covered.
Girls’ specific Remedial teaching and student evaluation for learning outcomes was not being carried
out.

8.Progress made with regard to gender training of teachers in the clusters

No gender training of teachers in the clusters under NPEGEL has been carried out and no training
module was made available to the team..

9.Other activities conducted under NPEGEL programme

No ECE centres, libraries, bridge courses, remedial classes under NPEGEL were shown and the
vocational education programmes have been discussed above. Little was reported about linkages with
other girl child oriented inputs in other SSA components. The positive impact of the set of activities
like vocational training, educational excursions, health camps etc. was tremendous as noted above.

10. Community involvement in planning, implementation and monitoring

No training activities for Community involvement in planning, implementation and monitoring of
NPEGEL, the additionality through NPEGEL funds over and above community training under other
component of SSA, has been reported.
11. Inter-linkages with different management systems
NPEGEL is being run only by the State Education Department.
12. District and State systems designed for monitoring progress of NPEGEL
District Education Officer, Elementary Education and the Gender Coordinators at the District and the
Block level are monitoring progress of NPEGEL but no activity for capacity building of NPEGEL
implementers in the field/districts was reported.

13. State Specific good practices

Despite an extremely limited physical area being covered, the ability of the District and Block
personnel to get community support for various activities like health check ups, donation of fans and
prizes for girls excelling in academic and para academic areas was infectious. This speaks well of the
effort made by the concerned NPEGEL personnel at the District, Block and Village level to mobilize
the community and creating girl friendly environment within and outside school.

14. Suggest changes/modification in the design of the present NPEGEL scheme .

i.The present NPEGEL scheme has its conceptual location in NPE 1986 and the Revised Programme
of Action 1992 which were based on the fundamental right of equality between sexes ( Non-
Discrimination) also giving the State to right to practice Protective Discrimination to remove the

126
cumulative disadvantage of women and to empower them to live with dignity. The Guidelines issued
by the MHRD are replete with several steps to translate this fundamental right into Gender Equality
and Gender Sensitivity in education and society in general. In focusing the programme only on
infrastructure and activities meant for only for girls at the school level, development of gender
sensitivity and accepting the spirit of gender Equality by both boys and girls as complementary to each
others, as partners in life is lost.While special attention being given to girls from backward areas and
communities is appreciated by the parents and the community, interaction with boys in coeducational
schools showed their feeling a sense of neglect. For instance, the NPEGEL Room can be used only by
girls, health camps are meant only for girls , so is remedial coaching. And, they feel worst when girls
are taken out for educational tours in buses and they are left behind. Are we really doing gender
equality? The programme speaks of the need to focus on providing good quality education to girls.
This may be feasible in all girls’ schools but cannot be the guiding principle for coeducational schools.
Further, the Gender component stays weak for lack of sufficient understanding of the concept itself
and its opoerationalization as gender is seen as equal to Girls, mostly. The gender sensitization
community remains neglected even though some mobilization is done to enrol and retain girls.
Presently, out of school girls are getting little attention under NPEGEL where regular schools are
normally identified. Further, only MTAs and MS/Women’s Groups are mentioned for seeking active
support and the large emerging network of SHGs in several states as partners is ignored. Maybe, we
need to look at this.
ii. The recurring annual grant of Rs. 60,000/- per cluster which may have anything between 15 to 25
schools including primary and Middle schools/sections in Secondary, higher Secondary schools are
expected to carry out a large number of activities . This fund is insufficient to implement all the
programmes in the Cluster. At best it is covering only one MCS and a couple of other schools. The
Programme appears to be limited to Classes VI-VIII, thereby neglecting primary school children
completely.
iii.Networking is missing with NGOs and research organizations, and even inter and intra
departmental coordination is not visible on the ground. Very often management of Classes I-V and
Classes VI-VIII continue to be under different Directorates and officers at the State/District/Block
level. Role of DIET and SCERT/SIEs need to be made more explicit as done in some states. Presently,
out of school girls are getting little attention under NPEGEL where regular schools are normally
identified.In the States visited by the team, Girls Education Head under SSA continues to seen
separately fro NPEGEL and KGBV has its separate exisitence.

Keeping in view some of the issue above, we strongly recommend a re -look at the NPEGEL, both in
terms of structures/components and funding

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 Annexure
KGBV

Sr. Observations Replies

No.
1 The two schools of Ferozepur Both the schools in the districts have been selected
district (Nihal Khera and being the EBBs and having rich population of SC & BC
Dharampur) are SC blocks. communities. The rural female literacy rate of the
blocks, having both the schools being lower than the
national average (46.13) and the gender gap being more
than the national average (21.59). Block Abohar has
r.f.l.r as 43.02 and gender gap 22.62 whereas block
Khuian Sarwar has r.f.l.r. as 44.00 and gender gap as
22.10 as per the census report of the year 2001. Hence,
the schools have been selected as per the guidelines
under KGBV.
2 Girls from regular schools are The observations made by the evaluation experts have
admitted on merit basis. been noted and it shall be taken care of appropriately.
Necessary explanation of the officers concerned for not
observing the guidelines shall be sought.
3 Only 25 girls have been enrolled Funds received under KGBV (Model-III) programme
in each KGBV which is below were meant for 25 girls only for both the hostels. Copy
the provision under model-III. of the sanction (year 2004-05) is attached alongwith –
Annexure 'A'.
4 Instead of Rs. 15.00 lakhs, only Despite this office's demand vide memo no. 23/1-
Rs. 10.00 lakhs has been 2006/SSA/KGBV-6904, dated 26.06.2006 (copy
released for the construction of attached - Annexure 'B') for the release of the balance
KGBV hostel building. amount of Rs. 5.00 lacs for each of the hostel buildings,
GOI didn't release the additional funds required for the
hostel buildings.
5 Cleanliness given utmost It is understood that the experts seem to have
importance in both the schools. appreciated the state of cleanliness and hence no further
comments are needed perhaps.
6 Girls have sufficient space to .Hostel buildings including the toilets, bathrooms etc.
move and study. A one facility and the provision of gardens are as per the design and
provided in the Hostel with well map got prepared from a registered designer group (Sh.
maintained gardens in both the R Harbans Singh, Regd. No. M.C.F.D. 4, Designer
schools. Toilets and bathrooms Group, Opp. Tehsil Ferozepur City.). No guidelines for
are bigger than required. the design of the KGBV (Model-III) hostels were ever
received from GOI. However, efforts shall be made to
optimally utilize the existing space so as to
accommodate more girls provided the funds are
available

128
7 KGBV hostels have been built There does not seem to be any violation of the
in the premises of the Secondary guidelines. The availability of the hostels within
schools. Girls are attending the schools premises is rather appreciated by all concerned.
regular classes of those
secondary schools.

8 Vocational training and life skill The observation made by the team is not clear.
training is not a part of KGBV However, it is apprised that the vocational training and
in the state. Except hostel the skill trainings can be considered to be started in the
facility, the girls are receiving hostels if the policy guidelines in the scheme provides
academic inputs as the other for the same.
children do in the school.
9 It is remarkable to note that the No comments are perhaps required.
girls were enrolled to KGBVs
only after the completion of
hostel buildings. The buildings
were completed with in the span
of 6 months and KGBVs started
functioning from April 2006.
10 The quality of food was good No comments are perhaps required.
and menu of these schools have
taken care of the nutrients
required by the girls.
11 The publicity about the No comments are perhaps required.
provision in the school was
made by making
announcements in Gurudwaras,
distribution of pamplets and
orienting all VEDCs in cluster
level meetings. This had helped
in receiving more applications
from the candidates. Entrance
test was conducted before
selecting the girls.
12 Reservation of seats – SC-50%, The observation of the team is not clear. Further the
BC-25% and others-25%. reservation has been fixed as per the criteria fixed by
GOI under the guidelines for implementation of the
KGBV programme.

129
13 There are no committees with There appears to be some communication gap. Perhaps
parents as members that manage the team could not be apprised by the local officers
that manage the KGBV school. appropriately. It is apprised that Parent Teacher
Village Education Development Associations (PTAs) / Mother Teacher Associations (
Committee basically has MTAS) already exist and are functioning in all the
representation of the Village Govt. Schools besides having atleast two members from
Panchayath and department Parents in each Village Education Development
officials. Committee (VEDC). The matters related with the
respective KGBVs can always be considered during the
PTA/MTA/VEDC meetings of the schools attached
with the hostels under KGBV programme

NPEGEL

Sr. Observations Replies

No.
1 Three NPEGEL schools (one Five (not the three) schools under NPEGEL were
in Khuian Sarwar Block and visited by the team from 22.11.2007 to
two in Abohar) were visited 23.11.2007 as follows: -
by the team members 1. GHS Bandiwala, Block Abohar.
2. GSSS Patrewala, Block Khuian Sarwar.
3. GSSS Nihal Khera, Block Abohar.
4. GMS (Girls) Kundal, Block Abohar
5. GSSS Dharampura, Block Khuian Sarwar
2 Very stereotype kind of The Vocational Training being provided in
vocational training being various schools under NPEGEL programme is
given in NPEGEL schools related with the trades as per the general needs of
which has been prescribed by the girls/ women in the state to provide the
the state office like tailoring, requisite skills required in their daily life.
embroidery, cooking, and Further the efforts have been made to introduce
painting. some new trades under vocational training after
consulting Department of Information
Technology and Department of Industrial
Training.
3 Model Cluster School concept As per the Model Cluster School (MCS) concept,
is completely missing. The the school has to cater/ share its services/
school is not a model to the facilities with other schools in the cluster. The
entire cluster but the school is students of the nearby schools cannot be made to
implementing the activities in visit the MCS frequently as it is likely to take
the school itself. substantial travel time. Further, no means of
transport are provided for the purpose. Moreover,

130
 the contractual teachers appointed are merely
getting a monthly honorarium of Rs. 1000/- only
and cannot afford visiting the nearby schools to
cater services.
4 There is no broader NPEGEL and KGBV programmes have been
understanding of the functioning as per the instructions of
objectives of both NPEGEL state/districts/block level authorities from time to
and KGBV programmes time. However, the objection doesn't pinpoint the
areas where lapses have been noticed. Special
trainings shall be organized to train the staff at
the state level so as to make them familiar with
both programmes as observed by the team.
5 All the clusters of the EBBs To begin with only the schools having sufficient
have not been covered under infrastructure and enrollment of girls were
NPEGEL. Out of 6 clusters selected under the programme. Four schools in
only 4 model cluster schools block Khuian Sarwar have already been covered
have been covered. and the remaining two shall also be covered
during the next academic session i.e., 2007-08.
6 It was noticed that in the The observation made by the team is not clear
Government High School, nor any alternatives have been suggested by the
Bandiwala of Abohar block, team. It is apprehended that if two periods are
during the last two periods of not devoted to the vocational training under the
every day, the girls are made scheme, the same is likely to invite objection and
to attend NPEGEL vocational most serious criticism. In case the team suggests
classes. a better alternative solution to the problem, the
same shall be implemented.
7 Beautiful additional rooms The funds were received for the construction of
with an attached toilet have one additional room with girls' toilet, water
been built in the NPEGEL supply, electrification, electric fittings and
schools. But no CFS furniture only. Regarding the observation of
components were constructed. CFS, it is apprised that the same shall be taken
care of as per the availability of the funds under
the scheme. Also, responsibility shall be fixed for
not observing the guidelines.
8 The schools have purchased Provision of furniture has been recommended
more furniture out of TLM out of funds under civil works for cluster model
funds. This fund must be schools. However, in one of the schools visited
utilized for library books, lab namely GMS (girls) Kundal (block Abohar-II), it
materials, TLM, sports was reported that a part of TLM grant was
materials and vocational utilized for the purchase of some furniture items.
materials. The explanation of the officers responsible for
this irregularity shall be called and further
necessary action shall be taken.

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9 Awards fund is being used to The observation made by the team is admitted
distribute prizes for girls who and appreciated. However, the explanation shall
win in the cultural and be called and necessary action shall be taken after
academic competitions held in fixing the responsibility for not observing the
the schools. guidelines in true spirit though, it appears that
there is no malafide in distributing prizes to girls
and it appears to be only a bonafide mistake.

10 Children are taken for the The observation is true as the school authorities
visits to neighborhood places. taking the students for field visits only maintain a
No follow up and evaluation record of photographs clicked during the field
on the learning experiences of visits and the news paper cuttings regarding the
the children after the visit. visits. The importance of documentation has been
The documents have been conveyed to the authorities concerned. It shall be
found in the form of ensured in future that during all visits the
newspaper cutting and appropriate reports shall invariably be prepared
photographs. along with the photographs and newspaper
cuttings. etc. Efforts shall also be made to
prepare documentation for earlier visits.

General Observations

Sr. Objection Replies

No.
1 An individual officer must be The observation made by the team is noted.
assigned the task of heading the However, under the given circumstances this was
State Gender team. But an officer the only alternative. Further, as suggested by the
who is looking after EGS and AIE is team, the Karnataka model shall be studied and
made incharge of girls education thereafter State Gender Coordinators shall be
programmes which is why it seems appointed after following the due procedure.
to be that there is a weak linkage
between the state office and the
offices of district and sub district
levels.
2 The lack of issue of proper Photocopies of the guidelines under KGBV and
guidelines from the state office to NPEGEL programmes were provided to the district
the actual implementers was noticed Gender Coordinator by the then officer monitoring
due to which there was no awareness the programmes during one of the meetings at the
among the field functionaries about state level. The lapse at the district level if any,
the guidelines of both KGBV and shall shortly be found out.
NPEGEL schemes.
3 There is no design for the regular Quarterly Progress Report under both the schemes
monitoring of both the schemes in are being obtained regularly. However, if it needs
the state. some amendments, the same shall be done

132
 henceforth. The copy of the format is enclosed
herewith.
4 Interactions could not be held with District authorities were directed telephonically to
the parents/VEDC members as they call the parents/ VEDC members during the team's
were not invited to schools during visit in KGBV hostels/ schools but it was told that
the teams visit. the parents most of whom belong to the labour
community found it difficult to come from the
distances of 8 to 20 kilometers. However, in two of
the schools visited, VEDC Chairman/ Member
were present. However, it is observed that the team
was at liberty to visit the parents of such girls and
the liasioning officers would have certainly
accompanied them to the residence of the parents if
the parents did not join at the venue.
5 The involvement of NGOs is not Both the schemes are running in two blocks only
noticed in the area of girls' and no NGO has offered its services voluntarily at
education. such a lower scale. The possibility shall be
explored now.
6 As there are two different District The observation made by the team does not appear
Education Officers for 1 to 5th std to be relevant as there does not appear to be any
and 6th to 12th std, one could find the coordination problem. However, the State
loss of linkages in the planning, Government has already issued instructions to have
implementation and monitoring the two separate directorates for the Elementary
aspects between primary and Education and Secondary Education. But due to
secondary schools. some unavoidable administrative problems, the
same could not be implemented on the ground. It is
believed that the same shall be taken care of in due
course of time.
7 There are different agencies The observation is factually incorrect. The Primary
handling the task of teachers training school teachers are being trained in DIETs and
for primary and secondary school Secondary teachers in Govt. In Service Training
teachers. BRC imparting training for Centres (GISTCs) as the infrastructure is available
primary school teachers and DIETS in these institutes. It is also observed that
for secondary school teachers. observations made by the team appears to be
irrelevant.
8 The guidelines of both the Already replied under Sr. No. (2) above. However,
programmes have not reached the copies of the guidelines are again being sent to the
field functionaries and hence they field functionaries.
are not awareness the provisions
under the programme.
9 As against the constitutional Under the State Government's Project of
provision for the free elementary Information & Communication Technology (ICT),
education, the state government is nominal fee @ Rs. 20/- per month per student is
collecting nominal fee from the being charged in lieu of Computer Training being
school children. Few girls were imparted to them. No case has ever been reported to
found dropping out of school for not this office that the students/ girls are dropping out

133
 being able to pay the fee. because of the non-payment of the fee. The matter
shall however, be looked in due course of time.

Requests from KGBV and NPEGEL schools (Action at State Level)

Sr. Requirements Remarks
No.
1. Shelter for the Watchman out No provision has been made for the shelter
side the hostel building. for the watchman in the map of the hostels.
However, the same could have been
constructed out of the funds provided for the
construction of the building. The funds
received for the construction of the hostel
buildings have already been utilized and no
balance is available for the construction of
the shelters.
2. Generator facility to KGBV The generator as per the requirement may be
hostel. procured out of funds (Rs. 40,000/- per
annum) meant for miscellaneous and
maintenance purposes.
3. Telephone facility to the hostel. The item may be procured out of funds meant
for miscellaneous and maintenance purposes.
4. Increase the seats for the The seats in the hostels can be increased to
enrolment of more number of 50 girls per hostel if the GOI releases the
girls deficit funds (Rs. 5.00 lac per hostel) for the
construction of additional dormitory halls
under KGBV(Model-III) scheme.
5. Release of more funds for the GOI has already been requested vide memo
construction of additional no. 23/1-2006/SSA/KGBV-6904, dated
dormitories on the first floor. 26.06.2006 (copy attached - Annexure 'B')
for the release of the deficit funds(Rs. 5.00
lac per hostel) for the construction of
additional dormitory halls under
KGBV(Model-III) scheme.
6. Water purifier for pure drinking The item may be procured out of funds meant
water. for miscellaneous and maintenance purposes.

7. Water heater to supply hot The item may be procured out of funds meant
water for bathing. for miscellaneous and maintenance purposes.
8. Permission to get the medical The same has been examined and it is apprised
facility from the Registered that the State Government has a very wide and

134
 Medical Practitioner without a good network on Health Services. In case of
receipt from the doctor. emergencies or otherwise, the institute can
always approach the service providers i.e.,
doctors duly selected by the State
Government. However, the medical facilities
taken from Quacks cannot be regularized
under the rules.
9. Hike the pay of Head cook, Presently, no provision exists for hiking the
account assistant and all the pay for the staff deputed in KGBV hostels.
other honorary staff. Funds have been provided @ Rs. 15000/- per
month per hostel for all the staff deputed and
the same is being utilized completely leaving
no balance for the hike in the staff salary.
10. Hike the honorarium paid to Provision for hiking the honorarium for the
NPEGEL vocational training Instructors under Vocational Training exists.
instructor, as they have to travel Funds to the tune of Rs. 20,000/- per annum
longer distance to teach school per Model Cluster School under NPEGEL
when there are no interested have been provided for paying the
artisans available in the locality honorarium whereas the Instructors are being
paid @ Rs. 1000/- per month (Rs. 12,000/-
per annum). The demand appears to be
genuine.

135
 National Evaluation
of
Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme

Manipur and Mizoram

December, 2007

Team
Deepa Das
Avinash Kumar Singh

136
 CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Part A : Manipur
1. State Context
1.1 Launching the KGBV Scheme
1.2 Linkages with SSA
2. Insights from the field
2.1 Location / Infrastructure
2.2 Selection of Girls
2.3 Teachers and Teacher Training
2.4 Facilities at KGBV
2.5 Quality Issues in KGBV Education – Curriculum, Classroom
Process, Teaching Learning Materials, Learners Assessment
2.6 Management
2.7 Documentation / Guidelines
3. Monitoring / Review / Support Systems
4. Issues
5. Recommendations
Part B: Mizoram

1. State Context
1.1 Launching the KGBV Scheme
1.2 Linkages with SSA
2. Insights from the field
2.1 Location / Infrastructure
2.2 Selection of Girls
2.3 Teachers and Teacher Training
2.4 Facilities at KGBV
2.5 Quality Issues in KGBV Education – Curriculum, Classroom
Process, Teaching Learning Materials, Learners Assessment
2.6 Management
2.7 Documentation / Guidelines
3. Monitoring / Review / Support Systems
4. Issues
5. Recommendations
ANNEXURE
Annex – IV : Field Visit Schedule
Annex – V : List of Persons met in Manipur and Mizoram

137
 ABBREVIATIONS

AIE : Alternative Innovative Education

BEO : Block Education Officer
BPL : Below Poverty Line
BRC : Block Resource Centre
DC : Deputy Commissioner
DRG : District Resource Group
EBB : Educationally Backward Block
GOI : Government of India
KGBV : Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya
MA : Master of Arts
NGO : Non-Government Organisation
NPEGEL : National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level
OBC : Other Backward Castes
Ph.D : Doctor of Philosophy
SC : Scheduled Caste
SHG : Self Help Group
SPO : State Project Office
SPD : State Project Director
SSA : Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
ST : Scheduled Tribes
UC : Utilization Certificate
UEE : Universal Elementary Education

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Manipur
1. State Context

The educational scenario in Manipur, a predominantly tribal and hilly state, pose many
challenges for universalizing elementary education in the state. Manipur is one of the
educationally less developed states in the north-east with female literacy rate at 60.5 per
cent (2001 Census). The state has one educationally backward block (EBB) i.e. Tausem
block in Tamenglong District, which qualified for he opening of KGBV and NPEGEL.
The implementation of government programmes and schemes suffers from various
bottlenecks due to internal socio-political conflicts and insurgencies. The block selected
for the KGBV is the most under developed block both educationally and economically.
The block suffers from the high incidence of insurgency attacks. It is also isolated from
the valley region due to poor infrastructure and communication

1.1 Fulfilling the Objectives of KGBV

One KGBV sanctioned in 2006-07, became operational with 60 children at Mandu

Village of Tausem block in Tamenglong District, on 10 August, 2007. Although the state
is following Model-I (school with residential capacity of 100 girls), not all the seats have
been filled. Moreover out of 60 girls enrolled, 13 have dropped out due to home sickness
and other associated reasons.

As far as selection of the girls is concerned, the state and the districts have made sincere
efforts to fulfill the objectives of the scheme to reach out to the needy girls from socially
and disadvantaged and marginalized communities. The drop-out girls in the age groups
of 10-17 years belonging mostly to Zeme Naga tribes have been enrolled in the KGBV.

Currently since the KGBV building is under construction, the centre is being run in a
temporary shed made of bamboos. The temporary shed has been constructed with
voluntary contribution of the village members.

Status of KGBV at Mandu Village, Tousem Block, Tamenglong district

Model No. of No of Running in rented No of Girls enrolled

KGBVs KGBVs building/alternativ SC ST Others Total
sanctioned operational e arrangement
Model-I 1 1 Alternative 60 60
arrangement
Model-II
Model-III
Total 1 1 60 60

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1.2 Linkages with SSA

The KGBV centre is operated within SSA, as its implementation is being done through
SSA functionaries. The SSA District Programme Co-ordinatror, District Gender Co-
ordinator and the Cluster Resource Person of the Mandu Cluster actively involved in the
overall functioning of the KGBV. .The involvement of the district programme
functionaries is limited to providing administrative support and facilitation of
management issues, the academic support of the teacher is sought locally from the nearby
private school called Grace Academy.

2. Insights from the field

The inferences drawn are based on field visit made to the lone KGBV centre at Mandu
village of Tousem block of Tamenglong district.

Location/Infrastructure

Keeping in mind the educational backwardness of Zeme Naga tribal people inhabiting the
cluster area and large number of out of school children, Mandu village was chosen as the
site for opening KGBV, by the District Education Board, Tamenglong. A land of 5 acres
was granted formally by the village authority for this purpose. The KGBV has access to
water from the stream located on a near by hill. The village members have made a lot of
efforts in clearing the forest and leveling the elevation of the hill, for construction of the
KGBV building. A kacha approach road has also been made for easy access to the
centre.

The building sanctioned for the KGBV, is under construction. So far only 40 per cent of
the fund approved for the building (Rs. 20 lakh) has been released to the district. The
district has planned to construct the building in phases. In the first phase, dormitories (2)
warden’s room and one office room are under construction and have reached up to the
roof level. It was reported that these rooms will be completed within the coming three
months. Later on with the release of next installment, classrooms and the remaining parts
will be completed. It was also reported that although construction is done through the
SSA, the technical supervision of the construction work is being done by the engineers of
the DRDA.

As the district has already spent most of the money released for the construction, it is
important that the remaining installments should be released immediately to avoid likely
delay in the construction work.

Selection of Girls/Teachers

As per the guidelines of KGBV, the girls have been selected from the tribal groups
inhabiting predominantly in the region. Even among the tribal groups, priority was given
to those sub-groups, such as Zeme Naga who are educationally and economically behind

140
other Naga sub-tribes. Furthermore as far as the distribution of girls is concerned, the
girls were selected from 16 nearby villages. Since more than half of the seats are still
vacant and there are large number of out of school girls, the district needs to fill up all the
seats lying vacant.

The district is currently running the KGBV with the help of the teachers from a nearby
private school (Grace Academy), on temporary basis, and has not recruited regular full
time teachers for the school. They are being paid honorarium on daily wages basis. The
teachers are currently engaged in imparting bridging lessons to the girls. Although the
teachers are qualified but untrained. Since KGBV Model-I is a school, the regular
teachers should be appointed. Temporarily some of them can be deputed from the nearby
schools.

Facilities at KGBV

The KGBV is running inside the temporary hall constructed for the purposes, having
dormitory, kitchen, office and classroom. The temporary shed is manageable for 50 girls,
but for enrolling additional 50 girls it would require more space. The problem of space
would ease out with the completion of the dormitories currently under construction.
Limited furniture and other items of day to day use such as, bedding, utensils, cupboards
and some storage items have also been purchased.

The girls have been provided with bedding, uniforms, shoes/socks, textbooks, stationery,
utensils, etc. The girls are also provided stipend of Rs. 50/- per month in cash. It was
suggested that since the girls did not use the money for the educational purpose, the
stipend money could be used for other purposes, such as exposure trips, etc.

Quality Issues in Education – curriculum, tracking, classrooms, teaching

practices/materials, tracking/assessment of learners

Since all the girls enrolled are drop-outs, the teachers at Mandu KGBV are currently
helping them in bridging so that they can be placed in particular grades. However the
teachers drawn from a local CBSE school do not have experience of teaching the state
curriculum and textbooks. The girls need differential academic inputs for placing them in
particular grades. The teachers are desired for tracking learning, assessing learners
innovatively and using specially designed simple tools for assessing learners besides
maintaining their comprehensive profiles.

The girls are very happy with bridging and other extra-curricular activities such as
music, dance, sewing and stitching activities, though they do need to be exposed to other
outdoor games like badminton, etc. The KGBV may purchase computer from the budget
head of TLE and engage the children in computer based learning. Both teachers and
students need perspective building on gender issues for discussions/activities to develop
an understanding of their life situations. Besides this, adolescent issues in the context of
girls’ own experiences need to be unpacked to develop self awareness and critical
thinking abilities.

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Management

The state level SSA Implementation Society is implementing the KGBV scheme in the
state. At the state level, the Gender Co-ordinator is monitoring the implementation of the
KGBV scheme alongside other schemes. At the district level, the district gender co-
ordinator is the key person responsible for implementation of the KGBV. At the KGBV
level, a separate management committee drawing members from community and teachers
has not been set up. The whole KGBV affair is managed by the Cluster Resource Person
(CRP) and the District Gender Co-ordinator. There is need to decentralize the KGBV
management and set up a full-fledged committee to oversee its implementation.

Documentation/Guidelines

The KGBV at Mandu village has been maintaining records of different types
systematically with the help of warden and teachers. The team members found the
records of the students’ and teachers’ attendance, stock registers, visitor’s register,
student’s outing register, filled up to date. The warden and teachers, however expressed
the desire for orientation on the documentation of the existing practices and having
detailed guidelines.

3. Monitoring/ Review/ Support systems

There is a state level Gender Coordinator for KGBV, while at the district level the DPC,
Accounts Officer and Gender Coordinator render support. The Block level DRG
members have considerable responsibility to monitor and support academic activities.
The teachers and warden manage the day-to-day expenses of the KGBV, while bulk
purchases for groceries, equipment and furniture are handled by the District Office.
There is need to decentralize the management and decision making powers to the KGBV
level. The state and district programme functionaries should do the capacity building of
the local KGBV functionaries

Flow of Funds

The state implementation society releases KGBV funds to the DPO and the DPOs release
funds directly to KGBVs on the submission of Utilization Certificates (UC). The
accountants keep track of expenditures, records starting to be maintained with proper
books. KGBV has bank accounts opened in a bank at Tamenglong district headquarter.
The DPC and the gender co-ordinator are the joint signatories for drawing money from
the account. The money is disbursed directly by the district gender co-ordinator and the
records are maintained by the warden. The flow of funds from the state to the KGBV via
the DPC is not very smooth, as the KGBV has to depend on the district gender co-
ordinator for making any bulk purchase. Consequently there were often delays in

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sending UCs by the KGBV. The reason may be that there is nobody at the KGBV level
who has adequate knowledge and skills in handling expenditure on such a large scale.

4. Success Story

At the moment, it would not be appropriate to single out a particular activity as success
story, as the lone KGBV sanctioned became operational only four months ago. However
it was heartening to see the KGBV in operation at such a difficult place, catering
educational needs of the out of school children.

5. Issues

• Delay in construction of KGBV building

Due to delay in the release of funds and other bottlenecks, the construction of the
KGBV building has been delayed. Only 40 per cent of the funds allocated for
construction of KGBV building, has been released to the district. There is need to
prioritize the prioritize the construction of the building to accommodate 100 girls and
enable educational activity to take place properly.

• KGBV as a regular school

The KGBV at Mandu village is Model-I KGBV, i.e. a full-fledged independent

school with residential facilities for 100 girls. The state government needs to
recognize the KGBV as regular school and provide all the necessary academic
support drawing provisions from the KGBV scheme, and should form part of the
regular government establishment.

• Vacant seats of students at the KGBV

Mandu village has been sanctioned 100 seater KGBV, but only 60 girls have been
enrolled. Moreover, out of 60 girls enrolled, 13 have dropped out. This is despite the
fact that Tousem block has reported 423 out of school girls in the age group of 11-14
years. The district administration needs to fill up the vacant seats on priority basis.

• Appointment of Teachers
The teachers at KGBV are currently being managed by the teachers from a nearby
private school. The teachers do not have the experience of teaching State Board
curriculum and textbooks and their engagement is temporary and ad hoc.

• State level resource support for developing systems, handbooks and manual
of management.

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 The state does not have KGBV specific resource and reading materials, training
modules, operational manual, teachers’ handbook and learning assessment guidelines.

• Perspective building of KGBV teachers/wardens for gender sensitive

management and implementation.

6. Recommendations

• Filling up all the vacant seats of students in the KGBV.

• Release of KGBV funds of 2006-07 and 2007-08

• Completion of the KGBV building.

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Mizoram
1. State Context
Mizoram, the state with second highest literacy rate in the country, has one block (i.e.
Lungsen block) which has female literacy rate lower than the nation average and the
gender gap higher than the national average. The block, therefore, has qualified for the
KGBV (Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalay) and NPEGEL programme. Lungsen Block,
bordering Bangladesh has a number of tribal groups such as, the Chakma, the Brus, the
Pangs, the Pahari, etc who are both educationally and economically behind other groups.
Some of the groups live migratory life style, as they move from place to place in search
of livelihood. There are large number of out of school girls among them in the block.

1.1 Fulfilling the Objectives of the KGBV scheme

Lungsen block, as per the KGBV guideline, was sanctioned a KGBV centre (Model-III)
(i.e. hostel with residential facilities for 50 girls) in 2006-07. Under the scheme, while
the building for the KGBV hostel at Tlabum was completed in March, 2007, the hostel
became operational enhousing 50 girls in July 2007. The girls selected from 15 villages
were placed in classes V-VII (Class-V=32, Class-VI=12 and Class-VII=6). In terms of
social sub categories, the girls belonged to the groups such a: Chakma=36, Mizo=10,
Pahari=2, and Bengali=2. Out of 50 girls enrolled in July, 2007, 9 girls belonging mostly
to the Chakma tribe have left and currently only 41 girls are staying in the KGBV hostel.

Due to language problem, the KGBV girls are going to two different schools: a) the
Bengali medium Sardar Patel school and b) the Mizo medium Government Middle
school. While the Chakma, Pahari and Bengali girls are studying in the Bengali medium
school, the Mizo girls are studying in the Mizo medium school.

Status of KGBV at Tlabum, Lungsen Block, Lunglei district, Mizoram

Model No. of No of Running in its own No of Girls enrolled

KGBVs KGBVs building/rented SC ST Others Total
sanctioned operational accommodation
Model-I
Model-II
Model-III 1 1 Own building 48 2 50
Total 1 1 48 2 50

The state has made efforts to fulfill the objectives of the scheme to reach out to girls from
the socially disadvantaged and marginalized communities specified in the scheme, as 48
out of 50 girls enrolled were from the tribal groups and below poverty line families. It is
also to be noted that most of the children, contrary to the KGBV guideline, were in
school and not drop-out girls. This is despite the fact that the block has a large number of
out of school girls. Out of 423 out of school girls (11-14 years age group, 328 are located
in Lungsen block. Moreover more than half of them are drop-outs from school. It is

145
therefore suggested that for providing residential facilities in KGBV hostel, priority
should be given to the out of school girls only.

1.2 Linkages / relationship with SSA

The KGBV is operated within SSA, as the SSA state implementation society is
implementing the scheme at the state and district levels and the implementation
responsibility has been handed over to the SSA functionaries. The SSA DPC (District
Programme Coordinator), District Gender Co-ordinator –KGBV and Cluster Resource
Person are actively involved in implementation of the KGBV scheme. The KGBV girls
go to the government schools looked after by the SSA and avail the facilities provided by
the programme. At the district level, one gender coordinator has been specially spared for
the facilitation of administrative and management issues of the KGBV hostel.

2. Insights from the field

The inferences drawn here are based on field visits made to the KGBV Tlabum and the
nearby villages.

Location/infrastructure

The KGBV hostel of Lungsen Block is located in the campus of the Sardar Ballabhbhai
Patel Government Middle school, Tlabum. A 2-storey building with a residential
capacity to accommodate 50 children has been constructed at the site at the unit cost of
Rs. 20 lakhs. The hostel has two dormitories, 1 warden’s room, 1 dinning hall, 1 study
room, 1 kitchen, 5 toilets/bathrooms and 1 store room.

Selection of girls/staff

In keeping with the guidelines for KGBV operationalization, the girls were selected from
the socially disadvantaged groups, mainly the tribal groups. The girls were identified
through campaigns and door to door visits. The KGBV scheme was announced on the
mike in the area and messages were sent through letters to the HMs of the schools in the
area. The teachers, gender coordinators and the members of the KGBV board were
involved in the selection of girls. The parents applied for the KGBV seats and their
applications were scrutinized by the KGBV Board and finally the girls were selected as
per the criteria. According to the programme functionaries, although the children
selected for the KGBV hostel were mostly from the schools, they belonged to poor
families.

There are four teachers and two wardens at the KGBV, Tlabum. The teachers were
identified locally and selected through interviews based on the requirements. Out of the

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six teachers/wardens at the KGBV, while three have HSLC certificates and three are
graduate degree holders. Except one, all the teachers are untrained.

However, it was heartening to see the girls looking happy, full of enthusiasm and energy.
They enjoyed the routine and did not flinch from the daily activities.

Quality Issues in Education – curriculum, tracking, classrooms, teaching

practices/materials,

Since the girls belonging to different tribes are staying in the KGBV hostel, language
medium is an important issue in their studies. The enrolled students go to Bengali and
Mizo Medium schools, depending on their mother tongue. The Bengali medium
textbooks prepared by Assam Textbook Board are used in the school and the hostel.
There are often problems in procuring the books and reading materials. The Chakma
students face the problem of lack of suitable reading materials in their own language
medium. The KGBV hotels do not have adequate relevant supplementary reading
materials for the students. Related to the curriculum and textbooks, teacher training and
classroom processes are the main issues. Although one week of in-service training of
KGBV teachers has been planned, but till date it has not been conducted

Out of 6 warden/teachers, while four are conversant with the Bengali language medium,
two belong to the Mizo tribal groups. Except the warden (who underwent one month
training at Lunglei DIET, the teachers have not been provided any training. Moreover,
the state has not prepared any training module for training the teachers of the KGBV.

Management
At the KGBV level, a KGBV Management Board consisting of 15 members has been
constituted to facilitate the smooth functioning of the KGBV hostel. The Board members
played an important role in selecting the girls for the KGBV hostel, as they scrutinized
the applications submitted by the parents. The role of the Board is limited to certain
activities, most of the day to day operations of the hostel are looked after by the warden
and the Cluster Resource Person/District Coordinator for KGBV.

Documentation
Parents’ / community perception
The parents were happy about their children availing KGBV hostel facilities; however,
the parents need a lot more motivation to ensure that they take the whole program
forward. During a discussion, the parents mentioned that when this initiative came up
and these girls were sent to KGBV, there was enthusiastic support from the family as a
whole and younger girls and boys were prepared to share the burden. There is need to
involve parents in academic matters too, so that they can appreciate and support their
children’s efforts.

Monitoring/ Review/ Support systems

State level- Gender Coordinator for KGBV

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District level – DPC, Gender Coordinator (KGBV)
Cluster Level-Cluster Resource Person
KGBV level – Managing Committee of KGBV, Purchase Committee,
Wardens (2) + teachers (4) + Cooks (2), Chowkidar (1)

4. Finances/Accounts/tracking of funds

Release of funds for KGBVs is from the State Project Office to the District Project Office
and from the District Project Office to the KGBVs on submission of Utilization
Certificates. Most of the financial matters at KGBV level are looked after by the District
Gender Co-ordinator. The accounts and record keeping are not systematic and adequate.
Although the warden has been given one month orientation on various aspects of hostel
management, but as reported, it did not cover finance and accounts. There is need to
decentralize the planning and management of the KGBV hostel along with capacity
building of the local KGBV functionaries.

5. Success Story

The lone KGBV sanctioned and operational at Tlabum of Lunglei district in Mizoram is
still in the initial stage. The district has made progress by completing the construction of
the KGBV building and operationalising it within a short period. The team members
noticed enormous community support for the new initiative and their willingness to get it
replicated at other places.

6. Issues

• Clarity with regard to the concept and practice of KGBV

There prevails a certain degree of confusion among some of the program

functionaries regarding the enrolment of girls as per guideline in the KGBV. The
first batch of the KGBV hostellers comprise large number of in school girls and
students in the age group below 11 years. Since the KGBV scheme is meant for
drop-out girls only for their upper primary education and the block has a large
number of school girls especially among the Chakma tribes, there is need to
disseminate the KGBV guidelines among its functionaries.

• Special efforts to bring the out of school girls of the Bru tribe within the
KGBV fold
It was reported by the Monitoring Team of Mizoram University that despite the
BRUs have a large number of school girls among them, not a single girl from the
community has been provided seat in the KGBV hostel. The reason often
mentioned is that the Bru parents do not want their children to live with the
Chakma children under the same roof, due to socio-historical reasons. The local

148
 administration needs to sort out the issue in a sensitive manner. One solution
could be to upgrade the existing KGBV hostel from 50 seaters to 100 seaters, by
constructing a separate wing for the Chakma girls.

• Due emphasis to language factor in functioning of the KGBV

KGBV Tlabum has girls from different language groups and they attend different
schools. there is need to accord due emphasis to the language factorTracking of
the students’ academic performance should be through non threatening processes.
Innovations in alternative pedagogical skills, particularly where the teaching
learning is happening in the same place.

• Capacity Building of KGBV Staff

Capacity building of the Warden and teachers is necessary for better management,
competencies and handling of academic processes. The KGBV staff are often
dependent on the district functionaries for decision making.

• Drop outs from the KGBV

It was reported that 9 KGBV girls belonging mostly to Chakma groups left the
hostel after the IInd terminal examination and did not return. According to the
students, they were feeling homesick. Drop-out from the KGBV is a matter of
concern and need to examined in-depth by the staff and SSA.

Recommendations

• Special package of KGBV scheme for the North-East states/blocks based on

the criteria of number of out of school children, rather than female literacy
rate and gender gap
• Up-gradation of the existing KGBV hostel facilities from 50 seaters to 100
seaters, with focus on the Chakma and the Bru out of school tribal girls
• Orientation of the state and district KGBV functionaries on the guidelines of
the KGBV children. The KGBV guidelines should be made available in the
translated version. Exposure visits of the Gender Co-ordinators and KGBV
functionaries to other states.
• Priority to the drop-out/out of school girls for placement in the KGBV hostel
• Capacity building of the KGBV teachers and staff

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 Field Visit Itinerary

Day One Wednesday Arrival in Aizawl. Meeting with State Project Direct
21 November, 2007 Deputy State Project Director
State Gender Coordinator

Day Two Thursday Departure for Lunglee District

22nd November, 2007 Meeting with District Project Coordinator
District Gender Coordinator
Sharing of Progress Reports

Day Three Friday Visit to Model Cluster School, Phainanglkai Cluster

23 November, 2007 Visit to Model Cluster School
Tlabung Cluster
Interaction with Students, Teachers
Day Four Saturday Visit to Model Cluster School, Nunsuri
24 November, 2007 Visit to KGBV, Tlafum
Interaction with Warden,
Teachers, Wardens, Community Members, Chakma
Association, Young Pahari Association, KGBV
Management Board Members, Students etc.

Day Five Sunday Visit to Girls Hostel, Lunglee District

25 November, 2007 Interaction with Workers, Teachers and Students,
Department for Aizawal.
Day Six Monday State Level Briefing of the Field Visit
26 November, 2007 -State Project Director. SSA, Mozoram
-Deputy State Project Directort, SSA, Mizoram
-State Gender Coordinator
Departure for Imphal
Day 7 Tuesday Arrival in Imphal
27 November, 2007 Meeting with State Project Director
State Gender Coordinator, SSA Programme
Functionaries of Taunenglong District

Day 8 Wednesday Programme for Taunenglong District

28 November, 2007 -Arrival at Mandu Village
-Welcome Ceremony by the Mandu Village and
KGBV Functionaries

Day 9 Thursday Visit to the Model Cluster Building (Construction

29 November, 2007 Site) Mandu Village
Visit to KGBV (Model I) Mandu Village
Interaction with Warden, Teachers, Students
Visit to the Construction Site of the KGBV Building

150
Day 10 Friday Visit to Model Cluster
30 November, 2007 Oinamlong Cluster
Interaction with Teachers, Cluster Resource Persons,
Community Members
State Level Briefing of the field visits with
State Project Director, SSA, Manipur
Additional State Project Director, SSA, Manipur
Sate Gender Coordinator
Sate Coordinator (AIE, RBC)
District Gender Coordinator
District Coordinator
(Research Monitoring and Evaluation

Day 11 Saturday Departure for Delhi and Gawahati

1 December, 2007

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 List of Persons Met in Manipur

1. Secretary, Education, Manipur

2. State Project Director, SSA, Manipur
3. Assistant State Project Director, SSA, Manipur
4. State Gender Coordinator, SSA, Manipur
5. State AIE Coordinator, SSA, Manipur
6. Deputy Commissioner, Tamenglong District
7. SDO, Nungba, Sub-Division, Tamanglong, District
8. District REMS, Coordinator, Tamenglong, District
9. District Girls Education/NDEGEL Coordinator, Tamenglong District
10.Block Resource Person, Nungba
11.Cluster Resource Person, Nungba
12.Village Chairman of Nungba village
13.VEC, Secretary, Nungba village
14.Village Chairman, Rangiknilong village
15.Chairman, New Mandu village
16.VEC Secretary, Mandu village
17.Secretary, the Zeme Naga Baptish Association
18. Secretery, Grace Academy
19. Secretery, The Zeme Naga Baptish Associaton
20.Pastor, Oinamlong Church
21.Village Secretary, Oinamlong
22.Students Leader, Oinamlong Village
23.Warden, KGBV, Mandu Village
24.Teacher-English Grammar, KGBV Mandu Village
25.Teacher-Science, KGBV Mandu Village
26.Teacher – Maths, KGBV Mandu Village
27.Teacher-Social Science, KGBV Mandu Village
28.Teacher- Hindi, KGBV Mandu Village
29.Teacher-Englsih, KGBV Mandu Village
30.Office Assistants, Cooks etc.

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 List of Persons Met in Mizoram

1. State Project Director, SSA, Mizoram, Aizwal

2. Deputy State Project Director , SSA, Mizoram, Aizawl
3. Girls Education Coordinator, SPO, Mizoram, Aizawl
4. Finance Officer, SPO, Aizawl
5. District Project Corodinator, Lunglei District
6. District Gender Coordinator, NPEGEL, Lunglei, District
7. District Gender Coordinator, KGBV, Lunglei District
8. Supervisor Sports Academy, Lunglei District
9. BRC Coordinator, ChaltaLang
10. IED Coordinator, Lunglei District
11. Data Entry Operators, Lunglei District
12. Project Assistants, Lunglee District
13. Headmaster, Govt. Middle School Phairangkai
14. President, Cluster Level NPEGEL Committee
15. Vocational Skills Trainer, Model Cluster, Phairangkai
16. Education Volunteer, Model Cluster
17. President Chakma Students Union, Nunsari
18. Headmaster, Sardar Ballabh Bhai Patel, Middle School
19. Chairman, KGBV Board, Tlabum
20. Secretary, KGBV Board, Tlabum
21. Teacher, Girls Hostel, Lunglei
22. President, Mahila Samiti Nnnsuri
23. Ex. MLA, Nunsuri.

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 ANNEXURE-I

LIST OF GIRLS ENROLLED IN KGBV AT NEW MANDU, TOUSEM BLOCK, TAMENGLONG DISTRICT, MANIPUR

S.No. Name of students Father’s name Mother’s name Dropped Age Address/Villag Remarks
at e
Class
1. Khuanjangliu Gonmei Gaiduanlung Namgongsinliu V 14 Longchai Left KGBV
2. Phoibiliu Kamei Daithaongam Thiuchamliu V 13 Longchai
3. Milacah Gonmei Meinganpou Gaikhangdinliu V 13 Longchai Left KGBV
4. Ringbonliu Gangmei Kadongdin Chingkhiudinliu VII 15 Longchai
5. Akhiuna Pamei Buanjuak Gaitoureiliu VII 16 Longchai
6. Keheusamyile Pousituing Deikuabamle VII 16 Phoklong Left KGBV
7. Pouduabuale Namtumraing Nchangtuile V 16 Phoklong
8. Damsuile Haibambuing Pouramjinle V 16 Phoklong Left KGBV
9. Yinsuale Tadangbe Puoudeihuile VII 14 Phoklong Left KGBV
10. Ngiakamle Yibamkuang Yisale VI 16 Phoklong
11. Haideuchakle Pame Ngamkeu Meizinle V 10 Kandihang
12. Izelungle Pame Riangam Ramdeijuile VI 12 Kandihang
13. Palu Honglua Ichung V 13 Tousem Pt.II
14. Keteubui Kangje Haireibua V 12 Tousem Pt.II Left KGBV
15. Lungchunei Lungyituing Ramsouhung V 13 Tousem Pt.II
16. Zekimle Daime Deijuariang Heugumle VI 14 Aben
17. Gracele Daime Rangkateung Lungbuile BV 16 Aben Left KGBV
18. Lilyle Kuame Kanghing Deilungneile V 14 Aben Left KGBV
19. Tinale Lt. Liangbuing Rambuale V 15 Aben
20. Dinale Kuame Haizetuing Ibamlungle V 15 Aben
21. Siampuile Jonah Iringle VII 16 Aben
22. Haibuale Liakambe Thiamgailiu V 12 Kandihang
23. Haikumwangle Taluieng Radia V 11 Kandihang
24. Renuayile Chumbing Buisangmeile V 12 New Mandu
25. Athumle Dinam Elizabeth V 13 New Mandu
26. Leuhingle Kusapleing Kirangle V 11 New Mandu
27. Raguangthailiu Rangruang Khiuriangliu V 12 New Mandu

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28. Poulungyile Pame Lt. Ratinglung Haugale VI 15 Pumram
29. Akule Lungkeung Chikamle V 15 Njungkuak Left KGBV
30. Heguayil Lt. Tingrang Takilungle V 14 Njungkuak
31. Esther Newme Dualeing Heruijile V 16 Old Mandu
32. N/H. Njuakamel N.H. Lungdaning Liungneile V 15 Old Mandu
33. Suijelungle Hialang Illeikamle VII 18 Old Mandu
34. Saneile Kuame Lt. Singlungbe Rangaile V 14 Old Mandu
35. Lorita Newme Namtiudiak Pauramdile V 15 Old Mandu
36. Nchegale Nteuliang Elamuile V 16 Old Mandu Left KGBV
37. Rangneile Kuame Lt.Hangmangbe Ningsuiteule VII 17 Old Mandu
38. RK Ntingailew Lt. RK Ngimwang RK Ningbuile V 13 Old Mandu Left KGBV
39. Poujeteutuile Lt. Teguabe Lt.Leusamhungle VII 13 Teguaram
40. Haihattume Poukutliatuing Daisamdile VI 12 Teguaram
41. Esale Haikiamkam Nsangjeile VII 14 Teguaram
42. Lungyineile Namtumlung Deikuale V 14 Teguaram
43. Deijuile Ejeng Elungwangle VII 14 Teguaram
44. Pelinguyile Riame Haideilungbe Haizuteule V 11 Katiang
45. Nzabuile Newme Hailunggumbe Kuingimle V 12 Katiang
46. Haibuale Newme Lt. Hauhingbe Sayikamle VI 11 Katiang
47. Haisamseule Rasuilungbe Idakle V 12 Katiang
48. Rebecca Reingam Lubonreiliu V 13 Rangkekiulong Left KGBV
49. Poukekuale Jasuilungbe Haidiakle V 15 Old Mandu
50. Haideuchakle Ngamkeng Laizinle V 14 Kandihang
51. Lidya Lungbuing Rambuale V 16 Aben
52. Ramjuaguangle Namteuliang Lamluile V 14 Mandu
53. Lungneile Nalung Daikumle V 17 Teguaram
54. Mitchell Ijelung Soukangle V 16 Tousem-II
55. Changneile Sinlungbe Rangeile V 15 New Mandu Left KGBV
56. Kelakeneile Rangtuing Pouramsoule V 14 Tousem-II Left KGBV
57 Ijoukamle Ringting Ichumneile V 13 Tousem-II
58. Languangliu Namsindia Thoidingliu V 14 Rangkekiulong
59. Maryjohn Jonah Idingle V 13 Aben
60. Haijuiwangle Pouramsuang Neikanle V 14 Aben

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 Annexure-II
OUT OF SCHOOL CHILDREN AS ON APRIL 2007 (6-14 Yrs. Age Group):Lunglei District, Mizoram

Sl.No. Name of Block Status & Age Wise Break Up of Out of School Children
Never Enrolled Drop Out Grand Total of
6-14 age group
6-10 years 11-14 years 6-10 years 11-14 years
B G T B G T B G T B G T B G T
1. Station 1 1 2 2 2 6 4 10 19 20 39 36 33 53
2. Eastern 0 0 0 0 2 4 6 18 17 35 24 25 41
3. Tiabung 83 93 176 78 80 158 122 154 276 166 260 426 462 650 1036
4. Bunghmun 16 24 40 10 14 24 20 22 42 15 30 45 61 104 151
Total 100 118 218 88 96 184 150 184 334 218 327 545 583 812 1281

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 Annexure II

STATUS ON KGBV AT TLABUNG:Lungsen R.D. Block, Lunglei District, Mizoram

1. Name of State : Mizoram

Name of District : Lunglei District
Name of R.D. Block : Lungsen, Tlabung

2. Number of Out of School Girls :

i. District Wise : 812
ii. Lungsen R.D. Block : 534

3. Date of Inauguration KGBV : Dt.8th March, 2007

Inaugurated by : Dr. R.Lalthangliana
Hon’ble Minister, School Education etc.
Date of implementing KGBV Dt. 13th July, 2007

4. Information about Teachers & Staff :

Teacher Sex Qualification

i) Sujan Majumdar M : B.Com
ii) Shankar Karmakar M : B.A.
iii) Gouri Majumdar F : HSSLC
iv) Jyotile Chakma F : HSSLE
Warden
i) Lalzuimawii F : HSLE(Warden cum clerk)
ii) Rosangzuali F : B.A. (Warden cum P. Teacher)
Cook
i) Lalthanpuii F : HSLE
ii) Lalramhluna M : C-VIII
Chowkidar
i) Lalrawngbawla M : V-VIII

5. Date of Girls enrolment/ : Dt. 13th July 2007

Date of Appointment

6. Number of Girls enrolled :

a) Mizo : 50
b) Chakma : 11
c) Pahari : 38

7. System of Academ,ic Support

and Supervision provided
i) School Full Uniform iv) One month Training for Warden
ii)Stipends Rs.50/- per girlstudents v) One week training for Teachers
iii)Maintenance Rs.750/- per girl students

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8. Pupil Assessment:
i) Half Yearly Medical Check-up for all Hosteller
ii) Assessment of Examination Result by the Warden
iii) Educational Camp conducted by the KGBV Board

9. Review and Monitoring:

i) Board Meeting as convenience (Quarterly)
ii) Monitoring from Mizoram University and Dept. of Education
iii) Visit by SDO © Tlabung

10. Special Interventoion

i) Karate ii) Daily Domestic Work iii) Stitching iv) Computer Education

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National Evaluation of the NPEGEL Scheme

in

Mizoram and Manipur

(Field work: November 2007)

Drafted by

Dr Deepa Das
UNICEF, Guwahati

Submitted to :

Department of School Education and Literacy

Ministry of Human Resource Development
Government of India
New Delhi

December 2007

159
 MANIPUR
(27 November – 1 December 2007)

1 Background of Tousem Educationally Backward Block

As per Census 2001, only one block, Tousem in Tamenglong district, is educationally backward in
Manipur. Tousem is one of the four blocks in Tamenglong district. The rural female literacy rate
at 36.51 per cent is far below the district’s rural female literacy rate of 49.1 per cent. The rural
female literacy of the block is lower than that of the national rural female literacy rate of 46.13
per cent by nearly 10 percentage points.

Tousem block is located in the Western part of Tamenglong district bordering North Cachar Hills
district of Assam. There are 57 revenue villages in the block. Tucked away in the farthest corner
of the block it is geographically disadvantaged and remote. The condition of road connections to
the block makes it difficult to access. The evaluation team spent one whole day travelling to
Mandu after reaching the State capital from Silchar in Assam. Actual field work was possible to
start on the third day. This block is home to the Rongmei, Zeme, Kuki, Khasia, Hmar and Mikir
tribes. Occupationally they are agriculturists and practice jhumming (shifting) cultivation.

The low literacy rates in the block are attributed to its remoteness and underdeveloped road
communication. The prevalence of insurgency in the area also contributes to low literacy rates.

The primary schools in the district are largely managed by the Tamenglong Autonomous District
Council (TADC) with a relatively number of schools under the Zonal Education Office (ZEO). All
the upper primary schools that provide elementary education, together with some aided schools
are also under the ZEO. In Tousem block there are 53 primary schools (8 under ZEO; 36 under
TADC; 9 are Government aided), and seven upper primary schools (two of them being unaided
private schools).

There are eight clusters in Tousem block and the NPEGEL scheme has so far been introduced in
three of the clusters, viz. Atengba, Mandu and Oinamlong. The three model cluster schools (MCS)
have been located both in upper primary and primary schools (Atengba and Mandu : Primary
School; Oinamlong : Upper Primary School).

An overview of the clusters in Tousem block is given below in tables 1 and 2.

Table 1 : Cluster Profile of Tousem Block - I

No of No of Schools 2006 Girls’ Enrolment

Cluster
Habitations PS UPS 2005 2006 2007
Clusters Operational
Atengba 9 8 - 242
Old Mandu 11 10
Oinamlong 7 3 299
Clusters to be Operationalised

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Table 2 : Cluster Profile of Tousem Block - II

Cluster Dominant Community MCS TPR

Clusters Operational
Atengba
Old Mandu Rongmei Old Mandu Primary School
Oinamlong Rongmei Oinamlong Government
Junior High School
Clusters to be Operationalised

2 Details of Field Visits

The coverage of NPEGEL schools by the evaluation team was restricted by the distances between
locations, road conditions and the time taken in travelling. Out of the three clusters where the
scheme is being implemented, it was possible to visit two clusters, viz. Mandu and Oinamlong.
The following Model Cluster Schools were visited :

i. Old Mandu Primary School

ii. Oinamlong Junior High School

Atengba cluster is far from these two clusters and is possible to access only on foot. Thus, given
the time constraint the evaluation team could not visit Atengba cluster. The visits were, in fact,
restricted to the Model Cluster Schools because of the distances and constraints of access and
also because no activities had so far been taken up for girls in the other schools and habitations
of the clusters.

Further, during visits to the two model cluster schools there were no activities in progress for the
evaluation team to see.

The State Project Office of SSA did not provide the complete data that the evaluation required,
such as year wise activities and budgets approved by the PAB, statement of head wise
expenditure incurred against PAB approvals, class wise cost of free textbooks provided, year wise
enrolment and results of girls in the clusters, etc. It is possible that all information was available
in the district office. Tousem block being in another direction and also at a distance from the
district headquarters, Tamenglong, the team was not able to visit the district SSA office. As
interactions with project personnel were possible only during the field visits it has not been
possible to obtain some of the necessary data and information related to the implementation of
the scheme. Though some of the data and information was collated at the cluster level, the
complete data set could not be obtained. It was also not possible to examine the financial and
other records related to the scheme.

3. Operational Structure

A Coordinator for Girls’ Education at the State level is responsible for the NPEGEL and KGBV
schemes as well as innovations for girls’ education under the innovations fund of SSA. The district
has two Coordinators for – one for NPEGEL and KGBV. Both the coordinators are male. At the
cluster level there are Cluster Resource Persons (CRP) and there are eight CRPs in each block.
One of the CRPs is responsible for NPEGEL and KGBV. Presently the CRP for Atengba is a female

161
while the CRPs for Mandu and Oinamlong are male. The CRPs are responsible for tracking the
number of out of school girls in the habitations of the clusters and over see implementation of
activities.

No specific orders for the scheme have been issued. Neither have guidelines nor operational
manuals been developed. In fact, discussions on implementing the scheme have been rather
limited. Copies of relevant communication from the Government of India are not available with
the programme personnel at all levels including the State.

4. Infrastructure

The NPEGEL scheme is presently being implemented in three of the eight clusters. In Tousem
block the NPEGEL scheme was introduced in 2006-07.

Construction of the additional classroom is in progress in Old Mandu and is nearly completed in
Oinamlong. As a strategy the additional room has been located alongside the Cluster Resource
Centre in both instances. The additional room is around 12 ft by 24 ft in size with a four feet
wide covered verandah on the entrance face of the room. The room seen in Oinamlong is airy
and well ventilated. The additional rooms are RCC structures with brick walls having ceiling and
tin roofs.

The additional room under construction in Old Mandu has been located at the foot of the hill on
which the primary school (which is the MCS) is located. The evaluation team was informed that
the primary school is going to be shifted from its present location but the site has not been
finalised yet. It is surprising that the additional room under the NPEGEL scheme is being
constructed without a final decision about the new location of the primary school which is the
MCS. The team was of the opinion that the primary school should be shifted to the flat land
alongside the CRC and additional room such that the proximity of the additional room to the MCS
is ensured.

The allocation of Rs 2,00,000 is fully utilised for constructing the additional room. No provision
has been made for toilet, drinking water and electricity. From discussions it appeared that the
field functionaries were not aware of the stipulation in the scheme with regard to provisioning
these amenities.

At Old Mandu some ground levelling and earth filling had to be undertaken together with
construction of retaining wall to prepare the site for construction of the additional room.
Expenditure incurred in completing the preparatory work has eaten into the resource available,
as a result of which funds have fallen short for completing the construction. The cost of
transporting the material being high also factors the overall cost of construction. An appeal was
made by the SSA functionaries and community representatives to enhance the allocation for
construction.

Though the provision of cluster level additional rooms under NPEGEL stands withdrawn from the
coming financial year (2008-09) site specific situations may be reviewed for the works that have
been sanctioned and would have to be completed. In case of need that is duly justified, some
additional funds may be provided from SSA (as a special provision) so that the pending works
can be completed without compromising on the quality of construction.

From the visits to the four MCS there is no evidence to suggest dovetailing with SSA funding to
augment school infrastructure.

162
It is proposed to use the additional rooms for conducting vocational training and remedial classes
besides using it to keep all the materials that have been provided or will be provided under the
scheme.

5. Material Inputs

As the room in Old Mandu was still under construction some of the material provided was
available in the CRC. In the MCS at Oinamlang though the room is ready it was still to be fully
operationalised as the finishing work is in progress. The material provided under NPEGEL was
kept in the CRC that is attached to the additional room.

The material inputs to the NPEGEL MCS have been made out of the teaching learning equipment
(TLE) grant. The items that have been provided together with their unit costs are as given below.

Items Unit Cost

Library books .00
(9 titles including encyclopaedia)
Sports material .00
Material for vocational training .58
Sewing machines (2) .00
Plastic chair (25) .00
Steel Almirah (1) .00
Steel table (1) .00
Globe (1) .00
Map (1) .00

The materials for vocational training provide were :

Scissor @ /- x x .00
Measuring Tape @ x x .00
Cloth @ /- x x .00
Ring @ /- xx .00
Knitting needles @ /- x x .00
Wool @ /- x x .00

6. Additional Incentives

The State has proposed additional incentives for 3226 girls in 2007-08. The unit cost for the
activity has been proposed at Rs 150/-. The team was informed that free textbooks are being
provided under SSA. As details of the class wise unit cost of the free textbooks being provided
under SSA were not available with the evaluation team it is not possible to ascertain the savings
after providing the textbooks. The fact that the unit cost for additional incentives is Rs 150/- is an
issue for the process of annual appraisal.

The statement of accounts made available for the period May-November 2007 does not reflect
the expenditure incurred in providing additional incentives.

7. Open Learning

In the AWPB 2007-08 there is a proposal to provide learning through open schooling to dropout
and over age girls. An unit cost of Rs 4000/- has been proposed for 80 girls. Progress in this
regard has not been reported as in the case of additional incentives.

163
The State does not have open learning facilities at the school level. This is a matter that the
process of appraisal has not noticed.

8. Interventions for ‘in school’ and ‘out of school’ Girls

Remedial teaching has been taken up in the three NPEGEL clusters for the weaker girls in all the
schools. In this way the remedial teaching programme is one activity that has reached out to girls
in other schools of the clusters. Instructors have been hired for the special classes in science,
mathematics, English and EVS. However, no teaching learning material/aids have been developed
for the purpose of remediation.

In all 288 girls have benefited from the remedial teaching programme – 87 in Old Mandu and 201
in Oinamlang. In Oinamlang the classes are held for three hours on six days of the week over a
period of three months.

The instructors are paid Rs 1000/- per month. Two budget heads have been used for this activity
viz., Recurring Grant to MCS Students’ Evaluation and Remedial Teaching, Basic Course and
Alternative Schools providing Rs 1,60,000/- each. In Old Mandu Rs 350/- per village was
reportedly, spent in conducting motivation programmes for parents, elders and members of the
VEC. Further, as per reports received from head teachers of the schools this effort has resulted in
improved achievement levels of 23 girls.

The clusters have the information about the ‘out of school’ girls but not much has been done for
them yet. Details about the ‘out of school’ girls are as given below in table 3.

Table 3 : Cluster wise Out of School Girls

Dropout
Cluster Never Enrolled
Class 1-5 Class 6-8 Total
Atengba
Old Mandu 89 7
Oinamlong 20 50 55 105

In the case of Old Mandu the number of dropout girls is rather high at the primary level and
bridge courses could be one way of furthering their education.

The number of dropout girls in Oinamlong is quite high, particularly at the upper primary level. As
per norms it may not be possible to set up another KGBV. Possible ways of bringing these girls
within the fold of education could be to set up hostels for them in a central location and enrol
them in a nearby Junior High school. The innovations funds for girls from SSA can be used for
this activity and functionaries from Manipur may visit Mizoram to learn from their experiences of
running hostels for girls.

9. Gender Training

A budgetary provision of Rs 32,000/- has been made for teacher training in 2006-07 – Rs 4000/-
per cluster for eight clusters. Teacher training has been undertaken in the three clusters but the
content and duration of the training programme was not shared with the team. From the
expenditure statement provided it is seen that teachers from 10 schools have been trained in
each cluster.

It was found that gender concerns are not well understood by the project personnel. This
appears to be restricting programming for girls’ education. It is therefore important that gender

164
sensitisation workshops be organised for the project functionaries to build/strengthen their
gender perspective.

10. Child Care Centres

Funds to the tune of Rs 6,000/- per child care centre have been budgeted in 2007-08 for 16
centres. So far expenses on this activity have not been incurred.

11. Award to School/Teacher

Award to school/teacher has not been proposed as one of the activities under NPEGEL in the
State.

12. Community Involvement

The evaluation team members got the opportunity to interact with some members of the local
community and representatives of community specific groups in the MCSs visited. They were
interested in improving the educational scenario in their villages. There was a visible interest in
the affairs of the school and the NPEGEL scheme. The interface between the SSA functionaries
and the local community founded on a commitment to make a difference to the educational
scenario of the children of their community is a strength that needs to be channelised.

Presently community involvement in planning and monitoring of the scheme is somewhat limited
and needs to grow. Community steps in to help out with organisation of activities/events and
provide local level resource support. There was a lot of enthusiasm with the team’s visit as
Tousem block rarely ever has any visitor!

Funds under the head community mobilisation (Rs 35,000/- per cluster) have been planned in
2007-08. These funds are yet to be spent. In fact, plans for the funds would have to take into
account the ground realities to facilitate proper utilisation of available resources. As this budget
head is intended to support engagement of community in planning, implementing and monitoring
schematic understanding in this regard would have to be developed on a priority.

13. Systems of Monitoring

Systems of monitoring the NPEGEL scheme are yet to evolve. The schematic vision of monitoring
with community involvement is yet to take place.

14. Fund Flow and Utilisation

A few observations regarding fund flow and utilisation of funds were as follows :

• Separate bank accounts are maintained for NPEGEL funds

• State share had not been released till the time of the evaluation
• Till the time of the visit of the evaluation team implementation of NPEGEL has commenced
only in three of the eight clusters. It is not clear why the scheme has not been introduced in
the other clusters because funds have already been released by the Government of India for
all the eight clusters
• Even in the three clusters only 40 per cent of the total allocations had been released. This
has led to fund shortage and has slowed the pace of implementation. In Oinamlong after
utilising the funds available (Rs 80,000/- i.e. 40 per cent) civil works loans from friends and
well wishers have been mobilised (Rs 1,00,000/- ) to complete the work.

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15. Extent to which the Objectives of the Scheme are being Met

Effective implementation of the NPEGEL scheme has been in 2007-08. Results are not clearly
visible. Henceforth the implementers of the scheme should study the enrolment data for girls and
their results from the DISE during 2006-07 and 2007-08.

The larger objective of the scheme that seeks to improve the learning environment for girls by
ensuring gender sensitive teachers and materials in the schools along with effective community
participation needs to be understood by the implementers to be able to proactively pursue for
best results. Also, the focus on the ‘out of school’ girls in the block has to be addressed through
NPEGEL. Additionally, capacities to analyse the situation of girls’ education in the clusters and
plan on the basis of the analysis needs to be developed/strengthened for enhancing the outreach
and impact of the NPEGEL scheme. Ability to connect with the needs and priorities of the ground
situation while planning would be critical.

Efforts to draw upon resources across the country and learn from the experiences of others
implementing the scheme have been meagre. The importance of this as a strategic tool for
strengthening programming inputs needs to be recognised.

The commitment of the district and sub district level functionaries in Tamenglong district was
very impressive. They are keen to do the best for their girls and it is important to be able to build
on the positive disposition of key functionaries. Nurturing their high spirits and converting them
into energy that would help realise the larger objectives of the scheme and impact on the overall
situation of girls’ education in the block needs to be taken up on priority.

Though the medium of instruction in the EBB is Manipuri, education is being imparted in the local
language – Rongmei – using the English script. Textbooks in Rongmei are presently under
development and are expected to be ready for use soon. There is a language issue to contend
with in the area and this issue needs to be taken up at the highest levels of governance.

16. Issues and Concerns

The qualitative aspect of the scheme seems to be affected by some issues and concerns. Though
the scheme is meant to leverage resources and implementation options/alternatives for girls in
the EBBs, the State in its initial stages of implementation of the scheme has not been able to
optimally use its components to improve the status of girls’ education in the clusters. To assist
the State accelerate the rate of implementation the following suggestions are being offered :

i. Develop Schematic Understanding

A general lack of understanding of the scheme was evident across the board and this was
acknowledged by the project team members. They felt disadvantaged by the fact that they have
not been through any orientation or training on the NPEGEL scheme. It is suggested that the
Government of India takes immediate steps to assist the State in perspective building about the
scheme and enable the personnel to understand the nuances of the scheme together with their
financial ramifications to be able to implement it in true spirit and streamline the pattern of
financial utilisation. This can be expected to lead to administrative action to enhance the efficacy
of the operational mechanisms and also support the district functionaries with appropriate
guidance.

Some of the aspects that need to be included in the capacity building process are :

• Enable effective use of the resources created in the MCS in a way that all girls in the cluster
gain from them.

166
• The importance of maintaining a balance while planning activities for the girls ‘in’ and ‘out’ of
school. And this must hold good for all the girls in the cluster.
• Programming in sync with the whole picture of the clusters to ensure optimal participation of
girls in the education process. This will require skill development in evidence based planning
and carrying out situational analysis.
• Develop the ability to draw upon SSA to meet needs that are not possible to meet through the
NPEGEL scheme. It will be useful to use the innovations funds for girls under SSA to
complement the activities under the NPEGEL scheme for greater effectiveness.
• Develop an understanding of gender issues that impinge on girls’ education. Plan activities that
have a bearing on girls’ overall development.
• Effective community engagement

• Proper maintenance of accounts at the district level either through capacity building of the
NPEGEL Coordinator who is presently responsible for the same. Alternatively the accountant in
the district office could be assigned the responsibility
• Develop and strengthen local level management capacities.

ii. Appraisal of Annual Work Plan and Budget

• The process of AWP & B appraisal would have to improve to ensure conformity with the
schematic objectives, norms and provisions.

iii. Fund Release

• Early release of funds to the district for speedy implementation must be ensured. Utilisation
certificates submitted must be scrutinised urgently and funds released.
• Steps be initiated for early release of the State share.
iv. Community Support
• Build on the homogeneity and enthusiasm of the community in the area.

v. Teacher Adequacy and Attendance

• Ensure that adequate numbers of teachers are available in the schools

• Monitor for regularity of teachers’ attendance in the schools.

In Oinamlong it was found that the teachers posted in the school were not present on the day of
the visit. Apparently two of them (one based at Imphal and the other at Tamenglong) were not
coming to the school and proxy teachers were running the classes in the school. It was also
pointed out that the school does not have a Hindi teacher. It was also found that one of the
teachers in the school had been made the CRP (he is in charge of NPEGEL). He is still functioning
as the member secretary of the VEC. Overlap in functioning must be taken note of for
streamlining the working of th systems at the grassroots level. In the short time that the team
was in the school, it was not possible to arrive at any confirmation of this. But in view of the
reports made to the team the SSA in Manipur is urged to look into the matter.

As an end note it must be mentioned that the scheme has actually reached the most deserving
both in terms of geographic location and population. Sometimes implementation under the given
conditions of the area is obstructed by the way the budget heads have been structured in the
scheme. The training and orientation of the project personnel would need to look at this aspect
very seriously to enable the State to overcome some of its inherent constraints and limitations.

167
 National Evaluation

of

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya

and

National Programmme of Education of Girls at Elementary

Level

Uttarakhand
and
Chhatisgarh

November- December, 2007

Team Members
Subhashini Paliwal
Nishi Mehrotra

168
 Acknowledgments

We would like to place on record our gratitude to the Government of India and the Uttarakhand
State Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rajiv Gandhi Shiksha Mission Chhattisgarh and Mahila Samakhya
Society Uttaranchal and the all the functionaries at different levels for facilitating this evaluation
of the two schemes - KGBV and NPEGEL. We are indebted to all the functionaries, the students
of KGBVs, the parents and the community for enabling us to obtain an understanding of the
processes of implementation and unfolding of the two schemes across the project sites. We also
congratulate all people who are involved in implementing the scheme with whole hearted
commitment.

Subhashini Paliwal
Nishi Mehrotrra
New Delhi

December 2007

169
 UTTARAKHAND

1. State background
Uttarakhand, the hill state comprising of 13 districts, was carved out of UP in 2000, has a
population of 8.5 crores as pr 2001 census. Geographically Uttarakhand is situated in the central
Himalayan zone. The topography of Uttarakhand is characterized by hilly terrain, rugged
mountains, deep valleys, high peaks, sharp streams and rivulets, rapid soil erosion, frequent
landslides, and widely scattered population.

Economically people are dependent on sparse agriculture, horticulture, livestock rearing and
tourism. Inadequate agriculture production, increase in population, increasing pressure on the
demand for natural resources and lack of alternative employment opportunities out-migration of
the men folk from the villages cities within state and outside the state. In the absence of men,
customarily, the entire burden of managing household incomes falls on the women.

The total literacy rate is 72.28% - 84.01% for males and 60.28% for females. The difference
between the male and female literacy rate shows the gender discrimination. This discrimination is
also reflected in the sex ratio which is 942. Though the school enrolment ratio is 96% it still has
38 EBB blocks, notwithstanding the state’s 14th position in the country as far as literacy is
concerned. The State Government has resolved to concentrate on putting intensive efforts for
addressing the “quality” aspect of education and to address the gender gap in education with
focused interventions in the farthest habitations and among migrant communities in the cities.

The state has its own unique problems like:

a) A large number of women and girls involved in household work and wage work.
b) A gender gap in education lower than the national average
c) Lack of educational institutes for forward linkages
d) Teacher deployment issues due lack of facilities for teachers in remote hilly areas
resulting into teacher absenteeism.

The government has tried to address the issue of teacher vacancies by recruiting Shiksha Mitras
(support teachers), but this move did not produce the desired results, as they do not possess
essential qualifications and adequate training. The Junior High Schools are located to serve 3-4
villages, but the villages are scattered quite a distance due to the mountainous terrain.

2. Operationalisation
The KGBV scheme in Uttarakhand was rolled out in 2004-05. In the field, there is tremendous
acceptance of the scheme among the community, by the girls enrolled and the functionaries of
SSA who render wholehearted support to operationlise it. The state has adopted all three models
as per the needs of each of the EBB blocks in the state. All the 25 KGBVs are being run by the
state SSA society. Some are located independently at block level or other sites, while some are
located within the school campuses, as per the availability of accommodation. Since the KGBV
buildings are yet to be constructed they are running in rented accommodations or renovated
/refurbished old buildings made available in school campuses. The start up process of building
construction has been hampered by non availability of land and delay in designing of appropriate
buildings for hill regions. Costing is another issue faced by the state as construction in the region
escalates due to additional land leveling and labor costs. Consequently, construction of one
KGBV has commenced in Sitargunj, at block level with the support of the District Collector and
the local Corporator. Meanwhile the students are housed in renovated premises of the government
Girls Inter College.

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3. Girls in KGBVs
The KGBVs initialized in 2004-05 have brought within their ambit 1108 girls from different
social groups, though 46% of them are SCs, 3.6 % are from the Minority community and 19.%
are OBCs, while STs are 5.4% and BPL constitute 26% of the enrolled girls. The girls have been
selected through a process using HH survey data for identification. Teachers, CRC (Cluster
Resource Persons), PTA Parent Teacher Association) and teachers were involve din the process
.Applications from girls from BPL families were also invited to select girls from the stipulated
social categories. After short listing and before admitting those into KGBVs the girls under went
an orientation camp of two weeks with their mothers. Then finally the selected girls were
prepared through a formal bridge course before regular classes in the school.

Table 1: Enrolment in the KGBVs at state level and those visited

Capacity
Others /
50/100 Enrolment SC ST OBC BPL Minority
remarks
Uttrakhand Utilisation
1450 1108 517 60 183 72 276
76%
Korwa,
50 10 40
Dehradun
Tanakpur,
1 general
Champawat 12
50 50 34 3 1 girl with
disability
Sitargunj,
Udhamsingh 100 100 68 15 10 3 Gen 4
Nagar
Khansiu, 2 girls
Nainital 50 50 38 12 with
disabilities

In general the girls are very happy to be in the schools so the retention is good. The age group of
the girls is 11+ while some girls are older. Almost all of them were potential dropouts, but the
familiarisation with the school related processes and the bridge course was quite helpful for the
girls.

There are few drop outs on account of ill health like in a couple of cases in one KGBV where one
girl had TB and another had cancer. When the girls join they are disturbed on account of
homesickness, developing bouts of hysteria, but settle down once the daily routine starts in full
swing. We came across many sets of girls who were sisters – at least 10 pairs. Similarly, in 2 -3
KGBVs there were several girls who came from a single village in 3 different areas Korwa,
Sitargunj and Khansiu there were 10 to 12 girls who came from the same village in each area.
They were class V pass but had problems in enrolling in the nearby UPS due to natural barriers
like a river or distance due to mountainous tract.

Objectives of selecting girls from stipulated social groups have been met, but the drop out criteria
remains fuzzy. Roughly, 30 percent girls are dropouts (from primary) and are from poor families,
but whether they are really from the poorest of the poor is debatable. The dropout girls were from
poor BPL families like in Tanakpur or those who came from large families facing economic
constraints. The students reported that there were many other girls in there villages who had
dropped out in class 3 or 4, but were not going to any school.

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 Box 1: Reaching out to dropout girls in Okhalkanda, Nainital

Okhalkanda was declared an EBB block as per the 1991 Census. But in 2001 census this status was
withdrawn. According to the SSA HH survey of 2007 the block has 27 dropout girls. This situation
requires a review in view of the discussions with KGBV girls in Khansui.

We had a group discussion with the girls about how they cam to join the KGBV. They informed that they
had dropped out of school after completing class V as they found it difficult to travel to UPS across a river
in the monsoon and winter. Upon asking how were far their village was located, they told that the farthest
village was that there were about 20 girls who had Kakodgaja 95 Km from where 3 girls had come. These
3 girls also counted about 20 girls by name in their village, who had dropped out of school. Similarly, 2
girls from Padampur, “three days walk” away counted 8-10 girls from their village who had drooped out
of school. Nine girls from Kundal village, 50 km away, who were in the KGBV also said that 6more girls
in their village had dropped out.

At the end of the exercise it emerged that 60 girls from 9 villages, ranging in distance form 5 Km to 90
Km from the KGBV were dropouts as per specific information form the students form these villages.
Seven girls also informed that they had younger sisters who were never enrolled (7) and eight girls
informed that they had 10 elder sisters who had dropped out after class V, and were married now.

This KGBV had admitted 10 pairs of sisters and three sisters who had no mother. E met the father who
had come to meet the team. He was very overwhelmed that his daughters could study because of the
KGBV as there was no one to take care of them at home. Though he was worried how he would manage
after they passed class 8. Twenty girls came from agricultural families. Of the group of 50 girls only 4
girls reported that their mothers had been to school and 12 whose fathers had studied between class 8-10.

This KGBV is serving a large block which is spread out in 3 directions. To cover the catchment more such
KGBVs are need to reach out to other dropout girls in the area who are as yet untapped, even though the
Okhalkanda has been declared a non EBB block. The state needs to ensure proper targeting of dropout
girls to provide educational access to girls through Bridge Courses, KGBVs and linkages with NIOS for
those who have passed class 8.
Source : Field Notes

Reaching out to girls who have dropped out, whether due to family constraints or due to
geographical or distance issues is a critical area. All sources have to be accessed like – household
survey, PTAs and the bridge course centres to reach out to the last girl in the village. Even the
never enrolled girls, who are there on a smaller scale, also have also to be reached.

SSA has envisioned forward linkages to help the girls continue their education beyond class 8
through planned linkages with private schools, but not to upgrade the KGBVs. A state level
initiative to upgrade KGBVs is desired both by the girls and their parents. The capacity of 50
seater KGBVs is fully utilised, with a demand from the community to take in more girls. Girls
enrolled in these schools come from villages as far as 75 to 80 km away from the school, though
they are located in the same block. In remote hilly areas the girls require hostel facilities where
UPS are located even within 5-10 km. There is need to rationally locate more 50 seater KGBVs in
such areas. Also linkages through NIOS for girls who have passed class 8 and for dropout girls of
class 5 who want to further their education. KGBVs could be envisioned as local centres for
NIOS in the near future.

4. Infrastructure and facilities

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All KGBV are in hired premises or government school campus buildings. The government has
just started acquired land for construction which has commenced at one site – in Sitargunj, in a
GGIC campus at the block head quarter. There are design issues due to hilly terrain and escalated
construction costs. CBRI services have been sought for designing quake resistant buildings within
the stipulated allocations. Rural Engineering Services are to undertake the construction, even
though some VECs have evinced interest in taking up construction of KGBVs.

Rented buildings have hindered the availability of space in Korwa and Khansui KGBVs resulting
in cluttered classrooms; insufficient number of toilets and bath spaces, small kitchens and
restricted play and activity areas. In the latter there is no space to keep beds or desks and chairs
for the classes so the girls sit on the floor (it’s cold here!) to study and sleep in the same rooms at
nights. Equally ventilation is also an issue too as rooms led from one to another. The girls played
in the grounds of the neighbouring primary school. The KGBV in Sitargunj had a lot of space – it
was too scattered. In Tanakpur since the KGBV was in the school campus so the girls could use
school rooms for yoga and other activities. Here, two classrooms and dorms had been constructed
above the school building and temporary sanitation unit constructed. In this KGBV the girls could
have attended the UPS on the campus, so they could have had larger space for dormitories and
other activity areas.

The main issues in Uttaranchal regarding the buildings are -

a. The budget provided is inadequate for hilly areas where the land development
costs, labour and transportation of material costs are high.
b. The construction of buildings was tardy due to land acquisition and pending
design issues which are now getting resolved. The funds received have been
100%, but expenditures have been 81.39 % as of November 2007 because
construction of buildings is yet to take off.
In general the KGBV hostels have been supplied with the necessary facilities and equipments for
daily operations for running the kitchens, beds and bedding for the dormitories, furniture for the
class rooms, libraries, learning materials, computers/TVs and other equipments as per the lists.
However, due to shortage of space in Korwa girls were sharing beds and in Khansiu they were
compelled to sleep on the floor with mattresses. In the latter they could not have desks too in the
class rooms. The KGBV in Sitargunj had ample space for two big dormitories and a huge hall for
dining and other learning activities. All schools had computers and well stocked libraries with
books and educational CDs.

5. Teachers, learning and enriched curriculum

The KGBVs are primarily run by the wardens who are from the teaching cadre and anudeshikas,
of whom the latter are not trained as teachers though there are a very committed group of young
women. Both, the regular teachers (where posted) were given 3 day exposure to public school
hostels in Dehradun. They need KGBV specific training to handle the girls from deprived social
groups, manage the hostel and take up extracurricular activities. Even with routine classroom
teaching, the girls were performing quite well as was visible in the regular tests girls that were
administered to them. The annual results of KGBVs showed 100% had passed. The teachers
reported that learning improvement in the girls sowed up after 6 months.

The teachers require special training / sensitisation to enable them to understand and appreciate
the special learning needs of the students from different backgrounds. The wardens and teachers
living with the children have to manage / administer the school, plan for health and nutrition and
inculcate the importance of hygiene. Young adolescent girls also need to be oriented regarding
physiological changes, menstruation and also on a range of other reproductive health issues. The
majority of teachers said they need a course in counselling to advise girls in times of emotional

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crises and homesickness. The part-time teachers are young and have a lot of potential; they are
actually running the show as wardens are preoccupied with management issues and accounts.

The major issue regarding teachers are:

Anudeshikas are grossly underpaid –Rs 1000 per month, which is much below the
stipulated minimum wages. They will lose motivation if not upgraded soon.
Their recruitment at district level is critical as they are well adjusted to the requirements
of the KGBV girls and have bonded with the girls. Teachers who will be recruited or
posted from the system may not want to be posted in distant KGBVs or even accept
postings as they are required to stay in the hostel with the girls. This has already been the
case in a couple of KGBVs visited.
The other imperative need is for training for all KGBV teachers and Wardens to help
them to understand the special learning needs of girls, learn about multi-level teaching
with group work and transact activity based lessons to render meaningful education in a
residential environment.

Though the KGBVs are using regular school textbooks there is a necessity for improved
pedagogoligical practices. Besides this more projects with out door learning and enriched
curriculum is desired. There is a need to strike a symbiotic balance between learning and other
activities - life skills and extra curricular activities.

Language was an issue with Tribal girls and migrant Bengali girls in Champawat district where
teachers were not conversant with the girls’ mother tongue. They had to give more time and
special attention to these girls, which was a positive feature as teachers were helping them in their
spare time.

KGBVs have well stocked libraries of prescribed books. Library usage with wider learning to
encourage enquiry in young minds needs to be inculcated very consciously. Teachers could use
new ideas to connect textbook learning with additional wider learning with books other than those
prescribed for classes. The library books were locked so the children were not using them
frequently. There was no period for library reading or work in the time table. Even the teachers
were not familiar with the books. Computers were there but teachers not available in all to teach
the girls. No reference books.

As regards enriched curriculum, most of the skill development courses were - tailoring, sewing,
embroidery, pickle making etc. Though they were gender stereo typical, the wardens said that the
girls and their parents wanted exposure to these basic skills as sometimes they had to repair torn
clothes, even their uniforms, or use scraps for patching up dressings and other articles at home.
Some of the girls have even learnt to make utility items from stalks of Lantana, which grows wild
in the hills. Many of the girls have transferred these skills to their mothers. On the other hand
girls really enjoy volley ball, kho kho, kabaddi, carom, chess etc. However, Taikwondo was
extremely popular in two KGBvs. The excursion tours to the capital during the education mela
and the visits to Forest Research Institute, Naukuchiya tal,, Bhimtal and the biscuit factory were
very much enjoyed by the girls.

While the students are learning toy making, stitching, play games, they need to be enriched for
keeping alive the local folk music and dance culture together with theatre – a lot more planning is
necessary to infuse energy and meaning into life skills. One KGBV had prayers 3 times a day!
Tribal / hill girls have a lot of energy which can be used for outdoor sports – but space is a
constraint on the campus in the rented premises. In all the KGBVs there were computers but no
teacher to impart classes. In one the accountant was giving basic lessons and in the other the

174
warden took the lessons when she was free from her routine duties The girls have learnt about
computer operations – booting, shutting down, making cards, watching educational CDs. They
need to use computers for E-learning to relate other information to text book learning, besides
using computers for doing specific projects related to their lessons. Computer teachers skilled in e
– learning on part time or full time basis can help the girls move forward. The state has a CALP
programme which can extend to the KGBVs for a wider educational experience for the girls.

As of now the teaching and learning process is text-book oriented and it is not very different from
the formal schools. The learner assessment process similarly routine – monthly and quarterly
tests. Given that the children and teachers live together in the KGBV could be more creative and
the classroom / learning processes can be better planned, by integrating the non-academic with
the academic. KGBV can lend themselves to very different classroom practices.

6. Health, nutrition and sanitation

The food given to the girls was nutritious. They were given give fruit and milk thrice a week. The
girls were happy with the food and looked healthy though they missed eating rotis made with
traditional cereal - Mandua. They underwent monthly check ups for weight, height and
haemoglobin which have certainly shown a positive trend since the girls have enrolled.- there is a
positive trend. Except in 2 KGBVs, located at block level in the other two, the wardens faced
problems of transport and contacting doctors during emergencies - due to remoteness. In one
KGBV village community took charge and took the children to hospital in two instances.
Wardens reported that many times local government hospital doctors are not available on call
when emergencies arise. Also many of the CHCs/ PHCs do not have lady doctors posted, so they
need the flexibility to access private doctors for the girls. The teachers reported about children
having headaches, hysterical fits and gastro- intestinal problems. They could use information to
plan nutritious diets which eliminate common health symptoms.

Hygiene, sanitation and physical environment of the KGBV emerged as a serious issue. The
rented buildings are not suited having insufficient number of toilets and baths. The disposal of
garbage in the hills is also problematic. Developing compost pits for bio- degradable garbage
from the kitchen could be a possible solution. The kitchens in two KGBVs were located in tin
sheds, where storage and cooking of food was difficult. The lack of space and proper water
supply impacted the maintenance of cleanliness essential in the cooking area.

Child-wise profiles of girls are only related to height weight and haemoglobin counts or any other
major sickness. In depth profiles of girls, keeping account of their background, improvement in
learning levels, academic achievement, talents, participation in other extra curricular activities,
special interests and awards etc need to be maintained - this must be made mandatory. These will
help track the girls while in school and also help in tracking their achievements after they move
out from the KGBVs.

7. Monitoring, management and records

The KGBVs are managed by the head teacher who is the warden with the support of the
Anudeshikas. She is assisted by the BRC with whom she is the co-signatory for all expenses and
purchases as well as day to day affairs of the hostel. In two instances we found active PTAs, in
that they came in to inspect the place - on safety / food / health. In Khansiu KGBV, the PTA
members were appointed as members of the purchase committee, but could not play an active role
being located far away to actually render support in taking decisions. In Korwa the notion of the
guardian village emerged, with a couple of villagers including the pradhan as members of the
managing committee. They were of assistance to the teachers when children fell ill or any other
emergency. Here the school teachers also helped the warden in extending support by making

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available the school rooms for the KGBV after school hours. BRC and PTAs - the parents are
really strong and monitor regularly. The local NPRCs did not seem to extend any kind of
academic or non academic support to the KGBVs, nor was there a lady gender coordinator at
Block level - all BRC coordinators are male so the wardens are hesitant to place all issues before
them frankly.

Apart from girls’ profiles, all KGBVs have maintained meticulous records of all documents
related to accounts, distribution of incentives to girls, food expenses, assets of the hostel, health
check ups. The school rooms had information about the daily routine, weekly timetable, duties of
the different houses for each activity, responsibilities of teachers, information about the local area
along with displays of craftwork done by the girls.

The girls were given 2 sets of uniforms, 1 civil dress, 2 pairs of shoes – black and canvass sports
shoes, 2 pairs of socks, in some places track suits for games, scarf, sweater and blazer. They are
also given bedding, mosquito nets, toiletries and STs. The funds used are taken from the Rs 750
allocated per child/ per month. The Rs 50 stipend meant for girls pocket money is used for
purchasing milk and eggs. Now the project is thinking of investing the Rs 50 as a recurring
deposit in accounts for them, where they can also save the SC/ST scholarship fund. By the time
they finish class 8 they will have a little corpus for further ring their studies.

SSA has to make a concerted effort to ensure that all the SC/ST/minority girls get the welfare
scholarships. At present all districts are not following this up with the respective departments. It
has also to ensure that the KGBVs are included in the mid day meal scheme when it starts for the
upper primary schools.

8. Community support and demands

Parents want KGBVs in remote areas as girls have a problem to walk 5 Km in the hills – even
rivers sometimes block the transit. In remote blocks of Champawat and Nainital districts - the
catchment of dropout girls is bigger as the Blocks are large. They need more hostel facilities
attached to schools. The state has to send in demands to GOI to convert some KGBVs to Model
III.

There was unanimous feedback from parents to extend KGBVs to class 10. The students
mentioned this as a priority in all the KGBV visited by the team. They are afraid that they may
not be able to study beyond class 8 if they are sent home. Parents, particularly those living close
to the KGBV as in Sitargunj and Korwa, are also willing to extend further support as PTA
members, if their roles and responsibilities for involvement are worked out sharply. The parents
were very pleased that their daughters were doing well in school. Their achievement levels had
gone up after they had joined KGBVs. (See annexure I)

A mother in Sitargunj parents meeting said, “The girls have learnt to speak out. My daughter has
put on weight and her learning has improved”. Both mother and fathers had come from 80 Km
away to meet the team. Four of the parents were landless wage workers who had migrated from
eastern UP, while the rest owned small plots of land.

9. NGO Partnerships
SSA has developed a partnership with Azim Premji Foundation for the Learning Guarantee
scheme in 6 districts for competency based evaluation in schools. The Computer aided Learning
Programme is being implemented in 17 UPS at present, so learning can be drawn from that for
KGBVs, with further modifications. NEEV is operational in 13 districts for English learning in

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schools through a radio programme. a small initiative has been taken with rag pickers’ children in
Dehradun and Udhamsinghnagar with PAHA, to encourage them to come to school on a regular
basis. These partenrships are fairly new, but certainly do have a potential develop further for both
NPEGEL and KGBVs

10. Funds
This low utilization is a reflection of the fact that construction of KGBV buildings has
not taken off in the state. So far only one KGBV building construction has commenced,
in Sitargunj. This needs to be expedited as the schools are facing space and operational
constraints in hired buildings which are ill suited to the requirements of the KGBVs.

11. Issues
Major issues that the state has to currently take cognisance of are:

Thorough screening exercise to reach out to dropout girls in EBB blocks and others
through girls in schools and the community, as HH surveys do not present the correct
picture.
Expediting construction of KGBV buildings - so that the schools are moved from
temporary rented buildings which have insufficient space.
Selection and appointment of teachers who are from the local areas. Confirmation
and enhancement of salaries of Anudeshikas would be a positive step to ensure stability
to the KGBVs as new teachers will take time to settle down, besides many are not willing
to be posted to the residential KGBVs.
Orientation and comprehensive training of all teachers and warden is critical for
developing a systematic pedagogic approach for multidimensional education within
KGBVs.
Appointment of accountants to relieve wardens of the burden of accountancy and to
engender a sense of autonomy in the management of the schools along with the staff and
PTA.
Plan an enriched curriculum for holistic personhood development of the students –
by accessing learning materials from other initiatives in the state( Mahila Samakhya,
SIDH, Society for Uttaranchal Development and Himalayan Action1 etc) and across the
country ( Nirantar, Sandhaan, Doosra Dashak etc).
Linkage of KGBV and NPEGEL – some thinking about it, in areas where they are close
by. Tapping particular girls in difficult circumstances for KGBVs.

NPEGEL
The NPEGEL programme was inaugurated in Uttarakhand in October, 2003. The scheme is
operational in 13 blocks, in 377 model clusters currently. With a further 53 new model clusters
sanctioned for Haridwar, Tehri Garhwal & U.S.Nagar the number of clusters has increased to
430. The Educationally Backward Blocks were where, according to census 2001 the rural female
literacy was below 46.13% the gender gap is above 21.59%.

The state has made several efforts to implement the scheme by issuing guidelines form time to
time regarding selection of Model Cluster School, details of activities and expenditure pattern,
1
The Health Booklet can be used in KGBVs and in NPEGEL clusters a sit is in the local language, within
the local context

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physical structure of MCS, activities to be taken up and reporting of NPEGEL. A state level
workshop was also held to orient block level functionaries about NPEGEL. A training module
was developed for gender sensitisation of teachers, MTAs and the community. In 2005 a pre-
evaluation of the students in the selected NPEGEL clusters conducted by the DIETs. In 2007
revised implementation guidelines were issued for the scheme to all districts. NPEGEL is also
being implemented in partnership with Mahila Samakhya in Block of 6 districts where it is
operational 32 in 6 districts. MS runs bridge course for older out of school girls together with
professional course in tailoring, and remedial teaching.

Table 2: Out of School (OS) girls in Model Cluster Schools

Districts visited Total no of OS girls 2006- OS girls 2007 Total enrolment 2007-08
MCS 07 -08
PS UPS
Champawat 24 268 289 6162 1662
Dehradun 35 401 229 8269 3822
Nainital 16 20 27 3764 1061
US nagar 42 3168 1848 29371 7764
Tot. OS girls in 430 ? 3614 1,22274 48,991
State
Source: State report and field data, Nov 2007

The Out of School girls visible in the above table have been tapped for inclusion in schools to a
quite an extent, but they need to be carefully tracked not only for retention but also for improved
learning levels. Their vulnerability to dropout is high, so unless they are tracked consciously they
may slip back to the old status. For instance one Gorkha girl in Kalsi NPEGEL School joined but
dropped out. The Pradhan informed that it was sue to poverty. In such cases, persist effort like
tracking and counseling is critical to overcome the dropout threshold.

1. Profile of the school

A typical MCS catering to about 20 schools had the complete infrastructure required - the extra
room with toilet, furnished with furniture, cupboards, games like chess, ludo badminton racquets,
skipping ropes, volley balls among others, sewing machines, musical instruments, colourful wall
charts and craftwork done by the girls. The ambience is perfectly maintained giving a semblance
of harmony juxtaposed with attempted activity. The were charts giving results of girls over the
last two/three years, remedial teaching / coaching classes and photographs of excursions, some
sports events and craft melas. In a couple of MCS visited girls were shown doing taikwondo,
sewing/stitching, painting etc. The main point of observation is that all the activities are confined
to the MCS mainly, with sporadic inclusion of girls from other clusters for melas, excursions and
one or two competitions.

2. Activities
The activities appear primarily centralised to the cluster school. The reasons as discussed with the
teachers are – large number of schools in the cluster which are scattered across the cluster among
the mountains and valleys. The teachers also said that several of the JHS schools are single
teacher schools with one para teacher in the remote clusters – as in Bhan Pokhara in Nainital
district. Nine schools in this cluster have no female teachers of which 3 are UPS. Due to
remoteness women teachers are not inclined to take postings in such areas. Besides, there is no
dedicated coordinator for NPEGEL at cluster level to handle and render support to the large
number of schools. Consequently the concept of cluster school with cluster level activities for
enhancement of girls’ education – remedial classes, coaching, out door activities, vocational

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courses and games remains confined to the MCS – NPEGEL in Siddha. Since all the equipment
is stored in the MCS the girls in other schools cannot access it and neither are they able to come
to the MCS to use it. The remedial teaching and coaching is similarly confined to the main school
as teachers are available. Consequently, decentralisation which was meant to reach out to girls in
remote area to improve their educational levels has been difficult to achieve. Out of school girls
were identified but concerted efforts to include them in schools, organize specialised coaching or
remedial classes or link them with NIOS were not visible. Classes were organized for those
within the schools.

The incentives given to the girls are routine in terms of uniforms and scholarships. They were
additionally given bags, shoes and stationery and scarves, but not in all schools. In

3. Other activities
Training of girls in gardening, candle making, sewing/stitching and competitions – painting,
debates, quiz. Remedial teaching is a problem because of non availability of teachers in the
remote schools, particularly subject teaching – science and math. Health checkup camps were
organized in some clusters in collaboration with the state health department and Uttarakhand Bal
Kalyan Parishad. Operation of CCC, in MCS has shown good results yoga taikwando, girl guides
activities happening invariably in MCS are provided good opportunity to girls for personality
development – needs to be extended to all cluster schools.

Child care centres opened in the premises of NPEGEL schools - have 7000 girl children in the
child care centres. The exclusion of boys from these centres is something to think about. If
schools are not segregated for boys and girls then why child care centres do not have boys?

5. Out of school
Out of School survey has been done but analysis, follow up and proper utilisation is not evident.
Exercise of mapping of girls from class 5- 8 to track each and every girl is not realised as more
girls are out of schools (see box in KGBV also).

6. Community mobilisation
Some SMCs and MTAs are involved in sending girls to schools. In the MCS visited in Siddha
they provide assistance in land filling of the school compound, facilitating thatch roof for
classrooms, monitoring MDM and taking up such like initiatives. Women motivator groups and
PTA are formed and trained in MS. Wall writing, street play activities are more visible in Mahila
Samakhya areas. So far community mobilisation funds too have negligibly been used.

7. Monitoring and finance

MCS teacher and BRC are responsible for the funds and for the monitoring of cluster activities
which as such is limited to listing activities and collecting numbers of girls benefited from the
activities. CRCs are totally detached playing no active role in support, planning or coordination of
activities even though AWPB were made at cluster level. Activities were planned and proposed
by cluster resource groups but realisation is yet to come.

8. Insights form the field

During field visits in the four districts the vision and perspective of NPEGEL did not seem too
apparent though the structures were in place. The concept has remained confined to the model
cluster school per say. The interpretation of the scheme to reach out to dropout girls and improve
the quality of education for them was some what misplaced. This perhaps could be due to –
The casual attitude of the CRCs to support the scheme actively with a vision

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 Actual targeting of drop out girls in the cluster
Inclusion of too many schools in a cluster 20-24
The complications of geography of the region and terrain
Lack of women cluster coordinators for NPEGEL
Lack of women teachers in the schools in the NPEGEL clusters
Consequently the scheme has remained visibly confined to the MCS in each cluster.
The short gender training of teachers was one time input which needed to be sustained by other
kinds of intermittent inputs to keep the vision alive. The inputs given were more for management
and implementation rather than vision to include excluded and dropout girls in education and
improve the quality of education in schools.

Apart from the above we observed that

Activities are craft based as for hobby classes – making teddy bears, knitting, stitching
etc confined to cluster school. Children from other schools have to come to MCS, which
is difficult due to distances, so these remain confined to children of MCS only.
Library books were very new, only in a couple of MCS, while in others they did not seem
to be used. Equipments like laziums, volley balls, dumbbells, drums etc decorated the
shelves – locked brand new, not handled by children.
MCS has visibility only as model demonstration school – others are not learning from it –
there is poor sharing of facilities and activities across large number of schools in cluster.
So the approach has remained compartmentalised – no wider sharing of perspective
among teachers in the cluster or the schools
MTA/PTA/VEC – VEC, Pradhans are involved in the purchased of equipment due to
mandatory norms, so are the MTAs customary. They do not seem so involved in involved
in school activities due to scattered habitations. College students formed MTA in one
village – they were totally disconnected with school and children
Communications and linkages are weak at BRC/ CRC level with the MCS. Many of them
are visibly indifferent appearing quite clueless about the dimensions of the NPEGEL
scheme. They were unable to furnish even basic information about enrolment, dropouts,
never enrolled and achievements of children in the cluster.
Cluster level or Block level advance planning of activities in schools was not visible –
functioning seemed on an ad hoc basis.
.NIOS – problem of centre in the hills. Possibly KGBVs could become centres for NIOS
in the near future.

Box 2. Mahila Samakhya

Mahila Samakhya has undertaken to implement NPEGEL in 6 blocks in its operational districts through 32
Model Cluster Schools. Strengthening and augmenting awareness building. MS also including drop out
older girls in vocational training +remedial teaching.
The functionaries commenced the programme through:
Awareness and contact meetings with women and the community about girls education through–
jathas, nukkads, wall writing, discussions and distribution of hand bills
Collection of school level data from schools
Village level surveys to identify further numbers of drop out girls
Motivation of dropout girls to join schools, bridge courses, MSKs
Then it took up:
Identification of anudeshikas to teach girls
Conduct remedial teaching classes to help girls of classes 4& 5, enrolled in schools
Organise vocational courses for older drop out girls – primarily tailoring as a full fledged course of
4 months
Start up ECCE centres associated with schools in areas where ICDS centres not there

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 Continue meetings with mothers and community to ensure retention of girls in schools
Prepare older girls for continuing education through NIOS
MS links up and partners with SSA more at community level to enlist support for working with girls
both in school and out of school for furthering their education as it works with sanghas in the villages.
They are able to reach out to the hard to reach girls in distant villages among marginalised
communities to enable them to access education.

8. Funds
The funds approved by GOI for 2007-08 were Rs 344.14 lakhs, which are 50% of the share, while
the state share added is a further 25 %. As of September 2007, 21% of these funds had been
utilised.

9. Issues regarding NPEGEL-

The Vision is missing – functionaries are just implementing the programme as per orders
and guidelines – no collective visioning or innovations.
The support of CRCs is missing, they are most detached. The responsibility of
coordination and implementation lies on the on the MCS school teacher who has not
much time from teaching. With schools being located in remote areas they are short on
staffing though general picture of teacher deployment in the state seems adequate.
The large number of schools makes it difficult to establish linkages for activities among
the cluster schools – location and distance in hilly areas is a genuine problem.
Innovations and new ideas to use funds for activities and courses for girls not visible. The
teachers need fresh ideas to use funds for innovative activities, as the flexibility is there in
the budget.
The provision of additional incentives is more of a duplication of existing incentives -
stationery, bags, uniforms were given.
Tribal and Muslim girls are included in school, so the curriculum transaction needs to be
consciously secular. This can be an input in all teacher training activities.
Computers are placed in the MCS, but are not used frequently by children – teachers are
not there or children cannot come all the way to the MCS.
NPEGEL is treated as separate scheme – linkages with schools, NPRC and other block
level initiatives has to be taken up with concerted effort.

10. Good practices in the state

Two month bridge course of girls before they continue in KGBV.
Live in teachers in KGBVs from the open market – the Anudeshikas.
Schools for street children in urban areas.
Computer classes in schools under CALP – can extend this to KGBVs too.
Partnership with organisations like Azim Premji Foundation, Room to Read and
Pratham for quality improvement in some schools in some districts..

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Annexure: I Girls passed in KGBVs visited in Uttarakhand
Year Class VI Class VII Class VIII Total
Korba, M I

2006-2007 14 29 1 54

2007-2008 6 15 29 50

Remarks – underutilized because of space constraints

Sitargunj

2005-2006 18 35 13 66
2006-2007 04 17 29 50
2007-2008 24 09 17 50
Remarks 3 failed 5 dropped, 1 failed 2 dropped
Tanakpur,
Campawat
2005-2006 22 10 ----- 32
2006-2007 14 20 10 44
2007-2008 14 14 22 50
Remarks – dropouts due to illness and other reasons
Khansui,
Okhalkanda
2005-2006 46 04 0 50
2006-2007 05 42 3 50
2007-2008 08 04 38 50
Remarks

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Chhattisgarh

1. State Context
Chhattisgarh is also one of the new states carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000, comprising of
16 districts. The total literacy rate according to 2001 Census is 63.25, while that for men is 77.38
and women is 51.85. Both are below the national average of 75.26 and 53.67 for men and women
respectively. However, the notable point is that in the last decade the women’s literacy rate in
Chhattisgarh has climbed up from a base of 24.33 to the present rate of 51.85. This is the highest
recorded increase among all states and Union Territories in the country.

Table 1: HDI in some districts of Chhattisgarh

District EDUCATION HEALTH Human Development
index
Literacy Children's Education Life Expect. Health Income Rank.
Enrolment in
Schools
IOD IOD HDI IOD HDI HDI
A B D E G K M N
Raipur 0.514 0.279 0.565 0.411 0.589 0.534 0.562 3
Bilaspur 0.545 0.340 0.523 0.386 0.614 0.529 0.555 4
Korba 0.547 0.340 0.522 0.386 0.614 0.529 0.555 5
Janjgir 0.617 0.340 0.476 0.386 0.614 0.529 0.540 8

IOD : Index of Deprivation, HDI : Human Development Index2

Even with the high percentage increase in female literacy over the last decade the HDI indicators
show that there is further scope for improvement The above table shows the status of districts
visited regarding literacy, education, health, life expectancy and income levels. The ranking of
Raipur is high as it is the state capital. Bilaspur is slightly better off because of the connectivity
by rail, road and other facilities. Korba, is also somewhat better because of the power plants,
mining and other economic activities. Janjgir is quite at the bottom level even though it has the
traditional silk weaving cottage industry. KGBVs in these districts had a majority of OBC and ST
girls. The status of out of school children in these is considerable as is visible below.

Table 2: Out of School 11-14 yrs old children in the districts visited - 20073

OSC Total ST OSC SC OSC Min OSC

M F T M F T M F T M F T
Raipur 462 540 1002 151 170 321 71 98 169 311 287 598
Janjgir 172 148 320 229 91 320 365 297 662 - - -
Korba 434 470 904 224 224 448 58 85 143 - - -

2. Operationalisation

2
Source: Chhattisgarh – a state is born, Sanket Bhopal
3
Source : SSA, Chhatissgarh, 2007

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The state has operationalised all 84 of the KGBVs sanctioned under Model I. It has created an
access for the disadvantaged girls from SC/ST, OBC and some from primitive tribes as in
Gariaband. The age group of girls is as per norm, with hardly any never enrolled girls. The state
SSA took a decision to run all KGBVs on its own so it actively took up the construction of hostel
buildings at the very commencement of the scheme through the Public Works Department. This
is now being done by Rural engineering Services. The scheme has the full support of the district
administration for acquiring the land, facilitating construction, completion of infrastructure and in
supervision for extending support services – water supply, power, health check ups, ration cards,
scholarships etc. There is sense of ownership of the scheme among all stakeholders –
government, community, teachers and local political representatives.

3. Girls in KGBVs
The 6895 girls, mainly from SC and tribal communities were selected from class 5 pass outs to
fulfil the objectives of covering girls from the stipulated social groups as per the norms of the
scheme. At state level, the girls enrolled are largely class 5 pass with the majority from ST
communities who are about 54% of the total, SCs are 20%, OBCs 23 %, Muslims .5% while
those from BPL families are 2.5 %. At present the facilities are utilised 84% having scope for
further out reach. Some other children in difficult circumstances added – these were the drop outs
from very poor families, those from single parent homes, orphans, even those left behind by
parents who migrate for several seasons and those with disability. The rest were regular school
going children as in Korba district. Here too as in Uttaranchal girls reported that there were many
drop out girls in their villages who had not come to KGBV or were helped to join regular schools.

Table 2: Enrolment in the KGBVs at state level and those visited

Capacity
100 Gen SC ST OBC Others / remarks

Gariaband, 68,
Raipur 7 girls from Kamaria and Bhunjia
100 1 6 primitive 23 are primitive tribes.
tribes: Bhunjia Model KGBV
Kamaria,
Bhatapara,
100 3 9 43 44 Majority are ST/SC
Raipur
Nagarda, Many sick children,
100 00 12 41 46
Janjgir badly managed
Katghora, Girls could have
Korba 98 0 7 86 5 attended UPS in
campus
Pali, Well managed in
100 8 9 69 14
Bilaspur incomplete building

As is visible from the table above, the majority of girls are from ST and OBC communities,
coming from far off villages in the blocks. There are many more girls desirous of enrolling in the
KGBVs due to poverty and migration in the areas where they are located. The capacity of all
KGBVs have been fully utilised with 100% occupancy. Girls requiring hostel facilities in remote
hilly areas require 50 seater KGBVs – more in such areas. Also linkages though NIOS if more
dropout girls want to go further. KGBVs could be local centres for NIOS. Girls from prescribed
social groups admitted in each area. So far they have had very few dropouts – a couple of girls
found staying in a hostel confining like in Katghora.

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Apart from girls admitted from prescribed social groups and others like orphans, those from
single parent homes (no mothers), abandoned girls, those with disability included. All the girls
want to continue schooling till class 10 in the KGBV. The state has envisioned forward linkages
with Tribal /SC hostels in local areas from where the girls come once they pass out form the
KGBVs. Nevertheless a detailed mapping exercise will need to be done to ensure that those who
pass out from class 8 definitely move on to secondary school. Linkages with NIOS have not yet
been visualised for girls who have dropped out of class 8 as the centre is too far away in Raipur,
Bhopal from the districts.

4. Infrastructure and facilities

The State SSA and district administration are extremely sensitive and fully supportive fro setting
up KGBVs. The preference is to locate the KGBVs at block level for easy access from the
villages, besides the convenience of support from the district administration. The DM in Janjgir
and the SDM in Korba actually visit the KGBVs and spend time with the girls. They also arrange
for their excursion trips to the mining areas, fun parks and historical places. Any matters related
to the KGBVs are promptly attended to by the officers – health check ups, ration quotas, water
supply, fuel, electricity etc. The state has accomplished land acquisition for the buildings but still
many KGBVS are housed in rented accommodation. Cost issues are a problem here too, but the
state government is adding 15 lakhs per school to enhance the buildings. The funds are basically
for adding rooms for warden and teachers, as well as for night watchman Even the local MLAs
are extending financial assistance for the construction of boundary walls.

The constructed buildings are pretty spacious with four large halls on two floors, a large
courtyard in the centre and verandas all around, with sanitation units on either side. The kitchens
are large with lots of storage space. The state government is supplementing funds to add rooms
for the warden, teachers and watchman

Box 1: Two ends of the spectrum

Gariaband KGBV Nagarda KGBV
Pretty as a picture with colourful flowers in pots all This is a KGBV that presents a study of a situation
over, with walls full of colour with information – where everything seemed to go wrong. The fairly
daily timetable, duties of girls groups, menu of the new building looked unkempt and weather beaten.
week, craft and other things made by the girls and The classrooms and dormitories combined in one
other educational information of the state. The were dull, smelly and uninviting. The kitchen, wash
KGBV had an aura of peace and tranquillity of a areas and bathrooms too were really unkempt.
learning institution. Every aspect from classrooms The whole place appeared lacklustre as did the girls
to residential areas is carefully thought of. The who seemed dull, subdued and sick. In fact many of
school reflects good management by a mature them had stomach aches, malaria, asthma and sickle
warden, who is like a mother to the girls. cell anaemia. In general the nutrition levels of
The dormitories are well laid out with bunker beds children appeared poor. The severe health problems
with attached table for doing work. There is space occurred due to unsanitary conditions, because of
for girls to keep their personal effects tidily in lack of water. Girls were bathing and washing
locker spaces. The bathrooms were clean and clothes in the nearby pond so had scabies and other
odourless. Even the kitchen, pantry and washing skin infections. There were constant power and
areas were neatly arranged and spotless stocked water shortages.
with all the necessities required for the hostellers. The JBS was interfering in the management rather
The well tended kitchen garden planted by the girls than extending support. The young warden for
supplied green vegetables over seasons. They have whom this was the first job was mis guided in
even learned to make preserves and dried stuff to financial matters by the BRC and JBS, which
consume for snacks and with meals. resulted in distortion of proper procedures and
The girls’ academic performance too is excellent processes for purchase of recurring expenditures.
with the majority of them excelling in their Books of accounts and other documents were
quarterly test and board exams. In any sports meet, fudged, over written showing mismanagement of

185
competition or cultural activity in the block the girls funds.
from this KGBV win trophies in each event. The KGBV was under staffed with just on teacher
All records and documents are well maintained and and one warden for a 100 girls. Extra inputs for
up to date reflecting complete transparency in math and science were rendered by young men who
transactions. were coaching the girls.
This presents the portrait of an efficiently managed The girls in the hostel really looked sad and
KGBV that can be emulated across the state. unhealthy due to the general environment and the
bad management. The warden and teacher could do
well with some guidance and a visit to Gariaband
KGBV.

The KGBVs running in own buildings in Garaiband and Pali have enough space and facilities of
space and infrastructure. The one in Katghora is located in the premises of the UPS, so though it
has space the rooms are scattered across the campus so the girls are inconvenienced regarding
seating for meals and for toilet facilities which are in adequate and ill maintained. The Nagarda
KGBV, though located in its own building has problems of water supply and power, as it is
located away from the district headquarter. Two are fully equipped with furniture and all other
assets required for functioning except for the ones in Bhatapara and Katghora. Due to shortage of
space e girls have to sleep on the floor in classrooms which are converted as dorms at night. Girls
have no space to keep their personal effects. Even bathing space is quite exposed and uncovered.
Though the campus is large and well located but infrastructure is insufficient for 100 girls to live
comfortable. In Bhatapara, the landlord, who is a member of the managing committee is charging
an exorbitant rent of Rs 14000 per month just because the open grounds are fairly large. The
KGBV in Pali, though running in an incomplete building – one floor – is extremely well managed
and well maintained. Ultimately, it really speaks of good management within the existing infra-
structure and skills to optimise space and facilities.

5. Teachers, learning and enriched curriculum

The hiring and posting of KGBV teachers not within the purview of KGBV management – it is
external, through the board of teacher recruitment. Teachers do not want to be posted in these
schools, nor do they want to stay in residence with the girls – just come and take classes and go
away after school. There is little bonding between the girls and teachers. They do not spend time
with girls for other activities, they are on their own or guided by the warden. Except for the
warden teachers are grade III and II Shikshamitras and a not trained as teachers or for KGBV
specifically. One other major lacuna is that the teachers are totally detached form the KGBV set
up as they do not reside with the girls. They come from 10:30 am - 4:30 pm, take their classes and
go away. The entire burden of management, accounts and book keeping, record maintenance and
extracurricular activities is on the shoulders of the lone warden.

There is a need for better activity based pedagogy and classroom transactions, with more project-
based and out door learning. A balance has to be struck between learning and other activities / life
skills / extra curricular. Language is an issue with Tribal girls in Katghora and Bhatapara KGBVs
as urban based teachers are not familiar with the local dialects and students still have difficulty in
comprehending Hindi. The teaching and learning process is text-book oriented and it is not very
different from the formal schools. The assessment process is also similar as in formal schools.
Given that the children live together the KGBV could be more creative and also plan the
classroom / learning processes better – by integrating the non-academic with the academic.
KGBVs can lend themselves to very different classroom practices.

Many of the girls who join class 6 are below par so they have problems with the course. Hence,
coaching for two hours before class is arranged for them, especially in science and maths.

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Another reason for this is that the teachers recruited do not have science/math background, so
local coaches are arranged to give the girls a head start. In the KGBV in Pali, the warden
encourages groups of girls to go for purchase of vegetables and groceries along with a teacher, to
help them to practice maths and also learn how to plan within a budget.

KGBVs have library books which the children were not using. The books were locked up. Even
the teachers were not familiar with the books. Computers were there but teachers not available in
all schools to teach the girls. Reference books and Hindi- English dictionaries were stocked in
one KGBV, but did not seem much used.

The vision for an enriched curriculum is missing among teachers missing, perhaps because of
lack of exposure. At present it is confined to craft work and games only. Children have been
taken on excursions in local areas and have participated in cluster level competitions with local
schools. They did very well, each KGBV was decorated with lots of trophies and shields won by
the girls.. Most of the vocational classes were gender stereotypical - tailoring, sewing,
embroidery, pickle making etc were common. Domestic skills like making preserves and pickles
were also desired by the girls as their homes have access to fresh fruit and vegetables which do
not have a huge market in remote areas, so home grown products can be utilised. In the KGBV in
Gariaband the girls were making these things on weekends and consuming them in the hostel.
They were even growing vegetables too which also used. However, papier mache, bamboo work
were extremely popular. Girls also wanted to learn cycling, cricket and badminton. Some of the
girls could be coached for specific games as they are athletically inclined.

6. Health, nutrition and sanitation

Hygiene, sanitation and physical environment of the KGBV emerged as a serious issue in two
KGBVs – Katghora and Nagarda. The rented building in Katghora, though located in a large area
is not suited for the needs of the KGBV having inadequate space for living areas, kitchen and
temporary toilets. The disposal of garbage needs greater attention as in Katghora, Pali, Nagarda.
The kitchens though large are badly kept and unhygienic. All the bio waste can be disposed of in
Compost pits and then recycled as nutrient for the kitchen gardens. The kitchens and stores in
Gairaband and Pali were meticulously maintained by the cooks, under the supervision of the
warden while in the other two much attention was not paid to cleanliness and sanitation in these
critical areas.

Health check-ups of girls are conducted by the CHC doctors, with records of girls’ weight /
height haemoglobin along with other illness, with the medication prescribed being maintained.
However, this information is not used to plan the diet of the children. Children had stomach
aches, malaria, asthma and sickle cell anaemia. They really do require professional check ups and
tests to be treated and cured. In general the nutrition levels of children appeared poor. The diet is
mainly rice, dal vegetables. Fruit and eggs included in one or two KGBVs only. The girls have no
chapatis for any meal, except in Pali where they are given chapattis, along with rice for dinner.
Fruit and eggs are given on a weekly basis or when there is a festival. Even yogurt is not apart of
their diet. The girls here are not used to having milk at all.

In Nagarda, severe health problems occurred due to unsanitary conditions, because of lack of
water. Girls were bathing and washing clothes in the nearby pond so had scabies and other skin
infections. Many had gastro, bronchial and other problems like sickle cell anaemia. Sanitary
towels not supplied to girls at all – even wardens (except 1) - did not feel the need to do so!
Supply of sanitary towels to girls should be mandatory, together with records of their monthly
menstruation cycles.

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7. Management, monitoring and records
Since all KGBVs are run by the SSA they are well integrated into the SSA programme being
apart of the district education structure The SSA state has ensured good linkage with the formal
school system and other departments – health, civil supplies, social welfare, tribal welfare, RES
etc. The KGBVs are supplied with IFA and iron capsules through the health department. The
project has ensured that the schools have ration cards for subsidised rice and as connections.
There is a vision to ensure that girls get admissions to the tribal and SC hostels when they leave
after class 8. The linkage with NIOS is desired but the centres are yet not accessible or functional.
As yet no thinking has emerged within the system to upgrade the KGBVs, perhaps because of the
other hostel options available in the state.

The chairperson of the Jan Bhagidari Samiti (JBS) constituted for the school management is a
political nominee. Parents along with the warden, teachers and BRCs are members of the
management committee to oversee the functioning of the school. In two cases we met the
chairpersons who had been active in extending support to the warden for the acquisition of the
building and rendering support for every day contingencies. The BRCs play the role of mentors as
well as render proactive support for financial and administrative issues as they are co signatories
with the warden for accounts. In Nagarda, the JBS chairperson was more interfering than
supportive and appeared to be involved in corrupt practices along with the BRC.

The wardens are burdened with the entire day to day management of the KGBV as the
accountants are not appointed yet. Only one KGBV had an accountant in place. The teachers are
not involved in supportive management roles as they do not reside in the hostels. The warden and
the watchman are the two persons in charge of 100 girls, to tackle all kinds of issues on holidays
and at night. In the KGBV in Nagrada this was a major problem because of remoteness and other
nuisances.

The wardens are handling all the accounts and book keeping while being joint signatories with
the BRCs for the functioning of the KGBVs. While they have done very well to maintain all
records, they need training to cope with financial management as decision makers. At the same
time the appointment of accountants is imperative to maintain autonomy of the establishment.

The girls were also given two sets of uniforms, one civil dress, two pairs of shoes and socks,
bedding, mosquito nets (2 schools), stationery, bags. Toiletries were purchased from their stipend.
All children are also getting the ST/SC scholarships besides the monthly stipend of Rs 50. Now
accounts are being opened in the name of children to ensure that their stipend and scholarship
funds are deposited in the bank for their use later on.

8. Community support and demands

There is active support of Jan Bhagidari Samiti, whose chairperson is a person nominated by the
local MLA. The JBS was supportive and facilitative generally in two cases. In one case it was too
interfering in the hostel nitty gritty’s – like specifying which brand of rice to purchase for the
hostel. In another case the JBS member had hired his premises out to the KGBV at an exorbitant
rent. In Katghora, the lady Chairperson of the JBS who is also the Chairperson of the Kshetra
Panchayat is extremely supportive to the warden in times of emergency as she lives locally.

The parents are very happy for their girls living in the hostels. They feel that their girls are
learning better as the schools in their area are far from their residence so the girls cannot go
regularly. Also due to poverty, they have to engage the girls in work so when they are in the

188
hostel they are away from work. Some parents are not able to visit the girls on monthly basis due
to distance and poverty. In several cases where their parents migrate they the relatives and
neighbours take responsibility for the girls. Consequently, there is tremendous demand from the
community to extend the KGBVs to class 10 and to open them in remote areas of the block.

9. Issues
Major issues that the state has to currently take cognisance of are:
Thorough screening exercise to reach out to dropout girls in EBB blocks and others
through girls in schools and the community, as HH surveys do not present the correct
picture.
Selection and appointment of teachers who are from the local areas is a big issue -
recruitment of teachers (which is centralised) and there is a separate board for recruitment
of Shiksha Karmis. Very young grade I teachers as KGBV wardens/superintendents
(early 20s) are not able to handle the management.
Teachers should stay in the KGBVs so that they support in extra curricular activities and
share in the management of the hostel along with the warden.
Orientation and comprehensive training of all teachers and warden is critical for
developing a systematic pedagogic approach for multidimensional education within
KGBVs.
Appointment of accountants to relieve wardens of the burden of accountancy and to
engender a sense of autonomy in the management of the schools along with the staff and
PTA.
Plan an enriched curriculum for holistic personhood development of the students –
by accessing learning materials from other initiatives in other states and across the
country (Nirantar, Sandhaan, Doosra Dashak etc).
Health and nutrition of girls – is major issue that has to be taken of in a systematic
manner to ensure that they remain healthy. A balanced diet with proper nutrition has to
be worked out for holistic physical and mental development.

10. Funds
Even though all KGBVs are in operation all are not running in their own buildings. Here too
construction activities have been tardy. Out of the 84 KGBVs 30 are completed while 31 are
under construction and 33 are yet to be constructed. The major reason for under utilisation of
funds is the construction backlog, which should ease up by the end of this financial year.

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NPEGEL
In Chhattisgah there is a definite visioning regarding NPEGEL at project / cluster levels regarding
NPEGEL. Currently there are 1424 NPEGELs in operation in 101 EBB blocks in 1426 clusters.
The concept and vision of the scheme appears well visualised at all levels. The MCS have been
Sahelishalas

NPEGEL appears quite well integrated within SSA. It reflects the committed ownership by the
JBS, CRCs, Coordinators, teachers and support teachers. The activities proposed under NPEGEL
are not confined to the model cluster school only, but to other nearby schools too. However, the
clusters are too large fro all schools to be included. Libraries are established in 1223 schools,
while computers are provided in 10 schools. Computer learning has really to take off as the girls
have placed a very strong demand. They even want to learn cycling as later they want to cycle to
secondary school after class 8.

The detailed annual calender of activities developed at block level helps the coordinators to plan
activities around the cluster schools. The team witnessed the cluster level sports and cultural meet
organized in Koshwara cluster for three days. There was whole hearted support from the
Pradhans and the Panchayat members to organize it, arrange food for the children and give away
the prizes to the children. On the way to Raipur several other such events were visible along other
way in other clusters. The ownership of NPEGEL activities by the committees at village and
cluster level and the autonomy in planning has resulted in resulting variations and innovations.

1. Profile of MCS
The MCS are located within the school campuses, sometimes attached to the main buildings, at
other times within the campus but detached from the schools as separate structures. There is a
room as per specifications, a small veranda and two toilets. The room has a Meena corner, space
for activities and a table, few chairs and cupboard. Everywhere the rooms were colourful with the
craftwork of the girls, with ceilings festooned with project work, streamers, cutouts etc. Some
MCS are equipped with computers but computer usage is not a norm, though some linkages have
been made with the Head start centre to impart learning to girls. Girls in the MCS in Bhatapara
were very keen to learn computer usage to work on projects. They had done some projects like –
story of wheels, solar system, good habits etc. Many of the girls in NPEGEL schools wanted to
learn cycling.

In one case the MCS was located in the NPRC as the room had not been constructed. The MCS
infrastructure maintenance is average but the place certainly seems well used. The toilets did not
seem used because of water shortage. In one MCS the girls were involved in cleaning the toilets
as training.

The lady cluster coordinator/ motivator for the Sahelishala is responsible for activities in the
cluster of 30-40 schools! At cluster level coordinators carry out activities on the basis of an
annual calender of activities. The Coordinator has support from the NPRC with whom she ties up
her visit plans to schools and cluster level activities.

Identification of never enrolled and drop out girls has been done to get them to respective schools
in their local areas. Planning and tracking of girls’ achievement levels at cluster level is
maintained in the MCS. The schools give them the data and they display the data in the MCS.
Teacher sensitisation on gender issues (11 days) and girls’ education (5 days) has been

190
undertaken through trainings. Linkage with the govt functionaries – health workers, Mitanin
during cluster level activities for girls’ health issues was visible during the visit.

As incentives books, uniforms, scholarships cycles, stationery, compass boxes etc to girls.
Library books were used in a majority of cluster schools on sharing basis. Still many children do
not get to uses them as the schools in the cluster are too many.

2. Activities
Cluster level activities like sports, competitions, debates and other activities to involve
girls in attaining self confidence and overcoming hesitation as part of the annual
planning. These inititiatives enlisted the extensive support of Pradhans and Panchayat to
organise events and give prizes.
Ma Beti Melas have been held extensively to involve mothers and community to improve
retention. Active mothers in Ma Beti Melas play a key role in organizing them They are
popular in that they have helped to improve retention and get girls dropout and absentee
girls to schools.
The girls were very excited about the educational excursions organised for them from
cluster at district/ state level – Rajya Divas. Select girls who were the top three in 6th, 7th
and 8th were taken on trips.
Coaching classes for classes 5 and 8 – science math and English – 2 hours before school.
External motivated teachers – part time @ Rs 500 – Rs 700 per month
Creative craft activities – papier mache, embroidery/stitching, art/painting, paper bag
making, flower/ basket making, macramé etc – mostly during summer camps. Projects
also taken up – story of wheels, plant life, water cycle etc. Bilaspur vocational training is
organised with traditional folk artists and artisans for girls. In Koriya the Bal Cabinet
publishes a wall monthly wall paper. The schools are even involved within sanitation
activities and the installation of low lift hand pumps with Unicef assistance
Ins a few schools where 100% girls passed the board exams – 5th and 8th - the teachers
were honoured.
Meena Manch is a key activity – but it needs to be reviewed in the perspective of class 8
girls – who require a more enriched curriculum, life skills and proper vocational skills not
just craft based activities. Some BRCs have through of introducing – bamboo craft and
weaving in areas where silk weaving is a livelihood, as in Champa and Janjgir.

Box 2: A vibrant NPEGEL Cluster

In the Kotmi MCS school the lady motivator of the NPEGEL cluster, Sunita Saraf, is a dynamic lady who
travels form Bilaspur by train to her job. She coordinates the cluster of 21 schools in very rugged region of
schools scattered far and wide. Kotmi village itself is very large having 11schools. There are 3 month
coaching classes for science and math and this is done 2 hours before the school hours. 11 girls have been
identified for Open Schooling. Health check-ups for all girls and mothers have been organized in every
school. There are three monthly creative crafts activity (papier mache / paper bag making) at the cluster
level and in other schools in the cluster. They have honoured teachers in schools with 100% enrolment,
retention and results - particularly for 5th and 8th. Seven girls from this cluster have stood in the merit list
of class 8 and 25 girls in class 5. There were competitions and Pradhan fed children for 3 days. They have
8 women members in Jan Bhagidari Samiti.

Sunita spoke of the inspiring story of two girls who benefited for furthering their education though the
vocational course. She told about Parmeshwari Sahu an OBC girl who dropped out of school after class 1.
She joined school again in class 4, continued her schooling, where she learnt sewing in the vocational
course. Her father a rickshaw puller saved money to buy her a sewing machine. She now stitches clothes in
her spare time to fulfill her dream of studying further using her own money.

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Similarly Ram Kumari, whose father had a disability dropped out as the family could not afford to send her
to school. She was a very regular student so Sunita kept motivating her to continue her studies. She too
benefited by the sewing class. Her uncle saved up some money to buy her a sewing machine through which
she enough to support herself and her family financially. This year she will appear for the class 10 exam. A
very basic skill has helped these girls to move out of poverty with dignity and above all, move up the
educational ladder.

3. Issues
The major functional and operational issues that come to the fore as of now are:
There are a large number of schools in a cluster - 30-40, so the outreach for the
coordinator is problematic because of size of cluster.
The budget release to the MCS is not very timely in some cases – maybe because
they have not submitted their accounts.
Library usage appears poor though the books are there. The usage, when possible,
is confined to the MCS as sharing among several schools is a problem – transfer
of books and maintaining library usage records school to school is the reason why
the usage is low.
The NIOS linkage is a major problem in remote areas because the centre is in
Raipur and there is no presence at the district level.

4. Night schools

In Chhattisgarh five night schools are being run to reach out to children from the slums who are
working as domestic help, particularly girls, besides those who do petty vending, work as
apprentices in garages or are into rag picking. There are some children whose Parents have
abandoned them or who are forced to beg to survive. The team visited two such centres – one in
Raipur and one in Bhatapara. The former is run in the DIET campus where one of the teachers
takes classes in the evening for four hours along with a volunteer. Here all the girls and a few
boys have been taking lessons for a year, preparing for classes five and eight, whose age set is
between 12-18 years. They are given books, uniforms and a hot, healthy meal at night. The
teacher even arranges for escorting the girls home after school

These children who ear about Rs 400-500 per month really felt the need to study but the situation
at home compelled them to stay out of school. The majority of older girls are the first in the birth
order so they have to cook, clean and look after their siblings while their mother are also out to
work as domestics. When their younger siblings went to school, they also yearned to study. When
they heard about the night school they got enrolled. Girls and boys have also learned vocational
skills like chalk and candle making, professional embroidery, macramé etc.

Teachers reported that the children are quick on the uptake and do well in the exams. Besides this
they are very regular in attending the classes. They do not want to miss even one day of school.
All the children want to at least complete class 10. In Bhatapara, there is an arrangement for some
of the street children to even sleep there at night as they have nowhere to go. Here a couple of
boys looked quite small for their age, perhaps due to mal nourishment. But their health has picked
up since they have started coming here.

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The state SSA is very keen to continue such schools and increase their numbers. These cannot be
run as hostels as the children do not want to stay in residence. This initiative is extremely
beneficial for working and street children giving them a lot of confidence and a sense of feeling
cared for and wanted. Adequate funding for these is critical for running them efficiently.

5. Funds
In Chhatissgarh, the approved outlay for NPEGEL for 2007-08 is Rs 1313.35 lakhs of which Rs
181.50 lakhs have been released. The state share of 25% has also been added. However, as of
September 2007 the state has only utilised 23 % of the approved budget. Fund flow is timely to
some cluster schools. The accounts are jointly maintained by cluster woman coordinator and
Cluster Resource. One got a sense of transparency in operations. The underutilisation of funds has
been due to the fact that 60% additional classrooms and toilets have been added. Allocated funds
for activities have been utilised but not reflected in the expenditure heads for the scheme.4

6. Good Practices
Ownership of KGBVs by SSA and state government – more at district level
Night shelters for out of school urban girls – need for urban centred KGBVs
JBS has engendered community ownership of KGBVs.
NPEGEL is being implemented with a vision and mission of all stakeholders.

4
As per GOI status report given to the evaluation team till September 2007

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 KGBV Evaluation
26 December 2007

Vimala Ramachandran and Najma Akhtar

(Fieldwork done from 26th—30 November 2007)

INTRODUCTION:
At the outset we would like to thank the Government of West Bengal for having
facilitated this evaluation. In particular we are grateful to the SSA Directorate for
providing information, facilitating the field visits and sharing their experience. We are
particularly grateful to all the officers and resource persons for having shared not only
the achievements but also discussing the problems and challenges.

The Government of West Bengal identified 59 locations in 10 districts and 59

Educationally Backward Blocks to introduce the KGBV programme. Out of these
districts 44 are SC/ST populated and 15 are Muslim Populated districts. The PAB of
GOI approved 37 KGBVs in 2004-05 and sanctioned Rs 859.203 Lakh. The
remaining were approved in 2005-06. However the scheme was operationalised in
2005-06 and the funds transferred in the previous financial year were carried forward
to 2005-06.

The Directorate reported that at the present 46 KGBVs were operational and 13 were
non-operational The KGBV hostels are managed by the SHG and have adopted
Model 3 (they are attached to a high school or secondary school) in all districts. The
district administration has short-listed the SHGs and the proposals scrutinised by the
SSA Directorate.

Enrollment in 46 KGBV
Minority Total
Year SC ST OBC BPL
Muslim Others
2006-07 620 476 182 128 172 0 1975
31.39% 24.10% 9.22% 6.48% 8.71% 0 100%
2007-08 971 613 234 284 119 2045
47.48% 29.98% 11.44% 13.89% 5.82% 100%
Source: Government of W Bengal, November 2007

The evaluation team visited five KGBV in the districts of Bankura (Amarkanda and
Saltora Block) and Puruliya (Para , Kotshila and Joypur), interacted with Director
SSA, other officials of SSA Directorate, the Gender coordinators, KGBV and
NPEGEL nodal officers and district, block and cluster level personnel concerned with
the KGBV programme in the schools visited. We also interacted with parents and
community leaders an interacted with the students.

During our interaction with the children we saw a great deal of energy / good cheer
and they looked happy, first impression being positive. Despite the fact that the
KGBV scheme was taken up for implementation only in 2006 they have been has
been able to start the hostel. This was done by reaching out to girls who were living in
the neighbouring villages and those already enrolled in the adjoining school.

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While the state level leadership appreciate the need for a scheme to reach out to out of
schoolgirls – they have not implemented the scheme in the spirit in which it was
conceptualised. The KGBV scheme is positioned like a girls hostel attached to a
school – addressing. The team found that close to 50 per cent of the girls in the 5
KGBV visited were from neighbouring villages. No effort seems to have been made
to reach out to older out of schoolgirls - who have remained out of school for one
year or more. The infrastructure was in place and was of reasonably good quality.

Whether objectives of the KGBV scheme are being met

As mentioned in the introduction they have been positioned as hostels attached to a

school. This is indeed noteworthy – especially in the light of the fact that the ratio of
primary schools to upper primary is almost 5.28 (DISE, 2005) and the KGBV could
have enabled the government to enhance in-take at the upper primary levels. By
catering to girls who have already enrolled – the scheme has not been able to reach
out of out-of-school girls.
In Amarkanan Mahamaya Balika Vidhyala (Bankura) KGBV 26 girls were
from the same school. 13 girls in Class 5 were recently admitted to the school.
In Teluri Girls HS (Bankura) students were selected with the help of the
Panchayat. 11 Girls said they were from the same school, 10 girls were
admitted in class 5 and 6 from another school (they had not dropped out). Two
girls were admitted into this school from a private school.
In Para Girls High School (Puruliya) there were 32 SC, 3 ST, 3 Muslim and
the remaining said they were from BPL households. However – none of them
were dropouts.
In Kotshila Girls Junior High School (Puruliya) the girls were from extremely
poor households. Meeting with parents revealed that they valued the hostel
facility and teachers said that the girls are “potential dropouts”.
In Joypur Girls Junior High School (Puruliya) there were 48 girls on the day
of visit. There are 4 Muslim girls. What was disconcerting is that all the girls
were reciting Gayatri Mantra – the Muslim girls looked uncomfortable.

Ratio of primary to upper primary, Bankura and Puruliya

Number
Number
of new
Ratio of of new
UP
Primary UP % SC % ST
District Sub Division required
to upper required Population Population
to make
primary to make
the ratio
ration 3:1
2:1
Bankura Bankura (Sadar) 8.40 477 268 31.99 8.01
Bishnupur 7.49 757 413 31.79 12.98
Puruliya Puruliya Sadar (W) 10.98 400 237 10.10 18.55
Puruliya Sadar (E) 8.34 419 235 15.70 23.65
Raghunathpur 8.91 308 175 29.63 15.55
WEST BENGAL 6.15 14,236 7,208
Source: Government of W Bengal, November 2007

The two W Bengal Districts visited have a large number of out of school children –
mainly because of shortage of upper primary schools. The state government said that

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they are in the process of sanctioning additional UPS – especially in Bankura and
Puruliya which have a primary: upper primary ratio what is as high as 1:9 in some
Blocks. Given this situation the KGBV scheme could have reached out to out-of-
school girls – which it has not been able to do.

Out-of-school girls in 6-16 age group, 2006-07

District Block Out of school girls in 2006-07 Total
BANKURA Bishnupur 1958
Chhatna 2279
Gangajalghati 1756
Hirabandh 842
Indpur 1650
Mejhia 575
Onda 1813
Patrasayer 1449
Ranibandh 575
Saltora 2249
Sonmukhi 1334
Dubrajpur 2565
Rajnagar 648
19693
PURULIYA Arsha 3115
Baghmundi 3462
Balrampur 1764
Bandwan 1209
Barabazar 2008
Hura 1166
Jhalda I 1898
Jhalda II 3072
Joypur 2412
Kashipur 1326
Manbazar I 1379
Manbazar II 627
Neturia 1257
Para 3905
Puncha 1305
Puruliya I 1981
Puruliya II 3406
Ragnathpur I 1942
Ragnathpur II 1342
Santuri 1135
39711
Source: Child Census, Government of W Bengal, 2007

In view of this basic lacuna in interpretation, it could be inferred that the objectives of
the scheme is not being met in West Bengal.

In a few cases (like Joypore, Puruliya) the state government rented private building to
start the KGBV hostel and the girls were shifted to the KGBV hostel late. The team
was informed that rented buildings are not available and that unused government
buildings were also unavailable.

We did not see any evidence of involvement of the Panchayat in the programme –
either in identification of out-of-school girls or in supporting the day-to-day

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management of the hostel. The Panchayats have however been in the picture and
discussion with teachers revealed that they did not communicate the eligibility criteria
to the Panchayat. Self-help Groups were asked to bid or (apply for) running the hostel
and this was done through local advertisement and through the education department
functionaries and teachers. The KGBV hostels are managed under the overall
supervision of the Head Mistress of the school in which it is located.

Notwithstanding the basic issue of not catering to out-of-school girls, the KGBV have
been able to admit children from socially disadvantaged communities. However the
proportion of Muslim girls at 5 % remains extremely – and this is worrisome as West
Bengal has a significant Muslim population. In five KGBVs we met only 3 Muslim
girls.

Another worrisome issue is that Hindu prayers are the norm – starting from Vande
Mataram, Gayatri Mantra and Saraswati Vandana. Even tribal children are taught
Sanskrit shlokas. One of the officials said that homogenisation of culture is taking
place and tribal groups are becoming “sanskritised”. Not much effort has gone into
creating a secular environment in the KGBV hostels. Systematic orientation of
Wardens and part-time teachers / tutors is essential to create an environment that is
not only secular but one that respects the culture of tribal communities. In the absence
of such an orientation / training or any state-level effort to instil secular values,
perhaps the teachers and HM of the UPS do what they are familiar with.

We did not come across evidence of the use of household survey data / any other
systematic method for identifying the out-of-school girls. In the 5 schools visited the
admissions were rushed through – we were informed that this was done in order to get
the programme up and running in a short time.

Linkages / relationship with SSA:

The KGBV programme is closely linked with SSA. As the students admitted to
KGBV in West Bengal are already enrolled in UPS she gets all the benefits of the
formal school and also of KGBV. The KGBV children take the Elementary School
Leaving Examination as regular candidates as they were already enrolled as a full
time student in the UPS.

It was noted that no training has been conducted separately for KGBV tutors /.
Wardens either by the district or at block level. No modules have been supplied to
tutors/ teachers to deal with slow learners. Except for periodic monitoring (funds
utilisation, food related) visits to the schools we noticed that the Block and Cluster
(Circle) resource persons were not providing any academic support to KGBV. It is
therefore recommended that lot more needs to be done to make the Block and Cluster
resource centres an academic resource to the KGBV – especially in orienting the
teachers to accelerated learning methods and helping students who are not able to
cope with their studies. This is important given that most of the girls enrolled in the
hostels are from socially and economically disadvantaged families.

The block, district and state personnel involved in monitoring and supporting KGBV
have not had any exposure to gender issues. Also most of the supervisory staff –
including the state KGBV / NPEGEL coordinators are men. Periodic gender
sensitization training of administrators dealing with KGBV would go a long way in

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making them more sensitive to the special issues facing older out-of-school girls from
different poverty situations.

Infrastructure and building construction:

The KGBV are located in the Block headquarters inside a Girls High school or a
senior secondary school. They are functioning in their own buildings (32 Buildings
completed, 16 in progress and 11 not yet started) . All KGBVs visited had good
quality building constructed in the compound as the UPS .The design of Bankura and
Puruliya were different showing the flexibility provided at district level. All KGBVs
had adequate space for 50 girls. It needs special mention that the Toilets were very
clean and had enough running water in all. The Kitchen was also quite clean and
Dining aresa/ utensils etc were satisfactory.

Target till Date Completed (Units) In progress (Units)

STATE Remarks
(Units) Cumulative Cumulative cumulative
West Construction not
59 36 13
Bengal started -10 (Units)

Souce: Government of WB, SSA Directorate, 2007.

All the KGBVs have been provided with, bedding and classroom furniture and
kitchen equipment. However we noticed that the dormitories were overcrowded and
there was hardly any space for the girls to move around. Bunk beds (instead of
individual cots) would have helped ease the space crunch. In Puruliya UNICEF has
supplied teaching and learning material (recently procured and not yet used) and they
also had one computer each. Musical instruments were available but they were
unused. Some games equipment was also available. There was no library or any
magazines. The only reading materials available were the textbooks.

We were informed at Joypur that their KGBV had started in a small rented building
with 20 girls while the building was being constructed in the UPS compound. In
nearly all cases the UPS campus is identified for KGBV, thus making sharing of
resources possible and security reliable. The HM of the school (who is the
superintendent of the KGBV) supervises the hostel quite effectively. In Saltora Block
the campus also had a SC girls hostel while on Kotshila another hostel was under
construction for OBC girls. All the hostels are secure and have a boundary wall and
gate.

Teachers:
Since the West Bengal KGBVs are not catering to the intended target group and also
follows model III – meaning that the KGBV is attached to a UPS – there is no need
for additional teachers. Equally significant is that no additional child is being admitted
in school as a part of the KGBV scheme. It is positioned as a hostel for already
enrolled girls – albeit from underprivileged social and economic households. It must
however be noted that the teachers said that the hostel has brought down drop out
rates – especially of girls commuting from villages that are more than 3 to 4 km.

Retention:
In the five KGBV that we visited we noticed a few girls who were enrolled in the last
few months (when some vacancy arises). While files on all the enrolled students were
maintained, there was not compiled information on the number or percentage of
enrolled children who had dropped out. However drop out from the school was not

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significant due to the fact that girls are enrolled in the UPS and when any girl dropped
out from the KGBV hostel another was given admission.

Quality of learning:
The school and KGBV showed well-maintained results / registers about the Unit tests
taken for all students. Some students showed progress while mostly exhibited
consistent low performance. Tutors have been hired by the managing SHGs under the
guidance of the HM of the UPS. The tutors are local graduate girls and were not given
any training or any TLM. They said that they were not able to use effective tools to
help girls whose basic knowledge of math, language and science is very poor. They
also informed us that most of the girls in the hostel are from poor families – they did
not get any support at home and their parents could not afford tuitions. The tutors
worked with the children for 2 to 3 hours a day.

There were no library, no TLM or any other reading material in the 5 KGBV that we
visited. The walls were bare and did not have any charts / maps or any other visual
material. The HM and the wardens were not aware of the Rs 3 lakhs allocated for
TLM and library. Even the state coordinator KGBV was not conversant with the
guidelines and budget allocation.

Enriched curriculum:
This is perhaps the most neglected aspect of the KGBV programme in the state. No
special effort was visible at any KGBV. At Saltora block KGBV the warden’s special
interest had made the girls aware of Yoga and local songs to some extent .The
Santhali girls did display their songs/ dance that they had learnt in the villages (this is
when we asked them to sing a Santhali song). As noted above, the prayers were
essentially Hindu.

The quality of the enriched curriculum depends a great deal on the managing SHG
and interest of the Head Mistress of the connected school. In Kotshila the discipline
was too strict and restrictive and the girls looked frightened, while in Para it was open
and the girls interacted freely and also danced to a pre-recorded song. The efforts to
promote spontaneous singing / dancing / talent show was not evident.

Cycling was extremely popular in Kotshila school and nearly 100% KGBV girls said
they knew cycling but they did not learn it in the Hostel. Musical instruments and
Games equipment were also available in Puruliya KGBVs but they were not being
used.

While the teachers said that some medical examination was done – the KGBV did not
maintain any record. We could therefore not verify improvement in the health status
of the girls. Equally, we did not see any evidence of any health / hygiene education –
especially on menstrual hygiene. The KGBV has not linked up with the PHC to
supply Iron and Folic Acid tablets to the girls. In one KGBV in Puruliya de-worming
was given – as a part of Unicef programme in the district. Sanitary towels were not
being supplied – and the HM and lady teachers did not feel comfortable about
discussing it with the male officers who oversee the programme.

The education department could forge closer linkages with the reproductive and child
health programme and ensure regular supply of iron and folic acid tablets, vitamin A
and also other nutrition supplements. Sustainable practices in good nutrition and

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healthcare could be implemented and also integrated into the curricula through
additional chapters in language textbooks.

The schools could do a lot more for greening of the environment and introduce
kitchen garden, manage the use of waste water and make the KGBV a model for good
eco friendly / healthy environment. Puruliya District officials informed about a
'Health awareness programme' for girls –but we did not see it in the field.

All Puruliya KGBVs had UNICEF provided computer available on the campus but no
effort to train the student /warden/ tutors. Procurement of simple educational software
and training at KGBV will make a difference.

Parents / community perception:

Discussions with parents were quite insightful particularly at Amarkanda and Kotshila
KGBV. They were happy with the arrangements and also the overall environment
particularly as the KGBV takes care of all needs of the girls hence very economical
for the poor families. Given the poverty situation in rural West Bengal, parents were
happy that in KGBV the girls are getting food, clothing and shelter free. Parents said
that there was a huge gap between lunch (9.30 am) and dinner (8 pm) – the mid-day
snack was inadequate and the girls said they were hungry.

In the course of the discussion, the teachers said that they got only Rs 600/- per child
per month for food even though the scheme provides for 750/ per child per month.
Apparently Rs 150 is deducted for uniforms and clothing. The state government /
district administration has not made efforts to procure rice, sugar and oil at subsidised
rates – as it is being done in many other states. This is a serious issue and needs
urgent attention from the state government.

Parents also reported that their girls are now well turned out and have a bath every
day and keep their hair and face clean. They said that they teach their mothers when
they go home – especially about washing hands and keeping clean.

Many parents informed they visit their wards on Sundays but they are not involved in
the school VEC/PTA. Another interesting insight was they got to know about the
hostel by word of mouth / neighbours and that there was not systematic mechanism to
inform them about the programme.

The parents were not very forthcoming when asked if they will send their daughters to
a high school once they complete class 8. Almost all of them pleaded for extension of
the “hostel” programme to class 10.

The daily menu is displayed prominently in all the schools and the parents were aware
of what their children get. However it was noticed that there is a big gap between the
morning "Brunch" and the Dinner, with only a limited snack at 4PM

Finance Related

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 EXPENDITURE IN 2007-08 as on 30/9/07
1. Outlay app. 07---08 ------------------------ 1574.57
2. OB as on 1/4/07------------------------------ 0598.47
3. Expenditure till 30th September07------- 0292.57

Good practices:
The 5 KGBV visited gave no evidence of innovative good practices . The girls
looked happy yet no evidence of any conscious effort was being made to enhance
their self-esteem. Puruliya District informed about some Health related innovative
programme, we did not see any evidence of this during our school visit.

Challenges, design changes and recommendations:

There is an overwhelming demand to extend the scheme to classes 9 and 10. There is
a high probability of many of the girls enrolled in the KGBV of dropping out after
class 8. However, given that W Bengal has not yet used the KGBV programme to
reach out to out-of-school girls – the demand is essentially for hostel facilities for
girls from far off locations. The district officials pleaded to to increase the intake in
KGBV Hostel. They also asked to increase the per-child subsistence allowance from
Rs 600/- per child per month to Rs 750/0. It may be noted that W Bengal Government
has not allocated the full amount as per the scheme and have retained Rs 150 per child
per month for school uniform. This is not in keeping with the scheme.

The team recommends that W Bengal government adhere to the KGBV scheme by
reaching out to and admitting put-of-school girls and not reduced the per child
allocation for food and subsistence.

The KGBV wardens and other staff at the cluster level associated with the scheme
argued for more space in some KGBV hostels. However the team found that the
existing spce could be better managed and that the scheme allocation for TLM /
library be fully utilised. As of now we did nto see evidence of this – except in one
KGBV where Unicef had supplied some TLM.

The existing budget needs to be used more creatively to ensure periodic training and
sharing among the wardens and part-time tutors. Equally, gender training of all SSA
personnel dealing with KGBV also needs to be built in. To this end, the team
recommends that GOI review the allocation for training and make appropriate
additions in the XI Plan period.

As most of the students enrolled in KGBV are from extremely poor families, many of
them are malnourished. Even 13 and 14 year old girls had not attained menarche.
Proper nutrition planning for the KGBV students could help provide a balanced diet
and also provide nutrition supplements.
The SSA directorate needs to review the hygiene (especially menstrual hygiene) and
life skill education component in all the KGBV. While some KGBV are managed by
gender sensitive NGOs are doing a commendable job, we were informed that there
were also some who needed greater sensitisation. A strong Leadership at the state
level, particularly a lady, is needed exclusively for this programme. The wardens and
teachers are not able to discuss issues concerning purchase of sanitary pads and
menstrual hygiene with the male officers.

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It is recommended that Government of W Bengal depute a lady officer or hire a
consultant who can nurture and support the KGBV programme – including training /
gender sensitisation of warned, teachers and block / cluster level resource persons.
While recruiting / posting special care needs to be taken to ensure that the person
holds secular values (not imposing Hindu prayers on Muslim students and Sanskrit
shlokas on also on tribal children), respect diversity.

KGBV girls have been exposed to tremendous lifestyle changes in a short period of
time to which they have quickly adapted. However they and the staff need to build a
perspective on poverty, globalisation and development and related issues to
understand their situation better and not be alienated from their families/communities.
This could also be integrated in the curricula.

The KGBV should have some emergency fund to meet the needs during illness/
accidents etc

List of Persons Met:

State level:
1. Ms Nandita Chatterji , Principal Secretary -Education
2. Mr Dushyant Nairala , Director, SSA
3. Mr Daribul Islam, Dy. SPD, SSAin-charge of KGBV and NPEGEL
4. Mr Uttam Mondal, State Coordinator, NPGEL & KGBV
Bankura
1. Abhijit Bhoumik, DPO
2. Kakoli Rana, District Gender coordinator, SSA
3. Kajori Goswami, Head Mistress, UPS
4. Partho Ghosh, Dy. District Programme officer, SSA
5. Mamuk Singha, CRC
6. Basudev Rai, HM of Lakshmanpur School
7. Manasi Bannerji, Warden, Laxmanpur School
8. Ruby Rai, Warden, Saltora KGBV
9. Prima Chatterji, HM, Tiluri Girls High School
Puruliya
1. Sanghamitra Makur, DPO
2. Srinibas, ADPO
3. Amiya Mishra, DDPO
4. Krishna Karmekar, Gender Coordinator
5. B B Sinha, DQMT
6. Debasis De, DEO
7. Ajit Ganesh Nigam
8. Lalmohan Sen
9. Moushimi De, Para Girls High School
10. Sriti Ghosh, HM, Para Girls High School

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 NPEGEL
Evaluation Report
Field Work completed from 23rd Nov to 30th November 2007

Najma Akhtar and Vimala Ramachandran

At the onset we would like to thank the Government of West Bengal for having
facilitated this evaluation. In particular we are grateful to the SSA Directorate for
providing information, facilitating the field visits and sharing their experiences. We
are particularly grateful to all the officers and Resource persons for having shared not
only the achievements but openly discussing the problems and challenges, besides
giving suggestions for improvement of the Programme.

The Government of West Bengal has identified 10 Districts to introduce the National
Programme for Girls Education and Literacy (NPEGL). The centres are called
"UDITA” in the state. As informed during the State level briefing within the
identified 10 Blocks total 59 Blocks were to be covered - 1064 clusters were
approved with the aim to reach out to 269717 girls

Quarterly NPEGEL Progress Report 30th sep 07

Cumulative target till Cumulative Achievement
S No Activity Description %
2006-07 till 2006-07
1 No. of Districts 10 10
2 No. of EBBs 58 58
3 Targeted Block 59 59
4 No. of Clusters 1064 1064
5 No. of Urban Slums
No. of clusters in urban
6 0
slums
6(i) No. of MCS 1064 1064
No of girls enrolled in
6(ii) 269717
NPEGEL cluster
7 TLE grant 1064 712 66.92
Source: Government of W Bengal, SSA Directorate, November 2007

Out of the 1064 sanctioned, 509 have been completed, 501 are under construction
and 51 are yet to commence. In one of the centres visited (Adardih High School,
Jhalda II) a male urinal was build in place of a toilet for girls and women teachers.
The room was handed over to the sports teacher and what was worrying is that the
HM said he was not aware of why the additional room was built. This was contested
by the district officials who said that all HMs participated in a orientation workshop
and that detailed guidelines of NPEGEL was sent to the concerned cluster schools.

203
 Status of civil works
Cumulative Target Cumulative completed Cumulative in
CIVIL Works
till 2007-08 as on 30 -9-07 progress as on 30-9-07
Const. of Addl.
1064 509 656
Classrooms
Toilets 1064 n.a
Drinking water, 1064 n.a
Electrification 1064 n.a
Source: Government of W Bengal, SSA Directorate, November 2007

We were informed that 335 Cluster coordinators are have been appointed for
implementation of NPGEL work – however gender disaggregated information about
coordinators was not made available. The coordinators we interacted with were
mostly men.

We were also informed that teacher sensitisation training for the year 2007-08 was
completed covering total 6420 Teachers (2040 Male and 3284 Female). TLE grant
has been allotted to 712 NPEGEL centres (out of 1054). To encourage schools
Award has been distributed to 672 Best schools – however the criteria for selection of
Best Schools were not spelt out. Remedial teaching for 12132 girls is being
implemented in 2007—08. We were also informed that 2240 out-of- school girls
were being covered through open school see table below. However we could not
conform these “achievements” during school visits, as the HM and even the
coordinators were not able to explain activities undertaken under the aegis of
NPEGEL.

Activity report as of 30 September 2007

Target Achievement as
S
Activity Description 2007-08 on 30-09-2007 %
No
Phy Phy
1 Teacher Training on Gender Sensitization 21280 6420 30.17
I Male 2040
II Female 3284
2 Remedial Teaching (No of girls covered) 12132
3-I Award To Best Schools 672
1064
3-II Award To Best Teachers 0
4 Bridge courses (No of girls covered) 0
5 Student evaluation (No of girls covered) 0
6 Additional Incentive (no. of girls covered) 0
I Uniform 0
II Work Books, Stationary 0
III Any Other 0
IV Total no. of girls received Incentive 0
7 Girls Learning through Open Schools 1064 2240
Community Mobilisation (No. of people
8 0
Trained)
Total No. of Girl's Benefiting under
9 0
NPEGEL Programme in the State
No. of NGOs involved in NPEGEL
Programme (Also enclosed list of NGOs and
10
type of activity conduct by them in a
separate sheet)

204
Regarding fund flow – we were informed that there was no problem and that GOI has
released the funds (as evident in the table below).

Details of grants approved by GoI under NPEGEL in 58 E.B. Blocks (Rs. in Lakh)
Year Budget Funds Received
Spill Over Fresh Total GoI share State Total
75% share
25%
04 - 05 131.10 1952.40 2083.50 527.59 175.86 703.45
05 - 06 775.29 358.56 1133.85 718.25 239.84 958.09
06 - 07 404.59 2012.40 2416.99 670.00 223.33 893.33
Source: Government of W Bengal, SSA Directorate, November 2007

We were informed that the expenditure till 30th Sept 2007 is Rupees 0258.81 lakhs

Qualitative insights:
The State and District level officials frankly admitted that they are no clear about the
scheme and that it will take some time before they understand the scheme.
Discussions with state and district level officials revealed that they had not read the
guidelines and were unclear about what the main objective of this scheme was. They
could not explain the cluster based approach and also did not see this scheme as being
distinct or different from other similar components in SSA. They said that there was a
lot of overlap between SSA and NPGEL activities. It is evident that there is a need to
organise state specifc and district level workshops to communicate the concept of
NPEGEL.

The Team visited 4 NPGEL Schools in two Districts of West Bengal---Bankura and
Puruliya. Two school that we visited were particularly insightful.

Lakshmanpur, Bankura:
NPGEL Room ready and has some furnishing, there is no electricity, no toilet (visible
to the team). We say some sewing machines and the HM was quite alert and active.
He has a list of out-of-school girls in his cluster. He said that the school was able to
re-admit 101 girls (we could not independently validate this). There is a lady
NPEGEL coordinator who was not aware of what had happened. It seemed as if her
husband was maintaining the records. We were informed that some remedial teaching
has been organised that that girls were taught tailoring (no syllabus evident) and
weaving (also no syllabus evident – a local person said he was the teacher but could
not explain what he had taught).

Adardig High school, Jhalda II, Puruliya:

NPGEL Building complete but with men’s urinal (Instead of Girls toilet), no
electricity, said were running remedial classes in which16 girls enrolled, no reach out
to out-of-school girls. NPEGEL room locked, no lady teacher made in-charge, sports
teacher using it. One person said he was running tailoring classes and when we asked
about machines – he said he was doing theory classes. He could not explain what he
has taught and how many girls came for his class. He could not tell us when the
classes were held. The HM in the school said he was not aware of NPEGEL norms
and had not read the government guidelines what was in the file.

205
PHOTO 1

Above - new NPEGEL building in the corner of a school – inaccessible to children

and below the material lying unused in one corner of the room.

PHOTO 2

“Out of school” girls in one NPEGEL. The girls could not tell us what they did!

PHOTO 3

An old room being renovated and re-designated as NPEGEL room:

PHOTO 4

NPEGEL room with a male urinal!

PHOTO 5

Overall assessment and recommendation:

The NPEGEL programme has not been understood either at the state or at the district
level. GOI and GoWB could jointly initiate an intensive orientation programme at all
levels to ensure proper implementation of the scheme. May be the help of a NGO or a
person experiences / knowledgeable about gender and education in West Bengal
could assist the state government to realise the potential of the scheme.

This needs to be done before the end of the current academic year so that in 2008-09
the scheme could be given a fresh direction.

206
 National Evaluation of KGBV
Tripura State Report
December 2007
Vimala Ramachandran and Najma Akhtar

1 Introduction
1.1 The National Evaluation team comprising of Ms. Vimala Ramachandran (ERU) and Dr.
Najma Akhtar (NUEPA) visited Tripura between Dec. 11-15, 2007 to review progress in the
KGBV and NPEGEL schemes against their stated development objective of reducing
gender and social disparity at the elementary level. The emphasis of the scheme is on
improving access to quality education in schools, specially at the upper primary level for
girls belonging to socially disadvantaged groups (Schedule Caste (SC), Schedule Tribe
(ST), Minority, Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families)
residing in the educationally 'backward' blocks (EBBS) through setting up of residential
schools and innovative processes. These schemes are not independent interventions but an
integral part of SSA.
1.2 In order to observe first hand functioning of KGBVs and NPEGEL schemes, the team
visited three KGBV schools operational in two districts in Tripura. The team also visited
three NPEGEL centres in Model cluster schools in these districts.
1.3 The team is grateful to the Principal Secretary (Education) Mr B Sinha, Additional SPD Mr
A K Reang and Gender Coordinator Mithu Paul. From the meetings and discussions it is
quite evident that the political and administrative leadership is committed to the KGBV
mission and understands its relevance in achieving Universalisation of Elementary
Education. The members of the Mission express their thanks to the State Project Director,
Assistant Director, Gender Coordinator and the entire team of block functionaries for their
cooperation and facilitating the evaluation. Most of all, the members of the mission express
their thanks to the school teachers, children and community members, who participated
actively in discussions and expressed their views unhesitatingly.
1.4 Tripura is gradually joining the more educationally advanced states in the country. The total
population –according to 2001 Census is 31,99.203 – thereby making it one of the smaller
states in the country. Scheduled Tribe constitutes 31% of the population and Scheduled
Caste constitutes 17% of the population. The state has only 4 Districts ad 40 Blocks. The
overall literacy rate of the state is 73.20% - with female literacy being 65%. There are
however significant intra-district / intra-block variations. The enrolment and drop rates have
also improved steadily since 2000 – as evident in the tables below. However, it is not clear
how there has been a dramatic drop in drop out rates from 2004-05 onwards. According to
the state government different awards / incentives have been given introduced along side the
cooked mid-day meal and pre-matric scholarships. This may merit a serious analysis of
strategies adopted by the state to contain drop out rates.

Table 1: Enrolment in primary ad upper primary

Primary (I –V) Upper primary (VI-VIII)
Year
Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
2003 238627 219670 458297 95100 87804 182904
2004 256168 231995 488163 97332 91341 188673
2005 261924 238567 500491 101075 96121 197196
2006 257433 236130 493563 104719 99739 204458
Source: Government of Tripura, December 2007

207
 Table 2: Drop out rates – 2000 to 2005
Year Primary Upper Primary
2001-02 50.42 67.95
2002-03 42.90 65.19
2003-04 39.00 61.00
2004-05 19.68 29.86
2005-06 21.42
2006-07 14.79
Source: Government of Tripura, December 2007

1.5 Based the 2001 Census the Government of Tripura identified 7 educationally backward
blocks. The 2004-05 household survey estimated the number of out-of-school girls in the 6-
14 age group.

Table 3: Out –of-school girls in 7 educationally backward blocks

District Block Out of School Girls 2006-07
North
Damcherra 81
Tripura
Chamanu 173
Dhalai
Dumburnagar 720
Killa 112
South Ampinagar 58
Tripura Karbook 210
Rupaicharri 292
Total 1646
Source: Government of Tripura, December 2007

1.6 We were informed that in the last five to six years the state government has made concerted
efforts to bridge the primary – upper primary gap and that the ratio of primary to upper
primary school is close to 3:1. (This ratio needs to be checked / validated by state
government)

2 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV)

2.1 Choice and model:

2.1.1 Tripura has opted for Model III. The KGBV schools / hostels are located in upper primary
/ senior basic schools. As is evident from the DISE data there is no severe shortage of
senior basic schools in the state. As a result the government decided to locate KGBV in
existing senior basic schools – and reach out to out-of-school girls to return to formal
schools.
2.1.2 The state government informed the team that there were no problems with respect to
financial releases. However, during field visits we noted that the Dhalai district Inspector
of School has not released the funds for TLM to the KGBV and that given the recent
turnover of staff, the team could not ascertain the reasons for inability to release TLM
grant to KGBV schools.
Table 4: Financial Status of KGBV as on 30/09/2007
Outlay Release Due State share Total Fund
Year Expenditure
Approved GOI State as per GOI Available
2004-05 43.40 16.27 5.42 Nil 21.69 21.69
2005-06 175.20 16.27 5.42 0.00 21.69 21.69
2006-07 - 131.40 43.80 0.00 175.20 175.20
2007-08 35.83 32.34 0.00 0.00 32.34 16.19
Source: Government of Tripura, December 2007

208
2.2 Infrastructure
2.2.1 We were informed that only 2 KGBV buildings have been completed and that 5 are in
progress. The cost of construction in Tripura is almost double that of the all India average
cost – due to high cost of materials and transport. Also land preparation costs are also
quite high in the hilly terrain of the state. The 3 KGBV we visited had five big rooms –
one is used for study room, one for dining and general purpose use and three were used for
accommodation. The rooms where the girls stayed were quite cramped. Given the overall
security concerns in the state – all the KGBV had a high boundary wall.
2.2.2 During discussions the Principal Secretary suggested that GOI revise the allocation for
building construction and provide additional funds to schools located in hilly /
mountainous terrain. He cited the precedence of rural roads construction programme of
GOI (Bharat Nirman Scheme - PMGSY) where a higher per kilometre allocation has been
made for hilly / mountainous regions.
2.2.3 He also informed the team that the he would also explore other sources of funds (as he has
already done for construction of boundary wall) and that the government will increase the
intake to 50 in the near future. He informed the team that he had already discussed this
with GOI.

Table 4: Civil Works Status

Target till Date (Units) Completed (Units) In progress (Units)
State
Cumulative Cumulative Cumulative
Tripura 2006-07 02 05
2007=-8 07 NIL
Source: Government of Tripura, December 2007

2.3 Understanding of the KGBV scheme:

2.3.1 The team noted that the state level officials – starting from the Principal Secretary
Education – were fully conversant and familiar with all the provisions of the scheme.
However this was not the case at the district level – where one District the DEO and IS are
fully conversant while in other the DEO and district IS were not aware of the intricacies of
the scheme. It needs to be noted that in Tripura all KGBV have 20 girls only – apparently
due to the cost of construction being almost 100% higher than the rest of India.
2.3.2 The team is of the view that high level administrative commitment to bring all out-of-
school girls back into the formal school stream is evident and the state government views
the KGBV scheme as an effective mechanism to do so.

2.4 Enrolment criteria and process:

2.4.1 While the state government is quite clear that the KGBV scheme is essentially meant for
out-of-school girls – we saw significant variations between two districts. In one (South
Tripura) the focus was entirely on out-of-school girls, enrolment done with the help of
Panchayat and the primary schools located in the cluster / block; in another (Dhalai) there
were only 3 out-of-school girls who were brought into the KGBV and the remaining 17
were already studying in a UPS. Selection done through Panchayat and school teachers –
using the survey of out of school children; the school HM said that the concerned
Panchayats take the final decision and hand over the list to the school. The Panchayats are
active in selection and we were not able to ascertain whether they were also involved in
regular monitoring of the quality and security;
2.4.2 Given the role of the Panchayat in selection of the girls – the enrolment of out of school
children depends on the level of understanding of the scheme in the Panchayat. May be
workshops with Panchayats on KGBV would enable to state government to reach out to
the most deprived sections. For example Chaumanu Block of Dhalai District – 9.74%
children are reportedly out-of-school (11-14 age group) and the district officials informed
us that close to 60% of out of school children are girls. Yet the Panchayat was not
sensitized to the educational needs of out-of-school girls.

209
 Table 5: Enrolment by social group, KGBV, Tripura
Enrolment
District Block Location
SC ST OBC BPL Total Year
Hezacharri
1 Chaumanu 01 18 01 - 20 2005-06
SB School
Dhalai Durbajoy
2 Dumburnagar Choudhuripara 20 - - 20 2005-06
SB School
North Paiza Govt.
3
Tripura
Damcharra
SB School
20 - - 20 2006-07
Paticharri SB
4 Karbook
School
20 - - 20 2006-07

South Haripur SB
5 Ampinagar
School
20 - - 20 2006-07
Tripura
Hezacharri SB
6 Rupaicharri
School
20 - - 20 2006-07
Laxmanpara
7 Killa
SB School
20 - - 20 2006-07
Grand
Total:
7 7 01 138 01 - 140
Source: Government of Tripura, December 2007

2.4.3 As evident in the table above an overwhelming majority of the girls are tribal – we met
girls from a number of Tribal groups – like Tripuri, Chakma and Raeng. The state level
data did not indicate presence of significant pockets of Muslims. The minority group in the
state is Buddhist.

2.5 Profile of the KGBV including distance from Block HQ / location

2.5.1 The KGBVs that we visited were located inside the village, was secure with boundary wall
– eve when the hostel was not on the same campus as the school. In one village land
donated by one of the Panchayat / VEC member – who also taken keen interest in day-to-
day activities.

TO INSERT PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE 3 KGBV VISITED BY THE TEAM

2.6 Teachers:
2.6.1 As the KGBV students were studying in the attached senior basic school – most teachers
were qualified and appointed as per the state government norms and procedure. The three
KGBV we visited has qualified tutors. Given the cultural specificity of Tripura, male
teachers are appointed as tutors and community members said that it was not a problem.
All the tutors we interacted with were high qualified – with some of them being
postgraduates.
2.6.2 The number of tutors in each KGBV was less than the approved norm because there are
only 20 students in each KGBV as against the approved norm of 50. We cold not ascertain
how much the teachers themselves changes / grew in the KGBV because most of the tutors
we interacted with were fairly new.

2.7 Interface between regular SSA and KGBV and monitoring system
2.7.1 The programme is fully integrated into SSA and the district Inspector of Schools is
involved quite actively in day-to-day management of the KGBV. He visits the schools
regularly and the HM and other KGBV staff were in regular touch with him.

210
2.8 Training system and academic support of BRC and CRC
2.8.1 There has been no systematic training programme for KGBV wardens – the BRC / CRC is
essentially engaged in monitoring and also supervising the budget, physical arrangements
and so on. This remains a weak area.

2.9 Educational material

2.9.1 The two districts were quite different. In Dhalai there was no TLM or library and the HM
was not aware of the TLM budget – even though we were informed that the entire KGBV
allocation had been transferred to the district. On the other hand the KGBV in South
Tripura there was an abundance of TLM, good selection of library books. However they
were all new and yet to be used.
2.9.2 None of the KGBV visited had displayed the TLM and the students were not using any
TLM. They essentially relied on textbooks.

2.10 Management:
2.10.1 All the KGBV had a full time warden who managed the hostel. Given that they were all
graduates, they also helped the students with their studies. We found the wardens alert and
very supportive of the girls.
2.10.2 The KGBV visited were clean and the environment was pleasant. Toilets and kitchen were
clean and they were well maintained. However we did not see any garden. In one KGBV
there was a kitchen garden.
2.10.3 There was no running water and efforts are currently underway to provide overhead tanks
and pumps. In one KGBV the girls had to fetch water from a tank that was being filled by
a water carrier.

2.11 Flow of funds and financial management:

2.11.1 We were informed that there has been no fund flow problem from GOI to the state and
further from the state to District. The state releases funds at one time (when it received
from GOI) and the district also transfers funds to the Block immediately (within 7 days)
and the Block holds the money and transfers money to the VEC (which manages the
school funds) and the bank account is signed by Pradhan (VEC chairperson) and Secretary
(HM). The Panchayat, VEC Chairperson and HM are responsible for managing the funds
of the school, including KGBV, NPEGEL and the school (MDM etc). It is indeed
noteworthy that in South Tripura the VEC manages the funds of the KGBV effectively as
VEC chairpersons take active interest in the KGBV.
2.11.2 However, we noted that there is a problem of fund flow from the district to the KGBV in
Dhalai – the bottleneck is the Block IS office who have either not released all the
components (like TLM / Library) or have not understood the programme in its totality. He
bases his release on the requisition from the KGBV and the HM is not conversant with the
total scheme. There seems to be a communication gap. We were informed that the
previous IS was just suspended due to financial irregularities and therefore the new IS is
taking some time to sort out the problems in the district. We did not notice any fund flow
problem in South Tripura District.
2.11.3 The 50 rupees stipend is handed over to the girls every six months. During discussions it
was felt that – may be the state can think about how best this stipend can be saved by the
girls in order to help them complete 10 years of education (for classes 9 and 10) ad also
use it as an effective mechanism to teach them about banking.

2.12 Sports, theatre, music:

2.12.1 Sports equipment is available in all the KGBV and the girls said they play volley ball.
However, most of the games happens in the school and not specific to the KGBV hostel.
Some of the sports equipment was new and unused.

211
2.13 Security, health and nutrition:
2.13.1 Security is an important issue in Tripura and all the KGBV are located inside a village,
have boundary wall and there is a night watchman too.
2.13.2 The overall health issues of girls (including supply of sanitary towels) have not yet been
addressed. The height and weight of girls was not taken on admission and similarly
medical check-up has not yet been organised. This issue merits more attention.
2.13.3 The wardens said that purchasing rice in the open market is very expensive and given high
transport costs food items are also quite expensive. During discussions with Principal
Secretary Education, it was suggested that rice, oil and sugar could be procured through
civil supplies at subsidised rates. This will enable the wardens to include fruit as a part of
the afternoon snack – we noted that banana and pineapple grows locally and can be an
excellent source of vitamins.

2.14 Linkages / communication with parents:

2.14.1 We did not meet the parents as the girls residing in the KGBV come from remote villages.
However we met with parents from the main village who seem to be quite happy with the
arrangements. They wanted to send their own girls to the hostel and we noticed that many
families were extremely poor and their children looked malnourished and weak. They
asked why such facilities are not being provided to their children – boys and girls.

TO INSERT PICTURE OF DHALAI VILLAGE COMMUNITY

2.15 Enriched curriculum and intangible outcomes (sense of self esteem / self worth):
2.15.1 We noted that girls from all three tribal groups were uninhibited and were quite
communicative. The cultural programmes displayed were good and rooted in their culture.
What is noteworthy is that no effort have been made to enrich the curriculum – the girls
could be exposed to martial arts, education about their state / country, to more organised
and focused sports and so on. This is a weak area and merits attention.

2.16 Recommendations for change in design of the scheme:

2.16.1 First, the state should enhance intake to 50 per KGBV. Recognising the problem of space
and high cost of construction in Tripura – GOI should enhance allocation for building for
this state as it has been done under the Bharat Nirman Scheme (PMGSY) where the cost
has been almost doubled to 1 km – 61 lakhs. Alongside this the state government could
also harness additional resources from tribal Welfare funds and also Border Area
development fund. The Commissioner of Education said that Tripura has been able to
harness additional resources and that this could also be done for KGBV. The tribal welfare
boys hostel budget is Rs 50 lakhs for hostel to accommodate 50 boys – this is a special
allocation taking the terrain and cost in Tripura.
2.16.2 Second, an intensive orientation workshop is required for all the 7 Wardens and 7 IS and
HM who are managing the 7 KGBV. This should include gender sensitisation, managing a
library and supplementing formal education with enriched curriculum, how to enhance the
self-esteem and confidence of the girls. This training could include sharing of best
practices from other states. The wardens cold also discuss how the existing space could be
managed better. This workshop could also include planning for excursions and organising
preparatory camps (bridge courses) within the schedule of the KGBV. The vocational
component is yet to start – this also needs to be discussed in the orientation workshop. It
may be good to invite the local woman Panchayat member to the workshop so that she can
monitor the KGBV more effectively.
2.16.3 Third, the education department could interface with the health department (NRHM /
RCH) and provide Iron and folic Acid, de-worming, regular health check-up (including
eye testing) and special support to girls with disability;
2.16.4 Fourth, it is recommended that the KGBV organise bi-annual meeting of parents to get a
feedback and also help them support the girls.

212
 National Evaluation of NPEGEL
Tripura State Report
DRAFT, 31 December 2007

Vimala Ramachandran and Najma Akhtar

1 Introduction
1.1 The National Evaluation team comprising of Ms. Vimala Ramachandran (ERU) and
Dr. Najma Akhtar (NUEPA) visited Tripura between Dec. 11-15, 2007 to review
progress in the KGBV and NPEGEL schemes against their stated development
objective of reducing gender and social disparity at the elementary level. The team
visited three NPEGEL centres in Model cluster schools in two districts.
1.2 The team is grateful to the Principal Secretary (Education) Mr B Sinha, Additional
SPD Mr A K Reang and Gender Coordinator Mithu Paul. From the meetings and
discussions it is quite evident that the political and administrative leadership is
committed to the KGBV mission and understands its relevance in achieving
Universalisation of Elementary Education. The members of the Mission express their
thanks to the State Project Director, Assistant Director, Gender Coordinator and the
entire team of block functionaries for their cooperation and facilitating the evaluation.
Most of all, the members of the mission express their thanks to the school teachers,
children and community members, who participated actively in discussions and
expressed their views unhesitatingly.

2 Understanding of the scheme at state, district and block levels:

2.1 The scheme has been understood by the officials managing the programme. The state
government organised one orientation workshop. However the team observed variation
across districts. In Dhalai the HM and Panchayat leader are fully aware and have used
the scheme to ensure girls not only enrol but also attend school. The panchayat is fully
involved. However this was not the case in South Tripura partly due to recent transfer
of IS, BRP and CRP. This perhaps explains the gap between the two districts. The
understanding at the state level is excellent and the gender coordinator has attended
GOI workshop in Patna. The state team is highly motivated – partly due to the personal
interest taken by the Principal Secretary to ensure the state is able to maximise the
provisions of the scheme to bring out-of-school girls into the formal stream.

2.2 State government understanding is excellent. Highly motivated team and right from the
Commissioner to the Gender Coordinator at the state level – they have understood.

2.3 The Block and District have lists of out-of-school girls and we were informed that the
NPEGEL scheme is essentially focused on getting out of school girls back to formal
schools and also ensure the potential dropouts are retained through provision of
bicycles and vocational training.

Out-of-school girls in NEPGEL Blocks, Tripura

District Block Out of School Girls 2006-07
North Damcharra 81
Chaumanu 173
Dhalai
Dumburnagar 720
Killa 112
Ampinagar 58
South
Karbook 210
Rupaicharri 292
Total 1646
Source: Government of Tripura, December 2007

213
 Drop out (boys / girls) classes 1-VIII, as of September 2007
Total SC ST OBC
Name of District
B G T B G B G B G
West 21.97 19.47 20.74 23.72 20.07 19.78 20.36 18.99 16.97
South 19.05 17.94 18.52 17.02 15.45 31.90 28.79 9.49 9.21
North 23.18 23.51 23.34 22.42 22.62 29.08 28.25 21.75 22.25
Dhalai 25.37 30.77 27.98 17.47 21.20 35.11 48.39 16.24 11.74
State 21.86 20.96 21.42 21.57 19.73 26.94 28.32 17.40 16.31
Source: Government of Tripura, December 2007

3 Utilisation of funds and maintenance of separate accounts:

3.1 Funds have been transferred from the state to the district – however the financial
statement that was made available to the team did not indicate district-wise
expenditure. We noticed significant differences between Dhalai and South Tripura.
3.2 We were informed that separate accounts are maintained as per GOI guidelines.

Financial Status of NPEGEL as on 30/09/2007

Release Due
Due
State
DONER Total
Outlay Opening share Shortfall
Year share as Fund Expenditure
Approved balance GOI State as excess
per GOI Available
per
releases
GOI
2004-
6.40 2.40 1.60 0.00 (+) 0.80 0.00 4.00 3.20
05
2005-
8.78 0.80 6.58 1.40 0.00 8.78 8.78
06
2006-
32.07 24.05 5.61 0.00 2.41 29.66 29.66
07
2007-
3.64 3.28 2.41 0.00 5.69 3.91
08

4 Has the nuance of the scheme been understood?

4.1 The state government has a nuanced understanding – however this understanding needs
to be operationalised in all the 7 educationally backward blocks of the state.
4.2 Given the texture of tribal communities – gender discrimination is quite subtle and
blatant cases of discrimination in food or early marriage is not evident Improve gender
sensitivity in the school environment. A lot more can e done to enable girls in upper
primary schools to realise their full potential.
4.3 We noticed that private tuition is fairly common and that parents / students are eager to
do well in examinations. They view education as an important step towards personal
development and securing the future of children. This is true for both boys and girls.
We met young educated men who were giving private tuitions in the villages.

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 Quarterly NPEGEL Progress Report 30th Sep 07 (showing activities completed /
initiated)
Cumulative target Cumulative Achievement
Activity Description:
till 2007-08 as on 30/09/07
No of District: 3 3
No of Ebbs: 7 7
Target Block 7 7
No of Clusters 7 7
No of MCS: 900 823
No of Girls enrolled in NPEGEL
900 891
Cluster
TLE Grant Nil Nil
Achievement as on
Activity Description Target 2007-08
30/09/2007
Teacher Training on Gender
150 70
Sensitization:
Remedial Teaching (No of Girls
900 737
Covered)
Additional Incentive (No of girls
covered)
Uniform 900 891
Work Books, Stationary 900 891
140 124
Any other(sewing Machines)
ii. Bi-cycles
175 136
Community Mobilization (No. of
49 56
People Trained)
Total No. Of Girls’ Benefiting under
900 891
NPEGEL programme in the State
Source: Government of Tripura, December 2007

5 Civil works and construction:

5.1 All seven NPEGEL building are completed. However, we did not see toilets in the 3
NPEGEL schools that we visited. We were informed that as construction costs are
high, the toilets could not be constructed. It may be noted that toilets were shown as
completed in the expenditure statement (see table below)

Civil Works Cumulative target till 2007- Cumulative Completed as on

08 30/09/07
Const of Addl. 07 07
Classrooms
Toilets 07 07
Drinking Water 07 07
Electrification 07 01

6 Implementation in the spirit in which it was conceived:

6.1 Yes at the state level the scheme has been communicated in the spirit in which it was
conceived. The state government has also creatively used the scheme to provide cycles
to girls living more that 4 km away from the school.
6.2 However, there are district level variations – as discussed in the section above.
6.3 The Panchayat is closely involved – however the larger community of mothers /
guardians have not participated in training and orientation.

7 Decentralised planning and implementation:

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7.1 The VEC and Panchayat have identified out-of-school girls and have made efforts to
enrol them and also provide vocational training as an incentive to come to schools.
Providing cycles to girls from far off villages has made an appreciable difference.
7.2 The NPEGEL scheme has been used to complement the SSA funds – and the focus of
the programme is on girls in classes 6-8. The state government has positioned the
scheme to ensure girls are retained at the upper primary level.
7.3 We came across a good practice in Dhalai District (Dhanyaram Karbaripara SBS). The
HM, Panchayat Pradhan (Mrs. Onita Das) and the teachers have used NPEGEL funds
to reach out to all the villages in the cluster, have held Panchayat level meetings on
ensuring girls do not drop out, introduced professional tailoring / weaving and bamboo
work, provided 25 cycles to girls coming from far off villages. This work done in this
school needs to be documented and disseminated across the country. They have
achieved this primary because of the dynamism of the HM and the lady Panchayat
Pradhan. Girls (especially poor and dropouts who have been brought into the school)
who come under the purview of NPEGEL get clothes (2 sets), books, bag and
stationery. This is targeted to those who had dropped out. The Panchayat is actively
involved in monitoring the school and have also been able to ensure parents (MTA)
take active interest in the education of their daughters.
7.4 However in South Tripura district the NPEGEL programme is at a fledging stage.
7.5 In essence, decentralised planning was evident in one NPEGEL school and this is a
best practice that needs to be disseminated in Tripura so that other NPEGEL schools
emulate the example.

Dhanyaram Karbaripara SBS,

Chaumanu, Dhalai Dsitrct, Tripura: a best practice NPEGEL school

As we walked into the NPEGEL school in Dhalai district we were greeted by the Panchayat
Pradhan and the Head master. The school was buzzing with activity and we saw 20 bicycles
parked in the school. The school has 8 classes, 438 students and 8 teachers (3 women
teachers). The building a modest structure and located in a poor village. The students,
teachers and panchayat leaders were all present to tell us about their efforts to make sure all
girls enrol and attend school

The Panchayat Pradhan Mrs Onita Das explained that they have been able to get 17 out of the
25 drop-out girls from their cluster into school. They organised community level workshops
in 4 Panchayats (40 habitations) and requested parents to identify the girls who had dropped
out. The school then offered to give the girls bicycles to come to school and also agreed to
provide uniforms, books, school bag and stationery. The local Panchayat then sent names of
out-of-school girls to the school. The teachers and Panchayat went house to house confirming
the names of the girls. They also discovered 10 out-of-school boys. This is one of the few
NPEGEL schools that has made serious efforts to reach out to all villages / schools in the
cluster.

Vocational training classes – professional 3-month course in tailoring, bamboo work and
weaving have been introduced in the room built under NPEGEL. The school has hired part-
time teachers from the community to impart training. The girls displayed the work they had
done and confidently explained the syllabus of the tailoring course.

When we asked how they were able to reach out to all the schools / villages in the cluster –
they HM Mr. Milan Mitr Barua said that it has been possible because of the wholehearted
support of the Panchayat and the teachers. This school is indeed unique and merits special
mention as a national best practice in the NEPGEL programme.

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 Dhanyaram Karbaripara SBS (NPEGEL School)
Funds received Expenditure
2004 – 05 2005 – 06 Up to 30/07/07
Non-recurring
Building 2,00,000 2,00,000
TLE Grant 33.948 15.000
Sewing Machine 90.000 65.000
Bicycle 100000 60.000
Recurring Grant 10,000 (?)
Management cost 40.000 45.000
Exposure Visit: 50.000
Library Books
Awards to students 60.000 10.000
Community Mobilization 30.000
Total: 2.00.000 402948 405.000
Grand Total: 2.00.000 403948
Balance as of 30/9/07 1,98,948
Note: We saw 20 Bicycles in the school. The government has used NPEGEL funds creatively
to purchase cycles.

Unit cost with item-wise break-up under NPEGEL scheme adopted in the state is as
follows:
Unit Cost of NPEGEL per School (in Lakh Rs.) NPEGEL
Sl. No Item/ Component Amount in lakhs
1 Civil Works 2.50
2. TLE Grant 0.30 0.30
3. Recurring Grant 0.60
4. Mobilization 0.30
5. Exposure Visit 0.50
6. Sewing Machine 0.50
7. Bicycle 1.00
8. Management Cost 0.34
Total: 6.04
(Rupees six lakh four thousands only)
(INSERT PICTURE OF NPEGEL SCHOOL)
Some photographs are inserted in this ingredient about NPEGEL Scheme:

Dannyaram KPSB School in Dhalai District under NPEGEL scheme

217
***Students are practicing in swing machines under NPEGEL Scheme at Danyaram
Karbaripara SB School in Dhalai District

***The Complete Construction building under NPEGEL Scheme in Tingharia SB School

under South Tripura District.

218
***Students are practicing in swing machines under NPEGEL Scheme at Danyaram
Karbaripara SB School in Dhalai District.

***The Complete Construction building under NPEGEL Scheme in Lewatuisa SB School

under South Tripura District.

8. Recommendations:
8.1 Firstly, the state government could build on the best practice NPEGEL centre and
encourage HM and Panchayat leaders from the remaining 6 Blocks to visit the Dhalai
School. This would encourage them to initiate similar work in their own schools. This
could be combined with intensive workshops to enable HM, teachers and Panchayet to
get all out of school children back into formal schools.
Equally, now that attendance and regularity is being monitored –the next step could be to
monitor learning outcomes more rigorously and encourage the BRC and CRC to provide
substantive academic support to NPEGEL schools. They could become a “quality hub” –
and emerge as a centre for continuing education and training of teachers in the cluster.
8.2 Second, the state government could make the vocational training for more professional by
inviting national institutions like NID to develop designs and train the girls in new ways

219
 of using bamboo. This would certainly enhance the value of the products they can make.
The focus should be to teach them more than what they would learn at home.
8.3 Third, there is no reading material in the schools (apart from charts) – it may be
worthwhile to develop a good library and encourage children to red. The library
programme could also enable children to gain greater competency in Bangla language –
which is the medium of instruction at high school and beyond.
8.4 Fourth, a more effective and nuanced listing of out-of-school girls could enable Tripura to
reach universal enrolment and attendance up to class 8.

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS OF THE REVIEW MEETING TAKEN BY THE

COMMISSIONER EDUCTION ( SCHOOL) DEPARTMENT ON 15TH DECEMBER 2007
IN THE CIRCUIT HOUSE- AGARTALA, TRIPURA

Sl No Participants Designation
1 Sri Banamali Sinha Commissioner Secretary of School
Education Department.
2 Sri Hiralal Chakroborty SPD, Directorate of School Education
3 Mr. Amulya Kumar Reang ASPD, SSA Rajya Mission, Tripura
4. Mr. Ajit ch. Das OSD ,SSA Rajya Mission Tripura
5 Ms.Vimala Ramchandran Team leader of National Evaluation team
6 Prof. Najma Akhtar National Evaluation team
7 Ms. Mithu Paul State Gender Co- ordinator
8 Ms. Jogamaya Chakma School Meal Officer
9 Mr. Dilip DEbbarma Joint Director Directorate of School
Education
10 Mr. Subir Roy Choudhuri Senior Research Officer
11 Sri Anil Das Senior Resource Officer
12 Sri Rathindra Ch. Nath State Teacher Training Co- ordinator
13 Sri Rathindra Purkayasta State Pedagogy Co- ordinator
14 Sri Bipad bandhu Majumdar State Finance Controller
15 Sri Shukendhu Dasgupta Senior Assistant
16 Sri Ashish Chakroborty Cashier

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