Education policy in the country has consistently recognized the central role of the teacher in education. The National Education Policy 2020 reaffirms this priority and emphasizes that teachers must be valued and empowered. It strongly underlines rigorous teacher preparation in vibrant multi-disciplinary institutions and availability of meaningful continuous teacher professional development opportunities, along with a positive working environment and enabling service conditions for all teachers.

This newly launched series on ‘Issues in Education’ aims to bring into focus fundamental educational issues that are important for the improvement of the school education system in India. The series aims to connect to the reality of education on the ground, which is often messy and defies both simplistic narratives of ‘successes’ or ‘failures’ and definitive conclusions. The first volume in this series, ‘Teachers and Teacher Education’, in a set of four papers, brings together some of the most critical challenges that any education reform related to teachers and teacher education needs to contend with now.

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Prolonged closure of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, for almost an entire year, has had a significant negative impact on the learning levels of children. This loss of learning comprises both the loss of regular curricular learning that children would have acquired if schools remained open, as also students ‘forgetting’ abilities learned in the previous class. ‘Loss of Learning During the Pandemic’ is an extensive field study to explore the extent and nature of the ‘forgetting/regression’ kind of learning loss among children in public schools across primary classes because of school closure during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study covered 16067 primary school children in 1137 public schools in 44 districts across 5 states.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has led schools, colleges, and other academic institutions across the world to look for alternatives to ensure continuity in learning. In this context the Field Research Group at the Azim Premji Foundation undertook a study to understand the experience of children and teachers with online education. The study titled ‘Myths of Online Education’ was undertaken in 5 states across 26 districts covering 1,522 schools. These public schools have more than 80,000 students. The study compiled evidences from survey tools and open-ended questions administered over phone with teachers and parents.

The study finds that online education is ineffective in providing any actual education. On the demand side, overwhelming majority of children were found to have no access to online education. Finally, contrary to popular perception, parents are found to overwhelmingly support the reopening of schools with the necessary safety protocols.

The study suggests the urgent need to reopen schools in a phased manner with due preparations for the health and well-being of both children and teachers. In the interim period, teachers should be encouraged to facilitate community-based solutions for direct interactions with children with necessary precautions.

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Vimala Ramachandran, Deepa Das, Ganesh Nigam and Anjali Shandiliya

A stop-gap arrangement of the 1990s, the system of contract teachers has been turned into a large-scale ad hoc solution for recruiting teachers in the public school education system. This despite the fact that no policy has mentioned hiring teachers on contract. The study Contract Teachers in India: Recent Trends and Current Status undertaken by ERU Consultants and supported by Azim Premji University, underlines the significant and continuing presence of contract teachers in the education system and the damage in terms of student learning and professional status of teachers that this causes.

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The study underlines two important issues. First, parents value the social purpose of education and do not regard education only as a means of employment. The reasons offered by them—self-worth, respect in society, and empowerment—align to a substantive idea of a democratic society and are also seen as key aims of education at a policy level. Second, higher aspirations for professional careers were seen to be related to higher economic and higher educational status of parents. These findings suggest it is likely that social and economic conditions play an important role in providing different aspirational horizons for parents from different backgrounds. Structural constraints probably limit these horizons for the poorer parents sending their children to public schools as compared to their private school counterparts.

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Engagement in Non-school Work and Availability of Out-of-school Learning Support

This field study, examines a few ways in which external factors affect children’s ability to engage in school processes in indirect ways. The study was drawn from a larger research3 on school choice in rural India that covered 121 public and low-fee private schools and 1210 families, in 10 districts across 4 states. Overall, slightly more than half (51 percent) of the children in the sample go to public schools and the others go to private schools. There was significant difference in the household wealth status of the children going to each type of school – 71% of children belonging to the bottom asset quintile in the sample go to public schools, while only 17% of children belonging to the top asset quintile go to public schools.

Overall, the study shows how larger social and economic inequalities afford differential possibilities to children to engage with the school system. The study also points out the potential inequalities inherent in a stratified school system and how such inequalities can deepen if the quality of the school education system is not addressed at a systemic level.

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This field study, covering 121 public and low-fee private schools and 1210 families, in 10 districts across 4 states is to understand, in some detail, how parents make school choice, especially in the context of rural India.

The study finds that school choice is a complex process. A wide variety of considerations affect parent’s choice of school. The study also finds that parental choices of low-fee private schools are very often not based on accurate information. The study endorses other studies worldwide that have shown that an uncritical and simplistic endorsement of market-based approaches to improvement of school systems is not only inadequate but could also have adverse implications for quality of school education.

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Case Studies from Yadgir (Karnataka), Almora (Uttarakhand) and Kivarli (Rajasthan) Research Group | Azim Premji Foundation

Azim Premji Foundation has been working towards improving the quality of education in the government school system. The primary focus has been on building teacher capacity, as it is the single most important variable that influences educational outcomes for students. In the different locations that the Foundation works in, it provides multiple avenues for teachers to engage with their own professional development, including workshops, courses, seminars, residential camps, teacher forums, on-site support through school visits and so on. All these endeavours are part of a larger integrated strategy that provides teachers with an enhanced choice of modes for professional development. Further, it presents continuous opportunities that teachers can avail of, on their own terms.

Many of these modes include platforms and spaces that facilitate collaboration and peer learning among teachers. While these collaboration and peer learning platforms are operational across several districts and states, there are locations where they have had to be creatively adapted to meet challenging local realities. The efforts at Yadgir, Almora and Kivarli present three such examples, where building upon the principles of collaboration and voluntarism, the Foundation has been able to simultaneously widen and deepen the possibilities for professional development for government school teachers.

This compendium offers these three case studies for anyone who is interested in gaining insights which will be useful for operationalising effective teacher professional development processes in a government school system within the context of a complex environment such as India or any other similarly developing country.

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The Literacy Research in Indian Languages (LiRIL) project, jointly supported by the Tata Trusts and Azim Premji University, aimed to study how children learned to read and write in two Indian languages—Kannada and Marathi--and to document the challenges faced by marginalized learners in this process. The project was conducted in two socio-economically disadvantaged areas – Yadgir block (Yadgir district, Karnataka) and Wada block, (Palghar district, Maharashtra). It used a longitudinal design, and followed 360 students per site as they moved from Grades 1-3 (2013-2016). The schools in Karnataka followed the Nali Kali (Multi Grade Multi Level– MGML) curricular approach and the schools in Maharashtra used the Bal Bharati textbooks for teaching language and literacy.

The LiRIL project confirms what is well known – children in both sites perform very poorly in a variety of reading and writing tasks. It was clear that children are not just unable to read words and passages at an appropriate level of difficulty, but that, even those who are able to read the script, are often unable to comprehend it. Higher order skills like comprehension and composition are alarmingly poor. The principal investigators were Shailaja Menon, Ramchandar Krishnamurthy from Azim Premji University.

This paper aims to describe and analyse these experiences in four clusters of Uttarakhand where sustained efforts of the CRCCs, teachers and members of the Foundation have revitalised cluster-level monthly meetings and created a teacher-owned space for academic dialogue.

Teacher Guide, Part 1: Decoding the Script

It feels very crippling for a child to be expected to write conventionally in the early days of school, when many of our students have not even seen print ever before in their lives. In this Teachers’ Guide, we summarize learnings from the LiRiL project related to the teaching and learning of the script in classrooms in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Teacher Guide, Part II: Comprehension

Reading and writing with meaning is essential for all school-based learning, and also for functioning as a literate person in the world outside of schools. Actively promoting comprehension, therefore, is not optional. In this Teachers’ Guide, we summarize learnings from the LiRIL project related to the teaching and learning of reading comprehension in classrooms in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Teacher Guide, Part III: Children's Writing

Writing is of value to children because it allows them to express their emotions and thoughts. When children’s expression and thoughts are given importance in the classroom, children learn that their lives matter. In this Teachers’ Guide, we summarize learnings from the LiRiL project related to the teaching and learning of writing in classrooms in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

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Cluster Resource Centres (CRC) and Block Resource Centres (BRC) were first set up under the centrally sponsored District Primary Education Program (DPEP) in 1994, with the primary aim of training teachers in improving their pedagogic practices. Under the aegis of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the vision of these centres was further expanded to include the provision of continuous academic support to teachers. As an integral element of this strategy, the cluster resource centre coordinator (CRCC) is expected to hold monthly meetings; where teachers from the cluster can connect with each other, discuss classroom challenges and collaboratively arrive at solutions. However, since most of them are over-burdened with administrative concerns, these meetings have often been reduced to focusing on purely administrative and transactional issues like data collection.

Key Findings

• It is necessary to empower, support and build the capacity of the CRCC.
• It is important to build a relationship of mutual trust and respect among all stakeholders
• Setting up meaningful processes for organising and conducting cluster meetings is essential.
• Ensuring quality and depth of academic conversations and backward-forward linkages with classroom processes is crucial.
• It is imperative to involve teachers at different levels of decision making and create a free space for dialogue

संकुल संसाधन केंद्र (सीआरसी) और ब्लॉक संसाधन केन्द्रों (बीआरसी) को पहली बार वर्ष 1994 में केंद्र द्वारा प्रायोजित जिला प्राथमिक शिक्षा कार्यंक्रम के अंतर्गत स्थापित किया गया था| इनका मूल उद्देश्य शिक्षक प्रशिक्षण के माध्यम से शिक्षण प्रक्रियाओं को बेहतर बनाना था| सर्व शिक्षा अभियान के तहत केंद्र ने इसके दायरे को बढ़ाते हुए इसमें शिक्षकों को निरंतर शैक्षिक समर्थन देने वाले प्रावधानों को भी शामिल किया| इस कार्यनीति के महत्वपूर्ण तत्व के तौर पर यह अपेक्षित है कि इन संकुल संसाधन केन्द्रों के समन्वयक मासिक बैठकों का आयोजन करें जिनमें सम्बंधित संकुलों के शिक्षक मिल बैठकर एक दुसरे से संवाद कर सकें, अपनी कक्षा शिक्षण संबंधी चुनौतियों को साझा कर सकें और मिल जुलकर इन चुनौतियों के समाधान तक पहुँच सकें| लेकिन, इन संकुलों के समन्वयकों पर प्रशासनिक कार्यों की अधिकता के चलते यह बैठकें केवल प्रशासनिक और विभागीय सूचनाओं के आदान प्रदान तक ही सिमित होकर रह गयी हैं|

मूल निष्कर्ष

• संकुल समन्वयकों की क्षमता विकास पर काम करने, इन्हें लगातार सहयोग देने तथा सशक्त बनाने की जरूरत है|
• बैठकों से जुड़े सभी शिक्षाकर्मीयों के रिश्ते आपसी विश्वास और एक दुसरे के सम्मान पर आधारित हों|
• मासिक बैठकों के प्रभावी रूप से सफल आयोजन के लिए कुछ सार्थक प्रक्रियाओं को निर्धारित किए जाने की नितांत आवश्यकता है|
• अकादमिक चर्चाओं की गहनता, गुणवत्ता और इनका कक्षा कक्ष से जुड़ाव सुनिश्चित करने की आवश्यकता है|
• बैठकों से संबंधित विभिन्न स्तरीय निर्णयों में शिक्षकों की भागीदारी हों और अनिवार्य रूप से उनकी बातचीत के लिए पर्याप्त स्थान हो|

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Azim Premji Foundation has been working towards improving equity and quality in the government school system for over fifteen years. Facilitating teacher professional development has been at the core of this work. Working with teachers over these many years, one of the many lessons for the Foundation has been that teachers need spaces to share experiences, collaborate with, and learn from each other.

With this in mind, the Foundation has set up resource centres called Teacher Learning Centres (TLCs) which are increasingly becoming a key element of the Foundation’s strategy of working with teachers. This paper documents the insights gathered from the Foundation’s experience in setting up and starting TLCs in some selected districts.

Key Findings

• It is important to set up TLCs in locations that are convenient for teachers to access
• It is not sufficient for the TLC to be a resource centre; it needs to be a platform where teachers can access a range of high-quality, relevant professional development opportunities.
• Encouraging voluntary participation is critical.
• Creating and sustaining an environment of equality and respect helps to build ownership of TLCs

अज़ीम प्रेमजी फाउंडेशन पिछले पंद्रह वर्षों से सरकारी स्कूली व्यवस्था में समता एवं गुणवत्ता सुधार की दिशा में काम कर रहा है। शिक्षकों का पेशेवर विकास फ़ाउंडेशन के द्वारा किए गए विभिन्न प्रयासों के केंद्र में रहा है। इन वर्षों में शिक्षकों के साथ काम करते हुए, फाउंडेशन ने भी बहुत कुछ समझा और सीखा है। इनमे से एक महत्वपूर्ण सीख यह भी है की शिक्षकों को एक ऐसे स्थान की आवश्यकता होती है जहां वे एक दूसरे के साथ अपने अनुभव साझा कर सकें, शिक्षा-शिक्षण से संबन्धित विभिन्न आयामों पर मिल जुल कर कुछ काम कर सकें, एवं एक दूसरे से कुछ सीख सकें।

इस बात को ध्यान में रखते हुए, फाउंडेशन के द्वारा विभिन्न राज्यों/जिलों में शिक्षक शिक्षण केंद्र (टी.एल.सी.) नामक संसाधन केंद्र की स्थापना की गयी है जो शिक्षकों के साथ काम करने की फाउंडेशन की रणनीति का एक महत्वपूर्ण हिस्सा है। यह आलेख फ़ाउंडेशन के द्वारा कुछ चयनित जिलों में टी.एल.सी. की स्थापना एवं इसके संचालन की शुरुआत से जुड़े अनुभवों एवं अंतर्दृष्टियों को सामने लाने का प्रयास है।

मुख्य निष्कर्ष:

• टी.एल.सी. का एक ऐसी जगह स्थापित होना महत्वपूर्ण है जहां पहुँचना शिक्षकों के लिए सुगम हो।
• टी.एल.सी. का केवल एक संसाधन केंद्र के तौर पर संचालित होना नाकाफी है, इसे एक ऐसे मंच के रूप में देखा जाना चाहिए जहां शिक्षकों को गुणवत्तापूर्ण पेशेवर विकास हेतु उचित अवसर प्राप्त हो सके।
• स्वैच्छिक प्रतिभागिता को प्रोत्साहित करना महत्वपूर्ण है।
• समानता और सम्मान का माहौल शिक्षकों के बीच टी.एल.सी. के प्रति स्वामित्व का भाव स्थापित करने में मददगार साबित होता है।

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"This paper aims to provide an intellectual basis to think about the relationship between development, intellectual property and innovation; where we currently are and what alternatives are available. For the most part, we are concerned less with the implications of current IP laws for the advanced countries as we are with their impact on developing countries. We focus here not only on the current pathologies of the system and on potential alternative ways to tackle its most egregious excesses; but on a more positive note, on what kind of “system” would best promote development and well-being in the developing world. We are looking for a world with new and better rules for intellectual property"

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"This paper explores what it takes to start and sustain Voluntary Teacher Forums, , providing teachers in the government school system with much needed opportunities for collaboration and peer learning, based on the experience from Tonk, Rajasthan"

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"Government school teachers demonstrate exemplary commitment; actual teacher absenteeism substantially lower than general impressions"
Teacher Absenteeism is as low as 2.5%.

The study by the research group at Azim Premji Foundation concludes that the general impression and claims of teacher absenteeism in government schools are vastly exaggerated. The qualitative part of the study explores the background and reasons as to how, many teachers overcome multiple hurdles in their daily work life, and demonstrate exemplary commitment. The new research study by the research group at Azim Premji Foundation found that in government schools, teacher absenteeism (absence without legitimate reason) is as low as just 2.5%. This is vastly different from the popular narrative on teacher absenteeism, which often refers to numbers ranging from 20% to 50%. This study makes it clear, along with other similar studies that have been done in the past, that the issue of teacher absenteeism is not as big a problem as it is often made out to be.

The Key Findings were

• The findings of the study show that ‘teacher absenteeism’, i.e. absence without legitimate reason or truancy is only 2.5%. This aspect needs due attention in the larger teacher accountability discourse
• While the overall teacher absence – i.e. instances of teachers not being physically present in the school was 18.9%, the reasons are less about the delinquency of teachers but rather about the systemic issues that require them to undertake other official activities, apart from legitimate leaves
• In spite of exhibiting characteristics such as difficulty of access, poor school infrastructure or even high pupil-teacher ratio our ethnographic case studies found the schools studied to have an engaged cadre with no visible concerns of teacher absenteeism as expressed by education officials or community
• These cases stand counter to the widely received stereotype of disengaged and frequently absent teachers. Given a certain kind of enabling and positive work environment that facilitates collegiality and trust, many teachers show commitment and motivation and hold themselves accountable without external supervision and monitoring

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सरकारी स्कूल के शिक्षक अनुकरणीय प्रतिबद्धता प्रदर्शित करते हैं; वास्तविक शिक्षक अनुपस्थिति प्रचलित धारणा से काफी कम है " शिक्षक अनुपस्थिति की दर 2.5% जितनी कम है।

अजीम प्रेमजी फाउंडेशन के शोध समूह द्वारा किया गया अध्ययन इस निष्कर्ष पर पहुंचता है कि सरकारी स्कूलों में शिक्षक अनुपस्थिति के बारे में व्यापक धारणा और दावे बेहद अतिशयोक्तिपूर्ण हैं| इस अध्ययन का गुणात्मक विश्लेषण वाला हिस्सा उसके पृष्ठभूमि और कारणों को खोजने की कोशिश करता है कि कैसे, बहुत सारे शिक्षक अपनी रोजमर्रा की नौकरी में आने वाली विभिन्न बाधाओं पर काबू पाते हैं तथा अनुकरणीय प्रतिबद्धता प्रदर्शित करते हैं।

शोध समूह के इस नए अध्ययन में यह पाया कि सरकारी विद्यालयों में, शिक्षकों की अनुपस्थिति (वैध कारण के बिना अनुपस्थिति) केवल 2.5% तक ही है। यह शिक्षक अनुपस्थिति के बारे में उन सामान्य धारणाओं से बहुत अलग है, जो अक्सर 20% से लेकर 50% तक के आंकड़ों को दर्शाते हैं।

शिक्षक अनुपस्थिति से सम्बंधित इस अध्ययन के अलावा जो पूर्व में हुए अन्य अध्ययन भी इस बात को रेखांकित करते है कि शिक्षक अनुपस्थिति उतनी बड़ी समस्या नहीं है जितनी इसके बारे में अक्सर चर्चा की जाती है|

इस अध्ययन के प्रमुख निष्कर्ष निम्न थे -

• अध्ययन के निष्कर्ष यह बताते हैं कि 'शिक्षक अनुपस्थिति', अर्थात् ‘बिना वैध कारण के विद्यालय से बाहर रहना’, केवल 2.5% है। इस पहलू को शिक्षक की बड़ी जवाबदेही से सम्बंधित विमर्श में ध्यान देने की जरूरत है|
• कुल शिक्षक अनुपस्थिति - अर्थात स्कूल में शारीरिक रूप से उपस्थित नहीं होने वाले शिक्षकों के उदाहरण 18.9% थी, किन्तु यह शिक्षकों के कर्तव्यच्युत से कम, बल्कि उन प्रणालीगत मुद्दों से ज्यादा सम्बंधित है, जो उन्हें अन्य आधिकारिक गतिविधियों के कारण विद्यालय से बाहर रखते हैं|
• इस अध्ययन में स्कूल पहुंच में कठिनाई, कमजोर स्कूल ढांचा या यहां तक कि अति उच्च छात्र-शिक्षक अनुपात आदि से संबंधित केस स्टडीज में पाया गया कि इन स्कूलों में शिक्षक की अनुपस्थिति उतनी दिखाई नहीं दे रही थी जितना की शिक्षा विभाग के अधिकारियों या समुदाय द्वारा व्यक्त किया जाता है।
• यह अध्ययन शिक्षकों की अनुपस्थिति से सम्बंधित व्यापक रूप के किए गए अध्ययनों से असहमति जाहिर करता है और इस विचार में विश्वास रखता है कि अगर कार्यस्थल पर ऐसा सकारात्मक वातावरण हो, जो आपसी सामंजस्य और विश्वास को बढ़ावा दे, तो बहुत सारे शिक्षक बिना किसी बाहरी पर्यवेक्षण और निगरानी के स्वयं अभिप्रेरित होते हुए अपनी प्रतिबद्धता जाहिर कर खुद को जवाबदेह बनाते हैं|

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