Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is a flagship programme of the Government of India that was launched in 2001-02 in all States including Karnataka. The objective of SSA is to bring all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years in the net of Class 1 to 8 comprising elementary education, retain them in school till they complete an 8 years cycle and see that they attain standards of a specified quality of education. Equity and regional parity are to be ensured in this exercise. 

SSA is a time bound project which is proposed to be completed by 2010. By 2007, it has been observed in various studies that the concerns of universal access and participation have been satisfactorily addressed while the concerns of quality and equity persist. This year also constituting approximately the mid phase of the project, it was felt by SSA Karnataka and other stakeholders that it is time that there was a systematic review and feedback on concerns of equity and quality which may serve as guidelines for corrective action. 

With this background in mind, a proposal was submitted by PAC in 2007 suggesting the use of the CRC approach as well as other supporting methods to assess the impact of SSA on universalisation of elementary education, especially addressing issues of quality and equity. SSA Karnataka approved the proposal and agreed to fund the study; the MoU to this effect was signed in July 2007.

PAC’s assessment of the SSA programme is being carried out with a view to achieving the following objectives:

1. Obtaining feedback from children in school and their parents on the quality of schooling in terms of accessibility, reliability and satisfaction with the services delivered particularly in terms of the quality of education received and of meeting the equity goals.
2. Obtaining feedback from teachers on their assessment of the quality of services they provide, the efficacy and helpfulness of the training imparted to them in improving the quality of their performance, in increasing retention and preventing dropouts and the challenges and problems they face in delivering the services, including promotion of learning.
3. Assessment of the Schools in terms of adequacy and quality of infrastructure provided and their utilization.
4. Carrying out an assessment of the out of school children especially in those districts where the number of out of school children is high with special reference to equity. This assessment would give an insight into the broad socio-economic reasons for dropouts and more importantly, how efficient and effective the SSA has been in mainstreaming the out of school children while ensuring equity. An assessment of the role played by NGOs and the quality of their services in the implementation of the strategies for mainstreaming the out of school children with special emphasis on quality and equity aspects. A comparison with a district where the number of out of school children, net enrolment ratio, access ratio and the level of learning by students have shown considerable improvement would also be part of the exercise.
5. To suggest measures to improve the ongoing initiatives in the direction of equity and quality of SSA in Karnataka.

In brief, the research design outlined for the study comprises of the following aspects:

Involvement of stakeholders – Formation of an Advisory Committee within PAC and constant interaction with senior officials of SSA at every stage of the study.

1.      Application of participatory approaches to identify issues – Observations, group discussions, informal interviews, etc

2.      Questionnaire design – following the CRC survey approach

3.      Sampling design – Three districts (Gulbarga, Shimoga, Bangalore urban) with Raichur (funded by UNICEF) for carrying out CRC surveys and Hassan (as well as Raichur) for carrying out case study research.

4.      Identifying and training of survey enumerators and case study researchers – Three day training programme at two centres, Bangalore and Raichur, comprising of briefing on questionnaires, mock calls and pilot field visits.

5.      Fieldwork – In two phases, with the first comprising of observation of mainstreaming programmes and schools, interviews with their head teachers and teachers/volunteers, listing of households for selection of target households (children in the age group of 6-14 with at least one child attending a government school) and interviews with public officials. The second phase comprises of observation of regular schools and interviews with head teachers, teachers, SMDC/CAC members and selected households. Additionally, case studies adopt participatory approaches in the study areas of Hassan and Raichur districts.

6.      Data entry and analysis – Preparation of database formats for data entry for each data collection instrument with scrutiny through random questionnaire and data entry checks; and bringing out analysis tables.

7.      Presentation of findings – The compilation of relevant tables and presentation of findings to the stakeholders; SSA for comments followed by a public release.

8.      Report writing – Preparation of report, with firstly submission of the draft report for comments, followed by printing and submission of the final report to be released in the public domain as well.