Educational Planning

Educational Planning

Need,Steps and Scope

Need of Educational Planning:

Why is planning needed in Education?

 It gives us clarity about:

1. What the pupils will learn

2. How the pupils will learn

3. How we will know that the pupils have learned.

        a)      For teacher:

 ‘‘Planning maps out what learning activities you will conduct in the classroom. What materials you will need and what assessments you will give.’’ 

  

      b)     For students:

 ‘‘Any lesson plan that does not focus on student learning is incomplete’’. 

  

     c )      For administration:

‘‘Planning informs administrators of how you will go about addressing academic standards and preparing students for standardized tests’’.

Steps of Educational Planning:

1.         Diagnosis of Educational Development

     A diagnosis of the education system is an important and initial step towards developing plan. Diagnosis forms an important step in understanding the system itself. Diagnosis in planning is a process of making a realistic assessment regarding what and how much has already been achieved till now. The diagnosis exercise attempts to identify these constraints so that they are removed while implementing the next plan.

2.          Planning for Formulation

                                                                                    i      Formulation of Educational Goals: In this step of planning educational goals would have been formulated in relation to the felt needs, requirements and resources.

                                                                 ii.      Formulation of a Specific Programme of objectives: In this step of the educational planners make planning for formulation of a set of objectives in contextual perspective. These objectives may refer to the instructional objectives or expected outcomes in particular of an educational programme of an educational institution or organisation.

3.         Planning for Implementation:

     This step of educational planning relates with the practical aspect of an educational programme in which there is the interplay of available resources-human, material, financial. But it is through the human resources a plan can be properly implemented. For this before implementation of the plan, planning must be done on the role and responsibilities of every member of the educational programme.

4.         Planning for Monitoring:

    Planning must be done for monitoring of an educational programme by the competent personnel during the implementation and towards the end of an educational programme. As a result the scope for refinement and development of an educational programme for adequate realization of educational objectives will be ensured.

5.         Planning for Evaluation:

      This step of educational planning implies that the major concern of this step is to know to what extent the plan has been effective to fulfill the needs of the educational programme and to find out the defects in the process of implementation of an educational programme. This evaluation can be done by a committee of competent personnel.

Scope of Educational Planning

                    i.   Identification of Objectives and strategies: By this we mean that educational planning helps in identifying and defining the objectives and the strategies, programmes, procedures, policies and standards which education needs to be more effective and efficient.

                  ii.  Proper Distribution of Scarce Resources: By scarce resources, we mean the limited resources which are available to satisfy our wants (needs).

                iii. Educational Planning aids decision making: Educational Planning helps decision makers at all levels to reach a better and well informed decision.

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Meanig,nature and objective of educational planning

Educational Planning

Educational Planning

 Meaning,Nature and Objectives 

What is planning?

Planning includes the possibility of better performance on all jobs. There is a saying that if there is a will there is a way. It signifies the will of an individual comes into picture after thinking which can be done through planning in mental level.

Planning is essential for development of every nation and according to which changes would have been brought in social, political, economic, cultural and educational sphere in a systematic and orderly manner. Simply speaking planning means to think before acting, and to act according to facts, not, conjectures or speculation.

So, what is Educational planning?

As we all know, our formal education is an organized one. We must have trained teachers to teach. Buildings and many facilities have to be put up in order to have educational institutions function effectively. Our educational system must be arranged at every stage in such a way that it meets the needs of both the individual and the nation. This process of intelligently trying to organize education so as to respond to the needs of its recipients is what can termed educational planning.

Planning in education is an extremely important activity as it forms the basis of all programmes of quantitative and qualitative improvement in education. Education planning is to explore the best possible means of making the greatest to use of available resources, leading to the optimal realization of the educational aims and objectives both individual and social.

To meet these problems, educational planning becomes a necessity and planning competence becomes mandatory. It is unavoidable for bringing about a desirable change in the educational organization for promoting the organizational health-its effectiveness and functional efficiency. UNESCO and the World Bank become early promoters of a functional educational planning mechanism as a condition of external assistance.

Definitions:

“Planning is to design some action to be done before hand.”

                                                                                                   —Oxford English Dictionary

 “Planning is regarded as the process of setting out in advance a pattern of action to bring about overall national policies by the closest possible articulation of means and ends.”

                                                                                                        —Philips

Significance of Educational Planning:

1. To make every programme of an educational institution or organisation grand success.

2. Proper educational planning saves time, effort and money as planning in every field is a time-saving, an effort-saving and a money-saving activity.

3. Educational planning is a sound method of solving educational problems by avoiding the trial and error method of doing things.

4. Educational planning is essential for the best utilization of available resources.

5. Educational planning checks wastage and failure and contributes to the smoothness, ease and efficiency of the administrative process in the field of education.

6. Through proper planning in education, education can be the best means by which society will preserve and develop its future value system, way of life of an individual, knowledge, skills and applications, and culture of the country.

7. Through proper educational planning, the means and ends of the society can be properly interacted through educational system. It implies that the educational system utilizes a large proportion of the country’s educated talents and a major part of public expenditure.

8. Educational planning is highly essential for preparing a blueprint or plan of action for every programme of an educational institution or organisation.

9. Planning in education is necessary for making one’s educational journey goal-oriented and purposeful.

10. It is essential to maintain, sustain and enhance the thinking process of an individual, institution or organisation.

11. Planning in education is necessary to highlight the universal aims of education required for every nation for its development in every respect.

12. To bring total development of a nation in time, in which educational development is one among its various aspects.

Nature of Educational Planning:

                       i.            Cooperation:

Modern educational planning emphasizes involvement of representatives of most of the concerned sectors of the society in the process of planning.

                     ii.            Remedial Measure:

   Identifying cause of the educational problems and suggesting relevant solution is the main objective of educational planning. It is remedial and guidance- oriented.

                   iii.            Choice of Best Alternative:

    Modern educational planning is a logical systematic and scientific process different from the elementary kinds of procedure utilized in the past of bringing about changes in the systems of education.

                   iv.            Team Work:

     A team of experts, responsible people and those who are to implement the plan should determine the goals and appropriate ways of attaining them. Modern educational planning emphasizes that only the top administrator or the government should be involved in planning. Planning should be a responsibility of ail people concerned with the desired change.

                     v.            Social and Economic Goals:

    The expected goals of the society and needs of children and young pupils in the schools and colleges should be the broad frame of reference. Modern educational planning emphasizes that the goals of a democratic society should be social and economic concerned with the welfare and progress of all citizens rather than the selfish goals of some special interest groups.

                   vi.            Scientific Changes:

   Modern educational planning carefully and objectively collects data, interprets and analyses interrelationships between present and future needs. It also interprets and analysis inter-relatedness of the various components of the social and educational system.

                 vii.            Anticipation:

     Modern educational planning requires developments and needs change in future, must ahead of time so as proper facilities, supporting media and required resources for implementing the planned change may be secured.

               viii.            Forecasting:

    Educational Planning is describing or defining or determining events, conditions and needs of some future point in times. It implies forecasting of important factors in education such as number and types of students and expansion of facilities needed for them.

                   ix.            Interpretation:

     It should also called for interpretation of future data and it’s translation into competencies or operational capabilities demanded to maintains effectiveness under the conditions anticipated.

                     x.            Goals and Objectives:

       It is a means of generating relevant present and future goals and objectives for the organization.

                   xi.            Decision-Making:

                 It is the preparation or pre-courses in the decision-making process. It helps in determining the optimal decisions or choice rendered. While educational administration is mostly decision making, planning in education is only the other side of it.

                 xii.            Operations Optimization:

   Educational Planning is performance improvement or operation optimization. It’s for the enhancement of existing conditions rather than for those that exists in the uncertain future. It is to guide the actions of the operations.

               xiii.            Problems Prevention:

      It is a kind of contingency anticipation or problem-prevention. It should minimize the magnitude of an educational problem likely to be encountered at some future point in time. It should spell out the procedures to be followed if some crisis or contingencies arise.

               xiv.            Management Change:

   Educational Planning is a part of organizational renewal. MBO, PERT and various other forecasting techniques are part of the process of educational planning. It provides a mechanism, a model or a tool for achieving specific objectives of an organization.

                 xv.            Complexity Resolution:

    Educational Planning is complexity resolution, a process for co-ordination and control. It is interpreted as a means of coping with complexity or co-ordination of facets of such projects.

Objectives of Educational Planning:

   i.  To ensures success of the institution: It takes into consideration the important issues, conditions, constraints and factors in education. Its focus is on future objectives, vision and goals. It is proactive in nature in that it emphasizes perception and ability to apply theory and profit from it in advance of action.

    ii.   To explore the possibilities of alternative uses and optimum utilization: To explore the possibilities of alternative uses and optimum utilization of limited resources. The scarcity of financial and other non-material resources poses a challenge to education.

    iii.   To be economic: Effective and efficient planning saves resources, manpower, time and finance... That’s why it is recommended in the field of education.

    iv. Attained objectives of education: Through proper planning the predetermined objectives of education can be achieved.

    v   Keep pace with social development: Overall (social, cultural, economic) development of the students is possible with perfect and systematic planning in education. Curriculum is framed according to the need and inerest of the students.

   vi  Coordinate different educational activity: Different educational activity is coordinated with suitable planning from Pre-primary to Primary, Primary to Secondary, Higher  Secondary to College Education etc for the development of both students and teacher along with teaching-learning process.

  vii.  To determine the priorities in the educational sector so that scarce resources can be allocated optimally.

viii To reorient the educational system and bring about functional integration among different levels of education.

    ix.   To bring about equalisation of educational opportunity by expanding facilities for women’s education especially in rural areas.

      x.     To abolish discrimination in educational matters on the basis of caste, creed or religion.

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Need,Steps and Scope of educational planning

Draft National Education Policy 2019

Draft National Education Policy 2019

Committee Report Summary

• The Committee for Draft National Education Policy (Chair: Dr. K. Kasturirangan) submitted its report on May 31, 2019. The Committee was constituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in June 2017.  The report proposes an education policy, which seeks to address the challenges of: (i) access, (ii) equity, (iii) quality, (iv) affordability, and (v) accountability faced by the current education system.
   
• The draft Policy provides for reforms at all levels of education from school to higher education. It seeks to increase the focus on early childhood care, reform the current exam system, strengthen teacher training, and restructure the education regulatory framework.  It also seeks to set up a National Education Commission, increase public investment in education, strengthen the use of technology and increase focus on vocational and adult education, among others.  Key observations and recommendations of the draft Policy include:

 

School Education

• Early Childhood Care and Education: In addition to problems of access, the Committee observed several quality related deficiencies in the existing early childhood learning programmes.  These include: (i) curriculum that doesn’t meet the developmental needs of children, (ii) lack of qualified and trained teachers, and (iii) substandard pedagogy.  Currently, most early childhood education is delivered through anganwadis and private-preschools.  However, there has been less focus on the educational aspects of early childhood.  Hence, the draft Policy recommends developing a two-part curriculum for early childhood care and education.  This will consist of: (i) guidelines for up to three-year-old children (for parents and teachers), and (ii) educational framework for three to eight-year-old children.  This would be implemented by improving and expanding the anganwadi system and co-locating anganwadis with primary schools.
   
• The Right to Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act): Currently, the RTE Act provides for free and compulsory education to all children from the age of six to 14 years.  The draft Policy recommends extending the ambit of the RTE Act to include early childhood education and secondary school education.  This would extend the coverage of the Act to all children between the ages of three to 18 years.
   
• In addition, the draft Policy recommends that the recent amendments to the RTE Act on continuous and comprehensive evaluation and the no detention policy must be reviewed. It states that there should be no detention of children till class eight.  Instead, schools must ensure that children are achieving age-appropriate learning levels.
         a
• Curriculum framework: The current structure of school education must be restructured on the basis of the development needs of students.  This would consist of a 5-3-3-4 design comprising: (i) five years of foundational stage (three years of pre-primary school and classes one and two), (ii) three years of preparatory stage (classes three to five), (iii) three years of middle stage (classes six to eight), and (iv) four years of secondary stage (classes nine to 12).
   
• The Committee noted that the current education system solely focuses on rote learning of facts and procedures. Hence, it recommends that the curriculum load in each subject should be reduced to its essential core content.  This would make space for holistic, discussion-based, and analysis-based learning.
   
• School exam reforms: The Committee noted that the current board examinations: (i) force students to concentrate only on a few subjects, (ii) do not test learning in a formative manner, and (iii) cause stress among students.  To track students’ progress throughout their school experience, the draft Policy proposes State Census Examinations in classes three, five and eight.  Further, it recommends restructuring the board examinations to test only core concepts, skills and higher order capacities.  These board examinations will be on a range of subjects.  The students can choose their subjects, and the semester when they want to take these board exams.  The in-school final examinations may be replaced by these board examinations.
   
• School infrastructure: The Committee noted that establishing primary schools in every habitation across the country has helped increase access to education.  However, it has led to the development of very small schools (having low number of students).  The small size of schools makes it operationally complex to deploy teachers and critical physical resources.  Therefore, the draft Policy recommends that multiple public schools should be brought together to form a school complex.  A complex will consist of one secondary school (classes nine to twelve) and all the public schools in its neighbourhood that offer education from pre-primary till class eight.
   
• The school complexes will also include anganwadis, vocational education facilities, and an adult education centre. Each school complex will be a semi-autonomous unit providing integrated education across all stages from early childhood to secondary education.  This will ensure that resources such as infrastructure and trained teachers can be efficiently shared across a school complex.
   
• Teacher management: The Committee noted that there has been a steep rise in teacher shortage, lack of professionally qualified teachers, and deployment of teachers for non-educational purposes.  The draft Policy recommends that teachers should be deployed with a particular school complex for at least five to seven years.  Further, teachers will not be allowed to participate in any non-teaching activities (such as cooking mid-day meals or participating in vaccination campaigns) during school hours that could affect their teaching capacities.
         
• For teacher training, the existing B.Ed. programme will be replaced by a four-year integrated B.Ed. programme that combines high-quality content, pedagogy, and practical training. An integrated continuous professional development will also be developed for all subjects.  Teachers will be required to complete a minimum of 50 hours of continuous professional development training every year.
   
• Regulation of schools: The draft Policy recommends separating the regulation of schools from aspects such as policymaking, school operations, and academic development.  It suggests creating an independent State School Regulatory Authority for each state that will prescribe basic uniform standards for public and private schools.  The Department of Education of the State will formulate policy and conduct monitoring and supervision.

Higher Education

• According to the All India Survey on Higher Education, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education in India has increased from 20.8% in 2011-12 to 25.8% in 2017-18.

 

Table 1: GER comparison across countries (2014)

	Primary (Class 1-5)	Upper Primary (Class 6-8)	Upper Secondary (Class 9-12)	Higher Education
India	101.4	89.3	62.5	23
China	103.9	100.4	88.8	39.4
USA	99.5	101.9	93.2	86.7
Germany	103.3	101.6	104.6	65.5

Source: Educational Statistics at Glance (2016), MHRD; PRS.

• The Committee identified lack of access as a major reason behind low intake of higher education in the country. It aims to increase GER to 50% by 2035 from the current level of about 25.8%.  Key recommendations in this regard include:
   
• Regulatory structure and accreditation: The Committee noted that the current higher education system has multiple regulators with overlapping mandates.  This reduces the autonomy of higher educational institutions and creates an environment of dependency and centralised decision making.  Therefore, it proposes setting up the National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA).  This independent authority would replace the existing individual regulators in higher education, including professional and vocational education.  This implies that the role of all professional councils such as AICTE and the Bar Council of India would be limited to setting standards for professional practice.  The role of the University Grants Commission (UGC) will be limited to providing grants to higher educational institutions.
   
• Currently, the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is an accreditation body under the UGC. The draft Policy recommends separating NAAC from the UGC into an independent and autonomous body.  In its new role, NAAC will function as the top level accreditor, and will issue licenses to different accreditation institutions, who will assess higher educational institutions once every five to seven years.  All existing higher education institutions should be accredited by 2030.
         
• Establishment of new higher educational institutions: Currently, higher educational institutions can only be set up by Parliament or state legislatures.  The draft Policy proposes that these institutions could be allowed to be set up through a Higher Education Institution Charter from NHERA.  This Charter will be awarded on the basis of transparent assessment of certain specified criteria.  All such newly constituted higher educational institutions must receive accreditation as mandated by NHERA within five years of being established.
   
• Restructuring of higher education institutions: Higher education institutions will be restructured into three types: (i) research universities focusing equally on research and teaching; (ii) teaching universities focusing primarily on teaching; and (iii) colleges focusing only on teaching at undergraduate levels.  All such institutions will gradually move towards full autonomy - academic, administrative, and financial.
   
• Establishing a National Research Foundation: The Committee observed that the total investment on research and innovation in India has declined from 0.84% of GDP in 2008 to 0.69% in 2014.  India also lags behind many nations in number of researchers (per lakh population), patents and publications. 

Table 2: Investment on Research and Innovation

	Spending on research and innovation (% GDP)	Researchers (per lakh population)	Total Patent Applications
India	0.7	15	45,057
China	2.1	111	13,38,503
USA	2.8	423	605,571
Israel	4.3	825	6,419

Source: Economic Survey of India 2017-18; PRS

• The draft Policy recommends establishing a National Research Foundation, an autonomous body, for funding, mentoring and building the capacity for quality research in India. The Foundation will consist of four major divisions: sciences, technology, social sciences, and arts and humanities, with the provision to add additional divisions.  The Foundation will be provided with an annual grant of Rs 20,000 crore (0.1% of GDP).
   
• Moving towards a liberal approach: The draft Policy recommends making undergraduate programmes interdisciplinary by redesigning their curriculum to include: (a) a common core curriculum and (b) one/two area(s) of specialisation.  Students will be required to choose an area of specialisation as ‘major’, and an optional area as ‘minor’.  Four-year undergraduate programmes in Liberal Arts will be introduced and multiple exit options with appropriate certification will be made available to students.  Further, within the next five years, five Indian Institute of Liberal Arts must be setup as model multidisciplinary liberal arts institutions.
   
• Professional development of faculty: The Committee observed that poor service conditions and heavy teaching loads at higher education institutions have resulted in low faculty motivation.  Further, lack of autonomy and no clear career progression system are also major impediments to faculty motivation.  The draft Policy recommends development of a Continuous Professional Development programme and introduction of a permanent employment (tenure) track system for faculty in all higher education institutions by 2030.  Further, a desirable student-teacher ratio of not more than 30:1 must be ensured.
   
• Optimal learning environment: The Committee observed that the curricula remain rigid, narrow, and archaic.  Moreover, the faculty often lacks the autonomy to design curricula, which negatively impacts pedagogy.  It recommends that all higher education institutions must have complete autonomy on curricular, pedagogical and resource-related matters.

 

Education Governance

• The Committee observed that there is a need to revisit the existing system of governance in education, and bring in synergy and coordination among the different ministries, departments and agencies. In this context, it recommends:
   
• Creation of a National Education Commission or Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog, as an apex body for education, to be headed by the Prime Minister. This body will be responsible for developing, implementing, evaluating, and revising the vision of education in the country on a continuous and sustained basis.  It will oversee the implementation and functioning of several bodies including the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the proposed National Higher Education Regulatory Authority, and National Research Foundation.
   
• The Ministry of Human Resources and Development must be renamed as the Ministry of Education in order to bring focus back on education.

Financing Education

• The Draft Policy reaffirmed the commitment of spending 6% of GDP as public investment in education. Note that the first National Education Policy (NEP) 1968 had recommended public expenditure in education must be 6% of GDP, which was reiterated by the second NEP in 1986.  In 2017-18, public expenditure on education in India was 2.7% of GDP.

Table 3: Total Public Investment in Education

Country	Investment in 2017 (as % of GDP)
India	2.7
USA	5
UK	5.5
Brazil	6

• The draft Policy seeks to double the public investment in education from the current 10% of total public expenditure to 20% in the next 10 years. Of the additional 10% expenditure, 5% will be utilised for universities and colleges (higher education), 2% will be utilised for additional teacher costs or resources in school education and 1.4% will be utilised for early childhood care and education.
         
• The Committee also observed operational problems and leakages in disbursement of funds. For instance, it observed that District Institutes of Education and Training have about 45% vacancies which have led to their allocations not being used or being used ineffectively.  It recommends optimal and timely utilisation of funds through the institutional development plans.

Technology in Education

• The Committee observed that technology plays an important role in: (a) improving the classroom process of teaching, learning and evaluation, (b) aiding in preparation of teachers and continuous professional development of teachers, (c) improving access to education in remote areas and for disadvantaged groups, and (d) improving the overall planning, administration and management of the entire education system. It recommends focused electrification of all educational institutions as electricity is a pre-requisite for all technology-based interventions.  Further, it recommends:
   
• National Mission on Education through information and communication technology: The Mission will encompass virtual laboratories that provide remote access to laboratories in various disciplines.  A National Education Technology Forum will also be setup under the Mission, as an autonomous body, to facilitate decision making on the induction, deployment and use of technology.  This Forum will provide evidence-based advice to central and state-governments on technology-based interventions.
   
• National Repository on Educational Data: A National Repository will be setup to maintain all records related to institutions, teachers, and students in digital form.  Further, a single online digital repository will be created where copyright-free educational resources will be made available in multiple languages.

Vocational Education

 

• The Committee observed that less than 5% of the workforce in the age-group of 19-24 receives vocational education in India. This is in contrast to 52% in the USA, 75% in Germany and 96% in South Korea.  It recommends integrating vocational educational programmes in all educational institutions (schools, colleges and universities) in a phased manner over a period of 10 years.  Note that this is an upward revision from the National Policy on Skills Development and Entrepreneurship (2015) which aimed at offering vocational education in 25% of educational institutions.  Key recommendations in this regard include:
   
• Vocational courses: All school students must receive vocational education in at least one vocation in grades nine to 12.  The proposed school complexes must build expertise in curriculum delivery that is aligned to the competency levels under the existing National Skills Qualifications Framework.
   
• The proposed Higher Education Institutions must also offer vocational courses that are integrated into the undergraduate education programmes. The draft Policy targets to offer vocational education to up to 50% of the total enrolment in higher education institutions by 2025, up from the present level of enrolment of well below 10% in these institutions.
   
• National Committee for the Integration of Vocational Education: A National Committee will be set up to work out the steps that need to be taken towards achieving these goals.  A separate fund will be setup for the integration of vocational education into educational institutions.  The Committee will work out the modalities for the disbursement of these funds.

 

Adult Education

• As per Census 2011, India still had over 3.26 crore youth non-literates (15-24 years of age) and a total of 26.5 crore adult non-literates (15 years and above). In this regard, the draft Policy recommends:
   
• Establishing an autonomous Central Institute of Adult Education, as a constituent unit of NCERT, which will develop a National Curriculum Framework for adult education. The Framework will cover five broad areas: foundational literacy and numeracy, critical life skills vocational skills development, basic education, and continuing education.
   
• Adult Education Centres will be included within the proposed school complexes. Relevant courses for youth and adults will be made available at the National Institute of Open Schooling.  A cadre of adult education instructors and managers, as well as a team of one-on-one tutors will be created through a newly-established National Adult Tutors Programme.