|
Overview
The ICICI Centre for Elementary Education (ICEE) is an interdisciplinary organisation working towards the universalisation of elementary education in India. This focus derives from the belief that education up to the elementary level is a minimal and necessary condition for individuals to participate meaningfully in socio-economic processes, and collectively contribute to the development of society. To this end, ICEE seeks to make a definitive contribution through research, debate and action, primarily by funding and building collaboration with non-government organisations, state governments and academic institutions, to initiate a process of change.
Focus on Quality
Education is integral to individual, and consequently societal development, since it enables the child to evolve a critical understanding of the world and the agency to act. Formal schooling typically begins at age six in India, and the state has made substantial progress in improving schooling infrastructure and reach. 82 percent of habitations now have access to a primary school within a radius of 1 kilometre, and 75 percent have access to an upper primary school within 3 kilometres1. These schools are expected to provide educational access to a large number of poor and marginalised children in India, even though much needs to be done to improve the quality of schooling and learning standards of children.
Education in India aims to imbibe in all children, the qualities essential for the existence of a vibrant and dynamic democracy, with a focus on the basic abilities of reading, writing, comprehension and reasoning. At elementary level, the focus is on learning language, mathematics, science and social sciences, with the aim that children may better understand their surrounding environment through engagement, discussion and experimentation. However, the education of most children in the country does not successfully achieve these aims, reflecting an overall lack of quality. About 53 percent of children drop out at the elementary level, and over 75 percent of the rural schools are multi-grade, while a significant number of school going children are unable to even read and write. In other words, children often do not benefit from appropriate pedagogic practice, teacher training, and teaching-learning material. As a result, effort and understanding need to be concentrated on improving the quality of schooling accessed by the majority of Indian children.
A systemic perspective and its standard is imperative in understanding quality in education such that a child's performance is viewed within the context of systemic quality. Hence, teaching quality and teacher capacity are crucial to the notion of systemic quality in education, and are in turn, closely related to the deployment of teachers, procedures used for their training and strategies adopted for ensuring accountability. A significant proportion of India's elementary school teachers have low competence on teaching, which is reflected in their classroom practices, subject understanding, daily presence and overall attitudes towards children. Therefore, a focus on teachers is crucial for any substantial change in this situation.
Besides, the first six years of life, especially the first three, are recognised as being a sensitive period for lifelong development. A child who does not receive adequate care and attention at the right stage, due to nutritional and health deficiencies or inadequate stimulation and learning opportunities, often carries the burden forward, compromising the capacity to realise her/his potential in the present and future. In the Indian context, this is often true for poorer children who are left unattended or in the doubtful care of their elder siblings due to the pressures of income generation. Several efforts have been initiated both by NGOs as well as the state to reach out to such children through Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programmes, the most notable being the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). However despite this, only 15% of children in the 3-6 year age group benefit from any form of early childhood education. With most of the existing ones operating as downward extensions of primary school the developmental appropriateness of these efforts being questionable.
Our Work
In its elementary education practice, ICEE thus aims to (a) improve access to and the quality of early childhood education (ECE) and (b) ensure quality elementary education, with a specific focus on teacher performance. Specifically, ICEE seeks to support innovations, build resource institutions and create strategic partnerships to change the mainstream practice of education. Fundamentally, such initiatives form part of an effort to create the ethos and momentum needed to make education reform more possible. The choice of this work is governed by the understanding that many more innovations need to take place for which institutions with the necessary capacity need to exist. At the same time, these innovations need to interact with and if necessary, be located within the mainstream for graduated change to take place in the quality of education being provided to children.
|
