KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT INDICES FOR PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF CENTRALLY SPONSORED SCHEMES
1. Government schemes for socio economic development should focus on requirements of intended beneficiaries. Administrative ability to address local problems requires extensive database about the needs on intended beneficiaries and decentralised planning. There is need for administrative flexibility to adopt the centrally sponsored schemes accordingly. Public participation is vital for the success. Knowledge-based development (KBD) problem-driven and need-driven approach is essential at the grass roots and higher echelon of administration is required to ensure development schemes reaches the beneficiary. There is enormous waste of waste of money in the social sector and therefore there is an emergent need to improve the delivery systems.
2. While presenting the budget of 2011-2012, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister highlighted following critical areas of concern:
• To quickly revert to the high GDP growth path of 9 percent and then find the means to cross the `double digit growth barrier'.
• To harness economic growth to consolidate the recent gains in making development more inclusive.
• To address the weaknesses in government systems, structures and institutions at different levels of governance.
3. Current policies focus on rapid economic growth and improving the public administration systems to provide inclusive development. Spending on social sector has been gradually increased to Rs.1, 37,674 crore in 2010-11, which is 37% of the total plan outlay in 2010-11. Another 25 per cent of the plan allocations are devoted to the development of rural infrastructure. Plan allocation for school education increased by 16 per cent from Rs.26, 800 crore in 2009-10 to Rs.31, 036 crore in 2010-11. In addition, States have access to Rs.3, 675 crore for elementary education under the Thirteenth Finance Commission grants for 2010-11. It is estimated that cost of implementing RTE Act in rural areas would be Rs 15,200 crores on the basis of out-of-school children and deficiencies in teacher-pupil ratio. Success of these schemes is vital for inclusive growth.
4. Weaknesses in public administration system should be removed, to ensure that massive public expenditure in social sector results in desired outcomes. Techniques of Change Management, Knowledge Based Development (KBD) and Knowledge Management have recently evolved in the context of improving operational efficiency of commercial enterprises. These should be adopted to socio-economic development schemes, to improve the "delivery system."
5. As a developing country, India is committed to promote development and reduce extreme poverty, to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce poverty by half by 2015. India is an emerging economy making fast economic progress, which invests a significant proportion of its growing budget on development. Substantial programmes in health, education, water and basic housing are aimed at improving conditions for the poorest families. Despite strong growth over the last two decades and clear government commitment to reduce poverty, progress is lagging in some states. There are substantial variations of the needs of socio-economic development and therefore financial outlay should meet the needs and aspiration of local community.
6. According to the consultation document of Department For International Development (DFID) on " Strategies of Achieving International Development Targets: MAKING GOVERNMENT WORK FOR POOR PEOPLE" ON JUNE 2002, some of the major issues in achieving key capabilities for pro-poor governance are stated below:
a. Key capability to operate political systems which provide opportunity for all people, including the poor and disadvantaged, to organize and influence state policy and practice
b. Key capability to provide macro-economic stability and to facilitate private sector investment and trade.
c. Key capability to develop policy framework, which can meet the poverty eradication, targets and to raise, allocate and account for resources in accordance with those pro-poor policies.
d. Key capability to guarantee the equitable and universal provision of effective basic services.
e. Key capability to ensure personal safety and security with access to justice for all.
f. Key capability to manage national security accountably and to resolve differences between communities, before they develop into violent conflicts.
g. Key capability to develop honest and accountable government, that can combat corruption
7. Implementation of pro-poor policies requires highly decentralised administration; there is vast variation throughout the country and uniform schemes do not deliver required results. Lack of flexibility in implementation on centrally sponsored schemes is the major structural flow. Flexibility can emerge from practical application of KM by grass-root public authorities, with emphasis on following:
a. Tacit knowledge about the ground level socio-economic issues and problems in implementation of CSS should be documented. There is need for designing and installing process for creation protection and use of known knowledge and mid-course corrections. Absence of flexibility is the major impediment in getting desired outcomes. There is need to foster innovation and capacity for learning. Knowledge should be treated as a tangible asset and tacit knowledge should be converted into explicit asset.
b. Public administration system is not attuned to treating knowledge as a "resource". This is a major bottleneck in implementing Centrally Sponsored Scheme for socio-economic development in vastly fragmented areas, with varying requirements.
c. Human and intellectual capital are the greatest resources for optimizing performance; typically only capital assets of tangible value are monitored. Performance of grass root functionaries should be monitored on the basis of their understanding of local problems and capacity to resolve them.
d. CSS consume public resources and produce real consequences for the society: intended and unintended. There is need to evaluate the consequences and use it for future planning.
e. Concept of KM envisages conversion of data into information, leading to knowledge. This results in learning and corrective actions. Monitoring of CSS is largely confined to collection of data, instead of highlighting problems that need corrective measures.
8. Overall social sector budget of the Government of India for FY 2011-12 is Rs 1,60,887 crore, accounting to 19.27% of total budget. Each Ministry/Department managing the scheme collects performance data of each CSS. Few major schemes are
a. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Rs 63,363 crore)
b. Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Rs 87,844 crore)
c. Targeted Public Distribution Scheme (Rs 60,573 crore)
d. National Rural Health Mission (Rs 30,456 crore)
e. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (Rs 18,217 crore)
f. Integrated Child Development Services (Rs 12,733 crore)
g. Mid Day Meal Scheme (Rs 10,380 crore)
h. Total Sanitation Campaign (Rs 1,485 crore)
9. Let us examine the practical application of Knowledge Management concepts in educational administration on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan –launched in 2001. It aimed to provide universal primary education to all children in the age group 6 to 14. Literacy is essential for democratic governance and inclusive socio-economic progress. There has been sustained overall growth in literacy from 68% in 2007 from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947. This has been one of the outstanding achievements. Although this was a more than five fold improvement, the literacy level in India is well below the world average literacy rate of 84% and India has the largest illiterate population. There have been number of government programs to address this problem. State Governments have initiated programs for spreading education that have also resulted in partial success. If these had resulted in intended outcome, problem of illiteracy would have been resolved by now.
10. Right to education is a fundamental right and UNESCO aims at education for all by 2015. Government of India launched National Literacy Mission in 1988, aimed at attaining a literacy rate of 75 per cent by 2007. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was launched in 2001 to ensure that all children in the 6–14 year age group attend school and complete eight years of schooling by 2010. An important component of the scheme is the Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative and Innovative Education, meant primarily for children in areas with no formal school within a one-kilometer radius. The centrally sponsored District Primary Education Programme, launched in 1994, had opened more than 160,000 new schools by 2005, including almost 84,000 alternative schools.
11. There are several major issues of concern, arising for inadequate implementation of these schemes, that should be addressed by practical application of KM at all levels of educational administration:
a. Reasons for high drop-out rates, despite schemes adopted to attract children to schools, such as Mid-day Meal Scheme,
b. Unsatisfactory quality of education imparted in Government-sponsored schemes, resulting in commercial initiatives for providing better education, extensively used by parents who can afford it.
c. Lack of community involvement and participation in educating children, amongst the disadvantaged section of our society.
d. Lack of motivation in many uneducated parents, in educating their children.
e. Issues of transparency and decentralised public accountability of the grass-root public authorities and teachers.
12. It is desirable to formulate indices that can improve decentralised administrative system and enable performance evaluation by the beneficiaries. The Right To Information Act 2005 enables citizens to access public records and this should lead to social audit by the beneficiaries, for effective public accountability of grass root authorities. In the ultimate analysis quality education emerges from interaction between teacher and pupil; administrative structure under SSA can only provide administrative support to the learning process at the grass roots.
13. Universal education of acceptable quality at vast scale in India has always been a formidable administrative challenge. Educational policies have evolved to meet the concerns of Governments in power. The White paper presented by Lord Macaulay to the British Parliament in 1835 was aimed at meeting the administrative requirements of the colonial governance, with a highly centralized approach. During our independence struggle, there was euphoria about decentralised governance; our leaders felt that educational system was only turning out clerks for the Government! Mahatma Gandhi conceptualized " Nai Talim" craft based education in the villages to make them economically self-reliant. Concept of Panchayat as a viable economic self-governing institution was incorporated in the Constitution of India. This was further emphasized in the 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution, which envisaged greater autonomy to self-governing local bodies.
14. In practice, development interventions by the Government are through CSS and schemes initiated by State Governments are in vertical silos managed by concerned ministries, departments and organization created for their implementation. District Planning Committee, Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats are dependant on financial resources devolved by State Governments and therefore there is rigidity in the implementation. Outcome of CSS depends upon the administrative process to link micro (local level implementation) with macro (national level resource allocation decisions.)
15. Evaluation of socio-economic development schemes at district and village levels is vital to ensure that outcome reaches the intended beneficiary. Right To Information Act 2005 enables and empowers the beneficiaries to access public records to hold grass-root public authorities accountable to them. In practice this legal right would remain a theoretical proposition, unless the beneficiaries are able to use RTI Act. Section 26 requires the Government to develop and organize educational programs to advance the understanding as to how to exercise the rights contemplated under the Act. In the context of outcome of public expenditure on education, there is need for citizen's participation. This requires disseminated and disclosure of information by the grass-root public authorities, under section 4 of RTI Act that enables the intended beneficiaries to measure achievements in primary education at the village level.
16. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is a comprehensive and integrated program including micro-planning, household surveys, community mobilization, training and orientation at all level. Village Education Committee is expected to secure co-operation and participation of the community. In practice, targets have not been fulfilled and implementation has faced sharp criticism from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and Monitoring Institutions appointed by the Government of India. It has been found in recent sample survey by Assessment Survey Evaluation Research (ASER) the nearly half the children in standard 5 are unable to read the textbooks of standard 2. Generally, quality of education provided under SSA is unsatisfactory and there is emergent need for improvements.
17. Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 marks a historic moment for the children of India. All children between the ages of 6 and 14 shall have the right to free and compulsory elementary education at a neighborhood school. There is no direct (school fees) or indirect cost (uniforms, textbooks, mid-day meals, transportation) to be borne by the child or the parents to obtain elementary education. The government will provide schooling free-of-cost until a child's elementary education is completed.
18. Administrators involved in implementation and monitoring of SSA have gained valuable insight into the practical problems and impediments in fulfilling the aims and objectives of SSA. There is need to capture their practical knowledge about problems in the grass root. Solutions can emerge from realistic appraisal of shortcomings and failures. This is in sharp contrast to typical bureaucratic approach of inflating achievements and hiding failures in CSS. Practical applications of KM should shift the focus on identifying problems and evolving practical and workable solutions.
19. Children who are intended beneficiaries of SSA, their parents and the community at the grass roots are in a better position to review whether the enormous public expenditure on Universal Elementary Education has benefited them or not. Grass-root accountability of public authorities of SSA and other schemes is theoretically secured by Right To Information Act 2005 (RTI Act). This enables every citizen to access public records and find the benefits envisaged in CSS are actually reaching them. In practical term, unless the beneficiaries raise relevant issues under RTI Act, the bureaucratic tendency of covering up the failures to highlight inflated achievements may continue. Section 4 of the RTI Act makes it obligatory for every public authority to disclose and disseminate information to all citizens. Practical application of KM should improve the quality of disclosure and dissemination of information by public authorities implementing CSS under section 4 of RTI Act, making them accountable to the beneficiaries.
20. Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 envisages greater degree of "ownership" by the School Management Committee. Schools are required to constitute School Management Committees (SMCs) comprising local authority officials, parents, guardians and teachers. At least three-fourth of the Members of School Management Committee would be parents of school children. The SMCs shall form School Development Plans that would form basis of planning at higher levels. Utilization of government grants would be monitored by SMCs. School Teachers are required to hold regular meetings with parents or guardian to apprise them about the progress, attendance, etc. Norms and standards for schools have been prescribed and there is a mandatory teacher-pupil ratio, to maintain higher standard of education.
21. Emphasis on the role of School Management Committee may lead to effective decentralization of educational administration. Parents and guardians would have a greater role in ensuring that children get relevant and useful education. This can be a paradigm shift in providing education relevant to their economic needs, as their prime concern is livelihood. Some parents may be more interested in agriculture, craft, trade and employment –related skills. From their perspective, unless these aspects should be built into the educational system, it does not meet their needs. Perhaps there is need to revisit the concept of "Nai Talim", envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi, as it bridges the gap between knowledge and work. There are new perspectives of I.T.- enabled educational process, which facilitates dissemination of job-related skills.
22. Nandan Nilekani in "Imagining India-Ideas for New Century" highlights the advantages of demographic dividend in national growth. India has large number of young population, whereas USA, Europe and other advanced countries are facing practical problem of shortage of working hands. Today, you would find large number of Indians working abroad; this tendency is likely to increase in a globalised environment, as countries liberalize their visa policy to meet their shortages of skilled workers at all levels. Education at all levels is relevant to making our younger population more productive. Universal elementary education in India would not only meet the local needs- it may lead to mobility of skilled and non-skilled personnel to other countries.
23. Parents, who have broader perspective about the changing scenario, may encourage shift in educational priorities: their involvement in School Management Committee may lead to shift in educational inputs. Sustained economic growth requires relevant educational inputs and in a democracy, students and their parents should have final say on what education is relevant for them. Whereas the bureaucracy engaged in implementing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and other schemes felt constrained by guidelines of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, involvement of parents in SCMs may result in education relevant to their needs. There is need to involve parents in management, so that the education system meets there aspirations. Growth of private education in the countries shows that there is demand for quality education and parents are willing to make financial sacrifices for educating their children. Educational system funded by the Government should not be inferior to the private institutions; there is need for qualitative improvements to bring it at par.
24. Inspection of schools by authorities under SSA and education Department of State Governments has not served the intended purpose. For example, if absence of teacher is noticed by inspecting authority, it is formally reported but does not result in any action. Deficiencies pointed out by Monitoring Institutions does not result in corrective actions. Various inspecting and monitoring agency tend to report that " all is well", whereas schools suffer from major deficiencies.
25. Problems of implementing universal primary education places an unprecedented challenge of Knowledge Management before School Management Committees. Some of the issues that led to unsatisfactory implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and other similar initiatives need to be addressed, such as:
a. Have these schemes resulted in better employment opportunities? Is there need for vocational training as a supplement to formal education?
b. Why are uneducated parents not interested in educating their children? Are they aware of the advantages?
c. What is the role of community in motivating out-of-school children and school dropouts to join schools to complete their education?
d. Are the advance of information communication technology being used to improve the quality of education?
e. Is career guidance provided to schoolchildren, to motivate them to continue their education?
26. School Management Committees should be able to assert their needs and aspirations; instead of feeling constrained by rigid centrally sponsored schemes. SMCs should maintain data bank about the children, document their aspirations and help redesigning educational inputs that meet their need. Educational administrators at District, State and Central level may only provide supporting role of giving resources to schools. Management of these resources is the prerogative of SMCs and there is need for effective decentralization. Such decentralised bodies are bteer placed to handle the complexities of Change Management and trigger Knowledge-Based-Development (KBD.)
CONCLUSION
27. Knowledge Management Indices for School Management Committees (SMCs) would help them in highlighting the critical issues that need to be addressed. Moreover, in view of higher role to SMCs, tacit knowledge in implementing SSA and other schemes should be documented and passed on the SMCs for their involvement in finding solutions. This is an unexplored area. Important role has been assigned to them under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009. Professional support can be given to them by evolving Knowledge Management Indices, to guide them and form a basis for performance evaluation by the community. Monitoring attendance and performance of teachers would be an important role of SMCs. SMCs of Government-funded schools are "Pubic Authorities" under RTI Act, which makes it mandatory for them to disclose and disseminate information. KM indices should be evolved to improve the content of disclosure, so that SMCs are accountable to the parents of school children and the community.
28. Professional initiatives are needed for practical application of the concepts of Knowledge management, leading to Knowledge Based Development in all centrally sponsored schemes in social sector such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Employment Guarantee Scheme, National Rural Health Mission, Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programs, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojana, etc. Success of these schemes is vital for sustained inclusive socio-economic growth and following aspects deserves due emphasis to address the weaknesses in government systems, structures and institutions at different levels of governance:
a. Focus on needs of intended beneficiaries.
b. Flexibility to meet local conditions.
c. Effective decentralization for public participation and greater role of stake-holders in the development process.
29. Effective decentralization is essential for success of centrally sponsored schemes for social economic development. As an illustration, if School Management Committees work well, they can resolve problems that Government administrative structures have not been able to resolve. Panchayats have to perform a greater role in success of CSS.
REFERENCES
I. http://www.education.nic.in/ssa/ssa_1.asp
II. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_management
III. http://www.sistemasdeconocimiento.org/Produccion_intelectual/notas_tecnicas/2003_PDF/csc2003-07.pdf
IV. http://www.education.nic.in/JRM/jrm1.asp
V. http://www.businessballs.com/changemanagement.htm
VI. http://www.cag.gov.in/Social%20Audit.pdf
VII. http://saiindia.gov.in/cag/union-audit/report-no-15-sarva-shiksha-abhiyan-ministry-human-resource-development.
VIII. "Imagining India-Ideas for the New Century": Nandan Nilekani; Penguin Books 2008
IX. "India in slow Motion-all about bad governance" Mark Tully.
X. "PAISA 2010: Do Schools Get their Money?" research findings of national survey by Accountability Initiative, Assessment Survey Evaluation Research (ASER) and National Institute of Public Finance and Policy presented on 14.3.2011 with notes from:
a. Contextualizing PAISA: Yamini Aiyar, Director Accountability Initiative
b. Findings of PAISA 2010 National Survey: Ambrish Dongre Senior Researcher Accountability Initiative and Yamini Aiyar
c. My Village, My School: Rukmini Banerji, Director ASER, Pratham
d. Closing the Expenditure Cycle: from outlays to outputs to outcomes: Professor Anit Mukherjee, National Institute of Public Finance Policy
e. The "All Is Well" conundrum in school inspection and monitoring: Shomikho Raha, Lead Implementation Researcher, Accountability Initiative.
f. Fiscal Implications of the RTE: Aditi Gandhi Research Associate Centre for Policy Research
Author: Dhirendra Krishna IA&AS (Retired), C-4 Usha Niketan, Safderjung Developmant Area, New Delhi-110016, India, Phone 9871440814, 26515035, Email : dhirendra.krishna@yahoo.com
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