Planning & Monitoring :
The planning department for any institution or organization plays a vital role in shaping its goals in a directive way. The importance of planning lies in the fact that it initiates the strategic, qualitative, and concrete improvement of the sector. The integrated and comprehensive planning of SSA, RTE encompasses all its branches of access, equity, retention, and quality, and the interrelationships between these segments to achieve the desired goal of SSA, RTE, i.e. Universalisation of Elementary Education(UEE). The formulation of strategic reform planning to reach the goal is the backbone of the planning process. The visionary and reflective input in the planning of policies, designing of activities, and conduct of need-based training, leads to the preparation of a Perspective Plan to reach UEE. The preparation and formulation of the Annual Work Plan &Budget (AWP&B) of SSA, Assam, is a holistic plan for elementary education for the implementation of the RTE Act (2009). The Annual Work Plan & Budget is being conceptualized in the light of the National Curriculum Framework and the Right to Education Act, 2009. The AWP&B of each district of the State interplays and materializes the objective of SSA. The coherence and consolidation of objectives of Access, Equity, and Quality are integrated in planning, keeping note on SSA RTE norms.
Planning Process:
State Planning Team
District Planning Team
Block Planning Team
School Development Plan
The level-wise actual execution of Planning objectives:
The process of Planning starts with the collection of DISE in the month of September in every year.
1. The State-level in-house meeting, chaired by the Mission Director, for preparing AWP&B as per the guidelines circulated by MHRD.
2. A workshop with district-level officials, along with State Mission officials at the State Mission Office, to highlight the guidelines of MHRD and directions from State Components for the formulation of AWP&B.
3. The district officials share the information to district/Block level officials by conducting a meeting headed by the District Mission Co-coordinator, involving Block Mission Offices, DIETs/Normal Schools/BTCs, etc.
4. The block-level meeting, chaired by the Block Mission Co-coordinator, is conducted among block-level employees, comprising the Resource Teacher, CRCC, along with other district representatives.
5. The Cluster level sharing is conducted with the President /Member Secretary of SMC/Mothers Groups along with CRCCs & Block & District representatives, including DIET in-charge of Blocks.
6. The SMC shares and prepares the School Development Plan with Teachers and other members to forward to the block level for consideration.
Planning details
The scenario of Elementary Education has changed with the advent of the Right to Education Act in the State. The assurance of various provisions of the act, including the teacher training and its post effective implication in the education system, is a vital matter in the education system. Concentration on the basic principles of education policies, SSA, Assam, puts emphasis on all district and sub-district level functionaries on preparing the Annual Work Plan &Budget every year. Efforts have been made to design the SSA activities that can be conducted in collaboration and convergence with other education institutes and departments to offer suggestions and set the goals.
Budgeting:
The plan under SSA is an Annual Perspective Plan for the coming financial year. The budget and financial proposals under SSA are prepared in the form of AWP&B, covering all components in compliance with the theme of Access, Equity, Quality specified in the SSA norms. Item-wise budget demands for one year are included in AWP&B. The AWP&B proposals are envisaged in two parts: the plan for the current financial year and the progress overview of the previous year.
Monitoring
SSA envisages a strong Monitoring Mechanism in all Cluster, block, district, and state levels to supervise and inspect the intervention-wise activities. The grouping monitoring processes are:
1. Monitoring at the SMC level of the Whole School Development Plan and its both academic and administrative aspects.
2. School Supervision by block and cluster functionaries to inspect and supervise the academic, infrastructure, and administrative features of schools.
3. Monitoring at the District level by district functionaries to blocks and clusters is directed to observe the functions under SSA.
State-level monitoring apparatus
1. State Commission for Protection of Child Rights or Right to Education Protection Authority.
2. Periodic meetings of the State Executive Committee of SSA.
3. Conduct of internal, statutory, and concurrent audit.
4. Monitoring by the State Monitoring Institute
5. The conduct of various research-based activities to evaluate the various dimensions of SSA.
National Level Monitoring:
1. The online monitoring web portal named “Shagun” launched on 18th January, 2017, by MHRD to monitor the qualitative and quantitative progress and achievement of the activities in the State under SSA is a remarkable mechanism to supervise.
2. The conduct of quarterly, half-yearly review meetings and regional workshops with State Education Secretaries and state Project Directors.
3. Review by Joint Review Mission (JRM), by Govt of India, State Governments, and external funding agencies.
Research Evaluation Monitoring & Supervision (REMS) : is one of the functional areas of SSA. Under it, the effectiveness of various interventions and activities is evaluated to identify the strengths and weaknesses through surveys/studies. Surveys/studies are conducted involving Universities, colleges, Research institutes, and other organisations. Over the years, surveys/studies have been conducted. State-level achievement surveys have been conducted. SikshaSamriddhi (Shaala Siddhi)- a school evaluation programme has been implemented since last year.
