UNESCO and Pratham, with the Ministry of Human Resource Development, organized a Workshop on Universal Elementary Education in Urban Areas in India on March 18, 2005. The workshop brought together government officers from city, state and national levels, researchers, NGOs, and policymakers together to discuss the current status of universalization of elementary education in urban areas.  The workshop had two objectives: to review status and re-visit planning and implementation; and to discuss how to track the progress of universalization in cities.

The following is an executive summary of the conference proceedings:

Introduction:

Smt. Kumud Bansal, Secretary Elementary Education & Literacy, MHRD; Dr. M. Tawfik, UNESCO representative; Farida Lambay & Rukmini Banerji, Pratham

The introductory remarks drew attention to the following key points on primary education in urban areas:

• There must be increased focus on the urban child under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)

• Urban children deserve contextualized attention, especially migrant, working, street, institutionalized, disabled children, children in conflict with law, and those over 14

• Draw focus to sub-ward unit for planning and implementation; compare urban progress to rural and smaller cities

• Enhance pre-primary options to better prepare children to go to school and expand upper primary opportunities to ensure that children continue in school

• Enable coordination between phases of education, multiple providers and stakeholders

Session I: Where Are We Today? Current Status of Universal Elementary Education in Urban Areas.

Moderator: Amarjeet Sinha, IAS

The four panelists were Mrs. Indira Yadav of Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Mr. A. Jadhav, SSA/Mumbai Municipal Corporation; Dr. Raghunath Mitra, SSA chairman from Kolkata; Mrs. G. Rajeshwari, SSA for Bangalore.  The panelists outlined the efforts under way in each city to address issues of enrollment, retention, and achievement, and briefly discussed the limitations to achieving the goals of universal elementary education.

Session II: Rethinking Norms? Issues in Planning & Implementation.

Moderator: Amit Kaushik, Director, Department of Elementary Education and Literacy

The five panelists (Partha Roy from CINI-Asha, Kolkata; M. Rajan, Managing Trustee, Pratham Delhi; Usha Bapna, Government of Rajasthan; Prof. Nalini Juneja, NIEPA; Vinod Raina, member of the Central Advisory Board of Education) discussed their respective experiences with research, practice, and policy on planning and implementation norms within primary education in urban areas.

Session III: Tracking Progress of Universaliztion in Urban Areas

Moderator: Rukmini Banerji, Pratham

The panelists (Rohini Nilekeni, Akshara Foundation, Bangalore; Manoj Kumar, Naandi Foundation, Hyderabad; Giri, Azim Premji Foundation, Bangalore; Rukmini Banerji, Pratham) discussed the successful attempts to track the status of primary education in their respective cities using a variety of indicators and metrics.

In the discussion that followed the panel presentations, the following key points were raised:

• Improve linkages between the formal and informal system to improve mainstreaming, and planning

• Cities must learn from successful decentralization in rural areas, and from best practices in other cities

• Providers of primary education as well as NGOs in education need to participate in SSA planning and decision-making in cities

• Better coordination needed between multiple authorities, stakeholders, and providers of urban primary education

• External monitoring mechanisms are require to evaluate status of urban education

Conclusion & Steps Forward: Madhav Chavan, Pratham & Vimala Ramachandran, Education Resource Unit

The speakers concluded with a summary of conference proceedings and a strong push for more such systematic reviews of urban education in other big cities, small cities, and towns.

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