Archives

The Institute for Development and Communication (IDC) is a premier autonomous research, training and evaluation organisation of North-West of India.

Educational and Evaluation Unit

Aimed at to evaluating the implementation of the TSC Programme in the sampled villages representing the State’s seven districts, Hoshiarpur, Patiala, Barnala, Moga, Jalandhar, Ferozepur, and Tarn Taran. Objectives of the evaluation study were: to examine and assess the overall sanitary conditions along with assessing the systematic execution of the TSC scheme; evaluating various aspects, such as, transparency and accountability in the implementation of the scheme; studying and analysing the attitudes and profiles of the beneficiaries and the extent to which they have benefited from the scheme; evaluating the role and involvement of the village Panchayat functionaries in promoting the cause of sanitation campaign in their respective Panchayats. Found that a large number of the people in the villages, particularly in the BPL category, have no access to sanitation facilities; construction of toilets alone may not yield the desired results. The problem of husk burning and the use of dung cakes and fire wood in cooking for men and animals, which creates health hazards, are still widely being practised in the villages. The IEC programme has hardly succeeded in changing the mind-set of the people who lacked awareness on such vital issues. The village Panchayats and the related groups, including “Gram Panchayat Water and Sanitation Committees”, should focus on sanitary matters and sensitise people in the villages who suffer from relatively poor health status and weak health care system

Study the Economic Ventures Scheme by the Punjab State Schedules Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation (PSSCFC). The Scheme was initiated to promote employment through self-employment among the scheduled caste population. Finds failure to achieve the targets of the scheme could be attributed to the structural, institutional and procedural, behavioral, cultural and historical constraints inbuilt into the social setting and hence affected the effective implementation of the scheme through the practice of red tapism and the absence of formal channels of information dissemination to the potential beneficiaries.

Evaluate the process and success of the Operation Blackboard Scheme in Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh; the objective of the study was to assess the progress in the implementation of OB scheme as presented by the officials at the State headquarters, district headquarters, and block education offices ; to evaluate the appropriateness of training given to the head teachers and teachers in the use of OB material ; to evaluate the perceptions of the students, teachers and representative members of the community about OB scheme ; to survey the status of school buildings, type of schools, drinking water and toilet facilities, number of blackboards per school, distance of the upper primary and secondary schools from the primary schools; to study the attendance and enrolment of the primary school students and the availability of contingency fund and related issues.

2003-04

Aims to find out whether higher investment in education and increase in the quality inputs had any effect on attracting children to the school, preventing dropouts, and ensuring higher levels of scholastic attainments; study reveals that though budgetary allocation at the district level had increased considerably, yet the expansion of schools, the number of teachers and total enrolment of the children had declined over the 10-years; study concludes that there was a partial correspondence between cost and enrolment; makes various recommendations in terms of the strategies to increase enrolment, enhance the process of teaching-learning, relieve the teachers of the extraneous duties, arrest dropout, stagnation and migration

2006-07

Purpose of the Study was to provide an objective and realistic assessment of the current status of CEP after the implementation in the district. Assesses the actual performance of the ZilaSakshartaSamiti (ZSS) and the Blocks in respect of the establishment and functioning of Continuing Education Centres. The Study was carried out with a view to assessing the attainments of the District so far; provide feedback to the organizers at ZSS, Pali, about the strengths and weaknesses of the programme and suggest suitable measures to overcome the shortcomings to bring about qualitative improvement in the programme.

Provides an objective and realistic assessment of the current status of CEP after its implementation in the district; assesses the actual performance of ZilaSakshartaSamiti (ZSS) and Blocks in respect of the establishment and functioning of Continuing Education Centres, and Nodal Continuing Education Centre; launching of target specific programmes; assessing the attainments of the district so far; provide feedback to the organizers at ZSS, Hoshiarpur, about the strengths and weaknesses of the programme, and suggest suitable measures to overcome the shortcomings to bring about qualitative improvement in the programme.

2011-12

Jan ShikshanSansthans (JSS) focus on the poor, illiterates, neo-literates, and the underprivileged. The Jan ShikshanSansthans not only provide skill development, but link literacy with vocational skills and provide Life Enrichment Education (LEE) to the people living in the urban, semi urban, organized and unorganised sectors; aims to work with the other stakeholders to prepare their beneficiaries into self-reliant and self-assured employees and entrepreneurs. Some lacunas which prohibited the intended reach. Guide suggests various recommendations to improve the human and material conditions/resources as well as the adoption of new techniques while training the beneficiaries.

2017-18

To undertake an in-depth analysis and present a report on the basis of the ‘State Learning Achievement Survey 2015-16’ for the 5th class as collected from the Punjab Government schools. Findings: Among the social groups, the OBC are best performing; general category students are second best and SC students are among the lowest performing students. Homework checked seems an important indicator, reflects the commitment of a teacher. These poorest among poor people are, thus, able to perform with other category students and are mainly studying in small schools nearby. RTE Act, 2009 has resulted in benefiting the downtrodden despite low quality of education in such schools. Performance of students in schools having less than or equal to one teacher for the 5th class is not good even in cases in which home work is checked; performance of schools having strength less than 50 students vary as children of unprivileged section seem to get benefit from the small class size of around 10 students; commitment of teachers and students can outweigh the difficulties caused due to oversize of class. In schools where the strength of a teacher is 1 or less than 1, the performance of students is affected due to teachers’ being occupied in too many classes and unable to pay attention to everyone. The schools with limited strength i.e. less than 50 students are the ones’ where the performance of students is not satisfactory in all the categories. Overall performance of students in rural areas is better compared to urban areas irrespective whether such kids receive any help in studies at home or not; girls are performing better compared to boys in both rural and urban areas among the all social groups except in case of general category for urban area; in rural kandi area is relatively poor compared to other rural areas of the state; in urban kandi areas is much better compared to other urban areas in the state.  The Female teachers’ performance on an average is marginally better compared to male teachers in rural areas on the basis of students score on test conducted by SLAS; performance of students taught by teachers having more than 11 years of work experience is among the best in urban areas; performance of students is best in schools with STR>20 to STR<35 which should be targeted except Punjabi subject. There are also too many variations for a given STR within various level of physical infrastructure; schools having average infrastructure are among better performing schools compared to schools having poor and good infrastructure. Within average infrastructure, the schools with STR>20 to <=35 and STRC>35 to <=50 are almost at par. Findings from two districts, namely SAS Nagar and Ropar suggest that parents from the lower economic background are not happy with the quality of education despite shuttling their kids from the Government to the private and back to the Government schools and foregoing several incentives that are available in the Government-run schools. This resulted in the decline in the share of the Government-run schools from 85.8 to 71.2 per cent and, in terms of enrolment, from 70.3 to 52.3 per cent during 2010-16 as estimated while using DISE data. Purpose of the Act should not be merely to enroll a large number of students and make them literate by spreading the network of the schools, but to ensure universalization in quality of education up to the middle standard; making education as a fundamental right does not mean the provision of cheap, substandard education. It should be entirely the responsibility of the State to ensure the standards.

2023-24

Many NGOs have been engaged in undertaking the socio-economic upliftment of the marginalized sections of society. Their intervention can be broadly classified as follows: Number of NGOs have been involved in providing immediate relief to groups, communities and individuals. These efforts include one-point interaction with the community like in the case of natural disasters like floods and community kitchens etc. Keeping this perspective in view, an in-depth analysis of various activities of various NGOs has been undertaken. The study shall help to develop a collective training program of the Government Officials, NGOs and the Community Representatives including Strategies to Mobilize the Community, Coordination and Networking, Communication Skills, Accountancy, and IT application. The study shall also help to engage civil society organizations as per their focused areas, skill set and regional reach.

1995-96

Highlights the functioning of gender system and its relationship with other social aspects in Punjab. The gender system functions by providing male ascendancy, male inheritance and gender differentiated roles. The interaction between patriarchal system of society and development processes shape up the newer forms of violence. The forms of violence which were earlier illegitimate may be gaining acceptance and the acts previously invisible are becoming visible.

Evaluates the impact, extent of utilization as well as strata-wise utilization of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). The main thrust of this integrated programme is to avoid wastage and maximize the impact of individual services. Finds that the main beneficiaries to the ICDS were not the poorest of poor; paucity of funds and learning material, indifferent attitude of the ICDS staff and lack of awareness and communication channels were identified as constraints to the scheme.

1986 NPE recommended the establishment of minimum levels of learning for the various subject areas at different school stages. Keeping in view the developmental needs of learner, curricular requirements of the subject and learning continuum in important areas of scientifically relevant concerns were identified. At upper primary stage, competency base MLLs in subject areas of science, Mathematics and languages (Hindi, Punjabi, English) were drawn so as to make them master learning competencies. The MLLs were laid down to monitor the progress of students so as to improve learner’s achievement against expected benchmarks.

Deals with child marriage, illegal marriage, divorce, rape, prostitution, eve teasing, wife beating, dowry, female feticide, legal rights in parental properties etc.

Critically examines the strata-wise access to education, teaching methods and evaluation of students, syllabi, text books and teacher training material; suggests to improve the quality of teachers through in service training and re-orientation programmes.

1996-97

Broadly, national integration aims at inculcating a sense of unity among the youth of the country. Find out the impact of the national integration programmes organized by various organizations on the perception of the youth on issues relating to secularism, nationalism and communalism. The impact of programme implementation is captured from the youth targeted under this scheme. Ascertains the extent to which the youth has become aware, motivated and sensitized to the issue of national integration and adopted methods to further unity and deals with the factors contributing to the disintegration process.

Evaluation report for the Haryana PrathmikShikshaPariyojnaParishad, an orientation-cum-training programme for primary school teachers for improving the quality of teaching-learning in hard spots of mathematics and languages. Methods used are workshop and semi-structured interviews to review the use of instructional packages and to assess the response of participants in the training programme.

There is a commitment to change the thrust of development from dole giver and dole receiver syndrome to people’s productive participation. It has been envisaged to assign a pivotal role to the Panchayati Raj institutions in this context and also to accelerate the process of rural development. Emphasis on economic well-being and other vital aspects of socio-political life in the rural areas were tragically overlooked. Mere constitutional provisions may not result in genuine empowerment. The need is to harness their capacity to implement the tasks assigned to these institutions. The focus of the present project shall be on functional literacy to skill empowerment as a continuum.

Attempts to evaluate the impact of government-sponsored schemes on the most depressed SC groups in nine districts of the state; findings reveal the miserable condition of these SC groups. The majority (90%) of the respondents were found to be living in Jhuggis, 97% were landless and few respondents were in government jobs and that too in low positions. 80% of them were found to be illiterate and child labor was prevalent; suggests the government to initiate development processes which would reduce economic disparities by augmenting the income of the poor and by effectively putting a ceiling on the wealth of the rich.

Examines the socio-economic conditions of the depressed castes, their access to health, education, property and training for up gradation of skills and their preferences, aptitude and opportunities with a view to developing a sound policy package and intervention strategies to uplift the depressed SC groups; finds that only a handful of SC groups, the so-called “Harijan elite”, have been benefitting from the current government schemes; focuses on select SC groups, which have been deprived of benefits of schemes for the uplift of SCs due to their small size, high illiteracy rate and nomadic existence. The new schemes would have to be designed in a way that they are compatible with their preference, aptitude and area placement.

1997-98

Assesses the impact of training programme in terms of learning outcomes of pupils in mathematics at the primary stage.

Survey was conducted for the seventeen districts of Punjab within the parameters and methodology prescribed by UNICEF; recommends the construction of sanitary latrines in towns and villages, judicious use of the print media for AIDS awareness, continuous reinforcement of the people’s awareness regarding immunization of children and organisation of the family planning campaign;  stresses the need for educating women about the dangers of iodine deficiency and also provision of ORS in each locality for checking diarrheal dehydration.

Aims at improving the quality of rural life by providing adequate sanitation and hygiene, curing and preventing illness, by universalising education and spreading awareness about the Panchayati Raj Act; finds the variation between the functionary and beneficiary perceptions regarding awareness of the activities undertaken; suggests various strategies to strengthen the functioning of yuvamandals and creation of infrastructure.

Study was conducted mainly with the purpose of generation of authentic and reliable data and information with a view to modifying the strategies of implementation of the National Plan of Action for Children and helping in formation of area specific policies.

Study was conducted mainly with the purpose for policy planning and implementation of the action plan on total health care of the child and mother for urban slums in Punjab.

Assesses perceptions of trainees and after the training programme, the level of enhancement of competence of teachers to handle the hard spots in the teaching of Mathematics and Hindi and to evaluate the success of the training programme by daily identifying the strengths and weaknesses; reveals that the training programme is accepted by majority of the trainees favourably and orientation of teachers in dealing with hard spots in Mathematics has been helpful in empowering them to have a better understanding of the content.

Objectives is find out the impact of NSS association on ex-volunteers’ attitude towards social and national issues and community-oriented interventions; to seek their opinion to identify the inadequacies and suggestions, and the role of the community in NSS programmes; findings were that a majority of the NSS volunteers join NSS for social programmes. It certainly provides them with a platform to improve their communication and team-work skills, but there is inadequate involvement of the community in all the activities of NSS at all levels – decision making, implementation of NSS activities, monitoring and evaluation as well; found that education, health facilities, employment opportunities and applied knowledge about different social issues were the main priorities of the community; suggests certain steps, such as, to give adequate balance to the community capacity building programmes and to ensure accountability regarding the benefits of the scheme at NSS unit level, proper orientation of the NSS staff, to strengthen the volunteer aspect of the scheme, gender sensitisation of the volunteers, adequate funds for the programmes, better co-ordination with other agencies, and to strengthen the participation of the community in NSS programmes at all level.

World Bank-funded project namely Integrated Watershed Development Project (Hills), was implemented from 1990-91 to 1997-98 in the Punjab State. The main objective of this project was to arrest and reverse the process of ecological degradation, and increase production and income from the arable and non-arable lands through people’s participation The IDC carried out the impact evaluation of the Project to determine whether the project objectives set out in terms of the expected outputs, effects and impacts thereof have been met. The study addressed the physical and financial achievements, studied discernible changes in the socio-economic parameters and analysed the implementation constraints.

Objective of the urban basic services programme (UBSP) is to increase the availability of basic service to the poor by enhancing their income generating skills. The study finds that the beneficiaries’ identification was not according to the norms of the UBSP target group; nor was the method adopted to identify the beneficiaries according to the norm of UBSP target group; method adopted to identify the beneficiaries was not through the support structures, but through political nexus; the number of women who were equipped with proper awareness regarding neighbourhood groups / committees was negligible, as no worker was involved from the line departments like ICDS in these committees;  role performed by the field functionaries in different schemes such as SUMET (NRY), shelter and housing upgradation, SUME, health services, etc., their function was confined to providing awareness, sanitation and safe drinking water, and community mobilisation, that too on a negligible level; no effort was directed towards proper provision of the materials and co-ordination in most of the schemes; functionaries were not even well-informed regarding the availability of the services. RCVs were not properly acquainted with the roles that they were required to perform; the primary function of the RCVs as conceived by UBSP to act as means to transmit information to the slums and to enhance community participation was not fulfilled.

Assessment of the rural socio-economic status of a State is an essential prerequisite for undertaking integrated rural energy planning a long-term basis. With this end in view, IDC conducted an assessment study of the energy use scenario on behalf of Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) in 10 blocks of different districts of Punjab. The study also estimates the future energy consumption / needs and assesses the energy related resources of each block. The report for each block is in two volumes.

2002-03

Study is an evaluation of the development interventions in the fields of education, health and empowerment of women initiated by the MDA under the Mewat Area Development Project (M.A.D.P.); examines the various benefits that have accrued to the community from the schemes and the scope for further improvement in them; schemes taken up for the study are: Child Development Project; Mobile Health Clinic Programme; SHG-Dairy Linkage Scheme; Food Processing Training Programme; Training of Animators; Training of Elected Women Representatives

Report presents the findings of the first external evaluation of Continuing Education Programme (CEP) in district Mandi of Himachal Pradesh. CEP was launched with the objective of life-long learning and is implemented after the completion of total literacy and post-literacy phases; focuses was on the assessment of administrative and organisational components of the programme; also attempted to discover the present status of Continuing Education Centres; concludes that the Nodal CECs, CECs and Mini CECs were numerically adequate and locational appropriate but suffered from inadequacy in terms of furniture, equipment and basic amenities.

Project sponsored by the Mewat Development agency, Nuh, is an innovative technique of evaluating development interventions through community participation. Integrated participatory seasonal information is the basic input for development where all information that is meaningful to the village, its human, animal and natural resources, is collected, analysed, interpreted and stored in the village by the village population. The village population is then able to utilise this information to identify, prioritise, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate development projects relevant to their village. The report documents the various achievements under the project.

2003-04

Aims at revalidating the Health Management Information System Data and identifying any discrepancies in the maintenance of the records. Focuses on 157 secondary level health institutions being modernised under the State Health Systems Development Project with the assistance of World Bank; focuses to identify problems with timely flow of information, and to study the record management, inaccuracies in the reported data, to undertake qualitative analysis of the selected hospitals, and to suggest solutions for the removal of the discrepancies in the reported data; reveals that 11.46% of the hospitals that had been studied they had excessive usage of the facilities leading to overcrowding, while in 17.20% of the hospitals, utilisation of the services was below par.

Critically examines the access to education, teaching methods, and evaluation of the students, syllabi, text books and teacher training material in all the categories; suggests that the quality of teachers be improved through in-service training and re-orientation programmes; produces instructional material for the teachers and the students like handbooks, work sheets, tests in the Punjabi language, and the methodology of the production of such material.

2004-05

Focusses on identifying and analysing the causative factors behind the decline in the enrolment of the students in primary schools of rural Haryana; findings of the  shows a decline in the enrolment figures in each of the four districts; apathy of the teachers, lack of infrastructure and physical facilities,  overall discipline in the schools and the parental preference for switching over to the private schools, due to attractive facilities and better environment in those schools; suggests measures to improve the declining enrolment rates, bring about qualitative improvement in the education inputs, and arrest the dropout rates in order to achieve the aim of universalisation of elementary education; also enlis various implications for planning and policy making, administration and training.

Strategy is to utilize the existing public health infrastructure and resources strengthened by the services and networking to improve the service delivery as also initiate mechanisms to discharge primary health with accountability at the local level. The focus of the project was to evaluate the nature and extent of capacity building undertaken in the areas of intensive and extensive service delivery, the process of role discharge and activities that were defined and coordinated among the various partners and affiliates (support structures, volunteers and community groups), and to assess the impact of service delivery.

2005-06

Government initiative to decentralize primary health care to the panchayats signals the government’s interest in promoting strengthening of the health sector at the grassroots level; the aim of the health care project has been to build grassroots capacities for the promotion of health through providing community health services in selected villages using the government PHC sub-centres; to provide leadership and training to the health personnel, and decision makers; and to develop a systematic approach to the community health promotion throughout the district.

Evaluation of the Post-Literacy Programme (PLP) aims at studying the extent to which PLP’s objectives have been achieved, assessing to what extent the requisite activities were undertaken and their effectiveness, and providing feedback to the ZilaSaksharataSamiti to overcome the shortcomings and bottlenecks for the future programmes; also evaluates the preparedness of the ZilaSaksharataSamiti for the Continuing Education Programme (CEP).

Evaluation of the literacy and numeracy skills acquired by the learners; to study the impact of the literacy programme for accelerating female literacy in the district, to examine roles and involvement of the panchayati raj functionaries, and the NGOs in the programme, and to find out the lacunae in the programme which have witnessed same sporadic results against the successful running of the programmes in the past.

Objective of the evaluation of SRC are the assignment of the nature or quality of inputs, throughout and the outcomes; the extent or quantity of the various elements of inputs, throughput, and outcomes; explaining the findings of the performance of the SRC, and explaining the difference in the quality and quantity of the various elements of inputs and throughputs.

Ascertain the awareness of and attitude towards persons seeking HIV/AIDS testing or care and support services among the medical and para-medical staff; to make recommendations on strengthening the staff, and organisational capacity, and the implementing mechanism during NACP III.

Assesses the prevalence of HIV infection in the Central Police and Paramilitary Forces of India; to provide recommendations for mainstreaming of HIV/AIDS activities within the departments/forces; covers four paramilitary forces, i.e., Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

Introduced in more than 4000 upper primary and secondary schools in Punjab under the BOOT System (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) to strengthen the scheme and improve its service delivery; assesses the programme in terms of ICT capacities imbibed by the students; to explore the innovative uses of ICT to enhance the students’ learning curve; carried out in six districts of the state namely: Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Bathinda and Fatehgarh Sahib covering 29 Educational Blocks; sample comprised of 80 government senior secondary schools, 120 ICT teachers and 312 ICT students of the high school and senior secondary classes; findings reveals that out of 5432 upper primary government schools, the ICT had been implemented in 4964 schools in the State in 3 phases; the quantitative inputs in respect of infrastructure: computer labs furnishing, electrification, hardware software, and the qualitative inputs like, weekly schedule, student-PC ratio, ratio were found in accordance to the norms of the scheme; points out some barriers to the computer related activities like, non-availability of books and erratic power supply, extra duties of the teachers, shortage of PCs due to the delays in the repair and maintenance, slower connections of internet, etc.

2007-08

Literacy skills acquired during the Total Literacy and Post Literacy stage necessitated to sustain the impact of literacy skills; continuing education programme is multi-faceted in nature with the flexibility to allow grassroots community participation; postulated on the principle of treating basic literacy, post-literacy, and continuing education as one sustained, coherent learning process; stablishing an alternative structure for lifelong learning; responding to the needs of all the sections of the society: the children and the adults, educated persons, and the neo-literates; learning to be perceived as a mode of human capacity building, over and above literacy. Addresses the socio-economic needs of the community by development of the human resources; first external evaluation of the Continuing Education Programme of District Kadapa (Andhra Pradesh)

2008-09

ICT project is an integrated computer literacy and computer aided learning programme; introduced in more than 4000 upper primary and secondary schools in Punjab under BOOT System (Build, Own, Operation and Transfer); study assesses the programme in terms of ICT capacities imbibed by students and to explore innovative uses of ICT to enhance the students’ learning curve.

Project is concerned with the PRIs management of health and education services and in identifying gaps in service delivery; covers the functioning of rural dispensaries and schools under the management and control of zila parishads and in identifying inputs to strengthen the role performed by PRIs.

Highlights the significance of various phases of human life; a human can use its youth to develop its skills, do fruitful work and transform the lives of those in need of help; discusses the various topics of importance to human life. Only a successful, skillful and satisfied person can show the path to success to others just as a burning candle can light others. Hard work and determination along with clear motives can help one attain success; full with suggestions and important life lessons for youth.

2009-10

Project is concerned with the PRI’s management of the health and education services, and in identifying the gaps in the service delivery;  covered the functioning of rural dispensaries and schools under the management and control of Zila Parishads, and in identifying the inputs to strengthen the role performed by the PRIs; evaluation of the Rural Dispensaries/Subsidiary Health Centres and schools was conducted in 6 districts, namely, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Bathinda, and Fatehgarh Sahib; concluded that more than 20 patients per day are the beneficiaries of the SHCs; an improvement in the enrolment, dropout rate, migration, and the success rate of primary school children; 43 per cent vacancies of the teachers, 89 per cent schools without peon, 66 per cent schools without adequate seating facility for the children.

2010-11

Revealed that around 83 per cent POs rated the success of RRC members in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. Objective of educating youth about increasing their level of understanding HIV infections, prevention and control was achieved to some extent; percentage of RRC members involved with PLWHAs was very small in number; just four out of the 168 RRC members had made efforts to establish contact with PLWHAs. In case of the Principals, around 35.7 percent of them found the RRC members capable of making other students realise the problems of PLWHAs; recommendations suggested relate to training on the skill development, addressing the HIV/AIDS & related issues, and coordination with other departments.

Jan ShikshanSansthans (JSS) focuses on the poor, the illiterates, the neo-literates, the under-privileged, and the un-reached; link literacy with vocational skills and provide Life Enrichment Education (LEE) to the people living in urban, semi urban, organised and unorganised sectors; aims to work with other stakeholders to shape their beneficiaries into self-reliant and self-assured employees and entrepreneurs; though the government tried to take the services to the needy, there were some lacunas which prohibited its reach; suggests various recommendations to improve the human and material conditions/resources as well as the adoption of new techniques while training the beneficiaries.

Aims at critically evaluating the existing de-addiction centres and preventive programmes in terms of physical infrastructure, efficiency of functioning, and the outcome and impact of the conducted activities; assessing  the attitude and prejudices of the addicts, community and the support structures associated with the functioning of the centres, and preparing an action plan delineating the steps to be put in place for preventive and curative mechanism, rehabilitation and reintegration of the addicts into the community. The core area of operationalisation of the Study would be the De-addiction Centres.

2014-15

Need for authentic referencing on the issue of family planning, maternal health and HIV under the spectrum of Islam; not any authentic texts readily available for the scholars, religious leaders, etc. Objectives: scope of the earlier study has to be enlarged in terms of available literature, stakeholders’ comprehension on host of issues like, reproductive health, maternal health, child care, family planning, female reproductive health, barriers to access to services – taboos regarding sexual or reproductive health in terms of community support and cultural values; comparative knowledge shall be evolved by studying public response in the Muslim majority countries like Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Algeria, Egypt, and Iran; helps in arriving at authentic formulations and comprehensive framework; ensured to make document so detailed that it becomes reachable to the diverse cultural groups amongst Muslims by capturing regional and cultural variations. Findings: percentage of adoption of permanent family planning methods is high than of temporary family planning. Existence of girls and boys marrying before the attainment of legal age is still prevalent. Positive change in the knowledge level regarding the modern contraceptive methods among the Muslims; adoption of sterilization is highest among women as 99 per cent Muslim women undergone female sterilization; shows that the males do not desire or prefer to undergo sterilization; still a need to create awareness towards the benefits of family planning, especially, among the illiterate families.

2015-16

Fewer number of Scheduled Caste girl students in the educational institutions were noticed, as they have to leave their studies to assist their poor parents to augment the family income by taking up nominal jobs. To check this tendency, the State government decided to adopt ways and means and started Attendance Scholarship Scheme to the SC primary girl students in 1992-93 at the District Level and in 2008-09, it was transferred to the State Plan. Findings: Number of schemes, difference in the amount of benefits are creating confusion and conflicts; respondents were not well aware about the scheme; the girls of the same family are discriminated as they are getting less than boys which is unfair and gender biased; banks are not friendly at all; there was delay of two years in distributing scholarship by the department; only 20 per cent candidates (79 out of 408) who confirmed that they had received scholarship for all previous academic sessions of their studies; non-receipt of scholarship, long delays in the disbursement of scholarships, no source for redressal of the grievances, non-cooperating banks, etc., are the major problems faced by the respondents.

Objectives to support the parents of SC children studying in classes IX and X so that the incidence of dropout is minimized; to improve the participation of SC children in classes IX and X of the pre-matric stage, so that they perform better and have a better chance of progressing to the post-matric stage of education Findings: strength of the SC students in different stages of schooling, students’ enrolment from 2010 to 2013 improved in the 9th and 10th classes growth was impressive, as 42 per cent increase has been registered; percentage increase in the strength of the SC girls was comparatively less than the SC boys as percentage increase in the strength of the SC boys in the ninth and tenth class; approximately 93 per cent the SC students had received their scholarship for class 9th; For class 10th, approximately 89 per cent  SC students (who did their tenth earlier in academic session 2014-15 or before) had received their scholarship and, specifically, those students who did their 10th in 2014-15, the beneficiary percentage was 90.24 per cent

Objectives to provide financial assistance to the Scheduled Caste students studying at post-matriculation or post-secondary stage to enable them to complete their education. Findings: found that a majority of the students have received scholarship up to the academic session 2013-14; students were not even aware about the eligibility criteria for availing the benefit under the scheme, and had no idea about the provision of different allowances in the scheme; the institutes did not have any dedicated staff to deal with the scholarship schemes; suggested that social and financial audit of all the institutes registered under this scheme should be conducted at regular intervals to check any overcharge from the students.

Minority scholarship scheme was started by the Central Government of India in 2006 to provide financial assistance to the poor and meritorious students belonging to the notified minority communities [Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhists and (Parsis)]; three schemes were started at the various levels of education: (1) Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme; (2) Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme; (3) Merit-Cum-Means Scholarship Scheme. Objective: to highlight the problems in the schemes and the issues faced by the students and the stakeholders; to make recommendations to rectify these problems and redress the issues faced. Findings: suggests that pre-matric scholarship holders come from poorer economic background, and merit-cum-means scholarship holders belong to well-off families; and the post-matric scholarship holders’ families fall somewhere in between these; minority scholarship scheme has positively impacted the enrolment and retention of the students; teachers in charge and students faced the problems: lack of full information about the existence and benefits of the scheme; about the application deadline; difficulties created by online mode of application; lack of information in the Institutions about the list of students who have been awarded the scholarship; confusion about the late result students about their ability to avail the scholarship;  hardship caused by the re-appear students in getting the scholarship; confusion created by the availability of SC and other scholarship schemes; difficulty in verifying the religious minority community of the students; income limit confusion, particularly to the non-salaried occupation parents; and inadequacy of scholarship amount to meet the expenses of students living in the hostel and studying in private institutions that charge heavy fees.

Shagun Scheme, launched in 1997, is a welfare programme implemented by the Punjab State Government to facilitate the uplift and development of the deprived sections of the society. Objectives: Evaluates the working of the Shagun Scheme with a view to identifying its operational problems, and to suggest measures to enhance its effectiveness; focussed on objectives: examines the working of the scheme in terms of its norms, procedures and practices, and to find out its effectiveness and deficiencies; identifies the problems faced by the beneficiaries and staff; suggests measures to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness. Findings: 97% respondents report lack of or laxity in verification; confusion about the criteria of eligibility and timing for applying; non-availability of application forms at official centers leading to the problem of fleecing by the agents; cumbersome procedures; lack of adequate knowledge about the scheme; limited role perception in the scheme; staff shortage and work overload, political pressure; lack of intra-department and inter-agency co-ordination

2016-17

Education directly impacts the economic growth and prosperity of a nation. Each additional year of schooling is found to contribute to 0.58 percent of national GDP. For communities on the margins, such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and minorities, education of members helps in making the secure communities. Sub-Committee tasks:  to make a comparative analysis of the performance of Government/Government aided schools versus private schools; to study the existing provisions available in different schemes of Central/State Governments with regard to infrastructure in schools, hindrances in their implementation and measures to smoothen convergence; to identify the gap between existing infrastructure available in Government schools and further requirement as per norms; to suggest measures to bridge gaps in respect of above three dimensions in order to provide quality education; and to suggest ways as to how the provisions available under SSA/RMSA may be clubbed Recommendations: RTE should be extended to senior secondary school, WCD should be linked with MHRD, and database should be created on basis of caste, gender and income measures to universalize education for girls. School infrastructure and learning resources – libraries, mid-day meal, health support, safe drinking water, functional toilets to be improved, schools should have behavior and career counselors, names of students should be removed from records of children who are absent from school;  Two categories of indicators should be developed for accountability – ‘Hard’ indicators or non-negotiable (e.g. teacher attendance, financial propriety) which must be used to hold people to account in a definitive, decisive manner, and ‘Soft’ indicators or competencies (e.g. classroom processes) which must be used to ensure that the right kind of support is provided for development and improvement Schools and teachers should not be ranked. On school culture, school processes and inclusion, work of Rehabilitation Council of India should be linked with MHRD.  Linkages between educational institutions and the community they serve should be strengthened. Address gender specific needs of boys and girls rather than focus exclusively on girls. MHRD should focus on districts with high cultural neglect rather than districts with low CSR. Incentive Scheme for girl’s education should be linked to tracking of parental support to girls, secondary education be linked to livelihood, employability allowance of Rs 1000/- should be granted to those opting for vocational education; CSR to build partnerships as vocational education training partners; ensure gender safe enabling environment to prevent girls’ dropout

Aimed at improving the facilities available in government schools and reaching out to stakeholders to engage productively in improving the quality of education in Government school Punjab. Government schools are providing education nearly to 59 percent of the students in Punjab; reach out to cover the rural interiors, urban slums, the poor, Scheduled Castes populations, even attracting more girl students; hold the key to improve socio-economic conditions of states’ population who are on the margins and strengthening development and democracy. Challenge is to improve infrastructural facilities and school governance to deliver and mainstream quality services and levels of learning. Community ownership of government schools helps to strengthen performance, provide safety, make schools responsive to citizen needs and help brand them as legitimate education institutions; to work on the gaps that have emerged to incorporate good practices into a routine across the state and to build on citizen interaction with school authorities.

2017-18

Main objective of SSA regarding Inclusive Education is that of zero rejection policy which is being implemented by enrolling them in schools; 1251 children with Special Needs (CWSN) who on rolls in 66 sampled schools included in the study except 66 CWSN who are out of school due to several reasons. Findings include methodology and strategies used by Inclusive Education Resource Teachers (IERTs) to teach and evaluate the progress made by special need children it was found that for teaching daily living skills in Resource Room mainly play-way method, use of copy pencil, flash cards, charts are used except in two schools where they used projector to teach skills to CWSN; used puzzles, blocks, MR kit for mentally retarded and Autistic children and pictorial guides; used bold letters, lip movement flash cards for hearing impairment and used oral work and Braille for visual impairment; children with challenges are evaluated at par with regular children i.e. based on their written examination – they call it “paper marking” technique of evaluation. No consideration or relaxation, extra time or help is given to if needed by the CWSN according to their disability, as per guidelines; they prefer not to have CWSN in their class as they fear that their results will be affected adversely; feel that CWSN should be given opportunity to unfold their potential; attitude of peers was quite positive towards CWSN as more than 90% of them accept them as their friends; parents do appreciate the efforts made for their betterment of their children through inclusive education, and school programmes; concerned about the transportation of their child, and increase in the ‘pension’ allowed to the child; teachers were aware of the benefits of inclusive education for CWSN such as teaching of daily living skills, academic skills (reading, writing, counting), polishing of talents;appreciated that inclusive education can best be provided if there are sufficient resources like teaching-learning material, physical infrastructure, aids and equipment and adequate training for classroom teachers; mainstreaming of CWSN helps them learn social skills better than they can do in Resource Room; category wise dropout rate of CWSN varies from 1.5% in case of visual impairment, autism to 12% and 13.5% in case of hearing impaired, and maximum rate of dropout in case of mentally retarded (59.4%) and multiple disability children i.e. 13.8%; parents admitted that their children are being benefitted by H.B.E. as they have started moving, sitting on their own, identifying their family members, eating, talking etc; teachers could not explain the difference between ‘inclusion’ and ‘integration’, meaning of inclusive education and also they were not aware of strategies to be implemented in classroom with CWSN and regular students; also not aware of how to determine the goals of CWSN and assessment procedure to be followed with CWSN; found that most of the resource teachers were trained to teach children of one particular disability. They have 15-day training to teach multiple disability children, but 63% of them were confident to handle multi-category disabled children; attitude and motivation level of IERTs had positive attitude towards inclusive education scheme, but travel from one school to another same day was very difficult (if the distance between the two schools is about 10 km)

Understands the impact of policy measures on student performance in government schools; how does child performance vary by socio-economic conditions, rural urban disparities and gender inequalities? impact on the performance of students in terms of infrastructure and capacity how teachers’ qualification and work experiences, Student-Teacher Ratio (STR), class size, physical infrastructure and available facilities. Objectives are to estimate the Gross Enrolment rate (GER) and Gross Literacy rate (GLR) for population eligible for enrolment at various levels of education; analyse age wise GER and GLRs; to examine the dropout rates at various levels of education; comparison of GER and GLR estimates among various districts of Punjab; comparison of GER and GLR estimates at various levels with other States; to analyse the difference in the achievement level among 5th class students of Punjab on the basis of SLAS test in various subjects.

2018-19

Study concerns with the assessment of quality and efficiency of professional education being provided in universities and professional education institutions;  parameters of quality are: infrastructure and learning resources; organizational climate; curriculum design and instructions; evaluation system; innovative practices for teaching; relevance and value based education; preparation of students with sense of social purpose and mission; staff/faculty development programme; student support and progression; internship programmes; development of soft skills i.e., personality development, leadership, communication; faculty/students exchange programme; governance and institutional leadership; and university industry interface (consultancy-internship). The study finds that privatization in education has led to increase in the accessibility to the professional and technical education; commercialization of education at the cost of merit; lack of professionally qualified academic faculty; and, only 4 per cent of the Private institutions placed in A++, A Grades by the NAAC. The private institutions get limited support from UGC/IST/DBT etc. for promotion of research in professional and technical education. These institutions provide value added courses to enhance C.V. of the students, but they lack the industry oriented skills affecting adversely on employability of the graduates; minimal focus is given on industrial training, practical knowledge, research and exposure of students which hamper their employability aspects; very little focus is given to the technology based innovative teaching that is relevant and essential in today’s context;  make judicious investment in faculty development to enhance professional growth of teachers and investment in student exchange programmes for intellectual stimulation of the students; teachers are involved in there is very little provision for Pension/EPF/CPF. Other findings are related to: patenting of research products/process by the teachers; participation and independently organizing curricular, and academic activities by the students; capability and confidence of the students to interact with experts; lower percentage of placements of students of Engineering, Technology, Management and Pharmacy

2020-21

Education sector has been facing different challenges, even before the Covid-19.  High-quality learning with the help of digital infrastructure can only be achieved by addressing digital gaps; o address these challenges in online education, higher education institutions need to provide professional development for instructors, trainings for learners, and technical support for content development;  present study will explore the challenges faced by teachers in online teaching and learning during Covid-19; online survey was conducted to examine the challenges faced by teachers during online education and data was collected using both modes i.e. online and offline, from teachers of State/Public and Private Universities, higher educational institutions and schools.

2021-22

Covid-19, disrupted educational institutions; a sudden shift from face-to-face physical classroom instruction to online digital teaching and learning; the focus of the study was to understand the nature of challenges faced by the teachers regarding online teaching, and in what way they confronted the challenges, finding solutions and evolving strategies at each stage of teaching and learning. The present research study was designed and conducted online; 186 teachers (43 males and 143 females) teaching in Schools and Institutions of Higher Learning, from 14 States across India participated in the survey. Out of a total 186 sample of teachers, there were 81 teachers from schools; and 105 teachers from Higher Education Institutions. Findings: 30.64% teachers asserted making provision for multiple gadgets, internet, and proper work environment at home is essential; 37.63% teachers highlight Knowledge about e-learning; accessibility to Open Education Resources (OER); and competency in digital tools/apparatus to be used in online teaching; 50%of the teachers accessed the digital libraries, e-books, research papers to search for relevant subject matter to prepare it in digital form;.46.24% of the teachers used digital tools such as digital Boards, Webex, Google meet etc.; positive impact is 25.27% teachers acquire variety and of learning styles, innovating teaching techniques along with becoming more focused and organized; and 11.59%teachers acquired technical skills, conceptual clarity, multitasking skills, self-learning, and introspection, and acquired forum for professional interaction. 28.49% teachers highlight technical barriers and pedagogical issues such as very little exposure on experiential learning, group projects/assignments, lack of/no control over student attendance, and students’ evaluation as demerits of online teaching; 23.12% teachers were concerned about lack of emotional bond with the students; other constraints of online teaching such as adverse effect on physical, and mental, health of children, ill effects of longer screen time, was pointed out by 32 (17.20%) of the teachers.

2022-23

Beti Bachao – BetiPadhao campaign aims to deal with the problem of the falling number of child sex ratio (CSR); evaluates whether the BBBP Scheme has been able to fulfill its mandate of ensuring that girls are born, raised, and educated without prejudice so that they can enjoy equal rights and become empowered citizens of the country; the survey was conducted in 8 districts of Punjab with the objectives to prevent gender biased sex selection; ensure survival and protection of the girl child; ensure education and participation of the girl child.

2023-24

Educational landscape in the border areas of Punjab is grappling with a severe shortage of teachers; study investigates the varied nature of scarcity, its impact on educational quality, and the broader implications for community development;  gives a complete picture of teacher availability in difficult areas in Punjab by combining a review of existing literature; how does shortage of teachers affects student learning outcomes and overall quality of education in difficult areas in selected districts of Punjab and suggest remedial measures; provide a plausible factor which affects staff shortages in schools located in difficult areas of Punjab. The purpose was to identify those elements that contribute to shortage of teachers in difficult areas which impact students’ learning outcomes; examined various parameters such as access to school, the quality of education, educational infrastructure, teacher deployment practices, student-teacher ratio, and dropout rates. Sample consisted of school teachers and head teachers from government and private schools in Punjab, as well as Parents, Community members, and BEO/DEO; 63 schools were visited, out of which there were 12 Government Primary Schools, 3 Government High, 9 Middle, 9 Elementary Schools, 13 senior secondary schools and 17 Private Schools; data were taken from these schools as per availability of respondents at their respective places. There were 13 DEO/BEO, 147 teachers, and 50 Head teachers, 143 parents, and 102 panchayat members that comprised the sample.

2010-11

Government of Punjab has launched scheme in the name of Shagun was launched in 1997, in which financial help was given to the parents and guardians of the girls belonging to the SCs and Widows/Divorcee’s of Punjab domicile on the occasion of the marriage. Study aimed at evaluating the scheme in terms of the implementation, application of its findings and judgement of effectiveness and social utility of the programmes in terms of defined objectives along with recommendations for the desired action. Some loopholes in the scheme leading to corrupt practices were documented and a Model for Effective Implementation of the scheme on the basis of the empirical evidences in respect of the views of the stakeholders and beneficiaries of the scheme was proposed so that the objectives of the scheme could be fulfilled.

Survey was conducted in Punjab as per the estimates provided in the statistical abstract 2009. Survey was planned to be conducted in three phases: Base Line Study; Mid Term Study and End Line Study. It was divided into various categories based on the socio-economic profile of the respondents; evaluation of the electoral registration status of the respondents and their location (urban and rural) was also carried out in three phases; survey was able to capture the significant issues/problems related to the registration of the voters; issuance of voter identity cards, and their intention to cast vote in the upcoming elections, and the reasons for the same. Report was systematically designed to highlight various issues regarding the behaviour, attitude and practices among the eligible registered and non-registered voters regarding the electoral process.

Evaluates both the supply and demand sides of the health sector in Punjab and suggest areas of policy interventions in the State; documents the status of health infrastructure and services, records the mortalityand morbidity patterns, evaluates access to health services, measures public and private expenditure on health, and discerns the priorities of the policy; analyses show that health inequities reflect the unequal distribution of power, prestige and resources among various groups in the society. It also indicates that the objective of health policies ought to be such that none should be denied the care; hence, the responsibility devolved on the State to provide health care to its people. On infrastructure, it was found that it was inadequate, substandard, and much below the national standards; he situation for the secondary and tertiary care appears to be better than that of the primary. Study concludes that within the State, there exists a considerable social gap in the access to health services across gender, income and social groups. The morbidity patterns show that even now communicable diseases caused by water and lack of sanitation are high in incidence; argues that privatisation and Public Private Participation cannot be viewed as a substitute for good governance.

2021-22

Ascertain the level of acceptance of the e-initiatives among the general public as well as police staff; ascertain the level of satisfaction among the users of the e-initiatives; identify problems and challenges they face using these initiatives. Police beat becomes a paper-based record-keeping place; laborious to maintain, difficult to store and tends to decompose; lack of standardization, the voluminous records become unsuitable for analysis and therefore becomes entirely useless for generating any inferences; physical monitoring of the beat staff does not effectively ensure the presence of the beat staff in the beat. To deal with such situations, Chandigarh Police embraced e-technology as a part of its administration. The evaluation of the e-initiatives was conducted and found the e-applications, e-Beatbook and e-Saathi, are appreciated by the users; the e-Beatbook application is impactful in increasing the efficiency of the beat staff; the e-Saathi application empowers the public to approach police with ease, apply for different police services, and get prompt and time-bound delivery of those services at their doorstep. Despite the launch of the e-initiatives, the beat system still needs to be restructured. It was found that some demographic strata still have discomfort with the language of e-interface or in interaction with e-technology; for them, assistance is required, and for that purpose, a dedicated place and staff are required. Finally, public ownership with the police initiatives, structured public participation and a dedicated platform to raise public concerns are absent; recommends, besides addressing the issues with the e-Beatbook and e-Saathi mobile applications, a physical space in the form of a front-line of a police station. The e-Beatbook and e-Saathi applications, along with the recommended structure of the beat system, which comprises beats and centralized ‘Atal Sehbhagita Kendra’ at the police station level, would be a good governance model for the police administration; recommends the constitution of an implementation committee  to implement the model of Atal Sehbhagita Kendra in Chandigarh; prepare documented mandates about ASK Centers, staff and the police-public committee after deliberations with all the stakeholders; design a systematic promotional campaign to spread the word about E-Saathi and ASK centers among the citizens.

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