“Other than norms and guidelines issued by CBSE, there is not enough on the management aspect in schools. Each school has its own version of management and there is no uniformity. The Standard for Quality School Governance issued by Quality Council of India (QCI) is a step in the right direction,” opines M M Joshi, Deputy Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS).

The higher educational institutions in the country, such as colleges, technical, architecture and medical institutions are governed by commissions/councils, while school education is yet to achieve that standard. At the second Quality Council of India (QCI) National Quality Conclave in February 2007, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, then President of India, stressed the need for development of a standard for schools to ensure quality of education across the nation. In line with his recommendation,

QCI has developed the Accreditation Standard for Quality School Governance. This standard provides a framework for effective management and delivery of the holistic education programme aimed at overall development of the students.

Quality of education is characterised by creation of capacity for life-long learning. There are three basic elements for quality of education: Management Quality, Teacher Quality and Student Quality. The accreditation standard, therefore, does not relate either to the school curriculum or syllabus.

• Provide educational services that seek to enhance the satisfaction level of all interested parties.
Provide a basis for assessing, and where required, rating the effectiveness of an educational management system.
• Develop quality consciousness among interested parties involved in school activities.

Mr Girdhar J Gyani, Secretary General, QCI and Mr Ranglal Jamuda IAS, Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) signing the MoU.

QCI has taken this concept to various parts of country and conducted workshops to explain the same to teachers, principals and the management staff of the schools. The concept is new, and hence there is apprehension. But it is now generally understood and accepted that there is more to school education beyond academic results.

KVS Commissioner Ranglal Jamuda is of the view that this intervention to improve quality is not only good but noble indeed. In his view, the adoption of a uniform quality standard across the country is the need of the hour, particularly if we believe that the success of the nation depends on the education level of its people.

The KVS, under his guidance, has co-opted QCI in preparing KV Schools to achieve quality school governance. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between KVS and QCI on December 17, 2008, according to which, QCI shall provide comprehensive technical assistance, including training to the schools, in preparing them for adoption of the accreditation standard for quality school governance.

“As a pilot project, this MoU is only for two KV Schools, one being IIT Powai (Mumbai) and the other, RK Puram Sector 8 (New Delhi). The stakeholders of both the schools attended the workshops and are energised to undertake the tasks at hand vigorously. With this kind of enthusiasm shown by them, we intend to complete the task within the next academic session,” asserts M M Joshi.

• To assess the existing status of Educational System of the identified schools.
• To suggest alternatives to Educational System to meet the requirements of the QCI accreditation standard.
• To lay down standard operating procedures for effective Educational System.
• To train key personnel in these processes.
• To review the outcome regularly and periodically.
• To enable the school to seek accreditiation from the National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET).

“In the meantime, we have conducted our own GAP analysis and, of course, the same analysis conducted by QCI would be wider in scope and more comprehensive. KV Schools have brand equity and many other schools, I am aware, follow us. Having said that, we would like to know; Are we better than the best in this field? Independent observers or assessors, like QCI, have to certify our status,” says M M Joshi.

Commissioner Jamuda’s vision is clear — to set a benchmark in quality school governance that others can emulate. “Manufacturing and services sectors set benchmarks, and periodically carry out upward revision, so why not schools too,” asks M M Joshi. He adds, “In fact, we are grateful to QCI, and particularly to its

Secretary General Girdhar Gyani, for motivating us to take up the quality route to improving school governance.”

“It needs to be mentioned here that Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan is extremely focussed, and more importantly, there is tremendous desire for Quality interventions in schools,” stresses the QCI Secretary General. The launch of the pilot project is the first step in the journey towards the ultimate goal of coveing all the schools accross the country with the programme.

Children in elementary schools are most receptive to learning new skills. Education KV.qxd 12/26/2008 5:51 PM Page 4

Elementary teachers, according to the latest brain research, are responsible for laying the foundation that may determine a child’s emotional maturity and self-discipline, their habits of mind and love of learning, and the basic skills prerequisite for future academic success. It is an opportune time, according to brain researchers, to introduce the foundations for acquiring a second language, learning a musical instrument, mastering math concepts, and developing emotional intelligence skills such as impulse coElementary teachers, according to the latest brain research, are responsible for laying the foundation that may determine a child’s emotional maturity and self-discipline, their habits of mind and love of learning, and the basic skills prerequisite for future academic success. It is an opportune time, according to brain researchers, to introduce the foundations for acquiring a second language, learning a musical instrument, mastering math concepts, and developing emotional intelligence skills such as impulse control and delayed gratification.

Elementary education, generally accepted as education of students aged 6-12, provides the foundation of learning to read, then reading to learn. Education before the age of six is often conceptbased and concrete, teaching a child to discriminate among shapes, colours, sizes, locations, physical properties, and relationships. Incorporating this sort of broad-based information fosters brain development that creates the ability to make more nuanced discriminations, which are at the heart of formal education.

Formal education is primarily conducted through exposure to spoken and written symbols. At the elementary level, the child begins the pattern of decoding the symbols of language and mathematics Just as he learned to identify the “red things” in the fruit and vegetable aisle of the supermarket at age 3, now he begins to recognise that some symbols have sticks; some have rounded bellies or heads; some are curvy; some are large and some are small. He also begins to match the symbols to sounds and numbers, and eventually, strings of symbols to specific meanings.

Children are introduced to formal education through exposure to symbols.

Just as early age education sets the foundation of brain development that permits a child to discriminate among experiences in the concrete world, elementary education sets the foundation for recognising and fluently using the formal symbols of language and math. This enables the child to move beyond the need to concretely experience an inaugural event in order for it to move from unknown to known. Instead, he can hear about it, read about it, write about it, talk about it, and in doing so, make it his own. Through the earliest years of education, the child’s ability to build upon that foundation is established.