MINUTES OF THE PAB MEETING OF RMSA PROJECT CELL HELD ON 3 rd JANUARY 2013 The 1st Project Advisory board meeting of the RMSA was held in Room no 207, CIET, on 3 rd January 2013. The Director, NCERT chaired the meeting. List of the members who attended the meeting is as follows: 1. Prof. Parvin Sinclair, Director Chairperson 2. Mrs. Caralyln Deshmukh, Director, SE-I(RMSA), MHRD Member 3. Prof. Hukum Singh, Dean academic Special Invitee 4. Prof. K.P Mohanan, IISER, Pune Member 5. Dr. Anant Deshmukh, Pune Special invitee 6. Dr. Dharam Prakash Nagori, SIERT, Udaipur Special invitee 7. Prof. Daya Pant, Head, DEPFE Member 8. Prof. Anita Julka, Head, DEGSN Member 9. Prof. Gauri Shrivastva, Head, DWS Member 10. Prof. S.K Yadav, Head, DTE Member 11. Prof. Saroj Yadav, Head, DESS Member 12. Prof. Chandra Sadayat, Head, DEL Member 13. Prof. Yogesh Kumar, DEE Member 14. Prof. V.D Bhatt, RIE, Mysore Member 15. Prof. Mridula Saxena, PSSCIVE, Bhopal Member 16. Prof. Sandhya Sahoo, RIE, Bhubaneswar Member 17. Dr. R.B Pareek, RIE, Ajmer Member 18. Dr. Pravin Kulshresthra, RIE, Bhopal Member 19. Dr. Amarendra Behra, CIET Member 20. Dr. P.D Subash, Programme and Monitoring Division (PMD) Representative of Head, PMD 21. Dr. R.K Maurya, Department of Education in Science and Mathematics ( DESM) Representative of Head, DESM 22. Dr. Sharbari Banerjee, Department of Education in Arts and Aesthetics (DEAA) Representative of Head DEA 23. Dr. Sharad Sinha, RMSA Project Cell Member 24. Dr. Ranjana Arora, In-charge, RMSA Project Cell Member Prof. B.K. Tripathi, Joint Director, NCERT, Dr. Amitabh Debroy, Director, Tripura Board of Secondary Education, Dr. Hasan Waris, Director, SCERT, Patna, Bihar and Dr. Flourtte Dkhar, NERIE, Shillong, could not attend the meeting. However, Dr. Deb Roy has sent his view on Secondary Education (annexure-i). At the outset, welcoming all the members to the first PAB meeting of RMSA Project Cell, the Director informed the house about the context of setting up of RMSA Project Cell and its functions. She said that Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan is a centrally sponsored scheme which addresses the concerns of secondary education in India. The Council has created this Cell to coordinate RMSA activities in collaboration with all the constituent units of the Council. The NCERT has nominated nodal officers and support group members in all the departments at the NIE, RIEs, PSSCIVE and CIET to work in a team with RMSA Project Cell members. 1
Dr. Ranjana Arora made a detailed presentation on activities undertaken by the RMSA Project Cell to support Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan. She informed the house about the four major activities approved by PAB, RMSA, MHRD undertaken by the NCERT, viz., Curriculum study, development of subject specific support material and capacity building programmes for the secondary stage teachers/key resource person and science and mathematics exhibition for the year 2012-13. She also presented new programmes proposed for the year 2013-14 The following suggestions and action points emerged out of the discussions:- 1. New programme proposed by the RMSA Project Cell will be placed before PAB, MHRD for approval and funding. 2. The NIE departments and other constituent units of the NCERT may propose programmes discussed and approved by their DABs/IABs under RMSA. 3. Benefits of the IEDSS scheme are not visible at the secondary stage. In the twelfth five-year plan the MHRD has proposed subsuming of this scheme alongwith a few other schemes with RMSA for better and speedy implementation. 4. The In-service Teacher Professional Development Package developed in science and mathematics by the DESM and RMSA Project Cell need to be simplified for the teachers. 5. Classroom Process study must be undertaken under RMSA on priority for developing quality learning indicators at the secondary stage. Under DPEP classroom process studies were conducted by the NCERT at the elementary stage. 6. Quality/Equity gap in school education specifically in rural areas has been increasing which needs our serious attention. RMSA has provided for structure such as School Development Management Committee (SDMC) to address issues related to equity and quality in schools creating community awareness and mobilization. 7. RMSA Project Cell needs to be created in all the SCERTs/ SIERTs to ensure and extend their roles in improving secondary education in the country. 8. Resource Institutions such as RIEs and PSSCIVE need to be strengthened under RMSA. 9. Evaluation Study conducted by the PSSCIVE to see the integration of work in science and mathematics textbooks of the NCERT need to be shared with the faculty of the NCERT. 10. PSSCIVE needs to strengthen its role in the implementation of National Vocational Qualification Framework (NVEQF) as per the perspectives of the NCF-2005 about the integration of work across the subject areas. Skill training presently being piloted in schools in isolation with subjectspecific curriculum will not be helpful in realizing the objectives of NVEQF. 11. In Curriculum Study, experts, who were engaged with NCF-2005 need to be involved for effective hand-holding of the curriculum developers. 12. The objective of teaching-learning of particular concept/theme needs to be clear to teachers and students and accordingly related activities need to be developed both by teachers and students together. This needs to be in-built in every training programme for teachers. 13. NCERT textbooks provide opportunity to students to consult plurality of material and visit various curricular sites other than merely textbooks for better learning and creativity. 14. Dissemination of NCERT developed material needs to be ensured up to the grass root levels. 2
15. Programmes for building the capacity of teacher educators in College of Teacher Education (CTEs) and Institutes of Advanced Studies (IASEs) in Education need to be undertaken. 16. Training programmes needs to be designed based on the demands of secondary stage teachers. 17. List of resource person in secondary education should be posted on NCERT website. This will work as a Resource Pool for various stakeholders. 18. Art Education and Health and Physical Education needs to be strengthened at the secondary stage for broadening the scope of school education for exploiting varied career opportunities in future. 19. A Google Discussion Group of RMSA Project Cell to be created to share activities, information and essential material related to secondary stage of school education. Specific Suggestions on the new proposals: 1. The programme on orientation of Heads of Secondary schools should specify that the programmes are for Principals of the secondary schools. Moreover, given the enormity of secondary schools in the country, only five programmes will not be sufficient. Either it should be a pilot programme or through various ICT modes including teleconferencing, for better reach to be ensured. 2. For the development of Quality Monitoring Tools (QMTs), recently developed Quality Framework for the study of quality of school education in G-9 countries, of which the Council is also a part, needs to be considered. 3. Quality in quality monitoring tools for secondary stage need to be clearly defined whether it is in terms of examination or intended learning outcomes. The National Curriculum Framework -2005 provides clear perspectives on quality in school education and emphasizes that given the diversity in the country, learning outcomes cannot be standardized. 4. QMTs must provide adequate space to Children with Special Needs. 5. Proposal on QMT need to provide details about the nature of monitoring, it proposes to undertake. 6. The title of the programme National Meet on Assessment and Examination Practices at the Secondary Stage need to be changed in to Discussion Meet on Assessment and Examination Practices at the Secondary Stage With these suggestions and also minor typographical corrections suggested by the members following three programmes proposed by the RMSA Project Cell were approved by the members to be placed in PAB, RMSA, and MHRD: 1. Development of Quality Monitoring Tools for the Secondary Stage of School Education 2. Orientation of heads of secondary schools on quality concerns in secondary education 3. Discussions meet on assessment and examination practices at the secondary stage. The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the Chair. 3
ANNEXURE I 4
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