Universalising Secondary Education in India: Seeking Efficiency, Effectiveness and Equity in planning enhanced access and improved quality

The Government of India Launched Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) to achieve universal secondary education by 2017 through providing good quality secondary schools within 5 kilometres of each habitation,... [ view full abstract ]

The Government of India Launched Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) to achieve universal secondary education by 2017 through providing good quality secondary schools within 5 kilometres of each habitation, irrespective of particular patterns of demand for secondary education. There is anecdotal ]evidence that expansion policies under RMSA has led inequitable distribution of resources and the creation of a large number of small secondary schools which are highly cost inefficient without necessarily being of better quality. The policies also do not take into account demographic changes, thereby resulting in the construction of schools and the recruitment of teachers in numbers that may not be needed in near future, thus making the system highly unsustainable.
This paper presents consolidated findings from a DFID funded research project to gather evidence for targeted funding under RMSA. It draws on data collected from primary and secondary sources in three states: Assam, Bihar and Odisha, to present insight into how RMSA has been unfolding and identifies key issues for future development. The paper aims demonstrate how existing secondary education policies may create an inefficient and unsustainable system by answering the following key questions: how has participation grown under RMSA, and what does this indicate about changing patterns of access, equity, efficiency and effectiveness and transitions into secondary education? How patterns of participation are likely to change over the next ten years and what will be the constraints on achieving RMSA goals? What efficiency gains are available from changes in the processes of planning for sustainability?