Quality in Education

 

CII-IQ's tryst with TQM implementation in Schools

Education is the key to progress. It empowers the individual and enables a nation. The most precious of all resources available to any country is its children and it is incumbent upon us to ensure that our children get all the opportunities they need for their physical as well as intellectual growth. A good education system must enable the child to grow intellectually and blossom into an enlightened citizen.

The role of education in facilitating social and economic progress is well recognized. It opens up opportunities leading to both individual and group entitlements. The government spending on education will be increased to $100 billion in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) from the estimated $70 billion during the current plan period.

More than 45 percent of population in India is below the age of 25. This demographic dividend will turn a boon or a bane depending on how this youth force is educated. If India has to move into the next decade as the most powerful force and a revered global entity, all stakeholders in the education sector must take ownership and come up with strategies and policy initiatives. Our success in the years ahead will depend not so much on what we do as what we achieve.

The most precious of all resources available to any country is its children. It is very important to ensure that our children get all the opportunities they need for their overall growth. A good education system must enable the child to grow intellectually and blossom into an enlightened citizen.

The country today needs a learning process to transcend the existing frontiers of education and to explore unexplored the heights of a knowledge-dominated, innovation-intensive global arena. Sustained efforts, strategic planning and creative thinking will be critical to devise appropriate policies and measures to enable India emerge as a knowledge economy to reckon with, and a global leader.

The sudden change in the education sector zeroes onto one important factor, that of the Quality concept making a slow but a very firm inroad into this mission critical segment. Some of TQM's fundamental principles, practices, tools, techniques and frameworks are being adapted and incorporated in the education sector for the last 12 years keeping in mind specific requirements of improving school education across India.

As a key beneficiary of the education services CII has embarked on many initiatives to bring about 'Quality in Education in India'. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the growth of Indian industry; partnering industry, academia and Government alike through advisory and consultative processes. It aims to enhance the competitiveness of all the key sectors of the economy, which impacts the growth of the country.

CII-IQ comprehended quite early that embedding TQM tools can bring sweeping changes in the way education can be imparted in the schools and simultaneously enhance the quality of learning for all the stakeholders especially the principal customer i.e. the student. As a first step towards achieving quality in education, CII-IQ looked at ingraining strategies like goal setting, Process mapping, Vision, Mission, Value statements formulation, encouraged safer and cleaner campus through 5S, propagated Quality Circles at teachers and students level, imbibed seven steps of problem solving, integrated 7 QC tools for academic and administrative processes, utilized colour code for visual controls, stressed on understanding the stakeholders needs and expectations. It further developed the CII Education Excellence Model based on learning from across the globe like EFQM and others. As of date over 80 schools covering government, government aided and privately managed schools have taken up self assessment on the same framework for excellence so as to measure their journey towards excellence and accelerate thereafter.

All these have been piloted and are being adopted by individual as well as clusters of schools managed by government or privately. The objective is to help institutions build robust managements and teaching learning processes to understand, meet and exceed needs and expectations of its key stakeholders resulting in imparting Quality education. Today few of the visible results are increase in the attendance from 40 percent to 80 percent, latecomers reduced from 45 percent to 15 percent, improved student performance from 15 percent to 20 percent, increase in academic result, improved teacher-student-parent relationships with Parent-teacher meeting attendance increasing from 64 percent to 89 percent and Parent talk sessions from nil to 6 per class per year. In addition to the concrete results a Continuous improvement culture through teamwork where teachers and students participation for co-curricular activities and academic to name a few. These are also coupled with challenges like procedural delays, frequent leadership changes at schools and department levels in government school, lack of support staff, assigning government duties to teaching staff, teacher appointments on contracts.

Today stakeholders' expectations and aspirations are increasing beyond the conventional formats for availing holistic education; to fulfill these expectations of delivering Quality Education has redefined the role of schools. With such initiatives from government, NGOs, Industry associations and other stakeholders, the path for Indian education Quality journey can be tread with small steps but with a purpose of urgency.