Small NGO schools in India: implications for access and innovation

Abstract

In addition to the proliferation of private, fee‐paying schools in India, non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) play an important role in providing educational services, especially in un‐served and under‐served communities. This paper uses qualitative research to critically examine the nature and potential of NGO provision of primary schooling in India. In particular, it explores the contributions of one NGO programme which has sought to increase access for socially and economically marginalised children by establishing and providing support for small, rural, multigrade schools. The paper argues that NGO programmes like these have had positive impacts in terms of both access and quality because, firstly, the programmes are small‐scale and locally rooted, and secondly, their organisation allows for greater flexibility and room for innovation in areas such as curriculum design, teacher education, and school networking than is commonly possible within government schools.

Keywords:

• non‐governmental organisations
• education
• multigrade schools
• India

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Consortium for Research on Educational Access, Transitions and Equity (CREATE; see www.create‐rpc.org). My thanks to the project for this support. Thanks also to Dr Rashmi Diwan of the National University of Educational Planning and Administration in New Delhi, my research partner for the larger field study upon which this article draws (see Blum and Diwan 2007).

Notes

1. See www.ioe.ac.uk/multigrade.

2. There is some disagreement about the amount of time devoted to these responsibilities. Teachers and staff interviewed for this research frequently cited frustration at the large numbers of days which were spent on them. However, while some studies (PROBE Team 1999; World Bank 2001) cite substantial amounts of instructional time occupied with non‐teaching activities, data from India's District Information System for Education (DISE 2006) suggests that they take up a relatively small amount of time.

3. Due to limitations of space, this discussion will focus on accredited teachers, and will not address issues related to the large number of untrained ‘parateachers’ found in many states of India (cf. Govinda and Josephine 2004).