Open Schooling for Secondary & Higher Secondary Education:

Costs and Effectiveness in India and Namibia







Greville Rumble and Badri N Koul













































© Commonwealth of Learning, 2007

Commonwealth of Learning (COL)

1055 West Hastings Street, Suite 1200
Vancouver, BC V6E 2E9
Canada




INDEX

LIST OF CHARTS, FIGURES AND TABLES...........................................................................v

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS .....................................................................................ix

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................... xiii

REPORT LIMITATIONS...........................................................................................................xv

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................1

1

INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVES AND CONDUCT OF
RESEARCH.......................................................................................................................5


2

THE DEVELOPMENT OF OPEN SCHOOLING ........................................................9

2.1
Open Schooling: a definition..................................................................................9


2.2
Development of Open Schooling .........................................................................10


2.2.1 ODL and non-traditional schooling ........................................................12
2.2.2
The
introduction
of
technology................................................................13


2.2.3 Meeting the need for secondary education..............................................14
2.3
Effectiveness of Open Schooling and its outcomes .............................................14


2.3.1 Measuring gains and benefits..................................................................15
2.4
Costs of Open Schooling......................................................................................18
2.4.1
The
Efficiency
Ratio ................................................................................18


2.4.2 Cost structure of ODL .............................................................................25
2.4.3
Factors
affecting
costs ............................................................................27
2.4.4
ICT
costs..................................................................................................29
2.5
International cost comparisons.............................................................................30
2.6
Conclusions ..........................................................................................................30

3
ECONOMY AND EDUCATION IN INDIA ................................................................33

3.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................33


3.1.1 Financial challenges of universalising education...................................34
3.2
Demographic factors and secondary education in India.......................................34


3.2.1 Large numbers, insufficient funding........................................................39
3.3
Structure of the Indian education system .............................................................39
3.3.1
Introduction.............................................................................................39


3.3.2 Education in the Republic of India (the first 50 years) ...........................40


3.3.3 Outcomes of over 50 years of educational re-engineering .....................43


3.3.4 Primary and secondary levels of education ............................................44


3.3.5 Links with higher education ....................................................................47


3.3.6 Open and distance education initiatives .................................................47


3.3.7 Present challenges for secondary education in India ............................48
3.4
Secondary schooling and the India labour market ...............................................50
3.4.1
Introduction.............................................................................................50

i



3.4.2 Cost-benefits of education in India .........................................................52
3.5
Cost-benefits of the Secondary Education: the Indian case .................................56


3.5.1 The multiple roles of education ...............................................................58


3.5.2 The impact of lower levels of education..................................................59

4
OPEN SCHOOLING IN INDIA:
THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OPEN SCHOOLING, NEW DELHI................61

4.1
The context of Open Schooling in India ..............................................................61


4.1.1 Need for Open Schooling in India .........................................................61


4.1.2 Policy prescriptions and commitments for secondary ODL operations..62


4.1.3 Open Schooling as an alternative schooling system ..............................66
4.2
Place and role of ODL and NIOS.........................................................................67


4.2.1 NIOS becomes an apex body ...................................................................68
4.2.2
Functions
of
NIOS
..................................................................................69


4.2.3 Secondary level courses and subjects offered by NIOS .........................69


4.2.4 Vocational courses offered by NIOS .......................................................70
4.2.5
Expansion
of
vocational
courses.............................................................74
4.2.6
Livelihood,
productivity
and
development ..............................................74
4.2.7
NIOS
learner
profile
...............................................................................75
4.3
Description of the NIOS system ..........................................................................78

4.3.1
Management
and
organisational
structure
............................................78
4.3.2
Preparation
of
study
materials
...............................................................80
4.3.3
Course
delivery
......................................................................................82
4.3.4
Student
support services .........................................................................83


4.3.5 Learner assessment and certification .....................................................84
4.3.6
Quality
assurance....................................................................................85
4.4 Comparative
Effectiveness of NIOS ...................................................................89


4.4.1 Secondary education initiatives of the Government of India ..................90


4.4.2 NIOS and the issues of access and equity ...............................................91


4.4.3 Comparative effectiveness/performance of NIOS, KVs and JNVs ..........95
4.4.4
Performance
of
NIOS
students ................................................................96


4.4.5 Effectiveness of NIOS: position in the national profile .........................102
4.5
Cost-efficiency of NIOS ....................................................................................105


4.5.1 The First Cost Study: Open School (1982-86) ......................................105


4.5.2 The Second Cost Study: National Open School (1990-96) ..................110


4.5.3 The Third Cost Study: National Institute of Open Schooling
(2005-2006) .........................................................................................111


4.5.4 Computation of the cost-efficiency of NIOS ..........................................113


4.5.5 The approach adopted for computation in this study............................114


4.5.6 Basic facts that inform and guide the present cost computation...........115
4.5.7
Cost-efficiency
of
NIOS: the present study ..........................................117


4.5.8 Costs compared to two conventional day schooling systems ................126


4.5.9 Private cost of education at NIOS ........................................................129
4.5.10
Conclusions
on
costs .............................................................................133





ii

5
ECONOMY AND EDUCATION IN NAMIBIA ........................................................135

5.1
Introduction ........................................................................................................135
5.2
Demographic factors ..........................................................................................135
5.2.1
Education
levels ....................................................................................138
5.2.2
Sources
of
income..................................................................................138
5.2.3
Access
to
technology .............................................................................139
5.2.4
Proximity
to
education ..........................................................................139
5.2.5
Hostel
accommodations ........................................................................140
5.2.6
Household
income .................................................................................141
5.2.7
Spending
on
education ..........................................................................144
5.3
Structure of the Namibian education system .....................................................146
5.3.1
Education
challenges ............................................................................147


5.3.2 Improving efficiency in education .........................................................148


5.3.3 Potential of distance education recognised...........................................149
5.3.4
School
enrolments .................................................................................150
5.3.5
Progression
through
the formal education system................................152
5.3.6
Funding
of
schools ................................................................................158


5.3.7 Primary and secondary education provision ........................................159
5.3.8
Implications
of
automatic
promotions...................................................159
5.3.9
NAMCOL’s
approach ...........................................................................160
5.3.10
Senior
secondary
routes
.......................................................................161
5.4
Secondary schooling within the context of labour market .................................164


5.4.1 Weaknesses in the education system .....................................................165
5.5
Cost-benefits of education..................................................................................166

6
OPEN SCHOOLING IN NAMIBIA: THE NAMIBIAN COLLEGE
OF OPEN LEARNING ................................................................................................171


6.1 Structure
of
NAMCOL.......................................................................................171
6.2
The origins and purpose of NAMCOL...............................................................173
6.2.1
NAMCOL
is
established ........................................................................175
6.3
The development of NAMCOL’s pedagogic system .........................................177
6.4
NAMCOL’s learners ..........................................................................................178
6.5
NAMCOL’s Curriculum ...................................................................................183
6.6
Course materials development, production and distribution ..............................185
6.7
Learner admission, teaching, assessment, and support .....................................187
6.7.1
Regional
structure .................................................................................188


6.7.2 Tutor recruitment and training..............................................................189
6.7.3
Student
assignments ..............................................................................190


6.7.4 A higher drop-out rate...........................................................................191
6.8
Examinations and comparative performance…………………………………..193
6.8.1
Analysis
of
underachievement ...............................................................199


6.8.2 Strategies for improving student performance......................................201
6.9
Destination of NAMCOL learners .....................................................................203
6.10 Quality assurance ...............................................................................................206
6.10.1
Process
of
accountability ......................................................................207

iii

6.11 Unanswered Questions .......................................................................................209
6.12 Costs ...................................................................................................................210
6.12.1
Activity-based
costing ...........................................................................211
6.12.2
Measuring
student
loads .......................................................................212
6.12.3
Cost
calculation
challenges ..................................................................213
6.12.4
Government
funding..............................................................................214
6.13 Dr. Marope’s 2005 assessment of NAMCOL ...................................................220


6.13.1 Commentary on Dr. Marope’s report ...................................................221
6.14 Some Conclusions ..............................................................................................231

7
CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY ADVICE.................................................................233

7.1
Why bother with open schooling at secondary level? ........................................233


7.1.1 The implications of not meeting demand...............................................233
7.2
Defining "open schooling" and "open schools" .................................................233


7.2.1 A broader definition of Open Schooling................................................234


7.2.2 An alternative or a complement to formal education............................235
7.3
Using technology in the classroom ....................................................................236
7.4
Can technology be used to solve the schooling crisis at secondary level?.........237
7.5
Our results .........................................................................................................238
7.5.1

Population
and
economy.......................................................................238


7.5.2 Comparative national educational data................................................239


7.5.3 Origins of open schools in India and Namibia......................................241


7.5.4 NAMCOL as a Complementary system to the Formal system ..............242


7.5.5 NIOS as an alternative to formal schooling..........................................243


7.5.6 Are the open schools doing enough?.....................................................244


7.5.7 Relative Effectiveness Ratio ..................................................................246


7.5.8 How has studying in an open school helped students? .........................248


7.5.9 Relative Efficiency Ratio .......................................................................249


7.5.10 How do the two open schools we have examined in this study



measure up against these criteria for low cost model?.........................253


7.5.11 Why should we have confidence in open schools? ................................256
7.6
Policy advice ......................................................................................................256
7.6.1
Sustainability.........................................................................................257
7.6.2
Quality
assurance..................................................................................258
7.6.3
Access
and
equity ..................................................................................258

APPENDIX 1: Professor Koul's Programme .........................................................................261
APPENDIX 2: Professor Rumble's Programme .....................................................................263





iv

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Charts
Chart 5.1
Population of Namibia, mid-2005 estimates, by age and sex.................................137
Chart 6.1
NAMCOL’s emergent organisational structure .....................................................172

Tables
Table 1.1
World Bank Key Development Data and Statistics ...................................................5
Table 1.2
Key comparative statistics, NIOS and NAMCOL .....................................................6
Table 2.1
Student success at schools level: comparative performance of distance and
conventional systems...............................................................................................16
Table 2.2
Comparative costs per student of distance and traditional education systems ........21
Table 2.3
Comparative costs per graduate in distance and traditional systems ......................24
Table 3.1
Population of India as per Census 2001 ...................................................................35
Table 3.2
Estimated child population as on 30 September 2002 .............................................36
Table 3.3
Gross Enrolment Ratios at the primary level ..........................................................36
Table 3.4 Number of schools and the stages of education .......................................................37
Table 3.5
Enrolment in Classes XI and XII (including degree colleges) ................................38
Table 3.6
Present structure of the Indian educational system ................................................44
Table 3.7 Educational pattern in States/Union Territories .......................................................45
Table 3.8
Progress made during 1950-2000 ............................................................................48
Table 3.9
Coverage within the 6-24 age group ........................................................................49
Table 3.10 Work participation and the structure of Indian labour force— 1972/3-1993/4........52
Table 3.11 Trends in the returns (per cent) to education in India—1983-1993/4 ......................53
Table 3.12 Earning differences within and across the various groups of population.................55
Table 3.13 Studies on private rates of return in India ................................................................57
Table 4.1
Secondary and senior secondary subjects available at NIOS ..................................70
Table 4.2 Enrolment in the NIOS vocational courses ..............................................................71
Table 4.3 Enrolment (2005-06) by region in vocational courses .............................................71
Table 4.4
Enrolment by course in vocational courses (2005-06 ..............................................73
Table 4.5
Enrolment by gender—2001 to 2006 .......................................................................76
Table 4.6
Enrolment by student category—2004 to 2006........................................................76
Table 4.7
Enrolment by age—2004 to 2006 ............................................................................77
Table 4.8
Traditional and Open Schooling: transactional differences .....................................82
Table 4.9
Fee structure of KVs (INR per month).....................................................................90
Table 4.10 Enrolment trend since 1990-91 ................................................................................92
Table 4.11 Enrolment by region/state (an illustration)...............................................................93
Table 4.12 NIOS fee structure ...................................................................................................94
Table 4.13 Comparative performance (Classes X and XII): KVs, JNVs and ‘Other Schools’
affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) ........................95
Table 4.14 NIOS examination results: April 2006.....................................................................96
Table 4.15 Results by region (April 2006).................................................................................97
Table 4.16 Profile of examination results: 1991-2006 ..............................................................98
Table 4.17 Pass Percentage at the secondary level by subject ...................................................99
Table 4.18 Pass Percentage at the senior secondary level by subject ......................................100
Table 4.19 Corrected NIOS performance profile (a sample based on limited data) ...............101
Table 4.20 National profile of secondary and senior secondary examination results (2004-05)102
Table 4.21 Effectiveness/performance of NIOS: place in the national profile ......................104
Table 4.22 Institutional profiles of institutions involved in comparison .................................106
Table 4.23 Comparative Average Cost (INR per student per annum) .....................................108
Table 4.24 Relative cost-efficiency of the institutions compared ............................................109

v

Table 4.25 Cost comparison: NOS and other types of schooling (1990-91)............................110
Table 4.26 Comparative costs per student at JNVs, KVs and NIOS .......................................111
Table 4.27 NIOS enrolment and apportioning factors ............................................................117
Table 4.28 Abstract of NIOS income and expenditure: actuals (INR millions).......................118
Table 4.29 Abstract of NIOS plan expenditure: actuals (INR millions) ..................................119
Table 4.30 NIOS expenditure for 2002-07: a reconstruction (INR): .......................................121
Table 4.31 Expenditure at the Kendriya Vidyalayas—2002-06 (INR millions)......................127
Table 4.32 Cost per student: Emmanuel Mission Secondary School,
Bhilwara, Rajasthan (INR) ....................................................................................128
Table 4.33 Comparative costs per secondary student per course: NIOS, KVs and
EMSS (INR) ..........................................................................................................128
Table 4.34 Enrolment by subject 2004-07 (an abstract)...........................................................130
Table 4.35 Private cost per student per subject including examination costs
(NIOS secondary level) .........................................................................................131
Table 4.36 Private cost per student per subject including examination costs
(NIOS senior secondary level)...............................................................................132
Table 4.37 Private cost per student per course excluding examination costs: NIOS,
KVs and EMSS compared .....................................................................................133
Table 5.1
2005 Mid-year population estimate by age and sex (‘000s), Namibia...................136
Table 5.2
Population Dependency Ratio, 2006......................................................................136
Table 5.3
School access to electricity and telephones, 2005..................................................139
Table 5.4
Primary and secondary education hostel accommodation and hostel costs,
2005-2006..............................................................................................................141
Table 5.5
Parental contribution to hostel costs, 2005-2006 ...................................................141
Table 5.6
Annual consumption by highest level of educational attainment of
the head of the household ......................................................................................143
Table 5.7
Parental contributions towards School Development Funds (NAD),
2004 Public Expenditure Tracking Survey data ....................................................145
Table 5.8
Enrolments in the formal school system, 1999-2006 .............................................151
Table 5.9
Proportion of female enrolments, 1999- 2005........................................................151
Table 5.10 Formal system secondary school population and NAMCOL student-courses by
level, by national regions grouped into NAMCOL regions, 2003-2005; and
NAMCOL student-courses by level and by NAMCOL regions, 2006..................154
Table 5.11 Numbers of new entrants, repeaters and re-entrants, Grades 1-12 (2005); school
leavers 2004; promotion, repetition and school-leaving rates, Grades 1-11
(2004 to 2005 transition); and survival rates to Grades 2 to 12 (2004) .................156
Table 5.12 Rates of enrolment of 6 to 18 year olds, by grade, 2005........................................157
Table 5.13 Net Enrolment Ratios (NER) and Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER), 2000-2005 ....157
Table 5.14 Number of public and private schools in Namibia, 2005.......................................158
Table 5.15 Proportion of NAMCOL students taking the JSC and IGCSE for the first time, or
for re-sit purposes, 1999, 2003, 2007.....................................................................161
Table 5.16 Potential eligibility of Grade 12 graduates who entered Grade 11
with the minimum qualifications...........................................................................163
Table 5.17 Potential eligibility of Grade 12 graduates who entered Grade 11 with 27 points.163
Table 5.18 Potential eligibility of Grade 12 graduates who entered Grade 11 with
Grades C, D, E and F in the JSCE .........................................................................163
Table 5.19 Hourly wages (in NAD) by educational level, 2003 ..............................................167
Table 5.20 Returns to education expressed as an index with no school equal 1. .....................168
Table 5.21 Private and social IRR for different levels of education ........................................169
Table 6.1
NAMCOL staffing .................................................................................................173
Table 6.2
Number of full-time staff per learner .....................................................................173

vi

Table 6.3
Continuing and distance education provision in Namibia, 1991-1998 ..................175
Table 6.4
Number of students enrolled on NAMCOL professional programmes, 03-06 ......177
Table 6.5
Number of NAMCOL learners by level and by mode of study, 1999-2006..........179
Table 6.6
NAMCOL students: average number of subject registrations by level, 99-06 ......180
Table 6.7
Number of students by subject load, 2004 and 2005 .............................................180
Table 6.8
NAMCOL’s subject enrolments, by open learning mode ......................................181
Table 6.9
Proportion of NAMCOL students who are female ................................................181
Table 6.10 Age of NAMCOL students ....................................................................................182
Table 6.11 Percentage of NAMCOL students not doing any paid work..................................182
Table 6.12 Drop-out among NAMCOL JSC learners, 1999-2005...........................................192
Table 6.13 Drop-out among NAMCOL IGCSE learners, 2003-2005......................................193
Table 6.14 IGCSE candidates, 1998-2005, by choice of examination sitting..........................193
Table 6.15 Cumulative percentage achieving given grades at JSC, full- and part-time
candidates, 2000 – 2006 ........................................................................................195
Table 6.16 JSC part-time results, 1999-2002: all part-time students, NAMCOL
part-time by mode, and part-time private students ................................................196
Table 6.17 Cumulative percentage achieving given grades at IGCSE, full- and part-time
candidates, 2000 – 2006 ........................................................................................197
Table 6.18 Junior Secondary Certificate examinations: overall and key subject results by
grade, full- and part-time candidates, Oct/Nov 2006 examinations ......................198
Table 6.19 International General Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations:
overall and key subject results by grade, full- and part-time candidates,
Oct/Nov 2006 examinations ..................................................................................199
Table 6.20 Comparison of full-time versus part-time results using the Effectiveness Ratio,
November 2005 and November 2006 examinations..............................................200
Table 6.21 Cost of increasing tutorial hours per week.............................................................202
Table 6.22 Expenditure on secondary education, 2001/02 to 2005/06 ....................................211
Table 6.23 NAMCOL 2007-2008 Budget by programmes/activities ......................................212
Table 6.24 Cost per subject enrolee, formal secondary school system, per 07-08 budget.......215
Table 6.25 Average cost per student, formal secondary education system,
per 2007-2008 budget............................................................................................215
Table 6.26 Unit cost per subject enrolee, formal secondary education system,
based on 2007-2008 budget...................................................................................216
Table 6.27 NAMCOL unit costs per subject enrolee and per student, 2007-2008 budget
estimate, assuming all non-ASEP net costs are charged against the ASEP
programme (Scenario 1) ........................................................................................217
Table 6.28 NAMCOL unit costs per subject enrolee and per student, 2007-2008 budget
estimate, assuming only "other" business-sustaining net costs are charged against
the ASEP programme (Scenario 2)........................................................................218
Table 6.29 Unit costs per subject-enrolee and per student, formal secondary school system
and NAMCOL, based on 2007-2008 budget.........................................................219
Table 7.1
Comparative educational statistics for India and Namibia.....................................239
Table 7.2
Distribution of formal system school population and NAMCOL student courses
by NAMCOL region, 2005....................................................................................243
Table 7.3
Comparative Effectiveness Ratio for NIOS against various comparator Boards
of Education, 2004-2005 results ............................................................................248
Table 7.4
Budgeted 2007/08 unit cost calculations, Namibian formal secondary education
system and NAMCOL, and Efficiency Ratio ........................................................250




vii


Table 7.5
Relative cost-efficiency of NIOS using INR cost per student course data when
compared with Kendriya Vidyalayas, 2002/03 to 2005/06, and with the
Emmanuel Mission Secondary School in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, 2006/07..............252
Table 7.6
Major factors affecting the costs in Open Schooling .............................................252
Table 7.7
Academic work to produce one hour of student learning.......................................255


viii

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

# number
of
< less
than
§ section

ACHS
Air Correspondence High School (Korea)
ACPO
Acción Cultural Popular, Colombia
AIs

Accredited Institutions*
(Accredited by NIOS to provide support services for academic subjects)
APCI
adjusted per capita income
APEC
Acción Pro-Educación y Cultura (Centros APEC, Dominican Republic)
ASEP Alternative
Secondary
Education Programme, NAMCOL
AVIs
Accredit Vocational Institutions*
(Accredit by NIOS to provide support services for vocational courses)
BBC
British Broadcasting Corporation
BETD
Basic Education Teacher Diploma (Namibia)
CABE
Central Advisory Board of Education
CBLC
Computer-Based Learning Centre (NAMCOL)
CBSE
Central Board of Secondary Education*
CD-ROM
Compact Disc – Read Only Memory
CED
Certificate in Education for Development (NAMCOL)
CISCE
Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination
CLGS
Certificate in Local Government Studies (NAMCOL)
COL
Commonwealth of Learning
Cr$
cruzeiro (Brazilian currency between 1952 and 1994)
CTEs
Colleges of Teacher Education
CYP
Commonwealth Diploma in Youth in Development (NAMCOL)
DASs
Delhi Administration Schools
DEC
Distance Education Council
DFID
Department for International Development
DIETs
District Institutes of Education and Training
DNEA
Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment (Namibia)
DPEP
District Primary Education Programme
DTP Desk-Top
Publishing
EFA
Education For All
Effect. Ratio
Effectiveness Ratio
EMIS
Educational Management Information System (MOE, Namibia)
ETSIP
Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme, Namibia
ETV Educational
Television
excl. excluding
FTE(s)
Full-Time Equivalent(s) – measure of student and staff numbers
GBP
Great Britain Pound
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
GER
Gross Enrolment Rate
GNI
Gross National Income
GNP
Gross National Product
govt. government
GRPOS
Grants-in-aid for Research Projects in Open Schooling

ix

HDABET
Higher Diploma in Adult Basic Education for Training (UNISA programme
franchised to NAMCOL)
HE Higher
Education
HIGCSE
Higher International General Certificate of Secondary Education (Namibia)
IASEs
Institutes of Advanced Studies in Education
ICTs
Information and Communications Technologies
IGCSE International
General
Certificate of Secondary Education (Namibia)
IGNOU
Indira Gandhi National Open University
IIMs
Indian Institutes of Management
IITs

Indian Institutes of Technology
INR

Indian Rupees (Current exchange rate: 1 US$ = Appx. INR 40.00)
IRDEB
Institut de Radio-Educative de Bahia, Brazil
IRFOL International
Research
Foundation for Open Learning (Cambridge, UK)
ISCED
International Standard Classification of Education
ISP
Internet Service Provider
JNVs
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas
(Apex Executive Body of Central Schools)
JSC
Junior Secondary Certificate, Namibia
JSCE
Junior Secondary Certificate Examination, Namibia
JSE
Junior Secondary Education, Namibia

Kenyan pound (currency)
km(s). Kilometre(s)
KVs

Kendriya Vidyalayas (Central Schools)
KVS
Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan
MDGs Millennium
Development
Goals
MHRD
Ministry of Human Resource Development
MOE
Ministry of Education, Namibia
MWK
Malawi Kwacha (currency)
N$ Namibian
Dollar
NAD Namibian
Dollar
NAMCOL
Namibian College of Open Learning
NBC
Namibian Broadcasting Corporation
NCERT
National Council of Educational Research and Training
NCOS
National Consortium for Open Schooling
NEACB
National Examinations, Assessment and Certification Board
NER
Net Enrolment Rate
NEU
Namibian Extension Unit
NFE
Non-Formal
Education
NGOs
Non-Government Organizations
NIEPA
National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration
(Now ‘National University of Educational Planning and Administration’)
NIOS
National Institute of Open Schooling
NOLNet
Namibian Open Learning Network Trust
NOS
National Open School
NOSS
National Open School Society
NPE

National Policy on Education 1986/1992
NSC
National School Certificate (Namibia)
NSS

National Sample Survey (of India)
NSSC
Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate
NSSCH
Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate (Higher Level)
NSSCO
Namibia Senior Secondary Curriculum (Ordinary Level)

x

NVS
Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti
(Apex Executive Body of Jawahar Navodaya Schools)
OBCs
Other Backward Classes
OBE
Open Basic Education
ODL
Open Distance Learning
OLS

Open Learning System
OS
Open
School
OSAC
Open Schooling Association of the Commonwealth
OSSCC
Open Schooling State Coordination Committees
para(s).
paragraph(s)
p. page
pp pages
PETS
Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (Namibia)
PIRR
Private Internal Rate of Return
PMD
Programmes and Materials Development Division, NAMCOL
POA
Programme of Action (related to NPE-1986 as revised in 1992)
pts points
RAC
Research Advisory Committee (of NIOS)
R&D
Research and Development
RCAC
Regional Centre Advisory Committee (of NIOS)
RCs
Regional
Centres
RD$
Dominican Republic peso (currency)
SCs
Scheduled
Castes
SCERTs
State Councils for Educational Research and Training
SDF
School Development Fund (Namibia)
SIRR
Social Internal Rate of Return
SOSs
State Open Schools
sq. square
SSA

Sarva Shiksha Abhyan (Education for All Campaign)
SSLC
Secondary School Leaving Certificate
STs

Scheduled Tribes
SWAPO
South West Africa People's Organisation
UAE
United Arab Emirates
UGC
University Grants Commission
UK United
Kingdom
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
UNISA
University of South Africa
UPE
Universal Primary Education
USA
United States of America
USD
United States Dollar
VTC
Vocational Training Centre, Namibia
VVN
Vidyalaya Vikas Nidhi (School Development Fund of KVs)
YCMOU
Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, India
ZSSs
Zila Saksharta Samities (District Literacy Committees)


xi


xii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to thank the following people for their help during the conduct of this
study:

In India, my deepest obligation of gratitude is to Shri M. C. Pant, Chairman of NIOS, for putting
together a team of senior staff members of NIOS to assist me in procuring the data required from
NIOS, New Delhi; Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, New Delhi; Council of Boards of School
Education in India, New Delhi; the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of
India, New Delhi; and other sources. This arrangement was necessitated because of my health
conditions and I must record my special thanks to all the team members for the support I received
from them—I would not have been to work without this support.

I would also like to thank Shri M. C. Pant for his effort in obtaining the data pertaining to
country-wide examination results (learner performance at the secondary level) from the Council
of Boards of School Education in India, New Delhi; Dr. J. D. Sharma, Senior Executive Officer,
NIOS, and Professor Puran Chand, Senior Executive Officer, NIOS, for their insightful comments
on the drafts of the various sections of the report and the explanations/answers they put forth in
response to my queries; Shri S. K. Anand, Deputy Director, Accounts, NIOS, for the financial
data he provided for me to study and work on, the time and space he allowed me to listen to and
answer my questions, explain the intricacies of the NIOS financial records and administrative
procedures and the arrangements he made for me to interact with some of the staff of the
Administration (Accounts) Department for further elaborations and explanations; Dr. Oum
Prakash Sharma, Assistant Director, Academic, NIOS, for the time and effort he put in to put
together various studies and documents in connection with quality assurance activities, systemic
research and student support services of NIOS, with unfailing patience and courtesy; Shri S. K.
Prasad, System Analyst & Programmer, NIOS, for his unfailing and continued support over the
entire project period in collecting the data pertaining to examination results, enrolments and
learner profiles from NIOS, New Delhi, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, New Delhi, the Ministry
of Human Resource Development, Government of India, New Delhi, and other institutions; Dr.
R. K. Arya, Joint Director, Media, NIOS, for his help in arranging the data and details of the
media materials developed, produced and offered by NIOS; Dr. R. S. P. Singh, Assistant
Director, Vocational Education, NIOS, for the insight he provided in relation to the Vocational
Education Programmes being offered and planned for the future by NIOS; and Professor
Harmesh Lal, Consultant, NIOS, for providing logistic support for and during the Project Team
meetings and for providing other facilities such as transport for the project related meetings held
from April to September, 2007, at NIOS Headquarters in New Delhi. I must also express my
gratitude to Dr. Sushmita Mitra, Director (on leave), Department of Student Support Services,
NIOS, for her comments on the draft Chapter 4 of this Study.
My thanks are also due for the other NIOS staff with whom I interacted and sought information
and help from and those others who participated in facilitating the study of NIOS in one or the
other way.

In Namibia special thanks must go to Mr. Heroldt Murangi, Director of NAMCOL, and his staff,
for facilitating the study of NAMCOL itself, but also for providing an office base and transport
during the study. It is sometimes dangerous to pick out particular individuals for special thanks
but in this case I would like in particular to mention Mr. Jerry Beukes, Deputy Director
Programme and Materials Development, NAMCOL, who answered my many queries with
patience and good humour; Mr. Jan Nitschke, Manager, Research and Evaluation, at NAMCOL,
who had accessed a vast amount of data and documentation that was ready on arrival in Namibia,
and who provided the first line of support on a daily basis; Ms. Verena Van Wyk, the Director’s

xiii

Private Secretary, who deserves special thanks for her support and unfailing help. However, my
deepest obligation of gratitude is to Mrs. Petrina Kamati, Senior Manager, Finance and
Administration, NAMCOL, who worked long hours of overtime to provide me with the financial
data I needed to complete the report, and without whose help some of the report could never have
been completed. Within the Ministry of Education, Mr. Beans Uazembua Ngatjizeko, Director,
Department of Adult Education, was the principal point of contact. He made many of the
appointments with Ministry staff. Mr. Justin Ellis, Under Secretary at the MOE, was courteous
and ever helpful, and special thanks must go to him, and also to Mrs. Sandra van Zyl, Chief
Higher Education Officer, Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme, for pointing
the way to documentation and sources of help. Mr. Alfred Ilukena, Under Secretary, Formal
Education, gave up his valuable time to provide further insights into issues bearing on the study.
Dr. Heide Tavakovi, Financial Planner, Corporate Planning, saved hours of fruitless work. Mr. D.
Koch, Senior Systems Analyst, Examinations Section, Directorate of National Examinations and
Assessment, was extremely helpful in accessing data on examination results. All those who were
interviewed and badgered for help gave of their time and expertise with unfailing patience and
courtesy – and to all of them thanks is extended.

At the Commonwealth of Learning, Vancouver our thanks go to Mrs. Frances J. Ferreira,
Education Specialist, Basic Education and Open Schooling, who directed and coordinated our
study, and to Ms. Carol Walker, Programme Assistant, who provided basic support and backup
and who smoothed our entry to various institutions in India and Namibia.










Greville Rumble
Badri N. Koul



xiv

REPORT LIMITATIONS

1. One of the major limitations we faced was the lack of information/data regarding the
destinations of the NAMCOL and NIOS graduates.

2. NAMCOL and NIOS did not have data regarding those of their students who are
employed (such as how many students learn and earn at the same time and how much do
they earn?). This data is essential in order to work out the opportunity costs that are so
important in cost studies.

3. There is a lack of data explaining what proportion of NAMCOL students have studied at
the JSC and/or IGCSE/NSSCO levels before they joined NAMCOL, and what proportion
of NAMCOL students are also enrolled in other private institutions at the same time. This
information would provide better insight into student performance and how it could be
improved.

4. The conventional Full-Time-Equivalent (FTE) system of computation to calculate the
unit costs of various types or that of pass percentages is flawed. NIOS’s enrolment data is
based on head count; a more accurate measure would be subject-based enrolment data. In
Namibia, NAMCOL students study the full two-year senior secondary curriculum in one
year, which makes it difficult to calculate FTE.

5. The existing integrated system of budgeting and accounts being followed by NIOS does
not allow for accuracy in cost analyses on rational grounds, though it fits well in the
conventional accounting-design prescribed by the Government.

6. The Namibian education budget distinguishes between operational costs and
development costs (capital expenditures such as buildings, furniture and equipment), but
it does not identify the value of past capital investments. This means the budget take into
account the capital cost savings that arise in distance education systems such as
NAMCOL, and therefore underestimates the relative cost efficiency of such systems.
Similarly, the line budget for secondary education does not include the cost of student
hostels, which account for nine per cent of the education budget.

7. NIOS has no data related to the monitoring of its study centres at its Accredited
Institutions. This makes it impossible to make any bold statements regarding the quality
of operations or student support at these study centres.




xv


xvi

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Recent progress towards the achievement of the second U.N. Millennium Development Goal,
Universal Primary Education (UPE), means that many more children are completing primary
education and looking for opportunities to enter secondary education. There is little likelihood
that governments facing the challenges of meeting the UPE target will be able to meet a further
challenge of providing vastly increased access to opportunities for secondary education.

Rapid expansion of secondary provision to meet frustrated demand from primary school leavers
and the needs of young adults previously denied secondary education opportunities will likely
require investment in approaches that are less tied to traditional methods of schooling.

It is within this context that this study has been conceived. “Open Schooling for Secondary and
Higher Education” explores the provision of secondary level Open Schooling in India and
Namibia, which are vastly different in their basic characteristics. The study examines on the
National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in India and the Namibian College of Open
Learning (NAMCOL). The focus is on issues such as cost-benefit of the open school model,
student profiles, how open schools complement the formal system, learner success, course
development, open school management and quality assurance. The study was carried out by two
experts in the field, Professor Badri N. Koul, who researched NIOS, and Professor Greville
Rumble, who researched NAMCOL, between April and October 2007.

As defined by COL, Open Schooling involves "the physical separation of the school-level learner
from the teacher, and the use of unconventional teaching methodologies, and information and
communications technologies (ICTs) to bridge the separation and provide the education and
training".

The use of technology both to facilitate and to overcome the separation of teacher and learner has
a long history going back to perhaps as early as 1728 when in The Boston Gazette, Caleb Philipps
advertised weekly lessons in shorthand to be sent to those wishing to learn the art. Further
developments in correspondence education took place in Europe, North America and the UK in
the late 19th century. Around the same time, university extension movement encouraged the use
of outreach programmes using correspondence methods, sometimes combined with face-to-face
tutorials. Early open schools tended to arise from efforts to help individual out-of-school children
pursue their studies, either because they could not get to a school, or because they were unable to
stay in school.

In current times, with the primary education system producing large numbers of graduates whose
plans to go on to secondary level are frustrated through a lack of provision, the expansion of
Open Schooling at secondary level has been seen as a way forward. Open schools have been set
up to offer both junior and senior secondary education to adolescents for whom there are no
conventional school places, to out-of-school young people and to adults. These open schools have
been successful in both bringing down the costs of education and educating out-of-school youths
as well as adult learners.

With one-sixth of the world’s population, India is the second most populous nation in the world.
It is highly diverse in terms of geography, languages, culture and income. The physical
infrastructure and the related additional human resources required for secondary education do not
exist, nor can they be created overnight to meet the impending deluge once UPE is achieved (the
latest forecast is 2010). Much of the burden for universalising education will have to be taken by
the Central Government, which is raising funds and also adopting alternative modes of education

1

for the purpose. As earnings definitely increase with rises in educational levels for all in India, the
need to provide access to education is clearly linked to the country’s development goals.

India’s National Open School (NOS) was established in 1989 to reach those who had dropped out
of school or never been to school and who wished to study but were for a variety of reasons not
studying in regular schools. Over the years, the role of NOS expanded beyond the provision of
bridging courses, an alternative secondary/higher secondary curriculum and life-enhancing
courses, to include from vocational education. Meanwhile, a number of State Open Schools were
established, all with a similar pro-poor mandate to that of NOS. In 2002, NOS was re-mandated
to act as the national apex body for open schooling, and re-designated The National Institute of
Open Schooling (NIOS). NIOS is both a teaching, and an examining and accrediting
organisation. There are currently close to 300,000 students enrolled in NIOS Accredited
Institutions.

The Republic of Namibia has a population of approximately two million made up of 13 ethnic
cultures and 16 language groups. Although Gross National Product (GNP) is relatively high, the
country has inequalities in income that are among the highest in the world. Namibia has
significant natural resources, but the potential for development is held back by a low skills base
that hampers foreign investment. The country’s Education and Training Sector Improvement
Programme is aimed at improving the education and training system to support the achievement
of development goals

The Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL) was formally established in 1997 as a
distance education college within the Ministry of Education. NAMCOL took on responsibility for
Namibia’s existing distance education programmes and the Namibian Extension Unit, which
provided courses to Namibian refugees in Zambia and Angola, before its independence.

NAMCOL's role in the Namibian education system is to act as a safety net that "picks up" and
helps a population roughly equivalent to 18.1 per cent of the conventional school population.
Most students are seeking not to study for the first time at these levels but to improve their grades
and hence their job prospects. NAMCOL exists to give them a second chance and to make good
the deficiencies of the formal system. The curriculum it is offering and the target it is reaching are
relatively restricted. As Namibia builds more traditional secondary schools, it’s likely that
NAMCOL's traditional market will begin to dry up, first at the junior and ultimately at the senior
secondary schools level, which is why we endorse NAMCOL's search for new markets in which
to deploy its expertise and its facilities.

While NAMCOL is essentially complementary to the formal system, NIOS can be described as
offering an alternative system to formal schooling. The vast majority of NIOS’s secondary school
students are out-of-formal-school learners and school drop-outs, working adults, housewives,
learners from disadvantaged sectors of society and learners living in remote areas of India. The
scale of the demand for secondary education places in India means that NIOS and the various
State Open Schools will continue to have a major role in the future. The addition of vocational
educational opportunities alongside more academic school subjects must reflect an appropriate
response to the needs of some learners, while the continuing emphasis on academic subjects is
clearly important in generating potential entrants for the university sector.

Like NIOS, NAMCOL enjoys strong government support. Both institutions receive government
grants. In the case of NIOS, Government grants declined progressively from 34 % of its income
to meet only 10.01% of the NIOS expenses, (covering the period 2002-2007). The Central
Government does not use any standard funding formula (i.e. @ per student or per subject

2

enrolment) to fund NIOS. Instead, plan-grants are given to NIOS on the basis of their budget
estimates. Other than such developmental plans, the rest of the expenditure is expected to be met
from NIOS’ own earnings/resources. The overall conclusion is that at the secondary level of
education in India, ODL operations such as NIOS are significantly less expensive than the
conventional schooling systems.

In the Namibian case, funding is based on a formula “on the principle that the provision of
secondary education via NAMCOL should not be more expensive than providing secondary
education via formal education”. In 2007/2008 the formula will generate a Government subsidy
of 63.9% towards operational costs in NAMCOL’s budget. The study confirms that economically
NAMCOL is very efficient, in terms of its unit costs per student, in comparison with the formal
system.

Although the part-time system (of which approximately 90% are from NAMCOL) never equals
or surpasses the full-time system in effectiveness, in a number of subjects – and with one or two
comparatively rather poor results (Biology and Economics IGCSE) – it approaches the full-time
system in respect of the proportion of students gaining grades A to G (JSCE) or A to G (IGCSE
examination). NIOS students perform well in comparison with the students taking other Boards'
secondary education examinations, they do not perform as well at higher secondary level.

Like all distance education systems, the success of NAMCOL's pedagogic system rests on three
key factors: the quality of its course materials, the quality of its student support sub-system and
the quality of its logistics. The quality of its course materials is not in doubt; subject by subject,
they are good to excellent. Logistically too the College performs well: the turnaround time on
assignments is on a par with the best of correspondence systems. NAMCOL's management
systems and its student support systems are well-designed and function well. Students are
registered efficiently; the materials get out to them on time; assignments are handled
expeditiously and tutor marking and performance is monitored. Yet if there is a question mark, it
hangs over the effectiveness of the student support system and how it could be improved in order
to ensure that a higher proportion of students achieve their aim of getting an A to C grade in the
national examinations. One approach would be to simply increase the amount of face-to-face
support per subject per week. This may well be an appropriate response, but arguably NAMCOL
also needs to build a much more individually targeted support system that identifies those
students who are struggling and targets help at them. Unlike the case of NIOS, examinations are
not a competency of NAMCOL, but of the Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment.

NIOS has well-defined processes for curriculum development, and approval of courses and
subjects are approved prior to the development of the materials by subject experts. Administrative
and academic support is provided to the learners through the Accredited Institutes, which are
selected against strict criteria. Activities that take place at these Institutes, including teaching and
assignment marking, is monitored by academic facilitators attached to the Regional Centres.
However, there is some doubt as to whether the monitoring processes at Accredited Institutes are
adequate, and there is no current means of planning and reviewing a system-wide process of
evaluation and quality assurance.

While open schools have not been without their problems, such as low status, under funding and
poor results, there is strong evidence that open schools can effectively deliver secondary
education to remote pupils that have never before had such opportunities. There is evidence that,
organised in the right way and with an attention to cost reduction, open schools can be set up to
reap the benefits of the economies of scale that distance education holds out as a possibility.


3

The study confirms that open schools can be either a complementary or alternative system to the
conventional school system. As an alternative, open schools can reach new markets through an
expanded curriculum.

Given the crisis in secondary education admissions, this study finds strong evidence to support
further investment in understanding what it is that makes for success in Open Schooling and
investment in the establishment of more open schools to face the challenges of frustrated demand
that so many countries face. This will be of key importance as the world faces the challenges of
the next three or four decades – of environmental change, population growth, and resource and
energy supply. It will be difficult if not impossible to meet the demand and need for secondary
education on the scale envisaged without resorting to Open Schooling approaches.


4

1 INTRODUCTION: BACKGROUND, OBJECTIVES AND CONDUCT OF
RESEARCH

The Millennium Declaration, adopted by 189 governments at the United Nations Millennium
Summit in 2000, committed nations and intergovernmental institutions to focus international
economic and social cooperation on the achievement of eight Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) by 20151. The second of these goals – achieving Universal Primary Education (UPE) –
commits governments to the target of ensuring that all boys and girls complete a full course of
primary education. This goal is consistent with the Education For All (EFA) goal reaffirmed at
the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal in April 2000, which committed the international
community among other things to ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in
difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to and complete free
and compulsory primary education2. Although challenging, as UNESCO's Education for All
(EFA) Global Monitoring report 2005 makes clear3, progress towards the achievement of UPE
means that many more children are completing primary education and looking for opportunities
to enter secondary education.

There is little likelihood that governments facing the challenges of meeting the UPE target by or
shortly after the 2015 target date will be able to meet a further challenge of providing vastly
increased access to opportunities for secondary education. Rapid expansion of secondary
provision to meet frustrated demand from primary school leavers and the needs of young adults
previously denied secondary education opportunities, is thus likely to require investment in
approaches that are less tied to traditional methods of schooling.

It is within this context that the present study has been conceived. The study focuses on the
provision of secondary level Open Schooling in two countries, India and Namibia that are vastly
different in their basic characteristics (World Bank Key Development Data and Statistics):

Table 1.1: World Bank Key Development Data and Statistics
4
5
Country India
Namibia
Date 2005
2005
GDP (current US$) billions
785.5
6.1
GNI per capita, Atlas method, current US$
720
2990
Life expectancy at birth, total (years)
63
47
Population, total, millions
1,094.6
2.0
Population growth (annual %)
1.4
1.1
School enrolment, primary (% net)
89.7
73.7
Surface area, (sq. km.) (thousands) 3,287.3 824.3

1 United Nations Association: http://www.unausa.org/site/pp.asp?c=fvKRI8MPJpF&b=640969, accessed
19 April 2007.
2 UNESCO: http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=33163&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html, accessed 19 April 2007.
3 UNESCO, EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005, http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=35939&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html, accessed 19 April 2007. See in
particular Chapter 3.
4 World Bank Key Development Data and Statistics, accessed 19 April 2007:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,contentMDK:20535285~menuP
K:1192694~pagePK:64133150~piPK:64133175~theSitePK:239419,00.html
5 World Bank Key Development Data and Statistics, accessed 19 April 2007:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,contentMDK:20535285~menuP
K:1192694~pagePK:64133150~piPK:64133175~theSitePK:239419,00.html

5



In India, the study focuses on the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), while in Namibia
the focus is on the Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL). Again, these are two very
different institutions as the table below indicates.

Table 1.2: Key comparative statistics, NIOS and NAMCOL

Institution NIOS
NAMCOL
2006
# secondary equivalency enrolments,
2003
Appx.
28,090
35,000,000
secondary equivalency enrolments as %age of
(321,754), i.e.
18.0%
total secondary enrolments in country
0.92%
# staff on contracts of service (i.e. core staff)
2003-2006
HQs Sanctioned:
69
251
# staff on contracts for service (i.e. casual staff)
Guesstimate:
1228
32,000+

Notes:
1. The data regarding enrolment being presented here pertains to 2003. It is what could be
authenticated on the basis of our own calculations (see The secondary school age group
in Section 3.5).
2. If we consider the cumulative enrolment (not just the 2003 intake only, but all the
students on rolls in 2003), we have to depend on approximations—the number would be
something like 1.2 million, in which case the %age (row 2) would be 3.43.
3. The basis of the guesstimate:
i.
At least 10 persons (including tutors, etc.) at each study centre at all the different
types of AIs put together (AIs-1946, AVIs-999 and AAs-249 = 3194) = 3194 x
10 = 31,940.
ii.
At least 4 persons at each Regional Centre = 12 x 4 = 48
iii.
Academic facilitators (actual number) = 161
iv.
Total = 32,149, i.e. approximately 32,000.

Institution NIOS
NAMCOL
2006-2007
2006
# secondary equivalency enrolments
290983
28090
secondary equivalency enrolments as %age of total secondary
18.0%
enrolments in country
# staff on contracts of service (i.e. core staff)
circa 250
69
# staff on contracts for service (i.e. casual staff)

1228

The aim of the study was to look at these two institutions in some detail and see whether any
broad conclusions might be drawn about the nature and effectiveness of Open Schooling, with a
view to informing policy development and further research.

The specific objectives of the study were:

1. To examine the relative cost efficiency, cost effectiveness and cost-benefit of the open
school model as compared to the conventional school model in terms of unit cost, private
and opportunity cost, public cost, capital / non-recurring cost and recurring/operational
cost.

6

2. To understand the student profile in terms of age, gender, rural/urban distribution, socio-
economic status and family background, and see whether this model caters to the same or
different populations. (i.e. How does the profile of open school students compare with the
student profile of the conventional schooling system?)
3. To explore how open schools can complement the formal system. Is the Open Schooling
model best implemented as a parallel, supplementary or complementary system?
4. To investigate learner success in terms of student enrolment, completion/success rates,
efficiency of time invested, further education, employment and productivity by
addressing such questions as:
• What is the completion rate?
• How do Open Schooling graduates perform in the labour market?
• How do these compare to conventional approaches to similar learners?
• What is the relative cost effectiveness and cost-benefits of the two systems?
5. To examine the nature and type of courses (academic/vocational) offered by the Open
Schooling system and their linkage with higher learning and livelihood/productivity and
development.
6. To study the processes of the course development, learner support and learner assessment
(both formative and summative assessment) systems used in the Open Schooling
approach.
7. To study the planning and management system including the modalities of monitoring
and evaluation employed in the Open Schooling system.
8. In relation to points 5, 6 and 7, to study the quality assurance mechanisms in place.

Professor Badri N. Koul, who focused on NIOS, and Professor Greville Rumble, who focused on
NAMCOL, carried out the studies between April 2007 and October 2007. Appendix 1 provides
information on Professor Koul's programme, while Appendix 2 outlines Professor Rumble's
programme.


7


8

2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF OPEN SCHOOLING

2.1

Open Schooling: a definition

The Commonwealth of Learning acknowledges that there are different views on what Open
Schooling is but itself uses a very broad but simple definition: Open Schooling involves "the
physical separation of the school-level learner from the teacher, and the use of unconventional
teaching methodologies, and information and communications technologies (ICTs) to bridge the
separation and provide the education and training"6.

In developing this thinking, COL explains that:

"Open Schooling is not called open/distance schooling for a reason. Open Schooling may
follow different patterns, but the most common scenario is that the learners study specially
designed open learning materials on their own - at home, in their workplace, wherever it is
convenient for them - and then they meet together with a facilitator on a regular basis. The
"open" in Open Schooling refers to the openness of the system - seldom are there rules
dictating student ages, prerequisites, content of courses to be taken or number of courses in
which students must enrol. For example,

• Youth that missed out on schooling in their childhood can enrol in courses which will
provide them with the equivalence of secondary education without their having to
endure the embarrassment of being in classrooms with children much younger than
themselves.
• Young mothers can take secondary level education through studying at home, and
attending tutorials only when necessary and their responsibilities permit.
• Working adults can enrol in one or two courses at a time, and study whenever their
personal and work commitments permit.
• Young adults can acquire skill training coupled with academic subjects while self-
employed or working as non-skilled labour.

The openness facilitates the learning - anyone can enrol in any course at any time and study
at their own convenience and schedule.

The face-to-face sessions with the facilitator are mainly to clarify any difficulties that the
students may have experienced when working through the learning materials. These sessions
are seldom mandatory. It does not affect a student if he or she has to "drop out" for a period
of time - they can pick up their studies once again, when it is convenient for them to do so.
The facilitators do not teach the learners. In fact, the facilitator may not know much about
the subject area at all. The role of the facilitator is to guide the learners and assist them to
understand how to study the content in the material.

In addition to the facilitator, there is usually a subject matter expert available – possibly
through telephone or e-mail contact – who will respond to questions relating to the subject
content. Having the expert available is key. Although he or she may only be called upon
once in a while, it is important that facilitators are aware that someone is there to answer any
content questions that might arise.


6 Commonwealth of Learning: http://www.col.org/colweb/site/pid/3905, accessed 19 April 2007

9

The student-facilitator meetings are often held in learning centres located in libraries,
churches, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), schools or other semi-public places. The
meetings may be fixed times during a week, or may be held at the students' and facilitators'
convenience. Having the learning centres located in local neighbourhoods add to the
increased access of the education, especially for girls and women who would not usually be
permitted to travel any distance to a public school. Sometimes the meetings may be virtual,
organised through teleconferencing, interactive radio or television broadcasts or e-mail
listservs.

The facilitators or experts mark the students' exercises and assignments, and provide
feedback designed to assist the students in understanding content when their answers
indicate this is required. Sensitive, careful marking is necessary, as it encourages and
supports the learners while helping them to understand their mistakes."7

In respect of level, COL notes that:

"Open Schooling is most often offered at the secondary level to students/learners that have
achieved a basic level of literacy, although there are some notable exceptions, such as the
Interactive Radio Instruction literacy initiative in Zambia.

The potential of Open Schooling at the primary level is great because of the additional
opportunities that are feasible due to the newly available and affordable ICTs. However,
more research needs to be undertaken, and new models examined and explored before
expansion of Open Schooling at the primary level can be successfully rolled out.

COL recognises the vast opportunities for education and training that can be provided
through successful Open Schooling initiatives. We will continue to work to increase the
availability and quality of all levels of schooling provided through non-conventional means
and to work with local ministries and institutions to help them meet the education and
training needs of their most disadvantaged communities."8

2.2 Development of Open Schooling

The use of technology both to facilitate and to overcome the separation of teacher and learner has
a long history going back to perhaps as early as 1728 when in The Boston Gazette, Caleb Philipps
advertised weekly lessons in shorthand to be sent to those wishing to learn the art. While this may
have been simply a self-instructional system lacking the necessary two-way communication
between a teacher and a student that characterises distance education, there is no doubt that in
1840 Sir Isaac Pitman began to use the recently introduced penny post service to underpin a
correspondence education service teaching his new system of shorthand notation to the growing
numbers of clerks working in government offices and businesses in the UK. Students were asked
to transcribe passages of the Bible into shorthand, which Pitman then corrected and returned to
them.

Further developments followed rapidly as correspondence education began to be used to:

• teach languages (Charles Toussaint and Gustav Langenscheidt's Berlin-based language
school, established in 1856),

7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.

10

• prepare candidates for the UK Civil Service entrance examinations (Skerry's College,
Edinburgh, 1878),
• train accountants (Foulks Lynch Correspondence Tuition Service, London, 1884), and
• instruct on mining and mine safety (Thomas J Foster's correspondence course in eastern
Pennsylvania, 1891).

Such projects were early progenitors of a long traditional involving the delivery of vocational
education and training by distance means9.

At the university level, a number of correspondence colleges, such as the University
Correspondence College (1887), were set up in the UK to help external students prepare for the
University of London's external degree – an examination for which the University itself did not
provide any teaching. The late-nineteenth century university extension movement in the USA, the
UK and elsewhere encouraged the use of outreach programmes using correspondence methods,
sometimes combined with face-to-face tutorials. Early providers included Illinois Wesleyan
University (1874), Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada (1889), the University
Extension Department of the University of Chicago (1891) and the University of Queensland in
Australia (1911).

The twentieth century saw a global expansion of such "dual mode" provision as increasing
numbers of universities offered programmes both on-campus through regular face-to-face classes,
and off-campus through various forms of distance education using correspondence and audio-
visual methods. Examples include the Indian universities’ Correspondence Directorates and the
external degree programme of the University of Zambia10. From the 1920s on there was also a
range of universities and other tertiary level institutions offering programmes solely at a distance,
including a number of Soviet All-Union Correspondence Polytechnics set up in the mid-1920s
and early 1930s, and the University of South Africa, rechartered as a correspondence-based
university aimed at supporting "external" students in 1951. Higher education provision was given
a further boost by the foundation of multi-media distance teaching universities in the 1960s – the
first of these being the Open University in the UK (1969)11. This ushered in a period of
development, which saw the foundation of a number of distance-teaching universities12, some of
which, because they have over 100,000 students, have been described as mega-universities13.




9 See for example, Greville Rumble and João Oliveira (eds.) Vocational education at a distance:
International perspectives
, London. Kogan Page, 1992; Louise Moran and Greville Rumble (eds.)
Vocational training through distance education: A policy perspective, London, RoutledgeFalmer, 2004; on
teacher education specifically, see Hilary Perraton (ed.) Distance education for teacher training, London,
Routledge, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Commonwealth of Learning; Bernadette Robinson and
Colin Latchem (eds.) Teacher Education Through Open and Distance Learning, London,
RoutledgeFalmer, 2002.
10 Richard Siaciwena (1983) ‘Problems of managing an external degree programme at the University of
Zambia’ Journal of Adult Education [University of Zambia] 2, 1: 67-77; Siaciwena, R. M. C. (1988) ‘The
external degree programme at the University of Zambia’, Prospects 18, 2: 199-206.
11 For further information, see Börje Holmberg, Growth and Structure of Distance Education, London,
Croom Helm, 1986; Greville Rumble and Keith Harry (eds.) The Distance Teaching Universities, London,
Croom Helm, 1982.
12 Greville Rumble and Keith Harry (eds.) The distance teaching universities, London, Croom Helm, 1982.
13 Daniel, J. S. (1996) Mega-universities and Knowledge Media: Technology Strategies for Higher
Education
, London: Kogan Page. [First edition]

11

2.2.1 ODL and non-traditional schooling

Recent focus on what in Europe is often referred to as "open and distance learning" (ODL) has
stressed provision at the higher education level – in part because universities and university
academics have dominated the international conference circuit and the professional distance and
eLearning literature. Yet there is a long history of non-traditional schooling some of which may
be regarded as falling within the broad definition of Open Schooling as defined by COL.

Early open schools tended to arise from efforts to help individual out-of-school children pursue
their studies, either because they could not get to a school, or because they were unable to stay in
school. In Sweden, H. S. Hermod started what became Hermods when he sought to support an
individual student who had moved away from Malmö. Similarly, the exclusive, private
Baltimore-based Calvert School (set up in 1897), following experiments dating from 1905, began
from 1908 to educate children at home, including children who were house-bound and those
whose parents were in the armed forces, the diplomatic and consular services, or who worked
overseas in other capacities14.

It was developments in Australia, however, that showed the way to the provision of state-funded
primary and secondary education through correspondence teaching when in 1914 the Victorian
Education Department began systematically supporting home learners – a development that, with
the use of radio, was formalised in 1951 into the Australian Schools of the Air. This enabled
children in isolated homesteads to study from specially designed teaching materials and
communicate with their teacher and fellow students using two-way radio. The system now uses a
two-way broadband satellite network15.

The New Zealand Correspondence School, set up to meet the needs of children in rural areas,
provides the same primary and secondary syllabus as conventional schools to some 20,000
children and adults16. The School meets the needs of those who are unable to attend a school at
all, as well as those who are in school but want to take a subject not offered in their school.
Another early development – the Centre National d'Enseignement par Correspondance in France
– was established to support those school-aged children whose studies were being disrupted
during the Second World War. Now called the Centre National d'Enseignement à Distance, it
offers programmes from primary to degree level17.

In the 1960s and 1970s, in the wake of decolonialisation, correspondence education was adopted
widely in Africa as a means of expanding educational provision and meeting the needs of adults
who lacked school qualifications (Botswana Extension College, 1973; Correspondence Course
Unit of the University of Nairobi, Kenya, 1967; Malawi Correspondence College, 1964;
Swaziland International Education Centre, 1974)18. In India, an Open School was set up in 1979
to meet the frustrated demand for secondary education, and to provide opportunities to

14 Archibald Murdoch Hart, “The origin of Home Instruction (for children, at the Calvert School)”, in
Ossian Mackenzie and Edward I. Christensen (eds.) The Changing World of Correspondence Study:
International Readings
, University Park, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1971. For up-to-date
information on the Calvert School, see http://www.calvertschool.org/home-school/, accessed 27 June 2007.
15 Center for Digital Government, Government technology International, "Australian School of the Air to
Beam in by Satellite", May 2003, http://www.centerdigitalgov.com/international/story.php?docid=53435,
accessed 27 June 2007.
16 See http://www.correspondence.school.nz/, accessed 27 June 2007.
17 For current information on its school activities, see http://www.cned.fr/scolaire/, accessed 27 June 2007.
18 Michael Young, Hilary Perraton, Janet Jenkins, and Tony Dodds, Distance Teaching for the Third World.
The Lion and the Clockwork Mouse
, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.

12

19
disadvantaged sectors of society such as girls, women, and working adults . Open schools also
continued to be set up in developed countries where there was a need – as the foundation of the
National Extension College (1963) in the UK demonstrated20. Linked to these developments were
efforts to ensure that such institutions protect themselves from the worst excesses of the private
correspondence sector through the establishments of trade associations designed to establish and
maintain minimum standards. The US National Home Study Association was set up in 1915, and
similar bodies followed in other countries21.

2.2.2 The introduction of technology

Some schools-based projects sought to use technology to support and improve existing classroom
teaching. In the UK, the BBC began its Schools Education Service in 1925 to enrich the
classroom experience. Elsewhere, radio came to be used to improve the quality of science
education (Voice of Kenya late 1960s "Beginning Science" series aimed at primary schools), and
mathematics (Radio Mathematics project in Nicaragua, begun in 1975 and aimed at primary
schools). Other projects, combining both correspondence and radio, sought to improve the quality
of school education across the wider curriculum (Mauritius College of the Air, set up in 1972 to
support secondary education22). Projects in Latin America (Acción Cultural Popular, Colombia,
1947; Radio Santa Maria, Dominican Republic, 1964) in particular favoured the use of radio and
correspondence materials. The Air Correspondence High School in South Korea23, set up in
1974, used correspondence texts, radio programmes and fortnightly face-to-face sessions to
provide secondary level education to out-of-school young people and adults.

Television also began to be used in the late 1950s and 1960s to deliver the school curriculum (or
at least, substantial parts of it). Large-scale projects were set up in American Samoa, the Ivory
Coast, El Salvador, Mexico and elsewhere. Some of these projects were set up to provide schools
where none had existed before. An early project in Niger (Télé-Niger, started in 1964) pointed to
the way in which remote classrooms supported by adult monitors (rather than trained teachers)
could be used successfully to deliver primary school educational content through television.
While the scale and economics of this experiment did not live up to expectations, the use of
similar methods in the Mexican Telesecundaria project (starting in 1968) quickly expanded to
provide high quality, cost-efficient secondary level education to large numbers of school-age
students24. However, the success of these large-scale ETV projects was mixed. In American
Samoa and in El Salvador, there was teacher resistance and the service was redefined as a
classroom enrichment support service.




19 Onkar Sing Dewal, “Open School, India”, in B. N. Koul and Janet Jenkins (eds.) Distance Education: A
Spectrum of Case Studies
, London, Kogan Page, 1990.
20 Janet Jenkins and Hilary Perraton, The Invisible College: NEC 1963-1979, Cambridge, International
Extension College, 1980. For up to date information see http://www.nec.ac.uk/info/?usca_p=t, accessed 17
June 2007.
21 Greville Rumble and Colin Latchem, “Organisational models for distance and open learning”, in Hilary
Perraton and Helen Lentell (eds) Policy for Open and Distance Learning, London, RoutledgeFalmer, 2003.
22 For current information, see http://www.mca.ac.mu/, accessed 27 June 2007.
23 Kye-Woo Lee, Shigenari Futagami, and Bernard Braithwaite, “Air Correspondence High School, South
Korea”, in B. N. Koul and Janet Jenkins (eds.) Distance Education: A Spectrum of Case Studies, London,
Kogan Page, 1990.
24 Michael Young, Hilary Perraton, Janet Jenkins, and Tony Dodds, Distance Teaching for the Third World.
The Lion and the Clockwork Mouse
, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.

13

2.2.3 Meeting the need for secondary education

With the primary education system producing large numbers of graduates whose plans to go on to
secondary level are frustrated through a lack of provision, the expansion of Open Schooling at
secondary level has been seen as a way forward. Open schools have been set up to offer both
junior and senior secondary education to adolescents for whom there are no conventional school
places, to out-of-school young people and to adults.

Among the largest systems in Latin America are the Telesecundaria in Mexico and Telecurso in
Brazil. Telesecundaria had in the early years of this century an annual enrolment of 750,000. The
Bangladesh Open School is one of the six original schools of the Bangladesh Open University
(established 1992). The school offers school equivalency courses including (from 1995) the two-
year Secondary School Certificate across a range of subjects25 and (from 1998) the two-year
Higher Secondary School Certificate. There were 70,990 students taking the former programme
in 2006, and 34,023 students taking the latter in 200526. The open schools in Indonesia, South
Korea, and India are predicated on the assumption that they will reach millions of children.

2.3
Effectiveness of Open Schooling and its outcomes

How successful have these projects been? Perraton concluded that "at their peak", Latin
American radio schools providing basic education "demonstrated that their combined
technologies of radio, print and supported group study could be effective in offering a basic
education to children and to adults"27. Generally, however, open and distance education was not
seen as a suitable vehicle for primary education. In contrast, at the secondary level, "open and
distance learning has solid records of achievement, and grand claims of potential"28. Particularly
at the secondary level, open schools have added greatly to the number of educated school leavers.
However, the proportion of those who enter and drop out before they graduate can be high: the
"open door" can all too easily become a "revolving door" – particularly where students are
unsupported in their studies.

Comparisons in terms of quality are acknowledged to be difficult, not least because so many open
and distance learning projects cater to audiences not normally reached by conventional schools –
students on the margin, students in work and adults. Many of these students start with more
handicaps than do conventional students29.






25 M. Ali, A. Enamul Haque, and G. Rumble (1997) “The Open University: Mission and Promise”, Open
Learning
12 (2), pp. 12-28; Greville Rumble, “The Bangladesh Open University: Mission and promise”, in
Keith Harry (ed.) “Higher education through open and distance learning”, London, Routledge, 1999.
26 Sharker Md. Numan, Md. Anwarul Islam, and Anwar Sadat (2007), “Analytical views of student
enrolment trends of different programs of the Bangladesh Open University and its projection”, Turkish
Online Journal of Distance Education, Vol 8, No 2, pp. 49-61,
http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr/tojde26/pdf/article_4.pdf accessed 17 June 2007.
27 Hilary Perraton, “Aims and Purpose”, in Hilary Perraton and Helen Lentell (eds.) Policy for Open and
Distance Learning
, London, RoutledgeFalmer, 2004, p. 11.
28 Ibid. p. 12.
29 Reehana Raza, “Benefits for students, labour force, employers and society”, in Hilary Perraton and Helen
Lentell (eds.) Policy for Open and Distance Learning, London, RoutledgeFalmer, 2004, p. 210.

14

2.3.1 Measuring gains and benefits

Most studies focus on the quality of the output (graduates) as measured by the proportion of
students who graduate with a school leaving qualification. Such measures are crude in that they
say nothing about value added – the difference in the level of knowledge and skills a student had
on entry, against the level they have achieved when they leave the programme. Gains may be
made in the cognitive (knowledge-based), psychomotor (skills-based), and affective (behavioural)
domains, and impact not just on the individual's performance but also on improvements in labour
productivity and economic growth. The latter benefit is often measured through the proxy
measure of earning, on the grounds that the more productive a person is, the higher their earnings.

In measuring gains and benefits, however, there is a real problem in disentangling cause and
effect so that the benefits accruing because of other factors are not automatically attributed to
participation in an open and distance learning programme.

The benefits of Open Schooling may be private, accruing to the individual, to parents, and to the
employer, or social, accruing to the labour market and society in general. Most studies of the
benefits of Open Schooling focus on the former.

Unfortunately the area where there are the fewest studies of the benefits open and distance
learning is in schools education – either at primary or junior secondary level. Nevertheless, some
studies exist: the Telesecundaria, with 817,000 enrolments (2001) representing some 15 per cent
of the total junior secondary market (1997-1998), had a pass rate of 93 per cent.30 In Indonesia,
enrolment in the open schools in 1996-1997 was 197,000, with about 92 per cent of enrolees
graduating31. Against these levels, one has to place completion levels in the National Open
School in India (400,000 students, completion rate of 43 per cent in 1998-1999), the open school
in Thailand (2.548 million enrolees, completion rate 39 per cent), and Zambia and Malawi
(completion rates of 35 per cent)32.



















30 UNESCO, Distance Education in the E-9 countries, Paris, UNESCO, 2001.
31 P. Edirisingha, “Reaching the unreached through distance education: costs, outcomes and sustainability”,
UNESCO Regional Seminar on the use of simple modern media for rural education, 12-19 December 1999.
32 Ibid.

15



Rumble summarised a number of studies where comparative information on pass rates in open
and conventional schools was available and this is shown in Table 2.1 below33.

Table 2.1: Student success at schools level: comparative performance of distance and
conventional systems

Institution,
Measure Distance

Conventional

Relative
Notes
country
Effectiveness
Ratio
Institut de Radio-
Madurez pass
37%
61%
0.61
1
Educative de
rates in the town
37%
36%
1.03
2
Bahia (IRDEB),
of Feira de
Brazil34
Santanam 1976
Centros APEC de
% of students
58%
77%
0.75
3
Educación a
who successfully
58%
80-85%
0.68 – 0.73
4
Distancia,
complete the
Dominican
course, 1986/87
Republic35
Air
Year end test



Correspondence
scores (%age



High School,
score), 1975:
(a) 56.5%
64.1%
0.88
Korea36
(a) mean, all
(b) 51.5%
65.8%
0.78
subjects
(c) 36.8%
50.2%
0.73
(b) Korean
(d) 44.0%
75.0%
0.59
(c) English
(d) Maths
Telesecundaria,
Overall pass rate
86%
(a) 79%
1.09
5
Mexico37

(b) 77%
1.12
(c) 73%
1.18
(d) 73%
1.18
(e) 74%
1.16
(f) 65%
1.32
(g) 64%
1.34

33 Greville Rumble, The Costs and Economics of Open and Distance Learning, London, Kogan Page, 1997,
p. 165.
34 João B. Oliveira and François Orivel (1982) "A Madureza Project in Bahia, Brazil", in Hilary Perraton
(ed.), Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency, Baltimore, John
Hopkins University Press, 1982
35 Gloria Muñiz Aquino (1988) "Análisis de la eficacia en función del costo de un proyecto de educación a
distancia en la República Dominicana: El caso de CENAPEC", in João B. Oliveira and Greville Rumble
(eds.), Educación a Distancia en América Latina: Análisis de costo-efectividad, Washington, D.C., World
Bank, 1992
36 Kye-Woo Lee, Shigenari Futagami, and Bernard Braithwaite (1982) "The Korean Air-Correspondence
High School", in Hilary Perraton (ed.), Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for
school equivalency
, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1982.
37 Eduardo Arena (1989) "Actualización del cálculo del costo de la Telesecundaria Mexicana", in João B.
Oliveira and Greville Rumble (eds.), Educación a Distancia en América Latina: Análisis de costo-
efectividad
, Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1992; Secretaría de Educación Pública, Consejo Nacional
Técnico de la Educación, Dirección General de Programación, La enseñanza media básica en México y el
Sistema Nacional de Telesecundaria en televisión y enseñanza media en México
, Consejo Nacional
Técnico de la Educación, Mexico, 1981

16


Notes to Table 2.1

(1) IRDEB, Brazil: direct teaching by qualified teachers
(2) IRDEB, Brazil: private establishments and students who have prepared for the madureza
without having followed a formal course
(3) Centros APEC de Educación a Distancia: day school
(4) Centros APEC de Educación a Distancia: night school
(5) Telesecundaria, Mexico: Conventional systems are (a) Federal General Secondary schools,
(b) State General Secondary schools, (c) private sector General Secondary schools, (d)
Federal Technical Secondary schools, (e) State Technical Secondary schools, (f) private
sector Technical Secondary schools, (g) Secondary Equivalency programme for Workers.

Source:
Greville Rumble, The Costs and Economics of Open and Distance Learning,
London, Kogan Page, 1997, p. 165

In this table, the Relative Effectiveness Ratio is a measure the effectiveness of the open school
compared with the effectiveness of conventional schools in the same jurisdiction. For example, if
a traditional education system graduates 85 students out of every 100 (effectiveness ratio of 85
per cent), and a distance system graduates 40 students out of 100 (40 per cent effectiveness ratio),
then a measure of the comparative effectiveness of the distance system relative to the traditional
one is obtained by dividing the effectiveness ratio of the distance system by that of the traditional
system (40 ÷ 85) to give a Relative Effectiveness Ratio of 47 per cent. If the distance system has
an effectiveness ratio of 90 per cent, then the comparative effectiveness is 90 ÷ 85, giving a
Comparative Effectiveness Ratio of 1.06.

For example, Table 2.1 provides information on the pass rates of students in the Centros APEC de
Educación a Distancia in the Dominican Republic (58 per cent) compared with that in other
secondary school systems in the country. In the day schools, the pass rate is 77 per cent, so the
Comparative Effectiveness Ratio of the distance system is 58/77 or 0.75. An effectiveness ratio of
1.0 indicates that the two systems are comparable in relative effectiveness. A ratio under 1.0
means that the distance system is less effective. A ratio of more than 1.0 means that it is more
effective than the traditional system. The Table shows that the performance of the Telesecundaria
is better than other schools in Mexico.

Various approaches towards Open Schooling have been developed over the years. While some
have focused on providing opportunities to adults who missed out on the opportunity to go to
school when they were young, the majority have been set up to expand the number of school
places available. All too often these schools are seen as a second-rate alternative that attract less
able students and achieve poorer results than conventional schools. These factors, coupled with
their non-traditional teaching methods, have lowered the esteem within which they are held, and
all too often they have been starved of funds38. Nevertheless, there are successes – or at least
partial successes – as the Mexican experience and some of the more recent Brazilian experiences
make clear.






38 Hilary Perraton, Open and Distance Learning in the Developing World, London, Routledge, 2000, p. 55.

17


2.4
Costs of Open Schooling

In the latter half of the 1970s, the World Bank funded a number of cost studies of alternative
routes to formal education at primary and secondary levels. These studies were published in
198239. The focus was on two different approaches. The first involved the delivery of secondary
equivalency programmes to students who attended a school room each day, and whose attendance
was therefore supervised by a monitor. This included:

• the Federal Government Minerva Project in Brazil which was started in 1970 and from
1973 produced and broadcast to non-traditional schools the complete basic education
cycle,
• the Educational Radio Broadcasting Institute of Bahia (IRDEB) project in Brazil which
produced broadcast teaching programmes for use in non-traditional schools,
• the Malawi Correspondence College programme, and
• the Mauritius College of the Air programme).

The second approach relied on less frequent student attendance at tutorials and listening groups.
Each of the institutions in this group (the Korean Air Correspondence High School, the
Correspondence Course Unit in Kenya, and Everyman University [now the Open University] in
Israel) offered courses at various levels – secondary, university and teacher training.

In addition to these World Bank funded studies, a number of other studies have been done by
other agencies. Most of studies compared the average cost per student over a given period of time
(a semester or a year), and most only focused on operational costs, thus excluding capital costs. In
general, the studies focus on efficiency – that is, the ratio of output to input – taking no account of
the relative quality of the teaching-learning that goes on within the systems being compared. A
system is cost-efficient if, relative to another system, its outputs cost less per unit of input.

2.4.1 The Efficiency Ratio

One needs to have some kind of measure that will enable one to make relatively easy
comparisons across institutions, jurisdictions and time. In any system where the average cost of a
student/graduate in the distance mode has been compared with the average cost in the traditional
mode, it is possible to establish the ratio of these costs by dividing the average cost in the distance
mode by the average cost in the traditional mode. Thus in the case of IRDEB in Brazil (see Table
2.2 below), the average cost per student-semester in IRDEB (Cr$2200) can be divided by the
average cost per student-semester in private institutions (Cr$505) to give a ratio of 4.36. This
ratio is referred to as the Efficiency Ratio. The Efficiency Ratio has the value that it can compare
the relative efficiency of any distance teaching system with traditional systems in the same
jurisdiction and allow comparisons to be drawn across jurisdictions. A ratio of:

• 1.0 would mean that the distance system is as efficient as the comparator system,
• less than 1.0 means that the distance system is more efficient than the comparator, and
• greater than 1.0 means that the distance system is less efficient than the comparator



39 Hilary Perraton (ed.), Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency,
Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1982.

18


An efficiency of 4.36 indicates that the IRDEB system is very inefficient. The various studies
showed that:

• The IRDEB offered the madureza (secondary school equivalency certificate for adults)
programme to adult students. Oliveira and Orivel40 indicated that with only 8,000
student-semester enrolments, and with students studying less intensively than in other
systems, the Efficiency Ratio of IRDEB's distance teaching system was 4.36 compared to
conventional private institutions (i.e. much more expensive). To compete with them on
cost grounds, IRDEB's student numbers would have to expand significantly in order to
spread its fixed costs over a wider student base.
• With 17,700 students, the Minerva project in Brazil provided a cost-efficient route to the
madurez (Efficiency Ratio 0.65)41.
• The Malawi Correspondence College, with 2884 students, provided an efficient
correspondence/radio-based alternative route to secondary education (Efficiency Ratio of
between 0.23 and 0.62, depending on the costs in the comparator institutions)42.
• The Mexican Telesecundaria provides classroom delivered televised lessons supported by
monitors and study guides. An early cost study by Mayo, McAnany and Klees43
suggested that the system was efficient (Efficiency Ratio of 0.76 with 33,840 students),
but later cost studies44 indicated Efficiency Ratios of 1.09 (with 170,000 students) and
1.32 or greater (with 400,000 students). Arena45 may provide one of the clues for this loss
of efficiency: even though the number of students in the Telesecundaria had risen, the
school was so successful that it expanded into smaller and smaller communities, with the

40 João B. Oliveira and François Orivel (1982) “A Madureza Project in Bahia, Brazil”, in Hilary Perraton
(ed.), Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency, Baltimore, John
Hopkins University Press, 1982, pp. 79, 84.
41 João B. Oliveira and François Orivel (1982) “The Minerva Project in Brazil”, in Hilary Perraton (ed.),
Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency, Baltimore, John Hopkins
University Press, 1982.
42 Laurence Wolff and Shigenari Futagami (1982) “The Malawi Correspondence College”, in Hilary
Perraton (ed.), Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency,
Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1982.
43 J. Mayo, E. McAnany, and S. Klees (1975a) “Estimación de costos unitarios del sistema nacional de
telesecundaria”, in Montayo, A. and M. A. Rebeil (eds.) (1981) Televisión y enseñanza media en México:
el caso de la Telesecundaria
, Mexico, CNTE-GEFE, 2 volumes, 1981. Cited in Eduardo Arena (1989)
“Actualización del cálculo del costo de la Telesecundaria Mexicana”, in João B. Oliveira and Greville
Rumble (eds.), Educación a Distancia en América Latina: Análisis de costo-efectividad, Washington, D.C.,
World Bank, 1992
44 R. Molina (1981) “Estimación de costos unitarios del Sistema Nacional de Telesecundaria”, in Montayo,
A. and M. A. Rebeil (eds.) Televisión y enseñanza en México: el caso de la Telesecundaria, Mexico,
CNTE-GEFE, 2 volumes, 1981. Cited in Eduardo Arena (1989) “Actualización del cálculo del costo de la
Telesecundaria Mexicana”, in João B. Oliveira and Greville Rumble (eds.), Educación a Distancia en
América Latina: Análisis de costo-efectividad
, Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1992; Eduardo Arena
(1989) “Actualización del cálculo del costo de la Telesecundaria Mexicana”, in João B. Oliveira and
Greville Rumble (eds.), Educación a Distancia en América Latina: Análisis de costo-efectividad,
Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1992, pp. 59-60.
45 Eduardo Arena (1989) “Actualización del cálculo del costo de la Telesecundaria Mexicana”, in João B.
Oliveira and Greville Rumble (eds.), Educación a Distancia en América Latina: Análisis de costo-
efectividad
, Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1992; Secretaría de Educación Pública, Consejo Nacional
Técnico de la Educación, Dirección General de Programación, La enseñanza media básica en México y el
Sistema Nacional de Telesecundaria en televisión y enseñanza media en México
, Consejo Nacional
Técnico de la Educación, Mexico, 1981, pp. 60, 49.

19

result that the average group size fell from 29 in 1975, to 27 in 1981, to 20 in 1989.
However, there may have been other factors at work as well: for example, the traditional
school system may have become more efficient.
• The Centros APEC de Educación a Distancia in the Dominican Republic had an
Efficiency Ratio <1.0 compared with day, afternoon and evening secondary school46.
• The Korean Air Correspondence High School (ACHS) was set up to reach some of the
1.4 million school-age population who in 1977 could not attend traditional high schools,
as well as some of those who had been unable to attend traditional schools in the past.
ACHS teaches basically the same curriculum as traditional high schools, using textbooks,
self-marked and teacher-marked assignments, and radio and television broadcasts.
Students can attend at educational centres for face-to-face teaching (with the option of
substituting correspondence support if they can not get to a centre). In 1976, the ACHS
had 18,782 enrolled students. Lee, Futagami and Braithwaite47 indicated that some 90 per
cent of the total cost was variable, driven by the number of students, student-hours in
class-room teaching, broadcast-hours, production-hours or student-hours involved in
evaluation. The average cost per enrolled student at ACHS (US $41) compared very
favourably with that of traditional public high schools (Efficiency Ratio 0.18)48.


























46 Gloria Muñiz Aquino (1988) “Análisis de la eficacia en función del costo de un proyecto de educación a
distancia en la República Dominicana: El caso de CENAPEC”, in João B. Oliveira and Greville Rumble
(eds.), Educación a Distancia en América Latina: Análisis de costo-efectividad, Washington, D.C., World
Bank, 1992, pp. 36, 39.
47 Kye-Woo Lee, Shigenari Futagami, and Bernard Braithwaite (1982) “The Korean Air-Correspondence
High School”, in Hilary Perraton (ed.), Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for
school equivalency
, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1982, p. 151.
48 Ibid. p. 157.

20

49
Rumble summarised the cost findings in Table 2.2 below .

Table 2.2: Comparative costs per student of distance and traditional education systems




Unit cost (given currency)


Institution,
Measure of
Number
Distance Conventional Efficiency Note
country
cost
of
Ratio
students
Institut de
Average cost
8,000 Cr$2200
Cr$505
4.36 1
Radio-
per student-
Educative de
semester
Bahia
preparing for
(IRDEB),
three topics,
Brazil50
1977 at 1976
prices
Minerva
Unit cost per
17,700 Cr$258
Cr$400
0.65
2
project,
student per
Brazil51
year
Malawi
Average cost
2,884 MWK
133
MWK 216
0.62
3
Correspondenc
per student
MWK 133
MWK 580
0.23
4
e College,
enrolment
Malawi52
(junior
secondary
level),
1977/78
Telesecundaria
Average cost
33,840 US$151
US$200
0.76
Mexico53
per student,
1975 at
US$1972
54
Average cost
170,000 Pesos
Pesos 11811
1.09

per student,
12928
1981

49 Greville Rumble, The Costs and Economics of Open and Distance Learning, London, Kogan Page, 1997,
p. 136.
50 João B. Oliveira and François Orivel (1982) "A Madureza Project in Bahia, Brazil", in Hilary Perraton
(ed.), Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency, Baltimore, John
Hopkins University Press, 1982.
51 João B. Oliveira and François Orivel (1982) "The Minerva Project in Brazil", in Hilary Perraton (ed.),
Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency, Baltimore, John Hopkins
University Press, 1982.
52 Laurence Wolff and Shigenari Futagami (1982) "The Malawi Correspondence College", in Hilary
Perraton (ed.), Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency,
Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1982.
53 J. Mayo, E. McAnany, and S. Klees (1975a) "Estimación de costos unitarios del sistema nacional de
telesecundaria", in Montayo, A. and M. A. Rebeil (eds.) (1981) Televisión y enseñanza media en México: el
caso de la Telesecundaria
, Mexico, CNTE-GEFE, 2 volumes, 1981. Cited in Eduardo Arena (1989)
"Actualización del cálculo del costo de la Telesecundaria Mexicana", in João B. Oliveira and Greville
Rumble (eds.), Educación a Distancia en América Latina: Análisis de costo-efectividad, Washington, D.C.,
World Bank, 1992.
54 R. Molina (1981) "Estimación de costos unitarios del Sistema Nacional de Telesecundaria", in Montayo,
A. and M. A. Rebeil (eds.) Televisión y enseñanza en México: el caso de la Telesecundaria, Mexico,
CNTE-GEFE, 2 volumes, 1981. Cited in Eduardo Arena (1989) "Actualización del cálculo del costo de la
Telesecundaria Mexicana", in João B. Oliveira and Greville Rumble (eds.), Educación a Distancia en
América Latina: Análisis de costo-efectividad
, Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1992.

21

55
Average cost
400,000 +
US$ 312.4
US$237
1.32
5
per student,
US$ 327.8
US$237
1.38
6
1988
56
Average cost
US$
6239
US$12318
0.51
7
per group,
US$ 6546
US$12318
0.53
8
1988
Centros APEC
Average
11,217 RD$180
RD$390
0.46
9
de Educación a
recurrent
RD$180
RD$325
0.55
10
Distancia,
cost per
RD$180
RD$300
0.60
11
Dominican
student
Republic57
Air
Average cost
20,000 US$41
US$233
0.18

Correspondenc
per
e High School,
enrolment,
Korea58
1976,
compared
with the
public school
system
Correspondenc
Average cost
(a) 790
(a)
K£40
(a) 1.5

e Course Unit,
per subject
(b) 3,650
K£6
K£40
(b) 3.0
Kenya59
equivalent:
(b)
(a) 1970; (b)
K£120
1977


Notes to Table 2.2

1
IRDEB, Brazil: Traditional provision based on the average cost across six private institutions
2
Minerva project, Brazil: Traditional provision based on the average cost in a private college
3
Malawi Correspondence College: Traditional provision based on the average cost in a
conventional day secondary school
4
Malawi Correspondence College: Traditional provision based on the average cost in a
boarding school
5
Telesecundaria, Mexico: Arena study: Comparison based on the lowest cost of television
6
Telesecundaria, Mexico: Arena study: Comparison based on the upper cost of television

55 Eduardo Arena (1989) "Actualización del cálculo del costo de la Telesecundaria Mexicana", in João B.
Oliveira and Greville Rumble (eds.), Educación a Distancia en América Latina: Análisis de costo-
efectividad
, Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1992; Secretaría de Educación Pública, Consejo Nacional
Técnico de la Educación, Dirección General de Programación, La enseñanza media básica en México y el
Sistema Nacional de Telesecundaria en televisión y enseñanza media en México
, Consejo Nacional
Técnico de la Educación, Mexico, 1981.
56 Ibid.
57 Gloria Muñiz Aquino (1988) "Análisis de la eficacia en función del costo de un proyecto de educación a
distancia en la República Dominicana: El caso de CENAPEC", in João B. Oliveira and Greville Rumble
(eds.), Educación a Distancia en América Latina: Análisis de costo-efectividad, Washington, D.C., World
Bank, 1992.
58 Kye-Woo Lee, Shigenari Futagami, and Bernard Braithwaite (1982) "The Korean Air-Correspondence
High School", in Hilary Perraton (ed.), Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for
school equivalency
, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1982.
59 David Hawkridge, Peter Kinyanjui, John Nkinyangi, and François Orivel (1982) "In-service teacher
education in Kenya", in Perraton, H. (1982) Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for
school equivalency
, Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press.

22

7
Telesecundaria, Mexico: Arena study: Comparison based on the lowest cost of television.
Average Telescundaria group size of 20 compared to conventional group size of 45
8
Telesecundaria, Mexico: Arena study: Comparison based on the upper cost of television.
Average Telescundaria group size of 20 compared to conventional group size of 45
9
Centros APEC de Educación a Distancia, Dominican Republic: Traditional provision based
on the average cost in a secondary level day school
10 Centros APEC de Educación a Distancia, Dominican Republic: Traditional provision based
on the average cost in a secondary level afternoon school
11 Centros APEC de Educación a Distancia, Dominican Republic: Traditional provision based
on the average cost in a secondary level night school

Source: Greville Rumble, The Costs and Economics of Open and Distance Learning,
London, Kogan Page, 1997, p. 136

As the figures in Table 2.2 demonstrate, several but not all of the projects managed to attain costs
that compared very reasonably with the costs of conventional education. In Latin America, for
example, projects such as Acción Cultural Popular in Colombia and Radio Santa Maria in the
Dominican Republic were able to achieve costs per learner that were comparable to those in
conventional schooling in these countries. Similarly, in Africa, there were a number of projects
that were cost-efficient when compared with costs in traditional education.

Some studies also sought to establish the comparative cost of producing a graduate (see Table
2.3). Given that these studies are looking at the cost per graduate, and given that graduate status
represents an achievement of at least a minimum standard, these studies obviously do take the
quality of the output into account.

On the face of it, there should be a direct relationship between the cost per student and the cost
per graduate, such that if it takes three years to graduate in a programme, then the cost per
graduate will be three times the annual cost per student. However, comparison between the cost
per student and cost per graduate in distance education almost invariably shows a decline in
relative efficiency because the drop-out rate in distance education is almost always higher than in
face-to-face education. As a result, the cost advantage of distance education may be eclipsed.
Comparison between the Graduate Efficiency Ratio shown in Table 2.3 and the Efficiency Ratio
per enrolee derived from Table 2.2 enables one to see the effect of drop-out on the relative
efficiency of systems.

















23

Table 2.3: Comparative costs per graduate in distance and traditional systems




Unit cost (currency)



Institution,
Measure
#
Distance Conventional Graduate Efficiency
Note
country*
of cost
of
Efficiency
Ratio
students
Ratio

Malawi
Average
2,884 MWK
931
MWK583
1.60
0.62
1
Correspond-
cost per
MWK 931
MWK1276
0.73
0.23
2
ence College,
graduate
Malawi60
(junior
secondary
level)
Centros APEC
Average
11,217 RD$306
RD$483
0.63
0.58
3
de Educación a
recurrent
RD$306
RD$455
0.67
0.55
4
Distancia,
cost per
RD$306
RD$360
0.85
0.60
5
Dominican
successful
Republic61
student
Air
Average
20,000
US$51 US$233* 0.22 0.18
6
Correspond-
recurrent
ence High
cost per
School,
promoted
Korea62
enrolment,
1976

Notes to Table 2.3:
1. Malawi Correspondence College: Comparison with cost per graduate at a conventional day
secondary school
2. Malawi Correspondence College: Comparison with cost per graduate at a boarding school
3. Centros APEC de Educación a Distancia, Dominican Republic: Comparison with cost per
graduate at secondary level day schools
4. Centros APEC de Educación a Distancia, Dominican Republic: Comparison with cost per
graduate at secondary level afternoon schools
5. Centros APEC de Educación a Distancia, Dominican Republic: Comparison with cost per
graduate at secondary level night schools
6. Air Correspondence High School, Korea: Comparison with cost per graduate at a public
regular high school

Source: Greville Rumble, The Costs and Economics of Open and Distance Learning,
London, Kogan Page, 1997, p. 143

Table 2.3 shows, for example, that:

• While the Efficiency Ratio (per student) in the Malawi Correspondence College in
1977/78 was only 0.62 compared with the cost of conventional day secondary schooling

60 Laurence Wolff and Shigenari Futagami (1982) "The Malawi Correspondence College", in Hilary Perraton (ed.),
Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency, Baltimore, John Hopkins University
Press, 1982.
61 Gloria Muñiz Aquino (1988) "Análisis de la eficacia en función del costo de un proyecto de educación a distancia en
la República Dominicana: El caso de CENAPEC", in João B. Oliveira and Greville Rumble (eds.), Educación a
Distancia en América Latina: Análisis de costo-efectividad
, Washington, D.C., World Bank, 1992.
62 Kye-Woo Lee, Shigenari Futagami, and Bernard Braithwaite (1982) "The Korean Air-Correspondence High School",
in Hilary Perraton (ed.), Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency, Baltimore,
John Hopkins University Press, 1982.

24

and 0.23 compared with the cost of boarding school, because the students took much
longer to graduate (seven years as opposed to 2.7 in the day schools and 2.2 in the
boarding schools), this cost advantage was eroded. So, measured in terms of cost per
graduate, MCC was more expensive than day schools while still retaining a cost
advantage over boarding schools63.
• Although there is a higher failure rate at the Air Correspondence High School, the
average cost per student promoted between 1976 and 1977 compared with traditional
schools (Graduate Efficiency Ratio of 0.22 per successful student) still favours the
ACHS, and demonstrates little loss in efficiency against the Efficiency Ratio per student
of 0.1864.

2.4.2 Cost structure of ODL

To understand the bald figures provided by such average cost data, it is necessary to have some
understanding of the nature of costs and the cost structure of open and distance learning systems.
Management accounting has evolved. Traditional notions of fixed and variable costs have been
embedded in the much richer framework of committed and flexible costs. Costs arise from the
acquisition and use of organisational resources. Increasingly, the majority of expenses are
determined by the commitment to create a productive capacity to develop and offer courses and
an infrastructure to manage and support learners.

Such committed costs embrace, for example, most personnel costs, the costs of computing and
telecommunications systems, and depreciation on buildings and equipment. Committed costs are
unaffected by how much the organisation uses the committed resources. Rather they are related to
a planned level of activity. There is thus a fundamental distinction between resources supplied
and resources used. The fact that capacity is fixed (and is being paid for) in advance of
determination of the actual need means that if need fails to meet expectation, unused capacity
results. This unused capacity has a cost. The cost of the unused capacity cannot be forgotten: it
has to be covered by income. The result of unused capacity is an increase in the organisational
costs passed on to the customer.

Committed costs are distinct from flexible costs – which are paid for only in the amounts used.
Examples of flexible costs would be payments to contract course authors, the postage costs of
delivering materials to students, telephone call charges incurred in the normal course of business,
payments to tutors for assignments marked. This is all day-to-day work. Relatively few expenses
are determined by the actual quantity of work demanded or performed each day. Flexible
resources do not have a capacity defined for them because their supply (and capacity) can be
adjusted up or down to meet actual demands. Note that costs that are flexible before a capacity
decision is made (for example, the commitment of resources to develop a course) become
committed once that decision has been made.

Committed costs reflect the decisions that have been made to provide a given portfolio of courses
and services. In most service industries, almost all expenses are determined by commitments to
supply certain levels of capacity that are then built into the business through the acquisition of
committed resources (e.g. clerks in a student record/support office). Very often these costs relate

63 Laurence Wolff and Shigenari Futagami (1982) “The Malawi Correspondence College”, in Hilary Perraton (ed.),
Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency, Baltimore, John Hopkins University
Press, 1982, p. 98.
64 Kye-Woo Lee, Shigenari Futagami, and Bernard Braithwaite (1982) “The Korean Air-Correspondence High
School”, in Hilary Perraton (ed.), Alternative routes to formal education: Distance teaching for school equivalency,
Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1982, p. 157.

25

to the provision of capacity but cannot easily be attributed to particular products and services.
Such costs are referred to as indirect (common) costs. Some indirect costs, however, are entirely
independent of the decisions to provide capacity: rather, they sustain the organisation in being.
Such costs (the costs of top administrative staff, for example) can be thought of as business-
sustaining expenses
. Generally activity based costing approaches will assign capacity-related
indirect costs to products, services and customers – but will not attempt to assign business-
sustaining expenses further down the organisation.

Any open and distance learning system involves the following cost elements:

• The initial capital costs of the business – buildings, equipment, grounds, furnishings and
ICTs. These costs are driven by the size of the operation and the extent to which
functions are undertaken in house or bought-in. Such costs are committed – in the sense
that they arise from a management decision to supply a capacity to perform work.
• The costs of sustaining the business as an operation. These costs (in the past usually
referred to as overheads) include the costs of direction and general management (finance,
purchasing, estates – i.e. buildings and grounds running and maintenance costs, and ICT
infrastructure operating costs) and depreciation (on plant and equipment). These too are
committed costs that arise from a management decision to provide a capacity to operate
at a given level and in a certain way.
• The costs of developing a curriculum and the materials used in courses. Some of these
costs are committed and indirect common costs arising from the decision to create a
capacity to develop and support a given curriculum (for example, there is a body of
academic staff in post who are charged with the task of developing and maintaining a
curriculum, permanent editors, designers and managers in the production office). Other
costs may be flexible – that is, money is spent only if the activity takes place. An example
of such a cost would be the hiring of a consultant to write materials. If course materials
are used over a number of years, the cost of developing the materials may be treated as an
investment and hence as a capital cost that can be annualised over the life of course.
Replacement of the curriculum will in effect be a function of the number of courses
multiplied by the average cost of a course, divided by the average life of a course.
• The cost of presenting the courses. Costs here include all those costs that are incurred
annually (for example, the cost of academic management of the course profile, cost of
packing and despatching course materials), together with all the costs that are incurred
each time the course is presented (for example, the cost of developing new assignment
and examination papers each time a course is presented; the cost of marking assignments
and examination scripts, the cost of face-to-face tutorials and the monitoring of course
computer-based conferences, where these are offered; the cost of getting materials to
students; and the cost of transmitting radio programmes associated with the course.)
Again, some of these costs may be committed (especially the cost of managing the
courses being presented), but many of the costs will be flexible, driven by the number of
students enrolled on the course, the number of tutorial or conferencing groups, the hours
of tuition offered and the hours of broadcast transmission consumed.
• The committed and flexible costs incurred in supporting students including student
admission, registration, billing and fee collection, allocation to tutors, and advisory and
support services.

Underpinning this cost structure (the relationship between the different cost elements) is a crucial
distinction between committed costs, those arising from the management decision to provide a
system with a given capacity that may then be used or unused, without affecting expenditure, and

26

flexible costs, which are only paid for in the amounts used. Flexible resources do not have a
capacity defined for them because their supply can be adjusted up and down to meet actual
demands. A further distinction is made between those committed costs that are provided on the
one hand to support the development of a curriculum, its courses and related materials; the
management and annual maintenance of the curriculum that is being presented; and the student
support services provided; and on the other hand, those committed costs that sustain the business.
The overall cost structure can therefore be expressed as follows:

Total annual costs =
Business Sustaining Costs +
Committed / indirect common course development costs +
(Flexible course development costs
÷ life of the course) +
Committed / indirect common course maintenance/presentation costs +
Flexible course presentation costs +
Committed / indirect common Student Support Costs +
Flexible Student Support Costs


Both the Flexible Course Presentation Costs and the Flexible Student Support Costs are
themselves a function of a range of activity-related costs driven by the appropriate volume of
activity. For example, among the cost elements might be the following:

• Cost of assignment marking: The number of students on the course x number of
assignments set x the average rate of submission of assignments x assignment marking
fee paid to tutors
• Cost of tutorials: [The number of students enrolled on the course divided by the average
size of a student group] x the number of scheduled hours of tutorial per group x fee paid
per hour to tutors conducting tutorials
• Cost of radio transmission: The number of minutes of radio programming associated with
the courses times the cost per minute of transmission

2.4.3 Factors affecting costs

The complexity of this cost structure is hidden by simple measures such as the average cost per
student, the average cost per graduate and the average cost per putative instructional hour.
Further, the reduction of all costs to a single measure such as the cost per student, which is then
used to calculate the financial effects of expansion or contraction, will distort the picture because
costs are in fact driven by a very wide range of variables, and affected by commitments. Having
said this, a number of key factors will affect the average cost outcome, including:

• The total number of students, overall. The more students there are, the more committed
institutional costs will be spread across the student body, thus bring average costs down.
• The number of course options. To maintain their academic credibility and cater for minority
interests, most institutions have to offer a range of courses. The more courses there are, the
greater the level of initial investment in their development and the greater the annual
expenditure in maintaining and replacing them. In general, institutions offering a range of
courses, and a mix of mandatory and optional courses find that student numbers are not
equally distributed across all courses. Some courses (mandatory courses, lower level courses
and courses in popular subjects) will have more students in them, and others less. Indeed,
some courses may attract very few students indeed. Large population courses will be more
efficient than small population courses, other things being equal. A large student population

27

will mitigate the burden imposed by small population courses, but many institutions
nevertheless find that the cost of small population courses is effectively carried by the
efficiencies reaped on courses attracting large numbers of students.
• The number of years over which a course is presented without any changes to the materials
will affect the annualised cost of development. The greater the course life, the longer the
period over which these costs will be spread. Long course lives are nevertheless problematic
because subjects develop, and dated courses will reduce the overall quality of a programme.
At schools level, particularly where a school is teaching to a national curriculum, this is less
of a problem. Conversely, however, changes in the national curriculum may force an open
school to redesign all its courses in one go – and frequent changes can be financially
crippling.
• The choice of the media and technologies used. Each technology has its own cost structure (a
balance of committed and flexible costs). The flexible element in the cost will be driven by
different factors – student heads, student courses, ratio of tutors to students, proportion of
assignments returned for correction and size of tutorial group.

Research has shown that the print, audio and pre-recorded instructional television tend to be
cheaper, together with radio where audience sizes are above 1,000; and that the most
expensive technologies tend to be face-to-face tuition and computer-based communication
(except for relatively small numbers of students). The cost of computer-based teaching and
learning – which includes hardware, software, connectivity, consumables, electronic library
and other site access, and academic and technical support – varies enormously, depending
upon what is being offered. Current studies on the costs of computers in schools include those
by Cawthera and Bakia65. The burden of small population courses can be mitigated by
choosing to teach such courses using media with low levels of committed costs. On the other
hand, teaching high population courses using media with high flexible costs will cause total
costs to escalate rapidly.
• The type of learner support offered. The high cost of face-to-face support means that its use
should be limited if costs are to be kept down. All too often, however, there is pressure to
make open schools look like traditional schools. This pressure leads demands for more face-
to-face teaching. In practice, as Bakia observes66, many Open Schooling projects have high
variable (i.e. flexible) costs – as well as substantial costs arising from the investment in
materials and student support systems.

67
In addition to these factors, institutions that wish to keep costs down should :

• Avoid cost-inducing actions, for example, the use of copyrighted materials where high fees
may be payable for usage.

65 Andy Cawthera, Computers in Secondary Schools in Developing Countries: Costs and Other Issues,
London, DFID, n.d. , available at http://www2.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/computersinsecschoolsedpaper43.pdf,
accessed 28 April 2007; Marianne Bakia, “The economics of open and distance learning in primary and
secondary schools”, in Jo Bradley (ed.) The Open Classroom: Distance Learning in and out of school,
London, Kogan Page, 2003; Marianne Bakia, “The Costs of Computers in Classrooms: Data from
Developing Countries”, TechKnowLogia 4 (1) (January – March 2002), 63-68, available at
http://www.techknowlogia.org/TKL_active_pages2/TableOfContents/main.asp?IssueNumber=15, accessed
28 April 2007.
66 Marianne Bakia, “The economics of open and distance learning in primary and secondary schools”, in Jo
Bradley (ed.) The Open Classroom: Distance Learning in and out of school, London, Kogan Page, 2003, p.
41.
67 Greville Rumble (1999) "Technology, distance education, and cost", Journal of Education and
Development in the Caribbean
, 3 (2), 91-104, pp. 92-3.

28

• Pass costs on to the student, either as charges or by moving the system boundaries so that the
students pay for activities that the institution might once have paid for. An example of the
latter would be the delivery of text materials in electronic form, thus reducing distribution
costs markedly while putting the costs of printing onto the student.
• Adopt structures and labour policies that minimise costs. In other words, they will need to:
o Employ people on contracts for service to develop courses and teach students, rather
than on contracts of service (i.e. hire staff as casual labour, rather than as full-time
employees), and
o Establish working practices that reduce the costs of labour by, for example, designing
courses to be wrapped around existing textbooks rather than developing new
materials, and using author-editor models of course design, rather than big course
team models.
• Use technology to increase the student load per academic or administrator.
• Reduce the cost of labour through “labour for labour” substitution – the replacement of
expensive academic labour by less well-trained adjunct labour, which is cheaper.

2.4.4 ICT
costs

One further comment is that the relative cost of technologies may vary significantly from country
to country as, "for the first time in the history of educational systems, the price of an educational
input is determined not in accordance with the local purchasing power, but by world standards
which apply in a similar way to rich and poor countries"68. For less advanced countries this has,
according to François Orivel, posed a simple choice between either introducing "new
technologies in their schools at the expense of expanding school opportunities or [concentrating]
their limited resources on educational expansion, and thus renounc[ing] the chance to develop
new technologies in their school systems"69.

One of the arguments in favour of using technology is that it brings the unit cost of education
down. In distance education, this has been done through the achievement of increases in
productivity following the substitution of capital (in the form of technology) for labour (teachers).
Indeed, one of the strongest arguments in favour of using text, reusable (recorded) audio and
video, and ICT as a repository of information in education rather than using face-to-face teaching
is that it shifts some of the teaching from the teacher to the medium, thus helping to bring down
the unit cost of education (provided student numbers are high enough) .

However, as Orivel points out, the costs of ICT are linked to a global market in hardware,
software and consumables70, so that the cost of computing does not really differ significantly
between developed and developing countries. In developed countries, the cost per hour of using a
computer was about US $1.75 per hour in 199971. This cost covered the amortisation cost of each
computer (at zero rate of interest), maintenance, software, electricity, additional equipment such
as printers and servers, some furniture, Internet connection, ISP costs and telephone costs. When
compared with the cost per student per hour of face-to-face teaching (between US $4.00 and US
$12.00) the cost was "clearly competitive"72. In developing countries, however, the cost per

68 François Orivel, “Finance, costs and economics”, in Chris Yates and Jo Bradley (eds.) Basic Education
at a Distance
, London, RoutledgeFalmer, 2000, p. 138.
69 Ibid. p. 138.
70 Ibid. pp. 147-48.
71 Ibid. p. 148. Based on R. Coley, J. Cradler, and P. Engel, Computers and Classrooms: The Status of
Technology in US Schools
, Princeton NJ, Educational Testing Service, 1999.
72 Ibid. p. 149.

29

student per hour of face-to-face teaching may be as low as US $0.10, which, as Orivel observes,
is very low when compared to the cost per student per hour of computing73.

2.5
International cost comparisons

International comparisons of educational cost are based on the total educational expenditure for a
given International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level (or two ISCED levels),
divided by the total number of enrolments in the level(s). In order to make comparisons, a
common measure is required. Student enrolments are usually measured in full-time equivalents –
although as we shall point out, this measure is not without its problems.

As far as cost is concerned, one approach is to calculate local currency costs in US dollars,
currently the dominant currency. This has serious problems due to the effect of exchange rate
fluctuations. Another approach – now commonly used – is to calculate unit costs as a percentage
of Gross National Product per capita. This seems reasonable given that most educational costs
(e.g. teachers' pay, buildings costs, costs of furniture and costs of textbooks) have prices that are
correlated with per capita GNP74. Another useful measure that escapes the problems of
comparing costs across jurisdictions through a common (but variable) currency exchange rate is
the Efficiency Ratio discussed above.

2.6
Conclusions

In many ways, the development of Open Schooling is a forgotten history. Open and distance
learning has become so dominated by universities with their tendency – given their research
budgets – to bias research programmes, conferences and academic publishing towards the study
of tertiary level distance and open learning, that open schools and correspondence schools have
been marginalised. Very few practitioners now recall that when it was set up in the late 1930s, the
International Council for Distance Education - then the International Council for Correspondence
Education – was as focused on correspondence schools as it was on the development of extension
studies in universities.

Also largely forgotten is the fact that the history of Open Schooling had its origins as much in the
efforts of individual teachers who were trying to educate children at home, such as Hans Hermod
in Sweden, the founders of the Calvert School in Maryland and the teachers whose individual
efforts lay behind what later became the Australian Schools of the Air, and of visionaries such as
Michael Young (Lord Young of Dartington), who was behind the setting up of the National
Extension College in the UK. Similarly, it was a Colombian Jesuit priest who was behind the
development in 1947 of what was, in essence, the prototypical Radio School in Latin America,
Acción Cultural Popular (ACPO), with its focus on the learning group. The achievements of these
pioneers and the institutions they founded have sometimes been clouded quite unjustifiably by the
business ethics of those commercial correspondence colleges that were more interested in the
profits to be made out of drop-out money than in guiding and supporting students to success75.


73 Ibid. p. 149.
74 Ibid. p. 144.
75 The term “drop-out” money was used to describe the practice of schools that required students to pay
fees up-front on a non-refundable basis, and that then spent minimally on on-going tutorial support, thus in
effect encouraging drop-out which in turn meant that they did not incur the cost of paying tutors to mark
students’ assignments.

30

It is also, perhaps, unfortunate that the contribution of institutions such as the Korea Air
Correspondence High School and the more recently established Bangladesh Open School, a
constituent part of the Bangladesh Open University, have never been adequately researched.

In the euphoria that followed the development of mass educational media, money was poured into
educational television and, to a much lesser extent, educational radio. Educational radio – the less
expensive of these two media – has survived in corners of the world and remains in the view of
many an unexploited medium of instruction. The achievements of educational television in
projects such as the Telesecundaria in Mexico and in some of the Brazilian projects need to be set
against the problems encountered in El Salvador and in the Ivory Coast. As David Hawkridge
remarked of the latter, "the project has 'sunk without trace' and educators say that never was so
much wasted, including [World] Bank funds, on such poor television broadcasts with so little
effect".76
More recently, the focus has been on the use of computers to support open learning in schools and
whether this newer technology can be harnessed to improve both the reach and the quality of
schools. Technological enthusiasts are optimistic; others reserve judgment.

Open schools have been successful in both bringing down the costs of education and educating
out-of-school youths as well as adult learners. The experience of the two institutions that are the
focus of the following chapters can now be placed within the context of the earlier developments
sketched out in this chapter.


76 David Hawkridge, General Operational Review of Distance Education, Washington, D.C., Education
and Training Department, World Bank, mimeo, p. 2, cited in Hilary Perraton, Open and Distance Learning
in the Developing World
, London, Routledge, 2000, p. 34.

31


32

3
ECONOMY AND EDUCATION IN INDIA

3.1

Introduction

The Republic of India, ranked the seventh largest and the second most populous country, covers
3,287,263 square kilometers (54 per cent of which is arable land)77and inhabits 1,095,351,995
people (July 2006 estimates)78. This is about one-sixth of the world’s population. The 2001
Census showed more than 72 per cent (see Table 3.1) of Indians living in rural areas. Apart from
the rural-urban divide, the presence of all the major religious groups remarkably enhances the
native human diversity, which is made more complex by immense linguistic diversity. More than
22 major languages (belonging to Austro-Asiatic, Dravidian, Indo-European and Tibeto-Burmese
language families) and hundreds of dialects are in use across the length and breadth of the
country. Significant geographic divisions of the landscape and great socio-cultural variations
multiply the manifold diversity.

In economic terms, India is a rich and a poor country at the same time. With its Gross National
Product (GDP) at US $691.2 billion and GDP PPP at US $3,389.7 billion, India is the tenth
biggest economy in general terms and the third biggest economy by purchasing power
respectively79
80
, but the Gross National Income per capita is a meager US $720 . The origins of
GDP81 are:

• agriculture (21.5 per cent),
• industry (27 per cent), and
• services (51.5 per cent).

82
The corresponding employment profile is 60 per cent of the labour force in agriculture, 17 per
cent in industry and 23 per cent in services.

Clearly, the largest proportion of the labour force, employed in rural settings, is the least
productive, while the proportion engaged in services, generally in urban areas, is the most
productive. While the higher level of productivity in the service sector is a relatively recent
phenomenon, poor productivity in the agriculture sector, in spite of the Green Revolution83, has
been a major concern in India. Recognising that low levels of literacy among the public in general
and the labour force in particular, together with the traditional methods of agriculture, were the
major causes of poor productivity in agriculture, since the 1950s efforts have continued to

77 Pocket World in Figures 2007Edition, Profile Books Ltd., London, p.156.
78 India Demographics key data: http://www.india-news.in/reference/india-demographics.php (accessed on
15.07.07).
79 Pocket World in Figures 2007Edition, Profile Books Ltd., London, p.26.
80 World Bank Key Development Data and Statistics:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,contentMDK:20535285~menuP
K:1192694~pagePK:64133150~piPK:64133175~theSitePK:239419,00.html (accessed on July 30, 2007)
http://web.worldbank.org/WEBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/
81 Pocket World in Figures 2007Edition, Profile Books Ltd., London, p.156.
82 Ibid. p. 156.
83 During the 1960s and 1970s, India increased the production of food grains significantly. This
phenomenon came to be known as the “Green Revolution”.
http://www.goodnewsindia.com/Page/content/milestone/greenRev.html (accessed on 15.07.07)

33

84
improve the educational attainments of the masses. In 2003-04, gross enrolment rates of the
respective relevant age groups had reached 85 per cent at primary level, 39 per cent at secondary
level, and 9 per cent at tertiary level. The latest figures are 108 per cent, 53 per cent and 12 per
cent85.

3.1.1 Financial challenges of universalising education

Obviously, much more needs to be done, but paucity of funding does not favour educational re-
engineering on conventional lines. At present, the Central and the State Governments collectively
constitute the only means of taking education to the masses or bringing out-of-school children
into the fold of secondary education (see subsection 3.3.2, “Outcomes of over 50 years of
Educational Re-engineering”). The State Governments, however, are not in a position to do much
in the process of universalising secondary education and much less in improving its quality, as
they are already spending on average nearly 22 per cent of their aggregated annual budget on
education. Within the secondary sector, 92 per cent of the State expenditure goes to salaries86.
Obviously, much of the burden will have to be taken by the Central Government, which is raising
funds and also adopting alternative modes of education for the purpose (for a detailed
explanation, see Chapter 4, Subsection 4.1.3).

While the number of private schools and the size of student population they cover are increasing
progressively, this growth is in no way near the pressure that is building on the secondary sector
of education (see Section 3.2 for details). The financial requirement for universalising elementary
education is estimated to be 3.0 per cent of GDP, and that of universalising secondary education
2.33 per cent of GDP. Put together, 5.13 per cent of GDP per annum is required to universalise
elementary and secondary education in the country87. Such a provision once made has to be
reviewed periodically, but it has not88 been possible to fulfil the requirement of providing 6 per
cent of GDP to cover elementary as well as secondary education (as estimated in the National
Policy on Education-1968), and so the systems, especially the latter, have to be run under
immense financial constraints. It is here that an analysis and the resulting understanding of the
cost-effectiveness and cost-efficiency of the ODL operations should be of great value to the
planners and the field level operatives.

3.1
Demographic factors and secondary education in India

Before we take up the themes of cost-effectiveness and cost-efficiency of Open Schooling in
India, it is necessary to get an understanding of the demographic compulsions that favour Open
Schooling. Here our focus is on the issue of the size of clientele, as other demographic factors

84 From ‘Challenges before Indian Education’ under Sector Overview, Department of Higher Education,
Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India: http://education.nic.in/sector.asp, p. 7.
(accessed on 15.07.07).
85 Pocket World in Figures 2007Edition, Profile Books Ltd., London, p.157.
86 ‘Planning & Management Issues’ in the Report of the CABE Committee on Universalisation of
Secondary Education,
(2005), Ministry of Human Resource development, Government of India, New
Delhi, p.52.

87 Ibid. p.51.

88 From ‘Challenges before Indian Education’ under Sector Overview, Department of Higher Education,
Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India: http://education.nic.in/sector.asp, p. 7.
(accessed on 15.07.07).


34

pale into irrelevance in India, a country of 202.9 million households with an average family size
of 5.3 members and the median age of 24.3 years89.

The size (geographical and population) of India is common knowledge, but a snapshot of facts
and figures (the data pertains to the years 2002 through 2004) should help in appreciating the size
of student population and the country’s unusual socio-educational complexity. It should be noted
that India adds nearly one Australia to its population annually; so, for a comparable educational
provision, education in India needs an annual increment capable of meeting the needs of an
additional 19 million or so young people each year. Such money is not available; so, a better
understanding of the task at hand is necessary. “Just establish more schools and universities” does
not seem to be the sole answer. We will see why.

90
Table 3.1
Population of India as per Census 2001
Area
Population According to Census 2001
All Communities

Scheduled Castes
Scheduled Tribes
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Total
Male
Female
Total

Rural










381,602,674 360,887,965 742,490,639
68,603,342 64,407,536 133,010,878 39,045,650 38,292,947 77,338,597



Urban









150,554,098 135,565,591 286,119,689
17,485,418 16,139,404 33,624,822
3,595,179
3,392,464
6,987,643


Total










532,156,772 496,453,556 1,028,610,328 86,088,760 80,546,940 166,635,700 42,640,829 41,685,411 84,326,240



16.2
%
8.2
%

Even if the general urban population (enjoying reasonable educational facilities) is left out of the
discussion on secondary education, India must consider a base rural population of over 742
million together with nearly 41 million urban Scheduled Castes and Tribes (all together 783
million), most of whom make up the poor of India. Within this population, our focus is on the
school going age group (see Table 3.2).













89 Pocket World in Figures 2007Edition, Profile Books Ltd., London, pp.157and 249.

90 7th Survey NCERT (2002), http://gov.ua.nic.in/NScheduleData/nv01.pdf and
http://gov.ua.nic.in/NscheduleData/nvo3.pdf (accessed on July 30, 2007).

35

91
Table 3.2
Estimated child population as on 30 September 2002


Estimated Child Population in the Age-group (in years)

4 to below 6 6 to below 11 11 to below 14 14 to below 16 16 to below 18
Boys
25,722,323
68,685,427
42,084,322
24,962,562 23,199,033





Girls
23,910,272
63,031,482
38,108,851
21,897,001
19,532,333





Total
49,632,595
131,716,909
80,193,173
46,859,563
42,731,366



Urban
11,219,607 31,304,286 20,810,851
13,285,839
12,886,897




Rural
38,412,988 100,412,623 59,382,322 33,573,724 29,844,469
Total
49,632,595
131,716,909
80,193,173
46,859,563
42,731,366




Elementary level = 211,910,082
Secondary level = 89,590,929


Elementary and secondary levels combined = 301,501,011
Efforts made during the past few decades to universalise primary education have substantially
enhanced educational provision for the 6-14 age group. Though the target of covering this group
completely by 2007 has not been achieved, significant progress has been made on the way to
achieving it. At the primary level, more than 93 per cent of the relevant age group are at school,
but overall (primary and upper primary levels put together, i.e. the elementary level) only 80 per
cent of the relevant age group are involved—this dip is primarily because of the relatively low
intake at the upper primary level (see Table 3.3 below).

92
Table 3.3
Gross Enrolment Ratios at the primary level

INDIA Primary Stage

Upper Primary Stage Combined for Primary and

(Classes I-V)
(Classes VI-VIII)
Upper Primary Stages
(i.e. Elementary level: Classes I-VIII)


Boys Girls Total Boys
Girls Total Boys
Girls
Total

Rural
94.88 90.36 92.72 56.25 46.20 51.47 80.45
74.05
77.39










Urban
96.05 94.37 95.25 79.74 76.56 78.22 89.54
87.25
88.45










Total
95.16 91.31 93.32 62.34 54.09 58.42 82.69
77.28
80.11











A fact emerging from the data is that the secondary sector needs to be prepared for a deluge that it
has never experienced before. Though the pressure on rural settings is seemingly less than that on
urban settings (77 per cent against 88 per cent), in operational terms the former (because of the
limited human resources and the fragile local infrastructure) will have greater difficulties in
managing the flow of students entering secondary education. A look at the existing infrastructure
is in place here.




91 7th Survey NCERT (2002), http://gov.ua.nic.in/NScheduleData/nv04.pdf (accessed on July 30, 2007).
92 7th Survey NCERT (2002), http://gov.ua.nic.in/NScheduleData/ns300.pdf (accessed on July 30,2007)

36

Table 3.4 Number of schools and the stages*
93
of education
Rural Urban Total


Primary Upper
Secondary Higher
Primary Upper Secondary Higher
Primary Upper Secondary Higher

Primary
Secondary
Primary
Secondary
Primary
Secondary





1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
716,037 250,975 84,370
22,847
134,384 87,005
46,305
21,022
850,421 337,980 130,675
43,869

= 1,188,401
= 174,544

= 1,362,945


* Primary Stage may also exist in Upper Primary, Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools.
Upper Primary Stage may also exist in Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools and similarly,
Secondary Stage may also exist in Higher Secondary Schools.

The number of children for primary education (211,910,082) was estimated to be more than twice
(exactly 2.37 times) that for the secondary level (89,590,929) in 2002 (see Table 3.2). The
corresponding number (see Table 3.4) of primary schools (1,188,401) and secondary schools
(174,544) would allow 178 and 513 students at each of the primary and the secondary
schools/sections respectively. While 178 students at a primary school distributed over eight
classes (I to VIII) comes to a reasonable class/student ratio of 1:23 at the primary level, the ratio
at the secondary level comes to 1:128 (i.e. 513 students distributed over 4 classes IX to XII). A
class of 128 students is not manageable; it would need to be split into at least four sections, which
most schools are not in a position to do, certainly not the ones in rural settings.
The point that emerges is that in/around 2002, the most rudimentary infrastructure (i.e. brick and
mortar schools) required for secondary education was not in place. Considering the fact that
around 90 per cent of the public funding goes to salaries of the school staff, it is not wrong to
assume that a significant number of schools have not been established between 2002 and 2007,
while the last of 2002 primary students would be entering the secondary level now, i.e. in 2007/8.
In other words, we are faced with the issue of managing over 211 million students right at this
point in time (see the number of 6-14 years age group in Table 3.2). Each of the existing schools
would need to manage more than a thousand students in four classes (IX to XII), i.e. more than
250 students in a class, or about eight sections (each of nearly 31 students) of each class to be run
concurrently.
Obviously, the physical infrastructure and the related additional human resources required for the
secondary level of education do not exist, nor can they be created overnight to meet the
impending deluge referred to earlier—once 100 per cent enrolment and retention at the primary
level is achieved (the target year now is 201094), the secondary level edifice will crack and
crumble instantly. It has not crumbled already, partly because, in fact, additional schools have
been established in the meantime, but mainly because the entire eligible age group has not
registered at schools.

93 7th Survey NCERT (2002), http://gov.ua.nic.in/NScheduleData/ns17.pdf (accessed on July 30, 2007)


94 ‘Planning & Management Issues’ in the Report of the CABE Committee on Universalisation of
Secondary Education,
(2005), Ministry of Human Resource development, Government of India, New
Delhi.

37

95
Table 3.5
Enrolment in Classes XI and XII (including degree colleges)

Sex
Enrolment in Classes XI and XII Total enrolment in Classes XI & XII Total

attached to degree colleges96
(including Classes XI & XII in
enrolment

higher secondary schools)
in Classes

I-XII
Class XI Class XII Classes
Class XI
Class XII
Classes

XI-XII
XI-XII

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Boys 529,859 495,300 1,025,159
3,544,377 3,176,094 6,720,471 111,118,579


Girls 315,694 290,012 605,706
2,512,196 2,205,216 4,717,412 91,969,348


Total 845,553 785,312 1,630,865 6,056,573 5,381,310 11,437,883 203,087,927


Total Classes XI and XII 13,068,748


The entire school going age group:
From Table 3.5 above, it may be noted that the total
enrolment in classes I to XII is recorded to be 203,087,927, while the total number of children in
the relevant age group (6-18 years) is 301,501,011 (see Table 3.2). That is (301,501,011 -
203,087,927) = 98,413,084 children were not at school.
97
The secondary school age group: The enrolment at the secondary level (classes IX-XII) then
was around 35 million with a Gross Enrolment Ratio of nearly 39 per cent. Nearly 54.74 million
of the relevant age group were not at school. The total secondary level age group comes to (35
million at school + 54.74 million out of school) = 89.74 million, a figure that approximates the
relevant one in Table 3.2).
Distributing 35 million students over 174,544 schools (see Table 3.4), assigns around 200
students per school, i.e. 50 students per class over four classes IX – XII. A class of 50 is crowded
indeed, but Indian schools have learnt to manage this size. So, the existing setup, i.e. the
conventional system of “brick and mortar” schooling for the secondary level of education is
ticking on. But for how long?



95 7th Survey NCERT (2002), http://gov.ua.nic.in/NScheduleData/ns281.pdf (accessed on July 30, 2007).

96 Before independence, schools in India covered just the first 10 years of education. As full-fledged
universities were far and few, colleges were established to prepare students for their first university
degrees. The first two years at these colleges provided what was called intermediate education, comparable
to the present day senior secondary education. With the creation of the senior secondary provision to be
implemented at schools, most of the colleges wound up their intermediate classes in the 1950s and 1960s.
Some colleges, however, retained them under the new appellation ‘senior secondary classes’. Accordingly,
today most of the senior secondary classes are conducted in schools, but quite a few are conducted in
colleges also (see Tables 3.5 and 3.7).
97 Department of School Education & Literacy, Secondary Education Statistics (data pertains to 2003),
http://education.nic.in/secedu/sec_stats.asp (accessed on July 30, 2007)

38

3.2.1 Large numbers, insufficient funding
The conclusion is that in India, the single most significant demographic factor that clouds all the
finer and worthy of consideration factors is the sheer number of the secondary school age group,
of which a large subgroup is out-of-school and another large subgroup, slightly more than half the
size of the first one, is engaged in schooling that needs improvements. Added to this prime issue
is the issue of frustratingly inadequate funding. As said elsewhere, since 1968, when the
requirement (that would really work) for education was estimated to be six per cent of GDP, the
actual outlay has hardly ever touched four per cent.
It should be noted that quite a proportion of the out-of-school children work, and that in many
cases, parents of such children believe that they are better off with their children’s earnings in
comparison to the possible returns to their education. In many cases, work is necessary for
survival. Improvements in and expansion of infrastructure for conventional type of schooling is
not going to solve their problems. In many cases learning and earning has to go side-by-side and
conveniently too. Chamarbagwala remarks “that children’s participation in child labour and
schooling responds to economic returns to education in India, which suggests implementing
policies that raise the economic benefits of education—such as creating more high-skilled jobs
and improving the quality of education in order to lower child labour and increase schooling” 98.
3.2
Structure of the Indian education system

3.3.1 Introduction

In order to fully appreciate the place, role and costs of Open Schooling in India, it is necessary to
begin with an understanding of the structure and the size of its educational system as a whole.

At the time of her independence in 1947, India had a literacy rate of less than 18 per cent (see
Table 3.8). The leadership was fully conscious of the importance of education for national growth
and development. A National Commission under the Chairmanship of S. Radhakrishnan was set
up to prepare a comprehensive report on higher education, which was submitted in 1948-9. The
two significant contributions of this exercise were:

i) Independent India envisioned its educational goals clearly--“Education confined to
those who come from nobility, landed gentry or professional classes is suited to a
society built on an economic and social hierarchy of classes. In a democratic society,
the opportunity of learning must be open not only to an elite, but to all those who
have to carry the privilege and responsibility of citizenship. Education is a universal
right, not a class privilege.
99 [Italics added.]


98 Chamarbagwala, R. (2004), “Returns to Education, Child Labour & Schooling in India”, Department of
Economics, Indiana University, Bloomington. http://129.3.20.41/eps/dev/papers/0410/0410003.pdf
(accessed on July 30, 2007).

99 Report of the University Education Commission-1948-1949, Vol. 1, (1950), The Manager of Publications,
Government of India, Delhi, p.50.
[Very low levels of literacy in each and every State, education divorced from developmental objectives,
degraded situation of science education and the teaching of regional languages, importance of mother
tongue at the primary level of education, poor provision for professional education and research were some

39

ii) Taking off from the colonial provision for education and the system that managed it,
it was/is a long way to reach the goal of universalising education in the country. And
to achieve the goal, it was necessary to reformulate the educational structure right
from the lowest level to the highest.

100
3.3.2 Education in the Republic of India (the first 50 years)

Education on the State List (1950-1976)

The journey began with the promulgation of the new Constitution in 1950, which enshrined free
and compulsory education till the age of fourteen
as one of the Directive Principles of State
Policy, The responsibility for education was assigned to individual states of the Republic, while
the Union Government was responsible for co-ordinating technical and higher education besides
the determination of standards.

The first Secondary Education Commission was set up in 1952-53 and the National Council for
Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to modernise secondary education was established
in 1961 in New Delhi. One of the major contributions of this period to the educational
environment was the establishment of Bal Bhavans101 in 1956 aimed at the age group 5-16 years.
The objective of this initiative is to motivate and enhance creativity and sports among the
children. The National Bal Bhavan is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Human
Resource Development. It is responsible for guiding, training the functionaries of and transferring
information among the State and District level Bal Bhavans located all over the country.
Equipped with libraries and other facilities, they provide programmes in performing arts, sports,
martial arts, computer literacy and fine arts.

A comprehensive review of the entire system of education was conducted by the Education
Commission set up in 1964 under the Chairmanship of Dr. D. S. Kothari, then Chairman of the
University Grants Commission. It worked for two years and its recommendations led to the first
National Policy on Education (NPE) which was adopted in 1968. However, with education being
on the State List102, the National Policy could not but be of advisory utility only. A stronger and
more effective policy provision had to be made.

Education on the Concurrent List (1976--)

For the National Policy on Education to take its legitimate course, education was shifted from the
State List to the Concurrent List through a Constitutional Amendment in 1976, which provided
for the Central and State Governments to be jointly/concurrently responsible for formulating and
implementing educational policies and plans. Illustrations of the various resulting developments
are as follows:

of the major concerns brought to the attention of the nation through the massive Report of this
Commission.].

100 Here our focus is on the pre-university (i.e. primary and secondary) levels of Education.

101 A Hindi expression meaning ‘Children’s House”.

102 Being on the State List, Education in India was the responsibility of individual States till 1976, when the
Constitution was amended to shift it to the Concurrent List. This step made it possible for the Central
Government to share this responsibility in as many ways as possible. Since then, Education is the
responsibility of the Central Government and the State Governments concurrently.

40


• The Non-Formal Education (NFE) Programme meant for the age group 6-14 years
was introduced by the Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource
Development, Government of India, in 1979-80 to cater to those who cannot join
regular schools for whatever reasons, school dropouts, the children from remote and
isolated areas and working children. It is run by NGOs which receive 100 per cent of
their running costs as assistance from the Government. At present, it covers most of
the backward, hilly, tribal, desert and slum areas in 25 states and Union Territories.
To pay focused attention to girls103, nearly 40 per cent of the NFE Centres in the
States and 10 per cent of such Centres in Union Territories are reserved for girls.
• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi, established the
Open School as an experimental project on Open Schooling in 1979, three years after
education was shifted to the Concurrent List in 1976. Ten years of experimentation
(1979 to 1989) with the application of distance education modalities to secondary
education convinced the Central Government of its applications and utility in meeting
the multiple challenges that the secondary education provision faced. As a
consequence, the Open School was remodelled as the National Open School (NOS)
in 1989 as an alternative mechanism (see subsection 4.1.3) to address the issue of
secondary education in the country.
• Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), an autonomous organisation, was established in
1985–86. Currently, it runs 539 schools spread all over the country. These are fully
residential, co-educational higher secondary schools that provide board and lodging,
textbooks and uniforms free of cost to all the students. More than 30,000 new
students are admitted every year in Class VI on the basis of a selection/entrance test
prepared by CBSE and given to primary school pass-outs in all the districts, where
such schools are functional. (See also Subsection 4.4.1.)

104
The distribution of responsibilities between the States/Union Territories and the Centre under
NPE-1968, however, remained unclear, in spite of the Constitutional Amendment of 1976, until
the new National Policy on Education-1986 was adopted in 1986. While retaining the
responsibilities of the State Governments unchanged, the new National Policy spelled out the
role105 of the Central Government clearly. In addition to promoting and cementing the national
and integrative purpose of education, the Central Government is to maintain quality and standards
in education, to assess and monitor educational needs in relation to the manpower needs for
development, to cater to research and advanced studies, to take care of the international aspects of
education and human resource development in general and to work for excellence at all the levels
of education everywhere in the country.

As already pointed to, one of the major consequences (of our interest here) that followed these
developments was the establishment of the National Open School (NOS) based on the lessons
learnt from the experimental project on Open Schooling, which was wound up in 1989 with the
birth of NOS.


103 ‘Women’ under Education in India, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India
(accessed on July 30, 2007)

104 Centre stands for the Central/Union Government.

105 National Policy on Education-1986, (1986) The Ministry of Human Resource Development, The
Government of India, New Delhi, para 3.13.

41

Post-1992 Scenario

Drawing on the increased experience with the implementation of the National Policy on
Education-1986, it was reviewed in 1992. Coupled with the revised Plan of Action-1992, it
became a dynamic instrument of development and change. Some of the resulting developments
worth mentioning are as follows:


District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) was launched in 1994 to universalise
primary education in a few selected districts and later extended to other areas. It was/is a
major step towards decentralising educational planning and the implementation of plans
at the local grassroots level.

In 1995, the Central Government further enhanced this programme by providing support
for mid-day meals106 for government and aided primary school children all over the
country.

In 2000, 0.12 million (out of a total of 0.3 million) Non-Formal Education Centres were
for girls, while overall 7.42 million children were being catered to at these Centres107. To
provide for the resulting increase in throughput, 30 per cent of the seats have been
reserved for women in engineering, medical and other colleges.

Facilities for specific sections of the society: Facilities are also being provided to various
other traditionally deprived categories108 of the society. For example, seats have been
reserved for Scheduled Castes (SCs)109
110
and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in all areas at all
the levels of education. Special and exclusive scholarships and fee waivers (in some
states) are now available to SC/ST students. In 2003-2004, the Department of Welfare for
SCs, STs, OBCs and Minorities introduced the SC/ST tuition-fee reimbursement
scheme111 to help SC and ST students studying in recognised private institutions. The
support available under the scheme covers about 85-90 per cent of the educational
expenses of the beneficiaries. Similar incentives are available to Other Backward Classes
(OBCs) and Minorities.


106 The main purpose of the mid-day meal scheme (serving a good meal to all the students in the
government run primary schools during school hours) is to improve the level of retention of students at the
primary level, while boosting their nutritional intake as well, in order to strengthen the process of
universalising education at this level.

107 ‘Women’ under Education in India, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India
(accessed on July 30, 2007).

108 In pursuit of the policy of inclusion, all the government funded institutions reserve seats for students
from the disadvantaged groups of the society—15 per cent of the seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs), 7.5 per
cent for Scheduled Tribes (STs) and 3 per cent for differently able students.

109 Indian communities which remained neglected traditionally lacking opportunities for education,
economic growth and social inclusion. Now, they have been given special privileges under the Constitution
of India to undo the social and economic injustice they suffered from over the centuries.

110 Those of the original inhabitants of India who remained deprived and isolated from the mainstream
cultural milieu. Like the Scheduled Castes, they too have been accorded a special status and right to special
privileges under the Constitution of India.

111 ‘SCs/STs and OBCs’ under Education in India, Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India (accessed on July 30, 2007)

42

3.3.3 Outcomes of over 50 years of educational re-engineering

There are two points to make under this heading: the current structure of the Indian education
system, and the achievements made till the end of the last century.

Taking curriculum as the basic criterion, today there are four types of schools in India:

1.
Schools that follow the curricula and regulations of the Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE).
2.
Schools that follow the curricula and regulations of the Council for the Indian School
Certificate Examination (CISCE).
3.
The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).
4.
The schools that follow the curricula and regulations prescribed by the respective
State/Union Territory Boards of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. Generally,
they prepare students for the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC).

While the first three types are looked after by the Central Government, the fourth type is the
responsibility of the respective States/Union Territories. The curricula used by these school types
are comparable in essentials, while their variations are primarily location-specific.
112
In terms of ownership and resources , nearly 25 per cent of the secondary schools are private
unaided (i.e. schools that do not receive any grants from any government, Central or State). These
schools cater to nearly 9 per cent of the children (in the relevant age group), who come from the
wealthy layer of the society. Another category comprises those private schools (run by non-profit
trusts, international bodies and entrepreneurs) that are supported by government grants, often as
high as 90 per cent of the running costs of the schools, and they cover more than 46 per cent of
the children. These schools follow either the curriculum prescribed by the Central Board of
Secondary Education or that prescribed by the related State/Union Territory Boards of Secondary
Education.

The remaining 45 per cent of the children attend government run/funded schools, which are
located in each major city, town and village. Most of these schools use the regional language as
the medium of instruction. At some of these schools, study materials like textbooks, notebooks
and stationery are subsidised. These schools follow the curriculum prescribed by the respective
State/Union Territory Boards of Education. Thus more than 90 per cent of the students are
supported by the Central/State/Union Territory government in one way or the other.

Years of modifications in the overall system have led to a new and more rational structure of
school education, which is in operation currently (see Table 3.6 below). This structure is
understood and followed uniformly throughout the country today. It has brought about significant
uniformity in such a diverse country as India, which had as many systems as the number of
principalities in the colonial period. With the systemic uniformity in place now, transfer of
credits, mobility of students, exchange of teachers, and comparison of curricula and budgets are
not issues any more. Further, national policies can be aligned with those of the States/Union
Territories easily and the various activities at the level of implementation can be replicated with

112 ‘Planning & Management Issues’ in the Report of the CABE Committee on Universalisation of
Secondary Education,
(2005), Ministry of Human Resource development, Government of India, New
Delhi, p.51.


43

greater ease across the States and Union Territories. The operational variations of the structure,
however, remain complex.

113
Table 3.6
Present structure of the Indian educational system

114
S.
Level of education
Classes
Corresponding age group
No.
(with exceptions)
of students
1
Elementary school
I-VIII (I-VII in some
6-14 years
States)
a) Primary school
I-V (I-IV in some States)
6-11 years
b) Upper primary
VI-VIII
11-14 years
or middle school
(V-VII in some States)
2
Secondary school
IX-XII (VIII-XII in some
14-18 years
States)
a) High/secondary school
IX-X (VIII-X in some
14-16 years
States)
b) Higher/senior
XI-XII 16-18
years
secondary school
3
Higher/university education
Duration
18-24 years
a) Non-professional general degree


programmes
a1
Undergraduate level
3 years
18-21 years
a2
Postgraduate level
2 years
21-23 years
a3
Research degrees
At least 1-2 years
23-24/5
b) Professional
diploma/degree
3-5 years depending on the
18-21/23 years
programmes
field of studies.

3.3.4 Primary and secondary levels of education

With the implementation of the planned modifications, generally children at 5+ would enter the
primary level of education, at 10+ they would step into the secondary level and at 17+ into a
degree college or a university for the first degree, generally a three-year programme. This came to
be known as the 10 + 2 + 3 system of education. The 10 in the formulation implies the first ten
years of one’s formal education including the first two years (the 9th and the 10th standards) of
secondary education, +2 implies the last two years of secondary education, usually called the
senior/higher secondary education and +3 refers to the three years meant for completing a general
first degree programme. The first 10 years of school education, as indicated in the above table,
are allocated in various ways in different States (28 in number) and Union Territories (7 in
number). In 22 of them, the 9th
th
and the 10 years of school comprise secondary education; while
in the remaining 13 of them it is covered in classes 8th to 10th (see Table 3.7 below).





113 Based on ‘Stages of Education in India’ under Sector Overview, Dept. of Higher Education, Ministry of
Human Resource Development, Govt. of India: http://education.nic.in/sector.asp, p. 3.
(accessed on July 30, 2007).
114 The pre-primary level has not been shown in the table, as it is primarily managed by the private sector.
Children aged 3 to 5 attend what are generally called Lower and Upper Kindergartens, each of one year’s
duration.


44

Table 3.7 Educational pattern in States/Union Territories115

Upper
Higher
Hr. Sec. Classes
Primary
Secondary
Sl. No.
State/UT
Primary
Secondary
attached to degree
stage
stage
stage
stage
college
1.
Andhra Pradesh
I -V
VI-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
2.
Arunachal Pradesh
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII

3.
Assam
I-IV
V-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
4.
Bihar
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
5.
Chhattisgarh
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
6.
Goa
I-IV
V-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
7.
Gujarat
I-IV
V-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII

8.
Haryana
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
9.
Himachal Pradesh
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
10.
Jammu & Kashmir
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII

11.
Jharkhand
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
12.
Karnataka
I -V
VI-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
13.
Kerala
I-IV
V-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII

14.
Madhya Pradesh
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII

15.
Maharashtra
I-IV
V-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
16.
Manipur
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
17.
Meghalaya
I-IV
V-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
18.
Mizoram
I-IV
V-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
19.
Nagaland
I-IV
V-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
20.
Orissa
I -V
VI-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
21.
Punjab
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
22.
Rajasthan
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII

23.
Sikkim
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII

24.
Tamil Nadu
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII

25.
Tripura
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII

26.
Uttar Pradesh
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII

27.
Uttaranchal
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII

28.
West Bengal
I-IV
V-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
29.
A & N Islands
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII

30.
Chandigarh
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII
XI-XII
31.
Dadra & Nagar Haveli I-IV
V-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII

32.
Daman & Diu
I-IV
V-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII

33.
Delhi
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII

34.
Lakshadweep
I-IV
V-VII
VIII-X
XI-XII

35.
Pondicherry
I-V
VI-VIII
IX-X
XI-XII


In most places the senior secondary classes are conducted in schools which run classes I through
XII, in some places they have exclusive senior secondary schools that conduct classes XI and XII

115 The 7th All India School Education Survey: http://gov.ua.nic.in/aises/national/ep.asp, (accessed on
6.6.2007).

45

only, while in some places these classes are conducted in colleges, which prepare students for
their first university degrees as well.

In the process of materialising the new educational structure, institutional structures too had to be
overhauled. In many cases the five-year high schools were extended to function as seven-year
schools to accommodate 5 + 2 = 7 years of combined secondary and senior/higher secondary
education. Though many of the earlier intermediate116
117
colleges were upgraded to full degree
colleges, some were merged with schools to accommodate senior/higher secondary students. As
the minimum qualification required to teach at the senior/higher secondary level was fixed to be a
Master’s degree in the relevant discipline, the profile of teachers at schools changed before long.
Teachers employed to teach at the higher secondary level came to be known as postgraduate
teachers (i.e. teachers with postgraduate118 qualifications). Earlier the minimum qualification
required of a secondary school teacher was just a first university degree. Now, it was made
obligatory for non-postgraduate teachers to have Bachelor’s Degree in Education (B. Ed.) also.

In addition to the expansion and overhauling of the mainstream lower education as outlined
above, polytechnics, regional engineering colleges, medical colleges, specialist institutes of
teacher education, technology and management also were established to improve the provision of
higher education in the country. And to overcome the menace of adult illiteracy, provision was
made and funds set apart for the non-formal sector of education also.

The organisational network that looks after the conventional schooling system is quite extensive
and impressive. It comprises various institutions and bodies at the national and state levels—
MHRD, NCERT, NIEPA, KVS, NVS and CBSE at the Central level and the State Ministries of
Education, Directorates of Education, SCERTs, Textbook Bureaus and bodies like CTEs, IASEs,
DIETs, University Departments of Education and Teacher Training Colleges at the state level.

As outlined above, the organisation for secondary/senior secondary education in the country is
very wide and diverse, but there is a fundamental uniformity in the basics. For example, during
the first two/three years at the secondary level, children must study two languages (English and a
regional language with the provision of taking a classical or a foreign language in place of the
latter), mathematics (arithmetic, geometry, algebra, statistics, etc), natural sciences (physics,
chemistry and biology) and social sciences (history, geography, civics and economics). And at +2
level, children have to take English, three subjects/disciplines forming a broad specialisation
(mathematics, physics and chemistry for the Engineering Group; biology, physics and chemistry
for the Medical Group; political science, history and economics for the Social Sciences Group;
commerce, accounting and economics for the Commerce Group and so on) and one or two more
disciplines not necessarily related to the trio of the main groups selected. Recently, in addition to

116 Intermediate Colleges taught students, who had completed ten years of schooling successfully, for two
years to prepare them for entry to first degrees classes. One could study for a first degree at what was called
a Degree College or at a University Department.

117 Students studied for two years at a Degree College to get their first university degrees. Thus the
structure of the system was 10 years of school education + two years at an Intermediate College + two
years at a Degree College. Degree Colleges, as they are today, were mostly affiliated to a University in the
region. In certain cases, however, they were and some continue to be constituents of a University.

118 In India it is customary to call a first degree holder a graduate and a Master’s Degree holder a
postgraduate. Accordingly, studies at the Master’s Level are called postgraduate studies and not graduate
studies
.

46

vocational courses, disciplines like bio-technology, fashion design and computer applications
have been introduced at the senior secondary level.

Each State and Union Territory administers secondary education through its own Board of
Secondary Education, which is responsible for policy formulation, financial provision,
determination of standards, setting of public examinations and certification. In some states, there
are separate boards for the secondary and the higher secondary levels. The variations in standards
of secondary education across the States/Union Territories are not significant, which accounts for
their mutual recognition of qualifications and easy transfer of students from one board to another.
Successful completion of the first ten years of education at school earns a matriculation
(equivalent to five ‘O’ levels of the British system of schooling) and that of subsequent two years
fetches senior/higher secondary school certificate (equivalent to five ‘A’ levels of the British
system).

3.3.5 Links with higher education

Successful completion of the senior secondary education qualifies one to seek registration in a
higher education institution for a degree programme, generally completed in three years. It is not
as though all the first degree programmes are completed in three years. While a Bachelor’s
Degree in Commerce and a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts/Humanities are completed in three years, a
Bachelor’s Degree in Technology takes four years to complete, and the first medical degree takes
five years. After the first degree, one may go for a Master’s Degree in a discipline related to what
one may have studied at the first degree level. Beyond a Master’s degree, universities provide for
M. Phil. and Ph. D. degrees. The Indian system of higher education does not allow first degree
holders to work for a doctoral degree as is possible, for example, in Britain. Both M. Phil. and Ph.
D. degrees may be obtained by theses only or by a combination of course work and thesis.

3.3.6 Open and distance education initiatives

To begin with, the alternative schooling system (see subsection 4.1.3 in Chapter 4) had to emerge
from the network available for the conventional systems of schooling. The MHRD took the
initiative through the Open School Project of CBSE. Today the alternative system is being looked
after by MHRD, NIOS, State Ministries of Education, State Open Schools, State Departments of
Education, State Boards of Education and other institutions engaged in ODL operations.

During the period 1950-2000, most of the resources were used to establish conventional
institutions like primary schools, secondary and higher secondary schools, degree colleges,
professional colleges and universities. Such corrective and reformative steps notwithstanding, the
realisation that i) the very size of the baseline population and the growth rate therein would thwart
the proposed and implemented provision before long, and ii) the content and profile of education
in the country would improve and undergo a sea-change, but access to education would remain a
problem for large numbers of citizens and for a long time to come, prompted search for and
experimentation in different and learner-friendly educational modalities.

Delhi University introduced degree programmes through the correspondence mode in 1962. This
was the first dual-mode operation in the country. Soon after, many other universities introduced
similar dual-mode operations throughout the country. Today, there are over 100 hundred such
dual-mode operations and 13 dedicated open universities in the country. As for the secondary
level, mention has already been made of the Open School and the National Open School (see
subsection 3.3.2 and also Chapter 4).


47

3.3.7 Present challenges for secondary education in India

At the dawn of the 21st century, the educational scenario in India was significantly different in
contrast with that of 1950 (see Table 3.8 below). The growth in the overall literacy rate and that
among women especially, the rise in the number of institutions at all the levels and the increase in
the variety of institutions for higher studies are indeed impressive. The impressive growth
notwithstanding, there are obvious gaps, which have yet to be filled. For example, the number of
higher education institutions is not commensurate with the size of the country, and public
expenditure on education has not increased significantly. India has much more to achieve, and
that should be very fast, as delays should multiply the issues. The challenges are obvious and they
have to be met in right earnest.

119
Table 3.8

Progress made during 1950-2000

S.
Criterion/Item Situation
in

Situation in 2003-04
No.
1950-51
(unless indicated otherwise)
1
Literacy rate
18.3 per cent
64.8 per cent (2001 figure)
2
Female literacy rate
8.9 per cent
53.7 per cent
3
No. of schools
0.23 million
1.18 million
4
No. of general colleges
370
9427
5
No. of professional colleges
208
2751

No. of colleges —all the post-
-- 17,625
(2004-05 figure)
secondary education institutions
[University level institutions are not included
here.]

6
No. of university level
27
338 (229 Universities, 96 Deemed Universities
institutions
and 13 Institutions of National Importance) (as
on 31. 03. 05)
7
Gross Enrolment Ratio in
32.1 per cent
84.8 per cent
elementary education
8
Gender Parity Index at
0.38 0.93
elementary level
9
Public expenditure on education 1.5 per cent
3.76 per cent
as per cent of GDP
10
Number of teachers
--
6.2 million


With a billion-plus population, India is said to be a country of young people as nearly 40 per cent
of the population belongs to the 6-24 years age group120, which is typically the target group for
formal institution based education the world over, including India A simple profile of the
coverage achieved so far within this age group is as follows:




119 Based on ‘Size of the Indian Education System & Quantitative Expansion’ under Sector Overview,
Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India:
http://education.nic.in/sector.asp, pp. 5 and 6. (accessed on July 30, 2007)

120 Based on the details presented under Sector Overview, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of
Human Resource Development, Government of India: http://education.nic.in/sector.asp, p. 5. (accessed on
July 30, 2007)


48

121
Table 3.9

Coverage within the 6-24 age group


(figures pertain to 2003-04, unless indicated otherwise)
(Read Table 3.9 above together with the discussion following Table 3.5)

1 Target population (6-24 years age group—estimate for 2003)
411 million
2 Total enrolment in all educational institutions (school to university)
224 million
3 Target population yet to be involved and provided for
187 million

The un-reached (out-of-school/college/university) 187 million constitute a daunting figure. This,
of course, is the conventionally known clientele for schools, colleges and universities put
together. Added to this figure is “the new learner122” born of the aspirations of a young
democratic society driven by a socio-economic dynamism never seen in many centuries of sloth
and slumber. And finally, we must not lose sight of the annual incremental millions123 that get
added to the above mind-boggling figures. As outlined above, India has done a lot during the past
50 years, but obviously there is much to be done. The major challenges124 to be addressed are as
follows:

• The most visible of the challenges is the issue of access. Though elementary schools
are now available in the close vicinity of most children, institutions for the secondary
and higher education are still too far to attend for many a student all over the country.
Besides such spatial barriers, there are economic, academic, linguistic, social and
physical barriers that ail education in India.
• The last major challenge is the lack of financial resources. So far, the combined
efforts of the Central and State Governments have not been able to push the outlay
for lower education above 3.76 per cent (2003-04 figure; see Table 3.8) of the GDP,
though the very first National Policy on Education-1968 had estimated the need for
fixing public funding for education at 6 per cent of GDP.
• The management of education in India continues to be bureaucratic in nature. It is a
challenge to move to more professional, accountable, decentralised and inclusive
management practices. Many of the issues including that of quality can be addressed
more satisfactorily and speedily if the management of education gets overhauled.
• Quality of education too is a challenge. The factors affecting the quality of education
in India are more than one—physical facilities and infrastructure are not adequate,
nor up-to-date; appropriately qualified and trained teachers are not available in
adequate numbers; the teaching-learning transaction (still dominated by rote learning)
is not effective in many cases; and learner performance in many cases remains low.

121 Ibid. p. 5.

122 This is a mixed group of young and old, men and women, bright and mediocre, skilled and un-skilled
and so on, who seek education and training for horizontal and upward mobility, for updating and upgrading
their knowledge and skills, for equipping themselves with multiple-skills to face the volatility in the
employment market or simply in pursuit of a better quality of life. Interestingly, this group includes many
bright school leavers, who grab a job and at the same time look for education/training to build on.

123 The estimated annual rise in population in India is nearly 18-19 million (just about one Australia every
year).

124 Based on the details presented under Sector Overview, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of
Human Resource Development, Government of India: http://education.nic.in/sector.asp, p. 7. (accessed on
July 30, 2007)


49

Of course, there are centres of excellence here and there, but overall quality in
education remains an issue to be tackled.
• Participation ratios of the relevant age groups for elementary, secondary and higher
education at 85 per cent, 39 per cent and 9 per cent (2003-04) respectively leave
much to be desired. Related to the levels of participation is the ticklish issue of
equity. One cause of low levels of participation is that potential students from
disadvantaged groups of society cannot go for quality education easily, as their levels
of preparedness let them down. When they succeed in getting into the system, it is
usually the institutions of poor quality that accommodate them.
• Relevance of curricula is another challenge that Indian education has not been able to
meet squarely yet, as a large majority of Indian institutions still hang on to dated
curricula. Given that education/training is now seen as a tool of socio-economic well-
being at the national level and as a means for quality life at the level of individuals,
curricula have to promote not only the prospects of a better national economy, but
also purposeful life skills.

3.3

Secondary schooling and the Indian labour market

3.3.1 Introduction

It is common knowledge that generally individuals with higher levels of education/training earn
more than those with lower levels of education or none at all. In economic terms, therefore, a
person with higher education does not only get better economic returns over his/her life time, but
is also of higher economic value to the society, as he/she contributes more to social productivity
than others. It is customary to estimate the returns on the levels of education in relation to their
costs. The cost is thus seen as investment and what it yields over a lifetime provides for the
estimation of rate of return to education.

Again, it is commonplace that generally the rates of return to education are positive everywhere.
A society can afford to pay more to a better-educated individual, only if his/her contribution to
economy is better than that of the one with a lower level of education. The implication of the
positive rate of return is that investment in education is profitable and so it contributes to
economic growth; and that a higher rate of return for a particular level of education implies that
the education of that level contributes more significantly to the growth of economy than other
levels of education.

Obviously, the level of education that entails a better rate of return is the type that the society
should invest in. In actual practice, the relationship is not as simplistic as it reads here. For
example, the effect of emphasis on different levels of education differs in relation to the stages of
development an economy/country has reached.

At the earliest stages of development (the agricultural settings of rural economies), improvements
in primary education and the number of workers with primary education correlate positively with
the growth of GDP. As societies move to the stage of industrialisation, the workforce engaged in
agriculture diminishes and that in industrial areas rises progressively. At this stage of economic
development, it is the relative number of secondary school graduates that shows positive
correlation with economic growth125. And similarly, at still higher stages of economic growth, it
is the proportion of higher education graduates that shows positive correlation with economic

125 McMahon, W. (1998). “Education and Growth in East Asia”, Economics of Education Review, Vol. 17
(2),
pp. 159-172.

50

growth and development. With democratisation coupled with globalisation coming to the fore
almost universally, the employment market is steadily crossing the national borders.
Consequently, rates of return to investments in higher education in India126 have generally been
increasing in comparison with those in lower education (see Tables 3.10 and 3.11 below).

Without losing sight of this global scenario, our argument below is based on the view that today
India encapsulates two economic entities—“India that is Bharat”127. In the 1960s and 1970s,
influenced by the Soviet model of socialist economy, India aimed at economic growth with public
investments in the development of heavy industry protected by customs regulations and a
simultaneous boost in agricultural production, which led to the Green Revolution. The
accompanying weaknesses, however, lurked in inefficient and primitive industry together with a
relatively large size of subsistence agriculture.

Preparing for changes in the late 1980s and certainly by the early 1990s, the scenario changed as
the economy responded to the process of globalisation by opening up in the real sense for the first
time after independence (i.e. 1947). Though this development has steered India’s progress into
the new knowledge/information economy, the most significant factor that will promote and
sustain this progress is the human capital that India can generate and invest in the years to come.
Given the existing two facets of India—the India that lives in urban and industrial areas and the
Bharat that is still bound to villages, both the higher-end and the lower-end human capital are
required in the country concurrently. While the former is required for innovation, application and
organisation so vital for an information/knowledge economy, the latter is required in semi-urban
and particularly in rural areas for agriculture and the related productive enterprises128 in such
areas.

The above premise provides a framework for the following discussion on two related themes:

i) the cost-benefit of the secondary level of education in India, and
ii) the cost-efficiency of Open Schooling for this level as it pertains to India today.

The former theme is discussed in Subsections 3.4.2 and 3.4.3 and concluded in Section 3.5 of this
chapter, while the latter theme has been taken up separately in Chapter 4.







126 Carnoy, M. (1995). “Rates of Return to Education”, The International Encyclopaedia of Education,
Pergamon, Oxford, UK.

127 The expression is from the Constitution of India. India may be the only country that has two official
names—India and Bharat. The latter has been derived from ancient Sanskrit texts. In today’s roadside
discourse pertaining to the socio-economic developments as they obtain today, it refers to those aspects and
people of India that relate to rural areas and have not visibly benefited from the fruits of independence—
democracy, education, economic growth, reformative legislation, etc—the way the corporate sector that
relates to urban areas of the country (called India) has.

128 Subsistence agriculture on smallholdings, small-scale cottage industries, handicrafts, seri- and
horticulture, small-scale cooperative enterprises, etc.


51

3.3.2 Cost-benefits of education in India

It should be mentioned at the very outset that this brief study is handicapped for want of up-to-
date data. The Report129 of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) Committee
laments,” Unlike elementary education where comprehensive and reliable database has been
developed, secondary education does not have such authentic data with annual updates”. And the
report advises that, “In order to develop a sound and dependable planning framework for
secondary education, it will be necessary to develop Secondary Education Management
Information System with disaggregated data at the state, district and block levels”. Most studies
pertaining to secondary education in India suffer from this handicap, so much that even the recent
studies have to bank on old data. The advantage of such studies, however, is that they do indicate
what has been happening over a period of time and what may be expected now and henceforth.
Here, we begin with a profile of work participation as it obtained until the last decade.
Table 3.10
Work participation and the structure of Indian labour force— 1972/3-
1993/4130


Work participation
1972/3 1978/9 1983 1987/8 1993/4
Men
52.9
53.6
53.8
53.1
54.4
Women
27.8
29.0
29.5
28.1
28.3
Structure of the workforce

Self employed:





Men
60.1
58.0
55.9
54.5
53.7
Women
63.1
60.8
60.0
59.0
56.8
Regular salaried & wage workers:





Men
19.8
18.3
18.1
18.2
16.7
Women
6.3
5.3
5.4
6.8
6.2
Casual labourers:





Men
19.7
23.7
26.0
27.3
29.6
Women
30.6
33.9
34.6
34.2
37.0
Age: 15-59 years [Compiled from NSS Reports]

We notice that work participation has been increasing steadily, with the women labour force
slightly more than half the strength of its male counterpart generally. Seemingly, the growth is
not impressive, but considering the significant rise in the population during the period concerned,
the overall steady rise (except the dip in 1987/8) is a positive development.
Secondly, the levels of self-employed and salaried and wage-workers put together have fallen
uniformly over the period, except that in the latter category women work force recorded some
recovery in late 1980s and early 1990s. This recovery may have its explanation in the expanded

129 Report of the CABE Committee: Universalisation of Secondary Education (2005), Central Advisory
Board of Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India, New Delhi. p. 44.
[The Ministry of Human Resource Development constituted the Committee in Sept. 2004 to prepare a
blueprint for universalising secondary education in India. It submitted its Report in June 2005.]

130 Duraisamy, P. (2000). “Changes in Returns to Education in India—1983-94: by Gender, Age-cohort and
Location”, Centre Discussion Paper No. 815, Economic Growth Centre, Yale University, Connecticut. p.
22. http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp815pdf (accessed on July 16, 2007)


52

provision for lower education, especially for women, introduced in the 1970/80s after the
adoption of the National Policy on Education-1968 as amended in 1976.
Thirdly, we notice that casual labour recorded a steady and relatively substantial growth during
the same period; this may be attributed to the induction of new population groups (such as
SCs/STs131, etc) into the component of labour market requiring unskilled labour on a large
scale—as the traditional agricultural labour started migrating to industries, gaps were created in
the space of agricultural labour, which came to be filled by the groups that were not in the labour
force previously. We have yet to see the role of education in these developments. A look at the
rates of return to education must provide some pointers in this regard.
132
Table 3.11
Trends in the returns (per cent) to education in India—1983-1993/4
Educational level
1983 1993/4
Total Men Women Total Men

Women
Primary (Classes I-V)
8.2
6.1
4.1
7.9
6.2
3.8
133
Middle (Classes VI-VIII)
8.4 7.1 14.3 7.4 6.3 10.3
Secondary
*
(IX-XII)
13.7 13.2 23.8 13.8 12.6 25.5
College/University (Degree level)
11.6
12.2 9.5
11.7
12.2 10.3
Technical Diploma etc.
13.4
13.9 12.8
14.9
15.6 12.3


*Includes Higher Secondary level also

The figures in the above table indicate that until the middle of the last decade, the private rate of
return per level of education increased with the levels of education uniformly among men as well
as women until they reached the college/university level—the secondary level being the most
rewarding of all the levels. The return to middle (i.e. upper primary) education is generally only
marginally higher (in fact lower in the 1990s) than to primary education, except in the case of
women, for whom it shows a significant rise in both the decades. And this trend holds also for the
secondary (including the senior secondary) level, at which return to education for women is
nearly (in the 1980s) and over (in the 1990s) twice as much as that for men. The overall
comparison shows that up to the secondary level, the return for women is generally higher than
that for men, and that the trend reverses for the higher and technical education. Looking across
rural and urban areas an interesting “variation in the returns…[to be seen in these areas is that
there are] higher returns to education in rural than in urban areas for primary and secondary levels
and also for technical diplomas…. [On the other hand, the returns] for higher secondary and
college education are higher for the urban compared to the rural residents”.134


131 Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are those categories of population among the
Hindus, who have traditionally remained deprived, but the State is now providing them support for growth
and development. [See footnotes 33, 34 and 35 also.]

132 Duraisamy, P. (2000). “Changes in Returns to Education in India—1983-94: by Gender, Age-cohort and
Location”, Centre Discussion Paper No. 815, Economic Growth Centre, Yale University, Connecticut. p.
34. http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp815pdf (accessed on July 16, 2007)
133 Middle level is the same as the Upper Primary level. Classes I to VIII make the Elementary level of
education.
134 Duraisamy, P. (2000). “Changes in Returns to education in India—1983-94: by Gender, Age-cohort and
Location”, Centre Discussion Paper No. 815, Economic Growth Centre, Yale University, Connecticut. p.
16. http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp815pdf (accessed on July 16, 2007)


53

As for the female workforce exclusively, a study on women’s labour market in India looks into
the role played by education in the differential returns to men and women in urban parts of the
country. It concludes “that women do suffer high levels of wage discrimination in the Indian
urban labour market, but that education contributes little to this discrimination [and that] the
wage-disadvantage effect of women's lower years of education than men is entirely offset by the
wage-advantage effect of women's higher returns to education than men's. …. [It is also
indicated] that, for both men and women, returns to education rise with education level,
confirming the findings of other recent educational rate of return studies in India and
elsewhere”135.
The equity issue in India pertains not only to comparative returns to education for men and
women, but also to such returns for different social and religious groups comprising the
population. The levels of education among and so the earnings of different groups of population
have been significantly different traditionally. In spite of the continued efforts to bridge the gaps
since independence, the disparities persist even today.
136
As reported by Bhaumik and Chakrabarty (see Table 3.12 below), their 1987 sample included
24,529 Hindus, 3,548 Muslims, and 2,641 people of other religious groups. Of the Hindus, 4,596
were SCs/STs while 19,933 belonged to other castes. In their 1999 sample, there were 22,773
Hindus, 3,273 Muslims and 3,259 people from other religions. Of the Hindus, 4,563 were
SCs/STs, 6,610 were OBCs137 and 11,600 belonged to other castes. Hindus and Muslims are the
two largest religious groups, and others like Buddhists, Christians, Jains and Sikhs together make
a small proportion of the total population. All the subjects belonging to these smaller religious
groups were put together in the category “other”. Earnings include all types of wages, salaries and
income in kind, and all earnings have been expressed in terms of the 1999 prices. The
investigators used the consumer price index for industrial workers to convert 1987 earnings into
“real” values that are comparable with the 1999 earnings of the individuals.






135 Kingdon, G. G. & Unni, J. (2001). “Education and Women’s Labour Market Outcomes in India”,
Education Economics, Vol. 9, Issue 2, August 2001, pp. 173-195.

136 Bhaumik, S. K. & Chakrabarty, M. (2006). “Earnings Inequality in India: Has the Rise of Caste and
Religion based Politics in India had an Impact?” Discussion Paper No. 2008, The Institute for the Study of
Labor (IZA), Bonn, Germany. [Provisional data]

137 OBCs stands for Other Backward Classes, i.e. Backward Classes other than Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes. In the 1987 Study, the “other” castes included the Other Backward Classes (OBCs),
which gained socio-political recognition only after the adoption of the Mandal Commission’s Report in
1990. Accordingly, in Table 3.12, the 1987 data shows the caste of an individual as SC/ST or ‘other’ (i.e.,
higher castes). The 1999 Study classifies an individual as SCs/STs, OBCs or “other”.


54

Table 3.12 Earning differences within and across the various groups of population
1987

Caste Religion
SC/ST

OBC
Other
Hindu
Muslim
Other
Illiterate
325.87
-
326.74
326.36
322.36
355.91
(239.24)
(361.59)
(314.31)
(245.94)
(231.24)



Primary education
436.27
-
449.57
446.52
439.70
508.64
(262.91)
(282.82)
(278.42)
(265.54)
(323.05)





Middle (i.e. Upper Primary)
493.15
-
538.55
530.33
529.77
589.32
education
(275.13)
(339.03)
(328.80)
(304.94)
(348.23)





Secondary
671.61
-
810.68
798.60
740.05
802.59
education
(382.86)
(575.10)
(562.36)
(400.21)
(409.31)






General tertiary
1006.90 -
1130.61
1124.42
987.68
1137.25
(498.51)
(690.95)
(683.10)
(520.75)
(859.28)





Professional
1244.63 -
1713.32
1702.92
1504.09
1625.36
education
(597.03)
(812.47)
(810.84)
(685.10)
(968.68)






1999

Caste Religion
SC/ST OBC Other Hindu Muslim Other

Illiterate
484.46
412.27
508.15
466.04
454.29
526.26
(344.62) (301.95) (347.29)
(334.10)
(287.39)
(451.26)





Primary education
608.60
549.09
642.47
596.99
557.73
646.97
(391.44) (393.96) (441.18)
(411.20)
(429.22)
(403.36)





Middle (i.e. Upper Primary)
707.28
648.00
739.54
700.21
649.84
807.64
education
(487.69) (507.23) (544.17)
(521.14)
(476.80)
(470.16)






Secondary
998.03
880.67
1089.13
1012.34
892.28
1152.69
education
(757.58) (589.73) (706.06)
(686.13)
(570.31)
(763.64)







General tertiary
1443.38 1279.46 1605.10
1520.28
1350.15
1588.35
(878.82) (831.49) (1008.62) (971.56)
(929.27)
(947.92)






Professional
2260.39 2352.23 2696.54
2615.09
2610.15
2747.68
education
(857.46) (190.20) (1265.94) (1245.83) (1130.69) (1003.67)







Note: i) The values within parentheses are standard deviations.

Some of their observations and findings are as follows:
• Other castes (sub-categories among Hindus) had higher earnings than the SCs/STs
during 1987 as well as 1999.
• In 1999, the OBCs’ earnings were lower than those of the “higher” castes and the
SCs/STs, except at the professional level in the latter case.
• Generally, Muslims had lower average earnings than the people of other religions.

55

• People belonging to the “other” religions had higher earnings than the Hindus in
1987 as well as 1999. This difference may be attributed to the relatively higher levels
of education among Christians, Jains, etc, who have traditionally depended on the
respective community run private educational institutions, which are better
organised and adequately funded (by self-generated funds) in comparison with the
State run institutions.
(Added comment in italics).
• Earnings of all castes and religious groups increased between 1987 and 1999. This is
said to be consistent with the 2- 4 per cent growth in per capita GDP during this
period.
• Of the Muslim sample less than 10 per cent of the women reported earnings, while
the corresponding figures for the Hindus were over 15 per cent and over 25 per cent
for the “other” religious groups. This indicates relatively lesser participation of
Muslim women in women’s labour force. The differences in the levels of
participation in labour market may be attributed to the levels of educational
attainment among the women within the different groups. (
Added comment in
italics.)
• As for the relative educational attainments among the castes, overall SCs/STs were
less educated than the people of other castes. Larger numbers of the people belonging
to the “higher” castes (48 per cent with general tertiary education in 1999) were
much more educated than people belonging to OBCs (25 per cent) and SCs/STs (17
per cent).
• And the figures for relative educational attainments among religious groups showed
that on average Muslims, 21 per cent of whom had tertiary education, were less
educated than both Hindus (35 per cent of whom had tertiary education) and other
non-Hindus (40 per cent of whom had tertiary education).

We notice that Indians get divided into three distinct groups. Those who are in the highest bracket
of earnings are professionals, who have higher levels of education invariably. All of them find a
place in the labour market. Within this bracket, caste and/or religion do not seem to affect one’s
participation in the labour market significantly, but there are minor differences in their levels of
earning. It is primarily the level of educational attainment that is responsible for high returns in
this case.
Those in the lowest bracket of earnings are the unskilled workers. Their educational attainments
are low and their numbers large. Their earnings are low, partly because jobs requiring unskilled
labour have low returns, and partly because of the imbalance in supply and demand—they are too
many for not as many jobs. Yet, differences of caste and religion show differences, though small,
in the returns from the market.
The third group lies between the groups that have the highest and the lowest returns in the labour
market. Their educational attainments are immensely varied on account of their family
backgrounds, the institutions where they study and the courses/subjects they study. Members of
this group work at different places and levels, very often decided by chance, and also, to some
extent, by the caste or religion they belong to.
3.4
Cost-benefits of secondary education: the Indian case

The overall conclusion is that earnings definitely increase with rises in educational levels for
all—men and women, rural and urban work force, varied castes and religious groups—and all
along over a period of time. Such positive correlation between educational levels of the work

56

force and their earnings suggests that differences in earnings across worker types are influenced
by their educational attainments.

Furthermore, returns to education relate to the available subsidies and the level of universalisation
achieved at a particular level of education. The provision of free education up to 14 years of age
in India has contributed to high private rates of return at the primary stage of education especially
in rural India, where primary education is available through government-run schools mainly. This
advantage is lost gradually with the rise of saturation levels at this stage. Thus while subsidies at a
particular stage of education provide for high private returns, rising levels of universalisation of
education at that very stage lower private returns gradually. At a given level of education, the
two factors, subsidy and universalisation, influence private returns to education inversely.
Table 3.13

Studies on private rates of return in India

S.

Year Primary
Middle
Secondary Higher
Degree Professional
No.
(i.e. Upper
Secondary
degree
Primary)
138
1 1967
23.0
13.0
10.0

8.1

139
3 1972
16.5 14.0
10.4
8.7
140
5 1987
7.82 8.54
-ve
2.4
6.82

141
6 2000
7.9 7.4
13.8
11.7
14.9

The above table sums up the Indian scenario over the decades. Returns to primary and middle (i.
e. upper primary) education were high in the 1960s and 1970s when access to these levels of
education was very low in India and subsidies for these levels were gradually being put in place.
By the turn of the century, the situation reversed in favour of secondary education, as the degree
of universality at the primary and middle levels had increased substantially by then.

Global emphasis on and the related drive for the socio-economic relevance of education stems
partly from the lessons learnt from the levels of economic growth experienced by countries with
high levels of participation in education and partly by the desire (of aspirants) to achieve the
quality of life enjoyed by such countries. Accordingly, the main cause of the tremendous pressure
at all the levels of education in India is the mounting urge among individuals to pursue schooling
as it promises better jobs, better income and improved quality of life. The state, partly as a
collectivity of these very individuals and partly as the body responsible for organising and
regulating their activities, looks for ways to make such schooling possible and affordable for the
masses in order to effect overall economic development of the country, removal of inequities and
eradication of poverty.

138 Nalla-gounden. A. M. (1967). “Investment in Education in India”, Journal of Human Resources, 2 (3)
(Summer)
, pp. 347-358.

139 Blaug, M. (1972). “Educated Unemployment in Asia: A Contrast between India and the Philippines,”
The Philippine Economic Journal, Vol. 11, pp. 33-35.

140 Tilak, J. B. G. (1987). Economics of Inequality in Education, Sage, New Delhi. P. 52/85.

141 Duraisamy, P. (2000). “Changes in Returns to Education in India, 1983-1994: by Gender, Age-Cohort
and Location”, Centre Discussion Paper No. 815, Economic Growth Centre, Yale University, Connecticut.
p. 34. http://www.econ.yale.edu/growth_pdf/cdp815pdf (accessed on July 16, 2007)



57

Superficially, it would seem that opening more and more schools, colleges and universities is the
way forward, but for sustained and long-term benefits, states must resolve the issues that have
implications for long-term planning, resource mobilisation and utilisation of the products of
educational systems which they may establish. The issues are fundamental in nature: How does
education contribute to economic growth? What type of education is most beneficial? What levels
of education should be emphasised for which purpose, at which location and when? And above
all, what criteria may be used to choose an educational system, and once chosen, how may it be
expanded and sustained in the face of human resource shortages and/or dwindling financial
resources for the purpose?
India, like most developing countries, looks for answers in the experiences of developed richer
countries, which invariably point to a strong correlation between their workforce with higher
levels of formal education/training and their economic growth/development. The other related
noticeable fact is that all the developed countries invest more education not only to expand the
size of their educated work force, but also to steadily provide still higher levels of
education/training to those of their workforce that are already educated/trained. The latter
invariably focus on processes of better management, innovations, application of innovations to
productivity, sensing the emerging changes in trade and commerce and how to manage them.

3.5.1 The multiple roles of education

Further lessons from countries like Japan (for example, their indigenous research and
development-based in-service training which their industries provide to their workers enabling
them to work on new industrial products and for higher levels of production, while retaining their
loyalties) help in identifying the multiple roles of education and training in the process of
increasing productivity. Thus, education is a commodity that provides for economic growth and
development at one level and functions as a change agent at the other, while at the institutional
level it provides for sustained development integrated with work satisfaction and improved
loyalty among the work force. Clearly, human capital impacts positively not only the direct
productivity rates, but also (and more importantly) the productive capabilities of the work force
and the mechanisms of change142.

India needs to provide for both the levels and also for institutional settings to sustain growth and
development in a fast changing and competitive global market. The high-end human capital is
required to innovate, foresee emerging changes and manage them efficiently (in urban and
industrial India), and the lower-end human capital to boost growth at the lower end of economy,
especially in rural and agricultural settings (i.e. in Bharat). There are positive indications in
relation to the former, as evidenced by around nine per cent annual growth143 in recent years
effected mainly by a healthy growth in the service and industry sectors, but the latter is not
encouraging as evidenced by the plight of farmers144 all over the country.

Growth in the service sector is primarily driven by developments in ICT applications and in the
industry sector by the application of such scientific knowledge and experience as are required by
the industries dependent on scientific innovations and their applications. This establishes the


142 Sorensen, A. (1999). “R&D, Learning and Phases of Economic Growth”, Journal of Economic Growth,
Vol. 4
, pp. 429-445.
143 The Economist, Vol. 385, No. 8549, October 6th-12th, 2007. p. 111.
144 For the past few years now the Indian press has been reporting suicides committed by frustrated farmers.
Among the various ways out, improved government funding for agriculture is seen as a possible solution.

58

importance of higher education, especially in management- and sciences-related disciplines, as
they provide for innovating technologies, bringing in new applications of the existing
technologies and establishing new norms and systems of management that are more effective and
efficient. The workforce with such education not only increases its own productivity, but also
becomes instrumental in increasing the productivity of those workers who work at other, more
importantly at the lower, levels. Further, it is higher education that enables the workforce to see
what non-human factors need to be put in place to materialise the stipulated growth—
infrastructure145, for example. Thus higher education goes beyond increasing human capabilities,
as it also contributes to the environment required to put those capabilities to gainful use.

3.5.2 The impact of lower levels of education

Such significance of higher education brings into sharp focus the twofold significance of the
lower levels of education:

i) they have a positive developmental role in rural and semi-urban areas as they
improve the skills and attitude of workers, resulting in overall higher levels and better
quality of production per worker, and
ii) they build a strong and vast base for the educational pyramid enabling it to have a
large and quality top required for helping lower level workers to achieve higher
levels of production and for effecting innovations in the mechanisms as well as
management of quality production.

With this in view and considering that the vast majority of the potential human capital resides in
rural and semi-urban areas of India, the significance of the lower levels of education (including
secondary education) cannot be over emphasised. The impact of higher education as seen in the
developed areas of the country is discernible in the rural and semi-urban areas too, but for the size
of the country, unless these areas in large numbers are able to develop their own human capital
within their own locales, growth and development will come to them dangerously slowly.

Thus, lower education for the majority of Indians deserves emphasis on two counts:

i) it is required for the immediate purpose of improving productivity and growth in the
existing rural and lower-end enterprises146 as they are, and
ii) it is a necessary condition for establishing viable higher education activities in the
localities concerned as elsewhere.







145 A major cause of brain drain in India is the lack of the required level of infrastructure. Though the
earlier planners visualised the need for human resource development, the corresponding need for
infrastructure was not. Even today many world-class graduates from IITs and IIMs prefer working in
countries that provide the infrastructure and working conditions that suit/attract them. Urge for higher
earnings are not the only cause of such migration.

146 Subsistence agriculture on smallholdings, small-scale cottage industries, handicrafts, seri- and
horticulture and small-scale cooperative enterprises.

59


Apart from these reasons for investing in secondary education in India, there is yet another issue
which is also essentially economic, though overtly it appears to be more social than anything
else—the issue of equity. There are the talented rural poor making a special group of potentially
rich human capital, but likely to get wasted if not attended to and also the other no less important
a group comprising out-of-school children whose potential remains completely unknown and
wasted if not attended to. For the former, the Central Government introduced what are called
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (see Subsections 3.3.2 and 4.4.1) and for the latter the National
Open School, now the National Institute of Open Schooling (see Subsections 3.3.2 and Chapter
4).

60

4 OPEN SCHOOLING IN INDIA:
THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OPEN SCHOOLING, NEW DELHI

4.1

The context of Open Schooling in India

Though the realisation emerged slowly over the years, it was clear long before the National
Policy on Education-1968 was amended in 1976 that:

i) the then existing conventional institutions and the systems they followed were not
designed and could not be geared to meet the challenges facing secondary education,
and
ii) no amount of conventional supplementary support was likely to meet the range of
those challenges vis-à-vis the diversity of the target groups that abound within the
size of operations that constitute education in India.

As the said challenges continue to persist (see Chapter 3, Subsection 3.3.3), it was/is reasonable
to look for alternative modes of education (see Subsection 4.1.3) rather than for complements or
supplements to what has been in place for decades. A few instances of such initiatives introduced
in the last century have been touched upon in Subsections 3.3.2 (Chapter 3) under the headings
Education on the Concurrent List (1976--) and Post-1992 Scenario. Building on that experience,
some of the new alternatives and initiatives introduced so far in this decade are worthy of a
mention here:

147
• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was launched in 2001 to universalise quality elementary
education all over the country.
• 2002 saw yet another Constitutional Amendment to make free and compulsory education a
fundamental right148 in the Indian Union.
• Educational Cess was levied with effect from 2004 to mobilise additional funds to help the
Government to fulfil the commitment of universalising quality education at the lower levels.
• EduSat, a satellite dedicated to educational programming, was launched in 2004.

4.1.1 Need for Open Schooling in India

Open Schooling as an effective alternative modality of educating/training at the secondary level
attracted the attention of planners partly because of the immensity of requirements149 at this level
and partly because secondary education is an end and a beginning at the same time. It marks the
end of the first phase of education allowing the young graduates to enter the employment market
and also serves as a gateway to higher education which provides for a much better quality of
life—such a gateway has to be wide and ever open.

150
Secondly, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) is promising an exponential rise in enrolments at
the secondary level—the annual growth rate of enrolment at the secondary level during the 1990s

147 It is a Hindi expression meaning “Education for All Campaign/Movement”.

148 The amendment has not come into force yet.

149 In the 2001 Census, the population of the 14-18 years age group was estimated to be 88.5 million and
the corresponding enrolment figure was 31 million, i.e. 65 per cent (the corresponding estimated figure for
2003-04 was 61 per cent) of the relevant age group was not in school.


61

was 2.83 per cent, rising to 7.4 per cent per annum during 2000-2003. This figure is going to rise
significantly when the full impact of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is felt through the process of
achieving the goal of universal elementary education, for which the places available at the
secondary level must multiply in good time to face the impending deluge.

151
Thirdly, it is estimated that ODL provision at the level of higher education, comprising 13
dedicated (single mode) open universities and over 100 dual mode higher education institutions,
caters to only 20 per cent of higher education students. Only five percent of the Indian population
has higher education qualifications. Increasing the rate of higher education would contribute
to the country's economic, political and social strength. One way to increase enrolment in higher
education is to increase secondary level enrolment, which is where open schools such as NIOS
can play an increasingly important role.

Fourthly, all the expansion in and the inclusive approach being followed to expand coverage at
the secondary level of education notwithstanding, it is not possible to involve the entire relevant
age group in the conventional type of scheduled day-time schooling, as significantly large
numbers of potential secondary level students are engaged in productive labour in agriculture in
rural areas and in various gainful activities in semi-urban and urban areas. Invariably, they belong
to lower income and/or poor families.

It is, therefore, not without reason that, as one of the major and tested alternative modalities of
education to meet the types of challenge outlined above (to the extent that it can), the open
distance mode of education/training has appealed significantly to planners. Accordingly, the
already designed and established ODL system in the form of the National Open School (NOS)
(see Subsection 3.3.2) was further upgraded in 2002 with a broader mandate to be an apex
institution now called the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). To augment the efforts of
NIOS, many other State Open Schools have been established. As indicated above and argued
elaborately in Subsection 4.1.3, it is an alternative mechanism/mode, because it does not
complement what conventional secondary schools are doing, nor does it serve as a supplement to
their efforts. It has evolved over a period of time with diverse policy prescriptions piling one on
the other, giving it a unique profile as a secondary level institution that has a distinct mandate of
its own.

4.1.2 Policy prescriptions and commitments for the secondary ODL operations

In order that the National Open School (NOS) (now NIOS) may successfully address the multi-
faceted challenges before the secondary education in the country, significant policy152
prescriptions (emphases added) have been provided for it to materialise its mandate boldly and
consistently.




150 Improving Access to Secondary Education in Dept. of School Education & Literacy, Secondary
Education Statistics: http://education.nic.in/secedu/sec_stats.asp
151 ‘Planning & Management Issues’ in the Report of the CABE Committee on Universalisation of
Secondary Education,
(2005), Ministry of Human Resource development, Government of India, New
Delhi, p.48.

152 Excerpts from Reaching the Un-reached—National Institute of Open Schooling: 1989 to 2004: National
Institute of Open Schooling, New Delhi (Forthcoming).

62

National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 (and revised in 1992)

• The National Open School (NOS) will be strengthened and open learning facilities
extended in a phased manner at the secondary level in all parts of the country.

Programme of Action (POA) (1992) in relation to NPE-1986 as revised in 1992

• The Open Schooling System

1. NOS will be strengthened and developed to widen access to education at the
secondary and higher secondary levels. Efforts will be made to establish Open
Schools in different states so that secondary education is significantly expanded
through different regional languages.
2. The possibility of launching vocational education programmes through open
learning systems will be explored. For this purpose, meaningful linkages will be
established with workstations, industries and other organisations.
3. The possibility of setting up a National Consortium for Open Schooling will be
explored in order to initiate coordinated steps in such areas as policy issues,
priorities, long-term national and state needs, establishment of resource centres
for development of materials, development of human resources for the open
learning system, and monitoring and evaluation of its performance.

• Employment-related education

1. The open learning system at the secondary and tertiary levels will focus attention
on education and training in areas related to employment and self-
employment……..
2. The open learning system will take steps to meet the continuing education needs
of the manpower already employed in different sectors……

• Vocational education through Open Learning

1. Vocational courses will be offered by NOS in collaboration with supporting
partners, organisations and institutions working in the vocational education field
and having basic infrastructural facilities…

Planning Commission’s Core Group on Open Learning (February 1992)

• …….open education can play a significant role in spreading relevant education in a
big way and help gear up rural and urban economies by increasing productivity.
• The NOS would have to be strengthened for meeting the educational needs of (a)
Open Secondary Education, (b) Open Higher Secondary Education, (c) Open
Vocational Education, and (d) Open Upper Primary Education, the last on
experimental basis. A focus on out-of-school urban, rural and tribal youth, adolescent
girls, women, and the rural farming communities in general is essential for linkages
between education and development.
• State Boards of Secondary/Higher Secondary Education have accepted the need for
an open channel of education. Each State/UT may be required to set targets in
accordance with the needs, available facilities and facilities to be provided.

63

• Business, industry and professional organisations may be called upon to set up their
own Education and Training Units with a view to training, in collaboration with open
education institutions, the manpower required according to their own emerging
demands….Open Universities and Open School Organizations may guide the
preparation of course-materials and techniques of training under appropriate
contracts.
• Various Ministries involved with imparting training and providing sector-wise
manpower need to interact and build linkages for evolving open education and
training programmes…… Each Ministry may contribute from its budget an
appropriate percentage for the purpose to the Open School/Open University selected
as a collaborator. In view of the complexity of the task of coordination, it is best to
entrust it to the Planning Commission.
• There should be a large scale Open Learning System (OLS) teacher training
programme, especially for meeting the urgent requirements for trained primary and
secondary teachers in the tribal education programme of the North Eastern
States……. IGNOU and NOS may prepare a programme of induction training for
teachers in remote geographical areas where the need is most urgent.
• Since the Open Learning System consists of a cluster of innovations as regarding
planning, management, financing, networking, contact-centres, packaged materials
containing both print and electronic media, localised supervision of implementation
and achievement efforts through Education Complexes, use of dialectic method of
teaching-learning incorporating basic principles of andragogy, community support
and so on, all the personal engaged in planning process of these varied innovations
would require intensive training. These training programmes should be planned and
organised by NOS, IGNOU, YCMOU and other organisations that have acquired
capability of launching and managing educational innovations and changes.
Adequate financial support for this programme would have to be provided without
delay by pooling the financial resources of the Government and interested agencies.

Eighth Five Year Plan-1992-97

• …A combination of vocational and academic courses would be offered at the
secondary stage with open education (OE) as an important channel, preparing the
students for wage employment and self-employment….
• A well-defined open learning system will be developed with a network of educational
opportunities relevant to the needs and circumstances of learners, especially girls,
women, SCs/STs, and the poor, the unemployed and the untrained. The major thrust
of OLS would be on the acquisition of life-skills, vocational skills, directly
contributing to productivity and inculcation of habits of self-learning.
• Open Schools would involve themselves in the post-primary stage of education on an
experimental basis to provide wider access to children who are working or not in a
position to attend regular schools due to socio-economic or any other reasons.
• The NOS will continue its existing programmes and revise the syllabi and textbooks
for the secondary and senior secondary courses and bring out fresh sets of
instructional materials for the bridge courses. It will develop and introduce
Vocational Courses especially in the areas of health, agriculture and rural
development in collaboration with the departments concerned. The coverage is

64

153
expected to increase progressively with registration of more accredited institutions .
It should also coordinate and standardise the work of similar State-Level Open
Schools. The setting up of a National Consortium of Open Education to facilitate
accreditation of courses and maintenance of quality through a process of networking
and evaluation should be pursued by NOS in cooperation with the Indira Gandhi
National Open University (IGNOU).

CABE Committee on Distance Education (February 1994)

• A National Data base on Distance Education to be established at the tertiary level by
the DEC (IGNOU) and at the school level by the National Open School, which
should be linked to international databases.
• An Integrated System of Distance Education from the School to the tertiary level to
be pursued.
• Suitable norms should be evolved and guidelines prepared by IGNOU, UGC and
NOS for the establishment of new Distance Education Institutions and conversion of
the existing correspondence institutions to the distance education mode.
• State level coordination between distance education institutions within the State
should be the responsibility of the State Council of Higher Education. UGC, IGNOU,
and NOS should take the responsibility for regional cooperation which would include
transfer and sharing of course materials, joint development of courses and training of
staff.
• The Open Learning System should give high priority to taking steps to meet the
continuing education needs of the manpower already employed in different sectors by
developing programmes in close cooperation with the employing organisations
concerned.
• In accordance with the recommendations of the Planning Commission’s Core Group
on Open Learning made in 1992, the National Open School should be strengthened
for meeting the educational needs of (a) Open Secondary Education, (b) Open Higher
Secondary Education, and (c) Open Vocational Education.
• Urgent steps to be initiated towards the creation of an educational broadcast system
in view of its vital importance, particularly to support distance education.

Ninth Five Year Plan 1997-2002

• Distance Education will be broad-based by providing wider responsibilities to
National Open School and the State Open Schools. These will be in the areas of
elementary education, vocationalisation of education for neo-literates, dropouts,
secondary students and adult population, including working women. Special
initiatives will be taken to derive full advantage from the state-of-art Information
Technology (IT).





153 NIOS uses various institutions as Study and/or Work Centres for its students. These institutions are
identified on the basis of their fulfilling various criteria set by NIOS. Called the Accredited Institutions,
they are mostly the conventional secondary/higher secondary schools and vocational institutions spread all
over the country.

65

Tenth Five Year Plan (2002 to 2007)

• In order to meet the educational needs of those who have not been able to enroll
themselves in the formal system, opportunities have been provided through the
National and State Open Schools utilising contact centres and multi-media packages.
(para 2.3.8)
• The major thrust in the Tenth Plan, thus, is to meet the increasing demand for
secondary education. The Government has to play a greater role to encourage
opening of new secondary schools, expansion of the capacity of existing schools
including double shifts, upgrading of upper primary schools in backward, un-served
and under-served areas, as also expansion and diversification of Open Schooling and
distance education system (para 2.3.14).
• During the Tenth Plan, the National Open School (NOS) would intensify efforts to
ensure that the open school system is for the under-privileged groups. A scheme to
reimburse to the NOS the fees incurred on scheduled caste/tribe students, girls and
physically challenged students is also on the anvil. The NOS will also be restructured
to affiliate regular schools/centres, which offer NOS curriculum as an alternative to
the curricula of other School Boards. The nearly 1,200 study centres are proposed to
be increased by around 15 per cent per year. …..The NIOS …..(should)
…..implement the scheme of “On-Demand Admissions’ and ‘On-Demand
Examinations’, which give flexibility to the students to take admissions and
examinations during mid-sessions. (para 2.3.16).

4.1.3 Open Schooling as an alternative schooling system

The foregoing details elaborately outline the context and the purpose of Open Schooling for the
secondary level of education in India. Broadly, the context is that of educational deprivation, lack
of access and funding, issues of equity and programming, and development on the one hand, and
on the other that of the State’s commitment to overhaul the situation as soon as possible and at as
low a cost as possible. Further, it should be clear why it is seen as an alternative systemit is to
cater to such a clientele as is not addressed by the conventional system, its products, programmes
and processes too differ accordingly, and it is to fill up the curricular gaps left wide open by the
conventional schooling systems.

In India, Open Schooling has not been adopted exclusively as a complementary schooling system
(i.e. to complete what the conventional schools leave half/partially done; e.g. to help conventional
school failures to re-sit and complete their courses). Nor is it a supplementary schooling system
(i.e. to support the conventional schools in what they are doing; e.g. to register those who fail to
enter conventional schools and provide them those very courses/subjects as are available at such
schools. Instead, it has been chosen for the cost advantages it is supposed to offer, the operational
flexibility it can accommodate, the curricular innovations and diversity it will allow and above all
the extensive reach it will provide to cover immensely diverse clientele. It is being visualised as a
major means in the process of facilitating inclusion, modernising educational methodology,
diversifying secondary level curricula and universalising secondary education in India (see
Subsection 4.1.2).

To meet this objective, the State Policy allows immense scope for its operations and in return it is
expected to fill a variety of gaps caused by educational deprivation over the centuries. That the
State is determined to make it work is obvious from the convergence of the policy statements

66

originating from diverse sources (see Subsection 4.1.2). What may be the measure to rate the
success of this alternative system?

A straightforward answer is to go to the conventional secondary schooling for a comparison.
Within the Indian conventional system, we may consider at least two distinct cases for such a
comparison. In line with general norms, a dependable indicator of success in the process of
schooling is the throughput rate at the level concerned. Generally, the throughput rates at the 8th
and 9th standards are said to be more than 90 per cent. At the Secondary Board Examinations for
the 10th standard, however, the rate falls below 50 per cent. Thus the overall throughput rate is
below 40 per cent154
155
. Then there is the case of Kendriya Vidyalayas (Central Schools), which
show throughput rates of over 90 per cent generally. A comparison of the throughput rates of the
Open Schooling system with these two cases will show how well it is doing on a conventional
scale of measurement. Its position on such a scale, however, will unfold only a part of the story
for several reasons.

• Its success in serving the socio-developmental purpose, as per its mandate, cannot not
be assessed by its throughput rates only.
• In pursuit of the goal of universal secondary education, apart from the problem of
inadequate provision and infrastructure and the diverse compulsions faced by the
potential secondary students, the issue of quality in the teaching-learning transaction
too is a major concern. To replicate the same/similar recruitment process as practiced
in Kendriya Vidyalayas or Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and appointment of
equally qualified teachers, with full salaries and benefits, in the Open Schooling
system all over the country is not practical within the outlay presently available for
the purpose.
• There is a vast difference between the students of the Open Schooling system and
those who enter Central Schools—most of whom are the children of Central
Government employees with a reasonably strong family background/environment
that favours pursuit of education. None of them is a first generation learner or an
earner either.
• Excessive emphasis on and predominance of academic components in the
conventional secondary level curricula may show the distance learner in poor light.

The success of the Open Schooling system has, therefore, to be measured not only on the basis of
its throughput rates, but also on the extent of the socio-economic and developmental purpose it
serves (see Subsection 4.3.6).

4.2
Place and role of ODL and NIOS

At the school level, the genesis of ODL operations in India may be traced to the introduction of
correspondence courses at the matriculation level (the tenth and the terminal year of high school

154 ‘Planning & Management Issues’ in the Report of the CABE Committee on Universalisation of
Secondary Education,
(2005), Ministry of Human Resource development, Government of India, New
Delhi, p.49.

155 Lack of appropriately qualified teachers in most schools is said to be a major cause of this situation.
Central Schools are known for their process of recruitment and quality of their teachers.


67

156
system) by the Board of Secondary Education, Madhya Pradesh in 1965 . Various other states
like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa followed suit. The curricula, the year-end matriculation
examination and certification modalities were exactly the same as applicable to day schools—it
was a “supplementary” system. Correspondence students would get the course materials, no
different from text books in format and intent, at the time of registration and then they were left to
themselves to prepare for the examination.

The Central Government showed its interest in the process much later, when in 1979, the Central
Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi, set up an Open School (with the provision of open
entry, flexible choice of courses and flexibility in the duration for course completion) as an
experimental project—this was an initiative to move towards an “alternative system”. By this
time both the Central and the State Governments had realised that alternative schooling systems
were the only answer to the three-fold challenge articulated in the National Policy on Education
(NPE) 1986/1992:

• access had to be increased exponentially,
• students had to be retained on courses once they were registered, and
• they had to be supported to complete their courses successfully.

Having felt the growing pressures from the out-of-school children, adults coming out of the Total
Literacy Campaigns and Post Literacy Programmes and the convincing results of experimentation
under the Open School Project for ten years, the Ministry of Human Resource Development,
Government of India, wound up the CBSE Open School Project to establish the National Open
School (NOS) in 1989. In 1990, through the Government Resolution157 No. F.5-24/90 Schedule
3, dated 14 September, 1990, NOS was vested with the authority to register, examine and certify
students registered with it up to pre-degree level of education. This way NOS came to have two
main functions: function as a school, i.e. register students, offer courses and arrange educational
transactions like other schools in the country and also function as a School Board to arrange the
conduct of public examinations for the secondary and higher secondary levels and the award of
certificates for its students.

4.2.1 NIOS becomes an apex body

In July 2002, NOS was upgraded to function as a national apex body for Open Schooling in the
country. It was given a new name, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), and also a
new mandate158 to provide relevant continuing education at school stage up to the pre-degree
level through the Open Distance Learning System as an alternative to the formal system and to
prioritised client groups, in pursuance of the normative national policy documents and in response
to the needs assessment of the clients, and thus to make its contribution to:

• universalisation of education,
• greater equity and justice in society, and
• the evolution of a learning society.


156 This is just three years after Delhi University introduced Correspondence Courses at the degree level for
the first time in the country.
157 Gazette of India, October 20, 1990, Government of India, New Delhi.

158 Framework and Networking System for Formulation of Educational Programmes, Monitoring of their
Implementation and Evaluation in the Context of Open Schooling
, NIOS, New Delhi, p. 9.

68

As an apex body, while continuing to function as an open school itself, NIOS functions as a
resource organisation for all the States and Union Territories159 in the country. Besides material
support, it arranges consultancy and advocacy programmes for them. So far, 10 States have set up
their State Open Schools and another eight are in the process of doing so.

4.2.2 Functions of NIOS

Apart from its functions described above, NIOS caters to the educational needs of five distinct
clientele groups using the open distance modalities in various combinations:

1. Open Basic Education (OBE) courses cater to children (up to 14 years of age),
adolescents and adults. Depending on the entry behaviour of the learners, they may
work on courses to prepare themselves for levels equivalent to standards 3, 5 or 8 of
the formal system of education. NIOS implements these courses through about 250
voluntary agencies and Zila Saksharta Samities (District Literacy Committees). NIOS
provides the study materials, orientation to resource persons and joint certification,
while the said agencies provide local study centres and other facilities.
2. Secondary education (high school) courses prepare learners for the Secondary School
Certificate.
3. Senior/higher secondary courses prepare learners for the Senior Secondary School
Certificate.
4. Vocational education courses in agriculture, business and commerce, engineering,
technology, health and paramedical education, home science, hospitality, teacher
training, and computer and IT applications prepare learners for appropriate
certification leading to entrepreneurship and employment in relevant fields.
5. Life enhancement (i.e. enrichment) courses.

4.2.3 Secondary level courses and subjects offered by NIOS

A significant innovation in the choice of subject combinations introduced by NIOS is that
vocational subjects are taken at par with academic subjects. So a student may take English, two
academic subjects and two vocational subjects to claim a secondary or a senior secondary
certificate. The subjects160 currently available for the secondary and senior secondary certificates
through NIOS are:













159 At present Indian Union comprises 29 States including Delhi (governed by elected Governments) and 6
Union Territories (governed by the Central Government).

160 NIOS at a Glance, (2006), NIOS, New Delhi. p. 23.

69

Table 4.1
Secondary and senior secondary subjects available at NIOS


Subjects available at the

Subjects available at the
Secondary Level
Senior Secondary Level
Language Subjects
Language Subjects
1
Assamese
1
English
2
Bengali
2
Hindi
3
English 3
Urdu
4
Gujarati
Academic Subjects
5
Hindi
1
Mathematics
6
Kannada
2
Physics
7
Malayalam 3
Chemistry
8
Marathi 4
Biology
9
Nepali
5
History
10 Oriya 6
Geography
11 Punjabi 7
Political
science
12 Sanskrit 8
Economics
13 Telugu 9
Business
studies
14 Urdu 10

Accountancy
Academic Subjects
11
Home science
1
Mathematics 12
Psychology
2
Science & Technology
13
Sociology
3
Social Sciences
14
Painting
4
Economics
Vocational Subjects
5
Business studies
1
Computer Science
6
Home Science
2
Secretarial Practice
7
Psychology
3
Word Processing (English)
8
Indian Culture & Heritage
4
Typewriting (Hindi or English)
Vocational Subjects
5
Stenography (Hindi, English or Urdu)
1
Word Processing (English)


2
Typewriting (Hindi, English or Urdu)


Note
: To get a certificate at either level, one has to complete five subjects successfully, of which
at least one has to be a language subject. The remaining four subjects to be taken are left to one’s
choice, except that no one can take more than two language subjects.

161
4.2.4 Vocational
courses offered by NIOS

Though this study pertains to secondary and senior secondary Courses of NIOS, it is in place here
to outline what NIOS has achieved in promoting vocational courses through open distance
modality. NIOS (as NOS) launched its first vocational courses in 1997-98 and has made
significant progress since then. The following table outlines the growth of the operation and also
points to the popularity of the offerings.






161 Annual Report 2003-04, (2004), NIOS, New Delhi, pp. 34-36.

70

162
Table 4.2 Enrolment in NIOS vocational courses

Year
Enrolment
Percent
increase
As NOS
1997-1998 5,822
(+)
51

1998-1999 7,164
(+)
23
1999-2000 10,611
(+)
48
2000-2001 12,026
(+)
13
2001-2002 17,770
(+)
48
2002-2003 22,321
(+)
26
AS NIOS 2003-2004 21,211
(-)

05

2004-2005 20,985
(-)

11
2005-2006 22,879
(+)
8.9


Over the years, enrolment has increased progressively except during 2003-2005, when the
institutional operations were being remodeled to take on new responsibilities under the new
mandate of NIOS. In addition to the yearly enrolments, the regional distribution of enrolees too is
impressive, as all the regions, except Guwahati, show viable sizes of enrolment (see Table 4.3
below).


163
Table 4.3 Enrolment (2005-06) by region in vocational courses

S.
Regional Centres
Enrolment
# of AVIs
# of SAIEDs*
N.
(RCs)
1 Allahabad
431
129
--
2 Bhopal
2,148
89
02
3 Chandigarh
2,467
116
--
4 Delhi
Zone-I
2,848
200
07
5 Delhi
Zone-II
7,039
3
--
6 Guwahati
89
9
--
7 Hyderabad
1,265
47
05
8 Jaipur
637
36
--
9 Kochi
4,103
143
06
10 Kolkata
938
51
09
11 Patna
360
40
04
12 Pune
554
45
04
Total 22,879
908
37
* Special Accredited Institution for Education of Disadvantaged



Vocational courses are delivered at Accredited Vocational Institutions (AVIs) throughout the
country. NIOS invites applications from institutions engaged in vocational activities and desirous
of collaborating with NIOS to ascertain their suitability for NIOS operations. Rigorous screening
of applications on the bases of pre-set course-specific norms together with that of the reports of
inspection teams deputed to physically inspect the applicant institutions helps NIOS in identifying
the institutions that it may collaborate with for purposes of delivering its vocational courses. The
selected ones are termed AVIs, as they are accredited to function as study centres for NIOS on
mutually agreed terms and conditions.


162 Annual Report 2005-06, (2006), NIOS, New Delhi, p. 35.
163 Annual Report 2005-06, (2006), NIOS, New Delhi, pp. 35 and 38.

71

The Coordinators of study centres (usually the Heads or senior staff of the institutions concerned)
are then oriented (using workshop methodologies) for the tasks they have to take on to deliver
NIOS vocational courses. In the main, these tasks are no different from those of the Coordinators
of AIs meant for secondary and senior secondary courses. The main difference between these two
types of courses is that of heavy hands-on components in the vocational courses. Such
components are handled by AVIs, as they have both the required expertise and equipment. The
number of AVIs in 2005-06 was 908 and that of SAIEDs 37.

Distribution of the 2005-06 enrolees across the various types of courses (see Table 4.4) shows
which courses are popular and also those which have yet to appeal learner populations. Currently,
NIOS has more than 50 vocational courses of different types on offer, some of which (those in
italics) are IT enabled and some (see the second column in table below) can be taken subjects by
students as secondary and senior secondary courses.





































72

164
Table 4.4

Enrolment by course in vocational courses (2005-06)



S.
General Vocational Courses
Enrol-
S.
Vocational courses that can be clubbed
Enrol-
N.
ment
N.
with academic subjects
ment
Six Month Courses
Stand Alone courses (Secondary Level)
1
House-wiring & Electric
269
29
Word Processing (English)
--
Appliance Repairing
2
Motor and Transformer
86
30 Carpentry
29
Rewinding
3
Radio and Tape Recorder
20
31 Solar
Energy
Technician
03
Repairing
4 TV
Repairing
68
32 Bio-gas
Energy
Technician
--
5
Cutting and Tailoring
1347
33 Laundry
Services
09
6 Dress
Making
127 34 Jute
Production
--
7
Certificate in Basic
163
35 Bakery
and
Confectionery
186
Computing
8 Plumbing
88
36 Welding
Technology
270
9 Beauty
Culture
1454 Stand Alone courses (Senior Secondary Level)
10
Certificate in DTP
456
37 Typewriting
(Hindi)
27
11
Certificate in Yoga
759
38 Typewriting
(English)
84
12
Certificate in Security
1348
39 Typewriting
(Urdu)
--
services
13
Certificate in Computer
140
40 Stenography
(Hindi)
67
Hardware Maintenance
One-year Courses
41 Secretarial
Practice
36
14 Electric
Technician
1863 42
Word Processing (English)
291
15
Radio and TV
474
43 Plant
Protection
10
Technician
16
Cutting, Tailoring
1937
44 House
Keeping
79
and Dress Making
17
Refrigeration and
915
45 Catering
Management
378
Air Conditioning
18
Certificate in
2963
46 Food
Processing
27
Computer Applications
19
Certificate in
93
47
Hotel Front Office Management
27
Two-wheeler Mechanics
Package Courses
48 Poultry
Farming
--
20 Secretarial
Practice
519
49
Preservation of Food and Vegetables
03
21
Health for Rural Women (Gram
22
50 Computer
Science
--
Sakhi)
22
Diploma in
90
Life Enrichment Courses
Radiography (X-ray Technician)

23
Certificate in
409
51
Women’s Empowerment (Pariporna
--
Library Science
Mahila)
24 Early
Childhood
Care
2989
52
Community Health (Jan Swasthya)
2540
and Education
25
Diploma in Modern
144
53
Indian Culture and Heritage
--
Secretarial Practice
26
Toy Making and
06



Joyful Learning
27
Diploma in Basic
29



Rural Technology
28
Certificate in Footwear
10



Design and Production
Total: Courses (53) and Enrolment (22,879)

164 Ibid. pp. 36-37.

73



4.2.5 Expansion of vocational courses

NIOS has ambitious plans regarding the expansion of vocational courses. “..The future thrust of
the NIOS Vocational Courses is on training of educated unemployed youth for meaningful, skill
oriented employment…….(including) rural development and (empowerment of girls and
women).”165 To achieve this objective, NIOS has entered and is in the process of entering more
and more partnerships of various types. For instance, they are collaborating with:

• the Commonwealth of Learning to explore “challenges and future strategies” for
vocational education and training through Open Schooling and for training the
functionaries of the system of Open Schooling.
• NCERT, Technical Education Department (Govt. of Delhi), Board of Technical
Education (Delhi Administration), IGNOU and industry to prepare a national
curriculum framework for vocational education through open and distance learning
methodologies.
• the Indian Medical Association to run para-medical courses the ODL way.
• the Rehabilitation Council of India to introduce need-based certificate courses for
developing human resources for the physically challenged.
166
• AYUSH , Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (Govt. of India), to introduce
courses in Homoeopathic Pharmacy and Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine).
• Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) to build NIOS-industry partnerships leading
to courses relevant to the growing industrial operations in the country. For example,
Microsoft and CISCO are planning joint training ventures with NIOS.
• IGNOU to provide NIOS vocational graduates linkages with higher
education/learning. As a positive outcome of this effort, IGNOU is in the process of
establishing a School of Vocational Education, which is expected to provide not only
the required higher levels of training for the NIOS vocational graduates, but also the
much needed socio-academic credibility to vocational education.


4.2.6 Livelihood, productivity and development

NIOS has not conducted any impact studies to trace the destinations of its students and thus
assess the levels of success/failure of its vocational courses. There are, however, various success
stories on institutional records which provide tangible evidence favouring NIOS vocational
courses for their utility in providing livelihood, promoting productivity and effecting
development generally. Presented here are a few stories167:

• Swapana Banik, a woman (18 years old) from Debaipurkur Road, District Hoogly,
fought poverty to get her Secondary Certificate in 2005, as her father had died long
ago and her ailing mother earned just INR 500 per month as a casual labourer in an
umbrella factory. Swapana was badly in need of a job to support her sick mother and
younger brother, and there were no jobs available. A helpful neighbour directed her
to Don Bosco Self-Employment Research Institute at Mirpara, where she joined the

165 Annual Report 2005-06, (2006), NIOS, New Delhi, p. 40.
166 AYUSH stands for the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and
Homoeopathy in the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.
167 Records with the Department of Vocational Education, (2007), NIOS, New Delhi.

74

Tailoring and Cutting Course (one of the NIOS recognised vocational courses).
Swapana completed the course successfully and was employed by Frontier Garments
Pvt. Ltd., Salkia, Howrah, on a monthly salary of INR 2300.
• A labourer’s son, Mohosin Ali had obtained his Secondary Certificate in 1999. He
wanted to have something of his own to live on, but he had neither the money to
invest, nor any skills to take him forward. One of his friends directed him to the
NIOS vocational course on Refrigeration & Air Conditioning. This led to him
fabricating a cooling and freezing system that could produce ice-cream at a relatively
lower cost. He sought and got a loan of INR 5000 from the Ministry of Human
Resource Development, Govt. of India, to start a micro-enterprise, in this case an ice
cream plant at Bandel Chalk Bazar, Hoogly. As he gained confidence in this
enterprise, he took another loan (INR 400,000) from the Allahabad Bank to expand
his business. Today Mohosin Ali owns 17 vendor wagons and his ice cream earns
him between INR 15,000 to 20,000 per month. He is now supporting his younger
brother in setting up a new enterprise.
• Darshan Singh Ahuja completed the Course on Refrigeration & Air Conditioning in
1997 at AVI-990011, Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Industrial Training Centre, GT Karnal
Road, Delhi-33. To earn a living, he started working on odd contractual jobs in
private and public organisations. Those were the days when remote control of air
conditioners was not common in India. He built low cost remote control kits and
made good money in the business of modifying conventional air conditioners.
Recently, he succeeded in using microprocessors to remotely sense faults in
machines and, in many cases, also rectify them remotely. He is a different man today.

Such success stories in view, the enthusiasm of the Chairman and staff of NIOS regarding their
vocational courses is not unfounded. If not all the thousands who register with NIOS annually,
certainly a number of them must be making a good living as individuals and contributing to
national productivity and development in one way or the other.


4.2.7 NIOS learner profile

With the objective of developing an inclusive and dynamic learning society, NIOS makes special
efforts to reach out to marginalised groups such as school dropouts, girls and women, scheduled
castes and tribes, ex-servicemen and differently able learners, and attracts large numbers of
students from all over the country. In studying the learner profile of NIOS, it is therefore
necessary to focus on the aspects that reflect and provide space for comments on the level of its
achievement in fulfilling its socio-educational objectives (see Subsections 4.3.6 and 4.5.1). The
tables presented in this subsection outline the NIOS learner profile (major characteristics) as seen
over the past few years.










75

168
Table 4.5
Enrolment by gender —2001 to 2006

S. N. Academic Total
Male
%
Female
%
Year
enrolment







1 2001-02
214,582 152,286
70.97 62,296
29.03
2 2002-03
278,234 164,550
59.14 113,684
40.86
3 2003-04
321,010 220,103
68.57 100,907
31.43
4 2004-05
238,069 162,351
68.19 75,718
31.81
5 2005-06
267,026 182,440
68.32 84,586
31.68
6 2006-07
290,983 199,788
68.66 91,195
31.34








All along the number of male students has been higher than that of female students. Rather than
attributing this disparity to the functioning or the offerings of NIOS, it has a better and
convincing explanation in the general national/Indian scenario, wherein the level of female
participation in education is much lower than that of their male counterparts. Interestingly,
however, the male-female ratio (68:32) at NIOS has remained stable since 2003 for four
consecutive years. From the Indian viewpoint, it is a positive development that women’s
enrolment is showing consistency and that NIOS is making visible contributions in resolving the
issue of access and equity at the secondary level of education, though the participation of girls
and women has yet to reach a level that corresponds favourably with the national male-female
literacy ratio169—75 per cent: 58 per cent.

170
Table 4.6
Enrolment by student category—2004 to 2006

S.N. Categories
Year 2004-05
Year 2005-06
Year 2006-07
Enrolment
%
Enrolment %
Enrolment
%
1 General
183,668 77.15
214,667 80.39
231,334 79.50
2
Scheduled
Castes 35,098
14.74 30,679
11.49 36,599
12.58
3
Scheduled
Tribes
17,140 07.20
19,933 07.46
21,029 07.23
4
Ex-Servicemen
324 00.14
304 00.11
434 00.15
5
Differently
able
1,839 00.77
1,443 00.54
1,587 00.55

Total
238,069
100.00 267,026
99.99 290,983
100.01










Nearly 80 per cent of the students at NIOS belong to the general category comprising the rural
and the urban youth. About 20 per cent of the students enrolled belong to scheduled castes and
tribes, which is close to the percentage of seats officially reserved for them171. It goes to the credit
of NIOS that it attracts a reasonable percentage of students from these two categories, as the
percentage participation of these two categories of students in other educational institutions in the
country remains a sore issue in the context of equity in the national provision for education. The
participation level of the ex-servicemen and differently able students together at less than 1 per
cent is low indeed, as the reserved quota for the latter alone is 3 per cent. The silver lining in this

168 NIOS – Academic enrolment: http://nos.org/enrolacad.htm (accessed on July 30, 2007).
169 The over all national literacy rate is 64.8 per cent (Censes 2001).
170 NIOS – Academic enrolment: http://nos.org/enrolacad.htm (accessed on July 30, 2007).
171 The percentage of seats that remain reserved in educational institutions, as elsewhere, for scheduled
castes and tribes is 15 and 7½ respectively.

76

case, however, is that there are facilities for them and they are participating—the required space
having been created, it may take some time for the rate of participation to improve.


172
Table 4.7
Enrolment by age—2004 to 2006

Sr. Age range Enrolment 2004-05 Enrolment 2005-06 Enrolment 2006-07
No. in years

Number % Number

% Number

%
enrolled
enrolled
enrolled
1
10-14 2,967 01.25
8,662 03.24
10,873 03.74
2 15-
20 190,555 80.03 204,791 76.67 215,233 73.95
3 21-
25 30,409 12.77 36,709 13.74 43,022 14.78
4
26-
30 7,439 03.13
8,814 03.30
11,642 04.00
5
31-
35 3,288 01.38
3,961 01.48
5,122 01.76
6
36-
40 1,911 00.80
2,264 00.85
2,864 00.98
7
41-
45 988 00.42
1,191 00.45
1,394 00.48
8
46-
50
388 00.16
502 00.19
648 00.22
9
51-
55
91 00.038
111 00.04
153 00.05
10
56-
60
13 00.006
11 00.004
22 00.008
11 61-
65
5

5

4

12 66-
70
6

1

2

13 71-
75
5

2

0

14 76-
80
4
00.008
2
00.004
4
00.003
Total
238,069 99.99 267,026 99.97 290,983 99.97


Students in the age group of 15-20 years comprise 74-80 per cent of the enrolment. Considering
that the target clientele of NIOS does not comprise the usual out-of-elementary-school student
who looks for formal schooling, it goes to the credit of NIOS that it has succeeded in attracting
precisely the group that it targets. The age group 15-25 years comprises 89-93 per cent of the
enrolment and the age group 15-35 years comprises 95-97 per cent of the enrolment. Obviously,
most of the students at NIOS are below 35 years of age—this should cover young adults who may
have missed their chances at the “right time”, neo-literates, housewives, school drop-outs and
those who need to earn while they learn. The participation of the adults beyond the age of 35 is
considerably low at less than 1 per cent in each of the higher 5-year intervals. It is interesting and
also instructive (as something different needs to be offered to them, and what could that be) that
there are students in the age group of 76-80 years also.

It is worth noting that today ODL operations in India are not viewed the way they were when
correspondence education was introduced in the country at the school level in mid-1960s.
Correspondence education was considered to be a second rate cousin of the real (read face-to-
face) education. It was supposed to be for those not worthy of being at a school. Though the level
of socio-educational credibility of ODL in India has yet to reach the heights it has reached in
developed countries, a new mindset173 is visibly emerging among the Indian youth (rural as well

172 NIOS – Academic enrolment: http://nos.org/enrolacad.htm (accessed on July 30, 2007).
173 The recent boom in call-centre jobs and similar developments in the corporate sector together with the
unprecedented rise of retail trade are prompting ever increasing numbers of young people to opt for work at
relatively younger ages. Coupled with this phenomenon is the growing appreciation of the importance of

77

as urban), as “earning while learning” has ceased to be a taboo. With that, ODL operations are
gaining social recognition which they did not enjoy earlier and their influence is gradually
increasing among the conventional mainstream students.

The present situation, however, is that many of the students who register with ODL institutions at
the secondary level, are first generation learners who receive little support from their families and
surroundings. Generally, they have poor study skills and are not fully aware of their strengths and
weaknesses vis-à-vis the academic rigour required of them during their tenure as students. This
situation has adverse implications for throughput in this system.

4.3
Description of the NIOS system

4.3.1 Management and organisational structure

The Union Minister for Human Resource Development is the President of the National Open
School Society (NOSS)
which is assisted by its General Body by providing it with professional
advice and policy directions in order for it to fulfill its mission and objectives, and remain
publicly accountable. At the operational level, it is the Executive Board of NOSS that prepares
the policies, plans the programmes of action, ensures successful implementation of the policies
and programmes, and also reviews the institutional activities and outcomes thereof. The
Chairman of NIOS is the Chairman of the Executive Board that comprises NIOS Departmental
Heads, nominees of the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development and specialists in
distance education, development and education for women, industry, media, vocational education
and technical education. For its smooth functioning, the Executive Board is assisted by various
bodies/authorities, such as the Academic Council, the Finance Committee, the Examination
Committee and the Establishment Committee.

The Academic Council, chaired by the Chairman of NIOS, contributes to and
supervises the implementation of academic policies, provides advice in relation to
methods of materials production, course delivery and learner assessment and is also
responsible for the maintenance of academic standards and the quality of institutional
products, processes and outcomes. The Council operates through various committees,
which it is authorised to constitute as and when required.

The Finance Committee is responsible for scrutinising all financial matters
including budget estimates and accounts and also for recommending various
proposals for new financial outlays. This Committee too is chaired by the Chairman
of NIOS.

The Examination Committee provides advice in the preparation of examination
related bye-laws, oversees the conduct of examinations to ensure their conformity
with the relevant rules and regulations and approves the results of all the public
examinations (conducted by NIOS) before they are made public.

The Establishment Committee considers matters pertaining to terms and conditions
of the services of employees including those of staff development, code of conduct
and promotions.


education in the process of human capital formation. The happy consequence is that ODL is now being
seen as not only purposeful but also necessary and therefore sought after.

78

At the operational level, NIOS operates a three-tier system that includes:
1. The Headquarters at New Delhi comprises five Departments (Academic,
Administration, Vocational Education, Student Support Services and Evaluation) and
two Divisions (Material Production and Distribution Division and Computer
Division).

2. The Regional Centres (RCs) are located in eleven cities in India (Allahabad, Bhopal,
Chandigarh, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Patna, and Pune)
and some more outside the country in Nepal, UAE and Kuwait. Except the Delhi RC,
each of the RCs in India caters to more than one State/Union Territory in its close
vicinity, whereby NIOS reaches every nook and corner of the country. Delhi RC
caters to the National Capital Region and links up with RCs in Nepal, UAE and
Kuwait. All RCs work as links between the Headquarters and the third tier and also
supervise the functioning of the latter.

174
3. The Accredited Institutions (AIs)
function as study centres under the
administrative control of Regional Centres. They constitute the real interface between
the learners and NIOS. They are of different types:

• Accredited Institutions for academic courses are located mostly in secondary and
senior secondary schools and in various societies/bodies engaged in
developmental work. They provide academic and other learner support services
for the NIOS secondary and senior secondary students.
• Accredited Vocational Institutions (AVIs) are located at Vocational Training
Centres such as Agriculture Centres, Community Polytechnics and various
NGOs. They serve as study and training centres for the NIOS Vocational
Education Courses.
• Special Accredited Institutions for the Education of the Disadvantaged (SAIED)
provide support to learners with special needs, who are either differently able or
are socially and/or geographically disadvantaged.
• Accredited Agencies (AAs) cater to the learners admitted to the Open Basic
Education Courses, as their levels of readiness do not qualify them for secondary
or senior secondary courses. These agencies are mostly NGOs and Zila
Saksharata Samities (ZSS) (i.e. District Literacy Committees).

Currently in operation, there are 250 AAs and 2,750 centres comprising the first three categories.
The responsibilities of these centres are:

• register students for NIOS courses/subjects in accordance with the NIOS
regulations,
• supply study materials (received from NIOS) to the registered students,
• arrange learner support services,
• supervise assessment tests and arrange handling of assignments,



174 NIOS Accredited Institutions (AIs) are recognised formal schools or reputed bodies engaged in social
work and community development. They function as NIOS Study Centres on a contractual basis, and are
paid at a fixed rate per student on the basis of the number of students they register.

79

• distribute marks-sheets and certificates to students and
• register students for and conduct public examinations (if selected as examination
centres also).


4.3.2 Preparation of study materials

Since NIOS is mandated to support not only the establishment of open schools in the States and
Union Territories, but also to contribute to their products and processes. So, it involves them in
the process of materials development. The details of the said process are as follows:

1. The needs of the specific regions and the states are identified by the Regional Centres of
NIOS in collaboration with the Open Schooling State Coordination Committees
(OSSCC) and various other development agencies.
2. The needs thus identified are discussed and finalised by the Regional Centres at their
respective Regional Centre Advisory Committee (RCAC) meetings. The agreed upon list
of perceived needs is passed on to Headquarters.
3. These needs are considered by the Departmental/Divisional Advisory Boards at the
Headquarters and used by the various Departments and/or Divisions to prepare the
outlines of their academic and vocational courses/subjects. In so doing, the National
Curriculum Framework 2005175 and its guiding principles are followed meticulously.
4. The finalised outlines are submitted to the Academic Council, which arranges to obtain
additional inputs from the Regional Centre Advisory Committees and the Research
Advisory Committee (RAC) and also ensures compliance with the relevant guidelines in
the National Curriculum Framework 2005, in order to take informed decisions regarding
additions and alterations in the courses/subjects under consideration.
5. The courses/subject outlines approved by the Academic Council are taken up by the
relevant departments to work on. At this stage, the related necessary financial approvals
are also sought and taken. Grants for the related research activity also are approved and
released at this stage.
6. The courses/subjects approved by the AC and the RAC are reported to the Executive
Board of NIOS.
7. The actual work on the preparation of self-learning study materials begins at Stage 5
above, when an approved course/subject outline is taken up by the department concerned,
which assigns the task to an Academic Officer who coordinates the process of materials
preparation.
i.
A team of subject experts is set up to prepare the materials. The team may
comprise experts from NIOS, institutions other than NIOS or may be a mix of
the two.
ii.
The team members are given orientation (usually through workshops) to help
them prepare materials in accordance with the requirements of NIOS students,
with a view to the learning outcomes as detailed in the approved course/subject
outlines, the profile of NIOS students and the fundamentals of instructional
design suitable for self-learning.

175 National Curriculum Framework 2005 is a 124 page document prepared by NCERT emphasising
learning without burden and child-centred education. It provides the latest guidelines regarding curricula,
teaching methodology, etc. for lower level education in India. http://www.indiatogether.org/2005/dec/edu-
ncf2005.htm


80

iii.
Review meetings (usually three, could be more if needed) are held to work on
the drafts of the materials at different stages. The feedback received is used to
improve and finalise the drafts.
iv.
The final version thus prepared is edited for content, language and social
acceptability (for example, any sexist expressions or elements that may be
offensive for some religious groups are removed at this stage). Depending on
the availability of the required expertise (a content expert may not be a language
expert too), the task may be entrusted to one or more editors.
v.
Usually a subject comprises a number of modules prepared by different
individuals or teams with different orientations, which may get reflected in what
they write/prepare. To overcome this possible weakness in the materials, all the
modules in a subject are subjected to final editing by a senior subject expert.
vi.
Once the modifications suggested at stage (v) are incorporated in the materials,
the Subject Coordinator arranges meetings with graphic artists and the media
personnel available in house or hired from outside depending on the pressure of
work at a given point in time. NIOS has approved lists of outside producers and
graphic artists whose services are requisitioned as and when needed.
vii.
Having incorporated the relevant graphics, the materials are sent to the copy
editor to prepare the camera-ready copy, which in most cases is digitised for
storage, printing and future use.
viii.
The camera-ready copy, which is in English invariably, is given for translation
into Hindi, Urdu or other languages as it is the translated versions of the
materials that are used by many students, especially those who do not have the
required competence in English.
ix.
The purpose of meetings with the media personnel (audio as well as video,
mentioned in item (vi) above) is to apprise them of the portions, themes/sub-
themes and concepts that the department concerned and/or the materials writers
would like to be supported with media materials. To facilitate the work of
producers, the department concerned prepares the relevant academic briefs,
which are used by the producers to prepare draft scripts and also to decide the
format of the presentations—lectures, mock tutorial sessions or docu-dramas.
This is the time when the related budget is discussed and the necessary
approvals obtained.
x.
Producers conduct whatever research they need to and finalise the draft scripts,
which are discussed in meetings with the departments concerned. This exercise
helps the producers come up with the production scripts. If needed, the
production scripts are discussed with and improved with the help of the
department concerned before the actual shooting/recording commences and also
while it is in progress.
xi.
The rough cuts are passed on to the department concerned for comments. In
addition to the academic and instructional quality of the materials, the
departments concerned look into the technical quality of the production as well.
Generally, this exercise requires more than one meeting between the media
personnel and the departments concerned.
xii.
The exercise at stage (xi) is used to finalise the media programmes, which are
then used at study centers in operation at AIs and AVIs and also broadcast over
educational and/or national channels.

The above details, besides outlining the process of materials preparation (print, audio and video)
at NIOS, also trace the process-specific quality assurance mechanisms that are in place to ensure
the quality of study materials prepared by NIOS. Having reviewed various subject modules (for

81

secondary as well as higher secondary courses) in use today, we have no hesitation in
commending their excellent content and effective instructional design, but at places the quality of
language (English syntax) is questionable—it appears that language editing is the issue here, and
it needs to be addressed.

4.3.3 Course delivery

To appreciate the course delivery mechanism of NIOS, we need to see how they differentiate
their system from the traditional educational transaction.


176
Table 4.8
Traditional and Open Schooling: transactional differences

S.
Characteristics Traditional
formal
Open Schooling
N.
schooling
1 Entry
requirements Fixed

Open
2
Location and duration
Fixed
Open: any place and any time (within the
of transaction
permitted span of five years)
3
Curriculum
Fixed
Open and life oriented
4 Teaching-learning
Teacher led and face-
Individualised self-learning materials supported
transaction
to-face instruction
by multi-channel inputs including occasional
face-to-face sessions
5 Teaching-learning
Textbooks and
Specially prepared self-learning study materials
materials
occasional teaching
supported by media materials
aids
6
Pace of studies
Strictly regulated
Self-paced and self-directed
7
Learner assessment
External sit-in
External sit-in examinations
examinations


The multi-channel delivery mechanism includes:

• self-learning printed materials (to be studied by students on their own at their own
places and at times convenient to them),
• supplementary audio and video materials (to be listened to and viewed when
broadcast or at study centres),
• personal contact programmes (to get over doubts and difficulties requiring support
from tutors or counselors and to interact with tutors and peers), and
• occasional on-line communication.

Course materials in self-learning format constitute the main medium of the didactic transaction.
The first step in course delivery, therefore, is the distribution of printed course materials, usually
done at the time of registration at NIOS Accredited Institutions.

Subsequently, depending on the subject concerned, students are supported by various
combinations of face-to-face tutorials (30 sessions per subject and 35 sessions for subjects with
practical work), laboratory work, audio-video cassettes, radio broadcasts and telecasts (through
Gyanvani, Gyan-darshan and Door-darshan-1)177, on-line supplements and teleconferencing.

176 Handbook for Academic Facilitators of NIOS, (2007), NIOS, New Delhi, pp. 5-8.
177 Hindi expressions respectively for Educational Radio, Educational Television and the National
Television
.

82

Interaction is further enhanced through assignments, which are assessed by the tutors at the study
centres.

Once admitted, a student can remain on the rolls for five years, during which period he/she should
complete five subjects successfully to earn the certificate, secondary or senior secondary as the
case may be. As there are no fixed subject combinations prescribed by NIOS, students are
allowed to choose any five subjects of their choice, one of which has to be a language subject, but
no one is allowed to take more than two language subjects. Though the students are free to choose
the subjects they like, there are arrangements in place to advise them regarding appropriate
subject combinations in case they intend to go for higher studies in their fields of choice.


178
4.3.4 Student support services

NIOS recognises that its students need support in cognitive, psycho-motor, affective and systemic
domains.

Support in the cognitive domain is provided through self-learning study materials, media
materials and contact programmes (30-35 sessions per subject) arranged at AIs and AVIs.
Support in the psycho-motor domain too is provided at AIs through facilities for lab work and
practicals. The major problem faced by the NIOS students in the affective domain is their lack of
self-esteem, commitment and confidence. Contact with peers and tutors, listening to and watching
audio and video programmes (specifically designed for the purpose), working through “Open
Learning” (a bimonthly supportive magazine), study guides and assignments go a long way in
mitigating such problems. As for the systemic domain, learner friendly and transparent
administrative processes and information management systems provide all the support needed by
students—registration services, responses to enquires, credit transfer from various boards,
participation at study centres and in examinations, and collection of result-cards and certificates.

Pre-registration support is provided nationally through the Headquarters, regionally through the
Regional Centres and locally through AIs and AVIs using the press and broadcasts. Such support
pertains to basic information regarding courses/subjects and fees. A major facility provided at
AIs/AVIs is counseling regarding the choice/selection of subjects and the future scope in relation
to each one of them. On-course support comprises contact programmes, work on assignments and
practicals, most of which focus on academic issues and preparation for examinations primarily,
though ample attention is given to the attitudinal issues too. Post-course support in the form of
counseling pertaining to future possibilities in the academic field and the employment market is
also provided at all the AIs/AVIs.

The process described above and the arrangements in place to materialise it are practical and also
sound from a quality assurance viewpoint. But there are issues here:

• While NIOS uses strict selection procedures to identify and accredit institutions
(usually conventional schools, private as well as public, NGOs, vocational
institutions and other bodies engaged in community work) to house their registration
activity, study centre and examination facilities, such procedures alone, however
strict they may be, cannot ensure quality services from them. Their work has to be
monitored equally strictly.


178 Handbook for Academic Facilitators of NIOS, (2007), NIOS, New Delhi, pp. 9-12.

83

• NIOS pays its Accredited Institutions (AIs) at a flat rate of INR 250 per student
registered at/through them. Arrangements with AVIs and SAIEDs are more
elaborate. It is the AI concerned that selects and pays the tutors/counselors whom it
appoints for the registered NIOS students. As NIOS has no direct involvement in
these selections and appointments, the quality of the tutors/counselors could be
questionable. The quality and work of tutors/counselors, who constitute the backbone
of the system of personal contact programmes, needs to be assessed, monitored and
weak links corrected to ensure quality services from them.
• Study centres (i.e. AIs and AVIs) are the locations where assignments are handled—
students are supposed to submit assignments at pre-determined intervals at the
respective study centres; the tutors are supposed to evaluate them, grade them and
pass on instructive feedback to the students concerned, and also prepare the related
documentation and send copies thereof to the Regional Centre concerned. As this
process is not monitored, one cannot be sure of the nature of what actually is
practised.

However, the silver lining is that NIOS is seized of these issues and they are being addressed in
various ways (see Monitoring and Evaluation in Subsection 4.3.6).


179
4.3.5 Learner assessment and certification

180
Among the various Boards of Secondary and Senior Secondary Education in India, NIOS is the
only institution authorised to function as a Board of Secondary, Senior Secondary and Vocational
Education and also as a secondary school. In other words, NIOS provides not only education and
training, but also the related certification.

In order to provide for credit accumulation during the five years while a student is on the rolls,
he/she is allowed nine chances to appear at examinations. NIOS conducts two public
examinations each year in April-May and October-November, and allows students to appear in
one or more subjects at any of these examinations. All such examinations belong to the external
category, as all internal assessment at NIOS is formative in character and does not contribute to
final scores for certification.

There is also a provision for on-demand examinations, under which students are permitted to
appear at examinations as and when they feel that they are ready to sit for one or more as the case
may be. (This facility, however, is available only at a few places at present for experimental
purposes.) To claim a certificate, a student should fulfill the following criteria:

Secondary Certificate: A student should accumulate passes in five subjects including at
least one language subject, but not more than two language subjects. To get a pass in a
subject, one should score at least 33 per cent at the public examination. In subjects with
practicals, the marks scored in theory and practicals are aggregated to calculate the pass
percentage.
Senior Secondary Certificate: The same as for the Secondary Certificate, except that in
subjects with practicals, to pass one should score at least 33 per cent marks in each of the
components, the practicals and the theory, separately.

179 NIOS at a Glance-2006, (2006), NIOS, New Delhi, p. 34.
180 The major function of such Boards is to conduct public examinations leading to secondary and senior
secondary certification.

84



4.3.6 Quality
assurance

The status of quality assurance at NIOS is studied best partly in relation to Institute’s Vision and
Mission (see the concluding observations in Subsection 4.1.3) and partly in terms of monitoring
and evaluation practices.

181
Vision : The NIOS, with international recognition and presence, provides access to
sustainable and learner-centric quality school education, upgrading of skills and training
through open and distance learning and ensures convergence of Open Schooling
organisations to promote an inclusive learning society, human resource development,
national integration and global understanding.

182
Mission : NIOS:

1. promotes a system of open learning for providing quality education which results
in a dynamic inclusive learning society,
2. provides a dynamic flexible system of Open Schooling for development of a
knowledge society,
3. acts as a national resource to set a proactive role model for learner-centric open
and distance learning system at the school stage,
4. develops professional support network using contemporary technologies,
5. provides education and training for upgrading skills and lifelong learning for all,
6. provides need based Vocational Education for making its students entrepreneurs
and not just job seekers,
7. establishes action oriented research for strengthening the Open and Distance
Learning System at the school level,
8. achieves excellence in matters such as quality of learning materials, student
support services, system of assessment and professional development of staff,
9. identifies and reaches out to prioritised client groups viz. school drop-outs and
marginalised groups such as the rural youth, the urban poor, girls and women,
scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, backward classes, minorities, differently able
and ex-servicemen to universalise secondary education,
10. promotes national integration and integrated development of people,
11. strives for the promotion of Open Schooling at the regional, national and global
levels through advocacy and consultancy programmes, by providing forums for
exchange of ideas and information, and capacity building of open school
functionaries by way of training and attachment programmes, and
12. undertakes continuous self-assessment and self-improvement for systemic
improvement.

Considering this mission statement, the status of quality assurance (QA) at NIOS has to
be assessed in the context outlined by the above commitments and not by merely
assessing the core academic transaction effected and maintained by the Institution. The
following observations183 should point to relevant and tangible conclusions.


181 Based on the statement presented in NIOS at a Glance-2006, (2006), NIOS, New Delhi, p. 10.
182 Ibid. p. 11.
183 NIOS at a Glance-2006, (2006), NIOS, New Delhi, pp. 16-20.

85

1. NIOS provides educational opportunities to diverse clientele like no other school
does in the country—open basic education for children up to 14 years of age,
school drop-outs, neo-literates, street children, adolescents and illiterate adults;
secondary and senior school education for one and all; vocational education for
the rural youth and life enrichment courses for general masses. (See items 1, 2, 5,
6, 9 in the Mission Statement above.)

2. NIOS courses cater to the needs of special learner groups such as first generation
learners; learners challenged in various ways---physically, mentally and visually;
learners from disadvantaged groups such as girls, women, scheduled castes and
tribes and the out-of-school youth. (See items 1, 2 and 9 in the Mission Statement
above.)

3. NIOS collaborates with COL and UNESCO in the process of promoting Open
Schooling in India and also in various developing countries. The Open Schooling
Association of the Commonwealth (OSAC), a constituent of NIOS, offers formal
qualifications in Open Schooling for capacity building in and outside India. The
Secretariat of the Open Schooling Association of the Commonwealth (OSAC)
too is housed at NIOS. It organises human resource development programmes for
the functionaries of the Open Schooling system, promotes research and quality
assurance activities for developmental purposes, provides forums for exchange of
ideas, experiences and innovations among the member institutions/countries and
publishes the OSAC Journal of Open Schooling, a half-yearly journal, to
disseminate research findings and other works pertaining to the interests and
concerns of the members—all aimed at the promotion and development of Open
Schooling systems across the member countries. (See items 10 and 11 in the
Mission Statement above.)

4. Considering the size of the country, the diverse educational needs of the various
States and Union Territories and the limitations of the existing educational
provision in the country, NIOS initiated and established the National Consortium
for Open Schooling (NCOS). It has enabled a network of the leading
organisations dealing in Open Schooling at the national and state levels. This has
helped NIOS in persuading Indian states to establish their own open schools. Ten
states have already established such schools and many more are working to
follow suit. Ultimately, it is the State Open Schools (SOSs) that will prove more
successful in expanding and enriching the Open Schooling system in their
respective states. Using the relevant regional/state language as the medium of
instruction, such schools are bound to address the issues of access, equity and
relevance of education more effectively in the respective local environments.
(See items 2, 3, 10 and 11 in the Mission Statement above).

5. While continuing its functions as a school, NIOS is also functioning as a resource
institution at the national as well as the international level. Also, while continuing
its contribution in the area of programming, it engages more and more in
advocacy, consultancy, training of the diverse personnel, dissemination of
information, good practices and research findings nationally as well as
internationally. (See items 3, 4 and 12 in the Mission Statement above).


86

184
6. A scheme of Grants-in-aid for Research Projects in Open Schooling (GRPOS)
was approved by the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) and the Academic
Council in early 2006. It has a provision for accepting and funding external
research projects relevant to Open Schooling. The identified priority research
themes pertain to academic issues, administrative/managerial operations,
vocational education and a number of themes envisaged in NIOS Vision
Document. (See items 7 and 8 in the Mission Statement above).

The above six observations outline genuine efforts and their tangible outcomes that
evidence a reasonable level of achievement in fulfilling the institutional mandate, and
that establishes quality credentials of NIOS convincingly.

185
Monitoring and evaluation: NIOS defines monitoring as a process of “keeping track
of what is being implemented with a view to check whether or not the programme/project
is progressing smoothly as per …(the agreed to) ..schedule..” and evaluation as the
process of “arriving at judgments on the nature and extent of the work or worthwhileness
of the programme/project.”

Apart from monitoring the financial and administrative management following the time
honoured auditing procedures, NIOS has in place a monitoring system that addresses
learner concerns specifically. Such concerns pertain to five distinct activities at study
centres (AIs and AVIs):
• registration of students,
• delivery of study materials,
• organisation of contact programmes, laboratory work and assignment handling,
• organisation of sit-in examinations, and
• delivery of marks-sheets and certificates.

The following mechanisms are in place to monitor these activities:

i.
Regional Centres (RCs) not only oversee the conduct of registration and
examinations, but are also responsible for liaison with State Open Schools and
State Education Departments and iv) monitoring the conduct of NIOS activities
at study centres within their jurisdiction. The process includes visits of the RC
Staff to and conduct of training, extension and developmental activities at study
centres. Regular periodic meetings of the Coordinators and RC Staff are held to
address operational issues and find solutions wherever needed.
ii.
Academic Facilitators (usually retired professionals) have been appointed on ad
hoc basis to oversee the functioning of study centres. Each one of them is
attached to a few study centres (AIs and AVIs) in their vicinity and they have to
visit them from time to time, observe their functioning— assignment handling,
conduct of tutorials, management of examinations and practical work and report
their observations and inspection reports to the relevant Regional Centre and
Headquarters. They are also charged with the responsibility of informing and
advising coordinators of study centres with a view to improving their functioning

184 Annual Report 2005-06, (2006), NIOS, New Delhi, pp. 121-124.

185 Framework and Networking System for Formulation of Educational Programmes, Monitoring of their
Implementation and Evaluation in the Context of Open Schooling: Final Report (2007),
National Institute
of Open Schooling, New Delhi, pp. 63-70.

87

and effectiveness. It is, however, too early to comment on the success or
otherwise of this provision, as the operation has been put in place only recently.
iii.
Special Observers are deputed to examination centres to oversee the conduct of
examinations. They must send their reports to Headquarters every day during the
examinations.
iv.
Visiting Officers from the Headquarters are deputed to study centres from time
to time to look into their functioning.

As for evaluation, no formal procedure or process is in evidence at NIOS. For example,
programme evaluation, a major activity usually taken up by most distance education
institutions is not practised at NIOS. The Institute, however, engages in various activities
that partly contribute to institutional evaluation in significant ways. For example:

i.
The Grants-in-Aid for Research Projects in Open Schooling scheme is not a first
of its kind for NIOS. Some of the earlier (during the NOS era) research activities
focused on systemic issues to identify the weaknesses and gaps in institutional
policies and operations in order to help the managers and the line staff in taking
corrective steps wherever needed. Some of the studies worth mentioning pertain
to the profile of NOS students186, the factors that affect the performance of NOS
students at the May and November examinations187, the correlation between the
performance of the learners and their academic preparedness and socio-economic
background188, the correlation between the performance of learners and their
academic preparedness and socio-economic background189, the problems faced
by NOS students190 and the effect of specially designed personal contact
programmes on the academic attainment of students191.


186 Srivastava, R. (1995), Socio-economic analysis of NOS learners: A Report, National Open School, New
Delhi.
187 Sharma, O. P. (1997), An Investigation into the Factors Affecting the Performance of NOS Students in
May & November Examinations,
National Open School, New Delhi.
188 Sharma, O. P. (1997), “Attendance in Personal Contact Programmes and Performance of Open
Learners”, Indian Journal Of Open Learning, 6 (1 & 2), pp. 71-75.


189 Sharma, O. P. (1999), “Impact of Socio-economic and Educational Background of Distance Learners on
their Performance”, Journal of Distance Education, pp. 93-98.


190 Sharma, O. P. (2000), Problems of the Learners of NOS: Observations and Suggestions, Planning
Commission, Government of India, New Delhi.

191 Sharma, O. P. (2001), A Study of the effectiveness of Specifically Designed PCPs on the Performance of
Science Students in National Open School: A Report
, National Open School, New Delhi.


88

The outcome of these studies has contributed appreciably to the quality of
various learner related products and services at NOS. For example, an increase in
the number of contact sessions per course in general and on top of that another
five sessions for science students; introduction of counseling, interactive tutorials
and problem solving exercises in PCP activities; insight into learner concerns and
problems in relation to May and November examinations and the consequent
modification in examination timings and timeframes of other processes; conduct
of training needs analysis and the introduction of staff development activities.
Obviously, NOS has been and now NIOS is quality-conscious and incorporates
reformative modifications wherever needed and wherever possible. All this
ensures the quality of the products and processes that concern NIOS learners and
their studies and/or training.
ii.
In 2005-06, NIOS conducted a nation-wide Training Needs Survey focused on
coordinators of study centres, academic facilitators and tutors/counselors. Based
on the survey, training modules have been prepared to reorient these three types
of functionary. Actual orientation/training sessions are expected to commence
any time now. The plan is to first cover all the functionaries in place now and
then provide such orientation/training on regular bases to all the new comers.
This provision together with that of Academic Facilitators must adequately
address the issues outlined above.

To sum up, as for the academic/training products and processes, NIOS depends on
product- and process-specific operations for quality assurance. There is no specific
Quality Assurance Unit in charge of ensuring quality at NIOS, nor is there any
arrangement for self-assessment by academics and others or that by departments or
divisions to lead to internal assessment. There is no external assessment of any kind on
board either. There are, however, well defined procedures and practices in place to ensure
quality in the primary products and processes of the institute, i.e. self-learning materials,
student support services and learner assessment. (Detailed information and the related
observations are presented in Subsections 4.3.2, 4.3.4 and 4.3.5 above.)

4.4
Comparative effectiveness of NIOS

Section 3.5 (Chapter 3) builds a strong case for universalising secondary education in India, and
the Government of India is committed192 to doing so. Universalisation of education at the primary
level has nearly been achieved (see Table 3.3, Chapter 3), but as argued in Chapter 3, the existing
arrangement for the secondary level is awfully inadequate for meeting the impending challenge.
Further, as Chamarbagwala193 indicates, the provision and the infrastructure that needs to be put
in place have to be of a kind that allow those of the targeted clientele who are in the labour
market to continue on their jobs while they improve their educational levels. This then is the
context and also the compelling argument in India for alternative systems of education/training
that may even remotely promise to be more cost-effective and cost-efficient than the traditional

192 See Footnote 5 on page 2.

193 Chamarbagwala, R. (2004) “Returns to Education, Child Labour & Schooling in India”, Department of
Economics, Indiana University, Bloomington. http://129.3.20.41/eps/dev/papers/0410/0410003.pdf
(accessed on July 30, 2007)


89

system. Since NIOS is a Central Government Institution, we choose to analyse its effectiveness in
comparison with that of other secondary level institutions run by the Central Government.
4.4.1 Secondary education initiatives of the Government of India
As far as the lower levels of education are concerned, the Central Government may take pride in
three of its major initiatives Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (the Apex Executive Body of Central
schools), Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (the Apex Executive Body of Jawahar Navodaya Schools)
and National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).
194
• Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS), with its headquarters at New Delhi, manages
Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) (i.e. Central Schools) spread all over the country and abroad.
The first of these schools were established in 1963-64 and the process of expansion
continues. These schools were established primarily to cater to the children of the
transferable Central Government employees and Services Personnel. At present,
however, they admit the children of other government employees and some related
categories on quota basis. They run classes from the primary level through to the higher
secondary level, though not all of them run all the levels necessarily. As of August, 2007,
there are 979 Kendriya Vidyalayas staffed by 38,735 employees catering to 983,537
students, i.e. on average nearly 1,005 students per school. These schools are fully funded
by the Government of India through the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Generally, they enrol students at the lowest level available at the school concerned. Their
collective enrolment is around 100,000 annually, i.e. on average around 102 new students
per school. Their fee structure (per month in INR) 195 applicable throughout the country
is outlined below.

Table 4.9
Fee structure of KVs (INR per month)
1 Admission
fee
25.00
2 Re-admission fee
100.00
3 Tuition fee (Classes IX-X)
40.00
4 Tuition fee (Classes XI-XII)
50.00
5 Computer fee (Classes III onwards…)
20.00
6 Computer Science fee (for elective subjects at XI-XII level)
40.00
7 Vidyalaya Vikas Nidhi (i.e. School Development Fund) (Classes I-X)
160.00
8 Vidyalaya Vikas Nidhi (Classes XI-XII—Non-science subjects)
160.00
9 Vidyalaya Vikas Nidhi (Classes XI-XII—Sciences)
200.00



194 “Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan” at http://www.kvsangathan.nic.in (accessed on July 30, 2007)

195 “Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan: Fee Structure (per month)” at http://kvsangathan.nic.in/feestructure
1.aspx (access
ed on July 16, 2007)


90

196
• Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), conceived under the National Policy on
Education - 1986, runs a chain of schools, called Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs),
all over the country. The first two of them were established in 1985-86 on an
experimental basis. It is envisaged that each district in the country (except the 30 in Tamil
Nadu where the state that has not accepted this scheme) will have one such school. The
present sanctioned number of these schools is 557 (covering 91 per cent of the districts),
of which 539 are functional currently. All these schools are fully residential and co-
educational catering to students from class VI to class XII. Registration is made at class
VI through an open selection/entrance test conducted by the CBSE, and 32,000-35,000
new students are admitted annually, i.e. on average around 60-65 new students per school
annually. The purpose of these schools is to identify and then develop talented children
from rural areas mainly, who otherwise would not get the education they deserve because
they cannot afford it. Those registered get free education, board and lodging, clothing and
books. By the Samiti’s own estimation, their expenses per student per year stand at INR
6,500.00 (Board and lodging: INR 5,000.00; Uniform: INR 600.00; Books: INR 100.00;
Toiletries: INR 300.00; and other items like stationary: INR 500.00). This cost, however,
does not include any of the institutional costs, such as the salaries of teachers, buildings
and laboratories.

4.4.2 NIOS and the issues of access and equity
197
NIOS is the only initiative of the Central Government that squarely addresses the issues of
access and equity touched upon in Subsections 4.2.4 and 4.3.6. It is true that the normal
reservations for SC/ST students are practised at all the school as usual, but all that stands in
absolute contrast with the intake of NIOS comprising a mix of dropouts, overworked adults,
housewives and out-of-school children. Though this situation must affect throughputs rates of
NIOS adversely, it is highly commendable for NIOS to be in the forefront of the process that
addresses these issues. This takes us to some of the salient features of NIOS in order to appreciate
its strengths and recognise its weaknesses on our way to estimate its cost-effectiveness vis-à-vis
the conventional systems of schooling.






196 “Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas” at http://www.navodaya.nic.in/jnvs.htm and
http://www.microsoft.com/india/education/pil/case_Nav. (accessed on July 16, 2007)

197 There are 10 State Open Schools in India and their mandates are comparable to that of NIOS, but
generally their operations remain limited to the respective States.

91

198
Table 4.10
Enrolment trend since 1990-91

Academic Year
Enrolment (‘000)
Variations ( %)
1990-91 40

1991-92 34
- 15.0
1992-93 56
+ 64.7
1993-94 64
+ 14.3
1994-95 65
+ 01.6
1995-96 77
+ 18.5
1996-97 91
+ 18.2
1997-98 112
+ 23.1
1998-99 129
+ 15.2
1999-00 147
+ 14.0
2000-01 186
+ 26.5
2001-02 214
+ 15.1
2002-03 278
+ 29.9
2003-04 321
+ 12.2
2004-05 238
- 25.9
2005-06 267
+12.2
2006-07 290
+08.6
+13.0 +
Average annual increase over the past 16 years

More than 13 per cent sustained annual rise in enrolment in a single institution without any
corresponding increase in substantive staff and infrastructure is unheard of in the conventional
system of schooling in India. A system that displays such capacity, without making any
significant additional inputs, should be cost-effective as well as cost-efficient. But is it really so?
We must look into the characteristics of this enrolment.










198 National Institute of Open Schooling—Enrolment trend: http://nos.org/enroltrend.htm
(accessed on July 30, 2007)

92

199
Table 4.11
Enrolment by region and state (an illustration)
Year - 2006-07
Senior
Regional
Secondary Secondary
Centres State
level
level
Total
Hyderabad Andhra
Pradesh
678
2,822 3,500


Karnataka
235 618 853
Pune
Maharashtra
9,397 3,635 13,032

Goa
2,191
470
2,661
Kolkata Orissa
2,442 845 3,287

Sikkim
1,359
770
2,129

West Bengal
8,992
5,479
14,471

Andaman & Nicobar
1,063
763
1,826
Guwahati Assam
1,394 1,373 2,767


Manipur
5,494 3,970 9,464

Meghalaya
1,360
31
1,391


Nagaland
2,473 1,049 3,522


Tripura
402 265 667

Arunachal Pradesh
2,023
871
2,894


Mizoram
2,261 1,090 3,351

APO (Army Post Office)
3
30
33
Chandigarh
Haryana
27,861 24,479 52,340

Himachal Pradesh
4,491
10,287
14,778

Jammu & Kashmir
423
678
1,101


Punjab
7,299 1,754 9,053


Chandigarh
940 435 1,375
Kochi Kerala
1,558 2,624 4,182

Tamil Nadu
255
279
534


Pondicherry
1 4 5
Delhi
Zone-I
Delhi
37,551 35,266 72,817
Jaipur Gujarat
610 436 1,046


Rajasthan
5,173 2,515 7,688
Patna
Bihar
3,455 3,948 7,403


Jharkhand
1,697 1,084 2,781
Allahabad Uttar
Pradesh
14,218 13,685 27,903


Uttranchal
6,408 4,981 11,389
Bhopal Madhya
Pradesh
3,892 1,552 5,444


Chhattisgarh
765 548 1,313
TOTAL INDIA
158,364 128,636 287,000

199 National Institute of Open Schooling—Enrolment in the last 5 years at
http://www.nios.ac.in/last5yrs.htm
(accessed on July 30, 2007)


93

Table 4.11 (Continued)

FOREIGN STUDENTS





Region Country
Sec.
Sr.
Sec.
Total
UAE
Delhi Zone-II
(United Arab Emirates) 341 442 783
Delhi
Zone-II
Nepal
228 418 646
TOTAL

569 860 1,429





DIFFERENTLY ABLE STUDENTS





Region

Sec.
Sr. Sec.
Total
All India
SAIED #
1,858
696
2,554





Grand Total
NIOS
160,791
130,192
290,983
# Special Accredited Institutions for the Education of Disadvantaged
Having divided its nation-wide activities into 12 regions, NIOS covers all the states and the
Union Territories of the country. Each region covers more than one state and/or Union Territory
and is administered by a Regional Office, usually stationed in a major city in the region. NIOS
operations go beyond the national boundary; the foreign operations are looked after by the
Headquarters at New Delhi. Another point to notice is the size of enrolment and the distribution
of enrolees—each state and Union Territory has representation at NIOS. The picture that emerges
is that of a truly national institution, which is open to every person without any restriction, except
those necessitated by academic considerations. One of the major attractions of NIOS has to be its
fee structure, which is not expensive.
200
Table 4.12


NIOS fee structure


Secondary level Senior Secondary level
For 5 subjects
Male students
INR 1000.00
INR 1150.00
Female students
INR 750.00
INR 900.00
Exempted Categories
INR 550.00
INR 625.00
For each additional subject
Male students
INR 150.00
INR 180.00
Female students
INR 150.00
INR 180.00
Exempted Categories
INR 150.00
INR 180.00

Examination fee: INR 90.00 per subject without practicals.
INR 130.00 per subject with practicals.
Miscellaneous fee: INR 50.00 each for a duplicate copy of the Marks sheet,
Migration certificate, Identity card or Certificate.


200 NIOS at a Glance-2006, (2006), NIOS, New Delhi, p-25.

94


The overall fee charged by NIOS for both the secondary and senior secondary levels is much less
than that charged by KVs. Against this difference in costs to learners (which is analysed
elaborately in Subsection 4.5.6), what are the features of the throughput achieved by NIOS in
comparison with that of KVs?
4.4.3 Comparative effectiveness/performance of NIOS, KVs and JNVs
In terms of the quality of education provided at KVs and JNVs, their out put is usually compared
with that of IITs201. A look at their throughput is in place here.
202
Table 4.13
Comparative performance (Classes X and XII): KVs, JNVs and ‘Other
Schools’203 affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education
(CBSE)

Class X Results (pass %)

2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
KVs
81.80 85.60 84.60 90.44 89.95 90.63 95.64
JNVs
87.00 88.70 88.50 91.40 90.82 91.13 --
Overall
(CBSE) 66.60 69.50 68.00 76.60 74.60 77.16 84.44
Class XII Results (pass %)
KVs
83.90 86.50 88.70 92.78 92.47 92.89 93.14
JNVs
84.20 83.30 85.30 87.70 87.08 90.24 90.11
Overall
(CBSE) 75.20 75.20 73.60 80.40 77.80 79.55 80.64

It may be noted that Class XII results of KVs are consistently better than those of JNVs, while
JNVs show better results at Class X equally consistently, though the differences in either case are
not significant. Looking at the overall percentages against CBSE, these percentages are lower,
because students from the “Other Schools” affiliated with CBSE also sit for the same
examinations and they do not perform as well as KVs and JNVs. As a result the overall CBSE
percentages remain low. Obviously, the “Other Schools” collectively do not perform as well as
KVs and JNVs, as generally there is a gap of 10-20 percentage points in the overall pass
percentages of the two sets of schools every year.
The point that emerges unambiguously is that in terms of student performance KVs and JNVs are
the best government-run institutions for the secondary level of education in the country. And one

201 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are world class institutions and IIT graduates are valued all over
the world.

202 Derived from “Comparative Result Analysis” at http://kvsangathan,nic.in/resultanalysis 1.aspx
(accessed on July 16, 2007)

203 Both types of schools, KVs and JNVs, are affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education,
which prescribes the syllabus, conducts the examinations and also awards certificates. In addition to these
two types of schools, there are many other schools all over the country affiliated with the same Board.
Many of them are run by private management, some of which charge very high tuition fees, while some are
aided. The former are not accessible to those who cannot pay high fees, while the latter cater to masses
generally.

95

may plausibly guess that the pass percentage of the “Other Schools” may hover around 50-60 per
cent on average (see the observations following Table 4.19).
4.4.4 Performance of NIOS students
Considering the NIOS data as presented in official documents (see the tables below), the
performance of NIOS is really disappointing, but is it really so? Consider the April 2006 results.
204
Table 4.14
NIOS examination results: April 2006

APPEARED (1)
CERTIFIED (2)
PASS % (3)

Sr. Sec.
Secondary
Sr. Sec.
Secondary
Sr. Sec.
Secondary
TOTAL
56,489
148,883 175,699 47,521
31.92 32.15
MALE 101,921 119,660
31,130
37,459
30.54 31.30
FEMALE 46,962
56,039
16,391
19,030
34.90 33.96
The confusion lies in confusing certification with pass percentages. The number certified for the
relevant award in column 2 is actually the number of students who (at the April 2006
examination) brought the tally of their successfully completed subjects to what is required (i.e.
five subjects) for certification. Some of these students may have completed just one subject at this
examination, some two, some three and some all the five required. Obviously, there is no problem
with the details in the column 2, but what we have in column 3 is misleading and a potential
source of error for every estimation based on it, as the percentages are not of the passes, but of
those certified for the award out of the number who appeared at this examination. This confusion
also manifests itself in a different way (see Table 4.15 below).











204 National Institute of Open Schooling—Examination Results at http://www.nios.ac.in/oct05.htm
(accessed on July 30, 2007)

96



205
Table 4.15
Results by region (April 2006)
REGION Sr.
Secondary
Secondary

Appeared Passed Pass
%
Appeared
Passed Pass
%
HYDERABAD
4,651
818
17.59
1,674
381
22.76
PUNE 4,844
1,496
30.88
12,839
4,437
34.56
KOLKATA 9,800
3,195
32.60 15,523
5,433
35.00
GUWAHATI 9,248
3,388
36.63 14,578
6,387
43.81
CHANDIGARH
28,834
9,180
31.84
31,943
8,277
25.91
KOCHI
2,419
424
17.53
1,084
341
31.46
DELHI ZONE –I
34,303
9,776 28.50 33,992
8,847
26.03
NOSHQ 779
277
35.56
672
295
43.90
JAIPUR 2,205
772
35.01
3,802
1,607
42.27
PATNA
3,509
1,737
49.50 5,489
2,797
50.96
ALLAHABAD
6,837
2,952
43.18 4,796
2,311
48.19
DELHI ZONE –II
38,761
12,735 32.86
44,588 13,653
30.62
BHOPAL
2,693
771
28.63
4,719
1,723
36.51
Total 148,883
47,521
31.92
175,699
56,489
32.15

Whether we look under the Secondary or the Senior Secondary column, what appears in the
passed column is actually the number of students who completed passes in five subjects and so
are qualified for certification, irrespective of the actual number of subjects they cleared at the said
examination. Here the word “passed” is used to mean certified (of Table 4.14). Seemingly, it is
the lingering influence of the conventional system and the erroneous application of the notion of
Full Time Equivalent (FTE) that leads to this confusion. NIOS fails to see that they are operating
at the level of subjects, not full courses/programmes as is done in the conventional system. This
confusion persists throughout the NIOS records/data pertaining to the performance of their
students and their results (see Table 4.16 below).
In over 17 years and across 34 examination sessions, except for November 1992, November 1994
and May 2003 examinations, the percentage of certification has never crossed the 40 per cent
mark. Most are at 20 per cent and 30 per cent and some go below 20 per cent. Like NIOS
themselves (as they do in Tables 3.14 and 3.15), the casual reader will read the percentages as
pass percentages, which they are not.





205 National Institute of Open Schooling—Examination Results at http://www.nios.ac.in/oct05.htm
(accessed on July 30, 2007

97

Table 4.16
Profile of examination results: 1991-2006 206
Exam Secondary
Sr.
Secondary


Appeared Certified %
Appeared Certified %
Jan-91 21,560 5,050 23.42
13,406 3,730 27.82
Jun-91 23,076 5,388 23.35
18,116 5,185 28.62
Nov-91
15,193 3,622 23.84
10,504 3,055 29.08
May-92
24,507 6,700 27.34
15,191 4,736 31.18
Nov-92 13,683 3,328 24.32
8,633
3,716 43.04
May-93
34,035 9,140 26.85
22,275 6,700 30.08
Dec-93
18,418 4,431 24.06
13,019 4,942 37.96
May-94 37,860 12,067 31.87
28,054 10,864 38.73
Nov-94 18,200 4,899 26.92
14,209 6,196 43.61
May-95
25,393 4,692 18.48
22,383 5,169 23.09
Nov-95
28,161 4,895 17.38
22,644 5,893 26.02
May-96 50,640 15,082 29.78
34,049 7,900 23.20
Nov-96
31,287 8,141 26.02
21,786 5,258 24.13
May-97 63,387 17,889 28.22
39,483 9,138 23.14
Nov-97
38,640 9,268 23.99
24,283 5,559 22.89
May-98 76,845 18,204 23.69
48,202 11,538 23.94
Nov-98
45,326 9,674 21.34
28,955 6,773 23.39
May-99 90,380 25,309 28.00
57,761 13,426 23.24
Nov-99 53,320 16,366 30.69
34,806 9,777 28.09
May-00 98,948 31,818 32.16
71,453 13,024 18.23
Nov-00 52,039 13,625 26.18
36,842 8,808 23.91
May-01 12,2101 33,849 27.72
93,175 17,858 19.17
Nov-01 58,880 15,804 26.84
48,403 12,267 25.34
May-02 143,782 48,653 33.84
100,942 23,579 23.36
Nov-02 70,263 20,309 28.90
56,100 14,913 26.58
May-03 172,533 99,250 57.53 117,872
39,603
33.60
Nov-03 69,896 23,663 33.85
70,385 20,181 28.67
May-04 237,300 77,570 32.69
170,052 36,660 21.56
Nov-04 100,680 26,786 26.61
84,474 17,999 21.31
Apr-05 167,169 46,728 27.95
136,560 36,436 26.68
Oct-05
86,262
26,743
31.00
75,605
24,247
32.07
Apr-06 175,699 56,489 31.46
148,883 47,521 31.92
Oct-06 79,170 28,054 35.43
69,834 22,843 32.71
Apr-07 182,680 59,710 32.69
162,371 51,447 31.68
Total 252,7313 793,196 31.38
1,920,710 516,941 26.91

The above table presents a distorted and incomplete view of the throughput of NIOS year after
year. The actual features of the student performance at NIOS emerge only when we look at
results/performance by subject 207 (see Tables 4.17 and 4.18 below).

206 National Institute of Open Schooling—Examination Profile at http://www.nios.ac.in/exampro.htm
(accessed on July 30, 2007)

207 National Institute of Open Schooling—Subject-wise pass percentage at
http://www.nios.ac.in/subacad.htm (accessed on July 30, 2007)

98


Table 4.17 Pass percentage at the secondary level by subject



Apr-04
Apr-05
Oct 04
Oct 05
Subject

APP.
PASS % APP.
PASS % APP.
PASS % APP.
PASS %
143,907
94,198
23,382
13,892
201 HINDI
77.31
82.03
71.49
73.50
162,095
115,087
45,484
32,041
202 ENGLISH
54.27
60.32
47.64
54.19
623
551
150
155
203 BENGALI
77.68
69.87
70.66
46.45
1,397
1,515
111
168
204 MARATHI
90.40
81.78
81.08
69.04
1,135
573
272
49
205 TELUGU
57.79
80.45
55.14
46.93
1,939
1,036
237
199
206 URDU
91.69
79.82
81.85
78.39
154
160
12
10
207 GUJRATI
82.46
87.50
66.66
90.00
43
52
10
8
208 KANNAD
51.16
46.15
10.00
37.50
13,598
7,650
3,667
2,405
209 SANSKRIT
53.38
44.47
49.85
41.74
4,852
4,265
455
425
210 PUNJABI
82.52
79.60
73.18
74.11
52
65
10
17
228 ASSAMESE
90.38
72.30
50.00
58.82
1,266
1,253
282
485
231 NEPALI
82.70
58.26
47.51
40.00
117
359
32
12
232 MALAYALAM
93.16
93.03
75.00
91.66
124,254
76,922
34,307
28,787
211 MATHEMATICS
55.92
42.59
27.11
36.97
153,455
96,415
38,260
36,239
212 SCIENCE
54.30
40.81
39.01
39.09
148,773
101,732
35,694
32,901
213 SOCIAL SCIENCE
64.63
53.43
43.12
45.00
59,022
44,049
13,280
11,560
214 ECONOMICS
71.11
65.39
64.63
55.19
26,010
26,463
7,501
7,544
215 BUSINESS STUDY
62.83
60.84
48.31
56.28
66,046
53,764
11,007
11,984
216 HOME SCIENCE
75.82
64.37
53.89
52.11
487
224
124
66
217 TYPING (HINDI)
54.00
62.05
73.38
56.06
5,259
4,109
1,331
1,038
218 TYPYING (ENG)
60.42
65.19
63.26
60.50
34,890
23,282
4,499
2,844
219 WORD PROC.
83.15
84.63
71.92
77.77
2,559
3,642
522
1,276
222 PSYCHOLOGY
49.55
44.12
33.52
30.48
1,380
2,220
339
691
223 BHA. CUL. & HER.
69.92
54.68
42.18
49.34










99



Table 4.18 Pass percentage at the senior secondary level by subject

SUBJECT
APR - 02
APR - 03
JUNE - 04
APR - 05

APP.
PASS % APP. PASS % APP. PASS % APP. PASS %
301 HINDI
45,859 73.28
56,966 76.22
78,433 72.63
62,488 69.46
302 ENGLISH
60,306 64.88
75181 66.66 105177
62.51 84433 64.09
306 URDU
458
75.55
615
90.24
784
74.23
747 65.06
311 MATHEMATICS
14,660 35.74
17,859 47.33
24,874 47.70
18,606 46.00
312 PHYSICS
16,052 33.40
22,174 43.70
33,610 33.57
21,595 36.73
313
CHEMISTRY
15,131
46.49 20,960 53.90 30,857 34.79
20,956 39.78
314 BIOLOGY
9,794
53.39
13,906 62.41
20,848 41.16
13,983 48.94
315 HISTORY
26,941 58.84
32,190 63.10
40,937 65.37
33,855 69.46
316 GEOGRAPHY
20,727 56.07
23,273 65.67
28,133 49.19
21,092 52.67
317 POLITICAL SC.
32,556 55.29
39,934 68.98
51,007 55.96
42,927 62.49
318 ECONOMICS
28,927 50.35
33,291 63.43
37,663 46.42
34,942 55.62
319
COMMERCE
13,056
62.97 14,573 67.88 16,602 59.40 16,146 63.82
320 ACCOUNTANCY
10,942 43.82
12,181 49.22
13,918 45.05
13,228 43.43
321 HOME SCIENCE
19,424 66.00
23,442 68.12
31,596 64.99
26,853 64.41
322 TYPE (HINDI)
293
60.75
258
61.24
206
65.05
182 60.99
323 TYPE (ENGLISH)
3,999
56.94
3,468 58.56
2930
52.29
2,264 58.17
324 STENO (HINDI)
51
39.22
30
40.00
15
40.00
19 47.37
325 STENO (ENGLISH)
243
30.45
140
35.00
69
37.68
120 36.67
326 SEC. PRACTICE
5,585
63.08
6,158 70.70
6,552
59.55
4,942 67.08
327 WORD PROCESS
14,550 74.82
17,960 79.26
23,067 61.09
18,771 62.63
328 PSYCHOLOGY
3,432
59.73
4,239 67.02
4,691
48.33
4,269 65.10
330 COMPUTER SCIENCE

2,396 45.83
4,133 30.68 4,338 41.22
331 SOCIOLOGY




8,286 72.88 13,024 72.57
332 PAINTING




1,617
65.18

Listed above are subject-wise results from various secondary and senior secondary examinations
chosen randomly. Subject-wise success (see Tables 4.17 and 4.18) at both the levels shows a
much better (and certainly correct) profile than the distorted details in Tables 4.14 through 4.16.
We notice that students generally perform much better in humanities and social sciences, such as
Hindi, history and sociology, while success rates are relatively lower in science subjects, such as
mathematics, physics and chemistry.





100

To show how results may be computed to present the correct picture of the performance of NIOS
students, presented below (see Table 4.19) is the existing and available data (four cases chosen
randomly) reworked in terms of subjects. We have taken the data from the results of four
examinations, two each of the years 2005 and 2006.
208
Table 4.19 Corrected NIOS performance profile (a sample based on limited data)
Examination
Level
# students # subjects
# subjects
Average
Percentage
held in
(Secondary
(head
they
they
no. of
of passes in
or Senior
count)
appeared
passed in = subjects
subjects =
Secondary)
appeared
in = (y)
(z)
each
(z/y) 100
= (x)
student
appeared
in = (y/x)

April 2006
Secondary 175,186 711,403 452,914 4.10 63.67
Senior Sec.
148,747
520,440
342,932
3.50
65.89
Oct. 2006
Secondary 79,170 167,768 74,675 2.10
44.51
Senior Sec.
69,834
132,387
69,632
1.90
52.60
April 2005
Secondary 167,169 659,586 388,974 3.95 58.97
Senior Sec.
136,560
461,397
275,528
3.38
59.72
Oct. 2005
Secondary 86,262 184,796 89,579 2.10
48.47
Senior Sec
75,605
144,497
74,480
1.90
51.54
Totals for 4
Secondary 507,787 1,723,553 1,006,142 3.39
58.38
examinations
Senior Sec
430,746
1,258,721
762,572
2.92
60.58

On average (with respect to the above data):
• each student sits for around four and two subjects in the April and the October
examinations respectively,
• the overall results in the April examinations are better than those in the October
examinations,
• the number of examinees in April is usually about twice that in October,
• all the subject-based pass percentages are not below 45 per cent mark, and
• the overall pass percentage in the subjects appeared at the secondary level is 58.38,
and at the senior secondary level is 60.58.

The subject-wise pass percentages and the overall profile of NIOS results, as shown above,
though certainly not superlative like those of KVs/JNVs, appear to be comparable to the results of
“Other Schools” (see the discussion following Table 4.13). It, therefore, appears plausible to
assume that the performance of NIOS in terms of its throughput is comparable to that of the
‘Other Schools’ affiliated to CBSE, i.e. the performance of NIOS is like that of an average school
in India—not a mean achievement, considering the background of the NIOS intake! But this
conclusion needs to be confirmed.



208National Institute of Open Schooling—Examination Results at http://www.nios.ac.in/oct05.htm
(accessed on July 30, 2007)

101

4.4.5 Effectiveness of NIOS: position in the national profile
Consider the national profile of Secondary and Senior Secondary examination results (2003-04
and 2004-05) as compiled by the Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) in India, New
Delhi, from the data contributed by 37 State Boards of Secondary and Senior Secondary
Education (see Tables 4.20 and 4.21). Almost all the Boards are represented here, and results
pertain to all the government, private aided and private unaided schools—a realistic picture of the
performance of students at the levels concerned and that of the effectiveness of the systems
countrywide.
Table 4.20 National profile of secondary and senior secondary examination results
(2003/04-2004/05)

209
210
S.
Names of School Boards
2003-04 Results
2004-05 Results
N.
Secondary Senior Secondary Senior
Sec.
Sec.

Overall pass percentage
57.89 67.42
63.36 70.65
1
Andhra Pradesh
80.41 -- 72.41 --
1a) Board of Secondary Education
1b) Board of Intermediate Education
--
--
--
53.18
2
Assam
49.80 -- 55.54 --
2a) Board of Secondary Education
2b) Assam Hr. Sec. Education Council
--
55.49
--
58.48
3
Bihar
-- --
70.07
--

3a) Bihar School Examination Board, Patna
3b) Bihar Intermediate Education Council
--
85.94
--
72.58
4
Chhattisgarh
-- --
48.10
67.47
Chhattisgarh Board of Sec. Education, Raipur
5
Goa
57.47 74.59
54.90 72.33
Goa Board of Sec. & HS Education
6
Gujarat
52.69 60.78
56.49 --
Gujarat Sec. & HS Education Board
7
Haryana
59.17 39.21
61.81 54.19
Board of School Education
8
Himachal Pradesh
-- 60.54
-- 68.66
Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education

209 A Study of Examination Results 2004, Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) in India, New
Delhi. pp. 16-18.

210 A Study of Examination Results 2005, Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) in India, New
Delhi. pp. 14-19.


102

9
Jammu & Kashmir
50.34 38.95
50.27 34.07
J&K State Board of School Education
10
Jharkhand
60.96 83.42
71.36 83.82
Jharkhand Academic Council, Ranchi
11
Karnataka
-- --
63.90
--
11a) Karnataka Sec. Education Examination Board
11b) Dept. of Pre-University, Karnataka
--
57.61
--
60.39
12
Kerala
-- 59.23
-- 75.93
Board of Higher Sec. Education
13
Madhya Pradesh
28.46 65.22
32.60 71.27

13a) Board of Secondary Education, Madhya Pradesh
13b) Madhmik Shiksha Mandal, M.P., Bhopal
07.43 -- --
--
(Correspondence)
13c) M. P. State Open School, Bhopal
37.30
34.01
38.29
21.23
14
Maharashtra
-- --
58.72
62.60
Maharashtra State Board of Sec. & HS Education,
Pune
15
Manipur
39.43 -- 43.41 --

15a) Board of Secondary Education
15b) Council of Hr. Sec. Education
--
54.75
--
35.79
16
Meghalaya
-- 62.12
-- 73.88

Meghalaya Board of School Education
17
Mizoram
37.00 34.84
45.77 46.90
Mizoram Board of School Education, Aizawl
18
Nagaland
72.03 -- 76.89 78.29
Nagaland Board of School Education, Kohima
19
Orissa
52.26 -- 55.34 --
19a) Board of Sec. Education
19b) Council of Hr. Sec. Education
--
79.51
--
71.11
20
Punjab
65.91 68.78
--
--
Punjab School Education Board, Chandigarh
21
Rajasthan
60.08 81.26
50.38 72.24
Board of Secondary Education, Ajmer
22
Tamil Nadu
77.36 -- 77.80 76.83
State Board of School Education
23
Tripura
50.64 48.80
77.80 68.95
Tripura Board of Sec. Education, Agartala

103

24
Uttar Pradesh
-- --
69.71
90.64
UP Board of High School & Intermediate Education
25
Uttaranchal
48.12 72.95
49.15 73.35
Uttaranchal Shiksha Evm Pariksha Parishad
26
West Bengal
71.61 -- 70.52 61.48

26a) West Bengal Board of Sec. Education, Kolkata
26b) West Bengal Board of Madrasah Education
65.97
34.01
66.37
--
26c) Rabindra Mukta Vidyalaya
29.93
--
--
--
27
Delhi
76.62 80.36
77.52 81.00
Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi

The above profile of throughput percentages has been abstracted into four levels: Boards with
pass percentages below or equal to 40, between 41 and 60, between 61 and 80 and those between
81 and 100 (see Table 4.21 below). At the secondary level, a majority* of the Boards (41.7 per
cent) are at level II and at the Senior Secondary level, the majority* (50.0 per cent) are at level
III. Interestingly, the performance of NIOS in terms of passes in subjects (see Table 4.19) tallies
with the majority groups at the secondary as well as the senior secondary levels.
Table 4.21
Effectiveness/performance of NIOS: place in the national profile
Levels Throughput Case of results at the Secondary
Case of results at the Senior Secondary
rate
level
level
% of Boards
Place of NIOS
% of Boards
Place of NIOS
I
00-40 per cent
16.7 per cent

16.7 per cent

II
41-60 per cent
41.7 per cent
With 58.38 per cent 18.7 per cent

*
subject passes
III
61-80 per cent
39.6 per cent

50.0 per cent *
With 60.58 per cent
subject passes
IV 81-100
per 02.0 per cent

14.6 per cent

cent

It is true that this picture will vary depending on the way the throughput rates are classified, but it
is clear that the performance/effectiveness of NIOS is comparable to that of most schools in the
country (read the comments/observations on Tables 4.13 together with those on Tables 4.19 and
4.21). Comparing the averaged subject-based throughput rates of NIOS (see the last two rows in
Table 4.19) with the throughput rates of different Secondary/Senior Secondary Boards in the
country (see Table 4.20), we notice that at the secondary level, NIOS performed better than 13
and 12 State Boards and worse than 10 and 13 in 2004 and 2005 respectively. At the senior
secondary level, NIOS performed better than 11 and 8 State Boards and worse than 11 and 18 in
2004 and 2005 respectively. The Relative effectiveness ratio for NIOS against various comparator
Boards of Education in relation to 2004-2005 results is shown in Table 7.4.


104

4.5
Cost-efficiency of NIOS
Before looking into the cost issues of NIOS in the present situation, we review three earlier
studies.
4.5.1 The First Cost Study (1986): Open School (1982-86)
211
As narrated earlier, the Government of India started the Open School on an experimental basis
in 1979 as a project within the Central Board of Secondary Education, New Delhi. It was to cater
“to the needs of school drop-outs, working adults, house-wives and aspirants from socio-
economically disadvantaged sections of society. It (incorporated) flexibility and openness in the
system and this (was) a step towards meeting the needs of knowledge seekers, mostly second
chance learners, who (could not) pursue formal education due to domestic, economic and other
considerations”212
213
. The goals of the school were as follows:

i) to offer a parallel non-formal system as an alternative to formal schooling,
ii) to provide an opportunity of education to out of school learners, school dropouts,
working adults, housewives, learners from disadvantaged sections of society and
those living in remote areas of the country,
iii) to offer bridge/preparatory courses to prepare students for the secondary level
courses,
iv) to offer secondary, senior secondary, technical, vocational and life enrichment
courses through distance teaching methods,
v) to promote an open distance teaching system through research, publications and
dissemination of information,
vi) to offer students outside the institutions, programmes of education equivalent to those
available within institutions,
vii) to measure what the student knows rather than how, when or where he/she learns it;
(That is, all knowledge seekers …(were) to have equal opportunity and the learning
process …(was) not confined to one’s youth or to campus environment.), and
viii)
to provide a valuable tool in an educational crisis to solve problems of both
quality and quantity.

It may be noted that Open Schooling was seen as a non-formal and more importantly a parallel
alternative system (see Subsection 4.1.3) vis-à-vis the day schooling system (called the formal
system). Secondly, it aimed at target groups that had remained neglected that far, promising them
equivalent (to that available in the formal system) education. And thirdly, it perceived itself as an
operational tool that could solve the problems of access, equity and quality in educational
dispensation in the country.

Also, worthy of note is the fact that it adopted most of the salient features of openness-- “ i) open
entry system, ii) flexibility in the scheme of studies, iii) flexibility in examination schemes, iv)
multilevel registration, v) multi-media instructional material, vi) nominal fees with full exemption


211 As narrated in Section 4.2, Open School was the precursor of NOS, which was eventually upgraded as
NIOS.
212 Report on Study of Cost Effectiveness in Open School, New Delhi, (1986), Northern India Regional
Council of The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, New Delhi. p. 5.
213 Ibid. pp. 6-7.

105

214
for weaker sections of society and vii) periodical contact programmes” —a very bold stance in
a super-conservative socio-educational environment.

215
The Government of India had been meeting its net expenses since 1983-84 . With every passing
year, the expenses increased along a very steep curve. For example, the budget estimates for
1986-87 were INR 6,858,000 against the actual expenses of INR 4,696,000 for 1985-86, an
increase of 46 per cent. Somewhat unusual for the official experiences and also for the
Government, this unthinkable rise motivated a cost study of the operation. The Northern India
Regional Council of the Institute of Cost & Works Accountants of India was commissioned (in
May 1986) to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the Open Schooling system and also to assess
the reasonableness of the budget estimates for 1986-87. It was to be a comparative study
involving the Open School, the Patrachar Vidyalaya216 (translation: Correspondence School) run
by Delhi Administration, Kendriya Vidyalayas run by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and the
Government Schools of Delhi Administration. The schools compared are profiled in the
following table.

217
Table 4.22
Institutional profiles of institutions involved in comparison

School
Open School
Patrachar
Delhi Admin.
Kendriya
systems
Vidyalaya,
Schools
Vidyalayas
Delhi Amin.

Enrolment:
3,164 --
661,987
313,000
(Approx.)
1882-83
Enrolment:
6,297 (+99.02 %)*
11,322
701,642 (+5.99 %)
338,671 (+8.20%)
1883-84

Enrolment:
7,328 (+16.37 %)
14,289 (+26.21%)
748,744 (+6.29%)
366,885 (+8.33%)
1884-85
Enrolment:
10,172 (+38.81%)
15,923 (+11.44%)
-- --
1885-86
Enrolment:
11,000 (+8.14%)(Projection) --
--
--
1886-87
Features
Class V pass the minimum
Correspondence
Day scholar system;
Day scholar system;
entry qualification for bridge
education;
medium of
sciences taught in
courses and class VIII pass
minimum entry
instruction - Hindi;
English and social
for secondary classes; Hindi
qualification VIII
classes from VI to
sciences in Hindi;
as well as English used as the
pass; classes from
XII; registration
classes from I to XII;
medium of instruction;
IX to XII; all
done mainly at the
caters mainly to the
registration valid for 5 years;
subjects to be
lowest level with the children of Public
students to choose any 5
studied
provision of filling
Sector and Govt.
subjects and pass in as many
simultaneously and
vacancies at other
Employees with
of them at a time as they
all subjects to be
levels if required.
transferable (across
could; certificates issued on
cleared at one
States) jobs.
clearing all the 5 subjects
sitting; mainly for
within 5 years.
Delhi region.
* Figures in parentheses present the increase percent.

214 Ibid. p. 6.
215 Ibid. pp. 7-8.

216 Run by Delhi Administration, this school used Hindi as the medium of instruction and functioned like a
traditional correspondence school with a small component of face-to-face tutorials.
217 Based on the Report on Study of Cost Effectiveness in Open School, New Delhi, (1986), Northern India
Regional Council of The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, New Delhi. pp. 11-12.



106


The annual increase of about 6 per cent in the enrolment of Delhi Administration Schools
represents the general trend at most schools all over the country. With the limited data that we
have, an 8 per cent annual increase at the Kendriya Vidyalayas seems to be consistent. The
Patrachar Vidyalaya shows higher increases, while the Open School shows much higher levels of
enrolment, but the increments are not consistent. It may be for this inconsistency that their
projection for 1986-87 mimics the trend at the Kendriya Vidyalayas. What is clear, however, is
that enrolments at the Open School would rise significantly as soon as they launched their senior
secondary and vocational courses and that the flexibility they provide would tell upon the
enrolments at the Patrachar Vidyalaya, which in fact was eventually closed. The students still on
its rolls were transferred to NIOS this year.

It was “considered appropriate to assess the unit cost per student, i.e. cost on enrolment basis. The
approach has been deemed realistic since the scheme of studies in the Open School is in the
nature of providing the maximum and concentrated attention to the student in the year of
enrolment. Thereafter the link with the school is generally for applying to sit for examinations
and obtaining the results thereof”218. Further, the costs have been divided into two types: fixed
and variable. And in this analysis219 the fixed costs included the salary and benefits of office
personnel and the expenses for running offices, while the remaining expenses including those on
limited capital items were treated as variable costs, i.e. the costs that would vary depending on the
number of students registered and managed annually. Since all the four systems were affiliated
with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the examination fee collected from
students was passed on to CBSE, and therefore not included in the analysis. A similar approach
was followed in the case of the Patrachar Vidyalaya, as there were no leftovers from year to year
in their case. As for the Kendriya Vidyalayas and the Delhi Administration Schools, expenses
were calculated under the routine budget heads used by the respective systems. Based on actual
expenditures, the following table presents a comparative view of the costs per student per year in
the four systems.



















218 Report on Study of Cost Effectiveness in Open School, New Delhi, (1986), Northern India Regional
Council of The Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, New Delhi. p. 13.
219 Ibid. p. 14.

107

220
Table 4.23
Comparative average cost (INR per student per annum)

Institution Academic Enrolment Expenditure Fixed
Variable
Total
year
in INR ‘000
cost per
cost per
cost per
student
student
student
Open School 1983-84 6,297 2,802
211 234 445
1984-85 7,328 4,454
228 380 608
1985-86 10,172 6,889
319 358 677
1986-87
11,000 8,610
306 477 783
(Estimates)







Patrachar
1983-84 11,322 2,441
133 83
216
Vidyalaya
1984-85 14,289 2,687
128 60
188
1985-86 15,923 2,757
105 68
173







Kendriya
1982-83 313,000 260,962 130 704 834
Vidyalayas
1983-84 338,671 323,634 147 809 956
1984-85 366,885 402,243 175 921 1096







Delhi
1982-83 661,987 559,561 209 636 845
Admin.
1983-84 701,642 675,528 237 726 963
Schools
1984-85 748,744 795,124 253 809 1062

We notice that the costs per student per annum at Kendriya Vidyalayas and Delhi Administration
Schools are comparable and nearly four times that at the Patrachar Vidyalaya in 1983-84. On the
other hand, of the two distance education systems, the Open School is costlier than the Patrachar
Vidyalaya. The investigators identified the causes of these differences:

• the Open School bought paper for their study materials from the open market at
commercial rates, while the Patrachar Vidyalaya got it from the Government at
subsidised rates,
• the Open School operated in hired premises paying rents at commercial rates, while
the latter was lodged in government premises for which they did not pay any rents (in
fact, except the Open School, all the other three institutions had the advantage of
government rent-free premises),
• the Open School had to pay rents for the hired premises to run their contact
programmes and also higher levels of remuneration to tutors to manage their contact
sessions, while Patrachar Vidyalaya used government schools rent free to run their
contact sessions, and
• the quality of the study materials prepared by the Open School had a national
character and were of a better quality in terms of both the content and the
presentation (in pedagogic terms) and, therefore, required higher levels of
remuneration and expenses for course writers and the preparation of materials
respectively.

The above data can be tabulated in a different way to assess the relative cost efficiency of the
four institutions.




220 Ibid. p. 27.

108

Table 4.24 Relative cost-efficiency of the institutions compared

Institution
1982-83 1983-84 1984-85 1985-86
c/s/y*

CE** c/s/y CE c/s/y CE c/s/y CE
Open
School
(OS)

445 1.00
608 1.00
677 1.00
Kendriya Vidyalayas
834 1.00 956 2.15 1096 1.80

(KVs)
Patrachar
Vidyalaya
(PV)

216 0.49
188 0.31
173 0.26
Delhi Admin. Schools
845 1.01 963 2.16 1062 1.75

(DASs)

Averages over two years: 1983-1985
OS
KVs
PV
DASs
Average cost per student per year
526.5
1026.0
202.0
1012.5
Relative cost taking OS Costs as the norm
1.00
1.95
0.38
1.92
* cost per student per year (c/s/y)
** CE, i.e. cost-efficiency (Ratio of the norm with what it is compared to; under 1982-83, we take
KVs as the norm and under 1983-84, 1984-85 and 1985-86 we take OS as the norm.)

Overall,
• the Open School managed a student at less than half the cost incurred by the
conventional schools in 1983-84 and slightly more than half the cost they incurred in
1984-85,
• the cost per student at KVs was more or less the same as that at the Delhi
Administration Schools in 1982-83,
• of the two distance education operations, the Patrachar Vidyalaya managed a student
nearly at one-quarter of the cost for a student at the Open School in 1985-86, and
• looking at the averages per year (worked out over two years: 1983-1985), for these
two years, the cost per student per year at the Open School is slightly more than half
of that at the two conventional schools (KVs and DASs), while it is nearly three
times that at the Patrachar Vidyalaya.

The first thing that struck the investigators was that the mix in the student population, the range of
subjects offered and the facilities provided by the four institutions differed significantly. They
took note of these differences and also the potential of the Open School, and concluded that the
Open School was “doing a pioneering role in taking education to the doorsteps of those citizens
of the country who had lost all hopes of brightening their career through proper
education”…..that it was “fulfilling the social objectives of the Government…and must be
pursued continuously” and that “the budget requirement of INR 8,610,000 projected by the
school (for 1986-87) appear(ed) to be reasonable” 221.

Though the Open School seemed to be doing well cost-wise, it did not show any significant
advantage with regard to the equity issue. The profile of students222, who attended the Open
School during the investigated five years 1981-1986 averaged out per year, is:

• General: 85 per cent,
• SC/ST: 15 per cent,

221 Ibid. p. 34.

222 Ibid. p. 35.

109

• Male: 72 per cent,
• Female: 28 per cent.

The participation of SC/ST students was much below the reservation norm of 22½ per cent (see
Footnote 22) and that of women students also was low. Clearly, though the Open School seems to
be addressing the issue of access, it does not seem to have made any significant dent in that of
equity. It was, however, too early to make a dependable judgment.

4.5.2 The Second Cost Study (1997): National Open School (1990-96)

The Open School was remodeled as an autonomous institution in 1989 and renamed “National
Open School” (NOS). Gaba’s study223 on the relative cost-effectiveness of NOS appeared in
1997. Some of its findings/details, which are relevant to the present study, are touched upon here,
though briefly.

• Government grants to NOS declined progressively from 34 per cent of its income in
1990-91 to just 2.08 per cent in 1995-96, as the share of NOS’ own earnings in its
overall income increased from 66 per cent in 1990-91 to 97.92 per cent in 1995-
96224, student fees and examination fees being the main sources of revenue.

• The study shows that the recurring cost per student kept fluctuating till 1992-93, but
recorded gradual rise beginning 1993-94—INR 697.56 in 1990-91, INR 905.20 in
1991-92, INR 708.67 in 1992-93, INR 820.27 in 1993-94, INR 1030.00 in 1994-95
and INR 1112.95 in 1995-96. “Recurring cost” has been defined to include “all sorts
of costs that must be met year after year…(including)…salaries of teaching and non-
teaching staff, maintenance of buildings and equipment, stationery, rent of building,
personal contact programme, etc.”225 The rise in costs has been attributed to various
measures initiated and introduced in 1993-94 to improve the quality of printed study
materials and to increase the number of contact programmes per subject. However,
the document does not indicate how the costs were computed.

226
Of greater interest is the cost comparison presented in the study :

Table 4.25 Cost comparison: NOS and other types of schooling (1990-91)

Type of Schooling System Number of
Cost per student
Relative
students
(INR)
cost-efficiency
National Open School
40884
0637.00
1
Kendriya Vidyalayas
30990
0904.52
1.42
State Govt. Schools
17741
1019.04
1.60
Aided Schools
33812
0969.62
1.52
Unaided Schools
74115
0747.63
1.17


223 Gaba, A. K. (1997), “Is Open Schooling in India Really Cost Effective” in M. Mukhopadhyay and M.
Parhar (Eds.) Open and Distance Education, Jawahar Publishers and Distributors, New Delhi.

224 Ibid. p. 120.
225 Ibid. p. 124.
226 Ibid. p. 125.
The data pertaining to other schooling systems was taken from Aggarwal, I. P. (1991), School Education,
Arya Book Depot, New Delhi.

110


Apart from some confusion in the details, as the NOS cost per student here varies from that
described above, the comparison is not instructive as the study does not show how the
computation was done. However, a point to note is that by 1991, NOS had already become one of
the largest schooling systems in the country. Further, the Efficiency Ratio added to the details
indicates the comparative cost-efficiency of NOS, which we will refer to later in this study.

4.5.3 The Third Cost Study (2006): National Institute of Open Schooling (2005-2006)

National Open School (NOS) was upgraded to function as the apex institution for school-level
ODL operations and named “National Institute of Open Schooling” (NIOS)227 in 2002. It
conducted its own cost study internally in 2006, exactly 20 years after the first cost study on Open
School (see Subsection 4.5.1). Presented below (see Table 4.26) is the abstract of the said
comparative study, which involves Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti Schools, Kendriya Vidyalaya
Sangathan Schools and the National Institute of Open Schooling.

228
Table 4.26 Comparative costs per student at JNVs, KVs and NIOS
(Ref. the 10th Five Year Plan: 2002-2007) [Funds in INR]
Head Navodaya
Vidyalaya
Kendriya Vidyalaya
National Institute of
1
Samiti Schools
Sangathan Schools
Open Schooling
Total number of
551 (approved, but only
931
1825 (AIs) + 920 (AVIs) = 2
schools (in the
539 in operation)
2745
system)
Cumulative enrolment 180,391 (as on 3.06)
911,993
1,427,000
3
(All the classes put
(On average nearly 327
(On average nearly 980 (All the enrolees put
together)
students per school)
students per school)
together—each
registration valid for five
years)

Average yearly
30,000
100,000
289,000 (2005-06)
4
enrolment
(about 55-65 per school)
(about 102-108 per
(289,905 actual)
school)
*
i) Total grant during
31,678,200,000
36,300,000,000
273,800,000
5
the 10th Five Year
plan (Plan and Non-


(from Non-Plan)
plan grants)

(9.57 per cent of the total)


ii) Expenditure from
-- ??
2,585,800,000
6
Own Generated Funds
(90.43 per cent of the
total)


227 See Section 4.2 for details.
228 This abstract was very kindly made available by NIOS in July 2007.

111

Total amount
31,678,200,000 36,300,000,000
2,859,600,000
7
available for five
years (i + ii)


(100 per cent)
Average
6,335,640,000 7,260,000,000
571,920,000 8
grant/expenditure per
year

**
Average cost funded
35,121 12,000
1,906*** (1,973) 9
by Government per
student per year

??
Percentage of Government’s contribution to the average cost per student

100 per cent
??
9.57 per cent
10
Cost ratio w.r.t the
17.80: 1
6.08: 1
1:1
11
norm (cost at NIOS)
* Amount spent from self-earned income of NIOS (non-plan)
** Includes expenditure from VVN and Public Sector’s contribution over and above Plan

and Non-Plan grants from MHRD.
*** This included the cost of books which is INR 500/- per candidate.
Source: KVS Annual Report (2005-06), NVS Annual Report (2005-06) and NIOS at a Glance
(2006).


There are a few difficulties in interpreting this abstract:

• The study does not consider the actual expenditures of the three schooling systems.
Instead, it starts with the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-2007) budget funds approved for
and granted to the three institutions. From those figures, it computes the funding
available to each one of them for each of the five years of the plan period. Any other
institutionally-generated income is also taken into consideration. The number of
students registered by the three institutions in the year 1985-86 is taken as the norm
for the respective institutions and then costs per student are computed simply by
distributing the available funds over the number of students enrolled.
• The study does not consider how different one institution is from the other, nor how
they spend and on what.
• Furthermore, in the case of the KVs an additional sum of money is assumed to have
been spent spread over the five years of the plan, though the related Annual Report of
the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan does not make any clear mention of such a
source/spending.

Additional details (row- and column-wise) facilitate the interpretation of the available data.
Row 2 ,Column 4: NIOS does not have any schools. It works through Accredited
Institutions (AIs) and Accredited Vocational Institutions (AVIs).

112

Row 3, Column 1: Cumulative enrolment is not the same for NIOS and the other two
types of schools. For NIOS, it represents the total number of the students (enjoying a
stretched span of 5 year registration) on the rolls in 2005-06, while for the other two
systems, it represents the total number of students (classes I to XII or VI to XII as the
case may be) on the rolls in 2005-06.
Row 4, Column 4: 289,000 is certainly not the average yearly enrolment at NIOS (the
exact figure for 2005-06 was 289,905). Similarly, for NVS schools different documents
quote different figures, but here we take the listed figure 30,000 on board.
Row 8, Column 1: A grant is not the same thing as the expenditure, nor are they
necessarily equal.
Row 9, Columns 1, 3 and 4: In the column of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan Schools,
(7,260,000,000 ÷ 911,993) = 7961 and not 12,000. Of course, there is a footnote
indicating that some more funds are involved, but then all those funds are not provided by
the Government. VVN (Vidyalaya Vikas Nidhi, i.e. School Development Fund) is built
on payments by students, not by the Government. Again, in the case of NIOS, most of the
expenditure has come from their own earnings, not from the Government.
Row 9, Column 4: The correct figure for NIOS is INR 1,973 not INR 1,906.
Rows 10 and 11 have been added to the original abstract to highlight the relative costs.
Also, various derived details have been added in some of the cells to enhance the details.
Assuming that the approach adopted for computing the per student cost per year is rational, one
can see that a student at a Navodaya Vidyalaya costs nearly 18 times that at NIOS and a student
at a Kendriya Vidyalaya more than 6 times.
4.5.4 Computation of the cost-efficiency of NIOS
Before attempting to compute the cost-efficiency of NIOS today, it’s helpful to reflect on the
three studies discussed above (see Subsection 4.5.1, 4.5.2 and 4.5.3) and outline the various basic
facts that should inform and guide any computation pertaining to NIOS as it operates now.
Comments on the Studies of 1986, 1997 and 2006
The major significance of all the three studies for the present one is that they serve as reference
points two decades apart to build comparisons across a long period of time. Further, they are
instructive in terms of the methodology of computation they have used.
• The first two studies have used the actual expenditure data, while the third has used the
budgeted funds as the starting point. In this sense the third study is cruder than the first
two.
• In order to find average costs, all the three have ignored the cost differences associated
with the different levels of students. For example, the cost per student per year at the XII
Class level should be more than that at Class I, VI or X levels, for the simple reason that
more qualified, and therefore costlier, teachers are needed at that level.

113

• In all the three studies, there is no indication of the costs having been amortised over the
relevant number of years wherever necessary, for example, the costs incurred on
buildings or the course materials in ODL operations.
• Though all the three studies involve ODL institutions and the conventional institutions,
none seems to recognise the basic differences between the two systems, as all of them
take recourse to FTE approach for computation.
• All the three studies remain handicapped on account of the conventional budgeting
framework comprising plan and non-plan components. This framework, unless
deconstructed into activity based accounting/analysis, does not promote accuracy in the
computation of costs, especially in ODL operations.
• In all the three studies, each student has been deemed as an annual entity, though each of
them remains on a course for two years at conventional schools. To get the per student
per course cost, the per student per year cost has to be doubled. On the other hand, in the
case of ODL students, certification is allowed by cumulative credits. So, annual costing is
not relevant here. Instead, computation has to be based on subject related costs.
• The studies, especially the first two, use terms like cost-effectiveness without assigning
any meaning to them; for example the notion of cost-effectiveness is confused with the
notion of unit costs. The present study is specific about such notions (see Chapter 2 for
explanations).

These comments notwithstanding, this study too will follow some parts of the same methodology
of computation. And wherever a different approach is followed, it will explain and justify why
one and not the other approach has been adopted.
4.5.5 The approach adopted for computation in this study
The customary full-time equivalent (FTE) computation used in the conventional systems of
education for purposes of cost analysis does not suit such analysis in ODL systems because of the
radical flexibilities they offer to students. Experiences of the past few decades have shown that
with subjects or credits as the basis of computation (i.e. subject enrolments, subject examinations
appeared at, passes in the number of subjects, fee paid/charged per subject, examination fee per
subject, and so on), cost analysis in ODL has become easier and much more reliable.
A “subject” is significant as a unit of NIOS operations. Students joining NIOS must complete five
subjects successfully to claim certification at the secondary as well as the senior secondary level.
They are free to choose any combination of subjects, except that from amongst the
language/literature subjects, they must choose at least one, but not more than two. Further, they
are allowed to choose two more subjects, in addition to the five required, to try and see what
subjects suit them most. Accordingly, students (not all necessarily) take more than five subjects to
finally settle for the most suitable five. Once admitted in July/August, NIOS students may remain
on the school rolls for five years, during which period they are allowed nine chances (i.e. they
have the option to complete five subjects successfully at nine examinations conducted by NIOS
during those five years) to clear the five chosen subjects. To accommodate these nine chances,
NIOS conducts examinations (in all the subjects on offer for both the levels) twice in an academic
year in the months April/May and October/November. There are specific regulations to regulate
participation in examinations:
• A student admitted in July/August cannot sit at the Oct./Nov. examination in the
same year.

114

• A student who clears the secondary level examination in a particular year has to log
in two academic years necessarily before he/she can clear the senior secondary
examination completely.
• If a student fails to complete at least five subjects successfully in five years, he/she
needs to seek admission once again to continue studies at NIOS.
• A student may appear for one, two or more subjects at a time; those who want to
clear all the five subjects at one go are permitted to do so.
• Fees to sit for examinations are not combined with the admission/subject fees, as
students pay examination fees only when they want to sit for an examination and
only for as many subjects as they choose.
• Years have no significance here; students become subject-enrolees and must clear
subjects to claim certificates. It does not matter in which year the subject is cleared.
This realisation notwithstanding, the financial operations of the ODL systems in most developing
countries have to align with budgeting systems of the respective governments, which continue to
be based on the traditional plan and non-plan funding regime. Any attempt to deconstruct the
recorded accounts to mould them into subject/credit computation is extremely difficult, if not
entirely impossible.
The second issue is that of different types of student vis-à-vis different courses and subjects. The
services required by and the expenditure incurred on a student on vocational courses, or a student
of the I Primary class are not the same as those required by the secondary or senior secondary
students. Yet there is no simple way of disentangling the recorded accounts in order to compute
various costs for such differing student categories.
In our computations in the following subsections, a rational mix of FTE and subject-based
calculations will be followed to arrive at as accurate cost figures as possible. For each category of
computation, explanations have been provided in the form of notes.
229
4.5.6 Basic
facts that inform and guide the present cost computation
1. Definitions: Economics, physics and home science are called subjects at NIOS, while
secondary and senior secondary programmes are called courses.
2. Admissions begin in July and close in September (with late fee). Admissions for
vocational courses also take place during the same time with minor variations in actual
dates for the submission of applications for academic and vocational courses.
3. There is a lower age restriction for joining NIOS. Only those who have attained 14 years
of age can join the academic courses at NIOS, but there is no upper age limit for being on
the rolls.
4. At both the levels—secondary and senior secondary—students must register for at least
five subjects (one of which must be a language subject and nobody can take more than
two language subjects) of their choice. In addition to these five subjects each applicant is
allowed to register for one or two additional subjects in order for them to see which
subjects they may be more comfortable with—some applicants do not take advantage of
this facility, some take one additional subject and very few take two. Accordingly, they
can sit for examinations in seven subjects, but they need to clear only five (at least one of
which must be a language subject) to claim the relevant certificate.

229 Sourced from NIOS At A Glance-2006, (2006), NIOS, New Delhi, and NIOS Prospectus for Academic
Courses, 2006-07,
NIOS, New Delhi.

115

5. A registered student is supposed to benefit from the services (academic support such as
tutorials) available at one’s study centre during the first year of one’s registration.
Subsequently, till one clears all the required subjects, one is to be on one’s own, leaving
room for the students of the new cohort(s).
6. A student pays the examination fee only for the subjects he/she is willing to sit for. It is
paid around a month or so before the commencement of the examination. This process is
no different for those who take vocational courses.
7. At the secondary level, a student can appear for examinations in all the five required
subjects at the end of the first academic year (July-April) in April and claim a certificate
if he/she clears all the five subjects. For the senior secondary level, however, one has to
have a gap of two years between one’s secondary and senior secondary certifications. Of
these two years, a student has to be on NIOS rolls for at least one year.
8. If a student fails to claim a certificate (secondary or senior secondary) by the end of the
permitted registration span of five years for which he/she remains on rolls, he/she can
reregister for another five years, and he/she will be given exemption in the subjects (at
the most two) that he/she may have cleared already. Further, there is no restriction on
failures—one may appear in a subject as many times as one needs to clear it.
9. A failure from any other schooling system, who may join NIOS in July in a particular
year, is permitted to sit for the Oct./Nov. examination in as many subjects as he/she wants
to. Besides, he/she is given exemption in the subjects (at the most two) that he/she may
have cleared in the previous system.
10. Each subject is supported by 30 tutorials sessions. Subjects with practicals are supported
by 35 tutorial sessions.
11. Assignments are changed every year.
12. Students are expected to submit three assignments per subject. The assignment-responses
are assessed and commented on by tutors at study centres. Such assessment, however, is
used for formative purposes only.
13. NIOS has a budgetary system that combines earnings and expenditure pertaining to all its
courses in one and the same portfolio. It is neither activity driven, nor subject- enrollee
based.
14. The Central Government does not use any standard funding formula (i.e. @ per student
or per subject enrolment) to fund NIOS. Instead, plan-grants are given to NIOS on the
basis of their budget estimates.
15. There is no difference in the fees charged for subjects without and with practicals, but
there is a differential examination fee structure that differentiates subjects with practicals
from those without them.
16. Though there are concessions available in the case of admission/subject fees charged
from different categories of students, there are no such concessions available in the case
of fees for examinations. Examinees from all the various categories have to pay the same
fee to sit for an examination.
17. Similarly, there are no concessions in the fee charged for additional subjects (beyond the
required five) taken by any category of students.
18. Concessions to various categories of students are given at just one level. For example,
female SC/ST students (having already benefited from the general concession available
to SC/ST students) do not get the fee concession available to female students in the
general category.
19. Ex-servicemen and handicapped students also get the same fee concession as is available
to SC/ST students.
20. All the Accredited Institutions (AIs) are paid (on the basis of the number of students they
register and provide academic and administrative services to) at a flat rate of INR 250 per

116

student, irrespective of the categories of students concerned and/or the subjects they may
have registered for.
21. All the AIs are not necessarily examination centres. Examination centres are paid in
accordance with set norms which allow multiple variations depending on factors such as
the number of examinees and subjects.
22. Establishment expenditure includes expenses on the regular staff of NIOS, the peripheral
staff such as wage earners, and the contractual workers employed by NIOS during the
course of a financial year.
23. NIOS staff who work on various projects do not get paid for their work on such projects.
That work is counted as a part of their routine work and has to be performed during their
usual institutional time.


4.5.7 Cost-efficiency of NIOS: the present study

To discuss the cost-efficiency of NIOS, we have used three basic abstracts: enrolment at NIOS,
the actual income and expenditure (Non-plan) of NIOS (see Table 4.28) and the actual
expenditure of NIOS under its Plan Budget (see Table 4.29).
230
Table 4.27

NIOS enrolment and apportioning factors

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
Foundation
Courses
(L)
815
1,087
-- -- -- --
Vocational Courses (M)
17,770
22,321 21,211 20,985 22,879 22,166
Total (L + M) = x
18,585
23,408
21,211
20,985
22,879
22,166
Secondary
Courses
(X) 114,272 143,853 203,518 140,501 151,833 160,791
Sr. Secondary Courses (Y)
72,924
83,122
118,236
97,568
115,193
130,192
Total (X + Y) = y
187,196
226,975
321,754
238,069
267,026
290,983
Grand total (x + y) = z
205,781
250,383
342,965
259,054
289,905
313,149
Apportioning factor
0.9097 0.9065 0.9382 0.9189 0.9210 0.9292
for X+Y = y/z

Foundation courses were abolished beginning the academic year 2003-04. To focus on the costs
pertaining to secondary and senior secondary students, costs are apportioned proportionately to
calculate those for the secondary and senior secondary level students, segregating them from
those for vocational courses. The last row in the table above shows the apportioning factor for
each year under investigation.





230 National Institute of Open Schooling—Academic enrolment: http://www.nios.ac.in/enrolacad.htm
(accessed on July 30, 2007)

117

Table 4.28

Abstract of NIOS income and expenditure: actuals231 (INR
millions)
Actual Income (INR
2001-
2002-
2003-
2004-
2005-
2006-
millions)
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Admission
fee
166.363
236.374 401.105 265.169 285.544 320.597
Examination
fee
119.238
146.031 182.920 187.269 190.519 192.656
Other fee
2.748 2.214
6.131
4.852
5.296
4.470
Miscellaneous income
9.102 11.755
10.189
17.872
1.340
41.510
Sale of publications
33.029 34.864
24.269
26.257
29.041
2.907
Interest received



21.079
34.656
COL
receipts

0.484
Total (A)
330.480 431.238
624.614
501.419
532.819
597.280






MHRD Grants (Plan)
53.000 53.300
90.000
54.000
36.000
40.500
Unutilised balance carried
0.571 6.649
8.054
11.845
--
--
over
Total of Grants (Plan) (B)
53.571 59.949
98.054
65.845
36.000
40.500






Grand Total (income A + B)
384.051 491.187
722.668
567.264
568.819
637.780
Government’s contribution





in the income of NIOS (%)
13.95 12.21
13.57
11.61
6.33
6.35
Average contribution per




10.1%
year
Actual (Non-plan) Expenditure
(INR millions)

Establishment 29.070
40.015
50.146 52.628 57.526 60.897
Examination
53.431 91.025 130.531 119.919 118.167 102.797
Academic
activities
0.491
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Personal contact programme
38.308
53.275 79.063 63.867 62.043 66.814
Office maintenance
45.178
47.068
48.658 44.787 45.410 50.068
Paper and printing
108.639
167.531
187.516
109.398
122.104
151.369
Vehicles
0.00 0.990
0.00 0.00 0.731 0.00
Furniture and equipment
--
1.881
0.561
0.600
1.325
1.681
COL expenditure
--
--
--
0.743
0.619
0.308
Expenditure … (incurred on
-- -- -- 17.155
69.197
41.266
Plan Items)
Expenditure of NER trf from 0.00
0.020
NER expenditure
Total Non-plan Expenditure
275.070
401.785
496.475
409.097
477.122
475.220
(X)
Deferred funds for the next
55.410 29.453 128.139 92.322 55.697 122.060
year (A-X)

Plan expenditure (Y)
46.922 51.895 86.209 83.000 105.197 81.766
[see Table 4.29 for details]
Grand Total (expenditure X
321.992
453.680
582.684
492.097
582.319
556.986
+ Y)







Subsidies

18.096 17.247 26.787 40.732 43.386 ?


231 Based on various abstracts (of Accounts) very kindly arranged (July, 2007) by NIOS, New Delhi.

118

Notes on Table 4.28:
Academic activities: …….writing of course materials, preparation of media materials, etc.
Beginning 2002-03, these activities were shifted to the Plan Head.
Other fees: ……………….such as those for duplicate certificates.
Miscellaneous fees: …… sale of waste materials, tenders.
Publications: ……………sample question papers, prospectus.
Establishment: …………..salaries of the tenured staff and wages of peripheral staff.
Deferred funds: ………….may be considered as profit (in the commercial sense)
Subsidies: …………… these are notional, equivalent to the amount lost (notionally) in the
process of allowing concessions to various categories of students, such as
SCs/STs.
232
Table 4.29
Abstract of NIOS plan expenditure: actuals (INR millions)
Actual Expenditure
2002-
2003-
2004-
2005-
2006-
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
(INR millions)
Academic
programmes
8.486 8.917 4.190 3.175 2.310
Media
materials
2.550 3.576 2.830 1.732 0.514
Student
support
services
18.741 18.793 18.568 19.302 20.532
National database on Open Schooling
.050
--
--
--
--
National consortium of Open Schools
0.273
0.007
0.264
0.034
--
Human resource development: training,
0.810 0.942 0.056 0.093 --
seminars and workshops

Research , evaluation, etc
0.244
0.040
0.106
--
--
Technical and professional
2.244 0.069 0.500 0.500 --
support for developing Open Schooling
Library
0.583 0.236 0.136 0.168 0.163
Computer
(ICT)
3.105 2.673 --
2.145 0.775
Advertisement and publicity
10.863
7.496
3.020
1.951
3.438
Buildings
etc.
1.551 41.981 52.098 75.245 52.415
Vocational
programmes
2.395 1.479 1.232 0.852 1.619
Total (B)
51.895
86.209
83.000
105.197
81.766






Government
grant
53.300 90.000 54.000 36.000 40.500
Last year’s unutilised balance
6.649
8.054
11.845
--
--
Total available for the year (A)
59.949
98.054
65.845
36.000
40.500
Surplus/deficit (A-B)
8.054
11.845
-17.155
- 69.197
- 41.266

232 Based on various abstracts (of Accounts) very kindly arranged (August, 2007) by NIOS, New Delhi.


119


The above three tables (Tables 4.27, 4.28 and 4.29) provide no idea of the costs per student per
year or those per subject per student. Of course, using the number of students enrolled every year
calculations of the type of earlier studies can be presented, but the intention is to be as realistic
and accurate as possible.

Table 4.30 is a reconstruction of the information presented in the above three tables. In this
reconstruction:

• To avoid any possible confusion, no specific systems of numeration (i.e. millions etc
for the Western readers or lakhs/crores etc for the Indian readers) are used. Instead,
the actual figures are used, though they seem to be somewhat harsh to the eye.
• The approach to computation for each category of expenditure has been explained in
the notes that follow Table 4.30.
• The year 2001-02 has been left out of the computation, as the period 2002-07
provides a wholesome five years covering the entire 10th Five Year Plan period.
• The letter (N) indicates that the item has been taken from the Non-plan Expenditure
and the letter (P) that from the Plan Expenditure from the Tables 4.28 and 4.29
respectively.
• The logic of regrouping items (Plan and Non-plan) into different categories is
explained in the notes that follow Table 4.30.
• The focus is on the expenditure, i.e. the costs.





























120

Table 4.30

NIOS Expenditure for 2002-07: a reconstruction (INR)



C
Expenditure
head
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
a






t.
A

Establishment (N)
36,273,598
47,046,977 48,359,869 52,981,446 56,585,492
Office maintenance
42,667,142 45,650,936 41,154,774 41,822,610 46,523,186
(N)
Paper & printing (N)
151,866,852
175,927,511 100,525,822 112,457,784 140,652,075
Student support
16,987,810 17,631,593 17,062,135 17,777,142 19,078,334
services (P)
Advertisement &
9,847,310 7,032,747 2,775,078 1,796,871 3,194,590
publicity (P)
National consortium
247,476 6,567 242,590 31,314 --
(P)
Computers etc. (P)
2,814,683 2,507,809 --
1,975,545 720,130
Total [A]
260,704,871
295,804,140 210,120,268 228,842,712 266,753,807







B
Buildings etc (P)
28,138 787,731 957,457 1,386,013
974,080


28,138 28,138 28,138 28,138


787,731
787,731
787,731


957,457
957,457


1,386,013
Total [B]
28,138
815,869
1,773,326 3,159,339 4,133,419







C
Acad. programmes (P)
1,697,200 1,783,400 838,000 635,000 462,000
Media programmes (P) 433,500 607,920 481,100 294,440 87,380
National database (P)
9,065
--
--
--
--
Human resource
146,853 176,382 10,292 17,131 --
development (P)
Research etc. (P)
44,419
7,506
19,481
--
--
Technical support ….
--
12,947 91,890 92,100 --
(P)
COL activities (N)
--
--
136,549
114,020
57,239
Vehicles (N)
179,487
--
--
134,650
--
Total
2,510,524 2,588,155 1,577,312 1,287,341 606,619


2,510,524 2,510,524 2,510,524 2,510,524


2,588,155
2,588,155
2,588,155

1,577,312
1,577,312
1,287,341










Total [C]
2,510,524
5,098,679 6,675,991 7,963,332 8,569,951







D
Furniture etc. (N)
170,513 52,633 55,134 122,033 156,199
Library

(P)
52,940 22,142 12,497 15,473 15,146
223,453 74,775 67,631 137,506 171,345
Total


223,453 223,453 223,453 223,453
74,775
74,775
74,775
67,631
67,631
137,506
Total
[D]
223,453 298,228 365,859 503,365 674,710








121


E
Personal contact





programmes (N)


Total [E]
56,743,750 80,438,500 59,517,250 66,756,500 72,745,750

CASE – I includes the expenditure on examinations in the computation.
F
Examinations (N)





Total [F]
74,681,187 105,867,731 78,371,920 87,926,971 95,833,780







G Grand
total
394,891,923 488,323,147 356,824,614 395,152,219 448,711,417
[A+B+C+D+E+F] = x







H
Number of students =
226,975 321,754 238,069 267,026 290,983
y
I
Cost per student (to
1739.80 1517.69 1498.83 1479.83 1542.05
cover five subjects) =
x/y
J
Average cost per student (for 5 subjects computed over 5 years: 2002-07) =1,549.59 or around INR 1550
Average cost per student (for 1 subject computed over 5 years: 2002-07) = INR 310
K
Average cost per student (for 5 subjects computed over 4 years: 2002-06) = INR 1551.68
CASE-
II

In this case the expenditure on examinations has been excluded to compute the average costs per student (for 5
subjects over 5 years and over 4 years separately) in order to make comparisons across schools accurate and
reliable.







L Grand
total
320,210,736 382,455,416 278,452,694 307,225,248 352,877,637
[A+B+C+D+E] = z







M
Number of students =
226,975 321,754 238,069 267,026 290,983
y
N
Cost per student (to
1410.77 1188.66 1169.63 1150.55 1212.71
cover five subjects) =
z/y
O
Average cost per student (for 5 subjects computed over 5 years: 2002-07) = INR 1,226.46
Average cost per student (for 1 subject computed over 5 years: 2002-07) = INR 245.29
P
Average cost per student (for 5 subjects computed over 4 years: 2002-06) = INR 1,229.90 or INR 1230

Notes on Table 4.30

Category A: At NIOS, secondary and senior secondary students are registered for five
years at one go. They pay according to the number of subjects they take (not less than
five and not more than seven). They are given all the course materials at the time of
registration. They are supported at the respective study centres for the first academic year
of their registration. Subsequently they are on their own as they sit for examinations as
and when they want within the set five years. This way the first phase of expenditure
incurred by NIOS on its students pertains to the first year of their registration, when they
receive the materials and tutorial support.

Here they are like year-based students in a conventional school and partake of expenses
on the establishment, office maintenance, paper and printing (used for study materials for
the year concerned), student support services (i.e. expenses on running Regional
Centres), advertisements and publicity, national consortium of open learning and
computers (Information and Communication Technology) on a yearly basis. The
expenditure under these heads is, therefore, assigned to the very first year of a cohort’s
registration. But there are students on vocational (and earlier on foundation) courses too.


122

Since both categories provide similar services, to compute the expenditure assignable to
secondary and senior secondary students, we have apportioned the expenses listed in
Table 4.28 (NIOS-based abstract) appropriately using the respective apportioning factors
of the relevant years from Table 4.27. For example, for the year 2002-03, the expenditure
on establishment, INR 40,015,000 (see Table 4.28) is multiplied by the relevant
apportioning factor, 0.9065 (see Table 4.27) for the secondary and senior secondary
students and we get (INR 40,015,000 x 0.9065 =) INR 36,273,589, the entry under 2002-
03 against establishment.

Category B: This pertains to buildings etc, items traditionally put under Plan Expenditure.
The basic year to year figures have been culled from Table 4.29 and computed at two
levels—first, the available amount has been divided using the relevant apportioning
factor (as in the case of Category A) to compute the apportioned amount for the
secondary and senior students; and then at the second level, this amount has been
amortised over 50 years to be shared by the future students as well. For example, the
expenditure incurred on buildings etc in 2002-03 was INR 1,552,000 (see Table 4.29). At
the first level of computation—INR 1,552,000 x 0.9065 (the relevant apportioning factor)
= INR 1,406,888; and at the second level of computation this amount is amortised over
50 years—INR 1,406,888/50 = INR 28,138, the entry under 2002-03 against Buildings
etc. [Figures in italics in the table pertain to the computation of amortisation.]

Category C: The first item, academic programmes, in this category is the expenditure for
developing study materials pertains exclusively to the secondary and senior secondary
students. Once they are developed233 they remain in use for several (generally five) years.
So the cost of developing materials has to be amortised. For example, the cost of
developing academic programmes in 2002-03 was INR 8,486,000 (see Table 4.29). It is
amortised over five years—INR 8,486,000 ÷ 5 = INR 1,697,200 per year, the entry under
2002-03 against academic programmes.

233 Development of materials is not to be confused with the printing or production of materials. We
print/produce as much as we need for the year concerned; so the cost in this case is year based/related. The
cost for developing study materials, however, falls into a different category of costs. The NIOS
remuneration rates for developing study materials are as follows:

S.
Activity Rates
in
No.
INR
1
Writing self-instructional materials (up to 5000 words)
2000.00
2
Content editing of the original Unit
500.00
3
Language editing of a Unit
500.00
4
Translating the materials (up to 5000 words)
1000.00
5 Revision

500.00
6
Preparation of an assignment
150.00
7
Assessment of assignments (per assignment)
5.00
8
Proof reading: a) Normal;
5.00
b) With mathematical work (up to 350 words in either case)
7.00
9
Preparation of items for a Question Bank (per item)
10.00
10
Typing per page
5.00
11
Computer work: a) Graphics;
40.00
b) Scanning (per diagram in either case)
25.00
12
Word processing: a) Normal;
15.00
b) With mathematical data (with a floppy in either case)
20.00


123


The second item, media programmes, is. the expenditure for developing media materials
such as audio and video support for study materials. This pertains to academic (85 per
cent of the cost)234 as well as vocational (15 per cent of the cost) courses. Such materials
too remain in use for five years after they are developed. Accordingly, media support for
academic (i.e. secondary and senior secondary) courses will cost 85 per cent of the
expenditure on such materials and it has to be amortised over five years as in the case of
Category A. For example, the cost of developing media programmes in 2002-03 was INR
2,550,000 (see Table 4.29); 85 per cent of which (i.e. INR 2,550,000 x 0.85 =) INR
2,167,500 relates to secondary and senior secondary courses. Further, it is amortised over
five years—INR 2,167,500 ÷ 5 = INR 433,500 per year, the entry under 2002-03 against
academic programmes.

The remaining six items in this category (i.e. national database etc, human resource
development etc, research etc, technical support etc, COL activities and vehicles etc) are
of relevance to all the students of NIOS and their utility and impact spills over a five year
period (as per official regulations of NIOS) including the year in which the related costs
are incurred. Accordingly, in their case the expenditure is first apportioned appropriately
for the secondary and senior secondary students and then amortised over five years. For
example, take the expenditure on human resource development in the year 2002-03 from
Table 4.29, i.e. INR 810,000. The apportioned amount for the secondary and senior
secondary students will be INR 810,000 x 0.9065 (the relevant apportioning factor) =
INR 734,265. Amortising it over five years we get INR 734,265 ÷ 5 = INR 146,853, the
entry under 2002-03 against human resource development. And so on. [Figures in italics
in the table pertain to the computation of amortisation.]

Category D: In this category there are only two items, furniture etc. and library. The
basis of computation here is the same as in the case of the third set of items in Category
C, except that here the period of amortisation is longer, i.e. ten years (as per official
regulations of NIOS). For example, take the 2002-03 expenditure on library from Table
4.29, i.e. INR 584,000. The apportioned amount for the secondary and senior secondary
students will be INR 584,000 x 0.9065 (the relevant apportioning factor) = INR 529,396.
Amortising it over ten years we get (INR 529,396/10 =) INR 52,940, the entry under
2002-03 against library. And so on. [Figures in italics in the table pertain to the
computation of amortisation.]

Category E: In this category we have just one item, i.e. personal contact programmes. As
explained earlier, NIOS pays to AIs at the rate of INR 250 per student (in the first year of
one’s registration) for providing academic support such as tutorials etc to the students.
Accordingly, this expenditure is year-specific and is best computed by multiplying the
number of students enrolled in a particular year by INR 250, the rate per student. For
example, take the number of students (secondary and senior secondary put together)
enrolled in 2002-03 from Table 4.27—i.e. 226,975. Multiplying it by 250 we get INR
56,743,750, the entry under 2002-03 against personal contact programmes.

Category F: This is the most complex of all the categories to work on, because:
• a student has the facility of nine different examinations to pass his/her five subjects,
• he/she is free to appear in any number of subjects at any of these
examinations/chances,

234 As per information provided by NIOS, New Delhi.

124

• the way examination centres are paid for their services in terms of the various items
of service and the number of students they serve is too complex to work on within the
scope of this study, and
• it is not easy to disentangle accounts to track students’ progression.

The saving grace, however, is that the examination accounts stand alone, as students pay
for the subjects they sit for and do so as many times as they need to. To build a formula
to compute expenditure on examinations, the following facts are used:

1. Each registered student would sit for and pass in five subjects necessarily to obtain
certification.

2. NIOS spends at the most 65 per cent of the examination revenue on the actual
conduct of examinations. (This is not an arbitrary figure. We worked through the
examination revenue of 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07 (see Table 4.28) and also the
corresponding examinations related expenditure of these very years (see Table 4.28)
and found that the respective actual expenditures were 64.04 per cent, 62.02 per cent
and 53.36 per cent of the revenues of the corresponding years. Counting 65 per cent
of the revenue from examination fees as the corresponding expenditure on
conducting it is, therefore, a reasonable assumption.)

3. At the secondary level, 73 per cent of the subject registrations are in subjects without
practicals and 27 per cent are in subjects with practicals, while at the senior
secondary level the corresponding percentages are 70 per cent and 30 per cent
respectively (see Table 4.34 and the related explanation).

4. Examination fee for subjects without practicals is INR 90 and for those with
practicals is INR 130.

Derived from the above facts, four factors are used to compute what NIOS may spend on
examinations for the cohort of a particular year. The factors are (5)x(0.73)x(90)x(0.65),
(5)x(0.27)x(130)x(0.65), (5)x(0.70)x(90)x(0.65) and (5)x(0.30)x(130)x(0.65); the first two for the
secondary level and the last two for the senior secondary level.

Take the 2006-07 cohort—160,791 registered for the secondary course and 130,192 for the senior
secondary course (see Table 4.27). All the 160,791 secondary students will sit for five subjects
each, i.e. 803,955 subjects in all; 73 per cent (i.e. 0.73) of these subjects are without practicals,
so NIOS will collect INR 90 as examination fee for each one of them, but will spend only 65 per
cent (i.e. 0.65)
of the collected amount on the conduct of examinations. Thus NIOS will spend
INR 160,791 x 5 x 0.73 x 90 x 0 .65 = INR 34,332,898.28 on the conduct of examinations in non-
practical subjects. And 160,791 x 5 x 0.27 x 130 x 0.65 = INR 18,342,233.33 on the conduct of
examinations in subjects with practicals. Thus, overall NIOS will spend INR 52,675,132 on
examinations for the 160,791 secondary students of 2006-07 irrespective of when they sit for their
respective subjects. Again, using the senior secondary-specific factor, the expenditure for the
senior secondary students of 2006-07comes to INR 43,158,648, bringing the total expenditure for
the entire secondary cohort of 2006-07 to INR 95,833,780, the entry under 2006-07 against
examinations.

Case-I: Computation in Rows G, H (see also Table 4.27), I, J and K is straightforward.
Row I provides the year-wise cost per student for him/her to complete five subjects for
certification, while Row J presents the average cost (computed over five years) per

125

student per course = INR 1,550.00, (i.e. INR 310 per subject), and Row K presents the
average cost (computed over four years) per student per course = INR 1,551.68.

Case-II excludes the expenditure on examinations from the computation. Computation in
Rows L, M (see also Table 4.27), N, O, and P also is straightforward. Row N provides
the year-wise cost per student for him/her to study five subjects for certification, while
Row O presents the average cost (computed over five years) per student per course = INR
1,226.46, (i.e. INR 310 per subject), and Row P presents the average cost (computed over
four years) per student per course = INR 1,230.

4.5.8 Costs compared to two conventional day schooling systems

Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs): Table 4.31 presents the details of the actual expenditure of KVs
over the first four years of the 10th Five Year Plan. Here all the yearly costs are specific to the
year concerned, except those for buildings, which have been amortised over 50 years (see Table
4.31 below). Here the computation is on FTE basis mainly. One flaw in this computation is that it
does not recognise any difference between the costs incurred on the students studying at different
levels—class I to class XII. It offers the cost per student per year in general and not specifically
that for the secondary or the senior secondary student. The best one may say is that the average
secondary level student will certainly cost more than what the computation shows here, for the
simple reason that higher level students need teachers with higher qualifications and, therefore,
higher wages.



























126

235
Table 4.31
Expenditure at the Kendriya Vidyalayas—2002-06 (INR millions)

Heads
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
(Estimates)






Salaries (INR in millions) 4,670.500
5,145.000
5,367.500
5,666.200
5,668.200
Retirement benefits
652.000 697.800 762.600 828.900 882.000
(INR in millions)
Maintenance etc (INR in millions) 98.900
90.500
75.300
87.600
80.000
Misc. expenses (INR in millions) 181.700
221.800
148.100
83.400
210.500
Total [A] (INR in millions) 5,603.100 6,155.100 6,353.500 6,666.100 6,840.700






Construction etc (INR in millions) 875.500 989.800 886.000 1,736.100
2,350.000
(amortised over 50 years)
17.510 17.510 17.510 17.510 17.510

19.796 19.796 19.796 19.796


17.720 17.720 17.720
34.722
34.722




47.000
Total [B] (INR in millions) 17.510 37.306 55.026 89.748 136.748
Grand total (INR in millions)





[A + B]
5,620.610
6,192.406
6,408.526
6,755.848
6,977.448
Number of students
726,210
787,251
842,281
911,933
--
(Number of schools)
(843)
(902)
(933)
(931)
Cost per student per year (INR) 7,739.65 7,865.86 7,608.54 7,408.27
Cost per student per course
15,479.30 15,731.72 15,217.08 14,816.54
(INR)*
Average cost per student per course (computed over 4 years 2002-06, as the actual expenditure for 2006-07
was not available at the time of computation) INR 15,287.50
* As the secondary as well as the senior secondary students need two years to complete a course, the cost
per student per course = approximately two times the cost per student per year.
[Figures in italics in the above table pertain to the computation of amortisation.]

Emmanuel Mission Secondary School (EMSS): In addition to the data from KVs, which are
supported by the Central Government, data was collected from Emmanuel Mission Secondary
School (EMSS), Bhilwara in Rajasthan, which is not among the richer States of the country. And
Bhilwara is a small town relatively. Affiliated with the Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan,
EMSS caters to the typical middle class population of the society and builds its revenue on the
fees collected from students. It does not receive any support whatsoever from the government. It
runs classes from Nursery up to Class X using English and Hindi as the routine media of
instruction. In the academic year 2006-07, EMSS had 786 students on its rolls, of whom 158 were
in classes IX and X put together. It charges an annual fee of INR 5000 per student at the Nursery
level and INR 5700 at the secondary level, and maintains a sound teacher-student ratio for quality
services. For example, the 158 students at the secondary level were divided into six sections (the
largest sections had 29 students each and the smallest 21). EMSS has an enviable record of
posting 100 per cent throughput year after year for over a decade now. Thus, in terms of the pass
percentage of its students at the Board Examinations, its performance is better than that of KVs.
Using the available data (pertaining to the academic year 2006-07), course costs per student are
worked out as follows:

235 Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan—Budget: http://kvsangathan.nic.in/budget.htm (accessed on July 30,
2007).

127



Table 4.32
Cost per student: Emmanuel Mission Secondary School,
236
Bhilwara, Rajasthan (INR)


INR
Annual (2006-07) expenditure on Hindi Medium students
607,500.00
Annual (2006-07) expenditure on English Medium students
501,376.00
Annual (2006-07) rent for the school building
1,200,000.00
Total expenditure
2,308,876.00
Total no. of students
786
Expenditure per student per year

2,308,876 ÷ 786=
2,937.50
Expenditure on all the Secondary level students (158) in 2006-07
2,937.50 x 158= 464,125
(a)
As six sections at the secondary level would need eight teachers with better 4,500 x 8 x 12 = 432,000
qualifications/experience to guide the students, an additional salary of INR
(b)
4,500.00 per month per teacher is added to the expenditure. Thus, the
annual additional expenditure on tuition for the secondary level students in
2006-07
Total expenditure on 158 secondary level students in 2006-07
(a) + (b) =
464,125 + 432,000 =
896,125.
The cost per secondary level student per year in 2006-07
896,125 ÷ 158 = 5,671.68
As in the day school system, students need two years to complete the
5,671.68 x 2 =
secondary course, the cost per student per course
11,343. 36

To relate the findings from the above table with those from Table 4.30, presented below is Table
4.33, which details the course-wise comparison and also the relative cost-efficiency of the three
institutions.

Table 4.33


Comparative costs per secondary student per course:
NIOS, KVs and EMSS (INR)


Institutions
2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
(average
over four
years:
2002-06)

NIOS:
1410.77 1188.66 1169.63 1150.55 1212.71 1229.90
Cost/student/course
KVs:
15,479.30 15,731.72 15,217.08 14,816.54 --
15,287.50
Cost/student/course
EMSS:
-- -- -- -- 11,343.36
Cost/student/course
Relative cost-
1: 10.97
1: 13.24
1: 13.01
1: 12.88
1: 9.35
1: 12.43
efficiency




236 Details collected from Padam Nath Khar, Advisor, Emmanuel Mission Secondary School, Bhilwara,
Rajasthan, during a planned visit to the school in September, 2007.

128

Observations

• Given the special purpose as well as financial arrangements for JNVs, any cost
comparison involving JNVs (see Table 4.26) does not make any sense here.
• An interesting comparison to note is that between the cost per student per year
(INR 1973) as computed in the 2005-06 NIOS Study (see Table 4.26) and that
reached in this study, i.e. INR 1230 (per course), the difference is not much, a
mere INR 743. However, the fact to note is that INR 743 is nearly three-quarters
of the course fee (i.e. fees for five subjects put together) at NIOS, and depending
on the category of the student concerned, it is even more than the full course fee
INR 550 (for SC/ST students). Obviously, it is a significant sum in the context of
private costs of education at NIOS.
• According to the NIOS Study of 2005-06, the cost per student per year at KVs
was over six times (actually 12 times in terms of cost per course) that at NIOS
(see Table 4.26).
• In 1983-85 the cost per student per year at the KVs and Delhi Administration
Schools was nearly two times of that at the Open School (see Table 4.24).
Computing the figures for the costs per student per course (i.e. two years in the
case of KVs and Delhi Administration Schools), KVs and Delhi Administration
Schools are nearly four times costlier than the Open School.
• At present (2005-07), the cost per secondary student per course at KVs and
EMSS is more than 12 and 9 times respectively of that at NIOS (see Table 4.33).
• In 1983-85, the cost per secondary student per course at the KVs was INR 1026 x
2 = INR 2052 (see Table 4.24); in 2002-06 it was INR 15,288 (see Table 4.33).
The rise in the cost per secondary student per course at KVs over a period of
about 20 years (as a ratio) is 15,288 ÷ 2052 = 7.45, i.e. nearly 7½ times.
• In 1983-85, the cost per secondary student per course at the Open School was
INR 527 (see Table 4.24); in 2002-06 at NIOS it was INR 1,230 (see Table 4.33).
The rise in the cost per secondary student per course at NIOS over a period of
about 20 years (as a ratio) is 1,230 ÷ 527 = 2.33, i.e. nearly 2⅓ times.
• From (vi) and (vii) above, the relative (NIOS : KVs) rise in the cost per
secondary student per course over a period of 20 years is 7.45 ÷ 2.33 = 3.20. In
relative terms, the conventional mode of schooling (KVs and similar other
schools) has become more than 3 times costlier than the ODL system over the
past two decades. In other words, as the costs rise universally with the passage of
time, the conventional system of schooling turns to be more and more costly than
the ODL system. This finding should interest both the educationists and the
educational planners, especially in India, where the available levels of funding
are not even remotely adequate for the purpose.

4.5.9 Private cost of education at NIOS

A brief analysis of the registrations in three consecutive years (2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07)
should help determine out students’ private costs for education at NIOS and also ascertain the
trends in preferred subject loadings237. Table 4.34 below shows the subject-wise enrolment vis-à-
vis the head count of enrolees.


237 Number of subjects actually taken by NIOS students at the secondary and senior secondary levels.

129

238
Table 4.34

Enrolment by subject 2004-07 (an abstract)

Academic Secondary level
Senior secondary level
year
#
Subject enrolments
Average
#
Subject enrolments
Average
enrolled
no. of
enrolled
no. of
(head
Without
With
subjects
(head
Without
With
subjects
count)
practicals practicals taken by a count) practicals practicals taken by
student
a student
2006-07 160,791
624,172 227,756
5.30
130,192 486,447 210,887
5.36
(73.27 per (26.73 per subjects
(69.76 per (30.24 per
subjects
cent)
cent)
cent)
cent)
2005-06 151,833
596,758 219,585
5.39
115,193
434,535 186,603
5.39
(73.10 per (26.90 per subjects
(69.95 per (30.05 per
subjects
cent)
cent)
cent)
cent)
2004-05 140,501
553,608 203,494
5.39
97,568 378,698 154,144
5.46
(73.12 per (26.88 per subjects
(71.07 per (28.93 per
subjects
cent)
cent)
cent)
cent)
Totals &
453,125 1774,538 650,835
5.36
342,953 1,299,680 551,634
5.39
averages
(73.17 per (26.83 per subjects
(70.20 per (29.80 per
subjects
cent)
cent)
cent)
cent)
It may be noted that at either level (secondary or senior secondary) and uniformly across the
years, on average each student takes more than 5, but less than 5½ subjects. The overall average
number of the subjects239 taken by each student during 2004-2007 comes to 5.37, while the
averages for the secondary and senior secondary are 5.36 and 5.39 subjects respectively. This
figure is important as it has implications for the private cost of education at NIOS. Obviously, at
the time of registration, NIOS students do not register for as many as seven (the permitted
number of) subjects. Among the various possible reasons for this situation, affordability could be
a major issue, as most registrants do not seem to take advantage of the available facility of trying
two additional subjects.
The issue of affordability is being addressed by NIOS in their differential fee structure for
different categories of students. The objective of this approach is to address the vexing question
of equity in educational dispensation, especially with respect to women and deprived sections of
the society, supposedly the major target groups for NIOS.

NIOS charges different fees for different categories of students. The institution operates three
variations of fee per subject (for general category male students, general category female students


238 National Institute of Open Schooling—Subject-wise enrolment: http://www.nois.ac.in/subenrl.htm
(accessed on July 30, 2007)
239 Subjects available at NIOS at the secondary level: Languages subjects— Assamese, Bengali, English,
Gujarati, Hindi, Kanada, Malayalam, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Telugu and Urdu. Other subjects
Mathematics, Science & Technology*, Social Sciences, Economics, Business Studies, Home Science*,
Typewriting*, Word Processing*, Psychology and Indian Culture & Heritage. Subjects available at NIOS
at the senior secondary level
: Language subjects—English, Hindi and Urdu. Other subjects—
Accountancy, Biology*, Business Studies, Chemistry*, Computer Science*, Economics, Geography*,
History, Home Science*, Mathematics, Painting*, Physics*, Political Science, Psychology, Secretarial
Practice*, Sociology, Stenography*
*
, Typewriting and Word Processing*.
[* Subjects with practicals]


130

and for those given concessions), and two variations of examination fee—one for subjects
without practicals and the other for those with practicals. Additional subjects are costlier at both
the levels. Altogether, there are 12 categories of subject-related fees being charged at present,
obviously to promote equity and provide support to the deprived sections of the society (see
Table 4.35 below).

Table 4.35 Private cost per student per subject including examination costs
(NIOS secondary level)

Student
Equity
Subject
Private cost to a student at the secondary level (all the
category
issue
types
amounts are in INR)
addressed
Fee/subject Additional *
Examination Total cost
(INR)
fraction/subject fee/subject
per

subject
General
Men
Subjects
200
150 x 0.072 =
90
300.80
without
10.80
(A)
practicals
Subjects
200
150 x 0.072 =
130 340.80
with
10.80
(B)
practicals
Women
Subjects
150
150 x 0.072 =
90 250.80
without
10.80
(C)
practicals
Subjects
150
150 x 0.072 =
130
290.80
with
10.80
(D)
practicals
Categories
SCs/STs,
Subjects
110
150 x 0.072 =
90 210.80
that get
Ex-
without
10.80
(E)
concessions servicemen, practicals
and the
Subjects
110
150 x 0.072 =
130 250.80
Differently
with
10.80
(F)
able ones
practicals
* The fee for an additional subject at this level is INR 150 and the additional average fraction
(.36) registered for is distributed over five subjects—0.36/5 = 0.072.



















131



Table 4.36 Private cost per student per subject including examination costs

(NIOS senior secondary level)

Student
Equity
Subject
Private cost to a student at the Senior Secondary level (all
category
issue
types
the amounts are in INR)
addressed
Fee/subject Additional*
Examination Total cost
(INR)
fraction/subject fee/subject
per subject

General
Men
Subjects
230
180 x 0.078 =
90 334.04
without
14.04
(G)
practicals
Subjects
230
180 x 0.078 =
130 374.04
with
14.04
(H)
practicals
Women
Subjects
180
180 x 0.078 =
90 284.04
without
14.04
(I)
practicals
Subjects
180
180 x 0.078 =
130 324.04
with
14.04
(J)
practicals
Categories
SCs/STs,
Subjects
125
180 x 0.078 =
90 229.04
who get
Ex-
without
14.04
(K)
concessions servicemen, practicals
and the
Subjects
125
180 x 0.078 =
130 269.04
Differently
with
14.04
(L)
able ones
practicals
* The fee for an additional subject at this level is INR 180 and the additional average fraction
(.39) registered for is distributed over five subjects—0.39/5 = 0.078.

The interesting finding is that on average, NIOS spends (see Table 4.30, Case-I, for the average
cost per student per subject including examinations, i.e. INR 310.00) less per student per subject
than it charges in the case of four of its fee categories (i.e. categories B, G, H and J—see Tables
4.35 and 4.36 above). It is only in the case of two categories (i.e. E and K) that fee charged per
subject is visibly lower than what is spent on a student per subject. In the remaining six categories
(A, C, D, F, I and L) the differences are not impressive.

Excluding the examination fees, the maximum and the minimum course fees for a secondary
student at NIOS are INR (210.80 x 5) = INR 1054 and INR (120.80 x 5) = INR 604 respectively.
Similarly, the maximum and the minimum course fees for a senior secondary student are INR
(244.04 x 5) = INR 1220 and INR (139.04 x 5) = INR 695 respectively.

Secondly, considering the fee structure of Kendriya Vidyalayas (see Table 4.9), a secondary
student pays a minimum/maximum of INR (40+20+160) = INR 220 per month (i.e. INR 220 x 24
months = INR 5,280 for a course) and a senior secondary student may pay a minimum of INR
(50+20+160) = INR 230 (i.e. INR 230 x 24 months = 5,520 for a course, or a maximum of INR
(50+20+40+200) = INR 310 per month (i.e. INR 310 x 24 months = INR 7,440 for a course).

Thirdly, a secondary student at Emmanuel Mission Secondary School (EMSS), Bhilwara,
Rajasthan (see the details following Table 4.31), pays a course fee of INR 5700 x 2 = INR 11400,

132

payable in installments over two years, while cost per student per course is INR 11,343.36 (see
Table 4.32).

Putting the three cases together, Table 4.37 presents a profile of the private costs at the three
institutions.

Table 4.37
Private cost per student per course (excluding examination costs):
NIOS, KVs and EMSS compared

S. Institution Overall
average Secondary level
Senior Secondary level
N.
cost per student
Minimum
Maximum
Minimum
Maximum
per course (INR) Private Cost
Private Cost
Private Cost
Private Cost
(INR)
(INR)
(INR)
(INR)
1
NIOS
1229.90
604 (49.11 per 1054 (85.70
695 (56.51 per 1220 (99.20
cent)
per cent)
cent)
per cent)
2 KVs
15,287.50
5,280
(34.54 5,280
5,520
7,440
per cent)
(34.54 per
(36.11 per
(48.67 per
cent)
cent)
cent)
3 EMSS
11,343.36
11,400
11,400
-- --
(100.50 per
(100.50 per
cent)
cent)

The best case at NIOS is of the student who pays nearly 50 per cent of the cost of his/her studies;
the worst is of the student who has to pay more than 99 per cent of the actual cost. At KVs, the
best case is of the student who pays slightly more than one-third of the actual cost and the worst
is that of the one who has to pay nearly one-half of the actual cost. In the case of EMSS, a student
pays actually what is spent on him/her. EMSS is a non-profit institution run by missionaries in a
relatively small town for the middle class of the society. It does not offer any high-end facilities,
but makes sure that there is no wastage. With 100 per cent results for over a decade now, its
performance and so its cost-effectiveness is better than that of KVs. The cost per secondary
student per course at EMSS should, therefore, serve as a reliable and valid measure/norm for the
costs (being investigated) wherever they are computed in the country. With this in view, one can
see that with better conventional facilities available at KVs, its students enjoy subsidies ranging
from 51 per cent to 65 per cent depending on whether they are at the secondary or the senior
secondary level and what subjects they may have chosen for their studies. Also, with radically
different facilities available at NIOS, its students enjoy subsidies ranging from 1 per cent to 51
per cent on a similar basis.

4.5.10 Conclusions on costs

The overall conclusion is that at the secondary level of education in India, ODL operations are
patently much cheaper (in the ratio of 1: 9+ to 12+) than the conventional schooling systems and
more importantly, that such operations become progressively cheaper and still more cheaper (in
relative terms) with the passage of time.









133

Is there more to ODL than cost-effectiveness and cost-efficiency?

Living in abject poverty, Shailendra Kumar Verma, of illiterate parents, passed his senior
secondary examination as a student of NIOS, when he was eleven years old. Before joining
NIOS, he had never attended any formal schooling system. After he passed the NIOS Senior
Secondary Examination, he joined Lucknow University and obtained his first university degree
(Bachelor of Computer Applications) in first division this year. Now 14 years old, he has joined
the Master in Computer Applications Programme of IGNOU at its Lucknow study centre. He is
said to be the youngest student of the University and will not be charged any fees (INR 40,000 for
this programme).


Abstracted from a news item:
Daily Excelsior, Jammu, India—Monday, October 1, 2007. p. 7.



134

5
ECONOMY AND EDUCATION IN NAMIBIA

5.1
Introduction

The Republic of Namibia occupies an area of some 824,300 square kilometres and has a
population of approximately two million made up of 13 ethnic cultures and 16 language groups.
Although Gross National Product (GNP) is relatively high at US $7,418 per capita240 and Gross
National Income per capita is of the order of US $2,990241, these average figures mask
inequalities in income that are among the highest in the world. Still, Namibia is far from being
among the poorest of the world’s countries: it has significant mineral deposits (diamonds,
uranium, copper, zinc, lead, tin, silver and tungsten, as well as semi-precious stones) that make
mining a mainstay of the economy. Fishery is also important, and there is potential to develop
some agricultural products (e.g. grapes), as well as the port facilities at Walvis Bay. However, the
potential for development is held back by a low skills base that hampers foreign investment242.

It is against this background that the education sector has over the past three years developed a
strategic plan, the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP)243. It is
premised on the belief that a “weak education and training system cannot facilitate the attainment
of complex and ambitious development goals” and that the immediate need is to “focus on
strengthening of the immediate supply of middle to high level skilled labour to meet market
demands and support overall national development goals
” [italics in original]244. ETSIP draws
attention to the importance of secondary education in developing and reinforcing the capacity for
“continuous learning and flexible skill training” and “the evidence to suggest that export-led
growth is associated with investments at post-primary level”245.

5.2 Demographic
factors

The US Census Bureau’s International Data Base estimates (as at 24 August 2006) indicate that
the mid-year population of Namibia in 2006 was just over two million (2.061 m), of whom
1.064m were male and 0.997m female. In 2005, there were 25 births per 1,000 population, and 18
deaths per 1,000. The population has a natural rate of increase of 0.7 per cent per annum – the
same as the annual rate of increase. Current life expectancy at birth is 43.9 years. The total
fertility rate (per woman) is 3.2 – though projections for 2025 suggest that this will fall to 1.8 at
which point deaths per 1,000 will exceed births per 1,000, leading to a natural rate of population
increase of –0.3 per cent246.

240 UNDP, Human Development Report 2006.
http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/countries/data_sheets/cty_ds_NAM.html, accessed 19 April 2007.
GDP here is based on GDP PPP (purchasing power parity) – a method that takes account of both national
income and national prices.
241 World Bank Key Development Data and Statistics, accessed 19 April 2007:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/DATASTATISTICS/0,,contentMDK:20535285~menuP
K:1192694~pagePK:64133150~piPK:64133175~theSitePK:239419,00.html
242 Mmantsetsa Toka Marope, Namibia Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth
with Equity
, Africa Region Human Development Working paper Series No. 84, Human Development
Sector, Africa Region, The World Bank, 2005, §2.17, p. 12.
243 Republic of Namibia, Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP), Planning for a
Learning Nation: Programme Document Phase I (2006-2011)
, February 2007.
244 Ibid. p. 2.
245 Ibid. p. 18.
246 US Census Bureau, International Data Base, Mid-2006 population estimates for Namibia, released 28
August 2006: http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/idbsum.pl?cty=WA, accessed 19 April 2007.

135


The mid-year population estimate for 2005 by age and sex is shown in Table 5.1 below, while
Chart 4.1 shows the population pyramid. The Population Dependency Ratio (number of the
population aged under 15 or over 64, relative to the number in the working ages of 15 to 64) is
high at 74.1 per cent. The under 15 Dependency Ratio is 67.1 (see Table 5.2). Chart 5.1
graphically shows the bulge in the school-aged population (Grades 1 to 12, aged 7 to 18 years).

Table 5.1: 2005 Mid-year population estimate by age and sex (‘000s), Namibia

Total
Male
Female
Total population
2,031 1017 1014
Age 0-4
258
130
128
5-9
270
136
134
10-14
258
130
128
15-19
240
121
119
20-24
217
110
106
25-29
171
89
82
30-34
130
68
63
35-39
100
50
50
40-44
87
42
45
45-49
74
35
39
50-54
62
29
33
55-59
51
24
27
60-64
40
19
21
65-69
30
14
16
70-74
21
10
11
75-79
12
6
7
80+
10
4
6

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base, August 2006 version.

Table 5.2: Population Dependency Ratio, 2006

Population

('000s)
%
Total population
2,031
1.000
Population under 15
786
0.387
Working age population aged 15-64
1,172
0.577
Population over 64
83
0.041

Dependency Ratio under 15 and 65+
0.741
Dependency Ratio (youth only)
0.671


136




Chart 5.1: Population of Namibia, mid-2005 estimates, by age and sex

The raw population figures need to be placed in context. Some understanding of socio-economic
conditions in Namibia can be obtained from the recently published (November 2006) 2003/2004
Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Survey
247. The survey is based on information
obtained from 10,907 private households (i.e. excluding institutions such as prisons, hostels,
police barracks and hospitals) with an 89.9 per cent response rate. At the time of the survey, there
were an estimated 371,678 private households with an estimated household population of
1,830,000.

Most of the population (65 per cent) and households (60 per cent) were in rural areas. Sixty per
cent of the population and 52 per cent of households are in the Northern Region (Caprivi,
Kavango, Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana and Oshikoto). The average household size was 4.9
persons with rural households being on average larger (5.4 persons) than urban households (4.2
persons). Of the population, more than half (51 per cent) are under the age of 20, with the
population in rural areas being generally younger than the population in urban areas – in rural
areas 56 per cent of the population is under 20 years of age. Across the population as a whole
there are more females than males (91 males for every 100 females), but in urban areas there are
considerably more males than females in the age range 45-59 years, reflecting the impact of
migration in search of work.

Nearly 52 per cent of the population speaks Oshiwambo as the main language of communication
within the household, with Rukavango spoken by 11.8 per cent of the population and
Nama/Damara by 10.5 per cent. English is the main language of communication for just 1.3 per
cent of the population and Afrikaans for 8.2 per cent248.






247 Republic of Namibia: Central Bureau of Statistics, National Planning Commission, 2003/2004 Namibia
Household Income and Expenditure Survey: Main Report
, Windhoek, November 2006.
248 Ibid. pp. 15-23.

137

5.2.1 Education
levels

The survey looked at the level of education in households. Households were asked to report on
ability to read and write, school attendance and highest level of educational attainment for all
persons aged six years and above. Literacy levels are based on those who answered “Yes” to the
question if they could read and write in any language. On this basis, 83 per cent of the population
aged 15 and above is literate (this rises to 93 per cent for 15-24 year olds). At the national level,
there is little difference between males and females, but there are large differences at the regional
level.

School attendance is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 13. Eighty-five per cent of all persons
aged six and above said they had attended some kind of formal schooling; 15 per cent said they
had never attended school. This was also true for 10 per cent of those aged between 6 and 16 (7
per cent of urban children, 12 per cent of rural children). Nearly one in four (25 per cent) of those
aged 17 and above and living in rural areas said they had never been to school. Among the
population aged 17 years and above, the survey suggested that 16.7 per cent have no formal
schooling, while 31.7 per cent have primary schooling as their highest level of educational
attainment, 45.5 per cent have secondary schooling and 5.9 per cent have tertiary education.

Almost half (48 per cent) of females have attained secondary education compared with 43 per
cent of males – a finding supported by Gross and Net Enrolment Rates data. The Gross
Enrolment Rate (GER) measures the total enrolment in a range of grades divided by the number
of people in the population of an age that should be enrolled in those grades. GER values over
100 per cent indicate the presence of over-age learners enrolled in a specific school phase. The
Net Enrolment Rate (NER) is the number of learners of an appropriate age enrolled in range of
grades, divided by the number of people in the population of the same age group. There is a
correlation between age and no formal educational attainment – just 5 per cent of those aged 15-
19 fell into this category, compared to 57 per cent of those aged over 65 years249.

5.2.2 Sources of income

Households generally have more than one source of income, but in 46 per cent of Namibian
households, the main source of income was derived from salaries and wages (77 per cent in urban
areas, 26 per cent in rural areas), followed by business income (11 per cent). Forty-eight per cent
of rural households reported subsistence farming as their main source of income. A high
proportion of those who reported that subsistence farming was their main source of income had
no formal education (42.3 per cent) or just primary education (40 per cent). Conversely, 60.4 per
cent of those who reported wages and salaries to be their main source of income had secondary
education, and 81.3 per cent had tertiary education.

Of English, Afrikaans and Nama/Damara first-choice language speakers, 77.2, 72.6 and 71.2 per
cent respectively reported that wages/salaries were their main source of income. Of Oshiwambo
speakers, 46.2 per cent cited subsistence farming as their main source of income, and 35.9 per
cent cited wages/salaries as their main source of income250.





249 Ibid. pp. 25-32.
250 Ibid. pp. 33-38

138

5.2.3 Access to technology

The reliance of open and distance learning systems on technologies means that access to
electricity is a major factor in facilitating study through technologies such as main- powered
radios. The most reliable data here is the proportion of households that use electricity as their
power source for lighting. Across Namibia as a whole, the 2003/2004 household survey indicated
that 36.4 per cent of homes use electricity for lighting, but there are significant regional variations
(Erongo, 77.8 per cent; Khomas, 71.9 per cent; Kavango, 15.6 per cent; Omusati, 7.3 per cent;
Ohangwena, 4.8 per cent)251.

On the other hand, 71 per cent of households indicated that they owned a radio, which suggests
that a considerable number of radios are powered by battery or clockwork. Another 13 per cent of
households had access to a radio. Access to radios is higher in urban areas (79 per cent) than it is
in rural areas (66 per cent). Radio ownership is particularly high in Erongo (85.2 per cent), Karas
(82.9 per cent) and Khomas (79.5 per cent); lack of any access to a radio is highest in Caprivi
(26.4 per cent), Ohangwena (25.4 per cent), and Otjozondjuna (20.4 per cent).

Twenty-nine per cent of households reported ownership of televisions and 10 per cent had access
to television sets. Urban households had a higher level of ownership (57 per cent) than rural
households (10 per cent). Telephone and cell phone ownership was 33.5 per cent nationally, with
another 33.3 per cent of households reporting access to such facilities. Again there are marked
regional differences with 89.2 per cent of households in Ohangwena lacking access, compared
with 9.1 per cent in Khomas252. Although penetration of these technologies will increase,
inequalities in absolute and disposable incomes will hinder the development of a mass market.

As Table 5.3 indicates, lack of access to technologies and particularly those technologies crucial
to the use of ICTs in education, also affects schools:

Table 5.3: School access to electricity and telephones, 2005

Have
%age with
Have
% with
Year No
electricity electricity
electricity No
phone phone
phone
2002 903
681
43.0 946 638
40.3
2003 828
770
48.2 893 705
44.1
2004 787
814
51.0 842 759
47.0
2005 801
825
50.7 844 782
48.1







MOE Educational Management Information System, Educational Statistics
Source: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 (Table 57)

5.2.4 Proximity to education

Distance students are often required to travel to tutorial centres and examination centres, so
distance from public transport is a factor that needs to be taken into account. The 2003/2004
household survey indicated that 58 per cent of all households are less than 1 kilometre from
public transport, and 21 per cent for 1 to 5 kms from such a source. Eight per cent of households
are 21 kms and above from a source of public transport. Regions where a particularly high
proportion of households are more than 21 kms from public transport include Harap (21.4 per

251 Ibid. p. 51.
252 Ibid. pp. 71-3.

139

253
cent), Karas (19.8 per cent), Kunene (20.8 per cent), and Omaheke (38.6 per cent) . People who
live some distance from a school may be attracted to distance education as a way of meeting their
need, especially if the distance education system is home-based. However, any requirement to
attend a tutorial centre based in a school may then become a barrier to their participation.

In Namibia, relatively few households are more than 21 kms from a primary school (7.9 per cent),
while 73.9 per cent of households are within 3 kms of a primary school. Again, there are regional
variations (in Omaheke 41.5 per cent of households are within 3 kms of a primary school, while
in Khomas 86.7 per cent are). Urban households are far more likely to be within this distance
(94.9 per cent) than rural households (59.7 per cent).

As one would expect, distance to a high school is greater. Only 41.1 per cent of Namibian
households are within 3 kms of a high school (urban, 84.2 per cent; rural 11.6 per cent) or a
combined school that offers both primary and secondary education (national figure 46.9 per cent,
urban 58.9 per cent, rural 38.8 per cent)254. For this reason, it is quite usual to provide hostel
accommodation for secondary school students. In 2004/2005, there were 194 hostels, with 59
serving the primary sector and 135 serving secondary and combined schools (i.e. comprehensive
schools covering both primary and secondary age groups).

5.2.5 Hostel
accommodations

255
Hostels accommodated 46,455 learners in 2004/2005, and 47,488 learners in 2005/2006 .
Learners are resident 265 days a year. The provision of hostel places is a significant cost to the
education service – especially at secondary level (one estimate suggests that some 90 per cent of
hostel places are occupied by secondary school pupils). More than 9 per cent of the basic
education budget is allocated to hostels. This represents two-fifths of what is spent on secondary
education and slightly less than one-fifth of what is spent on primary education256. Table 5.4
shows the number of hostels by level, the total government spend on hostel accommodation and
the unit cost per resident, in 2005-2006. The total spend in 2005/2006 was NA $223.8 million.

Parental contributions towards boarding fees depend on the type of hostel a learner is occupying.
There are four categories of hostels offering varying levels of service, and in 2005/2006 parental
contributions theoretically ranged from NA $198 to NA $825 a year. However, many parents are
partially or fully exempted from the fees, and the total amount of parental contribution in
2005/2006 amounted to just NA $7.376m257 (see Table 5.5)








253 Ibid., p. 63.
254 Ibid. pp. 65-67.
255 MOE, Unit costs-hostels, Financial Year 2004/2005; 2005/2006.
256 Ministry of Education, Expenditure Issues Paper, 2005 (first draft). Electronic copy obtained from Mr T
Kakonda, Planning Division, MOE, Windhoek, Section 3.
257 Ministry of Education, Expenditure Issues Paper, 2005 (first draft). Electronic copy obtained from Mr T
Kakonda, Planning Division, MOE, Windhoek, Section 4; MOE, Unit costs-hostels, Financial Year
2005/2006.

140

Table 5.4: Primary and secondary education hostel accommodation
and hostel costs, 2005-2006

Region Total
#
#
#
Total cost
Unit cost
of primary
combined
NA $
per learner
hostels
hostels
and
per day NA
secondary
$
hostels
TOTAL 194
59
135
223,799,247
18.78
Caprivi 7
0
7
9,798,461
22.80
Hardap 17
7
10
18,283,213
30.90
Karas 19
6
13
13,711,873
22.05
Erongo 15
5
10
13,297,907
21.31
Kunene 21
7
14
19,553,221
15.75
Oshikoto 8
0
8
13,457,545
19.54
Ohangwena 5
0
5
8,178,390
13.27
Oshana 5
0
5
8,946,503
10.86
Omusati 12
0
12
13,703,685
9.25
Kavango 13
0
13
14,092,438
13.72
Khomas 18
6
12
26,826,833
33.84
Omaheke 20
13
7
19,236,446
15.29
Otjizondjupa 26
10 16
38,519,713
24.33
Special
8 5 2
6,203,018 25.54
Education

Table 5.5: Parental contribution to hostel costs, 2005-2006

Total cost
Total
Parental
Average
Average parental
Parental contribution
parental
contribution per
Contribution
as %age
contribution
day (265 day
Total Cost
per year
school boarding
year)
N$223,799,247 N $7,376,435
0.033
N $155.33
N $0.59

Source of raw data: Ministry of Education, Financial Year 2005/2006 Item 22: Unit Costs –
Hostels; MOE, Number of Primary and Secondary [including Combined] Hostels.

5.2.6 Household
income

The 2003/2004 Namibian Household Income and Expenditure Survey indicates that “Inequality
of income in Namibia remains among the highest in the world”258. In the survey:

• Household consumption is defined as the sum of total expenditure on consumables such
as food, beverages, clothing, furniture and electrical appliances, as well as imputed rent
for free occupied or owner occupied dwellings.
• Expenditures are cash except for imputed rent (estimated value of rent for free occupied
or owned dwelling units), which is treated as consumption in kind.
• Household income is defined as the sum of total consumption and non-consumption
expenditures such as for livestock, motor vehicle license, fines, gifts, house and land.

258 Republic of Namibia: Central Bureau of Statistics, National Planning Commission, 2003/2004 Namibia
Household Income and Expenditure Survey: Main Report
, Windhoek, November 2006, p. 95.

141


The report classified households into ten groups using adjusted per capita income (APCI) to rank
households from the lowest APCI to the highest. Households were divided into 100 equal sized
groups defined by ACPI. The first percentile includes the 1 per cent of households with the
lowest ACPI; the second percentile the 1 per cent of households after excluding those in the first
percentile having the lowest ACPI; the third percentile the 1 percent of households with the
lowest ACPI after exclusion of the first and second percentile, and so on. The percentiles were
then grouped:

• Group A comprised the 25 per cent of households with the lowest APCI.
• Group B is the 25 per cent of households which have a higher ACPI than Group A.
• Group C is the 25 per cent of households with a higher ACPI than groups A and B.
• Group D is the 15 per cent of households with a higher ACPI than groups A to C.
• Group E is the 5 per cent of households having a higher ACPI than groups A to D.
• Group F is the 3 per cent of households having a higher ACPI than groups A to E.
• Group G is the two percent of households having a higher ACPI than groups A to F
combined.

Turning to the characteristics of these groups:

• Group A comprises households in percentiles 1-25 with an average household size of 6.8
persons and consumption per capita in the households of NA $1,676.
• Group B is percentiles 26-50 (average household size 5.4; per capita consumption NA
$3,396).
• Group C is percentiles 51-75 (average household size 4.2; per capita consumption NA
$6,921).
• Group D is percentiles 76-90 (average household size 3.6; per capita consumption NA
$16,922),
• Group E is percentiles 91-95 (average household size 3.1; per capita consumption NA
$40,771).
• Group F is percentiles 96-98 (average household size 2.6; per capita consumption NA
$69,131).
• Group F is percentiles 99-100 (average household size 2.3; per capita consumption NA
$140,870).

The extent to which consumption is skewed is shown by the fact that the bottom 25 per cent of
households account for just 6.8 per cent of all consumption, and the bottom 50 per cent of
households for just 17.6 per cent of all income. In contrast, the top 2 per cent of households
account for 15.3 per cent of all consumption, and the top 5 per cent account for 28.4 per cent of
all consumption. At the lower end of the scale, the bottom 10 per cent of households have a
monthly per capita consumption of NA $135, compared with a monthly per capita expenditure of
NA $49,854 in the richest 10 per cent of households.

The average household consumption was NA $42,078 – giving an average per capita
consumption of NA $8,546. Large discrepancies exist between urban areas (NA $15,400 per
capita) and rural areas (NA $4,900 per capita). Households in Khomas and Erongo regions
account for a far larger proportion of the nation’s total consumption than their numbers would
suggest (Khomas, NA $89,065 per household and NA $22,367 per head; Erongo, NA $52,675 per
household and NA $14,743 per head). In contrast, Ohangwena has the lowest consumption of NA
$21,685 per household and NA $3,467 per head. The regional disparities are important because if

142

one maps population density, location of schools and poverty, one finds that most of the
population and most schools are located in the north of the country, which is where poverty levels
are highest.

In Namibia, 59 per cent of households are headed by males and 41 per cent by females – the head
being the person of either sex whom members of that household regard as the leader or main
decision maker. Female-headed households have a lower level of consumption – accounting for
just 29 per cent of total consumption (overall the consumption per head in a female-headed
household is NA $6,132 compared with NA $10,204 in male-headed households). German- and
English-speaking households, which account for 1.8 per cent of the population, have the highest
household consumption level at roughly NA $193,500, and account for 13.5 per cent of total
consumption. Afrikaans households (8.2 per cent of the population) have a household
consumption level of NA $93,156, and account for 23.5 per cent of all consumption. Oshiwambo-
speaking households, which account for 51.9 per cent of the population, have an average
consumption per household of NA $31,188 and account for 36.2 per cent of total consumption.

There is a strong correlation between the highest level of education attainment by the head of the
household and annual per capita consumption within the household (Table 5.6):

Table 5.6: Annual consumption by highest level of educational attainment
of the head of the household

Educational % all
% of
Average
% all
Average
Consumption
Attainment
households population
household
consumption household
per capita
of head
size
consumption NA $
NA $

No formal
23.8
27.4
5.7
9.3
16 530
2 910
Education
Primary
31.4
33.4
5.3
16.6
22 234
4 233
Secondary
34.2
30.0
4.3
38.6
47 584
10 993
Tertiary
9.9
8.4
4.2
34.9
147 477
35 329
Not stated
0.8
0.7
4.2
0.6
32 852
7 744
Total
100.0
100.0
4.9
100.0
42 078
8 546

Source: Republic of Namibia: Central Bureau of Statistics, National Planning Commission,
2003/2004 Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Survey: Main Report, Windhoek,
November 2006, Table 8.1.5, p. 101

The average annual income (derived from the sum of total consumption and non-consumption
expenditures as defined above) is NA $43,521 per household, and NA $10,358 per individual.
Again there are wide discrepancies by region, by sex of head of household, by language spoken
within the household and by highest educational attainment of the head of the household. The
lowest 25 per cent of all households have an average annual household income of NA $11,545
(per capita, NA $1,692, adjusted per capita NA $2,040), compared with the richest 2 per cent
(annual household income NA $339,382, income per capita NA $147,838, adjusted per capita
income NA $157,979). The 25 per cent of households with the lowest ACPI account for just 7 per
cent of all income, while the 2 per cent of households with the highest ACPI account for 44 per
cent of total annual income. Similarly the ten percent of households with the lowest adjusted
income per capita account for just 2 per cent of total income in Namibia, while the richest decile
of households account for 44 per cent of total income.


143

5.2.7 Spending
on
education

When the survey looks at what people spend their money on, the findings show that in the
average Namibian household 24.3 per cent of the household’s total annual consumption goes
towards food and beverages, 21.3 per cent on housing, 16 per cent on travel and just 2.7 per cent
on education. As far as expenditure on education is concerned, there are regional variations, with
households in Erongo spending just 2.9 per cent of their total consumption on education, those in
Khomas 3.2 per cent, those in Oshikoto 5.6 per cent, and those in Hardago 1.2 per cent. Urban
households tend to spend more than rural households (2.9 per cent against 2.3 per cent). Among
language groups German-speaking households spend more (2.8 per cent) than do English (1.9 per
cent) and Afrikaans (1.9 per cent); Otijherero-speaking households spend 3.6 per cent,
Oshiwanbo speakers 3.2 per cent, and Caprivi language group speakers 3.3 per cent. Those
households where the head of the household has tertiary education spend more (3.7 per cent) than
those with secondary education (2.1 per cent), primary (2.7 per cent) and no formal education
(1.4 per cent), but of course those with tertiary education also earn more so they are spending a
higher proportion of a bigger income on education.

Further evidence related to household expenditure on education comes from parental
contributions to each school’s School Development Fund. Each school is entitled to have a
School Development Fund which must be approved by the school board. The board determines
the level of fees to be charged per pupil but such contributions are legally strictly voluntary in
that no learner can be excluded on grounds of non-payment. A parent must apply to the school
board for full or partial exemption, whereas orphans are automatically exempted. This
contribution should not exceed NA $250 per learner for primary and NA $500 for secondary
learners. Although no learners can be exempted, they may self-exclude themselves from schools
with higher School Development Funds or those requiring uniforms259.






















259 Ministry of Education, Expenditure Issues Paper, 2005 (first draft). Electronic copy obtained from Mr T
Kakonda, Planning Division, MOE, Windhoek, Section 4.

144

The 2004 Public Expenditure Tracking Survey showed that only 60 per cent of learners had paid
their fees. Contributions to the School Development Fund vary across regions, reinforcing
inequities (Table 5.7).

Table 5.7: Parental contributions towards school development funds (NAD), 2004 Public
Expenditure Tracking Survey data

Region
Junior Primary
Senior Primary
Junior Secondary Senior Secondary
Hardap
96.11
126.00
291.67
312.50
Kavango
19.16
31.73
61.67
75.00
Khomas
430.00
430.00
1,858.33
1,858.33
Kunene
39.44
41.11
55.00

Omaheke
141.43
141.43
170.00
250.00
Omusati
13.57
21.29
37.70

Oshana
14.60
32.11
950.00
950.00
Private
2,664.00
2,664.00
950.00
950.00



Rural
40.28
50.80
110.07
380.00
Urban
963.06
1,018.24
1,251.50
1,362.78



National Average
226.91
267.20
402.74
1,011.79

Source: Draft version Public Expenditure Tracking Survey, 2004, cited in Ministry of
Education, Expenditure Issues Paper, 2005 (first draft). Electronic copy obtained from
Mr T Kakonda, Planning Division, MOE, Windhoek, Section 4.

Evidence for the generally low level of educational cost sharing by households comes from the
draft Expenditures Issues Paper (2005) prepared within the Ministry of Education. This shows
that

“…private financing of education expenditure forms a low percentage of total
expenditure in basic education. At the primary level in 2004/05 it constituted
approximately 8 per cent of the per learner cost incurred by government at that level
while for secondary learners the contribution increases to 9 per cent. Private financing is
limited to non-compulsory contributions to the school development fund [SDF], which
according to the Education Act, 2001 may be used ‘to provide, develop and improve
reasonable and necessary families at school; and to uplift and improve educational, sport
and cultural activities at school.’ Private contributions may also be made towards extra
tuition received by learners especially prevalent at the junior secondary and senior
secondary phases where learners sit for school leaving examinations. This contribution,
according to the sacmeq ii survey, has increased from 35 per cent of learners receiving
extra tuition in at least one subject to 45 per cent although the exact nature of payment for
tuition received is not clear.”260





260 Ministry of Education, Expenditure Issues Paper, 2005 (first draft). Electronic copy obtained from Mr T
Kakonda, Planning Division, MOE, Windhoek, Section 2.

145

Moreover:

“…the draft report of the Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) for the education
sector 2004 indicates that on average 40 per cent of learners do not contribute to the
school development fund. This figure is likely to increase in the future with high
HIV/Aids rates, causing an expanding number of orphans and an increase in health costs.
Estimated numbers of children who have lost their mother or father or both parents to
aids are estimated at 47,000 (or about two per cent) in 2001. SDF may be used to
improve the quality of education by diverting funds to supplementary activities.
However, PETS indicates that most schools are not fully utilizing their contributions even
if pressing needs exist. This also causes an inter-generational discrepancy where learners
who contribute to the SDF are not the ones who benefit from its use. Current training of
school boards on general school governance and financial management and
accountability is expected to have positive effect on the utilisation of the SDF.”261

Overall, four per cent of all households are classified as severely poor (i.e. 80 per cent or more of
all household income spent on food), and 28 per cent are poor and severely poor (i.e. 60 per cent
or more of all household income spent on food). Poverty is in general a rural phenomenon (the
proportion of poor and severely poor households is 42 per cent in rural areas and seven per cent in
urban areas), and the highest shares of poor and severely poor households occur in Kavango (50
per cent of all households), Oshikoto (47 per cent), Omusati (47 per cent) and Caprivi (44 per
cent). In Khomas, four per cent of households are classified as poor or severely poor262.

5.3
Structure of the Namibian Education System

The general education system in Namibia follows a 4-3-3-2 system comprising lower primary,
upper primary, junior secondary and senior secondary schooling. In addition, a relatively small
number of children benefit from pre-primary provision, which may be limited to childminding, a
ten-week long school readiness programme or provision through nursery schools (where the level
of parental contribution required limits takers to more affluent families) or through opportunities
provided to workers as part of their employment benefits.

263
The recent draft Expenditures Issues Paper (2005) points out that since independence in 2000:

“…education has enjoyed budget priority with far over 20 per cent of government
resources and over 7 per cent of GDP going towards the sector. While the sector has
made significant progress in expanding access to education, several challenges remain.
First among these are that resources are still inequitably distributed, with negative impact
on lower income groups and rural populations, and many school leavers have not
obtained levels of literacy and numeracy commensurate with their years of schooling.
…Over the past few years resource allocations to the sector has decreased, both in terms
of spending as a share of government resources and as a share of GDP. More critically,
available funds have decreased in real terms, requiring the sector to make deliberate
efficiency gains in key cost drivers in order to protect spending in areas that are more

261 Ibid, Section 2.
262 Republic of Namibia: Central Bureau of Statistics, National Planning Commission, 2003/2004 Namibia
Household Income and Expenditure Survey: Main Report
, Windhoek, November 2006, pp. 95-123.
263 Ministry of Education, Expenditure Issues Paper, 2005 (first draft). Electronic copy obtained from Mr.
T Kakonda, Planning Division, MOE, Windhoek, Section 1.

146

discretionary (such as text books and capital spending) but which are also critical for
current and future performance of the sector.” [However] “These gains were not made.”

There have been many achievements:
• The Net Enrolment Ratio for Grades 1 to 9 (primary cycle and first two years of junior
secondary cycle) is 96.4 per cent.
• The enrolment ratio in senior secondary (grades 11 and 12) is about 55 per cent.
• Gender balance has been achieved at all levels though not in all regions.
• Survival to Grade 7 (end of primary education) is about 77 per cent of the age group, and
survival to Grade 10 (final year of junior secondary education) is 55 per cent.
• 83.5 per cent of secondary teachers and 55.6 per cent of primary teachers have
pedagogical training (i.e. the teachers hold at least the Basic Education Teacher Diploma
[BETD]).

To achieve these ends, the proportion of the GDP allocated to education between 1997 and 2003
averaged 8.95, with a peak of 9.7 percent in 2001/2002. This level could not be sustained, and
revenue to the education sector began to decline in real terms. The education budget draws a
distinction between development funds and operational expenditure. In recent years, a proportion
of the development budget has been diverted to pay for operational costs. This has affected the
Basic Education development budget in particular, leading to a reduction of 0.7 per cent in
2004/2005 and 0.49 per cent in 2005/2006. This has impacted on the extension and renovation of
school and college buildings since it is the Development Budget that is used to provide adequate
physical facilities such as schools, hostels, laboratories, latrines and teacher housing. As the
Expenditure Issues Review paper outlines, this points to the need for the sector to adjust its cost
base as a matter of urgency264.

5.3.1 Education
challenges

Yet there are still many challenges facing the education sector, including:

• the need to get better returns from the investment in education,
• the need to orientate the education service to better support the development goal of
transforming Namibia into a Knowledge-based Economy,
• the need to address access and equity issues,
• the inefficient use of resources, and
• the need to improve the quality of the output from the senior secondary level in order to
address the shortage of skilled labour265.

In particular, “the lack of senior secondary education has negative implications on job creation,
self employment and results in lack of skilled labour”266. Just 47 per cent of learners completing
junior secondary school each year find a place at a senior secondary school267. Just one in three
Namibians get to secondary school268. The lack of space has contributed to youth unemployment

264 Ministry of Education, Expenditure Issues Paper, 2005 (first draft). Electronic copy obtained from Mr.
T Kakonda, Planning Division, MOE, Windhoek, Section 2.
265 Republic of Namibia, Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP), Planning for a
Learning Nation: Programme Document Phase I (2006-2011)
, February 2007, pp. 18-19.
266 Ibid. p. 24.
267 Office of the President, National Planning Commission, Millenium Challenge Account: Namibia,
Windhoek, Office of the President, 2007, p. 71
268 Ibid. p. 72.

147

269
and poor skills development, which hampers economic development . As a direct result, the
ultimate objective is “to expand access and capacity of senior secondary education” through,
among other things, diversifying delivery modes including “intensifying the use of open learning
programmes, such as NAMCOL centres”270.

As part of the expansion of secondary education, six new secondary schools are to be built, each
with a capacity for 980 learners per year including 760 in hostels and (in existing schools) 50
blocks of three classrooms each, each block having a capacity for 150 learners271. Whether this
will be achieved will depend on funding and the extent to which rising building costs (influenced
by South Africa’s preparations for the 2010 Soccer World Cup) impact on the plans.

5.3.2 Improving efficiency in education

Among the measures that would improve efficiency in the education system, the Education and
Training Sector Strategic Improvement Plan looks for ways of reducing the unacceptably high
level of repetition rates, which range from 12.5 to 21.5 per cent per grade per year. Between 12
and 21 per cent more learners could be accommodated in each grade with no additional resources
if repetition rates could be brought down. Drop-out rates, low for the first six years of education,
climb from then on to reach 44 per cent in Grade 10 – the end of compulsory education272. A
range of measures to improve the efficiency of the system is being examined.

Against this backdrop, the Education and Training Sector Strategic Improvement Programme
(ETSIP) seeks, within its prime “focus on strengthening of the immediate supply of middle to
high level skilled labour, to meet market demands and support overall national development
goals”273. It will do this by operationalising three main components:

“(a) a pro-poor expansion of opportunities for high quality senior secondary education;
(b) a pro-poor expansion of opportunities for high quality and market responsive vocational
education and training; and
274
(c) an expansion of pre-entry programmes for tertiary education and training” .

Implementation of these components implies a series of other actions including the
implementation of a number of quality enhancing measures and greater efficiency in resource
utilisation275. A further critical priority, among others, is the creation of an enabling environment
for the development of lifelong learning276. Also stressed in relation to general education is the
need to improve the quality and relevance of textbooks, books and materials277.



269 Ibid. p. 71
270 Republic of Namibia, Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP), Planning for a
Learning Nation: Programme Document Phase I (2006-2011)
, February 2007, pp. 24-5.
271 Office of the President, National Planning Commission, Millenium Challenge Account: Namibia,
Windhoek, Office of the President, 2007, pp. 40-41, 72, 74.
272 Republic of Namibia, Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP), Planning for a
Learning Nation: Programme Document Phase I (2006-2011)
, February 2007, p. 28.
273 Republic of Namibia, Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP), Planning for a
Learning Nation: Programme Document Phase I (2006-2011)
, February 2007, p. 2.
274 Ibid. p. 3.
275 Ibid. p. 3.
276 Ibid. p. 4.
277 Ibid. p. 6.

148

Lack of a distance education policy

Missing is any coherent policy underpinning the role that distance education methods might play
in these action278, including:

• the impact that distance education programmes have on the quality of learning materials
and textbooks,
• the potential to develop learners’ self-learning skills,
• the key role it has played in opening up access to education for disadvantaged,
marginalised and “missed-out” groups,
279
• the role it plays in lifelong learning and vocational education , and
• the use of distance teaching technologies (particularly print and instructional radio) to
improve teaching and learning in traditional classrooms.

Although, in the Namibian context, the average qualification of teachers is perceived to have the
most significant impact on student performance taking costs into consideration according to a
World Bank study, the cost-benefit ratios show that providing textbooks or a science laboratory is
more than three and a half times more effective than further improvement in the qualification of
teachers280 - and the use of NAMCOL texts in schools (already happening) could help here if they
were used more widely. Also missing is any analysis of distance education’s potential for
lowering educational costs without diminishing and indeed sometimes enhancing quality281.

5.3.3 Potential of distance education recognised

Crucially, however, ETSIP:

• acknowledges that the rate of improvement in the results of NAMCOL’s alternative
secondary education programme learners “has been significantly better than in formal
education. NAMCOL has developed high quality localised instruction materials and is
generally acknowledged to be a well-managed institution” 282;
• indicates that educational radio programmes covering formal, vocational, tertiary and
lifelong education and training are to be developed through a studio administered by
NAMCOL as a joint venture between NAMCOL and tertiary institutions283, and

278 At the time of writing (June 2007), a two-person mission (Roger Mills, Ros Morpeth) undertaken by the
International Research Foundation for Open Learning had just spent a short period in Namibia, working
with NOLNet, to address this lack. A subsequent mission in October 2007 (Ros Morpeth, Greville Rumble)
involving attendance at a NOLNet National Open and Distance Learning Consultative Seminar focused on
the drawing up of a national ODL policy and a framework for strategy development.
279 See for example Louise Moran and Greville Rumble (eds.) Vocational training through distance
education: A policy perspective
, London, RoutledgeFalmer, 2004.
280 Cited in Ministry of Education, Expenditure Issues Paper, 2005 (first draft), Section 4.
281 On the issue of costs, see Greville Rumble, The costs and economics of open and distance education,
London. Kogan Page, 1997.
282 Republic of Namibia, Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP), Planning for a
Learning Nation: Programme Document Phase I (2006-2011)
, February 2007, p. 59. As part of the review
of lifelong learning and adult education, ETSIP makes clear that the legal framework and funding formula
for NAMCOL is to be reviewed and re-negotiated, and a review of adult education policy is to be led by the
Directorate of Adult Basic Education in conjunction, where appropriate, with the NAMCOL Board (ibid. p.
60)
283 Ibid. p. 61.

149

• indicates that NAMCOL will diversify its programmes and make them more relevant to
the needs of the education system and the economy as it positions itself to cope with an
expected decline in the numbers of people seeking second chance secondary education284.

ETSIP acknowledges the role of the Namibian Open Learning Network Trust (NOLNet) in
serving over 40 open learning centres and supporting the distance learning activities of
NAMCOL, the National Institute for Educational Development, the Polytechnic of Namibia and
the University of Namibia285. In this connection, it is worth mentioning that Namibia has recently
published its third ICT Policy for Education, which identifies the implementation of ICTs in
schools with secondary grades as second among the priorities chosen for development286. The
policy sets development levels and schools with secondary level provision will be placed on at
least level 2 – that is:

• At least one room will be available with ICTs with Internet connectivity for use in
teaching basic ICT skills (word processing, Internet, e-mail).
• There will be one computer for every 5 staff and one for every 10 learners.
• Learning materials will be downloaded and occasionally created by teaching staff.
• All teachers will have a Foundation Level ICT Literacy Certificate
• At least two staff will have the Intermediate Level ICT Literacy Certificate or above.
287
• Students will have one class per week access .

Already in 2005, some 350 schools had some kind of ICTs. Selection of the first 40 secondary
schools for implementation began in June 2007 with a further 110 between September 2007 and
April 2008. Schools without space and electricity will be identified for infrastructure
development. NAMCOL has already developed a number of CD-ROM based lessons in physical
sciences and mathematics for use by its learners, as well as learners in the formal system, which it
is piloting in 2007. NAMCOL will clearly be able to build on the wider availability of ICTs in
schools since it uses many schools as tutorial centres.

5.3.4 School
enrolments

Table 5.8 below gives the total number of enrolments in the Formal Education System between
1999 and 2006, by level, and the proportion of the total school population, by level that is female.
The “other” category embraces a range of special educational provision including classes offered
in regular schools for children with learning difficulties, and in one of the eight special schools in
the country. The 2006 enrolment figures are provided on a different base date (the returns made
on the fifteenth day of the new school year) to the figures for the other years, which are drawn
from the annual Education Statistics that are based on enrolments in August. The 2006 figures are
not therefore comparable with those for the other years, being on average about 2.5 per cent
higher than the August data.





284 Ibid. p. 61.
285 Ibid. p. 68.
286 Republic of Namibia, ICT Policy for Education, Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and
Culture/Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Employment Creation, Windhoek, n.d. (2005), p. 9.
287 Republic of Namibia, ICTs in Education Steering Committee, ICTs in Education Implementation Plan
Guide 2006
, Windhoek, p. 13.

150

Table 5.8: Enrolments in the formal school system, 1999-2006

Sub-total
Lower
Upper
Sub-total
Junior
Senior
Year Total
Primary Primary Primary
Secondary
Secondary Secondary Other
1999 500,071 382,291 230,579
151,712
115,771
92,963
22,808 2,009
2000 514,196 388,497 232,386
156,111
123,797
100,267
23,530 1,902
2001 528,958 396,252 237,274
158,978
130,577
105,643
24,934 2,129
2002 544,550 404,780 243,755
161,025
137,099
110,998
26,101 2,671
2003 553,197 408,597 245,776
162,930
141,752
114,441
27311 2,668
2004 550,545 403,412 239,407
164,005
144,289
115,994
28,295 2,884
2005 555,096 404,198 239590
164,608
148,104
119,605
28,499 2,794
*2006 568,018 409,229 242,143
167,086
156,261
125,088
31,173 2,528








288
* 2006 data based on 15the Day Statistics and not therefore fully comparable with EMIS data for 1999-2005.
Source:
MOE Educational Management Information System, Educational Statistics 2005, Table 19;
2006 data based on MOE 15th Day Statistics, 2006.

The proportion of female to male students (Table 5.9) indicates a good gender balance, with no
discrimination against girls. As will be noted, the pattern here is very different than at NAMCOL,
where two out of three of the students are women.

Table 5.9: Proportion of female enrolments, 1999- 2005

Sub-total
Lower
Upper
Sub-total
Junior
Senior
Year Total Primary Primary Primary Secondary Secondary Secondary Other
1999 0.51
0.50
0.49
0.51
0.53
0.53
0.50 0.43
2000 0.51
0.50
0.50
0.51
0.53
0.53
0.51 0.43
2001 0.51
0.50
0.50
0.51
0.53
0.54
0.51 0.43
2002 0.51
0.50
0.49
0.51
0.53
0.54
0.51 0.42
2003 0.51
0.50
0.49
0.51
0.53
0.54
0.50 0.43
2004 0.51
0.50
0.49
0.51
0.53
0.54
0.50 0.41
2005 0.51
0.50
0.49
0.51
0.53
0.54
0.51 0.42

Source:
MOE Educational Management Information System, Educational Statistics 2005, Table 19.


Most of the population in Namibia lives in the north or the country. It is here that the vast number
of schools are located in the northern regions of Omusati, Oshana, Ohangwena, Oshikoto,
Kavango and Caprivi, and in the capital Windhoek in Khomas region. Table 5.10 below shows
the distribution of junior and senior secondary school learners in the formal system, by national
regions grouped to correspond with NAMCOL’s four regions – Central, North Eastern, Northern,
and Southern. The table shows that:

288 EMIS: Educational Management Information System

151

• Roughly the same proportion of formal system students and NAMCOL subject
enrolments come from the national regions covered by NAMCOL’s Central and North
Eastern Regions.
• In comparison with the formal system, a higher proportion of NAMCOL’s subject
enrolments come from those national regions covered by NAMCOL’s Southern Region.
• The proportion of NAMCOL’s subject enrolments based in NAMCOL’s Northern region
is lower than the proportion of the formal system’s students coming from those regions.
However, in absolute terms, NAMCOL’s Northern and Southern regions account for
three out of four of NAMCOL’s subject enrolments – and this is true of the formal
system's student numbers at secondary level.

5.3.5 Progression through the formal education system

Under ideal conditions a learner enters the system at Grade 1 at age 7 and progresses at the rate of
a grade a year until he or she leaves at the end of Grade 12 at age 17 or 18. Most learners do
indeed enter Grade 1 aged 6 or 7 – though just over 14 per cent enter aged 8 or above289.
Repetition and early leaving may disrupt this progression (see Table 5.11). New entrants are
learners who are in their present grade for the first time. Promotion rates are calculated by
dividing the number of new entrants into a grade by the number of learners enrolled in the
previous year in the previous grade. The Repetition Rate is the number of students in a grade who
were enrolled in that grade in the previous year.

The rates given here, together with the school-leaving rate, are for the transition from the 2004 to
the 2005 school year. The figures show that notwithstanding the virtual automatic progression
from Grades 1 through 10, with students able to repeat just three years (one in lower primary, one
in upper primary, and either years 8 or 9 in junior secondary, between one in ten and two in ten
students repeat at each grade. Overall in 2005, over 100,000 of the total school population of
555,000 were too old for their grade – that is, older than one year above the appropriate age at
Lower Primary, two years above that age in Upper Primary and three years above that age in
Junior Secondary. In 2005, there were just over 9,000 learners who were older than 16 still in
primary grades. In addition, in 2005 there were 15,438 learners aged 20 or over (2.8 per cent of
the total school population) still in school290.

Table 5.12 shows the percentage of the total number of learners of a particular age in school, by
grade. Thus 31.7 per cent of children aged six are in school – the vast proportion of them in
Grade 1.

Table 5.11 shows that there is a steady leakage from the system as individuals leave school,
which increases at junior secondary level and is particularly high at the first real formal public
examination – the Grade 10 JSCE. At that point, more than half of the school population (around
53 per cent) end their formal education in school291. In general the evidence suggests that very
few of those who leave school early return to the formal system. Rates vary over the year but the
significant rupture comes at Grade 10 when, following the gradual imposition of a policy that
only allows learners aged under 17 to repeat Grade 10, a large proportion of learners leave the
school system after they have written their Grade 10 examination.

289 Ministry of Education, Education Management Information System, Education Statistics 2005,
Windhoek, EMIS MOE, 2006, Table 22.
290 Ibid. p. 51.
291 Office of the President, National Planning Commission, Millenium Challenge Account: Namibia,
Windhoek, Office of the President, 2007, p. 71.

152


The Survival Rate shows the percentage of learners expected to stay in school until they reach at
least that particular grade assuming flow rates remain constant. One of the features of Namibia’s
Survival Rates is that they have been consistently higher for females than for males up to Grade
10292 – a factor that perhaps explains why more women enter NAMCOL than do men.


292 Ministry of Education, Education Management Information System, Education Statistics 2005,
Windhoek, EMIS MOE, 2006, p. 58.

153

Table 5.10: Formal system secondary school population and NAMCOL student-courses by level, by national regions grouped into
NAMCOL regions, 2003-2005; and NAMCOL student-courses by level and by NAMCOL regions, 2006

NAMCOL Central
NAMCOL North
NAMCOL Northern
NAMCOL Southern


Region
Eastern Region

Region
Region
2003 FORMAL
All JSC IGCSE
All
JSC IGCSE

All
JSC IGCSE
All
JSC IGCSE
Erongo 7,100
5,440
1660 Caprivi
8,460 6,550
1910 Ohangwena
18,281 16523
1,758 Hardap
5,618 4,309 1,309
Kunene 3,242
2,632
610 Kavango 13,246 10,944
2302 Omusati
23,889 19310
4,579 Karas
3,995 2,915 1,080
Otjozondjupa
6,941
5,822
1119 Oshana
15,863 12557
3,306 Khomas
17,377 12,219 5,158

Oshikoto
14,002 11956
2,046 Omaheke 3,508 3,034
474
Total 17,283
13,894
3,389 Total
21,706 17,494
4,212 Total
7,2035 60,346 11,689 Total
30,498 22,477 8,021
% 0.12
0.12
0.12
0.15
0.15
0.15 0.51
0.53
0.43
0.22
0.20
0.29
















NAMCOL 7,208
4,078
3,130
6,380 3,206
3,174
27,213 17,208 10,005
16,516 7,001 9,515
% 0.13
0.13
0.12
0.11
0.10
0.12 0.47
0.55
0.39
0.29
0.22
0.37

















2004 FORMAL


Erongo 7,181
5,504
1677 Caprivi
8,156 6,157
1999 Ohangwena
19,252 17,304
1948 Hardap
5,573 4,281 1,292
Kunene 3,246
2,586
660 Kavango 14,151 11,626
2525 Omusati
24,286 19,608
4678 Karas
4,251 3,200 1,051
Otjozondjupa
6,289
5,122
1167 Oshana
20,381 12,310
3393 Khomas
18,277 13,017 5,260

Oshikoto
14,305 12,149
2156 Omaheke 3,423 2,934
489
Total 16,716
13,212
3,504 Total
22,307 17,783
4,524 Total
78,224 61,371 12,175 Total
31,524 23,432 8,092
% 0.12
0.11
0.12
0.15
0.15
0.16 0.54
0.53
0.43
0.22
0.20
0.29

















NAMCOL 6,729
3,724
3,005
6,297 3,215
3,082
26,612 15,134 11,478
15,209 6,924 8,285
%
0.12
0.13
0.12
0.12
0.11
0.13
0.47
0.53
0.41
0.28
0.23
0.34
























154

2005 FORMAL
Erongo 7,327
5,624
1,703 Caprivi
8,047 6,074
1,973 Ohangwena
19,827 17,799
2,028 Hardap
5,676 4,443 1,233
Kunene 3,462
2,792
670 Kavango 14,125 11,622
2,503 Omusati
24,747 20,030
4,717 Karas
4,622 3,555 1,067
Otjozondjupa
7,200
5,976
1,224 Oshana
16,116 12,747
3,369 Khomas
19,174 13,828 5,346

Oshikoto
14,238 12,084
2,154 Omaheke 6,254 3,462 2,792
Total 17,989
14,392
3,597 Total
22,172 17,696
4,476 Total
74,928 62,660 12,268 Total
35,726 25,288 10,438
% 0.12
0.12
0.13
0.15
0.15
0.16 0.51
0.52
0.43
0.24
0.21
0.37
















NAMCOL 6,963
3,626
3,337
6,755 3,483
3,272
25,547 15,612
9,935
15,156 6,603 8,553

% 0.12
0.13
0.13
0.12
0.12
0.12 0.48
0.52
0.43
0.27
0.23
0.32

















2006 NAMCOL
7,270 3,819
3,451
6,726 3,503
3,223
26,581 14,916 11,665
16,851 7,290 9,561
% 0.13
0.13
0.12
0.12
0.12
0.12 0.46
0.51
0.42
0.29
0.25
0.34
















Sources: MOE Educational Management Information System, Educational Statistics, 2003, 2004, 2005, Table 13; NAMCOL

Statistical Digest, 2003 (Table 2.2), 2004, 2005 (Appendix, Table 1), 2006 (NAMCOL Enrolment Statistics 2006).


155






Table 5.11: Numbers of new entrants, repeaters and re-entrants, Grades 1-12 (2005); school
leavers 2004; Promotion, Repetition and School-leaving rates, Grades 1-11 (2004 to 2005
transition); and Survival Rates to Grades 2 to 12 (2004)

School-
Survival
2005: # of New Entrants, Repeaters, and Re- leavers
Promotion, Repetition and
Rate,

entrants
2004
School-leaving rates, 2004 to 2005
2004
Approx.
School- Survival
numbers
leaving to grades
Total
New
Re-
leaving Promotion Repetition
rates
2 to 12
Grade enrolment entrants Repeaters entrants
school
Rates (%)
Rates (%)
(%)
(%)
100% =
552,302
467,344
81,938
3,020
49,202
77.5
15.9
6.6
100
PRIMARY
1 66,210 53,803 11,959
448
2,110
77.1
19.6 3.3
n/a
2 57,253 48,748 8,176
329
947
84.4
14.1 1.6
96
3 58,217 50,954 6,930
303
1,186
85.4
12.6 2.0
94
4 57,910 49,418 8,172
320
1,415
82.9
14.7 2.4
92
5 61,589 47,962 13,308
319
2,992
73.0
22.1 4.9
89
6 51,972 44,938 6,828
206
2,361
82.2
13.3 4.5
84
7 51,047 43,299 7,551
197
3,618
77.2
15.6 7.3
79
SECONDARY
8 49,692 38,388 11,040
264
4,275
68.2
23.1 8.7
73
9 39,741 33,370 6,114
257
3,449
74.3
16.7 9.0
64
10 30,172 28,318 1,746
108
12,608
50.0
6.4 43.6
57
11 14,777 14,445
80
252
268
95.8
2.3 1.9
31
12 13,722 13,701
4
17
13,973
n/a
n/a n/a
30










SOURCE: MOE Educational Management Information System, Educational Statistics 2005, Tables 29, 33, 30, and 31























156




Table 5.12: Rates of enrolment of 6 to 18 year olds, by grade, 2005



Age


6 7 8 9
10
11
12
13
14
15 16 17 18
Total

31.7 85.1 90.6 96.0 96.2 97.1 99.3
101.9 94.2 98.1 79.4 67.3 48

Grade












Lower
1 30.7 69.2 24.9 8.4
3.1
1.2
0.6
0.4
0.1
0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1
Primary
2 0.3 15.3 51.4 28.1 12.1
5.1
2.5
1.2
0.5
0.3 0.1 0.0 0

3 0.0 0.3 13.8 46.1 28.2 14.0
7.6
3.9
1.8
1.2 0.4 0.2 0

4
0.0
0.3 12.8 41.3 28.2 16.3
8.9
4.5
2.7 1.0 0.4 0.2
Upper
5

0.0
0.3 10.8 38.6 30.0
21.1 11.5
7.1 3.0 1.3 0.5
Primary
6


0.1
0.3
9.2 32.2
25.6 16.5 11.7 5.8 2.8 1.2

7


0.0
0.0
0.4
9.2
31.3 23.4 19.0 10.6 6.1 3.2
Junior
8
0.0
0.0
0.5
8.5 26.8 24.4 17.6 12.3 7.4
Secondary 9
0.0
0.0
0.5
8.0 23.1 16.4 13.4 9.5

10





0.0
0.0
0.6
7.5 18.4 14.4 9.5
Senior
11
0.0
0.5
5.2
10.6 6.7
Secondary 12
0.0
0.0
0.6
5.2 9.5
Other
grades


0.7 0.2 0.2 0.3
0.3
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.4
0.4 0.3 0.3 0.2















Source: MOE Educational Management Information System, Educational Statistics 2005, Table 27

Table 5.13 gives the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) and Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) for the
period 2000 to 2005. The GER measures the total enrolment in a range of grades divided by the
number of people in the population of an age that should be enrolled in those grades. GER values
over 100% indicate the presence of overage learners enrolled in a specific school phase. The NER
is the number of learners of an appropriate age enrolled in range of grades, divided by the number
of people in the population of the same age group. An NER at or near 100 per cent would indicate
that all or most children of the relevant age group are in school and are progressing at the ideal
rate (that is, being promoted each year). In Namibia, children normally start primary school at age
7. Data indicates reasonable performance to the end of primary education.

Table 5.13: Net Enrolment Ratios (NER) and Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER), 2000-2005

NER


GER


Grades Grades 8-
Grades Grades

1-7
12


1-7
8-12

2000
91.3 45.4

119.4
64.1
2001
89.1 48.3

114.9
67.3
2002
93.7 48.2

117.8
51.1
2003
95.7 52.0

120.5
70.3
2004
94.0 51.8

118.8
61.8
2005
93.6 49.5

117.3
63.0










157




Table 5.13 (Continued)


NER MALES
NER FEMALES
GER MALES
GER FEMALES
Grades Grades 8- Grades Grades Grades Grades Grades Grades

1-7
12
1-7
8-12
1-7
8-12
1-7
8-12
2000
89.0 40.1
87.0
42.7
119.5
60.8
119.2 67.4
2001
87.0 42.7
93.5
50.6
114.9
63.4
114.9 71.1
2002
92.7 43.9
94.4
52.4
119.5
45.9
116.2 56.0
2003
95.0 27.2
96.3
56.6
122.6
67.2
118.5 73.2
2004
92.7 46.9
95.2
96.4
120.4
65.0
117.2 71.1
2005
91.7 44.8
95.4
54.1
118.3
59.8
116.3 66.0









Source:
MOE Educational Management Information System, Educational Statistics 2000,
2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, Table 28

In the period covered by Table 5.13, the Primary Level GER has been reasonably stable (in the
range of roughly 115 to 120). In 1994, it was 138 per cent, and in 1999, 123 per cent. A
decreasing GER indicates that over-aged learners are moving out of the system, to be replaced by
learners of the appropriate school attendance age. This trend would also be helped by Namibia’s
current rules on promotion, which encourage virtual automatic promotion through the primary
grades into junior secondary level.

5.3.6 Funding of schools

Although there is a private sector, in general terms it is the government that carries most of the
burden of providing general education. Of the 555,096 learners in school in 2005, 528,735
attended State schools, and 26,361 (4.7 per cent) private schools293. Table 5.14 below provides
information on the number of public and private schools in Namibia in 2005:

Table 5.14: Number of public and private schools in Namibia, 2005

Type of school
All
# Public
# Private
% private
Primary 1,045
986
59
5.6
Combined*
406
383
23
5.7
Secondary
164
149
15
9.1
Other
11
11
0
0.0
Total 1,626
1529
97
6.0

* A combined school covers elements of both the primary and secondary curriculum.
Source: Ministry of Education, Education Management Information System, Education
Statistics 2005
, Windhoek, EMIS MOE, 2006, front piece.

The higher proportion of private schools at the secondary level may reflect either the shortage of
provision at this level or acceptance by more wealthy parents of standards in State primary
schools, coupled with a desire to improve their children’s chances of success at the secondary
level. This does not mean that there are not excellent State secondary schools – there clearly are

293 Ministry of Education, Education Management Information System, Education Statistics 2005,
Windhoek, EMIS MOE, 2006, frontispiece

158




some: there are just not enough to meet demand, which is why there is a school building
programme underway.

In the meantime, the government subsidises private (fee-charging) schools throughout the
country. The Education Training Sector Improvement Plan includes an objective to remove the
subsidy to profit-making private schools, the level of reduction being tied through a formula to
the level of fees charged by the school. In some cases, the subsidy would be wholly removed.
Meanwhile, the public subsidy ranges from a minimum of the public salary equivalent of the
teachers to a maximum that includes a square meter tariff for the areas that the school uses for
education facilities and a subsidy for materials and supplies.

The justification of subsidy provision is that these private schools are engaged in the provision of
education. In their absence, the government would have to provide these services. The
government subsidy provided to learners in these schools ranged from NA $3,003 to NA
$2,604294.

5.3.7 Primary and secondary education provision

Although there is a clear distinction between primary and secondary education, within schools
this division is not clear-cut. While many schools do teach only at the primary level and some
also teach only at the secondary level, there are a number of combined schools that cross the
division between primary and secondary schooling. In 2005, for example there were 1,626
schools, both public and private. Of these295:

• At Primary Level, there were 357 schools offering either the full Lower Primary curriculum
or – in the case of new schools – some of the lower primary grades; and 681 schools offered
the Lower and Upper Primary curriculum or a combination of lower and some of the upper
primary grades. There were also nine Upper Primary schools offering just Grades 5 to 7.
• Of those combined schools that teach at both Primary and Secondary levels, 366 schools
offered the full or most of the Lower Primary to Junior Secondary grades (Grades 1 to 10); 21
schools offered some or all of the Upper Primary and Secondary grades (Grades 5 to 10); and
118 schools offered the full or most of Grades 1 to 12. In addition, three private schools in
Windhoek offered Grades 1 to 13 – Grade 13 being equivalent either to the Advanced level or
the Hochsculreifeprüfung (Abitur).
• At Secondary Level, 68 schools offered Grades 8 to 10 (junior secondary level only), and 99
offered all or most of the secondary school Grades 8 to 12. In addition, one school offered
Grades 11 and 12 only.
• There were three “Other” Schools.

5.3.8 Implications of automatic promotions

Free education is provided to all in Namibia under Article 20 of the Constitution up to the end of
primary education or to the age of 16, whichever comes first. Primary education is compulsory.
Children enter Grade 1 at the age of seven and follow the lower and upper cycles (Grades 1 – 4
and 5 – 7 respectively). For efficiency reasons, a semi-automatic promotions policy was adopted

294 Ministry of Education, Expenditure Issues Paper, 2005 (first draft). Electronic copy obtained from Mr T
Kakonda, Planning Division, MOE, Windhoek, Section 4.
295 Ministry of Education, Education Management Information System, Education Statistics 2005,
Windhoek, EMIS MOE, 2006, Table 3.

159




in 1996, under which learners are allowed to repeat just one grade in each primary school cycle
(Grades 1 to 4, 5 to 7). At the end of their primary education (nominally at age 13), students
proceed to Junior Secondary Education (Grades 8-10). Here too learners are permitted to repeat
just one of Grades 8 and 9, but not Grade 10.

One of the results of this virtually automatic promotions policy is that the Net Enrolment Ratio
for Grades 1-9 is 96.4 per cent296. Although there is a continuous assessment policy that in theory
monitors learners’ achievements, Marope et al reported a lack of correspondence in a large
number of schools between continuous assessment scores given by teachers and scores obtained
in examinations. This suggests that teachers over-mark and that as a result, learners are being
promoted without having mastered key competencies.

Performance in the Grade 10 Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) is
correspondingly disappointing297. A further result of the policy of not letting learners repeat
Grade 10 (with the exception of those under 17) is that, at this stage, there is virtually no where
else for them to go except NAMCOL.

5.3.9 NAMCOL’s
approach

NAMCOL’s system takes account of the subject passes that students already have, thus giving
these students the option to take just those subjects that they have failed outright or only gained a
grade D, E, F or G grade. NAMCOL also lets its students take only six JSC subjects since passes
in six subjects is all that is required to move on to senior secondary level.

Although NAMCOL does not have complete or wholly accurate data on the proportion of its JSC
students who are taking their JSC for the first time (i.e. those who never studied JSC subjects at a
traditional school), all the indications are that the vast majority of its JSC students are repeaters
trying to improve their grades and thus avoid reaching the end of their formal educational
“ladder” (see Table 5.15). NAMCOL's data suggests that the proportion of those taking JSC
through NAMCOL for the first time is insignificant. Indeed, most of NAMCOL’s students at both
the JSC and International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) level have
enrolled to improve their grades.

The Tracer Study of NAMCOL students undertaken in late 2006 by Dr. Alicia Fentiman supports
this conclusion. Dr. Fentiman’s research focused on former IGCSE students who were enrolled in
NAMCOL between 1999-2001 when an average of just over 4,000 IGCSE learners were
registered in each of these years. As Fentiman acknowledges, she had some difficulty in tracing
NAMCOL students from this period. She also faced some scepticism on the part of students about
the use to which the research was going to be put. As a result, she was only able to obtain 478
completed questionnaires and conduct 75 in-depth interviews with ex-NAMCOL IGCSE

296 Republic of Namibia, Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP): Planning for a
Learning Nation. Programme Document Phase I (2006-2011)
, February 2007, p. 18.
297 Mmantsetsa Marope, Keiichi Ogawa, Albert Tuijnman, and Charmaine Villet, Adapting the General
Education System to Better Support Namibia’s Transition to a Knowledge-based Economy
, Report No.
05/05/03 of the Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity, EW-
P078682-ESW, Paragraph 3.3.10.

160




students. However, 95 per cent of the students who completed the questionnaire indicated that
they had enrolled in NAMCOL to improve their grades or “points” in the IGCSE examinations298.

Table 5.15: Proportion of NAMCOL students taking the JSC and IGCSE for the first time,
or for re-sit purposes, 1999, 2003, 2007

IGCSE first IGCSE re-
JSC first
time (NSSC sit (NSSCO

time JSC re-sit
in 2007)
in 2007)
1999 0.18
0.82
0.44
0.56
2003 0.08
0.92
0.38
0.62
2007 0.07
0.93
0.18
0.82

Notes:
"Resit" includes those who failed in the formal system
and those who passed but are trying to improve their
grades.
n/a: new software introduced at the start of 2000
meant that this data became unavailable.
The figures should be treated with care.
Source:
NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 1999, Figure 1.5; 2003
(p. 11); 2007 data supplied by NAMCOL 15/5/07

The Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) acts as a gateway for entry to Senior
Secondary education (Grades 11 and 12). To progress beyond junior secondary school, students
are required to reach a certain standard in the examination in their best six subjects, as well as
passing English. The government has raised the level of performance (points score) at which it
will allow those who pass the JSCE to progress to senior secondary school in order both to raise
standards and contain senior secondary numbers within existing capacity, financial as well as
physical. The number of points needed at Grade 10 to progress to Grade 11 within the State
system has gone up from 22 points in 2000 to 23 points (2001 on) and now to 24 points299.

5.3.10 Senior secondary routes

At the Senior Secondary school level there are, in theory, two routes open to candidates – the
“ordinary” and the “higher” route. The International General Certificate of Secondary Education
(IGCSE) and its replacement, the Namibia Senior Secondary Curriculum Ordinary Level
(NSSCO), differ from the Higher International General Certificate of Secondary Education
(HIGCSE) and Namibia Senior Secondary Curriculum Higher Level (NSSCH) in three respects:
content, pace and prospective outcome.

Promotion from Grade 11 to grade 12 is virtually automatic. All students entering Grade 11 in
January of their Year 11 start with the IGCSE curriculum. Whereas the vast majority of students

298 Alicia Fentiman, Tracer Study of former NAMCOL learners: Research Report, Cambridge, IRFOL,
Centre for Educational Research and Development, Von Hügel Institute, St Edmund’s College, February
2007, Section 3.10.
299 Ministry of Education, Educational Programmes Implementation, Internal memorandum, A J to EMT
(dated 31 March 2005) Re Feedback on a Review of the 2004 Examination Results: An Updated Version of
the Tracer Study (2003), a Comparative Summary of the 2004 (H)IGCSE and JSC Results)
.

161




progressed through the IGCSE curriculum over two school years, “high fliers” who are at one of
the 48 schools that offered the HIGCSE were able to take the IGCSE curriculum at speed
(completing this within about eight to nine months) before moving on to the more advanced
HIGCSE curriculum. Prior to their examinations in their second year they could, with advice
from their school, decide whether they would enter for the HIGCSE examination in their subject,
or sit the easier IGCSE examination.

Similar arrangements are now in place for the NSSCO and NSSCH. The implications of a
student’s choice are far-reaching; only students who have obtained four passes in HIGCSE
subjects are eligible to attend a South African university – and it is higher education there that
will provide Namibia with the advanced knowledge workers that it needs if it is to enter the ranks
of those countries with a Knowledge Economy. In 2004, only 32 of the 48 schools offering the
HIGCSE produced candidates qualified for entry to the South African university system. Just 465
individuals (15 per cent of all candidates) qualified to study in South Africa300. Due to the
requirements of the programme, NAMCOL is not able to offer NSSCH courses.

The points achieved in the Grade 12 examinations also govern entry to post-senior secondary
school destinations within Namibia. For example, under IGCSE the ultimate aim was to gain
passes in IGCSE at grades A (7 points), B (6 points) and C (5 points), together with a minimum
grade in English. The minimum requirements in 2004 were:

• For a government job, minimum 20 points from any selection of five subjects, together
with an E+ in English.
• For entry to a College, minimum 25 points in six subjects all passed at grades A, B or C,
together with an E+ in English.
• For entry to the Polytechnic of Namibia, minimum 25 points in six subjects all passed at
grades A, B or C, plus an E+ in English.
• For entry to the University of Namibia, minimum 25 points in five subjects all passed at
grades A, B or C, together with a D+ in English.

The Education Statistics produced by the Education Management Information System do not
show destination statistics for those leaving school at the end of either Grade 10 or Grade 12.
They do, of course, provide information on the internal promotion rate from Grade 10 to 11
(junior to senior secondary school). This has fluctuated between 48 per cent and 58 per cent in the
period 1998 to 2004. In 2000 and 2001, just 19 per cent of IGCSE candidates passed with A, B
and C grades, and in 2002, 2003 and 2004, just 20 per cent did. In other words, as A J Gous
comments in his Tracer Study on the 2004 results, only 20 per cent of the students who finish
Grade 12 students have an academic future301.

Performance in the JSCE examinations influences students' chances of success at
IGCSE/HIGCSE level302. The data shows that of those entering Grade 11 with the minimum

300 Ministry of Education, Educational Programmes Implementation, Internal memorandum, A J Gous to
EMT (dated 31 March 2005) Re Feedback on a Review of the 1004 Examination Results: An Updated
Version of the Tracer Study (2003), a Comparative Summary of the 2004 (H)IGCSE and JSC Results)
.
301 Ministry of Education, Educational Programmes Implementation, Internal memorandum, A J Gous to
EMT (dated 31 March 2005) Re Feedback on a Review of the 2004 Examination Results: An Updated
Version of the Tracer Study (2003), a Comparative Summary of the 2004 (H)IGCSE and JSC Results)
.
302 Ministry of Education, Educational Programmes Implementation, Internal memorandum, A J Gous to
EMT (dated 31 March 2005) Re Feedback on a Review of the 2004 Examination Results: An Updated
Version of the Tracer Study (2003), a Comparative Summary of the 2004 (H)IGCSE and JSC Results)
.

162




points necessary to enter senior secondary school, around 9 out of every 10 students will not gain
sufficiently good grades in their senior secondary examination to be eligible for a government
job, and none will get into higher education (Table 5.16). Those with 27 points in the JSCE
examinations will have some chance (around 1in 2) of being eligible for a government job, while
1.5 to 2 in 10 will be eligible to enter some form of tertiary education in Namibia (Table 5.17).

Table 5.16: Potential eligibility of Grade 12 graduates who entered Grade 11 with the
minimum qualifications

2004 cohort: % eligible to enter govt job or HE in Namibia
Entering
on leaving Grade 12
Grade 11 with
Ineligible for
Eligible for
the minimum govt job (under govt job (20 –
Senior Secondary
pts needed
20 pts at 24 points at Eligible for HE in Namibia
School Cohort
that year
IGCSE)
IGCSE)
(25 points + at IGCSE)
2000-2002 22
0.92
0.08
0
2001-2003 23
0.88
0.11
0
2002-2004 23
0.92
0.08
0

Table 5.17: Potential eligibility of Grade 12 graduates who entered Grade 11 with 27 points

2004 cohort: % eligible to enter govt job or HE in Namibia
on leaving grade 12
Ineligible for
Eligible for
Entering govt job (under govt job (20 –
Senior Secondary
Grade 11 with
20 pts at 24 points at Eligible for HE in Namibia
School Cohort
27 points
IGCSE)
IGCSE)
(25 points + at IGCSE)
2000-2002 27
0.4
0.6
0.16
2001-2003 27
0.52
0.48
0.14
2003-2004 27
0.44
0.56
0.2

Gous's study also indicated that success in English was crucial to overall success. Students who
obtain an F in English at Grade 10 have only a 10 per cent chance of passing Grade 12 and being
eligible for a government job, whereas those with a D in English at Grade 10 have a 91 per cent
chance of passing Grade 12. Similarly, students who obtain a Grade F in English at Grade 10
have no chance of entering higher education in Namibia, whereas a Grade C pass gives them a
two-thirds (67 per cent) chance of doing so (Table 5.18).

Table 5.18: Potential eligibility of Grade 12 graduates who entered Grade 11 with Grades
C, D, E, and F in the JSCE

Grade 10 results
2004 cohort: Eligibility on the basis of their
in English
IGCSE results
Ineligible Eligible for Eligible for
for govt job
govt job
HE
Grade F
90%
10%
0%
Grade E
34%
66%
16%
Grade D
9%
91%
44%
Grade C
0%
100%
67%


163




One other significant fact to come out of Gous’s Tracer Study was that the points scored by
students in the JSCE act as a powerful predictor to success in the HIGCSE and (by extension)
the new NSSCH303: In 2004:

Students with 34 to 36 points at Grade 10 have a 4 per cent chance of success in
HIGCSE.
Students with 37 to 39 points at Grade 10 had a 15 per cent chance of success in
HIGCSE.
Students with 40 to 42 points at Grade 10 had an 81 per cent chance of success in
HIGCSE.


5.4
Secondary schooling within the context of labour market

It is against this background that it is worth exploring the relationship between schooling and the
labour market.

Education per se is widely seen as a necessary precondition for economic growth within the
“knowledge-driven” economies of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Although
Professor Alison Wolf has recently questioned the link between it and economic growth304, there
is a clear connection between education and private benefit as measured by the rate of return. As
she concludes, for individuals ‘“Get educated, get richer” seems like sound advice’305.

Moreover, in countries where wage differentials between the educated and the under-educated are
significant and even widening (as in the USA and the UK), teenagers and their parents know that
without a qualification, an individual is increasingly unlikely to be considered for a job, whatever
the qualifications actually (as opposed to formally) required to do it306. Not surprisingly,
ambitious young adults who have the potential to improve their educational standard will wish to
do so, in an attempt to gain some status on the qualifications ladder, and hence in the job market.

Education therefore matters to individuals, and this is as true in Namibia as elsewhere. As long as
individuals (and their parents) understand that educational qualifications matter when it comes to
securing any, let alone well-paid, employment, there will be a continuing demand for education.
It is not, therefore, surprising that public rhetoric also stresses the value of education to
individuals and society.

But if education matters, the next question must be: what kind of education is most important?
The first pre-requisite is the possession of basic academic skills. As Wolf comments, ‘Poor
literacy and numeracy – especially the latter – have a devastating effect on people’s chances of
well-paid and stable employment’307. At the other end of the spectrum, there is a clear payback
from the possession of higher-level qualifications, although at the top end of the qualifications
scale, the wage premium enjoyed by graduates varies depending upon the subject studied. In
between is a vast array of qualifications more or less directly tied to vocational outcomes.

303 Ministry of Education, Educational Programmes Implementation, Internal memorandum, A J Gous to
EMT (dated 31 March 2005) Re Feedback on a Review of the 2004 Examination Results: An Updated
Version of the Tracer Study (2003), a Comparative Summary of the 2004 (H)IGCSE and JSC Results.

304 Alison Wolf, Does education matter? Myths about education and economic growth, London: Penguin
Books, 2002, p. 24.
305 Ibid. p. 21.
306 Ibid. p. 177.
307 Ibid. p. 34.

164





At the public policy level, there has been a significant shift in thinking over the last 30 years as
policymakers and politicians have come to argue that the real purpose of education is to prepare
people for the world of work and to promote economic growth. In this context, it is increasingly
argued that spending on education needs to be properly targeted to develop the skills and
knowledge that modern economies require.

5.4.1 Weaknesses in the education system

These commonly held views inform a great deal of what has been written about the relationship
between education and the economy in Namibia. Against an existing “acute shortage of skilled
labour across all sectors of the economy”, and predictions that the demand for skilled labour will
only grow308, Dr Marope’s recent study on Namibia Human Capital and Knowledge Development
for Economic Growth with Equity
(2005) argued that “in its current state the education and
training system [in Namibia] cannot effectively support either the attainment of national
development goals or the aspired for transition to a [Knowledge Economy]”309. Among the key
weaknesses that she identified in the education system310 are:

• poor learning outcomes,
• the inefficiency of the system (e.g. repetition and drop-out rates),
• persisting inequalities including “pockets of inequality of access” that in particular affect
rural areas and some language groups, as well as lack of access to secondary
education311, and
• poor relevance to the economy (“the education and training system fails to meet labour
market skills requirements”312).

Similar sentiments underpin government policy. Following a fundamental review of the
performance of its economy, the Government of Namibia articulated a broad development
framework with the aim of achieving a level of development and a quality of life comparable to
the developed world313. This Vision specifically recognises the key role of education and training
in driving development and achieving the goal of transforming Namibia into a Knowledge
Economy.

Such an economy, it is argued, would have an improved capacity to apply knowledge and
technology in ways that will improve productivity and in turn, lead to a virtuous circle in which
high productivity leads to “better profitability, improved investment returns, and reduced

308 Mmantsetsa Toka Marope, Namibia Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth
with Equity
, Africa Region Human Development Working paper Series No. 84, Human Development
Sector, Africa Region, The World Bank, 2005, §2.22, p. 13.
309 Ibid. §8.1, p. 95.
310 Ibid. pp. 95-97.
311 Ibid. §8.9, p. 96.
312 Ibid. §8.10, p. 96.
313 Office of the President, Approach to Namibia: Vision 2030, Windhoek, National Planning Commission,
2001.

165




314
domestic capital flight” . A prior condition of achieving a Knowledge Economy is “the
development of a knowledge society (educated, skilled, ICTs-savvy)”315.

The development of such a society is a challenge, given that from about 1993 on, a decline in
productivity was attributed among other factors to inadequate skill levels in the labour force. As
Marope commented: “productivity is correlated to high human skills. For instance, Namibia’s
firms record high units of outputs if they have a critical mass of employees with tertiary education
and training. The same relationship could not be found with respect to employees with primary
education”316.

Low levels of education are not only associated with poor productivity. There is also a close
correlation between lack of skills/education and unemployment317. Indeed, Namibia’s current
education and training system is not delivering sufficiently high levels of highly educated and
trained labour to meet demand. There is a shortage of employment-based training and skills
development opportunities318. Industry offers task-specific training that fails to provide
transferable skills and hence fails to support labour mobility. The low skills base then runs the
danger of “locking Namibia into a vicious cycle” where skills shortages attract Foreign Direct
Investments that require low skilled labour and hence have little interest in breaking the cycle by
investing in skills development.

5.5

Cost-benefits of education

Cost-benefit seeks to measure in economic terms the benefit of education to the individual, the
employer and society. In all three cases, education is treated as an investment decision in which
the cost of education (to the individual, the employer, and the state) is measured against the
economic benefits that flow from that investment, as measured through increased lifetime
earnings, increased productivity and profit, and increased revenues from taxation on higher
earnings.

In general, because the cost of education is heavily subsidised by the state, private rates of return
are usually higher than social rates of return. Lack of access to education in developing countries
tends to push up the rates of return on education in those countries, when compared with
developed countries. The private and social rate of return on primary education rise to infinity in
those societies where basic skills are a prerequisite for productive employment, while the rate of
return on basic education (as measured through increased earnings) tends to diminish to the extent
that a particular level of education has become a more or less universal norm. Better rates of
return are gained from those levels where universal access has yet to be achieved. The private rate
of return on higher education tends to exceed that of secondary education, in part because of the
heavy subsidies given to those entering higher education, and in part because access to higher
education is often rationed.


314 Mmantsetsa Toka Marope, Namibia Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth
with Equity
, Africa Region Human Development Working paper Series No. 84, Human Development
Sector, Africa Region, The World Bank, 2005, §1.4, p. 2.
315 Ibid. § 1.4, p. 2.
316 Ibid. §1.11, p. 4, drawing on N. Westergaard-Nielsen, D. Hanshom, D. Motinga, Analysis of Namibia’s
Labour Market: The Demand Side
. Background Report 02/05/03 of the ESW-P078682, Namibia Human
Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity
. Windhoek, 2003.
317 Ibid. §1.18, p. 6.
318 Ibid. §2.17, p. 12.

166




Education has a positive effect on earnings, according to a report by Tekaligne Godana and
Keichi Ogawa319, based on a nationally representative sample survey of 2500 individuals aged
over 15 and not attending school. Of the sample, 33 per cent were in full-time employment, 7.6
per cent were in part-time employment, and 44.4 per cent were unemployed; 11 per cent were old
or disabled, 2.3 per cent were unpaid family workers, and 1.6 per cent students. Of those in
employment (882 individuals), 35.3 per cent were in the public sector and 64.7 per cent in the
private sector320.

The report analysed hourly wage rates. It found that:
• urban wage levels were significantly higher than rural wages (median NAD 12.50 against
6.58),
• males earned more than females (median NAD 10.00 against 7.50),
• public sector wages were significantly higher than private sector rates (median NAD
15.10 against 6.79), and
• education had a significant bearing on earnings (see Table 5.19).

As the report says:

People with primary education and junior secondary education have very similar wages
while wages are much higher for those with senior secondary, college and university
education. Especially, it is noteworthy that the median wage for people with senior
secondary education is more than double those of with only junior secondary education.
[There is] A real jump in wages between those two levels. The wage jump is also high
between senior secondary education and college education.321

Table 5.19: Hourly wages (in NAD) by Educational Level, 2003


Mean Median
Std.
Dev. Cases
No schooling
6.26
2.50
9.57
49
Primary education
13.72
5.26
24.61
199
Junior secondary
12.70
6.14
22.03
335
Senior secondary
22.13
13.42
32.28
274
College
26.52
24.31
19.55
99
University/Polytechnic
42.98
27.78
54.63
51

Source: Household Survey (2003), cited in Tekaligne Godana and Keichi Ogawa, The cost and
financing of education and training, Report 07/05/03 of the Human Capital and Knowledge
Development for Economic Growth with Equity study, EW-PO78682-ESW, Table 7.2.

Westergaard-Nielsen, Hansohm and Motinga drew on this data to show how completion of each
educational level impacted wages. In essence, wage levels double when somebody completes
senior secondary school, and the same happens when college is completed322.

319 Tekaligne Godana and Keichi Ogawa, The cost and financing of education and training, Report 07/05/03
of the Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity study, EW-
PO78682-ESW, Section 7.
320 Ibid. §7.1.1 and 7.1.2
321 Ibid. §7.1.4.
322 Niels Westergaard-Nielsen, Dirk Hansohm and Daniel Motinga, Analysis of the Namibian labor market: The
demand side, Report No. 02/05/03 of the Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with
Equity study, EW-P078682-ESW.

167





Table 5. 20: Returns to education expressed as an index with no school equal 1

Level of education completed
Wage factor
Median
No schooling
1
2.5
Primary education
2.104
5.26
Junior Secondary
2.456
6.14
Senior Secondary
5.368
13.42
College 9.724
24.31
University/Polytechnic 11.112
27.78

Source: Niels Westergaard-Nielsen, Dirk Hansohm and Daniel Motinga, Analysis of the
Namibian labor market: The demand side, Report No. 02/05/03 of the Human Capital and
Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity study, EW-P078682-ESW.

Godana and Ogawa's study of rates of return to education was the first of its kind for Namibia.
They found that while the overall private rate of return per additional year of schooling was
around 11 per cent, this actually masked huge differences arising from the level at which that
education occurred.

The returns to primary education and junior secondary education are extremely low (in
fact negative for primary education) and statistically highly insignificant. This is
indicative of the low quality of education received by those in the labor force today....
The returns to senior secondary education and post-secondary education are extremely
high, 28 per cent and 34 per cent respectively. ... Such a dramatic jump in returns to
education from junior secondary to senior secondary can hardly be explained by a
dramatic difference in productivity between those with junior secondary education and
senior secondary education. Perhaps it has to do more with the scarcity premium people
with post junior secondary education receive due to the limited access to education
beyond grade 10. If that is so it raises an important equity issue where the bulk of
education expenditure actually benefits a few select lucky to proceed beyond junior
secondary education. If people do not receive any economic benefit from the education
they received it can hardly be said that they have benefited from government expenditure
on education.323

One of the reasons put forward for the poor rate of return on primary education is its poor quality:
As Godana and Ogawa conclude, "The [private] returns to education are highly skewed to those
with education beyond junior secondary level".324

As far as the private rates of return are concerned, the same study indicates that although primary
and secondary education in Namibia is in principle free, all schools have voluntary development
funds to which parents are asked to contribute, the cost of these contributions varying
significantly from school to school. In addition, parents meet other costs (e.g. uniforms, books),
while attendance at school may well involve a loss in potential earnings.


323 Tekaligne Godana and Keichi Ogawa, The cost and financing of education and training, Report 07/05/03
of the Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity study, EW-
PO78682-ESW, §7.2.9 to 7.2.10
324 Ibid. §7.1.16

168




The main social cost of education is the significant government subsidy to education. Godana and
Ogawa's calculations and assumptions led them to the following Private Internal Rate of Return
(PIRR) and Social Internal Rate of Return (SIRR) on education, by level (Table 5.21)325. Note
that in this table, the Private Rates of Return cited in this table are based on completing a certain
level of education, and are not directly comparable with the rates of return mentioned above,
which are returns to additional years of education326.

Table 5.21: Private and Social IRR for different levels of education

Average
Annual
Total
Annual
PIRR
SIRR
annual
private costs
private
government
%
%
earnings
of education
costs of
subsidy per
(NAD)
education
student (NAD)
No formal
22867 -

- -
-
education
Completed
29054 280 11714 2307* 6
5
primary
education
Completed
46837 421 29475 2880* 17
16
junior
Secondary
education
Completed
59772 526 47363 2880* 13
12
senior
Secondary
education
Post
102900 4500*** 64272 23417** 14 10
secondary

* Based on operational costs for 2001.
** Average subsidy for UNAM and the Polytechnic.
*** Private costs for post secondary education are estimates based on tuition fees and required
expenses for books.

As children not attending primary school help at home in various ways we have assumed that the
opportunity cost of attending primary school to be 50 per cent of the earnings of an adult with no
education.

Source: Tekaligne Godana and Keichi Ogawa, The cost and financing of education and
training, Report 07/05/03 of the Human Capital and Knowledge Development for
Economic Growth with Equity study, EW-PO78682-ESW.

Godana and Ogawa conclude that "Both the private and social IRR are quite high for all levels of
education except for completing primary education". Completing primary education has "a
positive impact on wages" with a 6 per cent PIRR. Completing junior secondary level education
has a high private and social return. The private rate of return for post-secondary education is low
because of the high private cost of attending that level of education327.


325 Ibid. §7.3.7
326 Ibid. §7.3.8
327 Ibid. §7.3.8

169





Reviewing the evidence, Marope, Ogawa, Tuijinman and Villet argued that:

The analysis of rates of returns to schooling sheds additional light on the inadequacy of
skill supply. The findings show that the private return to primary education is close to
zero. The return to junior secondary education is only a few percentage points. The return
to senior secondary education is substantial (28 percent) and the return to tertiary
education is gigantic (34 percent). These findings are interpreted as follows.
Because the primary system fails to build foundation skills such as functional literacy and
numeracy and employability skills to a sufficient degree, the formal labour market does
not absorb persons with only primary schooling. Hence there is no private return to
primary schooling in the wage economy. The population with primary school as highest
level of educational attainment is therefore largely dependent on work in agriculture or
the shadow economy. The small positive rate of return to completed junior secondary
education is an indication that those with this level of schooling are employable but will
have low wages on the labour market. In trying to actually realize economic benefits from
its investment in human capital, Namibia should focus on the difference between a zero
return for completed primary education and a positive rate of return to junior and senior
secondary education. The inevitable conclusion is that Namibia needs to expand access to
secondary education as rapidly as possible so that all young Namibians are educated at
least to this level328.



328 Mmantsetsa Marope, Keiichi Ogawa, Albert Tuijnman, and Charmaine Villet, Adapting the General
Education System to Better Support Namibia’s Transition to a Knowledge-based Economy
, Report No.
05/05/03 of the Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity, EW-
P078682-ESW, 5.2.9 and 5.2.10

170




6

OPEN SCHOOLING IN NAMIBIA: THE NAMIBIAN COLLEGE OF OPEN
LEARNING


6.1.1 Structure of NAMCOL

The Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL) has its headquarters in Katutura, a
dormitory suburb a few kilometres north of central Windhoek. The College, whose supreme
authority is its Board of Governors, has its main administrative functions located here. These
include:
• the Office of the Director (to whom the Research and Evaluation manager currently
reports),
• the Programmes and Materials Development Division,
• the Management and Support Services Division,
• and the Finance and Administration Division (see Chart 6.1).

The Programme Materials and Development Division is responsible for the development and
revision of subjects offered in the secondary school and professional programmes, desktop
publishing, the print shop, audio and radio production, and the despatch of materials to the
regions. The Computer Based Learning Centre (CBLC) facilitator reports in here as well. The
Management and Support Services Division is responsible for learner support, marketing, the data
unit, human resources, and research and evaluation. The Finance and Administration Division
covers accounts, IT, logistics and administration. It also manages the bookshop, which sells both
NAMCOL and University of Cambridge Press NSSCO materials.

The Board has approved a reorganisation and strengthening of the structure that will create a
separate Marketing and Sales Unit within Management and Support Services that will be
responsible for marketing and the bookshop.

NAMCOL has four regional offices (Northern, North-Eastern, Central, and Southern). Each of
the NAMCOL regions covers a number of political regions:

• Central: Erongo, Kunene and Otjozondjupa
• Northern: Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto
• North Eastern: Caprivi and Kavango
• Southern: Hardap, Karas, Khomas and Omaheke

The Northern Region regional office and resource centre at Ongwediva is owned by the College,
and one of NAMCOL’s two Computer-Based Learning Centres is located there. The Southern
Regional Office is located at NAMCOL's head office, the Central Region is located in rented
premises and the North Eastern office is located in government buildings, free of rental charge.
The College makes use of facilities in schools to deliver many of its services to students. The
actual accommodation is free of charge, but the College does pay each school an agreed sum for
its use of electricity, telephones and toilets. Heads of Centre are employed on a casual basis and
are paid NA $111.96 an hour. Each Region is divided into a number of Areas, under the
management of an Area Co-ordinator. The Co-ordinators are responsible for the enrolment points
where students are admitted and the tutorial centres that are in their area. This job is a pivotal one
in the success of NAMCOL at the local level. In 2006, the regions collectively established 118
enrolment points and 99 tutorial centres nation-wide.

171








BOARD of

GOVERNORS





Office of the Director









Management and Support
Finance, Administration
Programme and Materials
Regional Offices (4)
Services
and IT
Development







Research and Evaluation
Humanities, Languages

and Social Sciences




Marketing and Sales
Commercial, Vocational
and Professional




Learner Support
Materials Production and

Despatch



Human Resources


Chart 6.1: NAMCOL’s emergent organisational structure

The recent reorganisation and strengthening of NAMCOL will involve the creation of five new
full-time positions including a manager for the new Marketing and Sales Unit in Management and
Support Services, a Programme Developer for ICT and eLearning, and some additional support
posts. Table 6.1 shows the staffing levels in 2005. Table 6.2 shows the number of students per
full-time staff – excluding the new positions.

What really distinguishes the College is the relatively small number of full-time core staffing
positions relative to the number of students it has and the heavy use of peripheral staff (staff on
flexible contracts under which they are paid hourly or for the accomplishment of specific tasks).


172




Table 6.1: NAMCOL staffing


FULL-TIME STAFF
----------------- PART-TIME STAFF ----------------
Regional
Course Content
Centre
Casual
Head Office
Centres
writers
Editors
Heads
Tutors Contract
2000

19
10
92
890

2001

7
12
93
931

2002 43 22
7
17
89
912

2003 41 20
8
10
104
922
40

2004 45 20
12
7
110
799
46

2005 48 20
3
8
110
892
49

2006 48 21
10
16
105
1,026
71

Source:
NAMCOL Statistical Digest 2000, 2001 (all Fig 4.2), 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 (Figs.
4.1 and 4.2).


Table 6.2: Number of full-time staff per learner

# part-time
# part-time
secondary
secondary school
school # full-time
learners per FT

learners
staff
staff member
2002 2,5982
65
400
2003 26,483
61
434
2004 24,835
65
382
2005 26,482
68
389
2006 28,090
69
407



6.2
The origins and purpose of NAMCOL

Prior to Namibian Independence (31 March 1990) there were a number of continuing and
distance education programmes available to Namibians leading to the Grade 10 Namibia School
Certificate (NSC) examination, and these were continued. Among these was the establishment by
SWAPO329
330
with the help of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the (now defunct) International
Extension College (a distance education consultancy and development agency based in the
UK)331
332
of a Namibian Extension Unit operating out of Zambia. Within Namibia, the

329 SWAPO: The South West Africa People's Organisation. Now a political party, SWAPO, which was
formed in 1960, emerged as the dominant liberation movement in the struggle for Namibian independence
from South African rule. The movement launched its armed struggle in 1966.
330 The Commonwealth Secretariat is the administrative arm of the Commonwealth of Nations (established
in 1931), a voluntary association of independent states all of which, with the exception of the United
Kingdom and Mozambique, were former British colonies.
331 The International Extension Unit was set up in 1971 to provide and advice and support in distance
education and open and flexible learning in developing countries. It ceased to be active from 31 March
2006.

173




333
Department of National Education provided distance education courses for teacher. . In late
1994, these two initiatives were brought together as the Department of Adult and Non-Formal
Education within the then Ministry of Basic Education and Culture334. At the same time,
coincidentally, the national curriculum was reorganised into a two-tier secondary system leading
to the Grade 10 Junior Secondary Certificate and the Grade 12 International General Certificate
of Secondary Education. These examinations were introduced in 1993/94, and the pre-
independence NSC was phased out at the end of 1996. Table 6.3 shows the number of learners
taking these non-formal, out-of-school programmes by mode of study during this formative
period.













332 "The Namibian Extension Unit (NEU), a distance education program for Namibian refugees in Zambia
and Angola, was established in 1981 and began teaching courses in mid-1982. Its purpose [was] to provide
basic education to adult Namibian refugees using the distance education format. The NEU provide[d]
courses in study skills, introductory English and basic mathematics; courses in agriculture, child care and
nutrition, personal hygiene and community health, and secondary school English are being prepared. NEU
distance learning activities [were] carried out in study centres throughout Angola and Zambia, under field
supervisors for each country. Part-time tutors [were] employed to help the students in their studies; they
[were] assisted by study group leaders--students a few courses ahead who [were] responsible for classroom
procedures and helping students with lessons. NEU course materials [were] produced in writers' workshops
organized by the Unit. NEU staff and teachers from Namibian Health and Education Centres help[ed] in the
writing, and international experts and consultants also participate[d]. The NEU [was] autonomous within
the United Nations Institute for Namibia, and [was] overseen by a Board of Project Management. Financial
assistance [was] provided by a variety of international sources. [In 1985] Approximately 165 employees
work[ed] in the study centres to serve about 2,000 students; both figures [were] expected to rise as more of
the target population of 40,000 Namibian refugees with at least four years of primary schooling [were]
reached." Source: ERIC:
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERIC
ExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED266290&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&accno=ED266290
accessed 2 October 2007. "After 1990, when refugees began returning home, the Namibia Extension Unit
was reorganized to provide traditional formal education by means of distance education. Sponsored by the
United Nations Fund for Namibia, the Ford Foundation, OXFAM (UK), and the Swedish International
Development Agency, the unit now provides practical skills in literacy and basic education, as well as
professional education and training for adults who have at least four years of primary education. Instruction
is via printed correspondence texts and audiocassettes." Source: Namibia – Non-Formal Education,
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1049/Namibia-NONFORMAL-EDUCATION.html, accessed 7
October 2007.
333 This led to the award of the National Education Certificate. The programme was phased out around
1994 – see Erica Shilongo, "Historical Overview of Educational Assessment in Namibia", Reform Forum
18 (September 2004), p. 4: Available at http://
www.nied.edu.na/publications/journals/journal18/Article4.doc, accessed 7 October 2007.
334 NAMCOL, http://www.namcol.com.na/History.htm - accessed 2 October 2007.

174






Table 6.3: Continuing and distance education provision in Namibia, 1991-1998


Exam 1991
1992
1993 1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
Distance
Education
Mode










Grade
10
JSC
164
393
1021
2002
3020
Standard
10 NSC
~600
260 1,112
832
563
3,334
d/c
Grade
12
IGCSE

1,197 6,401
6,612
Sub-total
~600 260 1,112
996
956
5,552 8,403
9,632
Face-to-
Face
Mode










Grade
10
JSC 1,357 4,406
4,055 4,701
66,484
Standard
5,500
10 NSC + 5,300 8,390 2,427 1,183
1,226
d/c
Grade
12
IGCSE

3,496
3,287
5,500
Sub-total
+ 5,300 8,390 3,784 5,589
5,281 8,197
10,311
~6,10
TOTAL
0 5,560 9,502 4,780 6,545 10,833 16,600
19,943










Note:
d/c = discontinued
Source: NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 1999, Figure 2.2


Meanwhile, the new government began to reform the educational system. In February 1991, a
Core Planning Group, representative of both the public and private sectors, the unions and non-
governmental organizations, was set up to examine the potential for distance education in
Namibia. The findings of this group were reflected in the Report of the Commission on Higher
Education
, which also endorsed the establishment of a distance education college. In October
1991, the then Ministry of Education (MEC) invited Florida State University to coordinate a
consultancy review and to make proposals for distance education in Namibia. The report of this
review group, entitled Taking Education to the People, also recommended the creation of a semi-
autonomous, distance education college, and it provided a plan of action for its establishment.

6.2.1 NAMCOL
is
established

In 1993, the MEC gained Cabinet approval to establish such an institution. An Interim
Development Board was appointed by the Minister in July 1994 to assist in planning the
establishment of the College, drafting the necessary legislation and drawing up frameworks for
the College's management. The Board and the Minister decided that the new structure would be
called the Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL)335. It was also decided that the new

335 NAMCOL, http://www.namcol.com.na/History.htm - accessed 2 October 2007.

175




institution would have responsibility not only for distance education programmes, but also for
face-to-face components of the Ministry’s continuing education programme.

Initially a separate unit was set up within the Ministry with sole responsibility for the functions
that were to be outsourced. Thus, in November 1994, the Public Service Commission sanctioned
the break-up of the Directorate of Continuing Education into two directorates. The Directorate of
Adult Basic Education was tasked with the administration of adult literacy and basic skills
development, while face-to-face and distance education programmes were allocated to a new
directorate, NAMCOL. Finally, by proclamation of His Excellency, the President, the NAMCOL
Act (Act No. 1 of 1997) came into effect on 25 September 1997336. Under the Act, NAMCOL
was established as an autonomous, state-supported institution with responsibility for the
programmes previously administered through the Continuing Education Programme of the
Ministry of Basic Education and Culture. The Act specified NAMCOL’s purpose as being:

“to contribute towards the social and economic development of Namibia by upgrading
the educational level of adults and out-of-school youths through programmes of open
learning; by devising, developing and offering programmes to address the diverse needs
of such adults and out-of-schools youths; and by providing opportunities for adults and
out-of-school youths to upgrade their professional and vocational skills, as well as their
level of general education …”337

It would do this by using technologies that would take “education to the people”, and by
broadening:

“access to education by establishing and maintaining tutorial centres in the various
regions of Namibia for those Namibians who have been deprived of formal education or
vocational training or who are too old or for other reasons are unable to engage in
conventional school-based education”338.

NAMCOL began teaching Junior Secondary Certificate (JSC) and International General
Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) courses in 1994. NAMCOL’s Alternative Secondary
Education Programme (ASEP) has always been the mainstay of its activity, although it has over
the years introduced a number of professional vocational programmes:

• The two-year distance-taught Certificate in Educational Development (CED) was
introduced in 1997.
• The two-year Commonwealth Diploma in Youth in Development CYP) was offered by
NAMCOL in partnership with the Zimbabwean Open University between 2002 and 2004,
and then offered on its own from 2005.
• The National Higher Diploma in Adult Basic Education for Training (HDABET) was
offered in collaboration with the distance teaching University of South Africa, from 2004.
• The one-year Certificate in Local Government Studies (CLGS) was offered for the first
time in 2006.

The number of enrolments on these programmes is relatively small in comparison with the
Alternative Secondary Education Programme (Table 6.4).

336 Frances Ferreira (n.d.) The Namibian College of Open Learning: A Case Study. Mimeo.
337 Ibid. Section 4 (a).
338 Ibid. Section 4 (b).

176





Table 6.4: Number of students enrolled in NAMCOL
professional programmes, 2003-2006

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
CED
students
83 104 86 106 127
CYP
students
28 28 28 25 40
HDABET
students 61 15 19
CLGS students




93
Total
111 132 175 146 279

Further professional programmes are planned for launch in 2008 (a Certificate in Business
Management) and 2009 (a professional qualification in Early Childhood Development).

In addition to its professional programmes, NAMCOL undertakes a number of other quasi-
commercial activities that lie outside the scope of this review. It has set up two Computer-Based
Learning Centres (CBLCs), one at its headquarters in Windhoek and the other in the north at
Ongwediva. The latter was opened in July 2006. Recent developments indicate that the initial
“pump-priming” phase when CBLC was being set up has now ended and that the CBLC has
become an autonomous, self-sustaining profit centre in its own right.

A proportion of each print run of NAMCOL’s JSC Study Guides are produced for commercial
sale through NAMCOL’s bookshops at Windhoek and Ongwediva, through the three other
regional offices and through commercial bookshops. In addition, Examination Booklets with past
question papers are produced and sold on a purely commercial basis (that is, NAMCOL students
have to buy them at cover price along with anyone else). NAMCOL is also the country’s sole
distributor of the new Namibia Secondary School Curriculum (NSSCO) Study Guides, which are
published by Cambridge University Press. NAMCOL staff undertook some of the adaptation of
these guides and sales to individual students in the formal system and to schools have been brisk.
The aim is to ensure that the bookshop is a fully self-funding, autonomous profit centre within
NAMCOL.

NAMCOL is also currently involved in a significant research programme – the Orphans and
Vulnerable Children Project.

6.3

The development of NAMCOL’s pedagogic system

The origins of NAMCOL within the dual mode operations of the Ministerial Directorate meant
that in its early years, the College offered its alternative secondary programme through two
routes. Those students who opted to take the programme through the distance learning route were
provided with printed study materials, undertook a number of assignments that were marked by
correspondence tutors and were given an opportunity to attend vacation workshops twice a year
where they could have access to more concentrated face-to-face teaching in support of their
distance learning. Other students opted to take the alternative secondary programme through
afternoon or evening face-to-face classes at one of the tutorial centres NAMCOL ran around the
country (of which there were over 80 in 1999). These students were not given the study guides: if
they wanted them, they had to purchase them separately. At this stage in the College’s
development, not all the subjects available through the face-to-face mode were also available to
the distance learners.


177




In 1999, the College decided to blend these approaches for learners in the Caprivi, Hardap and
Karas regions as a pilot project. The learners in these regions (who were classified by the College
as distance learners) were given the printed course texts and submitted their assignments for
correction by a correspondence tutor. They also had the opportunity to attend the vacation
workshops, but in addition they were given on average four hours tuition per week.

In January 2003, the College changed its system again and adopted what it calls the Open Mode
of study. However, once again two options were offered to students. In the first, the Contact Open
Mode, the students continued to get the course materials and to have their assignments marked by
a tutor, and they were also offered face-to-face support. The approach adopted differed from the
blended approach tried out in the Caprivi, Hardap and Karas regions in that the amount of face-to-
face tuition offered was reduced from four to two hours per week, and the twice-yearly vacation
workshops were withdrawn for these students. A second group, the Non-contact Open Mode
students, received the course materials, had their assignments marked by a tutor and were offered
attendance at the twice-yearly vacation workshops. This accommodates learners who don’t have
easy access to a study centre for face-to-face tuition.

The overall package now offered to Contact learners in the secondary education programme is:

• A one-day orientation workshop (five hours),
• A full set of the NAMCOL Study Guides and/or textbooks needed to study each subject,
• A copy of NAMCOL’s Good Study Guide,
• Two hours of face-to-face tuition per week in each subject taken over the 26-week
teaching year,
• For learners who cannot attend the weekly tutorials, two vacation workshops per year,
• Three assignments per subject, set nationally but marked by local tutors, and
339
• Access to self-supervised study halls .

Students must make their own arrangements through the Directorate of National Examinations
and Assessment to register and pay the fee for examinations.

340
6.4
NAMCOL’s learners

Table 6.5 provides information on the number of registered learners taking NAMCOL’s
Alternative Secondary School Programme by level (Grade 10 or JSC, and Grades 11 and 12 or
IGCSE) between 1999 and 2006. The table also shows the mode of learning followed by the
students and indicates the size of the NAMCOL contribution, relative to the number of students in
the formal system. In recent years, NAMCOL’s contribution at the junior secondary level has
been equivalent to adding some 11 per cent to the formal student numbers at this level, while its
contribution at the senior secondary level has been very significant with nearly one in every two
places at this level being offered through NAMCOL. It should be noted that most of NAMCOL’s
students register in order to resit examinations that they cannot resit through the formal system

339 NAMCOL, Handbook for Learners 2007.
340 Information on NAMCOL’s learners is based on the information provided in NAMCOL’s annual
statistical digests, viz. NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 1999, Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2000; NAMCOL,
Statistical Digest 2000, Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2001; NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 2001, Windhoek,
NAMCOL, 2002; NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 2002, Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2003; NAMCOL, Statistical
Digest 2003
, Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2004; NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 2004, Windhoek, NAMCOL,
2005; NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 2005, Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2006; and the draft Statistical Digest
2006
, which was due to be published in July 2006.

178




(see Table 5.15), so most of NAMCOL’s places are occupied by ex-formal secondary students
who would otherwise be written off as failures.

Table 6.5: Number of NAMCOL learners by level and by mode of study, 1999-2006

NAMCOL DISTANCE MODE
NAMCOL FACE-TO-FACE MODE
JSC as IGCSE
JSC as IGCSE
Junior
Senior
%
as %
Junior
Senior
% as %
Secondary Secondary Formal Formal
Secondary Secondary Formal Formal
Year Total
(JSC)
(IGCSE) System System
Total
(JSC)
(IGCSE) System System
1999 10,191
3,509
6,682
0.02
0.02 11,040
7,155
3,885
0.08
0.17
2000 10,850
3,863
6,987
0.02
0.06 12,352
8,373
3,979
0.08
0.17
2001 12,277
3,903
8,374
0.04
0.34 12,765
8,506
4,259
0.08
0.17
2002 15,401
5,488
9,913
0.05
0.38 16,905
11,898
5,007
0.11
0.19
NAMCOL
OPEN
LEARNING
MODE
2003 26,460
14,012
12,448
0.12
0.46
2004 25,115
13,308
11,807
0.11
0.42
2005 26,701
13,317
13,384
0.11
0.47
2006 28,990
13,577
15,413
0.11
0.49






Sources:
NAMCOL Statistical Digest, 1999, 2000, 2001 (frontispiece and Fig. 1.2), 2002, 2003 (Table 1.1),
2004, 2005 (Fig 1.1), 2006, NAMCOL Enrolment Statistics 2006.

Unfortunately we do not know how many subject passes individuals have when they enter
NAMCOL. There is a difference in course-load: students who are resitting their JSC exams can
take up to six subjects, while first-time students are limited to three subjects. The majority of
NAMCOL’s students register for a couple of subjects (see Table 6.6). This may indicate that
many of them are seeking to improve their scores in just one or two subjects, or it could reflect
careful management of their progress by limiting the number of subjects they commit to take. It
could also reflect the fact that, given the high level of unemployment among NAMCOL students,
they cannot afford to take more than a couple of courses a year. Table 6.7 shows the distribution
of students taking from one to seven subjects at JSC and IGCSE levels.


















179






Table 6.6: NAMCOL students: Average number of subject registrations by level, 1999-2006


# subjects taken
# learners
# subjects/learner
Year JSC
IGCSE
JSC IGCSE
JSE
IGCSE
1999 6,904
12,723 3,905
6,682
1.77
1.90
2000 7,124
13,329 3,863
6,987
1.84
1.91
2001 7,285
16,574 3,903
8,374
1.87
1.98
2002 9,505
19,563 5,488
9,913
1.73
1.97
2003 31,493
25,824 14,012 12,448
2.25
2.07
2004 29,475
24,307 13,308 11,807
2.21
2.06
2005 28,846
26,641 13,317 13,384
2.17
1.99
2006 29,528
27,900 13,577 15,413
2.17
1.81







Sources:
NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
(all Fig. 2.5) 2003 and 2004 (Statistical Digest 2004 Figs
3.3 and 3.4), 2005 (Tables 3.3 and 3.4), 2006, NAMCOL
Enrolment Statistics, 2006.

Table 6.7: Number of students by subject load, 2004 and 2005


NAMCOL: Number of subjects taken by students
All
1
2
3
4
5
6 7
2004 JSC 12,476
2,125
6,781
3,215
287
41 27
0
IGCSE 11,821 3,356
4,894
3,215
287
41 27
1
2005 JSC 13,325
2,315
7,027
3,555
350
54 24
0
IGCSE 13,479 4,166
5,603
3,396
247
40 27
0
2006 JSC 29,528
2,423
6,893
3,854
322
59 33
0
IGCSE 27,900 5,088
5,922
3,130
302
48 24
0










Source: NAMCOL Statistical Digest, 2004, 2005, 2006 (Figure 2.5).

Table 6.8 shows the number of open learning mode subject registrations at NAMCOL from 2003
to 2006, by Contact and Non-contact modes. Contact students receive access to the weekly
tutorials; Non-contact students do not have access to this service but may instead attend a
vacation workshop twice a year. As the table shows, a very high proportion of the JSC students
(nine out of ten) choose the open learning route that allows them to attend the weekly tutorial
sessions. However, at the senior secondary level, a higher proportion of students choose to study
without contact sessions (between three and four out of ten).







180




Table 6.8: NAMCOL’s subject enrolments, by open learning mode



JSC (Grade 10)
IGCSE (Grade 12)
%
JSC
%
Non- %Non- IGCSE
% Non-
Non-
Year Total
Total Contact Contact contact contact Total Contact Contact contact contact
2003 57,317
31,493 28,315 0.90
3,178
0.10 25,824 14,423
0.56
11,401 0.44
2004 54,721
29,475 26,319 0.89
3,156
0.11 24,307 14,534
0.60 9,773 0.40
2005 55,965
28,848 25,716 0.89
3,132
0.11 26,640 17,229
0.65 9,411 0.35
2006 58,891
29,528 26,498 0.90
3,030
0.10 27,900 18,971
0.68 8,929 0.32












Sources: NAMCOL Statistical Digest, 2003 (Table 2.3), 2004, 2005, 2006 (Appendix, Table 1).

Table 6.9 shows the proportion of NAMCOL students who are female. Comparison of this table
with Table 5.9, which shows the position in the formal system, makes it clear that NAMCOL has
proportionately more female students studying with it than does the formal system. Between six
and seven out of every 10 students are female compared to the roughly equal division between
male and female students in the formal system.

Table 6.9: Proportion of NAMCOL students who are female

Junior
Senior
Secondary Secondary
Year Total
(JSC)
(IGCSE)
1999 0.69
0.69

2000 0.71
0.71

2001 0.68
0.68

2002 0.68
0.66
0.69
2003 0.67
0.66
0.68
2004 0.66
0.65
0.68
2005 0.65
0.64
0.67
2006 0.65
0.63
0.66





NAMCOL Statistical Digest, 1999, 2000,
2001 (all frontispiece and Fig. 1.2),
2002, 2003 (Table 1.1), 2004, 2005
Sources: 2006 (Fig 1.1).

Although there are older students in the formal system, relative to the age at which one normally
expect them to be for their grade (see Table 5.12), NAMCOL’s students are generally much older
than the students in the formal system (Table 6.10). In 2005, roughly one in two of NAMCOL’s
students was aged between 20 and 24, and roughly one in three was between 16 and 19 years old.
There were also a significant number between the ages of 25 and 34.







181




Table 6.10: Age of NAMCOL students

Age n
=
<16
16-17
18-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49
50-54
55-59
60+
1999 19082 0.00* 0.02 0.15
0.53
0.17
0.06
0.03 0.01
0.01
0.00*
0.00*
0.0
2000 20466 0.00* 0.03 0.18
0.52
0.16
0.07
0.03 0.01
0.01
0.00*
0.00*
0.0
2001 22419 0.00* 0.03 0.19
0.51
0.16
0.05
0.03 0.01 0.00*
0.00*
0.00* 0.00*
2002 27863 0.00* 0.04 0.21
0.51
0.15
0.05
0.02 0.01 0.00*
0.00*
0.00* 0.00*
2003 26512 0.00* 0.01 0.14
0.57
0.18
0.06
0.02 0.01 0.00*
0.00*
0.00* 0.00*
2004 25269 0.00* 0.01 0.16
0.58
0.16
0.05
0.02 0.01 0.00*
0.00*
0.00* 0.00*
2005 26815 0.00* 0.05 0.26
0.50
0.12
0.04
0.02 0.01 0.00*
0.00*
0.00* 0.00*
2006 28317 0.00* 0.05 0.25
0.49
0.13
0.05
0.02 0.01 0.00*
0.00*
0.00* 0.00*














* some learners in this age category, but statistically insignificant
Source:
NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 (Fig 1.4), 2003 (Table 1.2), 2004, 2005 (Table 1.1).

Labour market data shows the key importance of education with regards to employment. Table
6.11 shows the percentage of all NAMCOL’s students (including professional programme
students) not doing paid work. What is significant here is that very few of NAMCOL’s students
are in paid work.


Table 6.11: Percentage of NAMCOL students not doing any paid work

Number not As per cent of all
doing paid
NAMCOL
JSC not
IGCSE not
Year
work
learners
working
working
1999 18,062
94.6


2000 18,410
90.0


2001 29,665
92.0


2002 25,982
93.2


2003 26,483
99.7


2004 24,835
98.2


2005 26,482
98.6


2006 28,119
99.0
99.0
99.0







Note: Some learners may report unemployment in order to obtain
financial
help.



Source: NAMCOL Statistical Digest 1999 (p. 8), 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
(p. 7); 2004 (p. 5), 2005 (p. 6), 2007 (NAMCOL, Enrolment Statistics 2006).




182





6.5

NAMCOL’s curriculum

341
The curriculum of the Alternative Secondary Education Programme (ASEP) offered through
NAMCOL conforms to the requirements of the Ministry of Education and prepares NAMCOL’s
learners in most cases for the same public examinations as those taken by secondary students in
the formal educational system. The exceptions to this are the language courses at the JSC level
where, instead of the focus on language and language skills, and hence on the testing of oral
skills, the focus is on literature and hence on reading and writing skills. As a result, NAMCOL’s
students do not sit an oral examination at the JSC level. At the NSSCO level, the language
examinations of full- and part-time students are the same. There are also some differences in the
JSC Accounting examination.

At the Junior Secondary Certificate (JSC) level, NAMCOL offers only the final year curriculum
(year 10) of the JSC three-year curriculum (Grades 8 – 10). Students entering NAMCOL are
required to have successfully completed the JSC at year 9. In the formal system, students take the
JSC in a number of subjects – generally nine – but their overall JSC points grade will be judged
on their performance in their best six subjects. NAMCOL students who have failed to obtain a
sufficiently high grade in the formal system or within NAMCOL and who are seeking to resit the
examinations are allowed to resit up to six subjects. Students who are taking the JSC for the first
time through NAMCOL are allowed to study just three subjects each year. As Table 6.6 shows,
NAMCOL's JSC students are enrolled in an average of 2.17 subjects each in 2005 and 2006,
while IGCSE students took fewer than two subjects a year. Table 6.7 above shows the distribution
of subject loads taken by NAMCOL students in 2004 and 2005.

In 2006, the curriculum reformed at the senior secondary level: the International General
Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and Higher International General Certificate of
Secondary Education (HIGCSE) were replaced by the Namibia Senior Secondary Curriculum
(NSSC) which covers the final two years of schooling (years 11 and 12), and is offered at two
levels – ordinary (NSSCO) and higher (NSSCH).

In the regular full-time schooling system, year 11 of the new NSSC curriculum was introduced in
2006, and year 12 in 2007. NAMCOL introduced the new NSSC curriculum only in 2007. This is
because, whereas in the full-time school system, the curriculum of each subject is taught over two
years, at NAMCOL the full two-year curriculum is taught in a single calendar year. Misleadingly
(and the comment applies as much to the IGCSE as the NSSCO curriculum), NAMCOL indicates
in its prospectus that it offers year 12, on the grounds that at the end of the year its students will
have completed the courses to this level. In fact, the students will have completed years 11 and 12
in the subjects they take. It would therefore be more accurate to describe NAMCOL’s one-year
courses as covering the combined years 11 and 12 curriculum (two academic years in one
calendar year system). However, whereas in the full-time formal system students study six
subjects at the same time, in NAMCOL they are allowed to take only three subjects a year unless
they are resitting the examination, in which case they can take up to six subjects. Thus the time

341 “Alternative” in the sense that it is offered in an alternative (distance education) mode to the classroom-
based face-to-face regular school system, rather than in the more usual sense of “alternative” as an
alternative adult-focused school curriculum. As a term "alternative" is a slippery concept because what is
alternative in one jurisdiction is not so in another.

183




taken to complete the NSSCO curriculum in six subjects is the same in both NAMCOL and the
regular schools342.

In 2007, NAMCOL offered the following subjects at the JSC level:

• Accounting,
• Afrikaans as a first language,
• Afrikaans as a second language,
• Agriculture,
• Business Management,
• English as a second language,
• Geography,
• History,
• Life Science,
• Mathematics,
• Oshikwanyama as a first language,
• Oshindonga as a first language,
• Otijherero as a first language,
• Physical Science,
• Rukwangali as a first language,
• Rumanyo as a first language,
• Silozi as a first language, and 343
• Thimbukushu as a first language .

The new Accounting and Mathematics syllabuses will be phased in over the next three years.
NAMCOL will therefore only introduce its new materials in 2009.

At the NSSCO level, NAMCOL offered the following subjects in 2007:

• Accounting,
• Afrikaans as a first language,
• Afrikaans as a second language,
• Agriculture,
• Biology,
• Business Studies,
• Development Studies,
• Economics,
• English as a second language,
• Geography,
• History,
• Oshikwanyama as a first language,
• Oshindonga as a first language,
• Otijherero as a first language,
• Mathematics,

342 Resit NSSCO students will be allowed to resit six subjects at a time – but this regulation will not
become operative until 2008.
343 NAMCOL, Handbook for Learners 2007, Windhoek, NAMCOL.

184




• Physical Science,
• Rukwangali as a first language,
• Rumanyo as a first language,
• Silozi as a first language, and 344
• Thimbukushu as a first language .

6.6
Course materials development, production and distribution

Whenever a subject is to be introduced, a course specification is drawn up by the Programme
Developers in NAMCOL’s Programmes and Materials Development (PMD) Division. The
specification indicates among other things the structure of the course, its assessment strategy, its
tutorial strategy, the likely contributors to the course (developer, writer(s), instructional designer,
content editor, language editor, secretary, Desk Top Publishing [DTP] Technician), any special
printing needs and any sources of external funding. The course is then costed and the course
proposal forwarded for approval by NAMCOL's Board.

Once a course specification has been approved by the Board, the PMD Division proceeds to
formally recruit (through the Human Resources Unit) course writers, arrange for contracts to be
issued, and where necessary, train any of the writers who have not worked in distance education
before. Writers may work alone or in a team. Writers are paid a fee of NA $1,518 for a self-
contained study guide of 23-30 pages, and NA $759.50 for a wrap-around guide to a textbook –
these latter being 5 to 10 pages in length.

The development and production team include:

• the Programme Developers within PMD (who act as instructional designers),
• the contracted course writers and content and language editors,
• contracted illustrators,
• typists,
• DTP Technicians,
• the Materials Production Manager, and
• the Programme Manager.

Materials are produced to a production schedule and writers are penalised if they hand material in
late (5 per cent of the fee for being 1 to 10 days late, 15 per cent for being 11 to 30 days late, and
30 per cent if they are over 31 days late). Writers who revise a self-contained study guide are paid
NA $1,012 for work involving a revision of 60 per cent or more of the material, and lesser
amounts for lesser revisions (NA $759 for revisions of from 20 to 59 per cent; NA $352 for
revisions of under 20 per cent). A similar sliding scale at 50 per cent of these rates applies to
those revising wrap-around textbook guides.

Writers also produce the initial (first year of presentation) set of Tutor-Marked Assignments at
this stage, together with marking keys, and also the Self-Marked Assignments together with
model answers that students can use to check on their understanding. (Assignments are revised
each year, and subject moderators prepare the assignments used in the second and subsequent
years of the course annually). In conjunction with the Course Developer, writers also prepare the
first Tutorial Letter which is designed to give learners information about a course. Assignment
writers are paid NA $468 for a set of three JSC course assignments, and NA $806 for a set of

344 NAMCOL, Handbook for Learners 2007, Windhoek, NAMCOL

185




three NSSCO assignments. The Course Developer, assisted by writers, also prepares the Tutor
Notes for the course.

The various steps in the production process are defined in the House Style Manual 2006. Content
and language editors are brought in and paid at a rate of NA $22 per A4 page edited; proofreaders
get NA $5.50 per page. Assignments are also edited (NA $15 per set) and proofread (NA $5 per
set). Typing support is also brought in at NA $165 per set of assignments and tutorial letters.
Much of the development and production work is thus outsourced to peripheral staff, thus
avoiding the cost associated with hiring core members of academic and production staff.

The physical separation of teachers from students means that NAMCOL's courses are delivered
through a range of media coupled with some face-to-face teaching. The prime teaching medium is
print. All the Junior Secondary School Certificate (JSC) subjects, with the exception of the
languages and Accountancy, are based on self-contained study guides. With the exception of
Namibian language subjects, the NSSCO subjects are based around study guides that have been
developed by NAMCOL in conjunction with Cambridge University Press. NAMCOL buys these
study guides at a discount. Because it would not have been economically viable to develop study
guides in Namibian languages, for these subjects NAMCOL uses textbooks developed by local
Namibian publishers.

In addition to print, NAMCOL uses audio, delivered through radio and or via audio-cassettes.
Audio materials are recorded in NAMCOL’s audio studio. Audiocassettes are used in the Grade
10 and Grade 12 English courses (there are two tapes per course), in the Grade 12 Maths course
(1 tape) and the Grade 10 Maths course (1 tape).

Radio programmes are used to supplement the course materials in a number of courses. These are
transmitted by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). Programmes are 10 minutes long
and are broadcast on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays free of charge. Individual Course
Developers choose the five or six programmes that they will make each year across the two or
three subjects for which they are responsible. The radio programmes thus focus on different
topics within subjects each year. Since NBC makes just three 10-minute slots available each week
for educational use, and since NAMCOL has to share the available slots with other educational
providers, the level of radio use is actually very modest.

Digital materials have been developed as a pilot programme to supplement the JSC and NSSCO
Physical Sciences and Mathematics courses, in collaboration and funded by UNESCO. In
addition, materials for the English Grade 10 and Grade 12 are being developed by NAMCOL.
These materials are perceived to be an additional support for students in remote areas.

Once developed, the course materials go into production – passing through typists (few authors
submit electronic copy or even typed manuscripts), desktop publishing (DTP) (cover design, page
layout), and then proofreading, before being peer reviewed. Following any further changes the
materials are signed off and go for printing. Printing is contracted out either under tender
arrangements or following a quotation. Although most printing is done externally, there is a small
internal printing unit that does some of the smaller jobs in-house. NAMCOL has already
supported some hearing impaired learners (where the cost of sign language interpreters was paid
by another agency), and it is currently discussing the production of Braille versions of its
materials.


186




Material coming back from the printers is checked for quality on receipt in the warehouse. In the
warehouse, materials are pre-packaged as packs for each course. Each student pack contains study
guides, tutorial letter, assignments and blank paper for use by learners. The assignments are
revised each year. Where textbooks are used, these are also included in the packs.

These packs are sent to the regions. The number sent correspond to the regional estimates of the
number of students they will enrol on each course, as agreed by the College’s authorities. Tight
control is maintained on stock levels through a Materials Reconciliation system that reconciles
packs despatched to regions, enrolments and unused packs returned. Regions have to account for
discrepancies. The materials are sent out to the regions prior to the opening of admissions, and
regions hand out the appropriate packs of course materials to the students at the Enrolment point
following completion of the enrolment formalities. Students will also receive generic materials
such as the Good Study Guide at this point.

Students can also purchase NAMCOL’s Examination Booklets. For each subject examination
covered, these booklets provide them with past questions and advice on how to tackle the
different kinds of questions asked. These booklets are priced of NA $40. Nine guides have been
prepared at the JSC level and eleven guides based on the IGCSE curriculum, while guides to the
new NSSCO examinations will be prepared from 2008 on, by which time the first cohort of
students will have sat the new examinations.

6.7
Learner admission, teaching, assessment and support

The National Examinations, Assessment and Certification Board of Namibia lays down
requirements for registration to sit the Grade 10 (JSC) and Grade 12 (NSSCO) examinations.
Students have to satisfy these requirements – not least because both NAMCOL’s courses and the
examinations are heavily subsidised by the Government and NAMCOL will not therefore admit
students who will not be eligible to sit the examinations.

In 2006, NAMCOL enrolled students at 118 enrolment points. The number of these points
fluctuates each year. Enrolment takes place from January to March. At these enrolment centres,
the Enrolment Officer, assisted by one or even two Assistant Enrolment Officers, completes an
enrolment form and, if students change their minds at a later date, a Change of Details Form.
These are optically readable forms. Forms are only completed if the student has paid the
registration fee and appropriate course fees (either in cash or by a postal or money order). All
payments are receipted. It is at this stage too that the course packs of materials are given to the
student. Cash is banked daily.

Enrolment Officers are only allowed to accept forms up to the strict quota limits (see below) that
have been set for each subject at each enrolment centre. Completed forms are sent to NAMCOL’s
headquarters. At the end of the enrolment period, the Enrolment Officers claim a flat fee of NA
$500 plus a per capita fee of NA $5 for each enrolment form they have correctly completed.
NAMCOL has a record of the number of enrolment forms that have been returned because of
errors in completion.

Because NAMCOL is seen as an “open” college, it is sometimes thought that enrolment is open
to all comers provided that they satisfy the registration regulations laid down by the National
Examinations, Assessment and Certification Board of Namibia and the College. This is not so.
The amount by which the Government subsidises NAMCOL is based on the number of subject
enrolments in the previous year, so that were NAMCOL to suddenly increase enrolments, a one-

187




year funding gap would emerge. During that time, the College would need to fund out of its own
resources all the flexible costs (e.g. cost of materials given to students, additional costs of face-to-
face teaching incurred if the number of class groups expanded and costs of marking assignments)
that the additional students give rise to, together with any other costs there might be (e.g.
additional clerks to handle student fees).

NAMCOL would need to know that it could meet this additional one-year cost from its existing
revenue base. In addition, the volume of stocks of materials available may constrain NAMCOL
from taking additional students in a particular year. NAMCOL therefore sets rigorous subject-by-
subject quotas on a regional basis, and regional managers have to adhere to these quotas strictly.

ASE students pay a once-off registration fee of, in 2007, NA $30 and a course fee of NA $100 for
each JSC subject that they take, or NA $160 for each NSSCO subject that they take. Students who
cancel or change their course registrations pay an administrative charge equivalent to 20 per cent
of the course fee. Registration fees are not refundable345. In addition, students will pay
examination fees to the Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment of, at 2007 rates,
NA $27 per subject (first-time takers) or NA $38 (resits) per subject at the JSC level, and NA $75
per subject (first-time takers) or NA $105 (resits) at the NSSCO level.)

6.7.1 Regional
structure

Regions are divided into Areas under the management of an Area Co-ordinator. In the Northern
Region, there are four Area Co-ordinators. At the end of the Enrolment period, the Area Co-
ordinators plan tuition. If the number of students enrolled at a particular Enrolment Centre is not
enough to justify offering tuition there, then the Enrolment Centre is not confirmed as a Tutorial
Centre. If there are at least three groups of 30 students, then the Enrolment Centre becomes a
Tutorial Centre.

Most Enrolment Centres do become Tutorial Centres. In the Northern Region in 2006, only two
failed to make the transition. In those Centres where the transition occurs, the Enrolment Officer
almost always becomes the Head of Centre. Formally, the Director of NAMCOL on
recommendation of the Regional Manager appoints the Heads of Centre.

Students who enrol at an Enrolment Centre that does not become a Tutorial Centre may still be
asked to hand their assignments to the assignment coordinator at the Centre. So far as tuition
goes, they can either go to another Centre, or they can opt to become Non-contact learners. As
Non-contact learners, they become eligible to attend the five-day Vacation Workshops that are
held in the first week of the two school holidays.

All students are offered a one-day (five-hour) orientation workshop on commencement of their
studies. This first Orientation Session is a key date to which learners, tutors, parents, and local
dignitaries are invited. At this session, learners meet their tutors, get their study calendars and are
told when the public examinations will be held.

In 2006, tuition took place at 99 Centres. Each year, a number of communities approach the
Regional Managers asking NAMCOL to adopt their school as a NAMCOL Centre. Whether this
happens depends on demand and also on how near the community is to other existing centres. In
the Northern Region, a distance of 15-20 kms can be a considerable problem for students when it

345 NAMCOL, Handbook for Learners 2007.

188




comes to travel, but a new centre would not normally be set up if there were an existing centre
within 10 kms.

Tutorial classes commence in March and are offered during the normal school term. During June
and July, the Area Co-ordinators are on the road constantly visiting Tutorial Centres where they
assess the work of the Heads of Centre and also the work of the tutors. They sit in on tutorials
and, after an observation session, will sit with the tutor and give feedback on their performance.
They will also take the opportunity to discuss any monitoring reports tutors may have received on
their assignment marking. Most Area Co-coordinators need to stay away from home when on the
road. During these visits, they may meet with the Centre Management Committee, which is rather
similar to a School Board. There are also other activities that may demand their attention – for
example, the HIV/AIDS clubs, Centre sports events and the encouragement of student Self-Study
Groups.

6.7.2 Tutor recruitment and training

Tutor recruitment takes place from December to February. The tutors are drawn from teachers in
the regular formal system – generally from the school in which the Tutorial Centre is based.
Although tutors are on an annual contract, once a good tutor is “in the system”, they are retained
by the Area Co-ordinators. Vacancies and the places of poor tutors who have not been re-
appointed are filled from the recruits that come forward. The Regional Managers, advised by
Heads of Centre, appoint the tutors.

December to February is also the period when the Area Co-ordinators train tutors, Enrolment
Officers and Heads of Centres. Overall, they spend eight weekends per year training tutors. As
subject experts, tutors do not need to be trained in content, but they do need familiarisation with
distance education practice and NAMCOL’s procedures. (Also, from October to March, Area Co-
ordinators are marketing NAMCOL and its services to communities.)

Tutors are paid NA $74.18 per hour for tuition, and NA $13.20 per assignment marked (2007
rates). The tutors employed by NAMCOL appear to be making extensive use of NAMCOL’s
materials – the Examination Booklets and the Study Guides – in their formal teaching. Given the
undoubted quality of these materials, there is a wholly hidden cost-benefit to the education system
arising from this transfer of skill from NAMCOL into the formal school system.

Students’ enrolment forms are scanned, and it is at this point that the Data Capturing Clerks in the
Data Unit allocate students to a tutor. A tutor allocation list is then generated automatically.
Regional Centres use these lists to timetable classes. Students are offered two hours face-to-face
tuition per week in each subject they are taking over the 26-week academic term. They thus get
52 hours tuition per subject.

Tutorial groups are only offered in centres where there is a minimum of 15 students wanting to
take the subject. The budget is based on one tutorial group for every 30 students. A second group
is only established where there are more than 60 students in a centre taking the subject. This
means that some tutors have large groups of 50-60 students. Pre-agreed quotas thus essentially
drive the number of tutors appointed for subjects by the Centre.

Students who are unable to attend the regular tutorials (Non-contact students) are given the
opportunity to attend two vacation workshops per year. The vacation workshops are offered at a
limited number of centres, and students are responsible for any travel and accommodation costs

189




that they incur in attending the workshops. The workshops take place in the first week of each
holiday. During the week, the Non-contact students get 10 hours tuition in each subject. The final
vacation workshop of the academic year focuses on examination techniques and questions. Area
Co-ordinators monitor these workshops. Heads of Centres who administer these workshops are
paid at a rate of NA $111.96 an hour.

6.7.3 Student assignments

Students are expected to do three assignments per course, due roughly at the end of May, end of
June and end of July. Students studying languages at the NSSCO level have to do oral
assignments. Interlocutors who carry out the oral assessment are paid NA $15 per oral
assessment. The first time the course is offered, the assignments will have been set by the course
writer(s); thereafter, the assignments are set by part-time moderators who are experienced and
qualified teachers working in the formal system. New assignment questions are prepared each
year. Moderators, who oversee the planning of the course calendar, develop assignments and
check on the quality of tutor marking and the teaching comments made on assignment scripts.
They are paid NA $1,055 for writing a set of three assignments for each course, producing a
tutorial letter (usually two to three pages long), drafting or revising an existing Study Programme
(course calendar) and writing reports to tutors on the quality of their marking and their comments
on students' written work.

Students hand their assignments in to their tutor (or the Head of the Centre). There are
arrangements for students who are unable for any reason to attend the tutorials (Non- contact
students) to get their assignments to a marker. Assignments have to be submitted by the due date.
Late assignments are not accepted. Assignments are marked by the subject tutors at the student’s
centre and then handed into the Head of Centre who arranges for them to be sent to the Regional
Office in bags that records on an external control sheet how many assignments there are, for
which subject and corrected by which tutor.

At the Regional Office, the Area Co-ordinators open the sealed bags with the assignments, check
that the number inside tallies with the accompanying control sheet that records the names of the
tutor’s students, which ones submitted assignments and that the grade awarded is recorded
properly. The Area Co-ordinators copy the tutor’s report form as a fail-safe record against loss.

The Regional Office then sends assignments off to the Assignment Room at Headquarters in
Windhoek, which captures the information from the assignment cover. The original assignments
are passed to the Data Centre where the clerks record the marks from the original assignment,
print out a new mark list, and generate a list of assignments that will be moderated. At this stage,
the moderators undertake a final check that the marks input by the Data Centre accord with the
marks given by the tutor. Throughout this process, there is a rigorous checking mechanism to
keep track of assignments and ensure that the grades are recorded correctly. As a failsafe
mechanism, students can ask for their records to be interrogated to ensure that all their
assignments have been entered. Staff in the Data Centre arrange for marked assignments to be
sent back to the Centres as soon as the marks have been recorded.

Meanwhile the selected sample of assignments to be moderated are photocopied and passed to a
moderator. Generally 10 per cent of scripts are moderated, but in subjects where very few
assignments are generated, a higher proportion of papers will be moderated in order to provide
moderators with sufficient work to generate a reasonable income and make the task financially
worthwhile. The purpose of moderation is to ensure that the work has been corrected and marked,

190




and that marking standards are consistent. Moderators are paid NA $16.50 per assignment
moderated. They are penalised 15 per cent of the payment if their moderation is more than seven
calendar days after receipt of the assignment, and 30 per cent if it is more than 11 days after
receipt.

The original assignments together with a copy of the tutor’s control sheet are sent back to the
tutor from whom the student can reclaim them. The assignment turn round time is 21 days, which
is comparable with the best international standards in paper-based distance education systems.
(Electronic systems such as those operated by the University of Maryland University College can
achieve better return rates.)

Assignment completion rates are clearly crucial to cost. At the JSC level, the assignments are
compulsory (since there is an element of continuous assessment). In 2006, about 95 per cent of
the first assignments on a course are submitted. This drops to 88-90 per cent for Assignment 3. At
the IGCSE level, most of the first assignments are submitted, but perhaps only 60-65 per cent of
the second and third assignments are. NAMCOL has accurate statistics on assignment completion
rates by course.

6.7.4 A higher drop-out rate

One of the problems faced by distance educators is the fact that in general drop-out is higher in
distance systems that in traditional face-to-face education. Studies have indicated that there are a
number of causes for this, including:

• the motivation of adult students to continue studying in the face of family and work-
related pressures,
• the interest that adult learners have in taking an examination as opposed to “merely”
studying a course,
• the inherent difficulty faced by learners who are isolated home study students,
• the fact that some students find that either the method of study (distance education) or the
particular course (curriculum/content) they are taking is not for them, the difficulty in
finding time to study, and
• the fact that in many cases the cost of study is too great.

Table 6.12 shows the level of drop-out experienced by NAMCOL JSC learners in the period 1999
to 2005. As explained earlier, NAMCOL’s teaching system changed from 2003. The figures for
1999 to 2002 distinguish between those NAMCOL students who studied the JSC at a distance
and those who studies in face-to-face. In 1999, there was some confusion when students came to
register with the DNEA to take the examination and some of NAMCOL’s distance students
appear to have registered as NAMCOL face-to-face students. However, if we take the data for
2000, we can see that 6,124 students registered with NAMCOL as distance students, and that just
seven in ten of these students (72.6 per cent) registered with the DNEA to sit the examination,
and 27.4 per cent (the first recorded sign of drop-out) failed to do this. A further 19.4 per cent had
an incomplete status in the examination (perhaps because they failed to turn up on the day for an
examination, because an assignment mark is missing or because a learner carried forward a
component of the course from the formal system but failed to tell the DNEA that he/she was
doing this). In 2000, the total drop-out and incompletes was 46.8 per cent (column 7). Some of
the incomplete statuses will later be resolved in the favour of the student.


191




If we compare this with the performance of NAMCOL’s face-to-face learners who were in effect
following an alternative afternoon and evening face-to-face programme outside of the official
formal system, we can see that a higher proportion of these students enrolled with NAMCOL
registered to sit the examination (91.9 per cent), and that the overall drop-out plus incompletes
rate by the time it came to sit the examination was much lower (16.8 per cent compared with 46.8
per cent in the distance programme).

From 2003 NAMCOL no longer taught students exclusively face-to-face, but instead adopted a
blended open learning approach in which most students studied using a mix of materials-based
learning and face-to-face support (the Contact students – see Table 6.12). These students had a
lower drop-out rate than did the pure distance students of the earlier period, with just one in five
or less of them dropping out or failing to complete. Also, performance seems to have improved in
the years 2003, 2004 and 2005 (20.7, 18.6, and 16.6 per cent respectively).

Table 6.12: Drop-out among NAMCOL JSC learners, 1999-2005

DISTANCE
EDUCATION
FACE-TO-FACE
NAMCOL
NAMCOL
learners
learners
Total drop-
who did
Total drop-
NAMCOL
who did not
out & NAMCOL DNEA not enter
out &
subject
DNEA enter exam Incomplete incomplete
subject subject exam (%) Incomplete incomplete
enrolments subject (%) (100%
Status in (%) (Col 4 enrolments: entries
(100% -
Status in (%) (Col 9

at JSC level entries ()
- col 3) exam (%)
+ 5)
n =
(%)
col 8) exam (%)
+ 10)
Column #
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
1999
6,904 48.6 51.4
7.4
58.6
16,965 105.5
(5.5)*
6.4
0.9
2000
7,124 72.6 27.4 19.4
46.8
19,328
91.9
8.1
8.7
16.8
2001
7,285 85.2 14.8 17.8
32.6
19,795
95.6
4.1
9.1
13.2
2002
9,505 76.7 24.5 17.9
41.2
27,194
87.7
12.4
9.1
21.4
OPEN
LEARNERS
2003
31,493 86.7 13.3
7.3
20.7



2004
29,475 87.8 12.2
7.2
18.6



2005
28,846 89.5 10.5
6.1
16.6














* Some distance candidates appeared to register as face-to-face candidates




Source:
NAMCOL Statistical Digest 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 (all Fig. 3.10), 2003 and 2004 (2004 Statistics Table 3.3), 2005
(Table
3.3).




Table 6.13 shows the performance for the IGCSE students in the period 2003 to 2005. Here (as
column 7 shows) the trend in performance has been more erratic, but overall fewer than one in five of
these students dropped out between registration with NAMCOL and the sitting of the examination
through the DNEA.









192





Table 6.13: Drop-out among NAMCOL IGCSE learners, 2003-2005

OPEN
LEARNERS
NAMCOL
DNEA
learners
Total drop-
NAMCOL
subject who did not
out &
subject entries, May/ enter exam Incomplet
incomplete
enrolments at
June and (%) (100% e Status in (%) (Col 4 +
IGCSE level Oct/ Nov (%)
- col 3) exam (%)
5)
Column 2 3
4
5
6
2003 25,824 98.7
1.3
13.2
14.5
2004 24,307 88.3
6.2
10.6
22.4
2005 26,641 91.0
9.0
8.1
17.1








Source: NAMCOL Statistical Digest 2004, 2005 (Table 3.4).

In respect of drop-out during the course, NAMCOL’s performance is very good by distance
education standards. The statistics on examination success must remain provisional, given the
unresolved position of the "incompletes". But even given this, it is when we get to the
examinations that performance is more disappointing.

6.8
Examinations and comparative performance

NAMCOL’s ASEP students are responsible for enrolling themselves in the public JSC and
IGCSE examinations through the Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment (DNEA).
Examinations therefore represent a nil cost in this programme. The examinations at the JSC level
take place in October/November. However, IGCSE candidates have been able to opt to sit the
examinations early, in May/June, or later in October/November, and a proportion of candidates
(currently about 10 per cent) do this (see Table 6.14).

Table 6.14: IGCSE Candidates, 1998-2005, by choice of examination sitting

Part-Time IGCSE Subject

Entries

as % of total

Oct/Nov May/June
Total
Oct/Nov May/June
1998 12,973
2,911 15,884
0.82
0.18
1999 15,337
4,065 19,402
0.79
0.21
2000 17,571
2,717 20,288
0.87
0.13
2001 22,757
2,438 25,195
0.90
0.10
2002 24,408
2,868 27,276
0.89
0.11
2003 22,752
2,748 25,500
0.89
0.11
2004 21,765
3,085 24,850
0.88
0.12
2005 24,814
3,692 28,506
0.87
0.13







Source: NAMCOL Statistic Digest, 1999 (Fig. 3.9), 2000 (Fig. 3.6), 2002

(Tables 3.6, 3.9), 2005 (Tables IV and V).






193




When IGCSE was first introduced, the results were published by Cambridge International
Examinations. Their figures included a small number of candidates studying the IGCSE part-time
at the Windhoek International School and at St. Paul’s College346. So although it was a reasonable
assumption that the published results reflected the performance of NAMCOL students who made
up the bulk of the candidates for examination, firm conclusions about the performance of
NAMCOL students had to be subject to this caveat.

The DNEA is now responsible for issuing statistics on the examination results, and a similar
caveat applies to their published figures. Their published statistics distinguish between the results
of full-time learners (that is, students registered in the formal system), and part-time learners.
NAMCOL's students are categorised as part-time learners by the DNEA. Although the vast
majority of part-time learners in the country are registered with NAMCOL, there are also some
non-NAMCOL part-time learners. The DNEA statistics do not draw a distinction between the
NAMCOL and non-NAMCOL learners. In recent years, however, NAMCOL has begun to
publish statistics that, through additional analysis, do distinguish between those part-time
examination candidates who are registered with the College and those that are not.

A further complication arises when comparisons of examination performance are attempted. A
small number of students who register with NAMCOL because it is recognised by the
Government, and who therefore benefit by receiving NAMCOL’s study materials, are also
registered with the non-registered private institutions to receive additional tuition. Whether these
students perform better than NAMCOL’s own Contact open learners or not is an open question.
Even if they do, it would be unclear whether they perform better because they are in essence
being crammed, because they have access to NAMCOL’s study guides, or because, given the fees
charged by private institutions, they come from a privileged social background.

In spite of these complications, the vast majority of part-time candidates (over 90 per cent) for the
JSC and IGCSE examinations are NAMCOL students. So even where the data does not
distinguish between NAMCOL and other candidates, one can take the DNEA data on
examination performance as a reasonable reflection of NAMCOL students’ success rates. Table
6.15 below shows the cumulative percentage of full- and part-time JSC candidates in the years
2000 to 2006 by the proportion who gained an A grade, a grade in the range A to C, a grade in the
range A to D and a grade the range A to G. The part-time candidates include NAMCOL students.
In the period 2000 to 2002, the NAMCOL results include both face-to-face afternoon and
evening-school candidates and distance education candidates. After 2003, the NAMCOL results
cover Contact and Non-contact open learning students. Taking the 2006 results, the table shows
that 2.7 per cent of full-time candidates gained an A, against just 0.4 per cent of part-time
candidates; 20.7 per cent of full-time candidates gained A to C result against 9.0 per cent of part-
time candidates. Because the percentage results are cumulative, if we want to know what
proportion of students gained a D and G result, we would need to subtract the A to C result from
the A to G (e.g. full-time candidates A to G result is 92.8 per cent, A to C is 20.7, so D to G is
72.1 per cent). The table does not show the number of incomplete entries – which will equate
with 100 per cent less the percentage of A to G results (i.e. for 2006 full-time candidates, 100 per
cent less 92.8 per cent or 7.2 per cent).





346 NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 1999, Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2000.

194




Table 6.15: Cumulative percentage achieving given grades at JSC, full- and part-time
candidates, 2000 – 2006



Full-time candidates*

Part-time candidates†

#
Cum. % by Grade bands
#
Cum. % by Grade bands
Year
FT
A A to C A to D
A to G
PT
A A to C A to D
A to G
2000 200,485
2.7
19.7
42.7
91.2
24,379
0.5
9.0
28.5
79.9
2001 225,506
2.7
20.8
43.2
90.5
26,293
0.7
10.5
31.1
79.4
2002 248,571
2.8
20.8
43.1
91.2
32,326
0.5
9.2
27.4
81.1
2003 260,816
2.7
20.3
41.8
90.5
28,573
0.4
8.6
25.7
83.3
2004 259,392
2.6
20.5
42.9
91.5
26,756
0.4
11.7
32.0
88.2
2005 269,955
2.9
20.5
43.8
92.6
26,571
0.5
10.5
31.2
89.6
2006
2.7
20.7
43.7
92.8
0.4
9.0
28.0
87.0









* Full-time candidates have studied in regular schools.

† Part-time candidates have studied through NAMCOL or some other non-traditional
programme.

Source: Directorate National Examinations and Assessment: Statistics


of the Oct/Nov 2006 National Examinations for the Examinations


Board Meeting of 27 March 2007, pp. 36, 157.



Analysing the table further, we can say that in recent years, roughly one in five (20 per cent) of
full-time candidates at regular schools have passed with grades A to C and another one in five
candidates have obtained a grade D. Three in five achieved grades E to G .NAMCOL students did
not perform as well. About one in ten of NAMCOL’s students passed on grades A to C, about
two in ten obtained a grade D and seven in ten received grades E to G. The results are actually not
very good for full-time candidates, showing the massive wastage at the junior secondary level
Grade 10 examinations.

The part-time results are also not very encouraging. NAMCOL provided some additional analyses
of the part-time results in which it distinguishes between all the part-time results and those
specific to NAMCOL and to private candidates who were studying at other institutions (1999-
2002 inclusive), and in respect of NAMCOL results, the difference between NAMCOL’s distance
learners and its face-to-face students in the JSC examinations (1999-2002 inclusive) (see Table
6.16). The table shows that while NAMCOL did not perform as well as all part-time provision,
NAMCOL’s face-to-face afternoon and evening school provision performed better than the
NAMCOL’s distance education mode. The table also shows that private candidates performed
better than NAMCOL’s distance education students, but generally not as well as NAMCOL’s
face-to-face learners.












195




Table 6.16: JSC Part-time results, 1999-2002: All part-time students, NAMCOL part-time
by mode, and part-time private students


All Part-time
Year
#
A
A to C
A to D
A to G
1999 22,045 0.3
5.8
23.1
67.1
2000 24,379 0.5
9.0
28.4
79.7
2001 26,293 0.7
10.5
31.1
79.4
2002 32,276 0.5
9.2
27.5
81.2







NAMCOL Distance Education Mode
Year
#
A
A to C
A to D
A to G
1999 3,353 0.5
3.4
15.2
55.2
2000 5,172 0.3
4.1
15.8
71.9
2001 6,207 0.3
5.3
20.2
71.1
2002 7,292 0.3
4.3
15.0
70.0







NAMCOL Face-to-Face Mode
Year
#
A
A to C
A to D
A to G
1999 17,891 0.3
6.4
24.8
69.6
2000 17,762 0.5
10.2
31.7
82.3
2001 18,993 0.8
11.8
34.1
81.9
2002 24,360 0.5
10.5
30.7
84.0







Private candidates
Year
#
A
A to C
A to D
A to G
1999 801 0.3
3.3
13.1
57.5
2000 1,445 0.6
7.6
23.3
69.1
2001 1,093 2.5
13.8
34.3
77.8
2002 624 0.4
5.5
17.0
33.5






Source: NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 2000 (Fig. 3.4),

2001 (Fig. 3.4), 2002 (Table 3.4).

NAMCOL’s results need some unpacking. As Table 5.15 shows, and as Dr. Alicia Fentiman’s
tracer study confirmed347, the majority of NAMCOL’s students are students who failed some of
their subjects in the full-time examinations and are trying again to get a better result.

One way of reading NAMCOL’s JSC results is to say that, for an additional cost, it “saves”
something like another 10 per cent of the formal system’s JSC candidates from the “scrap-heap”
of academic failure, given the formal system’s regulations barring resit of the Grade 10
examination except for those aged 16 or under. As Table 6.10 shows, very few of NAMCOL’s
students are aged under 18. Moreover, although NAMCOL’s results do not look that good, there
are extenuating circumstances, for the vast majority of NAMCOL students are individuals who
are either not among the best of the age group, or who have been failed by the system (i.e. they

347 Alicia Fentiman, Tracer Study of former NAMCOL learners: Research Report, Cambridge, IRFOL,
Centre for Educational Research and Development, Von Hügel Institute, St Edmund’s College, February
2007.

196




are among the four out of five who have already failed once at the JSC examination to obtain the
required grade C or better pass).

At the IGCSE/NSSCO level, the part-time results are not nearly as good as those of full-time
candidates, as Table 6.17 shows. Also, as NAMCOL’s analysis of the difference between its own
candidates and all part-time candidates suggests, NAMCOL is not matching the results obtained
by the non-NAMCOL part-time candidates, of whom there were 3,650 in 2004 and 4,194 in 2005.
Private students accounted for 16.8 per cent of all part-time candidates in 2004, and 16.9 per cent
in 2005.

Table 6.17: Cumulative %age achieving given grades at IGCSE, Full- and Part-time
candidates, 2000 – 2006

FULL-TIME CANDIDATES
ALL PART-TIME CANDIDATES
NAMCOL PART-TIME CANDIDATES









All
All full-
A* A* to A* to
All part-
NAMCOL
Year time
to A
C
D A to G time
A* to A A* to C A* to D A to G part-time A* to A A* to C A* to D A to G
2000 65165 1.6 19.1 35.8 88.9 17571
0.6
7.6
16.6
72.6
n/a



2001 66288 1.7 19.4 36.4 89.1 22757
0.4
7.4
16.4
74
n/a



2002 72624 1.5 19.4 37.1 82.9 24408
0.4
6.7
16
75.3
n/a



2003 71514 1.5 20.2 38.4 90.8 22.752
0.4
7.6
18.1
75.6
n/a



2004 79414 1.5 19.8 38.7 91.3 21756
0.4
7.8
19.3
77.5
18106
0.3 6.7
17.3
76.7
2005 77669 1.6 21.2 40.5 92.2 24814
0.3
7.5
19.2
79.8
20620
0.2 6.8
17.8
79.1
















NAMCOL Statistical Digest 2001 Table 3.7), 2003 (Table 3.6), 2004, 2005 (Table 3.2)


Tables 6.18 and 6.19 below show the percentage of candidates in the October/November 2006
examinations at the JSC and IGCSE level, respectively, gaining a particular grade, A* (IGCSE
only) or A to G, and a grade U (incomplete candidature). The Tables show the performance of all
full-time and all part-time candidates for all subjects, and for certain key academic subjects. The
“all subjects” category is not strictly comparable because full-time candidates at the JSC and
IGCSE levels have a number of subject options available to them that are unavailable to part-time
candidates. Also, at the JSC level, English as a Second Language is not strictly comparable
because part-time candidates are not tested on their oral knowledge of the language. Both tables
show the consistent underachievement of the part-time learners when compared with the full-time
students.














197




Table 6.18: Junior Secondary Certificate Examinations: overall and key subject results by
grade, full- and part-time candidates, Oct/Nov 2006 Examinations











Grade
Attendance type Subject
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
U
Full-time All
2.7
5.5
12.3
23.2
20.4
17.1
11.3
7.2
Part-time
All
0.4
1.7
6.9
19.0
21.3
20.6 17.1 13.0










Full-time
English as a
2.4
5.6
11.3
23.7
24.7
21.9
9.4
1.4
Part-time
Second
Lan.
0.1
0.2
2.0
8.9
18.7
32.3 27.8 10.0










Full-time
Maths
4.3
5.2
9.1
18.6
14.1
16.6 16.1 16.0
Part-time

0.6
1.3
3.4
13.3
13.0
20.4 20.2 27.8










Full-time Physical
2.5
4.9
10.9
22.8
17.6
16.9
14.6
9.8
Part-time
Science
0.1
1.1
6.1
21.7
19.9
20.6 18.5 12.1










Full-time Life
Science
2.0
5.2
12.9
25.7
22.5
18.3
10.4
3.0
Part-time
0.1
1.4
8.5
24.3
24.5
19.9
14.3
7.1










Full-time Geography
1.9
4.9
12.1
25.3
18.1
16.7
12.5
8.5
Part-time

0.0
0.6
4.9
21.9
19.5
21.4 17.6 14.1










Full-time History
1.3
3.7
9.9
25.2
20.3
20.6
13.6
5.2
Part-time
0.4
1.5
7.8
22.9
19.3
22.5
17.1
8.5










Full-time
Business

1.5
3.9
11.8
19.6
14.8
17.5 15.2 15.7
Part-time
Management
0.5
1.4
6.4
14.6
15.2
14.6 18.7 28.6










Full-time
Agriculture
3.5
8
16.6
21.7
23.8
18.2 6.5 1.7
Part-time
0.6
3.9
8.7
16.1
23.9
22.5
16.7
7.6










Source:
Directorate National Examinations and Assessment: Statistics of the Oct/Nov 2006

National Examinations for the Examinations Board Meeting of 27 March 2007,

pp.
1-3,
154

















198




Table 6.19: International General Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations:
Overall and key subject results by grade, full- and part-time candidates, Oct/Nov 2006
Examinations












Grade
Attendance type
Subject
A*
A
B
C
D
E F G U
Full-time All 0.4
1.3
5.4 15.4 19.6 21.3
19.5
10.2
6.9
Part-time All 0.0*
0.3
1.3
6.9 13.0 19.9
24.4
15.4
18.8











Full-time Business
0.0
0.6
4.8
16 19.7 24.2
21.0
10.7
3.0
Part-time Studies
0.0
0.0
0.3
4.5 10.7 21.6
24.6
20.3
18.0











Full-time Development
0.2
1.7
5.1 14.1 15.1 16.8
25.6
15.2
6.2
Part-time Studies
0.0*
0.4
2.0
9.1 11.8 14.8
25.2
19.3
17.4











Full-time Economics
0.0
0.3
3.0 21.6 23.1 24.3
11.0
3.8
12.9
Part-time
0.0
0.0
0.4
6.2 13.1 24.6
10.1
12.2
33.4











Full-time Geography
0.3
0.6
1.8
7.6 14.0 22.8
23.0
18.4
11.5
Part-time
0.0
0.0
0.0
2.1 7.9 22.2
24.5
22.7
20.6











Full-time History
0.7
0.7
1.7
7.2 30.5 17.1
32.7
23.5
6.5
Part-time
0.0
0.3
0.7
3.7 9.0 17.9
31.7
25.4
11.5











Full-time
English as a
4.6 14.6 29.3 29.2 13.8 7.7 0.0 0.0* 0.0
Part-time second
lan.
0.0 0.0*
0.5
3.6 10.2 23.2
34.4
10.9
17.2











Full-time Maths
0.2
0.8
3.1 15.8 17.3 21.2
17.2
13.1
11.3
Part-time
0.1
0.1
0.5
7.7 16.6 20.7
17.0
11.5
25.8











Full-time Agriculture
0.1
0.5
6.0 24.6 23.7 25.9
17.9
1.2
0.1
Part-time
0.0
0.0
0.5 10.6 19.1 20.2
36.0
13.1
0.5











Full-time Biology
0.1
1.3
5.7
15 15.9 18.5
16.1
12.7
14.7
Part-time
.0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0 7.1 7.2
0.0*
14.3
71.4











Full-time Physical
0.9
2.3
5.9 13.7 18.5 21.5
19.9
13.3
4.0
Part-time Science
0.1
0.4
1.4
6.6 15.3 24.7
19.2
16.6
16.0











Full-time Environmental
0.2
1.0
5.1 13.5 18.4 25.0
21.6
11.4
3.8
Part-time Management
0.0*
0.3
1.3
6.9 13 19.9
24.4
15.4
18.8













* = passes under 0.05%





6.8.1 Analysis of underachievement

The relative underachievement of part-time students is analysed further in Table 6.20, which
shows the percentage of full- and part-time candidates gaining A to C grades (A* to C at the

199




IGCSE level), and A to G grades (A* to G at IGCSE) in all examined subjects, and in key
subjects. Once again the “all subject” category is not strictly comparable. Also, the data given
here is for all part-time students, including a proportion that are not NAMCOL students. This
proportion is known to be quite significant at the IGCSE level.

The table shows the results for the November 2005 and November 2006 examinations. The
Effectiveness Ratio first described in Chapter 2 is derived by dividing the percentage of part-time
students who achieve a given level in their examinations (in this case, grades A to C and A to G
for JSCE, and A* to C and A* to G for the IGCSE examination) by the percentage of full-time
students who achieve these grades. Thus, 21.01 per cent of IGCSE candidates gain an A* to C
grade in Physical Sciences, compared with 9.02 per cent of part-time candidates. The
Effectiveness Ratio is thus 9.02 divided by 21.01 or 0.429. An Effectiveness Ratio of 1.0 would
mean that the part-time system is as effective as the full-time system. Any score less than 1.0
(including this one) indicates that the distance system is less effective than the traditional system.

Table 6.20: Comparison of full-time versus part-time results using the Effectiveness Ratio,
November 2005 and November 2006 examinations



November 2005 Examinations
November 2006 Examinations

FT
PT
FT
PT
FT
PT
FT PT



A to A
A to A to
C to Effect. A to A to
C
C Effect.
C
Ratio
G
G Effect.
Ratio A to G A to G Effect.

JSC Subject











10.

All 20.7
5
0.507 92.6 89.6 0.968 20.5
9.0 0.439 92.8 87.0 0.938

English as a 2 Lang
17.1 1.4
0.082 99.8
98 0.982 19.3
2.3 0.119 98.6 90.0 0.913

Maths 21
8.9
0.424 79.8 72.1 0.904 18.6
5.3 0.285 84.0 72.2 0.860

Physical Science
16.4 5.2
0.317 85.8
77 0.897 18.3
7.2 0.393 90.2 87.9 0.975

Life Science
17.2 11
0.640 96.9 92.8 0.958 20.1
9.9 0.493 97.0 92.9 0.958

Geography 18
5.5
0.306 91.5 88.2 0.964 18.9
5.5 0.291 91.5 85.9 0.939

History 17.3
5.4
0.312 93.4
91 0.974 15.1
9.7 0.642 94.8 91.5 0.965
11.

Business Management 20.6 6
0.563 90.8 84.5 0.931 17.2
8.3 0.483 84.3 71.4 0.847
14.

Agriculture 27.5
7
0.535 98.7 93.8 0.950 28.1 13.2 0.470 98.3 92.4 0.940















200







FT PT
FT
PT
FT
PT
FT PT

A* to A*
A*
C to Effect. A to A to
to C A* to Effect.


C
Ratio
G
G Effect.
C Ratio A to G A to G Effect.

IGCSE Subject









7.5

All 21.70
2
0.347 92.23 79.75 0.865 22.5 8.50 0.379 93.09 81.22 0.872
7.4

Business Studies
19.48 6
0.383 94.33 80.59 0.854 21.4 4.80 0.224 96.97 82.00 0.846
11.

Development Studies 22.84 74
0.514 94.22 79.17 0.840 21.1 11.46 0.543 93.75 82.57 0.881
12.

Economics 27.46
44
0.453 89.83 72.02 0.802 24.9 6.64 0.267 87.08 66.60 0.765
3.5

Geography 11.78
3
0.300 91.15 82.92 0.910 10.2 2.12 0.207 88.50 79.35 0.897
1.4

History 6.31
4
0.228 91.02 84.27 0.926 10.3 4.65 0.454 93.47 88.46 0.946
1.7

English as a 2 Lang
13.29 2
0.129 93.18 78.74 0.845 16.5 4.08 0.247 93.08 82.81 0.890
5.7

Maths 17.40
0
0.328 85.08 70.86 0.833 19.9 8.34 0.419 88.70 74.22 0.837
11.

Agriculture 31.24
47
0.367 99.63 99.60 1.000 31.2 11.08 0.355 99.88 99.52 0.996
5.5

Biology 17.65
2
0.313 82.87 68.70 0.829 22.1 7.17 0.325 85.29 67.47 0.791
9.0

Physical Science
21.01 2
0.429 94.20 83.25 0.884 22.8 8.38 0.367 95.97 83.97 0.875
Environm'l
7.1

Management 21.72
8
0.331 96.77 89.20 0.922 19.8 9.88 0.498 97.17 88.02 0.906

What the table shows in the final column for each year (the A to G Effectiveness Ratio) is that
although the part-time system never equals or surpasses the full-time system in effectiveness, in a
number of subjects – and with one or two comparatively rather poor results (Biology and
Economics IGCSE) – it approaches the full-time system in respect of the proportion of students
gaining grades A to G (JSCE) or A* to G (IGCSE examination). However, when it comes to
comparing the effectiveness of the two approaches in respect of performance at grades A to C
(JSCE) and A* to C (IGCSE examination), the part-time candidates do not perform as well as the
full-time students. At this all-important level of success, the Effectiveness Ratio ranges from 0.31
to 0.64 at the JSC level, and 0.23 to 0.51 at the IGCSE level, depending on the subject.

6.8.2 Strategies for improving student performance

The table indicates the challenge facing part-time providers – including NAMCOL. This is to
improve the performance of students who are currently gaining grades D to G, so that they
achieve the only grades that count – A to C at the JSC level, and A* to C at the senior secondary
level.

There are a number of possible strategies for doing this including:

201




• increasing the amount of face-to-face teaching above the current level of two hours per
subject per week,
• increasing the number of tutorial centres so that more learners who currently opt for the
Non-contact option can get to face-to-face sessions,
• changing the nature of the teaching system by using more radio and introducing
television programmes into the teaching system, and
• focusing on the quality of the lessons given.

NAMCOL has put in costed bids for additional support. Broadly speaking, the cost of each of
these options is as follows:

• Television. NAMCOL reckons that a 26-minute television programme costs NA $3658 to
produce, and that to produce one monthly programme for three subjects taught over nine
months would cost NA $ 98,753. If these programmes were re-used over a number of
years – say five – the annualised cost of doing this would drop to under NA $20,000 a
year. On top of this, there would be an annual Namibian Broadcasting Corporation
transmission charge of NA $4,111 per programme, or – for 27 programmes – NA
$111,000. Neither of these cost items is driven by student numbers per course, so the cost
per student would depend on the numbers registering on the courses chosen.
• Radio. NAMCOL estimates that a 26-minute radio programme would cost NA $1,485 to
produce, so to provide a weekly programme over 26 weeks for three subjects would cost
just under NA $116,000. This would be a recurrent annual cost unless the programmes
were reused from one year to the next, in which case the annualised cost would be, for a
five-year life, just over NA $23,000. In addition, there is the Namibian Broadcasting
Corporation transmission charge of NA $763 per programme, or about NA $60,000 for
all the programmes. Neither of these cost items is driven by student numbers per course,
so the cost per student would depend on the numbers registering on the courses chosen.
• Face-to-face teaching. NAMCOL has estimated the additional cost of this option on the
basis that it teaches in 105 centres, and on the basis that it increases the existing provision
of two hours per week to four, six or eight hours. The table below shows the total cost of
doing this for 1,487 class-groups. Since each subject group had on average just fewer
than 40 subject enrolees in 2006, a figure of 40 has been used to calculate the cost per
subject-enrolee (Table 6.21). The figures illustrate the way in which total costs escalate
rapidly in response to comparatively modest increases in the flexible cost per student
course.

Table 6.21: Cost of increasing tutorial hours per week

Contact
sessions/week 1
2
3
4
# hours tuition/week
2
4
6
8
105 centres
3,719,225.93 7,438,451.86 11,157,677.79 14,876,903.72
# class-groups
1487
1487
1487
1487
Cost/class-group
2,501.16
5,002.32 7,503.48 10,004.64
Cost per subject
Enrolee (40 learners
/group)
62.53 125.06 187.59 250.12



202




NAMCOL has also considered the cost of increasing the number of centres it has while also
increasing the amount of tuition per week. Increasing the number of centres would take
NAMCOL into smaller communities and also tend to reduce the number of learners per centre
unless student numbers grow. Class sizes would fall, but overall costs would increase as classes
are offered in more centres. This is precisely the predicament that faced the Mexican
Telesecundaria as it expanded into more and more remote or smaller communities, with the
results that costs per student began to climb348.

6.9
Destination of NAMCOL learners

Reference has already been made to the Tracer Study of NAMCOL students undertaken in late
2006 by Dr. Alicia Fentiman349. The study focused on former IGCSE students who were enrolled
in NAMCOL between 1999-2001, when an average of just over 4000 IGCSE learners were
registered in each of these years. As Dr. Fentiman acknowledged, it proved difficult both to trace
and gain the co-operation of the ex-NAMCOL students. As a result, only 478 completed
questionnaires were received, and just 75 in-depth interviews with ex-NAMCOL IGCSE student
were undertaken350. Of those who completed the questionnaires, three in four (76 per cent) were
women and one in four (24 per cent) were men351 – a proportion roughly equivalent to the gender
division of NAMCOL’s student body for those years (see Table 6.9).

Three out of four (77 per cent) of the respondents came from just four regions of Namibia:
Khomas (where the capital, Windhoek, is located), Erongo (where Swakopmund and the
development area of Walvis Bay are located), and Oshana and Kavango in the more populated
north of the country. One in four of the respondents (26 per cent) came from Khomas352.

Changes to the research design to boost the number of respondents led to a house-to-house search
for ex-NAMCOL students in the heavily populated town of Katutura where NAMCOL’s
headquarters is based, and also to an attempt to locate ex-students at the Ramatex factory where
many ex-students are employed. In these respects, the sample was not necessarily
representative353
354
. Over half (53 per cent) of the respondents were aged 26 to 30 , and hence
would have fallen squarely in the median range of NAMCOL’s learners in 1999-2001 (i.e. 20 to
24 years old, see Table 6.10).

Nineteen out of twenty (95 per cent) of the students who completed the questionnaire indicated
that they had enrolled in NAMCOL to improve their grades or “points” in the IGCSE
examinations. The respondents had studied a total of 1,096 subjects, at an average subject load of
just over 2.5 subjects per head, which is significantly higher than the range of 1.90 to 1.98 taken
by the average IGCSE student in the relevant years. The most popular subjects had been English
as a Second Language, which accounted for over one in five of all subject registrations, followed

348 Greville Rumble, The Costs and Economics of Open and Distance Learning, London, Kogan Page,
1997, p. 135.
349 Alicia Fentiman, Tracer Study of former NAMCOL learners: Research Report, Cambridge, IRFOL,
Centre for Educational Research and Development, Von Hügel Institute, St Edmund’s College, February
2007
350 Ibid. Sections 1.3, 3.0
351 Ibid. Section 3.1
352 Ibid. Section 3.2.
353 Ibid. Section 2.3.
354 Ibid. Section 3.3.

203




355
by Development Studies and Biology/Life Science . These three subjects accounted for 56 per
cent of all subject registrations by the respondents. Given the crucial importance of English as a
qualification for academic and employment progression, the fact that English as a Second
Language figured highly among the subjects taken comes as no real surprise.

In spite of the acknowledged methodological difficulties associated with Dr. Fentiman’s
research356, her work provides some interesting pointers to the destination of NAMCOL’s senior
secondary learners:

• Academic qualifications: Of the 436 respondents who replied to the question:

o 351 (82.4 per cent) indicated that the Grade 12 IGCSE remained their highest
academic qualification,
o Fourteen (3 per cent) had gone on to do vocational qualifications,
o 25 (5.7 per cent) had gained a tertiary certificate of some kind,,
o 40 (9.2 per cent) had completed a tertiary diploma, and
357
o 6 (1.4 per cent) had gained a first degree .

Among the courses that NAMCOL’s ex-students had enrolled in after leaving NAMCOL,
26 had enrolled on computer courses, 19 had enrolled on the Basic Education Teacher
Diploma (BETD), 10 had taken courses in Human Resource and other areas of
management, and 12 had enrolled on some form of vocational course358.

• Further education: 135 (39 per cent) of the respondents were currently enrolled in some
form of further education. Of these:

o 40 (29.6 per cent) were taking further courses with NAMCOL,
o 21 (15.6 per cent) were in some form of vocational training,
o 24 (17.8 per cent) were at the Polytechnic of Namibia,
o 23 (17 per cent) were at the University of Namibia,
o 23 (17 per cent) were at a College of Education, and
o 5 (3.7 per cent) were studying with the distance-teaching University of South
Africa (UNISA)359.

• Paid employment: Statistical data (see Table 6.11) suggests at least nine out of ten of
NAMCOL’s students in the years 1999 to 2000 were not doing any paid employment. Of
the former NAMCOL learners, in answer to the question “Are you currently employed?”

o 56 per cent said that they were,
o 41 per cent said that they were not, and
o 3 per cent gave a nil response.

360
Some of those who were “unemployed” would have been in full-time education .
Unfortunately at this point in her report, Fentiman only gives percentages and not actual

355 Ibid. Section 3.6.
356 Ibid. Section 4.
357 Ibid. Section 3.7.
358 Ibid. Section 3.7.
359 Ibid. Section 3.7
360 Ibid. Section 3.8

204




figures, but this suggests that about 240 individuals were employed, 175 were not and 13
did not respond. Again figures are not given, but from the information given one can infer
that of those employed, 33 per cent (about 141 individuals) were employed in private
sector enterprises, 4 per cent (17 individuals) were self-employed, and 20 per cent (about
86 individuals) secured employment with in a government post361.

• Time to achieve employment: When asked how long it took them to get a job after they
had left NAMCOL,

o 63 took under six months;
o 50 between six months and a year;
o 54 took one to two years; and
o 98 took over two years.

362
We can infer that some individuals gained employment, only to lose it .

• Salary: 64 per cent (275) of the respondents were prepared to divulge their monthly
salary. Of those that did,

o 53 (19 per cent) earned under NA $ 500 a month,
o 151 (55per cent) earned between NA $ 501 and NA $ 2500,
o 56 (20per cent earned between NA $ 2501 and NA $ 5000,
o 13 (4.7per cent) earned between NA $ 5001 and NA $ 10,000 a month, and
o 2 earned over NA $ 10,000 a month.

Unfortunately Fentiman gives neither absolute figures nor percentages for the number of
students who indicated they were unsatisfied, satisfied, very satisfied, or extremely
satisfied with their employment, but reading off from her bar chart indicates that roughly
170 students were unsatisfied, roughly the same number did not respond to the question,
and the rest expressed some degree of satisfaction with their employment363.

• Applicability of learning: Respondents were asked if they were finding what they had
studied at IGCSE at NAMCOL useful in their present position. Again Fentiman does not
give figures so it is unclear whether her percentages are based on the total survey
population (248 students) or just those who had jobs at the time of the study (which as the
wording of the question implies would give a base of about 240 for this question). Of the
unknown number who did respond to the question;

o 19 per cent of the respondents chose not to answer it,
o 42 per cent said that what they had studied did not help them in their current
position – but of course some continued with further studies that might have had
greater relevance, and
o 39 per cent said that what they had learnt was useful in their present
occupation364.


361 Ibid. Section 3.8
362 Ibid. Section 3.8
363 Ibid. Section 3.8.
364 Ibid. Section 3.9.

205




The in-depth interviews allowed some of these points to be followed up – and Fentiman says
(without quantifying the statement) that “the majority of respondents were pleased with the
qualifications they gained at NAMCOL”, and that some of the respondents indicated that
NAMCOL had indeed helped them improve their IGCSE grades and hence opened previously
closed doors to further study365.

For all its flaws, Fentiman’s report is the best that we have – and does suggest that NAMCOL has
had a positive and beneficial impact on at least a reasonable proportion (more than 50 per cent) of
its former students.

366
6.10 Quality assurance

NAMCOL recognises that a strong commitment to quality will help distance education systems
break free from the reputation for poor quality that hung around a number (although not all) of the
19th and 20th century commercial correspondence colleges. NAMCOL has a number of quality
assurance measures in place, all guided by a Quality Assurance Policy. A key quality initiative is
a process for reciprocal external peer reviews with BOCODOL. In addition to gaining helpful
feedback from colleagues at BOCODOL about quality assurance, NAMCOL gains valuable
information by conducting quality audits at BOCODOL.

It is generally accepted that the quality of distance education programmes rests on five
foundations:

• the quality of institutional leadership and its ability to articulate a vision that will ensure
survival,
• sound financial management,
• the quality of the programmes, courses and learning materials both in respect of their
academic content and relevance, and the quality of the pedagogy underpinning their design,
• the quality of the student support services including the quality of the advice given to
students, the quality of teaching, and the quality of the assessment process (both formative
and summative), and
• the quality of the logistical system underpinning the student support system and the materials
distribution system (for example, timely despatch of materials to students so that they have
them to hand when they need them, timely feedback on student queries, rapid turnaround
between receipt of an assignment and the return of the corrected assignment to the student).

NAMCOL has been fortunate both with the quality of its senior management and with the fact
that it has enjoyed the sustained support of government and senior civil servants within the
Ministry of Education. It has regularly assessed it position and is currently operating under its
third three-year strategic development plan (for 2005-2008) that was agreed following extensive
consultation with stakeholders.

Financial management, which operates within a framework of guidelines and defined processes
and procedures, is sound, and the College keeps within its budget. The level of government
subsidy is based on a formula that was initially proposed in 1977 and that has been used with
minor changes ever since. The formula as currently agreed assures NAMCOL that it will receive
a level of government subsidy based on:

365 Ibid. Section 3.10.6.
366 This section is based in part on NAMCOL, NAMCOL's Quality and Standards Document, May 2005.

206





[(The unit cost per subject enrolment of formal junior secondary education x 0.65
x number of junior secondary subject enrolments in NAMCOL)
+
(The unit cost per subject enrolment of senior secondary education x 0.65 x
number of senior secondary subject enrolments in NAMCOL)]
x
an agreed allowance for inflation (to be checked annually).

The most challenging aspect of this formula is that the funding level for any year is applied to the
number of students that NAMCOL had enrolled in the previous year. So while there is no formal
ceiling on the number of students that NAMCOL can enrol, the College has to fund any student
number expansion from its own reserve funds or from other income streams (notably student
fees) for the first year of expansion.

6.10.1 Process of accountability

NAMCOL operates within a defined process of accountability including:
• the preparation of annual reports and annual financial statements, coupled with external
audit,
• reciprocal peer quality audits with the Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning
(BOCODOL),
• a requirement that the College adhere to any regulations laid down by the National
Examinations, Assessment and Certification Board (NEACB) of the Namibian
Qualifications Authority, and
367
• the duty to comply with legislation such as the Affirmative Action Act of 1998 .

The NEACB lays down the entry requirements that NAMCOL students must comply with before
they can register for the JSC and IGCSE/NSSCO level and it this Board, rather than NAMCOL
itself, that awards qualifications and hence guarantees the quality of the qualifications offered by
NAMCOL at the secondary level. The actual examinations sat by NAMCOL's secondary level
students are administered by the Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment in the
Ministry of Education. It is therefore this Directorate rather than the College that vouches for the
integrity of the examination process.

However, it is NAMCOL's internal quality assurance processes that really underpin the quality of
what the College does. The College's Programme Developers serve on the curriculum panels and
committees of the National Institute for Educational Development (NIED). Through this, the
College keeps track of changes in the JSC and IGCSE/NSSCO curricula. Materials are developed
and produced in conformity with the standards, processes and procedures laid down in
NAMCOL's House Style Manual, which has been produced by the Programme and Materials
Development Division of the College. The House Style Manual also sets out procedures for the
revision of existing materials and the integration of media and technology in the design and

367 The Affirmative Action Act (Act 29 of 1998) promulgated the Affirmative Action Policy of the
Government. The Act requires that no person shall be discriminated against on the basis of race, sex, creed,
colour, religion, age, mental or physical disability, and that all persons shall be treated equally with regard
to recruitment, terms and conditions of employment, human resource practices, and in relation to access
and participation in programmes and activities.

207




368
delivery of study materials . All contract staff involved in materials development are provided
with training, and course writers are given a Course Writers’ Manual to assist them in the process
of writing quality distance education materials. The draft study guides are checked for their
quality before they are finally produced. The Materials Production and Despatch Unit follows a
set of pre-agreed procedures when materials are packed and despatched in order to minimise
mistakes and ensure timely delivery of materials to learners.

The College maintains rigorous control over the admissions process to ensure that those
individuals offered a place are qualified and will be allowed to sit the examinations by the
Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment. The number of individuals allowed to
enrol is controlled for financial and capacity reasons, and strict control is maintained on the
numbers offered a place on NAMCOL's courses. Enrolment forms, which are handed in by
applicants at one of the over 100 enrolment centres set up by the College, are sent to the College's
headquarters where they are scanned in order to generate a student record. There is a process by
which the data entered on the initial record is verified.

Similarly, strict procedures and checks apply in the assignment handling area, and a proportion of
all submitted assignments are moderated to check on the quality of the marking and formative
feedback given to students on their work. Tutors are penalised (through the docking of a
proportion of their payment) for failing to mark assignments on time. This is of key importance
given research that indicates that drop-out in distance education is directly correlated with the
length of the turnaround time between the date a student submits their assignment for correction
and marking, and the date they receive the marked assignment back.

Management reports are generated from the data collected by the administration, and an annual
Statistical Digest is prepared369. Longitudinal data in now available in a number of areas to
analyse trends. The Research and Evaluation Unit is responsible for:

• evaluating and monitoring the programmes, materials and services offered by NAMCOL
with a view to improving on effectiveness, efficiency and quality,
• conducting market research to establish the level of demand for all new programmes that
the College intends to offer, and
• overseeing research and evaluation consultancies.

Regular surveys are carried out to gather information from students on the quality and usefulness
of the course materials with the view to improve on this, the causes of student drop-out, the
impact of programmes, and the impact of workshops and training sessions held in support of staff
training and development.

The overall effect of the measures in place, coupled with the stress on staff development and
internal and external communication with stakeholders is that NAMCOL exhibits many of the
characteristics of a successful learning organisation.

368 NAMCOL, House Style Manual: 2006 Revised Edition, NAMCOL, Programme and Materials
Development Division, 2006.
369 NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 1999, Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2000; NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 2000,
Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2001; NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 2001, Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2002; NAMCOL,
Statistical Digest 2002, Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2003; NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 2003, Windhoek,
NAMCOL, 2004; NAMCOL, Statistical Digest 2004, Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2005; NAMCOL, Statistical
Digest 2005
, Windhoek, NAMCOL, 2006; and the draft Statistical Digest 2006, which was due to be
published in July 2006.

208





6.11 Unanswered questions

Before turning to the issue of costs, it is worth reviewing some of the questions that arose during
the research that could not be answered – usually because the requisite data does not exist or
because existing analyses provide only partial answers. What follows is by no means an
exhaustive list. Among the unanswered questions are the following:

• Why do potential applicants not enrol in NAMCOL?
• Why, when there is a roughly 49 to 51 male/female division of the genders in the formal
school system at the primary and senior secondary level, but a 46 to 54 male/female
division at the junior secondary level, does NAMCOL not attract more boys and young
men – or conversely, why does NAMCOL more men than women? NAMCOL's gender
balance is about 36 to 64 male to female at the junior secondary level, and 33 to 66 at the
senior level.
• What proportion of NAMCOL students have not studied previously at the JSC and/or
IGCSE/NSSCO level? What are the demographic characteristics of these students
(gender, age) and how do they differ from the students who did sit, but failed, some of
their subject examinations in the formal system, and hence come to NAMCOL to retake
some subjects?
• Is there any difference in the demographic characteristics of NAMCOL and non-
NAMCOL part-time students?
• Within NAMCOL, is there any demographic difference between the Contact and Non-
contact mode students with respect to their demographic characteristics? What might
such findings say about NAMCOL’s current pedagogic and support strategies?
• What proportion of NAMCOL registered students is also enrolled in other private
institutions at the same time, and is there any correlation between the fact they have
additional support and their examination results? What might such findings say about
NAMCOL’s current pedagogic and support strategies?
• How much time do NAMCOL’s students spend studying?
• Is there any discernable correlation between the examination successes of NAMCOL
students, and demographic characteristics? For example, do women students perform
better than men? Do older students perform better than younger ones? Do students
resident in areas where there are better employment prospects perform better than those
living in areas of high unemployment?
• Is there any correlation between the grades that a student achieved in the examinations
when they were part of the formal system, and their achievement in the examinations
following study at NAMCOL? Does NAMCOL add-value? Do the students who have
already failed a subject at Grade 10 or Grade 12 in the formal system, get a higher grade,
the same grade or a lower grade when they sit the examinations as part-time candidates?
• Why do NAMCOL students drop-out?
• With respect to the Tracer study and any further studies on the destinations and academic
and employment outcomes for NAMCOL students, are there any discernible differences
between those who succeed and those who do not in terms of demographics (gender, age,
geographical location, social background) and ultimate grade in the examinations?

Answering these and similar questions might give one a better insight into what makes for
success and what makes for failure, and how failure might be turned into success so that
NAMCOL can perform even better than it does at the moment.


209




6.12 Costs

Obtaining reliable data with which to compare the costs of NAMCOL and the formal secondary
school system is problematic. The problems include:

• The education budget distinguishes between operational costs and development costs.
The latter covers items that are traditionally treated as capital expenditure (on buildings
and furniture and equipment). It does not identify the value of past capital investments
but only the money being set aside in a particular year. One of the main cost advantages
of distance education is that many distance education institutions do not have spend
money on building classrooms, but instead make use of existing educational facilities as
study centres etc. Quite often they are allowed to do this at no cost or at a non-
commercial cost, as is the case with NAMCOL. NAMCOL is not required to pay rental,
although it does make a contribution towards the running costs of the facilities it uses.
This results in considerable economies of scope. Failure to take into account the capital
cost savings that arise in distance education systems can seriously underestimate the
relative cost efficiency of such systems. Marope's report, for example, only takes account
of the operating costs and thus ignores the very significant capital costs of building and
maintaining secondary schools370. The current cost of building a secondary school with
an annual capacity of 980 students is estimated to be NA $50 million, with another NA
$2.5 million for equipment and furnishing371. Building a single block of three classrooms
catering for 105 students would cost NA $325,000, with another NA $160,000 per
classroom for furniture and equipment372. The annualised capital cost is of the order of
NA $555 per pupil. If NAMCOL's students were absorbed into the formal system,
considerable additional capital costs would be incurred.
• Another issue is that the line budget for secondary education (Main Division 05, Line
300) does not cover the full costs of secondary expenditure. The most significant
omission is the cost of student hostels (which overall account for 9 per cent of the
education budget373). Hostels are provided to meet the needs of both primary and
secondary students who are unable to live at home during term time. There is no
accounting data on the proportion of hostel costs attributable to secondary education, so
an estimate has to be made. Some estimates put the proportion of hostel costs attributable
to secondary education as being as high as 90 per cent, though for the purposes of this
analysis a more conservative figure of 80 per cent is assumed. In addition, some of the
expenditure incurred in other main divisions of the Ministry support secondary education.
This is particularly true in the areas of strategic direction, management, planning, and
research and evaluation. None of these overhead costs are apportioned formally to the
actual activity of supporting secondary education (although for the purposes of
determining unit costs in the formal system, the formula used to fund NAMCOL assumes
that these costs are apportioned across primary and secondary education pro-rata to the
number of students in each sector).

370 Mmantsetsa Toka Marope, Namibia Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth
with Equity
, Africa Region Human Development Working paper Series No. 84, Human Development
Sector, Africa Region, The World Bank, 2005, §6.30, p. 84.
371 Office of the President, National Planning Commission, Millenium Challenge Account: Namibia,
Windhoek, Office of the President, 2007, p. 72.
372 Ibid., p. 74.
373 Ministry of Education, Expenditure Issues Paper, 2005 (first draft). Electronic copy obtained from Mr T
Kakonda, Planning Division, MOE, Windhoek, Section 3.

210




• The cost of running examinations is carried by the Directorate of National Examinations
and Assessment – although here, since students in the formal system and at NAMCOL
take the same examination, the cost per subject sat will be the same for both. However,
NAMCOL students take fewer subjects, so the cost per NAMCOL student would be less
than that for formal system students.
• A number of other ministries provide services to the Ministry of Education and its
various programmes. In the absence of any cross-charging mechanisms, none of the costs
of these benefits is reflected in the secondary education budget. Estimates suggest that
these costs, if reflected in the MOE's budget, would add another 20 per cent to the overall
cost of the MOE374. In contrast, NAMCOL as an autonomous para-statal institution, has
to meet the full costs of its administration.

Table 6.22 below shows the expenditure per learner in the formal system, based on the
Appropriation Accounts for the financial year in question.

Table 6.22: Expenditure on secondary education, 2001/02 to 2005/06

Secondary Education: Formal System
Appropriation
Financial
Accounts: # learners in Expenditure
Year
Expenditure formal system per learner
2001/2002 476,393,321
130,577
3,648.37
2002/2003 467,595,808
137,099
3,410.64
2003/2004 476,578,027
141,752
3,362.06
2004/2005 506,993,323
144,289
3,513.74
2005/2006 549,947,161
148,104
3,713.25

These figures suffer from the drawbacks identified above. A further difficulty is that neither the
budget nor the expenditure figures in the Appropriation Accounts allow one to separate out the
budget for or costs of junior and senior secondary education.

There are also difficulties in dealing with NAMCOL's costs. NAMCOL, as indicated earlier,
offers a number of professional programmes, as well as running its bookshops and participating in
a research programme. These activities attract both costs and income. In the absence of any direct
government subsidies for the professional programmes, NAMCOL in effect cross-subsidises
these programmes from its Alternative Secondary Education Programme. Most cost studies of
NAMCOL have attributed all of NAMCOL's costs to the secondary programme and have not
separated out the costs of these other programmes. In addition, those costs that cannot easily be
attributed to programmes and thus constitute NAMCOL's business sustaining costs cannot all be
apportioned as secondary programme overheads.

6.12.1 Activity-based costing

NAMCOL has sought over the last year or so to develop an activity-based costing approach that
will enable it to cost its activities more accurately375 and considerable progress had been made by

374 Ed Du Vivier, Financing NAMCOL into the Future: A Study of the College's Efficiency, Cost-
effectiveness, Fee Structure and Funding Formula
, 27 March 2007, §1.1.1, p. 15, based on the additional
costs built into the cost of formal secondary education in the NAMCOL funding formula.
375 Greville Rumble, A Report of a Short-term Advisory Mission to conduct a Study on the Costs and
Funding of the Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL), Cambridge, International Research

211




mid-2007. This has enabled the College to identify, for example, the committed and flexible costs
of developing, producing and delivering NAMCOL's various academic programmes, as well as
the services offered by the Bookshop. In this analysis, "Other" costs are in effect business-
sustaining costs not related directly to the programmes and activities carried out by NAMCOL.
Applied to the 2007-2008 budget of NA $47,987,071, the activity costing exercise gives the
following results (Table 6.23):

Table 6.23: NAMCOL 2007-2008 Budget by programmes/activities

JSC
NSSCO
CED
CYP
CLGS
Bookshop
Other
Expenditure 15,871,722
15,991,479
3,246,990
2,367,691
326,389
1,075,905 3,717,980
Income 3,785,199
5,204,481
362,000
325,000
765,000
781,400
500,000
Balance 12,086,523
10,786,998
2,884,990
2,042,691 -438,611
294,505 3,217,980

Source: NAMCOL Finance Division, June 2007.

Summing the net costs of the Certificate in Education for Development (CED), the
Commonwealth Diploma in Youth in Development (CYP) and the Certificate in Local
Government Studies (CLGS) professional programmes, bookshop and "other" (i.e. management)
costs gives a total of NA $8,001,555 that is carried (that is, cross-subsidised or in the case of the
management costs absorbed) by NAMCOL's Alternative Secondary Education Programme
(ASEP). However, making the ASEP programme carry the costs of non-profitable programmes
distorts the true cost of the ASEP programme. It is therefore arguable that the only "overhead"
costs that should be charged to ASEP are a proportion of the net business sustaining costs of NA
$3,217,980. For the purposes of the analysis carried out here, it could be assumed that some 80
per cent of these costs should be charged against ASEP (i.e. 80 per cent of NA $3,217,980).

Many of the reports providing information on costs are based on budgetary figures rather than
actual expenditure. Since expenditure does not always equate with budgets, this is problematic.
This would be more of a problem at the primary level where the Ministry of Education's
Appropriation Accounts for primary education show a consistent and significant annual
overspend. At the secondary level, there has generally been, at least in recent years, a relatively
small underspend. However, the final budget figure in any year – which is the base against which
the Appropriation Accounts measure expenditure – have generally been augmented by mid-
financial year virements, so that in general terms, end-of-year expenditure exceeds start-of-year
budgetary provision. Exactly which figures are taken as the financial data for cost calculations
can make a significant difference.

6.12.2 Measuring student loads

Equally, calculations of student loads in the formal system will differ if student numbers are
based on the Fifteenth Day School Statistics, collected in the first month of each academic year,
or on the annual education census data collected in August. The latter arguably gives a truer
reflection of student load (the Fifteenth Day statistics generally overstate enrolments by about 2.5
per cent, though the figures may be 13 per cent above or below those reported in the Education

Foundation for Open Learning, June 2006; Ed Du Vivier, Activity Based Costing Analysis for NAMCOL,
mimeo, 2007; Ed Du Vivier, Financing NAMCOL into the Future: A Study of the College's Efficiency,
Cost-effectiveness, Fee Structure and Funding Formula
, 27 March 2007.

212




376
Statistics ). Unless raw data is provided in the cost calculations or an explicit statement of
methodology is made, it can be unclear which figures form the basis for particular calculations of
unit cost.

Most cost studies attempt to provide a cost per full-time equivalent (FTE) student. Here too there
is considerable scope for methodological divergence. Approaches that focus on class-hours as a
determination of a full-time equivalent load (the basis of much planning in traditional education)
will disadvantage distance education providers because, in distance education, students spend a
lot of their time studying independently. To get around this problem, analysts working on the
comparative costs of distance and traditional education systems tend to focus on student credit or
course loadings; that is, the number of credits or courses (or in NAMCOL's terms, subjects) that a
student takes each year. While credit loadings may work satisfactorily where the basis of counting
credits is the same (and it often is not), course loads can be misleading because courses may not
involve the same amount of work. This is particularly the case where courses are packaged as
modules of different length.

There may also be differences in the number of courses students are allowed to take. Within the
Namibian secondary school system, a full-time load is generally equated with taking nine subjects
per year at the junior secondary level and six at the senior secondary level. In theory, this should
provide a reasonable approach to the determination of a full-time student. However, even here
there is a problem. In the formal senior secondary school system in Namibia, students spend two
years studying each subject, whereas in NAMCOL students study the full two-year curriculum
(years 11 and 12) in one year. As a result, one year of study of a subject in the formal system is
equivalent to just half-a-year in NAMCOL's system. The same is not true, however, of
NAMCOL's junior secondary school provision where NAMCOL offers just the final year of the
curriculum (year 10) to be studied across the full academic year.

The result is that at the JSC level, one subject enrolment at year 10 in NAMCOL is equivalent to
one subject enrolment at year 10 in the formal system, while at the NSSCO level, one subject
enrolment in a year is equivalent to two subject-year enrolments in the formal system. This is
because the NAMCOL student studies two year's worth of curriculum in a single year, whereas
the formal student studies the NSSCO curriculum in any subject over two years. The real
difference between the two systems is the number of subjects per year studied by a student.

6.12.3 Cost calculation challenges

A further problem when making comparisons is that a student in the formal system who studies,
say six subjects in a year "costs" one year's worth of indirect common costs plus apportioned
business sustaining costs, together with six times the annualised committed course costs plus six
times the flexible costs per course. A NAMCOL student who takes two courses a year over three
years will cost six times the annualised committed course costs plus six times the flexible costs
per course, together with three year's worth of indirect common costs plus apportioned business
sustaining costs. Because of the NSSCO-level "two academic-years in one calendar-year"
structure, this will affect JSC students more than NSSCO students. At present, NAMCOL has not
analysed activity costs down to the course level, so it is impossible to know what effect a slower
rate of throughput has on NAMCOL costs.


376 Ed Du Vivier, Financing NAMCOL into the Future: A Study of the College's Efficiency, Cost-
effectiveness, Fee Structure and Funding Formula
, 27 March 2007, §1.1.1, p. 16.

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6.12.4 Government funding

The expectation when NAMCOL was set up was that it would continue to rely on significant
levels of government subsidy. The College is funded on a formula basis, which was first agreed in
1997377. Under the Act establishing NAMCOL, the original formula and any changes to it must
be mutually agreed between the Minister of (Basic) Education, the Minister of Finance, and the
College. Funding is based “on the principle that the provision of secondary education via
NAMCOL should not be more expensive than providing secondary education via formal
education”. Basically the formula moves through a series of steps to derive the level of subsidy
that the Government will give NAMCOL. These steps are as follows:

• Step 1: Identify Ministerial Overheads by adding the cost of the following "Main
Divisions" in the Ministry of Education together (02 Administration, 03 Programme
Implementation and Monitoring of Educational Standards, 09 Planning and Research and
Development).
• Step 2: Apportion the ministerial overheads between formal primary and secondary
education, pro-rata to the number of students in each of these levels.
• Step 3: Identify the intra-ministerial recurrent costs of secondary education by adding
together (a) the total operational expenditure of Main Division 05 Secondary Education,
(b) 10 per cent of the annual sum set aside for capital expenditure on secondary education
projects, (c) the full cost of running school examinations through the Directorate of
Examinations and Assessment, and (d) the cost of school books, and add to this the
ministerial overheads apportioned to secondary education under Step 2 above.
• Step 4: Multiply the total intra-ministerial costs identified in Step 3 by 1.20 – to reflect
the additional contributions to secondary education from other ministries. The resulting
sum is defined as the full recurrent cost of providing formal secondary education.
• Step 5: Apportion the full recurrent cost of providing secondary education between junior
(Grades 8 to 10) and senior (Grades 11 and 12) secondary education pro-rata to the
number of students enrolled in each level as determined by the Fifteenth Day statistics.
• Step 6: At this point, the formula introduces the number of subject enrolments per student
– an average of 8.81 at junior secondary level and 5.88 subjects per student at senior
level. The number of students is multiplied by the average number of subject enrolments
to give the number of subject enrolees at each level. From this, a unit cost per subject
enrolee at the junior and senior secondary level is derived (see Table 6.24).













377 Annex to Memorandum from Mr Justin Ellis, the then Under Secretary (Adult Education, Libraries and
Culture) in the Ministry of Basic Education and Culture, Department of Adult Education, Libraries and
Culture, to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, dated 17 October 1997.

214




Table 6.24: Cost per subject enrolee, formal secondary school system, per 2007-2008
budget

2007-2008
Cost per
Average
secondary
subject
subjects/
# subject
education
enrolee
#
learners
enrolee
enrolees budget (NA $)
(NA $)
Secondary education
156,261
n/a
1,285,323 835,390,494 649.95
Junior 125,088
8.81
1,102,025 668,735,808
606.82
Senior 31,173
5.88
183,297 166,654,686
909.20

Source: NAMCOL funding formula 2007-2008.

• The unit cost per junior and senior secondary school subject enrolment in the formal
system is then multiplied by a ratio of 0.65 (65 per cent) to give a Government subsidy to
NAMCOL of NA $394.44 per junior secondary subject enrolee, and NA $590.98 per
senior secondary subject enrolee. These figures are then multiplied up by the number of
enrolees at each level, added together, and inflated at an agreed rate to provide the total
Government subsidy to NAMCOL.

Note in respect of this formula that:

• Since the formula is worked out on the basis of the budget, all the costs in Steps 1-3 are
based on budget and not actual expenditure.
• In Main Division 5 (Secondary Education), no distinction is made between the costs of
junior and senior education. There may indeed be a difference – but this is unknown.
• The 20 per cent overheads charge levied in Step 4 is a guesstimate and has no foundation
in fact.
• The total budgeted cost of secondary education for 2007-2008 is NA $835,390,494. In
accordance with Step 5, this is divided pro-rata between junior and senior secondary
education. The Fifteenth Day statistics used are 125,088 enrolled in junior secondary
grades and 31,173 in senior secondary grades. As Table 6.25 shows, because of the nature
of the data and the way in which overheads are apportioned, the cost per secondary
school student, and junior secondary and senior secondary school student, is the same.


Table 6.25: Average cost per student, formal secondary education system, per 2007-
2008 budget

2007-2008
budget (NA Cost/student

# learners
$)
(NA $)
Secondary education
156,261
835,390,494
5,346
Junior 125,088
668,735,808
5,346
Senior 31,173
166,654,686
5,346

• It is only when student numbers are translated into subject enrolments at a ratio of 8.81
subjects per junior secondary student and 5.88 subjects per senior secondary student, and
the total secondary school budget is apportioned across the junior and senior secondary
school sectors pro-rata to the number of subject enrolments, that the unit cost between
junior and senior levels differs (see Table 6.24 above). However, the rationale for using

215




subject enrolments is odd since the average load of 8.81 and 5.88 subjects per student is
the average subject load for full-time students in secondary education at the junior and
senior level respectively. This compares with the theoretical maximum subject load of
nine subjects at the JSC level, and six subjects at the IGCSE/NSSCO level. The only
thing that makes subjects "cost" more at senior secondary level is that students take fewer
subject at this level. If one were, as Marope's report implicitly recommended378, to
determine costs per full-time equivalent student, then one might reasonably take these
loads as equivalent to a full-time equivalent load, and hence work on an operational cost
per full-time equivalent student in the formal system of NA $5,346. If one wished to use
the theoretical maximum course load as the basis of calculating the cost per subject, then
the cost per subject would change (see Table 6.26). Also, of course, the calculation is
based on the assumption that the cost per student at the junior and senior secondary level
is the same.
• It is perhaps worth mentioning that the subjects to student ratio has not been adjusted to
reflect actual movements in this ratio over the years.

Table 6.26: Unit cost per subject enrolee, formal secondary education system,
based on 2007-2008 budget


Subject load per student Cost per FTE student (NA $)
Junior
Senior
Junior
Senior
FTE based on:
secondary
secondary
secondary
secondary
Cost per student


5,346.12
5,346.12
Cost per subject (NA $)
Actual subject load
8.81
5.88
606.82
909.20
Theoretical maximum
subject load
9.00
6.00
594.01
891.02


• The final point to make about NAMCOL's funding formula is that the formula generates
only part of NAMCOL's total income. In 2007-2008 the formula will generate a
Government subsidy of NA $29,663,991 towards operational costs and NA $1 million
towards capital costs. Other income will amount to NA $17,323,080. Non-Government
income amounts to 36.1 per cent of total income379.

Table 6.27 below, which is based on the data in Table 6.23, shows the activity-based 2007-2008
budget for the JSC and NSSCO, as well as the total identifiable budget for NAMCOL's
Alternative Secondary Education programme. In this scenario, the "overheads" (that is,
management costs and the balance of current profit and loss on the NAMCOL's other
programmes) are absorbed across the programmes pro-rata to the number of students enrolled in
the JSC and NSSCO. Unit costs per subject enrolee and student are then calculated. In calculating
the subject load per NAMCOL student, it is important to note that a student taking an
IGCSE/NSSCO subject at the senior secondary level is in fact doing two years academic study in
one calendar year. Hence the actual load of these students is double the ratio of subjects to student

378 Mmantsetsa Toka Marope, Namibia Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth
with Equity
, Africa Region Human Development Working paper Series No. 84, Human Development
Sector, Africa Region, The World Bank, 2005, §6.27, p. 83.
379 NAMCOL, 2007-2008 Budget.

216




heads (i.e. in 2007, NSSCO students were studying an average of 1.87 subjects, which represents
3.74 subject-years; JSC students were studying on average 2.19 subjects).

Table 6.27: NAMCOL unit costs per subject enrolee and per student, 2007-2008 budget
estimate, assuming all non-ASEP net costs are charged against the ASEP programme
(Scenario 1)

All


JSC
NSSCO secondary
Identified Expenditure
15,871,722
15,991,479 31,863,201
Overheads apportioned
3,791,846
4,209,709 8,001,555
Total costs carried
19,663,568
20,201,188 39,864,756
Identified Income

3,785,199
5,204,481 8,989,680
Net cost

15,878,369
14,996,707 30,875,076



# subject enrolees

28,849
27,327
Subject weighting

1
2
Weighted subjects

28,849
54,654
83,503





Cost/subject enrolee

550.17
292.59
381.58
Overheads
131.44
77.02
95.82
Gross Cost/weighted
subject enrolee

681.60
369.62
477.41
Income/weighted subject enrolee
131.21
95.23
107.66
Net cost/weighted subject enrolee 550.40
274.39
369.75










# students

13,176
14,628
27,804





Cost/student
1,204.59
1,093.21
1,145.99
Overheads per student
287.78
287.78
287.78
Gross cost/student

1,492.38
1,380.99 1,433.78
Income/student
287.28
355.79
323.32
Net cost/student

1,205.10
1,025.21 1,110.45

However, the position changes if only 80 per cent of the "other" overhead costs are charged to the
ASEP. This results in lower and arguably more realistic unit costs in the ASEP programme (Table
6.28).












217




Table 6.28: NAMCOL unit costs per subject enrolee and per student, 2007-2008 budget
estimate, assuming only "other" business-sustaining net costs are charged against the ASEP
programme (Scenario 2)

All


JSC
NSSCO secondary
Identified Expenditure
15,871,722
15,991,479 31,863,201
Overheads apportioned
1,524,964
1,693,016 3,217,980
Total costs carried
17,396,686
17,684,495 35,081,181
Identified Income

3,785,199
5,204,481 8,989,680
Net cost

13,611,487
12,480,014 26,091,501



# subject enrolees

28849
27,327
Subject weighting

1
2
Weighted subjects

28,849
54,654
83,503
Cost/subject weighted enrolee
550.17
292.59
381.58
Overheads per weighted
52.86
30.98
38.54
Gross Cost/weighted
subject enrolee


603.03
323.57
420.12
Income/weighted subject enrol.
131.21
95.23
107.66
Net cost/weighted subject enrolee 471.82
228.35
312.46










# students

13176
14628
27804





Cost/student
1,204.59
1,093.21
1,145.99
Overheads
115.74
115.74
115.74
Gross cost/student

1,320.33
1,208.95 1,261.73
Income/student
287.28
355.79
323.32
Net cost/student

1,033.05
853.16 938.41

In her report, Dr. Marope pressed for an analysis of NAMCOL's costs per Full-Time Equivalent
(FTE) student. Godana and Ogawa, in their background paper380 to Marope's study, argued, "As
FTE is central for cost-effectiveness analysis and for the allocation of resources to NAMCOL, the
absence of an agreed principle for calculating FTE is highly unsatisfactory. It is imperative that
the determination of FTE and principle of funding based on subsidy per FTE is undertaken as a
matter of urgency". This statement is highly dubious. Within Namibia, it does not really matter
what measure is used to allocate resources to NAMCOL, and to compare the efficiency of
NAMCOL with the formal system, provided that the approach works. In Namibia, both purposes
are served by the unit cost per subject measure.

Naturally, those researchers who see the FTE measure as a valid basis for making international
comparisons of the cost per student will tend to favour the cost per FTE measure, but as we argue
elsewhere, differences in local prices make such comparisons meaningless. Much better is to
establish the relative costs of different approaches within the same country in monetary terms,

380 Tekaligne Godana and Keichi Ogawa, The cost and financing of education and training, Report 07/05/03
of the Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity study, EW-
PO78682-ESW, §4.2.10.

218




using whatever measure is appropriate, and then make international comparisons using a
currency-fluctuations neutral measure such as the Efficiency Ratio proposed by us.

It is now possible tentatively to compare the costs of NAMCOL with the formal secondary
education system (Table 6.29) and to determine an Efficiency Ratio for NAMCOL.

Table 6.29: Unit costs per subject-enrolee and per student, formal secondary school system
and NAMCOL, based on 2007-2008 budget

---------Formal secondary school system-----------

-
---------------------NAMCOL---------------------

Subject load
---------Cost (NA $)----------
Subject load
--------Cost (NA $)----------
JSC
NSSCO
JSC
NSSCO
All
JSC NSSCO
JSC
NSSCO
All
Cost per student


5,346.12 5,346.12 5,346.12

1,320.33 1,208.95 1,261.73
Cost per subject










Actual load
8.81
5.88
606.82
909.20
n/a
2.19
3.74*
603.03
323.57
n/a
Theoretical maximum
9.00
6.00
594.01
891.02
















* Equivalent subject load







By dividing the unit cost in the NAMCOL by the unit cost in the formal system, one can work out
the Efficiency Ratio, where a value greater than 1.0 indicates that NAMCOL is less efficient than
the formal system, and a value less than 1.0 indicates that NAMCOL is more efficient than the
formal system. As Table 6.29 shows:

• The cost per JSC student head at NAMCOL is NA $1,320.30, compared with 5346.12 in
the formal system. The Efficiency Ratio is thus 0.247.
• The Efficiency Ratio per student at the NSSCO level is 0.226.
• The Efficiency Ratio per student overall is 0.236.

As the table shows, the cost per student head at NAMCOL is much lower than the cost per
student in the formal system – with NAMCOL costs being roughly one quarter (23.6 per cent) of
the cost per student head in the formal system.

As far as subject enrolments go:

• The cost per JSC subject-enrolment at NAMCOL is NA $603.03, compared with 606.82
in the formal system. The Efficiency Ratio is therefore 0.994.
• The Efficiency Ratio per NSSCO subject enrolment is 0.356.

As the table shows, the efficiency per student is not carried over to the cost per subject at the JSC
level, where the costs are very nearly the same. However, because NAMCOL's students do the
full two-year Grade 11 and Grade 12 curriculum in a single year at the NSSCO level, the
Efficiency Ratio at this level is 0.356 – that is, NAMCOL costs just over one-third the cost of the
formal system at this level.

One final question remains: can these results be scaled up to calculate the NAMCOL's unit cost
per FTE student, as Dr. Marope would like? The answer is, unfortunately "no", at least at present,
because it is not just a question of multiplying up the cost of taking say 2.19 JSC subjects to work
out with a cost for taking six or nine subjects. As explained, there is a distinction between course

219




costs, indirect common costs and apportioned business sustaining costs. Because NAMCOL
students progress more slowly (i.e. take fewer courses per year), a full-time student equivalent
load in NAMCOL would arguably carry two or three years' worth of indirect common and
business sustaining costs as well as the "direct" subject costs. The present state of activity costing
in NAMCOL does not allow one to do this calculation.

6.13 Dr. Marope’s 2005 assessment of NAMCOL

In 2005, Dr. Mmantsetsa Toka Marope produced a report – Namibia Human Capital and
Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity
, which was published as Africa
Region Human Development Working Paper Series No. 84 by the Human Development Sector,
Africa Region of the World Bank. Although the World Bank’s standard disclaimer is made that
the findings, interpretations and conclusions of the report are those of the author, Dr. Marope, and
that the Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data and information in the document and
accepts no responsibility for any consequences of their use, the mere fact that the report has been
published by the Bank is likely to give the report a degree of status that, at least in respect of its
comments on NAMCOL, it does not deserve. This is particularly worrying given that, in section
6.32 of her report, Dr. Marope concludes:

“6.32 Considering that the performance on national examinations is lower for
NAMCOL’s students, that teaching time per subject is much less, that instructional
materials are more expensive, and that the unit cost is not much lower than for school-
based secondary education, the Ministry [of Education] may want to reconsider the future
focus and orientation of NAMCOL. Improving the quality and coverage of regular
secondary education may be a more cost-effective option than NAMCOL”381

Dr. Marope argues that with improved quality leading to better performance in secondary school
examinations and hence less demand for avenues to resit the examinations, NAMCOL could be
re-oriented to focus on lifelong learning opportunities for adult learners. In these circumstances:

“NAMCOL can then serve as an important vehicle for adult and continuing education,
rather than a costly prolongation of secondary schooling.”382

Given these comments, it is important to examine carefully the claims made by Dr. Marope,
especially as NAMCOL continues to provide avenues to education betterment that the formal
system does not as yet provide. This is especially true at the senior secondary level where the
formal system lacks the capacity to allow more than about 45 per cent of people to continue with
their education. Indeed, the generally negative approach that Dr. Marope takes to NAMCOL
seems strangely at odds with some of the statements in the educational background paper to her
published report which, for example, states among other things:

“The data thus indicate that NAMCOL represents a significant alternative route for
gaining junior secondary certificates.”383

381 Mmantsetsa Toka Marope, Namibia Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth
with Equity
, Africa Region Human Development Working paper Series No. 84, Human Development
Sector, Africa Region, The World Bank, 2005, §6.32, p. 84.
382 Ibid. §6.32, p. 84.
383 Mmantsetsa Marope, Keiichi Ogawa, Albert Tuijnman, Charmaine Villet, Adapting the General
Education System to Better Support Namibia’s Transition to a Knowledge-based Economy
, Report No.

220





6.13.1 Commentary on Dr. Marope’s report

What follows is a detailed commentary on Dr. Marope's report as it pertains to NAMCOL. In
essence the comments indicate considerable misunderstanding and at times ignorance of
NAMCOL, leading to conclusions whose worth is dubious if not positively wrong.

Marope (2005)
Judgment
Commentary
§3.8
NAMCOL delivers both FALSE
NAMCOL offered a face-to-face
(p.
face-to-face and distance
alternative afternoon/evening school,
21)
education programmes
but from 1999 in four regions, and
since 2003 in all regions, all students
have studied at a distance using
NAMCOL’s study materials either (a)
as Contact students, in combination
with weekly tutorials (during the
1999-2002 pilot phase, 4 hours per
week, and since 2003, 2 hours per
week) or (b) as Non-contact students
with no weekly tutorials, but with an
opportunity to attend one-week
vacation workshops twice a year.

The Working Paper on which the
Education Sector Survey of Marope’s
report is based384 was produced in the
period May to July 2003 (see
properties of electronic version) so
NAMCOL’s new open learning
system had been in place for some
several months, and in planning since
the previous year. It is noteworthy
that NAMCOL says that not one
member of Marope’s team visited
NAMCOL at any time during the
conduct of the World Bank studies.


05/05/03 of the Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity study,
EW-PO78682-ESW, paragraph 4.3.46.
384 Mmantsetsa Marope, Keiichi Ogawa, Albert Tuijnman, Charmaine Villet, Adapting the General
Education System to Better Support Namibia’s Transition to a Knowledge-based Economy
, Report No.
05/05/03 of the Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity study,
EW-PO78682-ESW.

221





§3.8
NAMCOL provides a
TRUE
In practice, most NAMCOL students
(p.
second chance to youth
have attended a regular secondary
21)
who could not attain
school and are trying to improve their
high passing grades in
grades having failed to get an A to C
the formal system. It
grade in the formal system.
also provides for youth
and adults who missed a
chance to enrol in
school.

§3.16
“NAMCOL enrolment
FALSE (though not
NAMCOL was established in April
(p.
increased from 5,600 to
a significant issue)
1998. Programmes prior to that date
24)
32,400 in 2002”
were the responsibility of the relevant
Ministry. (This is acknowledged in
the background paper on the
education system.385)


§3.17
Most of NAMCOL’s
TRUE
(p.
learners (87 per cent) are
24)
aged between 17 and 30
with a strong
representation of 20-24
year olds. Over two
thirds are women.
§ 3.20 References to South
Comment
But there is no mention of the role the
(p,
Korea as a comparator
Korean Air Correspondence High
25)
nation to Namibia
School played in secondary education
in Korea – one very similar to the role
NAMCOL is playing.

§3.51
Comparison of full-time
SLOPPY
The reference in §3.51 to
(p.
IGCSE candidates

“NAMCOL’s full-time and part-time
38)
graded A-C and A-G,

candidates” is wrong: NAMCOL
and JSC candidates

itself had (and has) only part-time
graded A-C and A-G

students. The explanatory note in
(2002 examinations),

NAMCOL’s Statistical Digest 2002,
with part-time

which is the source of Marope’s table,
candidates

makes this clear (pp. 4, 23). What is

meant are the full-time candidates in

the formal system.



No mention is made of the curriculum

differences, i.e. NAMCOL candidates

385 Mmantsetsa Marope, Keiichi Ogawa, Albert Tuijnman, Charmaine Villet, Adapting the General
Education System to Better Support Namibia’s Transition to a Knowledge-based Economy
, Report No.
05/05/03 of the Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity study,
EW-PO78682-ESW), para. 4.2.16.

222





do not take the same range of courses

as full-time students and not all the

subject examinations are comparable

(NAMCOL language courses are

different).



No mention is made of the fact that

not all the part-time students listed by
FIGURES
the DNEA are actually NAMCOL
CORRECT, but …
students

§6.27
Estimating the unit cost
TRUE, but …
… not necessarily for the reasons
(p.
at NAMCOL is
cited by Marope. The greatest
83)
complicated
impediment has been the traditional
approach to budgeting, rather than an
activity-based focus. It is
extraordinary that Marope totally
ignored the funding formula, which
after all provides one way of
comparing unit costs.

§6.27
An accurate calculation
WRONG
From 1999 in four regions, and from
(p.
of full-time equivalents
2003 in all regions, none of
83)
(FTEs) is very difficult
NAMCOL’s students were studying
because of the mix of
face-to-face. Data on the numbers
face-to-face and distance
studying by mode was available and
modes of delivery
could have been used to calculate an
FTE for each group.

§6.27
As FTE is important for
DEBATABLE
Other measures apart from FTEs can
(p.
cost-effectiveness

be used to analyse cost-effectiveness:
83)
analysis, and for the

for example, student-courses and
allocation of resources to
student hours.
NAMCOL, the absence


of an agreed principle
UNTRUE
Whether it satisfactory or not, there is
for calculating FTE is

an agreed method for establishing an
highly unsatisfactory.

FTE number of NAMCOL students
This must be fixed as a

built into the NAMCOL funding
matter of urgency.

formula agreed between the Ministry


and the NAMCOL Board. This


agreement is based on the number of


being be divided by 8.81, and the


number of IGCSE subject enrolments


being divided by 5.88. The divisors


used are based on empirical evidence


regarding the mean number of


subjects taken by learners in the


formal system.





223




AND ...
More significantly, the use of the FTE
measure does not solve the problem of
making international comparisons in
situations where foreign exchange
values fluctuate and local price
structures are very different.

§6.28
Marope adopts “the


and
same principle as the


Table
calculation of FTE in


6.13
higher education: a full-
UNTRUE
The 9/6 subject load is the theoretical
(p.
time Grade 10 takes an

load. In practice students in the formal
83)
average of nine subjects,
system take slightly fewer subjects, on
a full-time Grade 12

average.
student takes six subjects

in the school year”.





The FTE numbers for

Relatively few senior secondary
JSCE and HIGSE (sic.)
SLOPPY
students take the HIGCSE
...

examination in Namibia, and none at


NAMCOL do (or did). The reference


should be to the IGCSE.





It is questionable whether 9/6 are the
... candidates are

correct subject loadings to use. Also
obtained by dividing the WRONG AT IGCSE Marope does not understand that each
subject entries for the
LEVEL
course enrolment at the IGCSE level
year by 9 and by 6,

at NAMCOL studies the full Grade 11
respectively.

and Grade 12 curriculum in a single


year. Formal students taking an


IGCSE subject study one curriculum


year times two years.





At the primary level, expenditure has


exceeded the budget in recent years,


whereas at the secondary level there
It is unclear whether

has tended to be an underspend. Using
Marope, in calculating
LACK OF
budgeted figures would over-estimate
the cost per learner in
CLARITY AS TO
the cost per student in the formal
the formal system (see
METHODOLOGY
system, at least since 2000/2001.
Table 6.13), used (a) the REGARDING
Using published secondary education
budget for, as opposed to FULL-TIME
costs (Min Division 05 figures) will
actual expenditure used,
COSTS
underestimate the costs of secondary
on the secondary system;
education. It is not clear what
and it is unclear what

adjustments have been made.
adjustments were made


to the raw figures to get


nearer the full costs of

The Fifteenth Day statistics are
secondary education

reckoned to overstate enrolments in


secondary schools by about 2.5 per

224




and (b) the Fifteenth Day
cent on average – though the
statistics collected on the
distortion in particular years can be
fifteenth day of the

much greater than this. This would
school year, or the more

tend to under-report unit costs in the
accurate figures
formal system386

.
collected in August for


the EMIS statistics.

In Table 6.13, the total student


numbers for 1998 is 20,018 (9504

JSC + 10439 IGCSE + 75 CED), not

20,167 as given.



Marope’s calculations omit the
ARITHMETIC
candidates who sat the public
ERROR
examinations in May/June. She thus

underestimates the number of national

IGCSE candidates in every year. The

Oct/Nov exams accounted for 82 per
OMISSION
cent of sittings in 1998, 79 per cent in

1999, 87 per cent in 2000 and 90 per

cent in 2001, respectively.



The cost per learner in secondary

schools figures provided in Table 6.13

(p. 83) cannot be reconciled with

costs derived by Du Vivier using

MOE budgetary data. Du Vivier

estimates that Marope's figures
underestimate unit costs387

.
SOURCE OF

FIGURES
UNCLEAR


§6.29
… given that about a
WRONG
No HIGCSE (nb acronym) students
(p.
third of JSCE and about

are studying at a distance.
83)
two-thirds of HIGCS


students are in distance


learning, the FTE could


be adjusted.




Distance teaching is not necessarily
NAMCOL argues that

cheaper than face-to-face teaching,
the provision of
NAMCOL
though it may be. Reasons why it may
education through
STATEMENT
not be cheaper, and factors that will
distance teaching mode
TRUE, BUT IT ALL tend to help it become more efficient,
is not necessarily
DEPENDS …
are complex and explored in Chapter
cheaper.

2 of this work.

386 Ed Du Vivier, Financing NAMCOL into the Future: A Study of the College’s Efficiency, Cost-
Effectiveness, Fee Structure and Funding Formula
, 27 March 2007, Section 1.1.
387 Ibid., Section 1.1.1.

225













However there is no


precise information on
TRUE AT THE
It is arguable that this misunderstands
the relative costs of the
TIME (2002, 2003)
the nature of the distinctions between
two modes of delivery,

NAMCOL's teaching systems in 2002
... and therefore, the FTE BUT
and 2003 – and arguable that with all
estimate could not be
NAMCOL's students being part-time,
refined.
the difference between the modes in

FTE terms would be minimal.

§6.30
Comparison of the cost
HIGHLY
The exclusion of capital costs is
(p.
per FTE at NAMCOL
MISLEADING
highly misleading. One of the cost
84)
with the per learner
advantages of distance education is
operational cost in full-
that classrooms and per school
time secondary
administrative facilities are not
education, suggests that
required. Where classrooms are used
NAMCOL is more
for face-to-face tuition, most systems
costly than regular
use existing facilities in out of school
schooling.
hours, thus maximising their efficient

use. The Millennium Challenge

Account: Namibia document

produced by the National Planning
Commission in 2007388

estimates that

the cost of providing a new school

block with three classrooms would be

NA $325,000, together with NA

$480,000 (sic.!) to furnish and equip

three classrooms. If the building costs

were annualised over 30 years and the

furniture and equipment over 10, the

annualised cost would be NA

$58,833. Given a capacity of 105

pupils per block, the annual cost

would be NA $555 per pupil.

Although we have some doubts about

this figure, a capital and maintenance

cost of NA $400 per pupil seems not

unreasonable. Note that NAMCOL

does pay the schools it uses an

amount for maintenance and running

costs. This cost will be included in

NAMCOL’s budget contribution.







388 Office of the President, National Planning Commission, Millennium Challenge Account: Namibia,
Windhoek, Office of the President, 2007, pp. 73-75.

226





Marope took no account of the cost of
Other costs
hostel accommodation, which affects
secondary education costs in
particular.

As an autonomous para-statal body,
NAMCOL incurs certain costs not
incurred by the MOE but carried by
other ministries, as well as having to
buy some services in the open market
at a market price higher than that paid
within the government service. The
cost of the formal system is thus
subject to a number of hidden
subsidies. Marope makes no
allowance for these389.

§6.30
In 2001, 13.6 per cent of TRUE, but …
Note that not all the examinations are
(p.
the scripts for NAMCOL
comparable: It is thought that part of
84)
candidates were
the poor performance by NAMCOL
incomplete compared
students on language courses (both
with 1.2 per cent for full-
English as a second language and
time candidates
Namibian languages as a native
speaker) arises from the fact that at
the JSC level, these courses are
examined as literature rather than oral
courses.

§6.30
The percentage of
TRUE, but …
Marope’s focus on A to G hides the
(p.
graded subjects (i.e. A to
fact that with regard to progressing to
84)
G) was lower at
tertiary education or into a
NAMCOL (79.4 per
government job, the only grades that
cent) than for full-time
count are A to C – and the formal
schooling (89.2 per cent)
system is not very good here either
(though it is admittedly better than
NAMCOL). However, NAMCOL is
teaching a group of students from
which the best and the brightest have
already been creamed off when they
passed their formal (full-time)
examinations390.


389 Ed Du Vivier, Financing NAMCOL into the Future: A Study of the College’s Efficiency, Cost-
Effectiveness, Fee Structure and Funding Formula
, 27 March 2007, Section 1.1.
390 See also Ed Du Vivier, Financing NAMCOL into the Future: A Study of the College’s Efficiency, Cost-
Effectiveness, Fee Structure and Funding Formula
, 27 March 2007, Section 1.3, who argues that “it is
entirely spurious for Marope and her colleagues to criticise the College for the poor performance of its
learners in public examinations relative to those in the formal education system as this is not comparing
like with like”.

227





§6.30
As almost all NAMCOL UNPROVEN AND
The one fairly accurate estimation of
(p.
candidates would
NOT
the proportion of NAMCOL students
84)
already have gone
GENERALISABLE
who were resit candidates as against
through full-time

first-time secondary students relates to
secondary schooling,

1998 when 63.2 per cent of JSC
part of their performance
subject enrolments with NAMCOL
can be attributed to their
were resit entries, and 36.1 per cent of
learning prior to joining

IGCSE subject enrolments were resit
NAMCOL. Recorded

candidates. So over one-third of JSC
pass rates may therefore

and nearly two-thirds of IGCSE
be an overestimate of

candidates were not resit entries (see
NAMCOL’s output

NAMCOL, Statistical Digest, 1998, p.
efficiency
5)391

.



… even if one accepts that part of the
AND …
value of NAMCOL’s students on

entry derives from their studies in

formal system, another way of putting

it would be to say that since the

formal system has not allowed JSCE

candidates aged 16 or under who fail

to gain the requisite number of passes

(6) at A to C grade, and a pass in

English, and since it also will not

allow IGCSE candidates who fail to

get the requisite number of passes (6)

at A* to C grade, to resit their

examinations, what NAMCOL does is

to pick up the students the formal

system has failed and try, through

additional investment in those

students, to make sure that the
investment in formal secondary
education is not wasted.
§6.31
The amount of teaching
DEMONSTRATES
The whole point of distance
(p.
time per subject received IGNORANCE OF
education, apart from opening up
84)
by NAMCOL students is DISTANCE
possibilities for individuals unable to
much less that that
EDUCATION
attend a class or attend classes in
received by full-time
MODALITIES
school hours, is that it changes the
students in the formal
production function of education by
secondary schools.
substituting capital (in the form of
materials) for labour in form of
teacher time in the classroom. The
cost structure of distance education is
therefore radically different from
face-to-face teaching in classrooms.

391 Ed Du Vivier, Financing NAMCOL into the Future: A Study of the College’s Efficiency, Cost-
Effectiveness, Fee Structure and Funding Formula
, 27 March 2007, Section 1.3.1

228





As a direct result, much of the
student’s learning time is spent
reading and studying texts and other
materials. This study time has equal
value to listening to a teacher expound
content in a classroom and is arguably
a more efficient way of transferring
information than lectures and
classroom expositions. Distance
education that incorporates some face-
to-face teaching also includes time for
dialogue to take place.

The real comparison is between
distance students’ total study time
(reading/listening to materials, doing
assignments, preparing for,
participating and following up on
face-to-face sessions), and the study
time of traditional students.

§6.31
Instructional materials
NO EVIDENCE
Distance education substitutes capital
(p.
are also a bit more
GIVEN FOR THIS
(in the form of materials) for labour in
84)
costly, as they are meant STATEMENT
the form of teacher time in the
to be used in lieu of

classroom. Moreover, materials are
face-to-face teaching.

generally used for several years so

their development costs are

annualised over the number of years

they are used. It is only the costs of

running off copies of the texts that are

truly recurrent costs. In almost all

distance education systems, texts

prove to be a cheaper way of

educating students than face-to-face

teaching, unless the number of

learners is very small.



Also, where face-to-face teaching is

offered, the tutors delivering it are

usually paid at casual rates and have

none of the employment benefits of

core members of staff.



So for any system with a high number

of learners – such as NAMCOL has –

text is likely to be cheaper than

teaching in the formal system. This

will be true of the teaching system as

a whole provided expensive media are

229





not used and even where some face-

to-face support is offered.



In any case, the statement is a non

sequitur. There is no causal

relationship between materials being

used in lieu of face-to-face teaching,
STATEMENT A
and their cost.
NON SEQUITUR

§6.32
"Considering that the
TRUE
As this paper makes clear, this is true.
(p.
performance on national

84)
examinations is lower


for NAMCOL’s


students,




Much of the "teaching" in distance
that teaching time per
TOTAL LACK OF
education is done through
subject is much less,
UNDERSTANDING instructional materials. Face-to-face

OF NATURE OF
teaching in distance education thus

DISTANCE
assumes a different role – being

EDUCATION
supportive of and supplementing the


teaching done through the materials.


The comment demonstrates ignorance


of the nature of distance education.


(See above, comments on 6.31.)





Whether or not this is true will depend


on the cost of the materials,


annualised over the number of years
that instructional
DEBATEABLE
they are used, with the committed cost
materials are more

element of the materials spread across
expensive,

the number of students taking the


subjects, and on the other hand, the


cost of teachers. (See above,


comments on 6.31.)





As noted, this is untrue in respect of


per student costs, and only partly true


in the case of unit costs per subject


enrolment.
and that the unit cost is
AT BEST ONLY
not much lower than for
PARTIALLY TRUE
school-based secondary
education, ..."

§6.32
Marope suggests that
AN
… given that a minute proportion
(p.
NAMCOL devote itself
EXTRAORDINARY (under 0.05 per cent) of NAMCOL’s
84)
to lifelong learning and
STATEMENT
students are aged 16 or under (the
adult and continuing

statutory school leaving age) and over
education.

60 per cent at least are older than 20

years of age.

230







There is a case for NAMCOL to
OR alternatively it
withdraw from junior secondary
suggests the need for education when universal primary
NAMCOL to move
education has been achieved in
out of the secondary
Namibia, provided there is no
education market
emergent demand from adults for JSC
into other markets
courses. The same could eventually be
true of senior secondary education.
NAMCOL is already diversifying in
professional studies and is likely to
develop further new markets in the
future. It may eventually withdraw
from secondary education altogether.


6.14 Some Conclusions

In contrast to many open schools, and in spite of its formal remit, NAMCOL does not actually
provide mass education to children and young adults frustrated by the inability of the secondary
school system accommodate them – although, given the fact that the NER in the formal senior
secondary school system is relatively low, this is a role that it could play at Grades 11 and 12.
What NAMCOL does do is to provide individuals who have failed to get the necessarily grades A
to C in the formal system with a chance to retake subjects and thus try to improve their
performance so that they can progress academically and/or gain the necessary qualifications for a
job – and particularly a government job. Whether this role would continue if the formal system
opened itself up to more and older repeaters at Grades 10 and 12 is an open question, but given
the age of the majority of NAMCOL students, the likelihood is that at the both junior and senior
secondary level, it would still have a role unless and until the formal system manages to increase
the proportion of students who pass with an A to C grade.

That relatively few of NAMCOL's students actually make the grade is disappointing and a cause
for concern. Of course, NAMCOL does increase the number of people with the coveted
qualifications at grades A to C by some ten per cent. It does so notwithstanding the fact that the
vast majority of the students who enrol with it have already failed, or been failed by, the formal
system. Yet if only it could improve the performance of those who gain a grade D to G pass, and
get them into the A to C band, it could do so much better. As the Effectiveness Ratio shows, the
formal system is not that effective, and NAMCOL performs less well than the formal system. If it
did, then more of its secondary graduates would do better than is now the case. Even so, it’s
noticeable that whereas only one in ten of NAMCOL's students have a job, Fentiman's Tracer
study found that over one in two of the ex-students had been or were employed. That is positive
success of a kind. And, for some of those who succeed, tertiary education and well-paid jobs
beckon. At the level of the individual, these are successes to be celebrated.

The success of NAMCOL's pedagogic system rests – like all distance education systems – on
three key factors: the quality of its course materials, the quality of its student support sub-system
and the quality of its logistics. The quality of its course materials is not in doubt: the materials,
subject by subject, are good to excellent – and recognised as such, given the extent to which they
are used by schools in the formal system and bought by formal system students. Logistically too
the College performs well: the turnaround time on assignments (the elapsed time between a

231




student handing an assignment in for marking, and getting the marked and commented on script
back) is on a par with the best of correspondence systems. This is important as research shows
that poor turnaround time is correlated with high drop-out rates. NAMCOL's management
systems and its student support systems are well-designed and function well. Students are
registered efficiently; the materials get out to them on time; assignments are handled
expeditiously.

If there is a question mark, it hangs over the effectiveness of the student support system. What
measures might be taken to improve the effectiveness of the support systems so that a higher
proportion of students achieve their aim of getting an A to C grade in the national examinations?

NAMCOL is a lean organisation. It has a small core staff, relative to the number of students it
supports. It makes use of peripheral staff who are employed on contracts for service and who are
paid for the work they do – neither more nor less. Economically it is very efficient, in terms of its
unit costs per student, in comparison with the formal system. In terms of its unit costs per subject
enrolment, its "two academic years crammed into one calendar year" approach at the NSSCO
level makes it very efficient compared with the formal system, while the unit costs per subject at
the JSC Grade 10 level are on par with those in the formal system.

Overall then, and putting aside the disappointing performance of its students in the JSC and
NSSCO/IGCSE examinations, the College is an impressive distance/open learning system. The
focus for its development plan seems clear: it must work to improve student results in the public
examinations.


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7 OVERALL CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY ADVICE

7.1
Why bother with Open Schooling at the secondary level?

This study is predicated on the belief that Open Schooling may offer a potential solution to the
looming crisis in the provision of places at secondary education level. Indeed, given the cost of
setting up conventional schools, Open Schooling may be the only way of meeting what the
Commonwealth of Learning anticipates will be a tidal wave of youngsters demanding access to
secondary education. But is there actually a crisis in supply, such that demand will be frustrated?

We believe that there is and that a tidal wave of demand will indeed emerge for two reasons:

• As a result of the success countries have in achieving Universal Primary Education by or
at least shortly after 2015, and
• As the natural outcome of growth in educational systems as world population rises from
roughly 6.6 billion392
393
to an estimated 9.4 billion by 2050.

The cost structure of the formal education system is such that many countries will find it
impossible financially to follow Universal Primary Education with Universal Secondary
Education and Universal Higher Secondary Education. Also, secondary schools need trained and
well-educated teachers – ideally teachers who have studied the subjects they will be teaching at
the tertiary level. All too often there are better paid opportunities for employment outside the
education service, especially in certain crucial subjects such as mathematics, the sciences and
computing. In any case, countries that are modernising their economies and attempting to
engineer knowledge-based economies need the products of their higher education system to
engage with the development of their new knowledge-based economies. So while schools will
still need to attract a proportion of graduates from across the curriculum, there are very real
reasons why the way schools operate should be changed so that they can operate with fewer –
ideally better paid – subject-expert graduate teachers.

7.1.1 The implications of not meeting demand

Of course, it would be possible to ignore all this, leaving huge reservoirs of frustrated demand,
but this would be, in our view, a risky strategy because:

• All the evidence points to the fact that individuals need to have completed at least higher
secondary education if they are to participate meaningfully in economic activity, and
• A reservoir or frustrated demand will have serious political implications in those
countries that fail to educate their young people.


7.2

Defining "Open Schooling" and "open schools"

Throughout this study, we have discussed open schools within the context of the broad definition
first laid out in Section 2.1. COL's definition of Open Schooling focuses on what one might call

392 US Census Bureau, World POPClock Projections, accessed 7 October 2007:
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html
393 US Census Bureau, Total Midyear Population of the World: 1950-2050,
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/worldpop.html, accessed 7 October 2007.

233




the technical means by which Open Schooling is delivered; that is, "the physical separation of the
school-level learner from the teacher, and the use of unconventional teaching methodologies, and
information and communications technologies (ICTs) to bridge the separation and provide the
education and training"394. For COL, "the most common scenario is that the learners study
specially designed open learning materials on their own - at home, in their workplace, wherever it
is convenient for them - and then they meet together with a facilitator on a regular basis"395.

The openness of the system refers to the lack of restrictions as to who may study, what they study
and how much they study, as much as to the fact that by its very nature technology-based learning
tends to get round the time- and place-based restrictions of the scheduled classroom experience to
open up access to those who cannot attend school at a fixed time and place. It is this openness that
makes distance-taught courses so attractive to those whose life and work patterns make it difficult
or impossible to attend courses taught face-to-face.

COL's definition of Open Schooling is in our view wholly adequate as a technical description of
the way in which an open school goes about the business of teaching and developing an
environment within which learning can take place. There is, though, another way of looking at
Open Schooling, and that is to try to define the role of an open school in relation to conventional
schools.

7.2.1 A broader definition of Open Schooling

It is our view that three significant factors differentiate between conventional systems and non-
conventional systems. These are:

Mode: This refers to the methods or means used to teach and within which learning takes
place. What distinguishes distance education from conventional approaches to education
is the separation of the learner physically for much or most of the time from the person
providing the content that is to be taught, and the use of some form of media (text, audio,
video or computing) carried by some form of technology (print, teletext, radio, CD,
television, DVD, CD-ROM or Internet) to bridge that gap. We wish to make clear that we
do not rule out having some face-to-face teaching and interaction in distance education,
just as we do not rule out some resource-based study and independent learning from face-
to-face teaching. The difference is often one of degree. The key differentiating factor is
perhaps that distance learners do not need to attend scheduled classes in a school. They
can study when they want and where they want – often at home, sometimes in the
workplace.
Markets: In general, conventional schools are not open to people who are aged 20 and
over. In contrast, distance education is often geared to the need of adults who both value
the flexibility that it enables, and who are more likely to have the necessary motivation
and perseverance for resource-based, independent learning. This does not mean that
distance education cannot be used to teach children and youths: it can, especially if it
relies on parents (in home schooling) and monitors/animateurs in remote classrooms.
Curriculum: All too often the formal system is equated with an academic curriculum
that is linked to expectations of progression to higher education. Such academic curricula
are often wholly unsuitable for a proportion of the children and youths in the formal
education system. These curricula also fail to provide what businesses often demand of

394 Commonwealth of Learning: http://www.col.org/colweb/site/pid/3905, accessed 19 April 2007
395 Ibid.

234




the school system – a steady stream of young adults who can enter their businesses and
be trained on the job, through sandwich courses involving some form of release for
education and training purposes, and through participation in distance education
programmes (which have the advantage of shifting the time cost of education from the
employer's time to the student's "recreational" time). Efforts to provide technical and
vocational education within schools have, however, often led to a two-tier system in
which the academic stream (and academic schools) are given a higher status than the
technical-vocational stream (and technical and vocational schools), while many
businesses – especially small and medium sized enterprises – find it difficult to invest in
training programmes and/or worry that if they do so, they are merely spending money on
young employers who will then be "poached" by other employers.

COL's definition focuses reasonably enough on the first of these – mode, methods or means.
What the definition does is to make clear that open schools "look" different from conventional
schools. But having a school that breaks through the boundaries of the campus, classroom and
timetable opens up further possibilities – that this school will be used to teach different kinds of
people and different kinds of courses.

Taking these factors into account, we can begin to devise a typology of open schools that take
account of the way such schools fit in with the formal conventional school system. At the school
level, the conventional norm (which is seen as part of the formal education system) is a
classroom-delivered education following national or sub-national (e.g. state) public examination
board approved curricula for the achievement of standard qualifications by children and youths
aged roughly between 5 to 7 and 18 years of age.

In contrast, an open school could, if it chose, teach a different clientele – for example, adults who
have no or few basic qualifications. It could also teach different kinds of courses – courses whose
subject matter and content is not geared to the demands of the ladder of primary, secondary and
tertiary ladder of the formal system, but to things that adults need or will find useful or interesting
to know and learn about.

7.2.2 An alternative or a complement to formal education

Where Open Schooling is aimed at adults who missed out on their schooling, the argument is
sometimes made that adults need to study a different curriculum – one more suited to their needs
than that aimed at those of school age. Such considerations may lead to the development of an
alternative curriculum. Such forms of Open Schooling can be seen as an alternative to the
conventional formal system, and as such are classified as part of the non-formal education
system.

Of course it may be that the demand for Open Schooling is not so much geared to the provision of
an alternative curriculum for an alternative market, but rather to provide a supply of places
teaching traditional subjects to children and young adults who cannot get into a conventional
school. There are many countries where there simply are not enough places in conventional
schools to meet the level of frustrated demand that exists for education. In these circumstances,
what is provided is not so much an alternative to the formal primary and secondary experience
but a complement to the formal one that uses the mode of distance education to do this.




235




Two alternative approaches can therefore be envisaged:

• A complementary Open Schooling system offering the same curriculum for children
and youths who have never been in a position to attend the formal, classroom-based
school system or who, having attended the formal education system, have had to drop-out
because they have had to start working or because their grades have been too poor for
them to progress through the grades and various examination hurdles.
• An alternative Open Schooling system offering a different, more adult-relevant
curriculum for adults who never had a chance to have or complete their formal education
at school level (and perhaps some out-of-school youth, for whom an alternative
curriculum – generally more vocationally-oriented – is seen as more appropriate).

7.3
Using technology in the classroom

For some, there may still be a question mark over the extent to which technology can be used to
teach and learn from. Our own view is that this is no longer an issue – particularly now that
people understand that it is not a question of using exclusively either technology or face-to-face
teaching, but of blending technology and face-to-face support to provide an environment in which
individuals can successfully learn, while at the same time reducing unit costs and increasing
market coverage.

Nevertheless, it is worth reiterating the point that for many years, the evidence shows that
technology has been used successfully to improve the quality of what happens in the traditional
classroom and to enrich the school experience, by providing resource-based learning that can be
used by untrained teachers and by trained teachers whose subject expertise lies in another
discipline to that being taught.

Starting in 1923, for example, the British Broadcasting Company provided a school educational
radio service, first in Kent and then nationally. The number of schools listening to the service rose
steadily from 220 in 1924 to 9,953 in 1939396. The purpose of the service, which was to enrich
the curriculum, was rather different to the use of radio in the Radio Matematicas project in
Nicaragua where starting in 1975, the radio was the teaching input and the class teachers
supervised post-broadcast exercises undertaken by the children. It was also different from the use
of television in the large-scale Educational Television projects of the 1960s and 1970s in El
Salvador, American Samoa, Niger and the Ivory Coast, where the argument was that "large scale
television projects could bring about dramatic improvements in education"397.

If the evidence for the use of instructional television is mixed – not least because of its relative
expense – the evidence in favour of radio is very positive. The Mauritius College of the Air
project showed that teachers in secondary schools could support students following
correspondence and radio courses398. In the Radio Matematicas project in Nicaragua, radio
replaced the teacher as the source of instruction.


396 Michael Young, Hilary Perraton, Janet Jenkins and Tony Dodds, Distance Teaching for the Third
World: The Lion and the Clockwork Mouse
, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980, p. 17.
397 Ibid, p. 19.
398 Ibid, p. 47.

236




These early results are supported by more recent studies. All the evidence over the last 30 or so
years shows that Interactive Radio Instruction approaches are both effective and efficient399.
Equally, we believe that there is a growing body of evidence that points to the value of using
computers in schools – as tools to do what cannot otherwise be done without a great deal of
labour, as means of accessing information, as means of communicating with other people, and as
a preparation for the world of work and the home in the 21st century. To fail to provide children
and young adults with the ICT skills that they will need would be a gross dereliction of our duty
as educators.

From our perspective, the use of media (and hence of the technologies that carry it) both to enrich
the curriculum and to improve the quality of education within existing schools is important
because it shows that technology can be used within schools:

• to enrich the curriculum,
• to support partially-trained subject teachers, and
• to provide subject teaching in schools that lack trained subject teachers.

In our view, there is sufficient experience and knowledge available to know that technology can
be used to good effect to support schools.

7.4
Can technology be used to solve the schooling crisis at the secondary level?

The next question is therefore: can technology be used to solve the looming crisis in secondary
education provision? There are two approaches to this question. One is to look to technology to
provide a different kind of school altogether – one liberated to a large degree from the campus,
the classroom and the timetable. The other is to transform our notion of what a school is so that
we can have more schools covering more pupils at less cost.

We have no doubt that it is possible to use technology to teach adults who are motivated and
prepared to learn independently on their own – in the home or elsewhere. But even adults may
require help to get them started and acquire the skills of independent learning, and to motivate
them to continue when the going gets tough. If this is true of adults it is also true of youths and
children. However, the experience of the Australian Schools of the Air and of the Calvert School
in the USA suggest that even quite young children can successfully be taught from resource-
based learning packages with their parents’ help and with the help of a remote teacher.. And from
this essentially individual-child, home-based learning scenario, it is just a shift in emphasis to set
up local centres where such students can go to study as a group with the help of local animateurs,
resource-based learning and distant support from qualified teachers.

Given this, and given the evidence of successful applications, we have no hesitation is saying that
technological approaches can be used to establish schools where no schools currently exist. The
Mexican Telesecundaria project showed that technology could be used along with trained

399 Interactive Education Systems, Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI),
http://ies.edc.org/ourwork/topic.php?id=15, accessed 6 October 2007; The World Bank, Development
Research Group, Improving Educational Quality through Interactive Radio Instruction: A Toolkit for
Policymakers and Planners
, March 2005, Human Development Sector, Africa Region, The World Bank,
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/EXTAFRREGTOPEDUCA
TION/EXTAFRREGTOPDISEDU/0,,contentMDK:20618845~menuPK:1568672~pagePK:34004173~piP
K:34003707~theSitePK:732264,00.html,
accessed 6 October 2007.

237




monitors to set up secondary schools in communities where such schools had never existed
before.

The Republic of Korea set up the Korea Air-Correspondent High Schools in 1974 to provide
education to an estimated 1.4 million high school age youths who were unable to attend
secondary school. Other open schools exist in Bangladesh, Pakistan and China (where the open
schools are part of the open universities) and in Indonesia400. These schools set up remote
classrooms that students could attend to watch and listen to lessons, and where they could be
helped to learn from the resources made available.

There are problems, however. Writing in 2000, Hilary Perraton noted that all too often open
schools have tended "to attract the less-able students and have achieved poorer results than
conventional schools", with the result that their "pass rates have generally been lower, sometimes
much lower" and they have "lacked esteem", been "unloved not only by parents and children,
anxious for a proper school, but by ministries of education", and "been starved of funds". Yet for
Perraton, "the other side of this tarnished coin shows that we have developed models that can
achieve success for at least a modest proportion of their students, and that may be of continuing
significance where funding does not enable secondary education to expand in pace with demand".

Perraton goes on to note that resource-based learning is a sign of innovation and that technology
(in whatever form) "can bring resources into the classroom, make learning more fun, raise
quality"401.

These judgments – based on a review of the evidence such as it is at the end of the last century –
may point the way to a possible solution to the emerging crisis in secondary educational
provision, but before we rush to conclusions, we need to consider the evidence that we have
accumulated from the experiences we have analysed in India and Namibia.

7.5 Our
results

7.5.1 Population and economy

The two open schools chosen for detailed consideration in this study are very different in size,
and they operate in environments that are also very different. The estimated mid-year population
in 2007 in India was 1,1 billion and in Namibia 2,1 million402. In other words, Namibia had a
population equivalent to just 0.0018 per cent of India's population. In 2007, an estimated 37.7 per
cent of Namibia's population was aged under 15 compared with 31.8 per cent of India's. Those
aged 15 to 64 constituted 58.6 per cent of Namibia's population and 63.1 per cent of India's. The
2007 estimated population growth rate in Namibia, at 0.478 per cent, is well below India's at
1.606 per cent. Although the fertility rate in Namibia is higher than in India (2.94 children born
for each woman against 2.81 in India), life expectancy in Namibia at 43.1 years is well below
India's 68.6 years403.


400 Hilary Perraton, Open and Distance Learning in the Developing World, London, Routledge, 2000, pp.
38-41.
401 Ibid, pp. 55-56.
402 US Census Bureau, International Data Base for India and Namibia, accessed through
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/summaries.html on 7 October 2007.
403 Ibid.

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Beyond startling differences in geographical size and size of population lie a host of other
differences in history, culture, social structure, wealth distribution, growth rates and economic
activity. In Namibia, a relatively high per capita Gross National Income and Gross National
Product per head masks inequalities in income that are among the highest in the world (Section
5.1), while in India there are almost two economic systems – the urbanised and industrialised
system of India, and the rural, village-based system of the Bharat. India has a highly diverse
economy that encompasses both traditional village farming and modern agriculture, and both
handicrafts and modern industrial processes. While about three-fifths of the labour force works in
agriculture, recent years have seen significant growth in manufacturing industry. India is also
capitalising on its large number of English-speaking educated people to become a major exporter
of software services and software workers.

In contrast, the present economy of Namibia is heavily dependent on the extraction and
processing of minerals for export, yet the mining sector employs only about three per cent of the
labour force. About half the population depends upon subsistence agriculture where drought is a
real problem.

7.5.2 Comparative national educational data

The open schools in India and Namibia operate in countries where education is highly valued.
Data provided by UNICEF in the 2007 edition of its annual publication The State of the World's
Children
shows how the two countries contrast (Table 7.1):

Table 7.1: Comparative educational statistics for India and Namibia

Measure India
Namibia
Definition
Adult Literacy Rate


%age of persons over 15 who can
(Source: UNESCO Institute
read and write
of Statistics)
- Male (%)
73
87

- Female (%)
48
83

Gross Primary School


The number of children enrolled in a
Enrolment Ratio (Source:
primary level grade, regardless of
UNESCO Institute of
age, divided by the population of that
Statistics)
age group that officially corresponds
to that level
- Boys
111
105

- Girls
105
106

Net Primary School


The number of children enrolled in
Enrolment Ratio (Source:
primary school who belong to the
UNESCO Institute of
age group that officially corresponds
Statistics)
to primary schooling, divided by the
total population of the same age
group
- Boys
90
76

- Girls
85
81

Net Primary School


Percentage of children in the age
Attendance (SourceL
group that officially corresponds to
National Household
primary schooling who attend
Surveys)
primary school or higher
- Boys
80
78

- Girls
73
78


239





Gross Secondary School


The number of children enrolled in a
Enrolment Rate (Source:
secondary level grade, regardless of
UNESCO Institute of
age, divided by the population of that
Statistics)
age group that officially corresponds
to that level
- Male
58
59

- Female
47
66

Net Secondary School


The number of children enrolled in
Enrolment Rate (Source:
secondary school who belong to the
UNESCO Institute of
age group that officially corresponds
Statistics)
to secondary schooling, divided by
the total population of the same age
group
- Male
- -
39

- Female
- -
50

Net Secondary School


Percentage of children in the age
Attendance (SourceL
group that officially corresponds to
National Household
secondary schooling who attend
Surveys)
secondary school or higher
- Male
45
29

- Female
36
40


404
Source: UNICEF, The State of the World's Children 2007: Table 5 Education

These figures differ somewhat from those by provided by national bodies (see Tables 3.3, 5.13),
but all sources agree that while progress towards universal primary education is good, a drastic
expansion of secondary school opportunities is required if India’s and Namibia’s education
systems are going to generate the requisite number of secondary level graduates able both to enter
the labour market with requisite levels of knowledge, skills and attitudes, and to feed the higher
education system with sufficient secondary school graduates in order to meet the countries’ needs
for graduates within their labour forces.

It is the scale of the challenges facing the countries that is different: India had 212 million
primary school pupils and 89.6 million secondary school learners in 2002; Namibia had 409,000
primary school pupils and 156,000 secondary school learners in 2006 (Tables 3.5, 5.5). In India,
just 39 per cent of the age group 14 to 18 years is in secondary school; in Namibia the Net
Enrolment Rate at secondary level was 49.5 per cent in 2005 (Table 5.13).

If the achievement of Universal Primary Education in the foreseeable future is assured in both
countries, it is only Namibia that may achieve Universal Higher Secondary Education without
resorting to a massive expansion of distance-taught secondary education. Indeed, one of the
justifications for the proposed transformation of NAMCOL into a distance teaching university
with an expanded role in basic and sub-degree-level professional and vocational education and
training, and basic information campaigns (on HIV/AIDS, for example) is precisely the likelihood
that its traditional markets at junior and senior secondary level will dry up405. In India, on the
contrary, all the evidence points to a continuing long-term role for NIOS.


404 Source: UNICEF, The State of the World's Children 2007: Table 5 Education
http://www.unicef.org/girlseducation/files/SOWC06_Table5.pdf, accessed 7 October 2007.
405 Professor Rumble: Interview with Mr H Murangi, Director of NAMCOL, 23 October 2007

240





7.5.3 Origins of open schools in India and Namibia

India’s experimental Open School Project was established in 1979. This project was to be
fundamentally different to the existing state correspondence schools in that it was designed to
offer a parallel, non-formal, alternative system to formal schooling that would give a second
chance to those aged 14 or over who had been unable to pursue their studies in the formal
system406. Starting with an initial enrolment of 1,671 learners in 1981, by the end of the 1980s the
Open School had moved beyond its initial focus on bridge (equivalent to elementary level
schooling), secondary and life-enhancing courses, to cover the senior secondary level. It had also
grown in size – by 1989 its enrolment exceeded 40,000 learners.

The success of the Open School Project persuaded the Union Government to establish the
National Open School in 1989 to take on the task of reaching those who had dropped out of
school or never been to school and who wished to study but were for a variety of reasons not
studying in regular schools. The following year, the Government vested the NOS with the power
to develop schemes of study and to register, examine and certify learners. Over the years, the role
of the National Open School has developed to move beyond the provision of bridging courses, an
alternative secondary/higher secondary curriculum and life-enhancing courses, to include from
1997-1998 the provision of vocational education. By then State Open Schools had been set up in
a number of states. All of these schools have similar pro-poor mandates to that of NOS and hence
differ fundamentally from the earlier generation of State correspondence schools.

In 2002, NOS was re-mandated to act as the national apex body for open schooling, and re-
designated the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in recognition of its increased
powers. NIOS is thus a very different kind of school to the norm in a number of respects:

• It is huge – far bigger than any traditional school ever could be.
• Structurally it is more of a federation of Accredited Institutes that act as its schools, rather
than a school in itself. The AIs are coordinated through NIOS's Regional Centres which
themselves depend upon the Headquarters where the curriculum are devised, the
materials developed, and the system defined and organised.
• Unlike most schools, NIOS is both a teaching and an examining and accrediting body.
• Finally, as an apex body, NIOS plays a major part as a quasi-governmental agency in
planning and coordinating a significant part of the Indian schools system.

Originally set up with the mission of universalising education, enhancing social equity and
justice, and creating a learning society, the NIOS has sought to reach out to a market that includes
school drop-outs and marginalised groups such as rural youth, girls and women, members of the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, those with handicaps, and ex-servicemen. The years
have seen a steady increase in the number of students enrolled in NIOS Accredited Institutes,
rising from some 40,000 in 1990-1991 to 290,000 in 2006-2007. Over the years, NIOS’
cumulative enrolment has now surpassed 1.5 million learners407.

Throughout NOS/NIOS's existence, various educational action plans, five-year plans and the
National Policy on Education have stressed the key role that ODL can play in the educational

406 Ibid. p. 43.
407 NIOS, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS): Precise Information,
http://www.nios.ac.in/glance.pdf, accessed 26 October 2007.

241




system in India – to the extent that the provision of open schools can be said to be deeply
integrated into educational planning as a whole. As a direct result, NOS/NIOS has enjoyed the
continuing support of the Union and state governments with the recognition that NIOS has a key
role to play in successive five-year plans and educational action plans. At the same time,
government grants have steadily declined from one-third of NIOS’ income in 1990 to just over 2
per cent in 1995. The remainder of NIOS’ income comes from student fees and examination fees.

The Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL) was formally established in 1997 as a
distance education college with the Ministry of Education. NAMCOL, which had the status of a
department within the Ministry, took on responsibility for the existing distance education
programmes within the country, including an apartheid-era teacher training programme leading to
the award of the National Education Certificate (a programme that by 1994 was being run down).
NAMCOL also took on responsibility for the operations of the Namibian Extension Unit, which
from its establishment in 1981 until Independence had been meeting the needs of Namibian
refugees in Zambia and Angola, and since Independence been providing courses within Namibia
itself. It is this latter link back to the pre-Independence period that still resonates strongly with
politicians and civil servants in Namibia, and secures for NAMCOL continuing support from
government.

We cannot stress strongly enough the importance of stable and continuing political support for the
successful initiation and sustainability of open school projects. As Dodd and Rumble408 showed
in their study of successful and unsuccessful open university planning processes, political support
and excellent (and by implication politically well-connected) institutional leaders are an absolute
pre-requisite to progress in the setting up and long-term viability of what used to be regarded (but
should no longer be seen as) non-traditional educational projects.

7.5.4 NAMCOL as a Complementary system to the Formal system

Distance education systems are often set up to address issues of equity – either those affecting
current groups (for example, access to education by girls, or by members of particular social or
ethnic or economic groups) or those affecting people in the past (typically, adults who lacked the
opportunity to participate in education when they were of the relevant age).

In Namibia, the gender balance at the primary level is roughly 50:50. Girls predominate at junior
secondary (53-54 per cent) and slightly at senior secondary (51 per cent) level (Table 5.9).
NAMCOL is not, therefore, addressing gender imbalances in secondary school. Indeed, 65 per
cent of NAMCOL's students are female (Table 6.9) and if there is concern, it is that males are not
taking up the opportunities offered by NAMCOL to improve their qualifications. Secondly,
NAMCOL is not reaching areas of Namibia that are not covered by the formal system.
NAMCOL's tutorial centres are based in existing schools, and the proportion of NAMCOL
student-courses by region roughly follows the distribution of the formal system's school
population (Table 7.2).






408 John Dodd and Greville Rumble (1984) Planning new distance teaching universities, Higher Education,
13 (1), 231-54.

242





Table 7.2: Distribution of formal system school population and NAMCOL student courses
by NAMCOL region, 2005.


Total Central North-
Northern Southern
Secondary Education
Eastern
Formal System





Students
150,815 17,989 22,172 74,928 35,726
Regional
%age
100.0 11.9 14.7 49.7 23.7
NAMCOL





Student-courses 54,421
6963
6,755
25,547
15,156
Regional
%age
100.0 12.8 12.4 46.9 27.9


Although 70 per cent of NAMCOL’s 2006 students were aged over 20 (Table 6.10), compared
with just 2.8 per cent of the formal school population, the vast majority of NAMCOL's students
are aged 18 to 24 (25 per cent are aged 18 to 19, and 49 per cent are 20 to 24). This is fully
consistent with what most students have told NAMCOL – that they enrol in with the College in
order to improve their grades in particular subjects, with a view to getting their school
certificates. More than nine out of ten of its students at the JSC level and four out of five at the
IGCSE/NSSCO level are seeking not to study for the first time at these levels but to improve their
grades and hence their job prospects409.

NAMCOL's role in the Namibian education system is to act as a safety net that "picks up" and
helps a population roughly equivalent to 18.1 per cent of the conventional school population.
NAMCOL picks up these repeaters because the formal system does not allow students to repeat
their examinations. Under current rules, students are allowed to repeat just one of Grades 8 and 9
at the junior secondary level, but not – unless they are under 17 years of age – Grade 10 (Section
5.3). Senior secondary school examination candidates are allowed to resit their examinations in
order to upgrade their results, but the formal system does not help them do this. If they wish to do
it, then they must prepare themselves for the resit examinations through private study or through
non-formal system structures such as NAMCOL.

NAMCOL is thus essentially complementary to the formal system – offering the same curriculum
in preparation for the same examinations to students who, in the main, have already studied in the
formal system and who are now trying to improve their grades or rectify past failure in particular
subjects.

7.5.5 NIOS as an alternative to formal schooling

In contrast, NIOS, in conjunction with the various State Open Schools, can be described as
offering an alternative system to formal schooling. The vast majority of NIOS’s 290,983 (junior)
secondary and senior secondary school students (Table 4.5) are out-of-formal-school learners and
school drop-outs, working adults, housewives, learners from disadvantaged sectors of society and

409 This could conceivably underestimate the proportion of students studying to improve their grades. Dr.
Alicia Fentiman found that nineteen out of twenty (95%) of the students she questioned in her Tracer Study
said that they had enrolled in order to improve their "points" (grades) - Alicia Fentiman, Tracer Study of
former NAMCOL learners: Research Report
, Cambridge, IRFOL, Centre for Educational Research and
Development, Von Hügel Institute, St Edmund’s College, February 2007, Section 3.6. Consistent with this
she found that the students took an average 2.5 subjects each.

243




learners living in remote areas of India. Of these, two out of three (68.7 per cent) are male and
one out of three (31.3 per cent) are female.

The Indian education system as a whole is characterised by a gender imbalance, with a higher
proportion of boys than girls enrolled in the system, but a recent study by Sushmita Mitra
suggests that far from opening up more opportunities to girls and women, NIOS has since about
1994 being enrolling a smaller proportion of women than the formal secondary system410. Mitra
suggests that changes in the formal system including the introduction of free education up to
secondary level with most States now providing secondary education free to female learners, the
recruitment of female teachers and the availability of adequate toilet facilities for girls in schools
may all have played a role in the rise in female enrolments as a proportion of all enrolments in the
formal system. Mitra's study also shows quite considerable variation between the proportions of
male and female students enrolled in NIOS, depending on the state within which Accredited
Institution are located.

However, an interesting phenomenon to note is that in the present decade, female enrolments in
the NIOS vocational courses has remained at par with those of the male students. It may be
indicative of an emerging trend – that female students see a greater sense and purpose in
education that promises economic independence and better life, pointing to a social change in
progress and so to NIOS as a change agent.

Available data also shows that NIOS is offering a real alternative to school-aged children. As
Table 4.7 shows, over 7 out of 10 (74 per cent) of NIOS's secondary school students are aged 15
to 20, and nearly nine out of ten (88.7 per cent) are aged 15 to 25. NIOS is reaching out to those
who are using it as an alternative route to secondary education. In other words, NIOS is not acting
as a second chance route for adults who were for a variety of reasons unable at an earlier stage in
their life to study at secondary level. One reason for this is, we suggest, because in India distance
education is so accepted as an alternative route to educational qualifications that it is actually the
first choice route for many who wish to study at the same time as they work or are confined to the
home.

7.5.6 Are the open schools doing enough?

Our research suggests that in Namibia, NAMCOL acts as a safety net for about one in five of the
school population in Namibia, giving them the chance to repeat courses that the formal system
denies them. Relatively few of NAMCOL's students are studying for the first time at this level.

At the junior secondary level, we can say with some confidence that the falling number of
primary school graduates who enter NAMCOL's junior secondary school programme as their first
choice almost certainly reflects the fact that most (roughly four out of five) primary school
leavers manage to find places in conventional secondary schools in Namibia.

At the senior secondary level, however, we find it surprising that there are relatively few
individuals starting their senior secondary level education at NAMCOL. After all, the real drop-
out in secondary education comes between Grades 10 and 11 (see Table 5.11), hence one would
expect demand for NAMCOL to rise at senior secondary level to absorb those who cannot gain
entry to this level at a conventional school. With just one in three Namibians advancing to

410 Sushmita Mitra, Gender and Open Schooling in India. Paper prepared for the Fourth Pan
Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning, 2006, dated 25 October 2006,
http://pcf4.dec.uwi.edu/viewabstract.php?id=111, accessed 26 October 2007.

244




secondary school, and fewer than half (47 per cent) of those who complete junior secondary
school each year finding a place at a senior secondary school (Section 5.3), one might expect the
Government to promote NAMCOL as an alternative pathway to the IGCSE/NSSCO
examinations – not least to capitalise on NAMCOL's potential ability to provide senior secondary
school places at a cheaper per capita cost than in the conventional school system. After all, among
the most serious challenges facing Namibia is the lack of senior secondary education places and
the urgent need to improve the quantity, quality and relevance of the output from the senior
secondary level in order to address the shortages of skilled labour and enable Namibia to covert
itself into a knowledge-based economy (Section 5.3).

But this has not happened. NAMCOL remains a rather significant but essentially second- tier line
of defence against student failure within the school system. To the extent that the formal system
has let students down when they fail the public examinations, NAMCOL exists to give them a
second chance and to make good the deficiencies of the formal system.

Even so, one also has to ask, when the economic payback (in salary terms) that accrues from the
possession of a secondary qualification in Namibia (see Tables 5.20 and 5.21) and the incentive
to gain such qualifications must be very high, why do relatively few junior secondary school
graduates who cannot get a place in a senior secondary school enter NAMCOL? Are they
unaware of the opportunity open to them? Is NAMCOL too expensive for them? Or do they just
not rate NAMCOL highly enough to bother? Unfortunately, we do not know. More research is
needed in this area.

How then does what NAMCOL is doing measure up to the vision embodied in the NAMCOL Act
(Act No. 1 of 1997), which specified NAMCOL’s purpose as being

“to contribute towards the social and economic development of Namibia by upgrading
the educational level of adults and out-of-school youths through programmes of open
learning; by devising, developing and offering programmes to address the diverse needs
of such adults and out-of-schools youths; and by providing opportunities for adults and
out-of-school youths to upgrade their professional and vocational skills, as well as their
level of general education …”411

In our view, NAMCOL is helping to upgrade the educational level of adults and out-of-school
youths, but both the curriculum it is offering (even taking into account the professional
programmes that are not a focus of our study), and the target it is reaching is relatively restricted.
The vast majority of its student body studies courses developed as part of the standard
academically-oriented Namibian secondary school curriculum in order to improve the grades they
got when they were studying within the formal secondary school system.

Furthermore, as Namibia builds more traditional secondary schools, it’s likely that NAMCOL's
traditional market will begin to dry up, first at the junior and ultimately at the senior secondary
schools level, which is why we endorse NAMCOL's search for new markets in which to deploy
its expertise and its facilities.

In a sense, NIOS is a mirror-image of NAMCOL. The scale of the demand for secondary
education places in India means that NIOS and the various State Open Schools will continue to
have a major role in the medium- to long-term future. The addition of vocational educational

411 Ibid. Section 4 (a).

245




opportunities alongside more academic school subjects must reflect an appropriate response to the
needs of some learners, while the continuing emphasis on academic subjects is clearly important
in generating potential entrants for the university sector. It is this role, coupled with a
commitment to the fundamental values of increasing access and equity that underpin so much
distance education provision, that characterises the role that NIOS has occupied since it was
originally set up as the National Open School – and that has made it such a key institution in the
attainment of successive educational plans since the 1980s.

7.5.7 Relative Effectiveness Ratio

In Section 2.3, we introduced the concept of a Relative Effectiveness Ratio as a measure of the
effectiveness of two or more institutions. If a traditional education system graduates 85 students
out of every 100 (Effectiveness Ratio of 85 per cent), and a distance system graduates 40 students
out of 100 (40 per cent Effectiveness Ratio), then a measure of the comparative effectiveness of
the distance system relative to the traditional one is obtained by dividing the Effectiveness Ratio
of the distance system by that of the traditional system (40 ÷ 85) to give a Relative Effectiveness
Ratio of 47 per cent. If the distance system has an Effectiveness Ratio of 90 per cent, then the
Comparative Effectiveness ratio is 90 ÷ 85, giving a comparative effectiveness ratio of 1.06.

An Effectiveness Ratio of 1.0 indicates that the two systems are comparable in relative
effectiveness. A ratio under 1.0 means that the distance system is less effective; a ratio of more
than 1.0 means that it is more effective than the traditional system.

Although the NAMCOL part-time system never equals or surpasses the full-time system in
effectiveness, in a number of subjects, it approaches the full-time system with respect to the
proportion of students gaining grades A to G in the JSC examinations, or A* to G in the IGCSE
examination. However, when it comes to comparing the effectiveness achievement of grades A to
C (JSC) and A* to C (IGCSE), part-time candidates do not perform as well as the full-time ones.
The Effectiveness Ratio at this level ranges from 0.31 to 0.64 at JSC level, and 0.23 to 0.51 at
IGCSE level, depending on the subject. The challenge facing part-time providers – including
NAMCOL – is to improve the performance of students who are currently gaining grades D to G.

These somewhat disappointing results need to be put in context. NAMCOL is attracting mainly
students who have already studied in the formal system and have done badly in at least some of
their examinations – the subjects that they are trying to resit through NAMCOL. What ”badly”
means in this context will vary from individual to individual, but at the JSC level, NAMCOL is
enabling students who have achieved a pass at grades D, E, F or G, or a fail in a particular subject
to retake that subject. At the IGCSE/NSSCO level, NAMCOL is providing students with an
opportunity to improve their points score across five or, depending on what they want to do, six
subjects.

For some students, the improvement in grades needed will be marginal – but for others the hurdle
will be that much greater. If the majority of NAMCOL's students attempting a resit are from the
less able pool of students in the formal system, as seems likely (after all, they have “failed” once),
then it is not surprising that they do not do as well as their more gifted peers, and hence that
NAMCOL's examination results are not as good.

Our study of NIOS makes clear how important it is, in judging the relative performance of open
schools, to choose the right measure of success. The real measure of comparison is not how many
NIOS learners sitting an examination pass in five subject (the number of subject passes required

246




for certification), but what the comparative pass rate is in each subject. If we judge NIOS against
the "five passes in a single sitting" criterion, we effectively do the institution a disservice, because
we are ignoring the fact that NIOS students can sit a subject whenever they feel ready take it and
that the only restriction on them is that they should pass in five subjects over a five-year period.
Over the years (January 1991 through to April 2007), on average just 31.4 per cent of those who
have sat as many of the twice-yearly secondary examinations as they could until the year
concerned (actual range 17.4 to 57.5 per cent) and on average just 26.9 per cent of those who
have sat as many of the twice-yearly senior secondary examinations as they could until the year
concerned (range 18.2 to 43.6 per cent), have succeeded in accumulating passes in the requisite
five subjects in the year concerned (Table 4.16).

When we look at individual subject passes, the students' performance is much better with some
subjects at secondary level attracting pass rates of over 90 per cent of those sitting the
examination at the secondary level, and over 70 per cent at the senior secondary level (Tables
4.17 and 4.18). Table 4.19 shows subject-pass rates of between 44.5 and 63.7 per cent at the
secondary level, and 51.5 and 65.9 per cent at the senior secondary level in the 2005 and 2006
examinations. The overall results for 2005 were a pass rate of 56.68 per cent at the secondary
level and 57.77 per cent at the senior secondary level.

Table 7.3 shows the relative effectiveness of NIOS in comparison with the other boards of
education in India using the 2004-2005 results for the other boards. The Relative Effectiveness
Ratio is computed by dividing the pass rate gained in the distance system by the pass rate gained
by students in traditional examinations. An Effectiveness Ratio higher than 1.0 indicates that
students at NIOS are performing better than students at the comparator Board, other things being
equal, while an Effectiveness Ratio of less than 1.0 indicates that NIOS students are not doing as
well as those in the comparator boards, other things being equal. The qualifying phrase, "other
things being equal" is important because, of course, the difficulty of the syllabuses and
examinations and the standard of marking may vary from Examination Board to Examination
Board.






















247




Table 7.3: Comparative Effectiveness Ratio for NIOS against various comparator Boards of
Education, 2004-2005 results


2004-2005 secondary level
2004-2005 senior secondary
subject pass rate
level subject pass rate
Board(s) of Education
%age
Effectiveness
%age pass Effectiveness
State Boards of Education (traditional)
pass rate
ratio
rate
ratio
Andhra Pradesh
72.41
0.783
53.18
1.086
Assam 55.54
1.021
58.48
0.988
Bihar 70.07
0.809
72.58
0.796
Chhattitisgarh 48.10
1.178
67.47
0.856
Goa 54.90
1.032
72.33
0.799
Gujerat 56.49
1.003


Haryana 61.81
0.917
54.19
1.066
Himachal Pradesh


68.66
0.841
Jammu & Kashmir
50.27
1.128
34.07
1.696
Jhakhand 71.36
0.793
83.82
0.689
Karnataka 63.90
0.887
60.39
0.957
Kerala

75.93
0.761
Madhya Pradesh
32.60
1.739
71.27
0.811
Maharashtra 58.72
0.965
62.60
0.923
Manipur 43.41
1.306
35.71
1.618
Meghalaya

73.88
0.782
Mizoram 45.77
1.238
46.90
1.232
Nagaland 76.89
0.778
78.29
0.738
Orissa 55.34
1.024
71.11
0.812
Punjab



Rajasthan 50.38
1.125
72.24
0.800
Tamil Nadu
77.80
0.729
76.83
0.752
Tripura 77.80
0.729
68.85
0.838
Uttar Pradesh
69.71
0.813
90.64
0.637
Uttaranchal 49.15
1.153
73.75
0.783
West Bengal
70.52
0.804
61.48
0.940
Madrasah Board of Education




West Bengal
66.37
0.854


Central Board of Secondary Education
77.52 0.731
81.00 0.713





Boards of Education: Correspondence



and Distance Learning
Madhya Pradesh State Open School
38.29
1.480
21.23
2.721
NIOS 56.68
1.000
57.77
1.000

This table suggests that by and large, NIOS students perform well in comparison with the
students taking other Boards' secondary education examinations but not as well at the higher
secondary level. However, NIOS students do much better than students at the State Open School
for which we have results.

7.5.8 How has studying in an open school helped students?

Does studying with NAMCOL help students to go on to higher education or further study,
gain employment and gain promotion? In Section 6.9, we reported on Dr. Alicia Fentiman's
research which showed just over 16 per cent of the 1999-2001 NAMCOL students that she

248




managed to trace had gone on to gain some kind of tertiary qualification and that 39 per cent
were engaged in some form of further education at the time of her study. Also, whereas just
one per cent of NAMCOL's current students have a paid job, 56 per cent of these students
were employed. While some of these students were employed reasonably soon after they left
NAMCOL, others took a while to find employment, and some had clearly gained employment
only to lose it later. Some of the employment gained was low paid. Unfortunately it is difficult
to interpret all Fentiman's figures, but one can infer that for some students, NAMCOL is a
transforming experience of lasting benefit to them.

Equally, we lack information on the proportion of NIOS students who are working while
learning. While we also lack anything beyond the anecdotal when it comes to looking at the
impact that NIOS has had on the lives of those who have studied with it, but we can infer that
some students have benefited significantly from their NIOS studies.

It’s important to recognize that the success of the Open Schooling system can be measured not
only on the basis of its throughput rates, but also on the extent of the socio-economic and
developmental purpose it serves.


7.5.9 Relative Efficiency Ratio

In Section 2.4, we introduced the concept of a Relative Efficiency Ratio. While one can compare
the unit costs of two or more institutions in the same jurisdiction, using a common currency base
adjusted where necessary for price changes, comparisons across jurisdictions are fraught with
problems both because costs (of labour, technology, etc) vary considerably from one jurisdiction
to another. Also, fluctuations in exchange rates within a year can make nonsense of comparisons
drawn up in a common currency – typically the US dollar. To get around this problem, we chose
to compare the unit costs of distance and conventional systems in a jurisdiction and use the
resulting Efficiency Ratio as a means of making comparisons across jurisdictions and across time.

The Efficiency Ratio is derived by dividing the average unit cost in the distance mode by the
average unit cost in the traditional mode. A ratio of 1.0 would mean that the distance system is as
efficient as the comparator system, less than 1.0 means that the distance system is more efficient
than the comparator, and greater than 1.0 means that the distance system is less efficient than the
comparator.

Table 2.2 showed that in terms of the unit cost per enrolled pupil, distance open schools can
be, but are not necessarily, more cost-efficient than conventional schools, while Table 2.3
shows that the Efficiency Ratio in open schools tends not to be as favourable given the higher
drop-out rates in distance learning.

In Section 6.12, we discuss the costs of NAMCOL and indicate the difficulties that arise when
trying to compare NAMCOL's costs with costs in the formal secondary education system.
Within the limits of the data we had available, and using 2007/08 budget data, we calculated
unit costs in the formal system and in NAMCOL. We calculated the cost assuming
NAMCOL's secondary school programme (the ASEP Programme) has to cover the costs of
NAMCOL's other activities and their associated overhead costs, and on the more reasonable
basis that the ASEP is responsible only for its own costs and associated overheads. We also
calculated the unit costs before (gross) and after (net) taking account of fee income. On this
basis, we were then able to calculate an Efficiency Ratio.

249





Table 7.4: Budgeted 2007/08 unit cost calculations, Namibian formal secondary
education system and NAMCOL, and Efficiency Ratio


Secondary Education Costs

Junior
Senior
All
See
Basis of calculation
Table
Unit cost per student, Formal Secondary School
5,346.12 5346.12 5346.12 6.26
System: No differentiation between levels possible
Unit cost per subject enrolee, Formal Secondary
606.82 909.20
- 6.26

School System, assuming an average 8.81 subjects
per head at JSC level and 5.88 subjects per head at
NSSCO level
Gross (i.e. before taking account of fee income)




Unit cost per student, NAMCOL, assuming all




NAMCOL costs are carried by NAMCOL's ASEP




system including net losses on its non-ASEP




programmes:




• Cost per student
1,492.38
1,380.99
1,433.78
6.27
• Cost per subject enrolee
681..60
369.62
477.41
6.27
Net (i.e. after taking account of fee income) Unit




cost per student, NAMCOL, assuming all




NAMCOL costs are carried by NAMCOL's ASEP




system including net losses on its non-ASEP




programmes:




• Cost per student
1,205.10
1,025.21
1,110.4
6.27
• Cost per subject enrolee
550.40
274.39
369.62
6.27
Gross (i.e. before taking account of fee income)




Unit cost per student, NAMCOL, assuming non-




ASEP costs are not charged against NAMCOL's




ASEP system:




• Cost per student
1,320.33
1,208.95
1,261.73
6.28
• Cost per subject enrolee
603.03
323.57
420.12
6.28
Net (i.e. after taking account of fee income) Unit




cost per student, NAMCOL, assuming non-ASEP




costs are not charged against NAMCOL's ASEP




system:




• Cost per student
1,033.05
853.16
938.41
6.28
• Cost per subject enrolee
471.82
228.35
312.46
6.28
Efficiency Ratios – student unit costs:




• All costs, gross
0.279
0.258
0.268

• All costs, net
0.225
0.192
0.208
• ASEP costs only, gross
0.243
0.226
0.236
0.193
0.160
0.176
• ASEP costs only, net
Efficiency Ratios subject enrolment unit costs:




• All costs, gross
1.123
0.406
-

• All costs, net
0.907
0.302
-
• ASEP costs only, gross
0.994
0.356
-
0.778
0.251
-
• ASEP costs only, net

In our view, it would be invidious, in a straight cost comparison exercise, either to load
NAMCOL's ASEP secondary education programme with the costs of other NAMCOL
programmes or to calculate the relative efficiency of NAMCOL after taking into account fee

250




income from students. Hence, the fairest approach is to look at the Efficiency Ratio for gross
ASEP costs. On this basis, the Efficiency Ratio shows that on a unit cost per student basis,
NAMCOL costs somewhere between a fifth and a quarter of the cost of conventional secondary
education in Namibia. However, NAMCOL students are taking far fewer courses per head than
are students in the formal system, and as a result on a unit cost per subject basis it looks as if
NAMCOL is roughly as cost-efficient as traditional secondary schooling at the junior secondary
level, but much cheaper at the senior secondary level (costing about one third of conventional
costs). However, these figures need to be treated with caution, because the data did not allow us
to differentiate between the costs of the junior and senior formal secondary school systems.

The costs of NIOS have risen steeply year on year. Given the growth in its student numbers, this
is not surprising. However, the increasing costs of the institution triggered the first cost study of
NIOS. The results of this exercise (see Table 4.23) showed that the average cost per student in the
Open School was less than that in the Kendriya Vidyalaya and the government schools in Delhi,
but higher than those in the Delhi Correspondence School (Patrachar Vidyalaya). These results
were unsurprising given that it was likely that even with as few as 10,000 to 11,000 students, the
Delhi Correspondence School would be achieving some economies of scale, yet the quality of its
provision was likely to be more of higher quality and hence more costly than those of the earlier
generation of correspondence schools.

A second cost study was undertaken in 1997, again comparing the costs of NOS with various
other systems. This time NOS was found to be the most efficient open school available. However,
this study provides only the results, not the details of the calculations, so that it is impossible to
judge whether the methodology used was satisfactory or not.

A third internally generated cost study of NOS was undertaken in 2006. In this study, the five-
year budgeted expenditure for NIOS was compared with the five-year budgeted expenditure of
two other systems. Once again, the study showed how cost-efficient the NIOS system is (see
Table 4.26), but its weakness is that it is comparing very different kinds of institutions.

Given the age of the first two studies, and the various conceptual problems there are with them,
we attempted yet another cost study of NIOS (Section 4.5.4). One of the significant differences in
our approach was the abandonment of the traditional Full Time Equivalent student as a measure
of load in favour of the more realistic student-course or student-subject load. For both NAMCOL
and in NIOS, this is a better measure of load and hence of cost – given that the number of
subjects taken per year by NAMCOL and NIOS students is very different to the number of
subjects sat by traditional face-to-face students in Namibia and India.

In both NAMCOL and NIOS, we also faced problems in that we had to separate out the costs of
the non-secondary education programmes, and this involved some arbitrary judgments in the
absence of any embedded Activity Based Costing system – although here NAMCOL has
advanced further than NIOS. As cost comparators, we used the costs per student course in
Kendriya Vidyalayas (schools for the children of Central Government employees) between
2002/03 and 2005/06, while recognising the "special nature" of this system, and the 2006/07 per
student course costs of the Emmanuel Mission Secondary School in Bhilwara, Rajasthan.

Computing the Relative Cost Efficiency Ratio from the data in Table 4.33 suggests that in
relation to both these comparators, NIOS is extremely cost-efficient (Table 7.5). In this table, the
Relative Cost Efficiency Ratio is the unit cost per student-course at NIOS divided by the unit cost
per student course at the comparator institution.

251





Table 7.5: Relative cost efficiency of NIOS using INR cost per student course data when
compared with Kendriya Vidyalayas, 2002/03 to 2005/06, and with the Emmanuel Mission
Secondary School in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, 2006/07

Institution
Cost per student per course (INR)
2002-03
2003-04
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
NIOS
1,410.77
1,188.66
1,169.63 1,150.55 1,212.71
KVs
15,479.30
15,731.72
15,217.08
14,816.54
--
EMSS
-- -- --
--
11,343.36

Relative Cost
0.091
0.076
0.077 0.078 0.107
Efficiency Ratio


Simple measures such as unit costs and a Relative Efficiency Ratio hide underlying complexity of
any comparison between one system and another (Section 2.4). Table 7.6 lists factors that impact
costs and cost data.

Table 7.6: Major factors affecting costs in Open Schooling

Factor Affects

Why
Total student numbers
Unit Costs
Committed costs of capital including course
development and costs incurred in sustaining the
business will be spread across students, hence unit
costs will be higher if student numbers are low,
lower if student numbers are high.

Flexible Costs
Total student-related flexible costs will rise in line
with student costs.
Courses presented
Capital costs
The more courses that are presented, the more
courses need to be developed, resulting in a rise in
the capital cost of the curriculum.
Course lives
Capital costs
The longer courses are presented before they are
withdrawn/remade, the greater the number of years
over which the capital costs of their development
can be annualised, and hence the lower the sum
that needs to be spread across the student body as a
whole, or across the students taking the particular
course.
Media and technology choice
Committed costs
Each medium/technology has its own cost
and flexible costs
structure, hence media and technology choice will
affect total costs, total committed costs and
flexible costs in different ways.
Face-to-face support
Flexible costs
The amount of face-to-face support that needs to
be provided in total will be driven by decisions
about the number of hours to be given each
student-course member, and the size of groups.
The total number of hours required will rise as
student numbers and hence group numbers rise. In
large-scale systems relatively modest increases in
student numbers can generate very considerable
increases in cost.

252





Course design parameters
Committed costs
Design parameters including decisions to create all
and flexible costs
materials internally, to buy-in materials (and
whole courses) or to merely create study guides to
existing textbooks that students have to buy
themselves, will impact on costs in different ways.
Course module size
Working practices
Large modules (requiring say more than 50-100
and hence capital
hours study) will, depending on design decisions,
costs
need teams to develop the materials and hence
incur higher transactional costs as team members
interact. Small modules can often be developed by
one or two people, reducing transaction costs.
Cost recovery through cost
Committed and
Decisions to get students to pay for goods (e.g.
sharing
flexible costs
texts) and services used at cost, cost +. and less
than cost, will affect the extent to which variables
in course design impact on the institution or the
student
Labour employment policies
Capital costs and
Using contracts for service for course developers
flexible costs
and course tutors will reduce the level of
committed cost put into hiring staff on contracts of
service, and hence in general reduce the capital
costs of developing courses and ensure that the
flexible costs of teaching are no more and no less
than that needed to deliver the courses.
Labour substitution policies
Flexible costs
Using cheaper labour – for example, graduate
students – to tutor students and mark assignments,
as opposed to more qualified staff, will reduce the
flexible costs of teaching.

7.5.10. How do the two open schools, we have examined in this study, measure up against these
criteria for a low cost model?


The first thing is that NAMCOL’s ASEP programme has sufficient students to achieve economies
of scale as reflected in the value of its Efficiency Ratio. It provides access to a range of courses at
the junior and senior secondary level – though by no means as great a number of options as are
available to students in the formal system. The College cannot control the length of life of its
junior and senior secondary level courses since it has to respond to changes in the curriculum
introduced by the National Examinations, Assessment and Certification Board. Like other open
schools, it is vulnerable to the threat that a major curriculum reform will require it to scrap the
whole of its junior or senior secondary school course profile and develop new replacement
courses.

NAMCOL has relied upon two technologies that are known to be cost-efficient – print and radio.
Although the cost of developing printed materials varies widely, NAMCOL has chosen to employ
its authors on contracts for service with the result that it avoids the long-term costs of employing
a staff of qualified teacher-writers. The same strategy has kept down editing costs.

Radio is very cost-efficient at audience sizes of over 1,000, but NAMCOL’s use of radio is very
restricted at present. If it wished to encourage greater use of audio materials in its courses, then its
best avenue would probably be to explore the use of CDs – assuming that its students have access
to players. It has avoided the use of television, which is in any case much more expensive than
radio.

253





NAMCOL has been working with UNESCO on a project supporting the use of the ICTs in
schools-based distance education412, but the introduction of ICTs is challenging because, as
Orivel makes clear, in developing countries the per pupil per hour costs of eLearning solutions
are often higher than the per pupil per hour costs of face-to-face teaching. This is because teacher
labour costs are pegged to local economic conditions, while the costs of ICTs are driven by global
economic conditions: "For the first time in the history of education systems, the price of
educational input is determined not in accordance with the local purchasing power, but by world
standards which apply in a similar way to rich and poor countries."413

It makes economic sense and educational sense to use ICTs in countries where labour costs per
pupil-hour are higher than ICT costs per pupil-hour. It makes educational sense but not economic
sense to use ICTs in countries where the labour cost per pupil-hour is lower than ICT costs per
pupil-hour.

NAMCOL has restricted the amount of face-to-face teaching its students receive. Arguments in
favour of doubling the amount of face-to-face teaching per week per subject from two to four
hours would be significant, as Table 6.21 indicates.

In designing its courses, NAMCOL has chosen to buy-in existing materials where this makes
sense, rather than develop its own materials. It has been able to capitalise on the module size
(measured in terms of the numbers of hours that students will on average use the materials for
study purposes) to keep the number of people involved in developing its courses down. The point
here is that any course taught through any medium requires a certain amount of time to prepare
the materials. How long it takes to prepare a "chunk" of materials that will occupy a student for
one hour varies according to the medium. Estimates by Sparkes are shown in Table 7.7414. While
such estimates need to be treated with care, it stands to reason that a course module requiring say
200 hours of student study from text is likely to need a bigger team of academics to prepare it
than a course module only requiring 50 such hours – and that unless one is prepared to allow the
development process to become overlong, big modules will need to employ teams of people, all
of which adds to transaction costs.














412 See "NAMCOL closer to web based distance education", http://portal.unesco.org/es/ev.php-
URL_ID=25167&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html, accessed
7 October 2007.
413 François Orivel, "Finance, costs and economics", in Chris Yates and Jo Bradley, Basic Education at a
Distance
, London, RoutledgeFalmer, 2000, p. 138.
414 Sparkes, J. (1984) "Pedagogic difference between media", in Bates, A. W. (ed.) (1984) The role of
technology in distance education
, London, Croom Helm, p. 219.

254




Table 7.7: Academic work to produce one hour of student learning
(from Sparkes, 1982: 219)

Media
Hours of academic
effort
Lecturing
2 - 10
Small group teaching
1 - 10
Teaching by telephone
2 - 10
Videotape lectures (for Tutored Video
3 - 10
Instruction)
Audiovision
10 - 20
Teaching text
50 - 100*
Broadcast television
100*
Computer-aided learning
200*
Interactive video
300*

* Requires additional support staff as well


NAMCOL is a lean organisation, with a small core staff of just 48 (2006 figure) supporting
28,090 secondary school level students and a further 290 students in its professional programmes.
The vast majority of its staff (1,228 in 2006) are on contracts for service. It makes use of
peripheral staff who are employed on contracts for service and who are paid for the work they do
– neither more nor less. Economically, NAMCOL is very efficient in terms of its unit costs per
student, in comparison with the formal system. In terms of the its unit costs per subject enrolment,
its "two academic years crammed into one calendar year" approach at the NSSCO level makes it
very efficient compared with the formal system, while the unit costs per subject at the JSC Grade
10 level are on a par with those in the formal system.

Finally, there is the question of cost sharing. NAMCOL's income from government is based on a
formula that provides the College a student per capita income fixed at 65 per cent of the cost to
government of supporting conventional students. It is free to raise income in the form of fees, but
obviously with most of its secondary level students unemployed, it cannot charge high fees and
continue to fulfil its social mission.

NIOS is also a lean organisation. It does not have the cost of operating schools, because it works
through Accredited Institutions and Accredited Vocational Institutions. Looking at the
comparative costs per student (Table 4.26), we find that a student at a Navodaya Vidyalaya costs
nearly 18 times that at NIOS and a student at Kendriya Vidyalaya costs more than 6 times that at
NIOS. Further research finds that the cost per secondary student per course at Kendriya
Vidyalayas and Emmanuel Mission Secondary School (located in a small town in Rajasthan, not
one of the richer states) is more than 12 and 9 times respectively that of NIOS (Table 4.33). The
research also finds that conventional schooling has become more than 3 times costlier than the
ODL system over the past two decades. Over time, the conventional system is increasingly more
costly than the ODL system. The finding should be of interest to both educators and educational
planners.

NIOS is organised so that secondary and senior secondary students register for five years at one
go. They pay according to the number of subjects they take and are given all the course materials
at the time of registration. They are supported at study centres for the first academic year. This

255




way, the first phase of expenditure incurred by NOIS pertains to the first year of their registration.
AIs are paid a flat rate per student for providing academic support.

Once study materials are developed (whether print-based or media programmes), they remain in
use for about five years. On average, NIOS spend les per student per subject than it charges in
several of its fee categories. The overall conclusion is that at the secondary level of education in
India, ODL operations such as NIOS are significantly less expensive than the conventional
schooling systems.

7.5.11 Why should we have confidence in the open schools?

The success of any open school’s pedagogic system rests on three key factors: the quality of its
course materials, the quality of its student support sub-system and the quality of its logistics. The
quality of NAMCOL’s course materials is not in doubt: the materials, subject by subject, are good
to excellent. They are recognised as such, given the extent to which they are used by schools in
the formal system and bought by formal system students. Logistically too the College performs
well: the turnaround time on assignments is on a par with the best of correspondence systems,
which is important because poor turnaround time is correlated with high drop-out rates.

NAMCOL's management systems and its student support systems are well-designed and function
well. If there is a question mark, it hangs over the effectiveness of the student support system and
how it could be improved in order to ensure that a higher proportion of students achieve their aim
of getting an A to C grade in the national examinations. One approach would be to simply
increase the amount of face-to-face support per subject per week. This may well be an appropriate
response, but arguably NAMCOL also needs to build a much more individually targeted support
system that identifies those students who are struggling and targets help at them.

NIOS operates at three levels – its New Delhi Headquarters, its 11 Indian and three foreign-based
Regional Centres, and its Accredited Institutes which function as study centres. The central
curriculum development processes are designed in conjunction with other agencies to identify
curriculum needs, and there is a process by which courses and subjects are approved prior to the
development of the materials by subject experts. During the materials development phase, there
are a number of review points prior to final editing and production. Administrative and academic
support is provided to the learners through the Accredited Institutes, which are selected against
strict criteria. The activities that take place at these Institutes, including teaching and assignment
marking, is monitored by academic facilitators attached to the Regional Centres. On the other
hand, there are some doubts as to whether the monitoring processes at the AI level are adequate.
And there is no current means of planning and reviewing a system-wide process of evaluation and
quality assurance.

7.6 Policy
advice

Open schools have not been without their problems, including low status, underfunding and poor
results. But against this rather bleak scenario, there is strong evidence that open schools can
capitalise on the ability to deliver secondary education to remote pupils, and indeed to support the
establishment of secondary school "outlets" in communities that have never before had such
opportunities. There is evidence that, organised in the right way and with an attention to cost
reduction, open schools can be set up to reap the benefits of the economies of scale that distance
education holds out as a possibility.


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We offer the following recommendations to government leaders, policymakers, open school
administrators, educators and community members who wish to maximize the potential of open
schooling.

7.6.1 Sustainability

Secure government support through policy: Stable and continuing political support is
essential for the successful initiation and sustainability of open schools. It is critical that
Open Schools are established within legal parameters. This will not only ensure
government support, but it also provides a framework for the operations of the Open
School within the National Development and Education Sector Plans. It is also vitally
important that open schools gain secure, ongoing government funding. This should
ideally be arranged through an agreed upon funding formula.

Define the role of the open school : Open schools can be either a complement or an
alternative to the conventional school system. Both roles are valid and useful – the critical
factor is to clearly establish what role an open school will play. Two alternative
approaches can therefore be envisaged:

• A complementary Open Schooling system offering the same curriculum for
children and youths who have never been in a position to attend the formal,
classroom-based school system or who, having attended the formal education
system, have had to drop-out because they have had to start working or because
their grades have been too poor for them to progress through the grades and
various examination hurdles.
• An alternative Open Schooling system offering a different, more adult-relevant
curriculum for adults who never had a chance to have or complete their formal
education at school level (and perhaps some out-of-school youth, for whom an
alternative curriculum – generally more vocationally-oriented – is seen as more
appropriate).

Establish an effective management structure: A lean management structure which is
well designed and provide good governance at a low cost with a well trained staff cadre
will contribute to the sustainability and success of an open school.

Support staff development: The majority of staff in Open Schools are not ‘qualified’ in
open and distance learning. In order to provide high quality service through materials
development and tutoring, staff needs to be properly trained. It is critical that budgetary
provision is made for staff development activities on an annual basis. Even if they are
qualified, with the expansion and wider use of ODL as a delivery mechanism, and fast
moving technologies, there is a continuous need for capacity building so that open school
staff stay abreast of the latest developments in open and distance learning. The most
successful open schools provide ongoing training to staff, creating environments of
continuous improvement.

Ensure Cost-efficiency through proper Financial Management

There is evidence that, organised in the right way and with an attention to cost reduction,
open schools can be set up to reap the benefits of economies of scale which distance

257




education holds out as a promise. This study confirms that open schools are more cost-
effective than formal schools.

It is also important to note the experience of India, where the conventional mode of
schooling has become more than three times costlier than the ODL system over the past
two decades. As the costs rise universally with the passage of time, the conventional
system of schooling turns to be more and more costly than the ODL system

7.6.2 Quality assurance: A strong commitment to quality is helping open schools move
beyond the poor reputation for quality surrounding earlier distance education efforts. It is
generally accepted that the quality of distance education programmes rests on five
foundations:

• the quality of institutional leadership and its ability to articulate a vision that will
ensure survival.
• sound financial management, Open schools cannot be properly managed if there
is not an appreciation of the difference between the economies of distance and
conventional education. To plan for sustainable open schools management
should explore options of how to reduce the burden of high fixed costs and how
economies of scale can be reaped. There is evidence that this is an area where
staff development is essential. The Commonwealth of Learning has realised the
need for capacity building in financial planning and budgeting for open schools
and has developed various resources.
• the quality of the programmes, courses and learning materials both in respect of
their academic content and relevance, and the quality of the pedagogy
underpinning their design. Course materials take on great importance in distance
learning, usually serving as the primary means of learning. It is highly beneficial
to have established procedures for developing course materials.
• the quality of the student support services including the quality of the advice
given to students, the quality of teaching, and the quality of the assessment
process (both formative and summative).
• the quality of the logistical system underpinning the student support system and
the materials distribution system (for example, timely despatch of materials to
students so that they have them to hand when they need them, timely feedback
on student queries, rapid turnaround between receipt of an assignment and the
return of the corrected assignment

It is therefore important that Open Schools embrace a culture of quality through the development
of a Quality Assurance Policy, which will ensure accountability, transparency and good
governance.

7.6.3 Access and equity

Potential for a flexible curriculum: Open schools must take advantage of one of their
primary strengths by remaining flexible and by so doing investing in a curriculum which
is geared to address the development needs of the country. The open school has the
potential to offer a diverse curricula and even to support the conventional system with
subjects which cannot be offered due to teacher shortages or low enrolments.


258




Research Learner profiles Open schools can reach marginalised groups and provide
affordable education. It is important to know the different learner profiles in order to
address the specific needs of learners e.g., girls, out-of-school youth or HIV/AIDS
orphans. A limitation to this study was that institutions did not always know what
happened to learners before or after they joined the institution. Research into learner
profiles and tracer studies need to be undertaken to plan more needs driven curricula with
a focus on the National and Development agenda of the country. This will make
provision for improved articulation into higher education and the employment market.

Use of ICTS: There is sufficient available experience and knowledge to know
technology has an important role to play in open schools: ICTs can successfully be used
by open schools to enhance their reach, strengthen their operational systems and enhance
pedagogic practise. Issues which should be considered include the availability of
infrastructure and national capacity, affordability, most appropriate media and student’s
access to technology. However, it makes economic sense and educational sense to use
ICTs in countries where labour costs per pupil-hour are higher than ICT costs per pupil-
hour. It makes educational sense but not economic sense to use ICTs in countries where
the labour cost per pupil-hour is lower than ICT costs per pupil-hour. We have no
hesitation in saying that technological approaches can be used to establish schools where
no schools currently exist.

Increase access to ODL materials: There is evidence that course materials of open
schools can replace the traditional textbook in schools. In a time of scarce resources it is
advisable, when available, to offer conventional schools access to learning materials
from open schools. This will reduce the cost to governments and allow education funds
to be directed elsewhere. It will create an avenue to open schools to generate additional
income, while it is an opportunity for distance education and conventional teachers to
collaborate in materials development .

Given the crisis in secondary education admissions, the evidence is strong enough and positive
enough, both from the two open schools that we have analysed in this report, and from other
studies referred to in Chapter 2, to argue strongly for the need to invest more in understanding
what it is that makes for success in Open Schooling, and to suggest that in appropriate
environments, new schools are founded to face the challenges of frustrated demand that so many
countries face. We believe for economic reasons that this will be of key importance as the world
faces the challenges of the next three or four decades – of environmental change, population
growth, and resource and energy supply. We need a population that is equipped to rise to the
challenges that they will face. Indeed, we go so far as to suggest that it will be difficult if not
impossible to meet the demand and need for secondary education on the scale envisaged without
resorting to Open Schooling approaches.

259







260




APPENDIX 1: PROFESSOR KOUL'S PROGRAMME

Date Time
Activity
1 April 2007
22.00
Depart Gurgaon, Haryana
2 April 2007
14.20
Arrive Vancouver via Frankfurt
3 April 2007
09.00-10.30
At COL--Welcome and introductory session: Sir John
Daniel, President and CEO, Commonwealth of
Learning; Dr Asha Kanwar, Vice President COL; Mrs
Frances Ferreira, Education Specialist, Basic Education
and Open Schooling; Professor B N Koul, Professor G
Rumble

11.00-11.30
Conference Call with NIOS (Shri M C Pant and Shri R
K Arya)

14.30-16.00
Mrs F Ferreira, Professor Koul, Professor Rumble:
Agreement of Terms of Reference and Structure of
Report
4 April 2007
09.00-12.00
Finalisation of Contracts

17.30-19.00
Dinner: Sir John Daniel and Dr Asha Kanwar,
Professors Koul and Rumble
5 April 2007
15.50
Depart Vancouver
7 April 2007
07.30
Arrive Gurgaon, Haryana via Frankfurt
10 -20 April
---
Research and outlining the data profile required for
2007
drafting chapters on NIOS/India
25 April 2007
09.00-17.30
Travel: Gurgaon, Haryana to NIOS, New Delhi and
back.
1st Project Meeting at NIOS Headquarters: Prof. Koul
presented the Project Objectives, the related Work Plan
and the details regarding the data required for the
Project to the Project Team put together by NIOS. The
discussion that followed, among other things, led to
fixing responsibilities for individual members (mainly
for the collection of the data required for the Project).
Prof. Koul’s tasks were also outlined and explained.

Members of the Project Team: Shri M C Pant,
Chairman, NIOS; Dr. J D Sharma, Senior Executive
Officer, NIOS; Prof. Puran Chand, Senior Executive
Officer, NIOS; Prof. Harmesh Lal, Consultant, NIOS;
Shri S K Anand, Deputy Director, Accounts, NIOS;
Shri R K Arya, Assistant Director, Media, NIOS; Dr. R
S P Singh, Assistant Director, Vocational Education,
NIOS; Dr Oum Prakash Sharma, Assistant Director,
Academic, NIOS; and Shri S K Prasad, System Analyst
& Programmer, NIOS.
1st Progress Report e-mailed to COL.
26 April-15 May ---
Prof. B N Koul hospitalized for surgery—an
2007
unscheduled event.

261




17 May 2007
11.30-18.00
Travel: Gurgaon, Haryana to NIOS, New Delhi and
back.
2nd Project Meeting: Meeting with Mrs Frances
Ferreira, Education Specialist, Basic Education and
Open Schooling, COL (on a visit to NIOS) and the
Project Team (NIOS): Prof. Koul presented a brief
report on the progress (very little) made that far.
18 May-10 June
---
Collection of data through the good offices of NIOS
2007
and the efforts of the Project Team. Work on the
documents received from NIOS and preparation of four
sections
(draft) on NIOS/India.
11 June 2007
---
2nd Progress Report and the draft of the first set
comprising
four sections on NIOS/India e-mailed to
COL, NIOS and Prof. Rumble.
12-24 June 2007 ---
Research and writing continued.
25 June 2007
11.30-17.30
3rd Project Meeting: Feedback on the first four sections
received and discussed; additional data and documents
collected from and advice for further requirements
given to the members of the Project Team.
26 June-8 July
---
Research and writing continued.
2007
9 July 2007
---
3rd Progress Report and the draft of the second set
comprising five
sections on NIOS/India e-mailed to
COL, NIOS and Prof. Rumble.
10 July 2007
12.30-17.30
Travel: Gurgaon, Haryana to NIOS, New Delhi and
back.
Meeting with Shri S K Anand, Deputy Director,
Accounts, NIOS, for various clarifications needed to
analyse the details of NIOS Accounts as they appear in
official documents.
11 July-6 Aug.
---
Research and writing continued.
2007
7 August 2007
11.30-17.30
4th Project Meeting: Feedback on draft of the second set
of five
sections on NIOS/India received and discussed;
more data and documents collected from and advice for
additional requirements given to the members of the
Project Team.
8-26 Aug. 2007
---
Research and writing continued.
27 August 2007
---
4th Progress Report and the draft of the third set
comprising three sections
on NIOS/India e-mailed to
COL, NIOS and Prof. Rumble.
28-30 Aug. 2007 ---
Research and writing continued.
31 August 2007
---
5th Progress Report and the draft of the fourth set
comprising eight sections
on NIOS/India e-mailed to
COL, NIOS and Prof. Rumble.
2-5 Sept. 2007
---
Visit to Emmanuel Mission Secondary School,
Bhilwara, Rajasthan. Meeting with the Advisor, Shri
Padam Nath Khar and collection of data.

262




7-18 Sept. 2007
---
Research and writing continued.
20 Sept. 2007
09.00-20.00
Travel: Gurgaon, Haryana to NIOS, New Delhi and
back.
5th Project Meeting: Feedback on the drafts of the third
set (three
sections) and the fourth set (eight sections)
on NIOS/India received and discussed; more data and
documents collected from the members of the Project
Team.
24 Sept. 2007
10.30
Depart Gurgaon, Haryana
19.30
Arrive London
25 Sept. 2007
10.00-17.00
Meeting at Thistle Victoria Hotel: All the drafts
prepared by Profs. Rumble and Koul discussed and

commented on for modifications. Also, a revised work
schedule agreed to complete the remaining tasks.
19.30-21.30
Dinner: Mrs Frances Ferreira, Education Specialist,
Basic Education and Open Schooling, COL; Professor
G Rumble and Professor B N Koul.
26 Sept. 2007
08.00-10.00
Breakfast Meeting: Mrs Frances Ferreira, Education
Specialist, Basic Education and Open Schooling, COL;
Professors G Rumble and Koul.
27 Sept. 20072
12.00
Depart Thistle Victoria Hotel/London
28 Sept. 2007
11.30
Arrive Gurgaon, Haryana
30 Sept. – 4 Oct. ---
Work on the new data received from the Project Team
2007
on Sept. 20.
5-11 Oct. 2007
---
Preparations for and depart for treatment in Pittsburgh,
USA [Non-Project activity]
12-18 Oct. 2007 ---
Modifications in, additions to and reshaping of the
earlier draft 12 sections (the last 8 sections were left
out); newly shaped Chapters 3 and 4, comprising 5
sections each, prepared and mailed to Prof. Rumble on
Oct. 18, 2007.
19-26 Oct. 2007 ---
Remaining gaps (Abbreviations, Acknowledgements
and Appendices) filled, final revision completed and the
handover version of Chapters 3 and 4 e-mailed to Prof.
Rumble and the 6th Progress Report sent to Mrs Frances
Ferreira, COL.
30 Oct. 2007

Consultants’ final version of the Report sent to COL.

APPENDIX 2: PROFESSOR RUMBLE'S PROGRAMME
Date Time
Activity
Friday 30 March 12.30
Depart London Heathrow
2007
19.00
Arrive Vancouver via Calgary
Tuesday 3 April 09.00-10.30 Welcome
and
introductory session, Sir John Daniel,
2007
President and CEO, Commonwealth of Learning; Dr

263




Asha Kanwar, Vice President COL; Mrs Frances
Ferreira, Education Specialist, Basic Education and
Open Schooling; Professor B N Koul, Professor G
Rumble

11.30-12.00
Conference Call with NAMCOL (Mr Harold Murangi,
Mr Jan Nitsche, and Mr Beans Ngatjizeko)

14.30-16.00
Mrs F Ferreira, Professor Koul, Professor Rumble:
Agreement of Terms of Reference and structure of
report
Wednesday 4
09.00-12.00
Finalisation of contracts
April 2007

17.30-19.00
Dinner: Sir John Daniel, Dr Asha Kanwar, Professors
Koul and Rumble
Saturday 7 April 16.30 Depart
Vancouver
2007
Sunday 8 April
12.30
Arrive London via Edmonton
2007
12 April – 26
-
Research and write draft of Chapter 2
April
Monday 14 May 21.30 Depart
London
2007
Tuesday 15 May 12.30
Arrive Windhoek, Namibia via Johannesburg. Met by
2007
Mr Jan Nitschke, Manager, Research and Evaluation,
NAMCOL
Wednesday 16
09.00-10.00
Mr Jerry Beukes, Deputy Director Programme and
May 2007
Materials Development, NAMCOL; Mr Ephraim
Dawids, Acting Deputy Director, Management and
Support Services, NAMCOL; Mr Jan Nitschke,
Manager, Research and Evaluation, NAMCOL; Ms
Sylvia Makari, Senior Accountant, Finance and
Administration, NAMCOL; Ms Francina Keendjele,
Regional Manager, Central Region, NAMCOL

11.00-11.30
Mr Beans Uazembua Ngatjizeko, Director, Department
of Adult Education, Ministry of Education

11.30-12.30
Mr Justin Ellis, Under-Secretary, Ministry of Education

15.00-16.00
Mr Jerry Beukes, Deputy Director Programme and
Materials Development, NAMCOL
Thursday 17
-
Public Holiday: Research Day
May 2007
Friday 18 May
10.00-10.45
Mr Bertus Gous, Senior Education Officer, Secondary
2007
Education, Programme and Quality Assurance, Ministry
of Education

11.15-11.45
Mr Alfred Ilukena, Under Secretary, Formal Education,
Ministry of Education

12.30-12.45
Mr D Koch, Senior Systems Analyst, Examinations
Section, Directorate of National Examinations and
Assessment

12.45-13.30
Mr Theophilus Kakonda, Economist, Planning,
Ministry of Education
Saturday 19

Research

264




May 2007
Sunday 20 May
Research
2007
Monday 21 May 09.00-09.30
Mr Heroldt Murangi, Director, NAMCOL
Tuesday 22 May 10.00-11.15
Mr Heroldt Murangi, Director, NAMCOL
2007
Wednesday 23
08.15-09.00
Mr Johan P van Wyk, Deputy Director, Division of
May 2007
Information Technology, Ministry of Education

09.15-10.15
Mrs Sandra van Zyl, Chief Higher Education Officer,
ETSIP, Ministry of Education

10.30-10.45
Mr Bertus Gous, Senior Education Officer, Secondary
Education, Programme and Quality Assurance, Ministry
of Education
Thursday 24
Research
May 2007
Friday 25 May

Public Holiday: Research
2007
Saturday 26
Research
May 2007
Sunday 27 May
Research/writing
up
2007
Monday 28 May 14.15-14.30
Mr Justin Ellis, Under-Secretary, Ministry of Education
2007

14.30-1500
Dr Heide Tavakovi, Financial Planner, Corporate
Planning, MOE

15.00-1530
Mrs Alida Boethe, Hostels Directorate, MOE

15.30-15.45
Dr Heide Tavakovi, Financial Planner, Corporate
Planning, MOE

15.45-16.00
Mr Beyleveld, MOE

16.00-16.30
Mr Beans Uazembua Ngatjizeko, Director, Department
of Adult Education, Ministry of Education
Tuesday 29 May 11.00-13.00
Seminar on costing for NAMCOL Materials
2007
Development Division and Finance Division staff

14.00-14.30
Mr D Koch, Senior Systems Analyst, Examinations
Section, Directorate of National Examinations and
Assessment
Wednesday 30
09.00-09.30
Mr Ephraim Dawids, Manager of Learner Support,
May 2007

NAMCOL

09.30-09.45
Mrs. Rholene Bok, Marketing and Information Officer,
NAMCOL

10.00-11.00
Mrs Petrina Kamati, Senior Manager, Finance and
Administration, NAMCOL

11.00-12.20
Mr Heroldt Murangi, Director, NAMCOL
Thursday 31
11.00-11.15
Rogger Ihemba, Research and Evaluation Unit.
May 2007
Friday 1 June
09.00-13.00
NAMCOL Closed for Graduation Day: Attendance at
2007
Graduation Ceremony. Discussions at the ceremony
with Mr Justin Ellis, Under-Secretary, Ministry of
Education, and Mr Beans Uazembua Ngatjizeko,

265




Director, Department of Adult Education, Ministry of
Education
15.00-19.00
Writing
up
Saturday, 2 June Writing
up
2007
Sunday 3 June
Writing
up
2007
Monday 4 June
13.00-13.15
Mrs Frances Ferreira, Education Specialist, Basic
2007
Education and Open Schooling, COL

14.30-15.00
Mrs Petrina Kamati, Senior Manager, Finance and
Administration, NAMCOL

15.00-15.15
Mr Heroldt Murangi, Director, NAMCOL
Tuesday 5 June


2007

15.00
Depart Windhoek, Namibia
Wednesday 6
06.30
Arrive London via Johannesburg
June 2007
17 – 30 June

Complete draft of report chapters
2007
30 June

Draft Chapters 1, 2, 5 and 6 to COL: subject to
NAMCOL comments.
Monday 17
19.30-21.00
London: Dinner with Mrs Frances Ferreira, Education
September 2007
Specialist, Basic Education and Open Schooling,
Commonwealth of Learning
Tuesday 18
10.00-16.30
Meeting with Mrs Frances Ferreira, Education
September 2007
Specialist, Basic Education and Open Schooling,
Commonwealth of Learning, and professor B. N. Koul:
Review of draft report and agreement on work
remaining

20.00-22.00
Dinner with Professor B. N. Koul
Wednesday 19
10.30 Depart
London
September 2007
22 September –

Produce final versions of Chapters 1, 2, 5 and 6 and
4 October 2007
despatch to COL and Prof. Koul
5 October – 30

Write Chapter 7 and despatch to COL
October 2007
Work on final chapters integrating work of Profs Koul
and Rumble









266

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