State Consultant- Right to Education (RTE) Monitoring and Community Participation - International Development Agency

1. POSITION VACANT: State Consultant- Right to Education (RTE) Monitoring and Community Participation, International Development Agency (IDA), Patna, Bihar

2. ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND:

Our client is a respected, International Development Agency, that works across the globe to promote children's survival, protection and development.

Project Background

Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009 has a historic significance in terms of making states accountable for ensuring access to quality elementary education to all children in 6-14 age group. Even though RTE has celebrated its eighth anniversary, many RTE goals remain unfulfilled. Bihar has the highest share of Out of School Children (OOSC) in the country having 33.3% share of the overall burden. Renewed commitment to ensure quality education to all children, collaboration and partnership along with a focused approach to map out of school children is required as an immediate step towards fulfilment of RTE promises.

Several positive changes have been observed in Bihar in context of education since last one and half decade. Political will to improve educational scenario on one hand and enactment of RTE Act on the other hand have accelerated these efforts. There has been an increase in enrollment over the years. Net Enrolment Rate (NER) in Bihar is 87.6% at upper primary level as recorded in 2014 as against 26.46% in 2005-6 as per UDISE data. Despite the improvements, Bihar’s educational status, the road to ensuring quality education to all children is long and complex one. To address the issue of mainstreaming of out of school children (OOSC), community-based volunteers (Tola Sevaks and Talimi Markaz) have been placed for Mahadalit and Muslim pockets respectively. Residential and non-residential bridge courses are being run either directly by BEPC or with support of NGOs for bringing OOSC back to schools.

On one hand Education Department must ensure quality education to all children through better monitoring and supervision of teachers, on the other hand, community engagement is also crucial to establish community-based mechanisms to provide support to schools. In Bihar, SMCs and Parent Teacher Associations are yet to evolve as support and monitoring groups for schools. Literacy as well as parental awareness is low resulting in limited community participation in school affairs. Engagement of parents is important for ensuring preventive measures against high dropout rates. Dwindling attendance coupled with low academic achievements indicate that the child is vulnerable to becoming a school dropout.   Thus, community-based campaigns to ensure that parents actively support child in continuing education by sending him or her to school every day and also by keeping track of child’s progress in school by having regular discussion with teacher is critical. Besides the preventive measures against drop outs, there is a need for engagement with communities to ensure mainstreaming of drop outs.

IDA has been working with BEPC in monitoring the RTE through U-DISE analysis, it has worked towards strengthening SMCs with a view to engage parents on RTE issues and has also assisted BEPC in developing monitoring mechanisms for implementing residential and non-residential bridge courses. In continuation with these steps, there is a need to further support BEPC to track progress on RTE and to develop robust strategies for preventing drop outs and for mainstreaming of OOSC. State Consultant RTE Monitoring and Community Participation will play a crucial role in strengthening planning and MIS system of BEPC, developing monitoring and support mechanisms for SMCs and strengthening advocacy efforts for mainstreaming of out of school children. S/he will support BEPC in its efforts to mainstream OOSC. S/he will also assist BEPC in forming alliances and collaborations with other departments and agencies that may assist in mainstreaming drop outs.

3. JOB DESCRIPTION/ RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under the overall guidance of the State Project Director, BEPC and Education Specialist – Bihar of the International Development Agency, the State Consultant- Right to Education (RTE) Monitoring and Community Participation (SC-RMCP) shall be responsible to map and review existing mechanisms for identification, enrolment and mainstreaming of out of school children and strengthen existing programs and packages for supporting Out of School Children and mechanisms for engaging with parents, SMCs and communities on RTE. S/he shall also been assisting government in developing coalitions and alliances for addressing the issue of OOSC holistically taking into consideration the specific issues/ reasons that hinder enrolment and retention in specific areas or pockets.

Key Job Responsibilities:

(1) Facilitate mapping and identification of drop outs through collaborative and convergent efforts with BEPC, BBOSE, Mass Education and Madarasa Board;
(2) Review and revise existing mechanisms for identification and mainstreaming drop outs in different age groups (i.e. 6-14 years and 15-19 years);
(3) Review of curriculum and pedagogy issues for different mainstreaming packages for OOSC for residential as well as non-residential courses for all age groups;
(4) Provide suggestions on revisions in curriculum and pedagogy based on the review of different mainstreaming interventions;
(5) Assist BEPC in building and strengthening mechanisms for community engagement on RTE and OOSC;
(6) In consultation with Department of Mass Education, BEPC, Bihar Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (BMSP), Bihar Board of Open School Examination (BBOSE), State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), Bihar Madarsa board come up with recommendations on policy and implementation issues with regards to OOSC and community Participation.

4. QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES:

Qualification:
Applicants must have a Master’s Degree in the field of Education, Management, M&E or Social Sciences.

Experience:
(1) Minimum eight years' experience of working in Elementary Education;
(2) Experience in planning and monitoring of Education Programs or related issues shall be preferred.

Skills and Competencies:

Demonstrated abilities in educational research and documentation skills;
Skills of working with government and partners and understanding of system of education;
Good computing skills in Microsoft package;
Good command over English and Hindi.

5. NATURE OF ENGAGEMENT:

The SC-RMCP shall be hired on a consultancy contract through Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd. (SAMS), a respected HR Agency.

6. PROFESSIONAL FEES:

Professional fees of the selected candidate shall be Rs. 85,600/- per month for the period of the consultancy assignment. (Note: Subsistence, Mobility and Contingency support shall be separately provided, to address field travel and related costs incurred by the SC-RMCP).

7. LOCATION: Patna with need base travel to field.

8. DURATION:

The consultancy assignment will be effective from the date of joining till June 30, 2018.

9. REFERENCE: SC-RMCP

10. CONTACT INFORMATION:

Senior Consultant
Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd.
1/1B, Choudhary Hetram House, Bharat Nagar
New Friends Colony, New Delhi 110 025
Phone Nos.: 011- 2684 2162; 4165 3612
Email: sc-rmcp@sams.co.in

11. APPLICATION PROCESS:

Eligible candidates interested in this position are requested to apply to sc-rmcp@sams.co.in with a cover letter, discussing their interest in and suitability for the position, along with an updated resume, giving details of three references, current cost to organization and expected compensation, by February 4, 2018.