| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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Since the initiative was mainly to implement a GIS system which could aid decision making, the choice of technology was based on geospatial technology as advised by BISAG.
Team: i) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
ii) Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Application and Geo-informatics (BISAG)
Initiatives taken for development:
1.Actual location of each school (Latitude and Longitude) retrieved from the Google Earth application
2.School location marked in Google earth software by each CRC co. & Block MIS co. at Block level
3.School location marked as School DISE code and also nearby famous places were also marked
4.The Lat/Long obtained were integrated in the actual GIS application of BISAG
5.Mapping of schools, CRC, BRC, Cluster Boundary in GIS environment
6.Integration of Geo-Spatial Database with departmental school data
7.Criteria based GIS analysis - category wise (For Primary and Upper Primary school)
8.Identification of habitation not served by present criteria
9.Identification of most suitable location for establishing proposed school based on the Demography generation and available infrastructure facility
10.GIS based School information system(Web GIS)
Data Sources:
1.District Information System for Education (DISE) School Database
2.High Resolution Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Data
3.Revenue boundary, Settlement Location
4.Road and building departmental Data
5.Census data
Strategic actions defined for the initiative:
1.Mapping of actual 40943 school locations, CRC, BRC, and Cluster Boundary in GIS environment.
2.Integration of Geo-Spatial Database with Departmental School Data.
3.Criteria based GIS Analysis
i.Category wise (For Primary and Upper Primary School)
ii.Facility Wise
iii.Management wise.
iv.Educational parameters like PTR, Gender participation index, Enrollment, dropout.
v.Identification of infrastructural gap to meet RTE norms.
4.Identification of villages not served by present criteria.
5.Identification of most suitable village location for proposed school based on the Demography and available infrastructure facility.
6.User search facility of nearby school through Google maps.
7.Creation of buffer of the user's position and list of schools under that buffer.
8.Authorized official can add new school by inserting latitude-longitude of that location.
9.Facilities related to new school can be updated through form.
10.New dimension to analysing and monitoring RTE implementation.
11.Feedback form from citizen to Government(Access, Quality & Infrastructure)
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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While the initiative was spearheaded by the State Project Director of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, he was backed by the SSA MIS team and the technology support provided by BISAG.
Apart from them, the actual implementation and ground work has been done by Block Resource Coordinators and Cluster Resource Coordinators who were responsible for the actual mapping exercise.
The following team members have actively participated for successful implementation of the System:
1.State Management Information System (MIS) Team
2.District MIS Team & District Project Coordinators
3.Block MIS Team & Block Resource Centre (BRC) Coordinators
4.Cluster Resource Centre (CRC) Coordinators
To participate in the mapping processes, all CRCs and BRCs were provided thorough training on the mapping process along with training on the following topics:
1.Use of KML file with Google Earth application
2.Mapping the DISE village code with Census village code.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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In house development of the solution and continued technical support from a state based agency BISAG has led to reduction in costs of the GIS. Enhancements and additions to the decision support system are provided promptly by BISAG.
Initially, an expenditure of Rs.6,00,000/- was made for technical support of BISAG to develop a GIS environment. The system is being maintained without any financial burden with the help of an in-house team and support from BISAG. The funds for development and maintenance are being provided through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme.
Gujarat Council of Elementary Education (GCEE) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) have implemented the GIS School Mapping with its own project team with the support of BISAG. The Statement Management Information System under the guidance of GCEE has monitored and executed the implementation strategy. At the field level, the MIS team coordinates with the various district MIS team and the CRC and BRC for actual mapping of attributes pertaining to various schools.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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Result Achieved:
1.Objectives of the Right to education Act (RTE) have been achieved.
2.Stakeholders have become more technology friendly and more conscious of the need for better educational facilities
3.Department of Education has become more efficient and accurate in detailing of all the activities and planning its activities out
4.SSA is able to provide quality services and is more aligned with its goals due to feedback provided by end users and SSA staff itself.
5.System is available in public domain for use of citizens with URL- www.gujarat-education.gov.in/ "Click on Know your Neighbourhood School"
6.Users are free to access and shoot customized query in the system to fetch data as per their need
Objectives fulfilled:
GIS School Mapping works as a decision support system to identify areas where improvement in educational infrastructure is required. So far, the following objectives have been achieved:
1.All 40943 schools including private schools mapped with actual school locations and Block-Cluster boundary
2.School facility mapping in GIS environment.
3.Multi-criteria analysis.
4.Efficient Selection of villages to setup a new school.
5.Verification of suggested villages.
6.GIS based gap analysis.
7.Proposing new locations based on existing facilities.
The system not only helps the children or parents to find out the best schools to study in, but also provides a comparative analysis between schools which helps them to take the right decision.
It fulfils the SSA goal to achieve RTE objectives by facilitating the administration to spot un-served habitats and act accordingly. In the current year i.e. 2013, total 29 new schools have been opened based on this system and ensured 100% access to Elementary Education. Other Government Departments are also able to reach in un-served areas found through this system. For example, Disaster Management Department can also establish its office in such un-served area. Transportation Department can also create new facility for un-served locality.
The community pertaining to un-served habitations has benefited as far as receiving Elementary Education is concerned. Education Department, Local authorities i.e. Municipal Corporations, Jilla Panchayat, Nagar Panchayat or Gram Panchayat are able to identify requirements for facilitating universal availability of Elementary Education. Educationalists, Researchers, Social Workers and NGOs are also able to check existing schooling facilities available under Elementary Education for a specific area and are able to analyze by disaggregation and customized inputs.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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GIS mapping of schools was implemented in 2010.
GIS school mapping is has been very much effective and successful. SSA Gujarat along with BISAG team strategically planned the project to get the best result to achieve its objectives.
The data sources used for the system are fully authentic which are DISE School Database and High Resolution Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Data. DISE has been made operational in all the districts of the state through which data from all the recognized schools/sections imparting elementary education are being constantly collected and disseminated.
The CRC and BRC officials were initially provided training to ensure that they are well aware of the mapping exercise.
Training:
District and Block MIS Coordinators are trained on entire mapping process periodically at State Project Office with technical support from BISAG.
Training imparted mainly on following aspects:
1.How to locate the school using Google Earth Software
2.Use of KML file with Google Earth application
3.Mapping the DISE village code with Census village code.
The implementation was monitored in a staggered manner to keep track of the mapping exercise.
1.Mapping of actual school locations, CRC, BRC, and Cluster Boundary in GIS environment with updates as per DISE database updated annually
2.Integration of Geo-Spatial Database with Departmental School Data i.e. District Information System for Education (DISE) which provides information on vital parameters relating to students, teachers and infrastructure at elementary stage.
3.Criteria based GIS Analysis Utility of the software
1.Category wise (For Primary and Upper Primary School)
2.Facility Wise
3.Management wise etc.
4.Utility for identification of villages not served by existing criteria.
5.Utility to prioritize most suitable village location for a proposed school based on the Demography and available infrastructure facility.
6.User search facility for nearby school through Google maps.
7.Tools for creation of buffer of the user's position and list of schools under that buffer.
9.Addition of new school through latitude-longitude by authenticated person as per DISE updates.
10.Updating facilities related to new school through a form.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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Although the system has incorporated systematic mechanism to map all Elementary Schools in GIS environment, there were few obstacles faced during implementation.
1.Locating Longitude-latitude of the schools: The biggest problem was to locate the latitude and longitude of schools. The stakeholders went through a rigorous exercise of locating exact latitude and longitude. The local people of the village, school and cluster resource center collaborated to find location and to fix longitude-latitude on the Satellite/ Geographic Map. This was the biggest hurdle in implementation and was successfully cleared.
2.Capacity Building: As in most cases, inculcation of technology was faced with reluctance mainly due to the lack of know-how on how to operate the system. While IT software and applications are common in government departments these days, GIS was a relatively new area and to be able to extract maximum from the power of geo-spatial tools required officials to be trained. This problem was overcome by providing thorough operational training to stakeholders and sensitizing them towards effective utilization of such a tool.
3. Non-mapped locations: It was difficult to locate schools in difficult terrains like forests. These non-mapped schools were located with rigorous monitoring and field level precise efforts by Cluster Resource Center Coordinators and Teachers. These issues are also being settled down with continuous support and consultation with the stakeholders and more thorough mapping exercises with the help of BISAG.
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