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Educational Management

Notes as a follow-up to the National Policy on Education, there was an effort to create State Institute of
Educational Planning and Administration (SIEPA) at the state level. However, these efforts did not
materialise. Interestingly, when DIETs came into existence in the late 1980s, a department/branch
of educational planning and management was created and hence, an arrangement at the district
level became a reality.
In the 1990s the efforts towards decentralised planning in education, keeping district as a unit for
planning, took a more concrete shape. With the initiation of large scale externally funded educational
projects in primary education, the demand for local level capacity to prepare district plans in education
increased. This necessitated developing professional competency in educational planning at the
local level which needed support from institutions at the state level.

31.1 State Institute of Educational Management and Training (SIEMAT)

NIEPA has been advocating setting-up of SIEMAT as a separate institute. This is more so in states
which are big and where the number of educational administrators to be trained are large. The need
for a separate institution stems from various factors.

Firstly, educational planning and management is a less developed area of specialization in India.
There are only very few universities or institutions imparting education and training in the area of
educational planning and management. On the other hand, there are many departments and
institutions in the country which impart education and training for improving pedagogical skills of
educational functionaries (teachers). It may be a better idea to have state level arrangement as a
separate institute where the concerns can be centered around developing planning and management
competencies of educational functionaries.
Secondly, with the progress in our efforts towards decentralisation of educational planning and
management, the number of functionaries involved in the planning process has increased. They
require professional support and academic orientation to formulate plans and to develop
implementation designs. This in itself is a massive effort, especially in states which are large in size.
Moreover, planning process has expanded from the district to the sub-district levels. Needless to
add, the demand for professional support is also directly related to such expanding base of planning
requirements at the local levels. Therefore, only a separate institute with full fledged faculty and
departments will be able to provide regular support to planning activities.

Thirdly, an institutional arrangement relating to educational planning and management needs to
take into account all levels of education. It may not be desirable and possible to develop separate
institutions for various levels of education. Therefore, while visualising an institute, one may have
to keep a long-term development of the educational system of the state in mind rather than the
short-term demands put by any particular sector of education. The SCERT by definition deals with
school level education. If SIEMAT becomes a part or department of SCERT, then there is a possibility
that it may deal only with school level education.

SIEMAT is an academic institution and any academic institution requires an element of
autonomy in its operation to develop it into a professional institution.

Fourthly, funding and support needed to develop such organisational arrangements are now
forthcoming. For example, the DPEP provides a chance to setup SIEMAT as a separate institution.
This opportunity may be utilised to realise the long-term objective of the state. It may happen that
the institute may focus its attention in the initial stages towards planning of elementary levels of
education. Even otherwise, since universalisation of elementary education is Constitutional
commitment and a fundamental right in India, any institute dealing with the planning and

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