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Unit 31: SIEMAT as an Apex Body in Educational Planning and Management

department. Therefore, the institute may frequently face the problem of not having competent staff Notes
in some of the existing academics. In these cases the faculty members of SIEMAT identify themselves
with the administrative cadres and many of them are eager to go back to the main-stream
administration than remaining in the institute.
Secondly, in certain situations the faculty members are recruited for short durations, not necessarily
from the administration. They are brought on deputation from other institutions or universities and
are available only for a limited period. Even in this case, although they are not called back
immediately, they are not in a position to continue in the institute for a long time. Therefore, faculty
development programmes are adversely affected.
It may be desirable for these institutions to have a separate cadre of faculty which will eventually be
specialised in the area of educational planning and administration. A distinction needs to be made
between issues related to educational planning and management and issues related to pedagogical
aspects of education. All the states have State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT)
which focuses on pedagogical improvement. SIEMATs are not expected to focus on pedagogical
issues. Therefore, pedagogical experts may not be recruited as faculty members in SIEMATs. A
more desirable qualification for SIEMAT faculty members may be post-graduates and Doctor level
educated people in the area of social sciences with research or working experience in the field of
education. This will help them see educational planning from a broader perspective in its inter-
relatedness with other sectors of development. Since, specialists in educational planning and
management are not readily available.

It is important to emphasise the orientation and development of the faculty members
once they are recruited and posted in SIEMATs.

31.4 Focus on Staff Development

The major activity of the Institute will be research and training, apart from policy support which the
institute may be providing to decision makers at different levels. However, even this advisory role
requires a strong research back-up. Therefore, in the ultimate analysis, research and training become
major areas of activity of the institute.
The capacity building in the Institute requires building capacities to undertake training activities
and to initiate research studies. There is a close link between research and training which needs to
be appreciated in these institutions. The trainees are educational practitioners and the faculty members
need not be very familiar with the practice of educational administration. Therefore, it is very
important to see that the faculty members understand educational administration from a more
objective point of view so that they are in a position to handle quality training programmes to
improve the efficiency of educational planners and administrators. For this purpose, research becomes
a very necessary and important function of the institute. Action research, field-based studies, case
studies, evaluation studies and diagnostic studies to understand the functioning of the system, need
to be built into the regular activities of the Institute.

Capacity building for research activities cannot be organised through short-duration training
programmes, although it is possible to train faculty members in a particular research methodology
within a short duration. Therefore, based on the theme identified for research, one may have to
have close academic interactions with experts in the selected areas working in universities and
other research institutions. This may create an initial environment conducive to research activities
in SIEMAT. Needless to add, the major form of capacity building in research is learning-by-doing.
This can be facilitated only when the institute initiates research studies.

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