2nd visit to Polba district

11.12.07

Me and Amrita started for Polba at 9 am by Sri Ram's car. We reached at Pipulpati, Hooghly at 11 a.m. From there, we started for Polba with Ms. Mitra Biswas, AI of DPSC office. First we reached at one junior basic school close to one high school for boys. Here, I found no drinking water and bathroom facilities. Amrita collected data from another school attached to one high school for girls.

 

In both schools, teachers are not well aware about use of teaching learning materials. The schools bought several instruments like globe, many charts, weight machine, and models.

 

From there, we returned to again DPSC office and to ISI at 18-30.

Visit to Madaha

10.10.07

Gour Express started at 10:15 P.M. from Sealdaha station. On the next day, I reached at Maldaha town station at 6 A.M. Mr. Sinha (DI ) picked me from SBI ATM counter and arranged one accomodation at Maldaha Lodge. At 8 A.M. I started for Chanchol by jeep. The contract was that I would pay the full fuel charge for the tour. Around 10 A.M. I reached at Chanchol -2 and contacted SI from the bus stand. I met SI at 10:30 A.M. and he accompanied me to visit Siddheswari school. The school is situated within the complex of Rajbari of the king Sharat Chandra Roy Choudhury. I  divided students into two groups - good and poor students based on teacher's opinion keeping the students' unaware of such classifications. I administered full questionnarires to good and partial questionnaire to poor students. Next, I went to Dakshayani school and collected data from only good students. I used this classification as poor students fail to comprehend the questions. Amrita by analysing SSA report, identified these two schools as good and poor infrastructure facilities.

 

At 6-30, I returned to  school council office at Atul market. There I met DPSC chairman, Dr. Uttam Sarkar. He arranged my next visit at Mothabari block of Kaliachak -2.

    Next day, I went to Mothabari block. There I met SI who accompanied me to visit two schools all the time. At night, I returned from Maldah town by Gour express at 9-35 P.M.

 

 

Psychological contract theory

http://wfnetwork.bc.edu/encyclopedia_entry.php?id=250

 

History and Definitions of the Concept: The notion of the "psychological contract" was first coined by Argyris (1960) to refer to employer and employee expectations of the employment relationship, i.e. mutual obligations, values, expectations and aspirations that operate over and above the formal contract of employment. Since then there have been many attempts to develop and refine this concept. Historically, the concept can be viewed as an extension of philosophical concepts of social contract theory (Schein, 1980; Roehling, 1997). The social contract, which deals with the origins of the state, supposes that individuals voluntarily consent to belonging to an organised society, with attendant constraints and rights. Argyris (1960) used the concept to describe an implicit agreement between a group of employees and their supervisor. Other influential early writers such as Levinson, Price, Munden, and Solley (1962), used the concept to describe the set of expectations and obligations that individual employees spoke of when talking about their work experience. They identified a number of different types of employee expectations, held both consciously (for example expectations about job performance, security, and financial rewards) and unconsciously (for example being looked after by the employer). Roehling (1997) credits Levinson et al (1962) with explicitly recognising the dynamic relationship of the psychological contract: contracts evolve or change over time as a result of changing needs and relationships on both the employee's and the employer's side. Schein (1965) emphasised the importance of the psychological contract concept in understanding and managing behaviour in organisations. He argued that expectations may not be written into any formal agreement but operate powerfully as determinants of behaviour. For example, an employer may expect a worker not to harm the company's public image, and an employee may expect not to be made redundant after many years' service. Like Levinson et al (1962), Schein emphasised that the psychological contract will change over time.

 

Recent developments in psychological contract theory are largely dominated by Rousseau (e.g. 1989; 1995; 2001). Rousseau argues the psychological contract is promise-based and, over time, takes the form of a mental model or schema which is relatively stable and durable. Rousseau (1989) explicitly distinguished between conceptualisations at the level of the individual and at the level of the relationship, focusing in her theory on individual employees' subjective beliefs about their employment relationship. Crucially, the employer and employee may not agree about what the contract actually involves, which can lead to feelings that promises have been broken, or, as it is generally termed, the psychological contract has been violated.

 

Rousseau's conceptualisation of the psychological contract focuses on the employee's side of the contract, so can be termed a "one-way contract". Much recent work has focused on the employee's understanding of the explicit and implicit promises regarding the exchange of employee contributions (e.g. effort, loyalty, ability) for organisational inducements (e.g. pay, promotion, security) (Rousseau, 1995, Conway & Briner, 2002). The employer's perspective has received less attention.

 

References

 

Ang, S., Tan, M. L. & Ng, K.Y. (2000). Psychological contracts in Singapore. In D. Rousseau and R. Schalk (Eds.), Psychological contracts in employment: Cross-national perspectives. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

 

Argyris, C. (1960). Understanding organisational behaviour. Homewood, Illinois: Dorsey Press.

 

Brannen, J., Lewis, S., Nilsen, A., & Smithson, J. (Eds.) (2002). Young Europeans, work and family: Futures in transition. London: Routledge.

 

Conway, N., & Briner, R. B. (2002). Full-time versus part-time employees: Understanding the links between work status, the psychological contract, and attitudes. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 61, 279-301.

 

Coussey, M. (2000). Getting the right work-life balance. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel Directors.

 

Guest, D. E. (1998). Is the psychological contract worth taking seriously? Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 19 (special issue), 649-664.

 

Guest, D., & Conaway, N. (1998). Fairness at work and the psychological contract. London: Institute of Personnel and Development.

 

Harwood, R. (2003). The psychological contract and remote working. An interview with Denise Rousseau. Ahoy Magazine, January 2003. www.odysseyzone.com/news/hot/rousseau.htm.

 

Herriot, P. (1992). The career management challenge. London: Sage Publications.

 

Herriot, P., Manning, W. E. G., & Kidd, J. M. (1997). The content of the psychological contract. British Journal of Management, 8, 151-162.

 

Hudson, M., Reed, H., & Wilkinson, F. (1998). Defining job insecurity: Towards an inter-disciplinary approach. Paper presented at 12th Annual Employment Research Unit Conference, Cardiff.

 

Kickul, J. (2001). When organizations break their promises: Employee reactions to unfair processes and treatment. Journal of Business Ethics, 29(4), 289-307.

 

Kickul, J. R., Neuman, G., Parker, C., & Finkl, J. (2001). Settling the score: The role of organizational justice in the relationship between psychological contract breach and anticitizenship behavior. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 13(2), 77-93.

 

Larwood, L., Wright, T. A., Desrochers, S., & Dahir, V. (1998). Extending latent role and psychological contract theories to predict intent to turnover and politics in business organizations. Group and Organization Management, 23(2), 100-123.

 

Levinson, H., Price, C. R., Munden, K. J., & Solley, C. M. (1962). Men, management and mental health. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

 

Lewis, S., & Smithson, J. (2001). Sense of entitlement to support for the reconciliation of employment and family life. Human Relations, 54(11), 1455-1481.

 

Lewis, S., Smithson, J. & Das Dores Guerreiro, M. (2002). Into work: Job insecurity and psychological contracts. In J. Brannen, S. Lewis, A. Nilesen, & J. Smithson (Eds.), Young European work and family. London: Sage.

 

MacNeil, I. R. (1985). Relational contract: What we do and do not know. Wisconsin Law Review, 483-525.

 

Management Today (September, 2003, forthcoming).

 

Martin, G., Staines, H., & Pate, J. (1998). Linking job security and career development in a new psychological contract. Human Resource Management Journal, 8(3), 20-40.

 

McFarlane Shore, L., & Tetrick, L. P. (1994). The psychological contract as an explanatory framework in the employment relationship. Trends in Organizational Behaviour, 1, 91-109.

 

McLean Parks, J., & Kidder, D. A. (1994). Till death us do part ...: Changing work relationships in the 1990s. Trends in Organizational Behaviour, 1, 111-136.

 

Morrison E. W., & Robinson, S. L. (1997). When employees feel betrayed: A model of how psychological contract violation develops. Academy of Management Review, 22, 26-256.

 

Noer, D. (2000). Leading organizations through survivor sickness: A framework for the new millennium. In R. Burke & C.L. Cooper (Eds.), The organisation in crisis. Oxford: Blackwell.

 

Nicholson, N., & Johns, G. (1985). The absence culture and the psychological contract. Academy of Management Review, 10, 397-407.

 

Porter, L. W., Pearce, J. L., Tripoli, A. M., & Lewis, K. M. (1998). Differential perceptions of employers' inducements: Implications for psychological contracts. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 19, 769-782.

 

Robinson, S., & Rousseau, D. (1994). Violating the psychological contract: Not the exception but the norm. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 16, 289-298

 

Robinson, S., & Wolfe-Morrison, E. (1995). Psychological contracts and organizational citizenship behaviour: The effect of unfulfilled obligations on civic virtue behaviour. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 16, 289-298.

 

Roehling, M. V. (1997). The origins and early development of the psychological contract construct. Journal of Management History, 3(2), 204-217.

 

Roehling, P. V., Roehling, M. V., & Moen, P. (2001). The relationship between work-life policies and practices and employee loyalty: A life course perspective. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 21(22), 141-171.

 

Rousseau, D. M. (1989). Psychological and implicit contracts in organizations. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 2, 121-139.

 

Rousseau, D. M. (1995). Promises in action: Psychological contracts in organizations. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

 

Rousseau, D. M. (2001a). Schema, promise and mutuality: The building blocks of the psychological contract. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 74(4), 511-542.

 

Rousseau, D. M. (2001b). The idiosyncratic deal: Flexibility versus fairness. Organizational Dynamics, 29(4), 260-273.

 

Rousseau, D. M., & Aquino, K. (1993). Fairness and implied contract obligations in job termination: The role of remedies, social accounts and procedural justice. Human Performance, 6, 135-149.

 

Rousseau, D. M., & Wade-Benzoni, K. A. (1995). Changing individual-organizational attachments: A two-way street. In A. Howard (Ed.), The changing nature of work. Jossey Bass.

 

Smithson, J., & Lewis, S. (2000). Is job insecurity changing the psychological contract? Young people's expectations of work. Personnel Review, 29(6), 680-702.

 

Schein, E. H. (1965, Reprinted 1980). Organizational psychology. New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs.

 

Sparrow, P. (2000). The new employment contract: Psychological implications of future work. In R. Burke & C. L. Cooper (Eds.). The organisation in crisis. Oxford: Blackwell.

 

Sparrow, P., & Marchington, M. (1998). Human resource management: The new agenda. London: Pitman.

 

Tulgan, B. (2000). Managing generation X: How to bring out the best in young talent. New York: WW Norton and Company.

 

Turnley, W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (1999a). A discrepancy model of psychological contract violations. Human Resource Management Review, 9(3), 367-386.

 

Turnley, W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (1999b). The impact of psychological contract violations on exit, voice, loyalty and neglect. Human Relations, 52(7), 895-922.

 

Westwood, R., Sparrow, P., & Leung, A. (2001). Challenges to the psychological contract in Hong Kong. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(4), 621-651.

 

 

 

 

Visit to Bankura District

4.10.07

Ardhendu came to my house in the early morning. He kept his cycle at my house. From here, we started for Howrah Station. Rupasi Bangla started at 6-10 a.m. At 8 a.m. it reached at Kharagpur station. We finished our breakfast with Idli and Vara bought from Comsup company at howrah station. At 10 am. we reached at Bishnupur, the temple town.



Siddheswarbabu waited for us with car. From the station, we went to Bishnupur circle office. There, I met Mr. Ajit Hazra, the AI who assisted me in my earlier visit at Gangajal Ghati. I took him along with other AIs. Due to calvert damage, we avoided high way. Almost in the forest, we lost the direction of our canal road. We asked here and there but did not get adequate reply.Finally, we found one creek, full of water. Our driver got down and examined water level. Considering his assurance, we crossed the creek and finally reached at the canal road. This canal was from the Kansabati river. On the way, we found one bullock cart. Our driver stopped sound of the car and the cart slowly passed away. At that time, we all got down from the car.
This road is toward Joypur forest. Driver was asked to increase speed so that we could not face such trouble. There was high possibility for attack by elephants on the way to Joypur circle office. At the circle office, we were treated well. We took tea and some foods there. From here, we took one Shiksha bondhu to reach at Maynapur panchayet.
First we selected one school, away from the main road. Ardhendu was assigned to collect data from this school. Next I went to one school near by panchayet office but I did not find adequate school climate and size of students. Therefore, we went to 20 km away from this school and found one good school.
I personally collected data from the school. During returning the answer sheet, I asked them the reasons for education. They told me two reasons loudly:
1. Nobody could cheat them
2. They could understand the nature of chemicals used in agriculture
School Head master told me that villagers offered them one pond nearby the school. I was shocked hearing that the pond will be used for cooking mid day meals.
I adviced teachers to use natural resources fully for preparing teaching learning material.
Next, I came to earlier school and collected data from Ardhendu. I adviced there to introduce wall magazine. Shiksha bondhu Ms. Soma Roy got down from the car on the way. At Joypur bus stand , Mr. Hazra got down. Finally AI bade good bye at the Bishnupur station. At station, I got mail from Susmita about overwhelming response to her counselling class at Jorhat.
At 11 p.m. we reached at our house.

28.9.07
Bankura is located in the western part of the State of West Bengal. It is a part of Bardhaman Division of the State and included in the area known as "Rarh" in Bengal. It ranks 4th according to Population and literacy rate of 2001 Census in the State. The District Bankura is bounded by latitude 22038’ N and longitude 86036’ E to 87047’ E. River Demodar flows along the northern boundary of the district. The adjacent districts are Bardhaman in the north, Purulia in the west and Paschim Medinapure in the south. On 27th September, I told about my journey to the DPSC chairman. From him, I understood that Gangajalghati is least literate and Joypur is the most literate rural block of Bankura. He requested me to contact DI for the arrangement. Amrita assisted me in arranging all the documents and files for collection of data.



I early morning started for Howrah Station by taxi. Rupasi Bangla started at 6-18 a.m. I reached at Bankura station at 10-30. Next, by auto I went to Bidyabhawan and to Shikshabhaban. I requested DI to select one school wherein I got more number of students. He suggested me Amarkanan school at GangajalGhati. One Assistant Inspector was with me during my journey to GangajalGhati by hired car. The school is just at the main road. There I found 16 students (7 students in class V and 9 students in class IV). I collected data from them through questionnaires. Questionnaires included three modules - socio economic condition, attitude towards infrastructure and school attendance motivation. Academic achievement test was administered to them. Data related to attendance were collected from Head Mistress. Data were also collected from the teachers.

School has historical signifcance. Freedom fighters were trained in this school. One Ramakrishna Mission is nearby the school. It took more time (2-30 pm.) to finsh the data collection. My schedule train is from Durgapore which is 35 Km away from Gangajal Ghati. Again the road is not very safe and full of high and low lands. I can not arrange another visit as school is closed at 3-30 p.m. At 5-30 pm., I reached at Durgapur station. I felt absence of Amrita during my whole journey. If she would be with me, I could collect the data from another school and it would not take much time for collection of data. Due to health hazard, it was not possible for her to be with me. During my return journey, I felt horrible experience. Road condition is very poor and it appears to me that all my bones are breaking. Due to sponge iron mill, I felt very high suffocation. I can not understand why do we pollute our environment in this way ? Many people are supposed to have respiratory problem. I felt vomiting sensation on the way to Durgapore.

At the station, car driver told me that he could not give me printed bill. He charged Rs. 750 but finally he found that he could not claim more than Rs.600 (120km X Rs.5.00).

Finally, I came to my residence at 11-30 PM and was understood that Amrita was seriously ill. She inspired me throughout my journey but never told her problem. I should not forget her contribution in background.

Some insights

25.9.07

We computed index for four schools based on different infrastructure parameters in SSA report. It is interesting to note that infrastructure parception score was high for the schools that received high index in SSA report suggesting validity of the questionnaire.


21.9.07
After incorporating uluberia data in item analysis, I found high content validity for the 11 domains of school infrastructure questionnaire. Now, my anxiety about use of binomial response is gone. In collection of data, attention should be paid to mixed community so that more individual difference for each item can be obtained. It is better to collect data from road side and road away schools.

One way ANOVA showed significant mean differences in domain satisfaction across the schools.

Scrutinizing khelia and Uludanga Data

We collected data from two schools of Barasat through 4 th revision of questionnaire. By scrutinizing the data of Khelia school, I found least responded and SD=0 for few items. These items were extracted using following formula in Excel sheet.

=IF(B4<18,1, IF(D4=0,1, " "))

18= <50% of respondents
0=SD

In this way, I found following results:

CL_1 1 CL_1 1
CL_7 1 CL_7 1
DW_3 1 DW_3 1
FRND_3 1 FRND_3 1
GM_3 1 GM_3 1

So, 5 items failed to determine individual difference in both schools.

For Khelia
CL_1 1
CL_7 1
DW_3 1
BB_1 1
TCH_1 1
TLM_3 1
TLM_4 1
FRND_3 1
GM_2 1
GM_3 1
GM_6 1
CLP_5 1
MDM_1 1
HLTH_1 1
HLTH_2 1
HLTH_3 1
HLTH_6 1

Module 3
Q2 1
Q3 1

So, 17 items for module 2 and 2 items for module 3 are in the same category in case of Khelia school.

For Uludanga school

CL_1 1
CL_2 1
CL_4 1
CL_5 1
CL_7 1
DW_1 1
DW_3 1
TLM_1 1
FRND_3 1
GM_3 1
MODULE3 1
Q9 1

In case of Uludanga data, 10 items of module 2 and 1 item for module 3 are in these category.

In estimating total score, we must be very careful.

Visit to Uluberia

13.9.07

Uluberia block -1 is in Howrah district. As of 2001 India census, Uluberia had a population of 202,095. Males constitute 52% of the population and females 48%. Uluberia has an average literacy rate of 64%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 70%, and female literacy is 58%. In Uluberia, 13% of the population is under 6 years of age.

With the partition of India there was a massive influx of refugees from East Pakistan into Kolkata and its peripheral areas. Of over a million refugees who entered West Bengal in 1950 alone settled mostly in squatter colonies between Naihati and Sonarpur on the east bank of the Hooghly and between Mogra and Uluberia on the west bank.

Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uluberia



Amrita and Me started for Uluberia at 10 A.M. Mr. Swapan Aich drived our Jeep. We reached Uluberia block at 11:30 approx. There we met joint BDO, Ms. Swati Chakraborty, who assisted us to visit two schools. First we reached at one school, located 3 km. away from the main road. The school has poor electricity. Amrita collected data from the students and me from the teachers and Head master. Next school was located just beside the main road. It has good infrastructure. Toilet is in the back side of school and one may find more difficulty to reach there during rainy season. School has poor water facility. Amrita collected data from sample students and I collected data from rest of others. In both schools, students of class IV participated in our project.

During our return, there was heavy rain and suddenly wiper of our jeep fell down. Swapan Babu halted jeep and found it on the way.

We reached at ISI at 6-30 P.M.

2nd Visit to Barasat

11.9.07

This is my 2nd visit in Barasat. Chairman, DPSC arranged one ASI, Mr. Kaustav Kanti Mondol for inspecting schools. First we came to Mirhati school and submitted our internal report to Mr. Ghosh, The Headmaster. The report contains percentage of students satisfied with different domains of school infrastructures. In analysis of this data, I found positive relation between mid day meal satisfaction and school attendance motivation but no such significant relation of mid day meal satisfaction with basic academic achievement (ability to spell correctly own names, school names, roll no, class and age). In Mirhati, Head Master shown me the wall magazine as I suggested before. I advised him to display the magazine to students and guardians keeping it in front of school entrance. I suggested him to do same for each class.

Next we went to Khelia primary school, 1.5 km away from the national highway. Road is muddy, broken. It is located nearby a pond and one high Madrassa school. Amrita collected data from the students after my turn. The school has no electricity, students sit on the floor, good scientific toilets. School has no specific development fund to manage cost of electricity. School mainly depends upon the Government for its maintenance. Most of the students are Muslims.

Next we went to Uludanga Primary school, located nearby the National highway. School has very good building but electricity. Most of the students are Muslims. Students are motivated but possibly due to language problem, students fail to show their better performance in academic achievement.

Here, we met Mr. Amitava Banerjee, member of school council. I discussed how to teach students in order to reduce reading and writing errors and how to involve guardians in different academic activities of school through school magazine.

Finally, we bade good bye to ASI and returned to ISI. Data set has been handed over to data entry operator of webturbine.

Questionnaire status

Recently, I find Mrs. Amrita Panda as project assistant. She joined ISI on 3oth August, 2007. We are jointly working to develop the questionnaire. Currently, we redefine dimensions of different attitudes towards school infrastructure and accordingly change questionnaires. 9 dimensions and 55 questions are developed to assess attitudes towards 4 kinds of school infrastructures. We have to add few more questions.

Infrastructure and landforms

Are rainfall and landform important for school infrastructure ? I am searching this issue.

RAINFALL

LANDFORMS

There are 8 types of landforms in WB.

1. Darjeeling Himalayan region
   Darjeeling Himalayan hill region is situated on the North-Western side of the state. This region belongs to the Eastern Himalaya range. The whole of the Darjeeling district except the Siliguri division and a narrow part in the Northern part of Jalpaiguri district constitutes the region.
   
   
2. Terai region
   The Terai and Dooars region politically constitute the plains of Darjeeling District, whole of Jalpaiguri District and upper region of Cooch Behar District in West Bengal.
   
   
   
3. North Bengal Plains
   North Bengal plain start from the south of Terai region and continues up to the left bank of the Ganges. The southern parts of the district Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur baring some extreme northern regions, South Dinajpur, Malda and southern part of Cooch Behar districts constitute this geographical region. The narrow land mass in the North Dinajpur district is known as Mahananda Corridor. This corridor runs noth to south joining Malda with the plains of Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar. The entire part of North and South Dinajpur is silt laden plain.
   
   
   
4. Rarh region
   Rarh is the region that intervenes between the Western plateau and high lands and the Ganges Delta. Parts of the districts Murshidabad, Birbhum, Bankura, Bardhaman and Medinipur constitute this region.
   
   
   
5. Coastal plain
   Shankarpur beach near Digha is apart of this coastal plain. A small coastal region is on the extreme south of the state. A part of the district of Purba Medinipur along the Bay of Bengal constitutes the coastal plain. This emergent coastal plain is made up of sand and mud deposited by rivers and by wind. Parallel to the coast are colonies of sand dunes and marshy areas. The Digha dune lies nearest to the Bay of Bengal while the Kanthi dune is the farthest from it. In some areas dunes occur at a distance of 15-16 km from the coast and are 11-12 m high.
   
   
6. Sundarbans
   The Sundarbans delta is the largest mangrove forest in the world situated in the South 24 Parganas district. It lies at the mouth of the Ganges and is spread across areas of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India.
   
   
   
7. Western plateau and high lands
   The western part of Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum, Bardhaman and Paschim Medinipur district constitutes this area. Because of long and continuous erosion, the whole region has been transformed into an undulating peneplain.
   
   
   
   
8. Gangetic delta
   Ganges River Delta, Bangladesh and IndiaThe Ganges delta consists of the whole of Murshidabad district, Nadia, Kolkata, Hooghly, and Howrah and the northern part of North and South 24 Parganas. River Ganga passes through this vast area and divides into three distinct parts – the old delta, the mature delta and the active delta.
   
   

Measurement Problems

By administering the questionnaire to school students, I noticed following difficulties:

1. making difference between strongly agree and agree;
2. understanding negative statements. (I used them as reverse statements).
3. understanding assertive statements
4. understanding some adjectives, e.g., I can maintain privacy in toilet.

Under such awkward conditions,
I converted all statements in interrogative forms so that responses will be binomial and there will be no negative worded statements, e.g.,

Is the lighting condition in class room adequate to learn ?
Is the school building safe ?

Instead of evaluative statements, I am giving importance on cognitive aspects. Attitude has three components : cognitive, affective and behavioural.

Finally, I tried to relate attitude with school attendance and noticed moderate correlation. Hope, in future, I may find its good predictive capacity.

By selecting intrinsically motivating good student for the project, I have to modify the existing questionnaires based on item characteristics and multidimensional models of attitude towards school infrastructure.

Exploring dimensions

If we look carefully at the UNESCO model of school, we can assume following properties of infrastructure namely:

1. comfortable and conducive to learning;(E.g., ergonomically designed work/study furnishings)
2. Safe ;
3. should not develop any anti-social behavior;
4. should encourage equal opportunity; (E.g., Promote the rights of boys and girls through equal opportunities and democratic procedures, Make accommodations for students with disabilities,
5. should encourage “child-to-child” learning and support ;
6. should be clean and attractive
7. should set an example for others in the community
8. should strive to provide an environment that is physically safe, emotionally secure and psychologically enabling.
9. should be environment friendly.


UNESCO proposed following criteria of school.


Strive for surroundings that are comfortable and conducive to learning, play, and healthy interaction, and which reduce the occurrence of harassment or anti-social behaviour.


Look for and eliminate causes of unintended injury in school buildings and on school grounds.


Establish and enforce codes of conduct that protect students from sexual harassment or abuse by other students or school staff.


Prohibit physical punishment of students by school staff.


Prohibit weapons on school grounds and establish and enforce rules against all kinds of violence and bullying.


Promote the rights of boys and girls through equal opportunities and democratic procedures.


Establish a conflict mediation programme.


Establish peer education programmes, and other mechanisms to encourage “child-to-child” learning and support.


Patrol areas where students’ security may be threatened, including routes to and from school.


Provide adequate lighting within and outside the school.


Provide a sufficient number of ergonomically designed work/study furnishings.


Make accommodations for students with disabilities.


Establish, on site or through referral to community agencies, a counseling programme.


Provide opportunities, a safe space and equipment for physical exercise and recreation.


Establish and enforce rules to make the school drug, alcohol and tobacco-free.


Prevent students from being exposed to hazardous materials.


Ensure that first aid and emergency response equipment is properly maintained and readily available.


Establish and practice emergency response procedures.


Institute waste recycling mechanisms.


Involve students in activities to make the school cleaner and prettier, like planting flowers or trees, painting the walls, or removing garbage or debris from school grounds.
Children for Health: a resource that every school can use.

All over the world and particularly at the basic level of education, there are schools that seek to provide good education with limited resources and in difficult circumstances. Such schools may be short of water, have only modest buildings and lack adequate security around these buildings. They may be located in areas where there are significant health problems, few public services, considerable pollution and higher than average levels of violence. Such conditions can never be condoned over the long term, but they exist now and need to be faced now. One resource which every school has, and which every school can use to improve the physical and psychosocial environment of the school, is its children.

In fact, children around the world are already helping to make their schools safer and more sanitary. In the best examples, their activities are linked to their learning so that through their action, they learn essential health knowledge and develop life skills. The following are some real life examples documented by The Child-to-Child Trust of how children in countries around the world are helping to guarantee a healthy physical environment, and a safe and happy human environment, at their schools.


By keeping themselves clean and their school compounds clean and attractive (and setting an example for others in the community).


By pairing with younger children so that they and their partners learn the importance of keeping clean and safe together.


By forming children’s health committees and sharing tasks such as:
monitoring latrines and handwashing facilities (using minimum necessary amounts of scarce water) or where facilities are lacking, ensuring the best possible alternative arrangements (e.g. in small rural schools, identifying special places for defecation or nearby home latrines to access);

keeping grass cut and compounds refuse-free to minimize the danger from rats, snakes and insect pests;

monitoring the hygiene practices of food sellers at or near the school;

ensuring the presence of clean drinking water;

overseeing safety in the school and the road leading to it; and

acting as referees in cases of bullying and violence and reporting such instances when necessary.


By planting trees in school and in public canteens to help preserve soil and provide shade.


By planting school gardens and using the fruit and vegetables grown as food supplements.


By helping to run school health and first aid posts for the treatment of minor injuries, or more important still, by helping to identify children who are sick or unhappy so that others can take action.


By joining health clubs, health scouts and taking important messages about hygiene and safety to their families and communities.


By joining national campaigns such as those connected with HIV/AIDS prevention or Landmine Awareness, contributing their compelling voices and stories to efforts to stir national and international consciousness.


By working alongside adults and taking direct action outside the school, such as building soak pits and eliminating the breeding places of harmful insects in their homes and communities.
Hopefully, children will pass a good deal of time at school. As defined by both physical and psychosocial characteristics, the school environment can affect student health and student learning in both obvious and subtle ways. Every school should strive to provide an environment that is physically safe, emotionally secure and psychologically enabling. This is made easier when the school staff, parents and other members of the community, and students themselves, all participate.
As resources permit, improvements to the school’s water and sanitation programmes should be complemented by other improvements to the school’s physical and psychosocial environment. For example:


Strive for surroundings that are comfortable and conducive to learning, play, and healthy interaction, and which reduce the occurrence of harassment or anti-social behaviour.


Look for and eliminate causes of unintended injury in school buildings and on school grounds.


Establish and enforce codes of conduct that protect students from sexual harassment or abuse by other students or school staff.


Prohibit physical punishment of students by school staff.


Prohibit weapons on school grounds and establish and enforce rules against all kinds of violence and bullying.


Promote the rights of boys and girls through equal opportunities and democratic procedures.


Establish a conflict mediation programme.


Establish peer education programmes, and other mechanisms to encourage “child-to-child” learning and support.


Patrol areas where students’ security may be threatened, including routes to and from school.


Provide adequate lighting within and outside the school.


Provide a sufficient number of ergonomically designed work/study furnishings.


Make accommodations for students with disabilities.


Establish, on site or through referral to community agencies, a counseling programme.


Provide opportunities, a safe space and equipment for physical exercise and recreation.


Establish and enforce rules to make the school drug, alcohol and tobacco-free.


Prevent students from being exposed to hazardous materials.


Ensure that first aid and emergency response equipment is properly maintained and readily available.


Establish and practice emergency response procedures.


Institute waste recycling mechanisms.


Involve students in activities to make the school cleaner and prettier, like planting flowers or trees, painting the walls, or removing garbage or debris from school grounds.
Children for Health: a resource that every school can use.

All over the world and particularly at the basic level of education, there are schools that seek to provide good education with limited resources and in difficult circumstances. Such schools may be short of water, have only modest buildings and lack adequate security around these buildings. They may be located in areas where there are significant health problems, few public services, considerable pollution and higher than average levels of violence. Such conditions can never be condoned over the long term, but they exist now and need to be faced now. One resource which every school has, and which every school can use to improve the physical and psychosocial environment of the school, is its children.

In fact, children around the world are already helping to make their schools safer and more sanitary. In the best examples, their activities are linked to their learning so that through their action, they learn essential health knowledge and develop life skills. The following are some real life examples documented by The Child-to-Child Trust of how children in countries around the world are helping to guarantee a healthy physical environment, and a safe and happy human environment, at their schools.


By keeping themselves clean and their school compounds clean and attractive (and setting an example for others in the community).


By pairing with younger children so that they and their partners learn the importance of keeping clean and safe together.


By forming children’s health committees and sharing tasks such as:
monitoring latrines and handwashing facilities (using minimum necessary amounts of scarce water) or where facilities are lacking, ensuring the best possible alternative arrangements (e.g. in small rural schools, identifying special places for defecation or nearby home latrines to access);

keeping grass cut and compounds refuse-free to minimize the danger from rats, snakes and insect pests;

monitoring the hygiene practices of food sellers at or near the school;

ensuring the presence of clean drinking water;

overseeing safety in the school and the road leading to it; and

acting as referees in cases of bullying and violence and reporting such instances when necessary.


By planting trees in school and in public canteens to help preserve soil and provide shade.


By planting school gardens and using the fruit and vegetables grown as food supplements.


By helping to run school health and first aid posts for the treatment of minor injuries, or more important still, by helping to identify children who are sick or unhappy so that others can take action.


By joining health clubs, health scouts and taking important messages about hygiene and safety to their families and communities.


By joining national campaigns such as those connected with HIV/AIDS prevention or Landmine Awareness, contributing their compelling voices and stories to efforts to stir national and international consciousness.


By working alongside adults and taking direct action outside the school, such as building soak pits and eliminating the breeding places of harmful insects in their homes and communities.
Hopefully, children will pass a good deal of time at school. As defined by both physical and psychosocial characteristics, the school environment can affect student health and student learning in both obvious and subtle ways. Every school should strive to provide an environment that is physically safe, emotionally secure and psychologically enabling. This is made easier when the school staff, parents and other members of the community, and students themselves, all participate.

Learning through Gardening

Learning through Garden is an useful method of teaching in primary education. This is more useful specially in the rural areas. It helps to understand the nature, develops positive attitude to the wild and plnat life. In ancient India, Ashramik schools followed 'Learning through Garden program'. In Mahabharata, We heard about Shakuntala.

But during my visit in rural areas, I have not seen botanic garden in any primary school. I think that success of learning can be achieved through gardening. It would be misnomer to assume that gardening is only meant for beautification. Gardening provides positive attitude towards plant and wild life, helps in understanding sustainable bio diversity. It facilitates creativity, provides physical energy. Besides, it is useful for understanding group dynamics. Our syllabus in primary education pays attention to nature. UK started 'Learning through landscape program' in Education.




Assumption:
Learning through landscape program assumes that School grounds are essential to children’s learning and development, providing opportunities for healthy exercise, creative play, making friends, learning through doing and getting in touch with the natural world. We believe all children have the right to enjoy and benefit from well designed, managed and used school.

Gardening requires systematic steps enhancing our patience. Below are some steps to make sunflower garden. I get it from this site:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_structures_other/article/0,,HGTV_3639_3618592,00.html

Step 1: Pick your site
The first thing to do is choose where you want your sunflower fort. Choose a sunny spot, but don't be too picky about the soil. Sunflowers can grow in just about anything. Once you've got your spot, rough up the soil with a rake and remove all debris, including any large clods of dirt. This will loosen up the soil, and make it easier to plant.

Step 2: Measure the area
Using the tape measurer, map out the size of your fort. Remember, every fort has an entrance, so don't forget to measure it. Mark the corners of your measurements by pushing stakes into the soil. Next, grab some string and connect the stakes. The idea here is to create a life-sized blueprint in the soil and define the dimensions of the fort.

Step 3 Choosing the seeds
Different seeds will work well to grow different parts of the fort. For the walls, use taller variety of sunflowers like Giant Greystripe sunflowers. For the entrance, Teddy Bear Dwarf sunflowers are very inviting. Use the filler seeds (scarlet runner beans, morning glories) for filling in the gaps.

Step 4 Planting the seeds
Plant them on the outside of the string in rows of two to make the walls nice and thick. Read the directions on the package to see how deep each seed goes, and how far apart to space them.

Step 5: The three W’s
This is the hard part. Weeding, watering and waiting. Sit back, enjoy the summer and wait. In the meantime, don't forget to water and weed. In a few months, the flowers will be the perfect height, and the kids will have a sunflower fort in full bloom.

Collection of data from Primary school at Amdanga

8.8.2007
In North 24 paraganas, high literate rural block is Amdanga and least literate block is Sandeshkhali-1. At 8-30 a.m., our driver Ramesh reached at my house. Amdanga is in the Barasat subdivision.


It took half an hour to reach Barasat via new bridge. Mr. Biswanath Choudhury is the chairman of the district primary school council. I met him first. Due to strike of unorganized workers, very few cars were on the road. I took Mr. Choudhury from his residence. He is very nice, gentle, soft spoken and comprehensive person. He never requested me to see the permission letter though I insisted. From him, I understood that DPSC supplied many books to all the schools for establishment of library. They collected it from the Book sellers and publishers guild. Guild packed the books and sent them to differnt schools. In my questionnaire, I omitted library as in other places, I had not seen it. Mr Choudhury introduced me with Mr. Mondol, ASI. The council office is in the third floor of one sweet shop - Loknath sweets. Me and Ramesh Babu took kachuri and sweets from the shop and started for Amdanga with Mr. Mondol.



First, I reached at the Mirhati Junior Basic school. There are only 5 junior basic schools in Amdanga. H.M. by watching our jeep entering into the school compound came to receive us. H.M. is very gentle, kind hearted and well disciplined school authority. I like him very much. From here, I collected data through my questionnaire from 17 students (7 from class V and 10 from class Iv). I like small size of samples as I can manage them without any other's observer. The data set included followings :
1. Picture drawing and picture description
2. Socio-economic status
3. Attitude towards school infrastructures
4. Motivation to attend schools
5. Rate of absence
6. Subject wise examination marks

Next, I introduced myself with guardians. In the guardian meeting, I highlighted the followings:
1. Taking much drinking water
2. Taking fruits
3. How to increase comprehension power
4. How to increase memorizing power
5. How to make students more social and creative
6. How to motivate students to reading and writing

Guardinas are very happy. 4 male guardians and more than 40 female guardinas were in the meeting. These 4 male guardians were in business and husbands of most of the female guardians are cultivators.

During data collection, I examined the health by observing eye, face etc. It appears to me that most students do not drink much water and are suffering from anaemia. In the guardian meeting, guardians accepted my observation. It would be better to spend more time with guardians as they have many questions, but I was in hurry to meet the School inspector in the block office.

In the school, I suggested the followings to the Head master:
1. Introducing gardening
2. Involving students in preparation of teaching and learning materials
3. Introduction of wall magazine

In block office, I met Ms. Gayatri Saha. She was busy with some meeting at the block office. From the meeting, she came to attend us. She is also very nice and gentle. From her, I collected the followings:
1. Names of primary schools where in our jeep can enter;
2. Addresses
3. Names of contact persons and their phone numbers

She had shown the maps of Amdanga. Finally, I returned to ISI at 5-30 pm. Mr. Mondol got down at colony more.

At night, I conveyed my gratitude to Mr. Choudhury.

Few useful links :
1. North 24 pgs
2. Barasat
3. Census 2001 data

Writing Facilities

Writing Facilities for teachers: Blackboard/ white board

Writing Facilities for students:
1. Papers or note books
2. Space to keep note books : floor / desk/ table
3. Writing board
4. Space to move hands freely
5. Pencils, sharpeners, rubbers
6. Pen, ink
7. Sitting equipments : floor / chair
8. Writing environment

Some good sites:

Writing survey 1

Writing survey 2
Left Hander's school experience

UEE and Student-Teacher Ratio

Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) is a constitutional mandate. Article 45 of the Constitution stipulates, as a Directive Principle of State Policy that the State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of the Constitution for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years. Para 5.12 of the National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 says "The New Education Policy will give the highest priority to solving the problem of children dropping out of school and will adopt an array of meticulously formulated strategies based on micro-planning, and applied at the grass roots level all over the country, to ensure children's retention at school. This effort will be fully coordinated with the network of non-formal education. It shall be ensured that all children who attain the age of about 11 years by 1990 will have had five years of schooling, or its equivalent through the non-formal stream. Likewise, by 1995 all children will be provided free and compulsory education upto 14 years of age".

With the drive of UEE, report says that more number of primary schools were established from 1950-51 to 1988-89. In another research report, it is noted that from 1990 to 1997, student enrollment in primary schools is higher than upper primary schools in India.

Classroom

Large number of students in small classroom is a major problem in rural areas due to inadequate distribution of resources in the classroom. Here resources are:
1. space for benches, tables
2. space for keeping furniture, like almirah or cabinet
3. space for keeping platform for teachers
4. space for moving around



In the above classroom, students find difficulty to move around freely. Specially, during Tiffin periods, students play different indoor games like hide and seek etc. They can not play in this room. There is no dustbin in the classroom. Dustbin is important to keep floor clean. Teacher's table-space seems to be inadequate to keep her books, attendance registers, etc. The blackboard is very big. It is good for teacher. For her need, she can clean some portion of the board and can write new one in another portion.
Students' sitting position is below the blackboard. Therefore, they are forced to look above their eyesight. This may cause neck pain. The walls have no hooks where in student’s drawing or other academic activity can be pasted.

During my earlier survey in Tripura, I have seen that many classrooms have no compartments. In Mandai of Trpura, students of different grades study in one classroom without any compartment. But still now, I have not seen similar condition in WB.

NUEPA's study:
Recent researches conducted by National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) observed that about 75,000 primary schools have no classroom.
Here is the report:
The report, "Elementary Education in India: Where Do We Stand?" by National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NEUPA) said at least 10.15 percent of such schools are running without classrooms.
"Forget about buildings, 74,893 primary schools (Class I-V) have no classrooms. It's a great worrying point," said Arun Mehta, who was part of the countrywide survey.
The percentage of schools without classrooms in urban areas is 13.9 as against 9.6 in rural areas, the report said.
"Whopping 40.41 percent primary schools in Jharkhand have no classrooms," said Mehta, adding that 37.62 percent of primary schools in Jharkhand have only two classrooms.
Ref: http://www.indiaedunews.net/Delhi/Nearly_75,000_primary_schools_in_India_have_no_classroom_853/

Library

One major problem of my research is lack of acquaintance with school infrastructures. For example, I have assumed that rural students will be aware of library. It is not possible for rural students to buy the text books and the reference books. Another problem is repeated change in text books, syllabus etc. Therefore, library is important.

School can receive books from the link library sources or can purchase books from district level book fair. During my visit, I have seen very few almirahs to store books. And there is no place to read the book in front of almirahs. In some of the schools, students can not understand the word 'library'.

Definition
By the definition of Encyclopaedia Britannica, library is the collection of books used for reading or study, or the building or room in which such a collection is kept. The word derives from the Latin liber, "a book,"whereas a Latinized Greek word, bibliotheca, is the origin of the word for library in German, Russian, and the Romance languages. Today's libraries frequently contain periodicals, microfilms, tapes, videos, compact discs, online services, and other materials, as well as books.


Some good links:
Definition

Public Library
Libray survey list
Library satisfaction

Now Howrah

Today, I met chairman of DPSC of Howrah for following data:
1. Names, addresses,phone nos. of Savadhipati, Panchayet pradhan of most and least literate blocks;
2. Names and addresses of primary schools of above two blocks.

Howrah District
Howrah district of West Bengal is spread over an area of 1467 sq. kms. The district is a triangular tract of the country and the

apex being situated at the southern end. The district is bounded in the north by the Arambagh and Shrirampur sub-divisions of the district of Hugli. On the east by Calcutta and South Twenty Four Parganas districts, on the south by the Tamluk Subdivision of Medinipur district; and on the west partly by the Tamluk and Ghatal Subdivisions of Medinipur and partly by the Arambagh sub­division of Hugli. Headquarters of this district is Howrah.The district has a population of 3.73 million (1991 census). Overall, there were 878 females per 1000 males. The Scheduled caste and scheduled Tribe contributed about 15.8% and 0.3% of the population respectively. Forty nine percent of the population was living in the rural area. The decennial growth rate between 1981 and 1991 was 25.5 %. The density of the population was 2535 per sq. kms. Bengali, Hindi, and Oriya are the main language spoken in the district.

Area (Sq. Km.)
1467

Population (1991 census)
3.73million

Density (per Sq. Km.)
2535

Sex ratio (females/per 1000 males)
878

Literacy rate (%)
76.62 (male 76.11, female 67.83)

Ref:
Howrah district
DISE data of Howrah

SSA data

Some Socio-Economic Correlates

By using item-total correlation, I have noted 8 variables correlated with total scores of socio economic status positively and in significant manner.

1. Sources of drinking water (16)
2. Family income (22)
3. Family size(12)
4. Frequency of food taking (11)
5. Family occupation (13)
6. Roof type (14)
7. No. of rooms(20)
8. Rubbish keeping (19)
9. Toilet types (18)
10. Wall types (15)

Here, I used 5 point Likert type rating scale. And the data (N=163) included Polba girls(n=63), Salkia boys(n=50) and girls(n=50).

Kuder Richardson's Reliability testing

During collection of data from the students of class V, I have noted their difficulty to understand discrepancy in their attitude from strongly agree to strongly disagree. As a result, I could not collect data following five point scale. Under such awkward position, I told them to respond yes or no. In this way, I found dichotomous responses.

Since the response pattern is dichotomous in nature, I used Kuder Richardson Reliability - 20.

Visit about the Kuder Richardson formula here:

from Wikipedia

The formula and calculation

I collected 226 data with 65 items

1. Polba Girls : 63
2. Shiakhala Girls : 50
3. Shiakhala Boys : 50
4. Polba Boys : 50
5. Vivekananda : 13

After item analysis using item -total correlation, I found only 40 items were significantly and positively correlated with total score.

And only 60 students out of 226 students responded to all the 40 items. Non response is due to unawareness of some infrastructures like school magazine, canteen, etc.

Finally I assessed reliability coefficient of whole questionnaire using only those 60 cases and found very high reliability, i.e., 0.89.

I am thankful to Gargi and Puskar for assisting me to understand different psychometric properties of the items of my questionnaire.

My next target will be to modify 25 items .

School Climate Researches

Questionnaires

• School climate and race discrimination

Studies

• School effectiveness

Journals

• Social psychology of education
• 
  

Attitude Link Sites

Concepts

• Theories of Attitude Change
• Difference from other constructs
• Definition
• Good discussion
  
• Bird's eye view
  
• Conceptual Paper

Attitude Measurement

• Scale theories
• Scales
  
• Likert Scale
  

Visit in Hooghly District

Seakhala
19.6.07


For my project, I have visited two schools of Seakhala today - Benimadhab high school for boys and for girls. Seakhala is in Chanditala block 1 of Hooghly district. This place is famous for Benimadhab Ganguly, Writer of English Grammer. Two schools are near to Ahalyabai road where in Bidyasagar mahashay once passed through. Two schools are famous among other schools of Hooghly district. Initial name was Shaiba khetra later modified into Shiba khetra and finally to the current name. Gargi and Puskar my 2 students for MBA project assisted me in collection of data. Data included school report card, socio-economic status, attitude towards school infrastructures and motivation to attend the school. Mr. Ashoke Saha drove the Jeep. Mr. Mahadeb Dutta (H.M. of Boys), Ms. Alpana Bag (H.M. of Girls) and Mr. Narottam Chatterjee (Head Clerk of Girls school) arranged rooms in the schools for collection of data. It took at least 1 hour to fill up the questionnaire and 30 minutes for evaluating registrar. We started at 9-30 am and returned at 5-45 pm.

Useful links:
Hooghly District profile








22.6.07
Polba Dadpur block is in the northern part of Hooghly district. It has 12 gram panchayets.

Our rented car started at 9 a.m. from ISI. and we reached at the block office at 9-45 a.m. Panchayet sabhapati went to Jila sabhadhipati meeting so we could not meet him in person. BDO helped us by introducing teachers of girls high school over phone. From block office, the school was 3 km away from block office. We three (Gargi, Puskar and me) collected data from the students of grade V. 2 assistant teachers assisted us in collection of data. From there, we went to DI office at Chunchura. DI office was very cooperative.
Some of the observations are given below:

1. Schools are getting fixed grant from the Govt for salaries of teachers and staffs;
2. Schools depend on SSA fund and MP Quota fund for development of school infrastructures. Current school built cycle shed and pucca toilets from SSA grant and MP quota.
3. Schools can not afford any innovation with meagre school fees.
4. Since there is no night guard, school gardens are destroyed by local boys after school as they play at the ground.
5. This school had panels but doors.
6. As school is used for other purposes, bulbs are lost.
7. DI shows his curiosity to know more about the findings.