Indicators of Educational Development with Focus on Elementary Education: Concept and Definitions

Diagnosis exercise plays an important role in developing educational plans. It is the diagnosis through which the main problems are identified and areas and focus groups that need attention are known. A variety of information is required to undertake rigorous diagnosis exercise. The data in its original form cannot be used to draw inferences. It needs to be converted in the form of indicators so that meaningful conclusions are drawn. The raw data converted in the indicator form serve as a decision support tool. The National Policy on Education (NPE, 1986) envisaged disaggregated target setting with district as the unit of planning. The District Primary Education Programme and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Programme also envisage developing district plans with a focus on participatory planning and disaggregated target settings. Developing meaningful plans need thorough analysis of a variety of indicators at different levels (state/district/block/village/habitation) of planning covering various aspects of universal elementary education.