Panchayati Raj is a system of rural local self-government. It has been established in all the states of India by the acts of the state legislature to build democracy at the grass-root level.

1. Impact of
Panchayati Raj
On Education
By
Saptarshee Mandal
BA Hons Sem IV
Department of Economics & Politics
Visva Bharati

2. What is Panchayati Raj?
The word raj means "rule" and panchayat means "assembly" (ayat) of five
(panch). Traditionally, panchayats consisted of wise and respected elders
chosen and accepted by the local community. Traditionally, these assemblies
settled disputes between individuals and between villages.
Panchayati Raj is a system of rural local self-government. It has been
established in all the states of India by the acts of the state legislature to build
democracy at the grass root level.

3. Origin of Panchayat
Indian villages had Panchayats (council of five persons) from very ancient and medieval
period , which were having both executive and judicial powers and used to handle various
issues (land distribution, tax collection etc.) or disputes arising in the village area.
Gandhiji also held the opinion of empowerment of Panchayats for the development of rural
areas. Thus, recognizing their importance our Constitution makers included a provision for
Panchayats in part IV of our constitution (directive principles of state policy).
Art. 40 confers the responsibility upon State to take steps to organise Village Panchayats
and endow them with powers and authority to enable them to function as units of self-
government.
73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments were passed by Parliament in December, 1992.
Through these amendments local self-governance was introduced in rural and urban India.

4. The Three Tier System
The Panchayati Raj system, as established in accordance with the 73rd
Amendment, is a three- tier structure based on direct elections at all the three
tiers: village, intermediate and district.
Exemption from the intermediate tier is given to the small States having less than
20 lakhs population. It means that they have freedom not to have the middle level
of panchayat.
Zila Parishad
Panchayat Samiti
Gram Panchayat
District Level
Block Level
Village Level

5. Zila Parishad
Zila Parishad or district Panchayat is the uppermost tier of the Panchayati Raj
system.
This institution has some directly elected members whose number differs from
State to State as it is also based on population. Meetings are conducted once a
month. The various Rural Development Works carried at the Villages, Gram
Panchayats, Block and District levels are planned, implemented, monitored and
maintained by the Zilla Parishad.
Panchayat Samiti
Panchayat Samiti is the intermediate or the middle tier of the Panchayati Raj
System. These are named differently in different States. Its organization and
functions also vary as these are determined by the Act passed by the concerned
State. Some important functions are agriculture, land improvement, watershed
development, social and farm forestry, and technical and vocational education.
Besides, the Panchayat Samiti implements certain schemes and programs for
which specific funds are allocated by the State government or Central government.
It promotes and coordinates different development programs in its areas.

6. Gram Panchayat
It consists of elected representatives of the people at the village level Chairman,
i.e, Sarpanch is elected in a manner as the state legislature may provide directly
or indirectly.
Some functions are-
1. The civic functions relating to sanitation, cleaning of public roads, minor
irrigation, public toilets and lavatories, primary health care, vaccination, the
supply of drinking water, constructing public wells, rural electrification, social
health and primary and adult education, etc. are obligatory functions of village
panchayats.
2. They may or may not perform such functions as tree plantation on roadsides,
setting up of breeding centers for cattle, organizing child and maternity welfare,
promotion of agriculture, etc.
3. Such important functions like preparation of annual development plan of
panchayat area, annual budget, relief in natural calamities, removal of
encroachment on public lands and implementation and monitoring of poverty
alleviation programmes are now expected to be performed by panchayats.

7. Role of Panchayati Raj Institution
1. Financial aid to Gram Panchayats.
2. Rural Cleanliness Programmes.
3. Responsibilities of the Panchayats- (Transparency in work, rural
administration & development).
4. Responsibilities of public towards Panchayat.
5. Decentralization Programme.
• Health
• Education
• Agriculture
• Livestock
6. Control over the Gram Panchayats.
7. Arrangement of Panchayat Help-line.
So that panchayats can realize the dream of rural administration and rural development
with complete coordination and transparency. For this purpose the department has
provided a Citizen Charter.

8. Panchayati Raj and Education
Right to Education Act 2009
Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan
Analytics
Skill India

9. Right to Education Act 2009
With the 86th constitutional amendment, India became the 135th country in the world
to adopt Right to Education as a Fundamental Right. With that view the Supreme Court
asserted that in order to fulfill the life and dignity of an individual the right to
education is necessary. Therefore, the Right to Education flows directly from the Right
to life.1With the insertion of Article 21 (A), Right to Education Act was passed in the
Parliament in 2009 and it came into effect in Aril 1st2010. Some of the features are as
follows-
• Every child of the age of 6-14 years shall have a right to free and
compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till completion of
elementary education
• Financial burden will be shared between state and central government.
• State governments will lay down model rules for the implementation of
the Act in their respective states.
• Provides for 25 percent reservation for economically disadvantaged
communities in admission to Class One in all private schools.
• Mandates improvement in quality of education and Calls for a fixed
student-teacher ratio.

10. Panchayati Raj and Right to Education Act 2009
Many commissions and committees on education after Independence has emphasised on the
role of Panchayati Raj Institution members in management of education especially in
elementary education. The local authority is defined under the RTE Act 2009 as "a Municipal
Corporation or Municipal Council or Zila Parishad or Nagar Panchayat or Panchayat, by
whatever name called, and includes such other authority or body having administrative control
over the school or empowered by or under any law for the time being forced to function as
local authority in any city, town or village".
• To provide free and compulsory education to each child through government
and aided school.
• As per the RTE Act 2009 section -6, in case of non availability of schools local
authority have to start school within three years of time period after
implementation of RTE Act 2009.
• There will be no discrimination among children belonging to weaker section,
disadvantaged groups and no child will be held back for any reason.

11. • The local authority shall maintain a record of all children, in its jurisdiction, from their birth
till they attain 14 years of age.
• Local authority have to monitor about enrollment of each and every child, their attendance
and completion of their primary education in their jurisdiction.
• Local authority should provide school building, academic staff and their study material.
• As per the RTE Act section - (4) it is compulsory to give special training for the child who is
above six year and directly access to the age appropriate class.
• Local authority should ensure to bring qualitative elementary education as per the
indicators given in the Act for numbers of teachers in the school, school building, working
days, library and sports.
• To ensure timely framework of curriculum designs for primary education.
• To organize training for teachers .
• To ensure that a child belonging to nomadic tribe is enrolled in the school.
• Local authority must take care of the school.
• To prepare academic calendar.

12. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) in Rural India
The SSA seeks to provide useful and relevant elementary education to all
children in 6-14 age group by 2010. Its other goal is to bridge social, regional
and gender gaps with the active participation of the community in the
management of schools. It is a quest for an education system that does not
alienate the child from the society and seeks to promote community
solidarity.
The children are allowed to learn about their natural environment in a
manner that harnesses the human potential, but spiritually and materially.
The stress is on value based learning which gives an opportunity to children
to work for teach other well being rather than to permit selfish pursuits.
Convergence between education and development programmes, aimed at
poverty alleviation, employment generation, food for work, promotion of
household industries and enhancing the quality of life (health, family welfare,
availability of drinking water, rural housing etc.) is being effected currently. In
turn, these programmes increase the capacity of households to seek and
support the education of children.

13. Institutional Reform:
As of the SSA, institutional reforms are being carried out in all the states. The
states have to make an objective assessment of their existing educational
systems including educational administration, achievement levels in schools,
financial issues, decentralization and community ownership, review of the
state Education Acts, rationalization of teacher deployment and recruitment of
teachers, monitoring and evaluation, education of girls, SCs/STs and
disadvantaged groups policy regarding private schools. Many states have
already effected institutional reforms to improve the delivery system for
elementary education.
Community Empowerment:
The programme calls for community ownership of schools and interventions
through effective decentralization. This is facilitated by the involvement of
women’s groups. Village Education Committee (VEC) members and members
of the Panchayati Raj institutions.
Local level institutions are expected to undertake training if community leaders
and community representatives to enable them to undertake planning,
programming and monitoring tasks.
65’

14. Community Based Monitoring:
It is envisaged in the SSA that the Educational Management Information System
(EMIS) would co-relate school level data with community-based information from
micro planning exercises and field surveys. For example, every school will have a
notice board showing all the grants received by the school and other details.
The SSA envisages co-operation between teachers, parents and PRls, as well as
accountability and transparency on the part of every individual and agency
involved.
Focus on the Education of Girls and Special Groups:
Education of girls, especially those belonging to the scheduled Castes and
scheduled tribes, is one of the principal concerns in SSA. It follows a mainstreamed
gender approach. Efforts provide for mobilization at the habitation/village/urban
slum level, recruitment of female teachers, nutritional support, provision of free
text books and uniforms; back to school camps for adolescent girls and
organization. Focused attention is given to activities that enhance participation of
children from SCs/STs, religious and linguistic minorities, disadvantaged groups and
disabled children.

15. Analytics
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
Schools Classrooms Toilets Drinking Water
Basic Infastructure (2005-06)
SSA is bringing more and more children to and retaining them in schools,
especially girls. The data shows (in numbers) development of basic infrastructure
developments for students studying in primary level in period 2005-2006.
*Numbers include both Municipalities and Pancahayat areas

16. In Education sector, the total allocation will be increased by 20 per cent from Rs. 28, 674 crore in
2007-08 to Rs. 34, 400 crore in 2008-09. Of this SSA well be provided Rs. 13,000 crore. The focus
of SSA will shift from access and infrastructure at the primary level to enhancing retention,
improving quality of learning and ensuring access to upper primary classes.
25000
26000
27000
28000
29000
30000
31000
32000
33000
34000
35000
2007-08 2008-09
Budget Allocation for SSA (in Crores)

17. Transfer of Management of School Education to Panchayati Raj Institutions : Madhya
Pradesh has made continuous efforts, since 1994, to decentralise the management of
school education to local level and to empower the community to make education
responsive to the people’s needs. The responsibility of managing school education (from
classes I-XII) was transferred to three tier Panchayati Raj Institutions vide Government
Order of 30.10.1996 of the School Education Department, Government of Madhya Pradesh
to make further effort to strengthen Panchayati Raj Institutions and to develop them as
units of self-governance in consonance with the 73rd Constitutional Amendment. The
graph below shows data of student drop out in Madhya Pradesh between 6-14 years of age
before SSA.
0
50000
100000
150000
200000
250000
300000
Girls SC ST Disabled
School Drop Out before SSA
*in numbers
Drop out rates before SSA in MP

18. Imapct of Skill India on Rural India
As per the report by Ministry of Labour & Employment of India, unemployment
among rural youth in India is highest today since 1993-94. About 5% of the rural
youth between 15-29 years remain unemployed. This is an alarming situation if the
most energetic and productive generation of our country is being wasted.
The Central Government on its part is leaving no stone unturned. The annual
budget of 2017-18 allocated for employment generation, skill and livelihood is
pegged at an approximate value of Rs.17, 000 Cr where the Ministry for Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship is allocated Rs.3000 Cr. Some of the other
salient features in the budget relating to skill development are as follows:
1. PMKK (Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra) which are currently present in over 60
districts is planned to be opened in 600 more districts.
2. Launch of Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood
Promotion Program (SANKALP) at a cost of 4000 Cr to provide market relevant
training to over 3.5 Cr youth
3. In order to foster the emergence of technology which plays an important role
in new age start-ups, high speed broadband is expected to be provided to over
1.5 lakh villages.
4. Allocation of Rs.4500cr for Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana for promotion of skill
development in rural areas.

20. Conclusion
The role of Panchayati Raj institutions have expanded after the advent of RTE Act
2009. PRIs have been identified as the local authority by the act to carry out
several functions like implementation of the act, grievance redressal mechanism,
etc. However, the careful analysis of the act reveals that there has been an over
lapping of functions at several levels.
Under the Right to Education Act, local authority as defined by the Act will
comprise municipal bodies in urban areas and panchayats in rural area and also a
body having administrative control over schools in the areaparticipation of Gram
Panchayat. It is, therefore, necessary that panchayats at village, block and district
levels should be strengthened and involved in planning and management of
elementary education.
The emphasis should not only be on the quantitative spread of education to bring
all children in the age group of 6-11 in the educational net but also to improve it
qualitatively. In fact all primary education activities have been taken over under
the SSA umbrella.

21. While the Government of India is hugely investing in skill development initiatives
for the future, there is widespread concern among the industry and academia
that the efforts may not be sufficient to avoid a skill scarcity in the future. The
opportunity for India largely lies with skilling the youth in the country. Hence
there is a need to align the efforts of the Government with the Industry that will
pave way to successful implementation of the programs, thereby enabling the
skilled manpower for the nation by 2020.
As far as education is concerned, it is an important instrument for all round
development of the people. It is only an instrument which develops the society
and nation at large. Panchayatiraj institutions are the backbone of village/rural
development which inculcate the sense of care of rural development and rural
management for sustainable development.
The sustainable development of rural can be done only in healthy environment
and through quality education. Without quality education and healthy
environment the sustainable development is impossible.Indeed, Panchayatiraj
institutions can play a vital role in development of primary education and
sustaining development of rural area.

22. References
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3. Social welfare and the Role of Gram Panchayat. Available at
https://www.slideshare.net/SagolsemRoshanSingh1/social-welfare-and-the-role-of-gram-panchayat
4. The Organisation And Functions Of Panchayat Samiti. Available at https://www.jatinverma.org/the-
organisation-and-functions-of-panchayat-samiti
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http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1712178.pdf
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9. IMPACT OF SKILL INDIA ON RURAL YOUTH – A PERSPECTIVE, B Anbuthambi and N Chandrasekaran. Available
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http://ictactjournals.in/html/IJMS/Volume_3/V3I1/IMPACT_OF_SKILL_INDIA_ON_RURAL_YOUTH_%E2%80%
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23. Thank You