During the first five (5) months from July 2013 to November 2013, data collection, Baseline Survey of the Testing, refining SISM Model (basic principles, cascade training, training programme, training manuals/materials etc.) and designing/preparing the Testing of SISM Model were carried out.

For eight (8) month from December 2013 to July 2014, the Testing through conducting SISM Model cascade training from the central-level training of Trainers (C-ToT); the district-level ToT (D-ToT); the RC-level ToT (RC-ToT); and to the school-level workshop (SLW) were implemented in the four Testing Districts (TDs); Simultaneously, the follow-up activities with the 2 pilot districts, Dhading and Rasuwa, of SISM Phase 1 were conducted.

 

For the three (3) months from May to July 2014, SISM2 conducted the wrap-up workshops with TDs, End-line Survey of the Testing; Baseline Survey of the Regional/National Dissemination; and Testing Result Sharing and Networking Workshop. Based on the findings, “SISM2 Recommendation: Programme for Capacity Development for Enhancing School-based Management” was prepared and submitted. “The Action Plan of the Regional/National Dissemination of the SIP/Capacity Development Model in School Management” was discussed and approved by Coordination Committee on July 25, 2014.

• SISM Model Cascade Training Package [Click here to go]
• Cascade Training [Click here to go]
• Monitoring [Click here to go]
• Baseline and End-line Survey of the testing districts [Click here to go]
• Wrap-up Workshop in the testing districts [Click here to go]
• Follow up Workshop in Dhading and Rasuwa [Click here to go]
• Testing Result Sharing and Networking Workshop [[Click here to go]
• Overall Achievement of the 1st Project Year [Click here to go]

 

SISM Model Cascade Training Package

 

SISM Model Cascade Training Package

 

 In addition to the basic package, which are used at the School-level Workshop (SLW) as well as at every level of ToT, SISM2 has been preparing the following guides for ToT as well:

• Trainers Guides for RC-ToT
• Trainers Guide for Central/Regional/District ToTs

 

Cascade Training

 

SISM2 conducted 5-day C-ToT on “Formulation and Updating of SIP” in December 2013, soon after C-ToT, D-ToT was conducted in Doti and Rupandehi during the period between December and January. Due to school’s winter vacation, D-ToT in Solukhumbu and Jumla districts was conducted in February. Following action plan prepared during D-ToT, SISM2 supported testing DEOs to organize a total of 110 batches of the 3-day RC-ToT during February to May 2014. The number of the batches per district and per RC was decided based on the number of the schools and the geographic conditions.
 
After the three steps of the cascade training; C-ToT, D-ToT and the RC-ToT, the next step was the School-level Workshop (SLW). SISM2 supported testing DEOs to conduct 2-day SLW in 1,182 community schools of four testing districts.
 

 

 

At the end of the school-level workshop, each school prepared action plan to update their five year SIP for the period of academic year 2014/15-2018/19. The SIP updating processes includes four processes namely 1) preparation of Draft SIP; 2) collection of comments from community members, parents; 3) review by SMC; and 4) Approval of SIP by SMC. Based on the report from DEOs, most of the schools in testing districts updated their SIPs and submitted to DEO by the end of July.

 

Monitoring

 

 

SISM2 facilitated testing DEOs to monitor SIP-related training activities and follow-up of the community activities to prepare their SIPs. There were two types of monitoring 1) Monitoring during SLW (M1), and 2) Monitoring of SIP Updating process after SLW (M2). The objectives of the monitoring activities were: 1) to ensure the quality of SLW, 2) to help schools for updating SIP for the next 5 years (2014/15-2018/19); and 3) to enhance the capacity of the SSs and RPs in monitoring and guiding of the communities. The summary of monitoring carried out by the SSs/RPs was as shown in the following table.

 Outline of SSs/RPs monitoring in testing districts

 

S.N.	District Names	No.of total schools	No.of Monitoring visits		No.of RPs/SSs involved	Remarks
			M1	M2
1.	Doti	388	327	366	20	RPs-15 and SS- 5
2.	Jumla	160	144	88	11	RPs-10 and HT who received D-ToT-1
3.	Rupandehi	363	310	255	19	RPs-10,SS- 5 and ADEO-4
4.	Solukhumbu	271	248	270	14	RPs-13 and SO-1
	Total	1,182	1,029	979	64

(Source: Prepared and Compiled by the SISM2 Team)

After monitoring, RPs submitted the Monitoring Report 1 (M1) and Monitoring Report 2 (M2) to SISM2. Based on the monitoring reports submitted by the RPs, most of the SLW were conducted very nicely and effectively.

 

Baseline and End-line Survey in the testing districts

 

The Baseline and the End-line Surveys of the Testing were conducted through the questionnaire survey of SMCs, HTs, guardians, students, and RPs in 4 Testing Districts (in total 80 schools) and the 4 Control Districts (in total 80 schools), which are the Testing District (TD)-nearby districts to assess the changes in TDs by comparing before/after data.

 

	District	VDC	School
Testing Districts (TDs)	1) Solukhumbu in Eastern Region	2 VDCs	20 schools
	2) Rupandehi in Western Region	4 VDCs	20 schools
	3) Jumla in Mid-Western Region	3 VDCs	20 schools
	4) Doti in Far-Western Region	4 VDCs	20 schools
Control Districts (CDs)	5) Sankhuwasabha in Eastern Region	2 VDCs	20 schools
	6) Kapilbastu in West Region	3 VDCs	20 schools
	7) Kalikot in Mid-Western Region	3 VDCs	20 schools
	8) Dadeldhura in Far-Western Region	2 VDCs	20 schools
Total	8 districts	23 VDCs	160 schools

The results of the End-line Survey show the Testing has produced the various positive changes among head teachers (HTs), teachers, students, SMCs, and guardians in 4 TDs.
In the sample schools in TDs, teacher’s attitude toward students starts changing. The teacher’s change in actively discussing classroom problems with other teachers was observed in TDs. Better communication among teachers provides benefit for teachers regarding teaching skills and classroom management. They also exchange information of students. Thus, teaching atmosphere and environment at school might be being improved, which may lead to the improvement in teachers’ teaching.

There are 80 sample schools in total, chosen for the Baseline and the End-line Surveys in TDs. Based on the End-line Survey data, there are 59 schools identified, whose students are coming from poor families, while 21 schools, whose students are coming from non-poor families. The changes of HTs of the schools with non-poor family background are statistically significant compared to the HTs of the schools with poor family background. From the data, in general, HTs of the schools of non-poor family background made more improvement in SIP formulation than the other groups. From this inference, it is possible to say that poor parents still have difficulties in participating in SIP formulation process, which needs further consideration by SISM2

Out of the 80 sample schools, 47 schools are categorized as a group of schools with better guardians’ literacy rate, and 33 schools as a group with poor guardians’ literacy rate. From the analysis of the End-line Survey findings, the SISM2’s trainings and workshops functioned well for schools with more literate guardians. It could be said that literate parents have more concern about education, and their involvement in SIP formulation is higher than illiterate parents. Having said that, the changes of the schools with less literate guardians are not marginal. Although their changes are less than the other group, they show positive changes in all questions. It might be possible to set up a hypothesis that SISM2 approach could be effective for less literate guardians.

 

Wrap-up Workshop in the testing districts

 

SISM2 organized one day Wrap-Up Workshop in each of the SISM2 testing districts, during May and June 2014. The objectives of the workshop were 1) to review and share the experiences about what we have learned through SISM2 cascade training and SIP formulation process; and 2) to critically look at the cascade training program and extract the lessons to be reflected for the improvement of the training program for the regional/national dissemination. All SSs, RPs and selected HTs and SMC Chairpersons (SMC-C) participated in the workshop. Table shows the outline of the wrap-up workshop in each testing district.

Outline of Wrap-up Workshop

 

Districts	Date	Participants
		DEO Staff	ETC	RP	HT and SMC-C	Total
Rupandehi	12 May 2014	10	0	10	5	25
Jumla	18 May 2014	6	1	10	8	25
Doti	20 May 2014	7	0	16	8	31
Solukhumbu	27 June 2014	3	0	12	3	18
Total		26	1	48	24	99

(Source: Prepared and Compiled by SISM2)

 The major outcomes of the workshop are as follows:

• Many participants mentioned that cascade training is necessary to re-vitalize the SIP processes.
• District-level stakeholders critically reviewed the strengths and the weaknesses of the cascade training, and they provided concrete suggestions and feedbacks to make training materials simpler and more users friendly.
• Action Plans for the continuation of SIP updating have been made at all three levels, namely, DEO, RC and school.

 

Follow up Workshop in Dhading and Rasuwa

 

SISM2 continued to work with Dhading and Rasuwa districts, where 3-day refresher trainings were conducted. The follow up workshop had two parts. The Part 1: DAY 1 & 2 was workshop with DEO Officers and RPs and the Part 2: DAY 3 was workshop with representatives of schools in pilot schools and concerned SS/RPs. The objectives of the follow up workshop were 1)To refresh the knowledge and skills on SIP Formulation, through the study of the SISM2 package and continue giving the guidance to the schools in the follow-up districts; and 2)To extract the lessons from experiences regarding SIP formulation in the past several years.]

The follow-up workshop was facilitated by the central-level officers of DoE/NCED/CDC and SISM2 Team members. The outline of the follow-up workshop is shown in the table below.

Outline of Follow up Workshop

 

	Dhading	Rasuwa
Date	Part I: 5-6 March 2014 Part II: 7 March 2014	Part I: 10-11 March 2014 Part II: 12 March 2014
Venue	Hotel Janajibika, Dhadingbesi	Lead Resource Centre(LRC) -Rasuwa
Number of Participants	Part I: DEO, ADEO, SS/RP (29) Part II: (19) - 5 SSs appointed by DEO - 5 RPs from SISM1 pilot VDCs - 9 representatives of 10 schools from 5 SISM1 Pilot VDCs	Part I: SS/RPs(7) Part II:(13) - 1 SS, appointed by DEO - 7 RPs - 5 representatives of 6 schools from 3 SISM1 Pilot VDCs
Facilitators(DoE/NCED/CDC)	DoE: 1 person NCED:1	DoE: 3 CDC:1

(Source: Prepared and Compiled by SISM2)

 

The follow-up and sharing workshop has been effective to achieve the expected outputs. SSs and RPs of the both districts have been updated about the SISM2 training package for formulating SIP and were ready to give guidance to the schools in the districts following the SIP Formulation Guidebook. All participants were very much excited to share the situations after SISM1 in their respective districts.

The major outcomes and observation of the follow up workshops were summarized as follows:

• In Dhading DEO’s strong sense of leadership has improved the activeness and/or attitude of the DEO staff members and RPs. They were very punctual and had active discussion with listening to each other, which is quite different from what we observed during Phase 1.
• 
  After SISM2 District-level Follow-up Workshop, DEO Dhading conducted RC-ToT using the budget for capacity development delivered to all DEOs by DoE. The training covered the contents of 1) SIP Updating, 2) Finance and Social Audit, 3) Service Delivery and 4) Disaster Management. Another D-ToT was held to cover the three topics 2) – 4) soon with the same budget delivered by DoE. During Follow up workshop, the DEO prepared action plan for conducting D-ToT, RC-ToT and SIP formulation process at school.
• There are many good practices even after Phase 1 was over both in Dhading and Rasuwa.
• SIP updating has been continued after SISM Phase 1. As a result of the SISM Phase 1, SIP practices were found very effective in both Dhading and Rasuwa. In Rasuwa, SIPs have been already updated following the latest SIP Formulation Guidebook.

 

 

Testing Result Sharing and Networking Workshop

 

The Testing Result Sharing and Networking Workshop was conducted by MoE/DoE and SISM2 on July 25, 2014 at the Local Development Training Academy (LDTA) in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur.

The objectives of the Workshop were:

• To share the results and the learning from the SISM2 Testing during the 1st project year with various stakeholders working in the areas of improvement of school management.
• To learn from the experiences of other agencies working in the areas of improvement of school management.
• To discuss why school management is important and how it can be improved. and
• To share the SSRP and SISM2 2nd year key strategies/approaches of capacity development for school management improvement.

 

Around 150 participants gathered at the Workshop: including the officers from the central education agencies including SISM2 Coordination Committee (CC), Technical Taskforce Team (TTT) and Technical Taskforce Team for Trainers’ Training (T5) members and from the local education agencies including REDs and ETCs; the chiefs of DEOs, RPs, SMC chairpersons/head teachers from the good practice schools of Testing Districts (TDs) and Follow-up Districts (FDs); DDC representatives from TDs and FDs; international/national DPs (SSRP pooling and non-pooling DPs), international/national NGOs; Japanese Embassy; JICA Nepal Office; JICA education related projects, senior volunteers and JOCV etc.

During the Workshop, the progress/achievement of SISM2 and the findings and learning from the Baseline/End-line Survey were reported by SISM2.

The achievements and lessons learnt from practicing SISM Model were reported by the chiefs of the TD and FD DEOs and by the very best good practice schools, which were chosen by the RPs following the transparent selection procedures and criteria with the basic principles given by SISM2.

The experiences and lessons learnt from their school management improvement projects were shared by the international/national NGOs: namely, World Education, Save the Children and Children and Women in Social Services and Human Rights (CWISH).
 

After the experience sharing from TDs/FDs and NGOs, DoE shared “The FY2014/15 Action Plan of the Regional/National Dissemination of SISM Model (including SISM2 2nd year Action Plan)” by utilizing SSRP budget (ear-marked pooling fund from the Government of Japan (GoJ)) and SISM2 budget.

At the end of the Workshop, the awarding ceremony of the very best schools was conducted. The very best schools, chosen from each of TDs and FDs are as follows:
 

• Solukhumbu District: Kalika Primary School (Deusa VDC)
• Rupandehi District: Janapriya SS (Davdaha VDC)
• Jumla District: Bhagawati Primary School (Chandan Nath Municipality)
• Doti District: Radhakrisha HSS (Gopghat VDC)
• Rasuwa District: Bhuvaneshwori Primary School (Laharepauwa VDC)
• Dhading District: Dholbhaniyang HSS (Pida VDC)

 

For more details and information, please visit Good Practices/Awarded schools on 25th July 2014.

In the closing ceremony, the representative from MoE/DoE noted that the good practices of today should not be a one-time event and should be continued by all of the educational stakeholders at the central, district and school levels for improving teaching/learning environment and then for improving students’ performance.

 

Overall Achievement of the 1st Project Year

 

The achievement of the SISM2 1st project year are to be summarized as below:

• he Testing of SISM Model was completed through the cascade ToT and school-level workshops in the 4 target districts; namely Solukhumbu, Rupandehi, Jumla and Doti and through the baseline and end-line surveys to verify the effectiveness of SISM Model.
• Through designing, implementing and monitoring the cascade ToT, the capacity from the central, district, RC and school-levels has been developed including 13 central-level trainers, 14 district-level trainers and 88 RC-level trainers trained.
• Follow-up activities were done with the 2 follow-up districts (pilot districts of SISM Phase 1), Dhading and Rasuwa, to share their experiences and to improve SISM Model.
• 1,182 schools conducted a school-level workshop with community participation, to update SIP and to improve their awareness and understanding of their roles and responsibilities in school management, led by SMCs. Some schools have already started SIP activities to improve teaching/learning environment.
• Based on the lessons learnt from the Testing, SISM Model has been refined with the training programmes, manuals and materials updated and “SISM2 Recommendation: Programme for Capacity Development for Enhancing School-based Management” was prepared and submitted.