By Abhishek Jain, Head, Public Policy at Mantra4Change.
Understanding the concept of ‘school mapping’
School mapping is “a collection of methods and processes used to assess national and local educational demand and service delivery, alongside other important information on education outcomes”.3 One of its earliest uses was in 1963 by the Ministry of Education of France in relation to the implementation of educational reform of extending compulsory education.
It is important to begin by demystifying the common misconception that ‘school mapping’ merely involves marking schools on a map of a locality, region, or country. Pertinently, this visual representation is merely a foundational step of a much more layered and iterative process. ‘School mapping’ serves as a strategic tool that bridges high-level education policy objectives with ground-level realities. It reflects current educational service delivery capacity, identifies geographic and demographic gaps, and helps anticipate and plan for future/current educational demand and service delivery to help inform future education policy.
Use cases of ‘school mapping’ as a strategic tool to help inform education policy decision making
‘School mapping’ is not merely a tool to map essential data but it’s a strategic enabler that can help build a more proactive and responsive education policy. While ‘school mapping’ can have different use cases, below is an indicative list of use cases of ‘school mapping’ specifically for school education:
| Focus Area | How can ‘school mapping’ support |
|---|---|
| Universal access to education | School mapping is one of the key tools to track access to education on the ground level. It directly helps identify areas where access to schools is getting hindered by geographical barriers, and it also helps in proactively identifying and problem solving for over and under enrollment in any one school. By pinpointing bottlenecks from an accessibility perspective (among other factors), school mapping drives evidence-based planning and policy decisions aimed at achieving universal access to education. |
| Optimising key decisions on ‘which schools to operate’ and ‘where to set up new schools’ | School mapping can help identify not just the spread of schools in a region, but also the number of teachers, non-teaching staff and students across these schools, thereby avoiding over-concentration and ensuring that education contributes to balanced regional development. This data can be mapped against a baseline for ideal ratios, to identify which schools can be shut down or repurposed, and where new schools should be set up both from a resource efficiency perspective and also geographical equity perspective. |
| Resource sharing to scale education delivery capabilities | School mapping also helps identify resource capabilities across different schools and also the resourcing needs of different schools, which ultimately can enable resource sharing at local levels (cluster and block levels in the Indian context). This can ultimately drive equitable education, optimise resources and drive more cross-collaboration at the local level. |
| Upskill local education delivery machinery | School mapping helps align education delivery mechanisms with local needs. This goes beyond quantitative resourcing to include qualitative dimensions, such as ensuring as far as possible that teachers are trained to address specific local requirements. This includes cultural, social, and economic contexts, making them better equipped to deliver meaningful education. |
Decoding the obligation of ‘school mapping’ under India’s education laws and policies
Pursuant to the fundamental right to elementary education the state has a duty to establish schools within the child’s neighbourhood.4 To this end, the government is annually required to undertake a ‘school mapping’ exercise for determining the need and optimal locations for establishing neighbourhood schools.5 ‘School mapping’ here has been defined as “planning school location to overcome social barriers and geographical distance”.6
To better understand the scope of ‘school mapping’ in India, it is crucial to understand what is meant by ‘neighbourhood’ which is ultimately the unit within which a school should be set up to ensure access for each child. The law mandates that a school should be set up within areas or limits of ‘neighbourhood’ which in respect of children in classes I – V would imply “a school shall be established within a walking distance of one km of the neighbourhood” and in respect of children in classes VI – VIII, “a school shall be established within a walking distance of 3 km of the neighbourhood”.7 Further, the law also mandates that school mapping should ensure that school locations should be optimised to overcome social and geographical barriers, including the following special considerations, which implies that these indirectly need to be factored into the ‘school mapping’ exercise to begin with.
| Focus Area | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Accounting for external dangers | “In places with difficult terrain, risk of landslides, floods, lack of roads and in general, danger for young children in the approach from their homes to the school” the appropriate government/ authority will be responsible for locating schools in such manner so as to avoid these dangers even if that means building schools closer to the child.8 |
| Special exemptions for children from small hamlets with no schools within the prescribed walking distance | In case of any children from small hamlets where there is no school within the above mentioned distance limits the appropriate government/ authority “shall make adequate arrangements, such as free transportation and residential facilities, for providing elementary education in a school” that may be beyond the above mentioned distance limits.9 |
| Evaluating school needs in line with population density | The appropriate government/ authority can consider establishing more than 1 school in a ‘neighborhood’ with high population density, particularly having regard to the number of children in the age group of 6-14 years in such places.10 |
| Inclusive school planning for children with disability | The appropriate government/ authority shall “endeavour to make appropriate and safe transportation arrangements to enable” wherever these are inhibitors for children with disability to attend schools.11 |
| Accounting for social and cultural factors | The appropriate government/ authority “shall ensure that access of children to the school is not hindered on account of social and cultural factors”.12 |
Interestingly, the local authority is mandated to share a transparent list of neighbourhood school(s) where children can be admitted13 thereby making it easier for parents/ guardians to admit their children.
Reimagining the use of ‘school mapping’ as a Cross-Sectoral System Level Policy Lever
School mapping is not only a strategic tool for education planning but also a tool that generates a rich dataset that can inform policy reform and discourse beyond education. When used systemically, it can unlock cross-sectoral insights and drive more integrated development planning. Below are indicative examples:
- Cross-Sectoral Infrastructure Planning: data from school mapping can be layered in with datasets from other sectors like health, transport, and child protection which can help drive evidence based cross-sectoral decision making. For instance, transportation and street lighting planning can be done in a way that allows more schools to become safe, inclusive and accessible.
- Predictive Analytics: data from school mapping can help conduct simulations to assess future needs and proactively allocate resources and plan school locations in anticipation of emerging challenges. For instance, future educational demand can be predicted to inform service delivery requirements quantitatively and qualitatively.
- Catalyst for Sustainable Development: planning around schools can help catalyse sustainable development, by using school mapping along with other public machinery to be designed such that it can minimize travel distances, reduce carbon footprints, etc. For instance, placing schools at the center of community planning can inform location planning of roads, sanitation facilities, public transport and other public facilities such that public facilities are to the maximum extent walkable or at least accessible without long commutes in terms of time and distance. This directly contributes to lower carbon emissions and more inclusive, child-friendly urban design.
Conclusion
School mapping is a strategic lever for equity, efficiency, and evidence-based policy and reform. Given India’s commitment to “to ensure universal access and afford opportunity to all children of the country to obtain quality holistic education … from pre-school to Grade 12”14, school mapping is not merely a legal obligation but also a key tool that can help us scale the impact of efforts in the education space. It is a tool that can ensure that truly no child is left behind, and every school is where it is most needed.
* By Abhishek Jain, Head, Public Policy at Mantra4Change.
* AI Use Declaration: Assistance of AI tools was taken for analysis and copy-editing of this blog.
1 The National Education Policy 2020 (‘NEP) was approved on July 29, 2020 and is accessible here.
2 Page 6 of the NEP.
3 Section 1.1 of the Paper commissioned for the 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report, Technology in education, accessible here – https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386107.locale=en
4 Section 6 of the RTE Act.
5 Rule 9(2) of the RTE Rules.
6 Rule 2(1)(n) of the RTE Rules and Rule 2(1)(g) of the Model Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2009.
7 Rule 6(1) of the RTE Rules.
8 Rule 6(3) of the RTE Rules.
9 Rule 6(4) of the RTE Rules.
10 Rule 6(5) of the RTE Rules.
11 Rule 6(7) of the RTE Rules.
12 Rule 6(8) of the RTE Rules.
13 Rule 6(6) of the RTE Rules.
14 Paragraph 3.1 of the National Education Policy, 2020.