Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE) is an indispensable foundation for lifelong learning and development and has critical impact of success at the primary stage of education. It is therefore becomes imperative to accord priority attention to ECCE (Govt. of India, 2012). Research has also indicated that if these early years are not supported by, or embedded in, a stimulating and enriching physical and psychosocial environment, the chances of the child’s brain developing to its full potential are considerably, and often irreversibly, reduced. The Govt.of India has emphasizes the role of panchayatiraj institution in planning and implementation of ECCE programmes. The emphasis is laid on the direct involvement of panchayatiraj institutions to oversee the management of ECCE (Govt. of India,2012). In Himachal Pradesh panchayati raj institutions have been involved in monitoring, supervision of ECCE/anganwadi centres and identification of beneficiaries (Govt. of Himachal Pradesh, 2011).Panchayats are authorise to check regularity of functioning of anganwadi centres, ensure coverage of all eligible beneficiaries, ensure the coordination with department like health and family welfare, panchayati raj and education, ensure non-formal pre-school education at anganwadi centres, improving infrastructure, ensure distribution of food and health services, construction of anganwadi centres in its areas, providing infrastructure facilities and other logistic support to facilitate implementation of the programme (Govt. of Himachal Prsdesh, 2010). It is against this background that the research was conducted to find out the role of panchayati raj institution in ECCE. The six districts of Himachal Pradesh were surveyed. The multi-staged and simple random sampling technique was used to select the 180 anganwadi workers, 120 members of gram panchayats and 60 members of panchayat samiti. The data collected was summarized into frequencies and percentage.The findings of the study revealed that the role of Panchayati Raj Institutions in supporting Anganwadi services is found to be wanting in several respects.

This paper intends to explore the role of School Management Committees (SMCs) in rural elementary schools pertaining to the different variables under investigation, e.g. enrollment, utilization of allotted funds and development of infrastructures. Balikhand Primary School situated at Purusottampur Grampanchayat, Simulia Block, Balasore District was selected for case study. The paper highlights the functioning of SMC in this school and reveals many facts pertaining to the different areas under study that have important implications for the major stakeholders of Elementary Education. The study revealed that the SMC discharged its role actively for achieving universal enrollment by checking the attendance and absenteeism of the learners. It also showed interest in developing the infrastructures by communicating the authorities regarding different avenues of infrastructures and the SMC had utilized the allotted funds in proper means so as to develop the system.

Information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching learning means making the effective use of ICT to teach the subject matter in a more interesting manner to make learning easy and fast for the students. It makes use of projectors, internet, multimedia, audio- visual aids and much more for teaching. The use of ICT in teaching learning have changed the whole concept of education and had proved to be of great benefit both for the teachers as well as the students. Through ICT, teachers get an opportunity to use new innovations in their teaching and present the study material in a more refined manner which is easily understood by the students and apart from this, ICT usage in teaching learning by the teachers gives an opportunity to the teacher to get acquainted with the new innovation and become contributors to its use in education. The students gain a lot by learning through ICT and they learn to seek knowledge on their own by using ICT. They also get an opportunity to share their knowledge with others through ICT. But there are certain factors which effect the successful ICT integration in teaching learning. This paper throws light on the benefits of ICT usage in teaching learning, three phases to successful ICT integration, factors influencing ICT by teachers, the barriers to successful ICT integration, implications to check barriers, and the changed role of the teachers.

Mentoring, Coaching and Counseling are popular capacity -building tools, especially in the area of education. They are often mentioned in proposals and reviews as key elements of good capacity-building practice. Yet despite their current status, many of us are unclear what coaching, mentoring and counseling really involves, and where and when they work. We have a number of questions: What does a coach, mentor or a counselor actually do? Is there any real difference between them? Where have these approaches come from? Are they really relevant to student development? When are these approaches effective? When are they not appropriate? This paper addresses these questions to demystify the concepts and practices of coaching, mentoring and counselling and its contribution towards motivating students.

Quality of teacher education in the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has been posing a question for pretty long time. Stakeholders at different levels have been working to design innovative strategies to raise the standard to meet the demands of the children. The open teacher education scenario is passing through a paradigm shift in respect of teaching –learning process and other related dimensions. Quality enhancement of teacher education via Open and Distance Learning can be possible by adopting creative use of technology which, by a large is interlinked to e-learning 2.0. E-learning 2.0 is the use of web 2.0 technologies in teaching-learning processes visa-a-visa blogs, wikis, RSS feeds and social networking sites etc. Design of e-pedagogy along with e-learning strategies paves a path to make learning free of social-political cultural barriers and thus enhances the quality of learning. This paper discusses various aspects of e-learning 2.0 strategies in the open and distance teacher education, role of e-learning 2.0 methods in improving the quality of education and latest e-learning 2.0 tools and its application in open and distance education, especially teacher education. It helps stakeholders to build a sound knowledge in e-learning 2.0 strategies and its application for the daily teaching-learning practices at all levels of open and distance teacher education.

Education provides a basis for a positive change and transformation of the society. This exposes new and innovative thoughts, understanding and important skills in a person towards developing self and surroundings. Education empowers women to understand the economics of managing resources and grab the opportunities for value generation in a micro (household) and macro (societal) level. The topic exhibits about the necessity of women education and benefits thereto in the process of competitiveness of a society and a nation at large. Researchers say that educating a woman means educating a family. More empowered the women are; more empowered would be the society. Educated women have multiple advantages (tangible and intangible) as far as families’ and social needs are concerned. They play various roles as a responsible citizens, housewives, mothers etc. and also as contributors to families’ income. Women accounts for half of the human resource. Despite various awareness programmes, regulations worldwide on gender equality and women empowerment, the situation is not good. According to United Nations Development Programme, two thirds of global illiterate population is women. 7 out of 10 women are reported experienced physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, says UN Women. Women earn only 10 % of all the income, only 1% of the property and yet produce half of the world’s food. Irrespective of class, culture or income, women are discriminated all over. The situation in developing and undeveloped countries is worse. According to a global poll by Thomson Reuters, India is said to be the 4th most dangerous country in the world. India needs to do a lot as far as security, freedom, economic empowerment etc. are concerned. Education can play a crucial role in enhancing their social status and empower them to stand against the discrimination. This is a tool to encourage them to attain self reliance and gives them power to fight against the evils.

The importance of education and its role should be to open up minds and ensure that it thinks reasons and analyzes. The National Curriculum Framework 2005 places demands and expectations on the teacher, which need to be addressed by both initial and continuing teacher education. To enhance the knowledge, values and skill among student it is necessary to enhance these in teacher first. Critical thinking is a type of reasonable, reflective thinking that is aimed at deciding what to believe or what to do. This paper examines the critical thinking skill of three D.T.Ed, college student teachers’ in the Kolhapur city and develop a programme to check the effectiveness of It. Findings are discussed most of the student teachers are poor in acquiring expanding question skill aspect, evaluating question skill aspect and analyzing question skill aspect of critical thinking skill. The treatment given to experimental group has produced significant difference in score of critical thinking skill and it can be said that the programme on development of critical thinking skill significantly enhances the critical thinking skill.

Accurate spelling is a complex act that requires cognitive and linguistic knowledge of the phonological, morphological, syntactical and semantic principles of language. Students with disabilities frequently exhibit spelling difficulties related to language learning and are inefficient in cognitive processing. These difficulties often are developmental in nature. The present study is conducted on 222 children with spelling difficulties of five Taluks of Kerala State. Remediation of spelling difficulties in children requires comprehensive assessment. In this article, the researchers discuss about the theory related to spelling disabilities, assessment, remediation and psychosocial correlates of spelling difficulties in children. The major findings of the study state that there is a significant positive correlation between psycho-social variables and academic achievement of children with spelling difficulties. The authors also highlighted the need for early intervention and use of various remedial strategies to overcome spelling difficulties in children.

The purpose of this study was to determine how the adoption of cooperative learning as an instructional strategy for teaching mathematics influences students’ achievement. The study also determined how moderating variables like gender affect students’ achievement in mathematics when cooperative learning is used as an instructional strategy. so, the investigators aimed at studying the effect of co-operative learning strategies i.e. team assisted individualisation (TAI) and student teams achievement division (STAD) on the mathematics achievement among ninth graders in relation to gender. This is an experimental study with 3×2 factorial designs. Students of ninth standard of the schools affiliated to Haryana Board in Rohtak city constituted the population of the study. 144 students of ninth standard ( 74 boys and 70 girls ) selected through multi-stage random sampling technique were taken as a sample for the study out of which 52 students taught through TAI formed experimental group-1 (E1 ); 46 students taught through STAD formed experimental group-2(E2) and 46 students taught through conventional method of teaching formed control group(C ). Sample of the students were also equated on the basis of socio-economic status and achievement in the subject concerned. Achievement test in mathematics developed and standardized by the investigators was used to assess the achievement of the subjects. Lesson plans, worksheets, check-outs and formative tests were developed for both the strategies TAI and STAD separately to carry out the teaching and learning process in all the three groups for ten weeks only. At the end of the experiment, achievement test in mathematics was given to the subjects. Data were analyzed by using ANOVA and t-test to determine the performance by comparing the mean scores of all the groups. Data analysis revealed that boys and girls students taught through co-operative learning strategies TAI and STAD outscored significantly the control group on post-test showing the obvious supremacy of co-operative learning over conventional method of teaching. Hence, the ultimate result of the study indicated that co-operative learning was found more effective instructional paradigm for mathematics as compared to conventional method of teaching.

Higher education sector is one of the major drivers in uplifting the Indian economy, but with striking challenges. Traditional ways of imparting education, poor governance and lack of finance are all responsible for the dismal scene showcasing low GER, absence of India from the list of countries having world’s best institutions and sufferings of Indian students searching for quality education abroad. The three needs -Competitive, Protective and Protractile- calls for professional governance of educational institutions and investment there in by corporate sector. New Companies Bill 2012 also proposes compulsory contribution by corporate sector for CSR activities. If companies contribute to the area of education by Five-way corporate participation model suggested in this paper, higher education of India can be elevated.