Educational Planning
The concept of planning was originally applied in the sphere of economic development.
Realising its utility, the concept gained wide recognition in other spheres of national
development such as agriculture, social and health services and education. In fact it is a
subsystem of general planning for national development.
Planning can be defined as “a process of taking decisions for future actions in order to achieve
pre-determined objectives by optimum utilization of available resources in a limited time frame”.
Thus a pre-condition for planning is the existence of certain objectives which need to be
achieved and constraints in this respect are time and resources. Here resources include all the
three types of resources namely physical (or material), financial and human resources. It is said
that we plan because we have limited resources and we have to achieve our objectives within the
constraint of these limited resources.
An educational plan refers to the efforts on planned and premeditated change to be brought about
in the system of education for attaining relevant, pre-determined aim aims and objectives. These
changes are conceptualized with reference to specific objectives and need to be co-ordinated in
relation to the objectives and conditions in other systems such as the social, political, economic,
cultural and ideological systems.
Beeby (1967) defines educational planning as “the exercise of foresight in determining the
policy, priorities and costs of an educational system, having due regard for economic and
political realities, for the system‟s potential for growth and for the needs of the country and of
the pupils served by the system.”
According to Philip (1970) “Educational planning, in its broadest generic sense, is the
application of rational, systematic analysis to the process of educational development with the
aim of making education more effective and efficient in responding to the needs and goals of its
students and society.”
Knezewich defines educational planning as a purposeful preparation culminating in a decision
which serves as the basis for subsequent action.
An analysis of the preceding definitions reveals that:
i.The aims of the plan should be clear. (ii)It revolves around sound and rational thinking
iii.It requires foresight. iv.Its implementation is very important to its success.
v.Its success depends on the past legacy, stage of development of the nation and the
determination for progress.
4.3.1 The need for Educational Planning
The developments taking place in and the increasing complexity of the educational system have
made educational planning as absolute necessity. The nation today faces problems such as
population explosion, increasing aspirations among different sections of the society, man-power
needs, mismatch between educational products and the demands of the economy, dwindling
resources, ecological imbalances and haphazard applications of scientific developments. These
problems place demands on the system of education for solutions. In order that the system of
education meets these problems, planning becomes imperative and the competence to plan
becomes mandatory.
Educational planning is an absolute necessity because:
(1) It ensures success of the institution. It takes into consideration the important issues,
conditions, constraints and factors in education. Its focus is on future objectives, vision and
goals. It is proactive in nature in that it emphasizes perception and ability to apply theory and
profit from it in advance of action. It clarifies goals and the means to achieve those goals. Thus it
eliminates trial-and-error process, reduces chances of failure and ensures success. In other words,
it provides intelligent direction to activity.
(2) The scarcity of financial and other non-material resources poses a challenge to education.
Planning is a response to such challenges and explores the possibilities of alternative uses and
optimum utilization of limited resources. Planning is necessary to streamline educational
expansion especially in rural, tribal and other backward areas.
(3) Effective and efficient planning ensures optimum utilization of funds thus ensuring
expansion of educational facilities
(4) Education is considered as an investment for human resource development. Planning is
necessary to ensure that human resources are developed as per need and there will be high
returns to education.
(5) Education is a public service demanded by the public and supplied by the government. For
any government effort of such a large magnitude as education, planning is absolutely necessary.
It is a co-ordinated means of attaining pre-determined purposes.
(6) Educational planning is one of the components of the overall national socio-economic
development. The over-all planning has to state the objectives of education and provide the
finances for educational development for accomplishing these objectives
4.3.2 The Goals of Educational Planning
The following are the broad goals of educational planning in India:
1. To provide a substantial supply of educated and skilled manpower to society
2. To identify the needs of the economy and to match this supply of human resources to the
needs of the economy in quantitative as wells as qualitative terms.
3. To determine the priorities in the educational sector so that scarce resources can be
allocated optimally.
4. To ensure balanced regional development and growth with equity, social justice and
stability.
5. To reorient the educational system and bring about functional integration among different
levels of education.
6. To strengthen and expand vocational education.
7. To consolidate the existing secondary and university education.
8. To devise a system of higher education -(i) to suit the demands of the economy by
incorporating a component of vocational subjects and (ii) to suit the needs of the rural
areas.
9. To strengthen primary education and literacy levels by greater emphasis on adult
education, functional literacy and access to primary schools.
10. To help the socio-economically and educationally backward states by giving them
preferences in matters concerning grants.
11. To avoid wastage and stagnation in educational investment and output.
12. To bring about equalisation of educational opportunity by expanding facilities for
women‟s education especially in rural areas.
13. To abolish discrimination in educational matters on the basis of caste, creed or religion.
The key planning questions:
1. What should be the priority objectives and functions of the educational system and of each of
its sub-systems (including each level, each institution, each grade, each course, and each class)?
2. What are the best of the alternative possible ways of pursuing these various objectives and
functions? (This involves a consideration of alternative educational technologies, their relative
costs, time requirements, practical feasibility, educational effectiveness, etc.
3. How much of the nation‟s (or community‟s) resources should be devoted to education at the
expense of other things? What appear to be the limits of feasibility, in terms not only of financial
resources but real resources? What is the maximum of resources that education can effectively
absorb in the given time period?
4. Who should pay? How should the burden of educational costs and sacrifices be distributed as
between the direct recipients of education and society at large, and among different groups in
society? How well adapted is the present public fiscal structure, and other sources of educational
revenue, to attaining a socially desirable distribution of the burden and at the same time a
sufficient flow of necessary income to education ?
5. How should the total resources available to education (whatever the amount may be) be
allocated among different levels, types and components of the system (e.g. primary; secondary;
higher education).
Principles of educational planning
In order to be effective and efficient, the following principles should be followed. There are as
follows:
i. Educational planning should be an integral part of the overall planning for national
development.
ii. It is pre-eminently long-term in nature. This requires proactive, forward looking studies to be
conducted before drawing up medium and short-term national plans, programmes and projects.
In other words, research is a pre-requisite to painting.
iii. It must be comprehensive in nature, and must incorporate every level and type of education,
all stages if life as well as life-long learning.
iv. It is necessarily a continuous process and not a sporadic activity.
v. The finances required for educational development of the of the country should be treated as
an investment and not just as social welfare.
vi. It should focus on the structures, methods and contents of education, the qualitative and the
aspects of education.
vii. There should be a policy of educational development allowing continuous and balanced
expansion based on the principles of equality and equity.
viii. It should be aimed at democratization of education and educating individuals for their
maximum development and full participation in social life through all-round development and
through action for international co-operation and understanding.
ix. It is aimed at continuous forecasting and guidance so as to match the demand for human
resources with its supply in required quantity and quality.
x. It requires application of economic analysis (forecasting of demand and supply of human
resources, cost studies etc.) and of educational evaluation techniques in order to ensure efficient
use of resources allocated to education for investment in physical plant, equipment, research,
faculty development or the organisation of teaching-learning process.
xi It should emphasize on the reduction of wastage, stagnation and drop-out rates among the
deprived and disadvantaged section of society.
xii. It should be aimed at equitable distribution of educational facilities vis-à-vis the distribution
of population and the level of its economic-development.
xiii. It should provide for the special requirements of planning at the local, state and national
levels.
xiv. It should be flexible to accommodate change , based on continuous evaluation.
4.3.3 Priorities of Educational Planning
Educational planning should place more emphasis on qualitative improvements of education
while continuing the programs for expansion, increasing emoluments and expenditure.
Decentralisation in planning should be encouraged. Local community should be involved in
the planning process at the institutional, district and state levels.
Educational planning is one of the essential areas of concern in all the five Year Plans in India.
Globalisation has necessitated a greater need for education at all levels. Government has
formulated certain measures to increase adult literacy and continuing education. The major
problems of Education planning in India as per the opinion of analysts are high dropout rates,
low levels of learning achievement, low participation of girl students, inadequate school
infrastructure, teacher absenteeism, large scale teacher vacancies, inadequate teaching/learning
material, lack of public involvement in provision of educational services, variation in the literacy
rates for special groups of citizens and variation in interstate literacy rates. Planners should lay
greater emphasis on overcoming lacunae in these areas.
