Educational Administration: Structure, Functions and Processes at State

Government Level

1. Introduction

Educational administration is concerned with formulating general plans and policies for education.
Educational administration is a discipline within the study of education that examines the
administrative theory and practice of education in general and educational institutions and educators
in particular. The field ideally distinguishes itself from administration and management through its
adherence to guiding principles of educational philosophy. Educational administration is the study
and practice of managing the resources, tasks and communications involved in running a school.
The goal of the administrator is to keep the school's overall process flowing smoothly, making
decisions that facilitate successful education. The administrator identifies and articulates a school's
mission and goals and makes them happen by implementing programs, delegating tasks and
allocating resources.
At the national level, MHRD feels that there should be close and continuous consultation between
the Central and State Governments in the true spirit of partnership. As the present administrative
set-up believe in decentralization, but in order to keep a balance, there should be delegation of
responsibilities and powers from the centre to the state in order to bring equality of educational
opportunity.
The Human Resource Development ministry plays a significant and remedial role in balancing the
socio-economic fabric of the country in education sector. Since citizens of India are its most
valuable resource, our billion-strong nation needs the nurture and care in the form of basic
education to achieve a better quality of life. This warrants an all-round development of our citizens,
which can be achieved by building strong foundations in education. Currently, the MHRD works
through two departments:
1.1 Department of Higher Education: The Department of Higher Education takes care of what is
one of the largest Higher Education systems of the world, just after the United States and China.
This Department is engaged in bringing world class opportunities of higher education and research
to the country so that Indian students are not finding any lack or face an international platform. For
this, the Government has launched joint ventures and signed MoUs to help the Indian student
benefit from the world opinion.

1.2 Department of School Education and Literacy: The Department of School Education &
Literacy is responsible for development of school education and literacy in the country. This Dept.
has its eyes set on the “universalisation of education” and making better citizens out of our young
brigade. For this, various new schemes and initiatives are taken up regularly and recently, those
schemes and initiatives have also started paying dividends in the form of growing enrolment in
schools.

2. Learning Outcomes
At the end of this unit, you will be able to:
a) Know the educational administrative set up for higher education in
the state
b) Explain the educational administrative set up for school education in
the state

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
 c) Explore the responsibilities of the state government regarding school
education
d) Enumerate the Structure and Functions of educational administrative
set up at secondary and elementary level

3. Educational Administrative Setup of Higher Education at State Government Level

India is the seventh largest country in the world in terms of area and the second largest in
population comprising 29 States and 7 Union Territories. The Indian Union presents a
complex picture in terms of diversity and heterogeneity of the states and union territories in
terms of geographical area, climatic conditions, population size, density and social and
economic characteristics. The Constitution of India defines administrative and other
responsibilities of the States and the Union. Under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution
the legislative matters have been put into the Union List, the State List and the Concurrent
List. The 42nd amendment of the Constitution placed education in the Concurrent List,
while before it education was in the State List except for certain specified items in the Union
List. The objective of incorporating education in the Concurrent List was to facilitate
evolution of all-India policies in the field of education. States, however, continue to exercise
main responsibility for planning and administration of school education.
Higher Education is the shared responsibility of both the Centre and the States. Following
bodies determine and maintain standards for higher education and funding at the national
level:
a) UGC (University Grant Commission): The UGC, however, was
formally established in November 1956 as a statutory body of the Government of India
through an Act of Parliament for the coordination, determination and maintenance of
standards of university education in India. In order to ensure effective region-wise coverage
throughout the country, the UGC has decentralised its operations by setting up six regional
centres at Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Guwahati and Bangalore. The head office of
the UGC is located in New Delhi, with two additional bureaus. At present, the main
categories of University-level Institutions are: Central Universities, State Universities,
Private Universities, Deemed Universities, UGC Affiliated colleges and Autonomous
Colleges.

b) All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE): The All India
Council for Technical Education (AICTE) was set up in 1945 as an advisory body and later
on in 1987 given the statutory status by an Act of Parliament. The AICTE grants approval
for starting new technical institutions, for introduction of new courses and for variation in
intake capacity in technical institutions. The AICTE has delegated powers to the concerned
state governments to process and grant approval of new institutions, starting new courses
and variations in the intake capacity for diploma level technical institutions. It also lays
down norms and standards for such institutions and ensures quality development of
technical education through accreditation of technical institutions or programmes. In
additional to its regulatory role, the AICTE also has a promotional role which it implements
through schemes for promoting technical education for women, handicapped and weaker
section of the society promoting innovations, faculty, research and development, giving
grants to technical institutions. The technical institutions under the AICTE include post-
graduate, under-graduate and diploma in the whole spectrum of technical education covering
engineering/technology, pharmacy, architecture, hotel management and catering technology,
management studies computer applications and applied arts and crafts.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
 c) National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE): National Council
for Teacher Education (NCTE) is an Indian government body set up under the National
Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993 in 1995. The main function of the NCTE is to
achieve planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system throughout
the country, the regulation and proper maintenance of norms and standards in the teacher
education system and for matters connected therewith. This council functions for the central
as well as state governments on all matter with regards to the teacher education.

There are some other national bodies which are responsible for providing education in their
own field like Medical Council of India (MCI), Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(ICAR), Veterinary Council of India (VCI), Council of Architecture (COI) etc. Except these
national level bodies, some states also have Higher Education Councils as also senior
government functionaries (Secretaries) for higher education at the State Government level
to affect higher education administration in their respective states.

4. Educational Administrative Set Up of School Education at State Government Level

The structure of school education refers to the ladder of education at school level. This can
be visualized from two perspectives viz. academic and administrative. Within a state there is
generally a four-tier structure of administration division: district, taluka/tehsil/block, and
village. The district has been so far the most important unit of administration. Some of the
states have introduced the system of Panchayati Raj, generally a three-tier structure of local
self- government in rural areas at the village, block and district levels. Two recent
constitutional amendments have bestowed on the local bodies in rural and urban areas
constitutional status and specific functions including education, covering education upto
secondary level, technical training and vocational education, adult and non-formal
education. These amendments will strengthen decentralized management of education at the
grass-root level. At State level the position differs at different levels. Some States have
separate Departments/Ministries' like Higher Education/ Technical Education/School
Education etc.
At the pre-primary stage (0-6 years) there is the attempt to establish a linkage between
elementary education and other development programmes including the Integrated Child
Development Scheme (ICDS), for which Balwadis/Anganwadis or Day-Care Centres vere
opened. Some schemes are run by state government along with NGOs working in the field.
The principle of decentralisation has been extended to the management of primary
education and Village Education Committees (VECs) have been set up in many parts of the
country. These Committees are responsible for the enrolment and retention of children in
schools, supervise the functioning of schools, check teacher absenteeism and mobilise
additional resources for the schools. Thus, attempts have been made to elicit community
participation not only in the preparation of educational plans but also in the administration
of education including mobilisation of additional resources. District Boards of Education
(DBE) plans and administers education at the district level.
District-specific plans have been developed to increase infrastructural facilities, develop
instructional material, train teachers, etc.
5. Responsibilities of the State Government regarding School Education
a) To establish and maintain educational institutions
b) To recognize for the establishment of schools
c) To provide grants to schools managed by| private governing
bodies
d) To pass laws for different types of school education

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
 e) To supervise school through DEO's and Supervisors at Block
level
f) To recruit and place teachers in schools
g) To prescribe the syllabus and supply books
h) To establish school boards to conduct examinations
i) To provide special assistance to poor and backward students
j) To organize training programmes for teachers and supervisors
k) To initiate action against teachers and schools in case of any
lapse
l) To feed information to the centre about schools.

6. Structure of Educational Administrative Set Up of School Education at State Government

Level

7. Functions and Processes of Educational Administrative Set Up of School Education

Education Ministry: The highest authority of education at the state level is the Minister of
Education appointed by the Chief Minister of a state and is duly elected as the representative of the
people. He is accountable to the legislature. In some states the Minister of Education is assisted by a
Deputy Minister. The Minister of Education formulates the policies in consultation with the cabinet.
He is responsible for the implementation of the policies. He is assisted by education secretary and
DPI (Director Public Instruction). Functions of Minister of Education are:
a) Formulation of education policies and providing
leadership to the educational programme of state.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
 b) Framing of policies, procedures, rules and regulations to
determine standard of education.
c) Coordination of the education programme of the states
in order to promote efficiency.
d) Inspection and evaluation to determine efficiency of the
operations.
e) Providing consultative and information services.
f) To run schools established by government.
g) Promoting research activities related to education
program.
h) Advising the legislature on certain issues and matters
and satisfying the legislators about the efficient conduct of educational administration by
replying on the questions asked by them.

Usually the education minister is the person related with education and have experience in the
concerned area but many times he lacks technical knowledge related with it. So, he depends on the
officials for this knowledge.
Secretary of Education: The head of the secretariat of education is the educational secretary. He is
usually assisted by one or more deputy secretaries. Education secretary is generally senior IAS
officer. He frames the policies related to education and passes order on behalf of the government.
All the government orders are issued on his name. Everyday routine matters of education are
disposed off by the educational secretary. Education secretary acts as a link between the minister
and DPI (secondary). The director’s proposals are critically examined by the staff of the secretariat
before being submitted for the approval of the minister.
Directorate of Education: It is an executive body carrying out the policies of government. The
director of education or director of public instruction is the highest officer of Directorate of
Education. Generally DPI is a technical expert and chosen for his long teaching, inspecting and
administration experience in the department. As the highest executive he is responsible for the
administration of education in the entire state. Assisted by the number of deputy and assistant
directors he performs the following functions:
● To present proposals of policy to the education secretary and to
executive, if approved by the education minister.
● keep government informed about the conditions and progress of all
types of education and the people's needs and requirements regarding education.
● To supervise, control, inspect and guide the educational institutions
including private institutions in the state.
● To supervise the work of the government officials, inspectors,
teachers of government institutions and to deal with their leave, transfer and discipline.
● To disburse funds as sanctioned by the government.
● To determine and disburse grant in aids to privately managed
institutions.
● To organize training of secondary school teachers.
● To provide expert advice both to the institutions and secretariat.

Circle Education Officer: Ordinarily every state has been divided into regions, circles or divisions
from administrative point of view. The organization of education on regional and circle basis has
been made in order to establish and coordinate the functioning of district education authorities
belonging to particular region or circle and for efficient disposal of official business. These circles

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
come under the supervision of Circle Education Officer (CEO). These circles are having their own
CEO’s. The CEO carries out the administrative and supervisory work of the whole division.
Important functions of CEO are:
a) To supervise the work done by district education
officer.
b) To give annual increments to the authorities and the
workers.
c) To inspect and supervise the functions of heads of
institutions.
d) To hear the cases of master cadre, lecturer cadre
persons and give judgments regarding their cases.
e) To execute the work assigned to him by the directorate
of education.
CEO is assisted by Deputy Circle Education Officer in all his works.
District Education Officer: The success or failure of the programs concerning secondary and
elementary education depends upon the activities at district level. The highest level officer of
education at district level is the District Education Officer or District Inspector of schools. There are
two DEOs in every district, one working as DEO (Secondary) and other DEO (Elementary). There
are other officers to assist them in their work. Every district of each division has the offices of
DEOs stationed at District Headquarters. DEO performs almost all the functions as are performed
by DPI at the state level. Important functions of DEO are:
a) To give recognition to schools in his
district when the schools fulfill certain conditions.
b) To issue grants to the aided schools.
c) To organize district level sports
competitions.
d) To supervise the functioning of school.
e) To carry-out the annual inspection of
the schools.
f) To implement the policies and orders of
the highest authorities regarding education.
g) To give directions to the subordinate
staff.
h) To hear cases of teachers and give
judgments regarding their cases.
Each DEO is directly associated with the high and senior secondary schools of the district through
the headmaster or principal of the school. DEO is assisted by deputy DEO in carrying out his
functions smoothly.
Headmaster/ Principal: For the administration of secondary schools there are headmasters or
principals as the head of the institutions. For high schools there are headmasters, headmistresses and
they get full cooperation of second headmaster. For higher secondary schools head is called
principal and he is cooperated by vice-principal. The institutional head does the following
functions:
● The principal is attached to the school directly, so success of the programs of the
school depends upon him. His functions during the year could be studied under these
headings: (a) before the starting of the session, (b) during the session, and (c) at the end of
the session.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
 a) Before the session: This
is the time when headmaster / principal plans the programs for the whole session
with the help of his teachers. He makes plan for academic year, to maximize
admissions and other works to be performed during the year.
b) During the session:
During the session Headmaster/Principal is busy in doing routine works,
discipline works and other programs.
c) At the end of the
session: At the end he is busy for the proper conductance of board examination
and other school examinations to promote the students to the next higher classes.
Declaration of results and to reflect on annual report, are some of his important
functions.
● To make arrangements
for the induction of new subject teachers.
● To implements the
orders, directions and decision of higher authorities.
● To make arrangements
for various cooperative activities.
● To make provisions for
games and sports activities.
● To make daily activities
successful.
● To maintain the school
building, school furniture, libraries and laboratories are his main functions.
● To take care of office
records and to observe these minutely.
● To lead the teachers and
to give them guidance in certain works.
● To make arrangements
for examination and evaluation.

Science supervisor: In the education office of every district, there is a post of science supervisor.
This science supervisor gets the school’s lecturer’s grade. His function is to observe the science labs
of all secondary schools of the districts. The science supervisor checks the schools and sends report
to the district education officer.
Block Education Officer: As far as the elementary education is concerned, the district is divided
into Blocks. In each block there is a BEO (Block Education Officer) which makes sincere efforts to
strengthen the School Management and Development Committees (SMDCs) and arrange training &
orientation programmes to empower them in all respect. He performs following functions and
exercise following powers in his jurisdiction:
a) To deals with matters of all teaching
and non-teaching staff working in the elementary Schools.
b) To forward the matter to concerned
District Education Officers if required to do so as per procedures/rules and directions
Issued from time to time.
c) To deal with all Court matters and assist
the concerned District Education Officer and higher authorities in proper and

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
 effective defence of various court cases pertaining to elementary Education
Department
d) To deal with the matters pertaining to
recognized & aided private schools and recognized & un-aided private schools at
elementary Level.
e) To maintain the accounts statements,
cash book and expenditure reports, etc. in respect of funds/grants received under
various schemes.

Centre Head Teacher: For a group of schools at elementary level, there is one centre head
teacher. The prime role of a Centre Head teacher is to provide academic and administrative
leadership to the School or Centre, and to engage with external organisations on behalf of the
School and Centre. This involves following general responsibilities:a

a) Governance of the School or Centre and the establishment and

development of its strategic direction;
b) Guidance and development of teaching and research;
c) Guidance and development of staff and the management of staff-
related issues;
d) Management of finances and infrastructure through effective
planning, revenue generation, budgeting and expenditure control;
e) Internationalisation of the School or Centre.

Head Teacher: Head teacher has to play seven major roles in an elementary school; (1) Role in
Planning; (2) Role in School Organisation; (3) Teaching Role; (4) Role in Supervision; (5) Role
in Guidance; (6) Role in Maintaining Relations; (7) Role in General Administration.

8. Summary
Over the years, since Independence in 1947, there has been a shift in the process of educational
planning and administration from 'centralisation to decentralisation', from macro-planning to micro-
planning. Higher education is planned by MHRD and national level bodies but executed by the state
government through the Central Universities, State Universities, Private Universities, Deemed
Universities and Autonomous Colleges. While school education is planned and executed by the
states itself. The district has been accepted as the most appropriate unit of planning and educational
administration. The district education officer (DEO) is further coordinated by the district project
coordinator for project management at district level where each district is divided into small blocks.
Hence a very strong and viable administrative setup is working at all levels of education in the
Indian states.
Self-Assessment Exercise
1. Under which amendment of the constitution Education was placed in the concurrent list?
a) 76th Amendment
b) 42nd Amendment
c) 80th Amendment
2. The BEOs are working for the administration of secondary level education.
a) True
b) False
3. To whom the DEOs are accountable for their routine working?
a) Circle Education Officer

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
 b) Minister of Education
4. The minister of education formulate the policies with the help of____________.
a) Cabinet
b) DPI
5. Full form of AICTE
a) All India Child Trainer of Education
b) All India Council for Technical Education
c) Feedback
6. What are the main purposes of forming NCTE?
a) To plan and coordinate development of the teacher education
system throughout the country
b) To regulate and maintain the norms and standards in the
teacher education system
c) Involved in the decision making for school activities
d) All of these
7. What is the main function of science supervisor in secondary education?
a) To observe the science labs of all
b) To evaluate the labs
c) To collect fund for labs
d) None of these
8. Through which departments our country is operating its educational administration system?
a) Department of School Education and Literacy
b) Department of Higher Education
c) Both of these
9. UGC is a national level body which is concerned with
a) Higher Education
b) School Education
c) Vocational Education

10. Under which act “NCTE Act of Teacher Education” was passed?
a) NCTE Act 1995
b) NCTE Act 1993
c) NCTE Act 1956

11. Which is the highest authority of education at state level?

a) CM of state
b) Cabinet
c) Minister of Education

12. Circle Education Officer is concerned with the establishment and coordination at which level?
a) Whole State
b) Region/ Circle/ Division
c) A District

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
13. Highest level officer of education at district level is
a) DEO
b) DPI
c) CEO

ANSWER KEY
Q.N0. 1 b
Q.NO.2 a
Q.NO.3 a
Q.NO.4 a
Q.NO.5 b
Q.NO.6 d
Q.NO.7 a
Q.NO.8 c
Q.NO.9 a
Q.NO.10 b
Q.NO.11 c
Q.NO.12 b
Q.NO.13 a
References
● Kaur, J. & Kaur, J. (2016). Educational Administration in India in the Twenty-first
Century. Online International Interdisciplinary Research Journal, VI(I), 303-309.
● Kochhar, S.K. (1988). Secondary School Administration. Delhi: Sterling Publishers.
● Mohanty, J. (2002). Educational Administration, Supervision and School
Management. Delhi: Deep and Deep Publications.
● Shukla, P. D. (1983). Administration of Education in India. Delhi: Vikas Publishing
House.
Web links
http://www.teindia.nic.in/mhrd/50yrsedu/r/2Q/A2/2QA20501.htm
http://www.gnu.org/education/edu-system-india.en.html
http://mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/document-reports/AR2013-14.pdf
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/45205/4/c4.pdf
https://www.britishcouncil.in/sites/default/files/indian_school_education_system_-
_an_overview_1.pdf
http://arc.gov.in/15threport.pdf
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2449/States-Education-STATE-ADMINISTRATIVE-
SERVICES-IN-EDUCATION.html
http://www.educationforallinindia.com/management-of-elementary-education-in-india.pdf
http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2447/State-Departments-Education.html

Development Team:
Dr. Parwinderjit Kaur, Assistant Professor, Khalsa College of Education, Ranjit Avenue, Amritsar
Ms. Rimalpreet Kaur, Assistant Professor, Khalsa College of Education, Ranjit Avenue, Amritsar
Dr. Aerum Khan, Assistant Professor, Central Institute of Educational Technology, NCERT

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.