IVRS Based Daily Monitoring System of Mid Day Meal Scheme

Uttar Pradesh

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MDM: The Scheme

• Implemented in the State with the combined efforts of Central & State Govts.

• Cooked meal scheme started in U.P in Primary schools in Sep 2004

• Extended to Upper Primary category in 2007-2008

• GOI norms of food-grain & Cooking cost are followed

• Sharing basis: 75:252

Profile of Schools/ Beneficiaries

• No. of School days in a Year220 • In case of drought the Scheme runs for about

41 more days during summers

Primary Upper Primary Total

No. of Schools 1.08 Lac 0.44 Lac 1.52 LacEnrolled Students

158.65 Lac 44.80 Lac 203.45 Lac

Students availing MDM

102.03 Lac 35.24 Lac 137.28 Lac

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Administrative Structure• Governing Body headed by the Chief Secretary

of the State• Secretary Basic Education as the State level

Nodal Officer • An Autonomous MDM Authority with Director

as head constituted at State level• District Magistrate as the District level Nodal

Officer with Basic Education Officer to assist• District MDM Cell with one Co-ordinator &

one Computer Operator4

Reporting structure• Monthly basis of reporting • MDM register at school/ block/ district level for

monthly physical & financial information:• The schools fill up the number of students availing mid

day meal on daily basis in the school level MDM register. This number is taken from the attendance register;• The data provided by schools is supposed to be compiled

at the block level and further at the district level;• The district office submits the district-wise data so

compiled to the MDMA on monthly basis through online on www.upmdm.org

• QPR generated through the system5

Problems in Prevailing System of Information Flow

• School-wise report is not available at the district/ state level

• The time lag in receiving the data from school to state level may leave scope for data manipulation/ corruption/ distortion

• The chances of data manipulation may lead to excess physical / financial reporting thus making a dent on the scarce resource available for development of the State and welfare of the society

• Due to time lag in the present system of data flow, remedial action/ measures may get delayed and may jeoparadise the efficacy required of the system given the sensitive nature of the scheme 6

Problems in Prevailing System of Information Flow…..

• Non availability of exception reports where parameters like no. of schools where meal was not cooked, where no. of students who availed meals is greater than a certain percentage e.g. 90%, or instances where meal was not cooked for 3 or more days etc are available for/to decision-making

• In case of delay in information from some schools, data for such schools available only in the next month;

• Physical inspection/ monitoring of the scheme presently based on random selection basis and not on exception basis which may be possible once the MDMA and the State Govt. is facilitated with daily data of the students who availed or did not/ could not avail the meals on a particular day.

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IVRS Based DMS: Why….. • First JRM Report for U.P. recommends:

“There is no proper mechanism to monitor the implementation of the MDM scheme in terms of regularity, quality & quantity below district level. It is suggested that for proper monitoring a web based MIS for transporting data directly from school to state level should be developed. It was found that an action plan for SMS based daily MIS was prepared at the MDM authority level in July 2007, which may be helpful in designing and development of monitoring system….”

• Concept note prepared in 2007 took into cognizance the ground reality of expansion of mobile telephony in rural area & suggested a Daily Monitoring System based on toll-free sms 8

IVRS Based DMS: Why…..

• However, toll-free sms across networks is not possible even now

• Information access on real time basis via IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) through an Out Bound Dialing solution thought of as the only feasible alternative

• Philosophy behind the concept: Making School as the basic unit for information flow & monitoring rather than district

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IVRS Based DMS: How….. • DPR developed• Project assigned• Codification of about 1.52 lac schools done• Mobile numbers of about 4.5 lac headmasters,

Asst. Teachers, Shiksha Mitras collected• Operational Manual published & distributed to all

the teachers in the State• Online demo/ training conducted in all the 820

blocks of the State• Real-time data collection started in June’10 …

within two months of record time of assigning the project 10

Implementation of the System

• IVR calls from 88086 11111• In case one misses out replying to the IVR call,

one needs to give a missed call to the same no. • The System will call back on its own within 5

minutes of the missed call• “0” info means the meal not served• Helpline/ Toll free No. 1800 1800 666• MIS available on www.upmdm.in

DEMO11

Features of the System• Daily MIS on MDM through Interface between

Computer and Mobile telephone• Interactive Voice Response Based• System generated daily IVR calls to 1.52 lac

schools within about 2 hours• Teachers to reply to the IVR calls for informing

number of students availing MDM on that day• Info to be given by way of keying-in on one’s

mobile phone• System of repeat calls/ reminder SMS/ calling

other teachers of the school/ call escalation12

Features … contd.• The info gets patched-in on the computer system • MIS generated on a web-based system• Daily MIS for MDM to be available at District, Division

& State level• Auto sms on daily basis to NPRC, ABSA, DC & BSA for

schools not serving meals & for those not giving data; auto mails to District Magistrates

• Helpline available through a Toll-free number for information & for data pulling

• Hardcopy of info provided daily by the schools through IVRS to be verified monthly by the headmaster in monthly meeting

• Provision of an independent 3rd Party Technical Audit for verification of data

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Benefits• Data ‘pull’ vis-à-vis data ‘push’ • Teacher not to spend a single paisa• User of Info controlling the information flow instead

of sender • Direct & instant info mechanism from grass-root to

the State without intermediate levels• Transparency & neatness of data resulting into

truthful information• Percent basis of consumption pattern would be

done away with (since exact data is not available at district level in present system of information flow)

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Benefits…. contd.

• Instant info leading to check on distortion/ cooking of data

• Requisite Decision Support System available • Faster to implement (two months)• No need for any mobile phones to be given to

teachers• Completely outsourced• GOI can directly monitor without any reports

from State Govt.15

Challenges Before the System

• Intervention required for specific schools where MDM not being served

• Sustainability through local & administrative support

• Information received creating some kind of discomfort at different levels of governance

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The Road Ahead…..

• Linkage with consumption of food-grain & cooking cost, once the system stablises

• Availability of information on public domain• User charges for access through mobile phone• Auto reconciliation of CBS accounts (opened

as Madhyan Bhojan Nidhis)• Inspection reports/ photos etc to be uploaded

on website

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• Each school’s complete database including food-grain lifted/consumed, CC received/ spent etc built with time into the System

• All MPRs/ QPRs directly procured by the State Govt. & GOI from the website

JUST THE BEGINNING….NOT EVEN 10% OF

THE VISION

The Road Ahead…..

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