Job Opportunity for Project Manager, Schools Governance at Central Square Foundation in Lucknow

Job Title: Project Manager – Schools Governance

Organization: Central Square Foundation

Team: Schools Governance

Location: Delhi / Lucknow

About Central Square Foundation:

Founded in 2012, Central Square Foundation (CSF) is a non-profit philanthropic foundation working on the vision of ensuring quality school education for all children in India. We are driven by our mission to transform the school education system with a focus on improving children’s learning outcomes, especially in low-income communities.

(Learn more about CSF on our website)

About the team:

The Schools Governance team at CSF aims to support the Government in their journey towards a transformed school education delivery system which is transparent and accountable about its outcomes. As per the NEP 2020’s vision, our work helps in measuring and publicising the achievement of learning outcomes in public and private schools, and in establishing an independent regulator for schools based on the achievement of these outcomes.

The Problem:

In the current K-12 educational landscape in India, learning outcomes have remained alarmingly stagnant in the last two decades. Major government initiatives have primarily focused on expanding access and inputs, but with little to no impact on educational outcomes. Further, there has been no means to reliably measure the learning quality at a school level, making it difficult to hold them accountable for learning achievement.

To address this challenge, CSF Schools Governance team acknowledges the pressing need for a superior governance system in education. The National Education Policy 2020 recommends the roles of regulation, policymaking and service delivery to be separated with specialised bodies. One of the major recommendations under the broader idea of separation of functions is the constitution of an independent regulatory body – ‘State School Standards Authority’ or SSSA. CSF is working with the Government of Uttar Pradesh to provide technical, knowledge, and secretariat support in the implementation of the recommendations of the National Education Policy and specifically support the change in the regulatory processes.

Our work helps the states to: –

• Create an independent, outcomes-focused regulatory body – the State School Standards Authority (SSSA), which will operate outside the current department of school education to focus specially on school regulation, and demand accountability from all schools — government or private.
• Establish a robust and reliable learning outcome measurement of student competencies, in the form of a competency-based census assessment (CCA), with public disclosure of school data, but anonymised student data. This will transparently show every school’s quality and nudge them to make the necessary improvements.
• On (1) above, CSF is supporting SSSA creation in Uttar Pradesh. Specifically, we are helping the state in drafting their law, policies and processes on
  • the governing body composition, their appointments, tenure and removal
  • school learning outcomes measurement and dissemination
  • reforming the current school accreditation framework, basing it more on the educational outcomes
  • Grievance Redressal Cell (GRC) and School Education Tribunal (SET)
  • public disclosure policies and norms

Going forward, we shall be providing the project management support around each of these sub-projects, and more as they evolve.

Position Summary

CSF is looking for a Project Manager – Schools Governance, based fully in Lucknow or in Delhi (whereby minimum 4 days a week are to be spent in Lucknow) to drive the work by providing the knowledge, technical and secretarial support to the education department, the state secretariat, and the ministry in the creation of a novel State School Standards Authority (SSSA). It is a full-time role and the Project Manager would report to the Associate Project Director based in CSF office – Delhi.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and manage strong working relationships with the key government and non-government stakeholders in education policy and implementation
• Set up project management processes and guidelines to ensure that the activities of SSSA and subsequently CCA are driving towards the defined goals
• Curate and/or develop processes for various workstreams of the program and facilitate their smooth rollout in coordination with the concerned departments
• Organise and facilitate capacity building programs for the department personnel to develop their subject knowledge and skills
• Build working alignment with the external stakeholders (NGOs, experts, other States) to maximise the potential and salience for the UP SSSA
• Build internal alignment with different programs and partners of CSF in the state
• Work with experts at Central Square Foundation (CSF) and The Convergence Foundation (TCF) to draw upon their learnings and contextualize them for the state
• Carry out relevant primary and secondary research, including reviewing the state laws related to the governance of school education
• Organise, anchor and facilitate meetings/events as appropriate
• Knowledge management and documentation of the implementation in the state

Required Qualifications, Skills, and Abilities

• Bachelor’s degree from a reputed university; a Master’s degree preferred (in public policy, governance, legal studies, or social sciences)
• 3 to 6 years of work experience, preferably in policy or law with the top bureaucracy in the government department
• Knowledge and experience working on project management, large-scale program implementation with multiple delivery tracks
• Critical thinking and analytical ability to develop strategic plan and drive implementation in a dynamic work environment
• Keen interest in the Development/Education sector
• Fluent in English and Hindi with excellent reading and writing skills. Preference will be given to candidates who know the local language (Hindi) well.
• Past experience working with the centre / state or with the district-level governance and institutional structures is preferred
• Strong research, monitoring and documentation skills
• Stakeholder management, problem-solving, and analytical skills

Additional Details 

Start Date: Immediate

Compensation: Remuneration will be competitive with Indian philanthropy pay scales and will depend upon the candidate’s experience levels.

How to Apply

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