THE IMPACT OF UNIVERSAL PRIMARY ENROLLMENT ON CLASSROOM PRACTICES IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR SCHOOLS OF PUNJAB: A MULTI CASE STUDY ANALYSIS

The study explores the effect of Universal Primary Enrollment (UPE) initiative on the classroom practices in the public sector schools in Punjab. Access to primary education is an identified goal for a number of developing countries where determined efforts for achieving the targets for school going children are nearing fruition. Although the UPE drive in the public sector schools shows a positive trend towards the achievement of enrollment targets, however the increased enrollment has also affected the standard of education in public sector schools. The study used a multi case study approach by means of a quantitative research design. Three different schools from three different districts were selected as sample using purposive sampling technique purposively from the public sector schools of Punjab. Classroom observations were conducted for the understanding of increased enrollment impact on teachers’ practices in class. Each case was observed for a week; each observation checklist category was observed on separate week days. The finding of the study reveal that the increase in student enrollments had a considerable effect on teachers’ performance as the bigger class sizes, created problems in managing the class; score student work, and provide responses on student performance. The substantial increase in the workload puts teachers under pressure and makes it challenging to efficiently manage a positive learning environment.