PRESENTATION ON THE PROBLEM OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

By: Jasmeet Chhabra Snigdha Dadhich Apala Kain Sheetal Jindal Priyanka Yadav College: Shri Ram College of Commerce

• According to the Constitution of India, elementary education is a fundamental right of children in the age group of 6-14 years. India has about 688,000 primary schools on papers but the figures are deceptive as many don't attend schools regularly and even those who wants to attend it; cannot because of lack of resources and lack of facilities.

• Contemplating on the new system which was introduced by Britishers; Mahatma Gandhi expressed his anguish in following words, "I say without fear of my figures being challenged successfully, that today India is more illiterate than it was fifty or a hundred years ago….”at present the situation is worse than his time India has the largest number of illiterate people - around 268 million (a whopping 35 % of the total) - who cannot read, write or make a reasoned decision.

• A few facts will help you to understand the gravity of the situation:

– 44% of India's population;that is 44% of 121 crores are children and schools insufficient.

– India spends only 3.3 percent of its GDP on education, compared to an average 5.8 percent in developed countries.

– GOI had made a commitment to spend 6% of GDP on education in 1968, however the highest spend made so far is 4% of GDP.

– Educated woman is educated family but in India, 53% of girls in the age group of 5 to 9 years are illiterate. On average, women receive only 1.8 years of schooling in India.

– There are several scholarships and schemes aided by the government but poor people unaware of these are still reluctant to send their children to school.

– 58% of children do not complete primary education in India.

– The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which tests literacy levels of Math and English, placed India at the bottom just above Kyrgyzstan.

– Dropout rates in class III to V is 50% for boys, 58% for girls.

54

116 99

85

56

116 98

81

0

50

100

150

pre-primary GER

BOYS%

GIRLS%

primary GER primary NAR

primary NER

Chart showing the data of students participation

source: UNICEF

There are three broad issues affecting quality of education in India. They are:

Access

A large number of school going children are not even able to access schools; we are not saying good schools just schools. The are

many reasons for this:

• Poor infrastructure.

• Girl child safety issues

• Apparently simple issues like the need to cross a highway / stream on the way to school keeps kids away.

• In the name of Right to Education, Government has opened satellite schools in remote area to fob off those living in remote areas with substandard facilities so long as one can tick the box of having provided a school.

Attendance

Even if the child does get enrolled in a school, there is no guarantee that (s)he will attend. There are number of factors that

Keep the child away

• Teachers are held accountable for enrolment, seldom for attendance; they don't see the need to push.

• The child needs to work, at home or in the family enterprise (farming, trading etc) or in another enterprise to bring in money to help feed the family.

• The pedagogy is so boring and the subjects so irrelevant that no self-respecting child will be lured to stay on.

• Teachers are often uninterested in teaching. Their knowledge is limited as they are poorly qualified.

• Teachers are often used for all sorts of extension work by government. They are often 'returning officers' in elections and that makes them powerful.

• Teacher truancy - if the teacher skips classes with impunity all the time, why would the kid want to go?

Attainment

• The pedagogy is boring and depends so much on being learning by rote.

• The evaluations, if they happen, are focused on a child being able to vomit out what (s)he has learnt by heart. Study of history is reduced to dates and study of language to reciting poems.

• Most of the kids coming in from poorly educated households do not have the atmosphere at home to aid learning.

• The curriculum is designed to leave the kid with no skills or perspectives to be able to build a working life.

National Level

• Independent body directly under Jan Lokpal

• All teachers will be its members par se

• Headed by elected person from amongst members,Term:3 yrs

• Responsible for appointing state wise heads

State Level

• Survey demand and supply of teachers

• Set a standard regarding teacher:student ratio

• Accordingly reallocate teachers

• Recruit teachers through a state level exam

District Level

• Train teachers in local language

• Form a group of teachers to teach nomadic tribes as and when they come to their district

• Invite ideas from teachers for making teaching interesting

• Encourage teachers to engage in community services

A Solution: Host Of Primary Education (HOPE)

ADDITIONAL TASKS TO BE DONE

•Merge Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan with this program •Collaborate with NGOs like Teach for India. •Link with Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojana to solve the commutation problem which the teachers face •Set up a National Level institution with recognition like IIT and IIM for training the teachers. This institution shall have national recognition and the people interested in teaching shall have specific training to teach them the very basics •The above mentioned institute shall serve as the source of recruitment for the state boards set up under HOPE

Organisation Structure of HOPE

Chairman

State Level Teaching Heads

Creative Course Content Design

Head NGO Heads

Principal committee

Training Head

Implementation of the proposed solution

65000

2000

1800

10000

Funding (Amt in cr)

Government

NGOs contribution

Receipts from fees and other institutions

Surcharge and education cess

30000

18800

10000

20000

Allocation of Funds (Amt in cr)

Infrastructure

Teacher Training Institutes

Teacher Salary

Technological setup

National Level

• The members of the Teachers’ Association of India (TAI) would mandatorily constitute a part of Hope. Current board members would supervise its activities at the national level. Hope seeks to establish a hierarchical organisation in which the board members would be elected so as to support the principle of democracy. These board members would in turn choose the state level representatives on the basis of number of years of service and location of service of these members.

State Level

• These state level representatives would direct control over the existential members of the State Teachers’ Association. Among its many functions, it would conduct state wide surveys to ascertain the demand for teachers. After such ascertainment, appropriate and prompt action would be effected.

District Level

• As is the case with hierarchy, there would be district level officials directly answerable to state level representatives. These officials would work at the grass root level, inspiring many more to pursue teaching as a profession.

CRITERIA • NUMBER OF

CHILDREN GOING TO SCHOOL

• EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATION (% OF GDP)

• GOVERNMENT BUDGET FOR SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN PROGRAMME

• TEACHER : STUDENT RATIO

18 8

CHILDREN OF SCHOOL GOING AGE(26 CRORE)

IN SCHOOL

OUT OF SCHOOL

23

3

CHILDREN OF SCHOOL GOING AGE(26 CRORE)

IN SCHOOL

OUT OF SCHOOL

CURRENT DATA BEFORE IMPLEMENTING HOPE

EXPECTED DATA AFTER IMPLEMENTATION OF HOPE

3.5

6

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

CURRENT EXPECTED

IN %

(PER

CEN

TAG

E)

YEAR

EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATION(%OF GDP)

• At present(2013-14) government expenditure on SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN(SSA) is Rs.27258 crore but after implementing HOPE, it would be set up at around Rs66 crore which is the target expenditure.

12825 27258 52000

0

20000

40000

60000

Rs.

In c

rore

s

YEAR

GOVERNMENT BUDGET FOR SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN

GOVERNMENT BUDGET FOR SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN

In 2010. pupil teacher ratio was 25.33 and after implementing HOPE which includes steps like training teachers, inviting their ideas etc., it is expected to fall to approx 20.

25.33 20

0

10

20

30

2010 EXPECTED

RA

TIO

YEAR

PUPIL TEACHER RATIO

PUPIL TEACHER RATIO

Challenges Social

Issue of governance = NATIONAL-STATE-DISTRICT=“Corruption ”

difficult for the teachers to deal with different ethnic groups having different ideologies mainly in rural India

Economic

Surveys, Teacher training programs,

Merging of different programs , election of heads of the “independent body”, all require more funds to be allocated.

Political

Conflicts among party in power and other parties over the setting up of “JAN LOKPAL”

LENGHTY PROCEDURE…resulting in the pending of the grave issue over years.

Technological

Lack of infrastructure, smart classrooms, digital learning will lead to boring education.

Legal

Government’s sanction of funds for various projects, emerging of various institutions , NGO’s, establishment of “independent body” are legal constraints.

NATIONAL • A body at the top should allocate funds to state

level with mandatory preparation of records of total expenditure on different programs and projects.

STATE • The state should than make an assessment of

the funds required for the proper implementation of programs in different districts.

DISTRICT • The funds should be allocated directly

to the schools for betterment of education facilities.

This hierarchy will insure proper utilization of funds and minimum corruption. Other issues that need the concerned efforts of our policy makers are • More funds should be allocated for education sector • Development of infrastructure , electricity ,roads. • Counseling of people in rural areas mainly to change their age old mind set • Trained Manpower • Making Schools Inclusive • ICT, Technology in Schools , smart classrooms

CONCLUSIONS

References

• The report ofa PISA

• Data from the site of UNICEF: India

• The union budget;2013

• TOI blog

• Research paper; the negative consequences of over ambitious curricula in developing countries by: lant pritchett and amanda beatt.