1. Demographic Dividend Prof. Amartya Sens argument: No doubt,
growth rate is important,a country like India should give priority
to spending on primary education +health; Chinas example. Education
will generate skills &more growth. Prof. Jagdish Bhagwati -
Have Growth first, Prof. Arvind Panagarih - generate resources to
enable investment in education and health. Views of these scholars
may converge. Give priority to GDP growth; liberalization. Focus on
social sector spending with high growth rate, it would help exploit
demographic dividend. 2
Slide 3
2. Census 2011 Results Literacy rate increased much faster
during 1991-2001 than 2001-11. Does it mean that the efforts in
2001-11 got slackened? Not necessarily. Period 2001-11 started with
a larger base of literacy rate. Marginal increase in 2001-11 (9.2
percentage points ) was lower than that in 1991-2001(12.63
percentage points).Additional increase in literacy rate with high
base is likely to slow down. Literacy rate(%)% points increase
1991-200164.8012.63 2001-201174.049.2 3
Slide 4
3. Poorer states gained in literacy much more than the better
off states in general and southern states, in particular. Literacy
rate in the southern states was much higher in 2001 than the poorer
states. Percentage points increase in literacy rate in poorer
states, is better in 2001-2011 due to lower initial base. The
renewed efforts to send children to school in poorer states has
also helped. States that have recorded literacy below national
average are: Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh,Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Kerala experience
High literacy rate- slow further increase in literacy rate. Birth
rate falling fast- over decades not many children left in school-
less work with teachers in many public schools.(Demographic
Change). 4
Slide 5
YEARExp. On Health+Education As % of GDP 19921.28 % 2010-117.27
% Sharp increase in spending on social sector (health+education) as
proportion of GDP. The increase in absolute amount would be much
more impressive due to larger base of GDP in 2010-11 as compared to
GDP in 1992. This happened during the era of economic reforms.
Faster growth of GDP in the post reform period facilitated
significant increase in GOI spending on the social sector. 4. GOI
Expenditure on Social Sector 5
Slide 6
5. Reform era impact (increased social sector spending) Much
more positive impact on literacy (to increase) than on mortality
(to decrease). YearIMR per 1000 1981110 One decade decline=30
199180 200150 Two decade decline=30 Initially the campaign of child
immunization paid off. Later on, it slackened. But in some poor
states, immunization is still making significant impact 6
Slide 7
6. Literacy: Gender Bias sMaleFemale 200175.2653.67
201182.1465.46 % increase6.9%11.80% Female literacy rose much
faster than male literacy in the last decade. However, the gender
gap in the literacy rate still remains large. Efforts of social
sector spending influenced it. In order to increase female literacy
rate, GOI initiated several schemes such as bicycles, toilet
facilities for girls in school, mid-day meal, etc. In 2009, GOI
launched Saakshar Bharat with special focus on districts with
female literacy of 50 or below. 7 The general perception is that
private schools which are much more expensive than government
schools, are better than the latter. Annual Status of Education
Report(ASER),2010 shows that parents prefer to send sons to private
school and girls to government schools.
Slide 8
7. Sex Ratio (no. of female per 1000 of male population)
improved in the last decade. But child sex ratio declined.
Female-male ratio: 940 females per 1000 male. Child sex ratio(girl
child to boy child): 914 girl child per 1000 boy child. This
indicates that the bias against new born girl child continues..
Son-preference theory continues to be strong, unfortunately. Human
Right question:- Right of the unborn girl child --- PIL was filed
in supreme court by Sabu George New Act was brought in to reality
Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PNDT)Act. Child Sex Ratio(10-6
yr)Sex Ratio Pop.(7+) India- 2001927934 2011914944
Punjab-2001798888 2011846899 Bihar- 2001942914 2011933912
Kerala-20019601072 20119591099 Tamil Nadu- 2001942993 20119461000
8
Slide 9
EDUCATION POLICY A.Education as a Commodity. Two distinguishing
features: Education is a highly complex good It provides benefit to
both individual and society.(quality is an issue at every level;
value system, philosophy and enlightenment). Gestation period is
long (several years of education- before a child is called
"educated). B. Education as an engine of Growth. Engine of growth
by providing skills & thereby raising productivity. Engine of
growth by itself due to high demand in this sector. C. Huge demand
for education in India. By 2025,70% of Indian population will be of
working age. Only 15% of Indian reach high school; and 7% reach
graduation. Only 7% of Indias college-age population get seats in
post-secondary high schools. Estimated Exp. on private tuitions
& coaching(annual):Rs.35,000-40,000 crores. Estimated annual
expenditure by Indian students going abroad:Rs.35,000-40,000
crores. Private education market in India by 2012 estimated to be
order of $68 billion. (present market around $40-50 billion). 57%
of college teachers lack either a masters degree or PhD degree.
9
Slide 10
RIGHT TO EDUCATION (RTE) Ref:Praveen Jha and Pooja Parvati;
EPW, March 27,2010. Pp.20-2 RTE Act 2009. Every child of the age of
6 to 14 years shall have a right to free and compulsory education
in a neighborhood school till completion of elementary education
RTE as a fundamental right. Parent or guardian made responsible for
providing opportunities for education to their children between 6
to 14 years. Model rules to operationalise the Act being framed.
Act passed without an accompanying financial memorandumHow about
sharing cost between centre and states?Contentious issue. How about
enforcing uniform quality of education? RTE does not incorporate
the elements of common school system (CSS). Rules of the game for
admitting students and bearing the financial burden laid down for
different categories of schools as below. 10
Slide 11
Govt. Schools------- --- Entire cost of wards to be borne.
Govt.aided schools---- These schools would be accountable to
admitting students proportionate to 25% of their annual growth.
Special category Kendriya Vidyalaya Schools ------ Navodaya
Vidyalaya Sainik schools Unaided Schools ------ They are required
to admit 25% children from the weaker sections and disadvantaged
groups of population.But the reimbursement based on per child
expenditure will be done to the unaided schools. What is the time
frame up to when the provision of reimbursement of cost to private
schools would continue. Monitoring of quality of educationschool
committees formed for all schools except private schools who will
ensure quality of education in private schools? 11
Slide 12
ENROLMENT Vs LEARNING Sixth Annual Status of Education
Report(ASER) brings out that there is improvement in enrolment but
not in learning. The real issue is: how much progress in education
outcome? What is the strategy to improve education outcome in a
time bound manner? Are the goals being set in a measurable way?
Three flagship programmes of the central Govt. --Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan (SSA) --Right to Education(RTE) ---Mid- day meal. Stability
of officials maintained by not transferring them before 3 years of
continuous service in a particular program. Officers-in-charge of
programs were supported by the senior officers in terms of policy
and decision making. That is, administrative stability is
maintained. State level Experience Different States set different
goals and implement their schemes in their own way. 12
Slide 13
Examples from three States: BIHAR:-- Focus improvement in
school enrolment --teachers recruited. --schools constructed.
--volunteers mobilized to give bicycle, esp. to girl students.
Result: 1) Proportion of out of- school girls came down
significantly. 2) Learning did not improve in any significant way
in spite of supply of schools and teachers. TAMILNADU:- Focus:--
improvement in learning. project named Activity-Based learning
launched. Observations:- 1) Class room process become
child-centric. 2) No or little effort to modify the programme. 3)
Result:- Little or no visible improvement in learning levels.
13
Slide 14
PUNJAB:-- Focus:-- Learning of reading, writing and
mathematics. Strategy: --setting aside two hours every day for
students of std I to II to focus on basic reading and mathematics.
---First hours grouping of students by learning level and second
hour grouping by mathematics ability. No grouping by standard or
age. ---Teachers were trained to conduct activities with students.
Each group called mahal. ---While activity was on, students were
allowed to move from one mahalto another as per their ability.
---Strict monitoring of these activities was done by youth hired by
the state Govt. ---The program continued for some years (3 years).
Result: Improvement in the performance of students (std I to V).
The proportion of students/children who can read or do simple
mathematics has improved. Comments: 1.Need for strategic plan and
implementation.Modification may be done based on experience and
evidence. 2.State Govt. tend to resist outcome measurement. This
needs to be overcome if demographic dividend is to be reaped.
14
Slide 15
Ref. ET,Jan.20,2011,p.13.
Slide 16
Slide 17
Slide 18
PRIVATE SCHOOLS & Quality of Education Role of Vouchers to
level off Quality & Market Mechanism Govt. vouchers provided to
poor parents- It is a certificate which parents can use in lieu of
fees at school where they cannot afford fees. Childs education at
private school by using Govt. funds. Question: (i)Whether vouchers
provides better access to school education. (ii)Whether poorly
performing schools can be improved by implementing vouchers. The
second question is difficult to answer- no systemic scale else
where exists comparable to India. Supply side differences(school
quality) are very large. Success of Voucher Scheme is Conditional
It would succeed if- Certain reforms in public school education are
undertaken to increase transparency & accountability (e.g.;
monitoring by Panchayats/local bodies along with parents/NGOs/civil
society). Voucher follow (not precede) important reforms. There is
sufficient supply of schools to compete with (that is why states
initiative in providing infrastructure & schools is crucial;
further the Govt. has to play the role of a facilitator; it has to
facilitate the process, not control it). 18
Slide 19
Ratings--- cannot improve quality. Schools accessed by the
poor--- both public and private are of low quality. Critical issues
are --- Teacher professionalization --Training --Selection ---
Academic support ---Provision of adequate resources for universal
education. Local administration can make effective difference by
checking ---Discipline ---Punctuality of teachers ---General
cleanliness. 19
Slide 20
Monitoring Panchayat oversees the local public school. Keep a
watch on the regularity of teachers/ their presence and involvement
in teaching. A Committee consisting of local representation and
parents may recommend disbursement of salary of salary of teachers
upon verification of teachers presence and their involvement in
teaching. It has been successful in some casesnot others wherever
local political environment is vitiated. RTE OK. But how do you
attract poor students? How to induce poor parents to send their
children to school and not to work? Make certain benefits to poor
conditional upon sending children to school. (e.g. ration card-
subsidy/food coupons/kerosene subsidy/ other subsidies relating to
housing, etc.) Mid-day meal delivery needs to be improved cooked
food that is liked by local children needs to be served. 20
Slide 21
How Realistic is the Goal of RTE? (Further comments on RTE)*
Some scholars have reacted with great skepticism about RTE, calling
it unrealistic. Some even argue to scrap it altogether(* e.g., the
Manish Sabharwal, ET 12.11.11.p.12). Sabharwal advances his
argument citing 5 C,s in favor of scrapping RTE as below: (i)
Capacity : Government just does not have the capacity to cope with
the required number of elementary schools, then why so much noise
about the so-called not recognized schools. In the absence of
grossly inadequate number of well equipped schools, the choice
before the poor parents in past has been either no school or not
recognized school. Should the public be left with a choice like if
you cant have cake, dont eat bread ? Contd.. 21
Slide 22
(ii) Cost : RTE lays down norms for teacher salary,
qualification for teachers, land for playground, and mandatory
admission (25%) to disadvantaged groups. This would push cost per
student. More specifically, the acquisition of land is going to be
a big issue. Some states may not be ready to reimburse the full
cost per student to private (unaided) schools (e.g., Karnataka has
fixed Rs. 7000/- per student which may not cover full cost of a
student). Such micro level issues need to be worked out to avoid a
chaotic situation. (iii) Competition : Several states propose to
regulate fees. Decision is not clear on the issue. Entrepreneurs in
school education face uncertainty. This is blunting the competitive
spirit which leads to lower capacity, ultimately harming the cause
of students from supply side point of view. 22
Slide 23
(iv) Corruption: RTE envisages admission of 25% of poor
disadvantaged groups. Poor is still to be defined on the basis of a
rigorous criteria. If the job of identifying poor is left to the
Block Education Officer (BEO), it would lead to corruption like the
case of deciding BPL for issuing ration cards for grain subsidy.
Further, Karnataka Government wants to keep the record of each
child(1-14 yrs.) in the area of 1-3 km. Who is going to keep these
records? (v) Confusion : Mid-day meal is provided in the government
schools. But RTE envisages 25% of the students from weaker sections
to be admitted in private schools. How is mid-day meal going to be
delivered in private school to the 25% of poor students? Who is
going to monitor it? What happens to these students after grade
VIII? Where will they go? The message is that unless the micro
management is done at the ground level, RTE is likely to create
confusion and uncertainty. This would restrict competition and
hence supply of quality schools/education. 23
Slide 24
SECONDARY EDUCATION GOIs Efforts for Secondary Education 6000
model schools (secondary education) at block level. 2500 to be
located in educationally backward blocks (on the pattern of
kendriya Vidyalaya ). 3500 to be set up under public-private
partnership. (Efforts are to make secondary education more
inclusive by guaranteeing state funding of schools in backward
blocks. At the same time,allow private initiative with
partnership). 24
Slide 25
Focus on ICT enabled education to bridge rural-urban divide
implement/encourage computer aided learning in both government and
government aided schools. (imparting computer skills at secondary
school level even in backward areas). Raising enrolment in
secondary schools: (current enrolment ratio is 53%-- to be raised
to 70% within 5 years for class IX and X. Many students drop out
after class VIII. Schools to be provided within reasonable
distance). Budget 2009-10 did not have any great vision nor policy.
(see Tilak,EPW,March27,2010; p.60-64). Criticism justified to some
extent. However, the Union budget 2010-11 did allocate resources
for the education sector with some vision discussion to follow)
25
Slide 26
Is there State Failure in School Education? Is PPP Model the
Answer? Shortcomings of public (govt) schools: --teacher
absenteeism -- low teacher activity. --low outcome (student
achievement/ learning). ---Systemic failure (administrative &
organizational failurelack of accountability and transparency).
Fallout effect of large scale public intervention in elementary
educationstate monopoly and inefficiency in the system. Is it
really market failure? * Is it not failure of regulation? ( *see
Venu Narayana, EPW,Feb 06, 2010, p.p 23-26). 26
Slide 27
PPP Model in School Education Supply Side: (States role)
-Aiding private schools to augment supply of elementary education.
-Supply can be augmented further by providing autonomy democracy
technology, and infrastructure. -This would help foster innovative
ideas. Demand Side: -Step up demand by providing mid-day meals.
linking mid-day meals with other subsidy ( e.g. PDS benefit, etc).
providing vouchers to give parents a choice of school (this is also
expected to increase competition among schools for excellence and
enhance outcome). 27
Slide 28
28 SKILL DEVELOPMENT (see attached article, Financial
Express,March 3,2011,p.9.)