Kerala,
the southern Indian state, once again has emerged as the top
performing state while Bihar finds itself in the last spot in a
recent official survey on the status of elementary education in
India in 2005-06. The coefficient of efficiency reveals that the
primary education system is efficient to the tune of only 62
percent
The National University of Educational
Planning and Administration (NUEPA) has recently developed
School Report Cards of more than one million Primary and Upper
Primary schools. Covering 11,24,033 schools, the publication
updates more than 400 variables for 604 districts across 35
states and union territories on all aspects of universalisation
of education, and shows that Kerala, Delhi, Tamil Nadu,
Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh are the top five while Bihar,
Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Assam are the five
bottom-ranked states.
Whatever may be the reflection through the
ranks in education development index, the number of children
joining education system and subsequently the number of
out-of-school children show a declining trend in the report. The
student retention rate is still remained low. With such low
retention and high drop-out rates, it seems India is affected by
the 'give another decade' syndrome to realise the goal of
universal primary education.
Government of India's plans and projections
at various points of time says, 'all children complete 5years of
education by 2007. All children complete 8 years of education by
2010. In 1950, government claimed to provide free and compulsory
education till age of 14 in next 10 years. In 1992, they claimed
they would implement the same by 2000. In 2004, the claim is
that they will achieve Universal Elementary Education by 2015.
The whole syndrome never leaves us in a correct situation of
where we are. Are we really getting closer to the target of UEE?
What takes the country towards a more time taking syndrome? Less
motivation towards enrolment? Schools receiving lesser amount of
development grant? Average teachers available per school or high
pupil-teacher ratio? Schools having less computer in schools? Or
the low retention rate?
The Supreme Court of India in its judgement
in 1993 has held that all citizens have a fundamental right to
education upto the age of 14 years.
The
86th Constitutional Amendment Act was passed by the parliament
to make the Right to Elementary Education a fundamental right
and a fundamental duty. Education is the primary vehicle for
children to drive towards economic and social upliftment. NUEPA,
the professional wing of Government of India, with
specialisation in policy, planning and management in education,
has created a comprehensive database on elementary education in
India under one of its flagship project, District Information
System of Education (DISE), supported by the Ministry of Human
Resources Development and UNICEF. The project covers both
primary and upper primary schools of all districts of the
country. The survey not only presents the million plus school
report cards but also makes a strong case for the state to care
about education and to shift our focus from inputs like the
money spent upon education, to outputs, that are the real
educational outcomes.
There
is no doubt that the average drop-out rate in primary classes
suggests a consistent decline; but the same is still too high to
attain the status of universal retention at the primary level of
education. Universalisation comprises four components- universal
access, universal enrolment, universal retention and universal
quality of education. The flagship Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
programme of the Government of India launched in 2001 in this
direction has also this objective of universal retention by
2010. The drop-out rate indicates an average rate of 9.96
percent in primary grades. In many states, drop-out rate in
Grade I is noticed to be alarmingly high. The very few
exceptions, however, are visible in states like Tamil Nadu,
where retention rate is 100 %; it is more than 95 per cent in
Kerala as well.
If
resources are available, child-tracking is the only way through
which drop-out, retention, survival and completion rates should
be analysed. A few states have designed their own formats and
even developed monitoring software for the purpose
69,353 schools in the country have enrolment
less than 25, out of which 94% are located in rural areas. One
in three primary schools have enrolment less than 50. The
enrolment of students in classes I to VIII in 2005-06 was 168.29
million, an increase of 12.28 million from the previous year,
according to the DISE data. However, about 180 of the 581
districts reported decline in primary enrolment. The average of
all the districts has shown a consistent improvement in both the
gender parity index (GPI) and girls' share in enrolment, but the
share, both in primary and upper primary, is found to be
slightly lower at rural areas. The report shows the GPI in
primary enrolment is a little low in states like Bihar and
Rajasthan and goal of universalisation of primary education in
such states may not be realised unless all girls are brought
under the education system.
The coefficient of efficiency presented
reveals that the primary education system is efficient to the
tune of only 62.40 percent.
The
DISE report suggests that if resources are available,
child-tracking is the only way through which drop-out,
retention, survival and completion rates should be analysed. A
few states have designed their own formats and even developed
monitoring software for the purpose. Information and
Communication Technology (ICT), like in the above instance,
plays always a role of a driving tool to gear up the drive
towards achieving Universal Elementary Education.
Teacher information
• 4.69 million teachers: 78% rural areas, 22%
urban areas
• Of 4.69 Mn, 2.06 million (44%) in primary
schools
• 86% primary teachers in rural and urban areas
• As many as 1.70 million teachers imparted
in-service training
The DISE figures also show the percentage of
all schools having computer, an exponential growth over the
years- from 7.02 per cent in 2002-2003 to 10.73 per cent in
2005-2006. The tool can be harnessed further not to miss out the
rest 40% of efficiency that can actually help speeding up of our
march towards UEE, although many states show a not so
encouraging figure
Though
the percentage of Primary schools having computer facility is
much lower than percentage of other types of schools, more than
1,20,591 schools imparting elementary education in the country
in 2005 had computers in place in school. The number of schools
having provided computers during the previous year 2005 was
ninety three thousand (8.99 per cent) and seventy two thousand
(7.68 per cent) in 2004. A significant difference is noticed in
percentage of schools having computer in rural areas and urban
areas.
Globally, some progress has been achieved over the past 15
years, with net enrolment for primary education in developing
countries increasing from 79 per cent in 1990 to 86 per cent in
2004. Yet the number of children out of school remains high. In
the 2001-2002 school year, some 115 million children of
primary-school age were not in school - two thirds of them
girls, and according to current estimates, 77 million eligible
children are not enrolled in school and many of those enrolled
do not attend. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 63 per cent of boys
and 59 per cent of girls go to school – the lowest rates
worldwide.
Of
the total (1,20,591) schools that have computers, 74 per cent
are located in rural areas. In the previous year, of the total
93,249 schools, 63 per cent (58,746 schools) are located in
rural areas and only 34,502 schools (37 per cent) in urban
areas. Compared to 5.14 per cent Government schools having
computers, the percentage in case of schools under private
managements is much higher at 30.52 per cent.
Considering some of the constraints in the
usage of ICTs in elementary education, about 99 percent schools
that impart elementary education in Delhi and about 93 percent
in Kerala had the electricity connection in school. Where as,
the percentage of Primary schools having electricity connection
remained as low as 0.91 percent in Bihar. Scenarios like this
delimit the scope of making education truly universal. A large
number of states have not been able to make much headway in the
area of computer-aided learning and the necessary investments
and therefore end up reaching far behind the target of
achievements. In states like Bihar (51.50 percent), Uttar
Pradesh (44.78 percent) and Rajasthan (53.18 percent), the
coefficient of efficiency obtained is much lower than the
average of all states. However, in others like Kerala and a few
smaller states, primary education system seems to be an
efficient one, indicating that there is still much scope for
improvement.
The reasons as well strategies vary from
location to location. Adopting reasons and area-specific
strategies can possibly be the best guiding factors, without
which no improvement can be expected. We still have three years
to optimally and rigorously utilise provisions made under Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan to work towards achieving universal elementary
education in general and primary education in particular,and to
grab the efficiency tune of 100 percent.
All the statistics and graphs are sourced
from DISE District Report Cards: 2005-06. The DISE publications
are available online at
www.schoolreportcards.in