Education in India – The Context

Education in India – The Context

In the last few decades, India has made tremendous progress in different aspects of education. Access to education has increased substantially, with about 93 percent of rural households having a primary school within a distance of 1 km. (NSS 75th Round). The youth literacy rate (age group 15-24 years) has increased to 91.7 percent in 2018. However, equity in and quality of education remain a challenge resulting in poor learning outcomes and an overall loss of confidence in the public education system.

The sections below list out some of the issues in different aspects of public education and the Foundation's views on addressing them.


Equity

Challenges

  • India's literacy rate is 74.04 percent (82.14 percent for males and 65.46 percent for females). The global literacy rate for all males is 90.0 percent, and the rate for all females is 82.7 percent.
  • The Gender Parity Index (GPI) for Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in primary education has been improving steadily but more needs to be done in secondary and tertiary education. The transition rate from primary to upper primary level in 2019-20 for boys was 92.5 percent, and 93.1 percent for girls. However, the transition rate from upper primary to secondary level was 92.6 percent for boys and 89.9 percent for girls. A proportion of girls leave the education system after upper primary schooling.
  • The overall dropout rate was 1.5 percent at the primary level in 2019-20. It was 2.6 percent at the upper primary level and 16.1 percent at the secondary level during the same period.

Our Views

  • Classrooms must offer all students equal access and equal opportunity to achieve desired outcomes.
  • Rationalize schools thoughtfully based on population, geographical terrain, and safety with the caveat that proximate access in the early years is critical.
  • Continue to provide cycles to older children to enable access.
  • Provide a transport allowance where necessary for younger children, girls, and children with special needs

Educational Quality

Challenges

  • Several government programmes intended to improve quality have been implemented, but most have not really translated into a changed reality for our students.
  • The curriculum, classroom environment, and pedagogical processes are not learner-centered and are primarily based on rote learning. The prevailing modes of classroom interaction do not enable the development and unlocking of the imagination, creativity, and critical thinking of the child.
  • Student learning levels vary between states and union territories. The National Achievement Survey (2017) conducted by NCERT shows class III students performed significantly lower (<=310) than the national average (321) in mathematics in seven states and three union territories. In class V, student's performance in eight states and three union territories remained lower (< 300) in mathematics than the national mean (310).

Our Views

  • Curriculum should be flexible, broad and inclusive reflective of diverse local cultures and knowledge.
  • Offer a variety of learning experiences to students that help them meet their curricular goals.
  • Use learning material beyond the textbook - use the local language and local resources in teaching, especially during the early years.

Teacher Education

Challenges

  • The teacher is central to good education - at its very core, education is the process between the teacher and the student. If education has to improve, teaching has to improve - there is no way around this.
  • There are 9.68 million (in 2019-20 ) school teachers in India. The private sector comprises the major share of teacher education institutions in the country, with the government's share being less than 10 percent.
  • The quality of academic support, both pre-service and in-service, provided to teachers leaves much to be desired due to poor inputs, lack of resources, and a series of professional constraints. Teaching has become mostly uninteresting and routinized, leading to poor classroom processes and little learning.

Our Views

  • Teaching is an intellectually and ethically demanding profession. Teachers must be seen as independent, capable, and responsible professionals with respect for his/her professional identity and knowledge.
  • Teacher preparation must be a long duration, professional program housed in the University system. Curriculum and pedagogy in teacher education must provide for rigorous theoretical understanding along with strong practical/field connect.
  • Opportunities for continuous professional development must be made available to all teachers throughout their careers.

Education Management

Challenges

  • Research shows that school leadership is the second largest factor affecting learning outcomes in school. More importantly, it goes on to show that school leadership is even more critical in schools that are under performing. While currently the country invests in teacher development, investments in leadership and managerial capabilities of education functionaries are negligible.
  • The system is vexed with problems of hierarchical organisation structure, political interference, uncertain tenures, lack of risk-reward etc., which need to be addressed.

Our Views

  • School leaders need professional preparation, support and mentorship before and after they take on the role. They need platforms or mechanisms to interact with each other as professionals.

Public Education

Challenges

  • Public education is still the largest provider of school education in India, having more than 1.5 million schools, with the government's share of schools at 68.5 percent (2019-20). However, recent years have witnessed mushrooming of a large number of private schools across the country promising 'better quality education and English learning.'

Our Views

  • Research evidence from India and other countries has shown conclusively that once socio-economic background has been factored in, performance of children is the same in both public and private schools.
  • A strong public education system is central to democracy, and equity cannot be served by a stratified system.

Assessment

Challenges

  • Standardized assessments have begun to be seen as a way of achieving learning outcomes and teacher accountability.
  • There is also an argument being made to scrap the 'No Detention' policy up to the elementary level.

Our Views

  • Standardized tests have not worked anywhere in the world to improve learning outcomes – all they have done is cause stress and tension among teachers and students. Assessment is primarily of use to teachers and students as feedback for improvement – it is individual and best done at school.
  • Though there are challenges in conceptualizing and implementing Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) - it still remains a pedagogically sound idea.
  • There is no evidence to suggest that learning levels have declined since the No Detention policy was put in place - it would be more useful to focus on why learning is not happening since detention neither facilitates nor takes care of learning – though it certainly comes in the way of child continuing in school.