Pre-Budget Expectation for Education Secto

                                                                                                                                                Dr. Devender Nath, Founder and Chairman, Rhodium Quest

 

 

The Problem Areas (Primary & Secondary Education)

 

o   Dropout rates : 48 % in elementary Education (std I‐ VIII) mainly because of socio‐economic reasons

o   Regional disparity: States like Bihar, UP are way behind in terms of GER, Drop outs

 

Infrastructure:

o   Low PTR and teacher absenteeism

o   24% Schools in India do not have proper school building

o   8 % schools Lack drinking water facilities

 

Quality of Education:

o   Pratham's ASER survey: 60% of children aged 7 to 12 cannot read a simple Para (Pratham is a reputed NGO working towards education in India)

 

Participation: At the lower secondary level (grades 9 and 10), the gross enrollment rate (GER) is 52 % while at the senior secondary level (grade11 and 12) it is just 28 %

 

Access: Number of secondary Schools are almost half the number of Upper primary schools available in the country

 

Equity: Most secondary students are boys, and disproportionately from urban areas and wealthier segments of the population.

 

Quality: Assessments of student achievement in mathematics by at the secondary and senior secondary level suggest that the quality of instruction and learning is very low.

 

Financing: While India has pursued the drive towards universal elementary education, since 2000 the share of investment financing for secondary education has declined

 

 

What needs to be done

 

Policy Level Initiatives

 

o   Training and hiring of more teachers, and rationalizing their deployment, so that supply better matches demand;

o   Investments in curriculum revision, progressive pedagogy, technology and examination reforms, to make schooling more relevant

o    Provide financial and in‐kind assistance for poor and disadvantaged students, to offset direct and indirect costs of schooling, and overcome household reluctance to send their children (especially girls) to school;

o   Public information campaigns to change attitudes about the benefits of schooling and delayed marriages

 

Government Initiatives

 

o   Programs to improve the internal efficiency and quality of Secondary education, so as to increase the number and quality of graduates; example programs like SSA

 

o   Promoting ICTs, so that students can take greater control of their learning and skills acquisition from sources other than the teacher and textbook.