Devendra Kothari PhD
Population and Development Analyst
Forum for Population Action
Right to Education with quality must
be available to all, since deep frustration begins with half or low quality education.
We have seen in the preceding post (part I) that future of our children
is at stake. They are attending schools, government and private, but not
learning enough. The enjoyment of the right to education could be enhanced if
there is an acknowledgement of the problems that beset our educational system
and if there is a willingness to solve such problems. We must explore issues
which need urgent attention. And this concluding part of the post aims in this
direction.
Although myriad views exist on what constitutes Quality Education,
majority of them relate it to be a reflection of the scholastic, co-scholastic
and affective (specifically values and attitude) outcomes. It is often closely
linked with what experts refer to as quality learning environments and holistic
development of students, as argued by UNESCO.[1] In other words, the learning outcome largely revolves around two
factors — first, classroom environment and second, societal environment. First
refer to the management of school education while later relates to the quality
of living environment.
Improving the Management of the Education:
While Indian students have always
been praised for being better than those from other countries in the three R's
(reading, writing and arithmetic), the Annual Status of Education Reports (ASER)
and others show a shocking decline among the children in these abilities.[2]
Further, the quality of education being
imparted in India has proved far below average in an international rating
system for schools, carried out by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Indian students did so badly in the 2009 PISA test that they were practically at the bottom. The main reason
behind this pathetic situation lies in the way we manage our education system
or teach in India, say experts.
Dr. Vimala Ramachandran, National Fellow at the National University of
Educational Planning and Administration, says, "Our children are very good
at rote learning. But higher analytical skills and comprehension are poor,
which are what PISA checks. They need special coaching for IIT and MBA exams to
think differently. There is an information overload on children." [3] Indian experience illustrates how quantity is
chosen over quality in the areas of teacher recruitment, training, research in
education, size of curricula and the length of textbooks, and the quality was
not given priority. These are very
important issues having impact on class room environment and need further
analysis.
Improving
classroom environment: The enjoyment of the right to
education could be enhanced if teachers are well trained and are committed to
their duties. For this, adequate attention should be paid to their
qualification, recruitment, training, motivation and remuneration. The issue of
qualification of teachers is very important. However, what sort of education
they need is not clear. For example, in Knowing and Teaching Elementary
Mathematics, Liping Ma relates that the Chinese elementary teachers she studied
had only nine years of compulsory education and two or three years of normal teacher
training school. The American teachers, in contrast, had bachelor’s or master’s
degrees. Despite this, the Chinese teachers outperformed the Americans in content
knowledge and understanding.[4] Similarly,
although Singapore ranked first in the world in mathematics achievement on the
TIMSS tests, its primary school teachers have considerably less college
education than their U.S. counterparts.[5] On
the other hand, overwhelming primary school teachers in India are graduates or even
post graduates. Do we really need such qualifications to teach elementary
education? Does it create frustration
among teachers?
Another key
factor affecting the quality of Indian school education is the lack of a
practical, teaching-related knowledge base and training. For example, sizable
amount of money that has been poured into Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the
government's flagship programme for meeting the target of universal elementary
education, have gone into teacher training. But no one asks the teachers what
training they want. Somebody else plans and the teachers are forced to go. “I
have interviewed some 1000 teachers and most said the training was
irrelevant," noted Dr. Ramachandran. Further, we have to agree that no training
programme can fix a bigger problem - a basic lack of knowledge. In September, 2013, for example,
43,477 primary and middle school teachers recruited by the Government of Bihar took the
mandatory "competency test", which is based on the syllabi of classes
3-5. Of these, 10,614 teachers, or about 24%, failed the test. The test had
objective questions in English, Mathematics, Science, Hindi and General
Knowledge, with no negative marking.[6] This shows what type of teachers are being
recruited to teach. There is an urgent need to analyze what sort of
qualification is required for teachers and the format of training.
Ad-hoc appointment of primary teachers is
another important issue affecting quality of education. The
Supreme Court on May 20, 2013 accused State governments of
compromising children's right to education by appointing Vidya Sahayaks or Shiksha Sahayaks (education
assistants) in place of regular primary school teachers to save money in
payment of salaries. Every year, thousands of such education assistants are being
recruited in Gujarat, UP, Bihar, Odisha, Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh among others. For states facing financial crunch, appointing
such sahayaks who perform the task of a primary school teacher is quite
beneficial, since the ad hoc
teachers are paid less than one-fifth of the salary given to the permanent
teachers. It is shocking. How a teacher can serve better with this salary? How
quality of education can be ensured? The Supreme Court strongly disapproved of
the appointment of ad hoc teachers in primary schools, saying that it would
spoil the entire education system. This needs
detailed analysis.
Rationalizing curricula and pedagogy: The
system of education in India should be learning-centric rather than exam-centric. Instead of gaining knowledge from voluminous books and lectures, children must be made to interact in groups and express their views on various topics. Rather than taking notes
from the teacher and textbooks, children must be made to research information on their own from library books and the Internet and
share them in the class. This will help them develop good reading habits, self-confidence and openness to criticism. It will also help them
in developing critical reading and analytical skills. Children must be taken on
field trips to museums, labs, planetariums, excavation sites, botanical
gardens, etc. where they can learn by interacting with knowledgeable and
experienced people in varied fields. It will also help them improve
their communication skills. It is true that
teaching pedagogy in our schools today is rigid, and it must be thoroughly
revised.
For Indian teachers one of the most
frustrating aspects of their job is the excessive length and irrational
structure of the curricula they are expected to teach. The data on topics per
grade show emphasis on quantity carried to an extreme degree. For example, in
first and second grades the number of topics in mathematics covered in India is
almost five times that of Japan and other eastern Asian Countries. This is at a stage in a child’s
development when the greatest care should be taken to foster understanding and
mastery of the basic ideas that form the foundation of all later learning in
mathematics and other subjects. This excess in curricula precludes anything but
the most superficial treatment of the topics studied.
Further, the
current talent pool has very low employability. To improve its competitive
advantage, it is important to understand skills that are lacking in the school
students. The National Employability Report 2013 [7]
reveals that India graduates more than five million graduates every year. A
significant proportion of graduates, nearly 47%, were found not employable in
any sector, given their English language and cognitive skills. “Since a
graduation degree is considered a pathway to a job in the knowledge economy,
substantive intervention at school level is needed to improve basic skills of
students”, the report concludes. This clearly shows that maximum effort is
required to hone Math skills of students, whereas consistent effort is needed in
English as well as mother tongue communication and writing skills as well. For students
residing or studying in villages and towns, the maximum gap is observed in
English and Computer skills. Since both these skills are rated as enablers and
useful skills in knowledge sector jobs, they demand early but focused intervention. We should analyze what skills create the
employability gap.
In addition, extra curricular or co-scholastic activities serve as
catalyst in individuals all round development. Does the society, parents like
such school which give more emphasis on the extra co-curricular activities?
No way. For this we must review our examination system. Why a student who
is good at dancing, singing, drawing, etc. does not get any extra marks?
The examination system should be changed in such a way that the parents,
teachers and society start giving importance to conceptual understanding
and overall development instead of just memorizing power. Students must be
set free to explore their own potentials. This requires
interventions in curricula and pedagogy.
Expanding
digital technology: In addition to
rational curricula and pedagogy, we must explore how unconventional methods
of teaching and learning could be used in improving the quality of
education. Eric Schmidt and
Jared Cohen in their book - The New
Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business - sketch a
future dominated by technology.[8]
With vivid examples and brilliant analyses, they show how the internet and
other communications technologies will empower individuals and transform the
way nations and businesses operate. The authors believe that
“the most important pillar behind innovation and opportunity – education- will
be tremendous positive change in the coming decades as rising connectivity
reshape traditional routines and offer new paths for learning” (p21). According
to the writers that in 2012, the MIT Media Lab tested this digital technology
in Ethiopia by distributing preloaded tablets to primary-age kids without
accompanying teachers, the results were extraordinary: within months the kids
were reciting the entire alphabet and writing complete sentences in English.
For children in
countries like India, the digital technology promises new access to educational
tools, although clearly not as in developed world. And we must explore the
implications of the burgeoning digital technology to improve the quality of
education in India, because “physical class rooms will remain dilapidated;
teachers will continue to take paychecks and not show up for class; and books
and supply will be scare. But what’s new
in this equation - connectivity- promises that kids with
access to mobile devices and internet
will be able to experience school physically and virtually, even if the latter
is informal and on their own time”(p22).
And this must be analyzed.
Privatization of
education: We have believed for a long time that the
governments will provide school education of a large majority of children. This
premise is likely not to be valid ten years from now. The more worrying aspect highlighted by the ASER
the increase in enrollment in private schools, which has risen from 19% in 2006
to 28% in 2012. At this rate, it is predicted that in a country of 1.4 billion, over 50%
children will pay for their PRIMARY education by 2020. It is time to wake up
and take note of the rapidly changing scenario. Clearly, people even in rural
areas are choosing private schools over government ones. It appears that
children in private schools seem to be doing better academically than their
counter parts in government schools. Further, the students attending the
government schools across States tend to patronize private tuition classes more
than their counterparts in private schools, as noted by the ASER report 2012.[9] The point of consideration in this
regards is that while government teachers are comparatively more qualified and
better trained and also paid reasonably better salaries coupled with better
service conditions as compared to teachers of private institutions. [10] Then what prevents government teachers from
teaching?
Enhancing accountability: It appears that
no matter who is in power, private school enrollment will go on increasing till
it hits family budget constraints. As this happens, unless the quality of
government schools improves substantially, the gap between children who attend
one and the other will create a big divide in every aspect of life and
opportunity. The lack of accountability of teachers in government schools may
be a real problem, and it must be analyzed. They are not accountable whether children are learning or not. “Some of
my studies have shown that most government primary school children study less
than half-an-hour at school”, noted by Dr. Vimla Ramachandran. “Many government
teachers come to school, mark attendance, do some administrative work and
leave. Where there are three teachers in one school, only one would be present;
they take turns in coming to school”, she notes further.
No doubt the public education infrastructure is crumbling and the
commitment of teachers in government schools leave much to be desired. A lot of these
problems arise from incompetent management of resources. To resolve the
problem, the Government of India is mulling over the
idea of establishing an Indian Education Service (IES) on the lines of the IAS,
IFS and IRS. The new service will apparently recruit and train a dedicated set
of officers who will then be deployed as education administrators. Whether we like it
or not, bureaucrats are already an integral part of the education system. There
is no point in having officers who have no special training to cope with the
challenges posed in running schools and colleges. Counter view is that India has more bureaucrats
than necessary; and the general ineptitude of our babus is well known. So it is
argued that why an already flabby establishment should be further fattened at
taxpayers expense.[11] However, this suggestion must be evaluated on its merits.
Regulating private
schooling: It is
time to start looking at private schooling more carefully and understand
problems of education planning especially in urban areas as also to regulate
private schooling without taking away the essential strengths of the private
school. Government funded and regulated, but not controlled, private schools-
like the “aided schools” - replacing government-run schools seems to be the way
of the future, argued by Madhav Chavan, of the Pratham Education Foundation. RTE has already introduced the concept of funding private schools on a
per child cost basis. There is no reason why this cannot be extended further.
Aided schools exist in large numbers in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Goa,
and Meghalaya. Existing practices can be looked into to create new governance
mechanisms so that there is a right balance of freedom and accountability. This
could be another way to improve the standards of education.
Learning from success stories: The latest PISA survey 2012, in which India did not
participate, indicate Eastern Asian
countries (like China, Singapore, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan) outperform the rest
of the world. The test evaluates the knowledge and skills of the world's
15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science literacy. China took the ratings by storm and topped the
rankings as she did in 2009. It appears that
education system of East Asian countries is excellent in preparing outstanding
test takers, and we must learn from them. China was smart enough to change
itself to meet the challenges of the market economy by leaning from Japan among
other countries. Andreas Schleicher, who was responsible for PISA tests, noted:
"Even in rural areas of China, you see a remarkable performance". It
was reported that when Schleicher visited a poor province in China, the most
impressive buildings were often schools, not shopping malls. And the amazing
thing is that China, too, had rote learning but a concerted effort was made to
change the curriculum and the education system based on the experience of other
countries. Does India have the will to learn from success stories?
Reviewing
Right To Education: The fundamental idea
behind decision RTE may be sound, but the execution is hasty. The move is
supposed to introduce interdisciplinary pedagogy, enhance the quality of
education and impart employable skills. At present,
however, the move is creating more problems than it is solving. It has made the
mockery of education, students, teachers and evaluation system. There is
tremendous need to amend some provisions of RTE in national and social
interest. There has been a feeling that RTE may have led to
relaxation of classroom teaching since all exams and assessments are scrapped
and no child is to be kept back. It means that “the
student’s failure to grasp what is being taught does not ring any warning bells
before class IX”, as noted by the Economic and Political Weekly of February, 2,
2013. Although the ASER has pointed to
this as one reason for the decline in quality and it is an issue that requires a
detailed analysis.
In short, reforms, based on the scientific
analysis of above points, are necessary if the management of education system
is to improve.
Enhancing Living Environment:
No doubt, school is first and
foremost a place where teachers and pupils come together to teach and to be
taught. Teachers play a very big role in what is called a school. However, a
school is a part of the larger society and therefore what happens in society is
reflected in the school. India may have
notched up high enrolments to school riding the success of Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan and the Midday Meal scheme, but we did not prepared ourselves to teach
this new group of learners, mainly coming from the bottom of the pyramid, which
do not have educational background. As a result, none of the factors discussed above can alone make
difference. The other dominant factors such
as physical capability of a population - the brawn factor the energy yielding
capability built on food and nutrition and
health as well as living conditions
have telling impact even on quality of education independent of
institutions of learning. In this connection, less said is better about the
demographic dividend for the present about a population which is high on
hunger, malnutrition, and low on healthcare indices than talking about
education in isolation from the stark realities of human development indices
and general development. Ensuring quality of living must go hand in hand. The following section
discusses some important factors concerning living environment.
Abbreviating
poverty and unwanted fertility: More than
three-fourth of Indians (950 million) lives in poverty on less than the
equivalent of US$2 per day, as per the World Development Indicators (2011). Further,
relatively high population growth
mainly due to unwanted fertility makes it more difficult to lift large numbers
of people out of poverty. [12] More
than two in five pregnancies are unintended/unplanned or simply unwanted by the women who experience them and more than half of
these pregnancies result in births that spur continued population growth. As a
result, a substantial proportion of pregnancies (21% of all pregnancies that
result in live births) are unplanned or unintended. Around 26 million children
are born in India every year and out of this about 6 million births were classified
as unwanted in 2005-06. Further, based on the National Family Health Survey-3, [13]
it is estimated that about 30% or
around 220 million people in the young age group 0-35 years in India was the product of
unwanted childbearing in 2005-06. The level of unwanted fertility in this age
group has increased from 23% in 1992-93 to 30% in 2005-06.[14]
The consequences
of unwanted fertility are serious, slowing down the process of socio-economic
development as well as learning capacity. It is because unwanted childbearing results
in poor physical growth and diminished
concentration in daily tasks thus impacting learning capacity. There may
be several reasons behind unwanted childbearing, but most important one is
related to the imperfect control over the reproductive process. So letting women have the means to manage
their childbearing will help to make India a more stable place. Key to this new
approach should be to provide quality reproductive health services with contraceptive
choices. [15]
Improving
living conditions: Physical living conditions
are equally important in producing an enabling environment for learning. Findings of the Census of
India 2011 – Tables on Houses, Household Amenities and Assets indicate
that sub-human living conditions still
haunt people. Only 47% of households have a source of water
within the premises while 53% of households travel more than half a kilometre in rural
areas and more than 100 meters in urban areas to fetch their supplies. This problem is further compounded
by lack of access to sanitation. About 53% of Indian households do not have a
toilet within their premises. Only 28% of the households use LPG (Liquefied Petroleum
Gas) as a cooing fuel. Around two-thirds of the total households have electricity as the main source of lighting
in the country in 2011. Any
improvement in access to toilet facilities, water, electricity and LPG is
likely to result in a considerable reduction in domestic drudgery especially
for girls/women, freeing up their time for other activities including schooling
and monitoring children performance. [16]
Discussion
and Conclusion:
The promise
of demographic dividend will not last long. Can India take advantage of this
demographic window in the next few years and benefit from it? One cannot be
too optimistic about this considering its poor education system from bottom to
top. The largest part of India's schools is of poor quality. Teachers are
inadequately prepared, weakly motivated, poorly paid, and frequently absent. At
the same time living environment is not very encouraging or fascinating. Big changes in
the management of education, as noted above, are needed. As such, education is too
important to be held hostage to outmoded thinking. The time has come to reform
it, based on a progressive vision, a clear understanding of ground realities,
as noted above and the courage to cut through the nettles it is enveloped in. Whether
India will be able to take challenge?
The
Constitutional amendment in 2002, imposition of education cess in 2004 leading
to increasing financial allocation for elementary education, and finally the
passage and enforcement of the Right to Education Act in 2010 after a long wait
were all step-wise demonstrations of increasing political desire, although not
quite the WILL. For a country that is undergoing huge
economic, social, and demographic changes, education requires a much more
resolute political direction, as argued by Madhav Chavan.
It
is important for political leaders to realize that education has been in a deep
crisis. We are chasing ideals while practical realities limit what is possible
on the ground. The Government
of India must play a leading role in pushing the educational reforms and high
standards we need, however, the impetus for that change will come from States,
and from local schools as well as community. So, we must also involve the
educators and community to reach it. For this, the Government of India must
constitute a high level committee or involve educational institutes to analyze
above issues to suggest a plan of action.
[1] For UNESCO’s Education
For All Global Monitoring Report, see at: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/efareport/reports/2002-efa-on-track/.
[2] See article: “Enrolment rate very high, learning abilities very low” by Payal Gwalani at: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-26/nagpur/33401983_1_primary-education-resource-centre-computer-education.
[3] Refer article at: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-01-22/special-report/30652497_1_teacher-training-private-schools-education-departmen.
[4] Ma, L. (1999). Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics: Teachers’ Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics in China and the United States. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
[5] Ginsburg, A., Leinwand, S., Anstrom, T., & Pollock, E. 2005. What the United States Can Learn From Singapore’s World-Class Mathematics System. American Institutes for Research. Also see: http://www.keysschool.com/Documents/SingaporeReport.pdf.
[8] Refer: Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen. 2013. The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of People, Nations and Business, Kindle Edition.
[9]
For details, see report at: http://www.pratham.org/file/ASER-2012report.pdf.
[10] The starting salary of a
government primary school teacher is Rs 20,000 after the Sixth Pay Commission,
and even the work is reportedly much less than in private schools.
[11]http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx? articles=yes&pageid=12&max=true&articleid=Ar01201§id=7edid=&edlabel=TOIH&mydateHid=24-12-2009&pubname=Times+of+India+-+Hyderaba+-
+Editorial&title=Government+to+consider+setting+up+an+Indian+E
[12]
Refer post by the author: What
the poverty debate in India misses? at http://kotharionindia.blogspot.in/2011/10/what-poverty-debate-in-india-misses.html.
[13]India: National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), 2005-06, IIPS, Mumbai, 2007.
[14] For further details, see ,”Managing unwanted fertility in India: Way forward”, a paper prepared by the author for the National Conference on
National Rural Health Mission: A Review of Past Performance and Future
Directions, organized by the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi and held on August 6-8, 2013.
[15] Kothari, Devendra. 2012. “Empowering Women in India through better
Reproductive Healthcare”, in Sheel Sharma and Angella Atwaru Ateri (eds.)
Empowering Women through Better HealthCare and Nutrition in Developing
Countries, New Delhi: Regency Publications, 2012, pp 68-86.
[16] Refer post on: “Quality of
life and living environment in India”, Blog Entries by the author at http://kotharionindia.blogspot.in/2012/09/quality-of-life-and-living-environment.html.
I completely agree with you that Education in India needs intensive care..
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