Primary & Secondary Education in India

Primary Education in India means from Class I to VIII. Secondary Education means Class IX to XII. (Education system in India)

Major Surveys :

• Pratham's Annual Status of Education Report(ASER) - ASER 2013 report shows that barely 47% of children in grade 5 could read a grade 2 level text.
• NCERT's National Achievement Survey(NAS)
• NCERT's All India Educational Surveys (AIES)
• UNESCO's Gender Parity Index (GPI) - improved "substantially" at primary and secondary levels by increasing enrolment of girls, although in higher education, gender disparities still prevail 

Present Status (Facts)

• Literacy rate : 74%
• Pupil to Teacher Ratio : 23:1 national level for primary schools in 2015-16(RTE stipulates PTR should be 30:1(primary level) and 35:1(upper primary level) Improved
• Gross Enrollment ratio : 
• Primary Level: 96% 
• Secondary Level: 52%
• Higher education Level: 20% 

Legislative framework : Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (separate analysis later)

Institutions :

• SCERTs and DIETs for teacher training
• District Information System For Education

Existing Schemes/Initiatives :

• Midday Meal Nutrition Scheme
• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao 
• Integrated Scheme for School Education
• Sharva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) - scheme for universalisation of Education
• Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA)
• Teacher Education (TE)
• ShaGun portal for monitoring implementation of SSA

Case study : 

• Kerala first state to achieve 100% literacy (Athulyam scheme)

Challenges/Shortcomings in present education system : 

• Limitations and challenges of the RTE Act 
• focuses on inputs — infrasturcture, teacher qualifications and compensation, standardized textbooks, curricula, etc. — more than on important outcomes such as the quality of education. 
• Poor teaching quality
• Focus on rot learning rather than promoting analytical abilities 
• High dropout rate
• Issue of accessibility especially in rural areas - naxal affected areas
• Inadequate budgetary support
• Lack of adequate infrastructure e.g. chair, toilet, laboratory equipment, sports goods, digital connectivity etc.
• Gap between RTE & Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986, amended in 2016: Prohibition of employment of children below 14 years in all occupations or processes except where child helps his family. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had recommended revisions in child labour law and had specifically called for deletion of the word 'regulation' so that “child labour abolition becomes non-negotiable”

Suggestions : 

• Focus on two T's - Teacher & Technology
• Improving Teacher Management System(deployment, capacity building, etc) 
• Use of Technology to make it more more accessible, affordable and better monitoring of student progress
• Operation Digital Board on the lines of Operation Blackboard of 1987 should be started aimed at providing better digital education in all schools.
• Need to make education system outcome oriented - linking a component of teacher's salary with students' performance e.g Voucher system to infuse competition in public school
• Inclusive : Bridging social & gender gap
• Promoting vocationalization of education
• Promoting Volunteer teaching through programmes like Vidyanjali 
• Holistic approach : Effort should be in building sound body(sports) and inculcating moral values too.
• Strengthen anti-poverty schemes as total elimination of child labour would not be practical as long as poverty persisted

Steps taken for training teacher : 

• RTE (Amendment) Bill, 2017 - 
• to include the defined class-wise, subject-wise learning outcome
• allows teachers gives teachers time till 2019 to complete qualification. Under a scheme ‘Swayam Prabha’, teachers will not only be trained offline or online & even through direct-to-home (DTH) television channels
• Prashikshak is the teacher education portal for DIETs which contains a comprehensive database of all DIETS in the country with all relevant performance indicators.
• DIKSHA portal to assist teachers by equipping them advanced digital infrastructure.

The blog is Part of  Educating the Nation series

Education in India - constitutional framework & generic challenges

Under Constitutional Division of Power, 'Education' is a subject under the CONCURRENT LIST (42nd Constitutional Amendment Act) thus imparting equal responsibility to both States & Centre.

Following are important constitutional provisions wrt education : 

Article 21A - the 86th CAA made Right to Education a Fundamental Right of children aged between 6 to 14 to get elementary education.

• In 2009 Parliament enacted Right to Education Act commonly known as RTE.

[Note : Child Labour (Prohibition And Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016 defines adolescent has been defined as a person between the ages of 14-18 years. It permits employment of adolescent labour except in hazardous processes or occupation.]

Article 28 - Freedom as to attendance at religious instruction or religious worship in certain education institutions.

Article 45(DPSP) - Provision for free and compulsory education for children

Article 51A(k) - makes it Fundamental Duty "to provide opportunities for education by the parent the guardian, to his child, or a ward between the age of 6-14 years as the case may be."
 As an ancient Sanskrit shloka says :

meaning, those parents are like enemy, by whom the child is not educated. (Because an uneducated person) doesn't grace the (august) assembly, as the crane amongst swans. 

Article 350A - It shall be the endeavour of every State and of every local authority within the State to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups; and the President may issue such directions to any State as he considers necessary or proper for securing the provision of such facilities.

Common Challenges wrt Public Education in India 

• Low Literacy Rate : 74.00% (2011 census) vs China/Brazil >90%
• Finance : Low budgetary support  ~4% of GDP(demand of 6% since Kothari Commission, 1965)
• Inadequate infrastructure : e.g. of separate toilet for boys-girls, proper desks, computer etc.
• Accessibility  
• Quality - poor teaching quality,  Poor learning outcome; preference for private school,   
• Not Inclusive - women, tribal , minority
• High Cost(elitist) especially in higher education leading many to drop out

Part of Educating the Nation series

Educating the Nation

Education is one of the surest means in actualizing true human potential. That is, education is one of key ingredient to make human, human resource. The significance of education in a rather realistic tone is aptly put in the following Sanskrit Shloka

“Vidya dadati vinayam vinayad yati patratam 

Patratvad dhanam apnoti dhanad dharmam tatah sukham”

meaning, Education leads to sensibility, sensibility attains character/qualification, from that comes wealth and from wealth (one does) good deeds, from that (comes) joy] - Hitopdesha

As the world is moving more from primary(agriculture) to secondary(manufacturing) and now to tertiary sector i.e. world becoming knowledge economy, imparting education is becoming more national priority. The UN in its Developmental Agenda 2030 recognizing the "force multiplier" effect of education in attaining other goal has made universal education it's central goal (SDG #4 - Quality Education).

However, India's all indicator point a picture that is far from being satisfactory. In a series of upcoming blog posts, I will try to present and analyse status of Indian Education from different perspectives and at different layers accompanied by policy suggestions to improve its quality and accessibility. Here's brief outline : (these will be hper-linked gradually)

• Education - constitutional framework & generic challenges 
• Primary/Elementary & Secondary Education
• Higher/Tertiary Education
• Sectoral Analysis (status, challenges & suggestions) 
• Medical Education 
• Engineering 
• Humanities
• Law
• How to foster the culture of Innovation
• Recent steps : RISE, Integrated Scheme of School Education ...