Posted by Ninad on October 26, 2009 under All Posts | 
Getting admission into any of the 15 IITs remains a high aspiration for many young students in India.
In 2009, 3.85 lakh students took the IIT JEE (Joint Entrance Exams) and 20,035 students qualified. The ratio of 46:1 (aspirants to seat ratio) is probably the most competitive for any institution in the world.
Due to this stiff competition, students of Class XII cram in as many hours of studies for the entrance exam as possible. As a result, they do not focus on class XII exams and count on getting the minimum 60 percentage with minimum effort.
Recently, Kapil Sibal, Education Minister, was quoted as saying that there was a proposal to increase this minimum percentage of Class XII to 80 per cent. The ostensible reason was to curb the mushrooming of the coaching classes for IIT entrance exams and also to ensure that students pay attention to class XII exams as well.
There was a sharp reaction to this statement of Kapil Sibal and he had to retract it the next day when he mentioned that it was up to the IITs to decide.
Raising the minimum percentage of Class XII exams for seeking admission to IIT will really not solve the problems mentioned by the Minister. In fact, it will make it worse!
Presently, students seeking admission to IITs have a singular focus on the JEE. If the minimum pass percentage for Class XII is raised from the present 60 per cent, it will really add to the plight of the students. They will be burdened with far more studies and far more pressure. Also, the requirement for coaching classes will actually increase, as students will scramble from coaching classes for IIT JEE and or class XII.
A proper solution to this problem is to give good options to IIT for students who seek quality engineering education.
Posted by Ninad on October 16, 2009 under All Posts |
Gross Enrollment ratio (GER) at the secondary level in India is 52%, which is far inferior to the GERs in countries like Vietnam (72%), Sri Lanka (83%) and China (91%).
It also varies significantly from State to State – 22% in Bihar and 92% in Kerala.
The drop-out ratio at the secondary level is significantly higher, due to challenges of access and quality. There are also huge disparities of genders, social groups and urban and rural areas. Private schools account for more than 60% of all secondary enrollment and most if the secondary school boys are from more affluent families.
I read an interesting article in the 10th October issue of Hindustan Times, titled “School’s out”.
The author had written about the state of secondary school education in a remote Ghoda village in Parbhani, about 650 kms east of Mumbai.
It gave details of how children were forced to drop out of school in the village as the there was no secondary school in the village. The nearest secondary school was 7 kms away.
There is no transport available from the village to the school and children have to walk to school. Girls have an added fear of security in this long trudge and to add to their woes, there is lack of toilets in the schools.
Result? Girls and boys cannot pursue their secondary education and have to live a life of being a farm help.
The Government has launched a scheme called Rashtriya Shiksha Abhiyan in 2008-09, with the objective to universalize access and improve quality of secondary education.
Clearly, much more needs to be done…
Public-private partnerships for secondary and higher secondary schools need to be encouraged, more teachers need to be hired, double-shifting of schools should be started, financial aid to disadvantaged students need to be offered…. The list can go on and on.
Secondary education plays an important role in a child’s development. Any amount of investment in primary and higher education will not yield the desired results, if secondary education is ignored.
Hopefully, this sector will also get equal attention with the ongoing process of reforms.
Posted by Ninad on October 12, 2009 under All Posts |
The government is laying a lot of emphasis on primary education. Sarva Shiksha Abihyan (SSA) is one of the largest programs of its kind in the world. It aims to enroll all 6-14 year old children in school by 2010 and have them complete eight years of schooling. India has more than 194 children in 1.1 million habitations spread across the country.
This program has made some impact on primary education. Net Enrolment Rate (GER) at primary level has risen from 68% in 1993 to 85% in 2005-06. The gender gap has reduced and there are now 92 girls for every 100 boys in primary school.
This program is complimented by the mid-may meal scheme, where hot cooked food is made available to children who attend school, to incentivize them to attend school. Mid-meal scheme of India is the largest of its kind in the world.
Expenditure on primary education is 53.5 % of the total Education Budget in India (2006-07). Higher education gets 18% and secondary education gets 30 %.
There is a lot of focus on higher education with a large number of institutes and colleges mushrooming across the country.
Caught between primary and higher education, secondary education is suffering. Sam Carlson of the World Bank calls it the “forgotten middle” and has pointed out in a recent report that investment in secondary education has declined.
Posted by Ninad on October 5, 2009 under All Posts |
Last week, I had written a BLOG on the Education Minister’s move to have CBSE schools rated.
National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET) is the country’s first initiative to certify and rate educational institutions. Rating is done on the basis of standards developed by the Quality Council of India, its parent organization.
Quality Council of India is a non-profit, autonomous body set up jointly by the Government Indian Industry, to establish and operate national accreditation structure and to promote quality through nation- wide quality campaign.
Copy of the Accreditation Standard for quality school governance issued by NABET in September 2008 is attached in this BLOG. NABET accredits primary, secondary and higher secondary schools.
One of the first schools to get a certification from NABET is Kendriya Vidyalaya at R.K. Puram, Delhi. NABET has around 40-50 schools in the pipeline for rating.
For government schools, NABET has a program of preparing a program to get them to a minimum standard.
NABET is a pioneer in this field and we will see a lot more school rating agencies in future. Hopefully, this entire process of rating is executed properly and parents get objective information on the quality of a school.
Please go through Accreditation Standards for Quality School Governance
