Posted by Ninad on April 26, 2010 under All Posts | 
With the Right to Education becoming a fundamental right, a question asked by many educationist is — How much will it cost the government to implement? And, where will it get all the money?
It has been estimated that the government will require around Rs. 171,000 crores over the next five years.
The Thirteenth Finance Commission has provided for Rs. 25,000 crores to the States over five years for implementation of Right to Education. This is over and above allocations for centrally sponsored schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, teacher education and the mid-day meal scheme, which is the largest of its kind in the world.
For the current year, the allocation is Rs. 15,000 crores and the centre will bear upto 55 per cent of this.
Already, many State governments have raised a hue and cry over this stating that they do not have money to implement and comply with the Right to Education. They have asked the Central government to provide more funds.
The Prime Minister and the Minister for HRD have clearly stated that money constraints will not derail Right to Education. This clearly shows intent on the part of the government.
However, there is still a yawning gap. Who will fill it?
Posted by Ninad on December 21, 2009 under All Posts |
Enrollment in primary school has shot up to nearly 95 per cent level in recent years, due to a massive effort by the government, NGOs and other initiatives. However, there is a big bottleneck in the secondary education as enrollment drops to 50 per cent in grade 9 and 10.
Enrollment for girl student is particularly poor at the secondary level and drop outs of girls rise significantly due to distance, safety and lack of sanitation.
For the primary level, government has launched Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV). This is a residential school which caters primarily to girls who are first generation learners from disadvantaged castes. These schools provide free teaching, lodging and boarding until class 8. It is part of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the Central government’s program which aims at ensuring that all children between 6 and 14 years enter primary school.
The government has recently launched a sponsored scheme for secondary education – Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), which aims at setting up a mass secondary education structure. If the girls’ hostel scheme is extended beyond class 8 and if RMSA is successfully implemented, it could make a huge impact on secondary education in India.
Here are some facts on secondary education in India:
- Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for secondary education at 40 per cent is lower than 70 per cent in East Asia and 82 per cent in Latin America. It varies widely between States: Kerala (92 %), Bihar (22%), Jharkand (4%).
- 40 million children were enrolled in secondary education in 2008. Majority of them were boys from urban areas with privileged background
- 37 per cent of secondary students fail and 11 per cent dropout before the exam.
- There are 3 National Boards and 34 State and Union Territory Boards, with their own curriculum.
- 60 per cent of the secondary school system is privately managed
There is enough evidence to prove the importance of secondary education, particularly for girls, in bringing about social and economic change at the grass root level.
As Sam Carlson of the World Bank has commented:
“Secondary Education is vital for breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty and provides hugely beneficial social impacts… It is a very high return on investment”
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.
