QUALITY OF EDUCATION

How Poor is the Quality?

Pratham surveys show that in the slums of Mumbai, nearly 35 per cent children in the six to 14 age group cannot read, leave alone write. In the rest of the districts of Maharashtra, the situation is not too different. It would be reasonably correct to say that, across India, about 50 per cent or more children in grades II to V in government schools cannot read…  At the same time, Government statistics tell us that 40 per cent of the children enrolled in grade I (and it is claimed that 96 per cent do enroll!) will drop out of school before completing grade V. Over 50 per cent will not make it beyond grade VII and about 66 per cent will not cross grade X. 

If 50 per cent of enrolled children cannot read by the time they are in grade IV, how can they continue to be in school? The correlation between not being able to read and dropping out is clear and simple. The daily humiliation in class leaves these children no option but to leave school.  - Learning to teach, Dr Madhav Chavan, Humanscape, 01/12/2003, [J.ELDOC.N00.01dec03HUS.pdf]

There are more than 43,000 primary schools in the (Karnataka) state set up by the government alone, catering to the educational needs of nearly one crore students. While the enrolment rate in the state is among the highest in the country, what is of primary concern today is the quality of education being imparted especially in government schools. The whopping drop-out rate of   34 per cent in primary schools is an indication that everything is not well.

    ….an independent study, initiated in 1998 by Prof B K Chandrashekar, and conducted by a group of teachers working both in government and aided schools, found that 68 per cent of students of seventh standard studying  in Kannada medium in Bangalore South zone could not write the alphabets properly either in Kannada or English. Interestingly, the pass percentage in the 7th standard public  examination in these schools is more than 80 per cent every year!  - Focus on quality, Vijesh Kamat, Deccan Herald 14/09/2001 [C.ELDOC.N20.elementary_education.htm]

Private-Government Divide or Rich-Poor Divide ?

All children do not get similar or equal education. The children of the rich go to expensive, private schools while the children from poor families go to government schools. There is a large difference between the education given by these two sets of schools. It is now a commonly known fact that children from government schools are not able to read and write even after many years of schooling.  (ref:

... schools located in different localities in the same village are endowed differently in infrastructure, teacher-pupil ratio, training and capacity building of teachers. There is also a significant difference in the quality of schools that come directly under the education department and those that come under social or tribal welfare. There is also a big difference in the resource allocation (financial, human) between formal primary schools and a range of alternative schools like the Education Guarantee Scheme – even though the latter reportedly function more regularly because the teachers are appointed on contract basis. Most state governments – including West Bengal (where local women above the age of 40 and have studied up to grade 10 are hired); have appointed parateachers paying them less than one-third the wages of a regular teacher. Smaller habitations are worst hit with one teacher managing classes 1 to 5 in a school with minimal facilities.

The biggest blow to quality education came with the interpretation and mindless use of the no-detention policy. Children are pushed from one grade to the next with little care taken to ensure they attain grade specific competencies. As a result, we can find children who reach grade five without knowing how to read or write! Teachers are not held accountable for learning levels their ‘performance appraisal’ is limited to enrolment data and retention rate. No one really cares to find out whether children have learnt anything at all. As a result they can get away without teaching – as discovered in a number of research studies conducted under the aegis of the DPEP programme.  - Is Schooling for the Poor on the Government Agenda?, Vimala Ramachandran, Economic and Political Weekly, 24/07/04, [J.ELDOC.N21.240704EPW3349.html]

The village school suffered the usual problems. Teachers, despite being very well paid these days, came and went when they liked and nobody could remember a single day when they were all present. This kind of capricious behaviour meant that children were lucky if they could learn to read and write at the end of their school education.

...Ironically, even at the village level what is required is not more government schools but better quality schools both government and private.  - Why Joshi is Vajpayee’s weakest link, TAVLEEN SINGH, Indian Express, 15/02/2004, [C.ELDOC.N20.15feb04ie2.html]

 The centrality of the government school in the lives of poor children is undeniable. Across the three States, between 70 per cent to 80 per cent of children from poor households are enrolled in government schools. This is why the overall functioning of the government school, (in particular, the quality of teaching) becomes critical. Pushing children into dysfunctional or poorly functioning schools is making a mockery of the right to education. First generation school goers require an extraordinary amount of care and attention, and if we are serious about guaranteeing every child the right to education, then we have to transform our work culture and attitudes. - Snakes and ladders, VIMALA RAMACHANDRAN, Hindu, 10/08/2003, [C.ELDOC.N21.10aug03h4.html]

Can They Or Can’t

While school enrolment has risen dramatically in cities and villages, the ability of the government school system to retain and adequately educate children has been less impressive. The coverage of poorer localities in cities by schools has expanded, but not fast enough to keep pace with the growing populations of these areas. The school systems of Mumbai and Delhi do not have the flexibility to quickly reallocate teachers, materials and resources from one part of the city to another. For example, municipal school enrolment in south Mumbai has declined over time even while in suburban areas, schools are bursting at the seams and teachers have very large numbers of children in their classes. Overcrowded schools are difficult places for teaching or learning.  - Poverty and Primary Schooling Field Studies from Mumbai and Delhi, RUKMINI BANERJI, Economic & Political Weekly, 04/03/2000, [J.ELDOC.N00.04mar00EPW.pdf]

While the government has been very efficient with respect to education which is the consequence of the ‘‘instrumentalist approach’’ (the IITs), it has neglected the education which is necessitated by the ‘‘liberating force’’ approach (the primary schools). As a result, if children from certain families are not able to even read or write after a few years of education, then where is the question of their going to the IITs?  -  Education, for itself, DHANMANJIRI SATHE, Indian Express, 02/11/2004,  [C.ELDOC.N00.02nov04ie1.html]

State-run schools in India are perceived to have failed in providing quality education. Who is to blame for this? If the government school system is reformed, a majority of public schools will go out of business. Even now for the last several years the best CBSE results are coming from Navodaya schools. The next best results are from Central schools. There is ample evidence that the government has almost adopted a policy to let their school system deteriorate. In Indore,  the government decided to shut down 30 schools on the rationale that very few children were left. Instead of reforming the system, they closed it down and prime school properties were given to private players.

... The teachers in government schools are often better paid and even better trained. Till the mid-70s government schools were far superior to public schools. Post that period, the quality of teaching in these schools started suffering. The problem is not the quality of staff but the rigid hierarchical and centralised structure of these schools. The principals aren't even empowered to take education-related decisions which demotivates a large number of teachers. The middle class which struggles to send its children to expensive public schools would be the first to send their children to government schools if they got the right quality of education there. In fact, it is the middle class which is now demanding it. In public schools, quality is being defined by the western markets.

What should be the role of the government vis-a-vis schools in the private sector? If we believe that schools must contribute to social change then we must accept the government's role as a regulator. The Supreme Court order is also a reminder to the policy makers that we have not been able to fulfill our constitutional obligation of equitable quality education for all children.  - Systems Failure, An interview with Anil Sadgopal, Times of India, 04/05/2004, [C.ELDOC.N20.04may04toi1.pdf]

Quality Specifications in Schools, United Nations Children's Fund, 01/06/2004, [R.N21.29]