An orphaned sector

Hari Jaisingh

Whither India's Education? This question has been debated in the country's various fora, in Parliament and academic circles for years. Still, big gaps remain between official efforts-cumclaims and the people's rising expectations for quality education in primary and secondary schools in urban and rural areas.
True, India needs more IITs and IIMs. It also needs more and more quality schools which could feed these institutions of high learning. If this aspect of high standards of schooling is ignored, as is the existing reality, we will see more Kota-like centres where students end up as wrecks mid-way through their preparations for higher studies and skills development.
As it is, the country suffers from a major shortfall in skilling which cannot be made up with the much-trumped official programme of "Skill India". This harsh fact has serious repercussions for the country's

At the entrance gate of a university in South Africa the following message was posted for contemplation:
*"Destroying any nation does not require the use of atomic bombs or the use of long range missiles. _It only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the examinations by the students._"* Patients die at the hands of such doctors.
Buildings collapse at the hands of such engineers. Money is lost at the hands of such economists & accountants. Humanity dies at the hands of such religious scholars. Justice is lost at the hands of such judges...
*"The collapse of education is the collapse of the nation."*

economy and society in view of the fact of over a million youth get set to join the work force every month.
However, looking at the poor standards of education, will they be employable? An honest answer will be: No. What, in that case, will be the future of these youngsters? Will they not become part of the growing ranks of destructive forces which have, of late, been increasingly used in the country's trouble-prone sensitive areas by the vested interests for political, communal and sectarian purposes? Herein lies the country's tragedy.

The real problem confronting government schools is shortage of teachers and classrooms. The concept of guest teachers and contract teachers has devalued teaching. "Operation Blackboard" was conceived just as a temporary measure to ensure at least one blackboard and one teacher at every rural school. But this has come to stay, with most state governments regularly slashing at school education budget, leaving the doors open for the privatization of schools over the years, to the disadvantage of the poor and the have-nots.

There is, of course, no magic wand for skills development of students and good results. For this purpose, teaching has to be made a worthwhile profession. Attractive pay packet and incentives alone can attract right persons to the teaching profession.
Indeed, it is time to reinvent the wheel if India is to march with its head held high at global high-profile Davos-like gatherings. To put the matter simply, the government, the bureaucracy and educationists have to be sensitive to the needs of the rural and urban parents and respond to their craving for quality education and skills development with out-of-box thinking if our young people are to compete competently in today's globalised world.
It is a pity that education, along with public health system, continues to be the orphan in India's social sector. This must change if India's dream to become a big power has to turn into a reality.
Near-universal enrollment and automatic promotion through the elementary stage have resulted in more and more children successfully completing elementary schooling. But What about their learning skills and standards ? We need to closely watch the quality of schooling both in rural and urban areas.
Year after year since 2005, the Annual Status of Education (ASER) has highlighted the fact that many children (age group 5 to 16) are not acquiring even foundational skills like reading and basic maths that can make them go up in schools and life.
The latest 2017 ASER report for rural India has looked "beyond basics". It confirms harsh realities

The latest 2017 ASER report for rural India confirms harsh realities about the poor state of education. It clearly states that school education is failing the majority of our 14 to 18 year olds. The report is is based on the survey carried out in 28 districts across 24 states.

about the poor state of education. It clearly states that school education is failing the majority of our 14 to 18 year olds. The report is quite comprehensive since it is based on the survey carried out in 28 districts across 24 states. Its focus is on 14-18 year old students who are part of the first batch to pass after implementation of the Right to Education Act. Let me restate certain facts of the findings of the survey.
One, 14 per cent of the students could not identify the map of India. Two, 36 per cent of the students could not name the capital of India. Three, one-fourth of the students could not read their own language fluently. Four, 57 per cent of them were found struggling to solve a simple sum of division. The moot point is: why this dismal show? The 2012 ASER report candidly pointed out that the decline in school education standards had been "more noticeable since 2010, when the RTE Act came into effect. This means that with targets of blanket coverage under the RTE, the quality and standards of schooling are being compromised. This is a typical example of the governments' misplaced numbers game to claim success in the name of Right to Education.
The 2012 report has also noted that the private sector "is making huge inroads into education in rural India". And, by 2019, when the RTE would have done a decade, the private sector "will be the majority service provider". Besides, the private sector involvement "will also be strengthened by 25 per cent quota of the government under the RTE Act.
Ironically, the highest private sector enrollment is said to be in

Kerala, where the successive governments have claimed commitment to welfare policies, especially on education and health.
The private sector, apparently, is exploiting the poor quality of government schools to its commercial advantage. Not that the private sector schools are role models. Even their low standards remain low. They have also reportedly "shown a downturn in maths beyond number recognition", as Firstpost report underlines.

Against this backdrop, it will be worthwhile to look at the plight of rural parents. They pay higher fees for private schools. They also spend considerable sum for private tuitions. Poor families actually spend their hard-earned money to get "half-baked education" for their children. The 2012 ASER report states: "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. "Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) is now part of the law and several states are attempting to implement some form of CCE as they understand it".

Looking at the magnitude of the problem, it will not be easy to find quick solutions for teachinglearning of "basic foundational skills" at the primary level. We are, indeed, faced with a serious national crisis in learning. The quality of education and the performance of students in government and private schools will have to be improved through coordinated efforts of governments, teachers and school managements at all levels. As it is, higher education has already been sold to those with money patronage power. Should

Rewriting textbooks to inject the 'reigning political flavour" of the day, howsoever justifiable, cannot raise the standards and quality of education. Quality education demands quality teachers, modern instruments of teaching and learning, rigorous enforcement of quality standards, better management and objective assessment of performance of urban and rural schools

primary school education also be allowed to go the same way? Educationists and the authorities at the Centre and in the States ought to give a serious thought to various facets of the illness that India's education system is suffering from.
More than the Right to Education, what the country needs badly is the Right to Quality Education. Our leaders invariably settle for the easy route of the numbers game to flaunt their "success" instead of addressing themselves to serious issues of ensuring high teaching-learning standards with the requisite infrastructure backup and budgetary provisions. At stake is the future of India and the Generation Next. We need to learn from China's big money allocation to education which, in turn, has ensured its impressive leap-forward in the economy and power status in the comity of nations. Beijing spends big money on education.
Rewriting textbooks to inject the 'reigning political flavour" of the day, howsoever justifiable, cannot raise the standards and quality of education. Quality education demands quality teachers, modern instruments of teaching and learning, rigorous enforcement of quality standards, better management and objective assessment of performance of urban and rural schools by genuine educationists, and not by politically-sponsored-persons.
Quality education and healthcare can take the country to dizzy heights of productivity and prosperity. Hollow promises and tall claims by our leaders would not do. Is this a tall order ? The young generation deserves a better deal. We cannot afford to create a vast army of frustrated educated youth.



		EDITOR'S MAIL FROM THE EDITOR Economic Scene Farmers' community Rural India Tribal Community Education Need to focus on Higher Education Frontiers of science PNB Scam Law and order Growing inequality Job creation Sakala Syndrome Environment Sports management The Power of Yoga Art of living US STRATEGY DATELINE BEIJING SIGNS OF THE TIMES Issue:Mar' 2018 Subscribe Now	Education An orphaned sector Hari Jaisingh Whither India's Education? This question has been debated in the country's various fora, in Parliament and academic circles for years. Still, big gaps remain between official efforts-cumclaims and the people's rising expectations for quality education in primary and secondary schools in urban and rural areas. True, India needs more IITs and IIMs. It also needs more and more quality schools which could feed these institutions of high learning. If this aspect of high standards of schooling is ignored, as is the existing reality, we will see more Kota-like centres where students end up as wrecks mid-way through their preparations for higher studies and skills development. As it is, the country suffers from a major shortfall in skilling which cannot be made up with the much-trumped official programme of "Skill India". This harsh fact has serious repercussions for the country's At the entrance gate of a university in South Africa the following message was posted for contemplation: "Destroying any nation does not require the use of atomic bombs or the use of long range missiles. _It only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the examinations by the students._" Patients die at the hands of such doctors. Buildings collapse at the hands of such engineers. Money is lost at the hands of such economists & accountants. Humanity dies at the hands of such religious scholars. Justice is lost at the hands of such judges... "The collapse of education is the collapse of the nation." economy and society in view of the fact of over a million youth get set to join the work force every month. However, looking at the poor standards of education, will they be employable? An honest answer will be: No. What, in that case, will be the future of these youngsters? Will they not become part of the growing ranks of destructive forces which have, of late, been increasingly used in the country's trouble-prone sensitive areas by the vested interests for political, communal and sectarian purposes? Herein lies the country's tragedy. The real problem confronting government schools is shortage of teachers and classrooms. The concept of guest teachers and contract teachers has devalued teaching. "Operation Blackboard" was conceived just as a temporary measure to ensure at least one blackboard and one teacher at every rural school. But this has come to stay, with most state governments regularly slashing at school education budget, leaving the doors open for the privatization of schools over the years, to the disadvantage of the poor and the have-nots. There is, of course, no magic wand for skills development of students and good results. For this purpose, teaching has to be made a worthwhile profession. Attractive pay packet and incentives alone can attract right persons to the teaching profession. Indeed, it is time to reinvent the wheel if India is to march with its head held high at global high-profile Davos-like gatherings. To put the matter simply, the government, the bureaucracy and educationists have to be sensitive to the needs of the rural and urban parents and respond to their craving for quality education and skills development with out-of-box thinking if our young people are to compete competently in today's globalised world. It is a pity that education, along with public health system, continues to be the orphan in India's social sector. This must change if India's dream to become a big power has to turn into a reality. Near-universal enrollment and automatic promotion through the elementary stage have resulted in more and more children successfully completing elementary schooling. But What about their learning skills and standards ? We need to closely watch the quality of schooling both in rural and urban areas. Year after year since 2005, the Annual Status of Education (ASER) has highlighted the fact that many children (age group 5 to 16) are not acquiring even foundational skills like reading and basic maths that can make them go up in schools and life. The latest 2017 ASER report for rural India has looked "beyond basics". It confirms harsh realities The latest 2017 ASER report for rural India confirms harsh realities about the poor state of education. It clearly states that school education is failing the majority of our 14 to 18 year olds. The report is is based on the survey carried out in 28 districts across 24 states. about the poor state of education. It clearly states that school education is failing the majority of our 14 to 18 year olds. The report is quite comprehensive since it is based on the survey carried out in 28 districts across 24 states. Its focus is on 14-18 year old students who are part of the first batch to pass after implementation of the Right to Education Act. Let me restate certain facts of the findings of the survey. One, 14 per cent of the students could not identify the map of India. Two, 36 per cent of the students could not name the capital of India. Three, one-fourth of the students could not read their own language fluently. Four, 57 per cent of them were found struggling to solve a simple sum of division. The moot point is: why this dismal show? The 2012 ASER report candidly pointed out that the decline in school education standards had been "more noticeable since 2010, when the RTE Act came into effect. This means that with targets of blanket coverage under the RTE, the quality and standards of schooling are being compromised. This is a typical example of the governments' misplaced numbers game to claim success in the name of Right to Education. The 2012 report has also noted that the private sector "is making huge inroads into education in rural India". And, by 2019, when the RTE would have done a decade, the private sector "will be the majority service provider". Besides, the private sector involvement "will also be strengthened by 25 per cent quota of the government under the RTE Act. Ironically, the highest private sector enrollment is said to be in Kerala, where the successive governments have claimed commitment to welfare policies, especially on education and health. The private sector, apparently, is exploiting the poor quality of government schools to its commercial advantage. Not that the private sector schools are role models. Even their low standards remain low. They have also reportedly "shown a downturn in maths beyond number recognition", as Firstpost report underlines. Against this backdrop, it will be worthwhile to look at the plight of rural parents. They pay higher fees for private schools. They also spend considerable sum for private tuitions. Poor families actually spend their hard-earned money to get "half-baked education" for their children. The 2012 ASER report states: "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. "Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) is now part of the law and several states are attempting to implement some form of CCE as they understand it". Looking at the magnitude of the problem, it will not be easy to find quick solutions for teachinglearning of "basic foundational skills" at the primary level. We are, indeed, faced with a serious national crisis in learning. The quality of education and the performance of students in government and private schools will have to be improved through coordinated efforts of governments, teachers and school managements at all levels. As it is, higher education has already been sold to those with money patronage power. Should Rewriting textbooks to inject the 'reigning political flavour" of the day, howsoever justifiable, cannot raise the standards and quality of education. Quality education demands quality teachers, modern instruments of teaching and learning, rigorous enforcement of quality standards, better management and objective assessment of performance of urban and rural schools primary school education also be allowed to go the same way? Educationists and the authorities at the Centre and in the States ought to give a serious thought to various facets of the illness that India's education system is suffering from. More than the Right to Education, what the country needs badly is the Right to Quality Education. Our leaders invariably settle for the easy route of the numbers game to flaunt their "success" instead of addressing themselves to serious issues of ensuring high teaching-learning standards with the requisite infrastructure backup and budgetary provisions. At stake is the future of India and the Generation Next. We need to learn from China's big money allocation to education which, in turn, has ensured its impressive leap-forward in the economy and power status in the comity of nations. Beijing spends big money on education. Rewriting textbooks to inject the 'reigning political flavour" of the day, howsoever justifiable, cannot raise the standards and quality of education. Quality education demands quality teachers, modern instruments of teaching and learning, rigorous enforcement of quality standards, better management and objective assessment of performance of urban and rural schools by genuine educationists, and not by politically-sponsored-persons. Quality education and healthcare can take the country to dizzy heights of productivity and prosperity. Hollow promises and tall claims by our leaders would not do. Is this a tall order ? The young generation deserves a better deal. We cannot afford to create a vast army of frustrated educated youth.