Taking stock of the Education Sector

Education reforms:

India used to be the top destination for students from other countries coming in for higher studies. Nalanda was among the biggest centres. After Independence, the policy makers worked hard to transform the elitist system of education created by the British into a mass based education. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2014, says only an average 48 per cent of Class V children across India can read a Class II-level text. Students are the victims and culprits of India’s broken higher education system.

Barriers to access and Challenges:

Presently, less than 4% of GDP is allocated to education. 

Though RTE has pushed up Gross Enrolment ratio but dropout rates still run very high. Gender (Higher drop rates among girls owing to Dowry, Early Marriage and security concerns). Caste (Teacher's differential treatment has resulted in high droprates in the SC community).Bringing working children to schools. Mere advocacy on banning child labour is not enough.

Language (Unavailabilty of content in vernacular languages on Web). 

There are growing instances of Plagiarism.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act stipulates a 30:1 pupil-teacher ratio. In the last 10 years, there has been a massive ad hoc expansion of Universities, resulting in a shortage of faculty by 40 to 50 per cent.

Some faculty in order to be popular,dilute standards and supervise three or four times the number of research students prescribed under University Grants Commission (UGC) norms. There are others who run non-governmental organisations and institutions outside JNU. The result is a conflict of interest(if one is staying away from primarily responsibility).

Malpractices in TETs.

Road Travelled:

Technology is being used to provide better access to education through several programmes like GIAN Global Initiative of Academic Networks under which faculty from highly rated institutions abroad will visit India. Those lectures would be later made available to students across the country through the SWAYAM, the MOOCs platform and National Digital Library. They have the potential to address the scarcity of teachers. Learning would become more exciting. However, the teacher-learner interaction would be lacking.

R&D: 'IMPRINT India', a Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative to develop a roadmap for research.

Saransh is an online platform to facilitate interaction between parents and teachers.

Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan (Accessible India) to make education accessible for the differently-abled.

Mid-day meal going a long way in breaking caste consciousness and would attract the children from marginalised sections to attend schools.

All the Central Universities are proposed to be brought under a common Act, there is to be a common curriculum, a teacher’s recruitment board, transferability of students&faculties among these universities and so on. If any of this is implemented, the autonomy of Central Universities will be severely eroded. Transfer of Faculty can be used as a tool for punishment and would promote sycophancy. 

Road Ahead:

It needs to be increased to 6%. Rope in alumni and private participation and encourage philanthropic culture.

To improve the quality of teachers recruited, centralised examination system on the lines of UPSC, SSC

Value based education becomes necessary for the all round development of the child. We need to promote scientific temper among students. Skill based learning.

Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation to enhance learning outcomes. Parents should not impose their unfulfilled dreams on their children. Ergo, parents should allow their children to discover themselves and follow their own dreams.