The following note was written for a voluntary organisation which was looking to develop their strategy for working in the area of elementary education. This paper was to be one input for their decision. The paper primarily draws on what I learnt while working with Social Initiatives Group (SIG) of ICICI Bank. I am thankful to my colleagues at SIG and members of SIG's partner organisation for whatever I have learnt about elementary education in India. Of course, if these sound stupid, blame it on me. Not on SIG or its partner organisations.
A BRIEF NOTE ON SCHOOL EDUCATION IN INDIA
ROUGH SKETCH OF HISTORY OF EDUCATION IN INDIA
The idea of education has been close to the heart of many who sought
to define and contribute to the development of a good society. Be it
Socrates description of education for the philosopher king in The
Republic or the more recent pronouncements of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan on
the necessity of education and its purposes, they all stand testimony
to the importance that philosophers and social reformers have given
to education as a necessary instrument of shaping the good society.
The premise for this belief is the definition of childhood and its
importance as a preparatory phase for the adult life where
individuals have to contribute towards a good society. It is a
truism, but worthy of being stated, that often the kind of education
proposed is founded upon the ideal of the society proposed. History
and study of education systems do reveal a strong connection between
the nature of society as it exists and how education happens in such
a society. Therefore, it is only to be expected that proponents of
reform will seek to achieve those reforms by impacting the system of
education in that society.
Specific to India, education systems of varying kinds have been in
existence over the centuries. This includes the gurukul system, the
universities established by Buddhists, the madrassas of the Islamic
establishment, community schools and home based schooling amongst
others. Within these, often the gurukul system and the universities
established by the Buddhists are generally represented as the prime
examples of achievements in the area of education by Indian society.
However, both of these were losing their relevance towards the 18th
century. The gurukul system had reached a decline and was slowly
dying out by the 18th century. The universities
established by Buddhists had died down much earlier. The more common
and widespread form of education was the village schools. This
consisted of a teacher, normally from the community who taught a few
children in the village. Many of these were established along
communal lines (linguistic and religious) in that the support for
these schools came from certain communities. However, it generally
had children from other communities as students. They received
patronage from the parents, wealthy people in the community and at
times from the rulers. While the earlier gurukul system focused on
preparing the students for future life as priests and rulers, the
community schools were more about learning to read, write and do
basic arithmetics. Hence, it attracted not just Brahmins or
Kshatriyas but those belonging to farming and trading communities as
well. Even through these community schools, the education of lower
castes was a rareity if not non existent. Female participation in
these schools was also minimal. The curriculum or decisions on what
is worth teaching in these schools and the mediation of access to
these schools closely reflected the prevalent political, economic and
social characteristics of the time. Another aspect of the education
system that requires mention is that of the acquisition of
occupational skills. The training in these skills were primarily
through a system of apprenticeship often within the household or with
a skilled practioner of the craft. It is also of value to note that
teaching children at home either by the parent or a hired teacher
was also not an uncommon practice.
What is of value to note is that education was delivered through a
diverse set of arrangements and the system for education was diffused
within the 'school', household and the community. This evolved system
that existed in India gave way to the modern public school system
under the British rule. Many of the diversity and strengths of the
earlier system was lost as a uniform system of schooling was sought
to be established. At the same time, some of the rigidities of the
earlier system in terms of caste and gender could also be challenged
in the new system established by the British as it was premised on
the belief of universal education.
The British implemented public school system was characterised by
government funding, a common curriculum and a centrally administered
schooling system. The government funding meant that the teachers were
regularly paid and people without sufficient means could also access
a school. (The social barriers still kept many communities out of
schools.) It also affected the linkage between the teacher and the
community in that the teacher became more an agent of the government
unlike the teachers of a community run school. Again the uniform
curriculum also meant that the caste based dissemination of knowledge
was challenged in theory. However, it also meant that many of the
trades did not find a place in the curriculum. The emphasis of the
curriculum was on learning to read, write and do basic arithmetic.
Economically productive skills were seldom taught in school. In the
emerging society, ability to read, write and do arithmetic became
critical skills which enabled one to acquire influential positions
within the government. The social barriers to schooling ensured that
people from lower castes were denied this opportunity. The central
administration of schooling led to the establishment of
administrative processes like recruitment of teachers, inspection
systems, training and certification systems, central curriculum and
syllabus formation etc. The public schools began to compete with the
earlier models of schooling and ensured the death of the latter.
In looking at the history of Indian education system under the
British rule, it is important to note the contributions of Mahatma
Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore to the cause of education. Mahatma
Gandhi through his Basic Education programme and Rabindranath Tagore
through his Santiniketan experiment of 'education aligned with
nature' were two of the most influential 'educationists' who had an
agenda for social reform through the process of education. In the
Basic Education Programme, Gandhi tried to challenge the hierarchy of
labour and question the hierarchy of castes, emphasised the necessity
of a holistic approach to education with emphasis on overall
development and tried to bring back the idea of oneness of the mind
and body. The Santiniketan experiment's contribution came in the form
of its emphasis on learning in an environment of free and non
authoritative environment, emphasis on aesthetic development of
senses along with intellectual development, nurturing empathy and
sympathy, achoring education in the natural and cultural environment
of the child and a global outlook. While listing the contributions of
Gandhi and Tagore, one must not lose sight of the contributions of
many others like Jyotirao Phule towards women's education and
education of lower castes.
EDUCATION SYSTEM IN INDEPENDENT INDIA
Independent India began its tryst with education by making
Universalisation of Elementary Education one of the Directive
Principles of the Constitution of India. The leaders of the newly
independent India viewed education as an important ingredient of the
efforts at developing into a society envisioned in the Preamble of
the Constitution. It began with a series of attempts over the
decades. This has resulted in the school education system that India
has now. It is described in brief below.
As per the then Constitution of India, education was a state subject
with the provision for a few central institutions of higher learning.
It was the responsibility of the respective state governments to
finance education, develop curriculum and curricular material,
recruit, train and deploy teachers and run the education system. The
central government was only expected to play a supportive and at
times advisory role. However it became evident that due to economic
distress in many states and specific socio economic histories of
different states, the development of the education system was uneven
across the country. In order to address this, education was moved to
the Concurrent list of the Constitution in 1976. This meant that the
Central Government also played an influential role in school
education and was able to provide resources for resource poor states,
albeit limited.
All states have the following institutions with different
responsibilities at the state, district, block and cluster levels. It
is through this system that the government runs its school system.
State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT) or its
equivalent: The SCERT is
expected to provide the academic leadership to education in a state.
It is a body responsible for developing the curriculum, syllabus and
textbooks for classes 1 to 8, facilitate training of teachers and
develop the curriculum, syllabus and reading material for the teacher
education programme, Diploma in Education (D.Ed)
Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) or its equivalent: The
DPI is responsible for the administration of the education system in
the state. Their responsibilities include creation of school
infrastructure, recruitment of teachers and non teaching staff,
deployment and general administration of the school education.
District Institute of Education and Training (DIET): The
DIETs were established under a central programme which was initiated
in 1987 by the Central Government called the Centrally Sponsored
Scheme for Restructuring and Reorganisation of Teacher Education.
This was in the wake of the National Policy on Education, 1986
brought out by the Central Government. The aim of the DIETs is to
provide academic leadership to the schools at the district level. It
is expected to run the D.Ed programme, regular inservice teacher
education programme and do educational research. The DIETs are
generally financed by the Central Government but administered through
the SCERT which is a state level body.
District Education Office (DEO): This
can be treated as the equivalent of the DPI at the district level.
Similarly at the Block level, there is a Block Education Office.
Apart from these, there is also the structure of the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan, which is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Each state has a
State Project Office at the state level, a District Project Office a
the district level, a Block Resource Centre at the Block level and
Cluster Resource Centre at a cluster level. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
is an attempt to by the government of India to Universalise
elementary education (classes 1 to 8, age group of 6 to 14) in a time
bound manner. Started in 2001, the programme had the objective of
achieving unversalisation by the end of the decade. It focused on
varied aspects like girls education, infrastructure for schooling,
teacher training, creating academic support structures for teachers
and education for the marginalised.
While the above is a rough sketch of the state level institutions, at
the national level, there are bodies which play an advisory role. It
is important to note that many of them have only an advisory role and
their recommendations are not binding on the state institutions.
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT): The
NCERT is expected to play the role of a thought leader in the area of
school education at the national level. It comes out with its own
versions of curriculum frameworks, curriculum, syllabus and textbooks
for classes 1 to 12. These are primarily used by the Central
Government administered Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country. There
are many schools and state governments who have adopted this as well.
They also organise many training programmes for the government
education functionaries across the country.
National University of Education Planning and Administration
(NUEPA): The NUEPA is expected
to develop knowledge in the area of Education Planning and
Administration. This is a particulary complex task given the
diversity across the country. They also conduct training programmes
for the government education functionaries in India.
Ministries: At the state
level, there is usually a Ministry of Education and at the national
level, school education comes under the Ministry of Human Resource
Development (MHRD). While the Ministry of Education in the states are
responsible for the functioning of SCERT, DIETs, DEOs and schools in
the state, MHRD regulates the NCERT, NUEPA and Kendriya Vidyalayas.
In the case of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the Ministries at the state and
national level work together as it is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme
with administration responsibilities for the respective states.
Private System of Education
The above description focuses on the government system of education.
While it can be safely assumed that for the majority in India are
covered through this system, there also exists a strong private
education system in the country. Historically, India has seen many
educational attempts emerging from the non governmental space. This
includes religious organisations, caste based groups and
philanthropists. A characteristic of these schools was that they were
generally premised on a social reform agenda. A more recent tradition
has been the practice of setting up schools to meet the demand of
quality education from parents. This demand is often premised on a
widely held belief that the private schools tend to offer better
quality education as these schools are in a competitive environment
on account of existence of choice for parents. However, there is very
little evidence to support this belief.
Right to Education Act
Today, with the passing of the Right to Education Bill in the
Parliament in April, 2011, it is a fundamental right of every child
in the age group of 6 to 14 to be educated in a school. This
represents a major change in the status of education in India. From
making its first appearance as a directive principle of the state
policy, elementary education has now become a fundamental right of
every child. This entails that the government shall be liable to
provide for quality education to all children in that age group. It
is a justiciable right. By stipulating conditions on what should be
the nature of a school, defining training and certification as an
imperative for a teacher, it can be seen as an attempt at
strengthening the school education system. Also, by prescribing a
child centred pedagogy, it creates a window of opportunity for many
to remove some of the ills of the present day schools.
Having said that, it is also important to note that the capabilities
to fulfill the promises of the Act are not present in all the state
governments. Understaffed DIETs and SCERTs, untrained teachers in
large numbers, inadequate number of teachers are some of the
challenges. Apart from this, deeply held cultural views in the
society regarding education can also be a deterrent at a deeper level
in ensuring the fulfillment of the commitment, not least among them
being the educability of children from certain sections of society.
PRESENT STATUS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA
The present education system in India is diverse and large. The
diversity is in terms of the nature of provider (public or private),
curriculum and pedagogy, facilities available in the school and many
others. With approximately 1.2 million schools and about 220 million
children in the age group of 6
to 14, the Indian education system is possibly one of the largest in
the world. This comes with its own set of challenges in ensuring good
quality education for all. There have been many initiatives from the
government and non government space. As we stand at the beginning of
a new decade in 21st century and complete our 64th
year of independence, it is of value to assess the situation of
elementary education in India. To begin with, it is important to get
a sense of some basic numbers that tell their own story.
No of children in the age group of 6 to 14 :
220,000,000 (approximate)
No of schools imparting Elementary Education : 1,303,812
Percentage of Schools in Public Sector : 80.37
Percentage of Schools in Public Sector : 19.44
Proportion of children in Public Schools : 69.51
Proportion of children in Private Schools : 30.42
No of children enrolled in schools : 187,872,996
Proportion of children enrolled in Public Schools : 69.51
Proportion of children enrolled in Private Schools : 30.42
Pupil to Teacher Ratio : 33
Literacy in India : 75.06 % (Wikipedia)
Women Literacy : 65.46 % (Wikipedia)
The above set of numbers are national averages. There is a lot of
disparity across the states. For example, in Bihar the PTR would be
57 whereas in Kerala it would be 24 with the national average being
at 32.
While there has been great achievement in ensuring enrolment at the
primary levels (classes 1 to 5), there is a need to be seriously
concerned about the quality of education that happens in schools. The
Annual Status on Education Report brought out by Pratham for the year
2010 states that based on their study only about half the children
(53 percent) in Class 5 could read Class 2 text. Many other studies
of learning achievements point to a similar state of affairs. (A word
of caution regarding the learning achievement tests. Generally, the
learning achievements survey are based on a very small set of
indicators that are comparativey easier to measure accurately. For
example, ability to read, arithmetic abilities, ability to answer
multiple choice questions etc. It seldom tests higher cognitive
abilities, value orientation of children, ability to perform tasks
like scientific experimentation, ability to articulate etc.)
Understanding this failure indicated by learning achievement tests
require us to explore the issue of education and schooling in India
at a deeper level. It requires us to open the black box of school to
examine closely what happens inside a school and what is supposed to
happen.
For us to move in this direction, it is important that we first
articulate our position on the aims of education and how we see the
educational methods lead to these aims.
Aims and Methods of Education
The ideals aspired for by independent India found its expression in
Preamble of the Constitution. The Preamble underlines our commitment
to a society where its citizens have political, social and economic
justice. The prerequisite for such a society is individuals who have
a love of truth, a sense of compassion, a commitment to justice and
ability for independent thought and action. The ability to reflect on
oneself, appreciate knowledge in its diverse forms, an empathy and a
sense of connect with people in society, an ability to engage with
diverse cultures stem from these qualities. These are vital in a
country like India with its rich history and diversity. (National
Curriculum Framework 2005)
Education, primarily through formal schooling, is an important
preparatory process for children to develop into such individuals.
The school is a space within a society where children spent a large
part of their growing up years. The boundaries of the school mark an
artificial space where the child can learn and develop unfettered by
the constraints of life outside. This is important for the child's
full development into an adult that understands the self, has an
orientation to learn and appreciates democratic values.
The schools, therefore, have a formidable challenge as it has to
develop these qualities in children and at the same time protect
children from the infuences that are contrary to these values and
deter the development of these abilities. The school must draw upon
the scholastic disciplines like sciences, social sciences,
mathematics, languages and non scholastic activities like sports and
crafts for the education of its children. Apart from these aids, the
context of the school is itself to be an educative experience for
children. Interactions with teachers and peers, natural environment
of the school, the events that are celebrated in schools, the
evaluation systems etc are some of the key aspects of the context of
the school. The experience of the child of these aspects is going to
be an extremely critical determinant of his or her educational
outcomes.
The curriculum, syllabus, the teaching material and the education
system itself is to be geared around these aims of education. To
state the obvious, this is the essential challenge that India faces
in education.
ENGAGING WITH SCHOOL EDUCATION IN INDIA
While the earlier sections dealt with the status of education and
then went on to briefly describe what could be education in India,
the following sections would focus on how to get there. As some of
the data above indicate, all is not well with the Indian School
Education system. As mentioned earlier, the reasons for problems that
affect the education system are found in the political, economic and
social systems of India. The visible manifestations of these problems
are consistent inadequacy of public financing of education in India
(expenditure less than 4 percent of GDP as against the prescribed 6
percent of GDP on education), administrative inefficiencies (average
of 25 percent of teacher absenteeism in schools in India),
unwarranted political manipulation in education (rewriting of history
textbooks to advance narrow political agendas), poor training of
teachers, caste and class based discrimination in schooling etc.
This is not to discount some of the major advances that have been
made in the area of education in the past few decades. Some of them
have been mentioned earlier. However, a detailed analysis of these
reasons is beyond the scope of this note. Having said that, it must
be mentioned that an understanding of these aspects is the premise
for some of these suggestions.
An attempt at engaging with school education in India must be
premised on a clear vision of the educational experience of children.
An attempt had been made earlier to describe such an experience
earlier. A set of simple, but non negotiable requirements for the
same are
Children of the relevant age group must have access to schools
The curriculum for their education must be appropriate to the aims
of education
The schools must be adequately staffed with teachers who are well
trained and are oriented towards the aims of education
While they can be easily stated, the challenges in putting in place
these requirements are the ones that all organisations dedicated to
education in India are grappling with. However, these challenges do
not lend themselves to a 'neat' problematisation and prioritisation.
However, one can briefly described the contours of the major
challenges at a very broad level. Organisations that are looking to
engage with school education in India can choose to tackle any of
these challenges.
Public Funding for Education in India
The government financing of school education in India has
consistently been on the lower side since Independence. The Kothari
Committee report of 1964 recommended an allocation of 6 percent of
GDP for education and later it was asserted by the Majumdar Committee
report in late 1990s. However, we have never had an investment of
more than 4 percent of GDP since independence. In fact, the average
would be close to 3 percent of GDP. This history of consistent under
funding of education, specifically, school education has resulted in
the sorry state of schooling infrastructure and weak academic and
administrative support networks (DIETs, SCERTs, DEOs, BEOs, DPIs
etc.). Additionally, in some of the states, this has also resulted in
the inability of governments to attract qualified people to teaching
profession.
School infrastructure in India is an area that requires tremendous
inputs. This inspite of the significant progress that has been made
by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in the last decade. Poorly constructed
school buildings, absence of boundary walls and playgrounds, lack of
drinking water, absence of separate toilets for girls, absence of
libraries and books, absence of desks and benches, inadequate and at
times inappropriate teaching and learning material etc are some of
the major problems on the infrastructural front. Some of these also
result in problems of access. For example, the absence of separate
toilets for girls result in drop out by many girls from schools. The
overall poverty of large sections of Indian population puts
additional demands on schools like providing at least one nutritious
meal a day. The National Mid-day Meal Programme is an attempt in this
direction. However, the quality of the meals could be improved in
terms of nutrition content and taste.
The inadequate public funding has also resulted in weak institutional
structures for academic and administrative support. At present, by
various estimates, over 90 percent of expenditure on school education
is spent on teacher salary with very little of investment in
education research and professional development of education
functionaries. This is visible in the poor functioning of DIETs and
SCERTs in many states. Absence of good quality research, weak systems
for training needs assessments, poor D.Ed curriculum and
implementation etc are some of the very visible manifestations of the
problem.
While on the one side there is lack of sufficient public funding,
there is also the problem in efficient management of existing funds
also. This is reflected in the under utilisation of budgeted amounts
in education, especially in the Central Government budget.
Governance and Management System for Schooling
The current system of governance and management can be assessed at
multiple levels. In terms of provider of education, there are two
kinds of providers – public and private. While public provisioning
accounts for atleast 70 percent of education, private education
accounts for about 30 percent or less. There is a desirability of
having a robust universal public provisioning system for school
education in the country from the point of view of affordability,
social integration, equality, perpetuation of democratic values etc.
But, an initiative aimed at contributing to development in India has
strong reasons to consider engaging with the public school system
and not focus on the private school system. The coverage is one major
reason. Also, the more secular and inclusive character of public
schooling makes it a desirable option in the long run. This is not to
suggest a strategy to roll back private schooling. Private schooling
has spread wide in India and a roll back would be undesirable in the
near term. A suitable approach would be look at regulation of private
schooling in India and strengthening of public school system. The
Right to Education Act provides a framework for this. It would be a
good opportunity for organisations in education area to work towards
developing a regulatory framework for ensuring good quality education
for all.
Expertise in Education
Education has received the attention of many social reformers over
the years in India. However, most of these have resulted in what one
could call as 'islands of excellence' with a few set of experimental
schools being set up. Shantiniketan, Rishi Valley, Gandhian Schools
and many such are good examples. But it has remained a challenge to
achieve educational transformation at a large scale. As J P Naik, a
renowned educationist, put it, the challenge of Indian school
education is best described as an elusive triangle of equality,
quality and quantity. A key shortcoming that has been observed over
the past many years is the absence of adequate number of people with
expertise in education. Education is interdisciplinary in character
and expertise in education requires one to undergo professional
training in such a manner. Apart from the specific subject knowledge,
a teacher is expected to have an understanding of child psychology,
philosophy and sociology. When one is able to bring all these
different domains together, one has the potential to be a good
teacher who is sensitive to the child and the context and is able to
teach. The current B. Ed and D. Ed programmes across the country
attempt to do this. However, the curriculum is outdated and the
training institutions are unable to provide a good quality
educational experience for aspiring teachers. There has been severe
dilution of standards in teacher training institutions with many
colleges not have the mandated infrastructure and faculty and still
continuing to operate.
This is further compounded by the distance between centres of higher
education like colleges and universities from these teacher training
institutions. Since, the teacher training institutions are separate
from the universities, often the essential confluence of disciplinary
experts to share the developments of disciplines amongst others fails
to happen. Therefore, curriculum formation processes and actual
training process do not have the vibrancy that is required.
Another issue, is the absence of expertise in people working in the
area of education. There are numerous organisations that work in the
area of education. However, the lack of proper training and proper
orientation to the cause of education is often seen in their work.
Primarily through adoption of improper training methods for teachers,
lack of depth and quality in teaching learning processes, insensitive
handling of concerns of children and parents from cross section of
society etc. Some of the recent attempts in the Indian Education
scenario are attempts to address this issue. Prominent amongst them
being the Bachelors Level courses in Elementary Education started in
select colleges in Delhi University, Masters Level course in
Education initiated by the Azim Premji Foundation and Masters Level
course in Elementary Education by Tata Institute of Social Sciences
in partnership with Sir Ratan Tata Trust and ICICI Foundation for
Inclusive Growth. However, these are very small compared to the
requirement.
The above are some of the key challenges that school education in
India faces at the moment. These challenges have a social, political
and economic background. On the face of it, many of these appear
insurmountable given the scale and scope of issues. However, theses
challenges must be taken on and solutions must be built brick by
brick.
