CAMPUS
PRIMARY EDUCATION Rural children more and more in private schools erala, Tamilnadu, Puducherry and Goa have already more than 60 percent enrollment in private primary schools, while it is 40 percent in Andhra, Maharashtra and Karnataka. In UP, private players have acquired 50 percent educational space. Ironically, the highest private sector enrollment is in Kerala, where successive governments have claimed deeper commitment to education. Since 2009, private school enrollment in rural areas has been rising at an annual rate of about 10 percent. Within two or three years this figure will reach 50 percent!<
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2010, 46.3 percent children of class 5 could not read class 2 texts or solve simple mathematical calculations of much lower standard. Sadly this figure shot up to 53.2 percent in 2012. As we already know, the dip in the ability of children is sharp especially in government schools. But the scene is not edifying in private schools either. They score only slightly better over government schools in reading. When it comes to solving questions of mathematics private schools are as bad as government schools.
Quality not uniform across India The poor quality of education and rate of decline are not uniform across the country. The quality is slightly better in southern states like Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. In states like Himachal Pradesh and
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Punjab the quality of education is neither improving nor deteriorating. Barring Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala, nearly every state showed a decline in learning mathematics while reading levels went down in Haryana, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala. And this bad news comes at a time when the government is increasing its outlay on education, particularly school education with more focus on rural areas. Now the RTE Act is going to be implemented shortly making education a fundamental right for every child between the age of 6 and 14. The estimate in 2010 for implementation of the RTE Act was pegged at about Rs 210,000 crore with the Centre shouldering 68 percent of the burden. Cleary, the expenditure would be far more in 2013. But if this landmark
legislation with such an increased outlay contributes to reducing the standard of education, then it should worry everybody. On the primary education front thus the country is in a serious crisis. It is clear that the populist and insincere political measures do more harm than good to the education system. The quality of education in both government and private schools has to improve drastically. But if the government does not change its attitude the result would be to drive more and more children to private schools. Higher education has long been sold out to private players. The malady is spreading at primary level now and will soon become all pervasive. No wonder half of the school-going age children would be forced to join private schools at high fees. Is this what the government wants to achieve by its RTE Act?<
FEBRUARY 2013, LOKAYAT |
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