 "No manifesto for the classroom")
A promise of more IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and other new universities finds its way across the manifestos of all the major political parties including the BJP, Congress and even AAP. Their vision documents also list out an array of schemes to purportedly revitalize India’s education sector. The Congress for instance proposes to establish a new sports education university, 2 National Commissions focusing on the youth and students respectively and a regulatory body to oversee standardization across state and private educational institutions among other things.
The BJP’s to do list is a tad longer. It recommends setting up a ‘National Multi-Skills Program’, an increase in education spends to 6% of GDP, greater private sector involvement in education, a modernization program of the madrasas, establishment of a national E-Library, launch of a national program for ‘digital empowerment’, a proposal to restructure the UGC and improved research standards so that India’s universities can compete globally. And this is only a précis.
AAP meanwhile wants to reform DIET, SCERT and seeks special provisions for girls, first generation learners and students from poor and socially disadvantaged communities. It wants to appoint teachers on a regular basis transparently, roll back the four year undergraduate program ‘undemocratically introduced in Delhi University’ and integrate vocational training into the school curriculum.
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But between the endless promises and ambitious list of ideas, the three parties barely squeeze in a vague sentence or two about what they propose to do with the abysmal state of India’s primary education. Both the BJP and the Congress say they want to transform "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan" while the Aam Aadmi Party loosely assures equitable access to high quality of education for all children (beginning with Early Childhood Care) irrespective of their ability to pay. How? We don’t know.
Given the state of crisis India’s state schools are in, the emphasis on elementary education is skeletal if not absent in our political manifestos. A well fleshed out idea crucial to urgently transform a schooling system that’s collapsing every passing year is simply not to be found. No surprises then that a suggestion from Pankaj Patel, the CMD of Zydus Cadila speaking at a function in Ahmedabad hours after the BJP released its manifesto was - build more primary schools not IITs and IIMs.
"The quality of education is an area of concern. We keep on hearing that we are going to build ten more IITs and five more AIIMS and other state of art infrastructure. Do you think that 120 million young Indians coming out of schools are going to go to these places? No that will not happen," Patel was quoted as saying by the Financial Express.
School education measured by a child’s ability to read, write or do basic math has either worsened or shown no improvement under the UPA regime for children between the ages of 6 and 14. The Annual Status of Education Report has some startling statistics to share. Yes, enrolment ratios in primary education have reached near 100%, but quality of learning has plummeted drastically. The percentage of children in class 5 who can read a class 2 text has declined from 61 per cent in 2005 to 47 per cent in 2013, while the percentage of class 8 students who can do division has declined by over 20% from 69.8% to 46%.
Despite more money being poured into education by the government (allocations for primary education rose by 360% between 2005 and 2012), the poor quality of state schools has resulted in more and more poor students spending out of their own pockets to enrol into private schools. The rural private school enrolment ratio rose to 29% in 2013 from 17% in 2005 according to a report in the Mint newspaper – a reflection of how bad things have gotten.
Despite more money being poured into education by the government (allocations for primary education rose by 360% between 2005 and 2012), the poor quality of state schools has resulted in more and more poor students spending out of their own pockets to enrol into private schools. The rural private school enrolment ratio rose to 29% in 2013 from 17% in 2005 according to a report in the Mint newspaper – a reflection of how bad things have gotten.
The ASER report was released in January and there are many more that could corroborate its findings (Since this election is about Modi and the BJP - a NEUPA report shows a fall in Gujarat's rank in primary level education from 12th to 28th position). It would be reasonable to assume that our politicians had time to go through them before the manifestos were finalized. Yet tragically, none of them adequately talk about any corrective measures to improve the scenario. The focus instead continues to remain on more outlays, more superfluous grand schemes (E-Libraries anyone?).
Alas, it takes more than national missions and populist legislations (the ASER findings are post the enactment RTE – a law brandied about with gay abandon) to improve things. From inadequate teacher support to high absenteeism, poor usage of sanctioned funds to ineffective use of allocations it is basic problems of intent and execution rather than a lack of funds or grand national missions that have contributed to the decline of India’s schools in the last decade.
The electoral promise of an IIT in every major town is alluring, and so are plans for reform of government bodies, but as Cadilla’s Patel observes, without a concerted attempt to arrest falling grades and prioritize primary education, such ideas won’t matter to India’s 120 million young coming out of school.
The electoral promise of an IIT in every major town is alluring, and so are plans for reform of government bodies, but as Cadilla’s Patel observes, without a concerted attempt to arrest falling grades and prioritize primary education, such ideas won’t matter to India’s 120 million young coming out of school.