Editor’s note – This article discusses the primary educational set up in India and how governmental investment or rather the insufficiency of it has been affecting primary education among other things.

Author’s note – In India, a major fraction of children is deprived from primary education and is thus, driven away from the Child’s Right to Learning. The budgetary distribution of funds for education has been, and still continues to be, very meager. No doubt, India is paying the price for the failure to pay in investment on education The amount of schooling and the quality of teaching children receive are indeed very insufficient for gaining mastery of basic literacy and numeric skills. This seems to be applicable for both the educationally advanced and backward states. Although the constitution has provided a large emphasis for the provision of primary education in India and its expansion over time, the system is characterised by low and enormous unevenness of achievements.

Though the number of primary schools in the country has increased considerably, yet more than one lakh habitations are deprived from the access to a primary school within a kilometer distance. Teacher-pupil ratios are very insufficient and less than 2 teachers are available in the rural areas to teach 100 students. Teacher inspiration and teaching incentives are also very poor.But, money does not seem to be the only assessment of investment. Acknowledgment of a need and the determination to tackle it seems to be the foremost and primary investments. For a country to change, its decision-makers must invest concern, attention, commitment, energy and activity, equity and justice, and not the least - accountability. Presently, in order to improve the literacy rate of the country, the government has given a strong emphasis to primary education and has made a large investment in early learning programs.

Introduction

In India, education is primarily under the dual control of both central and state governments. The different articles of the Indian constitution present education as a fundamental right to every child. Based on this aspect, providing a quality education for every single child in the country has been a national endeavor since independence. However, this has been all the time a changing one. Thus, during the last 60 years or so, as our deadlines have shifted, a large fraction of our children of two generations have been deprived on getting an elementary education. It is time therefore, that we need to make certain that nevertheless, another generation of children, will not be driven away from primary education.

In order to give primary education a leading priority, the Indian government has given the consent that all children must attend school. At 6 years of age, a child should register in the Indian educational system, which will educate the child till the age of 14. Presently, in order to improve the literacy rate of the nation, the government has given a strong emphasis to primary education and has made a large investment in early learning programs which will no doubt, teach the required skills to the contributors of the Indian society in the long run. Primary education will help India to move forward on the path of prosperity and growth and ultimately lead the country in becoming a superpower in the world.

Statistics of literacy

According to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the national literacy rate of India was 57.2 percent with an illiteracy rate of 287 million, as compiled in July 2002. It has been observed that children from well-to-do families are able to attend school before the age of 6 through private tutor classes. On the contrary, those lying below the poverty line cannot go to school and as a result, the children of this class of society lack primary education. In addition, cultural practices within Indian society prevent many young girls from attending school and this practice, indeed, causes a great hamper to the advancement of the nation. Investment in female advancement could be more valuable than it may sound. UNESCO’s caption says it all – “Fight poverty, invest in girls”.

Classroom environment and teaching methodology

The primary education system in India suffers from innumerable drawbacks, not the least being an awful lack of the financial resources required to set up a network of schools in the country. The failure to do so, has cost the children of India, and also cheated the nation of building its resource of young minds. Traditionally, this sector has pitiable infrastructure, poorly paid teaching staffs, disheartened parents and unenthusiastic students.

The government is the largest provider of education in India with only about 10 per cent of primary schools owned by the private sector. The quality of education provided by the public education system is low which translates into low educational abilities even for those who are able to complete primary education cycle. Moreover, there is a lot of `waste' in the educational system with dropout rates as high as 40 per cent for the country as a whole and in some States; they are as high as 75 per cent.

While poverty status and income class are strong determinants of who goes to school and for what duration, they do not make up the whole story. Huge gaps remain between rural and urban areas. In terms of physical access to schools, more than 90 per cent of the Indian population now has a primary school located within one kilometer of their place of residence. However, many schools have only one or two classrooms and majority of them do not have running water and toilets. These features do not seem to be favourable to a learning environment. The really critical aspect of the Indian public education system is its low quality.

Indian society is very stratified and as such, discrepancies in education can be observed through various sections, such as caste, religion and not the least - gender. The probability of getting any education at all sharply depends on gender, caste and income. It is noteworthy, that even within such underprivileged communities, a constant feature is extensive gender discrepancy in educational achievement. Women, Scheduled Castes and Tribes and the poor have to go through tremendous barriers when it comes to getting basic education. For scheduled caste and scheduled tribe girls, the gender gap in education is almost 30 per cent at the primary level, while it is 26 per cent at the upper primary stage. In India's most miserable regions, the likelihood of girls getting primary education is about 42 per cent lower than boys, and it remains more or less same even when other variables, such as religion and caste, are kept restricted. Of the 200 million children in the age group 6-14, it is estimated that 59 million are out of school. Of these 35 million are girls. While participation of girls in education has seen an increase over time at all levels of education, it continues to lag behind that of boys.

Nevertheless, it will take a bold and creative challenge to bridge this gap. The Indian parliament aims to modify the cultural stereotypes that prohibited young girls from going to school by passing a Right to Education Act, which permitted every child between ages of 6 and 14 to have the right to primary education. Along with this change, the government also launched the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) or "Education for All" which undoubtedly provides special emphasis on female education and the attainment of gender equality. The SSA was set up to provide standard guidelines and methods for improvement of the educational system. The initiatives of the Government in this aspect can be divided into two broad categories: a program to create "pull factors" to augment access and retention of girls in schools; and another to create "push factors" to encourage the environment needed to promise girls' education in society. Today, free textbooks are provided to all girls attending school up to eighth grade, and back-to-school camps and bridge courses are organized for older girls.

Our focus has been on ensuring enrollments and we still have a large to do after 60 years of independence. The figure is 96 for Net Enrolment Ratio for classes I-V, while the same is 70 for classes V-VIII. Our focus has tended to be on inputs and outlays, rather than outcomes. We go on to talking about ensuring enrollments, attendance and completion of schooling.

In India, the school year runs for 192 days and children go to school for six days a week. From first till third grade, children learn English, Vernacular language, Mathematics and Science as part of the educational syllabus. Each school within India adopts various rules to improve learning. An example would have a school adding French besides English and Vernacular language as a third language. In fourth and fifth grades, children learn new concepts and ideas which help to broaden their minds. Painting replaces coloring of books and geometry becomes the bulk of exams. In fourth and fifth grade, the schedule shifts from English to Vernacular language and there seems to be much more emphasis on writing and reading. By the time an Indian child reaches sixth and seventh grade, the educational system prepares them for further study in college or work in the business world.

Reforms needed

It is true that we have not paid enough attention to the learning outcomes at the end of schooling, and improving the quality of teachers and teaching in both Government and Private schools. For those who have worked in the sphere of education, the dichotomy between producing a few 'brilliant' scholars and educating the mass of the children is a well-known issue. Education of the mass of children requires vast flexibility, recognition of different paces of learning, acceptance of numerous methods rather than one uniform, one-size-fits-all method, providing greater emphasis on skills and methods of the production of knowledge rather than on memorizing and processing of information found in text books. This would help children to gather their own experience, reflect upon it and express their experiences and visions. In contrast to this philistine pedagogy, the dead weight of accumulated knowledge gets loaded in the form of information upon the primary education of children and thus minimizes the capabilities of children to produce and express knowledge.

The situation inevitably calls for both a careful study and monitoring of the developments in the sphere of education. It is time that serious attention needs to be paid to educational questions as they go a long way in shaping the future of the nation. National planners and programmers must direct their investment not only to inputs and outlays, but to outcomes.

Conclusion

The really critical aspect of the Indian public education system is its low quality. India has made progress in educating more than a billion people, yet a lot remains to be done. An educated population is a prerequisite for take-off into a period of sustained high growth.

Literacy rates, especially in the younger age groups, for both boys and girls are on an upward trend. This is a positive outcome no doubt. However, rising literacy rates have been accompanied by unevenness of achievements across states and across various socio-economic groups. The Western and Southern states outperform those in Eastern and Central India. Literacy rates for girls, rural residents, and especially members of Scheduled Castes and Tribes also fall behind those for boys, urban residents and the upper castes. Apart from socio-economic determinants, the educational infrastructure and the management of the educational system in India are in a miserable state. It is time that serious attention needs to be paid to educational reforms as they play a crucial role in shaping the future of the nation.

References

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/kathmandu/about-this-office/single-view/news/fight_poverty_invest_in_girls_global_action_week_for_education_for_all_focuses_on_gender_discrimination/

http://www.ehow.com/about_6567895_information-primary-education-india.html

http://www.crin.org/docs/India_Alliance_cr.pdf

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1309/is_4_44/ai_n25356882/

http://acr.hrschool.org/mainfile.php/0184/327/