25-07-2014, 11:03 AM
Education in 2010 IndiaFacts and Challenges
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Introduction
the current economic momentum is not going to be sustained without the development of a much larger well educated and trained workforce ’’ (Short, 2008a, 2.13).
“…the education sector in India today needs the kind of focused and urgent policy attention that trade and industry did in the late eighties, which led to their reforms in 1991” (Kumar, 2009).
“Education reforms and progress are the most important and critical policy issue in the country today. Otherwise, we may soon discover that our much-touted demographic dividend has remained an illusion and instead morphed into a disaster as large groups of unemployable youth, unable to join the workforce, end up swelling the ranks of extremists and insurgents. India will have to earn its demographic dividend and time is actually running out because the window is a relatively short one” (Kumar, 2009).
Political Landscape
Under the Constitution, responsibility for education is shared between central and state governments (28 States and 7 Union Territories). The central government sets policy, stimulates innovation and plan frameworks. The state governments are responsible for running the education system on the ground (Lall, 2005).
The central government drafts five-year plans that include education policy and some funding for education. State-level ministries of education coordinate education programs at the local levels (Cheney et al., 2005, p. 12).
The Department of Education (Ministry of Human Resource Development) « coordinates planning with the States, provides funding for experimental programs, and acts through the University Grants Commission (…) and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to develop standards, instructional materials, and design textbooks. The NCERT’s textbooks serve as models since States are not legally obligated to follow the national syllabus » (Cheney, et. Al. 2005, p. 12).
1.3 Overview of the Education System
The educational structure in India is generally referred to as the Ten + Two + Three (10+2+3) pattern. The first ten years provide undifferentiated general education for all students. The +2 stage, also known as the higher secondary or senior secondary, provides for differentiation into academic and vocational streams and marks the end of school education. In +3 stage, which involves college education, the student goes for higher studies in his chosen field of subject.
Elementary Education
Ninety percent of the estimated 112 million children who enroll in primary school annually have no choice but to attend ill-maintained government schools… the fast-increasing middle class prefers to send its children to the government-aided, privately run schools (Cheney et al., 2005, p. 9).
For most students in India, the learning environment is pretty abysmal. School consists of a one-room schoolhouse, one teacher covering multiple grades, and 40 students per teacher. It should be noted that many rural public schools barely have the most basic of facilities (a closed-in building, drinking water, toilets, a blackboard) (Cheney et al., 2005, p. 10).
A study of 188 government-run primary schools found that 59% of the schools had no drinking water and 89% had no toilets (Wikipedia).
A government-sponsored study (the PROBE Report published in 1999) in four Indian states found that in half of the government schools no apparent teaching activity was taking place and in a third that the headteacher was not present when visited. Kremer et al. (2004) made 3 unannounced visits to 3700 government-run primary schools leading to 34,525 direct observations. They conclude that:
With one in four government primary school teachers absent on a given day, and only one in two actually teaching, India is wasting a considerable share of its education budget, and missing an opportunity to educate its children (p. 14).
. Conclusions
Challenges
Growth of both population and participation
Drop-out rates
Confidence crisis in public institutions
Private Sector, NGO’s Initiatives, Internationalization
Economic Growth, Urbanization & Social Mobility
Linguistic Diversity & English
Curriculum and Pedagogy
Governance and Accountability
Educating Educators and Administrators
Balancing quality and excellence with social justice