School Education in India

There is a verse in Mundaka Upanishad—Sa Vidya, Ya Vimuktaye—knowledge is that which liberates. Knowledge pulls out one from tamas (darkness), which signifies ignorance, towards jyoti (light), which signifies enlightenment. This noble deed is achieved through education. The first step in the education of a person is schooling.

In ancient India (as mentioned in the epics), school education was imparted through institutions known as gurukuls. These were residential schools in which education was imparted in the guru-shishya (teacher-student) parampara (tradition). In such institutions, students belonging to all classes/hierarchical levels of the society used to study as equals. They helped in the gurukul in performing various day-to-day chores. Admissions to these schools were generally based on merit. The students were expected to adhere to a strict code of discipline, and equal emphasis was laid on practical education alongwith the theoretical aspect.

Just after India achieved independence from the British, the state of literacy in the country was dismal. Only about a fifth of the country's population was literate. The first education minister in independent India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, worked diligently to bring Indians on the same pedestal as the people of the developed world in terms of their educational skills. Due to the continued efforts of such men, (as per Census 2011) India has been able to achieve a 74 per cent national literacy rate. A sound education system is necessary to reduce social cleavages/disparities, to alleviate poverty, to curb the incidents of crime in society (a large number of which are perpetrated by juveniles or adults who had a poor educational background compounded by a poor socio-economic condition) and to strengthen democracy (as adult suffrage can be used more effectively by better-educated citizens).

As we move towards the path of faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth (as envisaged by the 12th Five-Year Plan), it is imperative that we look at the problems that ail the school education system in the country. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had opined that the real India lives in its villages. It is, therefore, pertinent that the state of school education in rural areas in looked into. According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2013, which is a survey for assessing school education in the rural areas of the country, India is progressing quite well on the path to attaining the Millennium Development Goal of Universalization of Primary Education by the year 2015. The primary school enrollment in these areas is more than 96 percent. However, what causes concern is that the dropout rates from school are not low. This dropout is more prominent in the case of girl students. Furthermore, almost half of the 5th standard students do not show any significant improvement in their reading-skills, basic arithmetic skills from the past year (2012). As such, they are not able to do the exercises, which have been set for a 2nd standard student. The dropout rates are due to the lack of incentives to the children/their parents for school education. These are—lack of basic sanitation facilities, lack of clean drinking water facilities, large distance of schools from residential areas of students, large opportunity cost (in economics, the opportunity cost of a good/service is what one pays/forfeits to procure it) of education as compared to working as labour, corporal punishment instances. The low standards of education of children, more so in the government-run schools, can be attributable to the lack of proper training given to the primary school teachers, low incentives to the teachers, low student attendance, etc. ASER 2013 also points out that the private-school enrollment in rural areas has increased as compared to 2012.

What are the steps taken by the Government of India in this regard? The government has initiated a series of schemes to realize Right to Education—a Fundamental Right (Article 21A) in the Constitution of India—inserted by the 86th Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2002. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, has been enacted to give a statutory basis to this fundamental right. The RTE Act provides for reservation of 25 per cent of the total number of seats in schools (whether they are govt.-run or govt.-aided or privately-funded) for children belonging to the lower rung of the socio-economic ladder. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan strives to achieve a universalization of primary education. The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan is aimed at improving the school education at the higher secondary as well as the senior secondary level. Further, the Mid-Day Meal Scheme envisages improvement in school enrollment/attendance and elevation of the nutritional levels of children. However, incidents such as the monocrotophos-induced poisoning of a mid-day meal in Bihar and the subsequent death of school-children (2013) create a blot on the reputation of such schemes. The Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (Total Sanitation Campaign) has a component which provides for construction of toilets in schools. ASER 2013 even points out an increase in the number of libraries in various government schools. Some states have also provided scholarships to boys/bicycles to girls/laptops to students to increase their computer literacy. Schools have also been equipped with health-centres for providing first-aid to children. To reduce health hazards to children, the sale of tobacco products is banned within a certain radius of a school. Further, the Delhi High Court is hearing a petition to mull a ban on the sale of fast-food within a certain radius of a school and to develop a uniform policy for school canteens in private schools throughout India. However, such a measure, though desirable, might face stiff opposition from the corporate lobby. Adult education schools are also being run by the government. Nevertheless, the largely unaddressed woes of primary school teachers in the rural areas are a reason for decreasing teacher attendance. It is ironical that a teacher, who is considered higher in status in India than the Hindu-mythological trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, has to fight for his/her right to an adequate pay for his/her service to the society.

It is equally relevant to look at the aspects of urban school education. Delhi has been in the news, of late, for the parents' anxiety over their children's admission to nursery class in various private schools. Excessive demand for securing admission in certain schools and limited supply of the number of such schools has led to a rationing mechanism—the lottery system to provide admissions. Another aspect of schooling in urban areas has been an increase in the number of pseudo-schools—schools which provide admissions without having any strict attendance criteria. This phenomenon is seen in North India, particularly in the state of Rajasthan, where students consider cracking an engineering/medical entrance-examination (conducted after 12th standard at an all-India level) as their topmost priority.This is taken care of by a coaching institute, which has affiliations with such pseudo-schools. At other places, students have started relying more on private tuition/coaching classes. All this negates the purpose of schooling, which is supposed to provide a healthy interactive environment for the students under the guidance of their school teachers. Private schools fare somewhat better in their academic records. This is attributable to the calibre of the students (the admissions to these schools are on strict meritocratic bases) as well as the better compensation given to teachers in these schools. However, a social issue that is seen in many urban schools is the class-divide among students. Children from a well-off background can afford to bring expensive items to the school premises and if a strict vigil is not kept on such occurrences, it creates peer pressure among the other children to follow suit in the same manner. Another aspect is the discriminatory treatment meted out by the 'rich' students to those coming from relatively-modest financial background families. A saying in Hindi goes like this—poot ke paon paalne mein hi dikhaayi de jaate hain—a child's future can be predicted even when it is in its cradle. The private schools proclaim themselves to be cradles of excellence/leadership. Thus, such discriminatory tendencies among students must be kept in check in these very 'cradles'. In this regard, the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehradun, the five Military Schools (one in Himachal Pradesh, two in Rajasthan, and two in Karnataka) and the 20-plus Sainik Schools in the country have been very effective institutions. These schools receive their funding directly from the Ministry of Defence. These schools had been conceptualized on their counterparts in the British-education system. Their raison d'etre is to reduce the class-divide, present in the armed forces, among the wards of officers and those of other-ranked personnel, as well as to reduce the shortfall of officers in the armed forces. Such schools have strict adherence to uniformity and discipline. However, there are some other problems in these schools. A few years back, a sainik school was in the news for the wrong reason—a video had leaked showing some senior students of the school physically assaulting their juniors by using leather belts. Such hideous tendencies among students need to be curtailed. Sometimes, caste-divide is also seen among school children from rural areas. It becomes the duty of the school management to curb such a malaise.

Another problem is the prevalent large disparities among the Indian states on the literacy front. The better performing states are Tripura, Kerala, Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh. Among the low-performers is Bihar which, ironically, was a seat of learning in ancient India—the home to university of Nalanda.

Ever since the Brundtland Commission report (1987) came out with the term sustainable development, this term has been repeatedly used in the parlance of the development strategies of the countries in the world. To start raising the consciousness of children towards environment-protection, there's no better place than school. This is done through rallies in which school-children shout slogans condemning the use of polythene, drives to dispose biodegradable and non-biodegradable garbage littered in various places in a city and speech competitions/debates/poster-making competitions to spread awareness for ecological harmony.

It is noteworthy that the shortfalls in the supply side of education are taken care of (to a certain extent) by non-governmental organizations through various initiatives, such as Teach for India campaign.

India is set to achieve the millennium development goal related to primary education by the 2015 timeline. However, the shortcomings in the school education system need to be addressed to achieve India's 12th Five-Year Plan goals as well as Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar's envisaged vision of socio-economic equality alongwith the existing political equality. The ancient Indian status of the golden bird is not difficult to attain yet again. The requirement for that is a strong political will and dedicated work by the citizens to provide world-class education to the coming generation.