15/05/2019 - Education

KEY POINTS

Measures for transforming the education

·        The focus should be on quality of  teacher training, pre-service training which would now be integrated course of four years for Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.). This has the potential of eliminating non-existent teacher training colleges and would encourage only those that are keen on this profession to enrol.

·        The government also amended the Right to Education Act to facilitate training of untrained/unqualified teachers. There were more than a million such teachers. In-service training was also put on a scientific pedestal through the use of “DIKSHA” portal.

·        The segmentation of school education was done away with as a comprehensive approach was adopted through the launch of Samagra Shiksha replacing the erstwhile segmented schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan. Pre-school was brought on the agenda for the first time as was intermediate education in terms of making these segments also eligible for funding.

·        Instead of pre-determining allocation of resources to each segment, States were given the freedom to determine priorities in the true spirit of cooperative federalism.

·        Public-private partnership was encouraged so as to leverage good work and practices with a view to scaling such practices. “Shaala Sarathi” portal was put in place to facilitate transparent interface between the Centre, State governments, NGOs and CSR Funding Agencies.

·        The new government does not necessarily have to waste its time on criticising and dumping all that has been done by the previous government (It will not be an issue if the same government comes to power).

·        “DIKSHA” portal that has enormous potential needs to be strengthened further and leveraged for in-service training. It has many other facets, like maintaining teacher related data that can be utilised. Practices evolved in States such as Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh can be replicated.

·        Technology can be used to transform delivery of education in a manner that that learning becomes an enjoyable experience. Technology can also be used for ensuring attendance of teachers as has been successfully done in Chhattisgarh.

·        In a diverse country like ours we cannot have the same approach in all the States. Hence, each State requires different set of interventions in terms of teachers, curriculum, pedagogy and the like.

Leveraging NGOs

Some NGOs like Akshara Foundation, Sampark Foundation, Kaivalya Foundation are doing phenomenal work in the field. These NGOs or the government alone cannot transform school education. However, together they have the potential to bring the desired turn around. Public-private partnership needs to be fostered.

There are a host of other issues relating to curriculum, vocational training, educating the girl child, school drop outs, value based education, children with special needs, ridiculous marking system in the examinations and private schools that will also need to be addressed.

Please review.

India's total literacy as per 2011 census is 74%. Percentage of students who enroll to primary schooling is 96% while for secondary and higher secondary in steps down to 69% and 25% respectively. Following measures can be taken for equatable and inclusive delivery of education.

1) India's GDP on education is 3.6%. In one of its report NITI aayog says that it must be increased to 6% .

2) Teachers entrance test should be compulsory for center as well as state government for all primary, secondary and higher secondary education.

3) Use of technology must be there. Internet can be used at its best. we can further use projectors in classrooms which will help students to grasp knowledge easily.

4) There can be district officials to review implementation of various schemes like mid day meal scheme on ground level.

5) There is vast gap between education in rural and urban areas. This gap can be reduced if government comes up with more schemes which will attract rural students to join schools. In this aspect training teachers to teach practically will help.

6) According to a global survey India ranks 74th in quality of education. Formation of schemes with the help of foreign institutions can help to increase quality of education

7) Female especially muslim females drop outs for secondary education are high. We must encourage them for schooling. this can be done through advertisements and social media as everyone has a smartphone now a days.

                                     Despite of all these facts government is doing its best to provide better education. It came up with various schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Mid day meal scheme, Diksha initiative, Beti bachao Beti padhao etc for improvement in education