Basic Education In India: Progress

1
Basic Education In IndiaProgress Challenges

• Media As Development Partners
• UNDP Workshop On MDGs And Human Development
• 25-26th August, 2006
• Lucknow

2
Education For All (EFA)

• Fundamental human right
• Universal Declaration on Human Rights
• UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
• Conference on Education For All, Jomtien, 1990
• Agreement universalise primary education and
  reduce mass illiteracy by end of decade

3
Education For All (EFA)

• World Education Forum meeting, Dakar, Senegal,
  2000
• Adopted the six goals of EFA
• Two of the MDGs are directly related to the EFA
  goals (goals 2 and 3)

4
Dakar Framework for Action

• Six goals adopted at Dakar
• Early childhood care and education
• Free and compulsory primary education of good
  quality by 2015
• Learning and life skills programmes
• 50 per cent improvement in adult literacy by 2015
• Eliminating gender disparities
• Improving all aspects of quality

5
Implications of the Dakar Framework

• Covers
• Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)
• Elementary education
• Youth and adolescents
• Literacy and adult education
• Quality
• Gender equity and equality
• Basic education thus requires a comprehensive
  approach, going beyond individual schemes such as
  ICDS, SSA, NLM, etc

6
Government Departments For EFA

• ECCE Gender Equality Dept of Women
  Child Development
• Elementary Education Dept of School
  Education
• Adult Education Literacy
• Youth and Adolescents Ministry of Sports
  Youth Affairs

7
Key National Programmes For EFA

• Integrated Child Development Services (Dakar Goal
  1)
• 3.8 crore children (0-6 years) being covered
  through 6.5 lakh centres
• Another 1.9 lakh centres being opened
• Outlay increased from Rs 3315 crores in 2005-06
  to Rs 4087 crores in 2006-07
• Article 45 of the Constitution

8
Key National Programmes For EFA

• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan launched in 2001 (Goals 2
  6)
• Coverage 21 crore children in all States and
  districts
• Provides infrastructure, quality, teacher
  recruitment and training, etc
• Outlay in 2006-07 Rs 11000 crores, up from Rs
  7156 crores in 2005-06
• 1.29 lakh new schools, 1 lakh school buildings,
  2.2 lakh additional classrooms have been
  constructed/are under construction since the
  beginning of the programme
• 63 lakh children enrolled in EGS/AIE centres
• 5.87 lakh new teachers appointed
• More than 7200 BRCs and 66000 CRCs established

9
Enrolment Trends
Percentage increase in enrolment based on DISE
data

• Primary Increases above national average in
  Jammu Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
• Upper Primary Huge increase in Jharkhand, Uttar
  Pradesh, Jammu Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh

10
Out Of School Children

• Percentage of out of school children reduced from
  28.5 in 2001 to 6.94 in 2005
• Independent (IMRB) assessment of out of school
  children (July-October 2005)1.34 crore (6.94)
• Annual State of Education Report (ASER), an
  independent survey facilitated by Pratham,
  estimated about 1.43 crore children were out of
  school (6.6)
• Bihar (31.76), Uttar Pradesh (29.95), West Bengal
  (12.13), Madhya Pradesh (10.85) and Rajasthan
  (7.95) account for almost 69 of these children

11
Dropout Rates

• Steady decline in dropout rates since 2001
• Dropout rate at primary level 31.4 in 2003-04,
  down from 34.8 and 39 in 2002-03 and 2001-02
  respectively
• To be reduced to 0 by 2007
• UP dropout rates at primary and elementary level
  lower than national average at 13.5 and 42.8
  respectively

12
Overall Performance
13
Key National Programmes For EFA

• Mid Day Meal Scheme for Primary School children,
  started in 1995
• Aims to boost universalisation of primary
  education by increasing enrolment and attendance,
  while simultaneously impacting nutritional
  status of children
• Covers 12 crore children in government, local
  body and government-aided schools, as well as
  EGS/AIE centres
• Revised in 2004 to provide for additional central
  assistance towards cooking cost
• Outlays increased in 2006-07, from Rs 3142 crores
  in 2005-06 to Rs 5348 crores

14
Key National Programmes For EFA

• National Literacy Mission to provide functional
  literacy to all adults (Goal 3 4)
• Immediate goal to achieve literacy rate of 75 by
  2007
• 596 districts covered under AE programmes 138
  under TLC, 167 under PLP and 291 under CE
• 150 districts with lowest literacy rates,
  especially female literacy, being targeted for
  focused interventions
• Vocational education and skill development
  through 157 Jan Shikshan Sansthans
• Absolute number of illiterates declined by 2.5
  crore between 1991-2001
• Gender gap reduced from 24.9 in 1991 to 21.6 in
  2001

15
Key National Programmes For EFA

• Special schemes targeted at girls, apart from
  focus on girls in general schemes (Goal 5)
• Kasturba Gandhi Ballika Vidyalaya (KGBV)
• National Programme for the Education of Girls at
  the Elementary Level (NPEGEL)
• Mahila Samakhya
• According to UNESCOs Global Monitoring Report
  2006, India achieved gender parity at elementary
  level in 2005

16
Key National Programmes For EFA

• Youth and adolescents
• Population approx. 23 crore (22.8 of total)
• Comprehensive National Youth Policy adopted in
  2003
• Life skill education among adolescents,
  especially for girls
• Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) for social
  development covers nearly 80 lakh youth
• National Service Scheme also targets youth in
  colleges and schools for constructive social
  programmes
• National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)
  provides opportunities of Distance Education to
  those who are unable to continue with formal
  education

17
Constitutional Position

• Education on the Concurrent List of the
  Constitution
• States primarily responsible for elementary
  education in terms of implementation, etc
• Centre responsible for financial support, policy,
  legislation, etc
• Elementary Education a Fundamental Right under
  Article 21-A after the Constitution (86th
  Amendment) Act, 2002

18
Who Should Be Responsible?

• Responsibility clearly defined by Article 21-A
• The State shall provide free and compulsory
  education to all children of the age of six to
  fourteen years, in such manner as the State may,
  by law, determine
• State implies Government, whether at the Centre
  or in the States
• Draft RTE Bill defines compulsory education as
  the obligation of the STATE to take all necessary
  steps to ensure that children participate in and
  complete elementary education

19
However

• Should there be a moral responsibility?
• Article 51A (k) obligations of
  parents/guardians
• What about ordinary citizens?
• Civil society?
• Private schools?
• Corporate entities?
• Mindset of mai-baap sarkar will provide

20
Estimates Of Cost

• CABE report on follow up legislation, using NIEPA
  estimates, calculated cost of UEE in 6 years
• Cost ranged from Rs 53,500 crores to Rs 72,700
  crores per annum, additionally
• Current government spending on elementary
  education around Rs 50,000 crores (1.8 of GDP)
• 86 of this is spent by STATE Governments

21
Current Spending On Elementary Education

• Allocations for SSA and MDM, the two main schemes
  for UEE, have consistently increased in the last
  few years
• Budget outlays
• 2004-05 Rs 7750 crores (RE)
• 2005-06 Rs 12242 crores (BE)
• 2006-07 Rs 16000 crores (BE)

22
Resource Mobilisation

• 2 Education Cess imposed on all Central taxes in
  2004
• Yield
• 2004-05 Rs 5010 crores (RE)
• 2005-06 Rs 6975 crores (BE)
• 2006-07 Rs 8746 crores (BE)
• Clearly a large gap between requirements and
  available resources

23
Challenges Concerns

• More than 1 crore children are still not in
  school
• Out of school children are from socially
  marginalised groups, especially girls, working
  children, children of very poor families,
  children with special needs and children with
  multiple disadvantageshardest to reach
• Wide disparities in the educational status of
  different regions
• Mobilisation of resources

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Challenges Concerns (contd)

• Of the 77 crore illiterate adults worldwide, 26
  crore are in India15 crore of these are more
  than 36 years old
• Improvements in quality of education and learning
  outcomes
• Improvement of teacher training to equip teachers
  to deal with a variety of situations
• Coverage of ECCE not universal, particularly in
  urban areas, etc

25
Recent Developments

• Imposition of Education Cess
• Creation of non-lapsable Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh
• Greater participation of civil society
• Increased involvement of local communities
• Creative innovations in States
• Increased coverage of mid day meal scheme
• Innovative initiatives like Solution Exchange

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Thank YouFurther informationEFA
www.portal.unesco.org/educationIndia
www.education.nic.inQuestions/Commentsamitkaus
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