(Premium) Gist of Kurukshetra Magazine: December 2013

Premium - Gist of Kurukshetra Magazine: December 2013

RURAL EDUCATION – THE WAY FORWARD

Education is the single most important instrument for social and economic transformation of the country. A well educated population, adequately equipped with knowledge and skill is not only essential to support economic growth, but is also a precondition for growth to be inclusive since it is the educated and skilled person who can stand to benefit most from the employment opportunities which growth will provide. In India, considerable emphasis has been given to literacy, school enrolment, and network of schools and spread of institutions of higher education including technical education over the decades.

The literacy rate has gone up from 18.33 percent in 1951 to 64.84 percent in 2001. The decade of 1990s has been a watershed for basic education as the Census 2001 showed 12.63 percentage point increase in literacy, the highest since 1951. As per Census 2011, the literacy rate increased further by 9.20 percentage points to reach 74%. Female literacy increased at a faster rate (11.79%) than that for males (6.88%). The gender gap in
literacy declined from 21.59% in 2001 to 16.68% in 2011. The number of literates increased by 218 million and illiterates, declined by 31 million.

The National Literacy Mission has been recast with a renewed focus on female literacy and a new mission ‘SAAKSHAR SHARAT’ has been launched targeting 60 million women and 10 million men. School education and Literacy has, thus, been given the highest priority in Plan allocation. Universal Elementary Education (UEE) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) since its Inception In 2001-02 as the main vehicle for providing elementary education to all children in the 6-14 years age-group has made considerable progress in universalization of elementary education {UEE}. However, with the Right to Education {RTE} Act, 2009 having come into effect from April 2010, it is now a fundamental right of all children to demand eight years of quality elementary education. Effective enforcement of this right requires that vision, strategies and norms of the SSA are aligned with the mandate under the RTE. To achieve UEE in a planned and time bound manner, a much higher level of funding and also better targeting of uncovered and under covered population will be necessary. Isolated habitations, educationally backward blocks and districts shall require special attention. Flexible approach and concerted efforts are needed to reach out to the Out of School Children (OoSC) including children with special needs and street children. Bridging the social and gender gaps in enrollment with regard to SC, STs and minorities would receive special attention. Given the fact that several States face serious limitations of funds in implementation of the RTE, innovative ways would have to be found to address resource constraints.

Problems in Rural India Schools

The rural poor can neither migrate to the urban areas nor afford the very high fee charged in the corporate and private schools. Hence any new proposals in the education sector should improve the chances for the rural poor to have a good education on par with their urban counter parts in their villages themselves. It is well known that the education system in India is not at the satisfactory levels. Instead of confusing the students with some
new proposals, it is advisable to improve the existing facilities.

Poor infrastructure: Most of the government schools do not have basic infrastructure like strong school building, class rooms, black boards, proper benches to sit and listen to their teacher effectively, drinking water, play grounds for recreation and other recreation facilities, toilet facilities, cleanliness of the school surroundings, etc. For instance, the rough black board does not encourage even some efficient teachers to write something on it. This will encourage teachers to avoid explanation with some important diagrams and thus only oral teaching which will lead to lower knowledge levels to the students. Hence, the serious reformers should first improvements kind of basic but the most important facilities immediately.

Lack of accountability: In most of the government schools the accountability among the teaching staff and other administrative staff is lacking. Teachers should motivate and guide the children with the help and counselling from the principals of schools. Many schools do not conduct parent, teacher meetings regularly to take stock of the situation. Unlike the urban schools and colleges, the schools in rural areas do not encourage the children to excel in extra curricular activities like sports, outdoor activities, handicrafts, etc. The quality of teaching staff in the rural schools too needs to be improved further.

A plethora of government initiatives to provide access to primary education may be underway, but issues of equity, quality and access remain areas of concern - particularly in rural schools. Children in rural areas continue to be deprived of quality education owing to factors like lack of competent and committed teachers, lack of textbooks or teaching-learning materials, and so on.

Poor education standard: Several studies suggest that nearly half the children in grade 5 are unable to read a grade 2 text.

Poor Teacher attendance and lack of accountability: Teacher a bsenteeism and lack of accountability has to be addressed by greater community involvement in management and ownership of schools. We have to find ways to incentivize the States for community involvement in school management so that management control shifts to the local community.

Lack of suitably-qualified, appropriatelytrained human resources in adequate numbers: There is acute shortage of high quality teachers. There are half a million vacancies of teachers in the country and another half a million teachers are required to meet the RTE norms on pupil teacher ratio. Besides 0.6 million teachers in the public school system are untrained.

Urban education vis Rural education

  • There are many schools in cities and towns whereas there are very few schools in villages and the rural areas.
  • There are transportation facilities like bus pick and drop in urban schools where as children in rural areas have to walk miles to reach their schools
  • Basic amenities like no drinking water in provided in some of the schools in villages
  • Level of education in urban schools is far advanced as compared to the basic level taught in rural schools
  • Computer education is given high importance in urban areas where as very few schools in villages give computer training
  • Group classes are taken by using video conferencing and audio conferencing in urban schools where as no such facilities are provided for students in rural schools and competitions. Such events and activities tend
    help in the overall development of the children

Strategies to Improve Rural Education

Improving Education Standard: Concerted efforts are required to ensure that a minimum set of cognitive skills are acquired by all children during eight years of elementary education. Thus, quality issues and determinants thereof such as ensuring availability of trained teachers, good curriculum and innovative pedagogy that impact upon learning outcomes of the children must be addressed on priority basis. Quality as mandated under the RTE shall have to be realised in tangible terms, failing which it will be difficult to wean students away from private tuitions that are prohibited under the RTE.

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