First-generation learners in rural areas are bogged down by challenges in education which prevent them from climbing out of the morass of poverty, unemployment and inequality, says Ritesh Rawal

There are many areas of rural India that are still bogged down by poverty, poor health, starvation, unemployment and inequality. Although the government has been working to alleviate the conditions and some achievements have been recorded, it is still a long road that we need to travel.

We must acknowledge that education is the only way to eradicate these problems. But unfortunately, the first-generation learners (those learners who hail from a family who have had no access to formal education) in rural India face challenges which often appear insurmountable. These could be perceived in the following ways:

Limited number of schools

According to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, literacy in rural areas was 64.7 per cent as opposed to 79.5 per cent in urban areas in 2018. The rural areas are struggling with the objective of imparting education because there is a paucity of schools. Moreover, poor transportation and connectivity further compound the problem. So parents are unable to send their children to schools. This acts as a huge obstacle to education. As per the ASER (Annual Status of Education Report), nationally, in 2018, four out of 10 government primary schools had less than 60 students enrolled.

Lack of financial resources

Poverty continues to be a major social issue and it affects rural India more. Children are unable to afford education because of financial constraints. Private schools are an expensive option and out of budget for most  rural households. They can either educate children or lead a basic life with the limited money they have.

Poor infrastructure

Rural schools are bogged down by poor infrastructure. To begin with, the teacher-student ratio is highly imbalanced. Even the existing teachers are not well-trained. Naturally, this affects the quality of education being imparted.

Even basic facilities such as textbooks, drinking water, and library are not adequate. The ASER report marked deficiencies particularly in areas near Jammu and Kashmir and most of the North-Eastern states. In these states, less than 50 per cent schools had provision for drinking water or girls’ toilets till 2018. With the exception of Assam, majority of schools in states in the north-east did not have library books available for students. The District Information System for Education (DISE) data shows that only 53 per cent of total government schools, which dominate rural India, have electricity connection. Only 28 per cent schools (18 per cent government schools) have a computer and 9 per cent (4 per cent government schools) an internet connection.

Traditional way of teaching

While pedagogy has gone up several notches in urban areas with newer teaching techniques being introduced, these remain primitive and traditional in Indian villages. The urban schools have adopted concept learning but the rural ones are still stuck to rote.

Moreover, they do not have proper facilities for imparting physical education because there are no teachers for the discipline. The report finds that only 5.8 per cent of primary schools and 30.8 per cent of upper primary schools had a physical education teacher available. In majority of schools, other subject teachers were tasked with supervising physical education activities as well.

Lack of technology

Even in the 21st century, the rural schools are still devoid of technology and upgraded techniques. Basic computer literacy is a must for every child. However, schools in rural India often don’t have computers or teachers to take up the subject. This alienation causes a digital divide in our country.

Rural-Urban divide

Difference in teaching methods, varying magnitude of subjects and themes taught mean that there is a huge difference between rural and urban education. Among 14-18-year-olds surveyed by the ASER teams, only 43 per could solve a class IV mathematics problem. This proportion was roughly the same among 14-year-olds as among 18-year-olds, showing that the problem of low learning outcomes was not resolved by remaining in school. Only 40 per cent of 18-year-olds could take 10 per cent off a given number. Twenty-seven percent of 14-year-olds, and 21 per cent of 18-year-olds could not read a class II textbook in the regional language and more than 40 per cent in each age group could not read a simple sentence in English. This has deepened the rural-urban divide.

Ignorance of parents

This is one of the most important factors that hampers the growth of first-generation learners. There are so many families in rural areas who are hardly aware of the importance of education in bringing about change. Most children don’t go to school because their parents don’t find it important to invest in their education, especially if it’s a girl child.

The dropout rate in rural schools is high. Approximately, 50 per cent students drop out from school before completing the 12th standard. All of this clearly signals that the state of first generation learners is very alarming and certainly needs the attention of the government.

(The author is founder of an organisation which works in the field of education and an education evangelist)