School education levels remain cause of worry
The latest Annual Status of Education Report, prepared by Pratham, once again serves as a strong reminder of how far India has come in the field of education and how many challenges still remain. On the positive side, the consistently high levels of enrollment in Indian schools is comforting. For the sixth year in a row, it has been found that more than 96 per cent of Indian children in the age group of six to 14 — the cluster that is covered by the Right to Education Act — are going to school.
In effect, India is only a few steps away from achieving universal education. This is a massive development for a country that only six decades ago, at the time of independence, had an abysmally low literacy level of 12 per cent. Also, keep in mind that these high enrollment figures could not have been achieved if the girl child was being kept out of school. True, there are still some States, like Uttar Pradesh, where the difference in enrollment levels for boys and girls is more than eight per cent, and, generally, more boys are being sent to private schools than girls.
But the overall figures are, nonetheless, healthy. Another positive take-away from this year's study is that school facilities have continued to improve. For example, most schools surveyed had drinking water facilities and functioning toilets. There was also a marked increase in the percentage of schools with libraries, from 62.6 per cent in 2010 to 78.1 per cent in 2014, and a slightly less but equally promising jump in the percentage of schools that have computer access.
On the flip side, the survey has found that learning levels have remained almost as bad as previous years. A vast majority of middle-school students, for instance, still cannot read primary-school texts. Even though a few States like Tamil Nadu have shown marginal improvements, the national figures continue to be disappointing with Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra registering a further drop in performance.
The situation is even worse with mathematics, wherein almost all States, apart from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, have deteriorated. There is also no improvement in English language skills either; on the contrary, a larger percentage of upper primary students, for example, now cannot read full sentences compared to 2009. If India fails to address these issues at the earliest, it will be faced with a national crisis sooner than later.
Unable to read or write properly, do basic math or understand English, these students will be effectively unemployable. No amount of economic growth and no number of foreign firms setting up shop in the country can then help the situation. Already, industry folks are complaining that even college-educated Indian youth are not good enough to be hired, even as thousands remain unemployed. Unless immediate action is taken, India's much touted demographic dividend can quickly turn into its demographic disaster.