Santosh

We have made some good progress in improving our literacy levels, sending more children to schools and reducing the percentage of dropouts. However, the quality of rural education remains a cause of concern (ASER 2017).

The quality of primary education is one of the most critical factors in shaping one’s life. Unfortunately, the quality of primary education in rural India is abysmal. Right from poor infrastructure to poor quality of teaching to indifferent attitude of teachers towards young students all are contributing to this horrible scenario.

Governments, corporates CSR wings, civil society institutions all have been doing their bit for improving the quality of education but it is too little and mostly ineffective. These things achieve marginal improvement but by no stretch of imagination, you can see the quality of primary schooling in rural India matching that of the urban counterparts. I am not talking about the big fancy, air-conditioned corporate backed-up schools where kids go in chauffeur driven cars and their monthly fees is as high as the salaries of general teachers. I am talking about just average urban schools.

Only 45 percent schools have more than two teachers. Only 55.8 percent schools in rural areas have functional electricity and merely 11 percent schools have functional computers (the numbers are for 2016-17, but situation has not improved much).

If you are a student studying in these government run primary schools in villages, you need to fight against all odds to get ahead in life. By sheer determination and hard-work many negate these obstacles and move ahead in life but a large majority of these student succumb to these systemic problems. It would not be an exaggeration to say that your primary education can define your future career and life.

It is not that the things cannot be changed, it is just that it has never been a high priority for policymakers. The attempts are half-hearted and ad-hoc.

The rural students, who need best of the teachers and the best teaching methodology to negate factors such as poor infrastructure, apathy of parents and poor affordability for any other remedial measures (such as tuitions, technology access etc) are taught by the poorest quality of teachers. One just needs to look at the quality of para-teachers and performance of full-time teachers in internal assessments. These kids don’t require temporary and inadequately trained para-teachers (Shiksamitras) but teachers who specially trained and qualified for improving learning outcomes.

The rural students hardly get any exposure to extra-curricular activities, labs or reading content to develop their personality. We surely can manage budget for ensuring the basic infrastructure such as a library, a basic science education kit.

The other major problem is the evaluation system in these schools. Students get to know where they stand only in matriculation examination. Before that, the assessments are just an eyewash. We need a third party assessment periodically at least once a year to understand their progress and take remedial measures.