Blackboard Jungle

But it is not a numerical challenge alone. True, even by conservative estimates, there are almost 10 million children who are not going to school in India at the moment. But worse, the quality of teaching in government-run schools is nowhere near the desired level.

In the 1990s, the National Institute of Educational Planning and Education, carried out a countrywide study of quality of teaching in schools. Except for Kerala, it did not find quality anywhere.

Professor Marmar Mukhopadhyay, senior education planner, was associated with that study. He recalls being disappointed.

IN parts of Gujarat, IIM Ahmedabad co-sponsored a detailed study of the impact of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan. The report is comprehensive. It has listed ways in which this ‘‘Education For All’’ exercise can be implemented. Already, indications from the countryside suggest that quality can improve by leaps and bounds if one ‘‘input’’ is strengthened.

That key component is the teacher.

If teachers are committed and a trifle innovative, quality is not going to be a problem. Other disadvantages — like pupils of five classes crammed into two classrooms or lack of toilet facilities — will not really matter if the teacher evades the beaten track and makes learning attractive.

IT will interesting to see how the Unesco report ranks India, whether it clubs it with other south Asian nations and places it in the category unlikely to guarantee ‘‘Education for All’’ by 2015. Unesco has set a deadline of 2015 for every government in the world to ensure that each and every child below 15 attends school.

A year ago, then HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi was upset because Unesco had ranked India behind even Bangladesh in enrolment data. The Unesco symposium was being hosted by Delhi in 2003 and the HRD Ministry had a running feud with the UN body’s statistical wing over the education data on which the projections were based.

There are indications that even this year, Unesco will say India is unlikely to send every child to school by 2015. The Indian government might be upset. But there is no point arguing, because the HRD Ministry is yet to set up a foolproof system to find out the precise drop out rate.

There is no explanation from the states as to why enrolment is dropping from 30 (on an average) at the class I level to only eight (again average estimate) at the class V level.

THIS year, Unesco is going to highlight positive case studies. No Indian success story has been included. Among south Asian countries, the international experts have focused on Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Already, Bangladesh has been reporting a trend that should surprise South Asian social sector analysts. More girls are attending schools than boys.

It is sad that personal reasons forced Arjun Singh to miss the conference in Brazil. Instead, his minister of state, M.A.A. Fatmi, is leading the Indian team.

Will he come back with the magic mantra of educating India out of its third worldliness? Or will it just another Latin American holiday?