Rural children are looking for middle schools to continue their schooling in

In August 2000, the Central government adopted the EGS as an all-India scheme. While 1.1 million children attend MP’s 27,000 EGS schools (created at the pace of 40 a day), Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan too have successfully adopted the scheme.

“Education up to the Class 5 level will provide the minimum basic skills, but the next three years are even more important for complete literacy,” says Brij Kothari of the Ravi Mathai Centre for Educational Innovation, IIM (Ahmedabad). At present, there are only 21,108 middle schools, while formal primary schools number about 87,000 and EGS schools, 27,000. Most middle schools are situated in the bigger villages and towns, which are usually between five and 10 km from remote areas, whereas the Central government stipulates there has to be a middle school within a three kilometre radius.

However, what’s heartening is that ever since the EGS introduced schools in the innermost habitations, community demand for middle schools has increased. “There is already a plan underway to estimate the demand for middle schools in all the districts. We will upgrade some EGS schools, and construction of new ones will begin by March,” informs Amita Sharma of the state’s Rajiv Gandhi Shiksha Mission.

In Betul district, which has about 346 middle schools, there is a demand for 273 more. And it’s all happened in under a year. In Rajgarh too, people have demanded 142 new middle schools: obviously, they don’t think the existing 359 will suffice, when their children clear the Class 5 board examination.

While upgrading existing EGS schools to include Classes 6,7 and 8 may tackle the issue of access, the provision of new teachers and their salaries, or paucity of schooling infrastructure, are possible hindrances.

In Saraswati’s EGS school of 47 children, for instance, one of the two teachers, the Class 8-pass Simla Bai, at 18, is barely older than her students. Other than her and her fellow teacher, there is no literate person in the village, so if the EGS school is upgraded, there would be a shortage of teachers. “In such situations, the panchayat will have to select a literate person from a neighbouring village when the time comes,” explains D.P. Srivastava, the District Project Coordinator.

Sharma admits there may also be “power dynamics between new and existing gurujis,” since the teachers for middle schools are likely to be better qualified. Also, as EGS schools become bigger in villages, the post of the teacher is likely to get politicised, with panchayat members appointing their kith and kin rather than a person suited best for the job. “We might look at it as nepotism, but for the villages, it is a matter of placing faith in a person’s abilities, irrespective of who is appointed,” defends Sharma.

Then, there’s the gaping difference in the salaries of an EGS guruji and a government-appointed primary school teacher. While the latter gets Rs 2,256 a month, a guruji‘s monthly salary is only Rs 1,000. “Since we hold classes till the evenings, there is no opportunity for additional income. And Rs 1,000 is just not enough,” says the guruji at the Madhupura EGS school in Rajgarh.

While most teachers continue to teach out of a sense of community duty, home, like Sheela Sharma of the Mautipura school (Rajgarh), who holds a Masters degree in Hindi Literature, are tempted to move on. “I have a family to support and my husband doesn’t earn enough. At least a government salary will be higher.” In fact, Kothari, who was part of an IIM (A) study on EGS schools, feels the teacher salary scale is one of the biggest problems the scheme faces. “They also have to regularise the appointment of teachers, otherwise inscecurity will remain,” he cautions.

In addition to increasing the teachers’ salary further (the scheme began with Rs 500 a month), there is a need to appoint and train more gurujis, especially if EGS schools are to be upgraded to middle schools. For instance, there is only one teacher for the 81 children at Mohanpur’s (in Guna) EGS school, while the Kothkhera (Betul) school has one teacher for 55 students. The ideal teacher-student ratio, according to the Central government, is 1:40. Also, EGS teachers are predominantly male.

Though it’s been three years, many EGS schools are without buildings. Among the schools this reporter visited, one functioned out of a kirtan ghar, a second under a grove of trees, and a third, in an partially covered courtyard. In Rajgarh district, 200 of the 516 EGS schools had no pucca buildings.

Neither do schools have desks or chairs for students — “We’re all for giving furniture, but there’s no money,” says Sharma — and very few have even a teacher’s table. Education at its most basic, no doubt, but if the EGS is to sustain its achievements, perhaps its time to plan where to go from here.

ABC of the EGS
* It’s based on community demand, not government whim. Deprived sections can now ask for their own school
* Teachers are chosen from the community; are not outsiders like government teachers
* Schools have flexible timings, so students don’t have to drop out because of family pressures to work
* Teaching in EGS schools is ability-based, so students can finish their basic schooling at their own pace