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Journalism of Courage
The constant reminder about the state of education,the Annual Status of Education Report ASER,prepared by the NGO Pratham,again,has some worrying results. The survey,covering over 14,000 government schools in rural areas,points to a decline in reading and arithmetic abilities: about 54 per cent of Class V children cannot read a Class II book as compared with 48 per cent last year; and Class III students who can solve a two-digit subtraction are just 30 per cent,down from 36 per cent last year. This has happened despite the fact that the enrollment level of 6-14-year-olds in rural India is now an encouraging 97 per cent.
The ASER follows the dismal calculations by the Programme for International Student Assessment PISA. A survey of 15-year-olds on reading,arithmetic and science,it placed India at the bottom of the pile of 74 countries,only better than Kyrgyzstan. The PISA results raised the question why even Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu,the two participating states from India,which traditionally rank high on human development indices,ended up so poorly. What is both confounding and pertinent to the India story is this: while we have taken our children to schools,we have not provided them with the education they deserve. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the midday meal scheme have succeeded in the former. The Pratham report too says that more schools meet RTE norms on facilities like toilets and drinking water. There can be no slackening on the infrastructure front they are essential for laying the foundations of a learning environment but the single-minded focus on infrastructure should now expand to fulfil the spirit of the RTE Act. We also need to ensure that children have grade-level competencies; skills and knowledge appropriate to their age. Teacher absenteeism has to be curtailed and quality of teaching needs to improve: start with incentivising teachers.
To fulfil the promise made in the Right to Education Act,teaching now has to catch up with schooling.
