For more than two decades now, a complex paradox has challenged India’s educational planners. The demand for quality education has been going up. School enrolment rates have also increased appreciably, especially after the implementation of the Right to Education Act 2009. Yet, as an array of scholarly literature and grass roots level surveys — including the annual ASER reports — shows, elementary reading, writing and arithmetic skills elude a substantial section of children even after spending eight to 10 years in school. Policies to address pedagogic deficits do not attain the desired results because local administrative agencies rarely take ownership of the education crisis. That’s why Punjab’s success in the Education Ministry’s Performance Grading Index — it evaluates a state’s performance on 70 parameters including learning outcomes — is so remarkable. The state topped the latest rankings, released on Sunday, on the back of a school revamping initiative by its education department. The brainchild of the state’s education secretary, the programme has rationalised teacher posting, ramped up infrastructure and made optimum use of both analogue and digital avenues. A 15 per cent increase in government school enrolment this year, amidst the pandemic, testifies to the initiative’s success.
The project has converted 67 per cent of the government-run schools into smart schools. But it is not totally technology-centred: School spaces such as doors, windows and classroom floors now serve as learning resources. This is the sort of creativity envisioned in the New Education Policy. That’s why Punjab’s reforms hold lessons for other states.
