Quality Human Capital Can Be Created Only If School Education Is Galvanised

We are not so serious in collecting data to find out the percentage of the students from rural government schools, who get jobs by clearing various examinations conducted by UPSC

India can certainly boast of having one of the largest state-run school education systems in the world. Its quality has also improved considerably over the last decades, thanks to continuous reforms and large-scale investments.

However, monumental disparities in terms of quality and content continue to exist between elite institutions in the urban centres and the average schools in the countryside. Public spending on education is certainly increasing but not commensurate with the needs. It is not even four per cent of our national gross domestic product (GDP), though experts expect not less than six per cent of GDP to be spent on education – primary, secondary and higher.

Even the states are not able to spend more on education due to funds crunch. Parents are willing to spend more on their children’s education but they are not left with much of savings after meeting their basic needs in view of ever spiralling cost of living.

Given the fact that the elite schools in the private sector are not inclusive and affordable for the masses of the country and the average government school lags way behind the standards of their urban counterparts, India as a nation must now work hard to make sure equity and inclusivity in education in general. We will have to galvanize our entire school education ecosystem where the attendance of students and teachers is guaranteed along with responsible and outcome-oriented classroom teaching. Since the government schools have a majority of students from weaker and low-income groups, monstrous efforts, complete dedication, and funding are required to transform what we have in the name of school education today. The task will become much easier if the private schools are closed in phases or are restricted up to Class V and from Class 1, every student should essentially be enrolled in the government schools. It will lead to a kind of renaissance in our education system.

Since our ruling class is not so keen to think along taking over health and education as a fully state responsibility, perhaps due to their inherent penchant for maintaining the chasm between haves and have nots chasm, till then I will recommend to bring in more elements of accountability, outcome and transparency in the country’s school education system, as we have to create mass quality human capital for future challenges and realize the goal of Viksit Bharat. It will help us in addressing multiple issues including rampant disparities, atrocities, exploitation, discrimination and deprivation – some serious ailments we have inflicted upon ourselves due to our caste-religion based biases and prejudices. We need to remember that by depriving our own people of their right to education in the olden days, we only weakened our nation’s social fabric and cohesion, leading to our slavery. For centuries, our forefathers lived as slaves of foreigners and those among us who practiced caste-based discriminatory social disorder and persecuted us for showing the guts to stand up against their inhuman acts.

As a nation we heaved a sigh of relief by becoming independent in 1947 and adopting Dr. B.R. Ambdekar’s Constitution on January 26, 1950, thereby becoming a republic. Since then, a lot has changed thanks to progressive leadership and affirmative policies but changes have not been too deep and wide to wipe out the scar of caste-based discrimination, deprivation and exploitation, thereby only ensuring that the majority of the people are denied their share in the best of national resources, facilities, privileges, opportunities, and responsibilities.

As a result, the haves among us continue to dominate the system. They decide the future policies, programmes and their implementation with little or no say of the targeted beneficiaries. The agonising outcome – 85 per cent of the country’s total population contributes only around three crore gross enrolments in higher education, while around two crores of enrolments come from the nation’s 15 per cent population.

So, a pertinent question arises: How alarming or satisfying are the ground realities? According to the Union Ministry of Education’s Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus, a data aggregation platform to collate school education details from across the country, enrolment in schools across India fell by 37 lakh in 2023-24 as compared to the previous year.

The number of enrolled students in 2022-23 was 25.17 crore, the figures for 2023-24 stood at 24.80 crore. The number of girl students dropped by 16 lakhs during the period under review, while the number of boy students fell by 21 lakh. The representation of minorities in total enrolment stood at around 20 per cent. Among the minorities, 79.6 per cent were Muslims, 10 per cent Christians, 6.9 per cent Sikhs, 2.2 per cent Buddhists, 1.3 per cent Jains, and 0.1 per cent Parsis.

At the national level, 26.9 per cent students registered in the UDISE Plus were from the general category, 18 per cent from Scheduled Caste, 9.9 per cent from Scheduled Tribe, and 45.2 per cent from the Other Backward Class category. Overall, more than 19.7 crore students provided Aadhar numbers by 2023-24.

According to the report, in states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan, the percentage of schools available is more than the percentage of students enrolled, implying underutilisation of available schools. Whereas in states like Telangana, Punjab, West Bengal, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Bihar, the percentage of available schools is significantly less as compared to enrolled students, indicating better utilisation of infrastructure.

There is little or no debate on the quality of learning and skilling of the students studying in the government schools.

We are not so serious in collecting data to find out the percentage of the students from rural government schools, who get jobs by clearing various examinations conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Their poor enrolment especially in the country’s top higher education institutions (HEIs) and, others in general, is indicative of the fact that they drop out in massive numbers after completing their schooling.

It is a painful scenario, which does not draw the attention of policy makers in general, and champions of the welfare of SCs, STs, OBCs and Minorities among us. The students from economically weaker sections (EWS), who are from high caste Hindus and a few other dominant castes, who are vying for OBC status, have reservations in admissions and in hostels in several such institutions where OBCs don’t have.

The situation sounds quite hilarious on the face of it but then the grimness that makes you to cry.

(The writer is a senior journalist, author and columnist. The views expressed are strictly his personal)