2. The Crux
• 58% of children do not complete primary education in India.
• According to the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2012, 10 crore
children in India are two or more years below their grade level.
• As of 2012, only 30% of standard three students could read a standard 1
text a drop from 50% in 2009.
• The ASER report also estimates that only 50% of rural children enrolled in
standard five can fluently read a standard two text book.
• 40% of standard five students in rural India cannot solve simple two-digit
subtractions
3. Overview Of the Problems
• Quality of education is directly proportional to the available resources
which means lack of resources results in low quality.
• Lack of “Awareness” or importance of primary education by parents
results in the matter being taken “lightly.
• The current “incentive based systems” aims at ‘quantity’ not quality.
• Accessibility to educational materials such as books, varies from
region to region.
• Lack of trained teachers, mediocre infrastructure at rural areas,
gender discrimination adds to the problem.
4. Proposed Solutions (Brief)
• Sharing Resources . Government can use private school’s
infrastructures to provide cheap yet quality education.
• Sponsorship programs to be held for additional funding.
• Tying up with the NGO’s for working at the grass root level
• Flexible Medium of instruction with emphasis on English and Hindi.
• Vocational training for teachers who are posted to teach in
government funded schools.
• Parental awareness i.e. to lower the parental pressure
• Changes in the curriculum by adding a trade subject
5. 1. Sharing Resources
One of the most effective ways to enhance quality of education… at
least the learning environment is sharing the resources.
• Using private school building's after their school hours for teaching.
• Access to their Labs, libraries, playground and other facilities .
• Make it a rule for every private (day) schools to “share resources”.
• Benefits for both the parties. Government pays the private institution
while government enjoys their infrastructure .
• A better learning environment is created.
• A quick and effective solution.
6. 2. Sponsorship Programs
Private funding can be used for various purposes such as building new
infrastructure to hiring better teachers.
• Organize funding programs.
• “Sponsor a class/kid” per sponsor kind of deals.
• One way to bring sponsors is to provide incentives to the sponsor
such as naming the building after them or the school after them etc..
• Another way is to tie up with the NGO’s (which passes some specific
predefined criteria) to organize campaigns
7. 3. Teaching the teachers
Teachers play a vital role in developing the kid both mentally and
emotionally. They must be taught “how to teach”.
• Before posting as a teacher, they must be trained well.
• Training must include ways to handle children, ways to make the theory
more application oriented, less capital punishment , and to teach with a
sense of morale.
• Encourage innovation among the children.
• Value education with a bit of spirituality.
• No bias whatsoever. Gender or otherwise.
8. 4. Overhauling the Curriculum
The Current curriculum focusses more on theories of science and mathematics
rather than their day to day use. Overhauling is the need of the hour
• Basic mathematics must be demonstrated practically. For example “2+2=4”
should be demonstrated using everyday objects instead of just being written on
the blackboard. Likewise for other operations.
• Addition of subjects such as art, music, craft, pottery, modelling etc.
• Developing interest for a particular subject by showing experiments and models.
• No gruelling exams, instead , weekly evaluation by the teacher.
• Allowing the children to innovate.
9. 5.Miscellanious
• Removal of parental pressure. No “classes” for primary school kids.
The theme must be “play and learn”
• Medium of instruction must be simple and understandable with
emphasis on English and Hindi.
• No force feeding attitude both for parents and teachers. If the kid
doesn’t want to learn science teach him/her something else.
•
10. Conclusion
Someone once said
“Don’t teach your children to be rich, teach them to be able so that
when they grow up they understand the value of things and not the
price of it”
Similarly the way the kids are taught at the primary level matter the
most, not the “number” of kids that are taught .
Implementing the above solutions will not only solve the quality
problem but will generate a new generation of innovators who will
make sure that each and every individual in our country is “EDUCATED”.
