overview-of-school-education-28-05-20101

1. SCHOOL EDUCATION IN
INDIA
CENTRE FOR CIVIL SOCIETY

2. I: Background

3. INDIA
INDIA
Some Basic Facts
• Area
:
• Population (2001)
:
• Literacy (2001)
:
3.2 million sq kms
1.03 billion (16% of world’s
population).
64.8 percent
Male : 75.03
Female : 53.07

4. FORM OF GOVERNMENT
 Constitutional Democratic Republic
 Free and fair elections at regular intervals for
Central and State legislatures and local
bodies
 Constitutionally guaranteed Fundamental
Rights, including Freedom of the Press
 Central and State Governments have
Constitutionally defined jurisdictions
 Education, a Concurrent responsibility

5. STATES & LANGUAGES
 Administrative Setup— Union of 28
States
and 7 Union
Territories
 Districts 600
 Rural Habitations 1.23 million
 Constitutionally
recognised languages 22

6. DIVERSITY OF CANVAS
 Vast developmental disparities between
States and within States
 Kerala close to China and Sri Lanka in
developmental indices; Bihar, UP closer
to Nepal and Bhutan
 In general, southern and western States
better developed
 Efficient implementation of educational
plans related to status of development

7. CHALLENGES IN
EDUCATION
 According to latest estimates, some 3.5 million
elementary school children still not in school
 Wide disparities in the educational status of different
regions
 Out of school children are from socially marginalised
groups, especially girls, working children, children of
very poor families, and children in difficult
circumstances
 Drop out rates at elementary level as high as 51
percent; rising to 62 percent at secondary level
 47 percent children in Class 5 are unable to read a
Class 2 text

8. II: The Policy Framework

9. POLICY FRAMEWORK
 Constitution of India: Directive Principles
 National Policy on Education (1986), as revised in
1992
 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments (1992)
transferring subjects, including education, to rural and
urban local bodies
 86th Constitutional Amendment (2002) making free
and compulsory elementary education a Fundamental
Right
 Greater focus on EFA, post Jomtien, resulting in higher
allocation of resources
 EFA National Plan of Action drawn up in 2003

10. III: Judicial and Other
Developments

11. THE FIRST SIGNIFICANT
JUDICIAL INTERVENTION
 Mohini Jain vs State of Karnataka, SC, 1992
 Right to education concomitant to Fundamental
Rights
 Every citizen has a right to education under the
Constitution
 The act of recognition of private institutions in
itself creates an instrument of State that can be
used to deliver the obligations of the State

12. THE SECOND SIGNIFICANT
JUDICIAL INTERVENTION
 J P Unnikrishnan vs State of Andhra
Pradesh, SC 1993
 Reviewed the decisions in Mohini Jain vs
State of Karnataka
 Held that the right to education is implicit
and flows from the right to life guaranteed
under Art 21
 Every child has a right to free education until
he completes the age of 14 years; thereafter
his right is circumscribed by the economic
capacity of the State

13. THE 1990S
 A period of liberalisation and globalisation
 Adoption of New Economic Policy
 Borrowing from IMF and World Bank coupled with a Structural
Adjustment Programme
 Implicit withdrawal from the social sector, with a greater role for private
entities
 International compulsions
 EFA, Jomtien 1990
 Ratification of UN CRC, 1992
 Obligation to report on progress from time to time
 Acceptance, for the first time ever, of external assistance in education
for DPEP and others

14. CIVIL SOCIETY
ORGANISATIONS
 Number of very active NGOs around this time
 Pratham
 MV Foundation
 Global Campaign for Education (international)
 NAFRE
 Private sector initiatives (CSR related)
 Ambani-Birla Report on Education Reform
 Elementary education must entirely be a State responsibility
 Other Public Interest Litigations
 165th
report of the Law Commission

15. IV: Programmes and Initiatives

16. INDIAN AGENCIES IN EDUCATION
 ECCE & Gender Equality – Ministry of Women &
Child Development
 Elementary Education Dept of School Education
 Adult Education& Literacy
 Youth and Adolescents – Ministry of Sports & Youth
Affairs

17. SCHOOL INITIATIVES: ECCE
 Main vehicle Integrated Child
Development Services Scheme (ICDS),
covering 54 million children in the 0-6
year age group
 Provides a mix of 6 services:
supplementary nutrition, immunisation,
health check up, referral services, pre
school education and nutrition and
health education
 USD 2 billion allocated in Budget 2009-10

18. SCHOOL INITIATIVES: DPEP
 Preceded by the Bihar Education Project (UNICEF),
Lok Jumbish (SIDA), Shiksha Karmi Project (SIDA), UP
Basic Education Project
 Launched in 1994 to universalise access and
retention, to improve learning achievements and to
reduce social gaps
 District-based, with a focus on community
involvement, combined with institutional capacity
improvement
 At its peak, in 273 districts in 18 States
 Among other achievements (infrastructure, etc),
succeeded in raising awareness about the importance
of education

19. SCHOOL INITIATIVES:
SSA
 Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), national flagship
programme for UEE, launched in 2001
 Covers 210 million children, 1 million schools and
nearly 4 million teachers
 Annual expenditure on the programme
approximately USD 3.5 billion; overall
expenditure on elementary education USD 25
billion
 180,000 new school buildings, 700,000 additional
classrooms, 230,000 new toilets and 170,000
drinking water facilities provided so far

20. SSA GOALS
 All children in school by 2005
 Bridging gender and social gaps:
 Primary 2007
 Elementary 2010
 Universal retention by 2010
 Focus on satisfactory quality with emphasis on
education for life

21. SCHOOL INITIATIVES: MDM
 Launched in 1995 to provide a meal to all
primary school children
 World’s largest school feeding
programme, covering 112 million children
in 950,000 schools
 Has resulted in improving retention,
reducing drop out rates and improving
nutritional status of children
 2009-10 budget outlay USD 2 billion

22. SCHOOL INITIATIVES: SECONDARY
EDUCATION
 93 million children estimated to be in the 14-18 year
age group
 Only 33 million enrolled in secondary institutions
 Two thirds out of school
 Current spending on secondary education USD 1
billion per annum
 Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, a programme for
universalising access to secondary education
launched in 2008

23. PROGRAMMES FOR
GIRLS
 Special schemes targeted at girls, apart from focus on
girls in general schemes
 Kasturba Gandhi Ballika Vidyalaya (KGBV)
 National Programme for the Education of Girls at the
Elementary Level (NPEGEL)
 Mahila Samakhya
 Removal of gender (and other) disparities at the primary
levels (I-V) by 2007, and elementary (I-VIII) level by 2010
 Comprehensive plan for adolescents, especially girls, in
the Tenth Five Year Plan
 According to UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report 2006,
India achieved gender parity at elementary level in 2005

24. YOUTH AND
ADOLESCENTS
 Population – approx 230 million (22.8% of total)
 Development of this group falls under the purview of several Ministries
 Comprehensive National Youth Policy adopted in 2003
 Life skill education among adolescents supported by WHO and UNFPA,
especially for girls
 Approximately 8 million rural youth covered through Nehru Yuva Kendra
Sangathan (NYKS) for social development, including the Red Ribbon Express
Initiative for HIV/AIDS awareness
 National Service Scheme also targets youth in colleges and schools for
constructive social programmes
 National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) provides opportunities of
Distance Education to those who are unable to continue with formal
education

25. ADULT EDUCATION
 National Literacy Mission to provide functional literacy to all
adults
 To achieve sustainable threshold literacy (75%) by 2007
 597 districts covered under AE programmes; 485 under PLP and 328
under CE
 Recently recast as Saakshar Bharat to focus on adults above 15
years, with a special focus on female literacy
 Vocational education and skill development through 157 Jan
Shikshan Sansthans
 Absolute number of illiterates declined by 25 million between 1991-
2001
 Gender gap reduced from 24.9% in 1991 to 21.6% in 2001

26. NEW INITIATIVES
 Education Cess @ 2% imposed on all Central taxes to
augment resources for EFA
 Estimated yield in 2009-10: US $ 4 billion
 Increased to 3% with effect from 2006 to provide for
secondary education
 Legislation detailing elementary education as a
Fundamental Right recently notified
 ICDS universalised to cover all habitations
 Mid-day Meal scheme expanded to cover upper primary
classes
 Scheme for universal access to secondary education being
launched

27. V: The Right to Education

28. THE INDIAN
CONSTITUTION
 Superior or supreme law of the land, reflecting
the relationship of the State with its citizens
 Includes Fundamental Rights and Directive
Principles of State Policy
 Fundamental Rights are enforceable, justiciable
 Directive Principles non-binding, but meant to
guide the State
 Together known as the “conscience of the
Constitution” (K C Wheare, Modern
Constitutions)

29. WHY A RIGHT TO
EDUCATION?
 Right to Education linked to a fundamental debate at the
time of writing the Constitution
 Related to governance itself, whether to include
universal adult franchise or not
 Opponents argued that providing a right to vote to all, when
most were illiterate, would negate democracy
 Art 45 introduced as a compromise
 “The State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten
years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free
and compulsory education for all children until they complete
the age of fourteen years” (emphasis added)
 Only Directive Principle with a time frame, indicating that our
leaders were not prepared to give more than ten years to
establish democracy on the bedrock of universal education

30. HOWEVER…
 The time frame of ten years was never respected
 Government and the bureaucracy concluded that
adequate financial resources were not available
 Number of illiterates in the country rose from
294.2 million in 1951, to 325.5 million in 1961

31. THE CONSTITUTION (86TH
AMENDMENT) ACT, 2002
 Adds a new Fundamental Right (“Right to Education”) by inserting
Article 21A:
“The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all
children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the
State may, by law, determine.”
 Changes Article 45 (in the Directive Principles) to:
“The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and
education for all children until they complete the age of six years.”
 Adds the following (eleventh) Fundamental Duty in Article 51A:
(It shall be the duty of every citizen of India…)
“(k) who is a parent or guardian to provide opportunities for
education to his child or as the case may be, ward between the age
of six and fourteen years.”

32. BASIC CONCEPTS
 “Compulsory Education” defined as the
obligation of the State to take all necessary
steps to ensure that every child participates in,
and completes Elementary Education
 “Free Education” defined as freedom from
liability to (i) pay any fee to the school, and (ii)
incur such other prescribed expenses as may
be likely to prevent the child from participating
in and completing Elementary Education

33. CHILD’S RIGHT TO
EDUCATION
 Spelt out as “right to free and compulsory
education of equitable quality” – in turn,
elaborated as the right to participate in
full-time free and compulsory elementary
education in a neighbourhood school,
which fulfils prescribed norms regarding
infrastructure, staffing,curriculum, etc
 Suitable provisions for non-enrolled
children to enable them to join age
appropriate grades

34. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE
STATE
 Responsibilities at various levels (Centre,
State, local authority) spelt out
 State to make available a neighbourhood
school, which fulfils prescribed norms, for
every child within three years
 Regular monitoring and taking all
necessary steps including removal of all
barriers (social, economic, academic,
physical, etc), so that every child
completes Elementary Education

35. Thank you
Questions/comments:
amit.kaushik@pratham.org