Glimpses Of UP, Bihar And Kerala
Uttar Pradesh is as state in the northern India, with over 200M inhabitants. It
is the most populated state of India, as well as the most populated country
subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 after India had become a
republic. It was a successor of United Province during the period of the
dominion of India (1947-1950), which in turn was a successor of united province
established in 1935 and eventually of the United province of Agra and Oudh
established in 1902 during the British era.
The state is so giant that it is divided into 75 districts. As per estimations,
on the score of 2011 census, general community constitute of 14.2%, OBCs
constitute 44%, SCs constitute 20.5% , STs constitute 0.1% and Muslims
constitute 20% of total UP's population.
Bihar is a state in the eastern India. It is the third largest state by
population and 12th largest by territory. In ancient India and classical India,
the area that is now Bihar was considered a centre of power, learning and
culture, but since the 70s, Bihar has lagged far behind other Indian states in
terms of social, education and economic development.
God's own Country (Kerala) is a state on the Malabar coast of India with 33M
inhabitants as per 2011 census, Kerala is the 13th largest Indian state by
population. Kerala has lowest population growth rate in India, the Highest
development index, the Highest literacy rate, Highest life expectancy and the
Highest sex ration. The state topped in the country to achieve SDGs according to
"Annual Report of NITI AYOG" recently published. On the score of these laudable
achievements, usually Kerala is referred as Most developed state of India.
SDG Index And Its Findings
Recently, the "Think Tank' of India (NITI AYOG) released the 3rd edition of SDG
India index and dashboard. This index monitors the country's progress on the
goals on the score of data- driven assessment. This index represents the
articulation of the comprehensive nature of global goals under the 2030 agenda,
while being abreast of National priorities.
In the index, Kerala again retained its top position with a score of 75. Kerala
also attained highest position in the SDG4 (Education). The two very politically
rich and hotshot states of India (UP and Bihar) both led by the NDA regime in
one way or other ranked at the last with total score of 60 and 52 respectively,
however both UP and Bihar improved their ranking from previous findings.
In this Index, States and UTs are classified in 4 categories based on their SDG
index score.
- Aspirant (0-49)
- Performer (50-64)
- Front Runner (65-99)
- Achiever (100)
Kerala is in the front runner category, whereas UP and Bihar both are still
in performer category. It has been mandated by the UN to achieve all the goals
by the 2030, but still in India no states have achieved the landmark of 100% or
even 90%. In such situation, a conundrum arises, will India achieve its SDG 4 by
2030? The SDG 4 calls to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education to
every individual.
This goal also gets reflected in our constitutional provisions (Article 21A,
Article 40) policies and plans of India since 1947. However, since 1947 itself
our country is experiencing increase in educational divide between India and
Bharat. India's progress in the field of education at all levels is that of
mixed success story. While India has carried the day in terms of providing
"Education" but in terms of providing "Quality Education" definitely it lags
behind.
The significant progress has been made by the India with higher enrolment and
graduation rates for girls in each of the primary and secondary schools. The
"New Education Policy" and SDG 4 addresses the priority of quality universal
education and lifelong learning. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, the govt's run
initiative aims to ensure universal education of high quality for all Indians
with the introduction of a focused nutritional support system, higher learning
and teachers training.
To achieve the aim of SDG 4 India's overall budgetary requirement is in the
amount of 142 L CRORE. Even though there is no monetary disparity found, there
are extreme disparities found. There are extreme disparities of early childhood
education and tertiary and higher education. Despite the expansion of
pre-education institutions early childhood care and education remain less to be
inspired, due to the implementation gap and negligible fundings.
There are substantial numbers of children who move to higher class without
having requisite reading and arithmetic skills thus indicating that learning
outcomes of children remains abysmally poor.
Participation of women is also a serious concern for India. Definitely, India
needs to hit the nail on the head, if it wants to envisage the vision of
providing quality education to "AADHI AABADI".
Skilling of youth, adult for SDG 4 is still a herculean task for India.
Government's steps to improve transition from schools to colleges and
universities and to sustainable jobs are not adequate in its implementation. The
National policy for skill development and entrepreneurship and programmes such
as PMKVY, DDUGKY among others are definitely there, but they are not sufficing
to augment the achievement of SDG 4. Public financing on education has been
decreasing for the past 3 years getting all the diverse learners into schools,
colleges and universities with quality standard requires much funds.
By looking at the current investment pattern on education, it will be herculean
task for India to achieve the 2030 agenda. Undoubtedly India has come a long way
to promote inclusive, equitable and quality education. Though considerable
improvement has been witnessed in recent years, India has a long way to travel
now in order to meet the target of SDG 4 by 2030.
Sex Ratio
The lack of quality education and palmy days hold in leash the increment of Sex
ratio. There are multiple factors affecting the sex ratio. Sex selection
technology and medical technology is misused in India for detecting the sex of
unborn child. Prevalence of Son preference is also biggest cause, but the
biggest impediment is definitely "Lack of proper education". This contentious
can be proved by the data of census 2011.
Sex ratio for most literate state of India is 1084 (Much more than National's
average), whereas the sex ratio of UP and Bihar is 912 and 915 respectively.
Both the states have Sex ratio lower than national average, a cause of concern
for various stakeholders. Definitely such large gap among these 3 states is
sufficient enough to keep the government on the horns of dilemma. As a
responsible democratic and socialist government, it is the duty of UP and Bihar
government to learn what the Kerala has done, if both the governments' want to
remain in the good books of "Janta Janardan".
Constitutional Position About Education In India
Initially, education was a subject under state list, but after the 42nd
amendment of 1976, it was transferred to concurrent list. Now education in India
comes under concurrent list which means education is under the domain of central
and state government both.
Our forefathers and members of constitutional assembly were ready to recognising
the importance if education in blossoming of any tyro democracy, but they were
not in a flutter for adding this right in the fundamental rights. It was a
result of this dump approach, that it took almost 50 years in India for the
inclusion of "Right to Education" in Part 3 of Indian constitution. India also
set Thames on fire, when it enacted RTE ACT,2009 which says- "All the concerned
persons and government must ensure their part in order to deliver free and
compulsory education to the children of 6-14 age bracket".
But with the passage of time, this act has now become a broken reed. The major
red heering with this provision is that, this right excludes the children of age
group of 0-6 years as well as 14-18 years from its ambit. Excluding the young
people aged 14-18 years from the ambit of 21A is creating an eccentric
difference in the country as young people between this age have nowhere to go.
The paradox here is that on one hand, the right to education under Article 21A
provides free and compulsory education up to the age of 14 and on the other hand
the "Juvenile Justice Act,2000" doesn't allow the employment of children below
the age of 18.
After analyzing such pick holes," We the people of India" can suggest some
amendments to our constitution. The protection under Article 21 of Indian
constitution must be extended from 3 to 18 years alike "JJ Act of 2000". Another
suggestion that can be proved Midas touch is the "Inclusion of Minorities school
in the ambit of Article 21A".
Role Of Governance In Ensuring Quality Education
Governance is the process by which government makes and implements policy
decisions that influence the finance and delivery of education to citizen of
nation and states. Good governance in education is concerned with how a school
system composes policies, produce funds, expend funds, teacher preparation for
teaching, scheming, curricula and administration of school populations. In short
governance is responsible for school's effectiveness, quality teaching and
accountability.
Good governance is a major factor in improving the quality of education. It is a
common knowledge that all those who have role in the education system know too
well the crises facing the present-day formal education. These issues include
political instability in the country, shortage of funds, facilities such as
classrooms, equipment, teaching materials and the likes, brain drain, youth
population expansion, the rising cost of production, inadequate information, the
politicization of education, shortage of education personnel, students' unrest
and examinations' malpractices among others.
Poor governance gives rise to many of the problems in the educational system of
developing countries. Several studies have been carried out by various NGOs in
the area of good governance and education. Yousuf and Afolabi conducted an
investigation on the effective management of education in Nigeria as a panacea
to good governance. Muhammad Farooq, Farhan and Shazi conducted a content
analysis of education and good governance in public schools of Pakistan.
But the brighter side of this phenomenon is that there are countries and even
states, who are working heart and soul to deliver the quality education top its
citizens on the score of its good governance and Kerala is one of them.
On the auspicious occasion of "Good governance day", celebrated on 25 dec, the
Indian government released the "Good governance Index 2021". This index is based
on 10 different sectors and 58 diverse indicators. In this index Kerala secured
fifth in the country and first among the southern states of India.
This ranking of Kerala not only shows the commitment of Kerala's government
towards providing education but also shows the cheek by jowl relationship of
education with good governance. For all the progress that Kerala has made in the
field of education since 1947 the lion's share of credit goes to governance
model.
This success of Kerala is not flash in the pan rather it is a by-product of
Kerala government's vision, planning and good governance. Every state especially
UP and Bihar must try to replica the governance model of Kerala, because it will
be good turn towards the people of these states.
Importance Of Budget- Is Budget's Crunch Rocking The Boat Of The Northern States Of India?
Availability of the budget is paramount for any project. The vision and budget
must hang together in order to come off with flying colours. Every sector of the
economy bank on finance for its successful implementation and education sector
is no exception to it.
Modern Indian needs to spend 6% of its GDP on education according to "New
Education Policy". In 2021-22, a year in which we are celebrating the "Azadi ka
Amrit Mahotsav", the fact that behaves as bull in China shop is that the India's
spending on education is only 3.1% of its GDP. Today in India approx. 10 lakh
government schools which constitute nearly 42% of total schools are dead broke.
In India, government spending on school education is mostly for government
schools and a very small proportion goes to government aided schools. Private
schools do not receive funds from government. Since the education is the
concurrent subject, hence both the union and state government spend on
education.
The central government contributes to education programmes in two ways:
"Through Centrally sponsored schemes" and "Central sector schemes". But since we
are examining the education sector of three "States", it becomes imperative for
us to analyse the fundings of state. States contribute the most on education but
the states to a very large extent cut a sorry figure, when it comes to spending
on the education. States vary greatly in how much they spend on education.
For instance, Kerala in its 2021 budget allocated 27467cr, whereas the most
politically influential state of India (UP) allocated 21728cr and the State
commonly refer as "Bimaru Rajya" (of course, which is not true) allocated
highest among these three 38035.93cr.
We can observe that the sending of Kerala on the education is more than the UP
but lesser than that of Bihar. Now here the role of Leadership, Parents,
Government machineries, Bureaucracy and Good governance come into play. Despite
spending the highest dividends of its annual budget, Bihar was ranked at the
bottom of "School education quality index".
According to research done by "National institution of public finance and
policy" Bihar needs 75.13% more classrooms, 232% more rooms for teachers, 791614
more teachers to meet the norms prescribed by the RTE Act,2009. Bihar is in the
dire need of increasing its spending/child from 5595 to 18029 at the drop of
hat, because it is the only children who are bearing the burnt. Apart from
Bihar, UP spends 13102/student, which is almost 1.5times less than what (19419)
Kerala spends.
After analysing the facts, now it is necessary to examine the Kerala model above
all-in apple-pie order. Definitely, the money plays extremely important role but
only the money can't pay the rich dividends in future, apart from money there
are other factors as well:
- Roots in colonial era:
The royal king of Kerala in 1817 proclaimed education as the responsibility
of the state and emphasised on the "Political Will" rather than the
"Political Economy" for ascertaining the expenditure on education.
- Strength of Teachers:
Kerala posses around 46 lakh students, 16000 schools and around 1.70L
teachers. The student-teacher and school-student ratio reveal a healthy
scenario, although not as fit as fiddle. Availability of 20,000 non-teaching
staffs in Kerala unlike of UP and Bihar proves shot in the arm of Kerala's
teachers. Hence the teachers in Kerala are not over burdened with several
non-teaching and administrative works.
- Consistency of Policies:
In 1989-90 the left government blaze the trail of total literacy campaign
and launched PRISML (Promoting regional schools to international standard
through multiple interventions) and whooping allocations to development in
each "Vidhan Sabha" can also be seen as the reason behind the shift of
nearly 2.5lakh students from private to public schools.
- More than funding, Kerala has concentrated its effort on
"De-centralised" funding, thus preventing the people, who want to feather
their own's nest.
- Comprehensive Nutrition:
The Kerala model is not followed by fits and starts. It focused on the
comprehensive interventions pertaining to nutrition, health, sanitation and
early simulation as well, which is the reason why Kerala brings down the
house.
- Life expectancy at birth is also one of the factors that substantially
affect the literacy in any country. According to a report by "Population
Reference Bureau", life expectancy in Kerala, UP and Bihar is 77years,
64years and 65 years respectively. It is worthy of noting that although
there is a close shave between the life expectancy of Bihar and UP, the UP
(67.68%) is much better than that of Bihar (61.80%) in terms of literacy
rate, calling in question the budget allocation, efficiency and vision of
Bihar's government.
- It is absolutely mare's nest to assume that Parents' education fall flat
on the prevalence of education in house. According to a report collected by
ASER, as many as 99.1% Mothers of school receiving children are literate,
which is feather in Kerala's cap. While the literacy level of mothers in UP
and Bihar is 37.30% for both (second lowest in country). Mother's education
in UP and Bihar is taking up the current literacy level to the dogs. Is this
not a right time to start adult education program in UP and Bihar? I think
the governments are great hand than me.
- Factors, such as wealth level of family also effect enrolment in
schools. The economic development of both agriculture and non-agriculture
sector in Kerala also support the Kerala education model.
- Usually, in India it is the "Panchayati Raj System" remains in the red.
It doesn't receive sufficient applaud but while writing it is worth
mentioning that, it was "Gram Sabha" that make Kerala first few states that
successfully became "Open defecation Free" leaps and bounds. The
construction of "Izzatghars" in the schools for female students under the
"Swachh Bharat Mission" proved Midas touch.
- Physical Infrastructure:
- School Building:
It Is heartening to see that almost 96% government and
private schools have their own school building at all levels. If we talk about
government school building in the villages, the credit goes to "Panchayati Raj
Department" which almost all the time gives a good account of itself.
It is also
evident from the various surveys that the state level variation with respect to
school building is also not very wide and almost all states fall in the category
of above 90% and even some of the states like Kerala have completed this task
out and out. However, the school buildings of purvanchal (most populated part of
UP) and Bihar do not fit to hold a candle to their Kerala's counterpart.
- Water Facility:
Availability of water ensures healthy, hygiene and clean
environment. This was firstly realized by the Kerala. As a result, Kerala has
achieved the Universal availability of water facility. However, the most
populated state of country is also going the whole hog to attain this target by
2 oct 2022. But in Bihar still 3397 schools don't have drinking water facility
giving the students a long rope of dropping out of schools.
- Boundary Wall:
Absence of proper fencing, boundary wall brings unwelcomed and
hostile guests, leaving the entire schools' environment in high and dry. Kerala,
HP and Karnataka have also completed this herculean task, because of their iron
will, but UP and Bihar are far away from the universalization of boundary wall.
- Computer Facility:
Gone are the days, when computers were considered luxury
and were only needed in convent schools. In contemporary time of IT Revolution,
the availability of computers is imperative for the young students to keep
abreast of initial technology learnings. However, the data collected from the
website of Ministry of Education shows that state governments make light of this
fact.
It has been found that only 13% government primary and 37% government
upper primary schools have computer facility in it. There are as many as 17
states, whose progress is even below 10% in this domain. Jharkhand and Bihar
(Each with 3.8%) and UP with 7.5% are cutting sorry figure. The availability of
computers in primary and upper primary schools is also Kerala's Achilles heel.
Migration By Dint Of Lack Of Education
Migration is an age-old phenomenon that takes place due to plethora of reasons,
but it pinches the most when non-availability of quality education is also one
of the prominent reasons of the migration especially among the youth. In recent
years this migration has been increased manifold because of out of sorts
education system in most districts and uneven distribution of educational
resources across different regions of our country.
The growing gap between India
and Bharat is also paying foul with the education system and causing the
migration. The best data to study and analyse this phenomenon is census of 2011.
According to the 2011 census of India, 37% or 45.36 crore Indians have settled
in locations other than their previous residence, a remarkable jump from the
census of 2001, where this number was 31.45 crore. The census of 2011 puts
forward that total of 35,12,456 off which 60% were MALE migrated in the country
for education.
This means 1 migrant out of every 100 moves for the education.
This data surprisingly ranked UP AND Tamil Nadu at the top, observe these two
states observe most migration because of lack of education. In this aspect,
surprisingly Bihar rule the roost UP. Kerala has done extremely good work at the
primary and upper primary level but one can easily pick holes in Kerala's vision
for their higher education.
According to census,2011 each year 20000 students
migrate to other states for higher education on average. The sadder truth is
that in Kerala, the migration is "Inter- state", unlike UP and Bihar. Is
Kerala's resting on its laurels because of its tremendous achievement in lower
education should be moot point?
Education Migration also rock the boat of societal balance. Multiple social
factors like age, gender, caste and income levels come into picture while
understanding this phenomenon. Young children and adults less than 30 are less
likely to migrate when compare to youth between 16-30. Although this gap is
shrinking rapidly there still remains a gap. As per 2011 census, only 40% of
total migrants who moved for education were female.
This can be easily connected
to the societal barriers faced by a girl. Another social aspect is conflict/
political turmoil in the state. Many students from different states migrate to
other states simply to survive.
Information collected through various sources, clearly indicates that
educational institutions outside Bihar are far better than institution within
Bihar. The number of colleges for higher and technical education in Bihar is
minuscule as compared to other states in the country. Even the Kerala also
follows the same trajectory in terms of higher education.
This contentious is
supported by the college- population index released by UGC. Bihar's position is
amongst the lowest in the country with only 5.5 colleges/lakh population while
Kerala much smaller state has 34 colleges/lakh population. Definitely this is
feather in Kerala's cap.
The situation is more critical in Bihar in case of
technical education, where the number of colleges is insufficient. Apart from
the unavailability, even the existing institutions are in extremely bad shape
due to lack of infrastructures. Libraries are not equipped with good books and
quality journals. According to a survey 87% of respondents are willing to
migrate to other states for higher education. The major reason is again the lack
of quality education in Bihar.
However, in terms of education to the level of graduation UP does not make a wry
face. That is why, even though college-population index of Kerala is better than
that of UP, the students of Kerala prefer to migrate. The presence of IIT, AIIMS,
NIT, IIIT, NLU and Various central esteemed universities in UP win laurels.
Is The Growing Storage Of Subject Specialised Teachers Digging The Grave Of SDG 4 In India?
The recent annual state of the education report by UNESCO spotlights the poor
student-teacher ration in India. Currently the country is facing shortage of
over one million teachers and this storage in increasing further.
National
Education Policy,2020 has concentrated due importance to early childhood
education but with 32 students for over one teacher in primary school, 35% of
teachers with no contracts, low salaries and no health leaves the NEP2020 seems
like a fool's errand. Another report released by NITI AYOG states that a single
teacher may handle 100 plus students in rural areas as a result of shortage of
trained teachers and the causes underlying the collective failure are complex
and varied.
Many states in India have not deployed the three subject teachers necessitated
by the RTE ACT,2009. According to data published by the HRD Ministry (Now
Education Ministry) the state of UP the largest bill with 90% of upper primary
schools without all three subject teachers.
The problem is harsher in secondary
schools. Only 3.3% of all government secondary schools meet the norm of
employing 5 teachers and a headmaster. The thing that rubs us the wrong way is
that governments usually collect the vacancy related data, but these data is
seldom used for formulation or policies and appointment of teachers.
Posting and transfer of teachers in many states are politicised and school
leaders are rarely consulted, hence throwing the spanner in improving the
quality of education. There are six states namely Assam, MP, Odisha, Punjab,
Rajasthan and UP with surplus teachers. If we juxtapose the issue of surplus
teachers with non- availability of subject specific teachers, the picture
becomes quite clear.
For example: In Assam, there are 22852 vacancies at the
elementary level and 29000 surplus teachers at the elementary level. Hence the
need is to deploy them rationally, which is of course not an uphill task. But it
is only possible, if the states and central government leave no stone unturned.
Hence the issue of teachers' shortage, surplus teachers, non-availability of
subject specific teachers and schools with no teachers need to be studied
together to understand this conundrum. Administrative mechanisms to address this
problem should be devised based on the fundings of robust research data. India
will not be able to make progress in ensuring quality education for all unless
the government addresses such issues to the back bone and in a holistic manner.
Also, now it's high time to provide an updated pedagogy for teachers training
across government primary, upper primary and aaganwadis and to focus on the
emotional and mental health of pre-school educators who are responsible for
nurturing the future of India. They must be abreast of to identify and support
the issues prevalent among young children under their care.
Why The Results Of Competitive Exams Do Not Fit To Hold A Candle To Such Trends In Kerala's Top Rankings In Every Report? Is There Existence Of Any Paradox?
The news that "Shubham Kumar" a native of small district of Bihar has topped the
UPSC2020 is sufficient to rejoice every rank and file of UP and Bihar. The news
of "Aparajita Upadhyay" securing AIR 1 in CLAT 2020 proves shot in the arm of
every Bihari. Vaibhav Vishal native of Bihar also created history by getting AIR
1 with 100% in the JEE Main 2021.
Pal Agrawal and Aaveg Jain also take people by storm by securing AIR 3 and AIR
28 respectively in the JEE Advanced 2021.
According to a news report published by TOI, UP have second most IITians (4120)
after Rajasthan (4196). Bihar occupies 7th place in this list with 2435 IITians,
whereas the most "Literate" state of India (Kerala) occupies 15th place with
only just 908 IITians. It is not only about JEE. The data of UPSC also see eye
to eye with that of JEE. According to a report published in India today, UP and
Bihar are India's top two IAS churners.
The latest data collected from the DOPT
figures that out of 4443 IAS officers, 671 (almost 15%) of them are domiciled in
UP and Bihar contributes 421 (almost 10%) officers to the Nation's service.
Definitely it appears will o' the wisp, but it is true that if, Sachin Tendulkar
was born in a family settled in UP or Bihar, his parents would have forced him
to sit for the UPSC examination.
In recent years, the topper from Kerala in UPSC
only includes Mr. Jeydev CS (alumni of NLSIU), who came off with the flying
colours in the UPSC2019 by securing AIR 5. After looking at these data the moot
point arises that "Why Kerala despite of being most educated state of India" cut
a sorry figure in various national level competitive exams.
What are the reasons
that despite of lack of quality education in UP and Bihar, the students are up
to the mark in India's most difficult examination? Is there existence of any
paradox or is there something wrong with Kerala education model? All these
questions must be discussed heart and soul.
Bihar is by far one of the most backward and slowly growing economy in India. It
is a state where more than 50% of population are illiterate and there are
virtually no esteemed institutions, teachers, libraries, laboratories. Bihar's
educational institutions are underfunded. There are less than 20 medical,
engineering and law colleges in Bihar, which is much lesser than the smaller
cities like Pune, Chennai or any other.
Many parents have to sell their property
to send their kids to Delhi, Mumbai for the elusive education. But in spite of
these odds, almost 25% of 700 candidates, who qualified for IAS, IPS, IFS belong
to Bihar. Why and how do so many candidates from Bihar do so well in various all
India competitive exams? Is the million-dollar question puzzling everyone's
mind. To get the answer one has to analyse the socio, economic, political and
educational culture of Bihar and UP at close quarters.
Till few years ago,
agriculture was the main source of income of a majority of people, but not
anymore. Bihar never had private or PSU companies and which were there were
transferred to Jharkhand in 2000. As a result, the youth in Bihar is left with
Hobson's choice. The only option left is to settle for government jobs and when
it comes to that UPSC is the best option that offers both power and position.
The attraction of UPSC is the power associated with the job. An IAS officer
oozes power and Bihari's affection for power is universally known. Thus, we can
conclude though and through that Bihar has shortage of everything except ignited
minds.
Kerala's performance in UPSC is almost a damp squib in recent years. Former
Ambassador TP Srinivasan once opined that "Low standard of higher education,
Poor English skills" are at the bottom of this Kerala's failure. It is not only
about UPSC the performance of UP and Bihar has always ruled the roost Kerala's
performance in every type of exams.
Definitely there is existence of a paradox, because of Kerala's excessive focus
on "Literacy" rather than "Grooming students for Higher education".
What Is Wrong With Kerala's Education Model
Kerala's laudable achievements in the field of education, near total literacy,
free and universal primary education, low dropout rate, gender equality in
schools are well known. In these aspects Kerala is often compared with other
developed countries. These achievements of Kerala no doubt give a good account
of governance of Kerala's government belong to the post. Today the harsh reality
is that they only serve to conceal some of the serious shortfalls of Kerala's
education system.
These to certain extent, may also explain the paradox of Kerala's slow rate of economic growth. In the absence of adequate returns on the
huge investment made, Kerala's education system is slowly becoming a drag on its
economy. It looks like as though the colossal education system has become
obsolete and inflexible and therefore is unable to perform in the changed
context.
- Relevance to the production system:
The education system of Kerala has
evolved in response to the need for numeracy and literacy created by the
commercialisation and resultant trade, both domestic and international. In the
process of catering to the limited segments of white-collar job markets within
the state Kerala pedagogy system remained frozen as an inert academic exercise.
Higher education system has not been routed in Kerala' society. The pedagogic
practices followed by Kerala's higher education system are out model, so they
don't take into consideration the changing need and conditions of India and
Kerala.
- Literacy:
It is true that Kerala has attained near total literacy and is
decade ahead of all other states. In the absence of major post literacy
campaign, there seems to be a relapse in the case of adults who had been made
literate by intensive literacy campaigns. Education in Kerala follows a pyramid
pattern where the number of schools decrease as the levels of education
increase, leaving it with no higher education infrastructure. In the field of
higher education, Kerala lags behind not only in qualitative terms. Ratio of
enrolment at the higher education to secondary level is second lowest of Kerala
and is far lower than UP and Bihar.
- Technical Education:
The mismatch between demand and supply is more
pronounced in this sub segment. The technical education in Kerala has very
narrow base. In Kerala, according to few surveys done by the government, only
1.3 out of the 30 students applied are admitted in IITs, NITs and IIITs. The
opportunities for post-graduation in engineering are also inadequate in the
state. The ratio of seats at PG to UG in the state is only 7.2%.
- The need for change in the pedagogy structure:
Kerala's government must gird
up the loins and must ensure structural changes at every level. Kerala had
committed a mare's nest by standing apart from the National pattern by linking
its higher secondary education (+2) to higher education system co existing in
the same college campuses with degree and post graduate courses.
The de-linking
of pre degree course from colleges, however provides a good opportunity for
expansion of higher education with marginal investment in infrastructure. The
other effective way is to bring about a system of inter-collegiate teaching and
sharing of facilities like libraries and laboratories.
Except few all the
colleges in the Kerala are state affiliated colleges on the pattern of UK.
Though this trend of UK has been got off Scot free, Kerala is still suffering
from this plague. The Kerala is in the ultimate need to bring reforms in its
education sector, otherwise it will get itself into a mess in upcoming years.
Fair And Square Lessons For Up And Bihar
In dec 21, a panel formed by the Hon. PM of India Mr. Modi submitted its report.
The report pointing out that the parameters adopted to analyse the quality
education imparted proved that states had different achievements levels. The
report pointed out that even a state like Kerala which has the best performance
in lower primary education should learn from Andhra Pradesh. The report
submitted by the committee suggests few measures which 1must be undertaken by
the UP and Bihar, if they want to come out of the woods in nearby future.
- De-segregate data of student population, dropouts and factors like
livelihood induced migration, child marriages, gender discrimination which
help the state in addressing the educational need of population through AIEs must be collected.
- Pedagogy:
Review and enhance teaching methods in both formal regular and AIEs
centres to make it more interactive. Government must try to incorporate field
training and technology learning along with class room learning.
- In line with the National Education Policy:
The component of education must
be revisited in the ICDS, so as to enable private school like preschools before
being enrolled in class 1. Lack of which burdens the child in the later years
leading to fall in overall academic performance and low self-esteem.
- Embolden teacher's accountability:
The significant role played by the
teachers is out of question. There are strict guidelines regulating the service
of government, but they are not much effective for ad-hoc teachers. Government
must follow carrot and stick policy, because sometimes, they teach off hand thus
causing ruin.
- Financial Monitoring:
Financial monitoring is extremely important. Sometimes
the funds allocated are misappropriated thus proving nip in the bud.
- Monitoring Mechanism:
Monitoring mechanism of teachers' performance must be
imbibed in the education policy and it must be linked to their annual appraisal
process.
- Boost teacher student ratio:
Recruit subject specialist teachers especially
for students from class 5 onwards, if government wants to bring the palmy days
of Indian education system.
Conclusion
"If learning for all is not given the upper hand, if clear and achievable and
sound goals are not set, if teachers and parents are not supported in their
efforts to help children learn, India will lose all the potential benefits of
bringing every child to school. For a bright and hopeful future, whether as
individuals, as families or even as a country, we must aim for every child in
school and learning well".
But in India, sad reality is that currently, a large gap exists among states. On
the one hand, there are states which are affluent, prosperous but on other there
are states who are suffering from various ailments. In India, I think no
education model is in apple-pie order. Each model lacks something significant,
which can't be given a wide berth. For example, Kerala is able to carry its
point and win laurels, when it comes to primary and upper primary education, but
shows its checkered career in the terms of higher education.
In UP and Bihar, both states which are often included in the category of "BIMARU
STATE", are extremely good at various National and International exams, but due
attention is not given to literacy, adult education and women education, giving
rise to feet of clay.
It is this disparity among the states that is digging the grave of SDG 4 in the
country. After researching and writing this paper, I can conclude out and out
that, if we want to attain SDG 4, we have to adopt proper initiatives, policies
for making our education more progressive, sustainable and affordable. To bring
change our education system, we need to strengthen a school's basic unit as an
entity that involves human resources and material equipment that could
ultimately enhance the learning, training of students and culture of the school.
The primary objective of implementing SDG 4 is to create a school environment
that would boost learning and help students become responsible individuals of
this great country "Bharat".
With the Hope that we will achieve our SDG 4 by 2030-
Gung Ho Bharat!
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