The State and Education

That ‘education is the most important and effective route to steer a society into development’ is a view that will find umpteen buyers. This opinion has formed the crux of all policy decisions surrounding education initiatives in our country. All public discourse and dialogue, all commissions and committees ,all summits and seminars have been reiterating the same statement. Then what is it that has thwarted success in this sphere. The answer might not be as simple because when we attempt a critique of the superstructure under which the educational policy is drafted and implemented , there aren’t many flaws. The real cause of worry is that usually the laws that are rolled out either ridicule the spirit and essence of the constitution ,or fail to capture the problem appropriately , thus failing the citizenry .

The Kothari commission, 1966, under the leadership of Dr. D. S Kothari , was one of the first committees constituted to look into the educational scenario in the country and come up with recommendations. There have been other bodies set up after that too . All these commissions have just reiterated what had already been said in 1966, and ironically no advances have been made by the governments though these recommendations were drafted verbatim on their party’s manifestoes and also on the common minimum programs.

One of Kothari commission’s recommendation was that the public spending on education be increased to 6% of the GDP . This has featured on all party’s manifestos and yet after 45 years of the recommendation the figure is under 4% of the GDP. This has had serious consequences. Ambitious projects have faced financial constraints and have failed. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (education for all) which set out ambitious targets and required great commitment from the government was underfunded in a range from 43 to 57 % from the year 2001 to 2005 according to a CAG report. The government faced flak from the CAG on more than one account. Underfunding, inefficient utilization of resources and targets unachieved sums up the failure succinctly. What is startling is that the problem is neither the ignorance of the solution, nor the means to solve the problem. The problem is that of inaction.

The’ Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan’, a very noble concept , has remained a half hearted attempt on the part of the government. Though it is the government’s flagship program in education it has suffered for its overemphasis on ‘numbers’ and compromising quality. The government lay stress only on the enrolment of children and there wasn’t a satisfactory mechanism to assess learning outcomes and thus the quality of education suffered. As was noted by ‘Pratham’, the increase in enrolment in schools went hand in hand with poor learning levels.

The right to education act 2009, which was hailed by many as a landmark act that would go a long way in empowering people is actually something which does more harm than good. By restricting the ambit of the act to children from the age group of ages 6 to 14, the government denies education and care to children under 6 years of age. Hypothetically speaking if a child enters school at the age of 6 by the age of 14 he will have completed grade 8. The constitution envisages for education an empowering and enabling role which helps people get employed suitably. Government jobs require Class 12 as an eligibility and so the right to education act fails to uphold the constitutional spirit.

School enrolment rates and literacy levels never manifest the true picture of education in a society. As is understood literacy and education are two very different and separate concepts. As far as progressive education and education in the true spirit of the word is concerned the Kothari commission had envisaged and proposed a ‘Common School System’. This concept implied that all students irrespective of caste, creed, sex or location would have access to education of comparable quality. . The prime objective of the Common School System is equalization of educational opportunities; equalization cannot be achieved without bridging the yawning gap between the few expensive private schools and the multitude of government and local body schools, at least in regard to primary education, to begin with. This recommendation was hailed by all National Policy on Education commissions constituted after that and was further elaborated by the Review Committee of the National Policy on Education. . However this remains as a recommendation on paper.

40% of our population is under the age of 15 and this makes us a very young nation. This can help us be world leaders tomorrow by reaping this demographic dividend but if this young population is uneducated and thus more prone to social evils then this demographic dividend will in no time change into a demographic nightmare.

Thus if the government really intends to educate and empower the populace , what is required now is rolling out watertight laws and ensuring that they are implemented in the way they were envisaged. The government needs to act and act soon.

cheers!!!