UNIVERSALISATION OF ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
- Regaining School's Credibility "That does not finish the picture. We have the education of this future state. I say without fear of .my figures being challenged successfully, that today India is more illiterate than it was fifty or a hundred years ago, and so is Burma, because the British administrators, when they came to India, instead of taking hold of things as they were, began to root them out. They scratched the soil and began to look at the root, and left the root like that, and the beautiful tree perished. The village schools were not good enough for the British administrator, so he came, out with his programme. Every school must have so much paraphernalia, building, and so forth. Well, there were no such schools at all. There are statistics left by a British administrator which show that, in places where they have carried out a survey, ancient schools have gone by the board, because there was no recognition for these schools, and the schools established after the European pattern were too expensive for the people, and therefore they could not possiblly overtake the thing. I defy anybody to fulfil a programme of compulsory primary education of these masses inside of a century. This very poor country of mine is ill able to sustain such an expensive method of education. our state would revive the old village schoolmaster and dot every village with a school both for boys and girls." - MAHATMA GANDHI AT CHATHAM HOUSE, LONDON, OCTOBER 20, 1931
The Elusive Goal 6.1.1 The Constitution has enunciated the following Directive Principle of State Policy regarding Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE):-
"The State shall endeavour to provide within a period of 10 years from the commencement of the Constitution for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years." (Article 45)
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6.1.2 Universalisation was to have been achieved by 1960. In 1990, we are still nowhere near the goal of Universalisation of Elementary Education (i.e., upto class eighth) , or for that matter even primary education (i.e., upto class fifth). According to varying estimates available now, almost one-half of all children and two- thirds of the girls in the age group of 6-14 either do not enter the school at all or drop out at an early stage or, to put it better, are 'pushed out' of the school system (see Table 2).
6.1.3 In contrast, 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights'declares that all individuals, irrespective of sex, caste and economic status, have the 'Right to Education'. India rightly subscribed to this famous declaration. Now, time has come to recognise 'Right to Education' as one of the fundamental rights of the Indian citizen for which necessary amendments to the Constitution may have to be made and more importantly, conditions be created in society such that this right would become available for all children of India.
Recommendation The Right to Education should be examined for inclusion amongst the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India. All the socio-ecomonic measures, without which realisation of this right will not be possible, should be taken.
Problems and Issues - An Overview 6.2.1 The continued failure since independence to fulfil the Constitutional directive of providing education to all children upto the age of 14 years is a teasing reality. Undoubtedly this problem qualifies for being ranked as the most fundamental problem of our educational system. It is only in recent years that the nation has come to acknowledge the magnitude of the problem. More than half of all children (and not one-third, as was often claimed for years) and two-thirds of the girls are outside the ambit of education. Whatever hesitation may still exist must now give way to a frank admission of these facts so that an honest analysis of the causes of the problem may begin. The degree of failure is further accentuated in the case of the children of SC/ST and other educationally backward sections of society. The focus of the various strategies adopted so far to bring all children into schools has been on the factors which lie within the educational system. This is equally true of the NPE/POA. The socioeconomic and cultural factors have played only a marginal role in educational planning. This approach to universalisation ignores the hard social realities. For instance, according to certain estimates, more than 4.5 crores of
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children, constituting one-fourth of the school going age-group, are engaged in child labour. Many of these children face brutal work conditions in both the organised and unorganised sectors. The issues of social justice with respect to educationally backward sections of society and the gender bias rooted in the patriarchal Indian society are some of the other significant factors that have a major bearing upon participation of children in education. We have also pointed out elsewhere that there is an inseparable. link between the development policy and the capability of vast segments of our society to benefit from school education. It is in this perspective that the Committee presents below an overview of the major issues relating to the problem of universalization both from within and outside the education sector.
Enrolment 6.2.2 The official statistics on percentage of children enrolled in schools show a phenomenal rise form 42.6% in 1950-51 to 93.6% in 1986 at the primary level, and from 12.9% in 1950-51 to 48.5% in 1986 at the middle school level (see Table 1).
Table 1
GROSS ENROLMENT RATIO AT PRIMARY AND UPPER PRIMARY LEVEL
Year Primary (I-V) Upper Primary (VI-VIII)
in %age in %age
1950-51 42.6 12.9
1955-56 52.8 16.5
1960-61 62.4 22.5
1965-66 76.7 30.9
1970-71 76.4 34.2
1975-76 79.3 35.6
1978 81.7 37.9
1986 93.6 48.5
[Source: Report of the Working group on Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education set up for formulation of 8th Five Year Plan, Govt. of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Education, 1989].
These statistics are not normally accepted on their face value. A number of studies have revealed that the actual number of children attending schools even in Classes I and II is far less than what is claimed officially. For instance a recent micro-planning survey in Tikamgarh district, M.P. pointed out that the number of children actually attending schools in the 6-14 years age group in the rural areas was 42.7% of those on the official
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records. Spot studies in another instance have shown that many children whose names were enrolled in the school register had in fact not attended school for more than a few days'. It was pointed out that since teachers are under pressure to show better enrolment targets, they keep the names of these children alive in their registers'. In support of this presented below, are data on proportion of children in different age-groups attending schools.
Table 2
PROPORTION OF CHILDREN ATTENDING SCHOOL : 1981
(Percentage)
Population 6-11 years 11-14 years 6-14 years
All 47.15 51.96 48.72
Male 54.88 63.81 58.11
Female 38.45 38.67 38.52
Rural 41.27 45.69 42.69
Rural male 50.57 59.52 53.50
Rural female 31.28 30.12 30.93
Urban 68.83 72.93 70.26
Urban male 72.70 78.32 74.66
Urban female 64.71 66.98 65.52
Note The percentages given above do not correspond to enrolments in grades I to V and VI to VII.
(Source : Census of India, 1981, Computed and cited in Aggarwal, Y.P., Towards Education for All Children - Intent and Reality', J. Educational Planning and Administration, 2 (1&2), 1988].
6.2.3 It can be seen that almost 53% of children in 6-11 year age- group do not attend school and this proportion rises to 62% in the case of girls. This would mean that almost 4.6 crores children in this age group in 1986 were not attending school as opposed to the estimate of less than 60 lakhs based on published statistics. With the claim of Gross Enrolment Ratio in this age-group touching the level of 98% in 1987-88, the gulf between this claim and ground realities widens even further. While, according to estimates based upon Census of India figures, the number of children out of school in the age- group of 6-11 years in 1987-88 would be almost 5 crores, the Ministry's statistics on enrolment would place this number to about 20 lakh only.
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6.2.4 The magnitude of the problem of universalisation can be seen in Table 3 where population of children in the two relevant age groups, 6-10 years and 11-14 years, is projected upto the end of the Eighth Five Year Plan period.
Table 3
PROJECTED POPULATION
(in Crores)
Age Group 6-10 years Age Group 11-14 years
Year Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
1989-90 4.999 4.736 9.735 - - -
1990-91 - - - 3.715 3.528 7.243
1994-95 5.196 4.918 10.114 4.022 3.806 7.828
(Source: Report of the Working group on Early Childhood Education and Elementary Education set up for formulation of Eighth Five Year Plan, Govt. of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Education, 1989].
Disparities in Enrolment 6.2.5 Notwithstanding the serious doubts raised above about the validity of the enrolment data, a close examination draws attention to some interesting problems. As Table 4 shows, only 41% of the students enrolled in Classes I-V and 35% in Classes VI-VIII were girls. In rural areas, this percentage falls down further.
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Table 4
PERCENTAGE OF GIRLS' ENROLMENT TO TOTAL ENROLMENT (1986):
Classes I-V Classes VI-VIII
(6-11 years) (11-14 years)
All India 41.16% 35.45%
(Total)
Rural Areas 39.89% 32.05%
(Source Fifth All India Educational Survey (NCERT) 1986.]
6.2.6 Although the percentage of SC/ST children among all students enrolled at the primary level represents their respective proportions in the population, their participation at the middle and the high school level falls sharply in comparison to that of the other children (see Table 7, Chapter 4).
6.2.7 A district-wise analysis of the enrolment data has demonstrated that wide regional disparities exist in terms of the enrolment at both the primary and middle levels. These disparities are even more pronounced in the case of the enrolment of girls and children of SC/ST communities. The Committee have reported elsewhere that 123 districts can be identified which have a gross female primary level enrolment ratio of less than 50% and a rural female literacy rate of less than 10% (see Table 2, Chapter 4). Obviously these districts would need to be given priority in resource allocation. The need to conduct a similar analysis at block and sub-block levels can not be over emphasized.
Retention 6.2.8 As Table 5 shows, a large percentage of children drop out in the early stages of primary education, with 50% of them dropping out by Class V. At the middle school level, about 70% of the children who began education at Class I drop out before reaching Class VIII. This percentage can be as high as 75% in the case of girls at the middle school level. Similarly, the children of SC/ST communities drop out at a faster rate than those of the non-SC/ST communities (see Table 8, Chapter 4). The dimension of regional disparity is also reflected in state-wise analysis of drop out rates. at both the primary and middle school levels (see Statement No.10, p.244, Annual Report, 1989-90, Part I, Ministry of HRD, Dept. of Education).
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Table 5
DROP-OUT RATES AT PRIMARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS STAGES
Years Classes I-V Classes I-V
Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total
1981-82 51.10 57.30 53.50 68.50 77.70 72.10
1982-83 49.40 56.30 52.10 66.04 74.96 69.57
1983-84 47.83 53.96 50.26 66.10 75.27 69.76
1984-85 45.62 51.41 47.93 61.83 70.87 65.39
1985-86 45.84 50.27 47.61 60.70 70.04 64.42
(Source: Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Education, 1990.)
Physical Access to School 6.2.9 According to the Fifth All India Educational Survey in 1986, almost 20% of the rural population did not have access to a primary school within the habitation. The percentage of rural population without a Middle School within the habitation was as high as 63%. However, the same survey revealed that about 95% of the rural population had access to a primary school within 1 km.an official norm for 'walking distance' for primary schools. Similarly about 85% of the rural population had access to a middle school within 3 kms. again, an official -norm for 'walking distance' in the case of middle schools. These official norms may not be accepted on their face value as these may not be equivalent to 'walking- distance' for different sections of children. For instance, it has been shown in the section on Education and womens' equality how these norms may not be applicable in the case of girls who are engaged in work both within and outside the home. In such cases, the distance of 1 km. to the primary school and 3 km. to the middle school may be just beyond the threshold which children can cross.
6.2.10 As shown by Table 6, there are almost 49% of the rural habitations with a total population of 11.7 crore which do not have access to a primary school within the habitation. Any strategy towards UEE would have to take into account these hard realities.
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TABLE 6
AVAILIBILITY OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN RURAL AREAS
Year Total Total % Habita- % population Total Rural
rural Habita- tions unserved by population
pop. tions without a primary unserved
(mn.) (000's) primary school (mn.)
school
1965 396.6 982 62.02 28.52 113
1973 465.4 953 55.67 23.88 111
1978 509.2 965 53.20 21.47 109
1986 594.5 979 48.64 19.66 117
[Source: All India Educational Surveys (NCERT), compiled and cited in Jalaluddin, A.K. et al, 'Basic Education and National Development', UNICEF Report, September, 1990]
6.2.11 There is also the issue of regional disparity involved with respect to accessibility of the schools. Tables 7 provides State-wise data on this matter. It shows that there is a wide fluctuation with respect to the percentage of rural population having access to a primary school within habitation. it fluctuates from 51% in Dadra and Nagar Haveli to almost 98% in Mizoram and Delhi.
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Table 7
RURAL POPULATION WITH AND WITHOUT PRIMARY SCHOOLS/SECTIONS
1986
(Percentage)
Population Served by Primary
Schools/Sections at a distance of
Within Upto 0.5 Km 0.6 to 1.0 Km Upto 1.0 Km
Habitation but not within
Habitation
Andhra Pradesh 92.72 5.97 0.48 99.17
Assam 81.75 5.40 6.43 93.58
Bihar 78.53 8.99 8.34 95.86
Gujarat 97.83 0.86 0.76 99.45
Haryana 96.68 1.62 1.07 99.37
Himachal Pradesh 46.51 11.39 18.74 76.64
Jammu & Kashmir 78.23 5.42 7.05 90.70
Karnataka 92.50 2.03 2.71 97.24
Kerala 87.67 2.59 4.13 94.39
Madhya Pradesh 81.51 5.26 6.15 92.92
Maharashtra 92.42 3.28 2.25 97.95
Manipur 89.97 3.47 3.95 97.39
Meghalaya 80.87 2.88 5.47 89.22
Nagaland 98.85 0.42 0.18 99.45
Orissa 77.08 8.82 6.93 92.83
Punjab 96.80 2.09 0.71 99.60
Rajasthan 86.84 1.49 4.57 92.90
Sikkim 72.13 3.80 7.17 83.10
Tamil Nadu 83.92 5.80 6.30 96.02
Tripura 57.04 12.85 14.22 84.11
Uttar Pradesh 55.96 14.05 18.82 88.56
West Bengal 79.71 11.47 6.20 97.38
A & N Islands 68.41 4.35 10.26 83.02
Chandigarh 96.92 2.75 0.00 99.67
Dadra & Nagar
Haveli 50.74 14.10 20.35 85.19
Delhi 98.06 1.32 0.62 100.0
Goa Daman & Diu* 57.72 20.23 12.65 90.60
Lakshadweep 100.00 0.00 0.00 100.00
Mizoram 98.06 0.23 0.00 98.28
Pondicherry 88.54 7.92 3.56 99.02
India 80.34 7.04 7.22 94.60