EDUCATION AT UPPER PRIMARY STAGE
This chapter deals with the statistics of the Fifth All-India Educational Survey (1986) pertaining to the upper primary stage of school education. The country has formally adopted a uniform pattern of education viz, the 10+2+3 pattern, consisting of 10-year school education, followed by a two-year higher secondary or equivalent, and a three- year degree course. Yet there is no uniformity in the number of years one spends in the three stages of school education: primary, upper primary, and secondary. While all the States and Union Territories, except Andhra Pradesh and Nagaland, have a three-year upper primary stage, they differ in regard to their terminal class at the upper primary stage. For example, in 20 States and Union Territories, Class VIII is co-terminus with the upper primary stage, while in 11 States and Union territories the terminal stage is Class VII and in only one State it is Class VI. This has created some problems while reporting the progress of education at the national level. In this survey as in the previous ones, the prevailing pattern in each State was retained while reporting the schooling facilities. However, Classes VI to VIII were taken as components of the upper primary stage in reporting enrolment statistics.
5.1 Schooling Facilities at Upper Primary Stage in Rural
Habitations In order to achieve universalization of elementary education, it is necessary that an elementary school is made available to all children within a convenient walking-distance. When the First and Second All- India Educational Surveys were conducted in the years 1957 and 1965, respectively, a distance of three miles or five kilometres (approximately) was considered to be a convenient walking-distance for children in Classes VI to VIII. This distance limit was later brought down to three kilometres ever since the Third All-India Educational Survey (1973). While discussing the schooling facilities in this section, "habitation" instead of "village" has been taken as the basic unit for providing with the facilities.
All the five All-India Surveys conducted so far reveal that the percentage of habitations served by an upper primary school or section (hereafter called stage) within the walking-distance of five kilometres increased from 50.34 in 1957 to 89.84 in 1986. However, when viewed from the revised distance criterion of three kilometres, this percentage dropped to 74 in 1986 (Fifth Survey). This percentage at the time of the Third Survey (1973) was 58.26. Though the recorded growth could be considered encouraging, it reveals how distant is the goal of providing upper primary schooling facilities within a distance of three kilometres. Statement 5.1 gives the growth of schooling facilities at the upper primary stage since the First Survey.
STATEMENT 5.1
Percentage of Habitations and Population with Schooling Facilities
at Upper Primary Stage in Different Surveys
All-India Year Percentage of Habitations Percentage of Population
survey in served within served within
which
conducted the habitation distance of 3 km a distance of 5 km the habitation a distance of 3 km
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
First 1957 3.13 - 50.34 - -
Second 1965 7.07 - 72.39 - -
Third 1973 8.69 58.26 78.43 28.86 71.97
Fourth 1978 10.74 66.86 85.52 33.47 78.83
Fifth 1986 13.13 74.00 89.84 36.85 83.98
42 FIFTH ALL-INDIA EDUCATIONAL SURVEY
There is a similar growth of percentage of the population served with a school at the upper primary stage within a walking-distance of three kilometres. From 71.97 per cent in 1973, it has moved up to 83.98 in 1986. This increase in the availability of the facility in 15.74 per cent of the habitations and to 12.01 per cent of the population in 13 years does not apparently look to be spectacular. However if we consider the difficult geographical conditions in hilly and desert regions in some States and the existence of a very large number of extremely small habitations, it is no mean achievement.
The above national averages do not, however, give a true picture, for it is possible that the increase in these facilities has been in the habitations with larger population whereas the habitations with smaller population continue to remain neglected. Furthermore, there has been improvement in the States which are already advanced, whereas some States which are far below the national average have shown only little improvement. It may be worthwhile to examine these two aspects here.
Out of 9,81,864 habitations in the country, 6,23,377 (63.49 per cent) have a population below 500 each and the remaining 3,58,487 (36.51 per cent) are in the population slabs above. 500. There are 2,55,270 unserved habitations which have no school at the upper primary stage within the walking-distance of three kilometres. Quite naturally, 76.05 per cent of them belong to the smaller habitations with a population below 500. The remaining 23.95 per cent unserved habitations are distributed among habitations with higher population slabs, viz. "500 to 999" (16.87 per cent), " 1000- 1999" (5.98 per cent), "Above 2000" (1.10 per cent). It is, therefore, apparent that the progress of schooling facilities as represented by the national average, by and large, was confined to larger habitations. The schooling facilities in the habitations under different population slabs as revealed in the Fifth Survey are given in Statement 5.2.
Habitations with Population `5000 and Above" There are 6,407 habitations which have a population of 5,000 and above. They cover only 0.65 per cent of the total number of habitations and 8.21 per cent of the total population in the rural areas. 97.82 per cent of these habitations have a school at the upper primary stage within the walking-distance of three kilometres, serving 98.14 per cent of the population in the slab.
STATEMENT 5.2
Habitations In Different Population Slabs with or without Upper Primary Schooling Facility
Schooling Facilities Population Slabs
5000 and 2000-4999 1000-1999 500-999 Below 500 Total
Above
Within a Habitations 6274 41391 95364 154317 429248 726594
walking- Percentage 97.92 93.96 86.21 78.18 68.86 74.00
distance there of to
of 3 km total
Population 47831663 117959634 130472999 108694205 93488877 498447378
Percentage 98.14 94.34 86.58 78.60 71.47 83.98
thereof to
total
At more Habitations 133 2681 15255 43072 194129 255270
than 3 kin Percentage 2.08 6.08 13.79 21.82 31.14 26.00
thereof to
total
Population 905131 7076215 20215463 29591781 37324342 95112932
Percentage 1.86 5.66 13.42 21.40 28.53 16.02
there of to
total
TOTAL HABITATIONS 6407 44072 110619 197389 623377 981864
TOTAL POPULATION 48736794 125035849 150688462 138285986 130813219 593560310
Habitations with Population "2000-4999" This slab has 44,072 habitations, which accounts for 4.5 per cent of the total number of habitations. The population in this slab is 21.07 per cent of the total population. It is observed that 93.96 per cent habitations covering 94.34 per cent of the population have schools at the upper primary stage within a walking-distance of three kilometres.
Habitations with Population "1000-1999" There are 1,10,619 habitations with 15,06,88,462 population in this slab, accounting for 11.27 per cent and 25.39 per cent of the
EDUCATION AT UPPER PRIMARY STAGE 43
total number of habitations and populations respectively. Of these habitations, 86.21 per cent comprising 86.58 per cent population, have upper primary schooling facility within a walking distance of three kilometres.
Habitations with Population "500-999" In this slab, there are 1,97,389 habitations with 13,82,85,986 population, which represents 20.10 per cent and 23.30 per cent of the total habitations and the total population, respectively. Of these habitations, 78.18 per cent accounting for 78.60 per cent of the population in the slab have schooling facilities at the upper-primary stage within a walking-distance of three kilometres.
Habitation with Population "Below 500" This slab has the largest number of habitation viz. 6,23,377 with a population of 13,08,13,219. The habitations in the slab constitute 63.49 per cent of the total number of habitations whereas the population in this slab is 22.03 per cent of the total rural population. 68.86 per cent of them have the upper primary schooling facilities within a walking-distance of three kilometres. The population covered by these facilities is 71.47 per cent.
The second aspect of the problem is the achievement of some States in providing schooling facilities. The Fifth Survey figures show some top performers in this respect as also those which have not done so well. Statement 5.3 gives the schooling facilities in some of the most forward as well as the most backward States.
STATEMENT 5.3
Percentage of Habitations and Population served with Upper Primary
Schooling Facilities within a Walking Distance of 3 km in the most
Forward and the most Backward States.
Stale Habitations Population
served (in %) served (in %)
Forward States
1. Kerala 94.04 96.22
2 Gujarat 88.75 94.43
3. Punjab 88.26 92.49
4. Goa 86.77 91.80
5. Haryana 85.62 93.12
Backward States
1. Arunachal Pradesh 19.59 42.20
2. Nagaland 48.94 66.41
3. Meghalaya 50.59 64.99
4. Manipur 57.68 80.19
5. Mizoram 57.14 82.85
STATEMENT 5.4
Unserved Habitations and Population In Some Selected States
Not Served with a School at Upper Primary Stage within a Walking-distance of 3 km
State
Habitations Percentage Population Percentage
1. Madhya Pradesh 44,410 17.40 14039012 14.76
2. Andhra Pradesh 21,003 8.23 9636137 10.13
3. Orissa 20,789 8.14 4317925 4.54
4. Bihar 19,689 7.71 8093498 8.51
5. Rajasthan 18,380 7.20 7230547 7.60
6. West Bengal 12,897 5.05 7812270 8.21
7. Maharashtra 12,975 5.08 5249669 5.52
8. Tamil Nadu 11,550 4.52 5676679 5.97
TOTAL 161693 63.34 62055737 65.24
TOTAL UNSERVED 255270 100.00 95112932 100.00
HABITATIONS IN INDIA
44 FIFTH ALL-INDIA EDUCATIONAL SURVEY
A glance at Statement 5.3 shows that as in the past Kerala leads in providing schooling facilities. Then come Gujarat, Punjab, Goa, and Haryana, which are not big enough to bring about any significant change at the national level. The States lagging behind are the north-eastern States where not only are the habitations of small sizes but they are also scattered widely in the hilly terrain making it difficult to provide an upper primary school or section within a walking-distance of three kilometres. Thus, the crux of the problem is that some big States have a large number of unserved habitations. Statement 5.4 gives some idea of this.
Statement 5.4 reveals that 63.34 per cent habitations with 65.24 per cent population of unserved habitations are in eight States. Hence, in order to achieve the constitutional directive of providing universal elementary education, it is important to tackle the problem in these States first.
Schooling Facilities in Habitations Predominantly Populated by
Communities belonging to Scheduled Castes So far we have dealt only with the schooling facilities available in habitations where all communities live together. To answer the question whether the overall picture presented above is also true for habitations predominantly populated by those belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes or whether there is a difference the Fifth Survey has made a special effort to focus on this problem.
According to the Fifth Survey, there are 77,780 habitations with a population of 3,17,85,596, which are predominantly (50 per cent and above) populated by those belonging to the Scheduled Castes. The position of schooling facilities in these habitations in different population slabs is shown in Statement 5.5.
STATEMENT 5.5
Schooling Facilities In the Habitations predominantly populated by
Those belonging to Scheduled Castes
Population Slabs
Schooling
Facilities
5000 and above 2000-4999 1000-1999 500-999 Below 500 Total
Within Habitations 87 1181 4386 10213 42026 57893
a walking
distance Percentage 95.60 86.83 82.58 78.33 72.48 74.43
of 3 km thereof to
total
Population 555711 3135852 5914354 7016944 8607303 25230164
Percentage 95.43 87.07 83.30 78.14 74.71 79.38
thereof to
total
At more Habitations 4 179 925 2825 15954 19887
than 3 km
distance Percentage thereof
to total 4.40 13.17 17.42 21.67 27.52 25.57
Population 26616 465680 1185875 1963163 2914098 6555432
Percentage 4.57 12.93 16.70 21.85 25.29 20.62
thereof to
total
HABITATIONS 91 1360 5311 13038 57980 77780
TOTAL
POPULATION 582327 3601532 7100229 8980107 11521401 31785596
From Statement 5.5 it can be seen that 74.54 percent of these habitations with 36.25 percent of the population belong to the population slab "Below 500". It reveals that 57,893 or 74.43 per cent of the total number of habitations predominantly populated by those belonging to the Scheduled Castes have a school at the upper primary stage within a walking-distance of three kilometres.
EDUCATION AT UPPER PRIMARY STAGE 45
It is a matter of satisfaction that this percentage is slightly more than the corresponding one for general population, which is 74 per cent. However, the percentage of the population served with an upper primary school in the case of the Scheduled Caste habitations is 79.38 against 83.98 for general habitations. This difference is due to the fact that the habitations predominantly populated by those belonging to the Scheduled Castes are smaller in size than those of general population.
The position in each population slab is that out of 91 habitations in the population slab "5000 and Above", 87 habitations (95.60 per cent) accounting for 95.43 per cent population have a school at the upper primary stage within a walking-distance of three kilometres. In the population slab "2000-4999", 86.83 per cent habitations covering 87.07 per cent population have schooling facilities. Similarly, in the population slab "1000-1999" the percentage of the habitations and the percentage of the population served are 82.58 and 83.30, respectively. The corresponding percentages in the slab "500-999" are 78.33 and 78.14 and in the last slab "Below 500", the figures are 72.48 and 74.71, respectively.
If we examine the position State-wise, we find that more than half of the unserved habitations (predominantly populated by those belonging to the Scheduled Castes) are in three States Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Himachal Pradesh and three-fourths of them are in six States-Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar.
Schooling Facilities in the Habitations Populated by Those
belonging to Scheduled Tribes There are 1,64,129 habitations (with a total population of 4,94,49,246) predominantly populated by the Scheduled Tribes. Most of these habitations, i.e. 83.94 per cent, are in the population slab "Blow 500", which accounts for 52.42 per cent of the total population.
STATEMENT 5.6
Habitations predominantly populated by those belonging to Scheduled Tribes
and Availability of Schooling Facilities
Population Slabs
Schooling
Facilities
5000 and above 2000-4999 1000-1999 500-999 Below 500 Total
Within a Habitations 53 895 4199 13637 68192 86976
walking-
distance Per cent
of 3 km thereof to total 76.64 88.88 78.97 68.30 49.49 52.99
Population 345529 2428617 5515602 9198515 14087994 31576257
Per cent
thereof to total 74.53 88.77 79.76 68.57 54.35 63.86
At a distance Habitations 18 112 1118 6328 69577 77153
of more than
3 km Per cent
thereof 25.36 11.13 21.03 31.70 50.51 47.01
to total
Population 118071 307364 1399772 4216876 11830906 17872989
Per cent
thereof to total 25.47 11.23 20.24 31.43 45.65 36.14
HABITATIONS 71 1007 5317 19965 137769 164129
TOTAL
POPULATION 463600 2735981 6915374 13415391 25918900 49449246