The recent ‘Annual Status of Education Report’ -ASER- published by the NGO Pratham has once again attracted the attention of all those interested in education and the future of India; and its march towards a knowledge society. The first ASER report came in 2005 and it was expected to stir the conscience of not only the education system but India as a whole. By that time, the credibility and public acceptance of government schools was already very low and anyone who could afford it financially made every effort to put their children in private schools, which interestingly, are known as public schools in India. The decline has continued and it is evident by the mad rush in cities and towns, for admission to preschool classes in private schools. People are willing to pay exorbitant fees and the aspiring middle class is ready to cut even other necessary family expenses to educate their children in good schools. Over the years, school education in India has shown remarkable progress on various fronts, but several major concerns have also emerged regarding quality, skill acquisition and institutional work culture.
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One of the great achievements of the past few decades has been the social acceptance of educating girls and this has become equally acceptable in rural India also. However, the present report indicates 43.7% of boys having a smartphone as against only 19.8% of girls. It is encouraging to note that 90% of youngsters have a smartphone at home. The present survey was conducted amongst rural kids of 14-18 age group in 28 districts of India across 26 states with a sample of 34,745 children. The quality of the ‘growing up’ is indicated by the percentages of children who indicated their work aspirations for the future. One was disappointed that 21% could not respond to what they would like to become in years ahead. The top preference of 13% is for a job in the police and 11.4% would like to become teachers.
Agriculture-related work is an aspiration of only 1.4%! One could safely state from other studies and interactions that in rural areas, preference for becoming a teacher is still considered an achievable choice by parents and family members. Getting a job as a police- it must be stated- is now suspect because of the widely prevalent public perception that it would require too much of resources and sources. Even for the job of teachers, perceptions are changing fast. There is no surety about regular recruitment or recruitment regularly. Even if one gets appointed as a Shiksha-karmi or an honorarium-paid teacher with any other fancy designation, the sword of uncertainty looms large for years together with no guarantee of getting absorbed in the regular pay scale and grade.
One of the universal expectations is the system would become more compassionate, empathetic, transparent, responsive and helpful to the learner. The NEP-2020 has been announced and has entered its fourth year of implementation. One expects that the innovations and changes proposed will become visible shortly.
It must; however; be stated that improvements in the quality of school education -particularly rural schools - are mostly dependent upon the priority it gets from the state governments. The central government has been promptly assisting states in educational reforms in various ways and this includes academic and professional support along with financial contributions to enhance infrastructure, including additional teachers. Education is not getting its due priority in several states. This was particularly true for the states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh which need educational reforms very urgently.
After going through the ASER report, one arrives at the inference that the nation must deliberate upon how significant it is to ensure that every child gets a good quality education and acquires the necessary skills, including the skill of acquiring new skills throughout his active professional life. It is also necessary that everyone acknowledges the primacy of the role of teachers and schools in rebuilding a new India. This is not happening uniformly at present. To illustrate the point, I would like to quote the following from the National Education Policy – 2020: “15.2/ According to the Justice/ JS Verma Commission (2012) constituted by the Supreme Court. A majority of stand-alone TEIs – over 20,000 in number are not even attempting serious teacher education but are essentially selling degrees for a price. Regulatory efforts so far have neither been able to curb the malpractices in the system, nor enforce basic standards for quality, and in fact have had the negative effect of curbing the growth of excellence and innovation in the sector. The sector and its regulatory system are, therefore, in urgent need of revitalisation.”
The ASER report must inspire individuals and institutions to ensure speedy, accurate and correct reforms are put in place. The neglect of practical work in schools and even in vocational training centres including polytechnics and engineering colleges is a cause of concern. This has already been established by the closure of hundreds of engineering and management institutions, but not much effective improvement is visible at the ground level. And this is just not acceptable in a vibrant responsive system.
—Vijay GarG Retired Principal Educational columnist malout