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Fate of India rests on education of its youth
The role of education in shaping a society is widely accepted and for a long time. Two millennia ago, Aristotle wrote: The fate of empires rests on the education of youth.
The first few governments of post-independent India had been lofty in their aspirations yet did woefully little to put together a coherent policy for education. Our target year for attaining universal education was 1959!
There are three key issues that are at the core of our problem limited access, low quality and regulatory uncertainty.
Admissions into the best private schools in India (catering to less than 10% of students), is a preserve of the rich. Top schools receive upto 50 applications for each seat. The next 40% trundle along and most of them eventually clear school. However, it is rather challenging for the bottom 50% and a significant number in this bracket ultimately drop out. India has the dubious distinction of housing the highest number of school dropouts in the world. While scarcity of schools and lack of basic infrastructure (access to clean drinking waster and toilets for girls) historically drove issues of access, lack of parental willingness to forego potential income from their kids is also a significant factor.
PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is a study of students performance in math, science and reading across OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. In 2010, India participated and finished 72nd (out of 74 countries!). Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, said to have amongst the best school systems in India, represented India. It is well-known that teacher quality in most of our primary schools in general and in government schools in particular, leaves a lot to be desired. Teachers there are ill-equipped, ill-trained, unionised and often absent from classes. As Nandan Nilekani in his book Imagining India points out, over 80% of teachers in government schools send their children to private schools. This in itself is a testimony to the state of teaching in government-run schools.
Laws such as RTE (Right to Education) reduce the attraction that K-12 has for new investors because of uncertainties around profitability and counter-productive penal provisions. Blatant minorityism is another angle thats beyond my abilities of logical comprehension. For example, St. James is exempt from RTEs provisions but Chinmaya Missions schools arent.
Forty years ago, Finnish education system was at best mediocre, says Fenton Whelan in his book Lessons Learned. But today, Finlands schools consistently finish top 3 in PISAs math, science and reading tests. Not only do Finnish students score higher in tests, they also read more books, visit libraries more often, like school more and have better relationships with their teachers than students in other countries. Finland incorporated a slew of systemic changes teaching primary school students became highly prestigious thanks to generous compensation and high selectivity (which thereby ensured that some of the smartest graduates were now applying for teaching jobs). They rewarded high levels of teacher participation and brought in professionalism in school operations/management. A similar story has played out across Singapore, Shanghai and charter schools (run by the Knowledge Is Power Program) in the US.
There are many lessons for us here to address the three issues we discussed earlier.
To improve access, technology should be leveraged (VSAT/internet) to deliver content to villages and urban slums. It is both cost-effective and scalable. States which have implemented mid-day meal schemes, constructed toilets for girls etc. have seen dramatic increases in enrolment rates and fall in dropout rates and such schemes should be encouraged. The idea of voucher system for education (first proposed by Milton Friedman in the 1950s) could be explored. Additionally, the supply crunch could be eased significantly if the government leases land to private players for school construction and allows them to make profits if they wish to. If fees are too high, parents wouldnt send their kids. The point is let the market decide!
To enhance quality, we should benchmark ideal outcomes (like being top decile country on the PISA tests in 5 years time) and work backwards to decide what needs to be taught at each grade. Additionally, the government could create a UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) equivalent examination for hiring teachers and ensure that the right people become teachers. We also need to find ways to build robust teacher training programs with objective learning outcomes and make teachers accountable for the performance of their students. Institutionalising accountability would ensure sustainability of these systems over the long term.
In summary, while the task ahead is formidable, the fruits of a coherent and dynamic education policy could truly transform India.
The role of education in shaping a society is widely accepted and for a long time. Two millennia ago, Aristotle wrote: The fate of empires rests on the education of youth.
The first few governments of post-independent India had been lofty in their aspirations yet did woefully little to put together a coherent policy for education. Our target year for attaining universal education was 1959!
There are three key issues that are at the core of our problem limited access, low quality and regulatory uncertainty.
Admissions into the best private schools in India (catering to less than 10% of students), is a preserve of the rich. Top schools receive upto 50 applications for each seat. The next 40% trundle along and most of them eventually clear school. However, it is rather challenging for the bottom 50% and a significant number in this bracket ultimately drop out. India has the dubious distinction of housing the highest number of school dropouts in the world. While scarcity of schools and lack of basic infrastructure (access to clean drinking waster and toilets for girls) historically drove issues of access, lack of parental willingness to forego potential income from their kids is also a significant factor.
PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is a study of students performance in math, science and reading across OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. In 2010, India participated and finished 72nd (out of 74 countries!). Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, said to have amongst the best school systems in India, represented India. It is well-known that teacher quality in most of our primary schools in general and in government schools in particular, leaves a lot to be desired. Teachers there are ill-equipped, ill-trained, unionised and often absent from classes. As Nandan Nilekani in his book Imagining India points out, over 80% of teachers in government schools send their children to private schools. This in itself is a testimony to the state of teaching in government-run schools.
Laws such as RTE (Right to Education) reduce the attraction that K-12 has for new investors because of uncertainties around profitability and counter-productive penal provisions. Blatant minorityism is another angle thats beyond my abilities of logical comprehension. For example, St. James is exempt from RTEs provisions but Chinmaya Missions schools arent.
Forty years ago, Finnish education system was at best mediocre, says Fenton Whelan in his book Lessons Learned. But today, Finlands schools consistently finish top 3 in PISAs math, science and reading tests. Not only do Finnish students score higher in tests, they also read more books, visit libraries more often, like school more and have better relationships with their teachers than students in other countries. Finland incorporated a slew of systemic changes teaching primary school students became highly prestigious thanks to generous compensation and high selectivity (which thereby ensured that some of the smartest graduates were now applying for teaching jobs). They rewarded high levels of teacher participation and brought in professionalism in school operations/management. A similar story has played out across Singapore, Shanghai and charter schools (run by the Knowledge Is Power Program) in the US.
There are many lessons for us here to address the three issues we discussed earlier.
To improve access, technology should be leveraged (VSAT/internet) to deliver content to villages and urban slums. It is both cost-effective and scalable. States which have implemented mid-day meal schemes, constructed toilets for girls etc. have seen dramatic increases in enrolment rates and fall in dropout rates and such schemes should be encouraged. The idea of voucher system for education (first proposed by Milton Friedman in the 1950s) could be explored. Additionally, the supply crunch could be eased significantly if the government leases land to private players for school construction and allows them to make profits if they wish to. If fees are too high, parents wouldnt send their kids. The point is let the market decide!
To enhance quality, we should benchmark ideal outcomes (like being top decile country on the PISA tests in 5 years time) and work backwards to decide what needs to be taught at each grade. Additionally, the government could create a UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) equivalent examination for hiring teachers and ensure that the right people become teachers. We also need to find ways to build robust teacher training programs with objective learning outcomes and make teachers accountable for the performance of their students. Institutionalising accountability would ensure sustainability of these systems over the long term.
In summary, while the task ahead is formidable, the fruits of a coherent and dynamic education policy could truly transform India.
