Group2_A | SDG 4: Quality Education
Rethinking
India’s Journey to achieve SDG 4 objectives
- Aayush Khandelwal | BJ20002, Abhishek Kapoor | BJ20003, Krishna Kumar Rathi | BJ20025, Rahul Mandal | BJ20039, Sidharth Monga | BJ20050, Vinayak Lahoty | BJ20060
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Education
is pivotal in achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the
United Nations General Assembly in 2015. The broad objective of SDG – 4 is
to ensure inclusive and equitable, quality education and to promote avenues of
lifelong learning opportunities. One in five children in the entire world
has no access to schools.[1]
Yet, we have seen a record number of children being enrolled in educational institutes
across the world, at all levels: primary & secondary. This schooling has,
however, not resulted in the learning outcomes that were expected. UNICEF
reported in 2019 that about 617 million out of 1 billion school going kids
lacked minimum proficiency in mathematics and reading. The problems are even worse
for girls, as only about 66% of the countries have achieved gender parity in
primary education. This has severe implications for the individuals who are
denied an education and for their community.
There have
been enormous strides of progress in the accessibility and quality of education;
however, these developments have not achieved equitable distribution. For
example, over 30 years from 1990, sub-Saharan Africa representation of out of school
children in the world rose from 37% to 54%. From the Global Annual Report
2018 published by UNICEF, a young person of secondary school age from a
low-income country has a 1 in 3 chance of being out of school. Gender bias
is another barrier where lower- and middle-income countries have skewed results
to the disadvantage of women's overall development. In these countries, girls
usually drop out of schools due to early marriage, teenage pregnancy,
inadequate infrastructure like functional washrooms, etc. This limits their
skill development and reduces the breadth of opportunities available to them.
Education in India: Journey and Challenges
"Basic
education links the children, whether of cities or the villages, to all that is
best and lasting in India" – Mahatma Gandhi
From a
policy perspective, the initial goal post-independence was to build a
technically trained labor force in India. This was, in essence, to partly
replicate the heavy industry-led progress in Soviet Russia. This initial path
led to many significant achievements like the development of IITs and other
research institutes of importance. Still, it also led to the systemic neglect
of focus in the primary education space. This lack of foundational skills in
workers continues to hurt us while we try to compete with other Asian economies
in mass manufacturing. Likewise, India does quite well in technically
sophisticated manufacturing, mostly consistent with our heavy investment in
tertiary education.
India
realized this issue in the late 1980s & early 1990s when simultaneously
economic reforms were taking place. The focus on primary education was thought of
as a crucial driver for India's sustained economic growth. Two such schemes
are:
1. Operation Blackboard: The objective of this scheme was to
set the minimum requirement of a primary school: two rooms, two teachers, and a
set of 'minimum essential' teaching-learning aids (TLAs). These TLAs included a
science kit, a math kit, a tool kit, 45 charts, maps, children's books, balls,
and a blackboard. All primary schools were mandated to be updated to this basic
level through this program.
2. Sarva Sikhsha Abhijan: In 2001, the government launched SSA with an objective to achieve
universalization of Elementary education in India. This program aimed to
identify areas where accessibility to schools was an issue, upgrade infrastructure
in existing schools, re-think curriculum, conduct teacher training, and overall
management of primary schools in the country.
These
programs have reaped massive benefits, especially in terms of enrollment. If we
look at Net Enrollment Rate over the last two decades, we will find a
sharp increase in enrollment numbers. This sharp increase in school enrollment
has reduced inequity in at least the accessibility of school education. India
has mostly solved the issue of getting the children to the schools. However,
the learning outcomes, once they are in school, have primarily remained poor.
This is counter-intuitive as we can observe that almost all input parameters
like spending on infrastructure and teacher training have expanded over the
years.
The fundamental argument for this is that developing physical capital is essential
but not enough. The marginal utility in further up-grading physical
infrastructure is low when the development of human capital, i.e., quality
teachers, is inadequate. The single most significant public expenditure on
education is on faculty salaries. Yet, the learning outcomes of the students
belonging to the public schools have remained low. The recruitment of teachers
is based on accreditation, which again is training on theoretical subject
matters, and very little focus is given on the actual practical method of
teaching. Even if we assume that teacher training programs impart some benefit,
the teachers are not incentivized to replicate the classroom's learnings. This
is where a policy gap needs to be filled by linking input spending to measurable
learning outcome improvements.
The
curriculum standards as prescribed to the public schools are extremely high.
This is partly since this was set at a time when very few upper-middle-class
students had access to education, and from then, it is accepted as given. But
the ground reality is that even today, millions of children who are coming into
the primary education system are first-generation learners. These lofty
standards mean that the teachers have pressure to complete the curriculum. Most
of these children start falling behind quickly, and as they progress along the
years (Courtesy: the no-detention policy), the deficit keeps increasing. There
comes the point when it no longer makes sense for the student to continue his
or her education as they cannot catch up with the curriculum. There is an
opportunity cost associated with the time spent in classrooms, and hence they
drop out to enter the labor market.
The Indian
education system's larger problem is that it has become a filtration system
where passing exams is thought of as the enabler of job competency. This has
worked against the learning objectives as students are primarily motivated to
cram through all levels to keep passing exams. The students know that the
system does not care once you fail to pass or are left behind. This has led to
the crisis of unemployable graduates in India. Therefore, the challenge is to
think about ways human capital development can happen at all levels throughout
the distribution of the students. There should be mechanisms instituted by
policy to help those who are left behind in the process. To realize that
education is not a zero-sum game of filtration but a process where everyone can
benefit at their level would increase participation and outcome of the process.
National Education Policy 2020
"Dr.
Kalam used to say, 'The purpose of education is to make good human beings with
skill and expertise. Enlightened human beings can be created by teacher.'
Changes in the education policy is a major way to provide the nation better
students, professionals, and better human beings" – Narendra Modi.
Aligning to
the objectives of SDG 4, NEP 2020 is based on five pillars: access,
affordability, equity, quality, and accountability. It will follow a four-stage
pedagogical structure: foundational level (5 years), preparatory stage (3
years), middle stage (3 years), and secondary stage (4 years). This is the
first time that a government has realized that our education system needs
curriculum change and institutional reform. The foundation of NEP 2020 is
quality education, encouraging innovation, and creating a sound research
culture with the objective to make India a knowledge superpower. This
gregarious task was accomplished under the chairmanship of Dr. K. Kasturirangan, Ex ISRO chief.
The criteria set to assess the
quality of education and each of the four pedagogical structure segments is
defined to have a clarity of thought and develop a skill. Many shackles of the
past system were broken to have an education system that is dynamic and
provides students the freedom to choose subjects rather than a stream. Giving
freedom to learn three languages, out of which two must be regional, is a big
step towards retaining the languages which will be forgotten if not taught
formally. The earlier examination system, which was primarily based on rote
learning, is now changed to a more sophisticated form where the aim is to test
the cognitive ability, decision-making skills, and problem-solving skills.
The age-old problem that students
faced when enrolled in an engineering college and then midway realizes his/her
passion for some different field is solved in this NEP. Multiple exit options
have been provided to the students in a four-year graduation course. Upon exit,
a certificate will be provided dictating the level to which a student has
cleared his education. NEP 2020 takes one major step to eliminate gender
disparity in education and provide vocational training to children with
disabilities.
Establishing a
board of governors to provide more autonomy to educational institutions and
making mandatory financial disclosure at par with an NGO will prevent arbitrary
increment of fee by private educational institutions. The NEP 2020 also lays
out a plan to establish a forum to provide quality education globally, having several
topics on the platform with the name National Educational Technology Forum
(NETF). The NEP also aims to transform the way teachers impart education and
the relationship they share to move from a teacher to a mentor and guide state.
UNSDG also focuses on
providing access to all students' education and removing any kind of disparity
by giving special attention to children with disabilities and belonging to the vulnerable.
Nep ensured this by providing provisions of learning different languages,
enabling institutions to strengthen education for girls, ST, SC, OBC,
transgender, and students belonging to a weaker economic background.
This policy is
designed to provide flexibility, opportunity to develop, learn new skills, and
provide opportunities to all that is in line with the UNSDG.
Way Forward
The previous idea of
having a school within a kilometer of habitat has been critical to establishing
schools in remote places. However, the policy comes up with a tradeoff of poor
individual school governance, pedagogy, and cost-effectiveness. Investments in
road infrastructure allow schools to be consolidated centrally. This solves
cost-effectiveness per child and improves pedagogy as consolidated schools
allow for having teachers teaching a particular subject instead of a single
teacher in isolated schools teaching all subjects at all levels.
NEP also
recognized the need to have locally hired contract teachers. The problem of
having overpaid and underutilized government teachers is both financial and
political. It would be unreasonable to expect any sitting government to reduce the
salaries of teachers. At the same time, in India, we have an enormous number of
people applying for any government job. This process ensures that those who
have negligible desire to teach also become teachers, which is considered a
safe position. Introducing an apprentice program where local teaching job
aspirants are hired on a contractual basis is a win-win situation. It solves
the short-term problem of lack of teachers while giving the candidates valuable
experience to build their teaching career.
India is a unique country with its own set of unique challenges when it comes to
education. Education is the most significant enabler of equality in a growing unequal
country. Access to this sector and its effectiveness would largely determine
the development of human capital in this country. The next ten years are
critical in achieving the targets set in SDG 4.
ITC:
- Read
India Plus Program: The program covered 25,143 children in 2019-20 and helped them realize significant
improvement in learning outcomes in reading, number recognition, and basic math
operations.
- Infrastructure Support and Maintenance: 273 schools and anganwadis were given infrastructure support in 2019-20. The cumulative coverage of this program over the years in 1842 schools.
- Vocational
Training: This program aims to provide market-relevant skills to make potential job seekers
employable. The program is largely run around ITC’s factories and agribusiness catchments
in 34 districts of 17 states and has covered 81,510 people in total.
Bain works with educational NGOs and schools to provide quality education to underprivileged children. The focus is on the following subsectors -
- Recruitment and Training of teachers
- Building
high-quality alternative school networks
- Reaching
vulnerable children
- Use
of technology to improve student learning.
Aditya Birla Group:
- Knowledge Hub for e-learning: An e-learning platform that caters to almost 7500+ students
across 50+ schools in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
- Gyanarjan: An initiative in which plant teams teaches almost 1000
underprivileged students for competitive exams such as CET etc. in schools like
Navodaya.
- Mid-day meals: Facilitates mid-day meals in Keonjhar district of
Orisha for about 63000 students of 268 schools and in many other cities.
Asian Paints:
- Gyan Shakti Program: A holistic teaching program running across 6 schools
- Naya Savera: Education for employability (running in 15 centers across 9 states)
- Digital Literacy: Programme to introduce computer-aided
learning to young children
Amazon:
- AWS sponsors a range of STEAM initiatives (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics):
- AWS Tech Week: A global initiative to lead community-related tech events, including STEAM and cloud career sessions in schools.
- The AWS Think Big experience: Amazon encourages students to think big by offering them physical Think Big spaces and content around the globe to solve complex real-life issues.
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