Quality Matters: An Analysis of Indian Schools Undesirable Quality of Education

Transcription

1 Quality Matters: An Analysis of Indian Schools Undesirable Quality of Education Since India s independence in 1947, the Indian government has attached great importance to education. As Dr. Kumar observed, In recent times, several major announcements were made for developing the poor state of affairs in education sector in India, the most notable ones being the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the United Progressive Alliances (UPA) government. The announcements are: (a) To progressively increase expenditure on education to around 6 percent of GDP. (b) To support this increase in expenditure on education, and to increase the quality of education, there would be an imposition of an education cess over all central government taxes. (c) To ensure that no one is denied of education due to economic backwardness and poverty. (d) To make right to education a fundamental right for all children in the age group 6-14 years. (e) To universalize education through its flagship programmes such as Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Mid Day Meal (as cited in Kumar, 2013). Have these measures helped to achieve the government s goal of improving its school education? There is no denying that India has made significant progress in increasing school enrolment over the years. For example, according to Wikipedia (2013), launched in 1994, the District Education Revitalization Programme (DERP) aims to universalize primary education by reforming and revitalizing the existing primary education system. Since its inception, the DERP has opened 160,000 new schools, including 84,000 alternative education schools, to approximately 3.5 million children, with the support of UNICEF and other international programs. In some states, primary enrolment ratio has reached 93-95% for the last three years; whereas in 2000, the national attendance rate was only 72.1%. Without any doubt, India s school attendance rate has improved remarkably. However, the other side of the coin is that, the quality of school education in India remains very low. 1

2 As Banerjee et all (2007) pointed out, a nation-wide survey on educational attainment discovered that 44% of children age 7 to 12 (most are enrolled in school) cannot read a basic paragraph, and half cannot do simple subtraction. Even in urban India, where students and teachers absenteeism ratio is not an issue, the learning outcomes are very disappointing: in Vadodara, a major Indian city, less than one-fifth of grade three students can answer grade one math questions correctly (p. 1235). Not surprisingly, Chhapia (2012) reported in The Times Of India that two states of India s showpieces of education and development Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh, fared miserably at the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Secretariat. According to his article, in the PISA math test, which is considered India s strong point, the two states finished second and third to last, beating only Kyrgyzstan. In the English test, again Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh were better than only Kyrgyzstan. The science results were the worst. Himachal Pradesh stood last, this time behind Kyrgyzstan. Tamil Nadu was slightly better and finished third from the bottom. Based on the analysis of the performance, the average 15-year-old Indian is over 200 points behind the global topper; and experts estimate that an Indian eighth grader has the same level of math abilities with a South Korean third grader, or a second-year student from Shanghai, China, when it comes to English reading skills. In response to these results, Lehiri (2012) wrote another article titled The PISA shocker in the same newspaper, sending a wake-up call to the whole nation of India. It seems that in the government s efforts to realize the goal of Education For All, quantity rather than quality has been emphasized. However, it is quality not quantity of education that matters. Thus Lehiri appeals to the Indian government and people to pause and reflect. What has gone wrong? What has caused the poor quality of its education? With these questions in mind, my research has 2

3 found there are many factors that have attributed to this problem, such as the nation s lower socioeconomic status, insufficient funding in education, inadequate infrastructure, high student to teacher ratio, among others. However, I believe poor quality of teaching is the major culprit for India s pathetic school performance, which is mainly caused by inadequate working conditions of teachers, insufficiently trained and unqualified teachers, and a lack of teacher evaluation and supervision. To start with, teachers salary is very low in India. Khemka (2006) noted that, based on the 5 th Pay Commission dictating salaries to Central Schools like those run by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, teachers monthly salaries in India should be between Rs. 8,000 (kindergarten level) and Rs. 17,500 rupees (post graduate teacher level) (the current US dollar to Indian Rupee is 1:54.68). In reality, many State Boards have salaries that are much lower and teachers payment in private schools is even worse, usually at one-quarter of the aforementioned rates. From Khemka s own experience in Punjab, teachers are paid between Rs at schools (excluding the premium schools) in several cities, five to six times lower than their counterparts in the U.S.. There is little surprise then the two Indian students (Manjari Shah and Madhu Sudan, as shown in the two videos) I interviewed told me few people would like to teach in India. Some people choose to teach, not because they love teaching, but because they cannot find other, better paying jobs. Once they find better opportunities, they quit teaching without hesitation. With such low pay, teachers are not incentivized; many of them do not care about their performance, nor do they care about their students. Additionally, many schools in India have destitute working conditions. According to Kaushik Basu (2004), Professor of economics, from Cornell University, a study of 188 government-run primary schools in central and northern India shows that 59% of the schools had 3

4 no drinking water facility and 89% no toilets; and most alarmingly, many teachers were found absent at the time of the survey. The latter problem has even triggered detailed scientific scrutiny from teams of economists from Harvard and the World Bank, who made three surprise visits to 3,700 randomly selected schools in 20 Indian states and found that that teacher-absenteeism in India is 25%. That means, at any random time, one out of every four teachers is absent in India. Professor Basu confirmed that comparative studies done in other countries indicated that India is one of the worst cases. With de-motivated and irresponsible teachers like this, there is no surprise that students learning outcome is meager. Second, many teachers in India do not have adequate education or training prior to teaching, nor are they provided sufficient in-service training or professional development. In his article Our teachers need a good education in The Times of India, Ranjekar (2012) commented, the status of overall teacher education in India is pathetic, to put it mildly. He takes the state of Karnataka as an example, which has about 300 teacher education colleges, with the capacity of graduating 30,000 teachers each year. Like other states, a majority of these colleges are also resorting to malpractice allowing students to register for the program at a fee and collecting certificates at the end of the year without attending classes. As Ranjekar commented that teachers make the most important impact on quality in the classroom and they are at the heart of education; if they themselves are not well trained with only inadequate knowledge and skills, they can make very little contribution to students learning, if any at all. Third, there is a lack of evaluation or supervision of teachers in India. Manjari Shah, a graduate student from India in the MBA program at the Monterey Institute, told me that once teachers are hired by a public school, generally speaking, their job is secured; but their pay is not aligned with their work performance. This is the same as teachers who have obtained their 4

5 tenure in the U.S.: the tenure suggests a lifelong contract and they cannot be fired. Lack of supervision and not needing to worry about being fired have led to teachers being overly relaxed and perfunctory with their responsibilities. As seen above, India s highest teacher-absenteeism is also an indicator of weak, or even lack of, supervision. Referring to a report led by Indian economist-activist Jean Dreze, which found that a majority of parents who didn t send their children to school thought there were no schools of at least minimal quality in their vicinity, Professor Basu suggested that a crucial step to get children to school is to get teachers to school. I would add getting quality teachers to this step. The poor quality of education in Indian schools is alarming; to drive its national economy forward, the Indian government must take immediate action to tackle this issue so as to prevent the situation from deteriorating. In the knowledge economy of the 21 st Century, human capital is the most important production factor in any society; and human capital is created by a quality education, not simply a high enrolment rate. Even when India reaches a 100% enrolment rate, if the quality stays poor, it is very unlikely for India to create high caliber human capital that can compete with the rest of the world. 5

6 References Banerjee, V. A., Cole, S., Duflo, E., & Linden, L. (2007). Remedying education: Evidence from two randomized experiments in India. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122 (3), doi: /qjec Basu, K. (Nov. 29 th, 2004, 14:51 GMT). Combating India's truant teachers. Retrieved from: Chhapia, H. (Jan. 15 th, 2012, 02.24am IST). Indian students rank 2nd last in global test. Retrieved from: Kemka, V. (Sept. 6 th, 2006). Teacher salaries in India. Retrieved from: Kumar, V. S. (2013). The education system in India. Retrieved from: Lahiri, D. (Oct. 9 th, 2012, 12:00am IST). The PISA shocker. Retrieved from: Ranjekar, D. (Jul. 24 th, 2012, 04:53am IST). Our teachers need a good education. Retrieved from: 24/bangalore/ _1_teacher-pupil-ratio-head-teacher-education-act Wikipedia: Education in India. Retrieved from: 6