Indian Constitution has made education for children between the age 6 to 14 free through an Act called Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE). The Act mandated government schools to provide free education to all the children of age group 1 to 14 years and private schools to admit at least 25% of the children without fee across India[1]. Also, to ensure quality education, the Act asked schools to comply by the teacher-student ratio and even proper infrastructure, which enable achievement of quality education. The initiative taken by the country is applaudable as it was expected to contribute towards universalisation of school education. And, bring disadvantaged out-of-school children back into the education system. For instance, it has the potential to enable children of 50% of Bihar’s population who lives below the poverty line to attend school. Since all public/government schools must provide free education under the Act, theoretically Bihar with 81.40% of the schools under government[2], which cater most children should perform comparatively better than any other states like Kerala with only 30% Government School.
However, the scenario is different, as depicted in the Report on School Education Quality Index published by Niti Aayog. Bihar has been placed consequently second last in the list of 19 large state category. Although the State has gained 7.3% from the last survey conducted in 2015-16, with 37.3%, it maintained the same rank in 2016-17. The lower level of education has been contributed by the poor performance of the State in Indicators like the infrastructure and facilities for outcomes and access outcomes, which received the lowest percentage 10.87% (19th rank) and 33.58% (18th rank)[3]respectively in addition to a lower rank for governance process as shown in the below table.
References :
Author – Pratyush Gaurav
A Development Professional working in Bihar. He is an alumni of XISS, Ranchi and XLRI, Jamshedpur
Picture – Oxfam India
Table 2: Performance of Bihar Education System in Comparison to Kerala and India (Academic Year 2018-19)
|
Indicators |
Bihar |
Kerala |
India |
|
% of school with Functional Desktop |
4.93% |
72.44% |
20.32% |
|
% of school with Library |
31.71% |
84.62% |
65.52% |
|
% of total Teachers without Professional Qualification |
30% |
5.78% |
22.59% |
| % of Teachers Trained in Computer |
5.81% |
23.07% |
19.12% |
|
% of enrolment in government schools |
81.63% |
26.83% |
51.83% |
The above-discussed data indicates why many parents and children in Bihar prioritise working over education. Unsurprisingly, they perceive return from work much more than the return from schooling. The Indian Constitution on paper has ensured access to education to all children by supporting families with textbooks, uniform, school fees etc.to overcomethe financial barrier. But, without proper infrastructure and trained teachers, which are the two crucial pillars of quality education and have the potential to enhance the skills of children and generate interests among them towards education, no act or policy in the State can help to participate in universal enrolment or education. Interestingly, budget is not a constraint for the State in improving the education facilities because as mentioned by the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) in its 2017 audit report presented in Parliament Bihar had not been able to utilise over 26,500 crore INR of the RTE corpus between 2010-11 and 2015-16[7]. In addition, despite the fact that the state lack trained teachers the State is not investing in their education. For instance, in the year 2017-18 (BE) the State invested only 1.3% in teacher’s education[8].Also, instead of looking for permanent qualified teachers the state has only 60,000 regular teachers for 76,000 primary and pre-secondary schools.[9]Although the State has increase the budget allocated for education in 2019-20 from the previous year[10]but what is required is sound and effective allocation of this budget into critical components. Prioritisation of trained teachers and infrastructure which enable quality education in the political agenda, its practical implementation and monitoring is required to ensure quality education and enjoying the opportunities provided under RTE by Bihar’s children.
Conclusion :
Despite the constitutional guarantee to education, children cannot attend schools because to exercise their Right they need support from adults or family. Majority of children in Bihar is enrolled in government schools, which is primarily the responsibility of the government, at least at the level of improving the status of infrastructure and trained teachers that can encourage parents to send their children to school. Flawed education system discourages the parents. Unlike Kerala, with only 11.3% of the population under BPL, Bihar has 55.7% of the people that fall under the poverty line and thus could not afford private education institution. Therefore, the government must prioritise effective designing and implementation of policies along with its proper monitoring and utilisation of fund. For providing the much-needed opportunities to its children, the State should cover training of teachers, appreciating and incentivising better-performing teachers and schools, the establishment of the libraries with books and functional desktop with internet facilities to attract parents and teachers both, and finally awareness campaign to mobilise households to understand the importance of education in the long term. All this can only be achieved through political willingness and prompt action by the concerned Government department,which has the power and finance to prioritise education and catalyse the much-needed change.
References :
Author – Pratyush Gaurav
A Development Professional working in Bihar. He is an alumni of XISS, Ranchi and XLRI, Jamshedpur
Picture – Oxfam India
Furthermore, another report by the Department of School Education & Literacy for the academic year 2018-19 backed the data mentioned above related to infrastructure and facilities for outcomes and reported only 4.93% and 31.71% schools in Bihar with functional desktop and library respectively in comparison of 72.44% and 84.62% in Kerala and 20.32% and 65.52% at National level[5]. Additionally, in contrast to 22.59% of total teachers without professional qualification at the country level and 5.78% in Kerala, 30% of the total teachers in Bihar don’t have a professional qualification[6].
Table 2: Performance of Bihar Education System in Comparison to Kerala and India (Academic Year 2018-19)
|
Indicators |
Bihar |
Kerala |
India |
|
% of school with Functional Desktop |
4.93% |
72.44% |
20.32% |
|
% of school with Library |
31.71% |
84.62% |
65.52% |
|
% of total Teachers without Professional Qualification |
30% |
5.78% |
22.59% |
| % of Teachers Trained in Computer |
5.81% |
23.07% |
19.12% |
|
% of enrolment in government schools |
81.63% |
26.83% |
51.83% |
The above-discussed data indicates why many parents and children in Bihar prioritise working over education. Unsurprisingly, they perceive return from work much more than the return from schooling. The Indian Constitution on paper has ensured access to education to all children by supporting families with textbooks, uniform, school fees etc.to overcomethe financial barrier. But, without proper infrastructure and trained teachers, which are the two crucial pillars of quality education and have the potential to enhance the skills of children and generate interests among them towards education, no act or policy in the State can help to participate in universal enrolment or education. Interestingly, budget is not a constraint for the State in improving the education facilities because as mentioned by the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) in its 2017 audit report presented in Parliament Bihar had not been able to utilise over 26,500 crore INR of the RTE corpus between 2010-11 and 2015-16[7]. In addition, despite the fact that the state lack trained teachers the State is not investing in their education. For instance, in the year 2017-18 (BE) the State invested only 1.3% in teacher’s education[8].Also, instead of looking for permanent qualified teachers the state has only 60,000 regular teachers for 76,000 primary and pre-secondary schools.[9]Although the State has increase the budget allocated for education in 2019-20 from the previous year[10]but what is required is sound and effective allocation of this budget into critical components. Prioritisation of trained teachers and infrastructure which enable quality education in the political agenda, its practical implementation and monitoring is required to ensure quality education and enjoying the opportunities provided under RTE by Bihar’s children.
Conclusion :
Despite the constitutional guarantee to education, children cannot attend schools because to exercise their Right they need support from adults or family. Majority of children in Bihar is enrolled in government schools, which is primarily the responsibility of the government, at least at the level of improving the status of infrastructure and trained teachers that can encourage parents to send their children to school. Flawed education system discourages the parents. Unlike Kerala, with only 11.3% of the population under BPL, Bihar has 55.7% of the people that fall under the poverty line and thus could not afford private education institution. Therefore, the government must prioritise effective designing and implementation of policies along with its proper monitoring and utilisation of fund. For providing the much-needed opportunities to its children, the State should cover training of teachers, appreciating and incentivising better-performing teachers and schools, the establishment of the libraries with books and functional desktop with internet facilities to attract parents and teachers both, and finally awareness campaign to mobilise households to understand the importance of education in the long term. All this can only be achieved through political willingness and prompt action by the concerned Government department,which has the power and finance to prioritise education and catalyse the much-needed change.
References :
Author – Pratyush Gaurav
A Development Professional working in Bihar. He is an alumni of XISS, Ranchi and XLRI, Jamshedpur
Picture – Oxfam India
Table 1: Performance of Bihar on School Education Quality Index by NITI Aayog [4]
|
Category/Domain Rank |
Category/Domain |
Education Index Reference year (Y1) |
|
19 |
Infrastructure and facilities for outcomes |
10.87 |
|
18 |
Access outcomes |
33.58 |
|
19 |
Governance processes |
35.16 |
|
19 |
Governance processes aiding outcomes |
35.16 |
|
12 |
Learning outcomes |
41.67 |
|
17 |
Overall |
42.05 |
|
15 |
Outcomes |
44.87 |
|
13 |
Equity outcomes |
60.51 |
Furthermore, another report by the Department of School Education & Literacy for the academic year 2018-19 backed the data mentioned above related to infrastructure and facilities for outcomes and reported only 4.93% and 31.71% schools in Bihar with functional desktop and library respectively in comparison of 72.44% and 84.62% in Kerala and 20.32% and 65.52% at National level[5]. Additionally, in contrast to 22.59% of total teachers without professional qualification at the country level and 5.78% in Kerala, 30% of the total teachers in Bihar don’t have a professional qualification[6].
Table 2: Performance of Bihar Education System in Comparison to Kerala and India (Academic Year 2018-19)
|
Indicators |
Bihar |
Kerala |
India |
|
% of school with Functional Desktop |
4.93% |
72.44% |
20.32% |
|
% of school with Library |
31.71% |
84.62% |
65.52% |
|
% of total Teachers without Professional Qualification |
30% |
5.78% |
22.59% |
| % of Teachers Trained in Computer |
5.81% |
23.07% |
19.12% |
|
% of enrolment in government schools |
81.63% |
26.83% |
51.83% |
The above-discussed data indicates why many parents and children in Bihar prioritise working over education. Unsurprisingly, they perceive return from work much more than the return from schooling. The Indian Constitution on paper has ensured access to education to all children by supporting families with textbooks, uniform, school fees etc.to overcomethe financial barrier. But, without proper infrastructure and trained teachers, which are the two crucial pillars of quality education and have the potential to enhance the skills of children and generate interests among them towards education, no act or policy in the State can help to participate in universal enrolment or education. Interestingly, budget is not a constraint for the State in improving the education facilities because as mentioned by the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) in its 2017 audit report presented in Parliament Bihar had not been able to utilise over 26,500 crore INR of the RTE corpus between 2010-11 and 2015-16[7]. In addition, despite the fact that the state lack trained teachers the State is not investing in their education. For instance, in the year 2017-18 (BE) the State invested only 1.3% in teacher’s education[8].Also, instead of looking for permanent qualified teachers the state has only 60,000 regular teachers for 76,000 primary and pre-secondary schools.[9]Although the State has increase the budget allocated for education in 2019-20 from the previous year[10]but what is required is sound and effective allocation of this budget into critical components. Prioritisation of trained teachers and infrastructure which enable quality education in the political agenda, its practical implementation and monitoring is required to ensure quality education and enjoying the opportunities provided under RTE by Bihar’s children.
Conclusion :
Despite the constitutional guarantee to education, children cannot attend schools because to exercise their Right they need support from adults or family. Majority of children in Bihar is enrolled in government schools, which is primarily the responsibility of the government, at least at the level of improving the status of infrastructure and trained teachers that can encourage parents to send their children to school. Flawed education system discourages the parents. Unlike Kerala, with only 11.3% of the population under BPL, Bihar has 55.7% of the people that fall under the poverty line and thus could not afford private education institution. Therefore, the government must prioritise effective designing and implementation of policies along with its proper monitoring and utilisation of fund. For providing the much-needed opportunities to its children, the State should cover training of teachers, appreciating and incentivising better-performing teachers and schools, the establishment of the libraries with books and functional desktop with internet facilities to attract parents and teachers both, and finally awareness campaign to mobilise households to understand the importance of education in the long term. All this can only be achieved through political willingness and prompt action by the concerned Government department,which has the power and finance to prioritise education and catalyse the much-needed change.
References :
Author – Pratyush Gaurav
A Development Professional working in Bihar. He is an alumni of XISS, Ranchi and XLRI, Jamshedpur
Picture – Oxfam India
