There's something wrong

As I read the various papers and websites writing ad-nauseum on the current education initiatives being taken by Mr. Kapil Sibal and I hear the minister himself hogging limelight on the 'only-too-eager' TV channels, I get the feeling that there is something deeply wrong about the whole situation. Let me explain why -

In matters of public policy, priority should be given to address the most important issues that impact the maximum number of people. This needs no further emphasis. If you disagree, proceed no further and advise me why this is wrong.

If we agree with the 'Most important impacting Most people' criteria and apply it to Education in India then the announcements and initiatives in the last 100 odd days not only seem mis-directed, they also seem diversionary.

The most important issue facing Indian Education today is 'Access to Quality School Education for All'. There are 3 key concepts here - Access, Quality School Education and For All. The problem is that quality school education is accessible to only a very very minuscule portion of population. Out of 361 million children of school going age in India, my estimate is that the no. of school going children getting quality education is not more than 1 million.

Why is this important? Brain science says that more than 90% of your brain patterns are formed by the age of 12 – the age when the child is in school. So if we don’t fix it there, we are only going to be able to make cosmetic improvements to the human capital of our country. Also, consider this. If we don’t fix school education now, we are condemned till 2021 for that’s when students entering schools today will enter the workforce! (assuming 12 years of school education).

Why is it a problem? Quality of School Education is being provided at various levels today. See the graphic below :

Out of 361 million children of school going age, 219million are actually in school. Among them, most of the 20 million in Govt Schools in Rural India would fall in level 1 or 2 of the above graphic where either they appear as enrolled without any teacher or with high teacher absenteeism or without a school building or just about manage some schooling with a 10th pass person taking them through the motions of chanting tables and alphabets 100 times a day. Most of the remaining children going to Govt Schools (38+71 million) would fall in level 3.

The situation for the 90 million in Private Schools is slightly better in that almost all are atleast at level 3. A few thousand schools would fall in level 4 and 5 where there is learning beyond the classroom but rote learning and rote testing still prevails. And the school is still an assembly line of numbing every student into conformity.

A couple of hundred would fall in level 6 & 7 – the levels that can actually claim to be providing quality education. And taking 1000-2000 as average enrolments for these level 6 & 7 schools, not more than half a million children have access to quality education today in India!!!!

Ironical isn’t it for we are talking about abolishing class X exams in CBSE!! Let’s see how many does this impact. There are about 8 lakh children who pass out of CBSE Xth every year. Out of them, a large percentage opt for a Junior College or Vocational Stream (diploma) – people who would still need to take an exam. Even if 2/3rd stay in the same school, that still means only 0.5 million children.

So we are ignoring the need of 360 million children to solve the problem of 0.5 million children! Doesn’t it sound absurd to say the least??

The problem of Access to Quality Education for All runs at 2 levels.

First, Lack of access to Quality education is creating a huge demographic divide where the rich with access to better education are becoming better and the poor with either no access or access to poor education are becoming more disadvantaged.

While the logic of ‘you get what you pay for’ can apply to normal products or services, Education is a life skill. If you give poor life skills to a poor person, you’re preparing him to remain mired in the cesspool of few opportunities. This has to change.

Second, those who think they are getting Quality education by sending their children to so called ‘good schools’ are actually sending their children to education factories where they are numbed into conformity. Granted, these children are better off than their poorer counterparts (who don’t even get access to the information and knowledge that richer children can) but they are reaching nowhere near their true potential.

Any policy initiative in India has to target this fundamental issue of giving Access of Quality Education to All.

Quality should be uniformly defined. Let an independent, constitutionally formed body lead this. Availability should be left to the private sector. They can run and manage schools better than the government. Access should be enabled by putting money in the hands of the disadvantaged or poor, possibly through a coupon system, so that everyone can afford good quality education. The government can channel the money it currently spends on teacher salaries and a leaky school system towards this and manage its disbursement when the UID program is ready.

When everyone has access to an education that enables them to achieve their unique, true potential, half the problems we currently see will disappear. So isn’t it better to focus on the most important issue that impacts the most than applying band-aids to an ailing system?