As India aspires for economic growth, it will need to invest in Education. Here's an examination of what is ailing the system, and recommendations for amending these.
2. Quality Education The Analysis
Quantity? Quality?
Indians who go to reasonable quality private schools in cities may not comprehend how bad
education can be in many government and small private schools, especially in rural India. "
While the frustration in good private schools maybe with not creating an inquisitive mind, a bad
government or small private school may not even teach a student to read and write her name!"
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
We would like to point out that as 2 out of 3 kids in India go to government
schools it is vital that we improve the education outcomes of these schools.
3. Quality Education The Analysis
Why Bother?
Education is important because it’s impact is…
ECONOMIC"
India’s large population is an advantage
only if per person productivity increases
rapidly. This can only go up when people
shift to skill and knowledge intensive
jobs from labour intensive jobs.
!
And in the future
‘Knowledge Economy’, the
inadequately educated will be
at a serious risk of
marginalisation.
SOCIAL"
Education brings awareness of basic
rights and duties, and empowers
people with logical reasoning to
break myths, superstitions and
caste / class boundaries.
4. Quality Education The Analysis
Where we are?
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA): Annually conducted
survey to evaluate education systems worldwide, by the OECD (Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development) Secretariat. "
The survey is based on two-hour tests that half a million students are put through.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Indian-students-rank-2nd-last-in-global-test/articleshow/11492508.cms
India ranked 72 among 73 countries, participating in PISA
5. Quality Education The Analysis
Where we are?
Only 40% Standard 3 students could read Standard 1 level paragraph
ABC ABC ABC ABC
Class III
Only 26% Standard 3 students could subtract
A-B=C
A-B=C
Source: 9th Annual Survey Education Report
? ? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ?
A-B=C
6. Quality Education The Analysis
Where we are?
Only 47% Standard 5 students could read Standard 2 level paragraph
ABC ABC ABC ABC ABC
Class V
Only 25% Standard 5 students could do a 3 digit by 2 digit division
A/B=C A/B=C ? ?
Source: 9th Annual Survey Education Report
? ? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ?
?
7. Quality Education The Analysis
Where we are?
with over 80% score
Source: NCERT, 2013
4%
10%
2%
2%
After 8 years of attending school, Percentage of students
Mathematics
Science
Language
Social Science
8. Quality Education The Analysis
Where we are?
Source: NCERT, 2013
Clearly, this is not where we want to be!
Mathematics: 55%
Science: 53%
Language: 23%
Social Science: 37%
4%
10%
2%
2%
After 8 years of attending school, Percentage of students
with less than 40% score
9. Quality Education The Analysis
Why are we here?
Our Education Policy is not
driven by outcomes.
The government targets inputs such as how
many students regularly go to school,
whether mid-day meals are provided, whether
there are toilets for girls - but not outcomes.
Inputs are important BUT one can easily
have situations where all prescribed inputs
are met but the outcomes are still abysmal.
10. Quality Education The Analysis
Inputs? Outcomes?
Strong Bowlers,!
Skilful Batsmen
But the Team rarely wins!
the matches it plays!
The scenario is like a Cricket Team being provided with the best inputs:
Acceptable?
Very Highly!
Paid Coaches
Best Training!
Facilities
11. Quality Education The Analysis
Input Obsession
A recent study tracked learning outcomes against Pupil Teacher Ratios.
!
It found that the best outcomes were when the
PTR was around 20.
!
!
!
!
!
!
However, even at this optimal level only 27%
of students were achieving desired outcomes.
!
Clearly, just focusing on inputs
is not enough.
a=b and b=c
so, a=c
?
? ? ? ? ? ?
Source: http://www.azimpremjifoundation.org/pdf/Criticality%20of%20Pupil%20Teacher%20Ratio.pdf
12. Quality Education The Analysis
Mid day meals"
!
!
!
!
!
!
were started to reduce the burden on
underprivileged parents.
Toilets for girls"
!
!
!
!
!
!
were prioritised in primary schools to
reduce the discomfort for girl students.
Input Obsession
These were components when the larger goal was better student enrolment,
and they succeeded. According to the 9th ASER, over 96% children have
been enrolled in schools in the 6-14 age group."
Now the goal needs to shift from Enrolment to Quality Education.
13. Quality Education The Analysis
Outcome Goal
Earlier, Basic Literacy could have been the goal for India, "
but as the world is becoming more knowledge based "
we need to have an aspirational goal: High Quality Education."
!
Admittedly, being aspirational in the face of the largely depressing reality is difficult.
14. Quality Education The Analysis
What Outcome?
So when Quality Education is the goal, "
it needs to be measured and monitored.
NCERT in government sector and
ASER in the non governmental sector
carry out such assessments. "
And both NCERT and ASER are not
used to drive policy, except
episodically.
15. Quality Education The Analysis
Measure & Monitor
The Recommendation 1
Educationists spiritedly debate the relative merits and de-merits of
NCERT, ASER, PISA and others. The nuances are admirable but
running an educational policy on slightly sub-optimal outcome
measures is better than running the policy only on inputs. Hence …
✓ Government should agree on a honest and
independent evaluation methodology (periodically
updated) to monitor student education levels. !
✓ Success of education endeavours and policy plans
and refinements should then be based, solely on
these monitored levels.
16. Quality Education The Analysis
Measure & Monitor
Government should take this up in mission mode, so that within 1 year …"
- A block / district officer should know if the learning level
of students in the block is improving or not."
- An MLA /MP should know if the learning level of
students in the constituency is improving over years."
!
!
- The Education Secretary, Education Minister and the Chief
Minister of a State to know if the learning level of students
in their state is improving or not."
- The Education Minister, the Prime Minister and the
Parliament to know if the learning levels of students in the
country is improving over the years.
17. Quality Education The Analysis
Teachers or Officials, no one is held accountable for outcomes …"
At best, they are accountable for inputs like a) optimum
Pupil Teacher Ratio b) minimum number of working days"
No one is accountable if the learning levels in the school /
district/ state are low and not improving
Who is Accountable
The Recommendation 2
✓ Hold teachers and officials responsible for improvement
in outcomes (responsibility can only be for improvements and not
absolute levels, as absolute levels depend on many parameters).!
✓ Incentivise them for outcome improvements and punish
them for not achieving target outcomes
18. Quality Education The Analysis
Contrary to popular belief, teachers are paid well. A study revealed that in rural UP
government teachers were paid 12-20 times the salary of private school teachers "
But yes, teachers are hampered by many impediments: "
1) Non teaching workload: Administrative duties, Mid day
meal supervision, ensuring enrolment "
2) Sub standard and often irrelevant training "
3) Little say in how school money is spent
Teachers teach
The Recommendation 3
✓ Remove / reduce incentives for non teaching work. !
✓ Given that teachers and education officers are held
accountable for improvement in outcomes, they should
have the choice of training programs to help them
achieve these goals
19. Quality Education The Analysis
Communities across the country aspire for high quality education for their
children, but are unable to assist or monitor teachers because …"
1) Low skill levels"
2) Social distance between community and teachers"
3) Aspirations not well defined, due to limited exposure"
The right people from local communities need to
have a say in incentives and penalties, as well as tools
to achieve target outcomes.
Involve Community
The Recommendation 4
✓ Launch a program in mission mode for training
community members in their rights and encourage them
to effectively assist in achieving target outcomes.
20. IN CONCLUSION, Please Ask your Political Representatives:
w
w
w
.
A
s
k
H
o
w
I
n
d
i
a
.
o
r
g
Creative Partner"
MeriMaaCineMAA
M
o
r
e
?
P
l
e
a
s
e
f
o
l
l
o
w
A
s
k
H
o
w
I
n
d
i
a
o
n
What are your plans
to increase the rate of
improvement of
outcomes?
What has been the
improvement in the
last five years?
TWEET TO!
@HRDMinistry, @PMOIndia
What are the "
education outcome
levels of children in
your constituency?
Please drive Education Policy by"
#OutcomesNotInputs"
http://slidesha.re/1uCZmpV