EDUCATION IN INDIA
AIPSN
has been functioning as the nodal network of the science movements in India for
the past quarter century. Education has been at centre of its nationwide
activities. The AIPSN has intervened meaningfully in the education process,
particularly in school education. It has also been in forefront of the literacy
campaigns and post-literacy programmes of the country, through the Bharat Gyan
Vigyan Samiti attached to the framework. Through a number of innovative
programmes the BGVS has extended its activities in a number of states. The organizations associated with the
People’s Science Movement such as Eklavya and Kerala Shastra Sahithya Parsihad
have also initiated path breaking interventions in school education. The
experience of such activities has enabled the AIPSN to acquire the resources
for meaningful interventions in the education framework being developed in the
nation, through a critical assessment of the policies being initiated in the
school as well as higher education.
The
positive features of the interventions made by the science movement with respect
to the education system in India can be summed up as follows.
1. The
total literacy campaign and the activities of the BGVS has brought into being
the participatory form of intervening in the education system, which brought
together activists from different walks of life, primarily women into education
campaigns, where major decisions were taken in direct consultation with the
local people, teachers, field workers and students.
2. A
similar democratic process of developing curriculum and methodologies of
teaching and learning were initiated by different organizations, and Kerala
state went to the extent of developing its state curriculum framework, syllabus
grid and textbooks through extensive consultations among teachers and through
numerous workshops and writing sessions.
3. Such
an effort also enabled the activists and teachers to experiment with new
methodologies, including Social constructivism and critical pedagogy, and
introduce innovative textbooks for all subjects including languages.
4. The
experience gained from the literacy movement and innovative teaching practices
came into importance in the formulation of the democratic provisions of the
Right to Education Act passed by the Parliament (2009)
5. The
experience generated and disseminated by the science movement enabled the
growth of teachers and education movements that began to address the challenge
of developing a democratic and scientific education system in the country.
Education system- a critique
1.
Education is the engine of the growth.
It is invariably a social process. It addresses the societal perception and as
a part of it individual perception also. It also allows vertical growth of the
downtrodden. Hence, education is considered to promote equity and social
justice. This was the general perspective of all progressive movements during
the 20th century. Education then was considered essential to prepare
the new generations to be good citizens and good workers and to make them
cultured and take up important social tasks. Hence the idea of free and
compulsory general education and higher education for those with academic
merit. In other words social justice, equity and excellence are key concepts or
non-negotiable elements in a progressive and democratic educational
perspective.
2.
Though
the constitution assured to extend free education to children up to the age of
14 years by 1960, even after the enactment of Right to Education it is still denied
to a large section of them. From the 1960’s the state was more interested in
expanding opportunities for higher education at the expense of general
education to cater to the needs of the industry and service sector on the one
hand and to fulfill the aspirations of middle and upper classes on the other.
This has resulted in accentuating the inequality between haves and have-nots.
With advent of globalization the government started to withdraw from education
as is reflected by decreasing percentage of budgetary allocation for education.
This has resulted in the launching of big struggles by students and teachers
and others for more opportunities to children of the poor in education, more
equity and social justice.
3.
The following Issues with respect to
gender and social exclusion are not yet addressed properly;
Access
·
Access of girl children, children from
the minority, dalit, tribal, differentially abled and other marginalized communities
·
Retention of these groups of children
·
Regular attendance and abseetism
·
Reasons behind dropping out
Socio-economic and cultural aspects
·
Children engaged in child labour
·
Children subjected to child sexual abuse
and trafficking
·
Children shifting due to seasonal
migration for labour
·
Children looking after siblings and home
–based work
·
Children engaged in agricultural
operations
·
Children on the streets
·
Children living in the slums deprived of
even basic infrastructure
·
Children engaged in prostitution
·
Children with differential abilities
·
Children addicted to drugs and various issues of Gender aspects
within the school
4.
The relation ship between quantity and quality in
education is to be examined. While education becomes universal, children from
diverse social background get enrolled. But for children from socially
background families, the academic environment in both schools and their homes
are limited. The social aspirations and goals that guide these children in
schools are also diverse. Hence it is practically impossible to expect the
level of achievement of an ‘elite’ school to be maintained in ordinary schools
also, given that the same syllabus and methods of instruction are followed in
both types of schools. Free and compulsory education and adoption of a uniform
syllabus in all the schools need not result in a “leveling effect” in
educational standards because of the diverse social backgrounds and aspirations
of the enrolled. Casual observation suggests that schools that admit second or
third generation learners from middle class backgrounds have always performed
better than schools that admit children from urban and rural poor. An analysis
of the results of 10th std
public examinations of the past shows
that schools producing poor results have admitted students from tribal areas,
agricultural workers, urban poor. Ultimately education becomes a process of
elimination for majority of students. These realities raises some pertinent questions regarding
·
The content of education
·
Curriculum development
·
Text book preparation
·
Transactional strategies
·
Management of educational institutions
·
Other duties assigned to the teacher
community at all levels
·
Teacher trainings both pre service and
in-service
·
Involvement of community
·
Policies of the government.
·
Budget allocation
- The State has to
take for the main responsibility of providing education. The policy, the
objectives, the norms and the spread of education are to be decided by the
State. In a developing country like India, it may be necessary and
feasible to involve the private sector also in this field but they must
not be guided by profit motive. The capital expenditure for establishing
educational institutions may make by individuals or private institutions
or organizations. But the norms and standards must be set by the State.
How to ensure social control – a large social debate is needed.
- Education is not a
commodity. It is a facility to acquire knowledge, which is to be utilized
for the benefit of the society. Hence, nobody should be allowed to peddle
with education and make profits. Nor any body should be allowed to enter a
particular course simply because one has enough money to purchase a seat
in it.
- The
content of education, the curriculum should help attain the basic goals of
education in the given socio-political milieu. It should aim at all round
development, promote awareness of the world and equip one to deal with it,
help acquisition of knowledge and skills and promote creativity. It should
result in character building, realization of ones physical and mental
potentialities and inculcation of social and human values. It should
provide one with a global perspective, while at the same time equipping
one to pursue national and sub national goals and aspirations. It should
promote awareness of ones cultural heritage as well as societal obligations.
It should lead to equality and empowerment of all sections of society. It
should uphold the dignity of labour and give value to both manual and
mental work. Up gradation and creation of knowledge is an indispensable
component of education. The content of education should be such as to
interlink the educational and productive process, one enriching the other.
It should also lead to gainful employment.
- Education is a powerful tool for human
resource development and national building. In a country like ours where a
majority of students are dropped out or pushed out before completing the
secondary stage, how to integrate with gainful employment is a subject
that is to be discussed in detail. The number of these pushed outs vary
from state to state. Hardly any ready avenue of lively hood waits for
them. The educational structure is not geared to cope with their problems.
As a part of their life some of them succeeded in training themselves with
some vocation. This is because the present school education system is not
geared to impart any skills, particularly in productive activities. Laying
the firm foundations of literacy and productive skills on the one hand,
and preparing students for various kinds of professional and technical
education so that they can find suitable employment on the other, is the
two challenges that our educational structure has to cope with the
immediate future. Education has to link the means of production with the
skills potential workers acquire. School education there fore aim at
integrating the content of the educational curriculum with the
requirements in different kinds and levels of productive activities.
- A
balanced curriculum should harmonies elements with universal applicability
the national framework, sub national variations and regional and local
requirements. They are elements that form part of the curriculum
anywhere. Each state is an integral
part of India politically, economically, administratively, socially and
culturally, the national curriculum frame work, evolved after much
deliberation and discussion, and which was not intended to be rigid and
immutable should define the broad contours of the educational curriculum
of each state. However the mechanical application of the national
framework is unnecessary. Each state has its own socio-cultural-political
diversities. The curriculum therefore, should reflect the reality and
concerns of the people of each state. Even with in the state the
curriculum should be flexible enough to accommodate regional and local
needs and concerns. The curriculum must be conceived as a social document
closely linked with social needs. There need not be any permanent
curriculum; it keeps on evolving to meet the challenges arising out of
social transformation. However, in our society characterized by diversity
of interests, it is the responsibility of the state to strive towards the
formulation of a curriculum that would meet the aspirations of the people.
The curriculum so formulated will aim at the social development of the
majority including the entire deprived classes. Such curriculum will aim
at
·
Using mother tongue as the medium of
learning.
·
Starting the learning process from the
immediate environment with which every child interacts and begins learning by
constructing knowledge.
·
Emphasizing the importance of both
mental and manual work and integrating them in the curriculum.
·
Using curricular framework as a means to
realize the creative potential of the child.
·
Enabling the child to understand her role
in a secular democratic society and use her ability for creative and critical
intervention in social process.
- In the educational process, the mode in
which knowledge is imparted is as important as knowledge content. The
current mode places undue emphasis on mechanical acquisition, retention,
and reproduction of often unprocessed information. These need to change.
The learning process should be child centered and emphasis should be on
construction of knowledge and analytical abilities rather than on decontextualised
information and learning by rote. Further more, learning about the process
of generating knowledge is as important as acquisition of knowledge. The
curriculum in teachers training should be such as to enable the teachers
to understand this shift in emphasis. More over the campus as well as the
classroom environment, even the transaction process, must be democratic.
Our country is basically a democratic country and we couldn’t produce a
democratic citizen through an autocratic classroom.
- Education
necessarily imparts certain values. What these values should consists of
needs careful consideration in a multi-religious and multi-cultural
society like ours. It is important that these values are not identified
with any particular religion. The ideas of democracy, secularism, gender
equity, work culture, attitude towards work and social justice are some of
the universal values that deserve to be integrated in the curriculum.
Which is lacking today.
- An important aspect of universal
education is the relationship between social equity and academic
excellence. The major objective of any transformative education system has
to be the maximization of achievement by the maximum of the population.
- The
importance of the State in the education system needs no emphasis. However
in the context of neo liberal policies, liberalized economy the State
tends to withdraw from education, allowing greater freedom to private
agencies. Since the private agencies are mainly interested in investment
with assured returns and profits, the cost of such education will be so
prohibitive that it will be inaccessible to the common people. The
withdrawal of the state will therefore amount to increasingly
marginalization of common schools. In this context we must endorse that the
responsibility of organizing and conducting the education system be vested
with the state, with out prejudice to private initiatives and private
partnership with in the parameters of the overall structure.
- The
post –school phase at present is identified with various forms of ‘Higher
Education’, a term that is so nebulas that it could mean anything from
diploma/certificate courses to postgraduate studies and research. This
nebulas character has allowed governments to follow policies that would
transform universities and colleges in to omnibus institutions that would
run courses of all kinds with out looking whether it is relevant or not.
Functioning of universities and colleges in the state has already come
under much criticism. The role of the universities to provide academic
leadership to the society and facilitate studies and research of social
relevance cannot be undermined. Nor can universities be degraded into
degree distributing shops.
15. The
decentralization of educational management is essential for the promoting
social participation. The decentralization is not simple devolution of powers
or localization of authority but a creative participation of the neighborhood
in the affairs of the institution. It would involve the debureaucratisation of
educational apparatuses, promotion of teachers training and academic
coordination at the local level. This will allow a great deal of
diversification of pedagogic techniques on the basis of social requirements and
academic initiatives in the light of local experience.
16. The government claims that the 11th
Plan was the ‘Education Plan’ of the country. The government supports this
claim by saying that “there has been a steady increase in public spending on
education since 2004-05. Education expenditure as a percentage of GDP increased
from 3.3 per cent in 2004-05 to 4 % in 2011-12. Per capita public expenditure
on education increased from Rs. 888 in 2004-05 to Rs. 2,985 in 2011-12. The
bulk of public spending on education is done by the State governments and this
grew at 19.6% per year during Eleventh Plan. Central spending on education
increased even faster at 25% per year during the same period.” It ought to be
obvious that this increase is way short of the 6% of GDP target set up by the
UPA I government, that should have been achieved by 2009. This is also the
period when the path breaking Right to Education Act was passed, in which the
PSMs played a significant role. The government therefore had a compulsion to
fund the Act adequately. Though there have been increases in government
spending in the 11th plan, they have not been commensurate with the
needs of RtE, or the various sectors of education.
17. Data suggests that there has been
improvement in access to education at elementary level during the Eleventh
Plan. The mean years of schooling of the working population (over 15 years) has
increased from 4.19 years in 2000 to 5.12 years in 2010. Enrolment of children
in primary schools is now claimed to be at near-universal levels; though
enrolments do not imply regular attendance or improved retention levels. The growth of enrolment in secondary
education accelerated from 4.3% per year during the 1990s to 6.27% per year in
the decade ending 2009-10. Youth
literacy increased from 60% in 1983 to 91% in 2009-10 and the gross enrolment
ratio in higher education increased from about 12.3% to 18.1% during the
Eleventh Plan.
18. The country’s
mean years of schooling at 5.12 years is however well below the other emerging
market economies such as China (8.17 years) and Brazil (7.54 years) and significantly below the average for
all developing countries (7.09 years).
19. The
governmental efforts have simply not been adequate to arrest steep dropout rate
after the elementary level. The sharp drop-off in enrolment at the middle
school level and the increasing enrolment gap from elementary to higher
secondary suggests that the enrolment gains at the elementary level have not
yet impacted the school sector as a whole. Disadvantaged groups are worse off
with the dropout rates for SCs and STs higher than the national average.
20. A major shortcoming for school education
is the poor level of student learning. Learning outcomes for children in Indian
schools are far below corresponding class levels. Under the RTE Act, the
government is responsible to ensure good quality elementary education that
conforms to the standards and norms specified in the Act. These norms relate to
physical facilities, teacher requirements in terms of required pupil-teacher
ratio (PTR), working days and other similar other inputs for an effective
teaching-learning process. While, these inputs
are necessary, but these are not sufficient for imparting quality education.
The spirit of the RTE Act will only be realized if the schools also provide
high quality education in terms of learning outcomes and skills to all
students.
21. The RTE Act had set timelines for
implementation of the provisions relating to standards and norms of the Act.
The first such deadline under the Act is already over on March 31, 2013. It
appears that only 6% of government schools have attained these norms as yet!
This means the first and important milestone of children’s fundamental right to
education is missed by a big margin. Teacher vacancies are estimated at 12.58
lakh (5.64 lakh old vacancies and 6.94 lakh vacancies of positions sanctioned
under SSA). A significant majority of
these teacher vacancies are accounted for by the following 6 States: Uttar
Pradesh (3.12 lakh), Bihar (2.62 lakh), West Bengal (1.81 lakh), Madhya Pradesh
(0.89 lakh), Chhattisgarh (0.62 lakh) and Rajasthan (0.51 lakh). Provision of
adequate classrooms, girls toilets, libraries, all guaranteed under the Act
remain are yet to materialise. One significant shortcoming is making
appropriate arrangements for the last children – street children, migrant
children and children with disabilities.
22. In spite of government’s claim that
budgets for education have increased, the money released for the RtE has
remained less than what was sanctioned. The Cabinet had approved an amount of
2.31 lakh crore rupees for five years for the implementation of the Act in
2010, which works out to about rupees 34,000 crores per year as central
contribution. In the crucial three year implementation period of the Act, this
figure has never materialised. This indicates that the government will to
implement a right also does not exist.
23. Data on drop outs clearly indicates the
lack of equity in elementary education. The dropout out rates for SC and ST
children at 51.25% and 57.58% respectively are very high as compared to the all
category average of 42.39%. The dropout (apparent cohort) for non-SC/ST
children is much lower at 37.22% as compared to that for SCs and STs Children
indicating the challenge of school retention with respect to vulnerable
communities. The number of out of school children (OoSC) is placed at 8.1
million in 2009. The top 4 States of Uttar Pradesh (34%), Bihar (17%),
Rajasthan (12%) and West Bengal (9%) accounted for 72% of the total OoSC in
India (IMRB, 2009).
24. The gross enrolment ratio (GER) at the combined secondary and senior
secondary stages (Classes IX-XII) at less than 50% (2009-10) is woefully low.
The resulting inequity in terms of participation of disadvantaged groups is
simply unacceptable. Enrolment with equity would require massive expansion in
the secondary sector. The Rashtriya
Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) launched in 2009-10 might not be
successful until the secondary sector, along with the pre-school are brought
under the Right to Education Act.
25. A
large majority of secondary schools (about 60% compared to 21% at the
elementary stage) are private schools aided or unaided. For the government,
this is a magnet to expand the PPP mode. This is simply unacceptable and needs
to be resisted. It is the government that will have to take the prime
responsibility of providing access to secondary schooling for the disadvantaged
sections and bridge rural/urban, regional, gender and social group gaps.
Simultaneously, investments would be needed to improve curriculum, pedagogy,
teacher training, classroom technology and assessments, including examination
reforms that are essential to provide good quality secondary schooling. This is
why secondary schooling needs to be made a fundamental right so that there is a
compulsion to increase investments to adequate levels.
26.
Gross enrolment ratios at the secondary (Class IX-X)
and senior secondary (Class XI-XII) levels are 62.7% and 35.9%, respectively
leading to a combined GER for Class IX-XII of a considerably low 49.3% (Table
6). The significant dip in GERs from secondary to senior secondary level for
all categories is driven by a number of factors including general lack of
access, paucity of public schools, high cost of private senior secondary
education and poor quality of education, along with the very important factor
of high opportunity cost of deferred entry into the workforce. India’s GER at
the secondary level is close to that of the average for all developing
Countries (63%) but substantially lower than that of emerging economies like
China, Indonesia, Thailand and Brazil.
GER for Secondary Education by Social Groups (2009-10)
|
|
SCs
|
STs
|
Non-SC/STs
|
Overall
|
|
Secondary Level
|
||||
|
Boys
|
71.19
|
54.24
|
67.02
|
66.65
|
|
Girls
|
63.50
|
44.22
|
58.97
|
58.45
|
|
Total
|
67.58
|
49.41
|
63.13
|
62.71
|
|
Senior Secondary Level
|
||||
|
Boys
|
37.42
|
31.36
|
39.17
|
38.31
|
|
Girls
|
33.48
|
22.32
|
34.39
|
33.31
|
|
Total
|
35.60
|
26.91
|
36.88
|
35.92
|
|
Both Secondary and Senior Secondary Level
|
||||
|
Boys
|
54.52
|
43.45
|
52.86
|
52.39
|
|
Girls
|
48.86
|
33.68
|
46.54
|
45.86
|
|
Total
|
51.88
|
38.70
|
49.82
|
49.26
|
Source: SES, MHRD, 2011
27. The
country’s relatively low enrolment level at the Secondary level is aggravated
further by huge interstate variations. Although gross enrolment in secondary
education has been growing at the national level, growth across the States has
been highly uneven. Among the major States, secondary level GERs are as low as
29% in Jharkhand and 35% in Bihar and as high as89% in Himachal Pradesh and 98%
in Kerala, as compared to the national level of (62.7%). At the Senior
Secondary level, the GER ranges between extremely low and worrying 6.5% in
Jharkhand and 13% in Assam as compared to 60% in Haryana and 69% in Himachal
Pradesh. In addition, in some states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the
gender gap in GER is very wide with over 20% difference in GERs between boys
and girls.
28. Vocational education is very limited in the country; in India, only 5
per cent of the population of 19–24 age groups has acquired some sort of skills
through Vocational Education (VE) while the corresponding figure for Korea is
as high has 96 per cent.
29. The
Central allocation for secondary education for MHRD schemes for the Eleventh
Plan was Rs.54,945 crore but the Ministry could spend only Rs.17,723 crore, or
32.26% of the Eleventh Plan allocation! Which is a telling comment on the
governance structure in education that is unable to spend even the meagre funds
that are allotted. Extra investments must therefore go hand in hand with better
delivery mechanisms in all sectors of education.
30. Higher education has been in the news in the last few
years for all the wrong reasons. Having received much attention during UPAII,
the reforms in this sector were envisaged through a set of draft legislations
that have been opposed by nearly all sections of progressive forces, including
the PSMs. The thrust has been more towards privatization and commodification, a
trend taken further in the 12th plan with the recommendation of
allowing, for the first time in the country, ‘for-profit’ institutions.
31. Less than one-fifth of the estimated 120 million
potential students are enrolled in higher education institutions in India, far
below the world average of about 26%.
Growth
of Enrolment in the Eleventh Plan
(Enrolment in lakh)
|
Category
|
2006-07
|
2011-12
|
Increase
|
Growth Rate (%)
|
|
By type of institutions
|
||||
|
Government
|
63.38 (45.8)
|
84.90 (41.1)
|
26.25
|
7.2
|
|
Central
|
3.10 (2.2)
|
5.63 (2.6)
|
2.53
|
12.7
|
|
State
|
60.28 (43.6)
|
84.00 (38.5)
|
23.72
|
6.9
|
|
Private
|
75.12 (54.2)
|
128.23 (58.9)
|
53.11
|
11.3
|
|
By
degree / diploma
|
||||
|
Degree
|
123.54 (89.2)
|
184.84 (84.8)
|
61.30
|
8.4
|
|
Diploma
|
14.96 (10.8)
|
33.02 (15.2)
|
18.06
|
10.8
|
|
Total
|
138.50
|
217.86
|
79.36
|
9.5
|
Source:
University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education
(AICTE), National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), Indian Nursing Council
(NCTE).
Note:
(a) Central institutions include Indian Institutes of management even though
that award PG diplomas in management; (b) Figures in parentheses are percentage
of total for the year.
32. Wide disparities exist in enrolment
percentages among the states and between urban and rural areas while
disadvantaged sections of society and women have significantly lower enrolments
than the national average. The pressure to increase access to affordable
education is steadily increasing with the number of eligible students set to
double by 2020. At the same time, significant problems exist in the quality of
education provided. The sector is plagued by a shortage of trained faculty,
poor infrastructure and outdated and irrelevant curricula. The use of
technology in higher education remains limited and standards of research and
teaching at Indian universities are far below international standards.
33. A holistic approach to the issues of expansion, equity
and excellence so that expansion is not just about accommodating ever larger
number of students in higher education, but it is also about providing the
expanded pool of students choice of subjects, levels and institutions while
ensuring that all institutions maintain a minimum level of academic quality and
the opportunity to pursue higher education is increasingly available to all
sections of society, particularly the disadvantaged.
34. The three segments of higher education are: central
institutions, which account for 2.6% of the total enrolment; state institutions
which account for 38.5% of enrolment; and, private institutions that cater to
the remaining students.
35. The government admits that Higher education expansion
during the Eleventh Plan was led by the private sector which now accounts for 58.5%
of enrolments. The 12th plan document therefore contends that
“private sector will be encouraged to establish larger and higher quality
institutions in the Twelfth Plan. Currently, for-profit entities are not
permitted in higher education and the non-profit or philanthropy-driven
institutions are unable scale up enough to bridge the demand-supply gap in
higher education. Therefore, the “not-for-profit” status in higher education
should, perhaps, be re-examined for pragmatic considerations so as to allow the
entry of for-profit institutions in select areas where acute shortages
persist”. This is a completely unacceptable conclusion and recommendation that
needs to be vigorously opposed.
36. India faces a huge challenge to fund its rapidly
growing higher education sector. Overall, the country spent about 1.22% of its
GDP on higher education in 2011-12. Household spending and investments by the
private sector have grown more rapidly than government spending on higher
education in recent years. Government spending and particularly state
government spending has fallen far short of the funding requirement in the face
of a dramatic expansion of the system and the rising expectations of the people
in terms of quality, equity and access.
37. Overall, central funding of State institutions is
meagre. Together the state systems enrolled fifteen-times more students than
central institutions but received only one-third of the plan grants during the
Eleventh Plan. Half of the central plan funds (Rs.20,630 crore) went to Central
institutions, with State universities, colleges and polytechnics receiving just
about Rs.10,446 crore. In addition, Central institutions received about
Rs.25,000 crore as non-plan grants during the Eleventh Plan period, while the
State institutions do not receive any non-plan grants. Consequently, State
universities and colleges face serious financial difficulties that often result
in poor quality.
38. According to government data, literacy
rose from 52.2% in 1991 to 64.8% in 2001 and further to 74% in 2011. The number
of illiterates declined in absolute terms by 31 million and the number of
literates increased by 218 million.
39. The urban-rural literacy differential was
reduced during the corresponding period. Literacy rates for females increased
at a faster rate (11.79%) than that for males (6.88%), thus reducing gender gap
from 21.59% in 2001 to 16.68% in 2011. However, gender and regional disparities
in literacy continues to remain high.
40. The 12th plan document
recognises that due to the tremendous expansion of information and
communication technology, and increasing life span of individuals’ calls for a
major shift in the adult education policy and programmes. India needs to
move beyond the simple definition of literacy and reconceptualise it as “the
ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute
using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts.” The
government has set the following targets for literacy. Literary rate from the
existing 74% to 80% by the end of the plan period(2017) of which male literacy
from 82% to 85% and female literacy from 65.5% to 75% and gender gap to be
reduced from 16.7% to 10%.This means making over 125 million persons in the
next five years, by 2017. Is this achievable? As a predominantly literacy
movement, the PSM has been consistently pointing out to the MHRD and NLM that
the ground strategy for the implementation of the Saakshar Bharat program is
not based on people’s participation. In the view of BGVS, the ground reality of
Saakshar Bharat is very different from how it is presented at the top. There
are some indications that the government might be amenable to revising its
implementation strategies. We will need to continue to press for such changes,
without which the staggering target set for the next five years seems
unattainable.
The above mentioned facts show that
the scientific and democratic education system that the science movement and
the various movements and organizations working in the field of education have
been envisioning has not materialized. The Hoshangabad Science Teaching
Programme, one of the premier efforts by education activists and teachers to
develop a scientific, learner-friendly teaching device for middle schools was
stopped half—way through Government and political interventions. The ambitious
school curriculum framework developed in Kerala state and once considered a
model for implementing new, innovative methods, is meeting the same fate.
Despite the rhetoric of learner-friendly curriculum and pedagogy the actual
practice in majority of the schools is fast slipping into the traditional
pattern of rote learning and at best bahaviourist methodology and schools, as
well as parents are happy with implementing result oriented pedagogy( ‘learning
outcomes’), without being troubled by the burden of implementing a theoretical
norm of whatever kind. The Governments
also do not have the ability or institutional forms to monitor the
implementation of the existing curricular norms in the unaided, private schools,
and many schools also move out of the National curriculum framework altogether,
following some international norm. All these create complications in the
implementation of the curricular framework.
The situation in higher education is
hardly different. The UGC had recently taken initiatives in developing model
curricula to be implemented in Universities and facilitating the establishment
of curriculum development cells. Many states have also set up Higher education
councils, and some states like Kerala
have taken exemplary initiatives like implementation of Choice based credit and
Semester System in colleges and college clusters to facilitate dissemination of
expertise and joint initiatives by colleges. National Talent Search Scheme
called INSPIRE and similar schemes implemented by states have also elicited
favourable response. However, other measures of improving the quality of
teachers and researchers, such as the National Eligibility Test (NET), the
Scholarship Examinations and the Academic Staff colleges. Recently UGC has
introduced further measures of quantifying performance and quality such as the
Academic Performance Index (API) and the Career Advancement Progrmme(CAP). All
these measures have been controversial, as many of them do not provide reliable
indices of quality, either in the process of research intake, teacher
recruitment or assessment of in-service performance. Mechanical adherence to
norms, rather than real quality improvement has been more conducive to
admissions, recruitment and promotions, and hence students and teachers have
relapsed to mechanical methods of information dissemination (‘coaching’) and equally
mechanical accumulation of API scores.
Excessive importance given to various
types of entrance examinations has also complicated the picture. Entrance
examinations appeal to dreams and ambitions of the middle classes all over
India, particularly as upper classes have other ways of achieving their goals. Schools
and colleges cater to the middle classes, and the schools of the urban and rural
poor languish in utter neglect. On the one hand the entrance examinations have
been instrumental in the transformation of the secondary school education into
rote learning and coaching exercise, which has virtually nullified the impact
of the new pedagogies envisioned by the NCF at the primary level. On the other
hand, it has also introduced the tendencies of individual competitiveness and one-upmanship decided by
measurable scores, which has offset the concept of quality in knowledge
acquisition and production, thinking and creativity. One study conducted in
Kerala (by CSES, Cochin) has pointed out that the performance in the Entrance
tests is skewed in favour of the upper strata, both urban and rural, and the
urban and rerural poor are left behind.
Interestingly, the study also showed that the later performances of the
students in the institutions where they gained admission are comparable to
their school examination scores, rather than the results of their entrance
tests. This shows that the school examinations
are more reliable quality indicators than entrance tests. It is possible that
the same can be established in the case of the various eligibility tests also.
Tests like the NET act as eliminative rather than inclusive exercises, and the
elimination is done completely arbitrarily on the basis of certain set
standards, which has nothing to do with the actual academic practice anywhere
in India. Such centralized procedures cannot assess the quality of the
candidates or institutions with any degree of accuracy, but they enforce the
acceptance of such procedures among institutions of diverse quality who are
dealing with students from diverse cultural and intellectual backgrounds. Such
forced homogeneity is being paraded as an index of quality, this index being
one that can again be achieved through rote learning methods.
This shows that despite unprecedented
advance in knowledge production and its dissemination by means of formal
curricular processes, the actual teaching and learning practices have not kept
pace with the changes. New pedagogic practices like constructivism and social
constructivism have been much lauded in the intellectual circles, but again has
not found acceptance among the ordinary teachers, who are increasingly turning
to instrumental teaching methods. Various formal testing procedures have been
effective only in promoting rote learning practices and recourse to ‘mental’
that is memory skills. These practices have privileged the elite students, who
have the requisite access to various procedures and information sources, and
their performance in such testing devices is the only available index for the
assessment of quality among institutions. Here too institutions patronized by the
middle class acquire comparative advantage.
That is, the entire reform acts against the interests of the poor and
the needy and seeks to protect the interests of the upper classes. In a society
where extra academic procedures for determination of quality are still,
powerful, this means that the present procedures f quality determination works
against the rights of the underprivileged.
The social meaning of these changes will
have to be understood in terms of the changes taking place in the social
objectives of actual pedagogic practices. It is possible to divide the growth
of pedagogic practices in post-independence India into three distinct phases.
The first phase is from 1947-77, which can be called the liberal educational
phase. The second from 1977-2000 can be called the transitional phase or the
phase of educational experiments, and the third from 2000 to the present can be
called the neo-liberal phase. The features of these three phases can be briefly
summarized as follows:
The liberal phase
Since Independence, India was involved
in breaking itself free from the colonial legacy in education. Although Indian
constitution provided for free and compulsory education for all children by
1960, the state effort was primarily concentrated on reforming higher
education. Education Commission Reports and policy documents from
Dr.S.Radhakrishnan to Dr.D.S.Kothari concentrated on the propagation of the
liberal concept of education, that on the one hand, concentrated on knowledge
production that would be conducive to the goals of National reconstruction,
with emphasis on the growth of science and technology. This emphasis was
accompanied by an equal concern for academic freedom, scientific temper, democratization of education
management and academic autonomy. These liberal concepts were particularly
emphasized by the Kothari Commission Report, which sought to synthesize the
educational experience of the Capitalist and Socialist countries.
Democratization of the Universities was further emphasized by the Report
submitted by Justice Gajendragadkar.
In the background of the formation of
linguistic states, the school education was left for the state Governments to
handle. Education through mother tongue was emphasized and the states were
encouraged to develop their own school education programmes. Even when the NCERT was formed in 1964, it
remained as an agency for academic support and facilitation for school
education, rather than as a monitoring device. The academic output of the NCERT
came to be used by the school boards for their examinations and was
specifically used by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sanghatan. It facilitated the formulation of the
Education Policy of 1968, which attempted to introduce twelve year schooling as
a standard norm for schooling. These initiatives were synthesized to produce
the first national curriculum during 1975. Although the constitutional
provision of free and compulsory education was never realized, educational
reforms to bring the school education system under a common pattern were under
way by the 70s. These efforts gathered momentum when education was brought
under the concurrent list of subjects in 1976. However, common schools and a
common curriculum, emphasis on education in the mother tongue, stress on
educational access and equity, and development of the values of secularism,
democracy and nationalism were some of the features of school education. Even
the aided schools run by denominational bodies and community organizations were
forced to accept these general goals, and earlier forms like religious
education in denominational schools were not emphasized or treated as ‘moral
education’. Although there was increase in the access to schools, the reform
process that encouraged the parents to send their children to schools existed
only in states like Kerala where social reform and land reform process was
already underway. Evaluation strategies inspired by Behaviourism were being
implemented from the late 60s, and gradually textbooks were being designed
primarily from the behaviourist perspective. However, instructional strategies
hardly changed, with emphasis on rote learning and coaching methods and
emphasis on discipline.
Transitional phase
The second phase was characterized by self-critical
assessments, both from the side of the Governments and from the academic
community. The Committees appointed by the UGC as well as by NCERT produced
assessments that indicated that the process of education has not been as smooth
as was visualized earlier. The goals of universal access and equity were not
realized, and most of the education institutions had not achieved the requisite
standards. India’s achievements in the fields of literacy and elementary
education have been one of the poorest in the world, and its achievements in
higher education have not also been impressive. The documents also pointed to incidents
of campus politics and student violence and the low quality of teaching
learning process. The National Education Policy of 1987 outlined a Programme of
ensuring excellence along with equity and access. The Programme of Action announced
in 1990 outlined steps for the improvement of educational quality along with
the implementation of the slogan of education for all. The Programme for
Universal Elementary Education was one of the significant initiatives
undertaken.
This was also the period in which funds
began to pour from different agencies for the promotion of elementary
Education, and numerous education projects were established in different
states. With India accepting the General Agreement for Trade in Services (GATS)
the funds began to pour in faster. During the same period, the state
expenditure in education was reduced rapidly, and funding agencies and private
capital began to enter the field. One of the significant efforts in the field
of elementary education was the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP)
established by Government of India along with funding agencies from 1994 to
2001and implemented throughout India. This was transformed into State sponsored
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan from 2001. With the Establishment of Central Board of
Secondary Education in 1987 private initiatives in school education were given
a real boost, and a number of private schools were set up as a parallel stream
to the state boards. The withdrawal of the State from educational expenditure
also meant that a number of schools also began to be set up in unaided sector
under the state Boards, apart from an increase in the number of schools in
other streams such as ICSE.
A similar process began to take place in
higher education also. The policy emphasis of the Government of India began to
shift from the basic science and social courses to technology and management
courses, mostly IT, and biotechnology courses. An apex agency called AICTE was
set up for sanctioning technical institutions emphasising new generation courses.
Similar apex bodies were set up for Teacher education and Vocational Training
also, apart from the already existing apex body for medical education. This
resulted in the spate of the so-called self-financed or more accurately student
financed colleges, which began to prosper feeding upon the demand among the
middle classes for the so-called new generation courses and job-oriented
‘need-based’ courses. No state legislation paved the way for the growth of such
institutions, and even the minimum legal requirements of providing access to
meritorious students and adopting the reservation policy approved by the
Government required the intervention of courts. However, the courts were also
ambivalent in the legal standing of the new colleges. The only legislation to
introduce some form of social accountability for self-financing colleges
introduced by the Government of Kerala was systematically cut down by the High
Court and its final settlement is still pending with the Supreme Court. Although the Courts have curtailed the
collection of capitation fees and other exactions on students, it is well known
that the colleges systematically flout such stipulations and some of them try
to keep themselves outside the law by invoking constitutional protection of
minority institutions. Recourse to educational loans as advocated by the
Government and the banks, has had little
effect, and the unaided colleges have by and large remained elite institutions.
This phase witnessed considerable changes in
curricula and syllabi and the process of teaching and learning. A number of
education activists and teachers, dissatisfied with the rote learning methods
and looking for a satisfactory that would enthuse and retain the learning
process of the socially excluded and deprived sections, experimented with
constructivist and social constructivist methodology and the perspectives of
radical educationists like Paulo Friere. Participatory models developed in
Kerala regarding illiteracy in schools and primary science education (‘science
corners’) and children’s science festivals(‘joy of learning’) were other
experiments. Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme was a sustained experiment
conducted in middle schools in ordinary conditions for a number of years, which
demonstrated the feasibility of the new methodologies. Some of these innovative
methodologies were incorporated into the school curriculum and teaching
learning process, particularly in primary education. Although the HSTP was
closed down through political intervention in Madhya Pradesh, the Eklavya activists
were active in assisting several primary education projects in several states,
where their methodologies were disseminated. In Kerala, the methodologies developed
by education activists and the DIETs in Kerala were consolidated into making
the primary school curriculum for the State during 1997-8. These experiments
influenced the teaching and learning methodologies advocated by NCERT, and also
the National Curriculum Framework developed in 2000 and 2005. Although no
formal methodologies were introduced into higher education the quality of
teaching learning process was sought to be improved through Academic Staff
Colleges for in-service training, which was made compulsory for promotions and
academic and research requirements for career advancement in Colleges and
Universities. Introduction of the
National Eligibility Test in as an essential requirement for recruitment as
college teachers was intended to enhance the capabilities of college teachers.
Higher Education Councils were established in several states to advice the
state Governments on Higher education and to develop innovative programmes.
These efforts at
quality improvement took place from two widely different perspectives. The
interventions in school education was in a participatory mode, with democratic
involvement of teachers, students, parents and the general public and many experiments and innovative
activities were conducted in the campaign mode. It proved to be effective when
the state primary curriculum in Kerala was implemented, as its generated
considerable enthusiasm among the teachers and parents. Perhaps because of the
same reason it also elicited considerable criticism from certain sections, who
also came out in the streets against it. Such popular initiatives did not find
favour with a section of the politicians and Government apparatus. This is
shown by the closing down of the HSTP and the withdrawal of the 8th
standard textbooks in Kerala prepared under the new curriculum during 2001, on
flimsy grounds. On the other hands, innovations in Higher Education were top
down without a serious consultation with the academic community , there is
little evidence that the methods adopted during the past two decades in higher
education has improved the quality of performance in higher education. It is evident
that at least in the case of the new generation ‘self-financing’ courses and
institutions, there is a pronounced decline in quality. Nor can it be said that
the performance of teachers in colleges and Universities has improved after the
introduction of the new strategies and institutions.
Neo-liberal Phase
The neo-Liberal
economic reforms in India gathered pace under the NDA and the two UPA
Goevrnments from 1998. The main feature
of this period was the rapid commercialization of education. While higher
education institutions and courses started during this period openly followed
the ‘user pays’ slogan, the stipulation
of free and compulsory education up to 14th year was being
systematically flouted by a number of new schools affiliated to the CBSE or
other apex bodies. A number of institutions were dragged to the courts for
corrupt practices and flouting of norms, but the courts have taken a lenient
view towards them. More important was
the fact that even the state institutions have started student financed courses
in their effort to raise funds. However, the Government has been allowing the
setting up of private Universities, permitting the flow of FDI into education
and promoting the effort s by institutions to raise money from private financiers
and corporations. Thus the state is no longer withdrawing from education, but
is becoming an active organizer and facilitator in the active involvement and
dominance of corporate capital in education. The various legislations in higher
education either passed or under active consideration by the Parliament, such
as private Universities, FDI in education, patents for commercial use,
Universities for Research and Innovation and the recently introduced Rashtriya
Ucch Shiksha Abhiyan(RUSA). The incorporation of Industry and finance into the
running of institutions and their induction into Governing Bodies, executive
councils and academic councils, the slogans and practice of Industry-Academic
Participation and the PPP(Public-Private Participation), setting up of
Corporate Business Schools all point to the transformation of education as an
enterprise which can elicit returns, both in terms of money and qualified and
trained labour force that can into the plans and projects of corporate capital.
All these changes are supported by the academic exercises from the corporate
themselves, such as the Ambani-Birla Report (2001) and the Narayanamurthy Report
(2012), as well as quasi-academic exercises from the Corporate minions such as
Sam Pitroda( NKC report). Recently RUSA has openly stood for privatization of Higher
Education, with the funds to be allocated for ‘innovative’ (read novel)
projects and job-oriented courses .National Accreditation and Assessment
Council, an autonomous body under the Government of India, is actually doing
the campaigning among the colleges to implement The New generation, job
oriented courses on a self-financing basis, and actually assesses ‘quality’ on
the basis of the work done in the front of commercialized education. The
present move to sanction autonomous colleges, also in the agenda of the RUSA,
is again in the same direction. Only a few exercises, such as Yashpal Committee
Report have argued for academic quality and democratic education, but such
arguments have been effectively marginalized. Corporate education system is rapidly taking
over the control of higher education.
The corporate control
is indirect in the case of school education, but the trends are very clear
there also. Secondary is becoming clearly privatized , with a large number of
unaided schools being opened everywhere, and the states refusing to invest in
setting up more Government schools. The teacher recruitment to schools is
declining, and their place is taken by parateachers and contract teachers. The
influence of the state boards is also declining and even CBSE schools move out
of the state boards, opting to teach private text books instead of the books
prescribed by the state. The central initiative for dispensing with compulsory
summative school examinations, and the proposal to conduct a centralized
entrance test for higher education institutions indicate the mindset of the
policy makers. School education is to be dovetailed to suit the new perception
of education as an enterprise, to ensure the need-based , instrumental
character of higher education. This means that the experiments of the earlier
phase will have to be given up, and replace them with the instrumental approach
primarily related to rote learning, information dissemination and acquisition
of instrumental, job-oriented’ skills. From the perspective of the middle class
policy maker, all such information and skills are those catering to the desire
of middle class children for the so-called ‘new generation’ jobs. In the
process, all the primary and secondary sectoral skills and knowledge are
sidelined, and so are the knowledge and skills in basic sciences and social
sciences. Even language skills are separated from their cultural values, and
become linked to the requirements of middle class jobs. Education in the mother
tongue is sidelined as it cannot be related to the job market.
The corporate emphasis
has serious implications both for teaching learning process and curriculum
development. During this phase itself, the National Curriculum Framework
released by NCERT during 2000 came under severe criticism because of its clear
majoritarian hindu outlook. This was corrected by the National Curriculum
Framework, which made a commitment to constructivist and critical approach.
Although some of the formulations of the NCF2005 were criticized as giving
concessions community identities, its general democratic approach was lauded.
Following the spirit of NCF2005, Kerala state formulated its own curriculum
framework during 2007, which adopted the NCF approach and explicitly formulated
what is called issue-related approach and critical pedagogy. However, the
implementation of these methodologies, radical in their content, is far from
satisfactory. Most states only made a verbal reference to NCF while carrying on
with their own approaches. Kerala made advances in the implementation, but is
in danger of the entire framework being completely dismantled. While teachers
in the ordinary schools in most states have not reoriented their teaching
process on the basis of the new initiatives, the teachers of the elite urban schools,
being under the pressure of the examination oriented frenzy of the parents and
managements are hard put to bring constructivist methodology into operation.
However, the Right to Education Act of 2009, has accepted in principle the
learner-friendly approach of NCF2005 and rights of children in schools( as
propounded by UNICEF), and so there is some chance of its survival at least in
the primary sector. However, such slim chances are being offset by the attitude
of the Central Government, which is not interested in pushing ahead with the
positive aspects of the reforms, but the uses the act as a bargaining counter
to implement their centrally sponsored schemes that are imposed on the states
irrespective of the needs and requirements of the states. If there is any
dispute between the state and the centre, it is the central diktat that always
prevails, even before the courts. This is the case with other central schemes
also. This privilege enjoyed by the centre also becomes a powerful device with
the Central Government to implement corporate education policy and thrust it
down the states.
Although no such
parallel initiatives were forthcoming from the centre in higher education, some
Higher education councils tried to introduce reforms aimed at quality
upgradation in colleges. The most important among them was the introduction of
a comprehensive Choice Based Credit Semester System for Degree courses in
Kerala which was conceived in 2007 and was formalised by 2009. The Council also
initiated Cluster of colleges, Erudite scholar scheme, which brought
internationally known scholars including Nobel Laureates to lecture in
Universities, Teacher Exchange programme, Inter-University Centres and a
scholarship scheme for students. Among these initiatives, Cluster of colleges have
been accepted as part of the RUSA and CBCSS has already become the standard
practice in several states. However, these innovations are in the retreat in
the state of Kerala, both due to official neglect as well as inadequate
dissemination of the processes envisaged under the new schemes. Another
important reason was that the initiatives were introduced in the Arts and
Science college. As the emphasis of the Governments shifted to the new
generation courses and the entrepreneurial institutions, the changes in the
ordinary colleges got little attention, and were even labeled as politically
motivated. The new generation, although formally following semester system
showed little interest in the curricular development. The Universities also
lagged in providing the logistic support to the academic reform. Recently
Universities appear to be endorsing such interventions as Autonomous colleges,
Honours programmes, add on courses, which
have been imposed from above without adequate discussion among the academic
community. The academic community has been reduced from the decision making
status, as envisaged during the liberal phase, to the status of mere employees,
who were forced to implement whatever has been told by their non-academic
managers, and have to prove their credentials literally every month or day to
stay in their jobs. The time honoured values of academic freedom and dignity,
democratic functioning, participatory models, democratic campus culture and
emphasis on knowledge production and dissemination, socially useful research programmes are
giving way to functional efficiency, career orientation and individualism,
assessment on the basis of quantity of
output and their commercial use, and complete instrumentality of the teaching
and learning process, which is augmented by the reliance on online services.
Educational institutions are transformed into ‘knowledge factories’ rather than
sites of creative endeavour, knowledge production, dissemination and active
camps life.
The Way Ahead
What can a People’s
Science Movement do in the field of education under this condition? Perhaps the
starting point will be the general goals of PSM itself, to which our education
agenda is related:
1. PSM
is committed to the inculcation of science and technology to the people in order
that they are capable of meaning fully transforming their environment to
produce their existence. In this sense, science has to become the common sense
of the people.
2. PSM
is also committed to environmentally sustainable and equitable modes of social development
and adoption of viable forms of knowledge and technology that would further the
growth of a just, equitable and egalitarian social order.
3. Education
is one of the major tools for this process, and since the growth of a just,
equitable and egalitarian social order is essentially transformative process,
the function of education in the process of social development will have to be
transformative.
From this general perspective,
it is possible to state a general perspective on the nature of education as can
be visualized by the PSM:
1. Education
is not an instrumental process, but a transformative process that is conducive
to social development that would be equitable and sustainable;
2. Education
is not aimed simply at the realization of an individual career but also aims at
the generation of capabilities of creative endeavour, social articulation and
cultural values that enables a person to become a full social being and also is able to perform well in her
selected career;
3. Such
an education process is not only aimed at the dissemination of information and
skills to satisfy the requisite individual or social need, but to develop in
the leaner the capabilities of acquisition , production and dissemination of
the entire available knowledge in the study area chosen and to inculcate the critical, analytical and
implementation skills in the leaner, which she can use effectively in the
career chosen;
4. This
means that teaching learning process is designed as a critical and creative
activity enjoyable in itself, in which both the teacher and the student
participates and the growth of
capabilities in the student will be transparent through adequate exposures such
as seminars, group discussions, debates,
practical activities and field projects apart from the routine evaluation
procedures;
5. Education
becomes a cultural process where the learner is also aware of the processes
taking place outside her study area, and develops an understanding that helps
her to locate her own vocation I the broader social context, an enables her to
carry out her assigned tasks meaningfully, rather than as an instrument;
6. This
also implies the growth of campus culture that is democratic, secular,
egalitarian, where social justice is assured and no one is discriminated on the
basis of caste, class, gender or creed, and where all round development of capabilities of humans that
would also take into account their tastes and preferences are possible
7. In
such a structure primary decision making on all academic matters will be vested
with the academic community that is teachers and students. However, they will
have to socially accountable and will be subject to social auditing by the
feeder community that the people of the area of which the institution is
accountable. The Industrial participation now promoted will have to be replaced
by the participation of the feeder community in which industrialist can also
form a part. Nomination to executive
bodies of an institution simply on the basis he or she is an industrialist will
have to be rejected. The present principle adopted for SMCs for schools in the
RTE, can be used as a model for governing bodies with the provision that
majority of the body will have to be from the academics, that is people who
have been involved in it directly and not pretenders.
8. Institutions
will have to be provided with academic autonomy, in the conduct of their
courses, with the provision that they will have to be subject to social audit
and peer reviews from other academics. The principle of clustering can be
experimented both within the schools and colleges, and autonomy can be provided
to the clusters also.
9. Student
financing systems will have to be abolished. Instead, philanthropic forms from
Old
students, feeder community and the local institutions including industrial
firms can be encouraged. The amount
drawn can be converted into a public corpus fund which will be utilized only
for institutional development. Philanthropy is still a powerful tool for
resource mobilization and can be utilized.
10. Education
is a public good and it is the responsibility to ensure that it remains a
public good. Instead of going ahead with the exercise of acting as a broker for
funding agencies and corporate, including denominational bodies, the state will
have to assert as an organizer for the conduct of education in both schools and
colleges. In this sense the RTE act was important, but its implementation is
clearly half-hearted and tardy. This means that both the centre and the states
will have to take bold initiatives that will ensure education is for the public
good and is transformative. This means that the present policy of surrendering
to corporate and communal interests will have to be reversed. This does not
mean that education has to be state enterprise, but may mean that social
accountability on education will be recognized by all , including the corporate
interests and education managements. The state can act as the body that could
be mediate between commercial interests and social goals.
11. Lastly,
the foremost area in which the PSM can intervene meaningfully is in the area of
curricular development. The PSM experience with science festivals, children’s
festivals, curricular interventions in classrooms, social interventions and
policy making have left the movement with rich experience that can still be
tapped for meaningful intervention in the curriculum and campus educational and
cultural activities. Since knowledge
production, creative endeavour, social articulation and critical processes
cannot be ignored by capitalists also; there is every possibility that spaces
can be created for meaningful intervention in both school and higher education
at the curricular level. It is up to the PSM to conduct experiments in
curricular intervention, following the earlier experiments, which will
effectively counter the much paraded instrumental forms and give education a
vibrant transformative character. Some
of the possibilities are listed below:
1. Vijnanotsav:
comprehensive knowledge festivals that test the capabilities of children in festive
mood, where creativity, knowledge acquisition are play are combined. This is
already being conducted by KSSP but can be developed and adjusted to
accommodate the curricular requirements.
2. Footpath
classes: students and teachers of a particular institution conducts mass education programmes on the basis of the
knowledge produced or disseminated within the institution, with which the
feeder population of the institution is benefited. This can be done with the
help of the SMCs , PTAs and social networks. Online footpaths can also be
conceived. ISON is an example.
3. Children’s Science Festivals: the Joy of
learning festivals can be continued, but with more variety and based on
curricular requirements. The emphasis should be on peer learning, group
learning and field experiments and reporting. They are effective methods of
evaluation also.
4. Parishad:
Parishad is an old system practiced in Gurukuls and Pathshalas. It is in the
form of seminar, where each student will be required to make a presentation on
a subject of their choice in which she or he has acquired knowledge or skills.
The presentation will be accompanied by the learner answering questions from
the audience. Correct answering of questions will involve a change in the seat
i.e. she is upgraded. No other prize or incentive is given. Parishad is also
learning process as the real answer is provided there itself by the questioner and
the question will not be repeated. Hence the test is not only for answers but
also for questions.
5. Workshop:
The workshop is a kind of repetition of the Parishad but based on the
performance of skills. The resources
available in the school/college and surrounding area will be assembled in a
place. The student will be asked to demonstrate her skill by producing some
article with the available resources, answering questions on how she made it.
Again, no repetition is allowed. The stress is not on skills alone but on the
critical self- assessment of her own skills ( if she cannot perform a skill she
knows why she cannot do it). Again questioners should be able to answer the
question.
6. Vigyan
Yatras: Nature tours or historical tours
of learners, which will be more in the nature of treasure hunt rather than
sightseeing. Each phase of the hunt will be clearly marked and knowledge and
skills for completing the phase will also be determined. Creative endeavours,
innovation, imagination will also be demonstrated. The task combined knowledge,
skills, creativity, Imagination and adaptation.
7. Vigyan
Melas: They are culture and kinesthetic festivals that seek to combine artistic
or kinesthetic skills with science or social science knowledge and skills. The
artist or the performer is not only re1quirred to perform but also to explain
their performance to the questioners, using scientific explanation procedure.
8. Preparation
of creative textbooks: Preparation of educational material is a challenging
task. A textbook is not only a compilation of information but a signifier, a
facilitator to the world knowledge. A textbook will have to be the curriculum
personified. Innovative exercises to create model textbooks will have to be
given importance.
9. Preparation
of a teacher: Transformation of teacher education both pre-service and in-service
is a must. A teacher should be regarded as the person of the future not of the
present while preparing the teacher, one is preparing for the future and
transformative education needs transformative teachers.
10. Campus
culture: for a transformative education system, there is a need to create a
democratic, secular, just, egalitarian campus culture. Such a culture can be
simulated in the spaces that the PSM can acquire, which becomes the model of
the transformative campus culture.
Thus,
the quest for a transformative curriculum that would generate the human labour
to build a just, equitable, sustainable, and egalitarian social order should be
the focus of the education activities of the PSM. PSM should be able to act as
the collective of education activists, intellectuals, teachers and learners who
would form the core of this endeavour.
scope
of further actions regarding RTE
Challenges
1. RTE
is being addressed merely from the point of view of access or enrolment. Hence,
regular attendance and retention of students remains an unaddressed
factor. The issues of equity and quality
are yet to be addressed or even conceived properly.ie) We largely succeeded in
bringing the child to schools but not yet succeeded in making the child attend
school regularly and be part of the learning process by ensuring continuity.
2. Addressing
the new avenue of community participation in RTE, especially majority of
parents are not properly oriented about the law. For instance in educationally
backward areas, one of the reasons for not sending children to schools could be
the ignorance parents about education, hence taking it as the last priority.
3. Thrust
is given for conducting onetime events for mobilising the community but
creating a sustainable environment by considering the social, economical and
cultural context of each and every school is not yet thought of.
4. All
the states evolved their own media plan and materials. The scope of using that
continuously by understanding the need of the society and evolving diverse
strategies to address diverse situations is yet to be emerged. The importance
of using various forms of local media has not been discussed.
5. The
actual sense or perspective of inclusion or inclusive education is not yet
considered. And strategies for that are not yet evolved.
6. Harmonisation
of SSA with the provisions of the RTE Act needs to be immediately looked into.
Budgetary constraints for complete implementation of RTE have been expressed by
States.
7. SMC
– the democratic body is not yet functional in most of the schools. The system
is least bothered in enhancing the capacity of this body.
8. Quality
aspects are not considered properly hence the system itself is not clear
regarding CE and the relevance of
transforming the teachers to address the challenges of the modern period.
Possible
actions
1. Providing
support for developing strategies and programmes for community mobilisation
(not as one time event) for creating a sustainable social environment. Which
includes,
·
Orientation to parents
·
Orientation to social activists for conducting
bal sabhas or balmelas
·
Developing programmes for addressing
illiterate parents
·
Parental meetings in schools at regular
intervals
·
Conducting
shiksha samvaads and institutionalise it so that it is regularly held.
·
Cultural programme for Parents
·
Developing
culture specific tools relevant to the difficult areas and groups to build the
confidence or faith of the communities and mobilise them for education.
·
Developing
local specific and audience specific material for communication and awareness.
·
Developing
an understanding regarding equity and
inclusion
·
Having
dialogues with parents, teachers, local authority, educational administrators-
why no corporal punishment and no detention and discrimination free learning
environment and the relevance of CCE.
2. Developing
broad frame works for materials needed for the activities mentioned above and
evolving modalities for preparing personals to undertake the above mentioned
tasks.
3. SMC
strengthening is another major task to be addressed. Assessing the modalities
of the existing interventions made by the states and developing multiple
strategies for enhancing the pace, needed more exposure and technical support.
4. For
addressing the quality issues and upholding the right of the child to quality
education the existing situation has to be analysed critically. It is also
important to analyse the role of different factors – school factor, teacher
factor, textbook factor, cultural factor, family factor- responsible for
demotivating the child to attend the school regularly. Orientation has to be
given regarding the role of the learning environment, learning process and
learning materials to parents,teachers, curriculum developers and educational
administrates.
5. There
is a need to develop an understanding regarding what, why and how of
democratisation at institution level and other appropriate levels in the
context of RTE.
6. Monitoring
can be a major non-project campaign for BGVS and AIPSN. After all, as a
justiciable right, RtE can be effectively put into place not only through
persuation of the state education machinaries, but through public pressure,
proper grievance redressal mechanisms and even legal interventions. With its
presence in so many villages and gram panchayats, BGVS&AIPSN must become
the largest monitoring agency in the country where each violation and grievance
is recorded, forwarded and acted upon. BGVS already is tied up with NCPCR, but
that mechanism has its limitations. BGVS&AIPSN must now use the Panchayat
Shiksha Adhikar Samitis, SHGs, literacy units etc as monitoring units for RtE,
supported by district committees, where we create Legal Cells by inviting few
lawyers to our organisation. We must act on this very fast and create a
community based monitoring system that is not dependent on external funds. This
can go hand in hand with social audits and public hearings that we conduct in
partnership with NCPCR/SCPCRs.
7.
In line with the campaign for the universalization of elementary
education through the RtE Act which the PSMs took up in previous years, we may
consider a similar campaign for secondary education in the coming few years.
The role
of the PSMs is therefore clear in this sector: demand massive increase in
central funding, resist blatant privatization like the ‘for-profit’
institutions and strengthening the autonomy of institutions of higher
education.
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