India’s education NEP 2020 also recognizes that multiple regulators in the education sector are causing conflict and increasing the compliance burden.
By Dr Vidya Mahabharata
Nearly 98% of 682 Indian students who took part in the International Science and Mathematics Olympiads between 1989 and 2019 bagged a gold.
a silver or a bronze medal, or an honourable mention, according to the website of Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education.
This is a phenomenal achievement by our children on the international stage.
Succeeding in highly competitive, world-class events requires an.
enormous effort and dedication from students and also from their schools.
teachers and mentors. We should rightly celebrate these exceptional accomplishments. We should also recognise.
however, that the majority of Indian children are not fortunate to have access to good quality education.
which can help them optimise their potential.
India’s education
Our education system begins to fail our kids from early on. Only around 51% of our children in Std III can read.
the Std I text, according to Pratham’s Annual Survey of Education Report 2019.
This means that half of all children in Std III are already at least two years behind relative to where they should be.
Similarly, at the other end of the spectrum, alternative estimates of the employability rate of Indian youth when.
they enter the workforce range from mere 15% to around 50%.
Once again, at best only half of our youth meet the requirements of employers.
India’s education
Where are the key problems in India’s education system and what can be done to fix them?
Education is a classic example of what a famous economist Richard Musgrave called merit goods.
Merit goods are those whose benefits are not fully realised by an individual at the time of consumption.
unlike other typical purchases. Children and their parents cannot possibly know the true personal benefit of studying well in terms of future jobs.
salary or status, but they can only see the present sacrifice required. Individuals may, therefore, underinvest in education.
Even more importantly, the consumption of merit goods has positive spillovers.
That is, the value of education is not restricted to an individual, but it confers benefits to society at large.
An educated and skilled individual raises the productivity levels in the economy which is the key to prosperity.
Given the personal and societal benefits.
therefore most countries have made a minimum level of education mandatory and provide basic.
education either free or at a subsidised cost.
India’s education
Under the right to education act 2009, children between 6 to 14 years are entitled to free and compulsory education in India.
With the focus on improving enrolment, while we have achieved near-universal school enrolment.
the benefits of education are realised not by the years of schooling, but by the learning outcomes.
Government schools and colleges in India tend to have more qualified and formally trained.
teachers who are also paid more than many of their private counterparts in general.
India’s education
Further, government schools are not only free in terms of tuition fees but also provide free mid-day meals.
and educational materials such as textbooks.
Yet, increasingly Indian parents prefer private schools and the demand for private education tends to rise with income levels.
For example, while around 90% of children in Bihar, India’s poorest state were in government schools in 2018-19.
the same figure is less than 38% in Tamil Nadu, one of the most prosperous state.
Indian parents are prepared to pay for better learning outcomes for their children.
which depend more on the teaching methods and average teaching effort.