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Issue 9 Vol I, February 15, 2006Focus Is India
Shining: State of Education
As we move ahead in the 21st century, we find India is burdened with the world’s largest population of illiterate citizens; an estimated 59 million children in the six-14 age group are out of school. The total number of job seekers in the registers of employment exchanges across the country has swollen to 41 million. These are those who make effort and register themselves and have some level of education. There are millions who cannot approach these offices and do not hope to. At one level, there is insufficient number of jobs and at another level the youth streaming out of the obsolete education system are unemployable because of poor quality of education. Alarm sirens are wailing for the Indian society that has been promised a super power status. What exactly is the state of education in India? For the first time several hundred non-government organisations, institutions and thousand of individuals recently joined hands to measure the dismal state of education in India. This survey by Pratham and its partners covered nearly 6 lakh children in 2.4 lakh households from 12,000 villages in 525 rural districts of the country. They almost covered every nook and corner of the country.
These findings should make everyone sit up and worry. Nearly 1.4 crore children are out of school; this situation is especially worse in Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, where 10% or more of school-age children are not enrolled. Only in three out of four schools visited by volunteers, the teachers were present. Other studies have found teacher absenteeism far more up to 35 per cent. The truly worrisome findings relate not to attendance, but to learning. The tests of reading ability were quite simple (a short paragraph at the grade 2 level), but even then 35% of children aged 7-14 could not pass this test, and 60% of the children could not read a simple story, also at grade 2 level. This fact is worse in states like Tamilnadu and Gujarat, where the usual indicators; school availability, enrolment and teachers are all good. Students in Bihar and Chhatisgarh fared better, despite really poor education infrastructure. In Punjab 60 percent could read and 46.4 could solve divisions and subtractions. Punjab was also 9th in terms of out of school children with 4.3 per cent and Haryana 12th with 5.3 per cent of the children keeping away where 62.5 per cent students could solve sums relating to divisions and subtractions and 71.2 per cent were able read. These two states claiming to be in top bracket should feel troubled. These findings conclusively show that classrooms, teachers and mid-day meal schemes do not necessarily get translated into learning, even when they facilitate the first steps needed to provide universal education. States that have in the past boasted of their achievements in the indicators now find their self-congratulation challenged by these conclusions. This state of affairs of elementary education is equally matched by higher education where only six per cent of the students reach. India has set a goal and the 86th Constitution Amendment Act added Article 21A affirming that every child between the age of 6 and 14 years has the right to free and compulsory education. The Right to Education Bill seeks to give effect to this Amendment. The State shall ensure a school in every child's neighbourhood. Every school shall conform to certain minimum standards defined in the Bill. Government schools shall provide free education to all admitted Government schools shall provide free education to all admitted children. Private schools shall admit at least 25% of children from weaker sections; no fee shall be charged to these children. Screening tests at the time of admission and capitation fees are prohibited for all children. But this Act and its progressive nature as we can observe in our daily lives do not match the practice. This Act also provided that School Management Committees (SMC) will manage government schools, mostly consisting of parents. Teachers will be assigned to a particular school; there will be no transfers. The National Commission for Elementary Education shall be constituted to monitor all aspects of elementary education including quality. India is among those very poor countries that do not spend more than 3 per cent on education. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are ahead of us. This stark reality did disturb the present United Progressive Alliance government and it imposed a 2 percent cess on all Central taxes to raise additional resources for elementary education. It also promised to raise national outlay for education from the current 3.5 percent of gross domestic product to 6 percent in the near future. Have you noticed the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram ever meeting any educationist for consultation before his budget? Continuously upgradation of the nation’s languishing public education and healthcare systems are top priority on the agenda of the National Advisory Council (NAC) chaired by Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi. But what is the net outcome? Inevitably, there is legitimate skepticism about grand pronouncements made by governments at the Center and in the states that are seldom implemented. But even within civic society there is never-before awareness that quality education is the best social leveller and passport to gainful employment, prosperity and social recognition. Here for those who can afford or can beg borrow or steal, the private sector is offering schools and other professional instructions. The cost at times is prohibitive, yet the public has little choice to make. In old times, when philanthropy inspired those who had means would collect funds to setup schools, hospitals, dharamsals, orphanages, shelters and indulge freely in such benevolent ventures. One could still see these. Now schools, hospitals, inns nay hotels and orphanages are part of big business. A large number of the non-government organisations are also part of this nexus between the business, government and charities. So much about progress. The need really is to join hands and push India out of the quagmire of poor education. Following the 2005 report, the district and state level groups will interact with state and district governments. ASER 2005 is expected to become a tool in the hands of people so that they can monitor, and help in improving in the status of education around them. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Budget
Making: Some Thoughts
In order to be effective, the forthcoming budget, has to be an important link between the past and the future, and must, therefore, address, apart from income and expenditure, the long-run objectives and issues of economic and social importance. Neglect of basic issues will increasingly show up in disappointments even in the short-run. Long-run ‘demand-side’ issues like high inflation or unsustainable current account or fiscal deficits, and imbalances in the balance of payments work against macro economic stability and the ethos of growth and development in a serious way. Likewise, long-run ‘supply-side’ issues linked with trade and capital flows, financial sectors, industrial deregulation, and disinvestments of public sector enterprises have their own importance. In fact, the long-run focus of the budget has to be both on domestic and external liberalization, because the former consists of relaxing restrictions on production, investment, prices, and, thereby, it attempts in assigning a bigger role to the market system for performing, including resource allocation; and the latter consists of relaxing restrictions on international trade flows of goods and services, technology, and capital. Unlike many other industrialized countries, budgets in India are consolidated for both current account and capital account. The fiscal deficit is the sum of the deficits on both the current and capital accounts. Such budgeting practice has a distinct advantage of concealing a large current account deficit by showing a sizable inflow on the capital account say by taking a loan. When there is a current account deficit, it implies that expenditure is more than receipts. There is a revenue deficit, which, in fact, measures the deficit in the current account in terms of a) primary deficit (excess of what the government spends on purchases over its revenues), and b) interest on past debts, which is also an expense and is paid to banks that buy government securities. All this means that whereas the primary deficit directly converts the public savings into consumption and lowers the aggregate saving rate in the economy, the payment of interest on the existing debt does not do so. The primary deficit, therefore, is also understood as an excess of the portion of the government expenditure that enters into consumption stream of the economy over revenues. It is heartening to see that over the years the primary deficit is gradually disappearing and is being replaced by a small surplus. Because of this the government does not have to crowd out private investors with its borrowing. All this has added tremendously to the big wave of private investment, which is building up in the economy. On the industrial front, there has been a good progress in terms of delicensing, ease of entry of foreign investors and, trade liberalization. Many restrictions are now gone, and the positive results are becoming visible. During the second phase of Reforms, the supply-side difficulties in the industry have been removed to a large extent, but there are still demand-side constraints, especially in the manufacturing sector. But despite this, it is heartening to note that, as compared to earlier years, the growth in industry has been satisfactory to a large extent, and its share in GDP has been showing an upward trend. Whether the double-digit growth in industry would be sustained will depend basically on the demand for industrial goods. Presently, about 88 per cent of the demand comes from domestic markets, and 12 per cent from international markets. There are areas like tax reforms that require attention. One of the most serious problems of central finances has been the declining Tax-GDP ratio. As such, the forthcoming budget will have to mobilize higher tax revenues. A few sources of raising revenue could be: Imposing a highly progressive consumption tax on the so called ‘undeserving’ rich/super rich, who amass a lot of wealth because of an economic system of subsidies, protectionism, privileges, and ‘undesirable’ government support and laxity. Such rich people believe in status and highly conspicuous consumption. The Government will have to strike a trade off between the Tax Reforms and their short-run fall-outs on the common man. This will best be achieved by assuring that the benefits of growth reach the masses through percolation in terms of say, low prices of things of daily use, low taxes for the common man, and reasonably attractive interest rates, and also in non-monetary terms like, basic social provisions, day-to-day security, effective law and order situation, public discipline and responsibility, and elimination of ‘rent-seeking’ nefarious activities. In case such a trade off is not worked out, the forthcoming Budget would be really hard for the people in various ways. Subsidies mismatch with a market-friendly economy, and hence, they should be abolished, though gradually. In fact, there are two kinds of subsidies: Merit Subsidies and Demerit Subsidies. The former are essential in many respects like on education, food and health care, and the latter are not so essential (as on cooking gas, and on kerosene) but they are still there, perhaps hidden, and even the Government is not always aware as to who are their ultimate beneficiaries. As compared to the demerit subsidies, the merit subsidies account for only one third of the total. The subsidy on food is linked essentially with ensuring stable prices of food grains both for the farmers and the consumers, also with the provision of food grains to the people below the poverty line. In fact, the Government should find ways and means to provide real support to the farm sector, and rectifying the Public Distribution System and its forceful ally, the Food Corporation of India. The Government has to work out an optimal trade-off between market-friendly economy and merit subsidies, meant for the poor people including the marginal and small farmers. Inflation can be categorized as ‘core’ and ‘non core’ inflation. The former is due to domestic factors, and the latter is because of international factors (like oil prices). In India, 90% of inflation is due to domestic factors, and only 10% is due to international factors. Rising inflation has adverse effects on growth, but the Government is not concerned with its rising trend. During 2005 China achieved a rate of growth of about 9 per cent with 1.8 per cent inflation. The rising trend of inflation can best be controlled by controlling liquidity through an effective monetary policy, rather than by raising interest rates, though in short run it can be controlled by raising the interest rates. As industrial growth is a long-term proposition, it is rather difficult to predict as to what measures the budget will take to reverse the slowdown in the manufacturing sector. One of the ways for giving a boost to industrial upsurge is by supporting the widely spread micro and small enterprises, both in the urban and rural areas through a variety of support packages. Disinvestment is an important area of the on-going structural reforms. The ultimate objective of the Disinvestment policy is to assign a bigger role to the market. So far, ‘public sector’ in its present form a really ‘government sector.’ In fact, it has to be transformed into a real ‘public sector’ by widening the stakeholder base. This will stimulate competition and will not create unwarranted sectoral monopolies. Good governance is another important area. It has five basic components: political accountability, free market, and rule of law, social justice, and education. The governance that rules/ controls the nation, therefore, has to be properly streamlined. We should, in fact, learn from the experience of the East Asian countries, and try to be honestly ‘hard’ rather than being dishonestly ‘soft’. The budget has to be Pareto- Optimal in the sense that it should not distort the household budgets of the majority of Indians in the country. It should also be transparent and present the realities that face the country, no matter how bitter they are. |
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SOUTH ASIA POST INC. |
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THERE
is a general consensus in the country and everyone from prime
minister to aam admi understands the urgent need to refashion
the old moth eaten education system. Within India’s 5
million-strong academic communities also, there is a consensus
that the nation’s moribund education system designed by Lord
Macaulay over a century ago needs critical renovation.
These
volunteers asked simple questions to have a hard look at the
state of education. Do children have a school? Can children
read? Can they write? Can they do basic arithmetic? Are there
teachers in schools? Are enrolled children attending school?
Based on the answers, the survey has ranked the states and
districts, and plans to do this every year until 2010 - the
deadline for achieving quality universal elementary education.
B