What better goal than giving our rural children an opportunity to develop core skills? Unfortunately, school enrolment rates and education quality do not always go hand in hand. The Annual Status of Education Report 2011 released earlier this year by Kapil Sibal, Minister of Human Resource Development, highlights mixed news for rural kids’ education.
The survey by local organizations and concerned citizens shows that extraordinary progress has been made in schooling rates: 96.7% of all 6-14 year olds in rural India are enrolled in school, a number that has held steady since 2010. However, more worrying are the reported reading and arithmetic levels in rural schools. With a few exceptions (among which is the state of Tamil Nadu), children’s ability to read and count has declined over the recent years.
Survey results clearly point to reconsidering the outcome of learning in rural areas. From this standpoint, effective school attendance, which is not the same thing as actual enrolment, should be a priority. Quality of schooling will also need to be targeted by education policies in the coming years, with a focus on enhancing pupil-teacher ratio in classrooms as well as schools infrastructure development, including libraries, bathrooms and water facilities.
Such steps are a pre-requisite for delivering quality education to rural children effectively and may provide a roadmap for all interested stakeholders in India, including private corporations and NGOs. Let’s give our children an opportunity to influence their own destiny!
The survey by local organizations and concerned citizens shows that extraordinary progress has been made in schooling rates: 96.7% of all 6-14 year olds in rural India are enrolled in school, a number that has held steady since 2010. However, more worrying are the reported reading and arithmetic levels in rural schools. With a few exceptions (among which is the state of Tamil Nadu), children’s ability to read and count has declined over the recent years.
Survey results clearly point to reconsidering the outcome of learning in rural areas. From this standpoint, effective school attendance, which is not the same thing as actual enrolment, should be a priority. Quality of schooling will also need to be targeted by education policies in the coming years, with a focus on enhancing pupil-teacher ratio in classrooms as well as schools infrastructure development, including libraries, bathrooms and water facilities.
Such steps are a pre-requisite for delivering quality education to rural children effectively and may provide a roadmap for all interested stakeholders in India, including private corporations and NGOs. Let’s give our children an opportunity to influence their own destiny!
tags: 
0 comments:
Post a Comment