1. PRESENTATION ON THE PROBLEM OF
PRIMARY EDUCATION IN INDIA
By:
Jasmeet Chhabra
Snigdha Dadhich
Apala Kain
Sheetal Jindal
Priyanka Yadav
College: Shri Ram College of Commerce

2. • According to the Constitution of India, elementary education is a fundamental right of children in the age group of 6-14
years. India has about 688,000 primary schools on papers but the figures are deceptive as many don't attend schools
regularly and even those who wants to attend it; cannot because of lack of resources and lack of facilities.
• Contemplating on the new system which was introduced by Britishers; Mahatma Gandhi expressed his anguish in following
words, "I say without fear of my figures being challenged successfully, that today India is more illiterate than it was fifty or a
hundred years ago….”at present the situation is worse than his time India has the largest number of illiterate people -
around 268 million (a whopping 35 % of the total) - who cannot read, write or make a reasoned decision.
• A few facts will help you to understand the gravity of the situation:
– 44% of India's population;that is 44% of 121 crores are children and schools insufficient.
– India spends only 3.3 percent of its GDP on education, compared to an average 5.8 percent in developed countries.
– GOI had made a commitment to spend 6% of GDP on education in 1968, however the highest spend made so far is
4% of GDP.
– Educated woman is educated family but in India, 53% of girls in the age group of 5 to 9 years are illiterate. On
average, women receive only 1.8 years of schooling in India.
– There are several scholarships and schemes aided by the government but poor people unaware of these are still
reluctant to send their children to school.
– 58% of children do not complete primary education in India.
– The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which tests literacy levels of Math and English, placed
India at the bottom just above Kyrgyzstan.
– Dropout rates in class III to V is 50% for boys, 58% for girls.
54
116
99
85
56
116
98
81
0
50
100
150
pre-primary GER
BOYS%
GIRLS%
primary GER
primary NAR
primary NER
Chart showing the data of students participation
source: UNICEF

3. There are three broad issues affecting quality of education in India. They are:
Access
A large number of school going children are not even able to access schools; we are not saying good schools just schools.
The are
many reasons for this:
• Poor infrastructure.
• Girl child safety issues
• Apparently simple issues like the need to cross a highway / stream on the way to school keeps kids away.
• In the name of Right to Education, Government has opened satellite schools in remote area to fob off those living in
remote areas with substandard facilities so long as one can tick the box of having provided a school.
Attendance
Even if the child does get enrolled in a school, there is no guarantee that (s)he will attend. There are number of factors that
Keep the child away
• Teachers are held accountable for enrolment, seldom for attendance; they don't see the need to push.
• The child needs to work, at home or in the family enterprise (farming, trading etc) or in another enterprise to bring in
money to help feed the family.
• The pedagogy is so boring and the subjects so irrelevant that no self-respecting child will be lured to stay on.
• Teachers are often uninterested in teaching. Their knowledge is limited as they are poorly qualified.
• Teachers are often used for all sorts of extension work by government. They are often 'returning officers' in elections
and that makes them powerful.
• Teacher truancy - if the teacher skips classes with impunity all the time, why would the kid want to go?
Attainment
• The pedagogy is boring and depends so much on being learning by rote.
• The evaluations, if they happen, are focused on a child being able to vomit out what (s)he has learnt by heart. Study of
history is reduced to dates and study of language to reciting poems.
• Most of the kids coming in from poorly educated households do not have the atmosphere at home to aid learning.
• The curriculum is designed to leave the kid with no skills or perspectives to be able to build a working life.

4. National
Level
• Independent body directly under Jan Lokpal
• All teachers will be its members par se
• Headed by elected person from amongst members,Term:3 yrs
• Responsible for appointing state wise heads
State Level
• Survey demand and supply of teachers
• Set a standard regarding teacher:student ratio
• Accordingly reallocate teachers
• Recruit teachers through a state level exam
District Level
• Train teachers in local language
• Form a group of teachers to teach nomadic tribes as and when they come to their district
• Invite ideas from teachers for making teaching interesting
• Encourage teachers to engage in community services
A Solution: Host Of Primary Education
(HOPE)

5. ADDITIONAL TASKS TO BE DONE
•Merge Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan with this program
•Collaborate with NGOs like Teach for India.
•Link with Pradhan Mantri Gram Sarak Yojana to solve the commutation problem which the
teachers face
•Set up a National Level institution with recognition like IIT and IIM for training the teachers. This
institution shall have national recognition and the people interested in teaching shall have specific
training to teach them the very basics
•The above mentioned institute shall serve as the source of recruitment for the state boards set up
under HOPE
Organisation Structure of HOPE
Chairman
State Level
Teaching Heads
Creative Course
Content Design
Head
NGO Heads
Principal
committee
Training Head

6. Implementation of the proposed solution
65000
2000
1800
10000
Funding (Amt in cr)
Government
NGOs contribution
Receipts from fees
and other
institutions
Surcharge and
education cess
30000
18800
10000
20000
Allocation of Funds (Amt in
cr)
Infrastructure
Teacher Training
Institutes
Teacher Salary
Technological
setup

7. National Level
• The members of the Teachers’ Association of India (TAI) would mandatorily constitute
a part of Hope. Current board members would supervise its activities at the national
level. Hope seeks to establish a hierarchical organisation in which the board members
would be elected so as to support the principle of democracy. These board members
would in turn choose the state level representatives on the basis of number of years
of service and location of service of these members.
State Level
• These state level representatives would direct control over the existential members of
the State Teachers’ Association. Among its many functions, it would conduct state wide
surveys to ascertain the demand for teachers. After such ascertainment, appropriate
and prompt action would be effected.
District Level
• As is the case with hierarchy, there would be district level officials directly answerable
to state level representatives. These officials would work at the grass root level,
inspiring many more to pursue teaching as a profession.

8. CRITERIA
• NUMBER OF
CHILDREN
GOING TO
SCHOOL
• EXPENDITURE
ON
EDUCATION
(% OF GDP)
• GOVERNMEN
T BUDGET
FOR SARVA
SHIKSHA
ABHIYAN
PROGRAMME
• TEACHER :
STUDENT
RATIO
18
8
CHILDREN OF SCHOOL
GOING AGE(26 CRORE)
IN
SCHOOL
OUT OF
SCHOOL
23
3
CHILDREN OF SCHOOL
GOING AGE(26 CRORE)
IN
SCHOOL
OUT OF
SCHOOL
CURRENT DATA
BEFORE IMPLEMENTING HOPE
EXPECTED DATA
AFTER IMPLEMENTATION OF HOPE
3.5
6
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
CURRENT EXPECTED
IN%(PERCENTAGE)
YEAR
EXPENDITURE ON EDUCATION(%OF GDP)

9. • At present(2013-14)
government expenditure on
SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN(SSA)
is Rs.27258 crore but after
implementing HOPE, it would
be set up at around Rs66
crore which is the target
expenditure.
12825 27258
52000
0
20000
40000
60000
Rs.Incrores
YEAR
GOVERNMENT BUDGET FOR SARVA
SHIKSHA ABHIYAN
GOVERNMENT
BUDGET FOR
SARVA SHIKSHA
ABHIYAN
In 2010. pupil teacher ratio
was 25.33 and after
implementing HOPE which
includes steps like training
teachers, inviting their ideas
etc., it is expected to fall to
approx 20.
25.33
20
0
10
20
30
2010 EXPECTED
RATIO
YEAR
PUPIL TEACHER RATIO
PUPIL TEACHER
RATIO

10. Challenges
Social
Issue of governance = NATIONAL-STATE-
DISTRICT=“Corruption ”
difficult for the teachers to deal with different
ethnic groups having different ideologies
mainly in rural India
Economic
Surveys, Teacher training programs,
Merging of different programs , election of
heads of the “independent body”, all
require more funds to be allocated.
Political
Conflicts among party in power and other
parties over the setting up of “JAN LOKPAL”
LENGHTY PROCEDURE…resulting in the
pending of the grave issue over years.
Technological
Lack of infrastructure, smart classrooms,
digital learning will lead to boring
education.
Legal
Government’s sanction of funds for various
projects, emerging of various institutions ,
NGO’s, establishment of “independent body”
are legal constraints.

11. NATIONAL
• A body at the top should allocate funds to state
level with mandatory preparation of records of
total expenditure on different programs and
projects.
STATE
• The state should than make an assessment of
the funds required for the proper
implementation of programs in different
districts.
DISTRICT
• The funds should be allocated directly
to the schools for betterment of
education facilities.
This hierarchy will insure proper utilization of funds and minimum corruption.
Other issues that need the concerned efforts of our policy makers are
• More funds should be allocated for education sector
• Development of infrastructure , electricity ,roads.
• Counseling of people in rural areas mainly to change their age old mind set
• Trained Manpower
• Making Schools Inclusive
• ICT, Technology in Schools , smart classrooms
CONCLUSIONS

12. References
• The report ofa PISA
• Data from the site of UNICEF: India
• The union budget;2013
• TOI blog
• Research paper; the negative consequences of over ambitious curricula in
developing countries by: lant pritchett and amanda beatt.