2. Executive summary
Primary education in India started showing good signs with governments effort to increase the
Gross Enrollment ratio in schools .On one hand number of students enrolled in schools are
rising, infrastructure is getting improved ,government schools are getting recognized but on
the other hand the overall quality of primary education haven’t improved a lot.
Although government had realized this and had taken many steps like Right to Education Bill
and Sarv Shiksha Ahbhiyan, Aakansha, Make a Difference but due to high developmental and
economical diversity, a single model can’t be implemented in all states. In our solution we
have categorized the urban and rural areas into different tiers and had developed
customized solution for each tier.
We have done primary and secondary research to identify the possible reasons for the poor
quality education and then provided remedial actions to eliminate those issues
Best practices throughout the world are noted and feasible one were put in suggestions
A roadmap is developed to solve the issues related to infrastructure, quality teaching,
student motivation and course content in primary schools.
It was found during Primary research that some of the rules like necessary passing has
downgraded the quality of students
3. Current state of Primary Education in India(Positive side)
Proportion of government primary schools with enrollment
of 60 or fewer students has increased over time, from 26.1%
in 2009 to 32.1% in 2012
Pupil teacher ratio (PTR) has risen from 38.9% to 42.8%
2012, 73% of all schools had drinking water available
proportion of schools with useable toilets has increased
from 47.2% in 2010 to 56.5% in 2012
Midday meal was observed being served in 87.1% schools
that were visited
Enrollment in primary government schools in India
4. Para-teachers are wholly
unprepared and poorly
compensated for what they
work by any standard
Ref: Primary Education in India: Current
status and Future Challenges by
Amit Kaushik, Parth J Shah, 2009
In 2002-2003, 25% of
primary-school teachers
in rural India were
absent on any given day
national average is
about 1 teacher to
every 34 students
about 1 in 5 primary
school teachers do not
have the requisite
minimum academic
qualification to ensure
children’s right to
quality learning
Infrastructure
Ranked 63 out of 64 in
the latest Program for
International Student
Assessment (PISA) study
The 2011 ASER stated
that only 48.2% of
students in the fifth
grade can read at the
second grade level
About 50 percent of the
Std 3 kids cannot even
correctly recognize
digits up to 100, where
as they are supposed to
learn two digit
subtraction
Dropout rates increase
alarmingly in class III to
V - its 50% for boys, 58%
for girls
Teachers
Student
Current state of Primary Education in India(Negative side)
On average, only one in
nine schools in Assam,
Meghalaya, Manipur
have separate toilets
and one in four schools
in Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Jammu & Kashmir,
Jharkhand and Orissa
half the schools in
Arunachal Pradesh,
Assam and Meghalaya do
not have drinking water
facilities
Gross Enrolment
in India (%)
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
92%
52%
12%
Primary School
Enrollment
Variation
100%
50%
0%
92%
44%
22%
Enrollment
%
4%
5. Key Take
Away
Source: Wikipedia
•Rank 2
•Managed by Ministry of
Education, advises private
schools
•Criminal offence if parents
fail to enrol students
•Kindergartens for basics
•Subject Based
Branding, getting subjects
based on their scores in a
field
•Primary School Leaving
Exams (PSLE) to get score
choose secondary schools
Switzerland
•Rank 3
•No tuition fees
•Fully subsidised meals
•Equality and excellence in
education
•Publically funded
•Without selecting, tracking
or streaming students
during common basic
education
•Spread the schools to
remotest areas
•Continuous grading, no high
stake tests
Singapore
Finland
Best Practices
•Rank 1
•Delegates authority of
school systems to Cantens
•Primary School obligatory to
every child
•Kindergarten not
compulsory
•Get to choose
apprenticeship after
primary education
Finland: No tuition fees, without selection, equality, continuous grading
Singapore: Kindergartens, criminal offence to not teach
Switzerland: Obligatory primary schooling
6. Reason for the poor education standards
Inadequate Teacher Qualification and Support
Low Teacher Motivation and High Absenteeism
Low remuneration
Multiple Job Responsibilities
Less Family support
Child Marriage
Child Labor
Rural Area
Flawed Teaching Methodology
Low remuneration to teachers
Highly bureaucratic administrative system
Child Labor
Less motivation
Home Conditions
Lack of student motivation ( no failing)
Urban Area
7. • Check on
attendance
not kept
• Teachers
forced on
other duties
• No study
environment
• Prevailing
drinking and
abuse at
home
• Perception
that
education not
important for
female child
Paspoli Village BMC
School, Powai Mumbai
Personal Interview
No of students:172
No of Teachers:8
Main cause of low
attendance:
- Low inspiration towards
education
- Home conditions
- Child Labour
- Language problems
- Child marriage
BMC Urdu School, Adi
Shankaracharya Marg
Powai Mumbai
Personal Interview
No. of Student: 198
No. of teachers: 15
Main cause of low
attendance
- Child labour
- Child marriage
- Home conditions
- Necessary passing
degraded student quality
Gk G H S S P Village
School Khaparkheda
Nagpur
Phone Interview
No. Of students: 124
No of Teachers: 8
Main Cause of low
attendance:
- Low inspiration
- Home environment
- Low education
preference to female child
- Kids contributing in work
- Low teacher attendence
• Old learning
techniques
• Low interest
by teachers
• Compulsory
passing
Child Labour
• Forced to
work
• Earn for living
Home
Conditions
• Society
conditions
• Prevailing
perceptions
• Law
enforcement
not proper
Inspiration
Female child
negligence
Teacher
Attendance
Child Marriage
Primary research
8. Solution for Improving Primary Education
The solution to this problem is the improvement in:
Teacher
training
Infrastructure
Increasing
student
motivation
Better
Education
We can’t have one standardized model for all government
schools ,so we need to divide the schools in three
categories :
Tier 1
Improved
teaching
methods
• Government schools in Metropolitan
cities(Mumbai,Chennai,Delhi,Banglore)
Tier 2
• Government schools in of rest of the
cities
Tier 3
• Government schools in rural India
(Village Schools)
Now we need different model for all these categories
Tier 1(%)
Tier 2(%)
Tier 3(%)
Infrastructure
10
20
20
Teacher training
20
30
30
Improved teaching
methods
50
40
10
Increasing student
motivation
10
10
40
Relative
percentage of
improvement
needed for a
factors in a
particular tier
*Based on primary research
9. Actions to be taken for all these categories
Developing Baal Vikas school replacing the exsisting Anganwadi system(3-5 yrs)
• Transforming the Anganwadi system with better Infrastructure and new teaching
styles
• Teaching kids through plays, Developing child interest towards learning in the early
age
• Evaluating the output and then replicating the model
Improved teaching methods by collaborating with private schools to give training to
government school teachers
Giving incentives to private school teachers to guide teachers in rural areas in terms
of better teaching methods
Giving incentives to teachers on the combined score of group and individual
performance in teaching
Government should promote group teaching incentive schemes in addition to the
individual incentives ,so that teachers will focus on combined improvement in the
student learning as well
Creating innovation centre at national level to develop new curricular which is more
interactive and application oriented
Then implementing it in all schools through video conferencing or pool teacher
training
Motivating corporates to spend some percentage of CSR fund in developing the school
infrastructure
Government should try to
Develop all primary
School up to the same level
of standard and has to
develop competition
Between these schools.
Example : Centrally
sponsored Kendriya
Vidyalaya’s are know for
their competitiveness and
Quality education
Government schools
Should also be made
Accountable to the
Parents as happens
In private schools
Ref: Primary Education in India: Current
status and Future Challenges b Amit
Kaushik, Parth J Shah, 2009
10. Solution for Tier 1 Category
Features of these
categories
Government
Intervention
Government
Partnership
•Better salary structure
•Incentive
based
pay
structure
•More autonomy should be
given to the school
administration
to
implement
improved
teaching methods
•Provide Facilities and
support
to
special
educators and NGOs in
primary education*
•Improved
teaching
methods by collaborating
with private schools to
train government school
teachers
•Leadership lectures by
achievers and motivators
to increase enthusiasm
•Special need children
must be given special
attention for Inclusive
education*
Private Organizations
•Involving private players
like coaching institutes in
developing
analytical
skills in the students by
providing
teaching
material
and
video
lectures
•Direct recruitment of
female candidates for
some posts so that
parents are motivated to
let their children attend
schools**
•
•
•
•
This category includes
Metropolitan cities
(Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi,
Bangalore)
Infrastructure facilities
are sufficient in these
schools like drinking
water, Toilets etc.
Teacher issues like
absentees, less number
of teachers is also not
there
Better teaching methods
and more student
motivation can bring
better results
*Ref: Usage of selected resources for Inclusive education in Mainstream Primary Schools by Buehere and Oheieng Pamela, Vol8 – Problems of Management in 21st Century 2013
**Ref: Priorities for primary education policy in India’s 12th Five-year plan, Karthik Muralidharan, NCAER-Brookings India Policy Forum, Apr 2013
11. Routine inspection to
check if the school
administration
is
adhering to the rules or
not
Teachers
should
be
motivated to give more
emphasis on application
oriented learning rather
than marks oriented
learning
Government
Partnership
Government
Intervention
Improvement
in
Infrastructure facilities
Guide children towards
the
development
of
social and interactive
skills by collaborating
with private schools to
give
these
students
opportunity to interact
with
private
school
students and learn from
them
Government should open
leadership programs to
develop leaders who can
take sole responsibility
of these government
schools and can deliver
the desired results
Private
Organizations
Solution for Tier 2 Category
Private
companies
should organize events
such
as
sports
days, celebration of
national days, drawing
competitions and crafts
sessions
to
enhance
motivation
in
government
school
children
Build partnership to
deliver quality health
and physical education
for overall development*
Motivate
higher
secondary students of
private schools to teach
students of
primary
government school
Features of these
categories
•
•
•
All cities in India are
included in this category
except from the Tier 1
cities
Basic infrastructure
facilities are available
here but the rules and
regulations are not
followed properly
Better administration is
required to implement
the rules and regulation
*Ref: Community collaboration through sport: Bringing schools together by Lynch, Timothy Monash University Australian and International Journal of Rural Education Vol 23 Apr 2013
12. Solution for Tier 3 Category
Government
Intervention
Government
Partnership
Private
Organizations
• Improvements in school governance
• system of continuous and comprehensive evaluation
• Involving Childs in creative works and then paying them for
the work they do like painting etc.
• Using better teaching methods like games to make school a
fun place to motivate children
• Leadership development of head of the primary schools
through leadership programs
• Better Infrastructure
• Cash prizes based on attendance
• Providing financial assistance to entrepreneurs to come up
with new start up in education sector specially in rural area
• Student rotation program: merit base student transfer to the
private schools
• Compulsory Guest Lectures by private school teachers
• Rebates to Private players to open schools in rural areas
• Build partnership to deliver quality health and physical
education for overall development*
Features of this category
•
•
•
•
•
•
All the rural areas of India are included
in this category
There are many issues with this
category like less interest among
teachers to teach, poor Infrastructure,
low pay scale, child labor, livelihood
issue
The main issue is of livelihood
Parents don’t send there children to
school for the sake of earnings from
them
Need to develop programs that captures
their creativity and pay them
accordingly
So that they don't become forced child
labor
*Ref: Community collaboration through sport: Bringing schools together by Lynch, Timothy Monash University Australian and International Journal of Rural Education Vol 23 Apr 2013
