Education and Learning

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That we had to bring in a law (the RTE Act, 2010) to make education a right six decades after independence itself speaks of how two of our basic rights - healthcare and education were denied to the masses. In the backdrop of huge investment - public as well as private - in the two areas notwithstanding, should have been taken as an indictment of India's failure to fulfill the basic needs of its citizens. 

The ASER 2017 report by Pratham (http://img.asercentre.org/docs/Publications/ASER%20Reports/ASER%202017/aser2017fullreport.pdf) has only confirmed our worst fears. The teenagers (14-18 years) are badly disabled, so to speak when it comes to basic skills. Let us not forget that these are amongst those who suddenly, from an exam-based evaluation system, which was in vogue till 2010, had to shift to no exams at all for the last seven years. The Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE), in the absence of proper teacher training and ineffective implementation, resulted in schools pushing children up the ladder under the guise of no-detention. What RTE Act meant by no-detention was that teachers should have brought the weak students at par and not detain them for failing an exam. What actually happened was that the weakest students got promoted without acquiring adequate learning.

That those in classes 9 to 12 are so poor in basic skills should come as no surprise. The RTE Act has ensured compulsory enrollment of out-of-school children. But are they learning? How are Class 9 and 10 students going to cope with annual exams this year? 

So it would be alright to extend the provisions of the RTE Act to those aged 14 to 18 years, our learning from the actual reality of its implementation for the 6-14 age-group should be first looked into. There is a humongous shortage of teachersrs in our schools. Teachers need to be trained as well and assimilate the tenets of continuous learning and evaluation of students. The availability of free books and uniform is also a problem, particularly for those from the disadvantaged sections of society. The present reimbursement model gets stuck up in bureaucracy and poor parents often do not get their due on time.

If ASER 2017 report is not a wake-up call, then perhaps nothing else shall be.


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