Educational Disparity in India

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION I know a heart effective of dreams To emu belatedly Lakshmi, my neighbour, Who merrily goes to inst unwell To wear skirts in gorgeous colours To begin a Collector and travel in a car adept, alas, trapped in a heap of matchsticks I am dummy up far from tolerant Etymologic tot tot completelyyyy, the word didactics is derived from the Latin term educatio (a breeding, a fermenting up, a rearing), from educo (I educate, I train) which is related to the homonym educo (I hold in forth, I take bulge pop I raise up, I erect), from e-(from, start of) andduco(I lead, I conduct). school manpowertin its broadest, popular sense is the mean by means of which the suggests and habits of a free floor of population bides on from superstar gene circumscribe to the next. Gener aloney, it occurs d iodine twainexperiencethat has a pee-peeative put on the focussing match slight thinks, feels, or acts. In its narrow, technical sense, com piecedment is the white-tie wait on by which connection purposely transmits accumulated experience, skills, customs and comforts from ane generation to a nonher, e. g. , instruction in in dormants. It means the gentility of character or cordial powers by means of giving intellectual, righteous and amic fitting instruction e peculiar(a)ly as a prolonged process.Indian hostelry is characterized by its versatileness be it in name of unearthly be fraudf, order, locality or dustup. This miscellanea of smorgasbord gives rise to slew with in truth diametrical kind of family backgrounds and demographic characteristics. though diversity in much or less(prenominal) narrate is con locatingred a healthy phenomenon barg entirely alto get inher when battalion of assorted association, theology or business office be provided with same kind of opportunities and offshoot prospects in ground of improvement to program lineal activity, function and different fundament al function. in that respect should non be some(prenominal) kind of variety among respective(prenominal)s based on their club, holiness, piece or sex.In this light, if we observe Indian golf club we find that, based on caste and ethnicity, it suffers from substantial inequalities in fosterold age, traffic and income. If the inequalities ar arising collect to rests in train of cases do by individuals of different backgrounds then it is morally accept competent only when if inequalities atomic publication 18 receiv commensurate to circumstances beyond the control of an individual much(prenominal) as caste, organized religion, division of birth, sex, ethnicity and so on, then it is deemed u assoilhical and unacceptable and withal calls for compensation in rough form or a nonher(prenominal), from the society, to those who necessitate suffered due to modest circumstances.In the episode of India this problem becomes much to a greater extent than than( prenominal) pertinent since historically the Indian society is severely divided into different caste, religion and early(a) societal classifying grammatical constructions with nearly(prenominal)(prenominal) groups enjoying privileges more than other groups just be causa of their high(prenominal)-up social status.So, as far as India is c at oncerned, it is precise authorised from the point of catch up with of twain academic come to as substantially as form _or_ administration of goernment implication, to try the extent of dissimilitude due to different circumstances of people as it ordain help in going to the embedation cause of prevailing income or wealth variation, evaluating the age old g everywherenment programs involveed at bringing e tincture in society, maturation policies for bridging breaks in the midst of different sections of society and thence leading towards a landed estate which is more just and equal. 1. 1 A shortened HISTORY OF bring ing up IN INDIAMonastic orders of fosterage at a frown place the supervision of a guru were a party opted form of commandment for the nobility in ancient India. The knowledge in these orders was oft related to the tasks a section of the society had to perform. The priest kin, the Brahmins, was imparted knowledge of religion, philosophy, and other subsidiary branches while the warrior class, the Kshatriya, was trained in the mingled aspects of warf argon. The business class, the Vaishya, was taught their trade and the moveing class of the Shudras was usually deprived of preceptal advantages.Secular Buddhistic institutions cropped up along with monasteries. These institutions imparted practical gentility, e. g. , medicine. A telephone number of urban skill pennyers became increasingly visible from the stream among ii hundred BCE to 400 CE. The important urban pennyers of tuition were Taxila (in juvenile- do day Pakistan) and Nalanda, among others. These insti tutions organizationatically imparted knowledge and attracted a number of remote students to involve topics much(prenominal) as Buddhist literature, logic, grammar, and so forthBy the completion of the visit of the Islamic scholar Alberuni (9731048 CE), India already had a sophisticated organization of mathematics. With the arriver of the British Raj in India the modern europiuman statement came to India. British Raj was unwilling to realize mass program line system as it was non their interest. The colonial cultivational insurance policy was delibe considerly one of decrease natal culture and religion, an approach which became cognize as Macaulayism.With this, the whole procreation as soundly as judicature system went finished channelises. Educated people failed to get business organisation because the spoken communication in which they got re harvestingion had become redundant. The system soon became solidified in India as a number of direct, secondary, and ordinal displaces for reading cropped up during the colonial era. in the midst of 1867 and 1941 the British en hand al more or lessd the make do of the commonaltywealth in primeval quill and collateral grooming from almost 0. 6% of the tribe in 1867 to over 3. % of the population in 1941. heretofore this was much cast down than the equivalent figures for Europe where in 1911 amid 8 and 18% of the population were in immemorial and standby learning. Additionally literacy was comparablely breakd. In 1901 the literacy aim in India was only round 5% though by Independence it was coterminously 20%. Following independence in 1947, Maulana Azad, Indias low commandment minister envis old unafraid central semipolitical sympathies control over statement by means ofout the country, with a render nurtureal system.However, give the heathenish and lingual diversity of India, it was only the higher(prenominal)(prenominal) commandment dealing with scie nce and technology that came at a lower place the jurisdiction of the central brass activity. Hence the contrast existed and deepened. The establishment as well held powers to make subject atomic number 18a policies for educational victimization and could regulate selected aspects of education throughout India. The central government of India hypothecate the National insurance on breeding (NPE) in 1986 and in any case reinforced the course of instruction of Action (POA) in 1986.The government initiated several measures like the launching of DPEP ( territory Primary instruction plan) and SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Indias Initiative for study for entirely) and intendting up of Navodaya Vidyalaya and other selective takes in two district, advances in fe manlike education, inter-disciplinary research and psychiatric hospital of open universities. Indias NPE in like manner contains the National arrangement of Education, which ensures some uniformity while picking s into account expanseal education leads. The NPE withal stresses on higher spending on education, envisaging a budget of more than 6% of the Gross Domestic Product. spot the need for wider unsnarl in the base and secondary sectors is recognised as an routine, the emphasis is likewise on the development of science and technology education infrastructure. CHAPTER 2 EDUCATION AND THE CONSTITUTION organisation EACH OTHER Thinking about the inter straw man amongst the formation and education reveals that they atomic number 18 deeply interconnected, at ponderous aims of interdependence and analyzableity. Those connections be often strikingly visible, but atomic number 18 some dates instead subtle. A fundamental interdependence was make with the decision to formulate our governmental structure as a democratic re macrocosm.The writing created the necessity for adequate public education to prepargon the citizenry to exercise the mapping of self-government. An educated voting public netherpins a triple-crown democratic structure, the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the transaction of our most radical public responsibilities. It is the very(prenominal) foundation of a responsible citizenship. directly it is the principal instrument for awakening the kidskin to pagan cherishs, in preparing him for later victor training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment.But it is non only our semipolitical system that is dependent upon a viable and achieverful educational system. Our frugal system also proclaims its reliance upon well-trained and educated role players. And our social system rests on two bounteously genuine goals that from all(prenominal) one requires access to education the break up pot which requires the achievementful absorption of diverse immigrant populations into a pluralistic social and ethnical structure, and upward mobility which requires the perme office of cla ss/caste barriers. two goals argon achieved substantially through the education system. 2. 1 LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK obligate 45, of the Constitution of India originally stated The body politic shall endeavour to provide, indoors a period of ten age from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and authoritative education for all nipperren until they hit the age of fourteen age. This article was a directive principle of state policy within India, effectively meaning that t was within a set of rules that were meant to be followed in spirit and the government could non be held to court if the actual earn was not followed. However, the enforcement of this directive principle became a matter of debate since this principle held limpid emotive and practical look upon, and was legally the only directive principle within the Indian constitution to start out a epoch limit.Following initiatives by the Supreme Court of India during the nineties the Ninety-third Amendment Bill nominateed three recount amendments to the Indian Constitution * The constitution of India was amended to allow in a new article, 21A, which read The distinguish shall provide free and positive education to all children of the age of sixer to fourteen years in such(prenominal) a manner as the defer may, by law, determine. * oblige 45 was propresent to be substituted by the article which read Provision for eldest childishness sell and education to children tidy sumstairs the age of six years The give in shall endeavour to provide early childhood c ar and education for all children until they jazz the age of sixteen years. * Another article, 51A, was to to boot own the clause a raise or guardian shall provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, a ward mingled with the age of six to fourteen years. The bill was passed unanimously in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, on November 28, 2001. It was later passed by the swiftness house, the Rajya Sabha, on May 14, 2002. later on beingness gestural by the President of India the Indian Constitution was amended globely for the eighty sixth time and the bill came into effect. Since then those between the age of 614 rush a fundamental right to education. * clause 46 of the Constitution of India holds that The earth shall upraise, with special care, the education and economic interests of the vagueer sections of the people, and in ill-tempered of the program circles and Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of social exploitation. new(prenominal) provisions for the Scheduled companys and Scheduled Tribes chamberpot be found in Articles 330, 332, 335 and 338342. Both the 5th and the 6th Schedules of the Constitution also make special provisions for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. CHAPTER 3 VIDYA, VEDA, AND VARNA The mid-nineties were adept years for education in India.According to the 2001 Census, the literacy pasture for men, over the entire go, change magnituded by 11. 8 ( lot) points and that for women by 15 points with the result that in 2000, 57% of Indias (over 15) population was lite swan, with a literacy rate of 68% among men and 45% among women. Many of the issues relating to literacy are reflected in condition interest, outlined as the initial schedule of a child at check. The net registration rate of children, aged 6-14, at in heretofore varies across the states of India ranging from 99% for boys and 98% for girls in Kerala, to 91% and 84% in Tamil Nadu, to 69% and 56% in Madhya Pradesh.All-India school daying account order, for boys and for girls, vary intimately between the Hindi, Islamic and the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (here after(prenominal)(prenominal) together with referred to as Dalits) communities the readjustment rate for Hindi boys and girls are, respectively, 84% and 68% while for Islamic boys and girls t hey are 68% and 57% and for Dalit boys and girls they are 70% and 55%. In keeping more generally with recent research interest into issues of ethnicity and educational accomplishment in other societies the key question of inter-group differences in school enrolment rate in India also needs neverthe little investigation.The raison detre is to examine whether, and to what extent, the enrolment of children at school in India are influenced by the norms, or other socio-economic characteristics, of the communities (Hindus, Islamics and Dalits) to which they belonged. thither are two issues embedded in this study. The premiere is that inter- federation differences between communities, in the school enrolment range of their children, could be due to the position that the communities differed in terms of their natural endowment fund of enrolment-friendly attributes. Call this the attribute effect.On the other heap, inter- alliance differences in enrolment grade could exist, plane in the absence of inter-community differences in attribute endowments, scarcely because different communities, by virtue of differences in their norms, translated a given attribute endowment into different enrolment rates. Call this the community effect. The overall enrolment rate is, of course, the issuance of both effects. The average out probability of school enrolment is the sum of two (mutually sole(prenominal) and collectively exhaustive) separate one that is en sexual urgeed by the community effect and another whose antecedents are in the attribute effect.The equation for the likeliness of being enrolled at school is separate for boys and for girls and, in each of the case, the variables differ as to whether the children are Hindu, Muslim or Dalit. thusly, the econometric estimates take cognisance of differences between the children both with respect to their sexual practice and their religion or caste. The econometric estimates are based on unit record entropy from a great deal of 33,000 agrarian signs encompassing 195,000 individuals which were outflank over 1,765 resolutions, in 195 districts, in 16 states of India.In many an(prenominal) communities in that respect is no customs duty of launching children to school more importantly, these traditions co-exist with well recognised and complete social norms that beg off child labour and accept out of-school children. Given that the child is the father of the man, children who do (or do not) go to school will, with a high degree of probability, baffle up to be literate (or unknowing) sizeables. In turn, the behavior chances of an adult, and his or her children, will be greatly affected by whether or not he or she is literate.Consequently, if one is concerned with inter-community differences in economic and social outcomes, one should, as a corollary, be concerned with inter-community differences in rates of school enrolment. The determining variables used to specify the equatio ns for the likelihood of boys and of girls being enrolled at school, were grouped as follows 1. The communities to which the children belonged Hindu, Muslim or Dalit. The respondents to the mickle were opulent along caste lines as Dalits (Scheduled Caste/Tribe) and non-Dalits. They were separately distinguished by religion as Hindu, Muslim, Christian, etc.Consequently, membership of the two categories, caste and religion, could overlap Dalits could be Hindu, Muslim or Christian and, say, Hindus could either be Dalits or non-Dalits. In this study, the two categories of caste and religion were rendered mutually exclusive by specify Hindus, Muslims, Christians (and persons of other religions) as persons professing the germane(predicate) faith but who were not Dalits. No distinction was made by religion within Dalits though, parenthetically, it major power be celebrated that over 90% of them gave their religion as Hindu.Because of the junior-grade number of Christians and person s of other religions in the Survey, the summary reported in this write up was confined to Hindus, Muslims and Dalits. 2. The arenas in which the children lived North southeastward sum total east West. The primaeval region comprised Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh the South comprised Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu the West comprised Maharashtra and Gujarat the East comprised Assam, Bengal and Orissa and the North comprised Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. 3. The educational levels of the mothers and fathers of the children.These were classified as unwitting low, if the person was literate but had not completed uncomplicated school medium, if the person was educated to primary level or higher up but had not passed the school-leaving exami res publica (the matriculation examination, abbreviated, in India, to matric) administered at the end of ten years of studying high, if the person was educated to matric level or above. 4. The occu pations of the fathers and the mothers. The mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive occupational categories were cultivator, labourer, non-manual histrions, and unoccupied. . Personal and household variables such as an index of the value of productive assets. 6. Village level variables relating to the general level of development of the colony and, in particular, the provision of schools within the village. In terms of educational infrastructure, only 11% of the children in the sample lived in villages which did not shed a primary school, though 50% lived in villages without anganwadi schools, and 30% lived in villages without a pith school within a distance of 2 kilometres.Of the children in the sample, 77% of boys and 64% of girls were enrolled at school. However, underlying the summation figures, thither was colossal variation in enrolment rates by region community agnate occupation and agnatic literacy status. In terms of region, enrolment rates were lowest in the Central region and highest in the South, the West and the North. However, in any region, except the South, enrolment rates for Hindu boys and girls were considerably higher than those for their Muslim and Dalit reverberationparts.In terms, of maternal(p) literacy, enrolment rates for children (both boys and girls) were substantially higher for children with literate parents relative to children whose parents were illiterate. When both parents were illiterate the gap between the enrolment rate of Hindu children, on the one hand, and Muslim and Dalit children, on the other, was considerable however, when both parents were literate, the intercommunity gap in enrolment rates was or so non-existent. Lastly, in terms of ccupation, children whose fathers were labourers had the lowest rate of enrolment and children with fathers in non-manual occupations had the highest enrolment rate. These demonstrate that, with a handful of exceptions, the means of the pointors were importantly d ifferent between the groups. In particular, a evidentially large proportion of Hindu children had parents who were both literate and a signifi gougetly trivialer proportion of Hindu children had parents who were both illiterate compared to Muslim and Dalit children.In addition, a significantly higher proportion of Hindu children had fathers who were cultivators and a significantly higher proportion of Dalit children had fathers who were labourers over half(a) the Hindu children, in the relevant age-group, had fathers who were cultivators while, in contrast, well over ternion of Dalit children had fathers who were labourers. One ground that enrolment rates differed by community is that the distribution of the enrolment-determining ciphers region, parental occupation and literacy, helperability of educational facilities were un take downly distributed between the communities.The other is that in that location were significant inter-community differences in attitudes to ed ucation, both with respect to children in their entirety and with respect to boys and girls separately. 3. 1 The fellowship Effect Religion and Caste as Influences on trail Participation The NCAER Survey provides qualitative info on the earths that parents gave for not enrolling their children at school. Factors like school in like manner far or school dysfunctional ( charter-side) did not play an significant role in non-enrolment nor did their incidence vary across the communities.The incidence of demand-side factors whereby family financial constraints or the fact that a child was engaged in non-school activity involving work either within or outside the home was peculiarly marked for Dalit children 34% of Dalit parents, compared with 29% of Hindu and 22% of Muslim parents, gave this as their reason for non-enrolment. These inter-group differences in the mean values of the demand-side reasons were significantly different between the communities.Another significant differ ence between Hindus and Dalits on the one hand and Muslims on the other, was in terms of the percentage of children who were not enrolled at school because their parents did not think education was important. This was 16% for Hindus and 17% for Dalits, but, at 23%, significantly higher for Muslims. The fact that some proportion of sacred and caste groups consider education unreal suggests that Muslim religious and Dalit caste norms readiness matter for school participation.But, in that respect are also several other explanations that superpower account for the lower enrolment figures for Muslims and Dalits which need to be located within the historical context of educational policy in India towards minorities. 3. 1. 1. Muslim Education in India In recent time the question of Muslims educational retroflexedness has been an important element of political and social rhetoric in India. Although Muslims are not alone in reflecting educational backwardness yet recent statistic sal utes they are one of the most backward communities in the field of education and literacy in the country.This fact is, no doubt, astonishing for those who know that the very first declaration of the Quran- IQRA (to read) is about education. And the Prophet of Islam, Mohammad (pbuh) termed education as sanctioned responsibleness for every individual male and young-bearing(prenominal), the very first time in the history of mankind, in 610 (AD). However, this write-up endeavours to locate the educational problems of the post colonial Muslims in India and invites honest review by the present academia to help practical enforcement of all educational plans to get Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) commissioning a success story by 2010.An important cause that may well affect Muslim education is the role of religious institutions and, in particular, the local clergy. It is conventionally argued that the status of women in Islam implies that Muslim parents may invest less(prenominal) in the military personnel capital of their daughters than of their sons. Muslim parents may also be reluctant to send their children to government funded schools owing to the creative activity of alternatives in community based teaching (in the form of madrasas) and most curiously on account of the lack of Urdu and Arabic language teaching in the formal system.Islam first came to India as early as 650 AD with the Arab traders, but it was only under Mughal rule, between the 12th and 17th centuries, that education was encouraged. The very first madrasa in India was established in 1781 by Warren battle of Hastings and was called the Calcutta Madrasah College for Muhammedans. Madrasas were greatly encouraged under colonial rule in the eighteenth century and, in the second half of the 19th century, they were set up all over India by the Deobandis a group of Muslims who were trained in the most Orthodox madrasa in India, Darul-uloom in Deoband, founded in 1866.It was in this phase of their refinement that madrasas were funded chiefly by individual contributions rather than by princely patronage and when they developed a formal institutional structure similar to western educational institutions, including their own presses for issue in Urdu. In post-independence India, madrasas were allowed to be set up in India under Articles 30(1) and 30(2), which allows all minorities to establish educational institutions, and which also protects the piazza of minority educational institutions.In the 1990s, many madrasas halt been set up, largely through cash from the Middle East, on the western border of India and in the border regions of north-eastern India. Today, madrasas principal(prenominal)ly teach the principles of the Islamic religion, including an primary(a) level of the construe of the Quran. The Indian government has tried at various times to encourage some madrasas to combine religious education with modern subjects such as mathematics.For example, a syllabus was launched to modernise education in the madrasas in 1993, and some prominent madrasas such as the Darul-uloom in Deoband introduced improves into their curriculum as a proceeds. The Jamia Mohammadia Mansura in Malegaon, Maharashtra is reputed for its teaching of medical science, and the Darul-uloom Nadwar-ul-ulema in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh nonetheless teaches the face language and English literature as inwardness subjects. However, although in some states such as Karnataka and Kerala, madrasas are a useful complement to the formal schooling sector, such efforts book not, in general, been successful.Urdu (which is spoken in only 3 countries of the world India, Pakistan and Mauritius) is widely regarded by Muslims in India as their language. However, in post-independence India, Urdu was not given the status of a modern Indian language, notwithstanding the fact that a substantial proportion of Muslims and non-Muslims particularly in northern India use it as their primary lan guage of communication in schools Sanskrit was taught as the preferred alternative in the three-language (Hindi-English-Sanskrit) formula.This has had important implications for Muslim education in India particularly as it has tied the issue of education-provision with considerations of religious and political identity, and cultural autonomy. 3. 1. 2. Dalit Education in India In their analysis of school enrolment, Dreze and Kingdon found that Dalit children had what they term an intrinsic disadvantage they had a lower probability of going to school, even after controlling for other non-caste factors such as household wealth, parents education etc. Dalits who, generally speaking, constitute the untouchables of India comprise, approximately, 17. % of Indias population. Although, the devote of untouchability is illegal in India, the reality of manners is very different. Often, Dalits live in single out colonies on the outskirts of villages, usually in the grey fringes because tha t is where the Hindu god of death, Yama, is supposed to dwell. Dalits are not allowed to use common crematoria. Sharecropping, a dominant form of tillage in most parts of India is not common among Dalit households due to the fantasys of ritual purity ascertained by those within the caste system.More significantly, the be prolong of untouchability cuts right across religious boundaries, and is sight in day to day interactions not only by Hindus, but by Muslims, Christians, and other religious groups in India as well. Studies of education and caste in India tape that the Dalits are less likely to send children to school. Acharya and Acharya 1995 report that the differences between Dalits and non-Dalits in dropout rates are very large the dropout rates for Dalits are 17% higher than for others in tieres I-V, and 13% greater for those in Class I-VIII.The historical origins of ine whole tone in the access to education by caste lie in colonial policy towards education. After 1835, e ducation policy in the sub-continent was neutered considerably by Macaulays wink on Education which changed the dominant language of the curriculum to English, giving rise to what Nehru cynically termed an education for clerks. Western education both resulted in greater social prestigiousness for the upper castes and greater inequality between castes.The success of the non-Brahmin movement in grey India meant that this inequality was addressed there by positive inequality in favour of the non- Brahmins, in education and in jobs however, this was not the case in other parts of India. The influence of religion and caste on school enrolment encompasses both sociological factors such as the role of cultural norms, and historical influences such as colonial and post-colonial policy towards education in India. Collectively, these non-economic factors might exert an important role on current schooling decisions, even after controlling for the economic factors that affect them.CHAPTER 4 THE RURAL AND URBAN DIVIDE India is a vast country with a large population of about 121 crores. About 70 per cent of the people live in villages. They are engaged in husbandry or small cottage industries. Though there has been rapid elaborateness of facilities for education in the urban areas, the outlandish areas have ride outed neglected to a great extent. The main reason for such lopsided expansion has been the attitude of our rulers. As in other matters, the urban vocal population has in this matter as well been able to get the lions circumstances.Many Universities, Colleges and institutions of higher learning have been established in big urban magnetic cores and cosmopolitan cities. The villages and small towns have had to be contented with primary, middle and high schools, with certain exceptions of Intermediate Colleges and a few degree Colleges. The villages have not got their due fortune in the facilities for education. Education has been a state subject, i. e. , a tariff of the state governments in their respective jurisdictions. intricacy of education required huge sums of money.The State governments with their limited imagerys have not beenable to allocate as much cash in hand to education as they should have done. comfortable agriculturists could afford to send their wards to cities for education. The rest of the short and non-vocal motions of the population suffered. The nature of agriculture is ill loch that all the members of a farmers family have to work in the fields. Thus the children of farmers start helping their parents in coarse operations. This is a great hindrance to the expansion of education in the rude areas.If an analysis is sampleed, it will show that the illiterates in the untaught areas far outnumber their counterparts in the cities. set ahead break-up would show that not only adults but even children in the age-group 515 in the villages do not avail themselves of the facilities for education, available in the ir neighbourhood. It is not that there are no schools in the villages. Schools are there, but they are not in adequate numbers. Children have to go a long distance to attend schools. These schools are not as well render as the schools in urban localities. thither are very few school buildings.Classes are generally held either under a shed a manoeuver or in the open. The low-paid teachers of these schools do not pay enough charge to their students. The illiterate parents are not very fervent about the education of their children. Many children in the villages do not go to school at all. The parents of even such children, as are enrolled in the school, pay pocket-size attention to their education. They appear to be confident(p) of the futility of the schooling of their children. They rather engage their children as helpers in the artless operations, which they consider dampen utilisation of their time and energy.Not only children, but a majority of adult men and women in the ru ral areas are illiterate. This is one reason of their being negligent towards their childrens education. To them there appears no better time to come for their children even if they take education. The large cuticle unemployment is another factor responsible for their stolidity to their childrens education. Lack of enthusiasm in the village people for the education of their children is due to several other reasons. First of all most of them are themselves uninformed.Secondly, the gains of education have not tip overed the villages. Villagers are conservative in out verbal facet. They do not like send daughters to schools abridging their practices. So far as their sons are concerned,they do not find any direct correlation between their education and future progress. Very little attention is being paid to the education of adults in villages. There is no doubt that a little education or even literacy will generate much authorization among the rural adults, who would find it usefu l in their occupation as well as in general spiritedness.It would be fire to note that the objective of providing free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of 14 could not be achieved because of miserable resources for school buildings and teachers, non-realisation by parents of the beneficial value of education, and meagreness. The pool of illiterates and drop-outs grows wider each year, even as governmental efforts are being reinforced. Two-thirds of the non-enrolled children harp of girls. A vast majority of non-enrolled children are again from weaker sections of the community, like Scheduled Castes, Schedules Tribes, Muslims and landless countrified labourers.Such children constitute the hard union group of the problem. They do not attend school, and even if they do, they drop out soon after joining school. RURAL-URBAN disparities, particularly in post-colonial India, have for long been one of the causes of concern for the policymakers. The disparities are seen in all spheres of charitable tone economic and non-economic. The extent of disparities, however, differ from region to region. The long colonial rule in India had created an urban-rural divide.What causes great concern now-a-days is the sharp development in the level of disparities after a few decades of planning, especially because planning was conceived as an instrument to narrow down rural-urban disparities. country-bred India encompasses a little less than three-quarters of the countrys population and is characterised by low income levels, pathetic quality of life and a weak base of human development. Nearly tercet of the home(a) income comes from villages, but there is a significant rural-urban divide especially when it comes to education.Agriculture is the spine of most post-colonial countries. It prevails roughly two-thirds of the workforce. But the lions take of Indias bailiwick resources is directed to the non- country sector. This is the primary reas on why a vast Indian rural population has been left uneducated or with lowest levels of education. The inability of the government to address issues such as sexual activity bias is also an important factor which has brought about educational disparity The agricultural sector has been ontogenesis at less than half the pace of the other sectors.During the septetteth Plan, agriculture and allied sectors grew at a rate of 3. 4 per cent, while the internal economy grew at 6 per cent. In 1997-98, there was a negative addition of 2 per cent in the agricultural sector, although the internal economy grew by 5 per cent. The slower rate of egression of agriculture has serious implications for the rural-urban transactionhip. In an article inAlternative Economic Survey, Kripa Shankar has shown that it results in the upgrade widening of the divide, as the following info relating to agricultural and non-agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) at 1980-81 prices indicate.The GDP per agr icultural prole was Rs. 2,442. 49 in 1950-51, followed by Rs. 3,196 in 1970-71 and Rs. 3,627 in 1995-96. The GDP per non-agricultural worker flush sharply from Rs. 4, 469. 63 in 1950-51 to Rs. 9,179 in 1970-71 and to Rs. 16,715. 08 in 1995-96. There has been a further steep rise after the Central government accepted the Structural trying on Programme. charm the GDP per agricultural worker rose from Rs. 3,544. 98 in 1990-91 to Rs. 3,627 in 1995-96, the per non-agricultural worker rise was from Rs. 14,660 to Rs. 16,715. 08 during the same period.The data tend to show that the ratio between the agricultural output per farm worker and the average output per non-farm worker, which was 11. 83 in 1950-51, rose to 14. 6 in 1995-96. The introduction of the policy of rest has affected non-farm employment in rural areas. In 1997-98, the yearbook increase in non-farm employment in rural areas was 4. 06 per cent. In 1983-84 it was 3. 28 per cent. During 1999-2000 it came down to 2. 14 per cent. The consequence has been a very slow capitulation in rural meagerness. In 1993-94 it was 39. 6 per cent, in 1999-2000 the figure came down marginally to 36. 35 per cent. According to one estimate, the average income of an urban dweller is four times higher than that of a rural dweller. farming(prenominal) deprivation becomes crystal clear if we look at the data on rural Indias contribution to the GDP and what the rural areas get back. Rural contribution is 27 per cent but the return is 5 per cent. As a result of the decrease in the actual value of the income from agriculture, inflation being one governing factor, the rural population is unable to afford and finance the education of their family members.Besides, the large family demands have to be met by curtailing expenses on some front. In this kind of a case most of the expenses are curtailed in the educational front. The Human emergence Report of India (1999) attempted to divide the rural and urban house-hold on the ba sis of their incomes as shown in the table. The income status is reflected in the per capita consumption wasting disease. In 1999-2000 the per capita per month consumption outgo on the rural areas was Rs. 486. 08 and in the case of urban areas it was Rs. 854. 96, according to HDR 2002.If we look at the poverty data, a similar blank space is noticed. India, a developing economy of over a billion people, recorded a relatively high economic growth during 1980-2000, especially during the 1990s, a decade known for noteworthy structural economic reforms. This period also recorded a decline in the incidence of poverty and advantage in parameters of human development such as levels of literacy, health and nutrition conditions. maturement policies focussed on enhanced and organizeed public investments in create by mental acts that facilitated changements in the quality of life of the masses, but the isparity remains. The disparities in the social development sector are take care-bo ggling. Rural adult illiteracy is a matter of appal concern. In 2001, the urban literacy rate was 80. 06 per cent but the rural literacy rate was 59. 21 per cent. Thus, the difference in rural urban areas in terms of percentage points is 20. 85. entropy released by the Planning Commission show that among illiterate people aged 60 years and above, 78. 2 per cent live in rural areas. In urban areas the figure is 48. 2 per cent. Of the illiterate people who are 15 years and above but not beyond 60 years, rural areas have 55. per cent and the urban areas 25. 1 per cent. Of the school-going children in the age group of 5-14 years, 82. 4 per cent live in urban areas. The rural figure is 63. 3 per cent. Kerala has been able to bring this disparity down quite considerably 93. 2 per cent in villages and 94. 3 per cent in urban areas. Policymakers are of late lecture about the introduction of technology to improve the quality of life of the people by enhancing education. The bias of the state in favour of urban areas is evident from the per capita expenditure on basal services.According to the estimate of the Eleventh pay Commission, per capita expenditure on basic services in rural areas during 1997-98 was Rs. 24, but in urban areas it was Rs. 49. Rural India contributes 27 per cent to the GDP, but gets back only 5 per cent, which is less than one-fifth of its contribution. While the share of expenditure on urban poverty alleviation programmes in the total budgetary allocation by the Central government declined from 1 per cent to 0. 8 per cent during the period between 1990-91 and 2000-01, the per capita expenditure for urban poor increased from Rs. 11 to Rs. 8 during the same period. But for the rural poor, the per capita expenditure it is just one-eighth of this. In a post-colonial capitalist country like India, remaining rural-urban development or rural-urban disparity is not unusual. While it is almost impossible to bring it to an end, it is possible to re duce the disparity to a tolerable level. It may be recalled that Gandhi emphasized on rural growth and pleaded for village swaraj. He wanted the engine of Indias development to start rolling down from the villages. But it became clear from the discussions in the Constituent concourse that it would not happen. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar characterised villages as a humble of localism, ignorance and communalism. Nehru felt that villages were culturally backward and no progress could be made from such places. Urban bias was clearly reflected in the attitude of the policymakers. This seems to be continuing unabated. apart(predicate) from taking steps to increase human development facilities in the villages, such as health and appropriate infrastructure such as roads and marketing facilities, there is the need for generating employment, which can better the alive conditions of villagers and thereby enable them to finance education seeking process.We need to adopt a long-term policy, keeping i n mind the requirements of the rural and urban areas. A close look at the development plan exercises tends to demonstrate that ad hocism permeates the policy processes. CHAPTER 5 GENDER DISPARITY IN EDUCATION There is little denying the fact that investiture in human capital is one of the most effective means of reducing poverty and encouraging sustainable development. Yet, women in developing countries usually receive less education than men. More so, women in general enjoy far less employment opportunities than men.Any claims and efforts then, to remove poverty and make women independent, can show results only if they address the issue of sex inequality in education. In recent decades, there have been large gains, no doubt on comparable levels, in basic rights and opportunities, in life expectancy and enrolment ratios for women. But despite these gains, the stark reality has not changed. There still are large sexual urge disparities in basic human rights, resources, and economi c hazard, and in political rights. So until India is able to address this issue of sexuality inequality and resolve it, the vicious cycle of poverty will continue to pervade.This is because poverty leads to and aggravates sex activity discrimination it is in the poorer sections and nations that instances of gender biases and inequality are more evident. Women and girls are at the bottom of the social, economic and political ladder. retrieve to the means to influence the development process is a rare and a problematic possibility. And yet, by the same logic, gender discrimination hinders development. So while denial of basic rights (be it education, employment or health care for women) is detrimental to women, this denial, ultimately also harms the society, the nation at large too, by hampering development.Clearly, the gender gap in education that are widespread, is an impediment to development. The only solution to this is gender equality, which strengthens a countrys ability to grow, to reduce poverty and provide its people men, women and children a better life. Just because gender inequality is inextricably linked to societal norms, religion or cultural traditions, it should not be either a chip or an excuse to gender rude(a) development planning. India represents a picture of contrasts when it comes to education and employment opportunities for girls.Cultural, social and economic factors still prevent girls from getting education opportunities so the question of equality is still a mirage. However, the rural and the urban areas present a contrast. In the rural areas the girl child is made to perform household and agricultural chores. This is one of the many factors limiting girls education. cleanup spot the house, preparing the food, looking after their siblings, the elderly and the sick, graze the cattle and collecting firewood are some of the key tasks they have to perform.Households are consequently reluctant to spare them for schooling. Ph ysical gum e farthestic of the girls, especially when they have to travel a long distance to school and reverence of sexual harassment are other reasons that impede girls education. In the urban areas, however, there is a discernible difference in the opportunities that girls get for education and employment. Though the figures for girls would still be low as compared to boys, what is heartening to see is that whenever given the opportunity, girls have excelled more than boys.For instance, in the Central Board of Secondary Examinations for grades 10 and 12, which are at an All India level, girls have for over a decade now, bagged all the top positions and secured a higher over all percentage compared to boys. In employment opportunities too, women in India today have stormed all male bastions. Be it pilotage aircraft, heading multi-national corporations, holding top bureaucratic positions, leading industrial houses, making a mark as photographers, filmmakers, chefs, engineers an d even as train and lorry drivers, women have made it to all hitherto considered male bastions in India.However, this is not reason enough for cheer. For the number of girls and women who have been left out of education and employment opportunities, still far outweighs those who have got them. And what needs to change this scenario, is not just governmental efforts but a change in societal norms, in cultural and traditional biases and in general mindsets of people. And in this the media, the civil society, and the youthfulness, the women and girls have a lot to contribute. CHAPTER 6 GOVERNMENT SCHEMES FOR PROMOTING EDUCATION . 1 The Growth of Centrally Directed devises The national policies of 1968 and 1986 were developed through processes led by the regimens Ministry of Education and after its Ministry of Human Resource Development and involving widespread consultation at the state level. While the centre always contributed patronage to the states through the planning commissio n process and annual incremental plan allocations, implementation tariff lay squarely with the state administration until 1976.From 1977, implementation responsibility lay together with de jure with the state and the centre and through the eighties and the 1990s central government became bit by bit to play a much more directive role in programmes for primary, through the modality of cyphers. Up to the 1980s there had been little or no international sake in the planning and backup of programmes in basic education. But from the 1980s, and some years before the production of the 1986 national policy on education, a small number of foreign funded projects, roleed to improve access to and the quality of primary education, were initiated in various states.These would become the forerunners of the more rarified District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) of the 1990s and the country-wide Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme of the 2000s. 6. 1. 1 The Andhra Pradesh Primary Educat ion labor movement One of the first projects was the Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project (APPEP) started in 1984 through a programme funded jointly by the Government of India, the UK government and the State Government of Andhra Pradesh. Starting in eleven districts and 328 primary schools the project was planned to reach all 48,000 schools in the state.A large case construction programme designed to increase access to schooling was accompanied by a comprehensive human resource development programme for teachers, teacher educators and education administrators, the provision of materials to have activity-based learning and passe-partout support for teachers on a unvarying basis through teacher centres. 6. 1. 2 The Shiksha Karmi Project In the state of Rajasthan, the Shiksha Karmi Project (SKP) commenced in 1987 through a collaborationism between the Governments of India and Sweden and the Government of Rajasthan.Literacy rates were lower than in Andhra Pradesh, especially among girls and women, and the SKP sought to counter teacher absenteeism in remote schools, increase enrolment, especially among girls, and reduce dropout. An innovative strategy was the substitution of frequently absent primary school teachers by a two resident Shiksha Karmis (educational workers). This approach was inspired by a small scale project run and funded locally during the 1970s by an NGO, the Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC), in which three data-based primary schools were run by village youth trained as they worked as teachers.Between 1978 and 1986 the experimental programme was runed gradually to new sites with support from SWRC and other NGOs and the government of Rajasthan. The success of the small scale projects prompted the desire to expand the Shiksha Karmi idea on a larger scale. In 1987 foreign elaborateness and championship was formalised through an agreement for a six-year joint venture between the governments of India and Sweden. 6. 1. 3 The Lok Jum bish Project Shortly afterwards, in 1988, the first draft of an even more ambitious project in the same state the Lok Jumbish (Peoples Movement) Project was drafted.With three core components the quality of learning, community closeness and the focussing of education it sought to transform the mainstream system in Rajasthan by building from it and interacting with it. Involving a politically radical strategy and complex design, the leaders of LJ saw it as developer, demonstrator, throttle and transformer of the mainstream education system from the outside (Lok Jumbish colligation Assessment, 1993). Many of its ideas were drawn from SKP and its predecessors, and, like SKP, it attracted financial support from the Government of Sweden, but on a much larger scale.Like the large scale Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project before it LJ was another example of a three way relationship between the central government, the state government and a foreign fashion. LJ gave amount of money to the 1992 National Policy of Educations declaration that the Government of India will, in addition to undertaking programmes in the Central sector, assist the State Governments for the development of programmes of national importance where coordinated action on the part of the States and the Centre is called for.LJ also gave substance to the framework evolved in 1991 by the Central Advisory Board of Education for the availing of external assistance for basic education projects (Lok Jumbish Joint Assessment, 199374-76). In the case of LJ however, the confederation involved a fourth agency the Lok Jumbish Parishad (LJP) a non-governmental agency based in Jaipur, Rajasthan that worked alongside the state government. Indeed, were it not for the work and drive of those who established LJP, the Lok Jumbish project would credibly never have materialised, nor would some radical elements of the programme have emerged.LJ had three major components community involvement, the quali ty of learning and the centering of education. The component envisaged for improvements in the quality of learning was not especially radical, even if it posed implementation challenges. It involved the training of teachers and teacher educators, a curriculum and pedagogy reform led by the framework of negligible learning levels (MLL), and a system for headmaster support.The Programme for Community Mobilisation was more radical and involved the mobilisation of the community through public debate, the sharing of information and knowledge to create informed decisions and village household surveys to establish the numbers of children not attending schools and the reasons for non-attendance. Mobilisation involved the government activity in the village of a core group who became an activating agency for the village, the involvement of womens groups in education decision-making and the involvement of male and feminine adults in the design of school buildings, construction and mainten ance. . 1. 4 The District Primary Education Programme already by the early 1990s the government had decided to launch the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) across seven states with support from a range of foreign donors. From an educational planning perspective DPEP correspond a budge from removing supply side constraints to a greater focus on quality improvement. In 1994 DPEP was launched in the 42 mostly educationally disadvantaged districts in seven states.The DPEP strategy was drawn in tune with the national objectives of frequent access, memory and achievement of minimum levels of educational attainment with a focus on girls and children be to socially deprived and economically backward sections of the society. Besides the achievement of the quantitative and qualitative targets within the stipulated period, the major thrust of the DPEP is to promote the decentralised steering with active involvement of stakeholders that will have a considerable impact on the sus tainability of the project beyond its life cycle.A senior(a) administrator recalled the growing political will for basic education around this time. In contrast to some other sectors, education, and in particular frequent mere(a) education (UEE) enjoyed consensus with respect to its value and to its need for financial investment. Since the early 1990s there has been a sustained approach from parties of all political hues in their support for UEE and the states themselves have been trying to outdo each other (interview with the author). Barring some issues of politics in one or two states there has been a clear shift in the level of support for UEE.Political relations between the centre and the state are generally good, reinforcing an underlying push for reforms in UEE. Rarely are there any discordant views about how to move transport on the easy elements of provisioning e. g. infrastructure. Discord revolves around how fast or slow state governments proceed (interview with the author). Evaluations of the impact of DPEP on a range of education performance indicators suggest that disparities in enrolment and retention were cut the most in those districts with the lowest female literacy levels. In all 42 districts the percentage increase in female enrolment was 12. %. In the districts with very low female literacy rates the gain was 13. 2% and in districts with low female literacy rates it was 16. 2%. Positive change in the share of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe enrolment to total enrolment was also highest in those districts with the lowest female literacy rates. These enrolment gains were accompanied by reductions in the scholarly personteacher ratio, in the pupilclassroom ratio and in repetition rates. While the centre promoted the DPEP programme, states also continued to stick in and to launch major programmes designed to support improvements in access to education.One example was the twelve noon Meal Programme for children in the lower primary grades introduced in Karnataka in 1995. The programme involved a dry ration of three kilograms of rice per month for each child enrolled in the school. The idea grew out of a huge grain trim that was going to waste. Although the surplus did not continue, the synopsis, once introduced, would continue. Inspired in part by a popular noontide meal programme in the state of Tamil Nadu some 25 years earlier, the Karnataka arrangement would become a central government initiative in 2004. Dry rations were replaced by a cooked meal and central government funding of 1. rupees per child per day were matched by 0. 5 rupees by the states. In principle the fund covered cooking costs, fuel, pulses and vegetables, saltiness and masala. In 2008 the programme was extended to the upper primary grades country-wide. Some 120 zillion children were fed on a mundane basis in one one million million schools. Analysis of evidence generated from the PROBE survey conducted in the Northern states of B ihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in the late 1990s indicated the positive impact of midday meal programmes on school participation in rural areas, especially among girls (Dreze and Kingdon, 2001). 6. 1. 5 Sarva Shiksha AbhiyanThe generally positive perception among many stakeholders of the results of DPEP across seven states led on to an even larger nationwide programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Translated from Hindi as education for all movement, SSA describes itself on its official website as An effort to universalise basal education by community-ownership of the school system. It is a response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country. The SSA programme is also an attempt to provide an opportunity for improving human capabilities to all children, through provision of community-owned quality education in a mission mode.In terms of the international discourse, SSA is the Government of Indias main programme for the delivery of millennium D evelopment Goal 2, the achievement of universal primary education by 2015. In terms of the national discourse it gives substance to the 2002 constitutional amendment on elementary education as a fundamental right. Its aim is to universalise by 2010 an improved quality of education for all children in India aged between the ages of 6 and 14 (Ward, forthcoming). interestingly SSAs self-description on the web employs the concept of political will.It describes itself as an expression of political will for universal elementary education across the country. SSA has for certain enjoyed will and push from the centre. A senior bureaucrat commented that since SSA was a centrally sponsored scheme, the centre was pushing it very strongly. But political will and ownership at the level of the state is also important. The source of funding is key to will and ownership at state level. During the time of earlier DPEP the centre funded 85% of expenditure and the states 15%. SSA has introduced a tape ring formula such that by the end of 2011/12 the ratio should be 50-50.SSA is further described as * A programme with a clear time frame for universal elementary education. * A response to the demand for quality basic education all over the country. * An opportunity for promoting social justice through basic education. * An effort at effectively involving the Panchayati Raj Institutions, School Management Committees, Village and Urban slum level Education Committees, Parents teachers Associations, Mother Teacher Associations, Tribal Autonomous Councils and other deal root level structures in the management of elementary schools. A partnership between the Central, state and the local government. * An opportunity for states to develop their own vision of elementary education. In 2001 its performance targets (on the website described as objectives) were defined ambitiously as * All children in school, Education stock-purchase warrant Centre, Alternate School, Back-to- * School ingro up by 2003 All children complete phoebe bird years of primary schooling by 2007 * All children complete eight years of elementary schooling by 2010 rivet on elementary education of commensurate quality with emphasis on education for life * Bridge all gender and social category gaps at primary stage by 2007 and at elementary education level by 2010 * universal retention by 2010 The Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) referred to in the first target was introduced originally in 1977 under the title of the Non Formal Education Scheme. That scheme enjoyed only limited success and was re-launched in 2000 (GoI, 200229).Its aim was to provide further coverage in small habitations with no schools within a one kilometre radius. The current scheme targets out-of-school children in the 6-14 age group and uses strategies such as bridge courses, back-to-school camps, seasonal worker hostels, summer camps, mobile teachers and remedial coaching. For the last several years, many of these EGS centr es have been upgraded to the full status of primary schools, but concerns remain about the quality of education which they crack as well as their long-term sustainability. 6. 1. 6 The Right to Education BillThe most significant change in national policy on access to elementary education in recent years was the Right to Education Bill. Although a number of states have had compulsory education acts on their statues for many years, some from before independence, these acts had not been formulated in a way that rendered them justiciable i. e. no-one could be prosecuted if those rights were not met. In 1992, the Indian government signed the International normal of the Rights of the Child. An important legislative spur came in 1993 when the Supreme Court ruled in the Unnikrishnan vs.State of Andhra Pradesh 1993 (1) SCC 645. The Supreme Court ruled that Article 45 of the Constitution which asserted the obligation of the state to provide free and compulsory education up to age of 14 sh