Challenges of Education in India

Education is the most important lever for social, economic and political transformation. Education is the most potent tool for socioeconomic mobility and a key instrument for building an equitable and just society. In the 11th Five Year Plan, about 43 per cent of the public expenditure on education was incurred for elementary education, 25 per cent for secondary education and the balance 32 per cent for higher education. In the State sector, about 75 per cent of education expenditure is for school education, of which 44 per cent is on elementary education and 30 per cent on secondary education.

Quantitative Challenges

• The country’s mean years of schooling at 5.12 years (2010) is well below the other emerging market economies such as China (8.17 years) and Brazil (7.54 years)
• The steep dropout rate after the elementary level. The sharp drop-off in enrolment at the middle school level and the increasing enrolment gap from elementary to higher secondary.
• Disadvantaged groups are worse off with the dropout rates for SCs and STs higher than the national average.
• Dwindling student attendance .
• Significant number of disabled students are still out of school
• Low pupil: Teacher Ratio

Qualitative Challenges

• The biggest concern in elementary education is the poor level of student learning—both scholastic and co-scholastic/non-cognitive.

By: Deepak Garg