Class Struggle
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India Today
October 13, 1997
AGENDA
CLass Struggle
Fifty years into Independence, India's children have little to
celebrate: 6.3 crore of them are still out of school. This despite the
constitutional directive urging all states to provide "free and
compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14
years". The Constitution envisaged fulfilling this promise by 1960.
Yet, if present trends continue, India is still 50 years away from
reaching the goal.
Meanwhile, the absolute number of illiterate people in the population
is steadily rising year after year. At about 50 crore, the number of
illiterates in today's India is larger than the total population of the
country 30 years ago.
Even in the younger age groups, illiteracy remains endemic. About half
of all adolescent girls, for instance, are unable to read and write.
The low priority given to education by this nation is apparent from the
mean years of schooling, the average period spent in school by a
citizen. Indians spend a little over two years in the classroom. The
Chinese spend five, the Sri Lankans over seven and the South Koreans
nine.
That so many children are out of school is a profound tragedy.
Education is a basic tool for self-defence in modern society. The
feeling of powerlessness that goes with being illiterate comes through
loud and clear in any conversation with ordinary people. As Shankar Lal
of Gadaula village in Banda, Uttar Pradesh, put it, "Anpadh aadmee
jeevanbhar kasht mein rahta hai (An illiterate person is handicapped
all his life)."
Lal was one among 1,221 Indian parents who were interviewed in a recent
survey planned by a group of researchers based at the Delhi School of
Economics and the Indian Social Institute. The survey covered all the
schooling facilities in a randomly selected sample of 188 villages in
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The survey's
findings will be released soon as part of the Public Report on Basic
Education (PROBE).
The probe findings provide a startling picture of the schooling
situation in India's villages. To begin with, they shatter two myths
that are often invoked to "explain" the slow progress of elementary
education: one, a supposed lack of parental motivation; two, that work
keeps children from going to school. The survey gives an eye-opening
account of the appalling condition of elementary education in rural
India -- and of the government's apathy. It makes it clear that the
battle against ignorance is a grim one.
INDIA TODAY presents an exclusive preview of the PROBE findings.
PROBE survey team: Kiran Bhatty, Anuradha De, Jean Dr躥, A.K. Shiva
Kumar, Aprajit Mahajan, Claire Noronha, Pushpendra, Anita Rampal, Meera
Samson.
Even illiterate parents value education
It is often said that poor parents, perhaps illiterate themselves, are
not interested in education. The same excuse was invoked by colonial
authorities. The Lucknow District Gazetteer of 1940, for instance,
claimed, "The mass of the lower classes is ignorant, superstitious and
unambitious, and cares nothing for education." This perception is still
popular. In an analysis of India's failure to achieve universal
elementary education, The Times of India (August 15, 1997) argues,
"Illiterate and semi-literate parents see no reason to send children to
school."
Contrary to this claim, most probe respondents were very keen to enable
their children to acquire education. A resounding 80.2 per cent of
parents felt primary education should be made compulsory for all
children. While 98 per cent stressed it was important for sons to go to
school, as many as 89 per cent felt similarly in case of daughters.
A small minority, admittedly, did not consider it important for a girl
to be educated. These parents often said: "Ladkiyan padhai karengi to
ghar ka kaam kaun karega? Ladki ko kaunsa padh-likhkar naukri karni
hai? (A girl's proper place is at home, doing domestic work. Anyway,
she isn't going to take up a job)." Parental motivation for female
education is thus lacking in some cases. But the general pattern is one
of loud clamour for better educational facilities.
Work does not keep children from school
Another myth is that children are unable to go to school because they
have to work. Organisations such as the Coalition Against Child Labour
claim there are seven to eight crore child labourers in India, working,
on an average, 12 hours a day. This sweeping statement is not supported
by the probe survey. It is true that some children -- for example,
eldest daughters in poor families -- work long hours, making it
difficult for them to go to school. But the general pattern is
surprisingly different: a majority of out-of-school children in rural
India have plenty of time on their hands.
Among out-of-school children, about half worked less than three hours
on the day preceding the probe survey. Only 18 per cent worked more
than eight hours. One-third had not done any work at all during school
hours on that day. Girls tend to work more than boys (mainly at home),
but even they usually have enough spare time to attend school. Indeed,
school hours in rural India are effectively quite short -- say four to
five hours a day for 120 days in the year. Only a small minority of
children are so busy that they cannot make themselves available for
such a limited period of time.
Moreover, when children work rather than go to school, it does not
necessarily mean that work requirements are to blame for their failure
to attend school. In many cases, it is the other way round: children
work because they are unable to go to school. Eight-year-old Manoj in
Karanjia village (West Singhbum, Bihar), for instance, dropped out of
class after being teased and beaten by other children; now he spends
the whole day grazing cattle.
Despite claims, primary education is not free
WHAT IT TAKES TO EDUCATE A CHILD
Rs per year
FEES 20
BOOKS AND STATIONERY 112
UNIFORM/CLOTHING 175
PRIVATE TUITIONS 33
OTHER EXPENSES 26
TOTAL 366
If parents are interested in education, and if child labour is not a
major obstacle, then why are so many children out of school? To
understand this, the first point to remember is that regular school
attendance requires a great deal of effort on the part of parents as
well as children. To begin with, education is expensive. While free
education is a constitutional right, the probe survey suggests that
north Indian parents spend about Rs 366 per year (see graphic) to send
a child to a government primary school. This may seem a small amount
but can prove a major financial burden for millions of poor families
with several children of school-going age. For an average agricultural
labourer in the probe survey area, sending two such children to primary
school would mean 30 to 40 days' wages.
The financial burden has a particularly harmful effect on the schooling
of girls. While most parents recognise that it is important for a girl
to be educated, many feel that the benefits of a girl's education will
be enjoyed by others, since a daughter, typically, leaves her family
after marriage. As one respondent from Kaudaha (Bahraich, Uttar
Pradesh) bluntly put it, "Ladki ko padhaane ke baad bhi woh apne ghar
chali jaati hai. Padhaane se koi faida naheen (There is no point
teaching a girl; she marries and goes away)." This outlook leads to a
reluctance to spend on a daughter's education. If resources are scarce,
the tendency is to give priority to boys.
In addition to the financial burden, much day-to-day parental effort is
required to motivate a child to go to school, to ensure that he or she
makes good progress, and to free him or her of domestic chores. Effort
is also needed from the child, especially when the schooling
environment is hostile or boring. The willingness of parents and
children to make the required effort depends on what they can expect to
get in return, in terms of schooling quality. The quality of schooling,
more often than not, is abysmal.
Creaky system, crumbling schools
ABSENT FROM SCHOOL
Percentage of government primary schools with specified facilities
FUNCTIONING TOILETS 11
BLACKBOARD IN EVERY CLASS 73
NON-LEAKING ROOF 37
PLAYGROUND 48
DRINKING WATER 42
The poor quality of schooling in India has many aspects. For a start,
the physical infrastructure is woefully inadequate. If all children
were in school, as they are meant to be, school buildings would burst
at the seams.
In some villages there is no infrastructure worth the name. In Vidiya,
a village in Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh, for example, there is
no school building. Children are huddled in a dark, tiny storeroom and
an adjacent open space where the owner keeps domestic animals. Teachers
said the state of the premises was the main reason why children didn't
come to school.
In some villages, the building is used by the teachers for residential
purposes. Elsewhere, the school premises are used as a store (Sarwana
in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh), police camp (Baruhi, Bhojpur, Bihar), to
dry cowdung cakes (Mujahidpur, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh), as a
cattle shed (Belri Salehpur, Hardwar, Uttar Pradesh) and a public
latrine (Vangaon, Saharsa, Bihar).
These are extreme cases but even the "typical" school boasts little
more than two classrooms, a leaking roof, a couple of blackboards and a
table and chair for the headmaster. The probe survey found 82 per cent
of the schools needed repair. Two-thirds had leaking roofs, making it
difficult to hold classes during the rains.
Many students -- but very few teachers
How much attention can a school child hope to receive from his or her
teacher over the primary cycle? Very little, if the probe survey is any
indication. In primary schools, there were about 50 children enrolled
for each teacher. This implies that even if all teachers are always
present and actively teaching during school hours, the total amount of
teacher time per child is, on an average, just around one hour a month.
The true figure is well below that, since teachers are often absent and
spend little time in active teaching even when they are present.
Further, the distribution of teachers among schools is highly uneven.
This often leads to the actual pupil-teacher ratio being much higher
than 50 in many schools, even shooting up to three-digit figures in
some cases. Another manifestation of this problem is that of the
single-teacher school.
Officially, single-teacher schools have been abolished in the country
since Operation Blackboard (1986). Not so according to the probe
survey. In the sample villages, 12 per cent of all primary schools had
a single teacher appointed. Another 21 per cent had a single teacher
present, because the other teachers were absent. Thus, one-third of all
schools effectively had a single teacher. A single-teacher school is a
little more than a glorified child-detention centre, since active
teaching of all children present is by and large ruled out.
Poor teaching means little learning
Mohanbai is one of the few girls in Diwara village (Sawai Madhopur,
Rajasthan) who have managed to study up to Class V. Yet, she is still
unable to read and write. Her case is not exceptional. The probe survey
found many children who were unable to read or write even after several
years of schooling. Why? The short answer is that very little teaching
goes on in government schools.
Often, teachers are just not there. Even among "conscientious"
teachers, coming late and leaving early is an accepted practice. Others
are worse, as Teju Lal of Tigariya Sancha (Dewas, Madhya Pradesh)
pointed out. "Padhate hain nahin, school mein turant chhutti kar dete
hain (They don't teach, they send us off at the earliest)," he says. In
some villages, schools had been closed for a week at a time as the
teachers were on "gota (French leave)".
Even when the teachers are there, teaching activity is minimal.
Controlling the children is priority. The favoured teaching method is
copying -- from the board or from textbooks. Even that is hardly
monitored. In Golwa village (Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh), the probe team
found notebook after notebook filled with meaningless scribble.
Teaching aids are seldom available, let alone used. Many schools have
received new teachings aids (such as globes) through Operation
Blackboard, but these are usually locked up and kept away from the
children. In the classroom, the stick remains the most common teaching
aid. "Padhaate kam, maarte zyada (More than teaching, they beat us),"
said one boy as he explained why he had dropped out. Many others like
him have been frightened away from school by violent teachers.
Teachers, for their part, feel that their work conditions are not
conducive to better teaching methods. They know that "joyful learning"
is politically correct, but few believe in it. Three quarters of the
teachers interviewed by the probe team are compelled to do multi-grade
teaching (teaching more than one grade at a time). Some teachers deal
with this by concentrating their efforts on the higher grades, leaving
the younger children to their own devices. No wonder that the younger
children make slow progress.
With this background, it is easier to understand why so many children
drop out of school, despite the high level of parental interest in
their education. There are massive hurdles on the way. Many promising
children have been bored, beaten and humiliated out of the schooling
system.
How Himachal Pradesh beat the trend
It was drill time for the Class I children of Ooperi Baheli village of
Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district, and they ran around the maidan
happily. The children in the other classes -- and their teachers --
were all busy working. Singing and needlework were also taught in the
school.
There were story books and the children were happy to read. Two of them
even came up to borrow books to read in their spare time. It was
heart-warming. The children were both competent and confident. In fact,
they seemed ready to interview us. What would you like to be, we asked
10-year-old Suman when we visited her home. "A doctor,'' she shot back
confidently. In Rajasthan or Bihar, the schoolgirls the probe team
encountered were rarely so fluent, parting with an answer only after
much coaxing and persuasion.
Not so long ago, Himachal Pradesh was considered a backward region of
north India. In 1951, child literacy rates were as low as in Uttar
Pradesh or Bihar (see graphic). Today the figure stands at about 95 per
cent (probe estimates), closing in on that of Kerala, India's only
fully literate state. A survey of 48 randomly selected villages in
Himachal Pradesh, carried out by the probe team in late 1996, found
that 97 per cent of the children aged between six and 12 were going to
school. Universal primary education in the whole state is only a few
years away.
How did Himachal Pradesh succeed where its immediate neighbours have
failed so abysmally? Part of the credit goes to the state government.
Per capita expenditure on education in Himachal Pradesh is twice as
high as the all-India average.
The number of teachers per pupil is also twice as high. For every one
teacher there are 25 pupils in Himachal Pradesh. This compares well to
the figure of 47 for Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar
Pradesh.
Parents too have played a key role. Parental motivation for education
in the state is very high in all communities. Many parents said they
were prepared to make great sacrifices -- even sell land or separate
from joint families -- for the sake of their children's education.
Primary schooling is considered as important for girls as for boys.
"Boys and girls are equally capable," said an illiterate labourer who
hopes his daughter will stand for panchayat elections when she grows
up.
Finally, Himachal Pradesh appears to have a cooperative social
environment. In many survey villages, parents offered shramdaan
(voluntary labour) to improve the school building. Most villages have
active panchayats and mahila mandals, which are sometimes involved in
educational matters.
The rapport between parents and teachers too seems to be better in
Himachal Pradesh than in the other states covered by probe. If children
are absent, teachers often go to their houses to seek them. Parents are
keen to discuss the progress of children with teachers. Their interest
and vigilance seem to have been far more effective than the official
inspection system in keeping the schools alive.
Rhetoric and reality: the official non-action
The need for a major improvement of India's schooling system is obvious
enough. How far has this need been taken on board in government policy?
If rhetoric is the yardstick, there has been a great leap forward.
However, much remains to be done in terms of action. The government's
resolve to increase education expenditure to 6 per cent of gdp, for
instance, has gone hand in hand with a decline in public expenditure on
education as a proportion of gdp, from 4 per cent in 1991-92 to 3.1 per
cent in 1995-96.
Similarly, the teacher-pupil ratio has been steadily falling in recent
years. In 1981, there were 26 primary school teachers for every 1,000
pupils. In 1996, there were only 21.
Instead of confronting these alarming trends, the government has tended
to take refuge in ad hoc supplementary programmes such as non-formal
education (NFE), Operation Blackboard and the national mid-day meal
scheme. Some of these programmes have met localised success. On the
whole, they have fallen far short of expectations for want of political
backing.
A prime example is the mid-day meal scheme, introduced with much
fanfare in 1995. In most districts, cooked meals are still to be
introduced. Even the monthly foodgrain rations which are meant to be
distributed as a substitute for cooked meals routinely fail to
materialise. To quote one district collector, this scheme is a "good
example of how a well-intentioned intervention degenerates into a farce
due to bureaucratic apathy and corruption".
The NFE centres, meant for children who for some reason or the other
cannot attend regular school, are in dismal condition. The probe survey
found less than 10 functional nfe centres in the 188 villages covered.
Moving beyond token programmes requires much political will and public
pressure. Unfortunately, elementary education continues to receive low
priority from those in power. While Parliament discusses trivial
issues, a constitutional amendment bill aimed at making education a
fundamental right gathers dust. It is waiting to be discussed; but
ignorance is not as patient. The wave of illiteracy continues to rise.
.
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