Essay on Education System in India for UPSC : The backbone for the socio-economic development, our education system is lagging behind with respect to the present competitive world. Today, the developed countries have about 100 percent literacy rate which leads them to occupy in a better position in developmental indices. But, India has still only 74.04% (census 2011) which is a matter of concern for the economy. Moreover, all educated or literates may not get a quality education. Therefore, two major problems which spread in India are the lack of quality education for all sections of the society and the slow motion in expanding education.
Essay on Education System in India for UPSC
"If the poor boy cannot come to education, education
must go to him"
-Swami Vivekananda
The backbone for the socio-economic development, our
education system is lagging behind with respect to the present competitive
world. Today, the developed countries have about 100 percent literacy rate
which leads them to occupy in a better position in developmental indices. But,
India has still only 74.04% (census 2011) which is a matter of concern for the
economy. Moreover, all educated or literates may not get a quality education.
Therefore, two major problems which spread in India are the lack of quality
education for all sections of the society and the slow motion in expanding
education.
After the 2011 census, literacy rate in India was found to
be 74.04%. Though this seems like a very great accomplishment, we still have
the largest chunk of illiterate people. And it is still a matter of concern
that still so many people in India cannot even read and write. The numbers of
children who do not get education, especially in the rural areas are still
high. Though the government has made a law that every child under the age of 14
should get free education, the problem of illiteracy is still at large.
Today in this competitive world, making mere literate to the
children is not the end for each and every parent. How does he or she get
literate is a matter of concern. The people who are equipped with financial
stability get quality education and thus get opportunities in a better position
and on the other hand, a large number of economically deprived people are
fighting with poverty and unemployment. Education and economic growth are
interrelated. Education improves the quality of labor, and also the quality of
physical capital through the application of knowledge. A section of people in
our society is on the way to postmodern society whereas; about 30 per cent
people are still illiterate and are lagging behind. Our country is politically,
socially and economically affected due to this unequal distribution of
education.
A few shocking facts about the present Indian education
system:
- The literacy ratio of India is 65.38% with male literacy at 75.85% and female literacy at 54.16%
- A little over one-third of all children who enroll in grade one reach grade eight.
- About 35 million children aged 6-14 years do not attend school.
- In nearly 60% of schools, there are less than two teachers to teach Classes I to V and have to manage classes from 1 to V every day.
- High cost of private education and need to work to support their families and little interest in studies are the reasons given by 3 in every four drop-outs as the reason why they leave.
- As of Census 2011, the enrollment rate for pre-primary schools is 58 per cent and 93 per cent for primary schools. However, as per the studies, among rural children of age 10, half could not read at a basic level, despite the high overall enrollment rate for primary education. Also, over 60 per cent were unable to calculate division based sums, and half dropped out by the age 14.
According to data put out by the Ministry of Human Resource
Development (MHRD), the national dropout rate at the primary level was 4.34 per
cent in 2014-15, and it was even higher at the secondary level, at 17.86 per
cent. There are many reasons why a child might drop out from school, which
range from migration of families and child marriage, to lack of school
infrastructure such as drinking water and toilets. When a family is not
financially secure, prioritizing a child's education takes a backseat.
Post-Class V, distance to school also tends to increase, and parents deem it
unsafe for a child, especially girls, to travel far. Another reason why
drop-rates rise after Class V is that this is the stage when a child reaches
the age of 10-11 years - when it is considered suitable for induction into
child labor. The role of the teacher, too, is critical, as drop-outs often
speak of teachers beating them, and complain that teachers waste class time in
chit-chat with other teachers.
This high number of dropout candidates are from the
financially weaker sections of the society is the primary reason why children
from such background do not reach a high point in their life. This increased
dropout rate is the reason why there is a meager number of meritorious
candidates from weaker sections qualifying for numerous reputed competitive
exams such as JEE, NEET UPSC etc. and thus in turn low number of such
candidates in deemed government office majority of jobs in government services
require a candidate to appear for a written examination. However, with
competition not only getting tougher but expensive as well, forces candidates
to back out. The need for bread takes over the dream of education.
This high cost of higher education in India is adding fuel
to the fire and away the dream of achieving professional education for poor
children away from them. According to a 2014 report by the US India Policy
Institute in Washington, only 10% of the students have access to higher
specialized education in India. India needs subsidized higher education. But in
a country with limited resources and huge disparity across gender,
socio-economic religious and geographical lines, the question is - Is higher
education sponsored in a justifiable manner, or are the subsidies meant for the
disadvantaged?
Last year only, the tuition fee for undergraduate education
in the IIT's was increased per annum and IIM Ahmadabad increased the fee of its
flagship two-year diploma program to a whopping Rs 19.5 lakh. The fact that
every year over 10 lakh students appear for less than 10000 IIT seats is an
indicator of shortfall. The astronomical cost of professional education in the
private sector is going up; increasing the demand for government institutions
seats, where entrance exam is the only way to get in. However, these government
institutions have a limited number of seats and with a huge demand-supply skew,
many parents and students are often desperate to adopt fair and foul means to
grab a seat and rackets have sprung up over the years tapping this desperation.
There is an urgent need to improve the way examinations are
developed and conducted in the country. Right from the way a test paper is
framed to the procedure involved for the candidates taking the examination,
English language as a medium of instruction seems to be the prime reason for
students getting expelled in their first year at premier engineering or medical
institutes. Many students who are non-performers face trouble as most of their
school education had been in Hindi medium. From class lectures to books at such
institutes, all are in English, and hence there's a gap in understanding.
Since, majority of government funded schools in India are Hindi Medium,
children are unable to cope with the pressures of learning English besides
domain subjects.
As a nation, we are in a great dilemma on the financing of
public higher educational institutions. Highly supported quality higher
education, with admissions based strictly on merit, continues to be a great
hope for upward socio-economic mobility. This public demand has also ensured
that there is consensus across the political spectrum on the need for setting
up new IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, NITS, etc. In India, the demand for heavily
subsidized higher education is growing disproportionately to its ability to
provide it. The government has tried addressing this by announcing the setting
up of five new IITs, but monetary considerations of setting up heavily
subsidized public institutes can be daunting.
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