Primary education in India: A study of NGO initiatives, government policies and the child's story

Abstract

India is the second most populous country in the world, with over 121 crore people (2011 census),more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population,India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025. With these many people to takecare of, not just does the responsibility of the government increase but also the responsibility of thecommunity to self-sustain itself increases. Considering that 31.1% of our population (37.5 crore)belongs to the 0-14 years of age group (as of 2009), 1the role of primary education in the welfare ofthe country cannot be stressed upon sufficiently. The government and the society should worktowards ensuring quality primary education to all its future citizens.Having understood the criticality of Education for the balanced and sustained growth of the nation,the Government has brought into force the Right to Education for all and is working towards itsimplementation. The annual budget allotted to education for the year 2011-12 is 52,057 crores(US$11.61 billion). The literacy rate stands at a commendable 74.04%, very high when compared tothe post independence era.2 Apart from the government initiatives, there are also a large number ofNGO’s which are doing their part towards this mission. Most NGO’s work locally in different parts ofthe country, leveraging the expertise they build of the regions they operate in.Since Independence, India has made impressive progress in terms of growth of educationalinstitutions at different levels, physical access to schooling for children, and diversification ofeducational programs. Today, 18 crore children are taught by almost 57 lakh teachers in more than13 lakh primary and upper primary schools across the length and breadth of the country. 3But stillthere is a huge gap between the demand and supply of primary education even if quality aspectsare not considered. About 20 crore of the children below the age of 14 still do not have the privilegeof going to a school. This brings out an obvious need to have a model that can be scaled up to meetthe requirements of the increasing population and also close the existing gaps.The biggest question that should be asked here is – “Can the expertise, management and passion ofthe NGO’s and the funds, scale and reach of the government be put together to develop this model?”Can the Government and private sector work in collaboration, leveraging their strengths andadapting the best practices from both sides? Is it possible to have a system which ensures everychild not only goes to school but also completes schooling and more importantly “learns”?As a part of this study, we wish to analyze the current education scenario in India. The deficienciesin the government system and the NGO models and see how the synergy between their intentionscan be used as an advantage.The below chart lays out an outline for the project and our approach to developing a model for thegovernment, private sector and NGOs to work hand in hand.