While India may have taken giant strides in ensuring a universal access to primary education, some serious concerns remain unaddressed on the quality front. A visit to a neighbourhood government school can give you a clear picture of the manifestation of a crisis in our public school education system.
Almost 30 percent of the teachers are absent on any given day, and most of the teachers present in school spend only about 2 hours teaching in the classroom, as the rest of their day is spent on completing administrative tasks.
Over 50 percent of children studying in class 5 cannot read class 2 textbooks, and over 75 percent of them can’t solve a two-digit multiplication problem.
These numbers have been stagnant over the last decade or so, and political apathy towards outcome-based reform process is to be blamed for this situation. Now, the question is why do our politicians shy away from investing in a turnaround?