What is the issue?
- Young Lives - recently released a survey on the education sector.
- This is part of the study on childhood poverty that is aligned to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the UN.
What does the survey say?
- Data - 91% of 15-year-olds were enrolled in secondary schools in 2016 as against 78% in 2009.
- The increase in enrolment was particularly significant for backward class girls - 90% from 74%.
- The number of children attending private schools too increased marginally to 37% the 2008 figures.
- Private school enrolment remained biased towards - boys, upper castes, the wealthy and urban children.
- Other findings - Although more children were found to be in schools, learning outcomes weren’t encouraging.
- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’s work in ensuring better access to schools in rural areas was found to have an immense impact.
- A large gap was also noticed in learning outcomes of disadvantaged children & the wealthier - with the later making more progress.
- Only the most disadvantaged attended government schools.
- The biggest reason for girls opting out of school at the secondary stage was marriage.
- Financial cost of education & the earning potential of the student (as labourer) was also another reason.
What is the way ahead?
- Better implementation of the Child Marriage Prohibition Act and the Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act 2016, is needed to ensure that children stay longer in schools.
- Adequate investments had to be made in quality pre-school education and capacity building of teachers.
- At the same time, social security networks were needed for the poorest families.
Source: Businessline
