The Challenges to Primary Education in India & how to overcome them:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the
age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the
season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter
of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going
direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far
like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received,
for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

-Charles Dickens, ‘A Tale Of Two Cities’

We live in an era of contrasting parameters- an era of extreme opposites without any in-
betweens. On one hand, India is the world’s largest democracy with a stupendous diversity
in the population of 1.2 billion which it boasts of. To add to that huge population, we have
the world’s youngest population. On the other hand, of what use is this huge population
going to be, if the youth of our country are not educated properly?

India is a country whose economy is growing by leaps and bounds. However, for this growth
rate to be sustainable as well as inclusive, the education system must deliver as our
economic growth is increasingly becoming knowledge centric. The economic development
would become unstable unless it is built on a solid base of education, especially primary
education, and is in danger of becoming a platitude.

Moving into a new class. The excitement of a new school year. New textbooks, notebooks,
stationery. The beginning of summer vacations. On the eve of these new beginnings, hopes
run high for all that children will learn in another year of school. But how much can we
expect that they’ll actually learn?

It is high time that we pondered upon the question of what the issues that plague the
present primary education scenario of our country are.

For starters, education in most schools is one-dimensional, with an obsessive focus on the
scores. Intelligence and potential are generally equated to the marks or grades achieved by
the child. At an age when the focus should be more on nurturing their social and
behavioural skills and their creativity, we Indians tend to obsess over grades above anything
else. The knowledge transmitted to children is therefore bookish. Hardly any opportunities
exist for them to apply their knowledge to real life situations. Teaching and learning
methods used in most schools discourage questioning, learning, application and creativity.
An education system focused on exams and marks, the "factory approach", is not capable of
producing world-class creators and original thinkers.

Children are rarely encouraged to participate in community-based activities such as working

with disadvantaged groups or the environment. This has future ramifications as they
become isolated from the rest of the society and from interacting with people from all walks
of life. Also, there exists a huge gap in their understanding of the environment, which can
prove to be dangerous.

Moving on, teachers are the missing link in Indian education. Although the demand for
quality teachers greatly exceeds supply, teaching has become a profession of last resort-
attracting either low calibre individuals or people for whom teaching is only a
supplementary source of family income. They lack the passion that is required to ignite the
bright, young minds. There is a huge shortfall of teachers in our country. India needs a lot
more primary/secondary school teachers than are currently available.

Teachers now-a-days, generally have limited knowledge of how to spark creativity in

children. They universally blame the syllabus for denying them the flexibility to be creative
and involve students. This argument is diluted by the fact that the system offers teachers
sufficient freedom to interpret the syllabus.

Maintaining the standard of education in more than a million schools nationwide, offering
training programs to teachers, and keeping up with the standard of education world-wide is
a monumental challenge. Schools vary in size and infrastructure and are forced to
compromise in the all-round development opportunities they provide to their students.

The ethnic diversity in India poses great hurdles in the path of implementing consistent
education nationwide. The cultural and linguistic diversity of our country makes it difficult to
offer education tailored to specific ethnic groups. Educating women in some societies is a
challenge in itself, owing to the gender inequality in our country. Children of poor families
are forced to work in order to support their families and miss out on the learning
opportunities. Adults have very limited opportunities to get educated at a later age in their
lives.

In addition to the above, the educators in the country have done little to improve rural
education, where the motivation among children to attend classes is low because of factors
such as parental pressure, poor facilities and uninspired teaching. Infrastructural constraints
and social issues, make it harder for education to be accessible to all segments of the society
-women, minorities and the low-income segments in particular. There is little to no transfer
of technology, knowledge or ideas from the better-endowed urban institutions to their rural
counterparts. The reason for this is not lack of money as much as the lack of interest and
concern for community.

The intricacies of the issues affecting the standard of primary education have not been
understood adequately by the planners and administrators and the policy makes who are
probably grizzled mandarins completely out of touch with the ground realities.

The question that we need to focus on now is what do we do about it? How do we tackle
these issues? Let us focus on the solutions to these issues.
To begin with, children are naturally inquisitive. They possess a high enthusiasm for learning
and experimenting. With proper encouragement, it is possible to inculcate in them a passion
for learning.

To add to this, given its low-cost education structure, our country presents one of the best
opportunities in the world for generating returns from investment in education. Modest
injections of capital and resources can produce significant improvements in education
quality and output.

There exist a number of effective low-cost teaching methods to educate and rapidly
disseminate useful skills and knowledge to those that need them most.

Quality training of the teaching faculty can bring about quantum improvements in learning
and increase the practical and creative output of students and teachers. Instilling the right
type of skills in teachers and implementing a process to transfer such skills and knowledge
effectively through the system would surely reap benefits.

Urban schools with their greater resources can play a catalytic role in the growth of rural
education by adopting a proactive community-building role.

Most importantly, it is high time we bridged the gaps in the teaching standards. Equality of
education for all segments of the society-the rich and the poor, the urban children and the
rural, irrespective of gender, caste, creed or religion-everybody has equal rights to receive
good quality education.

The key to all these problems is decentralisation of education planning and implementation.
Greater community involvement, involving the Panchayati Raj and the local administrative
bodies in the rural areas can help improve the scenario to a great extent. Of course, this
should be done with proper supervision and adequate training of those involved in the
administration of education.

What has the government done about this situation?

The Right to Education Act (RTE) passed by the Indian government in 2010, recognizing the
importance of education and making it a 'fundamental right' for every child helped in
making education free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and 14.

Despite all the struggles and limitations, our country has achieved significant milestones.
Today, the number of schools nation-wide has gone up by a huge margin, and so did the
enrolment rates in schools.

The government’s flagship program Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has done this miracle. In 10
years, SSA has achieved following:

 The primary school drop-out rates have gone down.

  A large number of primary and upper primary schools have been sanctioned by the
government
 A huge number of positions for recruitment of teaching staff have been added.
 A number of additional classrooms approved.
 Drinking water projects approved.
 Admission of girls to schools improved by epic proportions. Gender parity is
achieved.
 That apart, the government has launched the mid-day meal scheme in schools to
improve the nutritional standards of children nation-wide. This has helped in
attracting children from disadvantaged sections to school, improving regularity,
nutritional benefits, and socialisation benefits.

We all look forward to a day when every Indian’s dream is transformed to reality. And to
achieve this, we need to shape the impressionable young minds by urging them to pick up
their pens. Be it the young boy who toils by the candle-light or the little girl who walks miles
to go to school, every effort made towards education will lead to a brighter future for the
individuals, the society and the country as a whole.

Vision ignites minds. What we need today are great minds-great teachers who can inspire
an entire generation, willing to take a solemn oath to keep the lamp of knowledge burning
bright.

Then one day, when glory comes, it will be ours for the taking!

-Sagarica Brahma