Many students -- but very few teachers

How much attention can a school child hope to receive from his or her teacher over the primary cycle? Very little, if the probe survey is any indication. In primary schools, there were about 50 children enrolled for each teacher. This implies that even if all teachers are always present and actively teaching during school hours, the total amount of teacher time per child is, on an average, just around one hour a month. The true figure is well below that, since teachers are often absent and spend little time in active teaching even when they are present.

Further, the distribution of teachers among schools is highly uneven. This often leads to the actual pupil-teacher ratio being much higher than 50 in many schools, even shooting up to three-digit figures in some cases. Another manifestation of this problem is that of the single-teacher school.

Officially, single-teacher schools have been abolished in the country since Operation Blackboard (1986). Not so according to the probe survey. In the sample villages, 12 per cent of all primary schools had a single teacher appointed. Another 21 per cent had a single teacher present, because the other teachers were absent. Thus, one-third of all schools effectively had a single teacher. A single-teacher school is a little more than a glorified child-detention centre, since active teaching of all children present is by and large ruled out.

Poor teaching means little learning

Mohanbai is one of the few girls in Diwara village (Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan) who have managed to study up to Class V. Yet, she is still unable to read and write. Her case is not exceptional. The probe survey found many children who were unable to read or write even after several years of schooling. Why? The short answer is that very little teaching goes on in government schools.

Often, teachers are just not there. Even among "conscientious" teachers, coming late and leaving early is an accepted practice. Others are worse, as Teju Lal of Tigariya Sancha (Dewas, Madhya Pradesh) pointed out. "Padhate hain nahin, school mein turant chhutti kar dete hain (They don't teach, they send us off at the earliest)," he says. In some villages, schools had been closed for a week at a time as the teachers were on "gota (French leave)".

Even when the teachers are there, teaching activity is minimal. Controlling the children is priority. The favoured teaching method is copying -- from the board or from textbooks. Even that is hardly monitored. In Golwa village (Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh), the probe team found notebook after notebook filled with meaningless scribble.

Teaching aids are seldom available, let alone used. Many schools have received new teachings aids (such as globes) through Operation Blackboard, but these are usually locked up and kept away from the children. In the classroom, the stick remains the most common teaching aid. "Padhaate kam, maarte zyada (More than teaching, they beat us)," said one boy as he explained why he had dropped out. Many others like him have been frightened away from school by violent teachers.

Teachers, for their part, feel that their work conditions are not conducive to better teaching methods. They know that "joyful learning" is politically correct, but few believe in it. Three quarters of the teachers interviewed by the probe team are compelled to do multi-grade teaching (teaching more than one grade at a time). Some teachers deal with this by concentrating their efforts on the higher grades, leaving the younger children to their own devices. No wonder that the younger children make slow progress.

With this background, it is easier to understand why so many children drop out of school, despite the high level of parental interest in their education. There are massive hurdles on the way. Many promising children have been bored, beaten and humiliated out of the schooling system.

How Himachal Pradesh beat the trend

It was drill time for the Class I children of Ooperi Baheli village of Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district, and they ran around the maidan happily. The children in the other classes -- and their teachers -- were all busy working. Singing and needlework were also taught in the school.

There were story books and the children were happy to read. Two of them even came up to borrow books to read in their spare time. It was heart-warming. The children were both competent and confident. In fact, they seemed ready to interview us. What would you like to be, we asked 10-year-old Suman when we visited her home. "A doctor,'' she shot back confidently. In Rajasthan or Bihar, the schoolgirls the probe team encountered were rarely so fluent, parting with an answer only after much coaxing and persuasion.

Not so long ago, Himachal Pradesh was considered a backward region of north India. In 1951, child literacy rates were as low as in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar (see graphic). Today the figure stands at about 95 per cent (probe estimates), closing in on that of Kerala, India's only fully literate state. A survey of 48 randomly selected villages in Himachal Pradesh, carried out by the probe team in late 1996, found that 97 per cent of the children aged between six and 12 were going to school. Universal primary education in the whole state is only a few years away.

How did Himachal Pradesh succeed where its immediate neighbours have failed so abysmally? Part of the credit goes to the state government. Per capita expenditure on education in Himachal Pradesh is twice as high as the all-India average.

The number of teachers per pupil is also twice as high. For every one teacher there are 25 pupils in Himachal Pradesh. This compares well to the figure of 47 for Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Parents too have played a key role. Parental motivation for education in the state is very high in all communities. Many parents said they were prepared to make great sacrifices -- even sell land or separate from joint families -- for the sake of their children's education. Primary schooling is considered as important for girls as for boys. "Boys and girls are equally capable," said an illiterate labourer who hopes his daughter will stand for panchayat elections when she grows up.

Finally, Himachal Pradesh appears to have a cooperative social environment. In many survey villages, parents offered shramdaan (voluntary labour) to improve the school building. Most villages have active panchayats and mahila mandals, which are sometimes involved in educational matters.

The rapport between parents and teachers too seems to be better in Himachal Pradesh than in the other states covered by probe. If children are absent, teachers often go to their houses to seek them. Parents are keen to discuss the progress of children with teachers. Their interest and vigilance seem to have been far more effective than the official inspection system in keeping the schools alive.

Rhetoric and reality: the official non-action

The need for a major improvement of India's schooling system is obvious enough. How far has this need been taken on board in government policy? If rhetoric is the yardstick, there has been a great leap forward. However, much remains to be done in terms of action. The government's resolve to increase education expenditure to 6 per cent of gdp, for instance, has gone hand in hand with a decline in public expenditure on education as a proportion of gdp, from 4 per cent in 1991-92 to 3.1 per cent in 1995-96.

Similarly, the teacher-pupil ratio has been steadily falling in recent years. In 1981, there were 26 primary school teachers for every 1,000 pupils. In 1996, there were only 21.

Instead of confronting these alarming trends, the government has tended to take refuge in ad hoc supplementary programmes such as non-formal education (NFE), Operation Blackboard and the national mid-day meal scheme. Some of these programmes have met localised success. On the whole, they have fallen far short of expectations for want of political backing.

A prime example is the mid-day meal scheme, introduced with much fanfare in 1995. In most districts, cooked meals are still to be introduced. Even the monthly foodgrain rations which are meant to be distributed as a substitute for cooked meals routinely fail to materialise. To quote one district collector, this scheme is a "good example of how a well-intentioned intervention degenerates into a farce due to bureaucratic apathy and corruption".

The NFE centres, meant for children who for some reason or the other cannot attend regular school, are in dismal condition. The probe survey found less than 10 functional nfe centres in the 188 villages covered.

Moving beyond token programmes requires much political will and public pressure. Unfortunately, elementary education continues to receive low priority from those in power. While Parliament discusses trivial issues, a constitutional amendment bill aimed at making education a fundamental right gathers dust. It is waiting to be discussed; but ignorance is not as patient. The wave of illiteracy continues to rise.

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