Rekindling the lure of words, numbers

Shocking truths were revealed about the reading ability and basic arithmetic skills of our school children in an annual nationwide survey. After reaching over 560 districts each year and surveying an average of 6,50,000 children in more than 16,000 villages across the country since 2005, Pratham, an NGO working in the field of education prepares Annual Status of Education Report (ASER).

The latest report, ASER 2010-2014 which has collected data for a representative sample of children from every state and almost every rural district in India, reveals that half of all children in class V have not yet learned basic skills that they should have learned by class II.

Reports and recommendations by all expert committees on improving educational standard of our country pointed towards lack of infrastructure and tech savvy teachers in institutions. Thus the sole focus of the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) for the last several years was on provisions, inputs and infrastructure.

It wanted primarily to have all infrastructure needs to be taken care of and then quality issues be addressed. The government deserves to be congratulated on its achievements in infrastructure and near universal enrollment over the last decade.
India has seen a massive expansion of its educational infrastructure in the last few decades. Today, it is the third largest reservoir of science and technology manpower in the world. Public expenditure in educational sector in 1961-62, was 1.52% of the GDP, which increased to 3.68% in 2004-05.

At elementary level the expenditure was 1.78% of GDP in 1990-91, which marginally went up to 1.89% in 2004-05. Similar fluctuating trends were observed for secondary and higher secondary level education.

The expenditure on secondary/higher secondary level education was between 1.13-1.11% of GDP during 1997-1998 to 2004-05. The percentage expenditure on higher education to GDP was 0.77% in 1990-91, which decreased to 0.62% in 1997-98 and was slightly raised to 0.66% in 2004-05.

Similarly, in comparison to other sectors, the share of expenditure on elementary education to total expenditure on all sectors was 6.19% in 2004-05 while on higher secondary education, it was 3.85% for the period 2004-05.

Despite the enviable growth from classes conducted under the shade of trees to air conditioned, ICT-enabled luxurious classrooms, huge seminar halls and several other facilities of the sort, the 10 years’ evaluation report by Pratham finds that year after year learning levels across the country, whether in public or private schools, have not improved.

Decline in learning

Even after spending crores of rupees on delivering a Right to Education, our efforts have not succeeded as they should have. The Right to Education Act was passed in 2009 and suddenly things began to change. In ASER 2010, it was first noticed that the proportion of children in private schools was growing but learning levels had begun to decline.

The allure of technology poses a profound new challenge to children in focusing and learning. Digital gadgets and the constant stream of stimuli they offer reduce their attention span. Their brains are rewarded not for staying on a task but for jumping to the next thing.

The trend of equipping educational institutions across the country with computers, Internet access and mobile devices to teach students in their technological territory is reshaping and modifying the capacity of a student to reach his/her full potential as an individual.  

Even though some parents and educators express unease about students’ digital diets, efforts to use technology in the classroom are being intensified as a way to connect with them and give them essential skills.

This digital infrastructure promoted in our modern classrooms is creating and encouraging a culture of distraction where students are increasingly disconnected from the people and events around them. They are unable to engage in long-term thinking.

Even the UGC, in its latest Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) totally discounted the language skills of graduate students by reinstating skill based courses in place of their language lessons in the second year. It is imperative at this juncture to have debates on the vanishing language and arithmetic skills of children.

It is time to ponder on the words of C S Lewis: “The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.”

(The writer teaches at the Christ University, Bengaluru)