Learning Crisis at Schools
Every child has the right to learn. But what is stopping them from learning??
According to the national ASER rural field survey, across all age groups, for boys and girls, school enrollment has actually gone up between 2018 and 2022(Reference: Cover Page_2022.cdr (asercentre.org)).?
There is definitely an increase in the overall school enrollment rate over the years among all the age groups and gender.
Census 2011 figures also indicate that there are roughly 25 million children in each single-year age group in India (for example, 25 million 10-year-olds, 25 million 14-year-olds, etc.,). UDISE, the government’s official school education data source, indicates that in 2007-2008, student enrollment in Grade VIII was about 13 million. A decade later in 2020, the same figure reached close to 22 million. This implies that any child who enters Grade I today is likely to stay in school till Grade VIII and most likely beyond Class 5. These figures emphasize that not only are most children in India enrolling in school, but they are also staying enrolled for the full elementary school cycle.?
But there is a huge gap in the learning outcomes, why?
On one hand, it is encouraging to see the continuous increase in the school enrollment rates and are close to the universalization rate of primary schooling but on the other hand, it is sad to know that the basic reading and math skills of the children have remained low over the years (with COVID adding to it).?(Reference: Cover Page_2022.cdr (asercentre.org))
Understanding that the gaps in the education levels of children using these conventional learning methods are not resulting in any change in the outcomes; To address this global learning challenge,?UNICEF, came up with a more radical approach and Education strategy 2019-30 with the theme ‘Every Child Learns’ which aims at three distinct goals:
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With UNICEF having goals for every child to learn, India adopted a comprehensive framework to achieve the goals of education policy in India which is currently the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The NEP 2020 aims to reform and revitalize the education system in India by 2030. Some of the key features of the NEP 2020 are:
With so much change around the world with respect to Technology and new ways of learning, our education system still has not taken that leap to adapt and grow. Majority of children are not equipped with foundational skills like reading and basic math. In many states and in many schools, the system is very much focused on the completion of the syllabus, examinations and the passout percentage, rather than making the student understand the relevance of the topic taught. This leads to rote learning which is of no use. There is an urgent need to rethink the relevance of academic curriculum and the way it is going to be taught. Irrelevance in learning leading them to face more challenges once they finish college with a huge gap between supply and the demand of skills.
Data collection and surveys are always helpful in making better educational policies and help us in understanding the need of the hour. Today our education policies focus on ensuring strong foundations for children in the early years through various programs like NIPUN Bharat etc.?
Our policies should aim at quality teacher training, relevant curriculum, early childhood education, integration of technology, monitoring, regular assessments, engaging communities, education equity, research, data analysis and data driven decision making. As you can see from UNICEF and NEP 2020 frameworks, everyone’s efforts are towards making the education systems better and relevant for every child to learn and grow into individuals with great potential.