Proper facilities must for better education system

Even as the number of out-of-school children has been brought down to 13.5m over the last four years from a high of 25m, the issue of quality of education still remains to be tackled in its entirety.

In an effort to address the challenges of delivering quality education, Times Foundation initiated a round table discussion with members of the European Parliament, a delegation from the European Commission, and educationists.

What emerged from the discussion was that quality education would require adequate infrastructure, teachers with proper training, maximising the use of existing school infrastructure and a public-private partnership to monitor the use of funds.

The EC has been funding elementary education programmes in India, beginning with the District Primary Education Programme and is also funding the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. EC is involved in evaluation and monitoring of these progammes through the joint review missions.

The visiting members of the EU delegation said that the government programme was working well and Indian is likely to meet the Millennium Development Goals.

Addressing the meeting, Times Group chairman Indu Jain suggested that the government should consider introducing three or more shifts in schools.

“The first shift for children from economically better of backgrounds would take care of the school’s economics, the second shift for children from poor families and the third for vocational education. But if civil society is not involved, proper implementation of the schemes cannot be ensured,” she said.

Neena Gill, member of the European Union Parliament and the chairperson of the delegation, said: “We are also concerned about improving quality, and studies will have to be conducted to assess the situation.

Some of these studies will be conducted with the NCERT, which will assess performance and assessment levels.” Key areas of concern are whether high enrolment has meant high attendance, the nature of the classroom and learning and the community’s involvement in ensuring quality.
The need for proper training of teachers and the importance of public-private partnership dominated the discussion. Lok Sabha member Ravi Prakash Verma advocated for a special commission on education on the lines of the NHRC, to ensure quality.

Marianne Mikko, member of the EU delegation said: “There is a need for computerisation of all schools to make best use of technology. Lack of electricity may pose a hurdle in rural areas. The business community and government will have to find a way to implement this.”

Kailash Satyarthi, president of the Global Campaign for Education advocated a 5 pronged strategy — quality environment for learning, quality infrastructure, quality teachers, quality expansion and quality participation. “When we talk of public private partnership, it cannot be just sub-letting responsibility.”

Source:The Economic Times More

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