Quality Education

India and the Sustainable Development Goals

Why is Quality Education important for Sustainable Development?

1. Redefines Relationship between Humans and their Environment: Invigorating ideas spring up when students use their education to protect the environment. Quality learning is beyond just a personal initiative, it helps in integrating humanity and innovation.

2. Cultural Sensitivity: Schools are the ideal places for students to be exposed to various people and different cultures. This makes them appreciative of nature’s diversity and the need to use resources efficiently.

3. Develops Necessary Life-Skills: Education is beyond classrooms. It also teaches necessary life skills like leadership, communication, and management. Students armed with technical know-how and relevant capabilities can help further meaning not just in their lives, but also the society at large.

India and its state of education

• A 5th-grade student in India is at least 2 years behind on the ideal learning experience.

• About 61.8 million women and 1.2 million men as a part of the youth lack basic literary skills

• The student-teacher ratio in India ranges from 25-30 students per teacher however in some backward areas it is as high as 60 students per teacher.

• Menstruation and the surrounding taboo around it is the reason why 23 million girls drop out of school. 71% of girls are not even aware of what happens with their bodies during menstruation.

• About 5 crore students cannot read and understand the basic text and perform basic mathematical operations.

• About 9.1%, 20.7%, and 3.5% of students drop out after 5th, 8th, and 12th grade respectively. About 3.22 crore students between the age of 6 to 17 are out of school.

Targets to be achieved by 2030 under the SDG

• Free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education should be accessible to all children without any discrimination based on gender disability, and other disparities.

• Early childhood development and pre-primary education are to be made available to make children ready for primary education.

• Technical, vocational, and tertiary education should be made available to all men and women.

• Both arithmetic and literacy skills should be achieved by youth and a substantial percentage of adults.

• The number of qualified teachers would be increased by providing international aid and training. Educational infrastructure is sought to be built and upgraded as well.

New education policy- The First step towards changing traditional regressive systems

The entire education system is set to be reconfigured by the New Education Policy to support and foster learning by the multitude and also so that critical targets and goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development can be achieved. The new education policy is based on the pursuit of Jnan( Knowledge), Pragya (wisdom), and Satya( truth) as the three highest human goals. Teachers are at the center of this fundamental reforms agenda and a lot of efforts would be made to train and equip them.

There shall be no hard separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extracurricular activities, between vocational and academic streams, etc. to guard harmful hierarchies among, and silos between different areas of learning.

The curriculum framework for the school education will be a 5+3+3+4 design, having

1. Foundational stage- 3 years of pre-school and 2 years of primary school for 3 to 8 years of age

2. Preparatory stage- range from 3-5 grade and age 8 to 11

3. Middle stage- covering grade 6-8 and age of 11 to 14

4. Secondary stage- grade 9 to 12 covering age 14-18

It particularly focuses on the culture and diversity of India and aims to promote the Indian language, music, texts, texts, etc. Activities involving coding will be introduced in the middle stage. Every student will take a fun course, during Grades 6-8, that gives a survey and hands-on experience of important vocational crafts, such as carpentry, electric work, metalwork, gardening, pottery making, etc.

A practice-based curriculum for Grades 6-8 will be appropriately designed by NCERT while framing the NCFSE 2020-21. Internship opportunities to learn vocational subjects may be made available to students throughout Grades 6-12, including holiday periods. As per the RPWD Act 2016, children with benchmark disabilities shall have the choice of regular or special schooling.

Effect on Education due to the Pandemic

By the end of March 2020, India witnessed the closure of all major schools, colleges, and universities. While this unprecedented event caught the masses off guard, within a month the education system, for the first time, went digital.

1. Approx. 320 million students were shunned out of school and colleges

2. Almost 1 in 5 children, though enrolled in educational institutions, did not have access to remote learning facilities

3. Online education highlighted the digital divide that exists in the country where children from urban Indian households had better access to technology (42%) compared to their peers in rural areas (15%)

4. Due to the lockdown, 47% of students decided against migrating to a new state for education and almost 50% of students abandoned their plan to pursue higher education abroad.

5. Online classes witnessed a dip in attendance to only 25 to 30 percent

6. India is estimated to lose $440 billion because of the shutdown of educational institutes

Future of Education in India

India has often been criticized globally for its low literacy rates and poor quality of education. The education sector received low funding from the government (only approx. 3 % of GDP) and despite the curriculum being difficult, it was rarely updated and focused on memorizing rather than analyzing. However, recent years have seen a lot of progressive changes.

The Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan brought up the primary education enrollment rate to 100% and also a positive shift in the thought process of Indians (especially from rural India). The NEP is a stepping stone towards aligning education with mental development. The enrollment rate in tertiary education is also on the rise. Education is believed to get the same recognition as a basic necessity of life in India.