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Primary Education And The Importance Of Universal Literacy Education Essay

Paper Type: Free Essay Subject: Education
Wordcount: 4649 words Published: 1st Jan 2015

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Education and universal literacy are integral to one another and is one of the building blocks in any nation’s economic, social and political development. Education is important for an individual’s personality development as well as the sustained growth of a nation. Elementary and primary education in India is the foundation on which the development of every citizen and the nation as a whole hinges. India has made tremendous progress in terms of growth of educational institutions at different levels, physical access to schooling for children, and diversification of educational programmes. Today, 18 crore children are taught by almost 57 lakh teachers in more than 12 lakh primary and upper primary schools across the length and breadth of the country.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the large scale national program was launched in 2001 with an objective of achieving universal elementary education (UEE) by 2007. The program, which extends to all states and Union Territories to address the above mentioned objective in a time bound manner, has been successful. The Centre and states share funding of the programme in a ratio of 55:45. Reports indicate that the number of out of school children, which was 320 lakh in 2001-02, is down to 75.97 lakh in 2007-08. The first joint review Mission that visited eight sample states in February 2005, found that the SSA program had generated considerable interest, commitment and had put elementary education on the development agenda.

Though progress has been made in the last 60 years to spread the education campaign, India needs to address the growing concerns which have so far kept us from achieving our set goals. This report enlists ten recommendations to improve the efficiency of the primary education system.

The areas studied are quality of education, infrastructure, high degree of dropout rates, socio-economical equations hindering participation and an effective supervision cum tracking mechanism to ensure that progress with the right utilization of funds is being made.

With respect to quality of education, not so encouraging trend in successful continuation from primary to upper primary, Pupil to Teacher ratio (PTR), number of contract based teachers, teacher qualification and their training. A lot more needs to be done to bring a stronger focus towards quality of education imparted at the primary level.

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Infrastructure woes continue with schools trying to operate without a proper building, lack of basic amenities such as toilets and drinking water. Though at times schools have buildings, they don’t have sufficient number of classrooms to cater to the numbers enrolling. In some states, schools continue to run with either a single teacher or a single classroom or both. Adding to this, the use of technology and computers in today’s global world we find ourselves lagging further behind.

High student dropout rates are also seen in states/regions with lower socio economic fabric. Given the limited job opportunities, parents question the investment of sending children to school in the first place. We need to enforce a full proof system with checks and balances to abolish child labour as this has also resulted in children dropping out of schools. Though Govt and private initiatives such as the Mid-day meal have been successful to an extent, there is much ground to cover to ensure that primary education becomes a fundamental right for all instead of a privilege for a few.

10 Point Agenda

100% Enrolment in Primary Education :

India’s double digit growth is dependent on ensuring enrolment of children in schools. The need of the hour is to ensure that a critical mass of people moves from class 12 to higher education so that they become creators of knowledge. We need to empower our future generations through a process of learning as only then will we be poised to take our country forward.

Improving Infrastructure (School Buildings) :

What do we need to do to ensure that we have a conductive environment for learning. Do we have school buildings, what condition are they in and how are they maintained?

Civic Amenities (Toilets, Drinking Water, Playground / Park) :

Schools need to be equipped with basic amenities such as toilets, dustbins and drinking water. We often say that Indians have a poor civic sense (Urinating on the road, Spitting, Throwing garbage from cars, balconies) Children have to be taught these basic values from an impressionable age so that they develop a civic sense.

Improving Quality of Education :

There should be a national commitment to ensure that quality education is equally available to all (SC, ST, Minority, Differently abled) and not just a privileged few.

Qualification and Responsibility of Educators :

RTE stipulates that teachers who do not have the right qualifications must acquire these within 5 years maximum. What is the quality of teaching provided, how does it shape our leaders of tomorrow? Is teaching merely one sided and text book driven or does it allow our children to think, question and expand their horizon?

Control, Track and Report Progress on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Controlling and tracking closely the progress on SSA initiative is very important. Identified the key gaps with indication on what should be the focus areas to further improve

Publicise Mid Day Meal

Mid day meal scheme improves nutritional status of children in schools and to encourage poor children to attend schools regularly , This also helps to increase school attendance, eliminate classroom hunger and foster social equity.

Retention, Contain Drop Out Rate

The enrolment of students has increased in most states, the dropout rate continues. As PROBE points out that the effect of poor teaching standards is slowly sapping parental and child motivation over time.

Improving the Female literacy in India

The percentage of female literacy is only 54.16%. sufficient initiatives need to be taken to improve the women’s literacy rate. The initiatives required to be taken are explained below in detail.

Improve Female Teacher Ratio

Lack of female teachers is a potential barrier for girl’s education. Girls are more likely to attend school and have good and higher acadwilemic achievement if they have female teachers.

100% Enrolment in Primary Education

The SSA objective to achieve near 100% enrolment has not been met and as per a 2007-08 DISE report, the enrolment rate (NRE) has been achieved at 95.92%. This implies that 4% i.e. 7.7 million children are still out of reach of primary education. The line of thought would include the reason for out of reach of primary education with respect to adequate number of schools the children to be enrolled.

By plotting the population census against the number of schools, the data below suggests that in certain states and Union Territories, there are fewer number of schools compared to the population that it caters to.

State/UT

Total Schools

Population as on 2006

% School ratio

Primary Only

Upper Primary to Primary ratio

A&NIslands

359

419

1.167130919

199

0.445682451

Andhra Pradesh

100449

80,712

0.80351223

65352

0.349401189

Arunachal Pradesh

4547

1169

0.257092589

3677

0.191334946

Assam

66727

28,665

0.429586224

50655

0.24086202

Bihar

67874

90,752

1.337065739

49868

0.265285676

Chandigarh

176

1,103

6.267045455

28

0.840909091

Chhattisgarh

49708

22,594

0.454534481

32780

0.340548805

D&NHaveli

304

266

0.875

177

0.417763158

Daman&Diu

98

216

2.204081633

51

0.479591837

Delhi

4742

16,021

3.378532265

2454

0.482496837

Goa

1503

1,492

0.992681304

1013

0.326014637

Gujarat

39039

54,979

1.408309639

12775

0.672763134

Haryana

17743

23,314

1.313982979

9503

0.464408499

Himachal Pradesh

17197

6,455

0.375356167

11515

0.330406466

Jammu & Kashmir

20789

10,941

0.526287941

11782

0.433257973

Jharkhand

41944

29,299

0.698526607

28802

0.313322525

Karnataka

56441

56,258

0.996757676

28871

0.48847469

Kerala

12426

33,265

2.677048125

6704

0.460486078

Lakshadweep

37

72

1.945945946

16

0.567567568

Madhya Pradesh

129000

66,390

0.514651163

90092

0.301612403

Maharashtra

87280

104,804

1.200779102

40960

0.530705775

Manipur

4011

2,308

0.575417602

2564

0.360757916

Meghalaya

10572

2,470

0.23363602

7867

0.255864548

Mizoram

2783

946

0.339920949

1512

0.456701401

Nagaland

2523

2,119

0.839873167

1591

0.369401506

Orissa

59435

38,887

0.654277782

34286

0.423134517

Puducherry

703

1,098

1.561877667

306

0.564722617

Punjab

20026

26,059

1.301258364

13409

0.330420453

Rajasthan

103303

62,276

0.602847933

57332

0.445011278

Sikkim

1150

576

0.500869565

804

0.300869565

Tamil Nadu

53307

65,135

1.221884555

34835

0.346521095

Tripura

3901

3,407

0.873365804

2154

0.447833889

Uttar Pradesh

180058

183,282

1.017905342

128111

0.288501483

Uttarakhand

20610

9,219

0.447307132

14665

0.288452208

West Bengal

70010

85,216

1.217197543

58957

0.157877446

All States

1250775

1112184

0.889195899

805667

0.355865763

.The takeaway from the above data is that there is a need to increase the number of Primary Schools in their states for highlighted states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Rajasthan as it is low compared to the population. The upper primary to primary ratio suggests the need to be consistent so as to sustain continuity in upper primary to achieve overall UEE. States such as Bihar, Punjab, UP and West Bengal although relatively healthy on the primary school front, face an uphill task in sustaining the trend.

Improving Infrastructure

Infrastructure woes continue to plague us in achieving the objectives that SSA set out to achieve. Major problems are lack of ‘pucca’ buildings for schools, lack of basic amenities like drinking water, play ground, electricity etc.

More than 95% of students are enrolled in government-aided schools based in rural and urban areas. A baseline survey needs to be conducted across the country to take into account the current situation so that state governments ensure that infrastructure is available to all students in remote areas.

As the Government continues to be largest provider, covering nearly 95% of total primary education, around 40% of schools have buildings of their own. This implies that a majority of schools continue to run in make shift arrangements in buildings which are primarily meant for panchayat meetings, temporary establishments such as tents.

The data below on the number of pucca buildings and number of single classrooms suggests that schools in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar need attention as more than 30% of their school buildings are kuchha or in dire need of repair.

State/UT

All

% Pucca Buildings

Average number of class rooms

Overall single class room

Condition of class rooms – Need Major repair

A&NIslands

359

67

7.9

2.51

11

Andhra Pradesh

100449

50

2.9

24.25

6

Arunachal Pradesh

4547

44

3

29.67

19

Assam

66727

58

2.1

56.67

37

Bihar

67874

61

2.7

5.83

18

Chandigarh

176

98

23.8

0

0.5

Chhattisgarh

49708

79

2.7

4.64

9

D&NHaveli

304

61

3.7

4.28

2

Daman&Diu

98

96

6.2

1.02

0.6

Delhi

4742

74

17.8

0.04

4

Goa

1503

97

2.8

16.17

3

Gujarat

39039

89

5.2

2.76

4

Haryana

17743

98

4.7

2.28

3

Himachal Pradesh

17197

76

3.2

6.17

9

Jammu & Kashmir

20789

82

3.3

9.07

11

Jharkhand

41944

68

2.5

2.63

11

Karnataka

56441

97

4

8.98

5

Kerala

12426

73

11

0.45

5

Lakshadweep

37

56

12.6

0

18

Madhya Pradesh

129000

91

3

3.64

4

Maharashtra

87280

88

4.3

5.52

4

Manipur

4011

45

4.5

1.67

28

Meghalaya

10572

75

2.6

21.25

24

Mizoram

2783

79

3.9

1.22

22

State/UT

All

% Pucca Buildings

Average number of class rooms

Overall single class room

Condition of class rooms – Need Major repair

Nagaland

2523

75

5.5

0.24

18

Orissa

59435

40

3.5

5.23

26

Puducherry

703

77

9

1.85

1

Punjab

20026

97

4.3

2.91

5

Rajasthan

103303

93

3.7

3.69

7

Sikkim

1150

52

7

1.91

15

Tamil Nadu

53307

70

4.7

0

4

Tripura

3901

62

5.7

0.7

12

Uttar Pradesh

180058

96

3.9

0.56

3

Uttarakhand

20610

95

3.1

2.5

9

West Bengal

70010

64

4.2

6.3

22

All States

1250775

75

5.57142857

6.7602857

10.86

Civic Amenities – Toilets, Drinking Water, Playground / Park

Whilst we lack infrastructure, housing, public parks, electricity to manage our growing population the lack of toilets and shortage of drinking water are the key requirements in schools. Overall, 7 lakh toilets for girls are required. The highest requirement is in Bihar with 90,000, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 63,000, and Orissa 54,000. Nearly 3.4 lakh schools require drinking water in the country.

The data below reflects the availability or lack thereof of basic civic amenities in States and UTs in India in 2008.

State/UT

Drinking water

Common Toilet

Girls Toilet

Electricity

Play ground

Book bank

A&NIslands

97.79

84.4

73.82

89.42

54.32

62.67

Andhra Pradesh

87.69

61.27

46.75

36.71

57.78

65.16

Arunachal Pradesh

64.19

21.73

11.9

15.92

24.5

15.2

Assam

65.61

26.33

10.54

7.42

44.05

20.44

Bihar

80.41

48.52

21.62

3.02

29

28.51

Chandigarh

100

38.07

94.89

100

93.75

44.89

Chhattisgarh

86.47

37.63

19.95

19.6

37.53

46.06

D&NHaveli

94.85

32.24

25.33

69.41

25.66

72.04

Daman&Diu

92.41

80.61

61.22

93.88

52.04

78.57

Delhi

99.43

90.45

74.15

98.63

79.29

59.49

Goa

95.51

54.96

45.38

94.74

44.98

21.42

Gujarat

85.03

70.65

65.26

80.46

70.35

40.18

Haryana

96.93

94.09

87.32

95.42

82.82

86.77

Himachal Pradesh

92.21

48.01

38.62

56.84

61.58

41.03

Jammu & Kashmir

70.77

37.81

21.99

19.82

42.21

46.46

Jharkhand

69.85

34.71

20.71

6.51

25.45

41.98

Karnataka

76.65

70.41

47.16

69.32

54.74

79

Kerala

98.05

84.11

78.99

88.72

69.72

84.4

Lakshadweep

100

75.68

62.16

100

24.32

56.76

Madhya Pradesh

90.66

71.62

46.98

20.5

56.24

41.47

Maharashtra

82.99

75.09

60.02

70.76

69.46

86.33

Manipur

73.51

51.28

18.03

20.59

53.5

17.48

Meghalaya

52.94

30.72

10.2

13.21

29.78

19.52

Mizoram

79.9

77.25

23.5

29.43

8.62

5.61

Nagaland

69.8

77.17

37.02

29.85

49.35

21.8

Orissa

86.28

50.86

28.04

18.39

28.27

19.94

Puducherry

98.64

69.99

86.2

96.3

58.46

15.22

Punjab

97.53

88.38

86.09

85.72

67.51

37.55

Rajasthan

85.65

36.09

79.32

26.42

46.09

52.38

Sikkim

76.55

88.7

42.26

39.39

62.78

21.91

Tamil Nadu

100

65.6

62.33

75.55

77.08

43.29

Tripura

76.52

69.11

22.58

11.92

60.86

13.41

Uttar Pradesh

97.14

91.04

82.36

16.86

65.83

51.45

Uttarakhand

85.59

84.45

52.13

28.06

55.43

51.47

West Bengal

93.42

68.95

35.13

21.1

34.53

57.18

All States

85.742

62.51371

47.99857

49.99686

51.368

44.20114

 

<80

<60

<40

<45

<45

<40

Other amenities in terms of gated security (Boundary Walls), Kitchens, Ramps for differently abled children, Computers and Medical facilities are in short supply in some States and UT’s.

State/UT

Medical check-up

Pre-primary

Boundary walls

Kitchen shed

Ramp to support Disable

Computers

A&NIslands

80.5

32.87

47.63

24.45

8.64

41.23

Andhra Pradesh

56.53

10.14

52.6

31.87

10.82

21.11

Arunachal Pradesh

9.24

58.1

27.07

20.05

2.99

9.15

Assam

5.93

52.97

28.33

39.66

14.71

3.69

Bihar

17.77

12.97

28.08

11.1

20.59

0.58

Chandigarh

89.77

86.93

100

26.5

35.23

76.14

Chhattisgarh

83.17

19.32

41.7

41.99

29.45

8.52

D&NHaveli

57.57

3.62

42.11

37.54

2.96

5.92

Daman&Diu

77.55

23.47

88.78

19.75

12.24

36.73

Delhi

83.99

24.38

98.67

11

65.04

72.8

Goa

76.85

24.22

62.74

4.59

18.23

30.61

Gujarat

92.1

23.6

80.43

42.32

71.55

36.5

Haryana

80.37

52.14

92.8

8.95

54.2

25.29

Himachal Pradesh

65.76

12.52

28.7

4.41

27.69

11.14

Jammu & Kashmir

23.09

78.12

33.58

1.81

11

12.99

Jharkhand

17.54

6.82

23.45

30.19

5.58

5.54

Karnataka

56.92

37.24

55.62

27.29

22.42

11.84

Kerala

71.01

23.75

70.59

48.62

57.95

71.2

Lakshadweep

8.11

0

40.54

51.35

75.68

81.08

Madhya Pradesh

66.82

36.79

46.23

44.39

34.16

12.36

Maharashtra

87.8

29.97

59.59

17.58

62.78

36.49

Manipur

12.84

40.86

33.03

NR

7.38

11.32

Meghalaya

13.5

71.45

17.84

6.64

5.29

6.24

Mizoram

21.63

34.1

30.69

45.02

27.6

13.94

Nagaland

21.6

84.19

75.15

38.78

6.42

19.66

Orissa

19.84

7.2

59.56

20.77

17.85

7.96

Puducherry

72.55

75.96

85.49

27.27

38.98

63.02

Punjab

54.84

18.1

91.2

5.6

40.92

30.61

Rajasthan

78.58

11.44

63.56

32.88

27.17

14.88

Sikkim

80.7

95.91

25.74

NR

6

21.91

Tamil Nadu

88.93

17.97

62.55

86.96

43.7

24.28

Tripura

19.28

3.36

15.77

65.3

46.73

7.9

Uttar Pradesh

34.66

27.06

46.62

48.33

52.5

3.3

Uttarakhand

50.13

22.37

70.91

61.11

29.34

22.64

West Bengal

36.22

9.42

41.44

64.12

53.42

4.99

All States

51.819714

33.409429

53.394

31.763333

29.920286

24.6731429

 

<40

<25

<40

<25

<25

<15

Improving Quality of Education

The focus on improving quality of education is based on the budget that gets allocated to SSA every year.

The following criteria are recommended for improving the quality of education

Pupil to Teacher Ratio to quantify attention paid to a student

Single Teacher Class Rooms to quantify retention of focus within manageable load

Gender Parity Index (GPI) to quantify spread of education equally among sexes

Availability of Teachers to quantify teacher availability

Female Teacher Ratio to quantify effectiveness in encouraging girl child education

Qualification of Teachers to quantify quality of education imparted

In-service trainings for teachers to quantify system preparedness to enable minimal necessary teaching skills.

Teachers on contract basis to quantify teaching as a profession

Number of instructional days in a year to quantify amount of time spent in school

India has one of the lowest student teacher ratios and teaching is considered a last career resort. In the US, student teacher ratio is 3,200 teachers per million people, in the Caribbean it’s 1,500 in the Arab countries it’s 800 and in India it’s 456 teachers per million people. It is said that the Pupil Student ratio in urban India is as high as 80:1 and in rural India; the ratio is at 47: 1.

The data below provides details in which States and UT’s the PTR is high as well as the need to bring women teachers in mainstream education.

State/UT

All

Average number of Teacher per school

% Female Teachers

PTR

% schools with PTR > 100

A&NIslands

359

10.35

57.34

15

0

Andhra Pradesh

100449

5

44.88

21

0.22

Arunachal Pradesh

4547

3.43

35.93

20

0.62

Assam

66727

4

30.16

24

3.9

Bihar

67874

4.84

36.5

54

11.39

Chandigarh

176

31

81.25

24

0.57

Chhattisgarh

49708

3.12

32.93

28

2.05

D&NHaveli

304

5

55.63

36

0

Daman&Diu

98

7.1

63.17

30

2.04

Delhi

4742

21

67.51

24

0.53

Goa

1503

5.18

76.51

19

0

Gujarat

39039

6

53.4

33

0.32

Haryana

17743

5.97

46.31

28

1.31

State/UT

All

Average number of Teacher per school

% Female Teachers

PTR

% schools with PTR > 100

Himachal Pradesh

17197

4

42.11

17

0.16

Jammu & Kashmir

20789

5.15

43.57

16

0.03

Jharkhand

41944

4

28.32

45

4.66

Karnataka

56441

4.61

53.2

30

1.93

Kerala

12426

13

71.65

22

0.06

Lakshadweep

37

14.92

40.18

20

0

Madhya Pradesh

129000

3

37.27

36

4.38

Maharashtra

87280

6.59

42.76

27

0.32

Manipur

4011

6

42.39

19

0.8

Meghalaya

10572

3.28

51.06

17

0.26

Mizoram

2783

6

42.55

14

0.32

Nagaland

2523

8.07

42.63

19

1.07

Orissa

59435

4

33.15

29

1.42

Puducherry

703

13.51

61.16

18

0.14

Punjab

20026

4

60.87

32

2.91

Rajasthan

103303

4.09

29.26

29

2.34

Sikkim

1150

7

45.08

14

0.17

Tamil Nadu

53307

5.94

73.87

31

0.94

Tripura

3901

8

24.78

22

0.77

Uttar Pradesh

180058

3.58

36.31

5

 

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