India's Education Crisis

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According to new UNESCO figures, the number of out-of-school children and youth has risen by 6 million since 2021 and now totals 250 million, and many more children who are in school aren’t learning enough, because of the poor conditions for education. In developing countries, the lack of an education results in missing the opportunity to lift oneself out of poverty.

India continues to face one of the worst educational crises in the world. Over 12.97 million children are out of school. Illiteracy levels are as high as 30% and the foundation to improve these abysmal numbers appear lacking. There is a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate. Classrooms are understaffed. Teachers are not engaged and only 50% are teaching at any given time.

Drop-out rates are unusually high. As per the UDISE plus 2021-22 report the dropout rate in India is at 12.6 per cent. India’s spending on education is just 3.5% of its GDP compared to an average 5.8% in developed countries. This falls significantly below the target outlined in the National Education Policy 2020, which aspired for India's education budget to be at 6% of the GDP. 

According to Pratham’s Annual Education Report for rural India, enrolment in at schools is over 96% because of the free mid-day meal, however after three years at school, over 25% of the children still cannot read and 50% struggle with basic arithmetic.

Schools are not able to keep up with India’s growing lower middle class. The average private school costs have grown by a staggering 175% in the past six years and is well beyond the reach of lower middle-class families. India also faces a shortage of close to 1 million qualified teachers due to low pay scales and social perceptions around being a schoolteacher. According to a report by the Ministry of Education around 30% of teachers in government schools are untrained. Yes, India faces an education crisis!

While education models and funding for schools have stagnated for decades, technology for wide-spread education has accelerated through a variety of new methods and technologies like Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The education technology has the potential to tailor the courses so each child can learn at his or her own pace, while providing instant feedback to both students and teachers. Learn for Life Foundation believes that the new methods and technologies could make education accessible to India’s vast rural population and generate new opportunities for its next generation.

For more on the global education crisis click here:

https://medium.com/@thomasthekkethala/is-there-a-current-global-crisis-in-education-e77d196a3fca