With the rapid growth of economy over last 20 years, the quality for education system have degraded as most study indicates that India may be the “fastest growing” large economy and yet have a poor education system. ^{(1) (2)} India is one of the countries which is providing less emphasis on investment in Human Capital Development which results despite of 97 percent enrollment in Class 1, only 25 percent reach Class 12 and only 20 percent enroll for higher education. ⁽²⁾

As Indian, we feel proud that the first discovery laws of algebra, geometry, calculus, the binary number system and other inventions was done in India, ⁽³⁾ however, recently out of 76 countries in top smartest countries based on math and science, about half is largely dominated by Asian nations, but India ranks nowhere near top smartest countries. ⁽⁴⁾ According to world IQ Ranking India stands 25^th position out of 43 countries with average IQ of 82. ⁽⁵⁾ With making situation worse as recently India refuse to participate in Global Education Ranking. ⁽⁶⁾

Most of the Indian parents provides rewards based on academic accolades and deviance is discouraged which shapes the education system more “hands off” approach. ⁽⁷⁾ Reward in creativity, original thinking, research and innovation is not encouraged in formal education structure. ⁽⁸⁾ Evidence suggest that memorizing is no learning, ⁽⁹⁾ and Indian education system is incentivizes based on memorizing rather originality. ⁽⁸⁾

A survey suggests more than 50 percent of students entering a higher class or grade lack of academic, cognitive and vocational skills required for that level. Moreover, 92 percent of teachers believed that India’s assessment system, primarily based on theory exam result centric. ⁽¹⁰⁾ A report suggests that around 60 percent of children cannot read after 3 years of enrollment into Pratham (free midday meal incentives) and most of the teachers in India were not low standard of incentives and non-efficient. ⁽¹¹⁾

In the population of around 1.34 billion population halves of the population is under 25 years old ⁽¹²⁾ India is presently threatens by learning crisis. ⁽¹¹⁾ The government needs to implement massive technology and infrastructure upgrade for education. A survey suggests over 30 percent of government schools have no toilets and 60 percent have no playgrounds. ⁽¹³⁾ Another research suggests poor building condition i.e. leaking toilet, broken furniture, mouldy walls and unpleasant classroom condition etc. make students feel negative about school leads to poor academic achievement among 70 percent students. ⁽¹⁴⁾

With the increase of Indian economy, the increase of private education system has become threat for government education system as private schools gain 17 million students while government schools lose 13 million children in recent years. ⁽¹⁵⁾ With the increase in marketing promotion for private schools, the share of students has increased to 28 percent to 33 percent in 3 years while, 16 percent to 29 percent in rural areas in India. ⁽¹¹⁾

A study was conducted from a sample of 364 students studying at government school for standard 5 students at rural (182 respondents) and sub-urban (182 respondents) in Hooghly and Bardhaman District, West Bengal. The questionnaires were structured based on the State Government standard 4 Syllabus. The following are the distribution of the response data collected from students:

Table1: Distribution of responses from 5^th standard children from rural and sub-urban government schools.

Graph1: Distribution of responses from 5^th standard children from rural and sub-urban government schools.

There was a slightly difference (4.86 percent) in sub-urban and rural respondents who can clearly understand Bengali letters/words and about 19.17 percent of difference between the respondents in sub-urban vs rural who can form basic sentence in Bengali (read and write) while about more than 51 percent difference in basic math. In basic general knowledge the sub-urban respondents are better (53.33 percent) and respondents who can clearly understand English letters/words were 43.90 percent while in sub-rural the respondents were difference by 31.82 percent as compared to rural.

There are some wide difference between urban and sub-urban respondents in performing basis math followed by understanding reading and writing English language. Easy accessibility of education facilitators and tutors may be one of the reason for good score by respondents as compared to rural. Also, sub-urban government schools are facing competitions from private schools or knowledge tutors which plays an important role on knowledge awareness among students from sub-urban as compared to the rural students.

References:

1. Dey, A. (17^th Jan. 2017). Why does India grow so fast if its education system is so poor?. Deeshaa, Economics, Policy and Government. Retrieved from https://deeshaa.org/2017/01/17/why-does-india-grow-so-fast-if-its-education-system-is-so-poor/ on 12^th Nov. 2017.

2. Dhawan, A. (04^th Jan. 2015). Let’s start at the very beginning. Business Today. Retrieved from http://www.businesstoday.in/magazine/cover-story/focus-school-college-education-for-gdp-growth-ashish-dhawan/story/213470.html on 12^th Nov. 2017.

3. Top 10 Countries With the Most Intelligent People. The Top Tens. Retrieved from https://www.thetoptens.com/countries-with-intelligent-people/ on 12^th Nov. 2017.

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6. Venkattachalam, K.S. (25^th Jan 2017). Why Does India Refuse to Participate in Global Education Rankings?. The Diplomat. Retrieved from https://thediplomat.com/2017/01/why-does-india-refuse-to-participate-in-global-education-rankings/ on 12^th Nov. 2017.

7. Malhotea, A. (17^th Jul. 2015). What Indian Parents Want Most For Their Children. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2015/07/17/what-indian-parents-want-most-for-their-children/ on 12^th Nov. 2017.

8. Mukherjee, R. Indian Education System: What needs to change?. UN Pleaders. Retrieved from http://startup.nujs.edu/blog/indian-education-system-what-needs-to-change/ on 12^th Nov. 2017.

9. Orlin, B. (09^th Sep. 2013). When Memorization Gets in the Way of Learning. The Atlantic. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/09/when-memorization-gets-in-the-way-of-learning/279425/ on 12^th Nov. 2017.

10. Mishral, P. (04^th Sep. 2014). Indian education needs greater thrust on skill and personality development: Survey. Times of India. Retrieved from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Indian-education-needs-greater-thrust-on-skill-and-personality-development-Survey/articleshow/41720063.cms on 12^th Nov. 2017.

11. Bouissou, J. (11^th March 2014). Poor state education in India threatens the futures of millions of children. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/11/india-education-state-private-school on 12^th Nov. 2017.

12. Population of India 2017. Indiaonlinepages.com. Retrieved from http://www.indiaonlinepages.com/population/india-current-population.html on 12^th Nov. 2017.

13. Sinha, S. (20^th Nov. 2013). Condition Of Government Schools In India: A Shocking Truth. Millennium India Education Foundation. Retrieved from http://mief.in/condition-of-government-schools-in-india-a-shocking-truth/ on 12^th Nov. 2017.

14. Poor infrastructure conditions make students feel negatively about school. (23^rd Jul. 2016). The Indian Express. Retrieved from http://indianexpress.com/article/education/poor-infrastructure-conditions-make-students-feel-negatively-about-school2931719/ on 12^th Nov. 2017.

15. Saha, D. (17^th Aug. 2017). In 5 years, private schools gain 17 million students, government schools lose 13 million. Hindustan Times. Retrieved from http://www.hindustantimes.com/education/in-5-years-private-schools-gain-17-million-students-government-schools-lose-13-million/story-6FV1ic7RLttmWc0ZkhBQBM.html on 12^th Nov. 2017.