Primary education in India

Despite various challenges and limitations, the country has achieved huge milestones in the primary education sector. There has been a significant access to schooling and increase in enrollment rates in primary education. Talking about the challenges, the numbers have been increasing in terms of dropout rates, with an equivalent increase in the rate of slow learning in primary education.

Strides of the Primary Education sector-

- The main focus in primary education is the enrollment process and going by the facts, primary school enrollment has been a success story due to the launch of several drives and programs in order to increase the enrollment process even in the remote areas.

- There were improvements made in infrastructure and increasing number of schools to 1.4 million with 7.7 million teachers.

- Today, there is a school at every 1 km and almost every child is in school. The government’s flagship program Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has done this miracle.

- There has been a tremendous increase in private education with new private schools coming up across the city. This has made the primary education system more urbanised with a bright future for the same.

- Right now, with the Right to Education Act in place, many other achievements can be expected. In spite of these strides, there are several challenges that will remain with the primary education sector throughout.

Challenges in the industry-

- Quality of education is a major challenge today. There has been a decline in the quality of learning and reports show that the students are not receiving appropriate class learning levels. Improving class learning will be expected with increasing teacher accountability, diminishing the gap of misunderstanding amongst teachers and parents.

- Another problem faced by the Primary Education sector is the barrier in language. With over 22 different languages and over 1500 languages spoken in mother tongue, the task of reciprocating with the students becomes a bit difficult for the teachers. Today, parents in the urban areas, are of the notion, that English should be the prime language spoken in schools which will enhance the language of their wards. But, it is rather believed by the academicians that educating in their respective mother tongue is the best option. This stands to be a major challenge in the quality of education.

- There is a lack of teaching education institute in the country which leads to hiring of less qualified teachers and this affects the quality of learning.

- Although, India has achieved its mark as the third largest economy in the world, it is also home to one third of the world’s poor. Poverty is the main factor which definitely affects the focus on education.

Undoubtedly, the government has contributed immensely towards universalising education, it will be interesting to see, how private entities play a significant role in resolving the challenges alongside the government.