Assessing the quality of education in a subnational setting

Abstract

India has a staggering 29% population in the age group of 0-14 years, with over 260 million students enrolled in 1.5 million schools and thus the education sector is critical to shaping the future of the country. However, there is an evident discrepancy in the quality of education between public and private schools, and this problem is exacerbated by the lack of affordability of good quality public education even at primary levels. While the government has come up with initiatives like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Right to Education Act, India ranked 72nd out 74 countries in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test in 2009, after which India refused to participate in this test. NGOs like Pratham Education Foundation try to evaluate the education scenario in India qualitatively and quantitatively through ASER reports and Measurement, Monitoring & Evaluation schemes. There looms a large question mark on the efficacy of public education in India and the quality of teaching in public schools.