Sustainable models to address problems of Indian primary education system

Abstract

India has one of the largest education sectors with a student population over 13.5 crore pupils in the primary education level. It has the second largest population of over 1.1 billion, with a literacy rate of approximately two-third of population and ranks 172nd on this front. Education is primarily handled by government through its school infrastructure and large budget outlays. These funds are disbursed through various programs launched by government through which it expects to increase access to education as well as improve the quality of education being provided. Since the Eleventh Five-year plan, the government has been laying greater emphasis on quality of education, as the goal of increasing access to education has been achieved to certain extent (GER of above 90% even though NER is comparatively low). In line with this, the government has introduced programs like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Mid-day meal schemes and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVY). The appendix 1 provides a brief overview of the various polices introduced and its objectives. From April 2010, through the introduction of RTE (Right to Education) Act, the government has made primary education a fundamental right; It assures to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6 to 14 years. Since all the government institutions under primary education have been driven through the SSA program, below is the brief overview of the same.