On all dimensions, India is falling way short of delivering
quality education to its children. Here are a few facts
that re-affirm Akanksha’s role in attempting to bring
about quality education.
- Out of every 100 children born in India today:
· 63 births are not even registered
· 25 are not immunized against any disease
· 16 will have no access to clean drinking
water
· 15 will never go to school
- India spent only around 4.1% of GDP on Education
in 2000-01.
- Out of 18 million children in the 6-14 age group,
only 15.04 million are enrolled in school. 17% are
therefore out of school.
- Out of 40,000 primary schools in Maharashtra, 9000
are single teacher and 18,000 are schools with two
teachers.
- In Maharashtra, surveys of 28 cities and eight rural
districts found that only 30 per cent of boys and
girls in the age group 6-14 could read basic text
fluently or do simple arithmetic.
- The size of the system is staggering. In Mumbai
itself, there are 2.3 million children living in slums
and on the streets.
- There are over 500,000 children in 1200 schools
in Mumbai run by the Municipal Corporation in 8 mediums
of instruction.
- There are around 15,000 teachers, 2500 non-teaching
staff in schools and 400 officers and supervisors.
Over 90% of Annual budget allocation goes towards
salaries.
- Of the children in school, around 50% drop out by
class 5, and of the remaining less than 10% finish
class10.
- Independent studies show poor learning achievement.
Less than 50% in class 5 can read and write alphabets
in their other tongue.
- There are steadily declining enrollment numbers.
- An increasing demand for English education is moving
enrollment to countless small private schools.
- There are more than 500 teacher vacancies in English,
Hindi and Urdu mediums.
- Studies show the poor state of school infrastructure
– more than 60% have unhygienic sanitary conditions.
- If we believe that our future lies in the hands
of our children, these numbers and trends present
both a staggering challenge and a huge justification
for Akanksha’s existence.
Sources
1. 7th All India Educational Survey conducted by National
Council of Educational Research and Training.
2. World Health Organisation
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