An estimated 8.1 million children are out of school, majority of those belonging to the disadvantaged groups.
Drop Out Rates: Drop-out rates are high. Despite achieving close to universal enrolment at primary level, 27% children drop out between Class 1 and 5, 41% before reaching Class 8, and 49% before reaching Class 10. The figures are higher for children from Scheduled Castes (27%, 43%, and 56% respectively) and Scheduled Tribes (36%, 55%, and 71%).
Gender Disparities: Wide gender disparities exist in education. For every 100 boys enrolled in secondary education, there are 81 girls enrolled.
Learning Outcome: Less than half (47%) of Class 5 students can read Class 2 text.
Attendance: Children’s attendance rate in rural primary schools has shown a decline from 73% in 2007 to 71% in 2012.
Pupil Teacher Ratio: As per RTE norms, there should be one teacher for every thirty students at primary level and one teacher for every thirty-five students at upper primary level. However, 41% of primary schools have a pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) of more than 30 and 31% of upper primary schools have a PTR more than 35. About 80% of regular teachers and 72% of contrac tual teachers are professionally qualified.
Inclusive Curriculum
An inclusive curriculum addresses the child’s cognitive, emotional, social and creative development.
It is based on the four pillars of education for the twenty-first century – learning to know, to do, to be and to live together.
It has an instrumental role to play in fostering tolerance and promoting human rights, and is a powerful tool for transcending cultural, religious, gender and other differences.
An inclusive curriculum takes gender, cultural identity and language background into consideration.
It involves breaking negative stereotypes not only in textbooks but also, and more importantly, in teacher’s attitudes and expectations.
Multilingual approaches in education, in which language is recognized as an integral part of a student’s cultural identity, can act as a source of inclusion.
Furthermore, mother tongue instruction in the initial years of school has a positive impact on learning outcomes.
