ANAEA

Stepping stones:

Enhancing the Quality of primary Education

TEAM DETAILS: Ayushi Shrivastava(Team Co-ordinator) Nitin Tripathi Akshat Dixit Eyshika Agarwal Ayush Verma

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN INDIA

• Education is important not only for development of one's personality, but also for the sustained growth of nation.It is the foundation on which the development of every citizen and the nation as a whole hinges.

• The quality of elementary education in India has also been a major cause of worry for government.

• The world is not on track to achieve the six Education For All (EFA) goals.

• Achieving this and the other goals will require both policy change and more resources from the national community.

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Successful qualitative reforms require:

• Prime attention to quality of teaching profession

• Strong leading role by government

• A societal project for improving education

• Policy continuity over time

Education quantity and quality

are complements, not substitutes

Progress towards EFA

NET ENROLMENT RATIOS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION

81.7% in 1990, 84% in 2001

Pace of change too slow to reach UPE by 2015

Net enrolment ratio:

85% in 2005, 87% in 2015

103.5 million out-of-school children in 2001

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Central Asia N. America W.Europe

Latin AmericaCaribbean

Centr./ East.Europe

Arab States East AsiaPacific

South/ WestAsia

Sub-SaharanAfrica

Out-of-school children by region (in millions), 2001

Girls’ enrolment lags behind boys’ in 40% of

countries at primary level

Disparities more extreme at secondary

and tertiary levels

57% of out of school children are girls

Gender Parity Index (F/M), 2001

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

South/West

Asia

Sub-Saharan

Africa

Arab States Centr/ East.

Europe

Latin

America/

Caribbean

Central Asia East Asia/

Pacif ic

N. America/

West. Europe

GP

I

primary secondary

Gender parity

Progress towards Gender Parity

64% of adult illiterates are women

0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2

World

South/West Asia

Arab States

Sub-Saharan Africa

East Asia/Pacif ic

Centr/East. Europe

Latin America/ Caribbean

N. America/West. Europe

Central Asia

Gender parity

GPI (F/M) in adult literacy, 2000-2004

800 million adults without literacy, 70% live in nine countries

Literacy and adult learning

• 41 countries have achieved or nearly achieved the four goals • 51 countries have EDI values between 0.80 and 0.94. Almost half the countries

in this category, most of them in Latin America, lag on the education quality goal

• 35 countries are very far from achieving the goals, with EDI values below 0.80. 22 are in Sub-Saharan Africa, plus Bangladesh, India and Pakistan

The EFA Development Index measures progress towards UPE, gender parity, literacy and quality

Overall progress

Education Quality

Goal

“Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills”

Dakar Framework for Action, 2000

• Cognitive development: reading, writing, numeracy

• Creative and emotional development and the promotion of attitudes and values necessary for effective life in the community

• better health, lower fertility, lower exposure to HIV/AIDS

• higher personal income

• stronger national growth

A good quality education encompasses:

A good quality education carries personal and social benefits:

The Quality Challenge

Learning from the evidence

Studies show that more resources for:

• Low pupil-teacher ratios

• more and better textbooks

• time spent learning in school or at home

• teacher qualifications and experience

matter for quality

A wide range of evidence indicates that additional resources improve education quality, particularly where they are scare

Start with learners and take all actors into account

Towards better quality: a holistic approach

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• Discovery-based pedagogies pioneered in many programmes are difficult to implement on national scale in resource-constrained contexts

• Structured teaching is a pragmatic option in low-income settings. Teacher presents material in small steps, checks student understanding and encourages interaction

• Regular assessment and feedback improves learning

Rigid chalk and talk pedagogy is widespread

In the classroom:

pedagogical renewal

• Curriculum: relevant, balanced with carefully defined aims

• Instructional time: few countries reach recommended 850-1,000 hours/year • Learning materials: strong impact on learning but small percentage of education spending goes to

textbooks • Language: Successful models start in mother tongue and make gradual transition to second or foreign

language

• School environment: safety, health, sanitation for girls and boys, access for disabled

Other essentials that make the difference

• Governance: school leadership, room for consultation between teachers, governments and

other stakeholders on curriculum, employment and working conditions

• Participatory learning networks and professional advisory bodies to encourage sharing of best

practice

• Combating corrupt practices: fraud in public tendering for school buildings and textbooks,

nepotism and bribes in teacher appointment and examinations

• Equity: reducing regional and social inequalities advances education for all

Beyond the classroom:

policies conducive to better quality