The Hindu Business Line : In pursuit of excellence and inclusion in education

Every talented child, however poor and however remote its residence, must be provided education. Only this can combine excellence with inclusion. P. V. INDIRESAN raises eight issues that impact inclusion and excellence of education.

MAKING A small beginning.

The Approach Paper to the Eleventh Plan proposes "expansion, inclusion and excellence" as objectives of education. In his comments on the Approach Paper, the Finance Minister pointedly refers to the folly of throwing more money into poorly-managed institutions with little or no accountability.

Evidently, he wants expansion and inclusion only when that does not damage excellence. The Approach Paper does express concern about the absence of quality but does not propose any specific scheme for promoting excellence.

Collapse of excellence starts at the primary level. The Approach Paper states: "For a large proportion of our children, school is an ill-lit class room with more than one class being taught together by someone who may not have completed her own schooling." As a result, all over the country, richer families, even lower middle-class ones, have opted out of public schools, and send their children to private schools.

Rural education is particularly badly affected because teacher discipline is poor and self-financing schools are unviable.

As the Sixth Infrastructure Report highlights, very low density of customers per sq km is the basic obstacle to rural development. Rural education can deal with that handicap in two ways: One, take a school to every hamlet but cut down the quantity and quality of services to match the small customer size.

Two, on the principle if mountain will not go to Mahomet, Mahomet must go to mountain, take children to a central location where schools of good quality can be sustained.

Catch-22 situation

The Approach Paper endorses the received wisdom "a school that is far away fails to retain students". It says also that students dropout if the school does not function regularly. For rural education, that is a catch-22 situation: If the school is nearby, it is no good; if it is good it has to be far away. We face here the standard dilemma of development: Should we choose a low-cost, low-return option, or should opt for a higher cost, higher return path? Should we invest Rs 1,000 at one per cent return or should we invest Rs 2,000 at two per cent return?

Should we be content with low-quality education in every hamlet or should we insist on quality even if that means that every hamlet will not have its own school? That is Issue One.

Our education system prescribes syllabi, selects teachers, recognises schools (or not) but will not accept any responsibility for outcomes. For instance, the accepted principle is (which the Approach Paper endorses) "children must complete eight years of schooling."

At the same time, it is the rule that no child should be failed in any class. Hence, the policy is: Children must attend but need not learn. Incidentally, this policy absolves teachers and schools of any responsibility for the outcome.

The Approach Paper does propose setting up national testing standards. What use will they be if the rule is that no child should be failed? As most poorly run schools are under State governments, is not this proposal similar to the idea of belling the cat? That is Issue Two.

Many State governments have abrogated their responsibility to provide quality education to the poor, but will not yield their authority to control what private schools can or cannot do. Experience since 1991 has demonstrated that competition (including privatisation) is the best guarantor of quality service, even for affordability. For that reason, the Approach Paper lays emphasis on Public-Private Partnership.

Then, should not the Plan encourage competition between private and state-run schools? In the true spirit of PPPs should there not be a plan to help children to study in private schools if they are better than state-run schools?

Stratified approach

Several private hospitals operate the way the Railways does: Provide different classes of service at different prices. Then, why should private schools not be encouraged to follow suit? For instance, should not private schools be helped to conduct evening classes for poor children by charging marginal costs, or even provide free tuition in English, mathematics, science and computer skills at weekends when school facilities lie idle? That is Issue Three.

Employability is another contentious issue. The Approach Paper starts with the assumption that "education is the most critical input for empowering people to (gain) access to productive employment." Is that always correct? Is it not a fact that school education often increases risks of unemployment for poor children by inducing revulsion against their traditional family occupations and not preparing them for alternative livelihood?

For policy-makers, eight years of compulsory academic education is a settled issue. For many poor families that remains a contentious one. Current policy permits no freedom; insists that the state will have the absolute discretion in dictating what a school should teach, who will teach. Should we pursue that authoritarian policy of straitjacketing education that does not always help the poor to land jobs, or should we offer a choice? That is Issue Four.

Considering that India has entered into global competition and China, our prime rival, is surging by leaps and bounds, can India survive without promoting excellence? If excellence is necessary, can we combine the excellent and the ordinary in one and the same institution, or should we have special institutions for gifted students? That is Issue Five.

Whither freedom for schools?

In 1947, India got Independence. In 1991, Indian business got freedom. Even in 2007, schools are yet to get freedom. Parents too have no freedom to decide what kind of education their children should get. In 1991, Indian business was thrown open to competition; even in 2007, for our educators competition is anathema. On the contrary, the state has amended the Constitution to nationalise education.

Even nationalisation would not have mattered but for the fact that the education system is peculiarly privileged. For all products and services, consumers can seek legal redress when quality is substandard. Special consumer courts have been set up to simplify the process.

Unfortunately, in the matter of education, consumers have no such protection. No parent or a Public Interest Petitioner can seek legal remedy against bad education. Should education be brought under consumer courts? That is Issue Six.

There is a common thread in all six issues raised here: Absence of a realistic, even a theoretical plan for excellence. No doubt the Approach Paper proposes a programme for preparing standards.

That is unlikely to specify anything higher than minimum tolerable standards. It has no mandate for identifying globally competitive standards of excellence. Should we have a system to identify and propagate globally competitive standards of education? That is Issue Seven.

Although the Approach Paper has the three objectives of expansion, inclusion and excellence, the Plan itself concentrates on expansion and inclusion with little attention to excellence. Planners face a dilemma: Every child cannot be trained to become an excellent mathematician or a linguist or a musician. Hence, excellence implies selectivity. Inclusion precludes selectivity.

We can (and should) think of including every talented child however poor and however remote its residence. That way excellence can be combined with inclusion. That leads us to the final and the most crucial Issue Eight: What is inclusion? Is it for select groups however poorly the child is equipped, or is it for every capable child however poor?

(To be continued)

(The author is a former Director of IIT Madras. Response may be sent to: indiresan@gmail.com)

(This is 198th in the Vision 2020 series. The previous article was published on April 2.)

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