Chapter 2. Increased Provisions for Literacy Before and After 1990

2.

Increased Provisions for Literacy Before and After 1990

Even the Census notion of literacy in Indian context is viewed as the outcome of schooling up to the primary stage. This was why universalization of elementary education (UEE) was viewed essential for achieving universal literacy. Thus, in the context of EFA, provision for literacy would include the initiatives for education of 6-14 age children, and particularly 6-11 age group, as well as adults above 15 years of age.

2.1 Increased Efforts for Basic Education of School Age Children in 1990s

The adoption of World Declaration on EFA in Jomtien in 1990, and the deadline set to achieve the goals by 2000, lent unprecedented momentum in India. The 1990s became the most productive period for primary education in India. The emergence of EFA on center stage of India’s educational efforts in 1990s was due to a combination of policy commitment and a range of new programmes for universal primary (Grades I-V for 6-11 age group) and elementary (Grades VI-VIII for 12-14 age group) education (Govinda, 2001; Ramachandran, 2002). Through their pioneering initiatives in bringing out of school children into educational mainstream through flexible delivery modes, in improving retention and quality of learning in schools and teacher competency, the NGO sector also played a vital role in creating a deep impact on the discourse on primary education in the country. In many cases the State Governments not only adopted the NGO approaches as part of the mainstream education system and in fact, up-scaled such models on large scale. The adoption of the M.V. Foundation pioneered bridge courses for working children, and children freed from bonded labor by Government of AP, covering more .2 million children is a clear case in point (Wazir, 1998l; NIEPA- UNESCO, 2003). Civil society initiatives, through various grassroots and school-based committees that acted as a watchdog on the functioning of primary and elementary schools also exerted pressure on school/teacher accountability and children’s learning guarantee. It is, thus, true that the NGO sector contributed significantly to the UEE endeavor. But, the positive and enabling environment, a product of the NPE, 1986 policy thrust, was a major factor. The EFA policy ethos, with proactive encouragement to the NGO involvement, in the 1990s, was thus a continuation of the NPE emphasis that received a renewed reiteration with the Global Declaration on EFA and an endorsement at the national policy level.

Being a signatory to World Declaration, India’s commitment for EFA, and particularly for primary education and adult literacy became evident from Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), the national policy making body’s (a) endorsement of EFA goals, as underlined in India’s National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986 and its Programme of Action (as revised in 1992); and (b) approval for accepting external funding for primary and elementary education programmes (MHRD-NIEPA, 2000). The different externally funded programmes in 1990s as well as the leading NGO initiatives that imbibed as their central focus the NPE’s equity and quality thrusts in primary and elementary education, included:

• The multi-state District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) that, starting 1994 covered, in 2 phases, 271 districts in 18 States by 2001.
• State specific programmes for primary education like Andhra Pradesh (AP) Education Project, Mahila Samakhya (Education for Women’s Equality), Bihar Education Project and Uttar Pradesh Education Project. The Mahila Samakhya Programme deserves mention, as it was conceived as a conscious intervention at women’s empowerment and equality by organizing women into groups, called Mahila Sangas, and providing the space and gender sensitive inputs to reflect on their lives, identity their needs and evolve collective ways to deal their problems. The article of faith of Mahila Samakhya Programme, implemented in more than 10 States, covering over 9000 villages is: educated and aware mother will change the world of their daughters, their education and their lives (MHRD, 2001).

• The NPE recommended and Centrally sponsored Operation Blackboard (OB) scheme that covered primary schools under government purview, excluding those under externally funded primary education programmes, substantially improved the physical, infrastructural and academic facilities, number of teachers and their in-service training, Teaching-Learning Materials, etc.

• Different models, within broad government purview, to prove the feasibility for reaching universal primary education through flexible and innovative modes to most disadvantaged groups/communities in smaller, rural and remote habitations, as demonstrated by projects like Shiksha Karmi ([community education worker] 1987) and Lok Jumbish (1992) programmes in States like Rajasthan and Education Guarantee Scheme in Madhya Pradesh (MP), and DPEP.
• Within the non-government sector, getting out-of-school children back into formal schools as a tangible goal set up by NGOs across different states, emulating the pioneering efforts of leading NGOs like M.V. Foundation in Hyderabad (1991) and Dr. Reddy’s Foundation in AP, that sought to bring out of school children, such as those engaged in child labor and urban street and slum children, into the educational mainstream through flexible delivery modes like bridge courses, summer programmes, etc. A few other similar prominent NGOs included: Nandi Foundation, Aga Khan Foundation and Azim Premji Foundation in AP (for improving teacher competency); Akshara Foundation in Bangalore city and Azim Premji Foundation in Karnataka; the Pratham initiative to improve quality of children’s learning in urban government schools, taken up in Mumbai (1994) and several other States (Ramachandran, 2002; NIEPA-UNESCO, 2003: 25; 90; 93-94; Wazir, 1998).

2.2 Outcome of Improved Efforts in 1990s:

Some Quantitative and Equity Dimensions

• The number of recognized primary schools increased (in millions) from .49 to .56 between 1981 and 1991, and further to .65 in 2003. Similarly, the number of recognized upper primary schools increased (in millions) from .11 in 1981 to .15 in 1991 and .24 by 2003. Recognized schools – primary or upper primary – include government, private aided and private unaided but recognized schools.

Recognized government schools include those run by Education Departments, Department of Tribal Welfare, schools under Local Bodies such as District, Municipal and Cantonment Boards, Town Area Committees, Panchayat Samities, Zilla Parishads (MHRD, 2004: 1). The break up, i.e., the number of schools by management under government, private aided and private unaided, is not provided, and this also is the case in respect to the number of teachers (MHRD, 2004: 11). Similarly, there is also no authentic data at all India level about the number of unaided and unrecognized schools. Besides recognized primary schools, there were also 70,000 EGS/Alternative and Innovative Education Centres around 2000 with .1 million para teachers (Ghosh, 2002: 86), and .12 million in 2003 (NCERT, 2004: 137). Provision of facilities for primary education within a distance of 1 km was achieved in nearly 95% of India’s .86 million habitations by 2000 (Govinda, 2001).

• The number of teachers increased (in million) from 1.36 to 1.61 and 1.91 between 1981, 1991 and 2003 respectively, at primary level, and from .85 to 1.07 and 1.58 million at upper primary level. This, however, did not include more than .1 million para teachers under EGS/AIES around 2001(Ghosh, 2002: 86), and .12 million in 2003 (NCERT, 2004: 137). The Teacher-Pupil Ratio in primary schools was 1:38 in 1981, 1:43 in 1991 and 1:42 in 2002. The trend at Upper Primary level was no different: it was 1:33, 1:37 and 1:33 in 1981, 1991 and 2002 (MHRD, 2004: 92).
• The enrolment at primary level (Grades I-V) increased (in millions) from 73.8 in 1981 to 97.4 in 1991 and 122.4 in 2003. The enrolment at Upper Primary level (Grades VI-VIII) increased (in millions) from 34.0 to 46.9 between 1991 and 2003 (MHRD, 2004: 17).
• While enrolment of boys in primary stage rose (in millions) from 45.3 to 57 between 1981 and 1991 and 65.1in 2003, the increase in girls enrolment (in millions) was greater, from 28.5 in 1981 to 40.4 in ’91 and 57.3 in 2003 -- 19.8 million boys and 28.8 million girls. At the Upper Primary level, however, the increase in girls’ enrolment was relatively less. The increase in the boy’s enrolment was 12.4 million, while it was 13.8 million in the case of girls, between 1981 and 2003 (MHRD, 2004: 17).

Many limitations about the data, especially lack of clear details about schools, enrolment and teachers under different managements for the different years under review have been indicated. The details available about 853,601 schools imparting Elementary Education (Grades I-VIII) as covered under the District Information for Education (DISE) for 2003, gives an idea about the relative share of recognized schools under different managements, the enrolments and teachers. As the coverage under DISE was confined to 461 districts (out of 593) in 18 (out of 32 States and Union Territories) in 2003, the totals would not tally with the figures for the whole country – the reason for presenting it separately here, more for purpose of giving the trend, rather than the exact numbers.

The picture of these 853,601 recognized schools, by management, shows: 61.06% under Department of Education; 20.61% under Local Bodies; 4.39% under Tribal Welfare Department, that together account for 86% of the total. 12% of the total schools are under private management that include both private aided (4.96%) and 6.74% private unaided schools (Mehta, 2004: 11-12).

As regards teachers, i.e., the 3.16 million in the 853,601 recognized schools, the details available relate to the number of teachers in different categories of schools: Primary Schools (1.59 million); 27.61 million in Upper Primary/Elementary Schools, 5.64 million in integrated Hr. Sec. Schools (with Grades I-XII), and 9.27 million in Upper Primary attached to Sec. and Hr. Sec. Schools (Grades VI-XII) (Mehta, 2004: 1410. The details of teachers, by management category, i.e., government, aided and un- aided private schools, are not provided in DISE data.

The details available in respect of enrolment in the 853,601 schools relate to: (i) enrolment in primary and upper primary classes in 2002-03 in all areas: primary classes – 101.15 million; and upper primary level – 27.66 million; and (ii) enrolment in 86.1% of schools under government management is shown in terms of its percentage share, rather than absolute figures, vis-à-vis the enrolment in private aided and un-aided schools. Percentage of enrolment in government schools to total enrolment by school category is: Primary = 89.9; Primary with UP = 77.6; P with UP and Sec./Hr. Sec. = 34.9; UP only = 80; UP with Sec./Hr. Sec. = 60% (Mehta, 2004: 110; 123). The point underlined is that the enrolment in government schools is not proportionate to the share in management. In other words, private schools, although accounting for less than 14% of the recognized schools, have more children in them, in all but just the first category – primary school

level. The exact number of students under the three categories of management – government, private aided and private unaided, is not indicated. The share of SC/ST enrolment (21.8% and 9.6%) in the total enrolment at all India level and also separately for the 18 States covered under DISE seems proportionate to their share in total population (Mehta, 2004: 110).

2.3 Spatial, Regional, Social, Gender Dimensions of EFA Tasks Remaining

• Based on the estimates of child population in 6-11 and 11-14 age groups and their enrolment and those out of school, it was shown that that 79% (or 152 million) of the 192 million children in 6-14 age group were attending school in 2000. That left about 40.4 million out of school. Who are these out of these school children and what is their spatial concentration?
• Despite all the focus, backed by an array of incentives, in addition to making primary education cost free, even by 2003, the percentage share of SC/ST children, respectively, in the enrolment at the State level at primary stage, continued to remain low at 19.7 and 10.6 in Andhra Pradesh; 17.8 and 22.4 in Madhya Pradesh; 20.0 and 15.9 in Rajasthan; and 31.9 and 0.2 in Uttar Pradesh.

The share of girls’ enrolment at primary level, as against the boys, in respect of both communities ranged between 44-48% in all these States, barring Bihar where the SC girls’ enrolment share was 39% and UP with 31%. These are the educationally backward States (with literacy rates below the national average) with large concentration of either or both SC/ST populations. States like AP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan and UP have close to or more than 10 million SCs, and AP, MP, Rajasthan have more than 5 million STs each (Mehta, 2003; NCERT, 2004: 135-36). Their SC/ST literacy rate, in general, and their of their girls, in particular, is way below the national average. Some of these States with a large SC population but very low on their literacy rate are Bihar (28.47%), UP (46.27), as against the national general average of 64.84%. Similarly, the States with large ST population, but very low literacy among STs are AP (37.64%), MP (41.16%), Rajasthan (44.66%) and West Bengal (43.40%). This picture becomes even more clear from a comparative picture between the GER and dropout trends, as compared to the general population.

The dropout rates among both SC and ST children declined more sharply between 1991 and 2003 as compared to the children of all communities. But, their dropout rate still remains significantly higher, at least by 6 percentage points more than the children of other population. While this is the general trend of difference between the children of general population and SC/STs on an average, the picture of dropouts in some of the educationally backward States with large concentration of SC/ST population is a stark reminder of who the out of school children are and where are they concentrated.

At the all India level, among children of all communities, at least 35 leave the primary school without completing it. It is at least 6 more in the case of SC children, at least 16 more among ST children. More than half the ST children who enter primary school discontinue without completing it, at the all India. The position of SC children in Bihar, Rajasthan, UP and West Bengal, and ST children in AP, MP, Rajasthan and West Bengal, with large ST population, as could be seen in the highlighted figures in the table above, sums up the picture, as who and where are the out of school children, in India.

This is why Tenth Plan felt that “Those outside the school system are mostly SC/ST girls, working children, children of poor families, disabled children and children in difficult circumstances” (Planning Commission, 2002; Nambissan and Sedwal, 2002).

2.4 Adult Literacy: Evidence of Increased Provisions and Increase

On its launch in 1988, the National Literacy Mission took up the mandate of making 80 million adults literate in 15-35 age group by 1995 (revised to 100 million in 1992). Finding that there was no reduction in number of adult illiterates despite a nationwide programme of adult education since 1977-78, NLM was relentlessly exploring for a new approach, strategy and method that could lend the requisite mass character and urgency to achieve its target. Total Literacy Campaigns (TLC), started initially as an experiment, proved eminently appropriate for its area-specific, time-bound, volunteer-based, outcome-oriented and mass programme character. Beginning in 1988-89, the TLCs that took the whole district in one go, were expanded in quick succession to 156 districts in 1992, 561 in December 2000 and 587 out of 600 districts by March 2003.

The increase in provision for literacy is evident from the fact that 95% of India’s villages and people have been covered by the adult (basic) literacy programmes by March 2003 (MHRD, 2003). Nearly 400 of these districts have, after completing TLC, moved on to Post-Literacy and subsequently to Continuing Education stage.

The number of adult illiterates (15 years and above) was 270.78 million in 1991.

NLM reckoned that as a result of TLCs and other types of literacy programmes, addressed mainly to 15-35 age group, 91.51 million adults were made literate by December 2000 (71.45 million by TLCs and 20.08 million under other schemes), and 98 million by March 2003, as against an estimated 263 million adult illiterates, as per 2001 Census data (NLM, 2001; MHRD, 2003; Prem Chand, 2004). Against the backdrop of a sharp increase of nearly 33 million during 1981-91, the estimated sharp decline in the number of illiterates by nearly 8 million by 2001, from 1991, is said to be proof of result of the adult literacy/education programmes, besides primary education. NLM claims of number of adults made literate is based on figures reported by the districts implementing TLCs. In regard to its credibility, the Expert Group’s reactions are relevant. “The Group is constrained to note, however, that these progress reports (from each TLC district) are normally based on information gathered through the routine channels within the district and are not always equally dependable for all districts. Quite a few of the reports give a picture far removed from the reality”. Evaluations of TLCs done by independent agencies, what is called External Evaluation Reports (EERs) could be presumed to give a more reliable picture. Referring to the 41 EERs of TLCs, as analyzed by NLM, which showed 58% achievement against the target, the Expert Group said it “has reasons to record serious reservations about the above claim as a large number of EERs (included here) are deficient in terms of coverage, sample design, size of sample and, above all, in the estimation procedures adopted to arrive at district level estimates.” (NLM, 1994: 21). The Expert Group did indeed suggest a more scientific evaluation system. Not that the EERs undertaken after the Expert Group’s Report, and adopted by NLM, could be said to be above the needle of suspicion in respect of the results reported. But NLM’s figures about numbers made literate are not based on the EERs, but on the internal progress reported by the districts. The public credibility dimension at least in regard to the numbers claimed to have been made literate never seemed to influence or affect NLM claims.

2.5 Illiteracy Trends and Patterns

Based on Census 2001, there are 66 Districts in 11 States with less than 35% female literacy. Some of these States are: Bihar (with 21 districts); Jharkhand (7); Orissa (7); Rajasthan (6), and Uttar Pradesh (10). Together these account for 56 of the 66 such districts (Prem Chand, 2004). Besides the concentration of female illiteracy, these are also the States lowest in literacy in rural areas, and among their SC/ST population. Out of 166.63 million SC population in India, more than 64.51% of them live in States like AP, Bihar, MP, Orissa, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The literacy rate among SCs in these States (between 45-53%) is at least 10 percentage points less than the national literacy rate. The literacy rate among SC women ranges between 15-43% in these States as against the national average of 53.7% female literacy. Bihar has an SC population share of 16%, but its SC female literacy is 15.58%. Similarly, the share of SCs in total 15 population is more than 15% in States like MP, Orissa and Rajasthan. But their SC female literacy rate ranges from 33-43%. It is obvious that their share among India’s illiterates is far greater than their population share. This is much more so in the case of STs. AP, Jharkhand, MP and Orissa are States with ST population share ranging between 15-26% in their state population. (Prem Chand, 2004). While nearly one of 2 women is illiterate in India, in the case of ST women, it must at least be 3 out of every 4.