KARNATAKA - of Planning Commission

Karnataka Human Development Report 2005which is now on a par with their male counterparts.Across castes, the GER of the Scheduled Tribes(STs) is lower than that of the general populationand the Scheduled Castes (SCs). In fact, there hasbeen a great improvement in the GER of the SCs,which has overtaken the general population in2000-01, and which is a direct outcome of thegovernment’s special incentive schemes. Someintrospection and remedial action is called forwith regard to the STs, who have a different set ofproblems altogether.Table 5.8 reveals that all north Karnataka districtshave very high net enrolment ratios. In 2004-05,Bidar for example, has an NER of 130 for classesI to V and 131 for classes VI to VII, the highest inthe state.The high GER and NER fi gures indicate thatthe fi rst two objectives – universal access andenrolment – have largely been achieved, andincreased attention is now required in the areas ofretention/attendance and quality of learning.RetentionThe mean years of schooling are used as anindicator of levels of educational attainment.Overall, the mean years of schooling haveimproved only marginally over a four year period,from 3.97 in 1999-2000 to 4.25 in 2003-04, andthere is little difference between boys and girls.Across social groups the mean years of schoolingof Scheduled Tribe students is slightly lower thanthe Scheduled Castes as well as the non-SC andnon-ST students.Boys out-perform girls among the ScheduledCastes and Tribes, but overall, there is no signifi cantdifference in the mean years of schooling for girlsand boys in the non-SC and non-ST group. Tendistricts (all 5 districts of Hyderabad Karnataka;Chamarajnagar, Davangere, Bijapur, Bagalkot,and Belgaum) are below the state average formean years of schooling for girls in 2003-04. Iffree education up to the age of 14, as mandatedin the Constitution, is taken as the norm, then allchildren must have eight mean years of schooling,and current achievement levels, therefore, fall wellshort of this objective.The dropout rate is an indicator of the effi ciencyof the primary school system since it presents anoverview of the wastage of human resources.Non-attendance and/or dropping-out are theoutcomes of a combination of factors at theindividual, institutional and structural levels.Structurally, poverty means that parents cannotafford the opportunity costs, preferring to puttheir children to work, either at home or for otherpeople. For girls, gender disparity combines withpoverty to keep them out of school for a variety ofreasons, ranging from early marriage to using girlsfor housework and sibling care. Lack of parentalsupport, caused largely by the parents’ own loweducation levels and lack of motivation, is anotherstrong inhibiting factor. If schools are far from thehabitation or have inadequate infrastructure withreference to classrooms, toilets for girls and drinkingwater, then parents feel discouraged. Within schools,multi-grade teaching, poor instructional quality,teacher absenteeism, repetition and the lack ofBOX 5.7TABLE 5.8Net enrolment ratioSl. No Region Age 6–11 (classes I-V) Age 12–13 (classes VI-VII)Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total1 Karnataka 95.97 95.95 95.96 99.53 101.42 100.482 North Karnataka 96.58 96.47 96.52 102.46 104.15 103.303 South Karnataka 90.01 90.06 90.03 91.32 93.25 92.29Source: EMIS 2004-05, Children’s Census 2005, Karnataka.Mahiti Sindhu: IT at the grassrootsThe high GER and NERfigures indicate that theobjectives of universalaccess and enrolment havelargely been achieved.This year, the Government High School in the Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalorewas adjudged the best secondary school providing computer education in the state and washonoured by the President of India.This success story has been replicated in 1,000 government secondary schools across the statewhere computer learning has become a way of life for nearly 4,00,000 children over the past4 years.Quarterly evaluations of the programme are being regularly conducted by the Computer Sciencedepartments of local engineering colleges under the guidance of the Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore. Teachers in these schools are trained in computer application, thereby enhancingtheir teaching skills.107