National Human Development Report: 2001 - Indira Gandhi Institute ...

NATIONAL HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2001 EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTS AND WELL-BEING 59Improving accessibility ofchildren, in school going age group,to schools and increasing enrolmentrates have been backed in some casesby visible measures to improvequalitative aspect of schooling. Thishas led to improvements in studentretention rates (i.e., decline in dropout rates) in schools and, hence,better performance on educationalindicators. For instance, though theproportion of children with access toprimary school — within thehabitation or within a distance ofhalf a kilometre — remained thesame during the Educational Surveysof 1978 and 1993, this proportion incase of access to upper primaryschools (middle schools) — up to adistance of one kilometre —increased by more than 10percentage points from 46.6 per centin 1978 to 56.9 per cent in 1993 atnational level. The proportions forStates like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar andMadhya Pradesh were considerablylower than for Andhra Pradesh,Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, TamilNadu, Kerala and Maharashtra. Atthe same time, over this period,despite changing demographicprofile and pace of populationgrowth, availability of schools forschool going population has notundergone much change. Therewere 5.7 primary schools per thousand school going children in age group 6-11 years in 1982-83 as against 5.04 schools in 1997-98. This marginal declinewas some what made up by improved availability of middle schools from 2.44schools per thousand children in 1982-83 to 2.75 schools in 1997-98. Anumber of primary schools may have been upgraded to middle schools duringthis period, partly accounting for the decline in availability of primaryschools. For Madhya Pradesh, as well as Rajasthan the availability of middleschools, in particular, has shown significant improvement in the nineties.A similar trend was noticeable in case of ‘teacher-pupil ratio’ — anindicator having a bearing on quality of education and, hence, on retentionof enrolled children in schools. The ratio refers to number of students enrolledfor every teacher appointed. This ratio has not changed significantly in thefifteen years between 1982-83 and 1997-98. During this period it increasedfrom 40 to 42 students in primary classes, from 34 to 37 students in middleclasses and remained same at 29 students per teacher for secondary classes.Thus, at the national level, the appointment of teachers kept pace withincreasing enrolment in schools. At State level, there are no clear trendsConstitutional and Legal Framework forEducational Development in IndiaSeveral articles in the Constitution of India outline the general principles forguiding and governing the educational development in the country.• Article 45 of the Constitution enjoins that the State shall endeavour toprovide, within a period of 10 years from the commencement of thisConstitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until theycomplete the age of 14 years. This Constitutional obligation has been timeand again deferred successively to 1970, 1980,1990 and then to 2000. TheApproach to the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-07) has set the target of allchildren completing five years of schooling by 2007.• Article 29(1) provides that any section of the citizens, residing in theterritory of India and any part thereof, having a distinct language, script orculture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.• Article 29(2) lays down that no citizen shall be denied admission to anyeducational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of Statefunds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.• Article 31 enjoins that all minorities, whether based on religion or languageshall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions oftheir choice.• Article 32 lays down that the State shall not, in granting aid to educationalinstitutions, discriminate against any educational institution on the groundthat it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion orlanguage.• Article 350-A lays down that it shall be the endeavour of every State and ofevery local authority within the State to provide adequate facilities forinstruction in the mother tongue at the primary state of education to childrenbelonging to linguistic minority groups.• Under Article 46 the State is obliged to promote with special care theeducational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and,in particular, of the Schedules Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and shallprotect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation.