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Education

Background

The education sector in India was estimated to be worth US$ 117 billion in FY20 and is expected to reach US$ 225 billion by FY25. India has over 250 million school-going students, more than any other country. Number of colleges in India reached 42,343 in FY20. India has the largest population in the world in the age bracket of 5-24 years with 580 million people, presenting a huge opportunity in the education sector.

India holds an important place in the global education industry. India has one of the largest networks of higher education institutions in the world. However, there is still a lot of potential for further development and improvement in the education system.

With almost 27% of India’s population in the age group of 0-14 years, India’s education sector provides numerous opportunities for growth.

India has the world’s largest population in the age bracket of 5-24 years of about 500 million people, which provides a great growth opportunity for the education sector. The education sector in India was estimated to be worth US$ 117 billion in FY20 and is expected to reach US$ 225 billion by FY25.

India has over 250 million school-going students, more than any other country.

Number of colleges in India reached 42,343 in FY20. As of June 24, 2022, the number of universities in India stood at 1,047.

In 2021-22, there were 8,997 total AICTE-approved institutes in India. Out of these 8,997 institutes, there were 3,627 undergraduate, 4,790 postgraduate and 3,994 diploma institutes.

India had 38.5 million students enrolled in higher education in 2019-20, with 19.6 million male and 18.9 million female students.

India holds an important place in the global education industry with around 1.55 million K-12 schools and a student base of 218 million. 

In FY20, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Indian higher education was 27.1%.

According to UNESCO’s ‘State of the Education Report for India 2021’, the Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) at senior secondary schools was 47:1, as against 26:1 of the overall school system.

The Indian edtech market size is expected to reach US$ 30 billion by 2031, from US$ 700-800 million in 2021.

According to KPMG, India has also become the second largest market for E-learning after the US.

The online education market in India is expected to grow by US$ 2.28 billion during 2021-2025, growing at a CAGR of almost 20%. The market grew by 19.02% in India in 2021.

Case Study

The Problem

Major issues of Indian Education

1. Lack of money

The absence of sufficient assets is a fundamental issue in the improvement of education. Because of poor economics, most instructive institutions need the framework, science gear and libraries, and so on. Because of this, the desired outcomes can’t be achieved.

Every year there is a separate budget for the Education sector but it needs to be well directed through the appropriate pipeline so that it reaches every sector, where it’s needed the most.

2. Costly higher education

College and specialized institutions have turned out to be expensive in India. The expense structure of specific and able institutions. Privatization of advanced education has helped the development of benefit greedy business people. Now advanced education is a much expensive undertaking.

3. Neglect of Indian languages

The medium of teaching especially is English because of the focus on education in English, students are not developing foundational literacy and numerical skills. And then they are piled on with more material in English and as a result, kids mainly from government schools and poorer backgrounds were suffering a lot because of this. Standard distributions are not accessible in native Indian languages.

4. No practical knowledge

In educational institutions, lots of attention is provided to theory and books, and practical knowledge is completely neglected. When these students pass the exam, they forget all the things they have studied due to a lack of practical experience.  In India, parents and teachers expect their students to score high in the exam rather than getting quality knowledge. And education becomes a rat race.  Practical knowledge and skill-based education are still very far away from scholars who are studying in schools, colleges, and universities.

5. The problem of brain drain

Whenever smart, capable, and meriting candidates don’t get reasonable positions in the nation. They need to travel to another country to look for employment. So our nation is denied good ability. This wonder is called ‘Brain Drain’. Because of that, we lost so many talents that could be utilized in our nation for the betterment of education as well as the overall development of the country.

6. Cast reservation and paid seat

In the Indian education system, seats are reserved for reserved cast and rich students. The education system should give equal chance to all students irrespective of their caste and creed.  In India, the child of a good rich family gets a good education just because of ample money whereas the child of a poor family hardly gets a primary education.  The government data disclose the better reality that only 1 child out of 7 that takes birth in India goes to school. That problem should be conveyed into notice as soon as possible and do some severe work to change the circumstances as soon as possible.

7. Mass illiteracy

Still, we are not capable of getting 100 percent education. Even now most of the individuals stay uneducated. In India, the quantity of illiterate individuals is approximately 33 percent of the aggregate uneducated people. Propelled nations are almost 100 percent educated, and the situation in India is very unfavorable.

8. Wastage of resources

Our education system depends on General Education. The dropout percentage is high in the essential and auxiliary dimensions. The huge majority of the understudies in the 7-14 age group leave the school before completing their studies. It implies the wastage of financial and Human Resources.

9. General education structure:

Our education structure is of General Education in nature. The advancement of specialized and professional education is very unacceptable. So our way of instruction is ineffective. Hence the number of educated jobless people is growing by each day. This has changed into a prominent concern for the Government.

10. Problems of primary education

Our primary education is performed with an extreme number of issues. A huge number of primary schools have no structures, basic facilities like drinking water, furniture and study materials, urinals and power, and many more. Large quantities of grade schools are single educator schools and many schools are even without teachers. So the drop rate is high and a basis for concern. We can say that there is a quantitative extension of training but in subjective improvement, we are still falling behind.

11. Outdated syllabus

There is an urgent requirement to modify the present system of higher education in the country. We are required to ensure quality in education as well as quantity. Students are acquiring knowledge from the outdated syllabus. Lots of technological and scientific advancements are taking place in India. And hence the courses are Graduate and postgraduates need to be updated as per the modern and technological development.

Some of the major challenges faced by the Indian Education System are:

According to the 2018 Annual States of Education Report (ASER), India is creating another generation that can hardly read and write due to the lack of basic reading and arithmetic skills among the students in Indian Schools. But the mere difference now is that these children have spent some years of their lives in schools.

1. High- dropout rates

The other major challenge in the education system is the high dropout rate in public schools or government schools. It is all due to several factors such as poverty, lack of toilets, long distance to school, child marriages, patriarchal mindset, and cultural factors.

2. Poor governance and lack of responsibility

Another problem of our education is the absence of teachers in government schools. Further, poor management in these schools is also another major problem as these school management committees are barely functional. Also, the parents are oblivious of their rights and do not know whom to address in such conditions.

3. Lack of infrastructure

One of the major challenges faced by public schools is the lack of drinking water facilities, electricity, toilets, and poor hygiene, etc.

4. Quality of teachers

 Lack of trained and skilled teachers is another problem mostly faced by our education system. Besides the lack of skilled teachers, they are also burdened with a non-academic workload which diverges their focus from teaching. Thus, according to a study by the National Institute of Education Planning and Administration (NIEPA) the teachers only spend around 19per percent of their time in teaching while their rest of the time is filled mostly on non-teaching administrative work. 

5. Closure of Schools

 Due to the low strength of students and lack of teachers many government schools are closed. This is due to the competitions raised by private schools. 

6. Corruption and leakages of funds

Most of the funds which are granted for the advancement of schools are mostly consumed by corrupt mediators. As these funds transferred from central government to state government to schools involve many intermediaries. Due to which a right beneficiary only gets a certain part of the fund.

Right to Education

To develop the skills and potential of children, education is granted as a right to help them. So, that they can benefit their community and the nation in the long run. As education helps in the growth of an economy of a country, reduces inequality, or be it breaking patriarchal norms. Some of the highlights of the right to education are as follows:

Without any type of discrimination the right to education is legally granted to all.

The states must preserve, honor, and fulfill the right to education act.

Between the age of 6 to 14 years every child has the right to free and compulsory education. This act is affirmed as per the 86th Constitution Amendment Act via Article 21A.

According to the right to education act every government school shall provide free education to all the children and these schools must be conducted by the School Management Committee (SMC). While private schools shall accept at least 25% of the children in their schools from the economically backward section without any fees.

To monitor all phases of elementary education including quality of education National Commissions for Elementary Education shall be established.  

Conclusion

The overarching problems concerning each level of education in India are quality and pertinence. India bears extensive difficulties in facing the requirements of a growing and modern workforce.  Some of the needs that India’s education sector faces are appropriate curriculum, quality teachers, financial support for students, and adequate facilities. Additional challenges involve the inability to meet the different linguistic, social, regional, and local education needs of such a large country. Recent advancements in Indian management have made this an especially suitable time for corporations to commit to the development of India’s education system. So, to overcome these challenges major steps should be taken by the government for the advancement of the education system in our country. As there have been no changes in the education system since the British rule. But now we can just hope for the improvement in our education system with the new education policy introduced in the recent year.


Our Solutions

How to solve these problems?
1. Adoption of technology or Education 4.0
Effective use of technological tools in teaching has many benefits. It will solve the many problems of infrastructure, quality. Yes, we recommend
2. Cooperatives or alliances
Mainly of private schools, institutes, colleges, etc, in branding, marketing, use of technology, teachers training, extra activities, sports,
2. Teacher training
Teachers' training remains one of the most chaotic, neglected and deficient sectors of India's vast education system. This needs to be changed as they virtually hold the destiny of the future generations in their hands
3. More government spending
India targeted towards devoting 6% share of the GDP towards the educational sector, the performance has definitely fallen short of expectations. Also funding is needed to be spend on building infrastructure
4. Inclusive education system
Growth in education sector should incorporate all sections of society like rural, urban poor ,woman Backward classes etc.
5. Quality education
Education provided should meet needs of student. e.g. education provided to hearing impaired or slow learners. It should allow them to enhance their skills and get better employment options
6. PPP model
Public-Private sources and to encourage the active participation of the private sector in national development. It is more forcefully advocated when public resources are projected to be inadequate to meet needs.
7. IES
An All India Education Services should be established which will decide the policies of education in consultation with educationalists
8. Education policy
Educational policy need frequent update. It should cover personality development aspect of student It should also imbibe values of culture and social services

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