DISE 2007-08 Publications

The following publications based on DISE 2007-08 data are expected to be released shortly. If interested, please send your complete mailing address: Elementary Education in India: 2006-07, Analytical Report Elementary Education in India: 2006-07, Analytical Tables Elementary Education in Rural India: 2006-07: Analytical Tables Elementary Education in Urban India: 2006-07: Analytical Tables District Report Cards: 2006-07, Volume I District Report Cards: 2006-07, Volume II Publications would also be made available at 

https://educationforallinindia.com 

http://udise.in 

http://schoolreportcards.in 

Education For All in India Team

Visit to Lakshadweep

Recently along with Mr. Shalender Sharma (of DISE Project) I visited Kavaratti, the capital of UT Lakshadweep having a population of 8000 only. The total population of the entire island is around 60 thousand which is much lower than the population of Adchini and Katwaria Sarai, the localities in South Delhi. About 98 percent of the Lakshadweep population is Muslim and they speak Malayalam.

First thing first, reaching Kavaratti is not simple। One has to first reach Cochin and from Cochin, Agatti, a small island of Lakshadweep having around 5000 population. In the monsoon season, one can reach Kavaratti from Agatti only by Helicopter. In the fair season, other mode of transportation such as ship, steamers and boats are also available. The Helicopter service is actually the medical ambulance and hence can be diverted any time to Cochin to ferry patients. Because of this we too had to stay overnight in Agatti. Fortunately, Agatti has a brand new State Guest House which is under expansion and have all facilities like, AC, TV etc. The mobile signals are generally found to be weak in the island. Getting all such facilities in such a small island is like five star accommodation in any big city. The cook served us reasonably good Dinner and Breakfast, the next morning.

Practically within half an hour we moved around Agatti and came back to the Guest House। We were still not sure about our flight to Kavaratti, the next morning. Initially we were told that the Helicopter may not come to Agatti, as it is still in the Cochin. Than we were informed that it would first go to Kavaratti, take fuel and then would be under maintenance. We were worried about the Workshop (on DISE, 3rd of August 2008) in the afternoon at Kavaratti. The DC, Agatti was helpful in ensuring that we would get the seats in the first sortie. Finally, we could able to reach Kavaratti by 1 pm. It took only 12-13 minutes to reach Kavaratti by Helicopter. By this way we lost half day as we could start the Workshop only by 2 pm. We in Delhi are habitual of frequent power cuts but power in the Lakshadweep is very consistent. Electricity in the island is generated through the Generators. Everything, except fish and coconut comes from the mainland and therefore is costly compared to the same in the mainland. For example, petrol is around 85 Rs./Lt. We were welcomed with the fresh coconut water in the comfortable State Guest House. Unlike in other costal cities, one need not go far to reach sea beach. In Kavaratti, both sides of the road have beach. Off late many resorts have come up and most of them are fully booked for the coming season starting September.

Now let me come to the point, the purpose of our visit to the island, was to conduct the Workshop on District Information System for Education, a system developed by NUEPA and MHRD/GoI to collect information from all the recognized schools imparting elementary education across the country. Each district and the state has been covered under the system; they collect, feed, use and disseminate information through various modes (http://www.dise.in/) and (schoolreportcards.in). But for Lakshadweep, we at NUEPA, New Delhi used to feed the information at the national level, as it was difficult for the UT to manage data feeding at their end. Unlike UP, Lakshadweep has only 34 schools, compared to 1.70 lakh such schools in UP. Lakshadweep has only 3 blocks, 8 islands and one district. All the officers and a few Principles of Kavaratti and Agatti participated in the Workshop. It was first time that we interacted directly with the School Principles, the respondents in the DISE operation. We found that Principals are well aware about educational development in the UT. In case of a school, the Principal reported that the information filled-in through the format is supplied by the CRC Co-coordinator but agreed that the same is correct. We are hopeful that the Date Entry Operators would now handle data entry and we need not to feed the data at the national level. We too visited a few schools and seen mid-day (coked one: rice, dal, papadam and pickle) meal been served which was started in the UT way back in 1956; earlier than Tamil Nadu. The School Principal informed us that he too had mid-day meal during his school days. However, the quality of food in those days was much better them the same these days. Most of the children in the UT are enrolled and schools are better equipped than the same in the mainland. Every school has 6-7 teacher and equal number of classrooms. There is hardly any space/land available for expansion. Lakshadweep doesn’t have DIET and are heavily dependant on Kerala. The UT is also using Kerala’s textbooks.

Our return journey was also quite uncertain. It took almost 12 hrs to reach Delhi but it was worth visiting the UT. We were told that we were the first from NUEPA to ever visit and conduct a Workshop in the island.

You may like to visit the island.

DISE: District Information System for Education

Through the DISE information from all the schools imparting elementary education across the country is being collected every year. 

As a part of this activity, school report cards of each and every schools for the year 2007-08 were launched recently which is also available for the years 2005-06 and 2006-07. for this and other DISE publications, please visit:

https://educationforallinindia.com 

http://schoolreportcards.in 

http://udise.in

English gains as Medium of Instructions

With English giving India a huge advantage in the global economy, it is only natural that more Indians are opting to educate their kids in English-medium schools। What may come as a surprise is the pace at which this is happening. Nationwide enrolment in the upper primary section of English-medium schools rose 74% during 2003-2006.

 In actual figures, this is a rise from 54.7 lakh students in 2003 to 95.1 lakh in 2006. Data collected by the National University for Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA) show that over the same period, enrolment in Hindi (the dominant language) medium schools grew by 24% from 6.3 crore to 7.8 crore. The growth of English is more in non-Hindi speaking states, mostly the southern states which account for over 60% of the students enrolled in English-medium schools in the three-year period। Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, in that order, account for the highest jump in numbers in enrolment.

TN, which had the largest number of students enrolled in English-medium schools in 2003, was outstripped by AP by 2006. In AP, the number of students enrolled in English-medium schools nearly doubled in this period from 10.6 lakh to 20.9 lakh. In TN, the numbers jumped from 14.7 lakh to 17.2 lakh; and in Maharashtra, from 10.6 lakh to 11.9 lakh. English-medium also accounts for well over 90% of the enrolment in the north-eastern states. However, up north, the growth of English has been sluggish except in Punjab and Gujarat where enrolment went up by over 93,000 and 60,000 respectively — not so high when compared with the southern states Data collected by the National University for Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA) show that over the same period, enrolment in Hindi (the dominant language) medium schools grew by 24% from 6।3 crore to 7।8 crore। The spurt in schooling in English also means it is now the third biggest medium of instruction for upper primary students after Hindi and Marathi. In 2003, there were more students enrolled in Tamil medium, Telugu medium and Kannada medium schools than in those that taught in English.

This would be the case for Bengali too but since the figures for Bengal have been dismissed by NUEPA as incomplete, a comparison is not possible. In 2006, over half the students at the upper primary level in the country were enrolled in Hindi medium schools, about 8% in Marathi medium schools, and over 6% in those that teach in English. Clearly, the growth of Hindi is mostly confined to the Hindi-speaking states, while English is growing across all states. The share of regional languages too has remained more or less the same or declined, mainly due to more people opting to educate their children in English medium.

Among regional languages, the biggest fall in enrolment among the southern states happened in the Telugu medium in AP. Telugu medium enrolment in the state fell from 83% of the total enrolment in 2003-04 to 78% in 2006, even though it has increased by 6.78 lakh in terms of numbers. In TN, enrolment in Tamil medium has dipped from 82% of overall enrolment to 81%, though in absolute numbers it has gone up by 60,000. In Kerala, the proportion of enrolment in Malayalam has fallen from 90% to 87% and the numbers too have fallen. Then again, overall enrolment in the state has fallen by over 3 lakh. In Kerala, both in numbers as well as in terms of proportion of overall enrolment, students opting for English medium have increased, even though the overall enrolment in the state has decreased. The proportion increased from 7% to 10% and in numbers it has gone up to 3.2 lakh from 2.4 lakh. Karnataka is the only state where the number of students who enrolled for English medium went down.

But then, the overall enrolment in the state has come down by 9.6 lakh. In terms of the percentage of total enrolment in the state, enrolment in English medium has increased from 16% to 18%. In Arunachal, Sikkim and Nagaland, enrolment in English medium is touching nearly 99% in the case of the first two states. In Manipur and Goa, nearly half the students up to upper primary are enrolled in English medium and over half of them are in English medium in Chandigarh. In the north, Punjab and HP have recorded an increase in enrolment in English medium by four percentage points each, and in absolute numbers the increase has been over 93,000 in Punjab. Other than these two states and Gujarat with an increase of over 60,000 students, no other northern state has seen any substantial rise in enrolment in English. On the whole, the Hindi heartland’s contribution to the rise in enrolment in English medium schools is negligible.

Among the large Hindi-speaking states like UP, Bihar, MP and Rajasthan, only MP and Rajasthan have seen an increase of more than 30,000 in enrolment. In the other states, it has gone up by just a few thousands. In the case of enrolment in Hindi medium, the Hindi-speaking states have witnessed a substantial increase in terms of numbers, but the percentage of Hindi enrolment in the overall enrolment in these states has remained more or less the same. All three states that have seen an increase in enrolment in English medium - HP, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh — have recorded a fall in proportion of enrolment in Hindi medium enrolment. In fact, in HP, even in terms of numbers the enrolment in Hindi medium has fallen by nearly 24,000 and by proportion it has fallen from 94% to 90%.

rema.nagarajan@timesgroup.com