Observations on Samagra Shiksha

Free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of fourteen is the constitutional commitment in India. Despite spectacular quantitative expansion in every sphere of elementary education, the goal to achieve universal enrolment is still a far distant dream in a real sense.  While adopting the constitution in 1950, the goal of UEE was to be achieved in ten years i.e. 1960.  Keeping in view the educational facilities available in the country at that time, the goal of UEE was far too ambitious to achieve in a short span of ten years.  Hence, the target date was revised several times.  During the decade 1991-2001, a number of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, as well as, new programmes and projects were initiated across the country.  The Operation Blackboard scheme initiated in 1987 also got momentum during this period so as the large number of District Institutes of Educational Training (DIETs) established across the country. 

The Andhra Pradesh Primary Education Project, Bihar Education Project, UP Basic Education Project, Lok Jumbish and Shiksha Karmi projects of Rajasthan and District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) were the main state-specific programmes initiated during 1991-2001. The mid-day meal scheme was also initiated during this period. Primary education remained the focus of all these programmes. The DPEP which came to an end in 2000 was implemented in 272 districts across 18 states. 

The most recent ambitious programme, namely Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was launched by the Government of India in 2001envisaged covering all non-DPEP districts before the end of the Ninth Five-Year Plan with a focus on the entire elementary level of education. 

Initially, the focus of SSA was to further strengthen infrastructure in schools which was later shifted initially to increase enrolment (in terms of enrolment ratio, drop-out, and transition rate) and later focused more on improving quality of education. Under the aegis of SSA, a number of programmes were launched and several studies were conducted (mostly by the Technical Support Group of SSA) in the beginning but later the momentum couldn’t be maintained. One of the significant visible achievements of SSA was strengthening the Educational Management Information System through DISE/U-DISE initiatives which had later acquired the status of the Official Statistics in 2012-13.

Initially, the aim of SSA was to bring all the out-of-school, never enrolled, and dropped-out children back to school by 2003, achieve UPE by 2007, and UEE with satisfactorily quality of education by 2010 but nobody knows what had happened to all these targets. Targets of 2003, 2005, and 2010 show national commitment but no state-specific targets were set down in the process of which all states including Kerala and Bihar was given the same year to achieve the objectives of SSA. Neither district-specific target was set down.

A thorough diagnosis exercise would have revel how many years a state and district would take to achieve the goal of UPE and UEE but the momentum of data analysis couldn’t be maintained barring an initial period of SSA. Later the concept of participatory planning lost focus so as the development of district plans in a decentralized mode. 

A number of capacity building programmes with an emphasis on the data analysis and use of indicators in planning were conducted across the county.  Barring the initial period, later district plans started formulating at the State level and planning teams remained on paper.  In most cases, Block development plans as envisaged in SSA couldn’t be developed so as the School Development plans based on which District plans were envisaged to be developed. 

In 2007, SSA extended to the secondary level of education in the form of RMSA. In 2009, Right to Education was enacted ensuring that every child of age 6 to 14 years is enrolled because of which there is no target year by which UPE and UEE are to be achieved which is continued. The local authorities are supposed to identify out-of-school children at the beginning of an academic year which is then to provide special training of 2 months to 3 years and then to make them sit in the age-appropriate class. No data is available as to how many such students were made to sit in a class and how many of them continued and have completed Grade V and VIII. Change in the planning methodology because RTE is also not available in the public domain but district plans continued to be developed based on the EXCEL Tables.

SSA inherited a legacy of rich experience of DPEP but it couldn’t sustain many of the best practices of the DPEP and it had become a routine and mechanical exercise year after year and lost focus. During the entire period of SSA, 2001 to 2018, it was never externally reviewed barring annual review by the Joint Review Mission even though there was a change in the federal government.   For about 15 years, SSA plans were being formulated, appraised, approved and money released based on the 50+ Excel Tables provided by the Technical Support Group of SSA.  

In the initial years of SSA, the process of plan formulation was a bit scientific but later everything gained over the previous such programmes lost and plans lack academic flavour.  NIEPA is said to be known as an apex body in the areas of capacity building and planning and had played an important role during DPEP implementation. But so far as the SSA is concerned its planning methodology, barring an initial period is not in the public domain.
It never took up the issue of plans being formulated based on EXCEL Sheets with the Ministry of HRD in the absence of which the outcome of the capacity building programmes which it had conducted is not reflected in the plans being formulated. But such programmes conducted by the NIEPA have contributed immensely to developing an understanding of both the district and state-level officers in the areas of MIS, indicators of educational development, planning methodology, and data analysis which is true for both SSA and RMSA. In each state, one person well versed engaged in planning over years and have a good understanding of SSA and RMSA parameters, use of indicators, and its implication for planning can be identified but such officers are not large in number. 

NIEPA faculty played important role at the beginning of SSA and conducted a good number of programmes on planning methodology and have also played important role in Appraisal Missions constituted by the Ministry but this exercise which was found useful by both the members of appraisal as well states discontinued for unknown reasons; instead, the concept of internal appraisal was introduced which was never found effective.  Whatever one wants to achieve can only be achieved through the active participation of teachers for which provision of in-service was made in SSA. During SSA the focus of capacity building of teachers was transferred from DIET to Block Resource Centres across the County. By and large, DIET continues to engage in B.Ed and Diploma programmes and few programmes it used to conduct were also decided at the State level (generally SCERT) which is generally not found need-based and as per the requirement of teachers but the same was an easy tool to spend a good amount of money allotted. The quality of school education was also badly reflected by the provisions of RTE, namely no detention and no exam policy at the elementary level of education which resulted in demand by the states to scrap the same which was later approved by the parliament through amendment in the Constitution. Even though SSA was extended to the Secondary level through RMSA but the same was limited only to Government schools and even aided schools were not covered. 

One of the other limitations of the programme was the issue of prioritization because of which during the initial period of SSA schools were opened where they were not viable to be opened which were later merged with other schools or a few of them were even closed down. This was also true for the construction of additional classrooms and other facilities. Despite all these limitations, significant progress was made during the SSA period but the same was focused more on to further strengthen infrastructure in schools or on input variables. At the end of SSA, the following set of data reveals the progress made and the size of the unfinished task.

Status of School Education: Year 2017-18

·       Number of Schools: 15,58,903

·       Percentage of Private Schools: 20.67%

·       Total Teachers, Grades I to XII: 92,47,361

·       Percentage of Trained Teachers : 81.39%

·       Percentage of Single-Teacher Schools (Government): 7.82%

·       Percentage of Single-Classroom Schools (Government): 3.99%

·       Percentage of Schools with Computer(s): 29.57%

·       Percentage of Schools with Functional Computer(s): 13.07%

·       Percentage of Schools with Electricity: 63.14%

·       Percentage of Schools with Internet Connection: 13.61%

·       Total I to XII Enrolment: 25,09,89,193

·       Enrolment in Grades I to V & NER: 12,23,78,400, 82.53%

·       Enrolment in Grades VI to VII & NER: 6,54,48,222, 72.62%

·       Enrolment in Grades I to VII & NER: 18,78,26,622, 85.18%

·       Enrolment in Grades IX to X & NER: 3,84,80,023, 52,14%

·       Enrolment in XI & XII & NER: 2,46,82,548, 32.60%

·       Enrolment in Grade I: 1,31,37,951 Boys & 1,19,49,359 Girls

·       Average Annual Drop-out Rate, Primary level: 3.51%

·       Average Annual Drop-out Rate, Upper Primary level: 5.02%

·       Average Annual Drop-out Rate, Elementary level: 4.03%

·       Average Annual Drop-out Rate, Secondary level: 18.51%

·       Average Annual Drop-out Rate, Primary level: 2.77%

·       Retention Rate at Primary level: 86.11%

·       Retention Rate at Elementary level: 71.06%%

·       Retention Rate at Secondary level: 57.72%

·       Transition Rate from primary to Upper Primary level: 90.78%

·       Transition Rate from Upper Primary to Secondary level: 89.23%

·       Transition Rate from Secondary Higher to Secondary level: 68.05%

·       Gender Parity Index, Primary Grades: 1.02

·       Gender Parity Index, Upper Primary Grades: 1.11

·       Gender parity Index, Secondary Grades: 1.03

·       Gender parity Index, Higher Secondary Grades: 1.02

·       Completion Rate at Secondary Level: 64.97%

 As it seems that most of the indicators have improved over a period of time but the drop-out rate remained high which would significantly influence the objective of universal school enrolment. Another important issue is the decline in enrolment across school levels over a period of time is a major area of concern that must be thoroughly examined to find out the exact causes of decline which is across the country.  Net Enrolment Ratio is 85 percent which if not further improve to significant effect, enrolment in other higher levels cannot improve. Needless to mention that enrolment in upper primary and other higher levels can only improve if enrolment in primary classes is further improved which would happen only if the efficiency of the primary level of education is improved. This is also true for Higher Education which unless received an adequate number of Higher Secondary graduates, cannot increase on its own. 

Till recently plans were being developed separately for the elementary and secondary level of education, which now under Samagra Shiksha, are supposed to be developed for the entire School education level as one entity by one planning team but as of now the same old model of developing plans based on EXCEL Sheets is still going on. The only difference is that the entire set of EXCEL Tables are divided into three parts, elementary and RTE, Teacher education, and Secondary and higher secondary levels of education which are then provided to the person-in-charge looking after these components under the aegis of Samagra Shiksha. Hardly any research studies have been undertaken to see the impact of SSA and RMSA and whether its objectives have been achieved and if not, what are the reasons for non-achievement.

It may also be of interest to know that two separate district plans were used to be developed one each for elementary under SSA and another secondary level of education under RMSA by the two different agencies. In the initial years of RMSA, even there were two separate JRMs as well as PAB to approve annual plans. Till 2011-12, even DISE was also separately been managed by the Office of SSA and RMSA with a provision of two Data Capture Formats, one online application for SEMIS and another off-line software for SSA, two Nodal officers, one each for SSA an RMSA but there was only one data entry point because of which there was a lot of duplicity of efforts being made towards achieving the goal of school education in India. Maybe because of these reasons, Samagra Shiksha was launched in 2018-19 to meet the challenges of unfinished tasks of school education in India.

Universalisation in the Context of the National Policy on Education 2020

By 

Prof. Arun C Mehta

Formally Professor & Head of the EMIS Department

NIEPA, New Delhi (India)

The National Educational Policy (2020) adopted a number of suggestions for school education which, if adopted has got far reaching implications one of which is restructuring the composition of school education. At present in India Primary education level consists of Grade I to V (corresponding age-group 6+ to 10+ years), Upper Primary level consists of Grades VI to VIII (age-group 11+ to 13+ years), Secondary (Grades IX & X/14+ to 15+ years) and Higher Secondary Level of education (XI & XII/16+ to 17+ years). Universalisation in India means universal access (school facilities to all), universal participation (all relevant age group children enrolled), universal retention (meaning all those who enter in to the system retain and transit from one level of education to another) and universal quality of education (satisfying criteria of minimum levels of learning).

Instead of present levels, the NPE (2020) proposed (i) Foundational Stage of School Education (3 years of Pre-primary education including Grades 1 and 2 with corresponding age-group 3 to 8 years) (ii) Preparatory phase consisting of 3 years i.e. Grades 3, 4 and 5 (iii) Middle School Education of 3 years (Grades 6, 7 and 8) and (iv) Secondary Education phase of 4 years consisting Grades 9, 10, 11 and 12. The corresponding clientele age-groups of these phases would be: Phase I (3+ to 7+ years), Phase II (8+ to 10+years), Phase III (11+ to 13+ years) and Phase IV (14+ to 17+ years).

New phases, if adopted, would change the meaning of universal primary education.  A new set of indicators would be required to be developed and adopted. At present universalisation in India at an educational level is viewed through a set of indicators such as, Gross and Net Enrolment Ratio, Age-specific & Adjusted Net Enrolment Ratio, Grade-to-Grade drop out, promotion and repetition rate, average annual dropout rate, retention & transition rates and a set of quality of education related indicators to view learners ability to read and write.

In case if the proposed structure is adopted, meaning of the most of the indicators and its implication for planning universalisation will change. Instead of present 6+ to 18+ years age group, the new system would have 3+ to 18+ as its clientele; thus meaning school education would have 17 years instead of present 14 years.

New indicators for Foundation and Preparatory Phase would need to be developed on the line of existing set of indicators. However, there would not be any implication for third phase i.e. Middle School education which consists of Grades 6, 7 and 8 which is similar to the existing Upper Primary level of Education and Phase 4th which is combination of the existing Secondary and Higher Secondary levels of education. For Universal foundational Stage, one would be required to compute Gross, Net and other enrolment based indicators for the corresponding 3 to 8 years clientele population. To attain universalisation at this phase of education means enrolling all children of age-group 3 to 8 years in the corresponding classes i.e. Pre-primary to Grade 1 and 2 will be the sufficient condition but that itself will not serve the purpose unless all those who enter into the system through first year of 3 years of Pre-primary education retain in the system, move from one grade to another and finally reach and complete Grade 2. To achieve goal of universalisation, the basic condition would be to enroll all children of age 3 for which entry rate would be required to be computed. A 100 percent entry rate (net) will be required to achieve the goal of universal foundation.

Grade-to-grade dropout, promotion and repetition, if any will be required to compute between each of 5 years of foundation stage. In addition, transition rate from Foundational stage to Preparatory phase, Preparatory to Middle school education phase and from Middle school education phase to Secondary education phase as well as retention rate at all these phases will be required to be computed. Retention rate presents information about the retaining capacity of the system which is unless brought to 100; the dream of universalisation may not be cherished.

Similarly, enrolment ratios at Preparatory phase consisting Grades 3, 4 & 5 with the corresponding clientele age group 8+to 10+ years would be required to be worked out. Universalisation at this phase mean all children of age group 8 to 10 years are enrolled in corresponding grades i.e. Grades 3, 4 & 5 but that would depends upon how many phase one graduates (those who successfully reach Grade 2) system will be producing and transit to the first grade i.e. Grade 3 of next phase i.e. Phase 2, Preparatory phase. It may also be of interest to know that to compute enrolment based indicators enrolment in absolute form and relevant age-specific child population is required.

Though enrolment in the latest year is available from the U-DISE but the age-specific population is available only from the Census of India which is latest available for 2011. Until 2001 Census, the Office of the Registrar General of India used to provide projected population annually but the same based up to the 2011 Census population was never provided in the absence of which enrolment ratio at different levels of education may be termed as indicative (GER at Primary 95.12 percent & Upper Primary level, 90.73 percent) as the child population used in computing GER & NER is estimated based on the projected population based on up to the 2001 Census. All through 2012 to current year, enrolment ratios at all levels of education are based on provisional set of child population. Once the actual child population is available, the enrolment ratio may dramatically change. At disaggregated levels such as, district and block levels, official population projections are rarely available in the absence of which it is not an easy task to compute enrolment based indicators at these levels.

School Education Department of the MHRD must approach the Office of the Registrar General of India to ensure timely availability of 2021 Census child population both at the all-India and State and district levels and in subsequent years in the absence of which it is not possible to reliably compute enrolment ratio indicators which has got serious implications for planning universalisation.

The policy document also envisage increasing GER at Higher Education level from present 25 percent to 50 percent by 2035 meaning doubling enrolment during the period 2017 to 2035 which may not be realized unless the efficiently of school education system is improved to significant effect as enrolment in higher education level is not only a function of 18 to 22 population but would largely depends upon number of higher secondary graduates the system will be producing.

Needless to mention that of the total 123.8 million enrolment in Primary classes, about 6 percent children dropped out form the system before completion of Primary level thus influencing enrolment in subsequent levels of education i.e. upper primary and secondary and higher secondary levels of education all which will eventually affect number of secondary graduates that would be available for higher education.

In view of this, the National Policy 2020 emphasized the need to achieve access and participation in free and compulsory quality school education for all children in the age group of 3 to 18 years by 2030 for which it envisaged all out of school, never enrolled and dropped out children back to school as early as possible and to further prevent all them from dropping out. To achieve this, the policy suggested (i) sufficient infrastructure at all levels from pre-primary school through Grade 12; and (ii) to achieve universal participation in schools by carefully tracking students to ensure that they are enrolled in and attending schools.

The Policy (2019) also advocates that the Free and Compulsory aspects of Right to Education (RTE) Act must be enforced and extended through Grade 12 to all children up to the age of 18 is termed welcome and timely suggestion but the moot question one may ask is whether RTE Act enacted in 2009 has been truly implemented in its spirits?. U-DISE data suggest that only 12 percent of the 1.5 million schools imparting school education in the Country have all the 10 facilities as was envisaged in the Right to Free and Compulsory Education 2009 Act majority of schools without such facilities are the Government run schools. In addition, though declined but still a good number of unrecognized schools are functioning across the country which is evident from the U-DISE data.

As per the RTE Act, all un-enrolled, never enrolled and dropped out children are to be identified by the local authorities annually and train them (3 months to 2 years) to make them to sit in the age appropriate grade in view of which in the recent years there are no target date/year to achieve the goal of Universal Primary/School education. The Student Database Management in-sync with U-DISE launched in 2016-17 could have helped, as proposed in the policy, in moving towards developing a Child-Tracking System but unfortunately for unknown reasons, the same despite successfully collecting individual student records of more than 210 million students discontinued abruptly in the following years.

Once the modifications as suggested in the NPE 2020 is adopted,  Officers those who are engaged in data analysis and district plans will be required to understand meaning of universalisation in the changed scenario for which adequate modifications will be required in the planning strategies, if any under the Government of India’s flagship programme i.e. Samagra Shiksha!!

Planning under Samagra Shiksha (School Education, INDIA)

By
 Arun C Mehta[1]
Formerly Professor & Head
Department of Educational Management Information System
National University of Educational Planning & Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi
(E-mail: acmehta100@gmail.com)

  Background

Since the inception of the District Primary Education Programme in 1994, there is a provision of developing district plans initially for the primary level of education which was later extended to the entire elementary level of education when Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme was launched in 2000-01. At the end of DPEP in 2000, the development of district primary education plans could reach 272 districts across 18 States of the Country but still confined to DPEP states and districts only. Special planning modules developed were extensively been used in developing district plans and the whole exercise is termed as rigorous. Intensive capacity building programmes were conducted by the apex institutions, such as NIEPA, New Delhi on planning methodology with a focus on hands-on training and data analysis, and use of indicators. There was also a provision of pre-plan activities each of the districts covered under DPEP was supposed to carry out each of the activities proposed in the DPEP framework most of which were followed rigorously. District, as well as State planning teams with representations from all the main streams departments, were constituted both of which used to have intensive discussions on each of the plan components. Also, several research studies were initiated both at the district and state level for which a substantial amount was made available findings of which were the important inputs for the plan formulation.  Plans developed under DPEP were used to be first appraised internally at the state level followed by an intensive filed-based appraisal by the appraisal mission, having 10 to 12 experts representing different components of plan formulation, constituted by the authorities at the national level findings of which were used to be discussed at the national level in a meeting chaired by the Education Secretary (School Education) and attended by the Mission members in the presence of the State Project Director and his/her entire team. Every recommendation used to have had heated arguments and consensus arrived on which used to was the basis of approval state as well as district plans and was termed as a learning activity not only for the state officers but also for the appraisal team members.

The entire planning process as prescribed was rigorously followed all through the DPEP but couldn’t be sustained the momentum except during the initial period of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme launched in 2001 to achieve the goal of the universal elementary level of education.  During the initial period of SSA, both the plan formulation as well as plan appraisal were rigorous but during the later years, the whole exercise becomes more or less monotonous. Appraisal Mission was taken over by the Joint Review Mission members of which used to visit states for a couple of days based on which reports were submitted to the Government of India. Intensive plan formulation was taken over by plans being formulated based on EXCEL Tables provided by the Technical Support Group (TSG) of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Even though SSA was to take care needs of the entire elementary level of education but district plans were still centered on the primary level of education. Research studies were rarely undertaken by the districts and states even though enough funds were made available for the same. Whatever little studies were undertaken all were undertaken by the TSG of SSA for which a separate unit was created within the TSG. State Officers including MIS In-charge used to come to Delhi and fill-up EXCEL Tables which is being followed by a pre-appraisal discussion with the TSG Consultants outcome of which is presented before the Project Approval Board for its consideration and approval. Initially, separate plans were being formulated for SSA and RMSA which was launched in 2009 along with RTE which was also enacted in 2009.  Modifications were made both in the Data Capture Format of DISE as well EXCEL planning Tables initially separately for the elementary and secondary level of education but later the same set of tables was merged into one package under the banner of school education plan. DISE has also become the Unified DISE since 2012-13 when one Data Capture Format was initiated to collect data from the entire school level of education. Formulation of plans through EXCEL Tables continued till the launch of Samagra Shiksha in the year 2018. The previously used EXCEL Tables are now re-distributed under the headings, Right-to-Education, School and Teacher education but still, the academic flavor is continued to be missing.  As it seems that experience of plan formulation under DPEP, SSA & RMSA, its short-comings have not adequately utilized and is also not visible in the on-going Samagra Shiksha so far as the district plan formulation is concerned as the same practice of plan formulation is continued. 

The Tables being used are comprehensive covering all aspects of school education including RTE and Teacher education and are largely based on U-DISE data and data from internal sources which is difficult to verify. A few sets of data, such as on out-of-school children and a few other such variables may not be available annually. Because of the changes proposed in the NPE 2020 concerning school structure, the computation and meaning of enrolment-based indicators, as well as meaning of universalization, will completely be changed.  The current structure of 10+2 schooling will be changed to five years of foundational education (age 3 to 7 years), three years of preparatory (age 8 to 10+ years), three years of the middle (upper primary/age 11 to 13+ years) and four years of secondary education (age 14 to 18+ years). Because of the changes, district planning tables under Samagra Shiksha may also eventually require to be modified to meet the changed requirement. 

It is hoped that the district planning module developed by NIEPA will be implemented in the real sense, for sure not only based on EXCEL tables which may be resulted only if all those who are engaged in planning shake hands.

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[1] Article is has been written after superannuation from NIEPA in August 2019.

 

 

Online Learning (Education) in India: Are we Ready?

On-Line Learning: Are We Ready?

A Note by Prof. Arun C Mehta, Former Professor, NIEPA, New Delhi (INDIA)

 Background

Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, since the third week of March 2020, the entire Country is under lockdown. Schools are closed down because of which students are offered online content but many are facing difficulty in getting access to contents because of lack of digital devices. In this note, an attempt has been made to assess readiness to receive online content.

Rather than students as a unit of on-line education, better to make household as a unit of online education because of the availability of the digital platform, on-line education must be provided. A few households may not have got access to any digital device but may have Radio and/or mobile phone with FM receiving facility. A few others may have got only Television Sets with or without DTH facility. Besides, few households might have got access to a smartphone with limited or no internet facility. Few others maybe only a few households, especially in the rural areas might have got access to a smartphone with 4G connectivity. Contrary to which a few households might have got access to a computer or laptop and/or smartphone with data plans and/or Radio and TV with DTH connection. Depending upon the availability of the digital platform, the household may be categorized into those who can access (i) on-line (ii) off-line or (iii) partially online content.

 

Computer & Internet Facility in India

To know more about the availability of digital mode at household, it is important to analyze NSSO 75^th Round of data on education conducted during the period July 2017 to June 2018. During this round, information on ICT in general and (i) whether the household had a computer and (ii) internet facility while for each person age 5 years and above was collected. Also, HH's ability to operate  (i) computer, (ii) use the internet, and (iii) whether the HH used the internet during the last 30 days was also collected. Unfortunately, information on the availability of all devices such as, desktop computer, laptop computer, notebook, notebook, palmtop, tablet, etc. was collected but one of the most easily accessible devices these days, namely Smart Phone, no information was collected in view of which the NSSO 2017-18 data may be considered as revealing incomplete information about the availability of devices in Households. Still, it provides useful information about the availability and use of ICT devices in both rural as well as urban areas which is briefly analyzed below:

Available information reveals that only 10.7 percent of the total households in India have got a computer and another 23.8 percent have got access to internet facilities. But the same in the rural areas is as low as 4.4 and 14.9 percent respectively as against 23.4 and 42 percent in the urban areas; thus showing a wide gap in the availability of computers and access to internet facility between rural and urban areas.

 State-specific availability of computers and access to internet facilities further reveals a wide-spread gap between states. On the one hand, Delhi reported having the computer in its 34.7 percent of the total Households and another 55.7 percent has got access to the internet as against only 4.6 and 15.4 percent households respectively in one of the largest states, namely Bihar. However, the same in the case of Odisha concerning the availability of computers is as low as 4.2 percent which has also got the lowest percentage (10 percent) of households have got access to internet facility. One can easily understand, how households in India in general and located in the rural areas would have got access to online content offered to their children during COVID19. In the rural areas, Jharkhand has got the lowest percentage of HHs having a computer (1.3 percent) as against 5.8 percent of households in Odisha having got access to internet facility.

Ability to use Computer & Internet Facility: India, Population 5 year & above

The percentage use of Computer and Internet Facilities for the population 5 years and above reveals that only 16.5 percent of people in this age group can use the computer as against 20.1 percent use internet out of which 17.6 percent used the internet during the last 30 days from the day of the survey. The percentage is as low as 9.9, 13.0 and 10.8 percent respectively in the rural areas compared to which percentage in the urban areas is much higher at 32.4, 37.1 and 33.8 percent respectively but still a majority of population both in the rural and urban areas do not know how to operate both computer and internet. Further, a wide-gap has also been observed between males and females using the computer and internet which is true for both the rural and urban areas. In rural areas, only 7 percent of females reported having the ability to operate computers as against 12.6 percent internet facility. The corresponding percentages for the ability to use the internet are 17.1 (male) and 8.5 percent (female) in the rural areas against 37.5 (male) and 26.9 (female) percentage population know computer operation and 43.5 (male) and 30.1 (female) percent know internet operation in the urban areas.

A state-wise percentage of 5+ population having the ability to operate a computer and use internet facility separately in the rural and urban areas also reveals wide-spread variation across states. Bihar with 8 percent, Jharkhand with 8.2 percent and Odisha with 8.5 percent has the lowest percentage of the population who can operate computer against 42.8 percent population in Delhi and 41.5 percent in Kerala know computer operation incidentally which is the highest amongst major states.  In the rural areas, the percentage is even further low as only 6.3 percent of 5+ population know computer operation in Bihar against 39.2 percent in Kerala.  Further, significant variation is observed in the case of male and female operating computers and internet facilities. It may also be of interest to observe that male-female variation both in the case of a population of 5+ who can operation both computers and the internet is more in urban areas than the same in the rural areas.

The above analysis of NSSO 75 Round data (2017-18) reveals that all households are not yet fully equipped to receive online content. Even if they can receive, most of them are not able to use it which is reflected in the NSSO 5+ population able to use the computer as well as the internet all which raises serious issues about the reach and use of on-line contents made available in different forms across the country. The above analysis of available data is presented because of users but are our teachers equipped to handle the task efficiently concerning the development of contents and conduct on-line classes? or they are supposed to use the contents developed and made available by other agencies?  How teachers are equipped about imparting online classes is also indirectly reflected in schools having got access to computer and internet connectivity which is latest available for the year 2017-18 in the public domain through U-DISE which is briefly analyzed below. It may also be of interest to know that of the total 9.24 million teachers who impart school education, about 20 percent of teachers are not professionally trained. Incidentally, more than 85 percent of teachers in government schools are professionally qualified but the percentage of untrained teachers in the case of private and aided schools is as high as 27.43 percent.  On the other hand, the qualification of a few teachers is below secondary (0.49 percent) and 5.83 percent Higher Secondary level but good to know that majority of teachers are graduates and postgraduates (76.16 percent). Even 1.08 percent of teachers are having M.Phil degree holders as against -.46 percent teachers having acquired a P.Hd degree. Besides, the percentage of contractual teachers is high which has increased during the recent past as many states have discontinued the recruitment of regular teachers. In addition to about 20 percent of teachers not having adequate professional qualification, about 6.74 percent of schools are single-teacher and 2.51 percent government schools, single-classroom school; how they manage schools even on normal days is a moot question forget about on-line learning during COVID days all which raises serious issues about the real implementation and impact of online learning. It is disappointed to further know that only 59.18 percent of the total 1.5 million schools (all) have regular HMs posted in schools compared to which the same in case of primary-only school is only 45.54 percent indicating no leadership[p available in case of about 54  percent primary schools in the country in 2017-18.

Schools having Electricity & Computer Facility: 2017-18

 Schools having electricity connection, computer, functional computer, and internet connection presented at the all-India level for the year 2017-18 and in a few selected states reveal that our schools are not equipped to meet challenges paused by the pandemic. Even the basic requirement such as, the electricity connection is yet to be provided to the majority of schools which is true for both the rural and urban areas. A glance at the available information  reveals that of the total 1.5 million schools engaged in school education in the country; only 63.14 percent of schools have got the electricity connection compared to a little more than 50 percent of such primary schools. It is also true that just schools having electricity connections don’t necessarily mean that schools get an uninterrupted power supply. It has also been observed in the past that schools generally do not have separate funds to pay electricity bills because of which generally observed that even schools have a connection but they do not have in real power in school. May be The Saubhagya Scheme or Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana launched by the Prime Minister will help electricity reach our remaining schools.

Percent of Schools having Electricity, Computer and Internet Connectivity in School: 2017-18

Facility	Primary Only Schools	All Schools
Electricity Connection	51.85	63.14
Computer	12.20	29.57
Internet Connection	3.54	13.61
Functional Computer	4.19	13.07
Computer Laboratory (Hr. Secondary Schools)	-	45.17

            Source: U-DISE

Another crucial indicator is the availability of computers and internet connection in schools both of which are yet to be provided in the majority of schools in India. Of the total 1.5 million schools, only about 20 percent of schools have got a computer as against 12.20 percent such primary schools. Unfortunately, the percentage of working/functional computers in schools is as low as 13.07 percent (all schools) and 4.19 percent (primary only schools. The state-wise percentage of schools with working computers further reveals that the same in Bihar is as low as 0.51 percent compared to 3 percent in Uttar Pradesh, about 5 percent in Jharkhand, 4 percent in Assam, 5 percent in Madhya Pradesh, and 3 percent in Odisha. On the other hand, schools in a few states such as Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, and Gujarat have got electricity connections in schools but the percentage of schools with a working computer, except Delhi (68.25 percent) is still very low. Schools with working computers need not have internet connection as only about 14 percent of schools have internet connection compared to only about 4 percent of primary schools. 

          Schools having Electricity, Computer and Internet Connectivity in Schools (All) in Selected States: 2017-18

Facility	Assam	Bihar	Jharkhand	Odisha	UP	MP	Andhra Pradesh	Delhi	Gujarat	All India
Electricity Connection	24.28	45.82	47.46	36.50	44.76	32.58	92.80	99.93	99.91	63.14
Functional Computer	3.98	0.51	4.84	3.22	3.17	5.99	24.03	68.25	38.65	13.07

Source: U-DISE

Despite the lack of digital devices to receive on-line content, both in the households and also in schools, online education in different modes was launched during COVID19 which may have further widened the inequalities across the country. Time Education in different modes, such as audio, video multi-media, etc. is being widely used across the country. Are the deprived further at the disadvantage stages? Limited information available on this aspect suggests so, see the box below. It may be recalled that the Government of India announced the nation-wide lockdown on March 23, 2020, following which both the Central as well as State Governments promptly made available online resources on different platforms (laptops, desktops, and mobile phones and also through Radio and Television Sets) most of which were already available in the public domain but altogether were made available at one place some of which are mentioned below. Despite all efforts, the limited available information all suggest that the contents are yet to reach all segments of the population (about 240 million students) because of the adequate device at household/home and those who could get access all of them couldn’t use the resources because of the one or the other reason. The government of India has also specified its e-learning priorities with Grades 9 to 12 having an enrolment of 63 million is given the top priority followed by Grades 6 to 8 (64 million enrolment) with the next priority and Grades 1 to 5 (120 million enrolment), the last priority.  But it is a fact that households having got access to devices has improved significantly since the year 2018. Pratham’s recent study reveals that about 62 percent of the total families in India now have got access to a smartphone. Besides, the proportion of boys enrolled in government schools having smartphone increased from 62.8% in 2018 to 66.4% in 2020 against an increase from 70% to 73% in the case of the household having girls during the same period all of which suggests that our households though slowly but surely gearing up to have smart devices at home which shall eventually help us in taking contents to more and more households. However, in the absence of electricity in households, charging smartphones is another hurdle in accessing contents online. Lack of digital skills amongst parents, especially in the rural areas in the case of students at primary level is another major hurdle children accessing digital content at home. In addition, children are also engaged in helping their parents in their work. More children from the general class are seen using online content than children from the socially deprived section of the society. The study conducted by the UNICEF in collaboration with the Maharashtra SCERT also reveals that only half of students of Grades I to VIII in government schools in Maharashtra have got access to online learning. The study also reveals that 72 percent of families in Maharashtra lack digital skills and only 66 families do not have access to smartphone as compared to 57 percent of students have got access to internet connectivity. All the available evidence indicates the digital divide between rural and urban areas and also between general and ST/ST students. In addition, government schools are also required to be geared up to take care of additional students who have migrated from the private schools many of which now during the pandemic have closed down or simply the parents are not in opposition to pay the fee. Efforts must be initiated to ensure that after the COVID is over, more jobs are available or salaries are restored these children are not migrated back to private schools.

 Government’s Online Learning Resources

 DIKSHA: Online platform for school education for teachers, parents and students (Grades I to     XII)

e-PATHSHALA: NCERT’s Web portal and mobile app which  has audios, videos, e- e-books and Flip Books for Grades I to XII.

NATIONAL REPOSITORY OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (NROER): A portal dedicated to quality contents.

SWAYAM: National online education platform hosting courses for both school (class IX to XII) &  Higher Education (both UG and PG) in all subjects which are made available free of cost to any learner in the country.

SWAYAM PRABHA: Has DTH TV channels transmitting educational contents for both school and higher education on 24/7 basis which is being received across the country by using DD free Dish set top box and antenna.

NISHTHA: An integrated Teacher Training Portal & Moblie Applications.

UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION (UGC): College & Higher Education learning

NATIONAL DIGITAL LIBRARY: This is a digital repository of a vast amount of academic content in different formats.

NIOS: For students enrolled with NIOS

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU): Online contents for all levels of higher education

 In view of serious loss of learning because of the pandemic, UNESCO’s session on October 22 was convened to protect and promote education at a time when education financing is at considerable risk of being left behind in the governments’ domestic budgets, stimulus packages, and international aid, the UN agency said (HT, 25^th September 2020) all which shows the situation of learning because of the pandemic is serious. However, online education has opened up a lot of opportunities for both educators/teachers and learners/students. With experience and proper policy and honest efforts may result in India march-ahead which may become an example for other countries as well.