How is Education System in India

Why is India still a developing country and what is stopping it from
being a developed country? This particular question strikes me every
time when I read something about India’s education
system. I see India’s education system as a stumbling block towards
its objectives of achieving inclusive growth.

Let me inform you about certain startling facts. India is going to
experience a paradox of nearly 90 million people joining the workforce
but most of them will lack requiste skills and the mindset for
productive employment according to a report in DNA. India has about 550
million people under the age of 25 years out of which only 11% are
enrolled in tertiary institutions compared to the world average of 23%.

I wouldn’t be laying too much emphasis on the drawbacks of India’s
public education system because it has been an issue well debated over
in the past and the main flaws have already been pointed out before. I
will be focussing on how the education system’s failure is leading to
another social issue of income inequality and hence, suggest certain
policies to improve India’s education system and reduce inequality.

The really critical aspect of Indian public education system is its
low quality. The actual quantity of schooling that children experience
and the quality of teaching they receive are extremely insufficient in government
schools. A common feature in all government schools is the poor
quality of education, with weak infrastructure and inadequate pedagogic
attention.

What the government is not realising right now is that education
which is a source of human capital can create wide income inequalities.
It will be surprising to see how income inequalities are created within
the same group of educated people.Let me illustrate this with the help
of an example:

Let us take P be an individual who has had no primary or higher
education. His human capital is zero and hence it bears no returns. Let Q
be an individual who completed his MBA from S.P Jain college and let R
be an individual who completed his MBA from IIM Ahmadabad. The average
rate of return for an MBA student is 7.5% (hypothetical). Q gets a rate
of return of 5% and R gets a rate of return of 10% due to the difference
in the reputation and quality of the management school. Let the income
of P, Q and R be 1.In a period of 10 years, P will be having the same
income as he does not possess human capital. For the same time period Q
will earn an income of (1+0.05)^10=1.63 and R will earn an income of
(1+0.10)^10=2.59. Now lets see what happens when the rate of return on
human capital doubles. Earnings of P will not change since he does not
have any human capital. Now Q is going to earn (1+0.10)^10=1.63 and R is
going to earn (1+0.20)^10=6.19. Flabbergasting! As soon as return on
human capital increases proportionately income inequality increases.
With return on human capital doubling, Q’S income increases by 59% and
R’s income increases by 139%.

The above example just shows the effect of the quality of human
capital n income inequality. So if the government does not improve
education system particularly in rural areas the rich will become richer
and the poor will get poorer.

Hence, it is imperative for the government to correct the blemishes
in India’s education system which will also be a step towards reducing
income inequality.

Certain policy measures need to be taken by the government. The
basic thrust of government education spending today must surely be to
ensure that all children have access to government schools and to raise
the quality of education in those schools. One of the ways in which the
problem of poor quality of education can be tackled is through common
schooling. This essentially means sharing of resources between private
and public schools. Shift system is one of the ways through which common
schooling can be achieved. The private school can use the resources
during the first half of the day and the government school can use it
during the second half. It is important to remember that the quality of
education is directly linked to the resources available and it is
important for the government to improve resource allocation to bring
about qualitative changes in the field of education. Common schooling is
one of the ways in which government can use limited resources in an
efficient way and thus improve resource allocation.

Another reason for poor quality of education is the poor quality of
teachers in government schools .Government schools are unable to attract
good quality teachers due to inadequate teaching facilities and low
salaries. The government currently spends only 3% of its GDP on
education which is inadequate and insufficient. To improve the quality
of education , the government needs to spend more money from its coffers
on education.

Most economists feel that the only panacea to the ills of the public
schooling system is the voucher scheme. Under the voucher system,
parents are allowed to choose a school for their children and they get
full or partial reimbursement for the expenses from the government. But
however, the voucher system will further aggravate the problem of poor
quality of education in government schools. Such a system will shift
resources from government schools to private schools. This will worsen
the situation of government schools which are already under-funded.
Moreover, if the same amount given as vouchers can be used to build
infrastructure in schools then the government can realize economies of
scale. For example- The centre for civil society is providing vouchers
worth Rs 4000 per annum to 308 girls. This means that the total amount
of money given as vouchers is Rs 1232000. If the same amount can be used
to construct a school and employ high quality teachers who are paid
well then a larger section of the society will enjoy the benefit of
education. A school can definitely accommodate a minimum of 1000
students.

I hope government takes certain appropriate policy measures to
improve the education system otherwise inequalities are going to be
widespread and India’s basic capabilities will remain stunted. Let us
strengthen the case for a stronger education system.