Elementary Lessons
The most important determinants of whether a child goes to school or not, are parental educational characteristics, order of birth and the economic and occupational status of the household. For example, for a female child, the mother's educational status is the single most important variable. The obvious policy conclusion is that educational policy needs to be targeted at poor states, poor districts and disadvantaged groups. In many poor states, like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the educational infrastructure has broken down. 62 per cent of schools in Bihar do not have blackboards, but the figure is only 3 per cent for Kerala. While the average primary school in Kerala has 7.2 teachers, the figure for Bihar is 2.2.
High drop out rates of as high as 35 per cent are often due to these failures as well as to irrelevant curricula. Educational administration has no local accountability and absenteeism is common among teachers. One way to increase accountability is by transferring supervision to beneficiary communities. For example, with the 73rd amendment to the Constitution, devolution to the panchayat level can take place. This will also allow curricula to be tailored to local needs.
All the studies show that there is a large demand for education among deprived groups, although this is qualified by high opportunity costs, low perceived returns and gender or community specific socio-cultural factors. Opportunity costs are important, because the studies show that direct and indirect costs of schooling are fairly high even in government primary schools. Interventions like scholarships and mid-day meals can lower opportunity costs, while other interventions like job reservations can increase perceived returns to education. On demand, social campaigns and public action can alter these attitudes. Kerala and Rajasthan are successful examples of this happening. However, mass movements are not synonymous with government-sponsored programmes. When local communities have not been mobilised, government programmes like the National Literacy Mission have not been successful. The point is that suggestions about making education a fundamental right or compulsory primary education, as has been proposed by
Tamil Nadu, are not sufficient. While they help to supplement and reinforce other measures, in the absence of other remedial measures being taken, they will not signify much.