A survey report on 81 randomly selected primary and upper primary schools (middle schools) in north Bihar says government schools are in danger of being “replaced by cheap and dingy tuition centers” and “urgent action is required to address this crisis”. The report was released on Friday by a non-governmental organisation, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan (JJSS) and guided by noted economist Jean Dreze.
The survey was conducted across 11 blocks of two districts of Araria and Katihar of north Bihar in 81 randomly selected government schools (40 primary and 41 upper primary schools) with at least 50% enrolment of students from socially and disadvantaged groups (Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, Other Backward Class and Muslims). “The survey reveals a serious failure to ensure even minimum norms of schooling in north Bihar. Inadequate resources, ineffective policies and indifferent action are the issues these schools face and which can be seen as a reflection of their interdependent failures. The COVID-19 pandemic not only exacerbated these issues but also added new ones”, said the 32-page report.
“Given the sorry state of government schools, many students rely on private tuitions. Though small and Spartan in infrastructure, private tuitions are very popular and have started acting as a replacement to a failing schooling system in rural north Bihar. A nexus has been formed between dysfunctional government schools and private tuitions, where the role of the school has been reduced to merely providing a midday meal and arranging examinations”, said the report. “Education is important for all and everything depends on quality education. It is sad that government school students go to private tuition at the time of school”, said Mr. Jean Dreze.
However, Additional Chief Secretary of the State Education department K.K. Pathak had recently issued a directive to private coaching institutions asking them not to operate between school timings (from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) on all working days. Mr. Pathak had written letters to all district magistrates in 38 districts and asked them to ensure coaching institutions in their areas do not operate during school hours.
Meanwhile, the JJSS survey report titled “Where are the kids?” said that “pupil attendance in primary and upper primary schools is barely 20%” and none of these schools meet the norms of the Right to Education Act. “There are acute teacher shortages, with only 35% of primary schools and 5% upper primary schools meeting RTE norms on pupil-teacher ratio which is one teacher per 30 children.”
Direct Benefit Transfer
Besides, “the Direct Benefit Transfer [DBT] scheme for textbooks and uniform for students forces a cruel choice on poor families in buying textbooks / uniforms or basic necessities and the result is not hard to guess as many children have no textbooks or uniforms,” stated the report. Under the DBT system, money is sent to children’s bank accounts (or, to their parent’s account, if need be) on the understanding that it is to be used for buying uniforms and textbooks. “The DBT money does not always reach the children or to their parents as it is conditional on 75% school attendance and also requires an Aadhaar–linked bank account. DBT payments also fail due to Aadhaar-related problems following discrepancies in child’s name between Aadhaar card and school register or Know Your Customer [KYC] problems at the bank”, said the report. “Demanding Aadhaar from school children is a violation of Supreme Court orders”, said Kamayani Swami of the JJSS.
The survey report also highlighted that the schooling system suffered a heavy blow during the COVID crisis as “a majority of teachers feel that most children in classes 1-5 had forgotten how to read and write by the time schools reopened after the COVID crisis got over. “While a minority of privileged children were able to study online or in private tuition, others were left to fend for themselves and this has exacerbated existing inequalities in educational opportunities”, it added.
The report has also underlined the schools without infrastructure, missing the potential of midday meals and rampant violation of the Right to Education Act. However, it has also pointed out some positive silver lining in the educational system of the State. “The silver lining is that 40% of the teachers in sample are women and another positive is the social composition of the teaching cadre, which is similar to the social composition of the population in rural Bihar (many teachers were from SC, ST, OBC and Muslim background”, the survey report said, adding, “the increasing representation of women and socially disadvantaged groups among teachers in rural Bihar is an important step towards democratising schools and reducing the social distance between teachers and children [or their families]”.
