M A I N   N E W S

Today is International Literacy Day
One in every two students drops out

New Delhi, September 7
Even as India observes International Literacy Day on Saturday, a study has found that one out of every two students enrolled in schools drop out before reaching the ninth standard.

According to the study carried out by the human resource development (HRD) ministry, one out of every four students does not go beyond class five. By class eight the dropout rate gets worse at 50.8 per cent.

“The decline in dropout rates is only modest since 1990. The dropout rates of scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) children declined marginally from 68 per cent and 79 per cent respectively in 1990-91 to 57 per cent and 66 per cent in 2005,” the survey found.

It further underlined that as many as 60 per cent of SC and 67 per cent ST girls leave school without completing upper primary cycle of education, compared to 51 per cent of girls from the general population.

On Monday, HRD Minister Arjun Singh said in parliament that the government was striving to achieve universalisation of elementary education by 2010 but confessed that one out of five teachers in the primary level was not attending class.

“The government is implementing the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (Education for All) programme for universalisation of elementary education by 2010, by augmenting availability of school infrastructure and improving the quality of education in elementary schools,” Singh said.

The minister, however, confessed that as per the ministry’s own survey conducted this year, nearly 20 percent of teachers are not attending school at the primary stage.

The Unesco, in its report “Corrupt Schools, Corrupt Universities: What can be done?” has indicated a 25 per cent teacher absence rate at the primary school level.

Speaking at the release of the report last month, Singh had said: “Always there is problem of fund and we are yet to spend six percent of our GDP on education.” He further said that the country should not forget about elementary education. “The quality of primary education is a matter of concern,” he had told IANS on the sideline of the function.

Even as India is increasingly being recognised internationally as a knowledge hub, on the flip side only 10 percent of its total student strength is enrolled in higher education. — IANS