Elementary Education in Odisha

Manasi Dash

Abstract

This paper traces the growth of elementary education in Odisha by using secondary data. It delineates the present status as well as growth of elementary education in Odisha and also addresses disparities in the educational attainment across castes and gender. It focuses on the gap in enrolment, dropouts, gender disparity, accessibility of schools and teachers and infrastructural provisioning. The findings show considerable, but uneven progress in the educational sector of the State. With improvement in enrolment ratios, dropout rates especially among girls and Scheduled Tribes, exhibit a marked decline during the last few years. Still there is a long way to fill the gap. The status of education in the pre and post RTE Act periods have been compared. The infrastructural facilities like provision of electricity, drinking water, toilets and separate toilets for girls etc. are inadequate and de-motivate the enrolled students, especially girl’s student to continue in the schools till the completion of elementary course. There is much to be desired to achieve universal education. Elementary education being a public good, the Government should come forward with determination and more funds to address the problems in the sector.

1 Introduction

Education is a cornerstone of economic and social development. It helps people to sharpen innate natural abilities through acquired knowledge and skills. In recognition of the significance of education, the Constitution of India under Directive Principles of State Policy (Article 45) directed the state to provide free and compulsory education to all children up to the age of fourteen. Many policy measures were taken up by government to achieve this objective. The National Policy on Education (NPE-1968, 1986 and 1992) was the initial policy intervention with a wide range of programmes to achieve Universal Elementary Education (UEE). These programmes included Operation Black Board (OBB), District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).

To accelerate the pace of growth of education, compulsory elementary education was made a fundamental right of all children with the enactment of Right To Education (RTE) Act, 2009. The legislation envisaged that, every child has a right to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms and standards. Free education means, that no child, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education. By making education compulsory, it has become an obligation of the appropriate govt. and local authorities to ensure elementary education for all children in the 6-14 age group. In a nutshell elementary education has been put in a right based framework in the country with the implementation of RTE Act.

2 The Problem

Odisha, one of the poorest states of the country has credit of being one of the highly literate state with a literacy rate of 72.9% (census 2011). But progress in education sector has not been uniform in the past years though it was expected to accelerate with the enactment of right based RTE Act (Panda, 2004; Odisha Human Development Report, 2004; Das, 2007; Das, 2009; Kumar and Rustagi, 2010; Odisha Economic Survey, 2007, 2014 and 2015; Statistical Abstract of Odisha, 2002,2005,2008 and 2012). It is worth comparing the status of education in pre and post RTE periods i.e. prior to 2009 and thereafter.

The above mentioned studies have observed wide disparity in the educational status across communities and regions. In other words all the communities have not benefited equally from the govt. drives towards universal education. Has RTE Act made any difference to the situation obtained earlier? Another issue is heterogeneity of education. Education is level specific. The level specific issues in education have been examined by a few scholars (Mc Mohan, 1999; Mehrotra, 2006; Pradhan, 2009 and Jain & Shelly,2015). They have advocated elementary education, as it enlarges human capabilities and enables a person to react, make better choices, articulate his views and enjoy a better life. It develops literacy, numeracy and problem-solving ability in an individual. It helps people acquire and evaluate information for decision-making. Education not only develops greater reasoning skill in an individual but also raises his tolerance, self-confidence and level of social and civic responsibility. Policy intervention for growth of elementary education has more significance for the total development of the mass compared to higher education.

The above issues are worth probing in a state like Odisha with very high percentages of underprivileged and deprived Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe caste categories.

3 Objectives

An attempt has been made in this study to examine the above issues. It is proposed to examine the impact of RTE in the education sector of Odisha. The study compares the situations obtaining in the two periods separated by RTE Act (2009) divide. To be specific, the status of education in the state from 2008-09 onwards has been compared with that prior to this period.

Data on various indicators of elementary (primary and upper primary) education have been collected from secondary sources indicated in the references.

4 Growth of Enrolment in the State

Number of children attending school is an important determinant of educational development of an region. Larger school enrolment not only enhances literacy in a country, but also widens their cognitive skills.

Total enrolment in primary schools grew rapidly during the period from 1993-94 to 2007-08, but gradually declined thereafter. Similar trend has been traced in upper primary school enrolment. This pattern reflects decline in the size of school going population over the years.

4.1 All Communities

Total enrolment in primary schools increased from 3761000 in 1993-94 to 4277710 in 2013-14, an increase of 13.74%. Increase in the enrolment of boys was 0.45% only compared to 32.51% in the case of girls. Upper primary schools witnessed 83.83% growth in total enrolment from 1148000 in 1993-94 to 2110347 in 2013-14. In this growth boys’ enrolment increased by51.85% whereas growth rate in girls enrolment was by 136%. Proportionately higher increase in girls’ enrolment over the period can be attributed to larger increase in the number of school going girls and a lower base in the initial years.

Similar picture emerges when compound annual growth rates are considered. Over the entire period under reference, the compound annual growth (CGR) for all i.e. boys and girls taken together is 0.65%, the rates for girls and boys being respectively 1.42% and 0.02% in primary schools. But in the case of upper primary level the corresponding rates are , 3.09% , 4.39% and 2.11% respectively (Table-1). It is interesting that, growth rates at upper primary level for the three categories (boys, girls and total) is higher than that at the primary level. It is reflective of more school retention due to the awareness created by various govt. programmes.

Source: Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Govt. of Odisha and Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority, BBSR,Odisha

Considering the first sub-period (1993-94 to 2007-08), CGRs of enrolment for boys, girls and all taken together are found positive at both primary and upper primary levels. This is indicative of effectiveness of different initiatives by the govt. to attract more children outside the school network to join school. But during the later sub-period (from 2007-08 to 2013-14), a growth rate in enrolment of the three categories of students, girls and boys and total are negative in primary schools. It cannot be presumed that there was a decrease in students interest to join school. This decrease in the number of school going children can be attributed to decline in the rate of growth of population in the state during the last two decade and consequential fall in the number of children in the school going age of 6-14.

But in case of upper primary education, situation is different with positive rates of growth for boys, girls and all over the entire period and the two sub-periods separately. It seems, upper primary education is slowly gaining momentum compared to primary education. Once in the net, children do not consider it worth running out of it. Of course compound growth rate of enrolment in the second sub period was lower than that of first in the upper primary schools.

4.2 Scheduled Castes

The Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) are socially and educationally the most disadvantaged groups. They are deprived because of the failure to access and exploit the advantages designed for them and also because of the apathy and vested interest of the actors in the field. Is this the pattern in case of education also? Hence, CGR for the communities have been calculated separately.

In the initial year under reference (1993-94), the proportion of Scheduled Caste students to total students was very low and worse in the case of girls of the community in primary and UP schools. Total enrolment SC children in the primary schools witnessed an increase of 27.39% from 634000 in 1993-94 to 807634 in 2013-14. Increase in the enrolment of boys was 8.95% only compared to 54.97% in case of girls. Upper primary schools witnessed 162% growth in total enrolment from 159730 in 1993-94 to 418954in 2013-14. The percentage of growth in boys’ enrolment was 113%over the entire period, whereas it was 243% in case of girls’ under the reference period. The spiraling growth in the school enrolment of girls can be explained from the societies concern for women.

Considering CGR growth rate in SC enrolment both in primary and upper primary schools during the entire reference period (1993-94 to 2013-14) as well as in the first sub-period (1993-94 to 2007-08) was positive, but negative in the sub-sequent sub-period (2007-08) onwards. However, as in the case of all communities, enrolment of SC students in primary schools was negative in the second period.

4.3 Scheduled Tribes

There were more ST students compared to SC students in primary as well as UP schools as STs constitute a higher proportion (22%) than SCs (17%) in the state’s population. Comparing the communities separately, it is found that the CGR of ST enrolment is higher than SC enrolment in respect of boys, girls and all. CGR of enrolment of all ST students (3.42%) was more than two times that of SC students (1.22%) in primary education. The situation is quite similar in the case of upper primary schools, where CGR for SC (4.94%) is less than that of STs (6.57%).

In the year 1993-94, total ST students enrolment in primary schools was 715000 which rose by 95.82% to 1400139 in 2013-14. The growth in enrolment of girls and boys were 141% and 66.21% respectively. A much higher growth rate was noticed in the case of upper primary schools, total enrolment increasing by 257% from 142000 in 1993-94 to 507442 in 2013-14. During this period, girl’s enrolment went up by 389% compared to 189% in the case of boys. This is the highest growth rates observed across enrolment of boys, girls and all during the periods under reference. The pattern of CGR in case of ST student enrolment is similar to the trend observed in case of SC students.

Sources: Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Govt. of Odisha and Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority, BBSR,Odisha

5 Gender Parity Index in Enrolment

Another indicator of educational achievement is the progress in female education, which is measured by Gender Parity Index (GPI). Gender Parity Index is the ratio of girls’ enrolment and boys’ enrolment in the same grade/class in a particular year.

GPIs in the elementary schools of Odisha in relevant years are indicated in Table-4. Consistently less than one GPI implies that girls’ enrolment in these schools was less than that of boys. A similar pattern is also obtained at all India level. It may be noted from the table that GPI has increased systematically at both primary and upper primary level between 1993-94 and 2013-2014. It increased from 0.71 in 1993-94 to 0.93 in 2013-14 for students of all communities and similar is the trend in the case of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Communities students.

In case of upper primary schools the GPI was less than that in primary schools during 1993-94 and 2007-08. In a traditional society like ours, parents are reluctant to enroll their grown up girls in schools at the upper primary level. But interestingly the index has increased in 2013-14 due to the progressive attitude of the parents and society. GPI in upper primary schools increased from 0.61 for all communities in 1993-94 to 0.95 in 2013-14. The increase was much more in case of the school going children of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, being 0.97 for both. It is further observed that GPI for all communities was higher than those of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in 1993-94 but the otherwise in the year 2013-14.

In the earlier years, more girls stayed away from schools because of the conservative attitude of the parents and society. There has been significant change in their outlook with the progress of time for which they have been more liberal in allowing their girls to attend schools and hence, the increase in GPI overtime.

Sources: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Odisha and Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority, BBSR,Odisha

6 Dropout Rate in Elementary Schools

Enrollment in schools is not enough but continuance in the school is the true indicator of the benefits from the expansion of education. So, it is important to know whether the enrolled students are completing their studies or dropping out in between. More the dropout, the less is the benefits from educational expansion. It reflects the internal inefficiency of the educational system.

Sources: Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Govt. of Odisha and Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority , BBSR,Odisha

Dropout rates in primary and upper primary schools from 2000-01 to 2013-14 in Odisha is shown in Table-5. As indicated in the table, dropout rate in Odisha has been declining at both primary and upper primary levels over the years. This trend is observed in the case of students of all communities, SCs and STs as well as for girls. Over the one and half decades it came down from 41.8 to 1.97 in case of all communities at the primary level; and the fall was the sharpest in the case of STs, from 61.1 to 2.71 and it is no less in case SCs from 52.4 to 2.39.

In case of Upper Primary school children, the trend of dropout rate is not different. It declined from 57% in 2000-01 to 2.40% in 2013-14. The rate for SCs and STs also fell from 59.7% and 74% to 2.58% and 3.63% respectively. Hence we can conclude that there is rapid reduction in the overall dropout rates and remarkably in the case of ST students.

Further, dropout rate is more in upper primary classes than in primary classes in all the years considered in keeping with the general trend of more drop-out at higher classes. However, the gap in the rates of the two levels has been declining. The dropout rates of boys and girls are almost the same at primary level, but higher for girls than for boys at upper primary level. In a conservative society, grown up girls are discouraged from attending schools where girls’ going out is looked down upon and usefulness of female education is yet to be realized. However, the gap has come down during the last five years.

7 Retention Rate

The inverse of drop out from school is the retention of students in the school system. Looking at drop out as a positive measure of the benefits of schooling is its retention capacity. In the most commonly used method of assessing retaining capacity of the system, enrolment in Grade V (minus Repeaters) in a year (say 2006-0 7) is linked to enrolment in Grade I four years back (say 2002-03). Hundred minus dropout rate gives the retention rate. The retention rate at elementary level in Odisha is 87.33% in 2013-14 the latest year for which data are available. While During 2011-12, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Khurdha achieved 100% retention rate, the same achievement rate was observed in Sonepur, Nawarangpur, Malkangiri, Koraput, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Dhenkanal, Boudha, Bolangir and Bargarh in 2013-14.

8 Other Educational Indicators

Apart from enrolment indicators, there are certain other indicators which speak of the growth of education sectors. These are completion rate, transition rate (P to UP), repetition rate and promotion rate. Achievements in this regard are indicative of success of UEE.

8.1 Transition Rate

Transition rate is the percentage of pupils who graduate from one level of education and move on to the next higher level (from primary stage to upper primary stage).

Sources: Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority, BBSR,Odisha

As evident from Table-6, Transition rate (Primary to Upper Primary) in Odisha increased from 58.61% in 2002-03 to 87.05% in 2013-14, a 50% increase. Analyzing district level data, it is observed that increase in transition rate had been more in case of tribal dominated underdeveloped districts like Koraput, Malkangiri, Gajapati and Rayagada during the period 2006-07 to 2013-14 .

8.2 Repetition Rate

Repetition rate is nothing but the percentage of students who did not get promoted to the next grade. A student is classified as repeater if she/he repeats the same grade in the next academic session either in the same school or any other school. Repetition of grades by students is a problem in Odisha. Prolonged absence adversely affects the educational attainment of many students for which they have to repeat grades in primary schools. In some cases, parents request their children to continue in the same class for grade improvement. Of course, the State Government has a policy of no detention in primary schools.

Sources: District Information System for Education, India

As per Table-7, the average repetition rates at primary and UP level have come down between 2005-06 and 2013-14 in Odisha. It came down from 6.3% to 1.2 % in primary schools and from 6.4% to 0.9% in UP schools.

8.3 Promotion Rate & Completion Rate

Promotion rate is the proportion of promotes to the next higher grade in the total students enrolled. This figure fails to give an idea about children completing an educational level and also the quality of their educational attainment. Educational attainment is measured in terms of learners’ achievement. Completion rate is the percentage of children completing an educational level to the initial enrolment in the first grade of that level four years back.

Completion rates and Promotion rates in elementary education in Odisha for different years are presented in Table-8. Promotion rates in elementary schools of Odisha increased from 94.29% (2002-03) to 95.53% (2013-14). The completion rate at the same level of education increased from 80.82% in 2006-07 to 91.25% in 2013-14.

Sources: District Information System for Education, India

9 Growth of Educational Institutions

The growth of elementary schools in Odisha has been indicated in Table-9. In 1947–48, the entire state had only 6,814 primary schools with an enrolment of 2.55 lakhs, 286 Middle English (ME) schools with 32,000 enrolments. After Independence the educational policy of the Government of Orissa changed & Educational facilities expanded rapidly.

Primary and Upper primary education has been expanding in the state, especially in rural and backward areas. The number of primary and upper primary schools increased to 55,106 and 23, 239 respectively in 2011-12.

Source: Statistical abstract of Odisha, 2002,2005,2008 and 2012

Govt. policy envisages an upper primary school/section for every two primary schools/sections. But in spite of the considerable progress in the expansion of school education, one upper primary school on an average serves more than two primary schools (2.37 schools) at the state level.

10 Pupil-Teacher Ratio

One of the important indicators that influence the classroom transaction is the number of students per teacher. As per the RTE Schedule, each primary school should have 02 teachers for every 60 children, i.e. pupil teacher ratio (PTR) of 30:1, in primary schooling. For each upper primary school, at least there shall be 03 teachers, 01 to teach mathematics and science, 01 to teach language and 01 to teach social studies. There shall be 03 teachers for each school having students up to 100 in Classes VI to VIII i.e PTR should be 35:1 in upper primary schools.

In primary schools the number of students, per teacher was 39.61 in 2006-07 but beyond that there is an improvement in PTR(25.76) in 2013-14. PTR in upper primary schools of the state improved from 30.69 in 2006-07 to 25.17 in 2013-14 (Chart-1)

Chart 1: Pupil Teacher Ratio

11 Infrastructural Facility

The parameters explained above show progress, but a closer assessment reveals many deficiencies in the move towards universalizing elementary education. In brief, Odisha has not proved itself across every area of education.

Sources: UDISE 2013-14

Physical infrastructure is inadequate in the schools of Odisha. Provision of toilet, a mandatory requirement is not available in 14% of the elementary schools of the state. About 82% of the schools in the State go without electricity, a basic necessity of modern life. Because of lack of electricity connection, most of these schools cannot introduce computers in class room teaching and only 7% of the schools have computers. The drinking water facility is available in 97% of the schools. Non-existence of play grounds in more than two-thirds (79%) of the schools, not only makes study atmosphere monotonous, but also deprives the young children from excelling in sports.

12 Concluding Observations

Some progress no doubt has been made in elementary education in the state during the last two and half decades. However, much remains to be desired.

• There is a noticeable jump in enrolment in both primary and upper primary schools.

• The gap between enrolment of boys and girls has narrowed down but still glaring.

• Dropout rate has declined significantly for the state as a whole, but it still remains substantial in backward regions. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), aimed at ushering in quality elementary education for all faces implementation challenges.

• Infrastructural facilities in the schools are not adequate and enough funds are not being earmarked for the programme.

Needless to say that, the status of elementary education in Odisha is not very satisfactory. Successful programmes in one region have not been so in other regions primarily because of region specific socio economic inequalities. Effective and sincere intervention by the state government with school structures specific to socio economic situations, is urgently needed in order to achieve the millennium development goals in the sphere of education.

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