The recent Gen Z and Gen Alpha protests have put the spotlight on India’s broken education system. Just two bits of data give a sense. Education in India is a booming industry (est. market size: 11–14 lakh crore rupees or $115–152 billion) and yet, as educationist and former Delhi University faculty dean Anita Rampal tells Nandlal Sharma, only 22 per cent of Indian children complete Class 12.

That market size tells you that education is a great business to be in, money is being made hand over fist, and yet 7,000 schools in India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh have one teacher! The ongoing protests over basic amenities in government schools have refocused public attention but are we asking the right questions? 

Gen Alpha seems to have no fears. What do you make of this?

It’s very encouraging. For years, students have been made to feel that if they fail, the deficiency lies in them. We rarely ask what role the system has played.

When girls tell journalists, “The board exams are four months away. If there is no teacher, what are we supposed to do?” that’s a perfectly legitimate question. In Delhi, Class 10 students who had no Maths teacher and failed said, "Give us a teacher and test us after three months; don’t fail us now, because failing Class 10 can mean being pushed out of school."

Government data suggests that, on average, only about 22 per cent of children complete Class 12.  

Have the Central and state governments failed to fulfil their responsibilities?

Yes. Our Constitution places education in the Concurrent List precisely because states have a responsibility. That space is increasingly being constrained.

There are more protests in north India partly because some southern states have demonstrated that things can be done differently. Tamil Nadu, for instance, has repeatedly questioned centralisation as seen in the National Education Policy and [National Testing Agency (NTA)-administered] common admission tests like NEET and CUET. It has argued that introducing vocational education as early as Class 6 could deepen inequality because such courses are seen as ‘low status’. 

According to UDISE data, Uttar Pradesh has over 7,000 single-teacher schools. Nationwide there are more than a lakh.........

© National Herald