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July 7, 2003
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan: Every Child
In School And Learning Well
Rukmini Banerji
Summer vacations are over and schools are re-opening across
the country. This is no ordinary year. Under Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan, the central government has declared by the end of
2003 every child in India between the age of 6 and 14 must
be in school or in an education program. There are visible
signs of activity around Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan: DTC buses
in Delhi are carrying announcements. Walls in Jaipur say "pani
bachao, bijli bachao, sabko padhao".. Surveys are being
done. District plans are being formulated, programs and projects
are being launched. New activities, new programs, new resources
and new energies are being deployed for the task of universalization
of elementary education in India.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was formally initiated in November
2001. The framework and approach is clearly influenced by
many of the large-scale experiments and experiences in India's
primary education over the last 10 years. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan's
goals are very ambitious : first, all children to be in school
or in an education program by 2003. Next, all children to
complete five years of primary schooling by 2007 and all children
complete eight years of schooling by 2010. A comprehensive
umbrella of implementation is envisaged with central, state
and local governments in partnership with the community and
non-government organizations conducting and monitoring activities
in a decentralized manner.
By the government's own calculations, of the 200 million
children in 6-14 age group in India, about 59 million are
still out of school. Of the rest who are currently in school,
4 out of every 10 children starting school will dropout before
completing primary school. In addition, every study of children's
learning achievement indicates that the situation is grim.
Recent community based surveys done by Pratham (a NGO working
in 28 cities and 8 rural districts in the country) find that
not more 30% of school children in the age group 6-14, in
an educationally well developed state like Maharashtra, can
read simple text fluently or do simple arithmetic sums. Going
to school and staying in school has no meaning unless the
child learns. Therefore, the definition of universalization
must include universal enrollment, universal retention and
universal achievement of an acceptable level of reading, writing
and arithmetic.
How can this mammoth task be accomplished? Will the ambitious
goals remain as rhetoric or will it motivate and inspire the
country to move ahead as a movement ? Is the framework of
thinking about these issues broad enough ? Is planning robust?
Are implementation plans realistic? Will Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
become simply one more government program that the country
looks upon as entitlement or will it galvanize citizens and
government to act together towards a common and critical goal?
The word "sarva" means all, everyone. In this case,
it refers to all children in the elementary school going age.
Sarva therefore refers to children who are out of school,
working in the fields or in the cities or simply not working
but also not going to school. Even more important, sarva also
refers to children who are in school but not attending and
not learning.
A simple example from Patna to illustrate this point: There
are 59 municipal wards in Patna. According the SSA surveys
in the city, in a typical ward there are 2500 children between
6 and 14. About 1000 are enrolled in private schools, 1000
in government schools and 500 are not enrolled anywhere. However,
according to random attendance checking in government schools
approximately only 40% of enrolled children on any given day
are attending school. Therefore, the number of children enrolled
in government school but not attending is 600 and therefore
there are 1100 children actually "out of school".
By this measure, close to 45% of children (6-14) in an average
ward are not in school. This example illustrates that the
distinction between being in school and out of school is blurred
if the child attends infrequently. Further, estimates from
Patna indicate that less than half the school going aged 6
to 14 children (whether in government school or private school)
can read simple paragraphs or do basic addition and subtraction
problems.
The word "shiksha" means education and learning.
It does not mean only "going to school". Sarva Shiksha
is therefore not simply universal enrollment but a situation
where all children are learning. There is an active on-going
debate in the country on content of textbooks and school curriculum.
But on basics there can be no controversy: a child must be
able to read with understanding, a child must be able to write
with thinking, and have the ability to do simple arithmetic
operations. Ideally, children must be able to do much more.
But at least this minimum must be guaranteed for every Indian
child of primary school age.
Both home and school factors are responsible for children's
low levels of learning. Many children, especially from economically
disadvantaged families and communities, are first generation
learners. There is not enough support, space, opportunity,
time, interest or inputs at home for the child to strengthen
learning so that he or she achieves "success" in
the formal school system.
Whether government or private, school systems in India do
not have any in-built mechanisms to provide supplemental help
to children who need extra help or who progress at a slower
pace than that mandated by the state curriculum. Elite and
middle class parents organize this extra help to strengthen
children's learning through tuition and other classes. Poor
parents cannot afford this extra supplement. If children do
not "keep up" with the curriculum in early grades,
the content and the pace of the curriculum in Std 3 and 4
accelerates rapidly making "catch up" difficult.
As the national push to universalize primary education moves
forward, it is likely that the effort will bring in more and
more children into the school system who will need sustained
effort and resources to help them to "keep pace"
and to succeed.
Given this context, for every child to stay in school and
learn well, new techniques for accelerated learning are needed.
Whether in the government domain, in the private sector or
in community settings, new accelerated learning techniques
and innovations have to be adopted. Such accelerated techniques
are in practice in India, they need to be replicated more
widely: For example, children in MV Foundation's residential
camps are able to successfully take Std 7 exams with only
15 months of preparation. As part of Pratham's Read India
campaign, more than 200,000 children have participated in
learning to read programs since January. More than 60% are
reading simple text fluently with three months. This reading
technique is being implemented state-wide in Maharashtra.
It is not inconceivable that every child in primary school
in Maharashtra will be able to read by the end of this year.
Abhiyan means movement. Not program or scheme but something
much bigger and broader that is moving forward. The government
is providing the framework and some resources. There are logistics
and budgets to work out. But fundamentally, this is an opportunity
for citizens to come together and work with the government
and with their communities. If every child in India goes to
school, begins to read and write well, it will be one of the
greatest social changes that the country has seen.
The success of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan lies in our hands. If
we think that the schools are our schools, the children are
our children, then we will act. Quickly, decisively and positively.
There is a simple and infectious magic when a child learns
to read. A new world opens up when the child writes his own
words and thoughts. 200 million children in India need this.
Sarva Shiksha is not only an incredible dream. It is also
a reality worth enjoying in the next five years.
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