24 million may drop out of school due to COVID-19 impact: U.N.

According to the United Nation’s policy brief on the pandemic’s impact on education almost 24 million children are at risk of not returning to school next year due to the economic fallout of COVID-19.

The educational financing gap is also likely to increase by one third.

Key findings of the report

• More than 6 billion learners across the world have been affected by the disruption of the education system, but the pandemic has also served to exacerbate existing disparities, with vulnerable populations in low-income countries taking a harder and longer hit.
• For example, during the second quarter of 2020, 86% of children at the primary level have been effectively out of school in poor countries, compared to just 20% in highly developed countries.
• UNESCO estimates that 23.8 million additional children and youth [from pre-primary to tertiary] may drop out or not have access to school next year due to the pandemic economic impact alone.
• The number of children not returning to their education after the school closures is likely to be even greater.
• Girls and young women are likely to be disproportionately affected as school closures make them more vulnerable to child marriage, early pregnancy, and gender-based violence.
• Even for those who do not drop out of school, learning losses could be severe, especially in the foundational years.
• Simulations on developing countries participating in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) suggest that without remediation, a loss of learning by one-third [equivalent to a three-month school closure] during Grade 3 might result in 72% of students falling so far behind that by Grade 10 they will have dropped out or will not be able to learn anything in school.

Dropout rate among schoolchildren in India

• With its high tribal population, Jharkhand has the highest dropout rate for schoolchildren in India (only 30 out of 100 finish school).
• Of an initial enrolment of 100 students, on an average, only 70 finish school in India.
• While the number of students in the elementary education level is high (94), many drop out during the secondary level (with 75 left).
• Dropout rates among Adivasis are the highest among all communities.
• Only 61 of 100 ST students finish senior secondary school, the lowest among all communities.
• In sharp contrast to Jharkhand the States which have the lowest dropout rates are Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
• The above dropout rate is calculated by subtracting the sum of promotion and repetition rate from 100 in a year.
• Data for Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are not available.

Current problems of education in India

Lack of adequate research:

• The lack of adequate research in the Indian education system can be clearly seen.
• Higher education institutions in India do not have sufficient focus on research.
• Also the number of quality teachers is quite limited.

Gender Division:

• The literacy rate of women is much lower than men in India. The 2011 census data shows that the state of women education in Rajasthan (52.7%) and Bihar (53.3%) is quite poor.
• Census figures also show that the female literacy rate of the country (65.5%) is lower than the country’s total literacy rate (74.04%).

Lack of skill based education:

• The lack of skill-based education in India can be clearly felt.
• We have such an education system where only bookish knowledge is imparted, and children are not motivated to become skilled.

Bad infrastructure and features:

• Poor infrastructure is a major challenge for India’s higher education system, especially institutions run by the public sector are prone to poor physical facilities and infrastructure.
• The lack of faculty and the inability of the state educational system to attract and retain qualified teachers has been a challenge for quality education for many years.

UPSC