ARTICLE
| On Common School System For Bihar |
 |
 |
 |
| Written by M. P. Parameswaran |
|
Page 1 of 3
The terms of reference pertain to: (i) Assessment of what exists (ii) Equal and high quality (education for all) (iii) Right to free and compulsory education (iv) Plan of action for setting up a common school system (v) Gandhiji’s ideas on basic education and ‘pace setting schools’ (vi) Necessary changes in teacher education system (a) For the above setting up necessary sub-committees (b) Cooperation of all government departments. It is to be born in mind that education is a very massive system and changes in it will take place only slowly and even for that very high forces are to be applied. The total number of children in the preschool age group of 3-6 will be about 5 million; in the elementary education age group of 6 to 14 will be about 13-14 million – in all 18 million children. The number of teachers in this section is about 3 lakhs.
(Correct all numbers looking into proper sources) We can define the following objectives:
Universal access: a primary school within 1 KM of every child and an elementary school within 2 KM of every child.
Universal retention: Cumulative drop out up to 8th class not to be more than 5%
Universally high quality: This is a complex issue and retention depends quite a lot on it.
Access can be made universal through setting apart enough financial resources. But to make high quality universal we have to, first, define high quality. Further we have to have teachers who can deliver this high quality education. |
