Even though, the Union Government had announced several measures to improve the education system in the country, the education sector in India has become an in-thing for global think tank. The education sector of the country continues to draw attention and criticism from various quarters for lack of effective policy.
Few days back, the World Health Organization (WHO) India representative Henk Bekedam asked India to increase public investment in health and education sectors. He had said that India must raise investment in social sectors, like health and education for capacity building as well as creating public awareness to deal with food-borne diseases.
And now, the World Bank in its recent report said that the learning crisis in countries like India is widening social gaps instead of narrowing them.
The World Bank report says “India ranks second after Malawi in a list of 12 countries wherein a grade two student could not read a single word of a short text. India also tops the list of seven countries in which a grade two student could not perform two-digit subtraction. In rural India, just under three-quarters of students in grade 3 could not solve a two-digit subtraction such as 46 – 17, and by grade 5 half could still not do so.”
We agree with the recommendations made by the report that there should be concrete policy in education sector and strong social movement for bringing changes in education to resolve the dire learning crisis. Policy makers should come out with innovative idea to make learning system more attractive and interesting for students.