Praja Foundation Initiates Education V/S Literacy Debate

Online, December 9, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Praja Foundation released its latest report on municipal education in the city today. Based on the revelations, the NGO organised a panel discussion on Education vs literacy. "Its clear from the data that the civic body is only promoting literacy among the students of the municipal schools, not education by any standards. Why is it then, of the 100 students who enrol in the primary classes of BMC schools, only 12 reach Class X?" asked Nitai Mehta, Founder Trustee of the Foundation. The MCGM has a budget of over Rs. 1762 crores and has more than 4 lakhs students in over 1100 schools.

Since the last three years (2007-2010), Praja has been monitoring and collecting data on the efforts made by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) using the RTI Act in the field of primary and secondary education.

The most striking facts revealed in this report are the budget allocations to each student per year. Each year the budget has increased but drop outs and passing rates have remained relatively constant. "The data that we have collected paints a dismal picture of The MCGM's Education Department," said Mehta. This year the MCGM will be spending nearly Rs. 40,000/- on each child which is higher than most private school fees in Mumbai. In fact the data reveals that each year no more than 13% of the students from primary classes reach 10th standard. Moreover, the average passing rate in SSC for Mumbai is 89% whereas for the MCGM schools it is only 62%.

The dropout rate for 2007-08 was 7.26% each year per class. For 2008-09 and 2009-10 the average dropout rates were 6.32% and 6.63% respectively. Further, 15 out of 24 wards show a rise in drop out rates from 2008-09 and 2009-10. The data of the participation of 22 Elected Members (Councillors in MCGM) in the Education Committee reveals that 11 of them have never asked a single question in three years although attendance has been relatively consistent.

Dr. (Prof.) Ramesh Panse, Founder, Grammangal, Former Head of Economics at the Department of Post-Graduate Studies and Research, SNDT University, one of the panelists, acknowledged the malaise and spoke about how Government CAN and MUST reform its public education offering. Other panellists for the discussion were: B.G. Deshmukh, IAS retd. Former Cabinet Secretary. Chairperson, Praja Foundation; Farida Labey, Founder, Pratham. Professor, Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work; Mr. Amit Chandra, Managing Director, Bain Capital Advisors. Board of Directors - Akansha, Teach India and GiveIndia; Samir Somaiya, Vice-Chairman, K J Somaiya Education Trust and Nitai Mehta, Founder Trustee, Praja Foundation.

Amit Chandra who focused on many micro details based on his experience with Akansha Foundation talked about India's growth and need for "quality education, not just literacy". "Education is a key player for the future of India tomorrow," he concluded. Farida Lambay shared the experiments and successes Pratham has had with their own non-government social enterprise of delivering education to underprivileged children in India. Samir Somaiya, made a valid case of how higher education will be impacted if we can't provide quality students from schools. He also touched upon the value that private-for-profit education provides AND private/trust/charitable-not-for-profit education provides to the delivery of education for all Indians.

"The purpose of this white paper is to bring out these issues that plague the working of the Education Department and also make people aware of how the government is functioning in the area of education. If India has to become the global super power, we will need to include kids from all socio-economic backgrounds in receiving a quality education, and not just literacy. The onus is on our elected representatives to ensure that the status of education improves tangibly and visibly in all the municipal schools." Mr. B.G. Deshmukh said in his conclusive remarks.