Page 40 - EW-June-2024

Cover Story

4,000 best are assessed in the annual
EducationWorld India School Rank-
ings — the world’s largest schools
ranking survey.
Yet although a few dozen of India’s
top-ranked private schools affiliated
with offshore examination boards
such as International Baccalaureate
(Geneva), Cambridge International
(UK) and Advance Placements (USA)
provide globally benchmarked K-12
education, the great majority of the
country’s best private schools suffer
in comparison with government and
private schools in developed OECD
and Asia-Pacific countries.
Knowledgeable monitors of Indian
education concede that India’s school Government school teachers: negligent high-wage island
and higher education systems, with a
few notable exceptions, are character- ties authored by LoEstro Advisors chair critics of private education have
ised by obsolete rote-learning peda- LLP (estb.2019), a Hyderabad-based done precious little to raise public
gogies and assessment systems and education-focused investment bank- education standards while deriving
technology aversion. The reluctance ing and consultancy firm, says that a profitable livelihoods from govern-
of India’s establishment, academy, positive sea change in pedagogies and ment-funded HEIs. Despite this, the
educationists and educators to switch curriculums, accelerated tech adop- salaries and remuneration of govern-
to latter-day syllabuses, contemporary tion and professional development is ment school teachers determined by
pedagogies and technologies that de- manifesting in private K-12 education official Pay Commissions which de-
velop the critical thinking, problem- countrywide. cree the remuneration of 4 million
solving, innovative and problems- pampered Central government ser-
solving capabilities of school and LTHOUGH COMMUNISTS, vants, have continued to rise to the
tertiary students is the prime factor A socialists and left-liber- extent that their remuneration tends
behind poor productivity in govern- als who dominate aca- to be 10-12 multiples of BPS (budget
ment, industry and agriculture. demia tend to deplore private school) teachers. Consequent-
Against the backdrop of this dis- the growth and expansion of private ly, they have emerged as a high wage
mal condition of Indian education, a schools and higher education institu- island of the economy, notwithstand-
mint new report titled State of India tions because they are “commercial” ing their abysmal record of teacher
K-12: Resilience Amidst Uncertain- fees-levying enterprises, these arm- truancy and rock-bottom learning

India’s schools composition India’s schools by management
(%) (%)

Primary 3
Upper Primary
28 26 Government
Secondary 23
Government Aided
Higher Secondary Private Unaided
5 69
17 29 Total: Others
1.5 million

Source: State of India K-12: Resilience Amidst Uncertainties 2024

40 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2024