Page 41 - EducationWorld March 2022

and online education is harmful and middle class with unprecedented pur-
ineffective for youngest children. As chasing power and raising 400 million
a result according to estimates of the citizens above the poverty line.
Early Childhood Association of India Unfortunately, the rationale and
(ECA, estb. 2010), 20,000 private pre- logic of industry and business liber-
schools — mostly promoted by women alization, which restored a larger le-
entrepreneurs — went out of business. gitimate role to private business and
Moreover, 1.4 million government an- industry in the national development
ganwadis — which essentially provide effort, has bypassed the education sec-
nutrition to lactating mothers and tor. The outcome is that the private
newborns of low-income households, education sector has become a happy
and rudimentary ECCE to infants hunting ground of shady businessmen
— were shut through 2020-21 and focused on certifying children and
2021-22 resulting in 85 million chil- youth with sub-standard formal quali-
dren being deprived of free-of-charge fications, rather than of bona fide ed-
mid-day meals and early childhood ucationists and philanthropists. With
education. Sharma-Kukreja: dedicated budget call the country’s 1.2 million government
According to Dr. Swati Popat schools defined by crumbling build-
Vats, founder-president of ECA and co-managing director of the Delhi- ings, high teacher absenteeism, pa-
a pioneer crusader for universal for- based Central Square Foundation thetic infrastructure and rock-bottom
mal ECCE, the overwhelming major- (CSF, etsb.2012). Currently, CSF is learning outcomes, the world’s largest
ity of pre-primary children have been supporting 12 state governments in- child and youth population has been
wholly deprived of foundational edu- cluding Bihar, Gujarat, Odisha, Hary- continuously deprived of good qual-
cation during the past two years and ana, and Uttar Pradesh in designing ity education from pre-primary to Ph
have also “lost important socialisation and operationalising statewide FLN D. Moreover, with the entire middle
and life skills”. missions. class preferring private school educa-
However in a refreshing and radi- tion, top-ranked private schools are
cal initiative, NEP 2020 mandates 5 Liberalise & deregulate unable to meet demand as a result of
compulsory three years of ECCE and education sector which corruption has also crept into
two years of primary learning chris- private education. (See EW cover story
tened ‘foundational literacy’ for all theme song of EducationWorld https://www.educationworld.in/12-
children countrywide. To this end, A since it was launched in 1999 on uninterrupted-rackets-destroying-
the Central government has launched the eve of the new millennium, has indian-education/).
a National Initiative for Proficiency been to cut red tape and liberalise and “Despite excessive regulation of
in Reading with Understanding and deregulate the education sector on the private schools because of pressing
Numeracy (NIPUN) Bharat Mission lines of industry liberalisation and demand, an estimated 2,000 private
to make all pre-primary children pro- deregulation of 1991, strenuously ad- CBSE/CISCE and 80-90 internation-
ficient in foundational literacy and vocated by your correspondent from al schools are promoted every year.
numeracy (FLN). 1978 as editor of Business India and This number could easily double if
“NEP 2020 has accorded highest Businessworld — India’s first busi- the education sector is deregulated
priority to universal acquisition of ness magazines. The outcome was a which would also force down tuition
FLN skills for all children by 2026-27. great leap forward in India’s annual fees. In this connection, it should be
The policy and NIPUN mission have GDP, stuck in a rut of 3.5 percent per noted that our neighbouring countries
created a very conducive environment year for over 40 years to 7-8 percent including Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan
for state governments to design and per year, and emergence of a large and even China, permit for-profit pri-
launch statewide FLN programmes. vate schools and balance their pub-
But for NIPUN Bharat to succeed, Unfortunately, the rationale lic and private education very well.
dedicated budgetary allocations for Moreover, with continuous exodus
FLN programmes are required to en- and logic of industry and of children from government to pri-
able investment in sustained teacher business liberalisation, vate schools, there is a good case for
training, and towards setting up of government to lease public schools to
project management units to bring which transformed the private education providers to man-
dedicated focus to the mission and economy, has bypassed the age on the model of America’s highly
aid in its effective implementation,” successful charter schools. This model
says Shaveta Sharma-Kukreja, education sector has worked quite successfully in India

MARCH 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 41