The Hindu : Kerala News : DPEP outcome unsatisfactory, says World Bank report

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DPEP outcome unsatisfactory, says World Bank report

Special Correspondent

‘However, enrolment at primary school level has improved’

Project started in 10 Rajasthan districts in 1999
Learning in classrooms has not improved

JAIPUR: The World Bank has described the outcome of the recently concluded District Primary Education Project (DPEP) in 10 districts of Rajasthan as “unsatisfactory” though it thinks the project succeeded in improving the enrolment at primary school level, reduced the number of dropouts and narrowed down the gender gap among the school going children in the State. The project helped in improving student learning conditions and in equipping teachers for their jobs but its inputs have not actually contributed to improved learning in the classroom, it is pointed out.

An implementation completion report (ICR), published in the latest issue of “The World Bank in India”, says that the project, started in 10 districts in June 1999 and closed in December 2005, brought about an expansion of 31.6 per cent in primary school enrolment – from 2.2 million in 1999-2000 to 2.9 million in 2005-06. In the case of gender gap, compared to 42.3 per cent in 1999-2000, the girls accounted for 46.9 per cent of the total enrolment in 2006. Even while acknowledging the narrowing down of the gender gap, the report notes, “the achievements were below target”.

Drop-out rate still high

In 2005-06, the average dropout rate for the project districts was still as high as 44.9 per cent with the lowest rate reported from Sikar at 32 per cent. One reason for the continuing high incidence of dropouts could be that all those who leave the schools are treated as dropouts without checking whether they have joined private schools. “There is an increase in children going to private schools even in rural areas. It was seen in some places that about 20-30 per cent of students in government schools were moving to private schools,” the report notes.

The report says that the State still faces challenges in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as an estimated 4.6 per cent of a total of 22,054 habitations did not have access to any schooling facility by the year 2005. “The task of enrolling the remaining children is not going to be easy because they are the hardest to reach and retain,” it notes.

However, ICR notes the “significant progress” the project could make in enrolment of disadvantaged groups, especially the children from the families of Scheduled Castes and Tribes. The enrolment from these groups rose more rapidly (47.7 per cent) than the general population, which stood at 31.6 per cent. Yet this too did not meet the target set in terms of reducing the disparity between different groups to less than five percentage points. Here the comforting factor perhaps is in the reduction in the existing gender gap within these groups (SC/ST boys and girls), which exceeded the set target of five per cent by one point.

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