Karnataka - Bangalore   

Karnataka slips in education index

BANGALORE: Karnataka ranked eighth in the composite education development index while Bihar finds itself in the last spot in a recent official survey on the status of elementary education in India. In fact, Karnataka’s rank has slipped from sixth to eighth in two years.

The National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi, has come out with a report, “Elementary education in India: progress towards universal elementary education 2006-07 (2008)” covering 1.20 million primary and upper primary schools spread over 609 districts across 35 States and Union Territories on all aspects of universal education.

It revealed that Kerala, Puducherry, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and Chandigarh were the top five performing States in elementary education while Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam were the five bottom-ranked States.

Karnataka ranked 12th at the primary level education and ninth at the upper primary level.

In terms of infrastructure index, the State secured 17th position (0.677) while Delhi (0.909) topped the list. Bihar secured last rank (35th with the index of 0.260).

The State, which had secured sixth position in the composite educational development index in primary and higher primary education levels in 2005-06 (0.676), slipped to eighth position in 2006-07 (0.674).

The Education Department officials told The Hindu that the State had done well in primary education but slipped in its ranking on account of the “computer error” that occurred during the data feeding.

The progress made by Union Territory Puducherry, which ranked second (fourth in 2005-06), and some other States could be the reason for the decline in the ranking of the State.

Whatever may be the rank in education development index, the number of schoolchildren and the number of out-of-school children shos a declining trend in the report.

The student retention rate at the primary level in Karnataka is 91.94 per cent compared to the national average of 70.26 per cent.

The Centre launched Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in 2001 with an objective of universal retention by 2010.

But high dropout rates in some States is attributed to the “give another decade” syndrome to realise the goal of universal primary education, according to experts.

The 86th Constitutional Amendment was passed by Parliament to make elementary education a fundamental right and a fundamental duty.

NUEPA has created a comprehensive database on elementary education in India under one of its flagship project, District Information System of Education (DISE), supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

The survey has not only presented the million plus school report cards but also made a strong case for the State to care about education and to shift the focus from inputs such as the money spent on education to outputs that were the real educational outcomes.

The report, which covers 28,295 schools in Karnataka, states that about 10 per cent of schools still did not have pucca buildings and 76.84 per cent of classrooms are in good condition.

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