Ensure uniform access to quality education
Education is said to be a great equaliser. But a high degree of inequity exists right within our educational system. The most-obvious disparity is in the quality. Access to quality education is hampered by a multitude of factors. The most important ones are the lack of a universal board of education and rampant commodification in the sector. The current commotion being witnessed in Tamil Nadu around the common medical entrance test, NEET, has its origins here.
Ensuring quality in education is currently hampered by the inefficiency in monitoring multiple boards of education, qualification of teachers in those boards, and the quality of syllabus and physical infrastructure. A case in point is the Annual Status of Education Report released in January this year, which shows almost four out of 10 children in Class 1 across India cannot even recognise letters in their textbooks. The problem: lack of quality control.
There is a dire need for India to have a common education board going forward. This is crucial to ensure education, including in science and maths, is uniform in quality. Such a policy change will have a major impact in states like TN and make students ready for any common exams, without having to depend on private coaching classes.
In several states, CBSE education is only available to those who can afford the premium fees of top-end schools. For instance, in TN, most low-cost schools prefer other curricula due to easy availability of teachers, resources and other logistics. Unfortunately, the Centre’s Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas—that provide highly subsidised education to rural and tribal children in CBSE curriculum—are conspicuously absent in TN.
To ensure that the poor across India continue to enjoy access to professional courses, it’s important to bring all formats of free or subsidised education in India under one umbrella. As it is a subject in the Concurrent List, the Centre and states must work together to ensure that all children have uniform access to quality education. Until that happens, common entrance tests such as NEET will be exclusionary in nature.