School education constructs the backbone of India’s labour force. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy’s September-December 2022 report, around 86% percent of India’s labour force comprises those with education till Class XII or below. This fact signifies that a significant portion of the workforce carries out their livelihood based on the skills learned from school.

According to the Ministry of Education, there are 14.89 lakh schools in India. Of these, only 2.54 lakh schools are in urban areas, and the remaining 12.34 lakh are in rural areas. Approximately 13.79 crore boys and 12.73 crore girls learn in these schools. Many of these students leave education at diverse levels, and some of them join the workforce.

According to the Annual Status of Education Report 2022, about one in every four schools in rural India does not have necessary facilities such as clean drinking water or toilets.

“The dissimilarity between urban and rural students is not in terms of intelligence, but due to their surroundings, availability of infrastructure, learning ability, skills, and access to diverse facilities,” stated a government blog titled- Shaping the Bright Minds of Tomorrow: Education in Urban and Rural.

The shortage of infrastructure, though, does not appear to have deterred parents. Registration of four-year-olds in government-aided schools in 2018 was 57.9%. This percentage increased to 67.8% in 2022. In the same duration, students registered in private schools declined from 26.3% to 19.9%.

The admissions have increased in government schools, and the quality of education, besides infrastructure defects, is still a concerning problem.

The ASER 2022 report noted that nationally, 69.6% of children registered in Standard 8 in government or private schools could read at least a basic textbook in 2022, falling from 73% in 2018. The percentage of class 8 students who can’t read regular textbooks is as high as 50% in Jammu & Kashmir, and Gujarat.

Access may not be a primary worry for rural schools currently, but the quality seems to be. And while quality without access will direct to imbalance and exclusion, access without quality will determine the potential of India’s future workforce.

News Source: India Today