Education:
Illiteracy: India has 35% of the world’s total illiterates. [2008]
Out of school children: 320 lakh in 2001-02 | 76 lakh in 2007-08.
World Bank Report(2009):
1. 48 of every 100 students in India pursuing secondary education never go beyond that level.
2. India’s gross enrolment rates (GER) in secondary school is 40 percent compared to 70 percent in East Asia and 82 percent in Latin America. Countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh which have lower per capita incomes than India have higher gross enrollment rates (GER) in secondary schools.
3. 40 million children were enrolled in secondary school in 2008. The majority of them were boys, children from the urban areas, and those who belonged to the wealthier segments of the population.
4. Enrollment varies greatly between states, from 92% in Kerala, 44% in Tamil Nadu, 22% in Bihar, and 4% in Jharkhand. 37% of secondary students fail, and 11% dropout before exam.
5. 75% of public funding for secondary schools comes from states. Less than 10% of this is for investment. While recurrent financing, mainly for teacher salaries, has been stable, the financing of new investments has declined.
6. 60% of the secondary school system is privately managed – through unaided and aided private schools. Private unaided schools provide 30% of total secondary enrollment nationwide (2004-05), up from 15% in 1993-94.
7. On average, government school teachers earn 3 times more than their counterparts in private schools.
(http://www.worldbank.org.in/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/INDIAEXTN/0,,contentMDK:22339000~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:295584,00.html)
Primary-school Teacher Absence(World Bank Report 2002-03)
Country Absence Rate (%)
Bangladesh 16
Ecuador 14
India 25
Indonesia 19
Peru 11
Papua New Guinea 15
Uganda 27
Zambia 17
Source: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/DEC/Resources/37912_Ecuador.Teacher.Absenteeism.August13.2004.pdf
Missing Teachers(World Bank-Harvard University study-06)
1. 25 per cent of teachers were absent from school and only about half were teaching.
2. Rates of absenteeism varied from under 15 per cent in Maharashtra to 42 per cent in Jharkhand. The rates were found to be higher in the “poorer States.”
3. Maharashtra had the lowest rate — 14.6 per cent. In Kerala it was 21.2 per cent, in Tamil Nadu 21.3 per cent, in Karnataka 21.7 per cent and in West Bengal 24.7 per cent. On the higher side. The rate was 34.4 per cent in Punjab, 37.8 per cent in Bihar, and 41.9 per cent in Jharkhand.
4. Categories of absence of teachers, the study found that it was 30.2 per cent in the case of head teachers, 22.2 per cent in the case of deputy heads, 23.1 per cent in respect of permanent or regular teachers, and 24 per cent in the case of contract/informal candidates.
5.Teacher absence was considerably lower in schools with better infrastructure, a potentially important pointer to the importance of working conditions.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/05/stories/2006040506971100.htm
Teacher and Pupil Ratio
1. The all-India teacher and pupil ratio for primary schools in 2005-06 stood at 1:46. But states like Bihar had a teacher to pupil ratio of 1:104, Jharkhand 1:79 and West Bengal 1:50.
Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/newdelhi/Who-will-teach-the-teachers/Article1-465882.aspx