New Education Policy 2020: Rationalization of schools

 

The Business standard has a discussion here on the New Education Policy, 2020 (NEP20). They point out that:

 

The NEP 2020 promotes “rationalization” of schools, citing facts like these: 15 per cent of upper primary schools in India have less than 30 children attending. But students, especially after Class 8, need to travel long distances to attend school/college even now (chart 2). Reducing the number of schools may put children further apart.

 

The National Statistical Office’s 2017-18 report on education shows that less than 50 per cent students get education for free after Class 8 (chart 3). The NEP 2020 talks about curbing commercialization of education. While more than two-thirds of primary schoolchildren have access to government-funded education, the proportion reduces to half at higher levels (chart 4). Physical distance and financial problems are key reasons cited by students for discontinuing education.

 

I believe that this would need to be addressed differently. As in the US, government can provide free transportation to students when they travel, say more than 2 km for high school education. Cost benefit analysis of the two options: Having a school for less than 30 students or transporting the students to the nearest High school. I don’t believe that any state government has had a look at the option of transporting students to larger schools, which have many inherent advantages. Larger schools tend to be located in larger villages/ small towns and hence can attract teachers better. Monitoring of such schools also tends to be much better and peer learning of Teachers is also possible. A brief mention has been made about higher cost of private sector education without providing economic costs of the process.

 

Not that private education has inherent faults, but its cost variance with government-funded education is disproportionately skewed. Medical education is, on average, three times costlier in a private college than in a government-funded college. At lower levels, the fee difference is starker (chart 5).

 

Is the education really free? It might be free in the sense that the students don’t pay anything out of pocket. But the resources spent by Governments are public funds and should be evaluated for effectiveness of spending/service delivery. Is the free education of good quality? Is there demand for the same or do the poor send their children to these Government schools due to lack of options? This tendency to treat all government services as free prevents comparison of services provided by the Government and the Private sector. It takes the comparison process into emotional and political rhetoric. The rhetoric buries the need for effective service delivery to the poor and we see groups warring to take ownership of providing services and showing the private sector in a bad light. The emotional arguments that flow conveniently forget that the private sector in 99% of cases is an Indian national/Company and are all under the regulatory control of the government and follow the law of the land. People are willing to cynically say that the law is in the ‘hands’ of the rich, but are unwilling to do anything to remedy the situation.