School reforms under NEP 2020 must not be allowed to languish

These are long overdue and we must achieve them quickly or risk squandering the demographic dividend of our youth bulge

- AMIT CHANDRA & PARTH J. SHAH

Ensuring all children in India get good education requires ensuring children have access to schools and that schools are delivering quality education. Our education system prioritized access to education and the quality of what is delivered in classrooms got overlooked. In order to achieve the goal of universal access, driven by the values of equity and inclusion, the system has put its effort behind building schools, making sure that teachers are deployed, equipping classrooms, etc. With consistent effort, the nation has by and large achieved that goal, with about 98.6% of children in the age group of 6-10 years found to be enrolled in schools. However, children going to schools are not always learning. Report after report indicates deplorable education quality. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) has shown an alarming trend. Nationally, only 42.8% of children enrolled in Standard V in government or private schools can read a grade-two level text. India is being referred to as a country suffering from “learning poverty". Clearly, the big challenge for the nation now is to ensure the delivery of quality education.