‘INITIAL LEARNING IN MOTHER TONGUE VERY IMPORTANT’

Proficiency in one language makes picking up another easier, Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Dept of School Education, tells the 28th edition of Delhi Dialogues

-  - SHEKHAR YADAV

A 1990-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy, Ministry of Education, has earned deep admiration with his passion for education and public policy. An alumnus of St Stephen’s College, Stony Brook University, and the National Defence College, Kumar brings expertise in education, health, and strategic studies. Excerpts:

S Lalitha: You’re deeply passionate about girls’ education. Since taking charge, what key steps have you taken to bring girls from remote areas into the education system?

Things have definitely improved over the years. Education of girls may have been an issue in the 90s or the beginning of the century. But today’s data indicate that they are equally represented in schools. If I look at the gender parity index across all levels, for a foundational, for preparatory, middle and the secondary, the gross gender parity index is more than one. As you climb up, it gets a little better. Lately, a worrying factor is the boys’ dropout rate in secondary school education is higher than that of the girls. It indicates that the girls have finally arrived.

Currently, the problem is that if 100 children take admission in Class one, by the time they reach Class 12, only 58 remains. Forty-two children drop out on the way which includes the girls as well. As I earlier said, boys drop out a little more. Bringing girls in our educational system is not a challenge. The challenge is actually in some of these schools where you have to pay a bit.

If you look at the CBSE schools, they have pretty instructive figures. There are two types of CBSE schools—one which is run by the government and the other managed by the private institutions. While the girls outnumber boys in government CBSE schools, it is just the other way round in private schools, that too with a larger margin. This sends out a message for society that we need to invest a little more in educating girl child.