One of the disquieting features of Indian politics and public policy is the colossal damage done to the rural and agricultural sector by successive governments, all in the name of the people. If the explicit objective is to undermine the rural agriculture-dependent population, our governments could not have done a more thorough and effective job!
For decades the babus and politicians did their best to undermine agriculture. In the late 50’s and 60’s, collective farming was the fashionable goal. Congress party even attempted to emulate the soviet model, and only timely intervention from sane voices saved the day. In an insane moment in the 1970’s, even trading in food grains was sought to be nationalized, and orders have been issued! Mercifully, the scheme soon collapsed because of rampant corruption and incompetence of government.
Public policies have always tended to hurt farmers and producers. Compulsory procurement of food grains at below-market rates, phenomenal corruption and inefficiency, unfavourable terms of trade, restrictions on trading movement and storage of farm produce, all undermined agriculture. Rural credit institutions are extremely weak, and most farmers are forced to borrow from usurious money lenders. Fair markets in general do not exist, with the exception of the Mandis of Punjab and Haryana (thanks to the foresight of Choutu Ram), and marketing committees in most states are sources of political patronage and corruption. The scams in cotton procurement are a good illustration of government bungling.
The saddest part of the story is the unconstitutional, vice-like grip of politicians and bureaucrats over farmers’ cooperatives. The story of the dairy cooperatives in Andhra Pradesh is a good illustration of corruption, incompetence, malice and gross perversion of the Constitution perpetuating rural poverty.
The Constitution clearly guarantees the fundamental right of citizens to form and run cooperatives [19(1)(c)] and to carry on any trade or business [19(1)(g)]. The state has ignored this constitutional liberty for decades, and controlled the cooperatives in a most brazen and arbitrary manner. In time, corruption and incompetence of government bureaucrats led to collapse of most cooperatives, forcing some rethinking. The Brahma Prakash Committee (1990), the model cooperative law (1991), the Vaidyanathan Committees (2005) and several other expert reports emphasized the need for autonomous, democratic and professional management of cooperatives free from government control. The UPA government’s NCMP reiterates such commitment.
In 1995, AP was the first state to enact the Mutually Aided Cooperative Societies Act (MACS Act), recognizing the constitutional liberty of cooperatives in respect of societies which do not have government share capital and do not seek government assistance. Out of the eleven district cooperative milk unions, 8 district unions and about 5000 primary milk societies chose to be registered under MACS Act. The results over the past few years have been stunning.
The dairy cooperatives under MACS Act more than doubled their turnover in five years, and profits and net worth soared. The farmers get the highest price (Rs.195-225 per kg of fat), and profits are shared by members as price difference and bonus. The cooperatives provide other free services – artificial insemination, feed, veterinary care, and medical facilities for the families. In contrast, the dairy cooperatives which remained under government control collapsed, losses mounted, and are under liquidation. Farmers are forced to sell milk to private companies which formed cartels and offered less price (Rs.175 per kg fat). The government-controlled dairy federation is a white elephant with large, over-paid, inefficient staff and endless corruption. The federation offers even less price than the private companies and both provide no other services to farmers.
Given this backdrop, the AP government took an extraordinary decision this month. By an ordinance, all the successful, well-functioning dairy cooperatives under MACS Act were brought under the repressive 1964 Act, all elected managements were dismissed in the dead of night, and bureaucrats took over all the 5000 cooperatives at primary and district levels. The reasons cited by the state are laughable if the consequences are not tragic! The government, under whose control and watch all district unions collapsed, claims that the law is to improve the financial performance of diary cooperatives and serve farmers! With ‘friends’ such as these, farmers need no enemies! In the face of the Constitutional guarantees, proclaimed public policies, and compelling and incontrovertible evidence of financial collapse under government control, it is shocking that states still keep playing these political games for control and corruption in this day and age! Farmers end up losing heavily, and this loss often marks the difference between life and death in times of distress.
On issues like this, the hapless farmers will eventually win the legal battle, thanks to independent judiciary and a written Constitution. But even then, enormous struggle has to be waged not to improve formers’ conditions, but simply to stay where they were! This is a classic case of one step forward, two steps backward!
The states’ actions in agriculture, cooperatives, education, healthcare and local governments are going to determine the economic future of rural India and urban poor. Governance in states, rural incomes, constitutional liberties, and citizen-centric administration are inextricably linked. And yet, even in states which are ruled by major parties with a powerful stake in the Union government, vindictiveness, unconstitutionalism, adhocism and an attitude of ‘might is right’ seem to prevail. The right hand does not know what the left hand does! Clearly our economic future increasingly depends on altering political incentives and reforming governance.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Friday, February 03, 2006
Outcomes in School Education – Testing Boards
The Compiling and release of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2005 is a landmark event in the evolution of school education in India. Pratham, a reputed civil society organization conducted a nation-wide survey of school-going children in 485 rural districts. 776 small and big groups along with about 10,000 volunteers participated in this massive exercise, and assessed the elementary education outcomes on a large, randomly selected sample of nearly 400,000 children in 9521 villages.
The findings of ASER are revealing, and give us valuable insights into the state of our elementary education. While the information pertains to school children in the 6-14 years age group, it also helps us understand the state of secondary education by revealing the state of the foundation in early schooling. Even more significant, the quality of teachers and their commitment and accountability can be inferred from the quality of outcomes in schools.
The results of ASER-2005 are mixed. There is happy evidence of increased allocations to, and emphasis on, school education through various programmes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Mid-day Meals improving enrollment and retention in schools. 93.4 percent of all children (6-14 years) are at school. There are of course, inter-state variations. But the overall situation has improved. 75.1% of all children are in government schools, and 16.4% are in private schools. About 3% are in madarassas and alternate schools, leaving 6.6%, or 11 million children, out of school. More than half of those out of school were never enrolled.
But the learning levels of the children in schools reveal a far more distressing picture. 34.9% of all school-going children in 7-14 year age group cannot read even a short, easy paragraph (level 1; Std 1 level difficulty), and 51.9% cannot read a simple story (level 2; Std 2 level difficulty). Even in the 11-14 year group, 31% children cannot read the level-2 passage. While private schools fare better than government schools, the difference in outcomes is not high. While over 65 percent of children (Std II-V) in government schools cannot read a level-2 passage, over 52 percent of children in private schools too cannot read! Clearly, the problem transcends the usual analysis of public sector vs private sector debate.
Performance in Arithmetic tasks is equally distressing. Over 41% of children (7-14 years) cannot do a simple two-digit subtraction; over 65% of children cannot divide a three-digit number. Even among the children in 6th and 7th standards, 40% in government schools and over 33% in private schools cannot do a simple division. For a country which prides in its technical manpower pool, proficiency in mathematics and ability to provide back-office services to the world, this is an alarming situation.
Clearly, the children who are either genetically better-endowed, or are fortunate in being born to educated parents or having caring, competent teachers do very well, and are able to find jobs demanding high productivity. Some of them successfully compete with the best in the world, and bring laurels to India and make us proud. While the best products of our education are a match for the best in the world, the average is appallingly low. That is why, nearly 80% of our gene pool is untapped and the productive potential of the bulk of people is wasted. The results are low productivity, poor skills, and massive unemployment even after several years of schooling, or even college education.
The ASER – 2005 also dispels some other myths. The states traditionally regarded as better-governed are doing as badly as others, or in some respects even worse!
But there is hope. Our society values learning, and parents are willing to pay any price for giving their children a head start. ASER shows that the debate on education is now moving a few notches up, and is focusing on outcomes. A few practical steps can dramatically improve school education.
First, at the very minimum, we need State Testing Boards and a National Testing Board to regularly monitor education outcomes and provide invaluable data.
It is axiomatic in education that what is important is what gets tested! These Testing Boards could adapt the best practices elsewhere to suit our conditions. Standardized assessments practices in the US, France, Germany, Sweden, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Japan offer as excellent models. Our own NCERT has developed both the “National Curriculum Framework”, and “Minimum Levels of Learning”, both of which can form the basis for evolving sensible criterion-referenced assessments across the country. The current examination system is extremely flawed. Pressure on teachers to improve pass percentages often leads to rampant mass-copying. I remember a Chief Minister extolling the virtues of his minister for enhancing the X Std. pass percentage from 26 to 94 in six months, little realizing that these inflated numbers only demonstrate the ingenuity of teachers under pressure, not better outcomes! Testing Boards can first take up random sampling tests and identify the weaknesses in outcomes and facilitate strategic interventions for remedial action. Such a low cost initiative will build pressure on the system to deliver, and sensilize parents and community. Stake-holder empowerment through School Boards, and nation-wide standard tests for university admission can follow.
ASER 2005 has provided an invaluable tool to improve school education. There is nothing more important for enhancing our productivity and giving opportunity to poor children. Will the government act?
The findings of ASER are revealing, and give us valuable insights into the state of our elementary education. While the information pertains to school children in the 6-14 years age group, it also helps us understand the state of secondary education by revealing the state of the foundation in early schooling. Even more significant, the quality of teachers and their commitment and accountability can be inferred from the quality of outcomes in schools.
The results of ASER-2005 are mixed. There is happy evidence of increased allocations to, and emphasis on, school education through various programmes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Mid-day Meals improving enrollment and retention in schools. 93.4 percent of all children (6-14 years) are at school. There are of course, inter-state variations. But the overall situation has improved. 75.1% of all children are in government schools, and 16.4% are in private schools. About 3% are in madarassas and alternate schools, leaving 6.6%, or 11 million children, out of school. More than half of those out of school were never enrolled.
But the learning levels of the children in schools reveal a far more distressing picture. 34.9% of all school-going children in 7-14 year age group cannot read even a short, easy paragraph (level 1; Std 1 level difficulty), and 51.9% cannot read a simple story (level 2; Std 2 level difficulty). Even in the 11-14 year group, 31% children cannot read the level-2 passage. While private schools fare better than government schools, the difference in outcomes is not high. While over 65 percent of children (Std II-V) in government schools cannot read a level-2 passage, over 52 percent of children in private schools too cannot read! Clearly, the problem transcends the usual analysis of public sector vs private sector debate.
Performance in Arithmetic tasks is equally distressing. Over 41% of children (7-14 years) cannot do a simple two-digit subtraction; over 65% of children cannot divide a three-digit number. Even among the children in 6th and 7th standards, 40% in government schools and over 33% in private schools cannot do a simple division. For a country which prides in its technical manpower pool, proficiency in mathematics and ability to provide back-office services to the world, this is an alarming situation.
Clearly, the children who are either genetically better-endowed, or are fortunate in being born to educated parents or having caring, competent teachers do very well, and are able to find jobs demanding high productivity. Some of them successfully compete with the best in the world, and bring laurels to India and make us proud. While the best products of our education are a match for the best in the world, the average is appallingly low. That is why, nearly 80% of our gene pool is untapped and the productive potential of the bulk of people is wasted. The results are low productivity, poor skills, and massive unemployment even after several years of schooling, or even college education.
The ASER – 2005 also dispels some other myths. The states traditionally regarded as better-governed are doing as badly as others, or in some respects even worse!
But there is hope. Our society values learning, and parents are willing to pay any price for giving their children a head start. ASER shows that the debate on education is now moving a few notches up, and is focusing on outcomes. A few practical steps can dramatically improve school education.
First, at the very minimum, we need State Testing Boards and a National Testing Board to regularly monitor education outcomes and provide invaluable data.
It is axiomatic in education that what is important is what gets tested! These Testing Boards could adapt the best practices elsewhere to suit our conditions. Standardized assessments practices in the US, France, Germany, Sweden, England, New Zealand, Scotland and Japan offer as excellent models. Our own NCERT has developed both the “National Curriculum Framework”, and “Minimum Levels of Learning”, both of which can form the basis for evolving sensible criterion-referenced assessments across the country. The current examination system is extremely flawed. Pressure on teachers to improve pass percentages often leads to rampant mass-copying. I remember a Chief Minister extolling the virtues of his minister for enhancing the X Std. pass percentage from 26 to 94 in six months, little realizing that these inflated numbers only demonstrate the ingenuity of teachers under pressure, not better outcomes! Testing Boards can first take up random sampling tests and identify the weaknesses in outcomes and facilitate strategic interventions for remedial action. Such a low cost initiative will build pressure on the system to deliver, and sensilize parents and community. Stake-holder empowerment through School Boards, and nation-wide standard tests for university admission can follow.
ASER 2005 has provided an invaluable tool to improve school education. There is nothing more important for enhancing our productivity and giving opportunity to poor children. Will the government act?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)