June 28, 2015
Abstract: Universal and high-quality education for all is the foundation for production, productivity and employment. However, India’s record in achieving both thus far is not great. While universal enrolment in primary education has been a creditable achievement, it has come at the expense of quality and a drop off in secondary enrolment.
To improve quality, reduce drop-off and expand coverage of education, it is required to have a collaborative effort on the part of four key stakeholders — teachers, parents, the community and the government — who contribute to students’ learning environment. It needs to be noted that the collaboration must be one among equals. In particular, the government must not be allowed to take a dominating role, which could jeopardize success through overengineering and over-centralization.
This article gives a few pointers into the responsibilities of each stakeholder group and refers the reader for details to Accelerating Access to Quality Education (brookings.edu/wp-content/content/uploads/2015/01/Acceleration_quality_education.pdf).
Keywords: universal education; educated workforce; productivity; overengineering
