Lalit Garg
(The writer can be reached at lalitgarg11@gmail.com)
Education is one of the core building blocks of a society and a nation. This is why countries with high literacy rates and good educational systems tend to be more developed than those without. It can be said that education is also a weapon with which a person can change not only himself but also society, the nation, and the world. When it comes to making a new India—a strong India—there is a need to develop a positive attitude towards education and pay maximum attention. But it is a matter of concern that, despite the positive thinking of our governments, our education system has been sending the opposite signals.
The increase in the number of dropouts of students in higher education and school education in India, that is, increasing the number of students leaving studies in the middle, is becoming a big question not only on the education system but also on the government’s education policy and system. According to a reply given in Parliament, during the last five years, more than 34,000 students left their studies midway in the country’s renowned higher educational institutions. On the other hand, in the analysis of the board examinations of the year 2022 by the Union Ministry of Education, it has been said that lakhs of children drop out of school in the country at the level of tenth and twelfth. According to the analysis, last year, 35 lakh students did not go to class 11 after class 10.
Out of these, 27 and a half lakh were not successful, and seven and a-half lakh students did not appear in the examination. Similarly, 2.34 lakh students dropped out after class XII last year. Seventy-seven percent of these were from eleven states. That is, about fifty-eight lakh students leave studies in tenth and twelfth grade, so it should be a matter of great concern for any government, and it is a question mark on the ground-level implementation of government welfare programmes in the overall education system.
If we talk about higher education, then our educational institutions look far behind on global standards. This is when, in the 76 years of independence, the governments made a lot of efforts towards the spread of education, gave shape to multidimensional schemes, and made huge provisions in the budget as well. Among the more than 34,000 students who drop out midway, Dalit, tribal, and backward-class students are more numerous.
These institutes are not ordinary government colleges but of the level of IITs, NITs, IISERs, IIMs, Central Universities, and the like. Is the standard of education and environment not proper in such institutions? The government and the educationists of the country will also have to worry about the fact that 92 students who took admission in these higher educational institutions in the last five years committed suicide in the middle of their studies. Similarly, Darshan Solanki, a first-year student at IIT Bombay, committed suicide recently, after which the students there were officially asked not to inquire with each other about JEE (advanced) rank or GATE score. Nor ask any such question that exposes the caste of the student and its related aspects. Such a guideline is needed not only by IIT Bombay but by all higher education institutions. But the question is whether such symbolic steps can solve serious problems like the increasing number of suicides.
The success of any country’s education system lies in the fact that there is a continuum in the attainment of education from elementary to higher levels. If, for any reason, a student is facing difficulties in further studies, then measures should be taken to remove them. But for the past many decades, this question has been persistent: a large number of students leave schools and colleges midway, and concrete measures are not taken by the government to complete their further studies. This concern has been underlined many times in the study reports of organisations working on this issue, from the government to education, but till now no meaningful solution has been found.
Due to all government efforts and schemes, education is becoming expensive, competition is increasing, and it is becoming a compulsion to teach children in private schools and colleges due to the impossibility of admission to high-level schools and colleges. Even if some families take courage and get admission to private schools and colleges, due to financial compulsion, they are forced to withdraw their children from the school in between. Amidst the big schemes of the government, the situation of students leaving schools and colleges will have to be taken seriously. Instead of making education complicated, it has to be easy, carefree, less expensive, and interesting. It is also necessary to make education interesting so that some children do not find school and college boring by the time they reach the 9th and 10th grades; many children find school and college boring. For this reason, they want to go to school or college late, bunk the class, and sit during the lunch break. Due to a lack of attachment to their studies, students often leave school and college. Students wanting to drop out for any reason are a major problem for parents, but it also points to a major lack of education.
The purpose of sending children to school is not only to become good citizens by getting an education; education also plays a major role in earning and advancing nation-building. But at present, most of the school-college management has started seeing it as a business, and governments are also running away from the responsibility of education. After the implementation of the Right to Education Act in India, many things have changed at the ground level. For example, the enrollment of children in schools has increased. Every year, the number of children passing the eighth grade has increased rapidly. But along with this, the question of quality in education and the retention of children in school remains the same. Dropout rates among students, especially in higher educational institutions, are becoming a serious problem.
In all other fields, the world recognises our talents as iron. It is also true that admissions to these prestigious higher educational institutions of ours are also fiercely competitive. Despite this, the government will have to think deeply about why students are turning away from such institutions as well. Otherwise, the process of dropping out of such institutions is not going to stop.
Amidst the efforts being made to improve the level of education in the country, one cannot lose sight of the fact that there is not a single name from India in the top 100 higher educational institutions in the world. Even today, foreign educational institutions remain the first choice for capable families seeking higher education. Lack of resources and a lack of better teachers could be the reasons for this. But it is also true that, due to the attitude of the bureaucracy, even in our so-called better educational institutions, an environment of learning is not created.
Education seems to be given high priority in government schemes and at the policy level, yet the trend of dropping out among students is an indicator of failure or indifference at the policy level.
It is difficult to understand why this concern has persisted for so long, and then why not reach a solution on this issue? This is a question on which extensive thinking is necessary. It is well known that, on the one hand, the standards set in the education system in school and college are not easily acceptable to many students; on the other hand, due to non-continuity in studies, from the form of education to poverty, family, social, and many other factors, It is related, and its solution will need to be seen only by keeping all the points in one formula.