NN37, May 2006
Special Theme on Education and Training out of Poverty? A Status Report
HOW HAVE THE POOR FARED IN INDIA?S ?TIGER ECONOMY??
By Santosh Mehrotra, UNDP Regional Centre for Asia, Bangkok
There are two India?s at least ? educationally speaking. There is the India of the mainly northern states ? Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal ? which account for well over three-fourths of India?s children out of school. Then there are India?s poor that live in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh ? all southern states except for the last one, which have all universalized primary education, and are well on their way to doing the same for upper-primary (classes 6-8). Not surprisingly, it is also the northern states that have the highest incidence of income-poverty, and also the lowest mean per capita income among Indian states.At the time of the 1991 Census, forty years after planned development began, nearly half of India?s population was illiterate (48%). By 2001, that share had dropped to just over a third (35%). However, by then its illiterate population was larger than India?s total population had been at independence from Britain in 1947.
So when India began its economic reforms in 1991, with hopes of becoming a ?tiger? economy, it had a huge backlog of both children out of school as well as illiterate population. For forty years, higher education had been reasonably well-funded, and elementary education (classes 1-8) relatively starved of funds. For the first time since independence, the Government of India agreed in the early 1990s to accept World Bank and bilateral financial assistance for primary education ? which increased central government?s resources for primary education. The northern states benefited, and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan especially took advantage to improve their enrolment and literacy indicators faster than the national mean over the 1990s. Given that it is the poor girls, and the poor Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that were out of school, this was a hugely important advance for India?s poor. Enrolment improved all over India, but especially in the northern states. There are, however, laggard states ? Uttar Pradesh and Bihar ? which are among the most populous in the country.
Besides, despite the increase in enrolment, serious challenges remain in respect of quality in government schools, where poor children are enrolled. Teacher absence, especially in the poorer states, is rampant, particularly in rural areas. Pupil-teacher ratios rose, primarily because state governments, which account for 90% of total public expenditure on elementary education, were bankrupt and hence could not hire more regular teachers. The number of para-teachers increased to about 3.5 million by the beginning of the 21st century. Private sector provision has grown more than commensurately to meet with growing demand, including by the poor, mainly but not only in urban areas.
Meanwhile, income-poverty has declined considerably, from 39.4% in 1987/8 to 26.8% in 1999/2000 in rural areas, and 39.1 to 24.1% in urban areas.
Also, since 1980 the economy has grown faster than it had done from 1950 to 1980. The pace has picked up even further in the past half decade. Accordingly, the incomes of those with higher education and skills in demand have increased sharply, driving income inequalities in the country. If income poverty is to continue to decline, and inequalities not to worsen, the central government?s commitment to universalize elementary education by 2010 through its Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan cannot afford to fail.
[Editor: For Santosh?s very recent book]
The Economics of Elementary Education in India
click here.