Primary Education or the Elementary Education is the basic compulsory education provided in any country. It is given to the children of the age group of 6 to 14 years and it comes in between the early childhood education and the secondary education.
If we talk about the current status of primary education in India, India today has a literacy rate of almost 74% which is less than what was recommended by the UN that s 85%. 5.5% of children living in rural areas which are in the age group of 6 to 14 years are not enrolled in any school as compared to their counterparts in urban areas which is almost 4%. This difference is at large in the age group of 6 to 10 years in that as well if we talk about the rural areas, it is 5.5% and in urban areas it is 1.8%. Indian government spends almost 4 lakh crore rupees that is 18illion dollars on the education sector which counts for almost 4.6% of our GDP, which is less than the recommended 6% of our GDP. Due to the pandemic, many parents are ready to enroll their children in schools, and as of now in the country around 10% of children in the age group of 6 to 10 years are not enrolled in any schools. Proportion of girls in government schools has risen from 62% to 63% and that of boys from 70% to 73%.
The government of India under the 88th amendment act implemented article 21A which comprises of compulsory education to children in the age group of 6 to 14 years. To implement this the Government has also started the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) which aims to provide elementary education in a time bound manner. 25% of seats in private schools are reserved for the disadvantaged students.
There are several challenges to it as well. The first one being the pupil teacher ratio. The pupil teacher ratio that is the PTR should be 30:1 for primary classes and for upper classes it should be 35:1. But considering the increasing population this ratio in India is not maintained in-fact it is more than the expected and this case is seen in almost 70% schools in India. More fees for education would be the second challenge faced. As private schools demand for fees which is not payable by a middle class man so he admits his child in a government school and this is the case of around 70% children in India. Why the need to admit children in private schools must be your question? well the first one being the facility, then the kind of education. So to overcome this the Government should work on the development of Government schools which are feasible for a common man and can also provide quality education that is required for kids now a days considering the advancement in the technology.
Children coming up in this generation are our future. We have to provide them with education, good education if to be precise. Providing them with the most etiquette facilities to overcome he challenges they might face in the future by their counterparts from all over the world, and this should not be available to students n urban areas but also tot students in rural areas.
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