Low Mean & High Variance: Quality of Primary Education in Rural West Bengal
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A STUDY SUPPORTED BY THE SIR RATAN TATA TRUST Low Mean & High Variance: Quality of Primary Education in Rural West Bengal JYOTSNA JALAN with Jharna Panda CENTRE FOR STUDIES IN SOCIAL SCIENCES, CALCUTTA Low Mean & High Variance: Quality of Primary Education in Rural West Bengal JYOTSNA JALAN with Jharna Panda CENTRE FOR STUDIES IN SOCIAL SCIENCES, CALCUTTA 2010 Director’s Message Since Independence, the focus of government interventions in primary education has been on increasing access to schools. Today net primary school enrollments in India are over ninety percent. Even in very remote areas of India, it is likely that there is a primary school. But whether these schools are functioning efficiently or whether children are learning in these schools is another matter. The Right to Education 2009 bill is also largely silent about the quality of education that is to be provided to children 6•14 years. Only indirect references are made regarding steps to improve the quality of primary education. Scattered evidence on learning achievements of primary school students indicates very low knowledge levels. Time has come to move beyond strategies to increase enrollments and to focus attention on the quality of learning in schools. This timely report provides rigorous evidence from rural West Bengal on the quality of learning in primary school and its correlates at different levels: students, households, schools, local communities, and school administration. The research shows that learning achievements in numeracy and language skills are very low among Class IV students (terminal year in primary school in West Bengal). Yet there is substantial heterogeneity across districts, administrative blocks and schools, and among people belonging to different socio-economic groups. While there is some anecdotal recognition of unevenness of schooling access and achievements across states and people, there is little rigorous analysis of the patterns in education disparities across households, schools, and regions. To an extent, this report tries to fill the gap by focusing on rural West Bengal. Kolkata Sugata Marjit November 2010 Director, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta Acknowledgements The successful completion of the CSSSC-SRTT report would not have been possible without its team of dedicated field investigators and data entry persons. They are district-wise (in alphabetical order) – Bankura: Somnath Das (Supervisor), Amit Singha Mahapatra, Kartik Mondal, (Ms.)Mithu Mondal Chunilal Pal; Birbhum: Md. Basiruddin, Towshif Hosen Choudhari, Pulakesh Maji, Atanu Mondal, Subhas Chandra Paul, Debasish Ray, Abhijit Roy (Supervisor); Coochbehar: Biswajit Chakraborty, Dulal Chakraborty (Supervisor), (Ms.) Kamala Lama, Susanta Mondal, (Ms.) Simla Rai, (Ms.) Mina Ray & Satyen Ray; Murshidabad: Supantha Bose (Supervisor), Debashis Das, Anup Mondal, Rakhahari Mondal, Ramkrishna Mondal, Sujit Mondal, Shyamal Pal, Shantanu Saha, Shubhendu Sarkar; North 24 Parganas: (Ms.) Bijaya Chanda (Supervisor), Sabir Ali Mondal, Lakshmikanta Sahu, Biswajit Sarkar, Sujan Sarkar, Srikrishna Sarkar, Atanu Satra; South 24 Parganas: Debashis Chatterjee, Kajol Kayal, Pranab Kumar Kayal, Sajal Kanti Kayal (Supervisor), Amaresh Niyogi, Prasenjit Mondal; Dumka (Jharkhand): Abhijit Roy (Supervisor), Dhiraj Kumar Jha, (Ms.) Lolisini Murmu, Rajesh Kumar Sah; Data entry persons: (Ms.) Jhuma Biwas, Debashis Das, Somnath Das, Aritra Mahanty, Manas Manna, Shyamal Pal, Tapan Paul, Shantanu Saha, Sujan Sarkar, (Ms.) Amrita Sen and (Ms.)Sushmita. Our special thanks to Chandan Bakshi, Biswaji Barat, Kajal Chandra Deb, Amal Dutta, Avijit Kumar Dutta, Mukuleshwar Rehman Gayen, Soumya Ghosh, Sk. Saidul Hak, Sumit Majumdar, Naba Kumar Malik, Bijay Mondal, Kamal Pal, Sudarshan Pandey, Tapan Paul, Kumar Rana, Dalim Ray, Manabes Sarkar, Soumendu Sarkar, Uday Krishna Sarkar, Soumitra Shankar Sengupta, Rejanul Korim Tarafdar and Marshal Rishiraj Tudu for their help in the survey logistics. Aside from the above contributions, we have received advice and comments from many people throughout the project. The list is too long to thank them individually. We gratefully acknowledge the Sir Ratan Tata Trust Mumbai (SRTT) for funding the field survey and the research and thank its representatives (Ms.) Amrita Patwardhan and (Ms.) Jyotsna for their advice, comments and suggestions. We also thank our panel of experts Dilip Ghosh, Pallav Goswami, and Sujit Sinha and our external reviewer (Ms.) Jyotsna Jha for their valuable comments. We are also thankful to the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta for hosting the research project. Finally, we are grateful to the parents, students, DPSC chairmen (West Bengal), DSE (Dumka), teachers, VEC and school-administration representatives and district officials for having cooperated with the field survey teams at all times. Table ofTable Contents of Contents 1. Overview ............................................................................................... 1 2. Mapping outcomes: Learning, Attendance, and Dropouts .................. 5 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 6 2.2 Our Achievement Tests ............................................................................................... 7 2.3 Are Students Learning? ............................................................................................... 8 2.4 How Much Have Our Children Learnt in Primary School ...................................... 10 2.5 Attendance and Dropout Rates ................................................................................ 13 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................................. 18 3. Explaining Outcomes: Household and Student Characteristics ........... 19 3.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................20 3.2 Socio-Religious, Demographic and Economic Characteristics ..............................20 3.3 Private Investments by Parents to Facilitate Children’s Learning ......................... 25 3.4 Student Characteristics ............................................................................................. 29 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................................. 32 4. Explaining Outcomes: School and Teacher Characteristics .............. 33 4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 34 4.2 Role of Physical Infrastructure ................................................................................. 35 4.3 Role of Teachers......................................................................................................... 37 Chapter Summary............................................................................................................. 46 5. Explaining Outcomes: Community Participation .............................. 47 5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 48 5.2 Awareness about MTAs and VECs among Households .......................................... 49 5.3 Interactions between Schools and MTAs and Informal Community Arrangements ..................................................................................................................................... 51 5.4 A Detailed Analysis of the VECs ............................................................................... 53 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................................... 59 6. Explaining Outcomes: Administrative Supervision .................................. 60 6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 61 6.2 Experience of SIs and RTs ........................................................................................ 62 6.3 Are The SIs and RTs Overburdened? ....................................................................... 63 6.4 Responsibilities of School Circles ............................................................................. 63 6.5 School Circle’s Opinions about Changes in Primary School Education ................ 65 6.6 Nature of Complaints and Requests Received by the SIs Office ............................ 65 6.7 SIs Opinion about the Role of Teacher Unions and Panchayat Politics in Primary School Education ......................................................................................... 66 6.8 How Informed is the Administration about School Quality? ................................. 66 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................................... 68 7. Government Interventions: Mid-day Meals and Teacher Training ..... 69 7.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 70 7.2 The Mid-Day Meal Program .......................................................................... 70 7.2.1 Provision of MDMs across the Six Districts ............................................... 71 7.2.2 Relationship between MDM Provision and Student Outcomes ...............72 7.2.3 Administration of MDMs ............................................................................74