The state of Bihar in India has long been struggling with poverty. But today, it is this region that has made the most progress on educating the girl-child, child charity reports.
The number of girls aged five and 6-14 has increased across India in 2010. Yet, the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) report has singled out Bihar state for its progress, lauded as “commendable.â€
The ASER was prepared Pratham – a non-governmental organization in India. The report has been conducted annually for the past five years. Last year, the survey reached 522 districts, more 14,000 villages, 300,000 households and almost 700,000 children.
Enrolment rates in Bihar have been on the rise since 2005, for girls especially. In 2006, 17.5% of girls aged 11-14 were out of school. By 2010, this number had fallen to 4.6%. The number of girls out of school in Bihar is even lower than the national average of 5.9% in 2010.
Bihar’s progress is especially impressive because of its high poverty rate. Several other Indian states, such as Gujarat, are often held up as examples of more successful development but have performed lower on indicators for gender parity in education.
Across India, the overall share of out-of-school children has dropped significantly to only 3.5% (the same as Bihar’s). Today, more than 96% of children attend school, even if simply for school feeding programmes.
In southern India, greater enrolment of children aged 6-14 in private schools has been identified as a recent trend. Roughly a quarter of children in this age group are now enrolled in private schools.
Children aged 6-14 are covered under the national Right to Education Act. Still, the number of five year old children enrolled in school has also increased in rural areas. In 2009, the number of five year olds enrolled in school was only 54.6%. But by the end of 2010, this number reached 62.8%.
The region of Karnataka has made the biggest overall improvement here, with the number of five year olds in school more than tripling from 17.1% in 2009 to 67.6% in 2010.
However, the ASER report also found that the absolute number of children in school, as measured by gross enrolment and attendance rates, isn’t a good enough indicator about educational progress. The quality of education remains a major debate, as Indian children’s basic abilities to read and write have stagnated, while mathematical abilities have declined.
Students’ actual learning, generally measured through standardized testing, is the foremost indicator of the quality of education. Learning is influenced by a variety of factors ranging from the availability of textbooks, supplies and facilities to teaching styles and strategies (pedagogies).
Once again, Bihar has performed well above national statistics. While nationally, only 50% of Class VIII students can solve level-appropriate math questions, 69% of students in Bihar can solve them.
Going forward, while the challenges are enormous, educational planners in India must ensure that schools are properly equipped, classroom sizes are manageable and that teacher absenteeism is reduced. As the Bihar story shows, by matching quantitative improvements with qualitative ones, India’s children could see rapid gains in universal primary education.