18 Amazing Facts about Education

🌕 India has 14 crore population in the age group of 18 to 23, which is an age when most of them should be in colleges or polytechnic. 

🌕 However, only about 3.66 crore out of this group are found pursuing tertiary education, which is counted as gross enrolment rate (GER) of 26 per cent. 

🌕 The comparable GER of Russia is 81 per cent and that of China is 51 per cent. The GER of most advance countries of North Americaand Europe is in excess of 80 per cent. 

🌕 The GER of India doubled in the last 10 years, the speed at which it may take us another 10 years to reach where China is today.

🌕 When it comes to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, the GER ofthis group is 21.8 per cent and 15.9 per cent. [ While it is logical to aspire to double our GER in five years, it is neither feasible nor desirable.] 

🌕 More than 80 per cent of the students passing out of class 12 are now entering higher education. 

🌕 Unless our GER for higher secondary goes up substantially, we can't reach there. About 81 per cent of the total students in higher education are pursuing top 10 programmes only, which include: BA, BA (Honours), MA, BSc, B Com, B Tech, BE, Diploma, B. Ed, and MSc.

 

🌕 The public expenditure on education needs to be increased by at least 25 per cent more in one year and 15 per cent more in the successive years to reach the target of 6 per cent of GDP. 

🌕 As per Reserve Bank of India reports, the total state governments' expenditure on education in 2017-18 was only 2.8 per cent of GDP, and if we add to that Central Government's annual expenditure in that year, the total expenditure of state and centre is not exceeding 3.5 per cent of GDP. 

🌕 For giving a big push to education, the public expenditure on education needs to be increased by at least 25 per cent more in one year and 15 per cent more in the successive years to reach the target of 6 per cent of GDP. 

🌕 ASER reports every year that roughly 50% of Grade 5 children cannot read a Grade 2 text. 

🌕 Public Expenditure on school and higher education in 2018, is estimated to be Rs 80,000 Crores.

🌕 A World Bank study found that teacher absenteeism in India was nearly 24%, which costs the country about $1.5 billion annually. 

🌕 India currently spends about 3% of its GDP on education. [Bhutan spends 7.5% of its GDP on education.] 

🌕 India’s spending as percentage of GDP on education was 2.7 percent of GDP for the financial year 2017-18

.

🌕 ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) reports that as students go through the school system, a significant percentage drop out (often due to low relevance or poor economic return from staying in school). Only about 30% of children enrolling in Grade 1 graduate from Grade 12.

 

🌕 A recent Teacher Needs Assessment carried out in a state in central India suggests that 76% of primary teachers are themselves not fully familiar with Grade 5 competencies. 

🌕 Estimates suggest that 10 lakh teachers in India lack even the on-paper qualifications for the job, and only about 17% of applicants qualify as primary school teachers and 15% as middle school teachers after taking the standardised Teacher Eligibility Test.