Rural Education and Development

 Following independence, India viewed education as an effective tool

for bringing social change through community development.
 The community development programmes comprise agriculture,
animal husbandry, cooperation, rural industries, health and sanitation
including family welfare, family planning, women welfare, child care
and nutrition, education including adult education, social education and
literacy, youth welfare and community organization.

 In each of these areas of development there are several programmes,

schemes and activities which are additive, expanding and tapering off
covering the total community, some
segments, or specific target populations
such as small and marginal farmers,
artisans, women and in general people
below the poverty line.
 A plethora of government initiatives to provide access
to primary education may be underway, but issues of
equity, quality and access remain areas of concern —
particularly in rural schools.

 Children in rural areas continue to be deprived of

quality education owing to factors like lack of
competent and committed teachers, lack of textbooks
or teaching-learning materials, and so on.
 Rural Education…a global challenge
basic education in rural areas
•raises incomes and reduces poverty
•helps to sustain economic growth (a minimum
level of human capital is required for this)
•is not sufficient for any modern economy, but a
necessary first step to get there
•has important externalities: lower fertility, better
child health,human capabilities.
Why we still have the gap in basic
education?

-Not enough resources

-Inadequate use of resources
-Bad quality:
Low learning
Late entry, high repetition and dropout
-Focus on coverage not
enough, quality is key
 Why low quality?

 Traditional expository methodology: emphasis on

memorization and not in comprehension skills
 Limited amount of time in first grades to learn basic skills
 Cultural barriers in transition from home to school mainly in
minority areas
 Lack of text books and learning guides for students and
teachers that are appropriate with active methodologies and
that respond to the diversity within the classroom (specially
different learning rhythms)
 Rigid calendars, promotion and evaluation systems
 Insufficient time for effective learning, specially in language
and in math
Contd.
 Overloaded curriculum and not related to student’s
environment.
 Ineffective and inadequate pre- and in-service
training for teachers.
 High percentage of incomplete schools where teachers
have not received training nor material to deal with the
situation.
 Few teachers have been trained in active teaching
process.
 Schools located in isolated areas do not attract
qualified teachers.
 Permanent transfers of rural teachers to urban areas.
 Students:
-Under-nourished children
-Health problems
-Inadequate psycho-social development (little
exposure to ECD)
-Lack of motivation and support for learning
(from families)
 The philosophy and success of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya
(KGBVs) — a scheme for girls from rural and disadvantaged groups from
educationally backward blocks (EBBs) is aimed at realising the
constitutional commitment of providing free and compulsory education to
all children in the age group of 6-14 years. The programme also aims to
bridge gender and social gaps in education, which is an important
objective.

 Currently, the scheme is operational in over 3,000 EBBs in 24 states,

where rural female literacy is below the national average and the gender
gap in literacy is more than the national average. At
present, there are 2,578 KGBVs, of which
2,383 are operational and the total
number of girls enrolled is
1,76,713.
 Similarly, the Mahila Samakhya Programme (MSP), working in the
field of women empowerment through education, aims to promote ‘skill-
development’ and ‘entrepreurial skills’ to make women self-reliant. The
girls are not imparted skills like sewing or tailoring. Instead, skills like
plumbing, repairing and so on to break gender stereotypes and empower
girls are imparted. So, when flooring has to be done in classrooms or taps
are not working, the students are completely equipped to handle the
situation.

 Likewise, the ‘Pehchaan’ project is a model that attempts to ensure that

out-of-school girls (9-14 years) are provided with educational
opportunities and brought on par with the other children of their age in
schools. The project is a collaboration between Unicef, NGOs Digantar
and Culp and the community.
 Recognizing community participation as one of the effective strategies to improve
access and quality in education, Kashyapi Awasthi, lecturer from M S University
of Baroda, Gujarat, cites an example: “A rural school of Surat owns an LCD
projector through community funding and children of 9-10 years of age can use it
effectively for teaching-learning processes.”

 Similarly, she adds, “There is a government school in Gujarat with 70 herbal plants
that involves students in activity-based learning like planting seeds, encouraging
concept learning like the germination process, and so on. It turned out to be such a
successful venture that four private schools in the vicinity had to close down, with
students from the private schools moving to the government school.” It is the
devotion of individuals, innovative practices employed, the joint efforts of the
school and community that works wonders, she added.
 Participatory videos can best be used to empower underprivileged
students from rural areas, feels Vedavati Ravindra Jogi, an
educational professional from Pune. Breaking away from producing
educational videos for children, she believes that innovation and
creativity of children should instead be tapped to enable maximum
learning.

 Thus, she conducted a study on class VIII and IX students where

students were imparted lessons in script writing, video-shooting and
editing, using various formats. Today, her students are creative
individuals producing video clips on concepts like force, pressure,
covalent bonds, and so on.
 PRAYAS Social Welfare Society (PRAYAS SWS) is
purely a Non Govt. Social Service Regd. Organization
(NGO) having a non political, non religious and non
commercial character and is mainly engaged in imparting
completely free education to the children from the families
belonging to Economically Weaker Section and backward
class of the society.
 Parents of these children are mostly laborers who live in
slums, Jhuggis (mud or polythene hutments) and are not
able to get their children admitted in public schools or even
in Govt. run schools due to poverty and illiteracy. Illiteracy
is a curse and the PRAYAS SWS is poised to eliminate it to
the best of its capacity and ability.
 Udayan Care is an Indian registered charitable voluntary
organization (NGO) focused on working with disadvantaged
children and women. It was founded in New Delhi, on 7
February 1994 and is now largely centered in India's national
capital region (NCR) Delhi but has its presence in Haryana,
UP, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu too.

 School Health Education

Udayan Care has created a curriculum on Health Education
and Life Skills which is a subject that seems to be missing at
most Indian schools, together with a team of health and
education experts and it will soon be printed and send to 50
schools.
C.R.E.A.T.E. Center for Rehabilitation, Education and
Thought Enrichment

 Integrating rehabilitation, education and therapy services

with care giving and parenting for the disadvantaged child.
 C.R.E.A.T.E. facilitates following programmes for the
community and Udayan children:
 Counseling & Guidance Centre.
 Stitching Tailoring & Life Skills Centre.
 Computer Education Centre.
 Art Gallery
 Open Air Theatre
 Beauty Therapy Center
 Yoga Center
 Dance, Music, and Pottery rooms
 Library and Audio Visual Room
S.U.G.A.M.
In partnership with 2 other NGO’s Udayan Care has
adopted 3 villages in the Tsunami hit coastal areas of
Nagapattinam, where they have set up an education
center with special emphasis on orphaned and semi
orphaned children.
 DRDC (District Rural Development Cell) is now giving more
emphasis on Self Help Groups (SHGs) which has been found to be
more feasible and acceptable in the rural areas of West Bengal because
of its stress in community participation for removing poverty
alleviation and social injustices. It is iterated that the Block and
Panchayats should give more attention towards the formation of self-
help groups and strengthening of the existing groups, i.e., DWCRA
groups. It has been experienced that the groups are more susceptible to
the elements of finance management then the individual. Further,
seeing the huge number of families under operational list ,the
individual approach seems untenable vis-à-vis group approach.

 Female Groups - only for females

 Male Groups - only for males
 Mixed Groups - containing both male & females
Then….What to do??
 What can be done to correct these problems in rural
education?
1. Schools must be adapted to function more effectively
2. Student learning skills before entering primary
education must be improved
3. Flexible and open programs for children and out-of-
school youth
 4. Organization of planning, management and
monitoring mechanism at the local level must be
created
 5 Advocacy, social mobilization, community
participation and stimulation of demand for quality
education must be promoted
 Thank you….