Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030?

10/2018

Working Paper

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? Mary Panmei Abhay Kumar

August 2018

Chetanya Kasyap Foundation A-101, Gauri Sadan, 5 Hailey Road,New Delhi - 110001

Editorial Board Prof. Ashok K. Pankaj Shri R.N.P. Singh Copyright © 2018 Chetanya Kasyap Foundation All rights reserved First published: August 2018 ISBN: 978-81-933290-9-2 No part of this paper may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the organization. For permission please send a request to the publisher on below mentioned address. Layout and Design Amit Kumar Chetanya Kasyap Foundation Published by: Chetanya Kasyap Foundation A-101, Gauri Sadan, 5 Hailey Road, New Delhi – 110001 Ph: 011-23705511/12, Fax: 011-23705550 Email: [email protected] Website: www.ckf.org.in

Acknowledgements This paper has got insights from the talks delivered at “Poverty Discourse” of Chetanya Kasyap Foundation by eminent educationists Dr. J.S. Rajput, Prof. Sudhanshu Bhushan, Prof. Kumar Suresh, Prof. Nalini Juneja and Shri Ambarish Rai. We are thankful to each one of them. Shri Chetanya Kasyap ideas on education have always been inspirational which have helped in the development of this paper. Shri R.N.P. Singh and Prof. Ashok K. Pankaj has made useful editorial comments and we owe a deep sense of gratitude to them. Dr. Vir Narayan has gone through the draft of this paper and has provided useful suggestions for which we are obliged. Mr. Sudheer K. Shukla has played an important role in the data compilation of this paper. Mr. Amit Kumar has helped in designing the report and providing all administrative support. We are thankful to them as well. Mary Panmei Abhay Kumar

Contents

Abbreviations

vi

I. Introduction

2

II. Objectives, Data and Methods

4

III. SDG 4 Targets and India 5 1. Gender Equity and Learning Outcomes = Gender Equity in School Education = Gender (In)Equity in Higher and Technical Education = Early Childhood Care and Education = Learning Outcomes 2. Youth and Adults: Technical & Vocational Education and Literacy = Technical and Vocational Education =Youth and Adult Literacy 3. Vulnerable Groups 4. Educational Infrastructure IV. India’s Financial Commitment and SDG 4

28

V. Summing Up

31

Notes

35

References

37

Abbreviations

vi

AISHE

All India Survey on Higher Education

ASER

Annual Status of Education Report

CSIS

Central Scheme to Provide Interest Subsidy

CPE

Colleges with Potential for Excellence

CWSN

Children with Special Needs

DDU-GKY

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

ECCE

Early Childhood Care and Education

EFA

Education for All

EWS

Economically Weaker Section

GER

Gross Enrolment Ratio

GOI

Government of India

GPI

Gender Parity Index

ICDS

Integrated Childhood Development Service

KGBV

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya

MDG

Millennium Development Goals

MHRD

Ministry of Human Resource Development

MOOC

Massive Open Online Courses

MOSPI

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation

MPCEE

Monthly Per Capita Consumption Expenditure on Elementary Education

MSDE

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

MWCD

Ministry of Women and Child Development

NAS

National Achievement Survey

NER

Net Enrolment Ratio

NET

National Eligibility Test

NFHS

National Family Health Survey

NITI

National Institution for Transforming India

NLM

National Literacy Mission

NPE

National Policy on Education

NPEGEL

National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level

NSDA

National Skill Development Agency

NSSO

National Sample Survey Office

NIEPA

National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration

NYP

National Youth Policy

OBC

Other Backward Class

PMKVY

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana

PTR

Pupil-Teacher Ratio

RGSEAG

Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls

RMSA

Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan

RTE

Right to Education

RUSA

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan

SAP

Special Assistance Programme

SC

Scheduled Caste

SDG

Sustainable Development Goals

SSA

Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan

ST

Scheduled Tribe

TVET

Technical and Vocational Education and Training

vii

viii

U-DISE

Unified District Information System for Education

UGC

University Grants Commission

UIS

UNESCO Institute of Statistic

UN

United Nations

UNDP

United Nations Development Programme

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UPE

Universities with Potential for Excellence

VET

Vocational Education and Training

Assessing Adequacy of Healthcare Professionals in India’s Healthcare System

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? Mary Panmei = Abhay Kumar*

Abstract The SDG 4 calls to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education to all. This goal gets reflected in the constitutional provisions, policies and plans of India since independence. However, India’s progress in the field of inclusive, equitable and quality education at all levels is that of a mixed success story.While India has done better in the field of inclusive and equitable education, quality education is an aspect which lags behind.This paper reviews India’s status vis-à-vis different targets of SDG 4 and flags out key challenges which need to be overcome in order to achieve the goal by 2030.The paper has used data from variety of sources such as NSSO, MHRD, U-DISE, ASER, NAS, AISHE and other relevant UN statistical sources to show the level of achievement and gaps. The paper has also critically examined policies, plans and programmes on education to assess whether it is inclined in the direction of SDG 4. Keywords: Sustainable Development Goal 4, Education, Inclusive, Equitable, Quality JEL Classification Codes: I20, I24, I28, I29 * Authors work with Chetanya Kasyap Foundation, New Delhi. Corresponding Author: [email protected]/[email protected]

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Working Paper 10/2018

I. Introduction Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as a transformative agenda, pledges to provide a meaningful and qualitative life to all. Education is regarded central in sustainable development as it entitles individual to be self-reliance, boosts economic growth, and improves living for better sustainability (UNESCO 2016). Education which is featured in the Goal 4 of the SDG ascertains to provide inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning to everyone. SDG 4 is basically instilled by the principle of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and Dakar 2000 frameworks on “Education for All (EFA)”. UNESCO agreeably differentiates the SDG 4, MDG 2 and EFA. Targets set in SDG 4 are broader in terms of its scope, geographical coverage and policy implementation from MDG 2 and EFA1. Embedded by ambitious agenda, SDG 4 ensures educational opportunities to all regardless of castes, creeds, colours, religion, region, etc (UNESCO 2016). Targets adopted in SDG 4 centered on inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning. These targets are presented in Table 1. SDG concerns of equity, inclusiveness and quality are embedded in the constitutional provisions, policies, plans and programs of India. The importance of inclusiveness and equity is the bedrock of Indian constitution. The Preamble of the Indian constitution explicitly mentions that all citizens should be secured with dignity, freedom and equality including equal opportunity and status. These principles are also enshrined in the field of education2. Kothari Commission (1964-66) culminated these ideals together in its report and directed to provide equal educational opportunities to backward and underprivileged classes and individuals. The Commission further emphasized the need for Common School System for providing inclusive and integrated education to all children irrespective of caste, creed, community, religion, economic conditions and social status (GOI 2016). The National Policy on Education (NPE) 1968 emphasized on providing educational 2

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? opportunities to all sections of society, including girls, minorities, disadvantaged classes, tribal people and rural areas (GOI 2016). The revised NPE of 1986 laid emphasis on all learners to attain substantial learning at different levels of education. The NPE of 1992, prioritized on three principles “Encourage, Educate and Employ”, with the aim to provide sustainable living to all the citizens (GOI 2016). India’s Five Year Plans which remained the focus of planning in the country has also deliberated on education amply. The earlier plans emphasized the need to develop education across all levels - elementary, secondary, vocational, higher level, technical, including certain steps to increase adult literacy and continuing education among the citizens3. The recent Twelfth Plan committed to ensure free and compulsory education to 6-14 years children; improve attendance, reduce dropout and out of school children (OoSC) at the elementary level for all socio-economic and minority groups; increase enrolments at higher education and raise gross enrolment ratio (GER) at the secondary level of education; enhance literacy rate and reduce gender gap in literacy; ensure well-supported pre-school education to all children particularly those in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs); and improve learning outcomes by mastering basic reading and numeracy skills at all levels of school education (Planning Commission 2014). So, the concerns of equity and inclusive education have remained inherent in the constitutional provisions, national policies and plans. Complementing constitutional provisions, policies and plans, government initiated a range of programmes and schemes for education4. These programmes are run to augment inclusion and equity at different levels of education. Recently, NITI Aayog has adopted a three-year action agenda, in which, quality of education has been given due importance. Its vision is to create school education outcome oriented, effective teaching-learning, improve existing governance mechanisms and if necessary adopt new ones in three years span. The agenda further advocates to develop higher education by establishing world class universities; autonomy for top 3

Working Paper 10/2018 colleges and universities; reform of the regulatory system-three tired system; enhance project/research grants; and increase vocational and professional institution in three years (NITI Aayog 2017). With the spirit of fulfilling the global agenda, NITI Aayog is supervising the implementation of SDG 4 in the country. It has adopted national strategy-mapping of ministries & programmes, identification of SDG 4 targets, indicators and integrating it with the national development agenda. It is emphasizing on rigorous outcomes based monitoring and consultations with stakeholders to achieve SDG 4 (Jain 2018). Indian governments are thus taking a critical move to achieve the 2030 agenda of SDG 4. With it, high priority has been given to address the educational challenges in an integrated and holistic manner in the country. Considering this, it is important to review India’s endeavour to attain SDG 4.

II. Objectives, Data and Methods The objective of this paper is to review India’s status vis-à-vis targets of SDG 4 and flag out key challenges which need to be overcome in order to achieve these targets by 2030. This paper has used data from variety of sources such as National Sample Survey (NSS), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Unified-District Information on School Education (U-DISE), Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), National Achievement Survey (NAS) and other relevant UN statistical sources to show the existing status of different targets in India. The paper also reviews various policies, plans and programmes on education to assess whether it is inclined in the direction of attainment of the SDG 4. The paper is organized into four sections. Besides Introduction, Section 2 spells out objectives, data, methods and structure. Section 3

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Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? presents the status of India vis-à-vis nine (out of ten) targets of SDG 4 and flags out key challenges in their attainments. Section 4 discusses India’s financial commitment in regard to SDG 4. The last section sums up the discussion.

III. SDG 4 Targets and India SDG 4 has ten targets (Table 1). These ten targets can broadly be categorized into five different groups. First group is a combination of Target 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 which relate to the gender equality at all levels of education. Second group can be formed with Target 4.4 and 4.6 which pertains to technical and vocational education and youth and adult literacy. Target 4.5 deals with the vulnerable groups and their inclusion and thus it has been categorized separately. Similarly, Target 4.7 talks about the life-skill learning for sustainable development and has been categorized independently. Target 4.a, 4.b and 4.c aims to improve educational infrastructure and has been combined together as fifth group. Out of these five recategorised groups, this paper has reviewed only four groups (9 targets). Category four (Target 4.7) has not been included in our review because of the paucity of data. Targets have been reviewed with the recent data and information. Under the four broad categories, status of individual targets has firstly been reviewed and then gaps and challenges have been discussed. 1. Gender Equity and Learning Outcomes Gender equity in education has been highlighted in target 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 of SDG 4. In this direction, India has laid down various policy interventions to address gender equity in education. The Kothari Commission (1964-66) and the National Policy on Education (1986) and its revised Programme of Action (1992) have given due emphasis on promotion of gender equity in education by reducing gender gap in access, retention and transition from one stage to other, including gender 5

Working Paper 10/2018 Table 1: SDG 4 and its Targets Categorised into Five Groups By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality Target 4.1 primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood Group 1 Target 4.2 development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education Target 4.3

By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university

By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have Target 4.4 relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship Group 2 Target 4.6

By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy

By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including Group 3 Target 4.5 persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and children in vulnerable situations By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender Group 4 Target 4.7 equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development By 2030, build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and Target 4.a gender sensitive and provide safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all By 2030, substantially, expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, Group 5 Target 4.b including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including Target 4.c through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing States

sensitive curriculum at all levels of education (Bandyopadhyay and Subrahmanian 2008). 6

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? Gender Equity in School Education Government has adopted various initiatives to promote gender equity in school education. Under the Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan (SSA) important schemes such as National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary level (NPEGEL), Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) and Mahila Samakhya have been implemented to promote girls in elementary education. Further, at the secondary level provisions for residential schools and hostels for boys and girls, and National Incentives to Girls are being implemented under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) framework. Other interventions such as establishment of single sex schools and local schools, providing free textbooks to girls, building toilets for girls, developing residential bridge courses for girls particularly for those who have dropped out, and increase in the number of female teachers to overcome gender barrier in school education has been implemented (Kingdon 2007). Other government initiatives like Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao; Udaan; and Digital Gender Atlas for Advancing Girls’ Education has been launched recently to promote girl’s education in the country. All these interventions have made considerable improvement in the gender parity in education. Based on the UNESCO Institute of Statistic (UIS) data, gender parity in India at the elementary and secondary level shows significant progress in 2016. The gross intake ratio5 to the last grade of primary was 98.6 per cent for female and 94.2 per cent for male. The transition rate from primary to secondary level was 91.1 per cent for female and 90.5 per cent for male. The proportion of survival till the last grade of primary education was 90.9 per cent for female and for male it was 89.4 per cent (UIS 2018). According to U-DISE, between 2014-15 and 2015-16, the ratio of female enrolment to male enrolment in elementary education (0.94 for both the period) shows no difference but the ratio of female to male enrolment marginally increased in secondary education from 0.90 to 0.91 and from 0.89 to 0.90 in higher secondary education (NIEPA 2016). During 2014-15 and 2015-16, the Net Enrolment Ratio (NER)6 7

Working Paper 10/2018 in elementary education was higher for female (91.5 per cent) than that for male (86.7 per cent). At the secondary level, the NER for female marginally increased to 51.9 per cent as compared to 50.7 per cent for male. Similarly, at the higher secondary level, the NER for female modestly increased to 32.7 per cent while for male it was 32.0 per cent. As per the U-DISE, the retention rate7 for female at primary level has increased by 71.4 per cent in 2015-16 from 68.1 per cent in 2014-15 whereas for male, it has increased to 70.02 per cent in 2015-16 from 66.7 per cent in 2014-15. At the secondary level, the retention rate for female declined marginally from 56.8 per cent to 56.6 per cent during 2014-15 and 2015-16 whereas for male, it improved from 57.5 per cent to 58.1 per cent during the same period (NIEPA 2016). However, the retention rate for female shows improvement than that of male at the elementary level. As per NSSO (2014) data, there was hardly any difference between the attendance of boys and girls from primary to higher secondary level of education. But, the attendance of both boys and girls falls as the level of education rises in school education (Rao 2018). According to U-DISE (2015-16), the annual dropout rate for male and female was 4.0 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively at the elementary level (NIEPA 2016). At the secondary level, it was 17.2 per cent for male and 16.9 per cent for female. Although dropout rate for female declined marginally than that of boys at the secondary level, it was relatively high as compared to male at the elementary level. While the annual dropout rate of male stands at 0.2 per cent, the dropout rate for female shows negative indicating that female retention and continuation in upper secondary (Class XI-XII) level has considerably improved in 2014-15 (NIEPA 2016). However, dropout in school education is still a concern. The NSSO (71st round) data provided the proportion of male and female (age group 5-29 years) dropouts and the reasons behind this in school education. The key reasons for female dropout were engagement in domestic activities (30 per cent), lack of interest in education (16 per cent), and marriage (14 per cent). For 8

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? males, the dropout was due to economic activities (31 per cent), lack of interest in education (24 per cent) and financial constraints (24 per cent) (Rao 2018). Overall, gender equity in school education has shown positive trend. Currently, the Gender Parity Index (GPI) in elementary and secondary education stands at 1.03 and 1.01 suggesting that equal proportion of male and female enrolled at the elementary and secondary level (MHRD 2016b). Gender (In)Equity in Higher and Technical Education It is noteworthy that while the country has made impressive progress in terms of enrolment in school education, there is gender gap in enrolment in higher education and technical and vocational education. As reported by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) (2018), enrolment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at secondary level for female in India was 0.96 per cent which was lower than that of male with 4.22 per cent in 2016. Moreover, there was increasing number of school leaving students not able to continue higher education. Nearly, four-fifths of both boys and girls do not study beyond school (Bahadur 2015). During the Eleventh Plan, India has augmented its Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER)8 to 50 per cent by reducing disparity in GER across the states to 5 per cent in higher education (Ernst and Young 2012). In the Twelfth Plan, the government rolled out to achieve enrolment of 35.9 million students in higher education institutions, targeting GER of 25.2 per cent, and to enhance the quality of diverse research-centric, and teaching and vocation focused institutions (Shaguri 2013). The GER in higher education has increased marginally to 26.90 per cent in 2017 from 26.88 per cent in 2016 (UIS 2018). Out of this, the GER of female was 27.0 per cent and for male it was 26.9 per cent. As per the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), the Gender Parity Index (GPI) in higher education

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Working Paper 10/2018 has increased to 0.94 in 2016-17 from 0.86 in 2010-11. The gap between male and female in higher education has also sharply declined from 31.5 lakh to 21.5 lakh during 2011-12 to 2016-17 (MHRD 2017). As observed, the GER in higher education has substantially increased (26.9 per cent) which is quite close to achieving the target set for 2017 and even for the target 2020 (30 per cent GER) at the national level. Notwithstanding this progress, gender distribution in terms of enrolment at different levels of education and courses remains unequal in higher education. The AISHE (2016-17) data suggested that higher number of male enrolled in almost every level of higher education, except M.Phil. and Post Graduate where in, the female enrolment is higher than male enrolment. At Under Graduate level, 52.7 per cent male and 47.3 per cent female were enrolled. Diploma has a skewed distribution in favour of male with 70 per cent males and 30 per cent females were enrolled in such courses. At Ph.D. level, 58 per cent male and 42 per cent female were enrolled. If these higher levels of education are integrated, 59 per cent male and 41 per cent female were found to be enrolled. Even in the Bachelor in Technology (B.Tech.) programme, there were only 39 women per 100 men during 2016-17 and the change is not satisfactory as it were 38 women in 2012-13. Similarly, in polytechnic, out of the 15.6 lakh enrolled students, 82.6 per cent were male and remaining 17.4 per cent constituted female. There is also significant gender gap in the diploma courses with 70 per cent male enrolment (Gohain 2018). All these indicate that gender inequality exist in the higher and technical education of learning in India. The recent AISHE (2015-16) report reveals that the student enrolment decreases as one goes further higher from under graduate level of education. Government of India adopted Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) or Vocational Education and Training (VET) under the National Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Policy, 2015. It also establishes an entrepreneurship framework to strengthen and

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Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? promote entrepreneurship especially for women. But, female participation in vocational courses - knowledge, skills and competencies - is significantly lower than male (MHRD 2017). Around 3.8 per cent of male labour force had formal vocational training whereas for female it was comparatively lower at 2.3 per cent (Saxena and Kumar 2017b). Thus, skill based institute such as industrial training institutes, vocational schools, technical schools, polytechnics and professional colleges are largely enrolled by male. This challenge can further hamper the vision of skilling 300 million by 2020 and even to achieve the 2030 agenda of SDG4 laid out in target 4.3. Thus, larger number of men and women are entering the higher education system, yet the enrolment gap in terms of different levels of education and courses suggests that a significant proportion of female are not participating in the education system. SDG in its target 4.3 calls to provide all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university. But, looking at the current trends of higher education, India still needs robust effort to overcome gender gap in higher education. Less than one-fifth of the estimated 120 million potential students are enrolled in Higher Education Institution (HEI) in India, below the world average of 26 per cent in the eleventh plan (Tripathy 2015). The National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) suggests that India’s target of GER 30 per cent by 2020, require an additional 10,510 technical institutions, 15,530 colleges and 521 universities (Suneja 2012) to be built from 2012 to 2020. Besides, higher education in India needs by 2020 to create an additional capacity of 25 million seats (FCCI-Ernst and Young). The Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) scheme which operates at the higher level of education provides equitable education to the vulnerable sections and women in particular. Apart from RUSA, Central Scheme to Provide Interest Subsidy (CSIS) on Educational Loan and Scheme for Women’s Hostel in Polytechnic has been implemented to increase women’s participation in higher education (MHRD 2016a). 11

Working Paper 10/2018 These government sponsored programmes and other schemes in university education, technical education and scholarships needs proper monitoring and implementation to achieve target 4.3 of SDG. This target is closely associated with target 4.4 on skill development as higher education is an essential contributor to skill development of the youth. Early Childhood Care and Education Importance of early childhood development which is addressed in target 4.2 of SDG 4 has also been emphasized in the Indian National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986. The policy aims to develop Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme in India. Apart from this, Article 45 of the constitution attempts to provide ECCE for all children until they complete the age of six years. In recent years, government has spearheaded early childhood education initiatives by the Right to Education Act 2009, which entrusted the states to provide free pre-school education for children above three years. Acknowledging the significance of ECCE in the realm of childhood development and education, government of India, in its Twelfth Plan addressed to promote early childhood development with rights based approach. Among various interventions, Integrated Childhood Development Service (ICDS) initiated in 1975 continues to be a major flagship programme of ECCE in the country. Over the last four decades, ICDS programme in India has reached near universal due to expansion of preschool facilities like Anganwadi Centres and rapid expansion of privately managed pre-school (UNICEF 2017). During 2013, the ICDS covered 63.5 per cent of children who are in the age of six months to six years9. According to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, in 2015, around 34.5 million children, in the age group 3-6 were enrolled in 1.35 million Anganwadi centres with pre-education facility (MWCD 2016). Out of 34.5 million children availing ICDS services, 50.3 per cent were boys and 49.7 per cent were girls (GOI 2016).

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Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? In addition to ICDS, National Health Mission, National Children Fund, Mid Day Meal Scheme, community based child development support like Accredited Social Health Activists and the Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme are being implemented by the government. Notwithstanding these, it has not led to significant reductions in malnutrition or improvement in early childhood learning. The World Bank (2013) data noted that India’s mortality rate for children under 5 years of age was 53 per 1000 live births (UNDP 2015). According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), 4 out of 5 children under age 3 in India are anaemic. The NFHS-4 (2015-16) report shows that 38 per cent of children under the age of 5 are stunted, 21 per cent are wasted while 36 per cent are underweight (MoHFW 2017). Besides the dearth of basic health facilities, the quality of preeducation leaves much to be desired. In terms of curriculum, it appears to have a wide gap between the content and methodology advocated for an effective ECCE programme (Pratham 2017). While NPE emphasized the holistic nature of ECCE with play method as mentioned in its curriculum framework, majority of ECCE centres, both in the government and private tend to use formal didactic methods in teaching the 3-6 years age children (Pratham 2017). There is lack of adequate training among the programmers, including teachers/workers in the area of ECCE/ICDS, thus, distorting the idea of pre-education which aims to develop children in early phase. A major hitch lies in the implementation gaps which arise out of inadequate resource investment, poor convergence, and lack of accountability of those managing and implementing the programme. Lately, in 2016, the economic survey specifies to invest more in improving nutrition among children to capitalize demographic advantage offered by its young population. Despite this heartening note, fund for implementing ICDS programme was cut down to 7 per cent (Krishnan 2016). These further points to the fact that considerable concern is

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Working Paper 10/2018 needed for India to fulfill the target 4.2 of SDG 4 that calls for care and development in early childhood phase. India, therefore earnestly needs comprehensive programme, management and institutional reforms to improve the implementation. If the issues are addressed appropriately, ICDS/ECCE programmes can possibly ascertain better nutritional and child development with learning outcomes. This will enable India to develop its young people with better future and meet the SDG 4 target of early childhood development, care and pre-primary education within the specified time frame. Learning Outcomes Under SSA, government launched a program Padhe Bharat Bhade Bharat (2014) and Learning Enhancement Programs (since 2010-2011) to develop early reading and numeracy skills at the primary and upper primary level of education. The result of this initiative is a mixture of success. According to ASER (2016), students in Grade III who can read Grade I book increased to 42.5 per cent in 2016 from 40.2 per cent in 2014. As with the arithmetic skill, in the same year, around 27 per cent of grade III students can subtract two digits as against 24.4 per cent in 2014. However, at the upper primary level, proportion of grade VIII students who can divide three digits by a single digit has plunged from 44.2 per cent in 2014 to 43.2 per cent in 2016. The National Achievement Survey (2017) showed that students in grade III averaged between 63 per cent and 67 per cent marks in environmental science, language and Math disciplines. But, the average scores of the grade V students fell by 10 percentage points to 53-58 percentages in those disciplines. The fall was even sharper among the grade VIII students (NCERT 2018). This shows that learning outcome of students deteriorated as they moved to higher grades. At the lower secondary level, around 25 per cent of the students (14-18 years of age) cannot fluently read basic text in their own language (Pratham 2017). About 43 per cent of the students at the secondary level 14

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? has proficiency in arithmetic while more than half of them struggle with simple division problem. Again ASER data showed that 53 per cent of students in the age group 14 can read English sentences whereas for the age group 18 years, this figure is near to 60 per cent. Among the students who can read English sentences, about 79 per cent can say the meaning of the sentence. Thus, reading ability in regional languages and in English has improved modestly among the age 14-18 years, but arithmetic skill is still falling behind. Proportion of youth who have not acquired basic arithmetic skills by age 14 is equal to that of 18 years group. Despite high enrolment ratio of over 96 per cent in the previous eight years, improvement in reading and arithmetic abilities continues to be low at school education. Numbers of youth are not properly equipped with basic reading and arithmetic skills although they have completed elementary schooling. Large proportion of students in both government and private schools remain below grade level (Pratham 2016). Despite the high enrolment, low dropout rates and increase in retention in school education, there has been adverse effect regarding the learning outcomes of children. Numbers of children move to higher grades without having requisite reading and arithmetic skills. There is serious concern to achieve the target 4.1 that focuses on quality elementary and secondary education for leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes. It is unconvincing that India will be able to meet the target 4.1 of SDG 4 by 2030 unless learning deficits at elementary level has been tackled. Ensuring effective learning outcomes has been partly accounted for under Target 4.c, which focuses on increasing the supply of qualified teachers. It is assumed that effective teacher education, among other factors, will influence the learning outcomes of children. Government needs to renew its policy intervention to provide well qualified teachers, grade level teaching and effective grant utilization among other initiatives. This will augment the ‘effective learning outcomes’ of children and youth as emphasized in SDG 4. 15

Working Paper 10/2018 2. Youth and Adults: Technical & Vocational Education and Literacy Technical and Vocational Education Target 4.4 of SDG 4 calls for substantially increasing the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship. This is equally emphasized in the national policies and plans of India. The National Youth Policy (NYP), 2003 envisaged to empower youth and adolescents with educational and training opportunities, employment and skill, including entrepreneurship and other national services. It further recommended workers who have acquired skills informally to be given recognition for their prior learnt skills in which there is provision in the National Skill Qualification Framework (Planning Commission 2013). The plan, therefore, identified 20 high growth sectors of industries and services which have the ability to provide expanded employment (Mehrotra et al 2014). Presently, there are 42 skill development programmes which have been operating under the different government ministries (22 Government Ministries) in India. Notwithstanding this, around 300 million Indians in the age group 15-45 occupied the workforce in both formal and non-formal sectors, either unskilled or semi-skilled against the existing skilling capacity of four million (MSDE 2015). More than 62 per cent of the population of India is in the working age group 15-59 years in India. Of this, around 54 per cent of the populations are below the age of 25 years. Majority of the emerging and decent jobs are skill based. Contrary to this, only 2 per cent of the existing workforce is engaged in formal skill-training and 15 per cent are engaged in marketable skills which indicate poor skill attainment in India (Simon 2014). Out of 16 million workers entering the workforce every year, only 10 per cent of the workforce receives skill training which is against the national target of 16

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? 25 per cent of skilled workforce (MSDE 2015). Only 11.7 per cent have received or were receiving vocational training, and among them, majority are trained informally. This results to gigantic task of training the existing workforce of 298.3 million who are without formal VET, including 104.6 million fresh entrants to the labour force during 2015-2022 (Saxena and Kumar 2017a). As per MSDE, the existing industry across 24 sectors in India will need 110 million people by 2022. The number of workers entering the workforce every year in India would be 2 million and the projected labour force in 2022 would be around 580 million. Of this, nearly 291 million or around half of the workforce will need to be skilled by 2022 (Mehrotra et al 2014). Commitment of the government to skill 500 million individuals by 2022 is a serious challenge. As hinted by the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (2015), India will require a total of 427.4 million people to skill between 2015 and 2022. The National Skill Development Mission set up in 2007, aims to enhance skill training for new entrants to the labour force. However, India still has 307.1 million existing workforce who needs re-skilling or up-skilling, and 119.5 million are fresh entrants to skill. Till date, the skilling capacity in India stands at 7 million per annum (MSDE 2015). While the economy is growing at 8 per cent annually, there is large shortage of skilled workers in the industrial sector (Planning Commission 2013). Skill challenges in India include demand-supply mismatch, general education not imparting technical/vocational courses, redundant and inadequate curricula and faculty, and lack of quality (NSDA 2017).Till date, government initiatives to improve transition from schools to colleges and universities and to sustainable jobs are not adequate in its implementation. To empower youth and adult with adequate skilling, government of India recently introduced a multi skill programme under the campaign “Skill India” (2015). It envisions to train 400 million people with various skills by 2022. The programme further aims to establish 30,000 new training 17

Working Paper 10/2018 institutes through public-private partnerships. Complementing to this initiative, a new policy, the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015, and programmes such as the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) and Skill Loan Scheme has been introduced recently by the government (MHRD 2016a). All these essentially need to be consolidated and strengthened if India wants to achieve its skill agenda.There is a need to identify skill gaps in different sectors and offering courses for enhancing employability - Industry Institute Student Training Support; Industrial Challenge Open Forum; Long Term Student Industry Placement Scheme and Industrial Finishing Schools (Rao 2018). Not only that, India requires extensive resources, a high level of coordination, and implementation capability to achieve the 2030 agenda of SDG 4 which calls to substantially increase number of youth and adults who have relevant skills. Additional investment in this target will further contribute towards the achievement of target 4.3 as it associates with technical and vocational education through skill development interventions. It will also augment the achievement of target 4.7 on all learners since these are indispensable skills where many workforces will gain as they set out through the skill development process thereby promoting sustainable development related issues. Youth and Adult Literacy Ensuring all youth and adult to achieve literacy and numeracy by 2030 is highlighted in target 4.6 of SDG4. Developing youth and adult literacy and numeracy skill has been enshrined in the policy framework of India. The National Policy on Education 1986/1992 recommended to make adult education programmes a mass movement involving literacy campaigns and comprehensive programmes of post-literacy and continuing education for neo-literates and youth who have received primary education with a view to enabling them to retain and upgrade their literacy skills, and to harness it for the improvement of their living 18

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? and working condition (GOI 2016). Integrating the policy, the government introduced the National Literacy Mission (NLM) in 1988. Its aim was to eradicate illiteracy and impart functional literacy to nonliterates in the country. Under the NLM programme, around 127.5 million persons of Indian had been made literate during the Tenth Plan (MHRD 2016a). Government also introduced the Saakshar Bharat, with the aim to bridge gender, rural-urban and social group disparities in literacy. The Twelfth Plan laid down that half of the current workforce (228 million) either illiterate or has attended primary or less education, must be ensured functional literacy and numeracy skill. Literacy in India has made a remarkable stride. The number of illiterates in the age group 7 years and above has decreased from 304.1 million in 2001 to 282.70 million in 2011 (MHRD 2016b). As per the 2011 census, India has 73 per cent literate population, with a male literacy rate at 80.9 per cent and a female literacy rate at 64.7 per cent. Literacy rate for youth (15-24 years) stands at 86.14 per cent whereas for adult (15 years and above) it was 69.3 per cent in 2011 (UIS 2018). Out of this, literacy rate of female youth is 81.8 per cent while for male it was 90.0 per cent. The literacy rate of adult female stands at 59.3 per cent whereas for adult male it was 78.9 per cent during 2011 (UIS 2018). Thus, youth and adult literacy rate has shown an upward trend in India. The NSS 71st round (2014) data on education recorded adult literacy rate at 70.5 per cent (MOSPI 2016). Although, adult illiteracy has declined in India, it is not waning commensurately with youth literacy rate. Between 2001 and 2011, the population aged 7 and above grew by 18.6 croress but the decrease in the number of illiterates is just 3.1 croress (Kumar 2016). Despite these progresses, according to the latest UNESCO report, India’s literacy level is below the global literacy rate (84 per cent) and has the largest illiterate population in the world (UNESCO 2016). One-third of all Indian adults, a fifth of Indian men and two-fifths of Indian women beyond the age of 15 years cannot read or write (UNESCO 2016).

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Working Paper 10/2018 The gap in literacy is reported to have decreased to 16.3 per cent in 2011 from 21.6 per cent in 2001 (MHRD 2016b). However, from the overall illiteracy rate which has dropped to 26 per cent, about 18 per cent were males while 34 per cent constituted females showing a declining gender gap. In rural areas, around 77.2 per cent of rural male were literate in comparison to 57.9 per cent of female in 2011. Even in urban areas, male literacy stands at 88.8 per cent compared to 79.1 per cent for female (MHRD 2016b). Some studies noted that certain religious minorities and ST and SC, and those concentrated in rural areas have much higher levels of adult illiteracy, especially among women. India, therefore, needs to systematically re-evaluate and re-structure the existing literacy programmes and its implementation if it wants to meet the 2030 SDG 4 targets. Moreover, literacy programmes should be prioritized for the disadvantaged groups. Poor quality of education and inclusivity are some impediments in achieving literacy. Additional emphasis towards these aspects will enable India to succeed its national agenda and the global SDG target 4.6 within the specified time frame. 3. Vulnerable Groups Eliminating gender disparities in education has also been emphasized in target 4.5. But together with it, this target focuses on providing equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable sections including persons with disabilities, indigenous people and children in vulnerable situations. In India, the National Policy on Education (1986/1992) stated that all students irrespective of caste, creed, location or sex should have access to all levels of education with a comparative quality. The policy also emphasized to attend the specific needs of those who have been denied educational opportunities. Since independence, government have been taking several measures to strengthen education for the disadvantaged and vulnerable sections such as Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Minorities, Economically Weaker Section (EWS), girl and women, and those who are 20

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? differently abled. In this regard, government initiated specific interventions-conversion of government school into residential school complexes (RSCs) and seasonal hostels; curricular review; provision of pre-matric scholarship and incentives to promote elementary education among SC and ST children. For the educationally backward minority children, especially the Muslims, government encouraged the existing madarsa and maktab to modernise its curriculum through financial assistance, offer Urdu as optional language, and strengthen infrastructure in minority school. Additionally, government prioritized on educational placement and school readiness programmes, provision of aids and appliances, development and production of Braille books and construction of ramps and disabled-friendly toilets for the Children with Special Needs (CWSN) (MHRD 2016a). At the secondary level, government strategized to establish schools particularly in the SC/ST/Minority concentrated areas, and enrolment drive for the weaker sections children through scholarship, incentives and seat reservation facilities. Government also committed to establish new higher education institutions in under-served and un-served areas mainly dominated by vulnerable and deprived sections; subsidy of educational loan for Economically Weaker Section (EWS), including minorities, SCs/STs, women and disabled person; and scheme to upgrade existing polytechnic for physically disabled to mainstream them in technical and vocational education. As a result of these concerted efforts of the government, there has been a positive shift. But the greater concern which still persists is whether all the diverse learners obtain equal educational opportunities. The Ministry of Human Resource Development noted that while the literacy rate at the national level has increased by 10 percentage points, the literacy rate of SC and ST has increased by 12 percentage points (MHRD 2016a). Of the total enrolment, the share of ST children dropped marginally from 10.5 per cent to 10.4 per cent from 2014-15 to 2015-16. The share of SC children was 19.8 per cent and it did not change during 2014-15 and 2015-16. Enrolment share of Muslim children at primary and upper 21

Working Paper 10/2018 primary level stands at 14.4 per cent and 12.6 per cent respectively during 2015-16 and 2014-15. Comparatively, the enrolment of OBC shows positive trends. The enrolment share of OBC at the primary level has increased from 44.4 per cent in 2014-15 to 45.1 per cent in 201516. Similarly, at the upper primary level, it has increased to 45.2 per cent in 2015-16 from 44.7 per cent in 2014-15 (NIEPA 2016). During the two NSS periods (64th round 2007-08 and 71st round 2014), the highest increase in current educational attendance at elementary level has been observed among Muslims - both Muslim OBC as well as Muslim upper class. But, even then their level still remains lower than the ST and SC (Kumar et al 2018). As noted from the survey, the lowest literacy rate at the elementary level has been observed among Muslim OBC in both pre and post-RTE. In addition, there has been a decline in the literacy rate of urban male and female among STs and nonMuslim upper class during 2007-08 to 2014 which is a matter of concern and further probe (Kumar et al 2018). According to U-DISE, the retention rate of SC, ST and Muslim at the primary level were 83.5 per cent, 70.9 per cent and 80.9 per cent respectively during 2014-15. The annual average drop-out rate at the elementary level for SC, ST, Muslim and Other Backward Classes (OBC) was 4.8 per cent, 7.5 per cent, 7.4 per cent and 2.8 per cent respectively during 2014-15 (NIEPA 2016). At the secondary level, the annual average drop-out rate of SC, ST, Muslim and OBC stands at 19.4 per cent, 24.7 per cent, 24.1 per cent and 17 per cent respectively. The annual average dropout rate at the higher secondary level for SC and Muslim was 3.2 per cent and 7.4 per cent (NIEPA 2016). This reveals the challenges of schooling the children from vulnerable communities and disadvantaged sections. To bridge social gap and improve the health and nutrition of the disadvantaged school going children, government initiated a range of schemes such as KGBV, Mahila Samakhya, Beti Bachao, Beti Padao, Mid Day Meal, etc. Nevertheless, substantial proportion i.e. around 61 lakh 22

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? children, who are largely girls from disadvantaged and backward sections, still remains out of school (Tiwari 2016). The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights reported that nearly forty per cent adolescent girls in India lack access to education. Despite the ambitious programmes such as Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save daughter, educate daughter) and the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (RGSEAG), around 39.4 per cent of adolescent girls in the 15-18 year age group are not attending any educational institution and the majority 65 per cent of them are either engaged in household activities or engaged in begging (NCPCR 2017). In some Indian states, like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, the proportion of girls (age 11-14 years) who are out of school are greater than 8 per cent (Pratham 2016). The state of girl’s education is still bleak in India. Majority of the out-of-school children (OoSC) belonged to Muslim, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, and those children with mental disabilities and speech disabilities (Tripathy 2015). Emphasis is also given to include children with physically disabled into the education system. During 2015-16, around 2.29 million disabled children were enrolled in elementary education, of which 1.52 million were in primary level while 0.77 million were at the upper primary level. The total enrolment of Children with Special Need (CWSN) in elementary level has modestly declined to 1.16 per cent in 2015-16 from 1.17 per cent in 2014-15 (NIEPA 2016). Similar declining trend can also be observed at the secondary level with 0.56 per cent in 2015-16 from 0.57 per cent in 2014-15. Even at the higher secondary level, their enrolment has marginally decreased to 0.25 per cent in 2015-16 from 0.26 per cent in 2014-15. Thus, the share of enrolment of disabled children and CWSN in school education shows not much improvement despite the provision of RTE Act that guarantees the right to free and compulsory education to all children. The scholarship programmes mainly allocated for the disadvantaged and weaker children saw a decrease of 7.7 per cent in 2018-19 (Rao 23

Working Paper 10/2018 2018). Equity provisions for secondary education have been laid down under RMSA programme. The RMSA subsuming with SSA ensures to provide 100 per cent transition to every child from the elementary to secondary education (Planning Commission 2014). However, as noted by the MHRD, varying regional attendance levels at the secondary education reflects a regional imbalance in the coverage of RMSA. This is a cause of concern. The RTE enshrines to address the out-of-school, difficult-to-reach groups and discriminatory learning environment within the school. But the saga of missed targets and unkept promises continues with slow and indifferent process of addressing the educational needs for those in the backwards areas, as well as children of the weaker sections (Govinda and Mathew 2018). While the higher education in India faces various challenges in terms of access, efficiency and quality amongst others, the concerns related to the provision of an equitable access to higher education has remained a priority for the policy makers (Joshi and Ahir 2016). Among all different social groups, enrolment of Muslims in higher education has not demonstrated a proportionate rise beyond under graduate levels while they constitute 14 per cent of the Indian population (Shaguri 2013). Women from the urban areas show remarkable participation in higher education while those from rural areas still remain at a pathetic distance. Furthermore, students who are physically handicapped, the socially destitute, and certain nomadic communities are found poorly represented in higher education in India (Shaguri 2013). During 2016-17, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education for SC was 21.1 per cent and for ST, it was 15.4 per cent, as compared to the national GER of 25.2 per cent (MHRD 2017). Of the total enrolment, Scheduled Caste and Schedule Tribe students constitute 14.2 per cent and 5.1 per cent respectively despite the earmarked admission reservation of 7.5 per cent and 15 per cent. Students belonging to Muslim Minority constitute only 4.9 per cent of the total enrolment in higher education (MHRD 2017). While SC shows major increase in 24

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? enrolment, the figure of ST in enrolment remains constant (MHRD 2016a). This shows that representation of vulnerable groups in terms of participation in the higher education remained unequal and a challenge in the attainment of SDG 4. To foster increased access to education for deprived and vulnerable segments, financial aid and scholarships allocation for these particular sections must be substantially augmented. The different level of education must be revamped and looked at in a holistic manner to reach the diverse population. This will enable India to meet the target 4.5 of SDG 4. 4. Educational Infrastructure Target 4.a, 4.b and 4.c relates to educational infrastructure. According to U-DISE report (2015-16), there has been a substantial improvement in the educational infrastructure with additional schools, classrooms, separate toilets, drinking water facilities etc. There are 1.5 million schools in India out of which 84.7 per cent are in rural areas and 15.3 per cent in urban areas. Schools with drinking water facilities have increased to 96.8 per cent in 2015-16 from 96.1 per cent in 2014-15. Boys’ toilet in schools has increased to 97.0 per cent in 2015-16 from 88.6 per cent in 2014-15. Similarly, girls’ toilet facility in schools has increased to 97.5 per cent in 2015-16 from 93.1 per cent in 2014-15. Besides, around 51.9 per cent of schools are providing hand wash facility in 2015-16. Schools with library and electricity (including computer) facilities has also increased to 82.7 per cent and 24 per cent respectively during 2015-16. The U-DISE also suggested that around 99.2 per cent of government school received incentive of textbooks. As far as inclusive and effective learning environment is concerned, the Twelfth Plan initiated inclusion of gender based curriculum and pedagogy, including training of teachers in this aspect. The initiatives of Residential School, Model School, Open Distance Learning, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) etc. are some of the programmes of the government, which if appropriately implemented, will achieve the target 4.a of SDG. Major initiatives taken under SSA such as building of separate toilets for boys and girls; drinking water facility; setting 25

Working Paper 10/2018 up of one class room, library and playground; and electricity, computer, ramps and handrails facilities have also helped immensely in the improvement of school infrastructure. It’s regular upkeep and maintenance will contribute in attending target 4.a of SDG. Target 4.b addresses to expand scholarship programmes for young people and adults especially those who cannot afford their education. In the Twelfth Plan, some of the initiatives like Junior Research Fellowship in Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, Junior Research Fellowships in Engineering and Technology, Junior Research Fellowship and Research Associateships (RAs), Fellowship to MPhil/PhD Students, Dr. D.S. Kothari Post-Doctoral Fellowship, etc., are being implemented as a scholarship programmes in higher education under the UGC regulations. To provide continuity and strengthen the scholarship/ fellowship programme, Special Assistance Programme (SAP), Universities with Potential for Excellence (UPE), and Colleges with Potential for Excellence (CPE) has been incorporated. So far, UGC Fellowships for non-NET scholars is given with a nominal Fellowship and contingency to all scholars of M.Phil & Ph.D. Additionally, the number of scholarships currently given to students in India may not match global standards and additional funding may be required to increase the number of scholarships (Tripathy 2015). Recently, student financial aid in higher education has increased to Rs. 2,600 crores (260 billion rupees), a 16 per cent increase over the revised estimates of 2017-18 (Rao 2018). Moreover, research and innovation have received an increase in allocation by about 10 per cent at Rs. 350 crores. For the equity programmes/schemes in higher education, government has allocated Rs. 1000 crores (100 billion rupees) under 2018-19 budget estimates (Rao 2018). Such government initiative may considerably drive the country in achieving the target 4.b that focuses on global expansion of scholarships with 100 per cent availability. Target 4.c ascertains to increase the supply of qualified teachers including international cooperation for teachers training in developing 26

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing states. Currently, India’s position in the supply of teachers can be assessed by looking at the Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) and number of schools that satisfy PTR norms. The Right to Education Act mandates a ratio of thirty pupils to one teacher. Some findings indicate that India has enough teachers to meet PTR norms and ensure one teacher is available for every 30 students. As per U-DISE, the Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) at the elementary level has slightly declined to 24 in 2015-16 from 25 in 2014-15 (NIEPA 2016). The study also suggested that PTR in government, private aided and private unaided schools stands at 25, 22 and 24 respectively. Emphasis is given in the Twelfth Plan for in–service training and pre-service training and also on creating teachers support structures at clusters, block resources centres, etc. However, as of 2014, roughly 50 per cent of schools were not meeting these norms (NIEPA and Pratham 2014). According to U-DISE (2015-16) teachers who received in-service training has declined to 14.9 per cent in 2015-16 from 18.3 per cent in 2014-15. A recent study estimated around 0.8 million untrained teachers in India in 2012, which is more than 10 per cent of the total teachers at the time. Among several inputs for developing quality education, most important one is the teacher. The country till date has around 16 per cent teacher vacant positions at the elementary level which is below the national target (Tilak 2016). In 2016, around 348,314 posts of teachers were vacant under the SSA and 106,906 posts under RMSA (MHRD 2017). Further, there are 1.4 million untrained in-service teachers. But unfortunately, teacher training institutes such as DIETs are encountering teacher vacancies. Presence of para/temporary teachers in school instead of permanent teachers deteriorated the quality of school education further. A major concern needed to achieve target 4.c is filling of academic staff vacancies and providing adequate pre-service and in-service training programmes, and effective grant utilization among other initiatives. Emphasizing on this target will also influence the ‘effective learning 27

Working Paper 10/2018 outcomes’ component of target 4.1 and target 4.c in particular. Wellqualified teachers who receive on-going training and support will obviously influence the learning outcomes of children in school education. There is another challenge of good teacher training institutes. Government institute are limited and private institutes lack quality standards. This also requires attention if India intend to attain target 4.c of SDG.

IV. India’s Financial Commitment and SDG 4 International benchmarks recommended allocating 15-20 per cent of public expenditure to education and 4-6 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). EFA outlines that domestic resources remain the most important source for funding education. This requires widening tax base, preventing tax evasion and increasing the share of the national budget allocated to education (UNESCO 2016). In India, importance of public financing in education has been mentioned in Kothari Commission Report (1966). The commission had recommended an allocation of 6 per cent of GDP on education. This standard was endorsed by the National Policy on Education (NPE) in 1968 and subsequent policies. Public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP rose to 4.14 during 2000-01, which was the highest education expenditure in India so far. Recently, education expenditure in proportion to GDP increased from 4.10 per cent in 2012-13 to 4.13 per cent in 2013-14. Over the past 10 year (2008-18), the highest budget allocation of Rs. 55,115 crores was made in 2014-15. However, in 2015-16 the education budget allocation reduced by 25 per cent due to devolution of funds to the states under the 14th Finance Commission recommendations (Rao 2018). Public spending on education is incurred by both the central and the state governments. While, the share of the central fund steadily increased from 0.51 per cent in 2000-01 to 1.16 per cent in 2012-13; the share of the state government fund has declined from 3.63 per cent to 3.13 per cent during the same 28

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? period. During 2012-13, expenditure on elementary education is about 1.8 per cent of GDP which is maximum followed by secondary education which is around 1.05 per cent of GDP. Contribution made by adult education counts to 0.01 per cent of GDP which is the lowest. Expenditure on university and higher education and technical education was 0.89 per cent and 0.54 per cent respectively. UNDP suggested that India needs additional financial investment to achieve the SDG 4 targets. The cost of universal completion of primary and secondary education, early childhood development, increasing the GER in higher education to 30 per cent, skilling the workforce and increasing the supply of qualified teachers are the major areas which require adequate investment. Additional fund is required for increasing learning outcomes of children through effective teacher education, increasing literacy and numeracy and providing gender and disabilitysensitive learning environments (UNDP 2015). As estimated, a gap of 27 lakh croress out of the total of 35 lakh croress persist which is required for early childhood development, care and pre-primary education in India (UNDP 2015). Further, an additional 19 lakh croress is needed for quality technical, vocational and tertiary education. There is an existing gap between demand and actual allocation of budget for the SSA and RTE since the allocation of Rs. 23,500 crores as budget estimate for 2017-18 is against a demand of Rs. 55,000 crores. The Standing Committee on Human Resource Development have proposed increased funding for the SSA and sufficient allocations of budget for states which needs additional resources (Rao 2018). The RTE Act provides for the right based ‘free’ education as enshrined in the directive principle of the Indian Constitution. But, the term ‘free’ is subject of different kinds of treatment by different policy makers depending on socio-economic circumstances (Tilak 1996). The data drawn from NSS (2007-08 and 2014) suggest that out-of-pocket 29

Working Paper 10/2018 expenditure incurred by an individual for elementary education is spiking even during the post-RTE. Monthly per capita consumption expenditure on elementary education (MPCEE henceforth) is not only increasing among the children studying in the private institutions but also in government institutions (Kumar et al 2018). The MPCEE for the children studying in the government schools was 57 rupees during 2007-08 which increased to 141 rupees during 2014 whereas MPCEE for those studying in the private school increased from 346 rupees to 992 rupees during the same period. At the national level, MPCEE was 148 rupees during 2007-08 which rose to almost three times at 478 rupees during 2014 (Kumar et al 2018). Tilak (2009), using National Account Statistics (NAS) estimates on private final expenditure on education, finds that an increase of one per cent in total household income would result in 1.5 per cent increase in household expenditures on education. While public spending on education becomes a downhill all the way, private expenditure is mounting up over the years. An expansion of secondary and tertiary education and a significant investment in quality, all at the corresponding time frame will require spending of 5.5 per cent of GDP, which is in track with international norms on education spending (Leisbet and Kathryn 2015). Spending adequately for high quality education is a competent task of public investment and more often, the spending has to cross a certain threshold to be effective. Even so, the cost can be regulated without comprising on results. An example of this system can be seen from the countries like South Korea, Thailand and Sri Lanka, all of which invested heavily in education with limited resources (Bahadur 2015). In 2016-17 government has rearranged the existing central schemes for education with lower outlays in the budget in keeping with the 14th Finance Commission’s recommendation (Varma 2017). This would curtail the educational outlay of Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Uchchtar Shikhsha Abhiyan schemes (7 per cent for both in 201516) in secondary and higher education. The current GDP on education have 30

Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? dipped from 0.63 per cent in 2013-14 to 0.47 per cent projected by the government for 2017-18 (Varma 2017). Thus, the share of the total government budget on education has been sinking for the past three years. Getting all the diverse learners into schools, colleges and universities with quality standard need enormous funds. SDG 4 calls to increase public funding for education. By looking at the current investment pattern on education, it will be inadequate for India to achieve the 2030 agenda of SDG 4. Additional finance investment is required to meet the global education standard.

V. Summing Up Several measures have been initiated to strengthen and promote inclusive, equitable and quality education in India. As a result, there is considerable development in education sector over the years. Yet, challenges remain. Gender equity in education has considerably improved in recent years. However, the progress is a mixture of success. While gender parity in school education has progressed significantly, it is not much satisfactory in higher education. Gender gap in education seems to widen as student move to higher level of education. Despite the expansion of pre-education institution, early childhood care and education remains less to be inspired due to implementation gap and negligible funding. Besides, there are numbers of children who move to higher grades without having requisite reading and arithmetic skills thus indicating that learning outcomes of children remain abysmally poor in the country. To fulfill the target 4.1 and 4.3 of SDG 4 by 2030, India needs to boost women’s participation in higher, technical and vocational education and learning outcomes of children in school education. Similar effort is required for bettering the quality of early childhood care and development, and pre-education so as to effectively meet the target 4.2 laid down in SDG 4. Skilling of youth and adult for sustainable job and employment opportunity as mentioned in the target 4.4 of SDG is still a challenge in 31

Working Paper 10/2018 India. Government initiatives to improve transition from schools to colleges and universities and to sustainable jobs are not adequate in its implementation. The National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and programmes such as the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), Skill Loan Scheme, etc. should essentially be consolidated and strengthened if India wants to achieve its skill agenda. Additional investment in this target will further contribute towards the achievement of target 4.3 as it is associated with technical and vocational education through skill development interventions. It will also augment the achievement of target 4.7 on promoting sustainable development related skills at all levels of learners. Despite the concerted effort of the government over the past three decades or so, literacy still remains a challenge in India. The country’s literacy level is below the global literacy rate (84 per cent) and India has the largest illiterate population in the world. The existing literacy programmes needs re-evaluation for effective implementation. Notably, literacy programmes has to be prioritized for the disadvantaged groups. Poor quality of education and inclusivity are some impediments in achieving literacy in the country. Additional emphasis towards these aspects will enable India to succeed its national agenda and the global SDG target 4.6 within the specified time frame. India has made tremendous stride in terms of enrolment in education cutting across gender, caste and religion. However, in terms of equal access in education, India still has considerable distance to traverse. The delivery mechanism of the government still remains leaky as far as disadvantaged and vulnerable sections are concerned. The constitution explicitly provides for affirmative action in respect to disadvantaged section like SC, ST and other deprived sections. Despite such initiatives, access to education remains asymmetrical amongst different segments of the society. To foster increased access to education for deprived and vulnerable segments, financial aid and

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Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030? scholarships allocation for these particular sections must be substantially augmented. The different levels of education must be revamped and look at a holistic manner to reach the diverse population. This will facilitate India to meet the target 4.5 of SDG 4. There has been a substantial improvement with additional schools and classrooms, separate toilets, drinking water facilities, etc. For strengthening inclusive and effective learning environment promoting gender based curriculum and pedagogy, expansion of Residential School, Model School, Open Distance Learning, MOOCs, etc. are some major thrust areas, and if these are appropriately implemented, India will be able to achieve the target 4.a of SDG. Target 4.b addresses to expand scholarship programmes for young people and adults who cannot afford their education. Recently, student financial aid in higher education has increased by 16 per cent in the revised estimates of 2017-18. Further, fund allocation in RUSA has also increased by 8 per cent. The government, recently proposed to increase equity budget (2018-19) by Rs. 1000 crores. Such government initiatives may considerably drive the country in achieving the target 4.b that focuses on global expansion of scholarships with 100 per cent availability. Target 4.c calls to increase the supply of qualified teachers. Providing qualified teachers in school remains a challenge in India. It is disheartening that teacher training institutes such as DIETs are encountering teacher vacancies. On the other hand, the para/temporary teachers are increasing instead of permanent teachers. This in fact deteriorates the quality of school education particularly in the learning outcomes of children. A major concern to achieve target 4.c is filling of academic staff vacancies and providing adequate pre-service and inservice training programmes, and effective grant utilization among other initiatives. Emphasizing on this target will also influence the ‘effective learning outcomes’ component of target 4.1 and target 4.c in particular. Well-qualified teachers who receive on-going training and support will

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Working Paper 10/2018 influence the learning outcomes of children in school education. Teacher qualification and training combined with positive perception of the academic ability of the learners determined the learning proficiency of the children (Govinda and Varghese 1993). Public financing on education has been declining for the past three years. Getting all the diverse learners into schools, colleges and universities with quality standard needs enormous funds. SDG 4 calls to increase public funding for education. By looking at the current investment pattern on education, it will be inadequate for India to achieve the 2030 agenda of SDG 4. Additional financial investment is required to meet the global educational standard. Undoubtedly, India has come a long way to promote inclusive, equitable and quality education. Though, considerable improvement has been witnessed in education system in India, yet it has a long way to go to meet the goal 4 of the SDG. Such effort will require good policy, close monitoring and required investment. In doing so, a decade long mission of 2030 for education with a vision on improving inclusive, equitable and quality education will yield greatly for a sustainable future, decent work and an improved quality of life.

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Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030?

Notes 1. SDG 4 calls for equitable and quality learning at all levels of education with lifelong whereas MDG 2 focused only on primary education. Agenda set in SDG 4 covers every country regardless of income and development status while MDG 2 emphasized on low-income and conflict-affected countries. Moreover, SDG 4 aims at providing quality and equitable access of basic and post-basic education for all including training, learning outcomes for both employment and global citizenship. The EFA was concerned with access to quality basic education for all children, youth and adults. SDG4 not only continues the EFA focus but also broadens the agenda further to include concern for equitable access to post-basic education and training for youth and adults through equitable access to appropriate learning opportunities (UNESCO 2016). 2.. Article 45 of the Indian Constitution, for instance, directed to provide universal, free and compulsory education to all children until they complete the age of fourteen years. Article 29 elucidates on protection of educational and cultural rights of minorities. Article 30 upholds the right of the minorities to establish and administer educational institutions (Bhatty 2014). Article 15, 17 and 46 made a provision to safeguard the educational interest of the weaker sections such as socially and educationally backward classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. 3. From the First to Third Five Year Plans, government prioritized on educational development for the disadvantaged and vulnerable sections, including expansion of educational facilities. The Fourth and Fifth Plans emphasized to improve the standard of education through measures so as to promote equality and social justice. The Sixth and Seventh Plans envisaged to strengthen education for the disadvantaged sections by providing substantial funds. The Eighth Plan intensified to bridge the educational gap between disadvantaged sections and other sections of the society. The Ninth and Tenth Plans focused on empowering the disadvantaged and marginalized sections for raising their social, economic and educational status. The Eleventh Plan placed high priority in bridging regional, social and gender gaps at all levels of education, including expansion and improvement of quality in education. 4. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), a major flagship programme of the government is being implemented to provide universal access and retention, bridge gender and social gaps, and enhance quality of learning at the elementary level of education. Under SSA, schemes like Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya, Mid

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Working Paper 10/2018 Day Meal, Mahila Samakhya, and Strengthening for Providing Quality Education in Madarsas (SPQEM) operates to reach out education to girls, disadvantaged and minorities children, including weaker groups. The Rashtriya Madhamik Shikhsha Abhiyan (RMSA) programme has been implemented at the secondary level to improve enrolment, retention, quality, and to remove gender gap and socio-economic and disability barriers. Schemes such as Girls Hostel, National Scheme of Incentive to Girls in Secondary Education (NSIGSE), Inclusive Education for Disabled at Secondary Stage (IEDSS), Scholarship Schemes for Minority Students, National Means cum Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS), Vocational Education, and ICT are implemented under RMSA programme. Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) has been implemented to provide education opportunities to socially deprived groups, promote inclusion of women, minorities, SC, ST, OBC and differently abled persons, including enhancement of quality, research and innovation in higher education. Central Scheme for Interest Subsidy on Educational Loan (CSIS), Community Development through Polytechnic (CDTP), and Community Colleges (CCs) are some important programmes/schemes being implemented under RUSA. Other initiatives like the National Literacy Mission and Sakshaar Bharat has been launched by the government to promote adult education, bridge gender gap in literacy and to achieve total literacy in the country. 5. Total number of new entrants to the first grade of primary in a given year, regardless of age, who are expected to reach the last grade of primary education, regardless of repetition, expressed as a percentage of the population at the official entrance age to primary education in the same year. 6. The number of children enrolled in primary/secondary school who belong to the age group that officially corresponds to primary/secondary schooling, divided by the total population of the same age group. 7. Enrolment in Grade V (minus repeaters) in a year as a proportion of enrolment in Grade I four years back is termed as Retention Rate at the Primary level. 8. Total enrolment in primary education (Grades I-V), regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the eligible official primary school-age population (6 to 10+ years) in a given school-year. 9. Government of India, http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=95813

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Will India Achieve SDG 4 by 2030?

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