Experts – The New Indian Express

Express news service

CHENNAI: A whopping 70 percent of districts in Tamil Nadu are educationally backward. At least that’s what the Union government informed the Lok Sabha. Educators are unable to digest this, as the state generally scores well in education-related surveys, but this time even the districts of Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruvallur and Vellore were listed as overdue on the educational plan.

“If there is a gap in the learning outcomes, it should be clearly stated. The mere publication of the figures shows neither the cause nor the effect, ”observes Prince Gajendra Babu, Secretary General of State of the State Platform for the Common School System.

So how did the Union government get its numbers? He used the Gross Enrollment Rate (GER), which is the percentage of students enrolled in school out of the total population of a specific age group. This led Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to declare on August 9 that 27 of Tamil Nadu’s 38 districts were educationally behind schedule. This leaves the state with the fourth most educationally lagging districts in India.

But some education experts disagree. They say Tamil Nadu leads the way in terms of TBS for both school education and higher education. According to the All India Survey of Higher Education (AISHE) 2019-20, Tamil Nadu’s GER is 51% – better than that of Maharastra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, from West Bengal and Bihar, among others. . India’s GER, meanwhile, is only 27 percent.

Regarding school education, the United Information System for Education Plus (UDISE +) report for 2019-2020 sets Tamil Nadu’s enrollment rate for grades 1 to 5 at 98.9%, which is worse than about 20 other states. But, for higher education (grades 11 and 12), it indicates that the state has a GER of 73 percent – the fourth highest in India. The data shows that students here have a higher rate of continuation of their studies.

Are the data wrong?
There must therefore be a flaw in the latest data, believes educator MG Dawood Miakhan, adding that the Union government has not provided any statistics to justify its figures.

“Tamil Nadu is among the top three Indian states in terms of TBS, according to AISHE annual reports,” observes Miakhan, who is the general secretary of Quaide Milleth Educational and Social Trust.

Likewise, Tamil Nadu ranks fourth among the major states in terms of average enrollment per college (between 2019 and 2020), with around 800 students enrolled each year. Bihar, Delhi and West Bengal occupy the top three places. When it comes to doctoral and master’s degree courses, Tamil Nadu leads the country in terms of enrollment and ranks first in terms of female enrollment. The AISHE report indicates that Tamil Nadu ranks third in the country for male-female enrollment in higher education, just behind Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. In Tamil Nadu, more women than men pursue higher education, it shows (see graph).

The curious case of Coimbatore
According to Union government data, all of the districts in the Western Belt are educationally lagging behind and Coimbatore is no exception. But the results of grades 10 and 12 place Coimbatore among the top five districts in Tamil Nadu each year, says Arulanantham, auditor of the TN Secondary Teachers Association, adding that districts in the region have some of the best education systems, though. as admissions can be relatively low in hilly areas such as Valparai and Velliangadu.

“But these problems are marginal, because the enrollment rate of boys and girls, and the percentage of success, are very high. With the exception of hilly areas, dropout rates are very low in Coimbatore, ”he says, adding that when there are dropouts, teachers immediately go to students’ villages and try to address them. bring back to school.

Learning outcomes are a concern
However, according to EU government data on learning outcomes, Tamil Nadu needs to analyze statistics and design corrective measures, says Gajendra Babu. “Learning outcomes cannot be measured by numbers and grades because they are part of a culture and can vary from state to state.

To focus on the poor results, the state must set up neighborhood schooling. Next, steps should be taken to include students under RTE, and officials from Adi-Dravidar, Backward Communities, Health, Education and Income departments should conduct a door-to-door survey to identify dropouts and the associated reasons, ”he said. Explain.

In 1924, the Madras presidency introduced the elementary education rule, which provides for free and compulsory education in some panchayats at the elementary level, observes Gajendra Babu. “In 1950, a law was passed to have a school every 10 km. There was also the midday meal program to feed poor children. Since the Centre’s statistics on educationally lagging districts do not have adequate data, how can they be trusted? “Asks Gajendra Babu.

In Tamil Nadu high schools, girls lead boys by a meager 1% in terms of enrollment up to grade 10, while in grades 11 and 12, girls lead by 13% in terms of enrollment. . While the enrollment rate for boys is 66 percent, it is 80 percent for girls. According to the Union Government’s Performance Rating Index (2019-20), Tamil Nadu is also among the five best performing states in terms of education. But it sits in 22nd position in terms of learning outcomes, with a score of 132 out of 180.

“Explanation needed”
S Prabakaran, teacher at KENC government high school in Tiruvallur, says the number of women and people from marginalized communities is high in Tamil Nadu, as well as in Tiruvallur district, as teachers are invited to visit villages to identify and getting eligible children to school. “We even organize classes in tribal villages and distribute brochures to publicize admissions,” he explains, adding that these efforts have increased the number of students from 600 in 2016 to 1,070 in 2020.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu ranks first in the presence of teachers from programmed castes (SC) and OBC, with 22,508 from programmed castes and 1.43 lakh from other backward castes. Experts believe that if the Union government identifies a problem in education in Tamil Nadu, it must give an explanation. “They have to come forward and justify it,” says Makhan.