Reason

Some Statistics on Education in India

Some Statistics on Education in India

  1. In Karnataka, last year a survey was published in July which found that among the 93 lakh students surveyed, more than 37.8 lakh students or close to 40%, did not have internet connectivity. The report added that 31.3 lakh students, or 33%, did not have access to digital devices like phones, tablets and laptops, and about 8.6 lakh had no radio or television in their homes. Urban areas have better access.1

  2. In an attempt to bridge this digital divide in June 2021 the govt. launched a program that among other things, distributed 1.55 lakh tablet PCs to students pursuing higher education such as diploma, degree etc. Overall according to the Higher Edu Minister Ashwath Narayan this will benefit around 5 lakh students but as we can see 5 lakh is not even close to 30 lakh. 2

  3. 7.7% govt schools have access to internet & only 34.3 % have functional computer facilities (2019-20) 3 In all India level Less than 30% government schools had computers: Education Ministry data.4

  4. The total public expenditure by states and centre in education as the percentage of GDP for the period of 1999–2000 to 2011–2012 is less than 4.5 per cent.5

  5. Student suicides spiked to a new high of 12,526 in 2020 contributing 8.2% deaths, while farmer suicide rate stayed constant at 7.4% in 2019 and 2020. -NCRB6

  6. The most disturbing development pertains to the fact that the state is gradually abdicating its responsibility towards higher education, including planning for higher education, policymaking for higher education, and of course, the funding and delivery of higher education in favour of the private sector, under the guise of private participation, public–private participation and private initiatives.7 An illustration of profit driven schools luring-people :Indian parents sending children to private schools often don’t get what they pay for, study finds(scroll.in)

  7. Students have to participate in this rat race and write competitive exams, however there are not enough doctors in India(WHO ratio 1:1000 but in India 1:1511 source:15th Finance Commission 2021.8 Recently there were protests in Bihar. Let us see how competitive things are: Around 1.25 crore aspirants applied for 35,000 vacant posts in railways.9

  8. According to a report by Increasing Diversity by Increasing Access (IDIA), more than 85% of students who made it to the prestigious National Law Universities (NLUs) were Hindus and, of them, more than 30% belonged to the Brahmin community — the dominant Hindu caste. On the other hand, less than 4% of the students were Muslim, who constitute 14% of India’s population….According to the IDIA report, more than 95% of the students admitted to the NLUs had been educated in English-medium schools and more than 50% of the students hailed from families where both parents were proficient in the language.... A 2014 survey revealed that nearly 80% of students took coaching for CLAT, costing above Rs. 1 lakh — an economic capital not accessible to many in India.10

11

  1. There are approximately 55 million people in the labour market with at least a graduate degree – of which nine million are estimated to be unemployed. Employment among highly educated people is thrice the national average12

  2. That is, Indian banks saw a 142% increase in student loan defaults during a period of just over three years. 2017 13

  3. Sci Hub Issue
    A 2016 analysis found that Indian scholars downloaded 3.4 million papers over a six-months period from on Sci-Hub. If these were downloaded legally, it would have cost $100-125 million. This is more than half of what all research institutes in India cumulatively spend on subscriptions to paywalled scholarly literature.14 15 annual online subscription to a top-notch medical journal costs upward of Rs 15,000 in India.16

  4. Only 8% of Children in Rural Areas are Studying Online Regularly, Reveals Study.17

  5. Only 20% of school age children in India had access to remote education during the pandemic.18

  6. Govt further reduces spending on things like education however wealth of the rich increased and labour laws are relaxed.19

In rural Karnataka only 34% of enrolled students did online learning.20

Footnotes:

  1. ( source: https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/karnataka-govt-schools-are-set-start-classes-40-students-have-no-internet-151616 )↩

  2. (https://www.deccanherald.com/state/top-karnataka-stories/karnataka-govt-launches-new-digital-learning-platforms-1000798.html)↩

  3. (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mysuru/karnataka-only-34-of-govt-schools-have-working-computer-lab/articleshow/84309311.cms )↩

  4. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/in-academic-year-2019-20-only-22-indian-schools-had-internet/article35082011.ece↩

  5. (Neoliberalism in higher education and the Brahmanical hegemony of knowledge production chapter 9 in Neoliberalism, Critical Pedagogy and Education https://1lib.in/book/17502283/3260e2 )↩

  6. ( https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Hyderabad/student-suicides-go-up/article37729564.ece#:~:text=More%20students%20ended%20their%20lives%20in%202020%20than%202019%2C%20according,7.4%25%20in%202019%20and%202020. (paywalled) https://outline.com/qhEaK4)↩

  7. (Sci-Hub | Education and Development in India (Critical Issues in Public Policy and Development) || Private Higher Education in India | 10.1007/978-981-13-0250-3_18 (hkvisa.net))↩

  8. https://theprint.in/health/1-doctor-for-1511-people-1-nurse-for-670-covid-exposes-indias-healthcare-fault-lines/602784/ )↩

  9. (https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-controversy-recruitment-railway-jobs-7741550/ )↩

  10. (https://theswaddle.com/making-indian-legal-education-more-inclusive-is-key-to-building-a-more-equitable-judicial-system/?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-theswaddle&utm_content=later-18288690&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkin.bio)↩

  11. From : Indian Higher Education System: Challenges And Suggestions (wright.edu) (2015)↩

  12. https://gdc.unicef.org/resource/why-india-should-worry-about-its-educated-unemployed-youth 2019↩

  13. https://thewire.in/education/serious-indias-student-loan-default-problem↩

  14. https://science.thewire.in/the-sciences/sci-hub-case-academics-urge-court-to-rule-against-extortionate-practices/↩

  15. https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/09/18/will-indian-researchers-lose-free-access-to-scientific-papers↩

  16. https://scroll.in/article/982146/push-to-ban-sci-hub-pirate-website-will-blunt-indian-research-projects-warn-academics↩

  17. https://www.newsclick.in/only-8-per-children-rural-areas-studying-online-regularly-reveals-study↩

  18. https://outline.com/CjLhyU https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/remote-education-was-inaccessible-to-most-children-says-survey/article65021772.ece↩

  19. https://www.newsclick.in/govt-squeezes-spending-though-tax-collections-increased↩

  20. https://www.thehindu.com/education/schools/school-enrolment-fell-during-pandemic-annual-status-of-education-report/article37549996.ece(ASER 2021)↩