Government lays greater stress on education in India

Education in India is primarily handled by the government. The government’s large Union Budget outlays allot sufficient funds for setting up school infrastructure in the country. Elementary education is guaranteed to every child between the age of 6 and 14 years and whatever possible is being done to improve the quality of education and increase access to education for every child. Since the Eleventh Five-Year Plan greater emphasis is given to the quality of education in India.

Poor quality education reduces academic achievement by the students and lack of proper training in soft skills reduces their employability opportunities. Steps taken by the government to improve quality and access to education in India include programmes such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Mid-day meal schemes and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas. These schemes emphasise on increasing the number of schools to provide access to a larger population, and on improving infrastructure of existing and new schools by providing greater amenities and building more classrooms.

Increasing enrolment rates and reducing dropouts and gender inequality are two other aspects which the government of India aims to lay stress on. Recruitment of quality teachers forms one of the most important aspects of consolidating the education sector in India. These teachers also need to be properly trained to impart education more effectively to children.

Private-Public Partnership
The task is so enormous in a country of India’s size and population that the government has to turn to Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to run the schemes effectively. The PPP initiative will be primarily used to provide IT-based education to a majority of India’s student population. Private companies will contribute by providing infrastructure in the form of computer labs and content at government schools. It will also train teachers how to use their content and infrastructure. Training is also being provided to the teachers to enhance their education imparting capabilities.

Soft skills
Soft skills such as communication, IT skills, computer proficiency etc are also very important in making a student employable. Private enterprises are coming forward in this area and providing short and medium-term courses and induction trainings. Many organizations like Everonn and NIIT are coming out with innovative approaches to get a share of the market.

This, however, is not enough, and more involvement of the private sector is called for. According to a NASSCOM report, there will be a requirement for 2.3mn IT professionals by 2011 and a shortage of 5, 00,000 personnel required. Therefore, it is more important to emphasise on quality of education in India, rather than the number of educated students. This reflects the strong growth potential that the IT Training Industry has and its ever-increasing relevance for the IT Sector.

Problem areas
The large sizes of classes in private schools prevent teachers from giving individual attention to students. This results in considerable waste of time, effort and money. Companies like Educomp and Everonn have introduced innovative products which would solve this problem. These are online products, available 24/7, and do not require the student to travel to the location where the classes are held. However, these products require broadband connectivity, the availability of which is very poor in India. India’s broadband penetration has to improve substantially to make these products successful.