ele education-jan-2011
TRANSCRIPT
IN THE
INTEREST OF
EDUCATION
The Government of INDIA targets to guarantee
elementary education to children between the age of 6
and 14 years; it expects to increase access to
education & improve the quality of education being
provided through the RTEA. Challenge and opportunity
to citizens to help our elected government.
Contents
1.Intro of RTEA-2009
2. Primary education
3. Elementary edu.
4.Norms of RTEA
5.Various concerns
6.Present Scenario
7.Free, high quality
8. State & Union duties
9. Union has done a lot
10. Debate since April 1
11.Types of schools
12. Education as market
2
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory
Education Act _ RTEA- 2009
The 86th constitutional amendment [2002] has made elementary education a fundamental right for the children between the age group- 6 to 14, with the RTE Act passed by the India parliament in 2009.
It provides for free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution.
The act came into force on April 1, 2010. Earlier, programs like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA),
Mid-day meal schemes and Kasturba Gandhi Balika
Vidyalayas have been already been functioning.
3
Right to Education Act – 2009
The act also provides that, no child shall be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until completion of elementary education.
Provision for special training of school drop-outs to bring them at-par with the students of the same age.
Right to Education of Person with Disabilities till 18 years of age has been made a Fundamental Right.
4
The act also provides for
establishment of the National
Commission for Protection of
Child Rights and State
Commissions for supervising
of proper implementation of the
act, looking after the complaints
and protection of Child Rights.
5
Primary education
Education, primary education in particular, is
expected to bring about desirable behavioral
changes in young children in the areas of:
(1) knowledge and understanding,
(2) skill and competence,
(3) attitudes and interest, and
(4) action patterns.
6
Primary education
Primary education, thus, is the foundation for the development of the child in his social, intellectual, and physical aspects.
The school is required to inculcate the cultural values and prepare the child for various developmental tasks of his life.
It should promote expression of his innate qualities of head, heart and hand, to their maximum capacities.
Education is the basic necessity for a child to grow into a responsible citizen.
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Elementary Education in India
Elementary education is preparatory. It prepares the
pupil to go on to something else, and put his foot on
the first step of the ladder of knowledge.
Primary education must do everything possible to
make pupils feel that they belong to a society, to knit
them into a social fabric, and make them aware of
their social responsibilities.
The objectives of elementary education are (i) to
enable self-realization; (ii) to develop better human
relations, and (iii) to enable fulfillment to civic
responsibilities.
8
Elementary education consists of eight
years of education.
According to the 2001 census, the total
literacy rate in India is 65.38%.
The female literacy rate is only 54.16%.
The gap between rural and urban literacy rate
is also very significant in India.
This is evident from the fact that only 59.4%
of rural population are literate as against 80.
3% urban population according to the 2001
census.
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Norms for government / private
schools The Act specifies the minimum norms in
government as well as private schools.
It specifies reservation of 25% seats in private
schools also for children from poor families,
prohibits the practice of unrecognized schools,
and makes provisions for no donation or
capitation and no interview of the child or parent
for the admission.(This is under judicial scrutiny
now)
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Norms for SCHOOLS: RT E A
Other provisions regarding improvement of school
infrastructure,
teacher-student ratio and
faculty have also been provided in the act.
A committee set up to study the funds requirement and
funding estimated that Rs 1.71 lakh crore would be
required in the next five years for implementing the Act.
The government agreed to sharing of funds in the ratio of
65 to 35 between the Centre and the states for
implementing the law, with a ratio of 90 to 10 for the
north-eastern states.
EVERYBODY ACKNOWLEDGES THE
VALUE OF EDUCATION IN THE OVERALL
DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHILDREN.
Struggle for universalizing
elementary education
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Administrators focus on
Enrolment
Availability of schools within walking distance
Provisioning for infrastructure
Deployment of teachers
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What is Learnt, how is it presented?
Whether or how children learn, and the
Burden of syllabi, which is passed on to
Tuition centres or Parents
Educationists are concerned about
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• Development professionals discuss
The impact of years of schooling, for example
on the age of marriage and family size.
Economists talk about the economic returns
on Investment in education
Parents have expectations from the
education system_ that it should equip their
children for gainful employment, and
economic well being.
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Fulfill goals of
universal elementary education
The enforcement of fundamental
right to education provides us a
unique opportunity to mount a
mission encompassing all the
above discourses to fulfill our goal
of universal elementary education.
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Education System in India:
The present education system in India mainly comprises of primary education, secondary education, senior secondary education and higher education.
Elementary education consists of eight years of education.
Each of secondary and senior secondary education consists of two years of education. Higher education in India starts after passing the higher secondary education or the 12th standard.
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Dropped out, child labourers
There are „invisible‟ children_ children bonded to work with an employer,
young boys grazing cattle or working in a dhabha
girls working in the fields or as domestic help or caring for younger siblings, and
children being subjected to early marriage. Many of these children are formally enrolled in a school but have either dropped out or have never been there.
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Extremely vulnerable ones
Many others such as migrant and
street children, who live in
extremely vulnerable conditions;
denying them education is against
the universal nature of human
rights.
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Enrol, attend, learn, and
Be empowered by education
Providing universal access itself is no longer
enough; making available school facility is
essential but not sufficient.
A monitoring mechanism is needed to ensure
that all children attend school regularly and
participate in the learning process.
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Not attending, drop-out in a few months?
Focus must be on the factors that
prevent children from regularly
attending & completing elementary
education. Children from
weaker sections and
disadvantaged groups, as also
girls.
SOCIAL,CULTURAL,ECONOMIC,
LINGUISTIC AND PEDAGOGIC ISSUES
Large student population of India
India has a large student population with over
13.5cr pupils in primary education. India has
the second-largest population in the world of
over 110cr people (1.1bn), with a literacy rate of
61%.
Educating such a large population is not only
an expensive task but also a very difficult one.
This task is being handled primarily by the
government through its school infrastructure
and large Budgetary outlays..
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India has approximately 2,50,000 private schools,
present generally in urban clusters and about
3,00,000 „budget schools‟ with tight budget.
These schools share a sizable load of educating
the Indian student population and satisfy demand
for quality of education and infrastructure by the
Indian middle and elite class. To provide quality
education, these schools are on always on the
look-out for better content, which is also provided
by the education companies.
The Economic Times Mumbai
Date: Nov 23, 2010
The Right to Education (RTE) Act threatens the very existence of
about 300,000 budget schools. Their fate now rests with the states,
says John Samuel Raja D.
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As Tamil Nadu gets
ready to implement the
Right to Education
(RTE) Act, private
schools, parents,
educationists and NGOs
appear sceptical about
key clauses of the
legislation. Ensuring
quality education and a
stable teacher-pupil
ratio may prove to be
stumbling blocks on the
road to achieving free
and compulsory
education for all. more
slideshows
Stumbling blocks to RTE Act
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Reservation of 25% seats in private
schools for children from poor families
The school may be
there but students may
not attend, or drop out
after a few months.
Through school & social
mapping, many issues
need to be addressed
that prevent a weak
child from completing
the process of
education.
Social, economic,
cultural, linguistic,
pedagogic issues
Denial or violation of
the right to
elementary education
process requires to be
overcome with the
encouragement and
enlightenment of the
weak & vulnerable.
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Free, compulsory and of high quality
The right to education is free, compulsory and
it includes good quality education for all.
A curriculum not only provides good reading
and understanding of text books but also
includes learning through activities,
exploration and discovery.
Comprehension, competence,
competitiveness and creativity should be
developed, not forgetting compassion.
27
Free, compulsory and of high quality
The right to education is free, compulsory and
it includes good quality education for all.
A curriculum not only provides good reading
and understanding of text books but also
includes learning through activities,
exploration and discovery.
Comprehension, competence,
competitiveness and creativity should be
developed, not forgetting compassion.
28
Education Depts of State & Union
Governments have direct responsibility
To provide
schools,
infrastructure,
trained teachers,
curriculum and
teaching-learning material, and
mid-day meal.
A well coordinated mechanism is needed for
inter- sectoral collaboration & convergence.
29
On the part of the whole Govts:
The factors that contribute to the
achievement of the overall goal of
universalizing elementary education as
a fundamental right requires action on
the part of the whole Governments.
A well coordinated mechanism is needed for
inter- sectoral collaboration & convergence.
30
Timely & appropriate financial
allocations, redesign school spaces
The Finance Department to release
funds at all levels.
The Public Works Dept. to re-conceive
and redesign school spaces from the
pedagogic perspective & Address
issues of including disabled children
through barrier free access.
31
Provide Social & Location Mapping of
schools, Water & sanitation facilities
The Dept. of Science & Technology to
provide geo-spatial technology to
perform at
grass-root survey.
Provision of access to sufficient safe
drinking water
Provision and access to adequate
sanitation facilities, specially for girl
child.
32
ROLE OF CIVIL SOCEITY in RTE
Above all, people‟s groups, civil society
organizations & voluntary agencies will play
an crucial role in the implementation of the
RTE Act.
This will help build a new perspective on
inclusiveness, encompassing gender & social
inclusion, & ensure that these become
integral & crosscutting concerns informing
different aspects like training, curriculum and
classroom transaction.
33
ROLE OF CIVIL SOCEITY
A VIBRANT CIVIL SOCEITY MOVEMENT
CAN ENSURE THAT THE PARENT / CHILD
FROM WEAKER OR DISADVANTAGED
SECTIONS BECOME AWARE OF THE
VALUE OF EXERCISING THE RIGHT TO
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION AND PUT IN
SERIOUS EFFORTS ON THEIR PART.
NGO contribution of knowledge, ideas and
solutions to the challenges are needed.
34
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh:
"We are committed to ensuring that
all children, irrespective of gender
and social category, have access to
education. An education that
enables them to acquire the skills,
knowledge, values and attitudes
necessary to become responsible
and active citizens of India
35
The 86th constitutional amendment (2002),
And the RTE Act (2009), have given us the
tools to provide quality education to all our
children. It is now imperative that we the
people of India join hands to ensure the
implementation of this law in its true spirit.
The Government is committed to this task
though real change will happen through
collective action.
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What has the Indian State
done in order to give effect to this
Fundamental Right as enshrined in
Article 21A?
A great deal, Read on …..
To improve access to and taking care of the quality aspect of
education:
The government has introduced programs like
the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Mid-day
meal schemes and Kasturba Gandhi Balika
Vidyalayas. These schemes stress on the
following: Increase the number of schools to
provide access to all, Improve infrastructure of
existing and new schools by building more
classrooms and amenities, Reduce gender
inequality, Recruit more teachers and train
them to impart education more effectively.
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RTEA
Implementation
April 2010 to January 2011:
Disputes
OF NON-GOVERNMENT
SECTOR
Supreme Court on Friday (Oct-01, 2010) admitted
a writ petition filed by state’s CBSE schools
to amend certain clauses in the RTE Act.
The petition was filed under the aegis of Karnataka's
Management of Independent CBSE Schools
Association (KMICSA).
The case has been tagged along with other similar
cases which are pending in the court. The petition will
now be heard by a constitutional bench of five
judges.
“We would like to know what the government is doing
to upgrade the facilities like infrastructure in its
schools which constitute nearly 93% of the schools in
the country.” said Mansoor Ali Khan, general
secretary, KMICSA.
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The writ petition of the society for Private Unaided Schools
of Rajasthan challenging the constitutional
validity of the Right to Free and Compulsory Education
Act, 2009 (aka RTE Act);
• Article 15(5) of the Constitution inserted by the
Constitution (Ninety-Third Amendment) Act, 2005; and
• Article 21-A inserted by the Constitution (Eighty-Sixth
Amendment) Act, 2002,
• was admitted for hearing by the Supreme Court on
September 5 and listed as Writ Petition (C) No.95 of
2010.
The prayers (requests) made to the justices of the apex
court in the writ petition are:
(A) Declare the right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education Act, 2009 unconstitutional as
being ultra vires the Constitution and / or strike down ss.
3, 4, 6, 11-15, 17, 23(i), 24 (i) (d) and 29-30 of the Act.
Background. S. 3 of the RTE Act entitles every child in
the age group six-14 to avail free and compulsory
education in a neighbourhood school till completion of
elementary education (class VIII). Under s.2 (i) (iv) even
private unaided schools “not receiving any kind of aids of
grants… from the appropriate Government or the local
authority” are included in the definition of „school‟.
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The main grievance of the petitioner is that
under s. 12 (1) (c)
private independent / unaided schools
“shall admit in class I to the extent of at least
twenty-five percent of the strength of that class
children belonging to weaker section and
disadvantaged group (sic) in the neighbourhood
and provide free and compulsory elementary
education till its completion”.
60
The petitioner‟s contention is that s. 12(1) (c) contravenes
the Supreme Court‟s 11- judge verdict in
the T.M.A . Pai Foundation vs. Union of India & Ors
(2002) (8 SCC 481), which ruled that
• under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution, all citizens
have a fundamental right to carry on the “occupation”
of education provision and in particular to
(transparently) admit students of their choice (on merit)
and to levy reasonable tuition fees to generate
surpluses for the growth and development of their
education institutions.
61
The right of private unaided education
institutions to admit students
of their choice was reaffirmed and
reiterated by the apex court in P. A. Inamdar
Case (2005) (6 SCC 537), argues the
petitioner.
Declare Article 15(5) inserted by the Constitution (Ninety-
Third Amendment) Act, 2005 invalid and “violative of the
basic structure of the Constitution”.
Background. In 2005 the UPA-I government, revived
a proposal of the Mandal Commission (1980) to
legislate additional 27 percent reservation ( i. e., in
addition to the reservation of 22.5 percent in favour of
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes) in all Central
government institutions of higher education for other
backward castes / classes (OBCs).
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• This proposal was unanimously approved by
Parliament in December 2005 which
under the Constitution (Ninety-Third) Amendment Act,
2005 enacted a new Article 15(5).
• This constitutional amendment was challenged in
Ashok Kumar Thakur’s Case (2008) (6 SCC 1).
Upholding the 93rd Amendment vis-à-vis government
and private aided institutions (but recommending pro
rata capacity expansion to accommodate merit
students).
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• The court withheld judgment on the applicability of the
93rd Amendment to private unaided institutions for
want of challenge.
• Now in the instant case, the petitioner has challenged
the constitutional validity of the 93rd Amendment and
Article 15(5).
Declare Article 21-A inserted following the enactment
of the Constitution (Eighty-Sixth Amendment) Act,
2002 constitutionally invalid.
Background. Article 21-A mandates the State to provide
free and compulsory education to all children between
ages six-14. The 86th Amendment has been challenged
because it enables the RTE Act and / or its impugned
provisions as set out in prayer (a) above which became
effective from April 1, 2010.
PETITIONS IN COURT AGAINST THE
MODALITY OF ACT
The petitioners contended that the Act had
included all sorts of schools within its
ambit in violation of the law.
“ The Act is violative of the fundamental right
of private unaided schools enshrined under
Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution and the
minority schools enshrined under Articles 29
and 30 of the Constitution.”
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They submitted that though the Act was brought
in to make India a knowledge hub, it had
“serious flaws.”
“The Act (i) completely fails to address the
issue of quality education.(ii) It discriminates
between children by applying the faulty
concept of neighborhood schools, (iii) is silent
on pre-primary education for children
between 3 to 6 years,(iv) makes no mention
of the learning levels of children etc.”
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A five-judge Constitution Bench of the
Supreme Court will hear a batch of petitions
• filed by several private unaided and minority
schools
• challenging the government's new Right to
Education Act, 2009, which guarantees free
and compulsory education for all children
between 6 and 14 years of age in the country.
• Under this law, every child aged 6 to 14 shall
have the right to free and compulsory
education in a neighbourhood school till
elementary education. Continued…
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A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia
and Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter
Kumar referred the petitions to a Constitution
Bench after counsel for the petitioners pointed out
that several constitutional provisions required
interpretation.
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Private schools have become the institution of first
choice for the children of the elite and even of the middle
classes.
India has provided highly stratified private schools in
order to cater to different classes of people. These
institutions are delivering “good “results for their
respective clients.
Given the size of our population and the magnitude of
illiteracy, no transformation is possible through the
model of privatisation and by seeking to transform
private institutions bear the load of weaker section.
There is no short cut except to make an expanded
Government school system to function.
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In order to strengthen the campaign against inequitable
schooling, the first step is to prioritise and strengthen
government schools across the country.
The problem of education today is largely attributable to
a complete loss of faith in the quality of existing
government schools. Therefore, purely with a view to
achieving a strategic interim victory in people‟s struggle
for the implementation of the right to FCE, the crisis of
public schools and the problem of „public versus private
schools‟ may have to be temporarily
separated.
This would ensure that the private schools‟ lobby does
not derail the entire process of legislating. To this end,
legislations for FCE should be divided into two stages.
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• First, any legislation for Free-Compulsory-Education
should be limited to addressing issues pertaining to
public schools, i.e., government schools.
• At a later stage, the first law should be supplemented
by another that addresses private schools and the
problems of inequality created by „public versus private‟
schools
• Therefore, all issues should be first debated and
threshed out in the context of public (govt.) schools in
order to build a very strong, clear policy regarding
public (govt.) schools across India. However, it
should be noted that these issues are also relevant in
the context of private schools (both aided and
unaided)..
Private schools shy away from implementing
RTE provisions _Shoeb Khan, TNN,
Jan 5, 2011, 05.18am IST, JAIPUR: It came
as a rude shock for parents of
economically weaker sections (EWS)
whose wards were denied admission
under the Right to Education Act, which
guarantees 25% reservation in schools at
entry level. Most schools don't seem
inclined to implement the provisions of
the RTE Act as the state government has
failed to frame rules in this regard.
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• A few schools are not even accepting the
forms under this category, while others are
asking the parents to submit
complete set of documents including income
and domicile certificates.
• There is so much confusion that many parents
do not even understand the modalities of the
act. NGOs too have failed to raise awareness
about the act among the public.
• As a result, few parents under the EWS
category have dared to approach the premier
schools for their child's admission.
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"I can never think of sending my children
to a private English-medium school but I
have dared to purchase an admission
form of a known private school in the city
hoping that they will abide by the law,"
said Rajnish Sharma, a clerk in a private
engineering college.
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While at the face value schools have welcomed
the RTE provisions, but have demanded some
changes in the clauses. Damodar Goyal,
president, Society for Unaided Schools in
Rajasthan argued that schools should be allowed
to fill the vacant reserve category seats with
general candidates so that they do not incur
losses. "Fees is the main source of income for the
schools. If the Centre doesn't give any subsidy for
taking 25% students from weaker sections, then
schools will be left with no choice but to pass the
burden on to the other 75% students," said Goyal.
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He also argued against the provision that defines weaker
section children as those who belong to a BPL family.
"This doesn't define the BPL family either.
• The Act should have a clause under which BPL family
having a BPL card from a competent authority can
avail of the benefit," said Goyal. He also objected to
Part 5 of Rule 5 which states that local authority shall
ensure that names of all children enrolled in the
schools under its jurisdiction must be displayed at the
school notice board.
• Advocate Munish Kumar Sharma said, "If any school
refuses admission to a child fulfilling the criteria under
the EWS category, the parent can challenge it in the
court."
Schools, government headed for face-off?
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Public schools and the Delhi government
could be headed for a clash over the issue
of the fee structure in the next academic
session, 2011-12. Representing the views of
the 1,950 unaided schools in the city,
Action Committee, an association of private
unaided schools, said on Thursday that
schools should be given full autonomy in
fixing the fee. Schools usually increase
their fee by up to 10% every year.
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This year, however, the fee hike could be more
to accommodate 25% students from the
economically weaker sections (EWS)
of society under the Right to Education (RTE)
Act. The Delhi government had, earlier this
month, ruled out any possibility of fee hike in
private schools.
"Schools should have full autonomy in
deciding appointment of teachers and fee
structures. How can the government interfere
in such matters?” asked SK Bhattacharya,
president, Action Committee.
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"The reimbursement that is to be provided to private schools
by the government for EWS is a misnomer,” said K L Luthra,
general secretary, Action Committee.
"Providing education to all is not the responsibility
of the private sector... the government should be
responsible,” added Bhattacharya.
The association also questioned how the
government, which collects 3% education cess,
has utilized the money.
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That RTE is going through several amendments is
only natural given its ambitious intent and sweep.
The first round of amendment in the RTE
is already with the parliamentary standing
committee. Amendments pertain to giving the
advisory role to the School Management
Committee in minority educational institutions and
widening the scope of `child with disability' so that
it includes persons suffering from autism, cerebral
palsy, mental retardation and other disabilities.
81 81
The government is also seized of another
amendment; the one that seeks to give SMCs an
advisory role in all aided schools. This
amendment was suggested by Kerala politicians
who said letting minority schools have SMCs in
an advisory role and not giving the same
privilege to aided schools will put the latter in a
disadvantageous position.
Education Services
India is one of the world’s largest
education markets
Education Companies in India
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Currently, there are no listed players in this segment in India.
The largest pre-school player is KidZee, part of Essel Group
(Zee Group).
It has over 700 centres across 265 cities in India and
abroad. Apart from KidZee, the pre-school market is very
fragmented and going by the way the concept is catching up
in India,
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we expect some consolidation in this space mainly
by listed players like Educomp, which
has already entered the K12 segment and has
indicated intentions to cater to the pre-school
segment.
The big advantage in the pre-school segment is
that it is not capital intensive and can generate
positive cash flows as early as second year of
operations currently.
K12 Segment:
In the K12 segment, formal education is
imparted to children. It starts with lower kinder
garten (LKG) till XII standard, following which,
students go for professional education.
Currently, most schools are run by non-profit
charitable institutions. In the past few years,
urban areas, in particular, have witnessed
rapid growth in number of private unaided
schools.
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This was mainly due to resource crunch in public (Govt)
schools, which suffer from high rates of teacher
absenteeism.
Private schools are divided into two types namely;
recognised schools and
unrecognised schools.
Some famous schools include Delhi Public School
(DPS), Dayanand Anglo Vedic (DAV) and Ramakrishna
Mission Schools. Setting up of schools involves huge
initial investment to be made. The break even period is
about 4-5 years per school.
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The schools are controlled either by the State Government
Boards, the Central Board of Secondary Education
(CBSE), the Council for the Indian School Certificate
Examination (ISCE) board or the National Open School.
Also, some international Schools such as the Dhirubhai
Ambani International School are part of the education
system.
As per DISE (District Information System for Education)
estimates, there were ~1.1mn schools in India with 4.7mn
teachers providing K-12 education to ~230mn students in
2006.
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India is one of the world’s largest education
markets, with 445mn of the 1.1bn population
comprising the target group (5-24 age) of the
education sector. India needs to address its
high illiteracy and drop-out rates as well as
shortage of skilled workforce to sustain
multi-year high-growth.
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Recognising access-to education as the key
focus area for continued current economic
growth momentum, the Government is
allocating huge resources to the sector.
Simultaneously, the private sector is poised to
take advantage of the huge opportunity in the
sector, given quality of education fast gaining
importance due to rising middle-class income.
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Access-to-education – Key focus area.
Recognising the importance of education
for sustaining economic growth momentum, the
Government has committed itself to providing
basic/primary education through initiatives such as
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), utilising
Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to
the bridge digital divide. It has not only increased
outlay on education, but has also encouraged
responsible participation by private players.
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Private players for responsible role to
participate in the huge multi-year growth
opportunity by:
i) providing digital content to K-12 schools,
ii) setting up own preschools and K-12
schools,
iii) undertaking large ICT projects,
iv) vocational training/skill development,
and
v) online/offline tutoring.