Primary education for all is becoming reality in Bihar

Bihar has shown the way. The enrolment in government schools has gone up in the state while more and more students are opting for private schools in the rest of the country.

The enrolment in government schools has gone up from 72.2 per cent in 2005 to 83.6 per cent in 2008. Not only that.

Eighteen lakh school dropouts (in the 6-14 age group) of a total of 25 lakh in 2005 have been brought back to school till date.

The project director of the Bihar Education Project Council, Rajesh Bhushan, attributed this to the 'School Chale Hum' programme under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SAA) launched by the Nitish Kumar government.

Taking note of Bihar's success story, the Centre has increased Bihar's budgetary allocation for SAA, earmarking Rs 4,299 crore for the year 2009-10. Uttar Pradesh on the other hand had been allocated Rs 3,800 for the same purpose, Mr. Bhushan said.

According to ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) 2008, which carried out a survey at 997 villages of 35 districts on three basic parameters -- school enrolment, reading skill and arithmetic skills, Mr. Bhushan said that the proportion of out-of-school girls in the state had also dropped from 20.1 per cent in 2005 to 2.92 per cent in 2009.

BEPC sources said that the maximum number of children who have returned to schools were Muslims. In March 2008, the Muslim child population in the state in the age group of 6-14 was nearly 33.06 lakh and of them only 2.83 lakh were now out of school.

With more than two crore children in the age group of 6-14 enrolled in schools, it became imperative to strengthen the primary education infrastructure across the state, Mr. Bhushan said.

He said that the SAA succeeded in Bihar due to a number of innovative measures undertaken by the BEPC to make primary education student friendly.

Under the scheme, 15,000 new school buildings were constructed and 1,20,451 additional class rooms were added to schools till March, 2009, the sources said.

He said that schemes such as 'Bal Sansad' (child parliament), Meena Manch (girls club) Hunar (vocational training for muslim girls), Uthan kendra, Talimi Markaz, Martial arts for girls, English is fun and computer-aided learning were launched.

The 'Bal Sansad' or child parliament is a unique feature of the scheme under which parliament members motivate other children in their neighbourhoods to join the schools, Bushan said.

Similarly, at Uthan kendras out-of-school mahadalit children were given bridge courses to enable them to enter formal primary schools at class five level.

The Talimi Markaz was launched for Muslim students at 224 centres and Hunar is aimed at imparting vocational training to Muslim girls.

Over 13,768 minority girls are benefiting through vocational skill development training in 298 centres across the state in jute production, bakery and confectionary, certificate course in health of rural women, early childhood care and techonology, cutting, tailoring and dress making and beauty culture.

Mr. Bhushan said the state had fixed 2010 as the deadline for providing quality primary education to all children in the age group of 6-14.link

5 Lakh more Bihar kids 'school chale'

"Roke se na ruke hum, suraj sa chamke hum, school chale hum..." Remember the melodious jingle composed for the government of India's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)? The `School Chale Hum' programme under the SSA has turned out to be one of the most successful endeavours in Bihar with nearly five lakh out-of-school children being brought back to schools under it during the last two years.

In fact, the efforts of Bihar government under the SSA programme, which aims to bring quality elementary education to millions of children, have yielded positive results. Not only has the state been allocated the highest budget, but it has also sent back a record number of children to classrooms.

The success of the programme has now created a need for strengthening the secondary education infrastructure across the country.

As HRD principal secretary Anjani Kumar Singh said, "Bihar's allocation under SSA for the current year is even more than UP, which is about Rs 4,300 crore. The state made optimum utilisation of its allocation last year also and the results are not far to seek. We have already sent back a record number of kids between the age group of 6 and 14 back to school."

At present, out-of-school children in the age-group of 6-14 years has come down to 3 per cent in 2009 from 13.1 per cent in 2005.

Programme officer Ravi Shankar Singh of Bihar Education Project (BEP), which is the state implementing agency of SSA, said, "Out of the approved budget, 60 per cent is sanctioned by the Central government, while the rest 40 per cent is shared by the state government. Now approximately 6 lakh (5,22,586) children are out of school, while over five lakh children have been sent back to classrooms."

Similarly, the proportion of out-of-school girls in the state has also dropped from 20.1 per cent in 2005 to 2.92 per cent in 2009, added BEP sources.

What lends further credence to the efforts of the state is that the maximum number of children who have started going back to school are Muslims and SCs. In March 2008, the Muslim child population in Bihar in the age group 6-14 was 33.06 lakh and of them only 2.83 lakh were out of school. The number of out-of-school Muslim children now stands at 1.52 lakh, while 1.57 lakh SC students are yet to attend school.

HRD official also said, "It is indeed one of the most successful flagship programmes. Given the background, in early 2000, when educational infrastructure had almost collapsed and fund utilisation was minimum, the SSA proved its worth. One lakh clasrooms and 2.14 lakh teachers are now visible in the state."

SSA, apart from being a programme with clear time frame for elementary education, also offers opportunities to states to develop their own vision of elementary education. It has set 2010 as the deadline for providing useful and relevant elementary education to all children in the 6 to 14 age group.link