Computer-based education:a solution to bridge social inequality

Nilay Ranjan “The use of ICTs as learning tools, as remote learning’s instruments and as sources of information can supplement and strengthen the institutional system since it can encourage self dependence and creative learning.” Child right, social equity and education The issues of child labour and child rights have become key topics in the development debate, globally as well as nationally. On the one side of the debate are those who believe that child labour must be defined broadly to include all children who remain out of the school system as they are potential child labourers, and hence, deprived of their rights. This view is increasingly being adopted by a range of international and national agencies and researchers. For them education is the key to the elimination of child labour. They also reject the non-formal systems of education and are concerned with upgrading the quality of the formal system. The other side of the debate argues that labour must carefully be distinguished from work. Work and education need not be dichotomous necessarily. Those who support this thought process give weight to the economic circumstances that give rise to children’s participation in the labour market and argue for an educational system that takes cognizance of these circumstances. They suggest that work is not necessarily opposed to learning, but lay stress on distinguishing between hazardous and nonhazardous forms of work. This position also lends importance to non formal education interventions coexisting with the formal system. Presently a debate is going on about the meaning and value of education, about who ultimately takes the decision on children needs, interests and well being. Provision to safeguard rights of the children At the policy planning and implementation level, several government documents like National Policy on Education -1992 and legislations indicate the states’ concern for children and give an impetus to development services for the welfare of children. By ratifying the UN convention on the Rights of Children in 1992, the Government of India also committed itself to creating an appropriate environment for survival, protection, and development of children. The articles from the Indian constitution that specifically focus on children’s right are mentioned below. Article 24: No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine engaged in hazardous employment. Article 39: The state shall direct its policy towards child security and ensure that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter a vocation unsuited to their age or strength. The state would also ascertain that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity. Article 45: The state shall endeavour to provide within a period ten years (from the origination of the constitution) for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14 years. Apart from these, the 1993 judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of J.P. Unni Krishnan and others vs. state of Andhra Pradesh and others (1993) was also considered to have the status of a Fundamental Right. The Apex Court had declared, that the passage of 44 years, which was more than four times the period stipulated in Article 45 has converted the obligation created by the Article into an enforceable right. At least now the state must honour Article 45 and make it a right. Apart from this, a number of NGOs have demonstrated successful approaches in meeting the needs of disadvantaged children, especially girls, and have influenced mainstream education through replication of their models and through policy dialogue with successive governments. The policy debate and report shows that the Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) is one of the few issues on which all parties have declared agreement; development economists stress the urgency of it; and activists raise it as a demand. It is significant to note that issues of child rights, child labour, and educational concerns have now come close enough to generate clarity on what needs to be done. The grassroot evidence shows that even today million of children in India are totally deprived of education in any form. The level of deprivation can be judged by the rate of enrolment of different sections of the society. Gross enrolment ratio (GER) The gross enrolment rates show the exclusion rates of the children belonging to different socio-economic groups. Access to education can be deliberated by the gross enrolment ratio. Table 1 shows the GER – school enrolment ratio of the total population in the corresponding age group of 6-11 and 11-14 years.  Table 1: Gross Enrolment Ratio-National for 2000-01 Year 1-V Primary (6-11 years) VI-VIII Upper Primary (11-14 years) Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Total 104.9 85.9 95.7 66.7 49.9 58.6 SC 107.3 85.8 96.8 76.2 53.3 65.3 ST 116.9 85.5 101.1 72.5 47.7 60.2 Source: 7th Selected Educational Statistics, 2000-1, MHRD Table 1 shows that GER for SCs and STs is higher than the total number of children. In case of total enrolment the figure is different. It is interesting to observe that the GER is increasing but the decline in the dropout rate is not as high as expected (Figure 1). Table 2 shows the total enrolment for 2000-2001. Figure 1 Table 2: Total Enrolment for 2000-01 Year 1-V Primary (6-11 years) VI-VIII Upper Primary (11-14 years) Boys Girls Total Boys Girls Total Total 64.0 49.8 113.8 25.3 17.5 42.8 SC 12.05 9.13 21.19 4.06 2.62 6.69 ST 6.33 4.66 10.99 1.87 1.20 3.08 Source:7th Selected Educational Statistics, 2000-1, MHRD The total number of children between age groups of 6-14 in the year 2002 was approximately 200.052 million. Sixteen per cent of this population remains out of schools. Who are excluded? The enrolment data of various socio-economic groups shows that the important excluded groups are children belonging to Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Scheduled Caste (SC) categories, disabled people, child labourers and the girl child. In the subsequent section an attempt has been made to assess groups that are deprived of educational opportunities. The exclusion of dalit children from the education system According to the 1991 census, there were around 138 million dalits in India accounting for 16.5 per cent of the country’s population. In the mid 1990s, barely 41.5 per cent of dalits in rural India were literate and only 62.5 per cent of children in the 6-14 age groups had been enrolled in schools. An important challenge for the policy makers is to mainstream SC children in the education system. In India, a few initiatives have been taken by some civil society organizations (CSO) and the government to integrate ICTs into the formal education system. The available census data on ICT infrastructure in India shows that 53.1 per cent of the rural population in India has access to radio and 49.8 per cent has access to TV sets. This attests the claim that integrating Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) with the formal education system may be one of the most feasible solutions to ensure the exclusion of SC children in mainstream education. Education among ST The participation rate of ST children in education is quite low in comparison to others. The enrolment of tribal children was about nine million in class I-V during the year 1997-98. Studies reveal that the enrolment rates of ST Children depend on factors such as the availability of schools, their functioning, availability of teachers, the willingness of parents to send their children to school as well as their perception of the value of education. Education through ICTs can have an impact on the problem of teacher absenteeism and enhance the student participation in learning. Educating the girl child Right to Education is a fundamental right of all children. It is an important challenge for the nation to mainstream the girl child into the education system. Based on the official statistics available for 1997-98, it is estimated that around 11 million girls within the age group of 6-11 remain un-enrolled in schools, accounting for nearly 88 per cent of all un-enrolled children from the same age group. The corresponding figures for the 11-14 age group is around 16 million, constituting 58 per cent of all un-enrolled children in the age group. Several factors seem to be impeding the education of girls. Girls are doubly affected by the absence of effective early childhood education programmes as they are invariably burdened with the responsibility of taking care of younger siblings. Distance norms work against the interest of girls as often they are not allowed to go out of the village for schooling. Further provision of basic infrastructure and women teachers in school could influence this situation considerably. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can be a valuable part of any strategy that seeks to enhance the accessibility of education, especially to the girl child. Initiatives spearheaded by a few organisations like CARE and NIIT have shown promise thus far. The initiatives taken by the state governments of Karnataka, Assam and Orissa under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan also reinforce the positive impact that computer based education may have in including more and more girls in the Indian education system. Education of children with special needs According to the current estimates, India has around 1.6 million children with special needs. Out of these, about 1.08 million children attend schools. There is a clear and urgent need to question this gap if one has to ensure the fundamental right of education for each Indian child. Unfortunately, most Indian schools lack disable friendly infrastructure and facilities. In such a scenario, ICTs can play an important role in engaging disabled children in the education network. A commendable effort in this direction has been undertaken by Enabling Dimensions, an NGO that has initiated an online portal to provide specialised e-learning courses for blind children. Child labour The 1991 census estimated that the number of working children in India was 11.28 million, of which 91 per cent were in the rural areas. These children were involved in a number of occupations, many of which have been classified as hazardous. Though the Ministry of Labour has been implementing the National Child Labour Projects since 1988, these efforts seem ineffective when we look at the size of the child-labour population. Alternative schooling has emerged as an option worth considering for bridging the duration gap as much as possible. ICTs can prove to be an important tool in this process. ICT enabled education to bridge social inequality An interesting instance for India to look at could be Singapore that made deep inroads in the field of child literacy through ICTs. To ensure this outcome, Singapore evolved an education policy that made the Internet more outward looking and collaborative. Schools established communication and collaboration models within the school and beyond it, involving parents and other interested members of the local community. Parents were given passwords for logging in from their home or office. They could get details on grading methods, teaching methods, assignments, and homework. They could also participate in online meetings with the teachers to offer online suggestions. Bulk of the IT spending in this project was for the less able and less privileged children. Conclusion Time is ripe for some serious consideration to be given to the introduction of ICT-based education at various levels. The use of ICTs in education takes many forms including: the use of ICTs as learning tools, use in capacity building of teachers, use in distant learning, use in technical education, and use in dissemination of information on best practices. Out of these, the use of ICTs in capacity building and in technical education projects by the government, is clearly aimed at strengthening the institutional system. The use of ICTs as learning tools, as remote learning’s instruments and as sources of information can supplement and strengthen the institutional system since it can encourage self dependence and creative learning, besides providing new tools for enriching the student-teacher interface. Several NGOs have already initiated experiments to integrate ICTs in formal and non-formal education. References Jain Sharda, Mathur Alok, Rajgopal Shobhita & Shah Juhi (2002). Children, Work and Education: Rethinking on Out of School Children, India Education Report, edited by R Govinda, 2002. Nambissan Geetha B & Mona Sedwal (2002). Education for All: The Situation of Dalit Children in India, India Education Report, edited by R Govinda, 2002. A.Rane & Billimoria J (1998). Child Rights Advocacy in India, In Desai, M.A Monterio and L.Narayan(eds) Towards People Centred Development, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, 1998. PROBE (2000-01). Public Report on Basic Education In India, The PROBE team in Association with Centre for Development Economics, Oxford Universities Press, 1999. Selected Educational Statistical, (2000-01), MHRD. Author: Nilay Ranjan is the Knowledge Coordinator - Education at OneWorld South Asia.

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