Hundreds of thesis, reports and papers have been written and presentations made on what ails our educational system. But, one aspect that does not seem to get enough attention is the role of our educational system in continuing the social disparity.
This disparity relates to the broad spectrum of quality differences in our education system reflected by the different types of schools. At one end of the spectrum, we have schools which boast highest quality education with excellent facilities and their usage of English as the medium of instruction. These are known as “International” schools, privately owned, which charge hefty fees and, hence, are out of reach for children from the less privileged families. They tutor their students to sit foreign examinations.
At the other end of the spectrum are the typical state-owned rural schools including schools in the estate sector, with dilapidated structures without basic amenities, where teachers hardly have the skills or motivation to do justice to their jobs. As we move the middle of the spectrum, into the urban and city areas, we can see state-run schools with multi-story buildings, playgrounds and facilities which even international schools do not have.
The state-owned schools are also segmented into different types. There are National schools, (the prestigious lot), followed by 1 AB, 1 C, Type 2 and Type 3 schools. Type 3 schools may conduct classes from year 1 to 5 or year 1 to 8. They are the schools with the least amount of facilities and most of them are located in small towns, rural areas and estate sector.
Social divide
The basic idea of public education is that it serves to level the playing field, serving as a motor for social mobility by providing equal learning opportunities for all students. Regrettably, our 80-year old free education system could yet not assure everyone access to equal levels of education in all schools. In fact, our education system made inequality worse, systematically giving more affluent students’ better access to rigorous science and mathematics content – which is of critical importance in today’s high-tech economy.
The need to minimise the urban-rural and rural-plantation divide has for long been pointed out by educationists and eventually accepted by all governments. But, to date, very little has been done.
When the educational system in a country exhibits inequality in content, such exposure will tend to have more rigid social classes. In other words, rather than levelling the playing field, schools may be tipping the scales. Instead of providing more equal opportunities, the inequalities that are rife in schools might be constraining those opportunities – and thereby calling into question the legitimacy of that country’s democracy itself.
That is why, promoting more equal opportunities in schools must be a priority for our Government. Maybe, schools alone can’t solve the underlying problems facing the society, but it’s hard to imagine how we’ll foster greater social equity if schools are not part of the solution.
Insufficient allocations
Along with a commitment to educational attainment, it is imperative for state policymakers of education, therefore to harness their power to make equity-focused policy decisions. All students, estate, rural or urban, should be afforded the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve their future goals. Educational equality means that all students receive equal access to the same educational pathways and not simply levelling the field. The inequities in our education system should not continue to stifle those opportunities.
Over two third of the Government schools are located outside cities and most of them are in rural areas and small cities. Delivering equal school services and ensuring equal educational opportunities to areas with thinly scattered populations continues to be a challenge for the Provincial government and education authorities.
Over the past two decades, hundreds of such schools have closed causing very real harm to the communities in which they were located. This was a result of the insufficient education allocations of the Government.
Provincial Councils might have been able to save some of these schools if they had adequate overall budgets. However, austerity budgets provided by government meant that Councils had little flexibility to make decisions to keep open schools that they and the community did not want to close.
The decreasing trend in government spending for education over the years was brought into public focus by the Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) and other organisations. In this context, the request was to allocate 6% of GDP was popularised, which was the recommended state expenditure in education by UNESCO.
For example, in 2015, allocation for education was 2.07% of GDP. In 2016, it increased to 3.7% of GDP amounting to Rs. 461 bn, out of which Rs.121 bn is for “capital carrying costs” of the government. If we take out this amount, allocation becomes 2.72 of GDP. A larger portion of the education budget is allocated for physical infrastructure investment, for construction of school buildings, universities and vocational training institutes.
Addressing the need for basic facilities, such as toilets, drinking water and electricity for all schools and upgrading of plantation and rural schools are much needed investments which seem to have ignored. In addition, investment in developing teaching capacity particularly in rural schools, their salary adjustments and uplifting the quality of education was also lacking.
Educational investment has to be planned and projected within the broader economy, and the particularly solving the problems facing education, particularly of rural schools and students. Disparities in education levels at rural schools are interlinked with the crisis facing the rural economy. Therefore, a programme for improving standards of rural schools should be accompanied by investments to uplift the rural economy.
Turnover among teachers
Another problem faced by the rural schools is the high turnover among teachers and administrators. Retaining teachers in rural and remote areas also continues to be challenging. Naturally, the teachers like to work in schools either close to their homes or in urban areas, which are socially more attractive than rural or plantation schools far from home. On the other hand, the teachers serving in remote areas are ‘under duress’ they are unlikely to show much interest in serving the educational purpose of the rural pupils.
It normally takes several years for teachers to become acquainted with the life of a particular school - especially a small rural school where a thorough understanding of children in all aspects of their development is important. Frequent arrivals and departures on the part of teachers promote a climate of instability and do little to enhance the involvement of teachers in the general life of the community.
Solutions
The Government and the Councils can develop specific programmes to address the problems of rural teacher retention. First of all, an attractive special allowance could be offered monthly for their services. Decent accommodation also could be provided for those who need, the cost of which to be borne by the Government.
The degree to which a rural teacher becomes involved in community, educational and cultural programmes influences his or her decision to remain; therefore, retention requires a coordinated school-community effort. A school-community orientation can help new rural teachers overcome feelings of isolation, acquire a sense of community security, and develop professional competence.
The community should recognize new teachers’ accomplishments and invite them to participate in various activities. Universities also can play an important role by offering cost-effective distance-learning courses to keep rural teachers up-to-date. There are many more incentives one can think of.
It is also crucial that all teachers, especially rural teachers, have as many opportunities as possible for professional development. Possible offerings to consider include research, graduate studies, in-service education programmes, self-directed professional development, special educational leave, participating in exchange programmes are few of them.
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