India's report card out, Kerala no. 1

New Delhi: First it was dealing with illiteracy and now the quality of education - Kerala has added yet another feather to its already illustrious cap.

Having earned the distinction of being the most literate state, Kerala has also topped the list of states in providing better primary and upper primary education.

The Human Resource Development Ministry has come out with the Educational Development Index (EDI) that shows Kerala tops the composite EDI followed closely by Delhi and Tamil Nadu.

The EDI ranks states and union territories against key parameters of elementary education. It was set up with the aim to assess the progress of States and Union Territories towards the goal of Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE)..

Sources say the government views the EDI as an exercise that will encourage the states to improve their performance. They also say that it will take government’s flagship programme - Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan - to the most needy districts.

A Parliamentary Standing Committee says that over one crore children in the age group of six to 14 years were still illiterate.

The report said it was a matter of great concern and asked the Department to brace to cover these left-outs.

The report presented to Parliament last week said Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand were still have to go a long way to bring every child to school.

The committee – that seeks to make anti-child labour campaign an integral part of SSA - also recommended that the Department take up the issue with these states urgently and make special arrangements for education with them.

In its action-taken report, the Ministry said that as much as 51 per cent of the total outlays under the SSA had been allocated in 2006-07 to Bihar, UP, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan which have been treated as Special Focus States.

Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Tripura have higher drop-out rates (Class I-V) when compared with all India average of 31.47 per cent, the committee felt.

The Committee noted that though the Mid-Day Meal was one of the major attraction for children and it has to some extent even increased the enrollment in the schools.

But the SSA needed more interventions such as inclusion of sports as an integral part of the syllabus, so as to maintain the interest of children, it said adding this would not only make school attractive but also prepare the children psychologically as well as physically strong to feel motivated to go to schools.