New Delhi: At least 48 of every 100 students in India pursuing secondary education never go beyond that level, the World Bank said on Tuesday, pointing out that the country was doing worse than Vietnam and Bangladesh in enrolling students in secondary education.
"Thirty seven per cent students fail before the final examination and 11 per cent drop out during the period (class nine-12)," the World Bank study released said.
It said with "larger numbers of India's children now finishing primary school, the demand for secondary schooling – Grades nine to 12 – is growing. Over the next decade, the number of secondary school students is expected to increase from 40 to 60 million".
"An increasing share of these students will come from rural and lower income groups, who will be less able to afford private secondary education," the bank said.
The challenge now for the government is to dramatically improve access, enrolment and quality in secondary education, simultaneously.
The bank said that in India, the maximum job growth in recent years has taken place in the skilled services and manufacturing sectors. The country, therefore, needs to provide the 12 million young people who join the labour force every year with the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and experiences to enable them to access these better-paying jobs.
The World Bank said that India, however, does not compare favourably with its global competitors in terms of the overall educational attainments of its people.
"Even countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh, which have lower per capita incomes than India, have higher gross enrolment rates (GER) in secondary schools. India's GER in secondary school is 40 per cent compared to 70 per cent in East Asia and 82 per cent in Latin America."
It said 40 million children were enrolled in secondary schools in 2008. The majority of them were boys, children from the urban areas, and those who belonged to the wealthier segments of the population. Enrolment varies greatly between states, from 92 per cent in Kerala, 44 per cent in Tamil Nadu, 22 per cent in Bihar to four per cent in Jharkhand.
The bank said 60 per cent of the secondary school system is privately managed. While private unaided schools provide 30 per cent of total secondary enrolment nationwide (2004-05), up from 15 per cent in 1993-94.
"Their dramatic growth reveals the demand for secondary schooling and the willingness and capacity of households to pay for it. This however leads to the increasing inequality as poorer households cannot afford to pay both the direct and opportunity costs of their children's secondary education," the study added.
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