Vibrant Gujarat? State's 15% children enter higher education institutes, national average 18%: Senior academic

By A Representative
Facts unearthed by well-known academic Prof Rohit Shukla have suggested that in Gujarat's just about 14.72% of children entering school are able to continue their higher education after finishing class 12th. Pointing out that this is against the national average of 18%, Prof Shukla has told media, "Facts also suggest that Gujarat government is bluffing when it says there is just 2% school dropout."
"As of March 2017, 11.8 lakh children appeared in class 10th and 5.3 lakh children in class 12th. In 2006-07, 15.83 lakh children were admitted in class one, which suggests that 26% children dropped out on reaching class 10th, and another 56% children dropped out two years later, at the higher secondary level", Prof Shukla said.
Formerly with the Sardar Patel Institute for Social and Economic Research, Ahmedabad, Prof Shukla, an economist, has been involved with education-related campaigns in Gujarat for several years now. He edits the journal " Abhidrashti", devoted to academics, and is Gujarat president of Save Education, an All-India campaign started in 1987 by late Justice Krishna Ayyar.
Prof Shukla said, "In 2013-14, 92.29 lakh children were studying in primary school, which came down to 91.42 lakh next year, suggesting that there were 87,000 fewer students at the primary level in just one year", adding, "On the other hand, in secondary and higher education level, the number of enrolled students was 27.32 lakh, which suggests that the number students between 8th and 12th standard came down by 64.1 lakh."
Calling it a clear case of neglect of education by state BJP rulers, Prof Shukla said, "This is happening at a time when primary education is being handed over to the private sector. Thus, while in 2013-14, there were 21.97% primary private schools, which reached 23.17% in 2015-16. As percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) the budget for education is less than 2%, as against the recommendation of the Kothari Commission in 1967, 6%."
Coming to the quality of education, citing a 2017 government document, Prof Shukla said, "Of the 34,237 government primary schools, just about 858 schools were in the A+ grade and 11,134 in A Grade, while the rest were in C or D Grade", adding, " As many as 44.56% secondary and higher secondary schools don't even have science laboratories, which is one of the worst in India."
Elaborated Dr Hemant Shah, who teaches economics in a Gujarat University college, "The Gujarat government has coined a new term for primary schooling -- multi-layer teaching. It means nothing but that one teacher taking several classes together at the primary level because of lack of teachers."
He added, "Our on the spot inspection suggests that even this is not a success. Thus, we were told that, in single or two teacher schools, teachers teach one or two classes on any single day, letting children of other classes loiter around. This has happened because the Gujarat govrrnment implemented the Right to Education Act, 2009, two years later."

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Would breaking idols, burning books annihilate caste? Recalling a 1972 Dalit protest

By Rajiv Shah A few days ago, I received an email alert from a veteran human rights leader who has fought many battles in Gujarat for the Dalit cause — both through ground-level campaigns and courtroom struggles. The alert, sent in Gujarati by Valjibhai Patel, who heads the Council for Social Justice, stated: “In 1935, Babasaheb Ambedkar burnt the Manusmriti . In 1972, we broke the idol of Krishna , whom we regarded as the creator of the varna (caste) system.”

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

Search This Blog