Small Schools in India

Struggling with feeble enrolment and limited resources, the small school sector is emerging as a major challenge to primary schools in India. Data on schools in the country indicate that around 65 to 70 percent schools in India are relatively small with only around 3 or less number of classrooms and teachers. As per 2009-10 national data, small primary schools with enrolment less than 25 constitute about 12.55 percent of the total primary schools in the country. Most of these schools function with a single or at the most two teachers in multigrade, multi age classroom settings from Grade 1 through V. Attracting and retaining good teachers also poses problems. In fact small schools occupy the lowest position in multilayered Indian school system with fewer chances for improvement. The study has come at the opportune time as it poses issues as a hope to address exclusion of small schools and prospects in the light of the recently introduced Right to Education Act, 2009 that legitimises right of each child to have access to quality schooling.

Autorentext

Dr Rashmi Diwan is on the faculty of National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi, India. She specializes in critical areas of school education and educational management. She has to her credit books, monographs and research papers published from different parts of the globe.