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Introduction 

Education is one of the most important aspects of a child's life and future. It brings confidence, decision-making power, self-discipline, a sense of responsibility, and teamwork to children. It decides their career or future. But the current situation of child education in India is at its worst especially after the pandemic hits the country. The dropout rates have been very high. Unified District Information Systems for Education Plus reports in 2021 say that secondary school students drop rate is 14.6 per cent. High dropout rates lead to high child labour, child marriage and child trafficking cases. The Indian government was the one that imposed the longest lockdown. This also impacts the education system of India. 

The educationist and member of the Right To Education forum, Anjela Taneja also mentioned that "After the RTE act was passed, it was expected that all children between the age of six to fourteen years will receive free universal elementary education but due to pandemic, that has been compromised. Several surveys and studies were done in this regard. One such study by Azim Premji University states that 92 percent of children lost at least one specific language ability and 82 per cent lost at least one mathematical ability during the lockdown. Despite progress, there has been a loss of pre-existing education. ASER reports on the schooling status of children in the 5-16 age group across rural India.


1. The report mentions that there has been an increase in the non-enrollment rate of children from 1.4 per cent to 4.6 percent in 2020. 

The current issues that the education system faces are very critical. In school, the children's overall development is being done. But during the pandemic, online education and the shutting down of schools limit the growth and development of children. The online system of education is only able to provide theoretical knowledge. Lab tests or extra activities were being conducted which led to ceasing the growth and development of the children. The government schools used to provide free midday meals to children. As the pandemic hits, their food gets snatched. It impacts their health and forces them to do labor to earn money. A distance learning education sometimes becomes frustrating and chaotic for teachers as well as children. Even after the reopening of schools and colleges, the students are not able to cope with their current syllabus as they are not well versed in the previous 2 years of education. The students are not rejoining the schools after reopening. Many who left education during a pandemic and started earning for their family either lost interest in education or didn't want to lose the earnings they made. Overall saying our education system faces a backlog of 2 years for sure. 

In this research article, the hypothesis being focused on will be that Is there any improvement in child education in the past 10 years. Many ways and methods will be followed in the context of proving this hypothesis. Let's see what outcomes we make. 

  1. According to an ASER study, In 2011, the number of children not enrolled in school was 3.3% while in 2021, the number went up to 70.3%. Such a drastic change shows the awareness of the public and enthusiasm of children has increased. But a change has been seen that enrollment in private schools on the other hand has been increasing year after year. In 2011, an increase of  5-6% was seen whereas, in 2021, the enrollment rate in private schools was 24.4%. In this area( enrollment in private schools) is increasing but the increment has not been that drastic. Some particular states of India have been working extremely well in these sectors like Kerala and Manipur. In 2011, there were more than 60% of children enrolled in private schools. Manipur, also considered a minor state, is progressing in this field. In 2011, the states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and other northeastern regions showed positive results in terms of reading levels as compared to previous years. Also, there has been improvement in facilities for students which further increases their chances of enrollment. In 2021, due to the aftermath of the pandemic, not the school facilities but other facilities for online education like smartphones will increase over time. Although, children in private schools had more smartphones as compared to government school-going children. 

Despite all this progress, still there are millions of children out of school. One of the main reasons for this is child labour. Once a child starts earning, it becomes difficult for the child as well as for their family to accept the fact that the earning of the child will be stopped and he/she will be unemployed and will study in schools( despite free education in govt schools). Their current family situation doesn't allow them to be unemployed. Another such situation of currently children not employed in schools is child marriage. Child marriage is something which is a stigma in society. In India, there are some states or cities which particularly don't have favorable climatic conditions. Unfavorable climatic conditions like floods and typhoons lead to the bad infrastructure of schools leading to less no. of children in schools. Despite many efforts and schemes by the government, there is a lack of teachers and facilities for children. Also, legal formalities of admission to schools are sometimes very slow and frustrating. The persons are not that coordinating and hence, the issue of deadliness arises. 

Measures have to be taken regarding this seriously. Although for many years, efforts are going on, there are some loopholes that this problem is not solving. Also, we shouldn't stop working on this because if we stop, then the progress made till now will go in vain. A large number of preschools have been there but they are not governed by the government which is a major problem. So, many children didn't get into the habit of going to school from an early age. So, more and more preschools should have to be governed by the government. More strict rules and fines should be there for child labor so that it can be finished from our society. Our officers should have to be more serious regarding this. We often see children working at restaurants and stalls but still, we tend to ignore them. Even the officers do that, if everyone does that, then this problem can't be finished. Also, low income is a major problem and reason for the child to work. 

  1. One thing can be done regarding this. Government schools should also provide some monetary scholarships to merit students. It will not only give motivation to students to study hard but also give some motivation to parents to send their children to school. We have often seen the situation of government schools. Even though teachers are there, and students are there but still, there are some schools where teachers are reluctant and lazy and actual education is not happening in those schools. This is a major loophole in our education system. Infrastructure, teachers, students, free mid-day meals etc. were there but still, there are some unforeseen loopholes which are being ignored. These loopholes should be filled as soon as possible. Our Indian education system focuses on study and math and other subjects more rather than also focusing on skill-based learning. There are admissions to colleges and schools based on the marks we get, not based on the skills we have. This is one major problem which needs to be solved. Although, many schools and colleges are changing their curriculum and admission procedure. But still, the top mainframe universities are focusing on marks rather than skills. "Education is not all about marks, it's about increasing your knowledge and being your better self. " One ignorant factor in our country is refugee children. They do not get an education although they want to due to a lack of documents. Refugee children are the ones who illegally shifted to our country and settled there illegally. They don't dare to go for admission as they don't have legal documents like an Aadhar card etc. But there are many institutions, organizations and NGOs that are providing education to them. More such NGOs should be promoted and opened and funded well so that those children should also get education as education doesn't see the differences between countries or legal or illegal formalities. Everyone has the right to education regardless of color, caste, country, profession, religion etc. 




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