H man Development in ndia 20.11
learning outcomes for a majority of children is still and SC students and, at all levels of education for
a cause of serious concern. Some of the underlying ST students.
causes contributing to low quality of education in
the primary sector are— eMPloYMent scenArIo
(i) Teacher absenteeism, and
Employment issues have always been among the
(ii) Shortage of professionally qualified priorities of the GoI. As it is considered the best
teachers. tool to alleviate poverty, the area gets even more
Though the share of teacher component in importance. The latest employment scenario12 and
total Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) budget has related concerns are as given below:
been increasing over the years from 35 per cent The overall employment increased by
in 2011-12 to 59 per cent in 2014-15, teacher 1.35 lakh—contributed by the IT/BPOs,
absenteeism and the shortage of professionally textiles including apparels and metals
qualified teachers remain an issue to be addressed. sectors. However, the sectors such as
Biometric attendance of teachers—monitored by gems and jewellery, handloom and power
communities and parents together with putting loom, leather, automobiles and transport
the data in public domain—may prove useful in saw decline in employment.
this regard. This should be backed by adequate
Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR)
teaching aids, recorded lectures, etc. to fill in for
was estimated at 50.3 per cent— for
absentee teachers. learning outcomes should be
females 23.7 per cent and males 75.0 per
part of the whole exercise. Attention should be
cent. The North Eastern and Southern
given on the aspect of “quality teacher training”.
States, in general, display high female
Professional qualification and training: As LFPR as compared to low levels in
per the latest report by the U-DISE (Unified- Northern States.
District Information System for Education) on Unemployment rate for females (8.7 per
School Education in India 2014–15, only 79 per cent) was higher than that of males (4.0
cent of teachers are professionally qualified in per cent) across rural and urban areas—
the country. For the higher secondary level, the with wide inter-state variations as seen in
per centage of qualified teachers is around 69 per case of the LFPR.
cent. There is need to increase the per centage of
Employment growth has been
qualified teachers and also the training of both
sluggish. Further, States that show low
qualified and under-qualified teachers.
unemployment rates also generally rank
Gender parity: As per the Ministry of HRD’s high in the share of manufacturing.
Educational Statistics, the Gender Parity Index While States compete to seek investment
(GPI) at various levels of school education has offering incentives, linking incentives to
improved by 2014-15, except in the higher the number of jobs created, sustained
education in the case of total and Scheduled Caste
(SC) students. In the case of Scheduled Tribe 12. The latest and the 5th Annual Employment and
Unemployment Survey (EUS)-2015-16, Labour Bureau,
(ST) students, parity between girls and boys has Ministry of Labour and Employment—as quoted by the
not been achieved across all levels of school and Economic Survey 2016-17, MoF, GoI, N. Delhi, pp.
higher education. There is need to bridge the 161-162.
gender disparity in higher education among total