1. Team Details :
G.Mythreyee
Rachita Sinha
Prerna Arora
Prabha Shriwas
P.Divya
GITAM University,
Visakhapatnam
A
S
K
Always
Seek
Knowledge
Manthan : Stepping Stones

2. • The education system in India is overly governed and under regulated.
• Primary education in India suffers not only from inadequate allocation of
resources, but often enough also from terrible management and
organization.
• The essence of quality education was never established in India.
• We can only succeed if we recognize that education is a dynamic human
system and not a mechanical one.
• Educationalists perceive education as a mere business.
• School dropouts due to deficiency of required finance.
• Creativity is becoming an extinct feature in adolescents due to a
characteristic spoon feeding method of teaching.
Scope of the problem
“If we are to have a revolution in education, it probably
won’t come from the top down but from the bottom up.”

3. Causes of this deep rooted problem
Study Environment
• Teaching to
memorize and
learn
• Lack of
encouragement for
students who are
excellent in other
fields
• Poor design of
curriculum
Victimization
• Comparison kills the
spirit of learning
• Severe punishments
creates differences
and stress
Lack of
Dedication
• Quality
compromised for
quantity
• Very high pupil is to
teachers ratio
• Teachers prefer less
remote schools to
work
“The object of education is to prepare the children to educate themselves
throughout their lives.”
 Lack of awareness in
prior generation
 Inadequate funds and
socio economic scenario of
the family
 No freedom to choose
what one wants to study
 Lack of Vocational
training
 Monotonous teaching
methods leads to loss of
interest in subjects
 Absence of basic
infrastructure in schools

4. “It is often said that education and training are the keys to the future. They are, but a key
can be turned in two directions. Turn it one way and you can lock resources away, even
from those they belong to. Turn it the other way and you release resources and give
people back to themselves.”
Enrollment
• Even though the student enrollment in rural India had seen a raise(96.7%) in the year 2011 but sadly
there has been a decline in students basic reading, arithmetic and academic levels.
• Apart from this, enrollment of students in private schools had seen a sharp increase form 18.7% of
children between the age group of 6-14 years getting enrolled in private schools in 2006, to 25.6% in
2011.
Quality
• Basic arithmetic levels has also shown a decline. The proportion of class 3 children able to solve a two
digit subtraction problem with borrowing has dropped from 36.3% in 2010 to 29.9% in 2011. Among
children of class 5 the ability to do a similar subtraction has dropped from 70.9% in 2010 to 61% in 2011.
This decline is visible in almost every state.
• Nationally, reading levels are estimated to have declined in many states across North India. The all India
figure for the proportion of Children in class 5 able to read a class 2 level text has dropped from 53.7% in
2010 to 48.2% in 2011.
Attendance
• At the all India level, children attendance shows a decline from 73.4% in 2007 to 70.9% in
2011 in rural primary schools. In some states children’s attendance shows a sharp decline
over time.

5.  Four A’s  Availability and Accessibility of resources, Adaptability of creative methods,
Acceptability of new innovative ideas of teaching and learning.
 Emotional connect required more than anything else. We are humans after all.
 Teaching should be accomplished using all sense organs ,i.e., by showing audios,
videos, making children to play games and teach them team spirit through it.
 Teachers should be trained in such a way so that they are able to trigger children’s
thought process all the way through their basic primary education.
 Strict laws and preventive measures on teacher truancies.
 Privatization may help in upgrading(rural must also be helped) the quality of education
in all aspects.
 Abolishing gender gap.
 Proper and honest utilization of funds.
Proposed Solution
“Don’t think and teach but teach them how to think.”

6. Implementation Of Solution
A
Core
School
B
C
D
F
E
B
Implement clustered schooling system
Supervisory/Controlling linkage
Coordinating linkage
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of
knowledge.”
 Grouping schools into clusters is an effective way
to improve primary education quality in rural areas
while remaining cost-effective. 6 to 11 schools are
associated with a central school in a single cluster. We
recommend a maximum of 7 schools per cluster,
however, based on indications that a greater number
of schools per cluster decreased the effectiveness of
the system .
 The access between each school to the central
school must be good, and if adequate transportation
methods do not exist, improving them must be a
priority.
 Adequacy of transportation is judged on the
basis of transit time, cost, and safety. In practicality,
what matters is the teachers’ willingness to travel
these routes; expectations of adequate transportation
will vary based on what is considered the norm in the
region. Thus, adequacy of transportation should be
evaluated through teacher survey data by region.

7. “There are those who say that we can’t afford to personalize education to
every student. The fact is that we can’t afford not to.”
 Cluster schools also allow for regular teacher meetings/trainings at
the central school location.
 Since teacher quality and teacher attendance are two of the most
important factors in school quality, regular meetings and trainings would
hold teachers more accountable, increase teacher quality and provide
support for teachers.
 Teaching in an impoverished rural area is a significant challenge, and
teachers lacking in training will not be able to face it. Teacher attendance
is such a problem in some areas that teachers are required to take a
time-stamped photo of themselves with their students each day in the
school year, and the amount of pay they receive depends on the number
of valid photos recorded.
 Equal importance should be given to co-curricular activities and it is
going to be the responsibility of the teacher to explore their hidden
talents and also inspire their parents to support them further.

8. Impact Of Solution
 The proposed solution was implemented practically in
Thailand and got great results as mentioned.
 The solution should be first implemented as a Pilot program
in few selected regions to note its pros and cons and later
government can invest on it at a large scale.
 This may bring growth in rate of employment of the youth in
the long run, because they will have the capability of learning
more and bringing out innovations.
 Enhancement of skill set of average population of India and
our country will be able to face challenges for tomorrow.
“Education is not preparation for life,
education is life itself.”

9. Challenges and Mitigation Factors
 Proper knowledge of implementation of this concept.
 Good coordination between cluster schools’ managements.
 Perfect supervision of finance allocated to each cluster.
 Wide open acceptance of this new trend of cluster schools.
 Skilled teachers will always remain as the biggest challenge of any
educational venture.
 Deep striking approach to children, that can actually leave an
impact on them for an effective change, after all they are the budding
talents.
“To improve our schools, we have to humanize them and make education personal
to every student and teacher in the system. Education is always about relationships.
Great teachers are not just instructors and test administrators : they are mentors,
coaches, motivators, and lifelong sources of inspiration to their students .“

10. References:
• Primary Education in India: Key Problems by Ajay Deshpande and
Sayan Mitra
• http://sirkenrobinson.com/
• Report of times of India : Education column
• Project Zero – Harvard University
• Wikipedia – Education in India
• District Information System for Education(DISE)
• Annual status of Education report
Appendix