Let ‘India Science Report’ Transform Education Priorities
Posted : October 22, 2005 at 12:59 pm [IST]
India Science Report is based on a survey, which collected information from 346,000 people in rural and urban areas around the country, and that was commissioned by the Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).
Some of the finding are interesting and will help in modifying the course of our education at various levels:
Enrolment for science courses has increased from 29% in 1995-96 to 35% in 2004.
Despite low levels of literacy, Indians don’t fare too badly against Americans in their attitudes to science.
Some 23% of the Indian public sampled was attentive to agriculture against just 6% Americans.
The proportion of Indians attentive to new scientific discoveries in India is 12%, against 7% in the US. 77 percent Indians feel science and technology make lives healthier and easier as compared to 86 percent in the United States.
57% of Indians knew the centre of the earth is very hot, compared with 80% in the United States. Only 38% of Indians answered correctly whether the sex of a baby depends on the father, compared with 65% of Americans.( A tale of two databases: India’s R&D dilemma).
About 22% of science graduates, 62.8% of postgraduates and 14% of Ph.D. students in science are unemployed.
Students in lower classes have shown interest in science education - 60% of the students in the class 6 to 8 wanted to pursue science education (pure science, engineering or medicine) as compared to 57% students in classes 11 and 12
India is closing in on high-income countries like the U.S. and Europe when it comes to the spread of higher education.
Indians are politically and economically more ”attentive”. Indian’s read more newspapers and magazine then the U.S. About 19% of India’s population can be considered attentive compared to fewer than 10% for the U.S.
India has around 9 million science graduates, 1.8 million post-graduates and 0.1 million doctorates, the number of those enrolled in science up from 28.8 to 36.4%.
India while being ”predominantly agricultural economy, not many are taking interest in pursuing agricultural education”.
Among all areas of the country, Delhi has the best-qualified population with 16% of all the people living in Delhi having at least a graduate degree.
Northern state Uttar Pradesh, which is the most populous region in the country, surprisingly, holds the distinction of having the largest number of graduates and above in the country.
At an all-India level, six percent of the country’s population (above the age of 10) is at least graduate and above and another 12% has passed class 12 and/or has a diploma
India has 48.7 million graduates and above and about a fourth of these has a background of science education.
Andhra Pradesh has the highest population of science graduates in the country - of the 12.1 million science graduates and diploma holders.
Science education in older children is a major area of concern. Although nearly two-thirds of students in middle school (aged 11-14 years) were satisfied with the quality of science teaching, these numbers dropped to 40% for the 16-18 year-old students.
About one-third of students said they were not motivated enough to continue studying science after leaving school.
Mathematics remains the most preferred subject at all levels of school education. One-third of the students in Class 6 to 10 have it as their most preferred subject, while over 21% still feel the same way in classes 11 and 12.
30% of the students of Class 11-12 prefer physics, chemistry, and biology. Attraction for science subjects increases with the higher levels of school education. High level of interest at school levels is not translating into bigger numbers taking to laboratories for research. There is a mad rush for careers in engineering and medical. Fewer than four per cent of students wanted to become researchers, compared with about 20 per cent who wanted to be engineers, and another 20 per cent doctors.
There is three-fold rise in the proportion of students wishing to take up a career in commerce as they move from Class 6 to 8 (4.7%) to Class 11 and 12 (14.5%).
At the class 6-8, 22% students want to study ‘pure science’ (exclusive science subjects) at graduation and post graduation, which is in sharp contrast to Class 11-Class 12 where the number falls to 13.4%.
60% of the students at Class 6-8 want to pursue some science education (pure science, engineering or medicine) at a higher level as compared to 57% students in Classes 11 and 12.
A lot more students in rural areas (25%) prefer to go for arts subject as compared to urban area (15%).
Over 30% students in India from classes 6 to 8 have voted for teaching as their most preferred profession. Interestingly, over 23% students from class 11 and 12 also voted the profession as their No 1 preference.
Not surprisingly the least preferred profession was politics. Only 1.7% students at the school level preferred to become politician. Only 1.7% of students preferred to become bureaucrats despite government’s endless drives to educate and inform youngsters about civil services to bring in fresh and better governance. In case of parents who have passed high school, close to a third of the students wanted to become teacher. But when it comes to post-graduate children, only 14% wanted to become teachers. The children of highly educated parents prefer more lucrative professions.
There is report regarding certain discrepancies between UGC and NCAER data, such as UGC reports engineering enrolment of 4 per cent, while the NCAER figure is 26 per cent. The UGC figure for commerce is 13 per cent, while NCAER’s is 6 per cent. While the UGC report would contain data from only institutions affiliated to it, NCAER’s would cover others as well. As per a NCAER official, the discrepancies might also emerge from widespread under-reporting of enrolment by colleges.
How does it matter? The report shows the trends and trends remain dynamic based on internal and external factors. Only the policies are adjusted to go on the supposedly right track to meet the perceived goal that even may undergo change.
- Indra
Category: Employment/Education |
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