Indian - Focus shifts to quality education

Riding on the success of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, the government now wants to focus on quality of elementary and secondary education. A plan to upgrade the quality of government schools and improve the overall education in the country will be discussed at a full Planning Commission meeting headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh next Tuesday.

The HRD Ministry in a survey had found that about 73 per cent of the enrolled students in India don't attend schools and more than half of upper primary school students cannot divide a three digit figure with one digit. In states like Bihar, student absenteeism is as high as 60 per cent. Moreover, teacher absenteeism is about 20 per cent.