Education On Education
10 mind-opening insights on what’s broken and what might fix it
Hello reader,
We’ve all heard someone at a rooftop bar, with a wine glass in one hand and generational wealth in the other, say:
“OuR eDuCaTioN sysTeM iS BrOKeN yAa.”
They’re not wrong.
They’re just scratching the surface.
The reason behind their frustration is that they had to mug up the names of 17 Mughal emperors and the number of concubines they slept with. And also because they couldn’t manage this crap, failed miserably, and had to get their parents to execute an 8-figure donation to move to the next grade.
But the real problem is deeper. Much deeper.
We’ve all sensed that the system doesn’t work. But very few of us actually understand why it doesn’t at the national level, and what can be done about it.
So here are 10 ideas that transformed how I think about education in India. And might do the same for you.
The Road Not Taken: After independence, the Indian elites decided to focus on building world-class technical institutions like IITs and IIMs. The trade-off was the lack of focus on primary education, a burning need for a dangerously poor and illiterate country. This decision, in stark contrast with our East Asian peers, has determined our trajectory for almost a century, and created a country that’s great at high-skill work like technology or pharma. But we are laggards in low-skill labour-intensive sectors like manufacturing textiles and shoes- industries that need lots of workers with basic skills. This explains why we have massive unemployment on one side, but massive wealth creation at the top end of the labor spectrum.
The Dark Data: The result of that fateful decision manifests in a disturbing data point from 2018: 50% of Class 5 children in rural India can’t read a Class 2-level paragraph. This worsened to 57% in 2022 thanks to the pandemic. This is the learning crisis: where schooling isn’t translating into learning.
Misreporting: So even if the number of schooling years might be going up on paper, it isn’t creating any real value. But government departments have an incentive to massage these numbers and make things look great on paper. Independent research has shown that these figures are grossly exaggerated and are preventing the kind of urgent response we need to change the fate of our kids.
On Teachers: One might think the answer is simple: hire more teachers, or recruit ones with better degrees. But evidence suggests neither fixes the problem.
India already spends a large share of its education budget on teacher salaries, and yet, learning levels remain abysmal. Why? Because teacher absence is high (~23% nationally), and even when present, many teachers lack the motivation or tools to teach effectively. And while it sounds intuitive that better-qualified teachers would teach better, multiple studies show that formal credentials (like B.Ed degrees) have no strong correlation with classroom performance or learning gains.
Do Better Infra & Facilities Help? A common refrain is that we simply need to increase our education budget. But that won’t do much, because when you continue the government-as-usual approach, it just leads to more misallocation of funds and inefficient outcomes. Moreover, research suggests that while better infrastructure may make the experience more pleasant, it doesn’t change the learning outcomes. Very often, libraries and computer rooms are locked (to prevent theft?!), and toilets are built but not used due to a lack of running water. As you can see, simply spending more doesn’t offer a cure.
TaRL: What we urgently need is a ‘Teaching at the right level’ approach, given the wide dispersion of understanding levels within the same class. Unfortunately, going to school is an actual Taare Zameen Par experience for most kids, who can’t make sense of, say, algebra, because they aren’t even confident in basic arithmetic. Given this sad fact, it’s a surprise more kids don’t drop out of our schools. But policymakers probably don’t get this, which is why even well-intentioned ideas like free textbooks don’t move the needle. What use is a biology book if I can’t read the letters it’s composed of?
Volunteer-led programs: The TN government started the Illam Thedi Kalvi program to remedy the learning losses suffered during COVID. In this, kids could take after-school remedial tuition classes from women teachers who were paid a Rs 1000 stipend for this service. This was massively successful on multiple fronts- it improved learning outcomes by 30% (while using only 2% of the state’s budget), benefiting kids mainly from poor backgrounds who were hit much harder than those from private schools. Additionally, it generated employment opportunities for 2 lakh women teachers, raising their self-esteem and independence, and impacted over 30 lakh kids! This was so good that other governments are considering replicating this in their states.
Practicum-Based Hiring: An important idea we must implement is a practicum-based approach that hires local candidates, trains them on how to impart education in a hands-on manner at the local level (in their very own towns) in a 4-year process. That way, they earn a basic stipend while working towards a degree that actually gives them practical skills. This is also cost-effective because they get paid a stipend much less than a teacher's salary. At the end, they can join the school as a teacher. This also has potential because we learn much better from people we relate to. Additionally, since these candidates will be from the village, they’d have a much deeper grasp of the problems faced by the kids, compared to a teacher coming from a nearby town who can’t relate to the on-ground issues.
Using Technology: Using apps that help kids learn based on their level of understanding has shown dramatic results when tested on kids in grades 6-9 in Delhi. Moreover, the greatest gain in learning was for the lowest-achieving students, a result that induces much optimism. This was conducted before LLMs went mainstream, so there’s much reason to hope that free AI-powered learning can genuinely bridge the learning gap and allow students to play catch-up at their own pace. But at the same time, simply providing kids with ChatGPT access won’t do the trick- they need proper guidance on how to use the tools for the benefits to be unlocked.
Our Biggest Priority: The key focus should be to ensure foundational numeracy and literacy for every single kid in the country, because not doing so today would mean we add tens of millions of kids who can’t do those things and suffer the curse of stunted growth forever- because when you don’t have a solid base, you can never hope to stand up firmly. Additionally, we must include vocational training early on in our schools so we can create more skilled labour. Currently, our system over-indexes on “cracking the exam” which is why we produce millions of degree-holders with no employable skills. These two things can address both our current and future employment challenges. If these are addressed, they can pave the way for economic acceleration.
Imagine a generation of children who not only fill exam booklets but master reading by Grade 3, excel in basic numeracy by Grade 5, and graduate with hands-on skills that power our factories and farms.
That future isn’t utopia- implementing evidence-based policies can move us there.
If we invest in level-based teaching, community tutors, and real-world training today, we won’t just fix our schools; we’ll unlock India’s next economic leap.
Thanks for reading this. These insights are based on Karthik Muralidharan’s brilliant work titled Accelerating India’s Development. I’d strongly recommend it.
Very good read. You could read Pratham's latest report as well as Who is Raising Your Children by Rajiv Malhotra and Vijaya V for the latest update and a very angular perspective of our education system respectively.