Maharashtra ranks 17th position in the Centre's latest education development index

Updated on: Thursday, November 01, 2012

The state is steadily losing ground on education. It has slipped four points to the 17th position in the Centre's latest education development index, from 13th position in the previous year.

The Union government carries out the annual ranking exercise based on various aspects influencing the quality, outreach, infrastructure and performance of students.

The latest findings are based on surveys carried out across the country in 2010-11. Maharashtra ranked 13th following a similar exercise in 2009-10. Further, it witnessed a decline in ranking in both the primary (class I to IV), and upper primary (class V to VIII) categories. In the primary section, it dropped one rank from 14 in 2009-10 to 15 in 2010-11. The decline is starker in the upper primary section, where it slipped from the 13th slot (2009-10) to 17th (2010-11).

During a state cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the school education, higher and technical education departments were severely criticized by several ministers, following which chief minister Prithviraj Chavan ordered appointment of a core group comprising senior experts and education experts to oversee and chart an improvement in the state's education standards. Chavan also directed both the school education and the higher and technical education departments to submit a presentation on the existing education standards before the cabinet.

Even as the school education department claimed that the state had fared well with regards to performance of students, senior minister Patangrao Kadam said "such a justification had no meaning" when overall standards had declined. Congress minister Narayan Rane raised the issue during a discussion on non-salary grants for schools, questioning the lack of quality of education imparted in schools.

The District Information System for Education report was then cited by the administration. Raising a red flag over a high drop-out ratio and migration of students to English-medium schools, Harshvardhan Patil (Congress) highlighted the issue of improving teaching standards and employing only those with a diploma in education or a higher degree. Finance minister Jayant Patil (NCP) said a "systematic approach" was needed to improve education quality. School education minister Rajendra Darda admitted there was scope for much improvement while highlighting various reforms undertaken in the recent past. Minister of state (school education) Fauzia Khan said there was a need for restructuring the education system.

While Puducherry and Lakshwadeep retained the top two slots in the latest rankings, Punjab was placed third. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Kerala which are comparable in education network and size were all ranked ahead of Maharashtra.

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