The State stands fifth in the Composite Educational Development Index (EDI) contained in the recent District Information System for Education (DISE) 2012-2013 provisional report. Last year, the State had secured three ranks higherthan this.
This year, the EDI is 0.661. EDI is calculated using a set of 24 indicators under four sub-groups such as access, infrastructure, teachers and outcome indicators. The data is based on information collected from 1.43 million schools spread over 662 districts across 35 States and Union territories, as on September 30, 2012.
According to DISE 2012-2013, Lakshadweep has retained the top spot from last with an index of 0.712, followed by Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Sikkim.
Karnataka’s Educational Development Index ranking had fallen both at the primary level as well as the upper primary level last year. The State has secured the fifth rank in the primary level, two spots lower than the previous year’s ranking of three. In the upper primary level, the State is ranked at six, four spots lower than the previous year’s ranking.
The State has fared well in infrastructure index which is determined by the percentage of schools with toilets for boys, without toilets for girls, ramps and kitchen shed. It has maintained its second ranking in the primary level as well as the top spot in the upper primary level.
It has also maintained its outcome indicators which include ratio of girls’ enrolment with boys’ enrolment, gross enrolment ratio, among others, at the primary level. But there is a steep drop in the upper primary level as the ranking has slipped by 11 places.
In the access index, which is measured by availability of schools per 1,000 children, density of schools per 10 sq km, among others, the State’s ranking has fallen by one place at the primary level, but there is a decline in score and ranking at the upper primary level by eight places.
Responding to the finding of the report, Rajkumar Khatri, Principal Secretary of Primary and Secondary Education, said that some of the indicators were newly introduced, deleted or modified which may have resulted as an advantage for the union territories and Puducherry and Sikkim.
Indicators that have been removed this year are percentage of habitations not served and percentage of schools with less than three teachers. Newly introduced indicators are percentage of schools with kitchen shed and average working hours for teachers.
The State has fared poorly compared to last year in primary as well as upper primary level in the teacher index. The teacher indicator takes into account the pupil-teacher ratio, single-teacher schools and teachers with professional qualification, among others.
Sources in the department pointed out that as there was no permanent teacher recruitment during the survey period, the index could have seen a decline in score and ranking. A worrying indicator is the percentage of single-teacher schools which stands at 7.09, up from the previous year’s 6.29.
Asked if the State government would step up measures to improve the teacher index indicator, Mr. Khatri said that the Cabinet had approved recruitment of 9,405 primary school teachers which would be done once the employment reservation for Hyderabad-Karnataka under Article 371 J comes into force.
