Is this for real? Are Tamil children really performing worse than their peers from Orissa and Bihar, states where the GDP per capita is about half of the levels it is here? Differences in attendance rates for children in different states are relatively minor so this can’t be explained by much higher attendance in Tamil Nadu. Granted, Tamil is a relatively difficult language to learn how to read and write but this can only be a small part of the answer to this.
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Doug, I shared your astonishment of Tamil Nadu's performance. Even moreso because southern states tend to have better education/social development then northern states.
Something to look for when I do get around to reading the ASER.
The comment cut short. I was also going to point out that education and income comparisons are very dangerous. This is especially true for literacy. Just look next door to Bangladesh. Take any one of your favorite development indicators, and Bangladesh does quite well despite its growth story.
Hi Jay, I have a hard-copy of the ASER report if you need it; I had been to the launch.
I do agree with you Jay on the literacy-purchasing power equation, with relation to India. Though, across nations, there seems to be a good link between per capita incomes and education attainment. But the literacy rates are more strongly linked to other human developed indices than to incomes.
In India, there is a huge disconnect between education and economic activity. What I specifically mean is that in India, education does not determine anything about entrepreneurship, which in turn determines income. This was so during most periods till the emergence of IT industry. So if there is any link between entrepreneurship and education, that is only emerging now. I could give you examples across states on the above phenomenon: Look at districts like Coimbatore, Salem, Virudhunagar (all in TN), Vijaywada (AP), Jalandhar (Punjab), Faridabad (Haryana), Surat (Gujarat), Kolhapur (Maharashtra) - many other districts with an intense economic activity and resultant economic growth - all these did better in economy first and are still emerging in many human development indicators including education.
On Tamil Nadu: The report gives the rural picture only. The urbanisation rate has reached 50% in TN (highest in India) meaning 50% of the population are in urban areas. It could also be surmised that more of the children in the school going age are in towns. The results and comparative scenario with other states could be drastically different as far as TN is concerned, if ASER for urban regions is undertaken. But the fact that rural education has moved from poor to pathetic is not so surprising in TN. This has been so in the last 10 years.
This makes one wonder about provisions which really contribute to improved learing outcomes amongst students. To point out the irony, most government reports on education rate TN highly! Is the system more input focussed?
My own understanding on the education achievement - income growth, in the Indian context, is this: There has been a disconnect between economic activities and education in India, except in a few pockets like Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad and Coimbatore. In all these places, in the earlier stages of development, education was one key determinant of how well an individual was placed, in general (exceptions were always there, a few illiterate business giants). In other places, the economic activities that were dominant, emphasised more on entreprenuership than on education.
In the 90s and post 2000, with liberalisation, particularly with relaxation of Essential Commodities Act and better information and product flow across state borders, smaller powerhouses have emerged, but these have still not the advanced economic activities that would place a high value on education. This is particularly true of Tamil Nadu districts, where growth has been behind a high pace of urbanisation across the state (unlike in states like Maharashtra, where much of the urban population is in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik). I repeat the example of Oddanchatram, the village in 1991 census and a town in 2001 - which has only one economic activity - trade of vegetables and fruits. The volumes are still lower than a larger market in nearby Dindigul, but it offers a great value to a typical small farmer with little produce that a large buyer may ignore in the Dindigul market, while at the same time is reachable by local transport from his farm. There are other towns with similar profile - Sivakasi (printing and fire-works), Rajapalayam (textiles), Pollachi (agri), Palani (tourism), and of course the larger district-towns - Madurai (trade and tourism), Kanyakumari (trade), Nagarcoil (agri, trade); in all these locations the dominant economic activity is does not place an emphasis on education. So you will find this disconnect between education and incomes as Doug says.
On Aser on TN - Aser captures only rural. Much of TN's population (50%) lives now in Urban. For agegroup less than 35, which is relevant as families having children with school going age, much higher would live in urban. A study on urban schools may change the picture.
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