Educational Access & Participation of Children: A Study of Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh

By Prof. Madhumita Bandyopadhyay

About Prof. Madhumita Bandyopadhyay

Prof. Madhumita Bandyopadhyay is perhaps amongst a few NIEPA faculty members having first-hand field experience. She holds Ph.D. from the Centre for Studies of Regional Development, JNU, New Delhi, a center nurtured by the Late Prof. Moonis Raza. She is trained at the apex International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP, Paris).

She is a Professor in one of the crucial departments of NIEPA (Department of School & Non-Formal) and specializes in the planning and management of school education. Her areas of interest are policy analysis, decentralized planning, and management education of girls and disadvantaged groups. She worked closely with Dr. Rangachar Govinda, the former VC of NIEPA. She has thoroughly used unit-wide UDISE data in her empirical research, apart from undertaking filed based studies. [Publications]

In the initial part of her carrier, she worked in the Technical Support Group of DPEP & SSA. Prof. Bandyopadhyay is Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK.

Apart from academic interests, Madhumita is a seasoned singer fond of Rabindra Sangeet.

Educational Access & Participation of Children at Elementary Level

In response to the request to promote the use of  DISE/UDISE data, Dr. Madhumita has undertaken a study of Educational Access and Participation of Children at the Elementary Level in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and concluded that

“the situation of school participation has shown certain improvements, though states need to take multipronged strategies for fulfilling the goal of universal participation of learners, which is one of the important goals of Universalisation of Elementary Education as envisaged by NPE, 1986 and RTE Act, 2009 as well. It is found that there has been considerable variation in the provisioning of schooling space in both states that might have impacted the students’ access, enrolment, and participation. Although enrolment has improved at the upper primary level, high dropout is still prevailing in both states. Despite the increase in enrolment of socially disadvantaged groups and girls, genders, as well as social disparities, are still continuing. These are more pronounced in backward districts where the majority of schools are stand-alone, providing either primary or upper primary education. These schools are dealing with several problems like high PTR, high SCR, non-availability of qualified and trained teachers, low participation of SMC members as they are not trained enough in managing schools, and so on. These might have impacted the enrolment and participation of children. The block-level analysis of Bhopal and Durg, which are the most advanced with the highest literacy rates, has also revealed that the majority of integrated schools which are providing primary and upper primary education are both located in the district town, and these are mainly private schools. On the contrary, the rural blocks are mainly provided with stand-alone primary and upper primary schools, and the proportion of ‘other’ schools is much lower in these blocks. This unequal provision might have resulted in inequality in school participation in these states, which have been striving to bridge the gap between boys and girls belonging to different social groups. It is in this context following policy initiatives may be considered for further improvement of learners’ participation.”

The study can be downloaded from the link below:

A Study on Present Situation of Educational Access and Participation of Children at Elementary Level: A Comparative Study of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh by Prof. Madhumita Bandyopadhyay

Madhumita Bandyopadhyay, with  Meenakshi Khandari, recently worked on another study, UEE in Urban Area: Special Focus on Education of Children from Urban Deprived Groups in India which is based on UDISE & NSSO 75th Round data on participation in Education and  which has got implications for universal elementary education in urban areas of India. Since the study was completed after the recommendations of NEP 2020, it was expected that the authors would also present a few indicators per the newly restructured phases of school education, namely preparatory, foundational, middle, and secondary levels of education.

UEE in Urban Area: Special Focus on Education of Children from Urban Deprived Groups in India