For decades, people have flocked out of rural towns to the big cities,

drawn by the bright lights and the allure of better lives. Unfortunately,
the same rings true for education.

In Southeast Asia, inequity between the quality of education in rural

and urban schools remains an unresolved challenge. Developing
countries are especially vulnerable, with factors such as poverty,
hunger, and violence contributing to lower performance in rural
schools.

Here are four innovative ways through which governments around the
world are improving access to and quality of education for children in
rural areas.

1. The ‘school vs. supporting family’ dilemma

Across the world, the first step to improving students’ education is to

physically get them to school in the first place. For many countries,
particularly in rural areas, a number of children drop out at the end of
primary school to help support their families.

To reduce the drop-out rates from this, Mexico came up with Progresa

(now renamed Prospera), a conditional cash transfer initiative. The
programme provides a fixed monetary transfer to families if their
children attend at least 85% of school days, and receive regular health
check-ups. The amount of aid increases as children age to match the
rising opportunity cost of income if they were working instead of in
school.

The programme increased school retention rates by an average of

3.5%; the effect is especially significant between the last years of
primary school and the early years of secondary. Other countries, such
as Brazil and Cambodia, have since adopted the conditional cash
transfer model.

2. Providing nutrition
For provinces such as Oudomxay in Laos, however, children do not
miss school because they need to work but because they need to eat.
Hunger still keeps millions of children out of school around the world.

As their parents often have to leave for work very early in the
mornings, many children in Laos’ poorest villages have to walk hours
to school on an empty stomach. Parents are also worried about their
children’s safety if they attempt to cook alone. Many families opt to
take their children to the fields with them, where they can be fed,
instead of sending them to school.

In response, the government launched the National School Meals

Programme in 2013, which provided free school lunches to children in
the poorest provinces. With support from the community, local
volunteers lead this initiative, using home-grown ingredients to
prepare nutritious meals. The schools receive a steady supply of fresh
fruits and vegetables from local farmers.

While the results of the programme have not yet been published, a
similar school feeding programme in Ghana resulted in a 43.4%
increase in school attendance rates.

3. Reducing teacher absenteeism

It is challenging enough to get children to school. Many countries also

have to find ways to also get teachers to work as well.

High levels of teacher absenteeism is common in both remote and

urban areas in many developing countries across Asia, Africa, and
South America. It not only negatively affects students’ learning
outcomes, but is also very costly – absent teachers across rural India
cost the government up to $1.5 billion per year.

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of teacher absenteeism at 25%.

This led to the government launching the KIAT Guru Pilot in 2016. The
initiative enlists local community representatives to monitor the
performance of teachers, who may receive special allowances based
on these evaluations.

By mid-2017, community satisfaction on teacher presence rose by

22%, along with a 36% increase in teacher performance satisfaction.
The programme also helped improve students’ literacy and numeracy
learning outcomes at participating schools.

4. Empowering students

Sometimes, the teachers do show up, but there just aren’t enough of
them. It is difficult to find a balance between increasing the number of
schools and increasing their quality. While having a higher number of
smaller schools improves coverage, it ‘stretches’ the supply of
teachers.

Multigrade schools are not uncommon, especially in sparsely-

populated areas. One teacher, who is typically not qualified to teach
all the subjects that they are required to, must attempt to cater to
multiple (sometimes even every) grade levels in the same classroom.
As a result, students at these schools typically fall behind their peers in
better-staffed urban schools.

To improve the effectiveness of multigrade

education, Colombia developed the Escuela Nueva learning model.
Students were given the resources to take charge of their own
learning, and teachers were trained to be facilitators.

This child-centric, active learning model alleviates the burden on

teachers, as well as allows students to learn at their own level and
pace. Instead of the traditional format of teachers lecturing students,
students at Escuela Nueva schools get to work on their own projects
with their classmates, which not only make learning engaging, but also
fosters critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Third grade students in Escuela Nueva schools outperform their

traditional school peers in all of the assessed areas (Spanish, maths,
creativity, civics, and self-esteem), scoring an average of 3.7% higher
in Spanish and 2.4% higher in maths. Fifth graders saw similar
achievements for everything except maths.

These innovative approaches indicate that a good education for

children in disadvantaged areas is not out of reach. Simple
interventions that remove the barriers to education can level the
playing field, boosting access to education no matter what the
circumstances.

Government Initiatives for Rural Areas

1. Jahawar Navodaya Vidyalaya

 The Ministry of HRD is running Jawahar Navodaya
Vidyalayasin various states across the country (except
Tamil Nadu) and provides free and quality education to
talented rural children, comparable to the best in a
residential school system for class VI to XII.
2. Samagra Shiksha
 It subsumes three of the earlier centrally sponsored
schemes i.e. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA),Rashtriya
Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher
Education (TE) and has been recently launched as
an Integrated Scheme for School Education extending
from pre-school to class XII.
 The Samagra Shiksha Scheme supports the states for
strengthening the school infrastructure in rural areas.
 It focuses on the improvement of quality of education by
providing support for different interventions like in-service
training of teachers and school heads, grants for the library,
sports and physical activities, support for Rashtriya Avishkar
Abhiyan, ICT (Information and Communication Technology)
and digital initiatives, remedial teaching for academically
weaker students etc.
3. Revamped Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) Scheme
 The revamped scheme of KGBV under Samagra Shiksha will
provide the facility of at-least one residential school for girls
from Classes VI-XII in every educationally backward block
which does not have residential schools under any other
scheme.
  In a nutshell, though Samagra Shiksha Scheme covers both
the urban and rural areas, the emphasis will be primarily on
rural areas.
4. Mid-Day Meal Scheme
 One of the objectives of this scheme was to attract children
from disadvantaged sections. Around 9.12 crore children
were benefitted from the hot cooked nutritious food in
11.35 lakh schools during 2018-19.
5. Revamped Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) Scheme
 The objective of EMRS is to provide quality and free of cost
middle and high-level education to the Scheduled Tribes
(ST) students especially the ones in remote areas.
 By the year 2022, every block with more than 50 percent ST
population and at least 20000 tribal persons, will have an
Eklavya Model Residential School.
6. Swachh Vidyalaya Initiative
 The Department of School Education and Literacy launched
the Swachh Vidyalaya Initiative (SVI)for construction
and repair of separate toilets for girls and boys in every
school which was completed within a year in 2015.
7. Digital Initiatives

0. The recent launch of Operation Digital Board aims to

introduce digital boards all over the country in government
and government-aided schools. Some of the initiatives taken
are:
1. e-PATHSHALA- NCERT books are now available in a digital
version for free.
2. Diksha-is a digital platform for teachers to enable the
capacity building of all categories of teachers.
3. MOOCs on SWAYAM Platform-It is an integrated
platform that offers online courses covering from school to
Post Graduate level. The online courses are being used not
only by the students but also by the teachers and non-
student learners, in the form of lifelong learning.
4. SWAYAM PRABHA (Kishore Manch) DTH TV
Channels- have been launched for transmission of
educational e-contents through 32 National Channels i.e.
SWAYAM PRABHA DTH-TV.
5. National Digital Library of India (NDL)- is a project to
develop a framework of virtual repository of learning
resources with a single-window search facility.
8. The ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ Programme

Higher education, as per the AISHE 2018-19 Report (All

India Survey of Higher Education), 60.53 percent of colleges
are located in rural areas.
 It shows that we have enough colleges in rural India but
they are lacking in quality. The “Transformation of
Aspirational Districts” Programme aims to expeditiously
improve the status of Higher Education in 117 aspirational
districts from across 28 states.
 During the first phase of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha
Abhiyan (RUSA), central assistance to States has been
provided for the creation of a Model Degree College in each
of the 60 educationally backward districts.
 During the second phase of the RUSA, central assistance
would be provided for the opening of the new Model Degree
Colleges (MDCs) in ‘Aspirational Districts’ identified by NITI
Aayog and in unserved & underserved districts in North
Eastern and the Himalayan States.
9. NISHTHA
 National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers
Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA)has been launched to
build capacities of 42 lakh elementary school level teachers,
principals, block resource centre coordinators, and cluster
resource centre coordinators.
 The basic objective of the ‘NISHTHA’ Programmeis to
motivate and equip teachers to encourage and foster critical
thinking in students.
 A vision of Draft New Education Policy (NEP) to
increase Supply of Good Quality Teachers in Rural
Areas
 To ensure that truly excellent students enter the teaching
profession- especially from and in rural areas, the draft NEP
envisions creating special merit scholarships which will also
include guaranteed employment in their local areas upon
successful completion of their four- year integrated B.Ed.
programs.
 To further encourage outstanding teachers to be deployed
to rural areas, incentives like housing will be provided for
teachers to take up teaching jobs in rural areas, especially
in those rural areas with the greatest current teacher
shortage.
  Note: 
Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) is a program run by Atal
Innovation Mission (AIM)under NITI Aayog to
foster curiosity and an innovative mindset in young
students across India to encourage research and
innovation in schools across the country. The vision
of the initiative is ‘To create one million children in
India as Neoteric Innovators’.
 Unnat Bharat Abhiyan & Swachch Bharat Summer
Internship
 Under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, each Higher
Education Institution will be linked with at least 5
villages to engage the faculty and students of
these Institutions in understanding rural realities;
to identify technologies, innovative methods to
solve problems of rural people; and to allow Higher
Educational Institutions to contribute in devising
systems for smooth implementation of various
Government programs.
 Swachh Bharat Summer Internship
(SBSI)aims at engaging the college youth with
Swachhata work. Candidates are required to
undertake 100 hours of swachhata related
activities in and around nearby villages.

Conclusion:

The massive effort in recent times to revamp and expand the education
system in India has far-reaching implications, not only is the thrust on
infrastructure, but also on quality and unique solutions through technology
to improve delivery systems of education.

According to the World Bank figures compiled from officially recognized

sources, the rural population was reported at 66.46 percent (2017) of the
total population in India. Hence rural India needs to be accorded top
priority to ensure sustainable growth and development of the country. The
level of education is not only a reflection of the level of development
attained by the society but, in turn, it also gives impetus to the growth and
modernization of the society. As a result, promoting rural education
becomes one of the prime objectives of the Government.
• The Act makes education a fundamental right to every child between the age of 6 and 14. • It
mandates all private school to reserve 25 per cent of seats, absolutely free of cost, for children
belonging to disadvantaged categories, which is to be reimbursed by the State. • It also states that
provision for donation or capitation fees is not permissible as well as that no child or parent should
be required to appear for interviews prior to admission. • In addition, the Act recognizes the large
number of children who have had to drop for financial and/or other considerations and provides for
their mainstreaming in schools through special training so as to bring them at par with their peers in
school. • The Act also states that necessary provisions such as teacher – student ratio, minimum
infrastructure shall be made available in all school. • Quality of education in school has also been
given a top priority in the RTE Act. Section 29 of the Act provides for curriculum and evaluation
procedure in elementary schools. • Notification of teacher qualifications under section (23) of the
RTE Act and the prescription of the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) by the National Council for Teacher
Education (NCTE) are other significant developments to im

Enlarging the bouquet of course 2. Bringing in new techno-pedagogical particles 3. Leveraging

information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education and 4. Designing and conducting
several thematic modular courses for the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of the
teachersprove the quality of education in school.

During last two decades, a major emphasis has been given on improving school environment by
different educational programmes like Operation Blackboard, District Primary Education Programme
(DPEP), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), and Samgra
Siksha. • Further, RTE Act 2009, has recommended that each school should be equipped with ‘All
weather building consisting of at least one classroom for every teacher; barrier-free access; separate
toilets for boys and girls; safe drinking water facility etc. • The main aim of two major centrally
sponsored schemes for school education SSA and RMSA works to ensure, that all children in the
country have access to elementary and secondary schools with adequate infrastructure, in
partnership with States/UTs

Some Of The Important Infrastructure Facilities Provided During SSA and RMSA are: A. Increase in
number of Schools: • SSA & RMSA during its decade long programme have sanctioned more than
3.64 lakhs elementary and secondary schools. SSA has a provision of residential facilities in sparsely
populated or hilly and densely forested areas with difficult geographical terrains. • Kasturba Gandhi
Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) are residential upper primary schools set up in educationally backward
blocks for girls from SC,ST,OBC and Minority communities. B. Girls’ hostel for students of secondary
and higher secondary schools: • This is also a Centrally Sponsored Scheme that has been
implemented since 2009-10 to set up a 100-bed girls’ hostel in each of the 3479 Educationally
Backward Blocks. C. School Building and classrooms and Drinking Water Supply D. Separate Toilet for
Boys and Girls • Department of School Education & Literacy had launched Swachh Vidyalaya
Initiative with an objective to provide separate toilets for girls and boys in all government schools
within the timeline of 15th August 2015. E. Ramp & CWSN Toilet • One of the major objectives of all
education programmes that have been implemented at present is to develop an inclusive education
system by providing access to children with disabilities. Provisioning of ramp and CWSN toilet facility
are two major interventions in this regard. F. Library: • The RTE Act and RMSA specifies that the
Library will be an essential component of the school. G. Information and Communication Technology
(ICT): • ICT@ schools was a scheme launched in 2004 to provide opportunities to secondary and
senior secondary students. H. Computer Aided Learning (CAL): • Under SSA the CAL is primarily
introduced in rural government upper primary schools covering the classes VI to VIII to attract and
retain children and also in the process, enhance the quality of learning. I. Playground: VAJIRAM AND
RAVI Kurukshetra Summary-November 2019 Page 12 • RTE Act 2009 gives emphasis on playground
in schools as playing puts enormous positive impact on children in their learning and overall physical
development. J. Science Laboratory for Secondary & Higher Secondary schools: • Under RMSA,
integrated science labs has been sanctioned to the secondary schools. Conclusion: • A good school
infrastructure with good spaces makes conducive place for the children to study. Both SSA and
RMSA have improved access to elementary and secondary education in the country. • In rural areas,
the augmented school infrastructure has enhanced enrolment of children in schools especially girls
and disadvantaged groups. • It makes the learning more interesting and gets the children motivated
to attend school, this in turn improves the attendance and interest of students in learning.