The curriculum of Indian schools has drawn sharp criticism from the Unesco. The Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2014 states that Indian curriculum is unrealistic and far too ambitious for the child. It says that the curriculum outpaces a child’s learning capacity, thus widening the learning gap. It further points out that completing primary school in not always the guarantee for literacy, saying that even after completing up to four years of school, 90% emerge illiterate. The education scene appears dismal in India, home to the largest number of adult illiterates in the world which is 287 million.
The report also points out that the status of girls is bad. In India and Pakistan, poor girls are least likely to be able to do basic calculations. In Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, one in five poor girls is able to do basic mathematics. One reason for the dismal learning levels is that allocation per child still doesn’t adequately reflect the cost of delivering quality education to the marginalised.
