'India May Take 50 Years to Achieve Educational Goals'

While the entire world celebrated Teacher’s Day on September 5, a recently developed report by UNESCO has shed light on the plight of schools and colleges in India facing shortage of staff.

Unfortunately, India is short of 6.89 lakhs of teachers at the primary school level. Kendriya Vidyalayas, Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and other Indian universities are facing a similar situation.

The UNESCO prepared a ‘Global Education Monitoring (GEM)’ report wherein it mentioned that India is lagging behind by more than half a century in achieving global educational goals.

If the pace of India’s educational development remains the same, India will achieve its primary educational goals in 2051, lower secondary in 2062 and upper secondary in 2087, whereas the target was to meet the goals in 2050, 2060 and 2085 respectively.

The report suggested that India would need fundamental changes in the education system in order to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

UNESCO suggested an urgent need for greater advancement in education and major transformation to meet the challenges that the country is facing in the education sector.

“The new global development agenda calls for education ministers and other education actors to work in collaboration with other sectors,” the report said.

Another report recently revealed that India has around 6.6 lakh teachers who do not have the required qualifications, as well as the skill sets for making a difference in the classrooms.

The report therefore stressed on the need to have teachers who are not just qualified but also have the right training to provide quality education to students.

With inputs from hindustantimes.com