The Evolution of Education Data Landscape in India
Over the years, along with the growing recognition of education’s role in socio-economic planning, the quality and scope of education statistics in India have improved, including their collection and methodology. Recognizing the importance of comprehensive data on education, the government has made efforts to ensure its availability ever since India became an independent country.
Even though quinquennial reports were published by the British prior to 1947, educational statistics in India were first collected for the year 1949-50. A statistical unit was established at the national level, and similar units were set up in the states, primarily within their Departments of Education. The Ministry of Education ran a training scheme for the staff of these statistical units in state governments and universities.
The Government of India published three key reports annually:
- Statistics of School Education
- Education in India
- Educational Statistics at a Glance
It also issued a biennial Directory of Institutions of Higher Education, which started as an annual publication. In parallel, the government began producing educational journals, and since 1961, the annual Indian Year Book on Education was compiled and published.
In 1981, the government constituted a high-level committee to review educational statistics under the chairmanship of the then Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Education. The committee submitted its report in 1982 and came up with a list of recommendations, including those to reduce the time lag, increase quality, improve data collection methods, and enhance the format.
Landmark Committees and Recommendations
Later, the government appointed a Review Committee on Educational Statistics, chaired by S. Sathyam in 2007, and an Expert Group led by R. Govinda in 2011 to further enhance the education management information system.
The Sathyam committee report came up with around 120 recommendations spread across three sections – General, School Education, Adult Education and Literacy, and Higher Education. These recommendations aimed to improve the database for the entire education sector. It is as per their suggestions that both the District Information System for Education (DISE) and the School Education Management Information System (SEMIS) were merged to create the Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE), which has been implemented since the 2012-13 academic year.
Seven Broad Categories of Education Data Available
From seats to results, infrastructure to finance, the Indian government has made a wide array of education data available in the public domain through various agencies and organizations. For convenience, we have broadly categorized this data into seven categories:
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Demographic Data: All these data sources are from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) and provide information such as literacy rates by gender, age group, state/region, rural-urban divide, and education level achieved.
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Enrolment and Attendance: These dashboards provide data on school enrolments, dropout rates, gender distribution, and attendance rates. The data referred to in the Economic Survey is from these two dashboards. Additionally, there is data on admissions to IITs on Dataful.
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Academic Performance, Learning Outcomes and Performance Metrics: This category includes data on student outcomes, learning assessments, and institutional rankings.
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Infrastructure and Facilities: Information on the availability of schools, classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and other physical infrastructure is provided under this category.
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Financial Data and Expenditure on Education: Data on government budgets, spending, and financing of education programs can be found here.
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Employment and Placement: This section covers information on graduate employment, job placements, and career outcomes.
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Literacy, Adult Education, and Special Needs Education: Statistics related to literacy rates, adult learning programs, and the education of students with special needs are included in this category.
Gaps in the Education Data Landscape
While there has been considerable improvement in India’s education data landscape, there are some areas that need focus. For instance, the time lag, as highlighted in the 2007 committee report, continues to be a problem in India. Since 2011, there has been no comprehensive data available on India’s literacy rate as the Census has been pending for years, barring some sample surveys.
Further, data available on outcomes are inadequate. Even though NIRF ranks institutions and provides some data on research outcomes, including publications and patents, it is limited to institutions that participate voluntarily, and not all institutions are covered. Apart from this, there is no adequate data on salaries or placements received by students after completing their higher education.
This data is important as it provides insights into the available jobs and skill gaps in higher education, helping students make informed choices and guiding policymakers in enhancing educational quality and job placement efforts. Again, the NAS data is a survey and doesn’t reveal the real picture.
Furthermore, data on research publications, citations, patents, and faculty research output is limited. It is also necessary to track Ph.D. outcomes (time-to-completion, publication output, and post-degree employment) to shed light on research quality and the career impact of doctoral programs.
Comprehensive data on behavioral records, student mental health, early childhood education (ECE), and teaching quality is essential to create an education system that not only promotes academic achievement but also supports holistic development. Quality ECE data helps assess foundational skills and equal access from an early age, while robust teacher data on qualifications and methodologies helps improve instructional quality and, in turn, student performance.
Further, data on students’/households’ expenditure on education should be captured and released regularly.
Conclusion
India has made commendable progress in making a wide range of education-related data publicly available. However, there are still some critical gaps that need to be addressed to enhance the quality, timeliness, and comprehensiveness of the data. By addressing these gaps, policymakers, researchers, and the general public can gain deeper insights into the education system, enabling evidence-based decision-making and driving continuous improvement.
The Joint Action for Water blog aims to provide such in-depth analyses and insights to its readers, empowering them with reliable information to advocate for better water and sanitation services, community engagement, and sustainable development.
