Social Sector Development in Uttarakhand: A Gap between Policy Formulation and On-ground Implementation in Education

Education

Uttarakhand state was the second fastest growing state in India from financial year 2005 to financial year 2012. As per a report, it is the 6th richest state of India in terms of per capita income, but those living in the hilly areas of the state benefit less from the development than those in the plains. The state also has highly ambitious education policies in place which has provisions for affordable education to all. However, implementation of these policies on education is far from satisfactory. There is no doubt, majority of the people even in hilly areas of Uttarakhand prefer private education facilities due to poor management of government schools, however, unaffordability of cost of private education particularly by the people residing in hilly terrain of Uttarakhand, deprive them off availing these facilities. This has in fact created a situation wherein people of these remotely located hill districts and other people from lower income group seek education at village level through poorly managed government schools. Lack of skill development opportunities for the youngsters, further make majority of them unemployable. The above factors are in fact becoming major causes for out migration of the people besides contributing to impoverishment. Mismanagement in implementation of education policies by authorities coupled with large scale corrupt practices in nexus with the village level governance structure has further degraded education system at the village level. The paper is intended to highlight the gap in the existing education policies and its implementation. Efforts have also been made to highlight the challenges and suggest a way ahead in ensuring better education facilities to every citizen even in the remotely located villages of Uttarakhand.

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