Education or educational systems are foundational stones for creating responsible and responsive citizenry. They are also seen instrumentally as a way of boosting economic growth by providing educated and skilled workers (Agrawal & Indrakumar, 2014)1, as well as enhancing prospects of social and economic mobility. If we take these two broad goals of education - citizenship and employability - as markers to assess our educational systems, it is clear that they are not functioning, especially for those who are in the most marginalised communities. Over and over, we have seen that there are signifi cant lags with respect to quality educational training, which is especially true for secondary education.
Secondary education is an important area of focus as it is a critical transitionary phase that has the potential to empower and prepare youth for economic mobility, provide means for social empowerment, and create pathways for an engaged citizenry. Available data and studies indicate that secondary education is not faring well, and the imperfect foundations of elementary education do not provide the knowledge or skills required to engage with secondary education, thus leaving many children ill-prepared to take on the stressors and challenges of secondary education. Against this context, CBPS conducted a study with the broad objective of understanding the functioning of secondary school system in India. The scope of this project includes a scrutiny of policies and institutions as well as an examination of the functioning of secondary schools and children's learning outcomes. Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh were selected as the study areas for the project. The primary focus areas for the project were the following:
- Government policies and programmes: the patterns of fi nancing, policies, and programmes for secondary education, as well as policies and programmes to address related social issues such as early marriage, etc.
- Governing and supporting institutions for secondary education: the government institutional structure for school administration, academic support, and addressing the special needs of socio-economically and educationally marginalised children and its functioning.
- Access to education and transition to various stages of education (both from elementary and to senior secondary): the location, distance, and availability of schools; social and economic factors that impede education; academic preparedness; and school related factors such as teacher participation or teacher training.
- Quality of schools: availability of teachers; knowledge, skills, and motivation of teachers; school infrastructure; curriculum, content, and pedagogic practices; and school functioning.
- Issues of gender: early marriage, sexual harassment and safety issues, social barriers to education, parental perception, and discrimination within the classrooms
