Needed, education data that engages the poor parent

Data on school education is collected to measure and monitor, fix flaws and reward achievements at the State and the national levels. Its end users are school administrators, government agencies, researchers, and civil society activists. But is data enough to inspire transformative change?

Flaws in education data

• Ambiguous data: According to ASER 2019 data, Rajasthan was among the bottom five States in learning levels, while in NAS 2017, Rajasthan was among the top performers. This shows the flaw in data collection and interpretation.
• Making data parents-oriented: Despite near consensus among policymakers and data producers that parents are one of the key constituencies of school data, it is rarely used by poor parents. For them, schooling is about examination outcome, English language skills and a chance for secondary and graduate level degrees.
• Shortcomings in education plans: The district and school development plans such as the District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) have largely remained administrative practices. They were not representatives of parent­school consensus on what schooling means.