Secondary Education in West Bengal: Prospects and Challenges

Abstract

Both at the policy level as well in the broader public discourse the value of school education is increasingly being recognized as an important social goal. This growing consciousness also gestures towards the need for facilitating a much awaited educational transition from the elementary to the secondary level. It is indeed becoming a part of the received wisdom that the success of elementary schooling hinges crucial upon the opportunity for wider participation at the secondary level. Yet, secondary school participation remains a relatively understudied area, especially in those states of India that remain relatively dormant in their efforts at expanding secondary schooling. In short, there is a clear gap between the need for heightened policy efforts to expand secondary education and informational wherewithal that is required to respond to their need. This report is an attempt to address, albeit in a modest way, this informational deficit in our understanding of the promises and challenges of secondary schooling that seem to exist in the state of West Bengal. What motivates this study is to place at the centre of both policy and public discussions conceptual issues and practical problems that are germane to secondary schooling in West Bengal in order to proffer some concrete suggestions for promotional and remedial action.