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ISSN (Print): 2328 - 3734, ISSN (Online): 2328 - 3696, ISSN (CD - ROM): 2328 - 3688 American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences AIJRHASS 14 - 11 7 ; © 2014, AIJRHASS All Rights Reserved Page 31 AIJR HASS is a refereed, indexed, peer - reviewed, multidisciplinary and open access journal published by International Association of Scientific Innovation and Research (IASIR), USA (An Association Unifying the Sciences, Engineering, and Applied Research) Available online at http://www.iasir.net Educational Wastage : A P roblem of Primary Education 1 Rajesh Ekka , 2 Dr. Prohlad Roy 1 Research Scholar, 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Vinaya – Bh a vana, Visva - Bharati, Santiniketan, W est Bengal, INDIA. I . Introduction Educational wastage is a world wide phenomenon. It is considered to emanate from failures, stagnation and drop - out .The extent and causes of educatio nal wastage may however differ from country to country, region to region, school to school and so on. This certainly creates difficulties for policy formulation based on research in educational wastage. It is necessary at this stage to clearly state what precise meaning we want to convey by “Educational Wastage”. The National Council of Education Research and Training has in a study of educational wastage at the primary level defined educational wastage as follows : - “if a child leaves the schoo l without completing the primary Course or it fails in a class, then the investment does not give commensurate returns. As such, both the money and human resources are wasted. This is what we call educational wastage. This educational wastage has two compo nents – failure or grade repetition and d rop – out which means premature withdrawal”. II . R eview of Related Literature Sarmistha Pal and Geeta Gandhi Kingdon (2010), in their study “Can private school Growth Foster Universal Literacy? Panel Evidence from Indian Districts” have tried to study the unique district - level panel data - set from 17 major states of India for the period 1992 - 2002, the focus attention on children aged 10 - 19 years old and classify them into two subgroups: upper primary school aged children (10 - 14 years old) and the secondary school aged children (15 - 19 years old) and also examine the nature of private school growth at primary, upper primary and sec ondary levels across the regions. The study shows that the literacy rates are lower for female children, in both the 10 - 14 and 15 - 19 age groups. The gender difference is significantly higher in the worse performing regions, e.g., see eastern zones (compris ing of Assam, Bihar, WB and Orissa) and northern zones (comprising of UP, MP and Rajasthan). Compared to the national average, age/gender specific literacy rates are lower in these two regions and higher in the west, south and north (Punjab and Haryana) re gions. Results highlight that growing share of private school exerts a pronounced effect on literacy for children in the sample, but its effect on gender gap in literacy remains rather limited, if at all. In general, district with greater share of private school tend to experience significantly higher literacy, which is in line with the household/ child - level evidence that private school are more efficient in imparting learning. Further estimates highlight interesting regional variation between northern and southern regions in India: while the literacy effect of private school growth is statistically significant in the southern region, it is not so in the district located in the large north - Indian states, namely, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan and UP. Also compared to all sample districts, positive literacy effect of private school growth is much weaker in DPEP districts. There are also some intra - group variations (within a district) in the literacy effect of private school growth: compared to the general population, t he effect is significantly larger for 10 - 14 year old SC/ST children in the sample. Huisman, Rani, and Smits, (2010), in their working paper “Keeping children in School” based on the household and district - level determinants of school dropout in 363 distric ts of 30 developing countries brought out the role Abstract : In a developing country like ours the problem is all the more serious and alarming, in the developing countries the problem of educational wastage aggravated firstly because large number of people live below the poverty line and live under distressing mate rial conditions; and secondly because the educational budgets of these countries are very poor because they find it immensely difficult to mobilize resources, and they always suffer from acute resource scarcity. The present study on “Educational Wastage: A Problem of Primary Education” is conducted in the Birbhum district of West Bengal. The sample consisted of 300 primary and upper primary school children of age group 6 - 14 years of school going and non - going children of Birbhum. Keywords : Educational, Wa stage, Primary, Education, Children etc. Rajesh Ekka et al., American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, 5(1), December 2013 - February 2014, pp. 31 - 34 AIJRHASS 14 - 11 7 ; © 2014, AIJRHASS All Rights Reserved Page 32 socio - economic and cultural factors, and of characteristics of the educational infrastructure on primary school enrolment. The sample constituted 70,000 children living in 439 districts of 26 states of Ind ia. The results indicated that most the variation in educational enrolment (around 70%) is explained by factors at the household level, of which socio - economic factors are most important. And the result also indicated that, in the cities schooling decision s are hardly influenced by supply - side factors. In rural areas, however, these factors do play an important role. If there are fewer schools or teachers, or if the local culture is more patriarchal, rural children (in particular girls) participate substant ially less. The major finding of this respect was that in rural areas inequalities between socio - economic status groups are lower if more school and teachers are available. It has been found that socio - economic indices like the characteristics of household s, parental income, wealth, education and occupation, have long been known to be major determinants of educational enrolment and achievement in both developing and developed countries. III . N eed and Significant of the Study The main aim of this study is to sh ow wastage in perspective and to stimu lat e further research in related field. We are aware what our efforts are largely exploratory and that our probes are neit her intensive nor comprehensive . It is therefore not our claim that we are out to present a detail ed picture of thesituation. Educationists, as well as academicians and administrators, are deeply concerned with the problem of educational wastage. Therefore, the research felt that the need of study may give the better understanding to the people and government and will help in taking the necessary steps to tackle the factors affecting towards the educational wastage in primary education with the concerned district. IV . Objective of the Study The main ob jective of the study is to know the factors affecting towards the educational wastage and to find out some measures to tackle the problems. V . Hypothesis of the Research 1 . The poor economic condition of the people leads towards the educational wastage. 2 . The pare nts are not conscious about the important of education towards their children. METHODOLOGY Population : There are many children who drop out from the regular schools for the many reasons and it is a very big issue of our country as well as of our states and districts. Sample : The sample is taken from the age 6 - 14 years of children of school going and non – going children of Birbhum district. (W.B. India). VI . Analysis and Interpretation of Data Table 1. Continuation of the study Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent Valid yes 204 68.0 68.0 no 96 32.0 100.0 Total 300 100.0 Table provides information about children who are actually enrolled in school and are in the age group 6 - 14 years. Figure 1. Continuation of the study Rajesh Ekka et al., American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, 5(1), December 2013 - February 2014, pp. 31 - 34 AIJRHASS 14 - 11 7 ; © 2014, AIJRHASS All Rights Reserved Page 33 The percentage of children enrolled to total sample of children in school going is 204(68 per cent) and school not going is 96 (32 per cent). Figure 2. Reason of Educational wastage in relation to Community Figure provides the information about the reason for drop - out in relation to different community of the society. It is found that reason varies with one community to another. Here, it is seen that 21.1 per cent (out of 24) of the parents of Bengali community sai d that their children are dropped – out because of they have to earn and support the family. 33.3 per cent (out of 27) of the parents of Santali community said that their children are dropped - out because of family problems.16.7 per cent (out of 6) of the parents of Bihari community said that their children are dropped - out because of no interest in study and long distance of the school respectively. Figure 3. Reason of Educational wastage in relation to Religion Further it is found the reason for drop - out in relation to religion varies with the different factors. 15 per cent of the parents of the Hindu religion said that their children are dropped - out because of family problem and they have to Rajesh Ekka et al., American International Journal of Research in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, 5(1), December 2013 - February 2014, pp. 31 - 34 AIJRHASS 14 - 11 7 ; © 2014, AIJRHASS All Rights Reserved Page 34 earn and support t he family respectively.5 per cent of the parents of the Muslim religion said that their children are dropped - out because of family problems which includes the early marriages of girls and work and earn for the family to support their living respectively. As the parents of Christian religion were less in number they pointed out only family problems are the main cause of drop - out.5 per cent of the parents of the Muslim religion said that their children are dropped - out because of family problems which includ e the early marriages of girls and work and earn for the family to support their living respectively. As the parents of Christian religion were less in number they pointed out only family problems are the main cause of drop - out. VII . Major finding of the Resea rch The enormity of the problem of educational wastage increases further when we view it in relation to the remote areas and the ir population, who are victims of economic deprivation and social humiliation. Further the people not only grown under abject poverty but they suffer from economic oppression, social suppression and culture isolation. VIII . Conclusion The researcher so far dwelt upon the causes of high drop - out rate and has examined their implications. It has been stated above that compelling economic conditions of these children is, no doubt,very important factor affection the drop - out rate. But sometimes it is over emphasized out of proportion and this can be corrected by necessary extension work. These children have to be explained that the education they take must normally result into something very tangible i.e. it must bring the economic returns . At the same time it has to be explained to them t h at education will start giving returns over a period of time and the necessary patience has to be cultiv ated in them it is a process and therefore it cannot be achieved overnight, attempts might certainly have to be made to accelerate the process.They have also to be convinced that there are certainstructure constraints in a tradition - bound society and it t akes time to change. Itis a question therefore how successfully we are able to impress upon them these realities, a nd this will depend upon how successfully we are in a position to do the extension work. In order to make the process smooth and further in o rder to lighten the economic burden of education on the parents of the economically weak children one might suggest that the quantum of maintenance allowance may be increased with rise in the cost of maintenance . R eferences: [ 1 ]. Banerji, R . ( 2000).Poverty and Primary Schooling: Field Studies from Mumbai and Delhi. Economic and Political Weekly , 795 - 802. [ 2 ]. Dr eze, J.andKingdon G.G.(2001). School Participation in Rural India, Review of Development Economics, 5 (1) pp 1 - 24 [ 3 ]. Epstein, J. L . (1989) Family structures and s tudent motivation: A developmental perspective. In C. Ames & R. Ames (eds.), Research on motivation in education : Vol 3. Goals and C ognitions (pp. 259 - 295). New York: Academic Press. [ 4 ]. 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