This paper details the results of a survey conducted in selected areas of Jharkhand's Dumka district. While inadequate infrastructure and the lack of teachers affect the quality of teaching, poverty is responsible for the alarming rates of non-enrolment, dropouts and poor attendance of pupils. Scheduled tribe children are particularly at a disadvantage as education is not imparted in their mother tongue. The state of primary education, as this paper suggests, needs a multi-pronged effort to ensure its greater effectiveness. While the government can step in with incentives such as midday meal schemes, community participation in the governance of the primary schooling system has to be ensured.
