A Dream or a Reality- Affordable Education in India...???

India is a country with a rich cultural heritage and a country where Goddess Saraswathi, the Goddess of learning, is revered very much by Hindus. Yet affordable education has always been a dream in our country because despite having attained independence in 1947, the gap between rich and poor has only widened over the years. With rising income levels among the middle class and with the increase in the levels of  dual incomes, education in India has become an expensive proposition. The lower and upper middle classes do not seem to mind because they perceive any expenditure on education to be an intelligent investment.Which, in any case, is a fact. However, rising costs of education has made it very difficult for the poor and those who live below the poverty line. India is also notorious for engaging child labour which is a direct result of poverty and poor families lacking the  wherewithal to educate their children. This is indeed sad because as per our constitutional framework, education is the fundamental right of all Indian citizens.

Today’s children are going be to the citizens of India tomorrow. So, it is important for the   authorities to develop the concept of affordable education by engaging experts in the field of education, literary scholars and experts from the education department.

The authorities can bolster their efforts to upgrade the existing infrastructure in Government schools so that teaching in Government schools becomes an attractive proposition for teachers. Subsidised school fees, free distribution of text books and note books and school uniforms can make education more affordable for the children living below poverty line. Philanthropic individuals, software industry and NGOs like Akanksha, Pratha (to name a few) can join hands to sponsor the education of poor children. Sometimes, it is virtually impossible for the Govt to set up schools in every nook and corner.Hence, it  is essential to strengthen the hands of NGOs who are doing commendable work in the sphere of education. Children should take to learning as a fish takes to water, so it  is vital  to revamp the syllabi and course curriculum in such a way that learning becomes less of a mundane affair. At higher levels, vocational education and training must be made compulsory.

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Path from Marginalized to Mainstream: Reality behind Indian education system in India

In Indian society, where everyone aspires to be perfect in all matters, learning disabilities are not discussed, even within families. Where it is socially acceptable and even encouraged to blatantly compare and contrast children’s achievements among parents, social life is very stressful for those who have children with disabilities. Traditionally, individuals with learning disabilities are labeled as dumb, imperfect or inferior. They are typically marginalized, not only by the members of the larger society, but also within their own homes.

After struggling within the social and educational systems in India, my husband and I made the difficult decision to move to the US to provide our daughter with the education that our country could not.

When we talk of India, most people in the West imagine bustling metropolises with booming Information Technology centers. Many attribute India’s impressive 9% growth rate in GDP to its education system assumed to be more rigorous and academically-oriented than the US education system.

However, what escapes the attention of the West is the reality of education available to the common Indian. According to a report on basic public education in India by Anuradha De of the Institute of Human Development in New Delhi, India, only 53% of schools in rural North India were actively engaged in education. Only 11% had working toilets and only 41% had drinking water.

According to a recent census, two thirds of all schools in the slums of Hyderabad in southern India are private. Parents send their children to private schools for quality English instruction, even if it stretches their finances. With their ethos of “education is money,” these schools are extremely reluctant to take up the challenge of educating children with special needs. Even regular schools with Special Education programs like The Cathedral, John Cannon School and Dhirubahi Ambani International charge more than Rs 100,000 annually. With an annual Gross National income of Rs. 21,900, such fees put these services well beyond the reach of the average Indian. According to a study by the Stamford University in 2003, 86% of the population lives on less than $2 per day; 44% lives under $1 per day.

There are many schools in India which cater to the needs of children with various disabilities, but such an education has its own limitations. Aikiya and Alpha to Omega learning centers are well-known schools for disabled students in Chennai, India. But even these excellent institutions face the ignorance and apathy that traditional Indian society shows those with learning disabilities.

Through our own experiences, I’ve come to believe that the kind of change India needs will only come when society fosters sensitivity to the concerns of special-needs individuals by mainstreaming them with typically-learning children of their own age.

Padma, whose child has a congenital anomaly and attends Bronx High School of Science in New York, explains her decision to emigrate from India. “(In India) [t]here is a whole lot of social stigma while looking at people with special needs. Not only children, but even adults stop and stare at special needs people. That makes them become more self-conscious of their disabilities unlike in advanced countries like the US, where my son has never felt that he is a special-needs kid.”

Before taking a similar step, my husband and I decided to try to find solutions within India. In our search for a private tutor, we chanced upon two highly-trained and experienced teachers specializing in special education. Our child did quite well under their tutelage, but being a gregarious individual, needed to interact and socialize with typically-learning kids.

Richard Riser, director of the London-based educational organization was quoted inIndia Together saying, “Special schools are dead-ends for special-needs children. They promote isolation, alienation and social exclusion. It is this dominant attitude of exclusion which needs to be changed to build harmonious and compassionate societies.”

For a well-adjusted and fruitful future for our child, we decided to move to the US in 2001 when our daughter was five years old.

When we arrived in Texas, we found that the US public school system had all the legal mechanisms we were seeking in place. By law, public schools are mandated to educate special-needs people until the age of 21 and prepare them for adulthood. But not all US public schools have good special education programs - much depends on funding. Those schools offering higher teacher pay typically have less turnover and offer more training in the newest techniques in special education than those schools with fewer resources. We discovered after the fact that according to the American Federation of Teachers, out of 50 states, Texas ranked 32nd in the nation for teacher pay in 2004-2005 compared to New Jersey’s 3rd ranking, where we now live after relocating in 2007.

Navigating the Texas school system was frustrating. The school district was reluctant to spend their precious resources on an additional special-needs child. Initially, our daughter was held back a year and was given additional English language instruction through their English as a Second Language (ESL) program, hoping this would be sufficient for her to catch up with typically-learning kids.

When this did not bring the desired results, my child’s pediatrician wrote to the school district, copying the principal and other staff, to address her needs. This was the much-needed push that forced the school district to act.

Yet problems persisted.

Although the senior staff were highly-trained in their subjects, there was a dearth of experienced special education teachers in the elementary school. Every new school year brought a new set of teachers, who took time in getting to know their students and their needs. This lack of experience, combined with high teacher turnover, prompted one parent to move her daughter to an expensive private school for learning difficulties in Dallas, some 20 miles away.

In spite of these challenges, compared to India, this was heaven. Here I found support not only from the school, but also from the community. Though the school was bound by bureaucracy and limited funding, the empathy and awareness people had for special-needs kids was heartwarming, and I believe was the result of mainstreaming.

Compared to Texas, our current school district in New Jersey has been very proactive with our child’s education. Her Individualized Education Plan (IEP) was configured well–ahead of her attending classes. She has a speech therapist and an FM (assistive listening) system to help her hearing, especially in a crowded and noisy classroom setting.

The school also recognizes that children with disabilities should continue with their education during the summer break to avoid regression. Every year, our summer school has a new curriculum topic; last year’s was recycling and saving the environment. My daughter visited the farmer’s market, where she learned to buy a list of fruits and vegetables, use cash and keep her receipt. She learned about recycling by visiting the local recycling center and participated in an exhibition of recycled art.

And we have come across some great success stories. We met a child with cerebral palsy who moved from India where she was studying in a special institution. Since she is now part of the public school system, she has improved her social skills, gained higher self-esteem, and performs better academically.

We know we are fortunate to give our child this education, but there are millions of children who are not so lucky.

India passed The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act in 1995, and was the 19th country to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007. Though the disability act is very detailed - addressing schooling, employment, and accessibility in public places – it has not been implemented rigorously.

Until 2001, individuals with disabilities were not given a separate category in the census. The U.N. Manual for the Development of Statistical Information for Disability Programs and Policies 1996 estimates the percentage of disabled in India could be a double-digit figure, but no concrete figures exist to date.

According to a Commonwealth Foundation and the Leonard Cheshire Disability survey, about 95% of disabled individuals in India do not have access to healthcare services, education or employment opportunities. Despite government regulations, most buildings and public transport are not accessible. In contrast, Padma’s son zips around his New York school and neighborhood in his motorized chair, while it is next to impossible to push a baby stroller down most Indian streets.

A study done by Tata Institute of Social Sciences found that Special Education teachers in New Delhi earn approximately Rs.6000 per month, while another study by Gerald Burke and Phillip McKenzie reveals that regular education teachers earn much more, at Rs. 17,000 per month. This disparity is an area that a growing superpower like India must address.

India has a long journey ahead. A change in attitude towards people with disabilities will only come when more disabled people are included in regular schools and the workforce; they must be given the opportunity to participate in society as individuals of equal standing. Educating them alongside other children is the first step towards a more tolerant and well-adjusted society.

About the Author
Sumukha Ravishankar is a multi-tasking wife and mother originally from India, now living in suburban New Jersey. Thoroughly involved in her children's educational needs, she is also interested in writing, reading, social work and the arts. She is an avid listener and member of WNYC, New York Public Radio.

Steve Jobs' view on education valid for India - The Times of India

The late Steve Jobs, one of the greatest inventor-entrepreneurs in history, took knowledge and content to the masses. He said quality education was the key to equality of opportunity , and felt this would best be achieved by governments giving educational vouchers to parents, to be used in any accredited school of their choice. India should learn from him.

(see Jobs' views at http:// americanhistory.si. edu/collections/comphist/ sj1.html).

"I'm a very big believer in equal opportunity as opposed to equal outcome. Equal opportunity to me, more than anything, means a great education . Maybe even more important than a great family life. We could make sure that every young child in this country got a great education. We fall far short of that.

I know from my own education that if I hadn't encountered two or three individuals that spent extra time with me, I'm sure I would have been in jail." Clearly, good teachers are vital . But why are they so rare? "The problem there, of course , is the teachers' unions. The unions are the worst thing that ever happened to education because it's not a meritocracy. It turns into a bureaucracy, which is exactly what has happened.

Nobody can be fired. It's terrible." Can the problem be sidestepped by using computers and electronic teaching aids? No, says Jobs. "I've helped with more computers in more schools than anybody else in the world, and I am absolutely convinced that is by no means the most important thing.

The most important thing is a person. Computers are very reactive but they're not proactive; they are not agents." How do we create a system with good, motivated teachers ? Jobs has a clear answer: we need competition between schools in attracting students and teachers, not unaccountable government schools with a lockhold on government funding. Jobs says, "What we need in education is to go to the full voucher system. The customers (in education) are the parents, and the customers went away.

Mothers started working and they didn't have time to spend at PTA meetings and watching their kids' school. Schools became much more institutionalised and parents spent less and less and less time involved in their kids' education. What happens when a customer goes away and a monopoly gets control, which is what happened in our country, is that the service level almost always goes down. I remember seeing a bumper sticker when the telephone company was all one.

I remember seeing a bumper sticker with the Bell Logo on it and it said, "We don't care. We don't have to." And that's what a monopoly is. And that's certainly what the government school system is. They don't have to care." The economics of state education is crazy, says Jobs. The US government spends lots on education: around $4,400 per child per year.

This is double the cost of buying a small car in instalments. But such educational spending is done by the government, and is not within the power of the household. "When you go to buy a car, you have a lot of information available to make a choice. Everybody knows about all these cars, and they keep getting better and better because there's a lot of competition.

And there's a warranty. "But in government schools, people don't feel that they're spending their own money. If you want to put your kid in a private school, you can't take the $4,400 a year (spent per child by the government school system) and use it. If you gave each parent a voucher for $4,400 that they could only spend at any accredited school, several things would happen. "Number one, schools would start marketing themselves like crazy to get students.

Secondly, I think you'd see a lot of new schools starting. You could have 25-year-old students out of college, very idealistic, full of energy. Instead of starting a Silicon Valley company, they'd start a school. I believe that they would do far better than any of our government schools would. Third, the quality of government schools, just as in any competitive marketplace, would start to rise." These conclusions apply to India too. Our educational policies remain with leftist ideologues and cynical politicians who think the state must, to the extent possible, deliver alleducational services.

The leftists hate private schools and colleges. Politicians dare not take on teachers' unions. Teacher absenteeism is horrific , and many students cannot do simple maths or read complete paragraphs after years of schooling. Desperate poor parents are switching their kids from free government schools to private schools with fees.

But chief ministers seeking to discipline teachers' unions have invariably been foiled. If challenged, teachers unions will threaten to strike before the annual exams, imperilling the future of millions of students. So, chief ministers invariably surrender. Instead, they try to recruit teachers as their own political agents.

Besides, teachers man election booths on polling days. Politicians fear antagonising teachers, who might collude with the Opposition in fiddling election results. So, our situation is worse than anything Jobs complains about in the US. Yet, the solutions are similar.

We must use vouchers to give parents the power of choice, and encourage private competition in the educational marketplace. Enthusiastic young entrepreneurs will rush into education, just as they once rushed into information technology. All it needs is the political will to combat the unions.

Reality of Education in India: UNICEF

The landmark passing of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act 2009 marks a historic moment for the children of India.  For the first time in India’s history, children will be guaranteed their right to quality elementary education by the state with the help of families and communities.

Few countries in the world have such a national provision to ensure child-centered, child-friendly education to help all children develop to their fullest potential. There were an estimated eight million six to 14-year-olds in India out-of-school in 2009.

The world cannot reach its goal to have every child complete primary school by 2015 without India.
India’s education system over the past few decades has made significant progress. According to India’s Education For All Mid Decade Assessment, in just five years between 2000 and 2005, India increased primary school enrolment overall by 13.7 per cent and by 19.8 per cent for girls, reaching close to universal enrolment in Grade 1.

Even with these commendable efforts, one in four children left school before reaching Grade 5 and almost half before reaching Grade 8 in 2005. Learning assessments show the children who do remain in school are not learning the basics of literacy and numeracy or the additional skills necessary for their overall development. 
Fast Facts

Out-of-School Children: The number of out-of-school children has declined from 25 million in 2003 to 8.1 million in mid–2009. The most significant improvements have been in Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur and Chhattisgarh. The percentage of out-of-school children in highly populated states like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar remains a cause of concern.
Social Inclusion: Although there have been significant improvements in the proportion of children from socially disadvantaged groups in school, persistence gaps remain. Girls are still less likely to enroll in school than boys; in 2005, for upper primary school (Grades 6-8) girls’ enrolment was still 8.8 points lower than boys, for Scheduled Tribes (ST) the gender gap was 12.6 points and 16 points for Scheduled Castes (SC). 

In addition, ST and SC children are less likely to access their right to 8 years of schooling; the drop-out rate for ST children being 62.9% and 55.2% for SC children compared to a national average of 48.8% leaving school before completing Grade 8. 
Teachers: Children have the right to have at least 1 qualified and trained teacher for every 30 pupils. Currently, the national average is about 1 teacher to every 34 students, but in states such as Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal 1 teacher works with more than 60 students. 

Approximately 1.2 million additional teachers need to be recruited to fill this gap. Currently, about 1 in 5 primary school teachers do not have the requisite minimum academic qualification to ensure children’s right to quality learning.

Sanitation: 84 out of 100 schools have drinking water facilities overall in India. But nearly half the schools in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya do not. Sixty-five out of 100 schools have common toilets in India; however only one out of four schools in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Orissa and Rajasthan have this facility.

Fifty-four out of 100 schools have separate toilets for girls. On average, only one in nine schools in Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur have separate toilets and one in four schools in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand and Orissa.
Key Issues
The RTE Act will be in force from 1 April. Draft Model Rules have been shared with states, which are required to formulate their state rules and have them notified as early as possible.

RTE provides a ripe platform to reach the unreached, with specific provisions for disadvantaged groups, such as child labourers, migrant children, children with special needs, or those who have a “disadvantage owing to social, cultural economical, geographical, linguistic, gender or such other factor.”

RTE focuses on the quality of teaching and learning, which requires accelerated efforts and substantial reforms. 
Creative and sustained initiatives are crucial to train more than one million new and untrained teachers within the next five years and to reinforce the skills of existing teachers to ensure child-friendly education.

Bringing eight million out-of-school children into classes at the age appropriate level with the support to stay in school and succeed poses a major challenge. Substantial efforts are essential to eliminate disparities and ensure quality with equity. For example, investing in preschool is a key strategy.
Families and communities also have a large role to play to ensure child-friendly education for each and every one of the estimated 190 million girls and boys in India who should be in elementary school today.

School Management Committees, made up of parents, local authorities, teachers and children themselves, will need support to form School Development Plans and monitoring. The inclusion of 50 per cent women and parents of children from disadvantaged groups in these committees should help overcome past disparities.

DEMOCRACY: AN ACHIEVEMENT OR A BURDEN

Whenever we try to evaluate democracy( more appropriately, the westernized democracy that world has adopted), the evaluation generally proceeds from the comparison between the democracy and other systems and at last we end up endorsing democracy. If you question about the loopholes and weaknesses in democracy others end up pointing finger at you: what do you want another communist Soviet Union? or another Nazi Germany? or Taliban? Democracy is entirely not a wrong concept at all but it has been used(rather misused) by its founding fathers( or western founding fathers) to spread confusion than to deliver what human civilization was expecting it from. Democracy was meant to deliver justice to all( i repeat "to all"), to create a system that would eradicate the anomalies of its predecessors and to deliver to human civilization a sustaining progress. And let us try to count what we have got. "Justice" for all was the first and foremost promise of democracy. Has it been delivered as been promised? No it has not. Rather its inventors have replaced the word "Justice" from the vocabulary of democracy by "Human rights" which seems quite decent at first glance but has been proved to be a very deceptive tool used( or misused) to do exactly opposite of what it was meant to do? An example would help: A mass murderer who has killed and slaughtered 100s of humans, or a convict who has committed heinous crimes against humanity would still not be hung, rather would be granted life imprisonment in any of the democratic system and the argument would be that killing is inhuman. These apply to the so called democratic countries(including mine) where there is no clause of death penalty. Another breed of democratic countries such as India, would run a case against such criminals for years in the name of human rights(sometime even for 10 or more years) during which the convict gets no punishment at all. Then after all the tedious process if a death sentence is ordered by judiciary, the sentence would be suspended. Take example of Afzal Guru, the convict in the 2001 Parliament attack who is still not hung. In either case, Justice is denied and we have been baffled to believe that human right is more important to preserve than justice, which is not the case. Then comes the "sustainable progress available to all" as the 2nd promise of democracy. Had it been delivered?The answer may come "yes" and the argument may be satiated by the huge industrial and economic growth human race has been able to achieve in the democratic countries such as India, the US, western countries and other democratic countries. But can the extravagant and indiscriminate industrial growth and economic boom be considered as growth. The industrial growth has endowed us permanent problems such as global warming and exhaustion of resources, which may eventually be the reason of destruction of human race. Economic growth is more ironical. Economic growth has resulted in a big void between the extremely rich and extremely poor rather than a bridge between them. Riches are getting richer and poor are getting poorer. Drought, famines and starvation have left millions dead in third world countries ( South east Asia and African subcontinent) whereas the ones in western world eat pizzas and hot dogs. So democracy has rather been the opportunity for the ones having money and power to progress at the cost of poor ones. It has been a mean to verify injustice and has been misused to spread impunity. DEMON-CRAZY=DEMOCRACY as one of the placards depicted in protests outside the building where G8 meeting was going on.

Coaching: Boon or Bane???

The mushrooming of coaching centers all over the cities big or small, metros or districts highlight the growing trend of students opting for coaching classes apart from the regular curriculum. Once upon a time coaching was a rare phenomenon, generally unheard of and only taken by those who were weak in their studies. But now it is a way of life for students, aggressively promoted by the teachers and too some extent by the parents also. But does coaching really help in scoring good marks in school or in competitive examinations? Is it advisable for the school students to opt for coaching? When is the right time to join coaching? Does it take away time of self-study and make student dependent on coaching centre? Or does it give your career the right boost and direction? These are some of the questions which every student and their parents face. The craze for coaching has led to opening of coaching centre in every bylane of Delhi selling dreams of guaranteed success. One can see the newspapers, magazines or roads filled with advertisements like you can 'learn English in 30 days' or 'score 90% in Boards with our guidence' or 'clear PMT/IIT with our two year package'. More and more students are flocking these centers as an alternative or supplement to school teaching. Many experts believe that education is a natural process of learning. For the regular and attentive students coaching is not really required till class twelth.

Mushrooming coaching centers,However for professional courses like entrance examinations of CPMT and IIT professional guidance is required in today's competitive world. A student has no background and idea of the examination he is appearing for. He or she needs proper study material and guidelines on the important topics, exam patterns, and short-cut methods of solving numerical and analytical questions. It is here when the coaching centers play an important role in helping students. They plan each topic methodically and time schedules to complete the modules. The students feel that the tutors know what the important and less important topics are. The minute details like the sections of question paper that need to be solved first are explained by these teachers. The coaching classes also help students prepare for interviews and face group discussions. For those who cannot attend regular classes, correspondence coaching is helpful. They are relatively cheaper also as they charge one fifth of the regular courses. The students can benefit from the study material and model papers that are sent to them regularly. There are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration before selecting a coaching centre. The quality, experience and expertise of the teachers should be the top priority. One should also talk to other students before taking admission. The standard of coaching can best be analyzed by the success rate and academic performance of the students studying there. Whether to join a coaching or not is an individual's decision. If a student is sincere and hardworking with good grasping power he or she can prepare for competitive exams even at home. But if professional help is required then select the coaching centre which offers the best options.

Thinking About Education = Thinking About Teaching ???

Often it is presumed that education is the ultimate panacea for all social problems, but we seldom ponder about it. All the readers of this small essay would be educated. They would have attended a school, a college or some sort of university. Most of them would believe, that all that was delivered to them is education. But, is that really true?Let me quote some great persons thoughts, that I compiled while I was the coordinator of Vimarsh an e-forum of the students and teachers of University of Delhi, till about an year ago."Who dares to teach must never cease to learn' -- J.C. Dara
“Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” Will Durrant “I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” Albert Einstein "By teaching one learns" An old Latin proverb"
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one" -- Malcolm Forbes Teachers open the door; but you must enter by yourself" -- Chinese proverb"
Education is not a preparation for Life; education is life itself" --John Dewey "learning from experience is a faculty almost never practiced"--Mark Twain"
Education is difficult to unlearn" -- Anonymous "Correction does much, but encouragement does more" Goethe “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” W B Yeats“It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.” Alec Bourne “The lecturer should give the audience full reason to believe that all his powers have been exerted for their pleasure and instruction” Michael Faraday“Never stop learning; knowledge doubles every fourteen months.” Anthony J. D'Angelo Now a bit from an article, I read yesterday:“
Education is an amalgamation of life experience, structured study, and critical thinking. From this perspective there are different ways to examine education and the coinciding knowledge that can be obtained. One focal point is the traditional concept of formal education that comes from academic schooling and focused study. The other form of education is based on life experience and informal learning through self-study and personal inquiry. Both formats of learning may provide an equivalent knowledge base, though only one provides the social standard of a conventional degree.On the one hand, formal education provides a focused knowledge base to apply to a specific job,and provides a degree revealing a certain level of formal study and knowledge. One the other hand,formal education has some limitations for real world application and understanding.

It is hard to determine if experience or education is more valuable to prospective employers, or even our own personal competence and wisdom. Regardless, from both we gain knowledge, and as Sir Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power.” When it comes to intelligence, a valuable, but cliché consideration, is the old idea of “book smarts vs. street smarts.” These are two areas of equal importance that provide knowledge and wisdom to initiate growth for future development.So, is one really more valuable than the other?”
So......

What is teaching? Who is a teacher? I have very many times wondered about these questions, while I was engaged withUniversity of Delhi, as the sole coordinator and administrator of an e-forum,Vimarsh, forscience students and teachers of the university. I have also interacted widely with manyschool teachers in various capacities, I in fact my three sisters, all younger to me, teach inschools.But the process develops over time, and today, I feel motivated to write a bit about it.Let me start with the definition of a teacher. I very recently read some thing, that hasimpressed me a lot. It goes as follows:
“The definition of a teacher is to define the indefinable. Almost as wide ranging, yet individualized as asking, what is a parent? A teacher is a guide, a mentor, a confident, afriend, a disciplinarian, an informer, a provider of inspiration and imagination. A teacher issomeone who knows when to intervene, and when to stand back and allow them to try forthemselves.A teacher is more than someone who passes on knowledge. It is the interaction, therelationship, the understanding and encouragement to enable a person or child to reach thefull potential. This should not be merely being able to pass tests or exams but developingfully in all areas as a rounded person who reaches and surpasses their full potential andalso develops a life long love of learning and discovery.Being a great teacher means knowing when to assist, when to stand back and insist onindependence. Doing too much for a learner leads to reliance and lack of perseverance,which will in turn lead to lack of self esteem.
Reaching that goal with encouragement but nophysical help will enable the learner experience the feeling of achievement that inspiresfurther learning.A teacher must therefore, provide the opportunities which allow the leaner to learn forthemselves. Learners do not learn by being told, they learn by finding out for themselves.This may be a toddler playing with water, or a university student doing independent research the principle is the same. Jean Piaget (1896-1980) stated, In order for a child tounderstand something, he must reinvent it. Every time we teach a child something, we keephim from reinventing it himself.' This is not meant to say we must not teach, but we shouldprovide opportunities for children to explore and discover new things themselves. Thisprovides an increased level of understanding than telling them about something.A true teacher teaches as a way of life, they life to teach rather than teach to live. Theynever stop learning themselves as the journey of discovery is ever present. They are not teachers just in school hours, they are constantly looking for ideas to use in the classroomthey often take part in out of school activities, clubs are other ways to support and providefor their learners. They are able to pass this enthusiasm onto their pupils, instilling the joyof discovery.If you enter a classroom of a great teacher you will see learners actively wanting to learn,

interacting with each other and the teacher. You will often see groups workingindependently, on differentiated tasks designed to stretch their individual abilities. You maysee some pupils benefiting from one to one attention from a teaching assistant. They may behaving difficulty in a certain area, or are above the ability of the rest of the class and arecompleting advanced work. It is this
understanding and individual plans of learning that enablelearners to keep on task, never feeling bored or unable to complete work. The balance of beingsupported, yet maintaining independence, is an invaluable skill that separates good teachers fromgreat teachers.We can see then that a teacher is not someone who is knowledgeable they know how to teach.Students taught in an inspiring way want to learn rather than learning for a specific test or reward.They know how to pass on, not just knowledge but love of learning, and most of all the care about the whole person not just exam results. A great teacher is a truly special person and will influencethe lives of their learners for the rest of their lives”
Rakesh Mohan Hallen

Education System In India: Make A Living or Make A Life?

By Pallavi Murthy:
Yet again a teacher sent to jail for having slapped a child and yet again a student at IIT attempted a suicide! On one hand is a teacher who threw acid on a girl’s face because she rejected his marriage proposal while on the other hand is a student who falls in love with his teacher because he finds her ‘hot’. On one hand is a student who finds it hard to take the pressure of clearing the examinations while on the other hand a student fails in all his exams but still gets promoted and gets a first class degree because of donation and bribery. These have become an everyday news headline now. So who is to be blamed for all this- the Education system, the teachers, the parents or the children?
First let’s start with the basic meaning of education and its purpose. Education is the process of imparting knowledge. In simple words it involves two main processes i.e. teaching and learning. The main purpose of education is to develop knowledge, skill and the character of a person. It is process of passing information from one person (teacher) to the other (student). We know the basic law of heat transfer. It states that ‘in a system, heat always flows from hot body to the cold body’ to maintain an equilibrium in the system. The same thing goes with education, where the ‘system’  is the ‘society’ we live in, ‘heat’ is ‘knowledge’  and the ‘hot body’ is a person with ‘more knowledge’  and the ‘cold body’ is the person with ‘lesser knowledge’. The need for education is to maintain a balance or equilibrium in the society.

“The only purpose of education is to teach a student how to live his life-by developing his
Mind and equipping him to deal with reality. The training he needs is theoretical, i.e.,
Conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to
be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past-and he has to be
Equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort.”
-Ayn Rand

Another Brick in the Wall...!!!

Like the Pink Floyd song “Another Brick In The Wall”  the Indian education system produces graduates who are almost similar in their skills and thought processes. There are several problems that affect the system including the proper and strict enforcement of compulsory education (The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act or Right to Education Act (RTE), which was passed by the Indian parliament on 4 August 2009, describes the modalities of the provision of free and compulsory education for children between 6 and 14 in India under Article 21A of the Indian Constitution. India became one of 135 countries to make education a fundamental right of every child when the act came into force on 1 April 2010, complete one year and 2011- Literacy Rate =74%), the lack of the reach of good education and the expectations of the students from education.

In India everybody wants to become an engineer or a doctor sometimes the decision is made by them and sometimes the decision is made for them. A decision made by an impressionable teenager would more often than not be something that would look cool in the eyes of his peers and elders. This leads to the rush for admission to several engineering colleges in the country. And having chosen engineering as their profession these teenagers also have to select the stream to specialize in – again the choice is made with job prospects and coolness factor in mind and this leads to a glut of software and electrical engineers while traditional streams like civil and mechanical suffer. Throughout this process very little thought actually goes into deciding if the young man actually likes any of what he is doing.

Before this farce of engineering college is another tedious period through school. In most of the schools, students are forced and pressurized into memorizing every last bit of detail in the books so that the schools can continue advertising their 100% success rate and attract more students. Most of the students who graduate from schools have little or no knowledge what they actually learn. Alternatives like Sports and Cultural activities are given very little attention. The students are conditioned to believe that they matter very little leaving us with a nation of talented people not pursuing their interests.

The other serious issue is the reach of our education program – providing quality education to the masses. Only when this happens can the Bharat out there be connected to the India we all know. Actual enforcement of the compulsory education is very low leading to several kids missing out on education year on year which gives no way to climb out of their poverty. Even those kids who manage to go to school don’t get a good education as the teachers at the government schools do not take much interest in the actual education that happens in the class.

How can we solve this? a large-scale revamping of our primary education is in class. To provide a wholesome education that includes sports, cultural and scholarly aspects should be designed. The government should promote inter-school activities on a nationwide scale so that these extracurricular activities get due importance. Apart from this we can leverage our Internet and Communication Technologies(ICT) to deliver quality education to the rural areas and the rural government agencies should be made responsible for ensuring that the compulsory education is actually enforced in the last mile. The arts and sciences should be promoted on an equal scale to engineering and medicine so that people realize the importance of these streams too.

How would this help our society? Education is the primary tool with which anyone can access the employment opportunities and personal betterment. It is the solution to the age old caste and religious divisions that exist between various groups in the country. An educated person and someone who contributes economically to the society would only add to the society as a whole.

Praveen Kumar Desabandu

Education Up For Sale???

India does not have an exemplary higher education system. Apart from a handful of (less than 12) colleges, there is no international recognition of Indian universities.

In 1997, the Government of India’s discussion paper on Government Subsidies in India had deemed higher and secondary education in India a “non-merit good”, while classifying elementary education as a “merit good”. As such, Government expenditure on higher education was to drop. This paved way for an unprecedented rise in the number of private colleges and universities. Jandhyala Tilak in his essay on privatization of education India points out that in 2001 the state of Andhra Pradesh had 95 private self-financing engineering colleges, compared to 11 government engineering colleges; and 303 self-financing medical colleges, compared to 25 government medical colleges. The situation in 2008 is very much the same and in some ways, worse.

Post economic liberalization, the country has also seen international universities setting up franchise centres across the country. Most of these centres offer market oriented courses, some of which are not even recognised in these colleges’ parent countries. Certain certificate and diploma courses offered in fashion and design etc. are just money-making mechanisms to lure Indian students, who already have an affinity toward the West, into taking these courses. Full-page advertisements in the newspapers; claiming to offer a free laptop and a trip to a foreign country are again amazing marketing strategies. And it is mostly second and third rate private institutions who are involved in this quick money making scheme, because the quality of education imparted isn’t exactly laudable.

The state governments have been lethargic in their attitude to impart quality education. Their only interest now seems to be to produce technically sound manpower for export. The rapid growth of private Engineering and Medical colleges has failed to produce high-quality scientific manpower; instead they have produced IT-masons, who in Chicago and California are referred to as ‘skilled laborers’ (implying specifically the Indian IT technician). In 1995, a Private Universities Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha; but remained unimplemented, simply because the private investors were unhappy with certain clauses in the Bill, the most significant ones requiring the formation of a permanent endowment fund of Rs.10 crores (about U.S.$2 million), provision of full scholarships to 30 percent of the students, and Government monitoring. The Government has since then, taken steps against the direction of privatization of higher education in the country. The title of a ‘ Deemed University ‘ given to certain private institutions is an example.

The desirability of privatization of higher education is apparent in the same arguments as that of liberalization of an economy. Funding of education is taken care of. Competition improves quality. Foreign investment is a necessity for the Indian economy in 2008. We know the arguments.

Now here is the catch.

Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), to which India is a signatory, provides that higher education shall be made equally accessible to every student on the basis of merit. Agreed, it is not possible for everyone to have access to higher education; but it should be available to every meritorious student. Now, India being a signatory to the UDHR, it is in the State’s interest to ensure that a meritorious student is not denied admission to a university, due to other considerations.

Has the state been able to ensure that? No, it hasn’t. Even the admission procedure of the IITs has been questioned under the Right to Information Act and failed to provide a credible answer earlier this year. That every year, students with enough money pay their way through the admissions into Government and Private Colleges is a known fact. Some private colleges are also quite open about it. In the light of such facts, is it constitutionally permissible to have a large sector of the higher education privatized?

The government colleges lack the facilities that private institutions have to offer. For more money, private institutions offer a global exposure. Both these things are essential in our age, without which a student’s higher education is well near being worthless. So is higher education only for a student who gets 67% in Class 12 board exams, but has 35 lakh Rupees to pay to the admission office of a private Medical college? Is it not in State’s interest to ensure some sort of quality control over all its universities? One sad fact is that the syllabus for the same subject and same course sometimes differs from state to state. The quality of teachers and the quality of education found in various universities differ drastically, even among different colleges within the same university. Over the years, library and laboratory grants given to colleges have not increased, even though the necessity for better lab equipments grows every year. Maintenance grants are inadequate; hostel facilities in Government colleges are non-existent. The colleges are left to raise their own funds. As such, after a certain number of meritorious students have been admitted, it becomes entirely in the college’s interest to ask for large sums of money from people who can pay.

The obvious legal implication of such limitation is a hike in fees. This in itself makes higher education that much more inaccessible to the common man. One argument that has been repeated time and time again is this: most people come to places of higher education regardless of their interest in studies; they do not attend classes; they are not interested, as education is almost free anyway; so, it does not make sense for the public exchequer to pay for these upper-middle and upper class students. The administration easily forgets the common man in all this: if there is an opportunity to make more profit, it should not be let to pass unexamined.

Privatization has brought in a lot more: interaction with the market and market oriented courses: a one-year diploma in Set/ Interior Design is more sought after today than a PhD in Sociology. This coupled with a reduced interest in modern Indian languages, in my opinion, defeats the purpose of the kind of education we have traditionally praised.

I have just pointed out a few of the pros and cons of the issue of privatization of higher education in India . It is just the tip of the iceberg. Is equality for those who can afford it? Recent ventures, like the much talked about, Times of India Teach India initiative look like steps into a brighter future for the education environment of our country. Much can be speculated now, much more remains to be seen.

Vipul Ralph Shah

Educating India…!!!

These are some new slogans we have been hearing a lot lately. Now the point is, India is trying to educate its citizens and she has been trying for years! So how far has she succeeded?

First of all, the abysmal ground reality is that India’s literacy rate is still below 75 per cent. Though the rate has of course increased over the years, we are not yet there. And we still have a long way to go! The adult literacy rate (15 yrs and above) is about 61 per cent while the youth rate (15-24 yrs) is about 73 per cent. Amongst the states, Kerala has the highest literacy rate and Bihar has the lowest. Nonetheless, the growth in literacy rate has been incredible. Most people know that literate females are fewer than their male counter parts in our country. At this point, one must keep in mind that most of India is rural and a bit orthodox in their thinking.

Today, as most of you might have noticed, English is becoming increasingly popular. Ever noticed that little kid who comes to you at the traffic signal? Doesn’t he know a few words of English? So would you call him literate or illiterate? The National Literacy Mission defines literacy as ‘acquiring the skills of reading, writing and arithmetic and the ability to apply them to one’s day-to-day life’. That child may not have gone to a school; he may not even know that he was talking in English! Most of them today don’t know ‘Hindi’ numbers, but on the other hand English numbers are on their finger tips. It is the same with directions and simple words like ‘yes’, ‘no’ etc. How many times have you sat in a rickshaw and then suddenly realized that the driver knows English? Or don’t you absent mindedly give him directions in English? Or what about when you just know the address of somebody’s place, and your driver helps you point out the house? Ever thought about how he reads those house numbers? I wonder how many people have realized that the digits on a cell phone are in English and not in Hindi or any other regional language. But it is a common misconception that just because a person knows English, people think he’s educated! Most of them know English only because that is what they have grown up hearing. Come to think of it, the logic people use indirectly means even a 2-3 year old kid is educated! On the other hand, many people also think that just because a person doesn’t know English, he is uneducated. This is also not true. Many people in India are educated in their regional language and not in either Hindi or English.

Today, the government is trying to increase the literacy rate with the help of a whole lot of new programs. The ‘Sarva Siksha Abhiyan’ was started in 2001, and it aimed at ensuring that all kids between the ages of 6-14 years attended school and completed 8 years of education by 2010. This wasn’t the first program to be launched but earlier programs weren’t as successful. One of the most popular schemes adopted to attract children to schools is the ‘Mid-Day Meals Programme’ launched in 1995. The department of education has started Bal Bhavan centres all over the country to promote creative and sports skills in children between the ages of 6-14 years. They conduct programs in fine arts, aero-modelling, computer education, sports, martial arts, performing arts etc. Off late, new programs to promote the education of girls have been initiated. One such incentive is a fixed amount of money which is given to the family at the end of the school life of a girl child.

Today, private companies too are lending a helping hand to this noble cause, Like the ‘Teach India’ program launched by The Times of India, or the NGO ‘Literacy India’ which helps underprivileged children with their dreams and aspirations of good quality higher education or the National Literacy Mission which pays special attention to women’s education. Another foundation that helps educate the underprivileged is The Smile Foundation. Mission Education is a national level program started by the foundation which focuses on basic education for underprivileged children and youth. They are working with ‘partner organizations’ in various states across India. One can visit the following link for more information on the organization. http://www.smilefoundationindia.org/

Infect, recently even a telecom company has started an advertisement campaign with the same theme — how to educate more people with less resources. It is something to think about. The idea is that through the concept of distance learning we can teach those who do not have access to schools and colleges near them.

One of the major problems we face is lack of infrastructure. It is not easy to create schools for our large and ever growing population. Today ‘good’ schools mean expensive schools, mostly private which most lower middle class people cannot afford. That is the fact—every year education gets more and more expensive. It is a vicious cycle—the more the population, the more the unemployment, and the more the unemployment, the more illiteracy, and the more the illiteracy, the more the population will keep growing! We need to break this cycle somewhere. And like they say, nothing is impossible! If each one of us contributes in our own way, we can make a difference. The government had come out with a slogan, a few years back – Each One Teach One – if we follow that slogan, we could easily help the cause. You don’t need to go out on the streets to find someone to teach, just look in your own house—the maid’s daughter, or that little boy who comes to collect the garbage. They should be studying instead of working. But yes since for them earning is important for survival, we can make a difference by giving them lessons. We just need to wake up from our complacent lives and try to make a difference!

Priya Ganguli

Corruption in Education system in India – A UNESCO Report...!!!

India’s education system is mired in corruption and a high rate of teacher absenteeism in the country was a key factor for it according to the new global study. The UNESCO’s International Institute of Educational Planning study on corruption in education released recently says that 25% teacher absenteeism in India is among the highest in the world, second only after Uganda that has a higher rate. The global average of teacher absenteeism is about 20%.

Teacher absenteeism does not just affect quality of education; it is also a huge drain on resources resulting in the wastage of 22.5% of education funds in India the study said. Politics in teacher appointments and transfers is a major reason for teacher absenteeism according to a professor at National University for Education Planning and Administration.

The study identifies the absence of well established criteria for teacher recruitment a uniform policy on promotion, remuneration and deployment as some of the main reasons identified for teacher absenteeism. However the report found married teachers to be more regular at job than unmarried teachers.

In Bihar two of every five teachers were reported absent the figure in UP was reported to be one-third of the total teachers. However in states like Gujarat and Kerala the figure was lower than 15% the report based on several small studies.

Teachers also believe highly in private tutoring a practice identified by UNESCO as unethical. It does not complement learning at school and leads to corruption the report said. The practice of ghost teachers and involvement of teachers in mismanagement of schools were other gray areas identified in the Indian education system.

Another indictment of the sorry state of Indian education was the view held by students that cheating in examinations is their traditional right. In India universities cheating is now well-established. The fees for manipulating entrance tests ranges between $ 80 to $ 20,000 for popular programmes such as computer science, medicine and engineering the report said...!!!

Literacy in India...!!!

Literacy in India is key for socio-economic progress, and the Indian literacy rate grew to 74.04% in 2011 from 12% at the end of British rule in 1947. According to the latest survey by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in June 2008, the literacy rate among the population with age 7 and above was 72% whereas the adult population (age 15 and above) had a literacy rate of 73%. Although this was a greater than fivefold improvement, the level is well below the world average literacy rate of 84%, and India currently has the largest illiterate population of any nation on earth. Despite government programs, India's literacy rate increased only "sluggishly," and a 1990 study estimated that it would take until 2060 for India to achieve universal literacy at then-current rate of progress. The 2001 census, however, indicated a 1991-2001 decadal literacy growth of 12.63%, which is the fastest-ever on record.

There is a wide gender disparity in the literacy rate in India: adult (15+ years) literacy rates in 2009 were 76.9% for men and 54.5% for women.  The low female literacy rate has had a dramatically negative impact on family planning and population stabilization efforts in India. Studies have indicated that female literacy is a strong predictor of the use of contraception among married Indian couples, even when women do not otherwise have economic independence. The census provided a positive indication that growth in female literacy rates (14.38%) was substantially faster than in male literacy rates (11.13%) in the 1991-2001 decadal period, which means the gender gap appears to be narrowing.

Comparative literacy statistics

WORLD (in million)

	Total	Male	Female
Adult Literacy Rate**(15+) (%)	82	87	77
Adult Illiterates**(15+) in million	780.66	281.04	499.62
Youth literacy rate (15-24) (%)	87	90	84
Young illiterates (in million)	138.97	52.81	86.16
Out of School population (in million)	76.84	33.25	43.59

**Source:Education for All Global Monitoring Report 2007

About 35% of world's illiterate population is Indian and, based on historic patterns of literacy growth across the world, India may account for a majority of the world's illiterates by 2020.

The table below shows the adult and youth literacy rates for India and some neighboring countries in 2002. Adult literacy rate is based on the 15+ years age group, while Youth literacy rate is for the 15–24 years age group i.e. youth is a subset of adults. 

Country	Adult Literacy Rate	Youth Literacy Rate
China	93.3% (2007)	98.9% (2004)
Sri Lanka	90.8 (2007)	98.0
Burma	89.9% (2007)	94.4% (2004)
Iran	82.4% (2007)	95% (2002)
World Average	84% (1998)	88% (2001)
India	74.04% (2011)	87% (2011)
Nepal	56.5 (2007)	62.7
Pakistan	54.2 (2007)	53.9
Bangladesh	53.5 (2007)	49.7