Condition of Government Schools in India...!!!

Although India is amongst the ten fastest growing economies in the world, it still has a third of the world’s illiterates. According to global education report of 2004, India’s ranking was 106 out of 127 countries in the education sphere. With 34 per cent of the illiterate population in the world, India has the largest number of illiterates by far – with second placed China at 11 per cent. Sixty years after independence, with 40 per cent of its population under 18 – India is now confronting the perils of its failure to educate its citizens, notably the poor.

India, being a mixed economy, needs government intervention in the area of education because education driven by profit motive cannot benefit the masses. But the condition of government schools in India is pathetic. Except for two or three states, all the Indian states have poor educational statistics. More Indian children are in school than ever before, but the quality of government schools has sunk to spectacularly low levels. The children in these schools come from the poorest of families — those who cannot afford to send away their young to private schools elsewhere, as do most Indian families who have the means.

India has long had a legacy of weak schooling for its young, even as it has promoted high-quality government-financed universities. If in the past, a largely poor and agrarian nation could afford to leave millions of its people illiterate, that is no longer the case. Not only has the high growth ensured that we have a shortage of skilled labor, the nation’s many new roads, phones and television sets have also fueled new ambitions for economic advancement among its people — and new expectations for schools to help them achieve it.

Even though many children attend schools, they remain ill-equipped. A survey in 2007which was conducted across 16,000 villages, found that while many more children were sitting in class, vast numbers of them could not read, write or perform basic arithmetic, to say nothing of those who were not in school at all.

The attitude of the concerned authorities towards the plight of children is callous, indifferent and inhumane and the authorities seem to have lost all sense of responsibility and duty towards the lakhs of children.

There are many reasons for the failure. First of all, there is an acute shortage of teachers. Children often don’t get a support from their parents. Parents seem to be indifferent to their child’s learning and only see them as additional hands for work. There is also longstanding neglect, insufficient public financing and accountability, and a lack of motivation among some teachers to pay special attention to poor children from lower castes. Even basic amenities like water and electricity are not being provided.

There is a need for urgency. Education levels need to be improved. India with the second largest population in the world cannot develop with such a bad indicator. Furthermore, illiteracy leads to other problems such as poverty and unemployment. To start with, we need to learn from Indian states like Himachal Pradesh and Kerela who have almost universal literacy rate. Attitude of people there is very different from those in other regions. People are aware of the massive benefits and the government invests huge amounts to educate people. We personally should contribute by taking a task of teaching atleast one child either through an NGO or at home. Awareness needs to be generated and the state of government schools needs to be improved. Proper incentives should be given to teachers and public expenditure should be increased for education.

Aparna Vyas

Every Child Is Special...!!!

The drop out rate in schools is not only a crucial indicator of the faults in our education system, but also the slippery eel of the literary statistics. India has the largest population of non-school going, working children. The Constitution guarantees free primary education for both boys and girls up to the age of 14. This goal has been repeatedly reiterated, but the target has never been achieved. The plans of providing free education to all children below 14 years of age has been on the agenda for a long time, yet very few of them have been executed. In recent times, the UNICEF came up with a new strategy to curb this problem of school drop-outs and increase the literacy rate among the children in India.The first mobile school was launched in January 2007 in Philippines. It has since then benefited 6000 students and visited 71 sites in Luzon. In India, UNICEF launched 22 primary mobile schools for children in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh on November, 2007. This initiative was taken by UNICEF with the help of district administration and a local Non-Governmental Organization, Lok Vikas Evam Anusandhan Trust. This attempt has been made by UNICEF to lower the illiteracy rate among Indian children, especially for the girl child. The primary aim of such schools is to retain more school children who otherwise have to drop-out due to migration. The tribals of Jhabua migrate from their villages to Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra in search of livelihood every year. Hence such an initiative will help empower them with education which their children well deserve. The concept behind launching these schools is to facilitate education for children of migrant laborers even while they are absent from their native places and again revive education when they come back to their native place. Their attendance and other registers will be deposited with the local school and once they return, they can continue their education.About 85 per cent population of the district is tribal and 47 per cent people live below the poverty line. The literacy rate, according to 2001 census, is 36.87 per cent but the female literacy is just 4 per cent. It has been found that girls tend to drop out from schools due to migration problems and onset of puberty, resulting into engagement and marriage, household chores, looking after children, financial crisis at home. Drop-out rate among boys has been observed due to financial crisis, inability to give good results in the school examinations and the need to be productive and contribute to the family income. Another very common reason, which has been found to be quite persistent, is the idea that education is inessential. Surveys conducted in recent times prove that the education which is imparted in free primary schools is of very low standards and have a faulty methodology. The curriculum's also do not equip the children with the various skills that they require to make them employable in the job market. These mobile schools have been equipped with all the basic requirements and will be housed in tents. UNICEF has a robust plan of launching 100 schools by end of 2008. It has a target of enrolling 650 children who migrate with their parents to Gujarat in search of work. Along with tents, UNICEF has also provided school materials, salary of teachers, course material and even trained teachers in partnership with the district administration. Big dreams with a little help can come true. So are the efforts of UNICEF, which will definitely reap a bright future for India.