‘In India, voting rights must be linked with the completion of basic school education, at least Class 10th, and the prospective voters must be required to attend school from the age of 6 up to at least the age of 16 before they are provided with the voter’s card. The reason being, in parliamentary democracies, as the people’s representatives are chosen by the majority vote, it is important that the votes are cast by the people who are educated and informed enough to ascertain the background and integrity of politicians who claims to represent them. It is not uncommon to see many dim-witted politicians addressing large election rallies. From their appearances and facial expressions, one can easy imagine the (poor) educational background of the people sitting on ground in those rallies. Such people can be easily deceived and exploited by many slimy sweet-talking politicians.
On papers, India’s literacy rate is reported to be around 75%. Interestingly, how is the term ‘literacy’ defined in India? Is it the ability to write one’s name in an Indian language or ability to read and write at a certain meaningful level? As per the census data of 2015, and with reference to the following links, only 4.5% of the population in India was university graduate or above.
https://yourstory.com/2015/11/india-literacy-census/
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/only-4-5-population-in-india-is-graduate-or-above-census-1240996
To ensure a vibrant democracy and prevent exploitation of the poor and the illiterate (by the politicians and the rich / influential) and, more importantly, to bring about equality amongst all her citizens, India needs to sincerely enforce the Right to Education Act (RTE Act) in letter and spirit to allow equal opportunities for ALL her children and generate equity across her society – the poor and the rich, and across all gender groups.
In 2002, India became a signatory to Dakar declaration. Following the Eighty-sixth Amendment to its Constitution, India made elementary education for children a fundamental right and included Article 21A (Act 2002) in her Constitution, which states: “The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.” One would wish that the later part of that statement should have been different for ensuring a more effective and quicker implementation.
The RTE Act was not enforced for the next eight years. It was not before April 2010, following sustained efforts of a wide range of civil society originations and, in particular, dedicated educationists and campaigners, such as late Dr Vinod Raina, things started becoming slightly visible. Dr Vinod Raina, who passed away at a young age in Sep 2013, left an academic position at Delhi University to forge the RTE ACT. As a prime mover, he recognised the potential in every child to become a creative person, and need to bring out that creativeness. He recognised that creativity was not limited to only the mainstream school subjects, but could be brought out by a wholesome education system. Readers are encouraged to listen to Dr Raina via the following links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CSDfS0qDIQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzk_AoNF85g
India needs firm implementation of the RTE with an aggressive educational campaign to:
- Make unequal societies equal to the limit possible.
- Stop exploitation of the poor and the illiterate by more affluent and literate sections of the society.
- Break down the societal snobbery of the rick and influential.
- Break down the silos in which people live and operate.
- Let the lower socio-economic sections of the community come up the societal ladder via education, entrepreneurship and regular jobs, like in the west. Why can’t the rich and more educated people work for themselves, like their counterparts in the west? Why do they need domestic ‘slaves’ to work for them?
- Restore gender equity, which is a must in order to:
- Stop female foeticide
- Restore dignity of all women
- Get rid of numerous societal ills and bad social practices / taboos / stigmas due to the ignorance and exploitation of women
- Stop mindless population growth
All women must have the equal opportunity and the skills to work professionally outside their home, like their male counterparts, instead of staying at home and serve as children-producing factories.
Given that about 70% population lives in rural and backward area, one can easily argue that more than 70% children in India are marginalised based on where they are born – urban or rural areas – and the family are they born to – educated / uneducated or rich / poor? A person’s background dictates that person’s opportunities for undertaking high school and tertiary education. People of poorer background become vulnerable for exploitation by the richer and higher educated people, and keep languishing indefinitely in the lower socio-economic communities.
On papers now, the Indian Constitution provides free and compulsory education for children between the ages of 6 and 14, with an aims to bring out-of-school children, particularly those from the disadvantaged groups and those with disabilities, into the formal education system. However, due to poor implementation of the RTE Act, all children are not in the schools. As per National Coalition for Education (NCE), more than 34.5 million children were not enrolled in school in 2014.
Due to poor educational infrastructure in government schools – shortage of teacher, shortage of civil infrastructure (buildings, facilities, electricity and water), poor governance, poor learning environment etc. – especially in the rural areas, where more than 70% Indians live, the enrolment of children is not 100%. Even those students who are enrolled, the quality of education received is low.
Although the elementary school education is the state responsibility, as per the RTE Act, this responsibility is being shifted by the government to private organisations that run schools for profit. The current system, thus, promotes the growth of private schools. The elementary education and, thereafter, the opportunities in life are, therefore, monopolised by the children of the relatively richer communities. In a nutshell, the current educational system in India, instead of eliminating inequalities, is further exacerbating the factors that lead to inequality amongst its citizens.
In a country like India, education must not be seen as business by private organisations. Of course, they can contribute but the system needs to be more regulated by the government so that the overall objectives of the RTE are met without being a subject of financial affordability of the citizens.
Private education encourages formation of unequal societies, with children coming from expensive private schools turning into social snobs as they grow. This dents the respect for inherent human dignity and the dignity of work itself. Humans and works are classified as ‘superior’ and ‘inferior’ based on the educational background and wealth of the individuals. Discrimination of humans based on their wealth and calling can be construed as blasphemous on both moral and spiritual grounds.
To ensure a homogenous and educated community, which can respect and work with one another, aggressive enforcement of the RTE is a must. After all, all humans are born equal. Then, why should one enjoy more privileges than the other just because one is born in a more privileged community.
To bring equality across all her societies, government must build more schools, with adequate number of qualified permanent teachers, especially in the rural and backward areas. Bright minded teachers, with attractive remuneration and facilities, should be attracted towards the government schooling system for working in the rural and backward areas. All teachers must be appraised regularly for their performance.
Sufficient budgetary allocation must be made for elementary education. As per the following link, India spends under 4% of her GDP for education. In comparison, Pakistan spends 5% of its GDP on education. Australia, the UK and the US spend between 5% and 6% of their GDP on education.
http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/2.7
The Kothari Commission Report (1966) suggested 6% of GDP to be spent on education, but that recommendation has never been implemented.
The Indian education system begs a lot to be done, perhaps revamping of the whole system. Interestingly, India has an HRD minister, but not an Education Minster.
Internationally, the Indian secondary school students have performed poorly in their last international testing in science. In 2009, India was ranked at 72nd place out of 73 participating countries in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), organised by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (Ref. OECD. (2012). PISA 2009 Technical Report. OECD Publishing). Thereafter, India has not participated in international tests. The assessment focussed on reading, mathematics and scientific literacy of 15-year old students.
As for the university education international ranking, India does not score any better. According to the 14th annual edition of its World University Rankings (1,000 universities from 77 countries), India’s performance has deteriorated. IISc Bengaluru dropped from the 201-250 band in the previous rankings to the 251-300 band; IIT-Delhi and IIT-Kanpur fell from the 401-500 band to the 501-600 band. IIT-Madras fell from the 401-500 band to the 601-800 band. The drop comes at a time when the IITs have sought more funding under the HRD ministry’s Vishwajeet project aimed at helping them climb in global academic rankings.
For enforcement of the RTE, parents who don’t send their children to school must face several punitive actions, enforced by a joint task force led by the education and the policing departments. One way could be that such parents potentially lose the custody of the child to state, such as in Australia. Second way could be sterilisation of both parents to prevent them from having any more children. The following message must be sent boldly to all communities and enforced strictly:
‘If you can’t take care of your children and give them the RTE, you can’t have them too. You also forfeit the right to produce any more children. ‘
Sounds drastic? Well, yes? Unfortunately! Extraordinary situations warrant extraordinary solutions…and that is India, a country of 1.35 billion souls and an ever increasing population. It is a country that grows and consumes much beyond her means. Well, that is another matter! ‘…Bill K Koul