Rich-Poor gap and Education system

We often hear that our govt. policies are such that the rich is becoming richer and the poor, poorer. To me above seems to be a general concept and very similar to the survival of fittest. Howsoever general above is, but it is not good for human society. And for the very reason we have systems, processes and regulations so that the benefits of resources reach to the unprivileged and the poor.
And in all the systems where the benefits don't reach to the poor, there lies a big ? on the system and it creates many problems. Naxalism, as some people say, is one of them.


If we remember our school days I believe most of us would agree that the students who were good, were given more opportunities to develop their skills. And those who were not good in studies and some other activities, were left.
Whenever teachers were asked to bring some students for inspection and were asked to represent institute they always used to nominate only the skilled ones. I know it because I used be to one of the good students.
Now when I realize it today I feel that the teachers used to do it to save their faces. Since improving the skills of those less-students required efforts from the side of the teachers while those who used to be the skilled-students were the favorite of teachers for two reasons
1. Since they were good performers
2. They troubled teachers less since they were already skilled and were quick learners(may be because of previous school and family background)
So, this gap of skills keeps on increasing because of such outdated education system. So, by the time a student passes out of a school there is a huge gap between the skills of a student who was given more opportunities and the one who was not given much opportunities. Then there comes college life and the college all the students get admission in, also depends on their skills. And those who are more skilled get admission in a good college while those who are less-skilled get admission in a college which is not so good. And the thing responsible, for some students not getting admission in a good college, is again this outdated education system which doesn't allow some students to develop skills even if they are willing. And it is not only the teachers who are responsible for this but the entire education system and the design of curriculum.
Now this gap of skills among the students increases further since some are studying in good college while others are not.
And when it comes the time of getting employed it is but natural that only the skilled ones get employed. Again those who get employed become rich while who don't get employed remain poor. And mostly it happens that the students whose parents were reach only they become skilled, employed and hence rich. And those whose parents were not rich don't become skilled, employed and hence become poor.
So, ultimately the rich becomes richer and the poor, poorer.


So, an important conclusion which can be derived from above discussion is that the outdated-education-system is the reason behind many or almost every problem in our country. And it is also a reason behind the problems like Naxalism(which is a result of this rich-poor gap).
So, we saw how education and Naxalism are connected. What a good connection of dots!!!!!!!!
Now, when I've already connected dots and raised a problem I should also suggest some solutions on how to design a curriculum for an education institute.
These days when extra curricular activities are given more importance than the curricular activities, it becomes necessary to redefine the curricular activities.
Though I don't have experience of teaching and academics but the experience of being a student has helped me a lot in understanding the education system.


So, followings are the suggestions as per best of my knowledge
1. First of all education institutes should have an assessment test of all its students. Based on the assessment test all the students should be categorized in different grades.
2. Now, just after getting admission in an institute the student should be made aware of his score in the assessment test. Student should be made aware of where does he stands now. This practice must be followed in almost all higher education institutes.
3. The score of assessment test should reflect the student's employability(specially in a B-School).
4.Then there must be skill enhancement programs for the students which should help in improving a student's assessment-test scores and hence employability.
5. keeping in mind the assessment scores of the students the institutes should design a system which can raise students assessment-test scores to a certain level. And should improve students' employability skills to a certain level.
6. Keeping in mind the assessment-scores, the system should be designed in a way so that the number of training hours for every student should be fixed.
7. After the first assessment test there should be more such tests at least twice a trimester.
8. Before every trimester each student should be given a target to increase his/her assessment-test score to a certain level. And twice in a month or on weekly basis every students and his/her parents must be told of his/her rate of progress that whether he/she is improving with the right speed or not
9. Education services must be customized. And the curriculum should be such that the grade-sheet directly reflect the employability of students nothing else.
10. If a student is not successful even after scoring good grades then there is surely a problem with the system and not the student.
Implementing above things is not easy because in India there is not enough quantity of teachers, leave alone quality. We also need a very good student-teachers ratio probably 20-30:1.

Analysis of Right to Education

I decided to write this blog on the various aspects of Right to education. What are the important points of RTE? How will it effect the economy? and what are the challenges in implementing it? Will it really benefit the people for whom it is brought into action or it will just create a perception of good governance or a welfare state or it is just a political agenda. I will discuss all the points in this blog using my limited knowledge.



First I will list the main features of RTE:
1. Free and compulsory education to all children of India in the 6 to 14 years age group
2. No child should be held back, expelled, or required to pass a board examination until completion of elementary education
3. No child shall be denied admission in a school for lack of age proof
4. Provides for 25 percent reservation for economically disadvantaged students in
admission to Class One in all private schools
5. As per the new law the schools need to have certain minimum facilities like adequate teachers(fixed student- teacher ratio), play ground, toilets etc

I liked the 5th point most wherein it stated that there must be play ground in a school. Because I used to play Volley-ball till 10th class then I took admission in a school which did not have a playground and only I know how did I spend those two years?

My mother is a sports teacher in a govt girls' senior secondary school and there is no playground in her school. For the preparation of games she takes the student in other school. I do not how would govt ensure playground in her school because there is no space for it.

How RTE will effect the economy:
As it has been given that RTE will ensure adequate number of teachers(fix student- teachers) ratio that is 30 : 1. Which will require 5 lac new teachers and it create 5 lac new job opportunities.
Also RTE will ensure certain minimum level of infrastructure in all the schools like adequate
number of rooms and toilets. Improving infrastructure will also create jobs for many.
Hence RTE will also boost economy and will create many job opportunities.

Challenges in Implementing RTE:
There are various problems in implementing RTE
1. Different states have different minimum age of enrolling in school. In some it is less than 6. So first all the states need to change the minimum age of enrolling in school according to RTE.
2. How would government make sure that the student studying in private schools under 25% reservation belong to economically disadvantaged category.
3. It would be very challenging for the government to make sure that no discrimination takes place with students studying under 25% reservation category.
4. For me it is hard to believe that govt can ensure the same treatment with these(25%) students by the teachers and more importantly by the rest 75% students.
I strongly believe that in all the private schools two types of groups will be formed among the reserved (25%) and not reserved(75%). Which will create lot of tension for the school management(which is already in tension because of this 25% reservation for economically disadvantaged students).
5. Imposing 25% reservation in the private schools will create frustration among the management of private schools . Some have already appealed in supreme court. When govt schools are providing free education what is the need to reserve 25% seats. All the economically disadvantaged students can read in govt schools or does it indicate that govt does not believe in its own organizations?

Though there are lot of challenges in the implementation of RTE and to some it will be only a perception of good governance. It will be hardly a political agenda because the poor in India are more concerned about the food prices than educating their children. But India is a big country and there are many children who do not have access to elementary education. Hopefully they will be benefited by RTE.

I regret sometimes and think that I should have studied in an English medium school. But there were no English medium schools in my area at that time. Access to education is really important but the even more important thing is access to quality education. Now when somebody asks me whether he/she should teach his/her child in an English medium school or a Hindi medium school. I say there is no point in teaching in a Hindi medium school(I may be exaggerating). When we need English medium schools all over the India(in my opinion) govt is still struggling with elementary education. We as a nation are not keeping pace with the changing scenario.

I will edit this blog once I go to my village and get some pictures showing the infrastructure of schools.

Gendercide

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I decided to write this blog after reading an article in The Economist. Gendercide word is taken from a book by Mary Anne Warren which means murder of baby girls(or abortion) at a large extent. This article is based on the increasing boys' to girls' ratio or the distorted sex ratio. I would refer some ideas from the article and present my inputs on these.

There are three main reasons for the existence of this problem.


1. The requirement of hard physical labor especially in developing countries

2. Parents think that their daughter will leave them after her marriage and then, when they are aged, they need someone to take care of them

3. Traditional thinking that they(parents) should have a son as an heir to their and socio-economic reasons

There may be few other reasons for that but I found above reasons to be more relevant and important. Now, let's see how this problem of gendercide can be solved. Following are some ways to control the problem

1. Rise in the Service Sector Jobs:
Since service sector is one of the major reasons behind the economic empowerment of women in the developed countries. While in developing nations there is a need of hard physical labor so parents prefer boys to girls as they(boys) are fit for this requirement of hard physical labor. Now, if there will be more jobs in the service sector parents will start accepting girls though it would not be easy but I am confident that a rise in the number of jobs in the service sector will change parents pro-boys-mindset to some extent.


2. Strong Social Security System :
Now, since parents believe that their daughter will leave them after her marriage so they need someone who can take care of them when they are aged so they prefer boys. But I think if enough social security is provided to the senior citizens by govt. there will surely be a change in the mindset of the people and they will start accepting girls. Because then they wouldn't be dependent on any one hence they wouldn't bother whether a girl or a boy is born. The above mentioned cartoon exactly represents that where in the parents are dependent on their children regarding their social security. In the US where parents mortgage their homes and get an agreed amount payment from the bank till they live. Such options, if provided by the government in other countries, can really help in solving this problem called gendercide.

Then since there are also some socio-economic reasons for the existence of gendercide like in India dowry. Such social problems should also be eliminated from the society. There is need of television campaigns, strict gender discrimination laws, allocation of incentives on the birth of girl child and many such schemes.


Then there is a thought which says that wealth and development(like Hariyana, Punjab and Gujrat) is not a solution to the problem of distorted sex ratio and this problem is also there in some parts(Asian Americans) of the US. Here we need to understand one thing that economical and technological changes happen at a faster rate but the society and the traditions or the mindset change at a slower rate. Also in most of the cases social changes(mindset and traditions) are a byproduct of the economical and technological changes.

Now the same thing applies to the Asian Americans. Since Asia is a traditional continent so when Asians go to America they(Asians) may not have the same mindset as that of the Americans that is, they(Asians) may still prefer boys to girls. And there is nothing surprising in this because Asian-Americans haven't spent as much time in the US as the actual(native) Americans have. Asian-Americans may also have the same mindset as that of the native Americans but for that we should give them as much time as the native Americans have spent there in the US and we should wait for their(Asian- Americans) 2 or 3 generations because traditions and the mindset do not change over night. It may be that we cannot afford this slow speed but things take their own time.