As we complete 60 years of our independence, we need to analyse if, as a country, we have lived up to the hopes, expectations and aspirations of the people. Certainly, we have. But only of a few, of a very small minority who have benefited from throwing off the yoke of slavery of 200-odd years. Most of those who dreamed visions of dignity, of living life on one’s own terms, of being one’s own master, have had to be disappointed. Their hopes for leading a decent life, not a prosperous one, have remained unfulfilled because, among others, we failed to delivery basic education. A free India has not been able to free its people from the chains of illiteracy. India, today, is home to the largest number of illiterates in the world. As India emerges as the third largest economy in the world, registering 9 per cent growth and nursing the dream of becoming a global power, how do we tap into the huge potential of our poor and non-literate population?
If India wants to forge ahead in its quest for a role in global affairs it cannot allow itself to be dragged down by one-third of its unschooled population. Let us see if we can learn from our past mistakes. The most important reason why we are dogged by illiteracy is our failure to have a common school system across the country. Confusion has reigned supreme for 60 years in the field of education.
We have a bewildering variety of schools: Government schools, private schools, Panchayat schools, Zilla Parishad schools, aided schools and un-aided schools and now international schools. It is no wonder that quality of education that these schools deliver is highly uneven. In pre-independence days, the system was far more just and equitable. In a village, the landlord’s children and the children of his bonded labourers went to the same school. The upper caste and dalit children were taught by the same teacher. It is a different thing that the upper caste and the rich might have pursued higher education or found jobs in the government but all children had equal access to quality primary education. To that extent, equity was inbuilt into the system.
Over the years, private schools have mushroomed. The government-run schools fell behind and the private schools surged ahead, in quality as also quantity. It is time for the state to take back education from the private sector in the interest of equity. It should first and foremost, introduce a common system of education across the country. It should also do away with different systems of examinations like the state board, CBSE, ICSE and so on as these too foster inequity and bias with state boards being perceived as lesser than the rest. The concept of neighbourhood schools has been talked about for years and their advantages discussed unendingly but nothing moved on the ground because the private schools have become very rich, very powerful and politically well networked and any move that will pare their profits is countered effectively.
This multi-layered school system has delivered a highly variable quality education which has created deep fissures in our already-divided society, creating education-haves and have-nots. The poor, rural-based students have lagged behind as their school education does not equip them with the skills to compete in or qualify for higher education and professional courses. Therefore, jobs in the emerging sectors remain beyond their reach. This is the case with the urban poor who attend English medium private schools at great cost but do not, or cannot, rise to the level of the middle-class in terms of acquisition of knowledge, language skills and proficiency in computer skills, all of which have become essential qualifications in today’s world.
We need uniform quality of teaching, infrastructure and learning or teaching material which are possible with norms being not just formulated but implemented as well. Poor infrastructure like lack of drinking water and toilets are a great deterrent especially for girls which perhaps explains the shocking dropout rate of girls from middle school, after they attain menarche. Lack of learning and teaching material de-motivates both teachers and students from coming to the classroom. When the teacher cannot teach, the student will not learn and the nation is the loser. The parents may well be poor but if the government-run schools don’t deliver quality they seek out private schools as their hopes for their children are no less than any other parent.
Learning, at school level is a traumatic experience for all the above reasons and also because schools are unfriendly and learning tends to be a punishment than anything else. Learning should be as much fun for the student as teaching for the teachers. Education should be a liberating experience in more ways then one and for everybody concerned. Is this a tall order? Not really. It cannot be if one wants to tap the potential of one-third of our people who do not go to school. It cannot be if we don’t want to be dragged down by the burden of illiteracy. Education should be the top priority if India has to realise its dream of being counted as one of the few countries that will inspire the rest.
(The writer is Principal, University College of Arts and Social Sciences, Osmania University,
Hyderabad.)
