The future of a country largely depends on its children's education. No country can afford to compromise on education front. But India is a country where majority of children enroll in government school and these schools lag behind in inculcating the talent which growing economy of India would demand in coming times. Many political parties talk about inclusive growth but none have plans about how to achieve; some prefer reservation while some acknowledge it and rest prefer to ignore the problem itself.
I would say inclusive growth can be achieved only when country's children get access to quality education. Although India is making leaps in economic growth, government school had little role to play in economic growth. Any survey of white collar professionals will reveal that most of them were not educated at government schools. The quality of education at government schools does not prepare students for bright careers, although few made to the main stream. An inclusive growth would remain a distant dream, as it had been for decades, until political parties pay attention to the quality of education at government schools.
Government schools usually lack teachers, class rooms, or even basic amenities.Government has taken some good initiatives to increase the school enrollment ; providing free meal and books deserve appreciation. These initiatives will definitely reduce the literacy rate. Does this all we need? It would be a marketing gimmick to increase the enrollments and present a cosy-cosy picture of literacy but underlying problem of quality education at government schools remains unaddressed. Actual parameters to assess the literacy rate should include the impact government schools make on economy.
Another interesting point is that most of the white collar jobs in India require good hold of English language but medium of instruction at government schools is either local language or Hindi, thus putting the students at disadvantage if students aspire for better career opportunities. This obstruction derails the dreams of millions of students and govt. is still blind to this problem. The government need to bridge the gap between what talent economy require and what is being taught at schools.
Last but not the least, govt. must accept that government education system has failed in its objective of community development and it need public private partnerships to reform the education sector. Government must outsource education delivery to private sector and bear the bill. No matter how costly this move would be, investment on children would returns huge fortunes for the country. After all they are future of India.
I would say inclusive growth can be achieved only when country's children get access to quality education. Although India is making leaps in economic growth, government school had little role to play in economic growth. Any survey of white collar professionals will reveal that most of them were not educated at government schools. The quality of education at government schools does not prepare students for bright careers, although few made to the main stream. An inclusive growth would remain a distant dream, as it had been for decades, until political parties pay attention to the quality of education at government schools.
Government schools usually lack teachers, class rooms, or even basic amenities.Government has taken some good initiatives to increase the school enrollment ; providing free meal and books deserve appreciation. These initiatives will definitely reduce the literacy rate. Does this all we need? It would be a marketing gimmick to increase the enrollments and present a cosy-cosy picture of literacy but underlying problem of quality education at government schools remains unaddressed. Actual parameters to assess the literacy rate should include the impact government schools make on economy.
Another interesting point is that most of the white collar jobs in India require good hold of English language but medium of instruction at government schools is either local language or Hindi, thus putting the students at disadvantage if students aspire for better career opportunities. This obstruction derails the dreams of millions of students and govt. is still blind to this problem. The government need to bridge the gap between what talent economy require and what is being taught at schools.
Last but not the least, govt. must accept that government education system has failed in its objective of community development and it need public private partnerships to reform the education sector. Government must outsource education delivery to private sector and bear the bill. No matter how costly this move would be, investment on children would returns huge fortunes for the country. After all they are future of India.
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