India aims to rewrite its education policy

KHARPEENA – Like millions of Indian boys his age, Lakhma has a dream: he wants to be a doctor when he grows up.

So the scrawny 13-year-old from the desert state of Rajasthan gets up at the crack of dawn every day and walks nearly seven kilometres to attend a government school. “It takes me about an hour-and-a-half to reach school as I have to walk through hilly terrain and cross a small river on the way,” said Lakhma, a poor lower-caste farmer’s son in Kharpeena village, about 25 km from the historic city of Udaipur.”If the river is swollen, I can’t get to school.But I always try and make it.”Lakhma’s determination is unusual in a country where grinding poverty and poorly equipped and staffed schools force about 40 per cent of children to drop out before they are 10.Although India has some of the best engineering and medical schools in the world and also one of the largest pools of scientists, nearly 40 per cent of Indians are still illiterate.The law provides for free and compulsory education up to the age of 14, and the literacy rate has been rising over the years.But it doesn’t take more than basic reading and writing skills for a person to be called literate.”We need to get rid of the definition of literacy which says you are literate if you can sign your name, as a lot of people considered literate can’t read or write,” said M Rajan of Pratham, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) providing non-formal education.MAKESHIFT SCHOOLSEducation is one of the focus areas of the new left-backed Congress government, which has unveiled billions of dollars of spending for the poor in line with its promise to usher in reforms with a human face.It has announced plans to double spending on education to six per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), while imposing a two per cent tax on all federal taxes to finance it.But experts say merely pumping in more funds isn’t enough:the government also needs to boost the quality of teaching and infrastructure, especially at its roughly 600 000 primary schools.”There are few teachers in schools and the drop-out rate is very high,” said Alka Bhardwaj, an education expert with Seva Mandir, an NGO that runs non-formal schools in Rajasthan.”As a result, many so-called English medium-private schools have mushroomed, where the teachers do not speak any English.”In a government school in Kharpeena village, for example, around 200 students were crammed into five tiny rooms with leaky roofs and no benches or tables.Some kids even spilled out on to the verandah.Because the school has no support staff, students pitch in with chores like fetching water and sweeping the floor.Many private schools operate out of makeshift structures with temporary thatch roofs and few conform to basic building safety and fire standards.Last month, 90 children lost their lives in a blaze at one such school in southern India.There are other problems:high absenteeism among teachers who are rarely held accountable, a curriculum that revolves around rote learning, books written in languages children don’t understand and texts that change with every change in government.”In some cases, teachers subcontract their jobs to any slightly educated person in a village while they manage neighbourhood provision stores,” said an aid worker.”The other problem is that the number of enrolments among girls is very low.And girls mostly drop out early as they are married off by 13 or 14.”NON-FORMAL EDUCATIONAs a result, many NGOs are experimenting with non-formal methods of education using posters, street theatre and music groups to spread the message about literacy and teach children.In the village of Gauriganj in the poor northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Pratham has taught 8,000 school dropouts to read since February, using volunteers to provide three months of intensive training before sending children back to regular schools.Local MP Rahul Gandhi wants the scheme to be expanded throughout the state.The real problem lies with the lack of interest in primary education among the elite.”The way our society is organised is very unequal,” he told Reuters on a recent visit to the village.”It is in the interests of the upper castes to get university education because they can almost guarantee primary education themselves.””So our whole education system has been skewed towards university education.We have the best universities in the world, but in primary education we have practically nothing,” said the latest member of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty to enter politics.Parents often fork out a fortune for private schools, often set up by former teachers, landowners and entrepreneurs.Silva Narain, a driver who earns about 5 000 rupees (about N$726) a month and who lives in a sprawling slum in Delhi, struggled to pay a tutor 200 rupees (about N$29) a month to help his son get through his school leaving exam.Even so, the 18-year-old failed.”What can we do? We can either look after the children or teach them, because each of us has to look after at least 60 students each,” said a teacher in Kharpeena, standing beside a thatch hut as chickens scampered around her.- Nampa-Reuters Additional reporting by Simon Denyer in Gauriganj”It takes me about an hour-and-a-half to reach school as I have to walk through hilly terrain and cross a small river on the way,” said Lakhma, a poor lower-caste farmer’s son in Kharpeena village, about 25 km from the historic city of Udaipur.”If the river is swollen, I can’t get to school.But I always try and make it.”Lakhma’s determination is unusual in a country where grinding poverty and poorly equipped and staffed schools force about 40 per cent of children to drop out before they are 10.Although India has some of the best engineering and medical schools in the world and also one of the largest pools of scientists, nearly 40 per cent of Indians are still illiterate.The law provides for free and compulsory education up to the age of 14, and the literacy rate has been rising over the years.But it doesn’t take more than basic reading and writing skills for a person to be called literate.”We need to get rid of the definition of literacy which says you are literate if you can sign your name, as a lot of people considered literate can’t read or write,” said M Rajan of Pratham, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) providing non-formal education.MAKESHIFT SCHOOLSEducation is one of the focus areas of the new left-backed Congress government, which has unveiled billions of dollars of spending for the poor in line with its promise to usher in reforms with a human face.It has announced plans to double spending on education to six per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), while imposing a two per cent tax on all federal taxes to finance it.But experts say merely pumping in more funds isn’t enough:the government also needs to boost the quality of teaching and infrastructure, especially at its roughly 600 000 primary schools.”There are few teachers in schools and the drop-out rate is very high,” said Alka Bhardwaj, an education expert with Seva Mandir, an NGO that runs non-formal schools in Rajasthan.”As a result, many so-called English medium-private schools have mushroomed, where the teachers do not speak any English.”In a government school in Kharpeena village, for example, around 200 students were crammed into five tiny rooms with leaky roofs and no benches or tables.Some kids even spilled out on to the verandah.Because the school has no support staff, students pitch in with chores like fetching water and sweeping the floor.Many private schools operate out of makeshift structures with temporary thatch roofs and few conform to basic building safety and fire standards.Last month, 90 children lost their lives in a blaze at one such school in southern India.There are other problems:high absenteeism among teachers who are rarely held accountable, a curriculum that revolves around rote learning, books written in languages children don’t understand and texts that change with every change in government.”In some cases, teachers subcontract their jobs to any slightly educated person in a village while they manage neighbour
hood provision stores,” said an aid worker.”The other problem is that the number of enrolments among girls is very low.And girls mostly drop out early as they are married off by 13 or 14.”NON-FORMAL EDUCATIONAs a result, many NGOs are experimenting with non-formal methods of education using posters, street theatre and music groups to spread the message about literacy and teach children.In the village of Gauriganj in the poor northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Pratham has taught 8,000 school dropouts to read since February, using volunteers to provide three months of intensive training before sending children back to regular schools.Local MP Rahul Gandhi wants the scheme to be expanded throughout the state.The real problem lies with the lack of interest in primary education among the elite.”The way our society is organised is very unequal,” he told Reuters on a recent visit to the village.”It is in the interests of the upper castes to get university education because they can almost guarantee primary education themselves.””So our whole education system has been skewed towards university education.We have the best universities in the world, but in primary education we have practically nothing,” said the latest member of the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty to enter politics.Parents often fork out a fortune for private schools, often set up by former teachers, landowners and entrepreneurs.Silva Narain, a driver who earns about 5 000 rupees (about N$726) a month and who lives in a sprawling slum in Delhi, struggled to pay a tutor 200 rupees (about N$29) a month to help his son get through his school leaving exam.Even so, the 18-year-old failed.”What can we do? We can either look after the children or teach them, because each of us has to look after at least 60 students each,” said a teacher in Kharpeena, standing beside a thatch hut as chickens scampered around her.- Nampa-Reuters Additional reporting by Simon Denyer in Gauriganj