Education System In India

According to a recent report in the DNA, India is going to experience a paradox of nearly 90 million people joining the workforce but most of them will lack requiste skills and the mindset for productive employment. India’s education system turns out millions of graduates each year, many skilled in IT and Engineering. While India’s demographics are generally perceived to give it an edge over other countries’ economies (India will have a youthful population when other countries have ageing populations), if this advantage is restricted to a small, highly educated elite, the domestic political consequences could be severe. With 35 per cent of the population under the age of 15, India’s education system faces numerous challenges.
Since Independence, successive Indian governments have had to address a number of key challenges with regard to education policy, which has always formed a crucial part of its development agenda. The key challenges are:
• improving access and quality at all levels of education;
• increasing funding, especially with regard to higher education;
• improving literacy rates.
ACCESS AND QUALITY AT ALL LEVELS OF EDUCATION
Regardless of the efforts to include all sections of the population into the Indian education system, through mechanisms such as positive discrimination and nonformal education, large numbers of children are still without schooling. Although enrolment in primary education has increased, it is estimated that at least 35-45 million children aged 6–14 years are not in school (Focus on Policy: India 2002). Severe gender, regional, and caste disparities are also to be blamed. The main problems are the high drop-out rate, especially after Class X, low levels of learning, inadequate school infrastructure, poorly functioning schools, high teacher absenteeism, the large number of teacher vacancies, poor quality of education and inadequate funds. Other groups of children ‘at risk’, such as orphans, child-labourers, street children and victims of riots and natural disasters, do not necessarily have access to schools.



Moreover, there is no common school system; instead children are channeled into private, government-aided and government schools on the basis of ability to pay and social class. At the top end are English-language schools affiliated to the upscale CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education), CISCE (Council for the Indian Schools Certificates Examination) and IB (International Baccalaureate) examination boards, offering globally recognized syllabus and curriculum. Those who cannot afford private schooling attend English-language government-aided schools, affiliated to state-level examination boards. And on the bottom rung are poorly managed government or municipal schools, which cater for the children of the poor majority. Therefore, while education for all is safeguarded by the Constitution, and a majority of people can now access educational resources, the quality of the education that young people in Indian receive varies widely according to their means and background, which is a worrying and problematic trend.

FUNDING AND HIGHER EDUCATION
Under the Constitution, responsibility for education is shared between central and state governments. The central government sets policy, stimulates innovation and plans frameworks. The state governments are responsible for running the education system on the ground. This has exacerbated problems since states have differing resources to allocate to education. It is the inadequacy of resources that has recently become the most pressing and central issue. Allocation is another issue. When resources are scarce, what are the state’s priorities? In general, southern richer states do better than the poorer, northern ones.
According to India Together(15th September 2004):“The Central and state governments are hard put to mobilise 4 per cent of GDP for education.... With 59 million children out-of-school and another 90 million in school learning very little, the common school system is not a utopian ideal dug out from the archives of the Kothari Commission, but an imperative that will decide India’s place in the comity of nations.”

The number of engineering colleges across the country demonstrates incredible diversity, and has helped contribute to the concentration of high-technology industry in southern India. But the disparity between these states and northern states is dramatic; Bihar, for instance, has less than one engineering college for every 10 million people in the state; Tamil Nadu has almost four colleges for every million people. The growth of the
IT and BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) industries and the related spread of computer use and application in the private sector has had a significant impact on the expansion of the highly skilled labour market, and thus on higher education. In fact, private sector education is a growing field in itself, estimated to make up nearly 2 per cent of GDP. Unfortunately, this top-quality education is restricted not only geographically to those areas where the IT industries are based, but also according to ability to pay, as the private-sector educational institutions charge prohibitive fees. Negotiating the need to share the burden of funding higher education between the public and private sectors has been a continual problem for the Indian government.

LITERACY- NUMBERS AND GENDER

India’s aim of providing basic education for all stems from the empowering and redistributive impact of education. According to 2001 census India has about 550 million people under the age of 25 years out of which only 11% are enrolled in tertiary institutions compared to the world average of 23%. And Only 60% population is literate.


Until recently, literacy, and the related issue of access to schooling, have taken precedenceover curricular content. J. Dreze and A. Sen argue:
“Literacy is an essential tool for self-defence in a society where social interactions include the written media. An illiterate person is significantly less equipped to defend herself in court, to obtain a bank loan, to enforce inheritance rights, to take advantage of new technology, to compete for secure employment, to get onto the right bus, to take part in political activity – in short, to participate successfully in the modern economy and society.”
Unsurprisingly, literacy rates vary widely between states, and between genders. The northern Hindi-belt states, whose economic performance has been worse than that of western and southern states, have lower literacy rates. Female literacy varies from around 34 per cent in Bihar to 88 per cent in Kerala; male literacy varies between 60 per cent in Bihar and 94 per cent in Kerala. Rajasthan suffers the widest gender difference: female literacy stands at 44 per cent; male at 77 per cent. One of the main aims of education policy in the 1990s was to accelerate the progress of literacy and school attendance and to create an equitable system for girls,14 as had been planned by the Kothari Commission in 1964. The literacy rates (national) for male and female, according to 2001 census stands at 75.85 percent and 54.16 percent respectively. Education, under nutrition, and gender discrimination are all interrelated. For example, infant’s health depends on the care taken by mother during pregnancy which in turn depends on her education and also the education in the community. Further, an educated mother is better equipped to help her children in studies. So, there is a need for change in the social attitude of rural people towards women and women education.
(1171 words)
(images from Google.com)

Female Literacy Mission

Dr.Manmohan Singh on the notable occassion of International Literacy Day on tuesday, 8th sept launched Rs.65 billion literacy mission named Saakshar Bharat. This will be a renewed effort to functionally literate women in the next five years . This is aimed to reduce the gender gap that has persisted despite the two decade old drive- the National Mission for Female Literacy. Dr.Singh intends to involve the community in its implementation and "utilise the potential and promise of panchayati raj institutions and women's self help groups." He said “In fact, many observers have seen infrastructure development in the economic sector and female literacy in the social sector as two very critical factors that impede India’s steady climb to a higher and sustainable level of growth and development.”
As with any promise or public policy, the follow-through and implementation is the litmus test.

How Big is YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT????

http://www.livemint.com/2009/06/04230851/How-big-is-your-carbon-footpri.html
I was compelled to calculate my carbon footprint after reading the article. The results appalled me:

• Your footprint is 5.59 tonnes per year
• The average footprint for people in India is 1.20 tonnes
• The average for the industrial nations is about 11 tonnes
• The average worldwide carbon footprint is about 4 tonnes
• The worldwide target to combat climate change is 2 tonnes
We all contribute to the warming every day in form of our choices of heating, travel, water usage, garbage disposal etc..
Its therefore important to calculate your personal impact and the ways in which you can reduce the size of your carbon footprints..

Independence Day

“Ask Not What Your Country Can Do For You, Ask What Can You Do For Your Country”
John Kennedy

What are we celebrating about this Independence Day? Do we really understand and appreciate the sacrifices made by our ancestors for our country’s freedom?
For most of the Indians, 15th August every year means lots of rhetoric, the prime minister’s speech and ofcourse a holiday. We live in one of the most corrupt countries. Ours is one of the most oppressive police regimes. We suffer every day due to a few archaic and obsolete laws. Our judicial systems is one of the most disorganized in the world and we have enormous backlog of judicial cases.42% Indians live under povertyline which means one third global poor reside in India. The population size, declining sex ratio, high illiteracy rates etc are few of the issues we discuss a lot but fail to do anything about them.
Yes, India is shining. Yes India is the only growing economy in the world in the current downturn. Yes, India has a mass technological base, with some of the best scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors, technologists in the world. But these skills serve and live amongst no more than 5% to 10% of India's population.
Does democracy means only the chance to vote once in five years? What should the debt ridden farmers of Maharashtra celebrate about? What should the beggars you see every day at the traffic signal celebrate about? And what should the rape survivors justice denied women celebrate about? The mockery of the sacrifices made by the freedom fighters?
Since Independence Day symbolizes the great leadership which was powerful enough to overthrow a foreign empire, if I was the PM of India I would make it compulsory for anyone contesting in elections to have a certain educational eligibility so that the leaders of the country maintain a certain standard. I would ask the citizens to take pledge to not to bribe any official.
Like joy and happiness cannot be forced onto people so can’t be a sense of celebration. Even if I was the PM of the nation I would not make any kind of celebration compulsory.

Women and Empowerment

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/08/13/afghanistan-law-curbing-women-s-rights-takes-effect
The recent law passed in Afghanistan that justifies that a husband can starve his wife if his sexual desires are not fulfilled is a farce on the democracy.
According to Human Rights Watch, the new law also “grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers” and “effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying ‘blood money’ to a girl who was injured when he raped her.”
Nauseating
The new law was signed by President Hamid Karzai, who is depending on support from Sheik Muhammad Asif Mohseni, the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric, in the presidential election. Shiites, who were oppressed by the Sunni-led Taliban government, are believed to make up between 10 and 20 percent of Afghanistan’s population. Sheik Mohseni and scholars close to him were allowed to write the first draft of the new law, and he was reportedly unhappy that Parliament had introduced a provision that banned men from marrying girls under the age of 16.
Although the law is made for only a particular sect of Islamic women residing in Afghanistan, its implications are global. The multi-billion dollar multi-national pornography industry celebrates and promotes the violent degradation of women and children as de-facto global culture. Western males are major consumers of this “product”. The only difference with Afghanistan is that they have written that practice into law.
In India, plight of women is not less disturbing. Manusmṛti the most important and earliest metrical work of the Dharmaśāstra textual tradition of Hinduism, [preaches “Na Stree Swathantryam Arhati” meaning woman is undeserving for independence. A shocking study reveals that half of the world’s malnourished children live in India owing primarily to the lack of nutritious food available to the mother. In all the critical stages, be it infancy, childhood, adolescence or the reproductive phase many women suffer malnutrition purely due to the discrimination and the narrow mindsets of the society.
But despite all the measures there should be a strong determination among every man that every woman in this country should be honored. Only then empowerment in its true meaning will be realized.

Electricity will solve India's population problem: Azad

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_electricity-will-solve-india-s-population-problem-azad_1273240
DNA 12th July 2009

On the occasion of the World Population Day on the 11th July, India’s health and family welfare minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, suggested that every rural home in India should have a television. As he sees the TV as a panacea to fix the country’s ‘population crisis’ - that is, people could watch TV till late night and will thus have less time for procreation. This means less poor, starving, malnourished rural babies. Crisis solved!
His comments caught me thinking how serious our govt about family planning is when our population increases by 18 million every year and is expected to surpass that of China by 2028. That is the kind of comment to be expected when a country’s Health and Family Welfare minister is not a medical expert but a zoology proficient.
While the health minister has warned that India is "sitting on a volatile volcano", some demographic experts question the whole premise of the population doomsday scenario.
They point to growing evidence that population growth decreases as the economic and social status of people, and especially women, improves.
Nine relatively affluent Indian states, including Maharashtra and Punjab, boast fertility rates — the number of children an average woman produces — as low as 1.8, compared with a national average of 3.4 in 1993.
In the 1980s, the government launched a popular slogan "Hum Do Hamare Do" (We Two and Our Two) suggesting a small family — with two children — is a happy family.
This made sense to the middle and upper-income groups but had little impact among India’s poorer masses, for whom number of children was number of earning hands. The importance attached to male child also meant that many couples with two daughters would keep trying for a son.
Indian Catholic Bishops disagree, however, and are, in fact, encouraging couples to have children. The Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council announced at the beginning of July that they were initiating a campaign to offer medical interventions against infertility, including reversing tubal ligations.
"Don't think I am saying this in a lighter vein. I am serious. When light will reach (villages), 80 per cent of population growth can be reduced through TV," Azad said, adding that the government is working to ensure greater rural electrification. God be with us!

Agriculture Extension

In most developing countries agriculture is one of the most important economic activity providing income, employment, and foreign exchange. Without an efficient agricultural sector, a country is severely constrained in its ability to feed itself or import foreign products for domestic consumption and development.
Extension education is an applied behavioural science, the knowledge of which is applied to bring about desirable changes in the behavioural complex of human beings usually through various strategies & programmes of change & by applying the latest scientific & technological innovations.Extension education has now developed as a full-fledged discipline, having its own philosophy, objectives, principles, methods & techniques which must be understood by every extension worker & others connected with the rural development. It might be mentioned here that extension education, its principles, methods & techniques are applicable not only to agriculture but also to veterinary & animal husbandry, dairying, home science, health, family planning, etc. Based upon its application & use, various nomenclatures have been given to it, such as agricultural extension, veterinary & animal husbandry extension, dairy extension, home science extension, public health extension, & family planning extension.
An important objective of agricultural extension is to increase the knowledge of farmers about the crops and cropping practices.additional knowledge is expected to improve crop husbandry and increase productivity.
In India, the terms community development & extension education became more popular with the launching of Community Development Projects in 1952 & with the establishment of the National Extension Service in 1953. Since then, Community development has been regarded as a programme for an all-round development of the rural people, & extension education as the means to achieve this objective.
The fundamental objective of extension education is the development of the people.
Agricultural extension in our country is primarily concerned with the following main objectives:
(1) The dissemination of useful & practical information relating to agriculture, including improved seeds, fertilizers, implements, pesticides, improved cultural practices, dairying, poultry, nutrition, etc.
(2) The practical application of useful knowledge to farm & home and
(3) Thereby ultimately to improve all aspects of the life of the rural people within the framework of the national, economic & social policies involving the population as a whole.
In a country like India where 2/3rd of the population depend on agriculture and 1/4th of country’s GDP is contributed by agriculture, it is very upsetting to note the coverage of agriculture in media including print and electronic which is even less than 2 percent.
Driven by the facts of poor extension services and apathy of media for agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India has taken a bold initiative to use Mass Media in Agriculture Extension.
Under this central sector scheme The existing infrastructure of DD and AIR is
being utilised for the production and telecast of 30-minute agricultural programmes five or six days a week. Programmes are being produced by 36 narrowcasting centres 18 regional kendras and DD’s national channel, as well as 96 FM stations of AIR.Farmers’ feedback is being collected regularly through the Audience Research Units (ARUs) of DD and AIR. State/district-level monitoring committees are mandated to guide and monitor implementation of the scheme at the respective levels.Audio/video spots on emerging issues viz. Rabi/Kharif campaign, Kisan Call Centres, Kisan Credit Card, MSPs, etc. are also publicised through these programmes using free commercial time. An amount of Rs 104.22 crore has been released to Prasar Bharati for the same.
The task of rural development by the media is an arduous one as most of the mass media is quite often urban-biased and urban-based in their content. More often than not, their approach, being individual-centric rather than idea-centric, keeps agriculture and rural development out of the loop.