Extracts from Various News Papers about the state of education in India.
The Issues
Times of India December 6th 2011
UP minister for small-scale industries draws salary as principal, teacher
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh minister for small-scale industries Chandra Dev Ram Yadav, who is already under the Lokayukta's scanner for doubling up as a serving headmaster in his home town Azamgarh, holds a third lucrative charge. In a chance discovery on Thursday, Lokayukta Justice NK Mehrotra found that Yadav had been functioning as manager at Kashi Vidya Mandir, a primary school in Azamgarh's Hajipur.
While his contribution as manager to the school is still not clear, the assignment is making him richer by approximately 4,50,000 a month as salaries of all 17 teachers in the staff, was found to be credited to his account regularly. It was discovered that the list of teachers was fictitious.
Kashi Vidhya Mandir, is one of the 83 (highest number in UP and Uttarakhand) schools in Azamgarh that get a special monthly grant from the state social welfare department for having on their rolls an unusually high number of scheduled caste students.
Going by the testimony of the district welfare officer SN Dwivedi, it is the only school of the district where teachers salaries do not go to their respective bank accounts but credited to the bank manager's account.
The practice followed by the KVM is to send in a demand note every month with a signed paper to the bank manager certifying that the teacher mentioned by name, carried out his duty during the specified month.
https://pritamkabe.wordpress.
Basic Education in India – Lack of Teacher Accountability, NOT Technology, is the Real Issue.
Conclusion:
Lack of technology, or lack of funds, is NOT the real issue in the Indian education system. All the current educational programs in India are shying away and NOT addressing the root cause of the educational issues. At least from what i saw in India, the real issue in the public education system in India is the lack of accountability, in particular teacher accountability. And unless this issue is addressed, the quality of education in India will NOT improve. It is time we stop ignoring the customer (the parent/student) and start empowering them. The teacher accountability issue in India is a very complicated and difficult issue to deal with. Addressing it will require the will of the Indian government, and an improvement in the quality of demand – in the form of a cultural shift and support from the educated mass. And technology can play its part in creating a positive change ONLY if used the right way, by thinking in terms of the local context – by taking into consideration the social, cultural, and economic conditions.
Action taken by the state(s)
Extract from Op-ed in the Indian Express on Oct 8th, 2011.
The failure of the Indian education system must count as the Indian government’s greatest failure. Over 90 percent of students drop out of school by the 12th grade and only six percent go on to tertiary education, to cite just one dismal statistic. We have to understand that the failure is primarily due to flawed policies that the government has consistently imposed on the education sector. Aakash, like its predecessor the “$10 laptop”, is just another distraction, but a very costly distraction.
It is costly in many ways. First, the government should not be subsidizing consumer electronics. Electronics is the most competitive industry in the world and extremely competent huge corporations are constantly innovating with the result that costs move downwards monotonically. Governments are incapable of choosing winners in technology, and the Indian government has demonstrated particular ineptitude in that regard.
Second, the lack of real commitment to fix primary education is especially hard on the poorest sections of the society. Promoting digital gizmos at immense public costs only widens the gap between the haves and the have nots. Something like half the 7th standard students cannot read, write or do simple arithmetic. Where a hundred million suffer illiteracy, attempting to promote digital literacy cannot but be a cynical exercise in self-promotion and aggrandizement.
A press conference saying that India has invested in providing blackboards and teachers in 100,000 schools that lack them would not be as headline grabbing as one which parades a me-too device hyped as an “iPad killer.” A policy of funding toilets in schools (needed to alleviate the suffering of girl children especially) does not have the sex appeal of a policy of handing out digital gizmos. But the production and distribution of hi-tech gadgets offer immense opportunities to profit for the producers and the government – never mind at what cost to the public.
Press releases that repeat the claim by the government that the Aakash tablet will be sold in tens of millions of units fail to do basic arithmetic. The subsidy costs could run into billions of dollars. Like so many other government schemes, the Aakash tablet, in the unlikely event that it is actually produced, will ultimately be funded by the poor through increased inflation. Unlike Mr Sibal, the poor suffer when the government runs the printing presses at the mint overtime.
http://www.livechennai.com/
The Issues
Times of India December 6th 2011
UP minister for small-scale industries draws salary as principal, teacher
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh minister for small-scale industries Chandra Dev Ram Yadav, who is already under the Lokayukta's scanner for doubling up as a serving headmaster in his home town Azamgarh, holds a third lucrative charge. In a chance discovery on Thursday, Lokayukta Justice NK Mehrotra found that Yadav had been functioning as manager at Kashi Vidya Mandir, a primary school in Azamgarh's Hajipur.
While his contribution as manager to the school is still not clear, the assignment is making him richer by approximately 4,50,000 a month as salaries of all 17 teachers in the staff, was found to be credited to his account regularly. It was discovered that the list of teachers was fictitious.
Kashi Vidhya Mandir, is one of the 83 (highest number in UP and Uttarakhand) schools in Azamgarh that get a special monthly grant from the state social welfare department for having on their rolls an unusually high number of scheduled caste students.
Going by the testimony of the district welfare officer SN Dwivedi, it is the only school of the district where teachers salaries do not go to their respective bank accounts but credited to the bank manager's account.
The practice followed by the KVM is to send in a demand note every month with a signed paper to the bank manager certifying that the teacher mentioned by name, carried out his duty during the specified month.
https://pritamkabe.wordpress.
Basic Education in India – Lack of Teacher Accountability, NOT Technology, is the Real Issue.
Conclusion:
Lack of technology, or lack of funds, is NOT the real issue in the Indian education system. All the current educational programs in India are shying away and NOT addressing the root cause of the educational issues. At least from what i saw in India, the real issue in the public education system in India is the lack of accountability, in particular teacher accountability. And unless this issue is addressed, the quality of education in India will NOT improve. It is time we stop ignoring the customer (the parent/student) and start empowering them. The teacher accountability issue in India is a very complicated and difficult issue to deal with. Addressing it will require the will of the Indian government, and an improvement in the quality of demand – in the form of a cultural shift and support from the educated mass. And technology can play its part in creating a positive change ONLY if used the right way, by thinking in terms of the local context – by taking into consideration the social, cultural, and economic conditions.
Action taken by the state(s)
Extract from Op-ed in the Indian Express on Oct 8th, 2011.
The failure of the Indian education system must count as the Indian government’s greatest failure. Over 90 percent of students drop out of school by the 12th grade and only six percent go on to tertiary education, to cite just one dismal statistic. We have to understand that the failure is primarily due to flawed policies that the government has consistently imposed on the education sector. Aakash, like its predecessor the “$10 laptop”, is just another distraction, but a very costly distraction.
It is costly in many ways. First, the government should not be subsidizing consumer electronics. Electronics is the most competitive industry in the world and extremely competent huge corporations are constantly innovating with the result that costs move downwards monotonically. Governments are incapable of choosing winners in technology, and the Indian government has demonstrated particular ineptitude in that regard.
Second, the lack of real commitment to fix primary education is especially hard on the poorest sections of the society. Promoting digital gizmos at immense public costs only widens the gap between the haves and the have nots. Something like half the 7th standard students cannot read, write or do simple arithmetic. Where a hundred million suffer illiteracy, attempting to promote digital literacy cannot but be a cynical exercise in self-promotion and aggrandizement.
A press conference saying that India has invested in providing blackboards and teachers in 100,000 schools that lack them would not be as headline grabbing as one which parades a me-too device hyped as an “iPad killer.” A policy of funding toilets in schools (needed to alleviate the suffering of girl children especially) does not have the sex appeal of a policy of handing out digital gizmos. But the production and distribution of hi-tech gadgets offer immense opportunities to profit for the producers and the government – never mind at what cost to the public.
Press releases that repeat the claim by the government that the Aakash tablet will be sold in tens of millions of units fail to do basic arithmetic. The subsidy costs could run into billions of dollars. Like so many other government schemes, the Aakash tablet, in the unlikely event that it is actually produced, will ultimately be funded by the poor through increased inflation. Unlike Mr Sibal, the poor suffer when the government runs the printing presses at the mint overtime.
http://www.livechennai.com/
Jayalalitha inaugurates Free Laptop - Cattle scheme
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today inaugurated the flagship schemes at a function here as part of the 103rd birth anniversary celebrations of dravidian leader C N Annadurai.
At an official function held at neighbouring Tiruvallur District, Jayalalithaa launched distribution of free fans, mixies and grinders to women folk, laptops to Plus one and two students in government and government-aided institutions, special incentives for Class X, 11 and 12 students, cross-bred jersey milch cows to rural poor and four goats/sheeps to the poorest of the poor at a total cost of Rs 2,353 crore this year.
The free schemes would cover 1.85 crore families who draw rice from the Public Distribution System and was aimed at bringing about inclusive growth and eradicate poverty and improve the standard of living of the people.
To monitor the distribution of Wet Grinders and Mixies for housewives, laptops for students of higher secondary classes and college, milch cows, goats and sheep for weaker sections in rural areas, a Special Programme Implementation Department was created by the Chief Minister.
In the first year of its implementation, the government would provide mixies-grinders-fans for house wives at a cost of Rs 1250 crores covering 25 lakh families.
Under the Free laptop scheme, aimed at empowering, nurturing and enriching students, besides enhancing their skills by taking advantage of the IT revolution, 9.12 lakh laptop computers would be distributed at a cost of Rs 912 crores.
The free schemes would cover 1.85 crore families who draw rice from the Public Distribution System and was aimed at bringing about inclusive growth and eradicate poverty and improve the standard of living of the people.
To monitor the distribution of Wet Grinders and Mixies for housewives, laptops for students of higher secondary classes and college, milch cows, goats and sheep for weaker sections in rural areas, a Special Programme Implementation Department was created by the Chief Minister.
In the first year of its implementation, the government would provide mixies-grinders-fans for house wives at a cost of Rs 1250 crores covering 25 lakh families.
Under the Free laptop scheme, aimed at empowering, nurturing and enriching students, besides enhancing their skills by taking advantage of the IT revolution, 9.12 lakh laptop computers would be distributed at a cost of Rs 912 crores.
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