Education Deprivation in India: An exploration of the problem and of potential solutions

INDIA: US: Population: 1,129,866, ,139,947 Percent illiterate: 39% 0.1%

This means that approximately 440,647,800 people in India cannot read or write…

…the number of illiterate Indians exceed the entire population of the United States

According to the Indian Constitution, EDUCATION is a fundamental right that cannot be denied to any citizen regardless of caste, creed, gender or religion. Why, then, are so many people in India deprived of this “fundamental” right? Let’s first consider what is currently being done to address the problem?

What is being done…. - by the Indian Government and its various agencies? - by Non-Government Organizations in the country?

What is the government doing to help remedy education deprivation in India? It has reserved seats in state-run institutions of higher education for individuals hailing from: 1) Hindu castes that were historically discriminated against; 2) minority religions; and 3) remote tribal regions It has addressed the educational requirements for individuals with physical disabilities It has established programs such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyans and the Kendriya Vidyalayas that recognize and train children with special talent

How are NGOs helping? NGOs have set up vocational training programs that help teenagers above 14 and adults acquire the skills necessary to find employment in varied fields. A number of NGOs focus on helping children receive an education as they represent the future of the country. Some NGOs have set up primary education and outreach programs that send teachers into rural or urban areas where underprivileged children reside to teach them basic math, and how to read and write in English. Other NGOs focus on educating girls and women in particular – in order to help them become financially independent and also for the greater good. Studies show that educated women have fewer children and ensure that their children are educated.

Why this is not enough….

Gender bias Need to work Family restrictions Corruption at all levelsUnqualified teachers Not enough instructional materials Decrepit facilities Caste-based discrimination Limited access to schools Limited provisions for the challenged or disabled What are some of the factors preventing so many Indians from receiving an education ? Teacher absenteeism

Gender Bias and Education Traditionally, Indian women were expected to stay home and care for their families. Indian women are rapidly entering the workforce at various levels, but many families still need convincing that there is value in investing in their daughters’ education. This is particularly true in rural or remote parts of the country, where agriculture is the main occupation. Sixty percent of all females in India are illiterate; far more women than men in the country are illiterate. Indian women have historically faced more obstacles in receiving an education than their male counterparts.

Discrimination based on the caste system was officially abolished by the Indian government in 1950 … However, across the country, government school teachers are accused of ignoring children of lower castes.

Education Deprivation in Rural India 80 % of India’s population still lives in rural areas Many of the government schools in these areas are badly neglected Children may walk for several hours to reach them, but the facilities are decrepit, the supplies limited, and the teachers either unqualified or simply not there. 50% of children living in rural areas leave school before the fifth grade They leave school for variety of reasons: - some leave because of lack of interest - most leave so that they can work with their parents in the fields, where the hours are long and the pay is low.

According to The Persons With Disabilities Act of 1995, the term “disability" refers specifically to: Blindness Low vision Curable leprosy Hearing impairment Motor disabilities Mental retardation Mental illness According to this same act “the appropriate federal and local authorities shall…ensure that every child with a disability has access to a free education in an appropriate environment till he attains the age of eighteen years. Education Deprivation and Disability

Only 1.2 per cent of the disabled in India has had any form of education. From a sample of 89 schools surveyed by the National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP): 34 schools did not have a single disabled student, and 18 of them actually had a policy against admitting students with any kind of disability. In India an estimated 13-14% of all school children suffer from some type of learning disorder (LD). Unfortunately, LDs are not treated by law as “disabilities,” and most schools fail to lend a sympathetic ear to students with LDs. As a result, these children are branded as failures. Education Deprivation and Disability

What are possible solutions for the problem of education deprivation in India? Several studies addressing education deprivation in India suggest that private schools are more effective at providing education in the most neglected parts of the country than government schools. Rather than investing more money in these government schools – at the risk of misappropriation of such funds – the government should spend towards improving the access of education to rural students through investments in better roads and public transportation and by subsidizing the private education of the nation’s poorest students. The government can raise money to invest in such initiatives by selling off the decrepit government school facilities. The government should also create incentives for the India’s brightest, and hopefully, most open-minded young men and women to teach at schools serving the most disenfranchised Indians: girls, members of lower castes, and individuals with learning and other disabilities. Full scholarships for post-college degrees can be offered in exchange for two years of service to a rural or otherwise needy school.

This informative and hopefully thought-provoking presentation has been brought to you by: The members of the Fall 2007 Contemporary Issues elective at the American School of Bombay in Mumbai, India, including Manas Bajaj Gabriela Dziki Kerstin Freudenhagen Aniket Kotnis Ambika Chand Lall Justin Martin Aliya Modi Priyanka Mysore Monica Salgaonkar Piet Schoettler Premal Shelat Alon Sivan Ankit Sud Jun Yoon Agathe Turpin We thank our peers at St. Paul Academy (SPA) in St. Paul, Minnesota for the research and analysis they carried out. Without their efforts, a submission to the Challenge 20/20 competition would not be possible. St. Paul Academy (SPA) in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA