“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance”
~Jawaharlal Nehru
(TRYST WITH DESTINY)
INDIA a nation that got her freedom 73 years ago, after 200 years of imperialistic rule with this speech in front of the constituent assembly delivered by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. Pandit Ji along with the assembly and all other freedom fighters and nation-builders had recognized the problems that this nation faced in the wake of its liberty and they were determined to make this nation a great one. Pandit Ji in his ‘ Tryst With Destiny ‘ has in this particular excerpt has used the words like ‘life’ and ’step out from the old to the new’ and ‘soul of a nation finds utterance’. but have we moved out from that old? “Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow” “Only through the right education can a better order of society can be built up” These are two quotes by Pandit Nehru who defined in his days of Nation-building how to transform India-EDUCATION
‘Article 21(A) declares that the State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such a manner as the State may determine’. This provision makes elementary education a FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT. This provision was added by the 86th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2002. Now let me put a question in front of you all, take a moment and answer yourself that and read ahead. What is your view is education? Is education a mere formality of enrolling a kid into school? Isn’t elementary education to all a responsibility of the government under Article 21(a) which is a fundamental right justifiable under the court of law?? And is the government in the last almost 20 years done anything or something to make this fundamental right implemented to the kids of India…..to the FUTURE OF INDIA Yes, the government has tried to put kids between 6-14 in schools but is going to a school called getting educated.
Image source:GOOGLE
Today 87% of schools in India are in the Country’s villages, government survey and statistics have revealed that over 90% of the rural schools at the elementary level are run by the government but this 90% of schools lack the most basic amenities like drinking water, proper washrooms, and the most basic infrastructure and the cherry on top are teachers.
These government schools lack the most basic requirement of well-qualified teachers, if we don’t have good teachers then how those kids will be educated.
Many scientific reports say that the primary age of a kid, i.e., 0-8 is the time when the real human development takes place It is the time when most basic motor skills as well as emotional skills are developed along with the informative as well as linguistic part of the brain. But it is in these years when the real India, rural India is unable to send their kids to good privately run institutions and the government institutions are offering just a hollow building with few living humans in it as a SCHOOL where we expect the kids to have their all-round development.
So can we say that the government is on her part doing the implementation and justification of the fundamental right to education of a kid?
NDTV has in a survey disclosed that most of the Government schools in India lack basic amenities of toilets and drinking water. On the implementation of the Right to Education (RTE), they surveyed 780 Government schools in 13 states of India. The results were shameful. Sixty-three percent of them had no playgrounds. More than a third of the schools had unserviceable toilets or in extremely poor condition. In case a student wants to go to the washroom he goes back home. The channel cited it as one of the biggest reasons for the high drop-out rate of girl students. Admission is not according to the age in more than 80 percent of the schools.
Right to Education Act (RTE) provides children a right to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education. It also specifies pupil-teacher ratios (PTRs), buildings and infrastructure, school working days, teacher working hours, the appointment of trained teachers.
Image source: GOOGLE
The majority of government schools have not been renovated for a long time. Sometimes students are made to sit on the floor outside the classroom as the roof could fall anytime
As per the Census of 2011, the literacy rate in the rural areas was around 68 percent while it was 84 percent in urban areas.
Furthermore, only 59 percent of rural women were estimated to be literate as compared to nearly 80 percent of urban women who were literate, in 2011. As per Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2016-17, the total number of schools in India was 15.3 lakhs out of which nearly 12.97 lakh schools were in rural areas. Total enrolment in schools from rural areas was 25.13 crore.
Image source: GOOGLE
The National Achievement Survey 2017 (NAS 2017) of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, tried to assess the attainment of competency-based learning outcomes.
A surprise finding of NAS 2017 with respect to learning outcomes in Rural vs Urban areas is that the learning outcomes are similar in rural and urban school-going population and in fact, even higher for rural students over urban ones, for class 8th in Mathematics, Science and Social Science subjects
There are a lot of defects and major flaws in the current implementation and the on-ground implementation of the Indian education system but it can be mended. The government has with time tried to better it by taking many praise-worthy initiatives like:-
· Jahawar Navodaya Vidyalaya-The Ministry of HRD is running Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayasin various states across the country (except Tamil Nadu) and provides free and quality education to talented rural children, comparable to the best in a residential school system for class VI to XII.
· Samagra Shiksha-The Samagra Shiksha Scheme supports the states for strengthening the school infrastructure in rural areas.
· Revamped Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) Scheme
· Mid-Day Meal Scheme
· Revamped Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) Scheme
· Swachh Vidyalaya Initiative
· Digital Initiatives like e-pathshala, Diksha(an online platform for teachers), National Digital Library, and more
· The ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ Programme which aims to expeditiously improve the status of Higher Education in 117 aspirational districts from across 28 states.
As much as is it the government’s responsibility to take care of these basic and most important things it is our duty as well to take a step in the making of the nation and taking steps to take our nation on the right and just path.
In the words of Swami Vivekananda – “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.”
REFERENCE:
https://triumphias.com/blog/policy-and-planning-towards-rural-education/
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