[Following is an article by a CRY official. The image has been taken from CRY's site.]
A couple of myths about education in India seem to have been shattered in the last few decades:
- The poor and the “lower castes” do not value education enough.
- That education is an apolitical institution.
A Below the Poverty Line (BPL) family, on an average, spends anywhere between one-fourth to one-fifth of its income on education. This is significantly higher than that of a middle-class family. Therefore, the risk taken by the poor to procure education for their children keeps them perilously close to hunger.
The marginalised take that risk because they have come to realise two simple facts which most of us from the middle class either do not notice or take for granted.
- Education can provide an escape from socio-economic misery.
- Once the escape is made, for some the chances of staying out of it are higher.
Do we know of any among our urban middle class circle, that were educated two generations ago, but whose children are uneducated today? But, this remains a possibility among the poor, Dalit, or Adivasi families. This takes us to the second myth that education has little to do with politics.
The continued dismal literacy rate among Adivasis and Dalits is a matter of embarrassment for the leaders [who think themselves as rulers] of India. The overwhelmingly Upper-caste bureaucracy, responsible for taking education and other development measures to the marginalised, see little sense in doing so. They perceive the spread of education as akin to the erosion of their privileges. There are micro-level studies available that hint at the systematic evolution of a culture that denies development to the poor and “lower castes”.
For instance, the rural development minister at the Centre stopped the release of the first installment in 2005-06 to Bihar for its Indira Awas Yojana and Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana. The reason? Under the Indira Awas Yojana, the previous year’s account was not submitted, utilisation certificate for the last year’s expenditure was not furnished and proposals for the year did not reach the Centre. As many as 24 districts faltered on one count or another. Seven districts submitted proposals with errors; 17 districts just did not bother to send the proposal.
For the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana, the story is equally bleak. In all, 21 districts submitted proposals with errors. What was the nature of “errors”? There were “mistakes” in simple addition and subtraction that even a school student would be ashamed of.
All the proposals are submitted with the signatures of Development Commissioners. Both the schemes are meant to serve the rural poor; the first one is exclusively for Dalits. None of the Development Commissioners was from Dalit castes. The commissioners, the concerned minister at the state level, the members of panchayat and zila parishad who provide the initial input to proposals that are finally sent to the centre – none could ensure that at least addition and subtraction were correct? Call it a case of oversight or what you wish; the net result is that development is denied to the historically marginalised.
In the field of education, even stronger observations can be made. According to the Seventh All India Education Survey (2002), 47 per cent habitations do not have a primary school. Who might be staying in these areas? Only 20 per cent of habitations have a secondary school. Who might be staying in these areas? Right from the start, the Indian state policies have had a special predilection for Higher education at the cost of primary and elementary education.
The Budgetary allocation for education has never gone past 4.27 per cent of the GDP mark (2000-01). However, the best outlay for elementary education till date has been at 1.19 per cent of the GDP. What it means is that the priority of taking education to those who were historically beyond its periphery has always been lower than catering to those who were already in its fold.
Dalitisation of Education
In several states a rather disturbing trend has emerged, which is being referred to as, “Dalitisation” of education. What this phrase refers to is that the qualification of teachers, the standard of teaching, basic amenities and overall effort at encouraging learning is so low that only Dalits are attending these schools. Anyone who can afford to, sends her ward to a private school. The understanding is that even the worst of private schools are better than such government schools. Instead of properly trained teachers, just to take one example, “para-teachers” are being employed under the much-orchestrated Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan schools. These para-teachers could have Std. X or in some states even Std. VII degree. Any argument about quality of education can safely be buried here. The duality in the education system is for sustaining this inequality in society.
The deprived today know that education or its denial is about holding or destroying a particular politics that powers inequality in society; and that it has no option but to aspire for more and better education.
Activists and supporters of NAFRE, a people’s movement for reforms in education, for instance, have simultaneously undertaken padyatras in 19 states of India, holding tens of thousands of public meetings in villages and qasbas along the way throughout February and early March. They are demanding Common School System, universalisation of free and quality education, and are opposing the juggernaut of privatisation of education. The warm welcome and support they receive underlines common people’s hunger for education, dignity and development.
Arun Kumar
General Manager, Youth
Child Rights and You (CRY)
[CRY is an NGO working for child rights. This is an abridged and edited version of a press release that I happened to get from a source. The views are that of the person mentioned above. This has been reproduced here with some editing to make it more readable and to disseminate the views. I believe that the best way out of any problem is to discuss it without any prejudice or bias.]
