By Ravi Kant
Education is the ticket to a better life. It helps us to develop a broad horizon, ignites rational thinking, helps in contributing to the economy and more importantly it helps in getting jobs that further helps to get a better quality of life. Educated citizens in India act as catalysts in turning India into a developed country. Education fuels efficiency and productivity of the labor-force in the economy. Given the importance of education, Government has always tried to position the importance of education in the minds of the Indian households through various advertisements and programs. However, when it comes to implementation and enforcement of the education policies, they have failed miserably. This has invited a deluge of criticisms against the Government. Indian law has ensured access to education to all the children between the ages of 6-14 but is lagging on delivering quality education to these children.
Although the Government has spent a considerable amount of energy and money on the education yet the quality of education delivered to the students is very low. A large number of students, who cannot afford education, complete their schooling from Government-run schools, as they are affordable for poor Indian households. A majority of Government-run schools are lacking basic infrastructure facilities like tables, chairs, blackboards, teaching materials, libraries, etc. This leads to a gap in the learning process in these schools. As teachers are paid less, they lose their motivation to teach and as a result teachers who have not even managed to pass class 12 are recruited. Moreover, since funds allocated to education pass through multiple layers of bureaucracy, it gets misused and at the end a small portion of the allotted fund is used for its true purpose.
At this time it is very important to encourage and incentivize teachers to teach in Government-run schools, especially in rural areas. Strategies needs to be studied and it needs to be figured out as to why private schools are manufacturing quality and English-speaking students whereas Government-run schools are failing to do the same. Moreover, a transition of the mindset and thinking regarding teaching as a profession is required. Many people think this as a downtrodden profession today. Hence this ideology needs to be altered maybe through a better pay-package. The other thing that is required is monitoring the use of Government funds and strict action should be taken if the funds are being misused. If the corruption is not checked, it will keep eating the economy like a festering wound.
Private companies need to be encouraged to invest in the education sector and to improve the status of quality education in India. A complete education policy needs to be implemented properly and successfully for producing quality students who will lead India towards development.
Ravi Kant holds Economics Honors degree from Ramjas College, University of Delhi. He likes researching in the areas of Economics, Strategy, Politics, English Literature and Social Issues. Besides that he loves watching Parallel and offbeat Cinemas of Bollywood. He aspires to be a well-known and an eminent Consultant in the area of Economics and Strategy. Presently he is doing his MBA from Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Hyderabad.