7th Anniversary Essay III

Levelling the ground for equal competitionIndia‚s future is not bright even though in urban India the ubiquitous malls, coffee shops and brand new cars give the impression of fast paced growth. Take Bangalore, for example. You can see an explosion of new state-of-the-art buildings of world class IT (information technology) multinationals which house thousands of employees. The pace of development is furious. NASSCOM, the IT industry body, has estimated the additional number of IT jobs at 10 million by 2010. Wonderful! But from where will we get these 10 million, English-speaking, skilled people? Given that our government school system is in utter disrepair, we will soon face the problem of a large number of high-value jobs but not enough people to fill them. Just imagine ‚ in a country where only a decade ago, opportunities could be counted on one‚s fingertips!In Parikrma Humanity Foundation, a non-profit company in the field of primary education, we recently conducted a dipstick survey of some of the most well-known IT companies in Bangalore. We found that only 8 percent of the jobs in them are held by people who have emerged from government schools. Yet, of the million-plus schools in this country, 94 percent are government or government-aided institutions. Simply put, in India‚s emerging knowledge industry, more than 90 percent of jobs are held by people from 6 percent of its schools. Therein lies the problem. Our government school system is incapable of producing skilled, English-speaking talent that can fuel the projected economic growth. There are many reasons for this problem. Among them:‚ Multi-lingual teaching is the norm in primary schools. However students emerging from them are expected to do well in higher education institutions which teach only in English‚ Poor teacher attendance in government-run schools. One in four teachers does not attend school on any given day. The only country with a worse teacher truancy record is Uganda, according to a study conducted by Harvard Business School‚ Sub-standard and outdated curriculums delivered through rote learningGiven this disabling primary school environment, it‚s no wonder children drop out of school, usually with parental encouragement. Parents of poor and marginalised children are as smart as educated people. They too want their children to study and learn. However they don‚t believe that government schooling will make any real difference to their children, and so it makes sense for them to put them to work and augment the family income. Therefore, should the government‚s objective be only to enroll children and keep them in school? Or should it be to ensure that children, regardless of class or economic strata receive the best education so that they have the chance to bag high-value jobs being thrown up by the new emerging economy? So, what will it take to educate a child born into poverty, residing in the slums of urban India to prepare him/her to compete ‚Ëœequally‚ in the emerging globalised world? To attain these goals the education system must deliver on the following basic objectives:It must enable a child to communicate in English with clarity. The world has accepted English as the global language of business and diplomacy. Without English fluency a child can never hope to “do well” in the new-age economy. It must adopt the best curriculums to help children understand concepts. Learning by rote is an affliction which ails most schools, including private schools. A switch to learning by understanding, which good curriculums allow, will enable teachers to look for creative ways to deliver concepts. It must stimulate a thirst for knowledge. The need to ‚Ëœknow‚ is a powerful driver for acquiring skills which are valuable in this information age. Curiousity must be kindled right from the kindergarten stage. In sum, what we need is equal, top-class education for each and every child. This is already happening in Parikrma (estb.2003). In our four schools, quality ICSE English medium education is provided to over 700 children from Bangalore‚s poorest slums. The three basics mentioned above have been successfully put into practice. Three years on, our children are already competing with students in the best private schools on equal terms. The daily attendance is 97 percent and the dropout rate is less than one percent. In parent-teacher meetings, attendance is 100 percent. The Parikrma model is there for any and everyone to learn from. Log on to www.parikrmafoundation.org to know more. Everyone needs to pitch in to provide equal education that will transform children into valuable contributing members of society. Slowly but surely, this idea will spread and a momentum will grow to change mindsets and transform India‚s moribund education system. (Vivek Raju is marketing director, Parikrma Humanity Foundation, Bangalore)