Greater Responsibility

Thanks for your cover story ‘Edtech game changers leapfrogging Indian education’ (EW January). There’s no doubt that new 21st-century technologies offer unique opportunities to expand access and upgrade Indian education. Moreover, problems of shortage of well-trained teachers and poor student learning outcomes can be overcome with innovative use of technology. I was disappointed at the exclusion of innovations impacting rural India and the government school system. The country’s crumbling 1.2 million government schools desperately need tech innovations to improve and upgrade teaching-learning standards. However, the greater responsibility is of the Central and state governments to invest in equipping government schools with electricity, computers and Internet connectivity so children can learn despite the indifference of their notoriously negligent teachers. Samina Khan Bangalore   Easy target Congratulations on the launch of the first library of the EducationWorld Foundation Mission Million Memorial Libraries project (EW January). The Thakore family’s generous contribution in endowing this library needs to be appreciated and replicated. If only 1 million of the 60 million middle class households in India decide to endow a library in an underprivileged school in memory of their loved ones, the target of 1 million libraries will be easily reached. In a country where the vast majority of school teachers are ill-trained and irresponsible, access to a good library can dramatically improve student learning outcomes and inculcate a reading culture in children. Unfortunately, most government schools lack library facilities, and in the few which have them, books are locked away with students allowed limited access at best.  Dinesh Shetty Mumbai   Rural focus plea I am a regular reader of EducationWorld and would like to express my thanks for highlighting the many challenges confronting Indian education. A major challenge is the huge disparity between private and government schools. The condition of the latter in the country is pathetic. With the Centre slashing its education expenditure from the budgeted Rs.82,771 crore in 2015-16 to Rs.72,394 crore in 2016-17, the development of infrastructure facilities in government schools has come to a standstill.  Under the Digital India project announced by prime minister Narendra Modi, there is no provision for installing computers in government schools. Only a handful of them in the national capital have computers. The situation of remote village schools is much worse. Digital India needs to address these disparities. To realise its superpower ambitions, India needs to also educate rural children and youth. The HRD ministry must make dedicated efforts to allocate necessary funds to modernise the infrastructure and improve learning standards of government schools to bring them on a par with private schools.  Rahul Kumar Joint Editor, St. Cecilia’s Public School, New Delhi   Let’s collaborate  I would like to express my deepest gratitude for your excellent coverage of the City Montessori School and its ethos, in your famous education monthly magazine (EW January, ‘Interview’). You have lucidly highlighted our passion for educating young children, their families and communities. The media, represented by responsible champions of learning like yourself, and the education fraternity must…