When times were good and we were dreaming superlative economic dreams,we liked to brag about having the largest number of young people in the world. China may have built its roads and superfast railway tracks ahead of us,our omniscient mandarins liked to say,but we had the population dividend since fifty per cent of Indians are younger than 25. But,now that times are bad and it looks as if it is only a short while before we return to that old Hindu rate of growth,our population dividend is beginning to look like just another Indian myth.
It is true that in a world of ageing populations,it helps that we have so many young people. But,it only helps if they can become useful participants in the excellent Indian dream of becoming an economic superpower by the middle of this century. This can only happen if we are able to educate our young people and provide them with at least basic nutrition and healthcare. Recent surveys confirm what everyone in government should already have known that nearly half of Indias children are malnourished. The Prime Minister said it was a matter of national shame but then slipped back into the shadows (as usual) without offering a solution.
What is more disheartening is that the two states that we chose children from for PISA have the best government schools in the country. Some months ago,I met a high official in the Ministry of Human Resource Development who painted for me a very rosy picture of innovative teaching methods in Tamil Nadus government schools. In north India,Himachal is way ahead of other northern states. Sadly,this is not good enough.
Our government schools provide such abysmal standards of education that every other child in rural India these days opts for private schools or private tuitions. Our high officials and political leaders know how bad these schools are so they never send their own children to government schools. This could be why they do nothing to improve standards and allow the crisis to deepen. It is time that the Prime Minister created a separate Ministry of Education and took personal charge so that he can give us an education policy that decontrols education.
Every time I write about education,I remember the words of a wise old man I met in a Bihar village so remote that till five years ago,it had never seen electricity. The village elder showed me the empty classrooms of the local school and explained that they were empty because teachers were unprepared to travel every day from the nearby town. Villagers had given up expecting regular attendance from them and had taken to sending their children to schools in more urban parts. The old man said that they were prepared to start their own school if only government would give it recognition.
The solution lies in not just removing the licence raj that prevents a million schools from blooming but in giving charge of running schools to village panchayats. In cities and towns,if we want neighbourhood schools to succeed,then charge of running them should be given to neighbourhood committees. If people feel they need many more schools in their area,they should be encouraged to build them instead of prevented from doing so. It is disgraceful that even private nursery schools are in such short supply that children as young as three are subjected to admission tests.
There are other solutions that can be tried like allowing government schools to be run by private charitable foundations. This has been tried successfully in Rajasthan. And,in Karnataka,it was a private initiative that led to Akshaypatra taking over midday meal schemes in municipal schools leading to better attendance and better performance.
A countrys health is judged by the health of its children. If we used that measure in India we would be declared a sick,cynical old country that deserves to remain diseased and poor forever. So please Prime Minister,stop making pronouncements about national shame and do something about our most serious problem. Could we at least begin by acknowledging that between Baba Ramdev and the 2G scam,Kapil Sibal would need to be Superman to find time to deal with something as seemingly innocuous and unglamorous as improving the quality of our schools. We need a new Minister of Education by tomorrow.
Follow Tavleen Singh on Twitter @ tavleen_singh
