Nurseries for second-class citizens

Rajesh Ramachandran

THE 75th Republic Day celebrations have got muted in the Ram temple euphoria all across. To cite an unimportant example, even a civil servants’ cooperative group housing society in Noida is planning to inaugurate a temple on its premises on January 22, leaving many retired auditors wondering how to balance religiosity with modernity.

The real truth of India lies in its helpless boys and girls who are destined to look at a smartphone without being prepared to face the world.

Temple politics apart, the diamond jubilee milestone is a moment to take stock of the situation. The moon landing, the military faceoff on the northern and eastern borders, the Ukraine minefield that has forced a delicate diplomatic balancing act, the West Asian time bomb and failing economies all around force one to wonder at the miracle of the Indian survival. It is not a mean achievement, considering the compelling factors that have been pushing the nation into a disastrous civil strife right from the word go.

The receding empire and the emerging one had planned India’s balkanisation, sowing the seeds of secessionism in every corner of the country. But what began as a well-thought-out plan is now turning into a farce. For instance, if in colonial times a lot of sophistry went into delegitimising the notion of an Indian nation with ideas like the 1942 Adhikari thesis attempting to theorise religious secessionism, now even diehard Marxists have to rely on Western or Chinese finance capital to run their websites — not to mention the ‘dunki’ route migrants being told to show Amritpal Singh’s videos and raise Khalistani slogans to seek asylum in the US.

The Indian republic and the Constitution have struggled, suffered and survived attempts from within and outside to turn them into something different from what the founding fathers envisaged them to be. The soul of the nation, if there is one, has sought collective prosperity against strife, secession and greed. Even the majoritarian tendencies of a large section of the population seem to be getting tempered by their own aspirations. Peace, after all, is a prerequisite for affluence. And a nation cannot remain perpetually at war with itself.

But there is one scary factor that can dash all hopes of national greatness. One stark reality is staring the state and Central governments in the face: the pathetic standards of our rural schools, mostly government ones. A recent survey conducted by a non-governmental organisation, Pratham Foundation, whose findings have been published in its Annual State of Education Report 2023, lays bare the true calibre of our rural youth. A lot of money goes into keeping them barely literate because unlike earlier times, there is no shortage of schools in villages.

According to the survey, 86.8 per cent of the rural children in the age group of 14-18 years are enrolled in educational institutions — many of them government-run. But a big chunk of these students cannot read, understand, do arithmetic or calculate time. This ticking time bomb is worse than any other crisis that affects the country. India’s real strength has always remained in its tier-II towns and villages. If they are going to produce hopelessly unemployable youth, the republic has no future.

Take, for instance, the dismal performance of children in Punjab and Haryana. In Punjab, the enrolment (14-18 age group) is 88.7 per cent; more than half of the students cannot do simple division; 17 per cent boys in the 14-16 age group cannot read even Class II text in Punjabi. What they should have learnt to do at the age of seven, they cannot do at 16. About 20 per cent of these boys could not answer questions from Class I text. Almost half in the 17-18 age group could not calculate time; 84.9 per cent could not compute repayment. Till 14-16, they were mostly in government schools, but in the 17-18 category, boys were largely in private educational institutions. So, the blame cannot entirely be laid at the door of government schools.

The situation in Haryana is equally sad: 17 per cent boys in the 14-16 age group could not read Class II text and the count was 14.8 per cent in the 17-18 group. The girls were slightly better. Shockingly, 45 per cent boys of the 17-18 group could not do simple division, and 76 per cent in the same age group could not calculate repayment. Girls are better off, but the overall figures are scary. Himachal Pradesh’s figures are no better: half of the boys in the age group of 17-18 could not do simple division or calculate time and 83 per cent could not compute repayment.

Behind the glitter of the glass facades of skyscrapers and the success of Chandrayaan-3, the real truth of India lies in its helpless boys and girls who are destined to look at a smartphone (about 90 per cent have access to it) without being prepared to face the world. Something has gone seriously wrong with our educational institutions from pre-primary to higher secondary schools (the universities present a worse story that needs to be told another time). Teachers, education department officials and politicians are equally to blame.

Government schools are largely job-dispensing mechanisms for politicians who dare not punish the erring staff. No wonder complaints of child molestation are coming from students and parents and not the education department. Government school jobs, higher salaries and lifelong pensions are but vote-catching tactics at the expense of the taxpayer. The outcome is none of their concern because the teachers, officials or politicians do not send their children to rural government schools, which aren’t good enough for their children. The simplest way to transform the schools overnight is to make it mandatory for teachers and officials to send their children to the schools that pay their salaries and are going to pay their pension for life.

As for bad private schools, governments should immediately close down these exploitative teaching shops run by local politicians that squeeze poor parents but have no capacity to teach. Indian politicians have always relied on private schools for their children. Then, why not privatise the entire sector, offering subsidy to the best schools to teach the rural poor? For, the current education agenda will only create a humungous pool of second-class citizens. Let no one say that this is what Indian politicos want.

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#Hindus #Ram Temple #Republic Day