Importance of Education:
The key to achieve sustainable development and prosperity of our nation lies in promoting education of our people, of course, with due emphasis on educating the rural poor. There exists a high degree of correlation between literacy rate of people of a nation and its prosperity, the fact of which is pellucid from the following data. Population of our country is growing at an alarming rate, shrinking the ecological footprint. The current ecological footprint of an Indian is about 0.8 hectares as against a corresponding figure of about 10 hectares of an American. The present rate of growth of Indian population is about 1.6% as against a global average of 1.28-1.3% and that of developed countries of 0.1%. The population of our country in 1921 was about 0.25 billion 25 crore. By 15th.April1999, we became a country of one billion or 100 crore. Our present population is close to 1.15 billions, constituting roughly 17% global population, but occupying just a scanty 2.4% of habitable land of the world.
As Thomas Robert Malthus ¹ rightly observes that population grows in an exponential or geometrical progression, where as the means to support the population could only grow in arithmetical progression, leaving an ever widening gap between the two (sic). In the Indian context, all our best possible developmental endeavors are getting fizzled out due to population explosion. Child marriage, polygamy among other factors are, without an iota of doubt, linked to illiteracy. In developed countries, for every 11 children taking birth, there is a corresponding death rate of people of about 10 members². The corresponding figures of developing countries excluding China are that for every 27 children taking birth, only 9 persons are dying , thereby contributing to abnormal as well as unsustainable levels of population growth. The reason is not farfetched to surmise. The root cause lies in lack of education of our people. Improvement in literacy of our masses coupled with industrialization adopting Green Chemistry or environmentally beneficial technologies will definitely serve as a ‘Positive Check’ on population explosion and at the same time ensure sustainable development. (The Phrase ‘Positive Check’ is borrowed from Malthus. He used the phrase in a different context, in his population hypothesis).
Ground level realities: In my childhood, in my native village Karlapalem, now a Mandal in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, I observed that elementary school teachers used to be delinquent in their duties and used to spend their duty hours in gambling or in playing play- cards. The attendance in school used to be low. Practically there was no teaching. The teachers who were bestowed with sound horse sense, used to get advance intimation about the ensuing visit of Inspector of schools, and for the purpose of inspection, children were used to be collected from door to door ,ensuring maximum attendance on the day of inspection. The attendance register used to be fudged or cooked up. Administrative or supervisory systems were either cankerous or ineffective. The state of affairs may still be continuing or even worse due to increasing nexus between teachers and local politicians.
The way-out: Seventy third (73rd.) amendments Act -1992 to the Constitution of India came in to force with effect from April24, 1993. The Act was extended in Andra Pradesh among other states which came in to force from December 24, 1996. The most significant and far reaching beneficial aspects of the Act is that it empowers the Jan Sabha- the people of the village and not the President of the Board of the Panchayat. The empowerment of the people envisaged in the Act is bound to bring a sea change in the lives of the village people. But unfortunately, at the moment, the people are oblivious of devolution of real powers to them for changing their own destiny. The President of the Panchayat Board of the village still wields his power taking advantage of ignorance of the people. It is learnt that hypothetical meetings of Jan Sabha are reflected on record and in support of the minutes of the meetings, signatures of people satisfying the quorum are obtaining from people. As Master Trainer cum State Level Quality Monitor of MP State Government, I have had the opportunity to be in contact with rural population in Madhya Pradesh. I understand that as long as people remain illiterate and ignorant of their empowerment, no amount of budgetary allocation would palliate their condition of living. Promotion of education to the rural population therefore plays a very significant role in realizing higher goals or higher aspirations of our people for achieving sustainable prosperity.
Radical solutions: Chronic problems call for radical solutions. In an article of mine ‘entitled:’ India: Face of Grassroots’ which has been kept in Shvoong Blog since Jan o1, 2008, I made the following observations: ‘To ameliorate the condition of the poor, it is not enough to create job opportunities for 100 days a year; they must be able to get opportunity to get work throughout the year. It is equally necessary to provide opportunities to them for getting literacy and for improving their skill profile. Honing up of their inherent skills would help in production of useful goods for use of other better sections of the society. The paradigm shift must be from providing bread to the poor to providing self- sustaining abilities in getting engaged in productive employment through out the year. For this urban centric management approach must be changed to rural centric management approach. In the changed scenario, the poor would not go to schools; schools would come to their door steps for teaching them Public administration of the state affairs would not be handled from state or central government capital cities, but a majority of ministries or departments must be located in remote rural villages. This would bring the bureaucracy closer to the rural population, the physical infrastructure imperatives would be addressed by the administrators for their own sake, if not for the sake of the poor.”
Other pragmatic solutions: The most ambitious program of the Government of India called the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan aims at achieving universalization of primary education for children of age group between 6 & 14 years providing free and compulsory education (86th amendment to the Constitution). The literacy rate of India is about 65% and the rate of literacy among females is dismally as low as 33%. For achieving the objective of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan I offer the following suggestions;
(1) Awareness programs must be conducted as frequently as possible in each and every village disseminating the information about devolution of powers and empowerment of Jan Sabha to the notice of the people.
(2) State governments must take up Urja Gram projects vigorously tapping renewable and non-conventional energy sources for making the village self-sufficiency in energy. This initiative would lesson the consumption of fossil fuel, help the villagers to use biogas for cooking and get opportunity to watch TV or listen to radio. The mass media communication systems can be profitably put to use in promoting education ,including adult education and for mustering the support of the people in undertaking community related programs.
(3) Teachers must be paid based on the performance of students and not based on attendance. The salary of the teacher must be spilt in to two components: 25% based on attendance – physical presence and the remaining 75% of salary on the basis of monthly evaluation of performance of students. Monthly payment on the basis of per student performance – evaluation by a duly constituted evaluation team.
(4) Mobile schools: Vehicles equipped with teaching materials such as audio visual aids and a teacher must reach the village habitats and the teacher must take up teaching assignments at the places close to the settlement of the labour and during the time slots most suitable to the students of the locality.
(5) For each student who attends to school, his or her parents must get additional job opportunity under National Rural Employment Guarantee School- in direct proportion to the student attendance.
(6) For families who adopt family planning programs and limit birth of children to two must get additional days of guaranteed employment of 50 to 100 days every year.
(7) For every student who attend school he or she must get wages based on attendance as reparation towards opportunity earning or earning he or she would have got , had he/she engaged in bread earning related activities.
Conclusion: Promotion of education to the rural poor must get unprecedented primacy or priority in our scheme of things.
Foot Notes:
1. a British Political Economist (1766-1834).
2.Data from population Bureau-2005.
References:
(1) Living in the Environment by G. Tyler Miller, Jr: publishers: Thomson-Books/Cole
(2) Energy, Environment, Ethics, & Society by Dr Surinder Deswal & Dr.Anupama Deswal, Publishers: Dhanpat Rai & Co.